After a 3-strikes-you're-out kind of night on Wednesday, last night (Thurs) was a homerun. Wednesday involved me taking the train and bus to a club to specifically try and sit in with a DJ/turntablist that I recently heard about that likes to collaborate with other musicians. I got to the club around 10pm and he was there...but his turntable was not.
Turns it he borrows the club's, but they had lent it out to someone else. I didn't get upset, though, because he wasn't upset, and plus the club owner is a really nice guy. And musicians around here, I'm learning, are mostly very chill. Plus, I talked with the two of them for a good deal and made plans to be there sometime soon again and jam.
So that was only one misfire. And come on, it's only 11pm now. The night is young! (Cant' believe I'm saying that, but it's pretty true for a musician here!). So I remember that another music club is nearby that's looking for something new on Wed nights. I walk over there to see if they've figured things out yet and...
Strike two. No music yet. Without getting too depressing (because it really wasn't), I'll quickly add that strike 3 was stopping by the Green Mill a little after midnight only to find that a sax player that regularly plays there late on Wednesdays had cancelled as well.
That just meant I went home and did some extra editing on my upcoming music videos, which was needed anyways. So not a great live music night for me, but that was to come the next day.
Thursday was another another Chicago first for me: my first time here getting paid a little something by the club itself, not just tips. (Hey, I'm moving up in the world!)
The incredible fusion group Low Spark (with whom I've been jamming regularly at the Wonderbar on Monday nights) asked me to perform with them at a really cool club called Martyrs'. We shared the night with two other bands: the Lowdown Brass Band and Andy Frasco. After sound checking and changing into our costumes (it was the day before Halloween, after all), we played for 50 minutes and had a lot of fun. Here's a pic of us in our stylin' 70's outfits:
And from there, the energy just kept going up. The Lowdown Brass Band, wearing typical musician Halloween costumes (AKA wigs), played a really cool mix of New Orleans "Second Line", Reggae, Hip-Hop, and Funk.
The last group to play was Andy Frasco and his band. My best way to describe Andy would be a piano-playing cross between James Brown and John Belushi. And seriously, this guy and his band were off the wall, playing everything from blues and boogie-woogie to Rage Against the Machine (Yeah, they actually did that). I don't know if I've ever seen such a unique mix of personalities and such care-free energy on stage. Really inspiring in a crazy/goofy kind of way. But the more I think about it, I don't think I need to add the descriptor "crazy/goof kind of way." Plain and simple, they were really inspiring.
So hats-off to Low Spark for being awesome and continuing to let me play with them (including at a Halloween party tonight!), to the Lowdown Brass Band for keeping saxophones and brass instruments relevant in today's music scene, and to Andy Frasco and his band for being so...
for lack of a better word...
fun.
Turns it he borrows the club's, but they had lent it out to someone else. I didn't get upset, though, because he wasn't upset, and plus the club owner is a really nice guy. And musicians around here, I'm learning, are mostly very chill. Plus, I talked with the two of them for a good deal and made plans to be there sometime soon again and jam.
So that was only one misfire. And come on, it's only 11pm now. The night is young! (Cant' believe I'm saying that, but it's pretty true for a musician here!). So I remember that another music club is nearby that's looking for something new on Wed nights. I walk over there to see if they've figured things out yet and...
Strike two. No music yet. Without getting too depressing (because it really wasn't), I'll quickly add that strike 3 was stopping by the Green Mill a little after midnight only to find that a sax player that regularly plays there late on Wednesdays had cancelled as well.
That just meant I went home and did some extra editing on my upcoming music videos, which was needed anyways. So not a great live music night for me, but that was to come the next day.
Thursday was another another Chicago first for me: my first time here getting paid a little something by the club itself, not just tips. (Hey, I'm moving up in the world!)
The incredible fusion group Low Spark (with whom I've been jamming regularly at the Wonderbar on Monday nights) asked me to perform with them at a really cool club called Martyrs'. We shared the night with two other bands: the Lowdown Brass Band and Andy Frasco. After sound checking and changing into our costumes (it was the day before Halloween, after all), we played for 50 minutes and had a lot of fun. Here's a pic of us in our stylin' 70's outfits:
Yes, those pants are real!
And from there, the energy just kept going up. The Lowdown Brass Band, wearing typical musician Halloween costumes (AKA wigs), played a really cool mix of New Orleans "Second Line", Reggae, Hip-Hop, and Funk.
The last group to play was Andy Frasco and his band. My best way to describe Andy would be a piano-playing cross between James Brown and John Belushi. And seriously, this guy and his band were off the wall, playing everything from blues and boogie-woogie to Rage Against the Machine (Yeah, they actually did that). I don't know if I've ever seen such a unique mix of personalities and such care-free energy on stage. Really inspiring in a crazy/goofy kind of way. But the more I think about it, I don't think I need to add the descriptor "crazy/goof kind of way." Plain and simple, they were really inspiring.
Andy is the blue, blurry one. He's blurry because he's dancing like crazy!
So hats-off to Low Spark for being awesome and continuing to let me play with them (including at a Halloween party tonight!), to the Lowdown Brass Band for keeping saxophones and brass instruments relevant in today's music scene, and to Andy Frasco and his band for being so...
for lack of a better word...
fun.