Hey Guys, its Jojo - resident overachiever - back from one hell of a night. It began with a gasp in the morning while looking over my calendar of things to do for the day. The show line-up for that evening looked pretty promising, so choosing only one was not an option. There was Rachele Eve at Schubas, Milk and Honey at Four Treys, Coltrane Motion at Double Door and Lockeroom Talk at Berlin.
Naturally my first instinct was to find out when each of these bands go on in their respective venue. Here’s what came up: Rachele went on at 9pm, Milk and Honey were playing all night, Coltrane Motion at 11pm and Lockeroom Talk were to play at 12:30AM. I went to the office that afternoon and told Ryan my plan and he decided he wanted to tag along. So we made plans to meet up at Schubas and see where the night takes us.
The night "started" at Schubas where I, being the ambitious over scheduler I am, show up for Rachele's show halfway through her set. (I'm that receptionist at the doctor's office who schedules like 4 people within an hour time frame because I feel the Doctor should me more efficient and see someone every 15 minute. Yes, I'd rush medicine for more time in the day). The first person I saw was Ryan, at the back bar, with this "Your just NOW getting here?" look on his face. Then he says, "You're just now getting here? I've been here since 8:15." I shrugged it off, left him to his beer, and bolted to the front of the room.
Photo by Ryan Sweeney
Rachele was amazing - but that's to be expected. One thing I liked about the performance was the chemistry of the band. It was my first time seeing this group of musicians with Rachele. I couldn't help but smile to myself when I saw the electric guitarist mouthing the words, with his eyes closed. It reminded me of when you're listening to your favorite song in the car with the windows up, parked at a red light. (don't judge me... if you drive in Chicago, you'd understand). I guess Rachele's sultry and soulful voice has that effect on people (who hasn't swayed back and forth singing "three words, one two three?" If you haven't, I'll lend you the album. You will, I promise). It was nice to see that the band has found members who really fit the talent.
From one singer songwriter to the next - down the street to The Four Treys to see Milk and Honey.
The Four Treys is one of those bars in Chicago's Roscoe village where you walk in and feel like you’re in small town Wisconsin. The old school gaming machines, the water stained drop ceiling, and the $2.50 beers oozed "not in Chicago". It’s a great dive. The venue does not have live music on a regular basis, but Amanda, one of our fabulous WFTM interns, decided she needed a venue for her boyfriend Sean's band's debut. I see another Girlfriend-slash-Manager in the works... but onto the music.
The stage at Four Treys was non-existent, but the sound was pretty great considering the size of the pool room. I was introduced to a few people, including the frontman of the band TEUCE, who's slated to play at the Double Door's Dirtroom on May 10th with Milk and Honey. In addition to him, I met a number of the band's closest friends and adjunct band members. There was a fair-haired girl who introduced herself as a possible cellist for the band. Between you and me, I think that bands with strings are just plain sexier. I may be biased, but check out string players for JD&TS and Dave Cavalier... I'm just saying.
The first thought about Honey was how much she reminded me of India Arie. And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was a beautiful brown chick who had fabulous big hair. It was more that the tone and timbre of her voice was dead on to Arie’s. You know that kind of quiet pain that India taps into in her song "Beautiful" on the album Voyage to India? (If you don't, get with it: Beautiful). You can't fake that sound and how it makes you feel, or how you instantly connect with it. And the songwriting on this chick…wow. She sang a song that was inspired by the events surrounding the Jena Six case. Needless to say you could hear a pin drop during this. It’s so easy to "go commercial" when you're starting out so that you can appeal to the masses. It’s great to come across a layer of new depth in the ever expanding Chicago music songwriter scene. Milk & Honey are definitely that new layer of depth.
Photo by Craig Schiller
Alas, it was time for me and Ryan to jet off to the Double Door to pop Ryan’s Coltrane Motion cherry. I'm not sure what you know about this dynamic duo, but seeing them on stage is a bit ridiculous, in the most entertaining way. The duo includes Mike on the synth and laptop, playing smashups of original and sampled hit music from the last 3 decades. Mike plays as background for Matt's ultimate thrash guitar-ism (yea I made it up... wanna fight about it?). They put on quite a performance, which can only be likened to a rhythmic epileptic seizure. You’ll see Mike on the synth, dropping to his knees as if the synth has taken over his body and made him bow to its power. And Matt... Matt plays with knee drops, kicks, head jerks and sharp body twists that make you question how he can play without seriously damaging his guitar. Or himself for that matter.Per the description of the musicians above, it was only a matter of time before something happened. Mid-set Matt broke his guitar string, which is fine because he has back ups for such an occasion. But then, in one of his jam fits, which you can see here, he spilled beer all over Mike’s equipment. And that's the end of the show my friend - in true Jimi Hendrix lighting-the-guitar-on-fire-but-not-on-purpose-just-with-heat-of-music-passion form. We took pictures, laughed, clapped, said goodbye to the band, and went to our final stop - Berlin.
Berlin, boys and girls, is a magical place where most boys like boys and most girls like girls. I'm sure there were a few exceptions (like Ryan and I and the 2 guys in the band) but that’s the majority. I love going here because the people-watching is prime. I've always thought they should do a Gay and Lesbian only Real World - I'm sure it would blow Queer as Folk and the L Word out of the water….just my thoughts. I'm obviously not an authority seeing as I STILL don't understand the appeal of Jersey Shore. Yet again I digress - back to the music.
Photo by Jed Dulana
We were there to see Lockeroom Talk's performance and in true form, the lead singer Alyssia, was offstage most of the time, daring the crowd to dance. She was dancing the entire time which I thought was particularly impressive because she didn't break a sweat - not that I remember at least. The dance floor had a very enthusiastic group of "hop" dancers (where they don't really dance but hop from side-to-side to the beat). There was this one guy who, in addition to having a few too much himself, kept going up to the band with shots of what I believe to be Whiskey. The band did not mind. I remember Ryan commenting on D's style of gyrating bass playing – he had this pelvic thrust sway to the beat that only a fully ripped-tattooed-dreaded black guy could pull off. He kills that bass. Ryan was jealous.
The dance party ended as Lockeroom Talk wrapped up. We said our goodbyes to the band, patted ourselves on the back for getting through the night, and parted ways.
Just another night in the office.
