Within seven days, three longtime LGBT favorites named Melissa hit Chicago to continue a couple of long held traditions.
On Monday night, June 16, Melissa Etheridge played to a near-capacity crowd at the Symphony Center with members of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra ( CSO ) for the 25th-anniversary fundraiser for "Corporate Night."
Adding to a history of annual events that has featured headliners as diverse as Marvin Hamlisch, Bobbie Short, Nancy Wilson, Elvis Costello and Janelle Monae, Etheridge brought a vibe of electricity to this year's event. After an opening performance from John Williams' score for the John Wayne film The Cowboys, Etheridge strolled onstage and took command of the evening with a searing take on her massive hit single "I Want to Come Over."
Singing in front of an orchestra of such legendary quality and in the Symphony Center gave Etheridge's performance a far more powerful intimacy that was worlds away from hearing her in her typical rock-venue setting. By the end of the evening, $1.1 million was raised in support of the CSO's many music programs.
On June 22, Melissa Ferrick hit The Old Town School of Folk Music for an acoustic solo show clearly set in the troubadour tradition. Playing in front of a packed house of mostly female couples Ferrick kept things on a suspenseful and highly amusing level by singing some of her most dramatic music ( "Pity Song," "When Tom Sings," ) while cracking jokes and telling slightly bawdy stories for the entire evening.
Ferrick also previewed new music ( "Anchor Up" ) and hinted that in the coming year she would be restarting her own label and self-releasing her work along with those of others.
If Etheridge and Ferrick used their musical surroundings to present shows that came across as intensely personal and intimate, Bob Mouldin his appearance at the Pritzker Pavilion on June 23went for a full out assault. This show, which was part of the Monday Music Series put on by the Chicago Office of Special Events, saw him fronting a trio that included Evanston's Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster, with the three of them ripping through Mould's brand-new Beauty and Ruin ( Merge Records ) and turning the upscale venue into a punk blowout.
The show was hardly a showcase of the "melodic" Bob but marked a furious return to "Loud Bob," with Mould skipping his familiar radio hits ( "See A Little Light," "Makes No Sense At All" ) and piling on one brutal rocker after another ( "Hey Mr. Grey," I Don't Know You Anymore," "Hardly Getting Over It" ). Rather than engage in stage patter, Mould plowed through a generous set that had the wildly diverse audiencewhich included senior citizens, punkers, high-school metalheads and suburban parentsdancing in the aisle all evening.