It's not really a festival, but a bunch of bands from the new and old generation of the Hyde Park / University of Chicago music scene are playing today (Friday, June 1) on the Eckhart quad. The event starts at 5 pm, music at 5:30 (we're opening!)
5:30 - Saturday Realism
6:20 - Cola Wars
7:10 - Health and Beauty / Unled Tit
8:15 - Leopold and Loeb
9:10 - Passerines
10 - Modern Temper
There MIGHT be food. Please come and enjoy the wonderful music (not just ours!).
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Keep your eye out for a show during finals week. We're hoping to book Hutch from 7 to 10 pm.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
SMAC Soundscapes Show / Beatles Cover Band?
We pulled our gear into the Smart Museum courtyard at about 5:45, thinking we were going to see the Passerines' preparing for their performance in the Lobby and The Electric Shoes' setting up in the courtyard.
The Electric Shoes were nowhere in sight. The Passerines were setting up in the courtyard. There was no PA system in the lobby. "What the hell is going on?"
The organizers fucked up big time, and it was only the beginning. Because of some insurance technicality, a second PA system, which was present, could not be used in the lobby. To compensate for this, one speaker and one microphone was moved into the lobby, and all lobby performances were conflated with courtyard performances, thus shortening the sets. No big deal.
We went on at about 7:20, according to plan. Our set (if I remember correctly, which I doubt):
Taxman
She's Got Everyone On Her Side
If and When (my new song),
Dave's new (untitled) song,
One Last Ride
Abandoned Coal Mine
I'm Down
Where is My Mind
We played well through One Last Ride, pulling off a successful version of Dave's new song, the one we've practiced the least. There were tuning issues at the start of Abandoned Coal Mine, and then a mistake towards the end that killed the powerful finale. Our morale took a serious hit; at the end of the song Dave said into the mic, "Can we just do that again at the end of the set?" Dave's brother joined us to play the lead for Where is My Mind and another Pixies song that they did as a duet, Alex providing a hint of a backbeat. It was frustrating to lose the momentum we had at the start, but I got a lot of really positive feedback from people who had attended the show. We agreed that the next time a similar thing happened, we would all put down our instruments and have a group hug.
One thing the organizers forgot to tell the performers was that everyone had to be gone by 9pm. At 8:50, as our good friends Leopold and Loeb were setting up, the organizers told them that they couldn't play, since it would take about 15 minutes to pack up the PA system. They ignored the edict and rocked the first and last songs of their set harder than anything we had seen all year. Akio's guitar kept getting unplugged, and in the dark he couldn't reconnect it, so he threw it aside, stood up on the amp, and sang the last words of the song with Shreyas to massive applause from the remaining members of the audience.
I later found out from the sound guy that the organizing committee changes every year, so they never get a chance to learn from their mistakes. Bad for them, worse for the musicians.
***** ***** *****
A friend reports to me an incident in which a resident of his dorm complained to him that I had frustrated his attempt to woo a lady at a party the weekend before. Another conversant then asked, "Is he the guy in that stupid Beatles cover band?"
The Electric Shoes were nowhere in sight. The Passerines were setting up in the courtyard. There was no PA system in the lobby. "What the hell is going on?"
The organizers fucked up big time, and it was only the beginning. Because of some insurance technicality, a second PA system, which was present, could not be used in the lobby. To compensate for this, one speaker and one microphone was moved into the lobby, and all lobby performances were conflated with courtyard performances, thus shortening the sets. No big deal.
We went on at about 7:20, according to plan. Our set (if I remember correctly, which I doubt):
Taxman
She's Got Everyone On Her Side
If and When (my new song),
Dave's new (untitled) song,
One Last Ride
Abandoned Coal Mine
I'm Down
Where is My Mind
We played well through One Last Ride, pulling off a successful version of Dave's new song, the one we've practiced the least. There were tuning issues at the start of Abandoned Coal Mine, and then a mistake towards the end that killed the powerful finale. Our morale took a serious hit; at the end of the song Dave said into the mic, "Can we just do that again at the end of the set?" Dave's brother joined us to play the lead for Where is My Mind and another Pixies song that they did as a duet, Alex providing a hint of a backbeat. It was frustrating to lose the momentum we had at the start, but I got a lot of really positive feedback from people who had attended the show. We agreed that the next time a similar thing happened, we would all put down our instruments and have a group hug.
One thing the organizers forgot to tell the performers was that everyone had to be gone by 9pm. At 8:50, as our good friends Leopold and Loeb were setting up, the organizers told them that they couldn't play, since it would take about 15 minutes to pack up the PA system. They ignored the edict and rocked the first and last songs of their set harder than anything we had seen all year. Akio's guitar kept getting unplugged, and in the dark he couldn't reconnect it, so he threw it aside, stood up on the amp, and sang the last words of the song with Shreyas to massive applause from the remaining members of the audience.
I later found out from the sound guy that the organizing committee changes every year, so they never get a chance to learn from their mistakes. Bad for them, worse for the musicians.
***** ***** *****
A friend reports to me an incident in which a resident of his dorm complained to him that I had frustrated his attempt to woo a lady at a party the weekend before. Another conversant then asked, "Is he the guy in that stupid Beatles cover band?"
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