BILLY CORGAN Opens Tea Shop In Chicago To Bring Cultural Experience To The North Shore; Corgan To Perform At Opening

After more than a year in the making, Smashing Pumpkins frontman/singer Billy Corgan will open Madame ZuZu's teashop to residents on the North Shore. The shop, located at 582 Roger Williams Ave., Highland Park, opens for business on Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. The teashop is designed to serve as a social hub for the community, blending tea drinkers with the arts. Drawing from Corgan's love of music from the 30's, Madame ZuZu's is a Chinoise inspired teahouse found in Paris during this period.

"I'm a tea guy and living in Highland Park since 2003, I've always wanted to open a salon like this for everyone to enjoy," describes Corgan. "This is a place with no age boundaries. We hope to attract everyone from young students to seniors. With a blend of music, photo galleries, art displays and speakers, I think Madame ZuZu's offers something for everyone."

Madame ZuZu's boasts a gentle atmosphere featuring a rotating menu of teas from across the globe, plus light vegan pastries from all spheres. Inside the salon is a unique item that directly relates to Corgan's music appreciation: a 1930's Bösendorfer upright piano imported from Finland to give the salon a base for music performances.

Madame ZuZu's hours of operation will be Tuesday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Friday & Saturday 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m., Sunday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and closed on Mondays. Please go to www.madamezuzus.com for more information.

About Billy Corgan
As the vocalist, lead guitarist and songwriter for The Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan is one of the most compelling figures in rock. He has led the band to great success: the Pumpkins have created one of the most acclaimed bodies of work in musical history having sold more than 30 million albums, and won multiple Grammy Awards in the process. In June 2012, the band released the critically acclaimed album Oceania via Martha's Music/EMI Label Services/Caroline Distribution. It entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart at #4 and earned the #1 spot on the Independent Albums Chart. In addition, as a writer, producer, player and singer, he's contributed to recordings by the likes of Cheap Trick, Ric Ocasek, New Order and Hole, among others. In 2004, he published Blinking with Fists, a book of poetry that debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list. In 2008, Fender unveiled the Billy Corgan Stratocaster guitar, an extraordinarily versatile tone-machine, produced to Corgan's exacting specifications. The Billy Corgan Stratocaster is an especially modern take on the iconic Fender Strat® model, built especially for a highgain sound and designed to create Corgan's signature mid-'90s buzz saw tone.