Take the TARDIS to see Ben Folds Five on the (fantasy) gig poster of the weekSalem Collo-Julinon May 27, 2020 at 11:00 am

This week’s poster didn’t exist 21 years ago, but the concert it advertises did happen. Logan Square artist Scott Baker was inspired by this column’s recent fantasy gig posters to look through his collection of old ticket stubs and take a trip down memory lane.

Baker found his ticket from a pivotal show of his teenage years: Ben Folds Five at the Riviera in 1999. Baker based the design of the poster on the cover of the band’s album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, which prompted that tour. “Geez, time flies!” Baker says. “I still have the T-shirt from this show.”

Baker’s work is the eighth fantasy gig poster the Reader has featured in this space during the pandemic–it’s actually the ninth post, but that 1937 WPA poster in March was for a real concert, not an imagined one. This is our first fictional poster for a real concert–and we welcome more. We continue to accept submissions.

To participate, please e-mail scollojulin@chicagoreader.com with your name, contact information, and your original design or drawing (you can attach a JPG or PNG file or provide a download link). We won’t be able to publish everything we receive, but we’ll feature as many as possible while the crisis continues. Your submission can also include a nonprofit, fundraiser, or action campaign that you’d like to bring to the attention of our readers.

Not everybody can make a fantasy gig poster, of course, but it’s simple and free to take action through the website of the National Independent Venue Association–click here to tell your representatives to save our homegrown music ecosystems. And anybody with a few bucks to spare can support the out-of-work staffers at Chicago’s venues–here’s our list of fundraisers. Lastly, don’t forget record stores! The Reader has published a list of local stores that will let you shop remotely.

ARTIST: Scott Baker
FANTASY GIG: Ben Folds Five and Jude at the Riviera Theatre on Friday, June 18, 1999
ARTIST INFO: instagram.com/wiselike_studios
NPO TO KNOW: Scott would like you to help out the Chicago Hope Food Pantry, part of Logan Square’s Armitage Baptist Church.

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