Hot Stove Cool Music rocks Chicago

It was Hot Stove Cool Music Chicago-style this week as former Sox GM — and current Cubs president – Theo Epstein joined a bevy of rockers from Boston and the Windy City to raise money for his Foundation to be Named Later. The event, held Thursday at Chicago’s Cabaret Metro, opened with a few quips from Sox super fan Mike O’Malley and Cubs-loving cut-ups Jeff Garlin (of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame) and Joel Murray (brother of Bill Murray and the actor who plays Freddie on “Mad Men”). What followed was the sort of rollicking rock ‘n’ roll revue that’s made Hot Stove a hit with music fans. But in addition to Boston’s Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents, Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz and Tom Maginnis, The Figgs, Phil Aiken, Ed Valauskas, and Peter Gammons, Chicago’s favorite son Billy Corgan took the stage with the latest iteration of the Smashing Pumpkins. (Our sources said the band members looked young enough to be Billy’s kids.) Among those in the crowd were Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts; manager Dale Sveum; Cubs players David DeJesus, Shawn Camp, Reed Johnson, and retired pitcher Kerry Wood; Sox players Mike Aviles and Will Middlebrooks; COO Sam Kennedy; WNBA players Ruth Riley, Sonja Petrovic, and Carolyn Swords; Theo’s brother Paul Epstein and his wife, Saskia; Foundation to Be Named Later executive director Allyce Najimy; Mean Creek manager Michael Creamer; Fenway Recordings boss Mark Kates; Red Sox Foundation’s Meg Vaillancourt; and Cubs broadcasters Bob Br enly and Len Kasper.