by David Burn | Oct 24, 2003 | Music
Jerry Joseph + The Jackmormons
Jerry brought his intelligent punk-influenced rock to tiny Schuba’s on the corner of Southport and Belmont for a Friday night free for all. Yes, there was an admission price, I’m referring to the steady flow of drinks and the presence of a noticable rocker-type mentality in the audience. One young woman–I hesitate to call her a lady–screamed her love for Jerry at every opportunity. While I do share her emotional connection to the artist, I found little to admire in her desire to be heard above all else. But hey, I was young and drunk once. On a more positive note, this was Darby’s first Jerry show, and she loved it. It’s always a joy to share the music you love with the one you love, especially when the artist is so clearly deserving of a wider audience.
by David Burn | Oct 17, 2003 | Chicago
The Cubs somehow managed to drop the National League Championship Series to Florida’s fish. Not good. Even worse is this absurd campaign to humiliate the fan who mistakenly prevented Moises Alou from catching a foul ball. The Cubs gave up eight runs in one awful inning and it’s the fan’s fault? I don’t think so. Grow up, people! And place the blame where it belongs–on our beloved Cubs and their young pitching staff.
On a more positive note, dK and Anina were here for a visit last week. I played tourist and joined them on a boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Here’s a photo I snapped, prior to our nautical launch.
by David Burn | Oct 3, 2003 | Music
Leftover Salmon
The Colorado boys kicked it in at House of Blues this Friday night in early Roctober, right as the Cubs recorded another post-season win. Vince announced the victory after the first or second song, and you could also see the game on TVs over the bar. It’s hard to measure what good spirits such news lends to an already festive ocassion, for Chicago is a sports town like no other. We had a good spot on the floor in front of Drew Emmitt–the perfect place to marvel at his consumate skill on mandolin and guitar. And Ackroyd, if you’re reading this, lower your damn drink prices or I’ll get my swerve on elsewhere. Thank you very much.
by David Burn | Sep 30, 2003 | Art, Digital culture, Music
eBay didn’t work for me. I posted my Garcia print, “Poet Reflects The War” in two consecutive 7-day auctions and received no offers, just a note from a nice lady who remarked that my print was probably worth quite a bit more than I was selling it for.
What did work was reaching out to my own network of networked individuals. Thankfully, my network is filled with Deadheads so it turned out exceptionally well for all parties. My buddy Jeffrey Smith, a photographer and designer in Colorado, put my sell notice on a local email list. So the buyer was not a friend of Jeff’s per se, just an online associate in a group list, who trusted Jeff, then me to deliver on said intent to sell said goods in said condition. And with a little help from FedEx it all worked perfectly. I love it.
by David Burn | Sep 19, 2003 | Music
Wilco
Megan called from work to say she has extra Wilco tickets for tonight’s show at Auditorium Theatre in downtown Chicago. This stunning architectural achievement is something to marvel at, as I did throughout the evening, noticing more and more detail in the work. Oh yeah, alt-country legends Wilco also played. They projected interesting visuals of their own on a stage screen, and the music was mostly catchy, radio-friendly stuff–kind of a nice change of pace from the jam/groove world in which I reside.
by David Burn | Sep 19, 2003 | Art, Chicago
Few displays of American consumerism can compete with Chicago’s Miracle Mile. Pretty much every high-end retailer one can think of has a slot on this fabulous stretch of N. Michigan Avenue. Given that I’m not currently in the market for more material accumulation, it was oh so pleasant to drop out of the hustle-bustle in favor of high culture. Terra Museum of American Art, with its free admission, is an artful sanctuary in the midst of this commercial district and well worth investigating.
The show that brought us in, “Debating American Modernism: Stieglitz, Duchamp and the New York Avant-Garde” proved to be fascinating. It contains works by Max Weber, Man Ray, Georgia O’Keeffe, and several artists I was previously unfamiliar with. Then, as we descended stairs and explored other exhibits we came across the marvelous ethno-photography of Edward S. Curtis. I’ve often admired his images of Native Americans in books, but had never been afforded the opportunity to see 65 master prints up close. Incredible stuff!
by David Burn | Sep 9, 2003 | Chicago, Literature, Music
Spider’s have held a somewhat holy place in my world since childhood and Charlotte’s Web. Spiders get ushered out of the house, not crushed in a Kleenex, for instance. Anyway, it occurs to me how knowledge itself is spider-like. One discovery leads to the next in an infinite progression.
Last Saturday night we dodged out of the German-American beer swilling festival, a.k.a. Germania, which had overtaken our lovely Lincoln Square streets, for the somewhat saner climes of Old Town School of Folk Music, where Roy Book Binder and Ramblin’ Jack were performing a late show. Both artists are consummate storytellers–noted weavers of dialectic yarns.
Roy told a tale of how Katherine Dunn’s novel, Geek Love influenced him as a blues player. And also the work of Florida writer, Harry Crews. In this tale told between songs, Roy spoke of how he once asked a young songwriter from Indiana if he had read those books too. The young man said no, which Roy found hard to believe since aspects of these literary lions’ writing were clearly present in the young man’s songs.
My point is there is so much to discover by simply following these threads. It requires that one capture these everyday references and follow them to a suitable conclusion. In the case of writers and performers, the acquisition of their published work is often a suitable conclusion.
by David Burn | Sep 6, 2003 | Music
Ramblin Jack Elliot + Roy Book Binder
Saturday night we dodged out of the German-American beer swilling festival, a.k.a. Germania, which had overtaken our lovely Lincoln Square streets, for the somewhat saner climes of Old Town School of Folk Music, where Roy Book Binder and Ramblin’ Jack were performing a late show. Both artists are consumate storytellers–noted weavers of dialectic yarns. It was a great welcome to Chicago, my new neighborhood stage, and two artists I had previously never encountered.
by David Burn | Sep 6, 2003 | Chicago
Time is mostly a human construct, thus time can be made to bend to the will of the people. Daylight savings is one example of time’s transient nature. Another ironic twist to the time tale is our tendency to think of the city as being fast-paced, when what the city truly requires is a slowing of one’s internal clock, for things take longer in the city.
Chicago’s hurried pace is teaching me to exercise more patience. To lose patience in this environment is a pure waste of energy. Traffic will snarl. Lines will form. And with patience and grace I will be a citizen of this highly energized civilization, and wait my turn.
by David Burn | Sep 3, 2003 | Advertising
Word of mouth has always been the best form of advertising. Think about the power of everyday people selling for and working for YOUR company. It’s huge.
Yesterday I dealt successfully with not one, but three corporate entities, and today I want to sing their praises. Waking up on Tuesday–after moving to Chicago over the weekend–with no household Internet connection in place (a disgruntling fact), I decided to try my luck at Starbucks, wherein lie the much touted Wi Fi connection from provider, T-Mobile. I have a Mac and am always worried about whether the developers of “the latest cool thing” took my minority computing preferences into consideration. I’m pleased to say my iBook instantly sniffed out the connection and within minutes I was on the Net updating Web sites and reading email, all while stimulated by iced espresso.
After Darby got off work we found our way down Lincoln to Trader Joe’s, the California grocery wholesaler. Amazing prices on quality stuff. Maybe the jaded Californians take it for granted, but after growing accustom to the outrageous prices at Whole Foods and Wild Oats, it’s nice to have an option like Trader Joe’s.
