Click on to enter and win Cassian (3/15 at Berlin) or Buckwheat Zydeco (3/10 at McAninch) tickets!

Have you ever dreamed of riding a motorcycle? If you have, we’re excited to announce a special event with our friends from Fox River Harley-Davidson.

Join us on Thursday, July 14th for Motorcycle Boot Camp, a great introduction to riding and the world of Harley-Davidson. Learn about everything from the headlights to the tailpipes, how to tell a Sportster from a Softail, and which bike may be right for you.

This event is 100% FREE! and includes food, beer – even cigars. If you have dreamed about getting on a Harley-Davidson or even if you’re piled high with excuses not to ride, this event is for you!

Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Boot Camp is not a sales pitch! Just a fun night out where you may learn more about something you have always dreamed of.

Come yourself or bring a buddy! Space is very limited – so sign up quickly.

For more information and to reserve a space click here.

Hope to see ya there!

The first five people to contact us will gain access for themselves and a friend for this Saturday’s Cornmeal gig at House Of Blues!

We’ve learned that it’s really no big deal if a group come out of nowhere to gain prominence in the jam-band scene: it’s what they all do. Cornmeal’s blend of progressive folk and bluegrass has made it a force recently and this homecoming show will prove it.

Be among the first five to e-mail us at ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com by noon Central on Friday, April 15th.

Yes, it’s a benefit, so the idea of free passes might seem somewhat self-defeating. But you can still donate when you arrive! Read on.

Bass Love 4 Japan has been organized by the electronic music community to help the Japanese recover from the continuing effects of last month’s record-breaking earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear contamination. The Congress will donate all proceeds from Saturday’s event, however if you’ve already donated you can bring proof with you for free entry. Bassbin Twins headline with ill.Gates and dubstep upstart Trillbass.

You can gain free passes if you give the most creative answer to the following by noon Central time on Friday the 15th: What does Bill Murray’s character whisper to Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation’s final scene?

E-mail responses to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com

We have a pair of tickets for the Flogging Molly concert next Saturday, the 12th! Click on to answer our question and enter the giveaway.

The Celtic punks are in town on their annual Green 17 tour, plus have a new album, Speed Of Darkness, due at the end of May. Our question to you is, if the band were to have cameo’d in a Russell Brand movie, what would it have been?

E-mail your response to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com no later than noon (central time) on Wednesday, March 9th.

We have two tickets to the sold-out show on Sunday the 20th at Metro. All you have to do is correctly answer a question to enter!

The Forms, who handle opening duties for Dismemberment Plan, will release the Derealization EP on the 15th, which features such guests as The National’s Matt Beringer and Shudder To Think’s Craig Werden. The trio’s previous release, Icarus, has what connection to Chicago?

E-mail your answers by 6 p.m. CST on Thursday, February 17th, to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com. The winner will be notified Friday morning. Losers can see The Forms play a free show on the 21st at Empty Bottle.

– Steve Forstneger

Win a chance for you and a guest to see Chromeo on the 30th at Congress Theatre!

“Don’t Turn the Lights On,” “I’m Not Contagious,” and “Hot Mess” are the type of classic ’80s R&B-style sythpop songs Chromeo has become famous for. Fighting the urge to dance upon beat one of Business Casual (Big Beat/Vice/Atlantic) is next to impossible given how infectious it is. That said starting at “J’ai Claqué La Porte” something goes horribly wrong. First of all, the genre switch to French pop is jarring at best and a crime against all things good at worst. From there, they are reduced to ’80s-style sitcom themes, the most obvious example being the “Bosom Buddies”-feel to “The Right Type.” However, the sheer sonic pleasure of the tracks that come before more than make up for the follies (as severe as they may be) of the final three.

Want in? All you have to do is be the first to correctly guess which local festival (year and name) IE first saw Chromeo. Deadline is Monday the 25th. Send an e-mail to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com.

– Dean Ramos

Here’s your chance to win a pair of guest-list spots to see doom-metal legends Katatonia at Reggie’s Rock Room on Friday the 17th!

The band don’t come to the states from their native Sweden very often, and are only now getting around to supporting last year’s Night Is The New Day (Peaceville) with a full-blown Stateside tour. All you have to do, by 6 p.m. CST on Wednesday the 15th, is be the sixth person (666th would be too much to ask of our spam filterse) to e-mail ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com the correct response to this query: What famous Swede musician would spell Katatonia vocalist Jonas Renkse when his throat was no good?

Good luck.

Champaign-based Elsinore’s new album, Yes Yes Yes (Parasol), is already in stores (cover art and all!), but we’re offering you a chance for two tix to their Lincoln Hall release party on the 20th.

In many ways, this will be like the first time you’ve ever seen Elsinore, because Yes Yes Yes completely revamps their sound. Despite its enthusiastic title, the record bypasses the provincial folk pop of prior efforts and takes a turn for the serious. Singer Ryan Groff, still the songs’ focal point, doesn’t so much dial down his energy as transfer it. Of course, mentions of Radiohead in press materials tend to overplay that angle — it’s an undeniable stylistic shift, not an unfriendly one — but from opener “Landlocked” down the line you get the sense Elsinore won’t be satisfied just making records and going on the occasional tour.

What do you have to do to get in? By 6 p.m. on Thursday the 19th, be the first to correctly tell us which vehicle manufacturer produced a conveyance called Elsinore in the ’80s. Send answers to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com.

– Steve Forstneger

Click here to download the title track to Elsinore’s new album.

Throw us the whip, we’ll give you the “Idol.” Former winner Taylor Hicks (yes, that was four years ago) is done with the arena tours and now gets back to the busy work of connecting with fans.

In order to score two passes for Hicks’ show on August 9th at Reggie’s in the South Loop, e-mail ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com with your answer to the following question: Whose voice does the staff at IE think Hicks’ most closely resembles?

Good luck. Entries due by 3 p.m. CST, Thursday, August 5th. Winner will be notified Friday the 6th.

We know, you’re thinking, “Can you give us a break with the shows already? I have family, a dog that hasn’t been fed, and if I don’t change these underwear soon I might absolutely yell, I might!”

So you don’t have two seconds to send an e-mail, answer a question, and pray to the highest spiritual power you subscribe to that you can go see Backyard Tire Fire and Brighton, MA at Double Door for free on Friday night (that being July 23rd)? All you have to do is accurately guess the name of who you think we think is the cutest member of both bands (aw yeah!) combined to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com by 6 a.m. CST the morning of the show and you could be in.

Batusis is the new collaboration between Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls) and Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys). Win tickets for July 17th and a T-shirt!

Batusis hit Reggie’s Rock Room on Saturday the 17th, and you can get yourself and a friend on the guest list plus a T-shirt (Yes! Be that guy!) if you answer us what our favorite Dead Boys track is. (We had to go with the Cleveland band in light of the whole LeBron thing.) Entries must be submitted to ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com by 9 a.m. CST Friday, July 16th.

People unfamiliar might wonder why she topped the iTunes World Music chart when her latest album came out. “I thought she was from Illinois . . . “

Yes and no. Actually, If The Rains Come First (Obliqsound) recalls Sade or some heavily organic trip-hop more than anything indigenous to her native Rwanda/Uganda, or the place she split time between here while growing up: Zambia.

Anyway, if you’re the first person to give us another noteworthy connection between any of those three African nations and Illinois, we’ll put you on the guestlist for Friday’s show. Deadline (e-mail ed [at] illinoisentertainer.com) is 1 p.m. CST, June 18th.

Right now we have two tickets for Freelance Whales! The first person to successfully guess our favorite track from this spring’s Weathervanes (Frenchkiss) gets ‘em for Friday’s (June 11th) Schubas show with Peter Wolf Crier!

To enter, simply e-mail your prognostication to ed [au] illinoisentertainer.com by Thursday the 10th!