Chicago folks continue to lend their support -- and cash -- to Natasha McShane and Stephanie Jurich, who were brutally beaten by a baseball bat wielding mugger in Bucktown last month.
The folks at Helpnatasha.net -- a coalition of Chicago's Irish community -- have declared June 13 'Natasha Day.'
The group is putting on two huge fundraisers -- one on the North Side at the Irish American Heritage Center and the other in the south suburbs at Gaelic Park. All proceeds will go to the McShane family to help pay for Natasha's expected medical expenses.

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Last week, Chicago punk band The Lawrence Arms donated the proceeds from their show at Subterranean to McShane and Jurich. Show organizers -- the guys at Reckless Records and Logan Bar -- told me the one-night event brought in $8,000 for McShane and Jurich.

Local H frontman Scott Lucas slurped a smoothie while we talked about things he has learned over the years.
At a tiny table at Filter, the reincarnation of Wicker Park's favorite hipster coffee joint. (Konkol warning: While Filter's second life remains still a hipster fav, it also is a magnet for crying babies.)
the 39-year-old rocker talked about living in Wicker Park, going on tour, love, heart break, why Mayor Daley should be voted out of office and much more. Find the story in today's Sun-TImes.
Typically, I'd leave the music commentary to guys like Jim DeRogatis. But I can't pass up an opportunity to turn you on to Lucas' new project, Scott Lucas and the Married Men.
The album, George Lassos the Moon, is sweet, romantic storytelling -- a true story mind you -- of a guy (Lucas) longing to win back lost love. Most of the songs were written in a weeks time as Lucas' attempted to reconnect his then-estranged girlfriend. (It worked.)
With the Married Men, you see a softer side of Lucas, who's better known for playing loud, crowd surfing, whiskey drinking and at least once angrily chasing an audience member off stage.

Give a listen to Cut a Hole and Extra Special Bitter and Weatherman -- stand out numbers on an album from a band that's unfortunately still flying still under the radar.

Somethign for the casual Sunday afternoon blog reader....

John J. Curtis takes pictures. He's not a "real photographer" -- which is why his website is notarealphotographer.com.

Here's how he describes himself:

John is occasionally a photographer, but never a real one. He's more of a writer, just an unpublished one. Perhaps it would be best to describe him as a businessman, though not a successful one.

Through an odd sense of observation and a digital camera complete with a shoulder strap, John is able to bring these several mediocre and few interesting photos to you

Take a look at John's shots:

Brian Sloan of Bucktown knows how to get a head. Police found four human skulls at his place after a customer dropped a dime Tuesday night.