Odds & Ends: Foo Fighters, Jack White, Jennifer Lopez & More

Foo Fighters is calling on a few Windy City bands to join the guys at Chicago’s Wrigley Field in 2015.

Cheap Trick, Naked Raygun and Urge Overkill are your special guests for the Aug. 29 gig. The show was announced earlier this week as the first U.S. gig on the Foo Fighters’ 2015 “Sonic Highways World Tour.”

Last week the first episode of the documentary TV series, “Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways,” aired on HBO. Starting with an episode filmed in Chicago, the series chronicles the Foo Fighters’ journey to create its upcoming eighth studio album – Sonic Highways – by recording each track in a different city with local guest artists. Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen appears on the lead single, “Something From Nothing.” The LP is due out Nov. 10.  

Wrigley Field’s presale begins Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. CDT. The general public on sale is scheduled Monday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. CDT.

For more information click here for Foo Fighters’ Facebook page.

Jennifer Lopez may soon be spending a lot of time in Vegas. The singer/actress is reportedly “in the final stages of making a deal” to perform a residency in Sin City that would pay $350K a show, according to TMZ.

The gossip site claims J.Lo would do three shows a week at The Axis at Planet Hollywood for a total of 72 shows over a one or two year period. The venue is the same one that hosts Britney Spears’ residency.   

In case you were wondering, TMZ says Britney makes $310K per show.  

As if the lineup for Mavis Staples’ tribute concert could get any more impressive, Bonnie Raitt and Otis Clay have just been added to the festivities.

“I’ll Take You There – Celebrating 75 Years Of Mavis Staples” takes place Nov. 19 at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre.

The esteemed R&B/gospel singer will be honored with performances by a previously announced roster that includes Gregg Allman, Ryan Bingham, Eric Church, Patty Griffin, Widespread Panic Glen Hansard, Taj Mahal, Michael McDonald, Buddy Miller, Aaron Neville, Grace Potter, and Marty Stuart. Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was is appearing as the evening’s music director who will lead an all-star backing band. 

Staples will also take the stage with a number of special guests. Organizers promise that there are still additional performers to be announced in the coming weeks.

A final block of tickets are on sale now.

Jack White will contribute to a roundtable discussion at Yale University titled “Exploring The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records.”

Hosted by the university’s Dept. of African American Studies, the discussion is being held Oct. 28 at Yale’s Battell Chapel on the corner of College and Elm in New Haven, Conn.

Along with White, the roundtable will feature author/music journalist/critic Greil Marcus, Revenant Records co-founder Dean Blackwood, Revenant Records’ Scott Blackwood, musician Adia Victoria, and Yale African American studies and theater professor Daphne Brooks.

White will have plenty to say as the founder of independent record label Third Man Records. Third Man and Revenant Records teamed up to jointly release volumes 1 & 2 of “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records” box sets. The first volume was released last year and second box set is due out Nov. 18.

Each participant in the roundtable will pick a song to play in its entirety and then discuss its deeper implications.  

Seating for this free event is first come, first serve.

Former Scary Kids Scaring Kids frontman Tyson Curtis Stevens has died. Alternative Press cited an anonymous source who said the 29-year-old “was found dead” Tuesday morning by his girlfriend in Tucson, Ariz.

Stevens’ new band Coma Prevail, which recorded its three-song demo last fall, confirmed the news with a short post on Facebook. The melodic hardcore band posted Tuesday, “Unfortunately the rumors are true. Out of respect for family we will post details soon. Thank you.”

Scary Kids Scaring Kids broke up in 2009 after releasing two full length albums.