October isn't just for Halloween

Since I'm not able to update the blog quite as regularly as I should, I'm going to make sure ya'll know about all the important stuff coming up in October now, just in case. Plus, it's never too soon to start planning for Halloween weekend.

• Huzzah for Libras! I'm doing a birthday show on Tuesday, October 13th at the Wild Pug in Uptown. Starts at 9pm, it's free, also celebrating with Stephen Leonard, who is facing a less scary number of years to celebrate but will nonetheless be bringing the rock.
• Canasta is a finalist in the Chicago Public Library Sound Off contest for the video we threw together for "Slow Down Chicago." There's a link to the video, with most of us in our PJs even, from that there contest link. We'll be playing a show later this month if we win, but I dare not jinx our chances by telling you when. However...
  
• Canasta is playing on Halloween (the 31st) at Subterranean. This show was originally supposed to be the CD release for Scotland Yard Gospel Choir's new album, "...And the Horse You Rode In On." Those of you following on Facebook know about the horrible accident the band got into a couple weeks ago -- if not, there are details here along with how you can donate money or equipment to help the band recover. The show is now going to be a benefit for SYGC, which I'm glad we can be a part of. The new album has jumped to the top of my favorite breakup CD mix, and those of you who know me know I'm a sucker for sob story music, so that is not a short list.
  

September Shows, plus some Canasta news

While there's a lull on the blog, why don't I tell you about some fun shows in September?

Well, you've already missed one damn fine show last Friday at Schubas, i.e. The Joans' record release party. This is one of the most high-concept local bands active in Chicago right now -- it's a band with two Joan Crawford front-persons (one male, one female) who only sing songs inspired by or about Joan Crawford. So if you're a big flaming homo, why were you at Sidetracks instead of Schubas last Friday? Because it's west of Sheffield? (Fail!)

But later this month, Mary's Attic is doing a variety show called "Mary's Spotlight" on Sunday, September 2oth at 7:30. I'll be making an appearance along with some friends and acquaintances from the Youth Choir benefit. I'm interested to see what kind of draw Mary's has for original music/performance after having accompanied or seen a lot of shows there earlier in the summer.

Finally, some Canasta news: we have a new drummer! The timing is fortuitous since our last drummer, Josh, is already in Portland learning how to cook kale and ride a fixed gear bicycle and whatever else you Portland people do. We'll post all the official details on our website soon; all I can tell you right now is that we're hoping to get him up to speed on most of our regular set rotation by Tuesday, September 29th, when we're playing a 90 minute set at the Clark Street Music Series, so you can get a good look at him and decide if he's as mischievous as Josh or as whimsical as Colin. In fact, I've already said too much, because I should probably save such fine descriptive phrases for the next news blurb.....

More details on the Clark Street show on our shows page, or this Facebook event. Mary's Spotlight info is here.

Center on Halsted Benefit on Sunday

Right, so the whole "blogging" thing was on hold for a while there. A little down the page, I'll catch you all up, but first an obligatory plug: I'll be playing a benefit show at Center on Halsted on Sunday at 7pm. The show's $25 for general admission, $35 if you want some champagne and dessert afterward.

The Center (Chicago's LGBT community center) has been the literal center of much of my goings-on since my last blog post. The Bailiwick Theater company was in residence at the Center's theater over the summer, and I wound up accompanying a number of shows for them in early August. The Center is also sponsoring a new LGBT Youth Choir that a number of my comrades in the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus are helping to organize and direct -- the aforementioned benefit on Sunday is raising funds to kick-start the choir. EDGE Chicago posted a piece about the youth choir today, which you should read, as it will more eloquently describe how awesome it is that the kids at the Center will have a queer-specific performing group to perform with. And believe it or not, it was relatively unrelated that I started a database/fundraising job at the Center this month, which brings me down there on what feels like a daily basis now.

I think this is proof that I am actually super-gay, as opposed to your garden-variety, I like to dance and sing and not play sports and listen to Tori Amos gay.

What else has been happening?

I noticed that I left off a good two weeks of Rock Camp blogging. (Was I rocking too hard? Yes. Yes I was.) It seems like months ago now because I'm not spending all day with the SoR kids anymore, but there are still some interesting things happening at the School. Our oldest keyboard student just left for college, and there's another one not too far behind him, and the staff is realizing that as a school overall, we need to start training the younger keyboardists now to maintain our current, incredibly high level of musicianship in our performing groups. So I'm in the process of designing a keyboard workshop for the non-keyboardist, to lure them into the world of resonance cut-offs and pitch bend wheels. This will be some of the more unique teaching I get to do at School of Rock because it overlaps a lot with the loop pedal/synth work I've been incorporating into my live set lately.

Lastly, Canasta's final show with our drummer and fellow Obie, Josh Lava, was on Sunday, and we couldn't have had a better month full of shows to send him off to Portland with. We played at the venerable Old Town School of Folk Music, took a field trip to an awesome micro-brewery venue in Michigan, and played the shit out of Simon's in Andersonville. A full news blurb sums it all up for you on Canasta's website.

In the meantime, we're in the midst of auditioning new drummers, several of whom we're very excited about, but we are certainly open to ideas and suggestions. If you know anyone in Chicago who (a) plays drums, (b) likes orchestral-pop, and (c) will put up with me demanding Arby's and Elizabeth playing crossword puzzles in the car, send them to me, please.

Gig Roundup + WBEZ Session Pics on Facebook

Two gigs and a 10 hour recording day in the past two weeks, so lots to read today. A teaser: I'm about to get really snarky.

• Thanks to everyone who came out to the Martyrs' show last Monday. Usually I go for quantity over quality when a venue gives me free drinks, but there was no way I could perform, walk, carry 40 pound pianos, or drive a vehicle with the size of the bar tab I was given. So my new favorite thing at Martyrs' is Cotes du Rhone. I'm afraid it's not very rock 'n roll of me, but I guess it is extremely gay.
  
  
• Milwaukee PrideFest was a reminder of how spoiled musicians are in Chicago when it comes to summer music festivals. Chicago musicians: do not take for granted that our festival organizers usually have their shit together.
  
  It really should have been a red flag when the entertainment coordinator asked me if I was driving to the festival. It was clear when I arrived they still thought I would be -- oh, I don't know -- carrying my two keyboards and amp through the Summerfest grounds on a camel? Or a rickshaw? The closest they would allow my actual car to get to the stage was somewhere in Kenosha. I'll spare you the saga of the entertainment staff haggling with the security staff to get "the big" golf cart.
  
  
• Kyle, Matt, and I went to WBEZ on Saturday with our engineer, Ted Cho, to record all of the grand piano tracks for the new Canasta album. Pictures are up on our Facebook page.
  

Canasta Studio Pics are Up!

It's moving weekend, so I'm keeping this short so I can start piling up ugly shirts to donate and wrapping various fragile things in newspaper.

Head over to Canasta's Facebook page and check out our pictures from our recording session earlier this month at Wall2Wall Studios. We used no less than seven different keyboard instruments in the studio, most of which were vintage instruments with completely unreplicable sounds: a prepared upright piano (modified with tacks for a very plunky percussive sound), a C3 Hammond organ, a Mellotron, which is this weird little British keyboard that plays 11-second tape loops to produce notes.

You can also see the awesome lighting scheme at Wall2Wall which is second only to the laser light show we were bombarded with at our LaSalle Power Co. show a few weeks ago. (Bombarded.)

Canasta on Chicago Acoustic Underground

Chicago Acoustic Underground just released a podcast session Canasta did with them back in June. CAU has been experiencing a huge posting backlog of shows in the past year due to some extenuating circumstances, so there are references to weather events and concerts that seem like ancient history now. But there is some good banter about the origins of the band's name, for those who are curious. It's also probably the last recording we have of Colin as Canasta's drummer. None of the newer tunes got recorded for this one, but we might have some live versions of those in the near future to tide you all over until we get into the studio.

I did a solo piano set at CAU in September, so stay tuned/subscribed and you'll be hearing it eventually.

Jim DeRogatis on Canasta in today's Sun-Times

Today's online edition of the Chicago Sun-Times (and tomorrow's print edition) includes an article about Canasta, and Chicago-style orchestral-pop, by music critic Jim DeRogatis. (DeRogatis is also co-host of NPR's excellent, excellent Sound Opinions, which has a free podcast if your local affiliate doesn't run it.) There's some info about our upcoming album and lots of quotes from Matt and Elizabeth to answer all your questions about our dorky little corner of the indie world. (Yay!)