Sixteen-plus bands, three stages, and one very busy BBQ tent are set to take over FitzGerald's in Berwyn Saturday when Pravdafest kicks off at noon. The all-day marathon marks a milestone celebration for Pravda Records, one of Chicago's longest-running independent record labels, which has released more than 200 records by over 70 artists since Kenny Goodman started it in 1984.
As reported by Axios, the festival lineup includes longtime Pravda acts like The New Duncan Imperials, Smoking Popes, and The Flat Five, alongside sets from The Handcuffs, Jon Langford, The Effigies, Nicholas Tremulis and the Prodigals, and the Josh Caterer Trio. Goodman has even added a curveball to the bill in Annoyance Theater co-founders Mick Napier and Jennifer Estlin, who Axios notes is also billed as a renowned mentalist. Vinyl DJ sets round out the day between live performances, and Babygold BBQ is handling the food.
A Label Built on 200-Plus Records and a Word From Vonnegut
Pravda's story stretches back more than four decades to when Goodman and his Northern Illinois University roommate Rick Mosher founded the label to put out music by their own band, The Service. According to Wikipedia, Goodman named the label after encountering the Russian word for truth in a Kurt Vonnegut novel, and he designed its logo out of crackly press type. The label built its physical footprint in the city by running an independent retail storefront from 1986 to 1993 in the front space of Metro Chicago on North Clark Street, where artists playing the venue frequently held in-store appearances before Pravda closed the shop to refocus on record production.
Pravda also pushed into national college-rock territory in the early 1990s with a three-volume compilation series paying tribute to 1970s K-Tel pop hits, starting with 1991's 20 Explosive Dynamic Super Smash Hit Explosions. That trilogy featured covers from acts including Smashing Pumpkins, according to the Wikipedia entry. In 1992, Goodman also launched a subsidiary called Bughouse Records to release raw, unedited “Live in Chicago” albums by outsider musicians, kicking off with a concert recording of rockabilly performer Hasil Adkins at Lounge Ax, recorded in November 1992, per Pravda Records.
From a Skokie Brewery to a Historic Berwyn Stage
Pravdafest itself has grown considerably since its earlier form as a multi-day event at Sketchbook Brewing Co. in Skokie in June 2022, when the label celebrated its 38th anniversary with eight acts, emcee James VanOsdol, and a custom-brewed lager called Pravda 38, according to Sketchbook Brewing Co. VanOsdol returns to emcee this year's edition alongside Marty Lennartz, per the Axios report, and he has said that early Pravda Records releases shaped his understanding of what was happening in Chicago's music scene, recalling buying CDs at the label's record store.
FitzGerald's has both indoor and outdoor music spaces, according to Wikipedia's entry on the venue. Goodman has said he feels lucky that Pravda continues to release great music by great artists, and has framed Pravdafest as a mix of brand new acts and tried-and-true classics, all in service of bringing people joy through the label's music.
A Historic Venue With Its Own Prohibition-Era Past
FitzGerald's itself carries a colorful history that predates Pravda by decades. Before it became the Americana and roots-music hub known today, the Roosevelt Road property operated as the Athletic Club during Prohibition and briefly as Club Ritz in 1933, after which Berwyn officials shut it down in 1934 over ties to associates of Al Capone's Chicago Outfit, according to FitzGerald's. The building later operated as The Hunt Club and Deer Lodge before the FitzGerald family purchased it in 1980.
Current owners Will Duncan and Jess King bought the FitzGerald's property and business in March 2020, taking over the multi-building campus less than two weeks before COVID-19 forced venue shutdowns nationwide, as reported by WTTW. Duncan had previously operated Chicago venues including Thalia Hall and MONEYGUN. In January 2025, FitzGerald's became the first music venue in Illinois listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation the same WTTW report says was led by King based on historic property maps and library archives documenting the venue's continuous use as a live performance space dating back to its origins as a dance hall built between 1911 and 1917.
Tickets for Saturday's Pravdafest start at $50, with doors and music beginning at noon at FitzGerald's in Berwyn.
