Sep 28th Town Hall Pub

Third monday at the town hall pub and the biggest house yet. got to catch up with my good friend eric radoux who's in town after a chicago stop at The Orphanage along his midwest tour. eric and i have been working on producing his 6-song acoustic ep this summer and after the tour we'll finish up the mixings and re-mixings, he's an incredible musician and a fantastic songwriter so catching up with him was a real treat. brought the banjo over tonight and started the set with a new tune from this week called "we, wicked". last thursday i was recording for the new ep and took the 'jo out to do some tracks on And The Lion when the new song accidentally came about. another fun night, good friends, good drink, cheers:

We, Wicked

Grayson

Elephant Box

Mid-Late-September

it's been a largely grey week in chicago which i like a bit, tend to keep things cool and comfortable, good for walking or looking out windows. spent some hours last night working on the new ep and got a lot of good work done between the 12-string, nylon, banjo, and a wooden box for beating on. i'll write about the ep soon. the big recent news is i got booked for the acoustic lounge at the elbo room, a really popular music spot in the city that can draw a hell of a crowd. i saw the place for the first time at a battle of the bands featuring our friends in The Cell-Phones, an incredible band, and the place is impressive. ive been given the 9-12 slot on monday october 5th ($5 cover) and if i can bring in at least ten people they will ask me to return again for bigger shows. very excited, and the 3 hour set (with optional breaks anytime i want) has me digging out songs long-forgotten. a lot of tunes from the original high school ep's are likely gone for good but a few of them i've been working on today along with some songs from the time that i never recorded but found demos for tucked away in music folders. i'm excited to see how the old blends with the new and how quickly my fingers fall off. i give til 10:54.

Tuesday night open mic at Vaughn's on Sheffield

tried a new place last night, steve and i took a breezy walk down sheffield for about a mile until we found vaughn's on the left. awesome bar, great feel with a nice little stage in back. we sat in a booth with a couple of beers while the place filled in a tiny bit, small crowd but nothing wrong with that. tony was the mc, great guy who opened with his band Diver, they played some covers with bongos and harmonies, two things i hadnt yet seen at an open mic. then it was my turn and i got three tunes which tony really liked, got some lovely feedback and got to play another three song set a little later in the evening. vaughn's is a solid spot, definitely recommend it, the bartender's great and the mood is solid. looking forward to going back on another tuesday soon. oh! and i just got booked for monday october 5th at the elbow room! 9-12 in the lounge and hopefully i can get 10 people to come, looking forward to it very much.

Mistaken

Bones Part Two

Elephant Box

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The Darling Curtain

Tea & Toast

And The Lion

Monday Open Mic @ Town Hall Pub

after last week's open mic's it was nice returning to town hall pub which was easily my favorite spot. the crowd was smaller tonight but the room had the same quiet magic about it where the tv's are turned off and the people who are there listen. i was lucky to have some very good friends show up, what a pleasure it was to share a beer with good mates. ryan suzuka started things up again and the guy's fantastic. you hear a lot of people at open mics but he's got something about him i really dig, very honest, the voice is strung to the instrument itself and the effect is tremendous. i brought the 12-string and got to play two sets because i let two others gents use the guitar on their sets. fourth open mic and i feel better with each, real good night

And The Lion
Fingerprint Child (Dock of the Bay)
Portico
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Hello, Beast!
I Thought It Was Dead
Don't Leave Her Hungry

Thursday night, open mic next to wrigley @ Murphy's Bleachers

a walk down addison, a right at the stadium and then it's murphy's bleachers for a thursday night open mic. pretty nice spot, the stage is in a room that used to be a garage but was then re-furnished into a bar area. Stolie was the mc and we struck up some conversations along with a man named tony who smelled like beer and had some joints on him he was proud about. he plays drums but he liked looking at the guitars too. he kept asking if i was good but missed the set because he was smoking somewhere out back. i told him it was alright.

Hello, Beast!
Bones
And The Lion

To N. Lincoln, Open Mic @ The Shire 9/15

the next night another open mic, this time a little further off -- a turn down roscoe a turn onto lincoln (the second we turned onto sheffield steve and i heard the boom of an announcer coming from the open roof of wrigley a couple blocks down where the cubs were about to bust lose from a 5-5 tie. at the end of the walk they were up 11-5). the shire's a handsome spot, clean and shiny with a sweet little set-up in the corner. many thanks to dan the mc for being so welcoming and to new friend dave sheehan for the pat on the back and the hamm's in the hand. lots of different sounds tonight, a noisier room than town hall pub but after the long wait to play it felt dang good to be up there. played a three song set and was requested a fourth from dan and co., encore's always welcome. tremendous thanks to the thomas siblings for waiting it out tonight, an open mic roster can be a funny thing:

Sole
The Broadcast
Grayson
-- Shoo Baby

Open Mic at Town Hall Pub 9/14

monday night's at the town hall pub are open mic nights and i made it to my very first last night. the second i walked in the door a gentleman named dennis shook my hand and said he would get me on the list. he then immediately bought me a beer and introduced me to ryan the mc, really good guy who played some beautiful tunes on a tiny guitar. this place is a great hole-in-the-wall spot that i'd recommend to anybody, it's got a lot of soul about it and the people treat you right. saw some great 3-song sets and a couple of stand-up sets that got the place going and then i played the 12-string for a few songs. very excited to go back in a week, more thanks than i can begin to give to dennis, ryan, and julia for keeping the pitchers coming and to my friends for being there for the first chicago set:

Shoo Baby

Local Ghosts

Let's Be Happy