Went to a Scott Miller show at the behest of my brother in law, St. Louis Dave. The show took place on Friday March 26, 2010. I arrived in the parking lot and I could hear the elevated railroad as a train traveled eastbound toward Sauget, IL when I was exiting the mess of clutter that is known as the front seat of the trusty Buick LeSabre.
The evening might best be described as a take on 'The Art of Living'. Enjoy the photos. Thank you for reading the blog!
The Tillers, from Cincinnati, OH, played a show at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, IL last night. I failed to make it because I had to sleep in order to be fresh for this traveling to attend a funeral in St. Louis. I wish I had a better photo of the 3 of them. This particular shot is from Bloomington, IN at a pizza joint/venue in August 2008.
A photo right before band practice, on the way to the GARAGE!!!!!
I am taking a break in the town of Hillsboro, IL along HWY 127. No, it won't make for a cool Lost Highway song. I don't have those kinds of skills. Trying to do anything to stay awake before I have to drive again, so I thought I'd post a few snapshots on a Friday afternoon.ShareThis
It's already been a big month for the network of songwriters who once graced the living room "stage" of Humboldt Studios, a house concert series organized by the founders of Them Damn Kids from 2004 to 2008. Earlier this month, Ryan Suzuka and Ty Maxon played by all accounts a hugely successful show at Schubas, and Them Damn Kids got booked at that same revered venue for this coming May.
Check it out- on the front page of the music section in Time Out Chicago, Areif Sless-Kitain describes John Bellows' re-released debut Clean Your Clock as "sometimes-comic, sometimes-frantic," fusing "scraps of vintage garage, folk and psychedelia." Robert Manis, who started his own record label (Moniker Records) launching Bellows' record as its very first release, describes the music as "grunge, psych, this backwoods-country thing."
Myles Raymer of the Chicago Reader also took note in his own article about Manis, who here describes Bellows' live show as "very charismatic, vibrant, completely psychotic. He ripped his shirt off and somebody put a wooden chair on his head and he started hitting the back of the chair and sang this children's book story that he'd read his kids earlier in the day." For all of us who know John Bellows, we're not at all surprised by such behavior, but we remember how powerful his live performances consistently are. And this is a *folk* musician!
It's often been said that "success" in the music business involves something like 70% marketing (i.e. self-promotion via slick press kits and web sites, etc.). Here's to those who focused nearly all their energy the only place where it belongs- on the damn songs. Success can be found on your own terms.
Erin Frisby with her temporary Cast of Characters band opening for Stuart Chaseman's record release Saturday, March 27th 9 PM Hog Head McDunna's 1505 W. Fullerton Ave.ShareThis
A couple of photos from last night's show in Skokie, IL with Adam Faucett and William Blackart, Monday March 15, 2010. These dudes had a chaotic audience last night. They are both awarded merit badges for accommodating loads of random comments mid-song, heaps of weirdness, and plenty of side show. The side show wasn't enough to give the Jim Rose Circus from the first Lollapalooza festival a healthy challenge, however the side show from last night, and its frenetic energies, truly came out of a sincere enthusiasm for excellent, original music from these Arkansas natives, which Adam and William definitely brought.
In the coming weeks we'll get the best videos up for the listening and viewing. In the meantime, photography is all that we have as our lead document.
Hey Folks. The internets are not the fastest in the area from where I pick it up, hence the significant delays on the posting of the videos. Here are a few more of the bluegrass band, Twenty-Three, from Saturday Jan 30, 2010 in South Haven, Michigan at The Foundry Hall. Enjoy!
Twenty-Three is a band that is based out of Niles, MI, but the players come from both Michigan and Indiana. I am still trying to track down a website for them. I'll put it up once I get a hold of an address.
Trying to catch up on some things. Needed to take some time away from the blog.
Anyway, I went to the Chicago Brahaus last night with some friends and was delighted to see this house band. Not sure if they are on the social networking websites, but going to the Chicago Brahaus on a Saturday night with some mates would be a suitable alternative. What a great time! Apparently there is a cd for sale on the restaurant's website. Go check it out and review it for the blog.
The people of the particular region of the nation, commonly called Appalachia, live in an extreme poverty that few people in Chicago could even comprehend as existing in this country. The living conditions in this area are infrequently highlighted in news segments, if ever at all. The stark contrast to the extreme impoverishment of the area is the severe beauty surrounding, everywhere one looks. Go in the autumn, and your senses are bombarded, on a level that compares with the leaf season in New England. The hills, which are really more like mountains, are overrun with trees covered with the Kudzu Ivy. There are little shacks dotting the landscape here and there. If you drive through the hollows (pronounced 'hollers') after dark, you get the sense that you have somehow been transported back a hundred years, to a time when life was a lot simpler, but also a lot harder. Every so often you come across a strip mine, or a giant coal factory. This is the major industry in Appalachia, and its effects are everywhere. This is the setting that I found myself driving through, every day for about 14 months, sometime between 2001 and 2002. Its easy to lose sight of the beauty in life when one engages in a job every day, but at that time, and that place in my life, I did not find this to be the case. Every day, something would strike me as being extraordinarily wonderful or heartbreaking, affixing that moment permanently in my mind. It is hard for me to think about that period of my life without an extreme sense of nostalgic longing associated with the thoughts. I would travel these winding roads, through hollows, past coal mines, and long abandoned buildings and towns, past small plots of land with family gardens, and rivers that would flood the towns on its embankments every summer. As I made my 30-75 minute commute to work (the length of time varied depending on the jobsite), I would listen to the local community radio station, based out of Whitesburg, Kentucky. The call letters were WMMT. The position on the dial was 88.7. And this was the best radio station I have ever heard. The station was primarily a bluegrass station, but they also had this Americana/Alt Country show that would play in the mornings, when I would drive to work. This is where I first heard Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, and Ryan Adams. This was where, on a particular evening in late October, while driving to a show, I heard Judy Collins sing 'With God On Our Side', an acapella version of the Dylan song. I hadn't even heard the original at that point. But I was just floored, and actually remember pulling the car over so I could take in the sheer depth of beauty that moment in time was presenting to me. I have never encountered another radio station like that one. The bluegrass they played was top notch, the alt country was very well selected, and they even had a hardcore show on Saturday nights, where some of the local teenagers would make a point to have completely random conversations over the airwaves. It was, and hopefully still is, a truly incredible voice of independent radio. If all radio was that well done, I would have a vastly different view of radio as a whole. There is a point to all of this. Shelley Miller is putting out a new album. It's called 'When it's All Gone, You Come Back'. Recently, Shelley sent us a digital copy, and we agreed to talk about it on the blog. After listening to the album several times, I realized that the feeling evoked by several of the songs on this cd were vastly reminiscent of my time in Appalachia as a whole, and more specifically, that radio station, which I now consider to be the soundtrack to my year repairing houses in the hollows of Appalachia. I wanted to talk about one song in particular. Track 7- 'All the Way Down' represents this feeling most especially. It really is a great song on its own, but when coupled with my personal experience, it really hit home to me, in a way that few songs do. The tender fingerpicking and the emotional honesty of the lyrics together weave images and feelings of younger days, and of times when things make sense, without any sort of explanation. To me, this song is a nice representation of the best life has to offer and the willingness to see the simple beauty in it all. In a way, this song just feels like home to me, which is a rare thing indeed. I highly recommend listening to this song, and then heading over to Martyr's on Friday night to catch Shelley debut these songs as an album, at a really great Chicago venue. All The Way Down
Shelley Miller CD Release Show Friday, February 12th, 2010 Martyr's 3855 North Lincoln Avenue 9 PM $8 w/ Micah Walk and Steve Dawson
Find Shelley Miller online! Myspace Website Purchase the album there, or directly from her, at Fridays show.ShareThis
Hey Everyone! This blog was based out of Chicago since its inception (summer 2009). However, I just moved to Columbia, Missouri in early August 2011 and now am trying to capture a snapshot of how things are going here, with regards to music. The locals call this place 'COMO', for short. I might try to document things capturing my attention as I travel to St. Louis or Kansas City, or anywhere else nearby, for that matter.
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