My Gold Mask | Photo by Audrey Leon

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events have announced a preliminary lineup for this summer’s Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays concert series, which returns for ten shows, one each Monday at 6:30 p.m., beginning May 28 until July 30.

After news broke that Michael Orlove – former senior program director at the Department of Cultural Affairs – had been hired away by The National Endowment for the Arts, many wondered whether the free live music programs at Millennium Park that Orlove championed would continue. And, it appears – for at least this year – that they will.

Booked for Downtown Sound are alt-folk singer Kelly Hogan (May 28), quirky singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman (June 4), Chilean cumbia act Chico Trujillo (June 25), and soul singer Charles Bradley (July 16). A full lineup for the concert series is expected to be released in mid-April.

Last year’s Downtown Sound saw the inclusion of popular Indie rockers Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Iron & Wine, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Blonde Redhead, as well as local acts My Gold Mask and Cave.

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events also announced dates for a new music series called “Loops and Variations” to take place on Thursdays at Millennium Park from June 7 until July 12. The department said the festival will be a mix new music and electronica. The initial lineup includes Chicago’s own modern classical sextet eighth blackbird (June 28) and the contemporary classical sounds of Third Coast Percussion (July 5).

Downtown Sound

Peter Scales, city spokesman for the Office of Budget and Management told DeRogatis that the public won’t notice the changes:

“There will be no impact on current initiatives, including Downtown Sound, World Music Festival, Summer Dance, etc. In fact, this shifting of personnel should go unnoticed by residents and event participants,” Scales said.

Orlove released a statement late Thursday on his Facebook page confirming that he will continue on with a new position at the Chicago Tourism Fund:

“I am no longer a City of Chicago employee but (as far as I know) remain 100 % involved in organizing events at Millennium Park, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago SummerDance, World Music Festival, etc. along with the incredibly talented team of Brian Keigher, Carlos Tortolero and Helen Vasey in the new year.”

We here at Loud Loop Press are flabbergasted by the decimation of the department of cultural affairs. As DeRogatis breaks it down, the layoffs won‘t put much of a dent in the city’s over $600 million budget deficit with the high possibility of some terminated staffers being shuffled between the Chicago Tourism Fund and other city departments. However, as the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway.”

1. Installment three of the ever popular Downtown Sounds features none other than She & Him. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, stretched, rubbed your eyes, flipped open your laptop, and came to our little site, the He is M. Ward of M. Ward fame and the She is Zooey Deschanel, star of many a moving picture. You’ve every right to be skeptical of the actor/actress fronted band, but this isn’t Bruce Willis or Dogstar. Zooey actual might be a more engaging singer than actress. And who are you to judge, Mr. I Live Under A Rock? Of all things to live under you chose a rock?

2. Chicago’s own girl band meets girl punk band meets girl garage band Hollows open up with their girl-group-meets-punk-meets-garage tunes. Nobody does girl group meets punk meets garage any better than these ladies. Ronnie Spector singing the Munsters theme? Pretty much, yeah.

3. Did you know some bands still make videos? MTV certainly doesn’t show any, but from what I gather the Youtube does and sometimes people actually sit down for up to 4 minutes at a time and watch them. If they really like them, they send what is called a link to their friends who then, I guess, watch them as well. Seems far-fetched to me, but She And Him have a video for “In the Sun” off of their second album, the cleverly named Volume 2, and you can watch it if you have time. Look:

She & Him – In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.

6:30 p.m. Monday, 6/7. Pritzker Pavilion. All Ages. FREE!!!

1. The pride of Champaign-Urbana, Hum, have re-reunited to play for you – their surprisingly enthusiastic and loyal fans. I mean that must be it, as this seems like another one-off and not the beginning of something larger. It’s kind of like the live version of thumbing through your CD’s – If you’re a Hum fan you still thumb through CD’s, no doubt – looking for something you haven’t listened to in ages. For me that tends to be Edsel, June of 44 or something of that ilk. For what seems like a shit ton of late 20′s/early 30′s Chicagoans, it’s Hum. Here you go, slightly aged indie rockers. Indulge yourselves.

2. In case you need another reason, Chicago’s Volcano! (exclamation point and all) will also be there playing their off-kilter indie rock pop like music. You know, the kind Vampire Weekend specializes in. If that’s your bag, Volcano! is your bag.

3. You hate hockey and really have no civic pride. You’re a rebel that thinks the crowd mentality is for weak sell-outs without a unique thought of their own. Except you also really like Hum and stuff? This is a tough sell. The Hawks game is on tonight, and it’s thundering like the dickens out. Go. Go to the show. Show your true mettle. This is Chicago, dammit. We don’t let God’s wrath and/or a possible Stanley Cup get in the way of our love for music. Right? We’ll see. Did I mention it is, as always, free?

6:30 p.m. Monday, 5/31. Pritzker Pavilion. All ages. FREE!!!

Photo credit: Patrick Pyszka

2. The Ponys, man. Chicago’s very own Sonic Youth worshiping The Ponys are back. It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from them but they have a new EP out on Matador, “Deathbed Plus Four” (which you may soon be reading a review of here at your favorite big bad music site), and they are preparing to hit the clubs once again. You, however, can see them under the stars as they say. You know, welcome them back and the like. The Ponys, man…

3. Headliners, Besnard Lakes – no, not Barenaked Ladies – come all the way from Montreal. Seeing as it looks highly unlikely the Canadians will be getting past the Flyers, Besnard Lakes might be your best bet to see someone from Montreal in our fair city. Plus, their drony, Beach Boys (I hear it at least) inspired psychedelic tunes are pretty darn sweet. So, really, that’s a better reason than just wanting to gawk at an honest to goodness Montreal-ite (Montrealean?). And reason 3, subset A: Summertime!

6:30 p.m. Monday, 5/24. Pritzker Pavilion. All Ages. FREE!!!!!!

The group leaked the info on a Facebook page earlier this week about the show, which takes place on Monday, June 7.

Last year’s Downtown Sound series included such Chicago acts as The Sea and Cake, the Feelies, and Red Red Meat, as well as Dirty Projectors, and Rural Alberta Advantage.

Stay tuned to LoudLoopPress.com for more info on other Downtown Sound shows.

It’s only the new Downtown Sound: News Music Mondays series, which offers free Monday evening performances from up-and-coming national and local acts. Downtown Sound, a renamed and newly time-slotted version of last year’s Audible Architecture music series, joins Dusk Variations: A Chamber Series and Edible Audible picnic as one of three new music series at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion this summer. It’s the combination of local and national acts, low key Monday nights and early evening start time that makes Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays so appealing to many Chicago music fans.

“I didn’t really expect the Pritzker Pavillion to become a medium for up-and-coming ‘indie’ bands, but it’s an interesting idea,” 26 year-old grocer and music educator Tony Gilbert-Davis says. “I do enjoy seeing shows [at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion]. It’s easy and open to walk in and up towards the stage, and the acoustics are phenomenal.”

Downtown Sound came about this summer because more were funds available this year, although the overall Millennium Park performance budget is in a decline. The Monday night music series has already offered free performances from Pitchfork.com indie-favorites St. Vincent and the Dirty Projections as well as a highly anticipated reunion show from seminal New Jersey punk/rock act The Feelies. Additionally, most performances include opening spots from local Chicago groups such as Alla and The Sea and Cake.

“I feel like Millennium Park should always have one foot in Chicago and one foot outside in terms of constant support of the Chicago music scene,” Chicago Cultural Affairs Senior Program Director and Downtown Sound co-curator Mike Orlove says.

Though this is Downtown Sound’s initial run, contemporary music at the now five year-old Jay Pritzker Pavilion is nothing new. A number of big name acts have rented the facility for shows including Tori Amos, Wilco and Death Cab For Cutie. But when the Department of Cultural Affairs turned down Radiohead’s bid to play two shows at the Pritzker Pavilion in 2005 because it would have conflicted with an orchestra rehearsal, controversy and protests ensued.

Orlove, who co-curates the Downtown Sound series with Mike Reed and is responsible for booking all non-classical music for the park, insists that regardless of that isolated incident, there has never been an aversion towards booking more popular styles of music.

“I think the press in general have a real hard time figuring out what’s popular music and what isn’t. So if it’s labeled as world music, then it can’t be popular music,” Orlove says. “I presented one of the most hard-hitting, loudest, edgiest concerts ever four years ago -- Goran Bregovi? And The Wedding And Funeral Orchestra. But because it’s not written about in Rolling Stone or not on the hipster rock scene, then it’s not considered pop music. We had 10,000 people there, and it’s as punk rock as you’re going to get.”

Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays is currently in it’s mid-summer break but will return August 10th at 6:30 p.m. with performances from African vocalist Rokia Traoré and Texan art-rock trio Shearwater. While Downtown Sound has seen its share of popularity and success already this summer, financial concerns mean that there is no guarantee the music series will return next summer. Orlove hopes that additional sponsorships will help ensure that free concerts remain in Millennium Park’s plans for the near future.

“We’d like to have something going every minute of the day. But there’s a reality check there,” Orlove says. “The goal is that we can continue all the programs that we’re doing that are successful. This has certainly been a big success. We’ve been thrilled with the people coming out, the enthusiasm, the music, the reaction from the groups, everything.”