Folk gone crazy, Dedicated Ears Show #3

The latest Dedicated Ears Presents at the Chopin Theatre featured an array of folk styles. The heat and the festival down the road made getting people out a bit difficult but the turnout was respectable. The crowd was ready for the bands and was very vocal. Gabe from Dastardly is responsible for getting The Bears Of Blue River and Teenage Rage to play as well as being a man about the crowd. I enjoyed all 4 sets. The Bears Of Blue River played a more traditional brand of folk with Gavin telling some stories in between. Teenage Rage played a wide open anything goes set that utilized piano, guitar, bass, drums, saxophone , male and female vocals while stretching the bonderies of folk music. Dastardly offered up a loose and energetic set that was punctuated by Gabe's showmanship. The Black Atlantic were sublime and beautiful while Geert used some jokes as well to propel their great set along. I have a video from each band on this page, the rest can be found on Chopin Thetre's youtube account. Again there were many remarks about the awesome venue and genial owners of the Chopin Theatre. Those sentiments are heard at each show I have done.

Special thanks again to Brian Fitzgerald for the great poster again! Also, to Aaron Hui who has been at all three shows and takes pictures as well as helps with the lighting. Thanks again to Lela and Zygmunt.








Next up I am finalizing a show with Judson Claiborne. I am also in talks with Louis from Sky White Tiger about bringing their concert and visual spectacle they did at Adler Planetrium to the Chopin in Nov. Also, I am starting up a monthly singer-songwriter night and will have a date for the first one in Aug. very soon.

After Pitchfork Party at The Chopin (4 Bands for $6!!!)

(Thanks= Brian Fitzgerald for another distinguished looking poster design(brifitz3@gmail.com)


The next Dedicated Eras show at the Chopin Theatre is this coming Sunday July 18th. The lineup for the show is : The Bears Of Blue River, Teenage Rage, Dastardly, and The Black Atlantic from the Netherlands. These are all folk and singer songwriter acts that will make for a great bill. This will be the last time you will be able to see the Black Atlantic for a couple of years, so if you haven't seen them, make it to this show. . You can download the beautiful Black Atlantic album, Reverence For Fallen Trees is a FREE legal download. check out the other bands at their links too!

If you are thinking "I am going to Pitchfork on this day", then you are in luck. Our show will have doors at 9:30pm and first act at 10:30pm, right after Pitchfork lets out. It's $6 for four bands! Just head up Ashland. Chill out in the laid back vibe of the downstairs cabaret and have some cold beer. The show is a 21+ to enter and there is a CASH BAR. Also, I will be playing music that has been featured on this blog. Come on by and enjoy a complete concert experience. Lela and Zygmunt , the owners of the Chopin are really nice and very approachable. Our idea is to have an environment where people can talk in between music acts.

Dedicated Ears Deux : Anjru Kieterang, Welcome To Ashley, and The Juliets

The second installment of Dedicated Ears presents at the Chopin Theatre featured some hiccups, but isn't that what happens at concerts? All three acts brought something different and were all at ease on the stage. There were some sound issues, and the fix to those is already in. I am still learning the ropes as far as the equipment that each band will require. It is fun though, and I love to learn new things. All the while I got to listen to great music and play music featured on this blog. Once again I was able to speak to music fans like Aaaron Hui, who has been to both shows. My friend featured prominently again. Brian Fitzgerald with another great poster. August and Kevin helped promote. I was also able to use the venues camera to capture music from all three acts which will be below here. Thanks again go out to Lela and Zygmunt and the grand old lady, The Chopin, which keeps getting rave reviews as a unique place to see and perform a concert. Thanks again to all three bands and to the crowd of vocal concertgoers who made the night a blast. Thanks to Aly who covered the show for her great blog Streets Of Wicker.

Next up The Black Atlantic from the Netherlands perform The Chopin on July 18th. This is the last leg of their US tour and it may be a few years before you get a chance to see this breathtaking band.

Dedicated Ears Presents: David Safran, Brendan Losch, and Pretty Little Empire Live May 8 at The Chopin Theatre Chicago

I don't usually incorporate much of my personal life in this blog as this is a music blog and not a blog about me. Yes, there is a but coming. But, I thought a little back story on how I went from no blog 1 yr ago to blog and booking shows might help set the story for Dedicated Ears' first show at The Chopin Theatre.

I went to see and interview Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs last October at The Chopin. I got to talk to Lela, who is half owner of The Chopin. I had started looking into venues for bands I was friends with and mentioned this to Lela. Earlier this year I met with Lela and the other owner, her husband Zygmunt. I dropped off music of the bands that were looking for gigs. Lela and Zygmunt have been putting on shows at The Chopin for 18 years and are still very excited about trying new things. So they asked if I would be interested in booking acts on a regular basis at The Chopin. I happily agreed even though I haven't booked shows anywhere before. I owned my own sub sandwich start-up and I did everything by myself, top to bottom. That was a big learning curve and I have found that those skills of organization, people skills and problem solving that go along with owning my own business will serve me well while booking shows at The Chopin.

I have had an invaluable amount of help from August Forte who works at Novo Entertainment. I went to high school with August and recently reconnected via facebook. He has helped me meet many cool people in the music scene in Chicago. He is also a good friend and will be promoting many of the shows I book for the Chopin. He has helped make my Dedicated Ears' first show at The Chopin Theatre a reality, so I thank him for it. The show is May 8th with doors at 9:30 pm and the first band at 10pm. This is a 21+ show with a $6 cover. The three great acts to perform are David Safran, Brendan Losch, and Pretty Little Empire. Thanks to these bands for playing this show. Also thanks to another blogger Tarty Tart, who is probably at a show as we speak! She gave me the heads up on Brendan's music. Please come see them play live and hang out in the very cool cabaret space at The Chopin Theatre.

A good friend of mine Brian Fitzgerald designed the great poster for the show that you see on this page. You can reach Brian at brianfitzgerald3@yahoo.com if you would like to inquire about his design work.

A special thanks to my wife. She's always supportive and helps me make my crazy ideas become realities. She originally pushed me to start this blog one year ago. Like I like to say, "This is all her fault", in a good way!