30 CHICAGO READER | JULY 7, 2006 | SECTION THREE

House of Blues Back Porch Stage 329N. Dearborn: Music at 10 PM Fridays &Saturdays, 9:30 PM Mondays throughThursdays. Fri 7/7, Kurt Crandall. Sat 7/8,No Mercy Band. Tue 7/11, Ana Popovic.Wed 7/12, Rob Stone & the C-Notes. 312-923-2000.

Hugo’s Frog Bar and Fish House 1024 N.Rush: Live piano in the bar nightly. Fridays,9 PM, Peter Dames & the Rhythm Flames.Saturdays, 5 PM, Professor John;Saturdays, 10 PM, and Tuesdays, 9 PM, PatHall. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 PM,VonHartung Trio. 312-640-0999.

Katerina’s 1920 W. Irving Park: Sat 7/8, 10PM, Dave Weld & the Imperial Flames. 773-348-7592.

Kingston Mines 2548 N. Halsted: Musicat 8 PM Thursdays through Saturdays,9:30 PM Sundays through Wednesdays.

Fri 7/7 and Sat 7/8, Eddie Shaw. Sundays,Charlie Love, Linsey Alexander. Mondays,John Primer, Liz Mandville Greeson. Tue7/11, Big Rob Blaine, Joanna Connor.Wednesdays, Andre Taylor & the BluesAlley Cats, Jimmy Burns. Thu 7/13, CharlieLove. 773-477-4646.

Lange’s Lounge 3500 N. Southport F:Thursdays, 8 PM, Dan Temple & His Bandwith Sammy Fender. 773-472-6030.

Lee’s Unleaded Blues 7401 S. SouthChicago: Fridays, 9:30 PM, Super Percy.Saturdays, 10 PM, Johnny Drummer & theStarlighters. Sundays, 9 PM, Shorty Mack.773-493-3477.

Mitchell’s Lounge 2005 W. 69th: Sundays,4-10 PM, L.V. Banks. 773-434-8469.

Morseland 1218 W. Morse: Fri 7/7, 10 PM,Kentrell, Zzaje, DJ Teebot. 773-764-8900.

My Friend’s Place 10815 S. Michigan:Thursdays, 8 PM, Elmore James Jr. & HisBroom Dusters. 773-264-6336.

Nick’s 1516 N. Milwaukee F: Music at 9PM Fridays, 10 PM Saturdays. Fri 7/7,Harlan Terson. 773-252-1155.

Nick’s Uptown 4015 N. Sheridan F:Music at 9:30 PM Fridays, 10 PMSaturdays. Sat 7/8, Little Al Thomas. 773-975-1155.

Red Peppers Lounge 428 E. 87th:Restaurant. Wednesdays, 9 PM, Joe Barr.773-873-5700.

Redfish 400 N. State: Wed 7/12, 9 PM,Brother John. 312-467-1600.

Rosa’s Lounge 3420 W. Armitage: Music at9:30 PM Fridays and Tuesdays throughThursdays, 10 PM Saturdays. Fri 7/7, Billy

Branch. Tue 7/11, Randy Oxford Band.Thursdays, James Wheeler hosts the bluesjam. 773-342-0452.

Smoke Daddy 1804 W. Division F: Musicat 10 PM Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 PMSundays through Thursdays. Wednesdays,open jam with Highway Rickey & others.773-772-6656.

Woodlawn Tap 1172 E. 55th: Sundays, 4-8PM, Dave Waldman, Jim Murphy & friends.773-643-5516.

JazzConcertsBob Acri Octet Wed 7/12, 1:30 PM, Skokie Theater, 7924 N. Lincoln, Skokie.847-967-7652.

Bopology Tue 7/11, 7:30 PM, Dawes Park, Sheridan & Church, Evanston. 847-448-8058. F

David Boykin Expanse Sat 7/8,8 PM, Spareroom, 2416 W. North.www.spareroomchicago.org.

Kelan Phil Cohran, Maggie Brown, TheoReed, Ancestral Resurrection EnsembleSat 7/8, 3 PM, behind New Approach HealthFoods, 641 E. 47th. 312-263-1649. F

Dragons 1976 with Aram Shelton, TimDaisy & Jason Ajemian (see the Treatment).Fri 7/7, 9 PM, Heaven Gallery, 1550 N.Milwaukee (2nd floor). 773-342-4597. A

cHenry Johnson/Johnny PateBig Band with Nancy Wilson

Thu 7/13, 6:30 PM, Pritzker Pavilion,Millennium Park, 100 N. Michigan. 312-742-1168. FA

Blues, Gospel, R&B | Jazz

2:30 Coro de las Americas3:25 Bed Bugs4:25 Taiko drumming for kids5:15 Broadway dance

Dance StageNoon Go-go dancing1:15 Bollywood dance workshop2:30 Mambo and salsa lessons 3:00 Bio Ritmo5:00 Cajun dance lesson5:30 Pine Leaf Boys

Main Stage1:00 Midwest Invitational

Fiddle Contest finals2:15 Tangleweed 2:55 Emily Hurd3:35 Steve Dawson

Local vets Dolly Varden are finish-ing up their first record since 2002’sForgiven Now; it’s slated to comeout later this year. (The band’sMySpace page has a sneak preview.)In the meantime, front man SteveDawson is keeping busy playing afew solo gigs. Last year’s Sweet Is the Anchor (Undertow), his first solo album, is a lovely, occasionallywrenching work of downcast country soul. MK

4:30 KekeleOn their third album, Kinavana(Stern’s Africa), these France-basedCongolese all-stars pay homage toCuba, whose music was an essentialingredient in the creation ofCongolese rumba in the 50s. (Thealbum’s title is a mash-up ofKinshasa and Havana.) Unlike leg-ends such as Franco, Tabu Ley, andDr. Nico, who have an electric, hard-driving sound, Kekele plays a moregentle, largely acoustic strain of themusic—in fact their sound might betoo placid for the folks back inKinshasa, a situation that makes thegroup a kind of cousin to BuenaVista Social Club, another project

orchestrated by foreigners that ini-tially had little resonance in itshomeland. But there’s no denyingthe beauty of the songs, where clave-driven polyrhythms and zesty acoustic guitar licks support a quartet of stunning vocalists—among them Wuta Mayi andNyboma, who’ve performed withsome of the nation’s most importantgroups. Much of the new album was recorded in New York withmembers of the city’s dynamic salsa scene, but as lovely as thegrooves are, Kekele’s vocals—soothing, soulful, and dynamic—are the main attraction. Kekele also performs at the Spirit of Music Garden on Thursday; see the Treatment for more info. PM

5:45 Kaiju Daiko taiko drummers6:15 Refugee All Stars

of Sierra LeoneAs the name suggests, the membersof this sextet escaped Sierra Leoneduring the fiercest fighting of thecivil war there in the late 90s, coming together in a refugee camp in neighboring Guinea. Their songs address their experi-ences in exile as well as the violencethat shattered their homeland, but given the subject matter themusic has a surprisingly easygoingcharm. Sung mostly in English, the tunes are mostly acoustic, mixing simple reggae rhythms, a dash of rapping, and the rolling,Caribbean-flavored melodies ofSierra Leone’s palm-wine music.Their story was captured in a documentary by Zach Niles andBanker White, The Refugee All Stars, which is currently making the festival rounds. PM

8:00 Angel Melendez & the 911 Mambo OrchestraTrombonist and bandleader Angel Melendez fronts Chicago’sbest Afro-Caribbean band. Thegroup’s arrangements are all aboutold-school razzle-dazzle and nostalgic rhythms, but the lineup is chockablock with fine jazz musicians who can bring a contem-porary fire to their solos and keep a dance floor moving. PM

Chicago Folk & Roots Festival

SATURDAY8

GazeboNoon Spontaneous folk music1:30 Women’s acoustic jam3:00 Acoustic blues jam4:30 Wilco tunes

Staff StageNoon Karen & the Caulfields12:30 Eastlake1:00 Polly Jeans 1:30 Tom Stevens2:00 Julia & the Storkes2:30 Chris Farrell3:00 Graham Jorgenson3:30 Signal Hill Road4:00 Mark Dvorak &

the Pickin’ Bubs4:30 Third Wheel5:00 Cathy Norden5:30 Occidental Brothers Dance

Band International6:00 Chicago Afrobeat Project6:30 Hot Stuff7:00 Skapone7:30 BLT

Kids TentNoon Wiggleworms12:50 Kangaroos1:40 Hip-hop dancing2:30 Chuck & Karen3:20 Hula for kids4:20 Wee Hairy Beasties featuring

Jon Langford & Sally Timms5:15 Kids rhythm circle

Dance StageNoon Nago Yoga1:15 Urban beledi2:30 West African dance4:00 Greek dancing5:00 Samba lessons5:30 Chicago Samba

Main Stage1:00 Special Music by Special

People

1:40 Barrowsmith2:15 Joe Filisko & Eric Noden3:00 Lost Bayou Ramblers4:45 James Hand Band

The Truth Will Set You Free(Rounder) is James “Slim” Hand’sfirst nationally distributed record,but he’s no rookie: the fiftysomethingTexan has been playing raw honky-tonk music for more than threedecades. By day he’s trained horsesand driven trucks, and his earlierreleases were modest, locally releasedaffairs. But he attracted some bignames for the new disc, produced byAsleep at the Wheel’s Ray Bensonand multi-instrumentalist LloydMaines (who also contributed pedalsteel and dobro) and featuringonetime Merle Haggard sidemanRedd Volkaert on lead guitar. Theassembled talent gives Hand’soriginals a vintage sound: his voicehas the brittle nasal quality of HankSr., enhanced by a heavy vibrato, andthe music swings with the clarity ofold records by fellow Texans LeftyFrizzell and Ernest Tubb. It neversounds like a carefully engineerednostalgia trip, though—this is the way Hand has been playing all his life. PM

6:00 Read My Hips belly dancetroupe

6:30 Robbie Fulks’s SecretCountry with Joy Lynn Whiteand Al AndersonPurely sexy and angrily eloquent,singer-songwriter Joy Lynn Whitewas poised to give mainstreamcountry a good name in the early90s, but she ended up watchingyounger artists borrow her attitudeand run up the charts. (The DixieChicks recorded two of her songsearly in their career.) She retreated a bit in the late 90s—for a while sheplayed Maybelle Carter in a long-running stage show. But her latestalbum, last year’s One More Time,shows it’s clear there’s not much“give up” in her—the fire’s therewhether she’s rocking out with AmyRigby or honoring “Girls WithApartments in Nashville.” Singer-songwriter-guitarist Al Andersoncould probably teach her a fewthings about endurance—he’senjoyed a diverse 40-year career (22of them with NRBQ) that he’sdistilled into a handful of soulfulsolo discs. MK

8:15 Irma Thomas & theProfessionalsIt’s hard to believe that most of thesongs on After the Rain (Rounder),

the first CD of new material in sixyears from New Orleans soul singerIrma Thomas, were chosen beforeKatrina devastated her adoptedhome. The songs are characterizedby loss and defiance: she croons Doc Pomus’s “I Count the Tears,”rasps gospel-rock imprecations on David Egan’s “Stone Survivor,”a roof-raising ode to perseverance,and pours grief and hope into Stevie Wonder’s “Shelter in theRain,” which was added to the album post-Katrina. Thomas’sability to use her voice’s timbre,intonation, and texture to heightenthe sensuality and emotionalimmediacy of a song both belies her age (65) and speaks to the depth of her experience. DW

SUNDAY9

GazeboNoon West African drumming1:30 Grateful Dead jam3:00 Old-time string band jam4:30 Soul singing

Staff StageNoon Kerry & Friends12:30 Hummingbirds1:00 Rhythm of the Street1:30 Yo’s Blues Band2:00 Typhanie Monique &

Neal Alger2:30 Wabolabr3:00 Scott Besaw & Friends3:30 Jason McDermott

& Jeff Wickman4:00 Eric Lugosch4:30 WAZO County Warblers

with the Flyboys5:00 Hypnic Jerks5:30 Women’s Rock Ensemble6:00 Lightning Rod Power Trio6:30 Drumming Around the Globe7:00 Aerin & Andrea7:30 Lavender

Kids TentNoon Wiggleworms in the Park

en Español12:50 Jitterbugs1:40 Mr. Singer

The Old Town School of Folk Music takes its eclectic pro-gramming outdoors this weekend for the ninth annualChicago Folk & Roots Festival, which features two days ofmusic in Welles Park, 2333 W. Sunnyside. As usual, justabout everything outside of rock, jazz, and classical musicis represented: international touring musicians dominatethe main stage, while locals command the other spots. Onestage is dedicated to the school’s massive crew of instruc-

tors, another to dancing, and a third to kids; attendees areinvited to take part in the jam sessions at the gazebo stage.Most of the artists at the fest have played Chicago in thepast year or two—many of them at the Old Town Schoolitself—but a few promising acts are making their localdebuts, most notably the Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leoneand Texas honky-tonk singer James Hand. A $5 donationis requested. —Peter Margasak

Festivals

Steve Dawson

By Monica Kendrick (MK), Peter Margasak (PM), and David Whiteis (DW)

CHICAGO READER | JULY 7, 2006 | SECTION THREE 31

Alfonso Ponticelli Trio Tue 7/11, 5:30 PM,terrace, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220E. Chicago. 312-280-2660. F

Michael Ross Mon 7/10, 7 PM, ETA Square,7558 S. South Chicago. 773-752-3955.

Barry Winograd’s Alternatives Big BandSun 7/9, 5 PM, Spirit of Music Garden, GrantPark, 601 S. Michigan. 312-742-4007. F

JazzClubsAndies Restaurant 5253 N. Clark:Sundays, noon-3 PM, Steven HashimotoTrio. 773-784-8616.

Andy’s 11 E. Hubbard: Bar and restaurant.Saturdays, 6 PM, Jordan Baskin Trio. Sat7/8, 9:30 PM, BMR4. Sundays, 5 PM, AlisonRuble Duo; 7 PM, “No Am/Pro Jam.”Mondays, noon, Tom Hope F. Mon 7/10, 5PM, Zvonimir Tot Trio; 9 PM, Bob Perna &Persistence. Tuesdays, noon, Tom Hope F;5 PM, Sam Burckhardt Quartet. Tue 7/11, 9PM, Joan Hickey Quartet. Wednesdays,noon, Rich Moore & Aaron Krueger F.Wed 7/12, 5 PM, Kyle Asche Quartet.Wednesdays, 9 PM, Henry Johnson OrganExpress. Thursdays, noon, Bernard AlcornF; 5 PM, Eric Schneider Quartet; 9 PM,Mike Frost Project. 312-642-6805.

Cafe Mestizo 1646 W. 18th: Sundays, 7 PM,jazz jam session with Nicole Mitchell &David Boykin. 312-421-5920.

Catch-35 35 W. Wacker: Piano bar &restaurant with music 6-9 PM. Fridays,Saturdays, and Tuesdays throughThursdays, Rob Parton, Laurence Hobgood& Eric Hochberg. 312-346-3500.

Chambers 6881 N. Milwaukee, Niles:Sundays, 5 PM, Judy Roberts & GregFishman. Tuesdays, 7 PM, Buddy Charles.Wednesdays, 7 PM, Jack Carr. Thursdays,8:30 PM, John Bany, Charles Braugham &Don Stille. 847-647-8282.

Charleston 2076 N. Hoyne F: Music at 10PM. Sat 7/8, Josh Berman & Aram Shelton.773-489-4757.

Conrad Chicago 521 N. Rush F: Fridays,Saturdays, and Thursdays, 6:30 PM, DeniseLa Grassa. 312-645-1500.

Coq d’Or Drake Hotel, 140 E. Walton F:Piano bar and restaurant. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 PM, Alison Ruble. 312-932-4623.

Dee’s Mandarin Restaurant 1114 W.Armitage: Fridays and Wednesdays, 7 PM,