one of these days we'll all agree on a name, in the meantime we've settled on the generic-chicago guitar ensemble. there is now a myspace page up you can check it out at:
http://www.myspace.com/chicagoguitarensemble
right now there's a few photos and a short video of our show at elastic on 9/11/06 and there will soon be mp3's from our 6/23/06 spare room show...
Monday, September 25, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
the howling hex last night
had a pretty nice day off yesterday. My friend spencer recently moved to chicago from austin and is staying in a highrise on clark in lincoln park across from the zoo til his place is ready to move into. So i went over there yesterday and we sat on his balcony on the 36th floor and had a smoke watching the sunset and the city light up. needless to say-it was fuckin awesome-i'll even go so far as to say it was awesome to the max!!!!!to the extreme!!!!!!we listened to a bit of the new yo la tengo and bob dylan records and then caught the lincoln bus up to schuba's to see neil hagerty and the howling hex.
Neil had this weird bass/guitar thing going with two amps-playing all the bass parts on the top 3 strings and then soloing his ass off on the bottom three. he had a hot shit guitarist, playing an sg, that looked like one of marc bolan's turds and then a guy who sang, played the tambourine and recited a poem. he looked like that actor who played that speed freak david in drugstore cowboy.at one point he was shirtless...not good. An extra bonus of the night was nori tanaka on drums!
the set started strong with both neil and his other guitarist playing one incredible solo after another over tanaka's locked rhythms. things kinda fell apart in the middle but man they came with it for the last two songs both in a heavy VU vein (think guess i'm falling in love from the another view lp) and man neil's playing was so amazing i thought i might go into convulsions. the triple vocal thing got old quick but overall this was a pretty solid show from one of the most incredible guitarists out there-and i didn't have to wait long for the bus home...
Neil had this weird bass/guitar thing going with two amps-playing all the bass parts on the top 3 strings and then soloing his ass off on the bottom three. he had a hot shit guitarist, playing an sg, that looked like one of marc bolan's turds and then a guy who sang, played the tambourine and recited a poem. he looked like that actor who played that speed freak david in drugstore cowboy.at one point he was shirtless...not good. An extra bonus of the night was nori tanaka on drums!
the set started strong with both neil and his other guitarist playing one incredible solo after another over tanaka's locked rhythms. things kinda fell apart in the middle but man they came with it for the last two songs both in a heavy VU vein (think guess i'm falling in love from the another view lp) and man neil's playing was so amazing i thought i might go into convulsions. the triple vocal thing got old quick but overall this was a pretty solid show from one of the most incredible guitarists out there-and i didn't have to wait long for the bus home...
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
jandek at the empty bottle...
got home a little bit ago from seeing jandek play at the empty bottle as part of this year's wire magazine 'adventures in modern music' fest- he was supposed to make it last year but cancelled since he thought hurricane katrina was gonna wipe out his place in houston....never thought i'd be able to get tickets for this thing but it was pretty easy....the show wasn't superpacked like i thought i would be- jandek played first and some people might not have realized this and arrived later- i couldn't tell you who the group was (a bass player and drummer) couldn't tell you what they played which is the appeal of jandek i guess.
i went into this a little scared knowing that he planned to play for 2 hours. i thought it might end up being an endurance test after seeing footage of his scotland concert but actually it turned out to be pretty good-not amazing but i wasn't expecting that. anyone that tells you jandek is amazing or a genius etc-is either on heroin or severely brain damaged...he is what he is- interesting and inspiring to a certain degree but no genius. still though it wasn't predictable like i thought it would be and the band with him added alot and helped to hold the audience's interest. the two hours ended up a treat....
either way i just fucking saw jandek and i doubt the chance will arise again- something to tell my grandkids about after he is elected president of the mysterious sci-fi future...
i went into this a little scared knowing that he planned to play for 2 hours. i thought it might end up being an endurance test after seeing footage of his scotland concert but actually it turned out to be pretty good-not amazing but i wasn't expecting that. anyone that tells you jandek is amazing or a genius etc-is either on heroin or severely brain damaged...he is what he is- interesting and inspiring to a certain degree but no genius. still though it wasn't predictable like i thought it would be and the band with him added alot and helped to hold the audience's interest. the two hours ended up a treat....
either way i just fucking saw jandek and i doubt the chance will arise again- something to tell my grandkids about after he is elected president of the mysterious sci-fi future...
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
touch and go 25th block party
it's how i spent my wekend, it's why i took the time off. my homeboy andy and his lady adri flew in from lawrence kansas via kansas city to take it all in and well here's what i took in...
friday night: i saw all the acts and have to say that the girls against boys set was really the highlight. they did the venus luxure no:1 baby lp in its entirety plus kill the sexplayer and a few others...the shipping news wasn't bad despite a bass heavy sound man (duh, dude turn it down and give us some treble)....supersystem was a huge stinky one...ted leo did his typical thing...and !!! danced their asses off til i went home....
saturday: i caught killdozer who did king of sex as well as uttering the classic-you call this cup of shit coffee?...well i'd rather drink from the dick of a goat
then there was jon langford and kat from the ex's short set that wasn't bad despite an argument i got into w/a dude who spent alot of time manicuring his facial hair-the song i remember was called bouquet of barbed wire, i think...not bad
but really for me and andy and all of us central/southern illinois kids the real treat of the fest was the reunion of the didjits who did not disappoint delivering probably the most kick ass set of the festival. and the most clever insults.
after that i wasn't up close but heard negative approach's plummeling set followed by scratch acid's reunion as the sun set. man it was cold and all i had on was a t-shirt-i really wanted to stick around for big black's short reunion and shellac's set but was so cold and miserable that i had to bail out of there.
sunday: couldn't care less about this day....tara jane o'neill was not bad-had a few good moments towards the end of her short set...seam made no impression...todd trainer's brick layer cake was a damn shame to see...and finally the black heart procession played but even with a coat-it was shitty. so with the rain coming down and no bands to really get excited about it was bye bye to the touch and go fest which was fun but made this goofy mutha feel a little old, you know?....
friday night: i saw all the acts and have to say that the girls against boys set was really the highlight. they did the venus luxure no:1 baby lp in its entirety plus kill the sexplayer and a few others...the shipping news wasn't bad despite a bass heavy sound man (duh, dude turn it down and give us some treble)....supersystem was a huge stinky one...ted leo did his typical thing...and !!! danced their asses off til i went home....
saturday: i caught killdozer who did king of sex as well as uttering the classic-you call this cup of shit coffee?...well i'd rather drink from the dick of a goat
then there was jon langford and kat from the ex's short set that wasn't bad despite an argument i got into w/a dude who spent alot of time manicuring his facial hair-the song i remember was called bouquet of barbed wire, i think...not bad
but really for me and andy and all of us central/southern illinois kids the real treat of the fest was the reunion of the didjits who did not disappoint delivering probably the most kick ass set of the festival. and the most clever insults.
after that i wasn't up close but heard negative approach's plummeling set followed by scratch acid's reunion as the sun set. man it was cold and all i had on was a t-shirt-i really wanted to stick around for big black's short reunion and shellac's set but was so cold and miserable that i had to bail out of there.
sunday: couldn't care less about this day....tara jane o'neill was not bad-had a few good moments towards the end of her short set...seam made no impression...todd trainer's brick layer cake was a damn shame to see...and finally the black heart procession played but even with a coat-it was shitty. so with the rain coming down and no bands to really get excited about it was bye bye to the touch and go fest which was fun but made this goofy mutha feel a little old, you know?....
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
jabberwhorl guitar ensemble september 11th!
but wait there's more....after the myopic show there's another one, a big one at elastic. last time we were called s.u.g.e. or gtar army but now we are officially- the jabberwhorl gtar ensemble. this time around the group will feature 15 guitarists from chicago. yeah you read right-15 guitars.
we'll be at elastic in logan square right up the road from the myopic gig-more accurately at:
2830 n milwaukee avenue
upstairs
10pm
not sure about an opener yet but it'll probably be a group bill mackay is putting together, so it'll be good...
their home on the web is:
www.elasticrevolution.com
the group:
abe gibson, alex wing, bill mackay, jayve montgomery, jesse thomas, minh nyguen, brian labycz, brian klein, chris lange, micheal silvestri, brian ashby, matt field, matthew daniel, cliff ingram, and arvo zylo.
so fuck going to see gnarls barkley at the rivieria, forget about vashti bunyan-she's got another show booked on the 12th-come out and see our ensemble...
we'll be at elastic in logan square right up the road from the myopic gig-more accurately at:
2830 n milwaukee avenue
upstairs
10pm
not sure about an opener yet but it'll probably be a group bill mackay is putting together, so it'll be good...
their home on the web is:
www.elasticrevolution.com
the group:
abe gibson, alex wing, bill mackay, jayve montgomery, jesse thomas, minh nyguen, brian labycz, brian klein, chris lange, micheal silvestri, brian ashby, matt field, matthew daniel, cliff ingram, and arvo zylo.
so fuck going to see gnarls barkley at the rivieria, forget about vashti bunyan-she's got another show booked on the 12th-come out and see our ensemble...
duo with brian labycz at myopic
after the big touch and go records blowout-goddamn the didjits, and scratch acid reuniting and big black sort of too. not to mention ANDY!!!!!!!!!! so yeah after all this excitement-i'll try to make it continue with a little excitement of my own on monday september 11th...
there will be more music
free music
at 7:30 pm
the group is:
brian labycz: electronics
abraham gibson: e gtar
1564 n milwaukee avenue
upstairs
wicker park
chicago
www.myopicbookstore.com
www.savagesound.com
there will be more music
free music
at 7:30 pm
the group is:
brian labycz: electronics
abraham gibson: e gtar
1564 n milwaukee avenue
upstairs
wicker park
chicago
www.myopicbookstore.com
www.savagesound.com
poetry in zen baby #17
i have a new-er poem appearing in the upcoming issue #17 of zen baby out of santa cruz. the poem is called -'i have been away'
you can get a copy of this mag for a mere $2 or a 3 issue subscription for $5, so why wouldn't ya? he's practically giving them away! get yours now at:
zen baby
christopher robin, editor
po box 1611
santa cruz ca 95061-1611
and for my chicago people- you can also get it at quimby's.....
you can get a copy of this mag for a mere $2 or a 3 issue subscription for $5, so why wouldn't ya? he's practically giving them away! get yours now at:
zen baby
christopher robin, editor
po box 1611
santa cruz ca 95061-1611
and for my chicago people- you can also get it at quimby's.....
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