I think it's time to wake up and start getting out again. Keep an eye open for some new posts! And by the way, don't try to add comments about my postings as I get nothing but spam in my comments folder and it's not worth sorting through all the e-mails to see which ones are legit.
Again, I'll see y'all shortly.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Just Riffin'
Been a while. I've not been real active lately as during the summer and fall, I was playing pretty much non-stop. Also, there hasn't been a lot happening out there that gets me all worked up any more.
I understand we've lost some more live music venues. I understand Porter's Oyster Bar - Yellowtails Grill is closed now. Although I feel bad about that, the place was certainly not a great place to see a band in. Also, the owner had this attitude that was a touch "uppity" for Crystal Lake. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice place, but the food was too expensive for the quality you got and for ordinary average guys like most of us, this place was trying to be a little too "Chicago", if you know what I mean.
Although it's not in McHenry County, Idols Sports Bar is out of business. There goes another live music venue.
Talking about being a bit too "Chicago" for my liking, The Buzz, the new place out on Rt 14 in Crystal Lake, is another place I think may only make it to the end of the year, if that long. It's a square box room. Nice bar. It has a long line of benches all the way down one long wall. When I was there to see Phidget (yes guys, I was there), I was not impressed. It's too slick. The parking blows. The thing that really puts me off is that the management has obviously made a deal with Joey D to put some bands in there. I could of course be totally wrong but the band lineup as indicated on the web site screams of Mr. D.
So, if you missed Libido Funk Circus at the Fire Bar, don't worry, you can see them at The Buzz. If you missed them at The Buzz, don't worry, you can see them at Sideouts ... and on and on. That same circulation of the same old bands will continue. Therefore, the entertainment at The Buzz is nothing novel and exciting, except that you probably won't see many of the local bands there.
Bets anyone? I hope I'm wrong but I have The Buzz gone by December.
On the other weird side of things, The Cottage in downtown Crystal Lake has had some entertainment in there and get this, so does the Breakers. I haven't been to Breakers to see the entertainment but it sounds kind of scary to be thinking of single and duo acts in that place. However, KUDOS to both of you for having us play for your customers!
Thirsty Whale has bands. What an ant farm that place is. It's a place for the kids. It has bands but again, not a real fun place to see a band in, in my opinion.
Wool Street in Cary still seems to have bands although I'm getting tired of that place. As a side note, Double D, it might be nice to actually pay the bands a decent $. Just an observation on behalf of the musicians. The place seems to be taken over after 11 by the "Dance/Rap" contingent.
Well, I'm going to try to get out again to see some groups. Like I said earlier, there's not a lot out there that gets me excited any more. It's always the same songs. It's most often, always the same bands. I'll snap out of it eventually.
I understand we've lost some more live music venues. I understand Porter's Oyster Bar - Yellowtails Grill is closed now. Although I feel bad about that, the place was certainly not a great place to see a band in. Also, the owner had this attitude that was a touch "uppity" for Crystal Lake. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice place, but the food was too expensive for the quality you got and for ordinary average guys like most of us, this place was trying to be a little too "Chicago", if you know what I mean.
Although it's not in McHenry County, Idols Sports Bar is out of business. There goes another live music venue.
Talking about being a bit too "Chicago" for my liking, The Buzz, the new place out on Rt 14 in Crystal Lake, is another place I think may only make it to the end of the year, if that long. It's a square box room. Nice bar. It has a long line of benches all the way down one long wall. When I was there to see Phidget (yes guys, I was there), I was not impressed. It's too slick. The parking blows. The thing that really puts me off is that the management has obviously made a deal with Joey D to put some bands in there. I could of course be totally wrong but the band lineup as indicated on the web site screams of Mr. D.
So, if you missed Libido Funk Circus at the Fire Bar, don't worry, you can see them at The Buzz. If you missed them at The Buzz, don't worry, you can see them at Sideouts ... and on and on. That same circulation of the same old bands will continue. Therefore, the entertainment at The Buzz is nothing novel and exciting, except that you probably won't see many of the local bands there.
Bets anyone? I hope I'm wrong but I have The Buzz gone by December.
On the other weird side of things, The Cottage in downtown Crystal Lake has had some entertainment in there and get this, so does the Breakers. I haven't been to Breakers to see the entertainment but it sounds kind of scary to be thinking of single and duo acts in that place. However, KUDOS to both of you for having us play for your customers!
Thirsty Whale has bands. What an ant farm that place is. It's a place for the kids. It has bands but again, not a real fun place to see a band in, in my opinion.
Wool Street in Cary still seems to have bands although I'm getting tired of that place. As a side note, Double D, it might be nice to actually pay the bands a decent $. Just an observation on behalf of the musicians. The place seems to be taken over after 11 by the "Dance/Rap" contingent.
Well, I'm going to try to get out again to see some groups. Like I said earlier, there's not a lot out there that gets me excited any more. It's always the same songs. It's most often, always the same bands. I'll snap out of it eventually.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
90s Nation - Duke's Alehouse Crystal Lake, 10.15.10
It was an OK night at Duke's Alehouse. Not packed but not empty either. I've always kind of liked Duke's, as I remember it when it was Southside Johnny's and Cat Ballew's. 90's Nation was there and it's not a bad band. They played some fun songs and some material you don't hear all the time in bars.
90's Nation consists of a singing bass player, a female singing/keyboardist, 2 guitarists and a drummer. As the name implies, they specialize in 90s songs. They are all good players and are very tight together. They are entertaining to watch and obviously had some devoted fans in the audience. My only other comment would be that the vocals were not as strong as one might like. They were good but, I felt, not real strong and/or full of personality. But maybe that's just me. Their fans liked what they heard and that's what really matters.
Now, as a comment on the 90's, I was not blown away by the 9os. However, back in the actual 1980's, I remember a good friend and I agreeing that the 80s was a wasteland of musical crap that would go down in musical history as the "Dark Ages". Man, was I wrong.I also remember that in the 80's, 60's music was big and in the 70's, 50's was the nostalgic decade.
But then again, the big fad music every decade is the music of two decades prior. We just got through a few years of a huge resurgence in Bon Jovi, Poison and 80's hair band music and we are now moving in to the 2010 to 2020 era and it would only be natural that 90's music will be the next big fad music for the upcoming decade.
As I'm sure that 90's music will be the next big fad music, 90s Nation will be right there delivering what people will want to hear. Good job you guys. You will be on the cutting edge!
Check out 90s Nation at their Facebook page at http://pt-br.facebook.com/90snation
90's Nation consists of a singing bass player, a female singing/keyboardist, 2 guitarists and a drummer. As the name implies, they specialize in 90s songs. They are all good players and are very tight together. They are entertaining to watch and obviously had some devoted fans in the audience. My only other comment would be that the vocals were not as strong as one might like. They were good but, I felt, not real strong and/or full of personality. But maybe that's just me. Their fans liked what they heard and that's what really matters.
Now, as a comment on the 90's, I was not blown away by the 9os. However, back in the actual 1980's, I remember a good friend and I agreeing that the 80s was a wasteland of musical crap that would go down in musical history as the "Dark Ages". Man, was I wrong.I also remember that in the 80's, 60's music was big and in the 70's, 50's was the nostalgic decade.
But then again, the big fad music every decade is the music of two decades prior. We just got through a few years of a huge resurgence in Bon Jovi, Poison and 80's hair band music and we are now moving in to the 2010 to 2020 era and it would only be natural that 90's music will be the next big fad music for the upcoming decade.
As I'm sure that 90's music will be the next big fad music, 90s Nation will be right there delivering what people will want to hear. Good job you guys. You will be on the cutting edge!
Check out 90s Nation at their Facebook page at http://pt-br.facebook.com/90snation
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Scott Wesley Band - Duke's Alehouse 9.4.10
I stopped in at Duke's Alehouse Saturday night and had the opportunity to see a great band, the Scott Wesley Band. I really liked these guys. They were a group of young guys but they sounded every bit as good as many of the bands I've seen consisting of old guys (you know what I mean). Good original music. Some excellent covers and a great, laid-back sound. The band consists of Scott on guitar and most of the lead vocals, a drummer with an excellent voice, another guitarist and a bassist. These guys were well-rehearsed, tight and had some great harmony work. They were all good players. They also ran their own sound themselves and the mix was great. It's too bad it was Labor Day week end and most all of downtown Crystal Lake was dead Saturday night. There was not a big crowd at Duke's but missing these guys performing was your loss if you by-passed Dukes.
Keep it up you guys. I really liked what I heard and the originals were very good songs. You really slayed me when I heard your very excellent version of Quinn the Eskimo. Check these guys out at their web site at http://scottwesleymusic.com/ or at http://www.myspace.com/scottwesleyband
Make a point to see them live the next chance you get. I will definitely be back to see them again.
Keep it up you guys. I really liked what I heard and the originals were very good songs. You really slayed me when I heard your very excellent version of Quinn the Eskimo. Check these guys out at their web site at http://scottwesleymusic.com/ or at http://www.myspace.com/scottwesleyband
Make a point to see them live the next chance you get. I will definitely be back to see them again.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
High Life - Porters Yellowtails, Crystal Lake 4.3.10
Here is one great band. I saw part of their show at Porters in Crystal Lake and this was a treat. This is a local band (I believe) consisting of bass, guitar, keyboard, drums and lead vocalist. Everyone in this band was more-than-competent. One thing that really separates the "men from the boys" is the use of harmony. Most bands I see usually end up with only one vocal and sometimes there's a couple of mics set up and nothing happening at them. This band has obviously practiced their vocals and worked their vocals and made the lead vocal and harmony vocals the forefront of their show. It is an absolute joy to hear the results of a lot of real hard work.
The instrumental parts were also obviously well-rehearsed and the band was tight. The flow of the show was good and they had good presence. The show was not real spectacular but with this band, I really didn't care. The only complaint I could search out was that the mix was a little lacking in the guitar and lead vocal volumes.
You really need to seek out this band and have some fun! You don't hear a lot of Styx songs in clubs these days and I thought seeing High Life was worth it just for those. Check out the band at http://www.highlife-theband.com/
The instrumental parts were also obviously well-rehearsed and the band was tight. The flow of the show was good and they had good presence. The show was not real spectacular but with this band, I really didn't care. The only complaint I could search out was that the mix was a little lacking in the guitar and lead vocal volumes.
You really need to seek out this band and have some fun! You don't hear a lot of Styx songs in clubs these days and I thought seeing High Life was worth it just for those. Check out the band at http://www.highlife-theband.com/
Sunday, January 3, 2010
3 If By Air - Wool Street, Cary 1.2.10
Wow. It's 2010. Another year older. Not necessarily another year wiser.
Anyway.
I saw 3 If By Air at Wool Street in Cary last night. They seem like a nice enough group of guys. 3 If By Air is a four-piece endeavor with the standard guitar, drums, bass and vocalist lineup. To put it simply, these guys showed a lot of heart and drive but are also a group still in the middle of the "getting their act together" stage. They did have a a pretty good "flow of the show", as I like to call it. They moved fairly well from song to song. They had a few glitches in the beginning getting the sound dialed in but what band doesn't have that problem when they do their own sound. Once they got the guitar volume up in the mix by about the second or third song, they sounded much better but the bass was still too lost in the mix. That's not a good thing because what turns spectators into dancers is a loud bass drum sistered up to a thumping deep bass guitar. That's what gets people moving. I didn't hear a lot of that in the first set. Just an observation.
The drummer and bass player were good. The guitar player showed some good chops. The singer was adequate but violated one of my biggest pet peeves .... trying to reach for notes that he shouldn't be trying to get to. Again, this is the number one problem I see in most bands. If you as the singer can not do the song justice because the key is too high, don't do the song. It's as simple as that. You can have killer instrumentalists but if the the singer sounds like he or she is stretching to far to get those high passages, the song will sound bad.
I'm not saying the singer in this case was bad. He wasn't. He was a bit pitchy but many singers are at the beginning of the night. It's those high notes. What band doesn't want to perform "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by JET. I have not heard two bands in the last three years that can hit those notes believably. The same goes for just about any AC/DC song. Change the key or don't do the song. Or ... wait until the end of the night when the patrons are so loaded they wouldn't know a good singer from a dry-heaving cocker spaniel.
I'm sorry. The high-note thing is my peeve and I just got carried away and it wasn't entirely aimed at 3 If By Air.
Tim, you are good, you will be much better and keep it up! Same with all you guys. You had a packed house last night and I'm sure you'll be asked back. Like I said, it's the "getting it together" stage and it just takes doing gigs. You'll be great if you can all hang together. My only comment is, make every song sound great. There's TONS of material out there. Not every band has to do the same songs to be popular. Also, one last comment. I couldn't hear any "Ts" or "Ss" coming out of those speakers. It sounded like the speakers were stuffed with pillows. Could have just been the room ... but it wasn't.
Check out 3 If By Air at http://www.3ifbyair.net/index.html and tell the bartenders at the places you see them at how great they are. We all need to do that!
Anyway.
I saw 3 If By Air at Wool Street in Cary last night. They seem like a nice enough group of guys. 3 If By Air is a four-piece endeavor with the standard guitar, drums, bass and vocalist lineup. To put it simply, these guys showed a lot of heart and drive but are also a group still in the middle of the "getting their act together" stage. They did have a a pretty good "flow of the show", as I like to call it. They moved fairly well from song to song. They had a few glitches in the beginning getting the sound dialed in but what band doesn't have that problem when they do their own sound. Once they got the guitar volume up in the mix by about the second or third song, they sounded much better but the bass was still too lost in the mix. That's not a good thing because what turns spectators into dancers is a loud bass drum sistered up to a thumping deep bass guitar. That's what gets people moving. I didn't hear a lot of that in the first set. Just an observation.
The drummer and bass player were good. The guitar player showed some good chops. The singer was adequate but violated one of my biggest pet peeves .... trying to reach for notes that he shouldn't be trying to get to. Again, this is the number one problem I see in most bands. If you as the singer can not do the song justice because the key is too high, don't do the song. It's as simple as that. You can have killer instrumentalists but if the the singer sounds like he or she is stretching to far to get those high passages, the song will sound bad.
I'm not saying the singer in this case was bad. He wasn't. He was a bit pitchy but many singers are at the beginning of the night. It's those high notes. What band doesn't want to perform "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by JET. I have not heard two bands in the last three years that can hit those notes believably. The same goes for just about any AC/DC song. Change the key or don't do the song. Or ... wait until the end of the night when the patrons are so loaded they wouldn't know a good singer from a dry-heaving cocker spaniel.
I'm sorry. The high-note thing is my peeve and I just got carried away and it wasn't entirely aimed at 3 If By Air.
Tim, you are good, you will be much better and keep it up! Same with all you guys. You had a packed house last night and I'm sure you'll be asked back. Like I said, it's the "getting it together" stage and it just takes doing gigs. You'll be great if you can all hang together. My only comment is, make every song sound great. There's TONS of material out there. Not every band has to do the same songs to be popular. Also, one last comment. I couldn't hear any "Ts" or "Ss" coming out of those speakers. It sounded like the speakers were stuffed with pillows. Could have just been the room ... but it wasn't.
Check out 3 If By Air at http://www.3ifbyair.net/index.html and tell the bartenders at the places you see them at how great they are. We all need to do that!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Happy New Year to all of you!
I have a New Years gig and I hope all of you have one. In these economic times, things just aren't as good for us as they could be but we all need to hang in there and hold our bands together. Things will get better and things will pick up.
I have always appreciated all of your comments and I really hope that none of you took what I opined as mean-spirited or non-constructive. I absolutely appreciate what all of you are doing and we need to help each other out.
Keep it up and I promise I will see some of you again, as I said I would, and I will make a point of checking more of you out. Be professional. Be dependable. Give the bar owners a reason to have us back and give the audiences a reason to come back to see us. Some of us may be smaller bands and bands that have no desire to play anywhere outside of McHenry County, but we still need to deliver. We owe that to our audiences, employers and .... ourselves.
I have always appreciated all of your comments and I really hope that none of you took what I opined as mean-spirited or non-constructive. I absolutely appreciate what all of you are doing and we need to help each other out.
Keep it up and I promise I will see some of you again, as I said I would, and I will make a point of checking more of you out. Be professional. Be dependable. Give the bar owners a reason to have us back and give the audiences a reason to come back to see us. Some of us may be smaller bands and bands that have no desire to play anywhere outside of McHenry County, but we still need to deliver. We owe that to our audiences, employers and .... ourselves.
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