Clementine Wink drops the most surreal Hen of the Woods album yet

Clementine Wink is probably best known to Gossip Wolf readers as the bassist for local industrial trio Civic Center, and for good reason—her melodic bass lines often provide the driving heartbeat of the band’s booming, brooding jams. Wink also releases compelling solo music as Hen of the Woods, expertly blending found sounds, sampled recordings, off-kilter piano, swaths of tape hiss, and other sources. Last week she dropped a new digital album, These Banisters Aren’t Blue (a riff on the title of Lana Del Rey’s latest full-length), which features the most surreal Hen of the Woods productions yet. Her sonic canvases include the minimal, blooming drones of “Rock Candy Sweet” and “Lying” and the warped “Like I Didn’t Just Fall at Your Feet,” which transmogrifies Del Rey’s “Wildflower Wildfire” into ghostly smears of sound.

^{The title of the new Hen of the Woods record riffs on Lana Del Rey’s Blue Banisters.}

In October 2020, former WLUW radio host Gabe Mendoza and producer Sam Crane launched Weekend at Gabe’s, a Web-based interview show with a strong focus on Chicago hip-hop. Since then, Mendoza has interviewed a knockout lineup of independent local hip-hop artists, including Ness Heads, Philmore Greene, Neak, and Rich Jones with Montana Macks. On Thursday, January 13, the Weekend at Gabe’s team will celebrate their 100th episode with a live showcase at Bourbon on Division that features appearances by OddCouple, Rich Robbins, LaSalle Grandeur, SheGo Turbo, and Pugs Atomz. Tickets are $30 at the door or $20 in advance, and face masks and proof of vaccination are required. The event is 21 and up, and doors open at 7 PM.

Over the past few years, JBTV founder and lifelong music evangelist Jerry Bryant has survived colon and lung cancer and narrowly escaped eviction. He’d surely hoped for a less exciting 2022, but he began the year at Northwestern Memorial Hospital undergoing open-heart surgery. He’s on the mend now, and he’s launched a GoFundMe to raise $50,000 toward the cost of the lifesaving operation. “Music is part of my recovery and music is the healing power,” he writes on the GoFundMe campaign page. “I will never give up and hopefully in 12 weeks will be back.”

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