I am just going to try and sneak this one in here:

CRB RuFF MiXeS

Shhh… Don’t tell anyone.

A good friend is involved in this and asked me to help spread the word.

From the page on the Second City site:

For the fifth straight year, a group of current performers and alumni of The Second City take to the stage for an entire 24 hour period to benefit children and families in the Chicagoland area during the holiday season. Improvised scenes, songs and games are performed by the ensemble, only taking breaks when a variety of top musical acts drop by to perform and inspire the cast and audience.

As a special treat this year, Second City and Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz will be flying in from New York to join the cast!

Scheduled musical acts for “The Second City That Never Sleeps: Letters to Santa” include Jeff Tweedy, Robbie Fulks, Shellac, Sally Timms, Jon Langford, The Blisters, Jason Molina and many more.

Go here for the schedule and times.

First off, we have been working on a new Bearhawk record which has had several names associated with it (Softhawk, Softshell, Gentle Bear) but I think the album may be tentatively entitled, Killer Wails. This recording has taken a new form for the Hawk, with D going in and recording a bunch of songs and filling it out from there. For this recording, Mouse is playing drums (and recording/mixing); Jim is playing bass, Jon and I are playing guitar and we have had a few guest appearances on other instruments. We have recently made some rough, but almost final mixes and I have posted two (Archae Bacteria and Old Hotel) to the Bearhawk MySpace page. And speaking of the Bearhawk MySpace page, I have also filled it out a bit with some photos of members, contributors and friends.

Secondly, Century Rocket Building has been working on some recordings when we find the time between other projects, parties and the usual family/life stuff. I just put down a bunch of guitar the night before last up at Reelsounds and we are getting excited about the progress. I still need to do some guitar housecleaning over there and also add some vox, but from there we will probably sit with some rough mixes and start to flesh out some ideas to make these already great songs even better. Some sounds will be posted forthcoming. (Oh yeah, and I have posted a recent photo shoot we did trying to get a promo shot together.)

And as previously mentioned, we have a new mix for Dear Jessica from the *joesepi* rock band and we are hoping to continue putting parts down and wrapping up these sessions before the end of the year.

Hey kids. OuchoFestFotos are now online. GO see the mess we created. The band list is too large to list here (ok, I am just to lazy) - Visit the !OUCHO!fest page for more general info on the festivities.

And in case you missed it, we are looking to put together a compilation CD of one track per artist of the night. This is an endeavor we mean to do each year, but I think this time its for real.

The skit went well. Miss Mia was my Jessica. We shared the episode with The Wee Hairy Beasties (local luminaries such as Jon Langford, Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms and the Devil in the Woodpile), who were all very cordial. (Jon reminded me that he did a song for Found on the 7″ they released.)

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that things went off without a hitch and thought I would share the new mix for Dear Jessica. Ongoing progress can be found on the sessions page.

I’ll post the video of the performance as soon as I get it from Jake.

We have been invited to appear on Chicago’s punky kids dance show, CHIC-A-GO-GO. We’re really excited about this — it’s going to be a BLAST! We were going to do our SKWM cover, but have opted to try and finish recording Dear Jessica because of it’s kid friendly factor. I am also trying to convince a special someone to be my Jessica so we can sorta ‘act-out’ the song.

I am not sure when this episode will air, but I will keep you posted. Regardless, Dancers of all ages are encouraged to come to the tv studio and git yer groov on!

Chic-a-go-go:
http://www.roctober.com/chicagogo
See Farm Team on Chicagogo, among many others:
http://www.roctober.com/chicagogo/watchonline.html

Come on out for the fun.
* joesepi

FROM THE NEWSLETTER:
………………………………………….
SATURDAY November 25th 2006
Noon-3PM
at CAN-TV Studio - 322 S. Green St. (Van Buren, 1 block west of Halsted)
please join us for a taping of
CHIC-A-GO-GO!
Chicago’s dance show for kids of all ages!

This fun taping will include our HOLIDAY show, so bring your elf shoes
and/or menorah earrings!
SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE:
Bloodshot Records’ all-star kid’s music band WEE HAIRY BEASTIES!
Chicago 70’s punk/new wave/experimental music legend SKAFISH!
The hottest new band in town THE THINMAN
longtime Chic-A-Go-Go friend-band *joesepi*
AND MORE SURPRISES!

Tapings are free and open to anyone - no tickets or reservations needed! Bring your friends - dancers of all ages from newborns to youthful seniors welcome! Refreshments will be provided for participants! There is some free and metered parking (and several low priced parking lots) around CAN-TV. The studio is also very accessible by public transportation. We are one block north and one block west from the UIC-HALSTED stop on the Blue Line train. There is a free transfer to the Blue Line downtown from the Green Line or the Red Line.

My good friend Rich Salamander called me up the night before last about this show. He was going to play acoustic, but no longer can do it. This will be a great show at a little cafe that just started hosting rock bands, Corduroy’s.

An excellent band from Wichita, KS, will be playing as well - The Paper Airplanes. I am hoping to get the folks from their label, 54º40 or Fight! to come down as well and maybe talk to me about the new album. Some of our good friends are/were on that label, such as 31Knots and The Planet The, and also some other great bands like The Life and Times, Houston, and Abilene.

Hope you can make it out:
Corduroy’s
November, 11 2006 :: 6-9pm
Paper Airplanes (Wichita, KS), *joesepi* + 1 tba
1650 W. Ogden, @ Corduroys (all ages)
(near S. Ashland)
Cost: $5

Well, I was graciously invited to see the Trail of Dead at the House of Blues with Celebration, Blood Brothers and my good friends, Brothers and Sisters. Not much to report as I needed to leave early and didn’t get to see TOD. But I have seen them before (used to play poker with them in OLY,WA) and I was really there to see old cohort, James Olsen, perform with the Bros and Hos, I mean Sis’.

I do have to say that House of Blues were the biggest pain in the ass. I had to park 3 blocks away and pay $20. I had to wait in this long line to be told to go wait in another line to get my tix for the guest list. Then, I wasn’t able to bring in some shirts and CD’s I had with me to give to Olsen. Even though people were coming in with elaborate costumes (Halloween), they wouldn’t let me in with my wee bit of merch. I had to stash it on top of some shelves and James and I came out later to reclaim them. So stupid.

Anyway, Brothers and Sisters were remarkably great. Celebration were sexy and cool. Blood Brothers were pretty lame, I thought, but the kids seemed really into it. And like I said, I missed the TOD.

I did however have a taxi back up into me (my car) on Michigan Ave after the show - totally lame. Which reminds me, I need to call that insurance guy…

The Googlebomb - Republicans and their troubles:

–AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
–AZ-01: Rick Renzi
–AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
–CA-04: John Doolittle
–CA-11: Richard Pombo
–CA-50: Brian Bilbray
–CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
–CO-05: Doug Lamborn
–CO-07: Rick O’Donnell
–CT-04: Christopher Shays
–FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
–FL-16: Joe Negron
–FL-22: Clay Shaw
–ID-01: Bill Sali
–IL-06: Peter Roskam
–IL-10: Mark Kirk
–IL-14: Dennis Hastert
–IN-02: Chris Chocola
–IN-08: John Hostettler
–IA-01: Mike Whalen
–KS-02: Jim Ryun
–KY-03: Anne Northup
–KY-04: Geoff Davis
–MD-Sen: Michael Steele
–MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
–MN-06: Michele Bachmann
–MO-Sen: Jim Talent
–MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
–NV-03: Jon Porter
–NH-02: Charlie Bass
–NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
–NM-01: Heather Wilson
–NY-03: Peter King
–NY-20: John Sweeney
–NY-26: Tom Reynolds
–NY-29: Randy Kuhl
–NC-08: Robin Hayes
–NC-11: Charles Taylor
–OH-01: Steve Chabot
–OH-02: Jean Schmidt
–OH-15: Deborah Pryce
–OH-18: Joy Padgett
–PA-04: Melissa Hart
–PA-07: Curt Weldon
–PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
–PA-10: Don Sherwood
–RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
–TN-Sen: Bob Corker
–VA-Sen: George Allen
–VA-10: Frank Wolf
–WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
–WA-08: Dave Reichert

Annual Chicago Rock and Roll Cookout Will Feature 10 bands, meat.

The Eighth Annual OuchoFest, a day-long rock show and cookout, will once again take over Chicago’s The Mutiny - a Chicago staple for live music.

This event, featuring multiple bands, free food (and open grill) and free pool, and multitudes of cheap drinks, is the latest incarnation of an annual series of music showcases that have been highlighting regional performance groups. Curated and sponsored by Pensamplivox Records (PVX) since 1998, the mission statement of the festival can be neatly summed up in the immortal words of Spinal Tap’s Viv Savage: “Have… a good time… all of the time.”

Each previous OuchoFest has featured no less than eight musical acts, with packed houses nominally guaranteed since Year Five, and would certainly be at a loss without the kind partnership of The Mutiny (2428 N Western). A classic & charming dive bar and performance venue, The Mutiny has been home to many fledgling Chicago bands and Logan’s Square mini-pitcher drinkers. The Mutiny’s enormous free-standing grill is a prominent feature of the event, with space to accommodate any specialized meat or non-meat dietary restrictions throughout the day.

This year’s OuchoFest is scheduled for Saturday, October 21, 2006. Grilling will start after 5PM, and will feature musical performances by the following groups:
::LAST::
Bearhawk
CornFed
.22
*joesepi*
Love Story In Blood Red
Stanley Ross
BooKoos
Wishek
Plan B
The Iron Catastrophe
::FIRST::

Eight of the bands are Chicago-based, while .22 (Idaho/Chicago) and Wishek (Michigan) have significant ties to The Windy City.

About Pensamplivox Records

Founded in 1998, Pensamplivox Records [PVX] is the public face of a Chicago-based musical collective with dozens of core and associate members. Formed purely out of innocence, PVX has slowly evolved over the years to become one of Chicago’s reluctant & recalcitrant resources for original, bent and fresh takes on melodies, harmonies, and beats.

Today, the PVX roster boasts a core of excellent music craft, staggering showmanship, and superb recordings. The *joesepi* Band is at the active forefront with a pounding, road-tested live act of natural rock classics, and a swaggering new record in the can. Additionally, records by iconoclasts Century Rocket Building and Bearhawk are targeted for Winter ’06-’07 releases, with road shows to follow, post-parturiency and recovery.