You think you know someone, and you realize you have no clue. Take Miki, for example. I met Miki at the Old Town School of Folk Music not long after I started volunteering in there 2004. He was the café manager, so I'd swing by to get my free volunteer drink whenever I worked a show. Sometimes, I would work as the café volunteer; it can be a very busy gig, but Miki would encourage me to drink the new beers he got in, and we'd chat about our lives. Miki doesn't work many concert nights anymore, but I still stop by and chat with him when he's at the school; I know all about his kids, he knows all about my ex-boyfriends. He'd mentioned making music, but so does everyone who works for the school. In a building full of sweeties, he's at the top of that list, but I didn't know much about what he'd done before he started working there.
So it was a pleasant shock to run across a picture of Miki Greenberg in the Reader a few weeks ago. Apparently he'd been a member of the "legendary band Maestro Subgum & the Whole"! I can't say that I've known anybody else who's been in a legendary band. There was no real description of the band, or when they were active, or why they were legendary. Why, why had I never heard of them? I made a mental note to investigate further next time I talked to him.
Serendipitously, Miki saw me sitting in a coffee shop recently and came inside for a chat. After talking to him about Maestro, I'm really excited to see them play next Sunday, March 1st, at the Viaduct Theatre.
Details about this fabulous band after the cut.
There's not a ton of net-data available on Maestro Subgum & the Whole (notable exception below), because they were at the height of their popularity before the internet had really taken off, starting in the late 1980s and ending when they disbanded in 1994 or 1995. They had one big blow-out reunion concert in 2001 at the Old Town School, where Miki was by that point working; the show sold out, it was apparently a riot and their best show ever, and they've not performed since then.
Their instrumental palate consists of vocals, horns, and piano, which might make you think of Weimar-era cabaret, but there's a very rocking, yelling, ranting, zany energy that moves beyond the impeccably mannered expression of Kurt Weill. That is to say: at least from the clips I've heard, it is crazy and weird, and has a dusty 1930s feel crossed with a bit of a ranty early 1980s punk vibe, and I think I like it.
Maestro Subgum's members & alumni have done quite nicely for themselves. Beau O'Reilly and Jenny Magnus founded the Curious Theatre Branch (the group curates Chicago's annual Rhino Fest; Maestro Subgum & the Whole's show will be the closing act of that festival); other members have also been involved with Redmoon Theatre and Mucca Pazza. They also have a Tony-winning alum, since former trombonist Mark Hollman wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for Urinetown.
The best interview I can find with Maestro Subgum & the Whole is a 2001 interview with Ira Glass on WBEZ (scroll down to January 19th, grumble about it being a Real Media file, react strangely to numerous mentions of "President-Elect Bush" from just before his inauguration, fast-forward to about 1:00:38). A couple of song clips are included, which should give you a taste of what you might get to experience if you go to see them live. Do you really want to wait another 8 years?
Maestro Subgum plays as part of the 20th Annual Rhino Fest
Sunday, March 1st, 3pm, at the Viaduct Theatre, 3111 N Western Ave.
Tickets are $12, or pay what you can.
Box office: (773) 296-6024
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Maestro Subgum & the Whole (or, I Am Still a Youngster in This City)
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
I'm glad I didn't bring my hemp yarn
I already posted this at the Knittyboard, but I thought I'd share here, too.
I brought my knitting to Lolla this weekend, because (1) I'm just that dorky, (2) I have a project that needs to be finished ASAP, and (3) there was gonna be some sitting-around downtime, so why not utilize it?
So, this is the yarn I brought in. I had two skeins, unwound, and a partially-knit shawl, all in a baggie. In retrospect, this yarn does kinda look like pot.
When I was at the gate on Friday, I opened my bag to let the security guard check what was in there. I was slightly concerned that the knitting needles wouldn't make it through, somehow.
SECURITY GUARD : Damn, gir- (suddenly stops)
MS. L : It's yarn.
SG : Oh man, I thought it was something else for a second. I was like, damn, girl! You can't be bringing that in here!
MS. L : Oh my god! You thought I was bringing in weed!
SG : Yeah!
MS. L: Dude, that'd be a LOT of weed. What, do you think I hang with the Roots or something?
The next day, I became more proactive.
MS. L : It's not pot, it's yarn!
Security Guard 2 : Yeah, when I saw that it was sort of furry, I knew it wasn't pot.
Later, with Mr. Z...
MS. L : You know, I wanted to respond, "Man, you must not have had the good stuff, because the good stuff IS furry," but I thought that would've just caused more problems than it was worth.
MR. Z : That was probably wise. Also, that yarn isn't that furry.
MS. L : I know!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Friday music: the beauty of the shuffle setting on my iPod
Usually, when I'm listening to music on my iPod, I'm either listening to an album in full, or listening to my workout playlist (whether or not I'm working out).
Every once in awhile, I put it on shuffle, and remember that I have tons of music I don't listen to all that frequently. In particular, I remember I own a ton of compilations. Nuggets I and II; Living in Oblivion Vols. 1, 3, and 4; The American Anthology of Folk Music (the three main volumes, plus the semi-official fourth); some huge comp of Woody Guthrie; several Brazilian comps; and a box set of turn of the century gospel music featuring an entire CD of sermons only. I haven't listened to most of this stuff all the way through, so a trip through my iPod on shuffle often reveals gems I didn't even know I own. Like this, from Nuggets II:
The Marmalade - I See the Rain (mp4)
And sometimes my iPod reminds me I've downloaded a bunch of great stuff I've not listened to yet. Like Lifter Puller, a precursor to The Hold Steady:
Lifter Puller - Mission Viejo
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Notes on a list, and a new project.
So I contributed to my friend's column this week (and next week) at DeadOn (it's a group of Deadspin commenters writing about pop culture) about music made by women in the 90s (thus the thoughts about it earlier in this blog).
Thoughts:
-Part I of the list was mostly compiled by the time I got involved. My main input on this part of the list was insisting that he mention Elastica stole their song from Wire and suggesting that including Veruca Salt without the Breeders was kinda insane, since Veruca Salt lifted the Breeder's deal wholesale.
-I do like "Connection" and some Veruca Salt well enough, though.
-My suggestions for Part II (and maybe III?) of the list included Liz Phair, P.J. Harvey, Throwing Muses, Cibo Matto, Bjork, Luscious Jackson, and a number of other folks I've now forgotten. I know a song from one of these will be in Part II, because I wrote the blurb for it.
Now onto far less exciting matters: Mass Transit! In case you don't live in Chicago: the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority, though I usually replace the first word with "Clusterf***") will be drastically reducing capacity on one of the most-navigated portions of its track for the next few years, with the intent of making the several stations along this corridor shiny, new, and capable of carrying more people around. This starts next week; the CTA has been using the slogan "Leave Early, Leave Late, Alternate" to encourage people to avoid peak transit times or take the bus. Nobody in Chicago thinks this is going to work.
So I will be running a series of tests of this slogan. It will be hard for me to leave late, since I have to be at work at 8, but I can do the other two.
Clusterf*** Transit Authority Experiment
Hypothesis: The CTA is completely screwed, and it's going to take forever to get anywhere no matter what you do.
Trial 1, "Leave Early".
Notes:
According to the CTA's own maps, transit from my apartment (nearest to the currently-closed Montrose Brown line stop; three blocks from Damen Brown line stop) should take about 30 minutes. I decide to leave my apartment around 5:55 am, figuring that if I do manage to make it downtown in 30 minutes, I can just go to the gym.
The construction that is supposed to substantially increase travel times has not yet begun; this is just an intial trial before the whole mess starts on 4/2/07.
According to the CTA's travel planner, I should get on the 6:12 am Brown line train, transfer at Belmont to the 6:22 am Red line train, and arrive at Grand and State at 6:36 am. Plenty of time for cardio!
Results:
6:05: I see what may be the 6:04 southbound Brown line pass as I enter the station. Note that I should try to catch this train in the future.
6:28: Next southbound Brown line arrives at Damen. Two northbound trains had arrived in the interim.
6:35: Brown line arrives at Belmont, which is faster than estimated by CTA trip planner. Two stations between Damen and Belmont are currently closed, with another closing soon; this could explain the accelerated time.
6:55: Southbound Red line train finally arrives. Multiple trains from almost all the other lines pass by during this time.
7:15: I arrive at Grand and State (20 minutes instead of CTA's predicted 16 on the Red; brief delay at Chicago stop). Just enough time to do 10 minutes of pilates and then go to work.
So far, not so great. I figure 6:05 is earlier than rush, right?
