We are adults. We don’t get the fame of a teenie-bopper vampire movie. To reach cult status would be second-guessed as ironic and surprising. But we, the royal we, our royal we’s hearts, are floored and overwhelmed by the power of music and its effect on our entire being.
And we’re fine with being an idiot. Things make sense to us in this strange world.
We adjust to being poor. And we keep doing what we’re doing because there’s no other way. We are meant to be in this world.
We become acclimated with every dusty green room we hole up in before taking the stage. We tolerate and enjoy playing rock music in 85 degrees, smoky dank churches, with floors slick from spilled alcohol. We feel sweat make its way down our forehead and hang on our eyelashes and enter our mouths as we sing. That sweat coats the back and rains from our bodies as the chorus reprises. We look at underage spazzes being inspired by thrashing guitar riffs and a chance at ingesting a secret beer. We power through as strings break, arms flail, mics fall, amps are unplugged, bodies tumble to the floor, feet are stomped, balance is lost, drinks are dropped, voices are lost, levels are off, tuning strays… We carry on.
This week I’m volunteering at a rock camp for girls. I’m sure they’ll inspire me even more as I teach them about what inspires me.
And with the closing of one show, we begin another immediately.
That Sordid Little Story opens on July 8th at The Viaduct Theater. I’ll be a part of the live band, writing some good old-fashioned folky tunes.
We had a showcase of some songs n’ scenes we’ve been workshopping over the past three weeks at the Chicago Cultural Center last night. I’m addicted to this dang ditty. Take a look and listen:
I finally got the mp3 plugin to work! Small victories make me happy when all I have lately is Chicago’s ass cold outside smacking me all up in my ass face…
So here’s a preview of a creepy song for The New Colony‘s production of 11:11 which opens February 8th at Victory Gardens. These are still demos. For the actual real creepy Jesus song I’m gonna hire some ghosts to sing some doo-wop backups. Like in The Amazing Adventures of Pac-Man: The Album.
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Let’s Get Out of This Terrible Sandwich Shop: Going Out of Business Show
Thursday, August 20th. 9:00 PM | The Abbey Pub | 3420 W. Grace
Due to the economy, Chicago’s least-favorite-eatery-that-is-also-a-band is closing its doors after 5 years, 4 records, and 3 comparisons to They Might Be Giants. Tony, Thea, Tom and Jojo will perform the musics and comedies that have kept audiences amused or bemused (depending on whether you like the band name or hate the band name).
A compilation of 2 new studio tracks and unreleased radio performances, demos, jingles, and strange skits will be made available at the show for early birds.
The Bitter Tears and The Columbines also play. It will be fun but it will also be terrible.
I got a buzz a while back about a song I recorded, and was asked to be a part of a compilation where all of the featured artists covered the song “Tonight You Belong to Me.” I love this song. And it appears that my version of it is the first on the disc. So I’m off to hear “Tonight You Belong to Me” seventeen times in a row. I think I like the song enough to withstand the redundancy.
I took the day off today since I was dangerously close to turning into a potato. Spent the day going through old demos, finishing new ones and remembering that I am not my day job.
Tomorrow I go back to work like the rest of America’s potatoes. I’ll soon be interviewing for the position I currently hold because they’re… um, renaming my position and adding some whistles and bells to it in order to survive the economy’s wrath. So that affects one’s morale a bit when your entire department is… renamed.
But today has been a solid 10 hours of creativity with only a few breaks to refill a coffee mug or eat some farmer’s market strawberry-rhubarb pie. A good day.
