Healthy Children Conference & Expo

The Lawrence Arms know what it’s like to be alone on New Year’s Eve. “This year, I’ll live like I’ve never lived before,” guitarist Chris McCaughan croons on the band’s “100 Resolutions,” and the slight crack in his voice indicates that it’s all wistful, wishful thinking. It’s been eight long years since McCaughan and bandmates Brendan Kelly and Neil Hennessy splashed Chicago’s flag across the cover of their last album, Oh! Calcutta!, so one can’t blame their fans for being similarly melancholy. The good news is that the North Side punks are set to return in a blaze of middle-aged glory with the release of new LP Metropole, due out on January 28 from Epitaph Records. They’ll likely debut most of that album’s songs at Concord Music Hall on New Year’s Eve, where they’ll be joined by Masked Intruder, Downtown Struts, and Direct Hit!. Don’t sleep on Masked Intruder, whose schtick pairs colorful balaclavas with songs about petty crime. (Concord Music Hall, 2047 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tuesday, December 31, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $25.) Photo: Ben Pier.

The band’s sugary brand of folk pop is made even sweeter by string arrangements and warm, nostalgia-tinged vocals. Wild Child is still a misnomer, though less so now than it was when the Austin-based band released their debut album, Pillow Talk. That record’s 15 love songs always teetered on the verge of sounding too sweet, even when the subject matter wasn’t (like the couple contemplating suicide in “The Tale of You & Me”). Founding members Kelsey Wilson and Alexander Beggins cowrote Pillow Talk’s folk-pop tunes at home over bottles of wine, and the album’s cover even depicts the duo perched comfortably on a couch. Sure, Beggins proudly flaunts his bare feet, but that’s about as wild as the band’s debut gets. The cover of Wild Child’s latest effort, The Runaround, promises something a bit less domesticated. It features a pair of children who resemble Wilson and Beggins posing in a forest with wolves. Now that’s more like it. The Ben Kweller–produced songs are similarly bolstered by a heightened sense of urgency, particularly the title track. “I curse the way I let you stay another day,” Wilson croons with a voice that sounds like it was plucked from a turn-of-the-century cabaret. Last year was good to Wild Child. Their single “Living Tree” was named to an NPR year-end list, and their SXSW performance even garnered some local love from the Austin Chronicle. Now that they’re backed by a full band that includes strings, keys, banjo, and percussion, it seems likely their show will hold up on the road. Wild Child plays Lincoln Hall on Thursday, March 20, at 9 p.m.  Tickets are $14 and can be purchased here. Listen to “Living Tree” from Wild Child’s new album, The Runaround. Photo courtesy of Magen Buse and All Eyes Media

The CCM's fort exhibit has all the couch cushions, upside-down tables, and stairways-to-nowhere you need to build the hideout of your dreams. The Chicago Children’s Museum (700 E. Grand Ave.) has expanded the creative potential of fort-building beyond the constraints of any living room with its Forts exhibit. Here, kids construct their own hideaways out of colorful doors, blankets, and headboards. They can even crawl beneath a stairway-to-nowhere to recreate Harry Potter’s own childhood fort, which was actually his full-time room because the Dursleys were total jerks. While children busy themselves with elaborate construction and imaginative play, parents can commandeer their own couch for some much-needed downtime. And they won’t even have to clean up anything after the kids switch from “playing house” to “playing Godzilla.” The Forts exhibit will be open at the Chicago Children’s Museum through April 20. Photos: Chicago Children’s Museum