Lester: How Frontier Days recruited The Wallflowers
Last fall, when Frontier Days organizers started to recruit bands to play at the 41st annual Arlington Heights summer festival, The Wallflowers were available but simply too expensive.
The popular 1990s band - a favorite of mine as a shy, daydreaming teenager - was asking for far more than the $30,000 to $50,000 the festival can afford to pay main stage acts.
So, entertainment chairman Bill Peery said, officials looked to hire another group instead - a negotiation tactic that ultimately got The Wallflowers to lower their price. Peery wouldn't say exactly how much the band is being paid, only that it's toward the top of the $50,000 cap.
“Really, this whole process, it's just like buying a used car,” Peery laughs.
<h3 class="leadin">Modest perks
From the time a band gets into town, Peery says, its care is organizers' responsibility.
While each act typically submits a list of requests as part of its contract, Peery notes that the outdoor festival's perks are far more modest than a music hall's.
“Our greenroom is a trailer, and our bathroom is an outdoor Porta-Potty,” he said.
But Peery says in The Wallflowers' case here, there's “nothing in their rider that every other band doesn't want. ... no odd requests.”
The Wallflowers take the stage at 8 p.m. Saturday.
For the complete lineup, check out frontierdays.org.
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Like father, like son
The singer for The Wallflowers is Jakob Dylan, son of legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Jakob is the youngest of Bob and Sara Dylan's five children.
<h3 class="leadin">'Bickering Muppets'
Two suburban lawmakers injected a bit of levity to the attempt at solving the state's budget impasse with a Tuesday night appearance on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”
In the clip, “Daily Show” correspondent Jordan Klepper quizzes Republican state Rep. Ron Sandack of Downers Grove and Democratic state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston, two members of a legislature of “bickering Muppets,” on whether they can agree on anything at all.
The common ground they reached? Both admitted they're fans of the Adam Sandler movie “Billy Madison.”
Though fully appropriate for a special session day in late June, Biss tells me the segment actually was shot at the end of May. Take a look at the clip at cc.com.
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Final respects
Among the players who traveled around the country to visit legendary University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt in her final days were WNBA stars Candace Parker, who played at Naperville Central, and Tamika Catchings, a standout at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.
Team officials said Parker came following the Los Angeles Sparks' game at Minnesota on Friday night. Catchings visited after the Indiana Fever's game at Dallas on Saturday night. Summitt, a larger-than-life figure who put women's basketball on a national stage, died Tuesday after battling advanced Alzheimer's type dementia for several years.
<h3 class="leadin">Wedding dresses, repurposed
My mother mentioned the other day she'll be donating her old wedding dress to Rest in His Arms, a Wheeling-based nonprofit dedicated to providing funerals for abandoned newborns. Wedding gowns, light-colored bridesmaids dresses and First Communion dresses are repurposed as burial garments for babies who were abandoned, stillborn or died after just a few days. Have a dress to donate? Founder Susan Walker says properly mourning the deaths of these babies sends the message that “every life has meaning and value - no matter how little the person was.” For more information, visit restinhisarms.org.
<h3 class="leadin">One last time
East Aurora High School students, staff and alumni plan to gather one last time at Roy E. Davis Stadium tonight before it's demolished as part of major renovations. The 7:30 p.m. ceremony will feature music, fireworks and an opportunity to view artist renderings of the future stadium, which includes a synthetic turf field and an eight-lane track. About 9 p.m., the program will end with the Marching Tomcats playing “Wave the Flag.” The flags will then be lowered and the stadium lights dimmed for the last time. As they leave, those in the audience will be invited to take home a piece of the field.
<h3 class="leadin">Striking back
GOP state Rep. Tom Morrison of Palatine tells me he still has more than a dozen spots in the free self-defense clinic he's sponsoring today at 7 p.m. at J.P. Wood Martial Arts in Palatine. The clinic will teach women hitting techniques, as well as self-defense, awareness and distraction tactics. Morrison says he got the idea from fellow state Rep. Mark Batinick of Plainfield, who held a well-received seminar in his district. There is no charge, but Morrison asks attendees to consider making a $10 donation to WINGS, a Palatine-based nonprofit that helps victims of domestic violence. For more, call (847) 202-6584.
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Today's snap
Here's a photo of Streamwood native Hannah Perryman, drafted this spring to the Akron Racers pro softball team, with mom, Deb, after a recent game. Perryman, an Elgin High graduate and force behind changing the state's stalking laws, will be in town over the weekend as the Racers take on the Chicago Bandits in Rosemont.