Dog Shown Actual Size (Small)

Liam already records a bunch, so he had his own microphone set up, and the lyrics all printed out, with his parts highlighted and everything. Professional. After assembling and plugging everything in, and taking a couple minutes to discuss Ryan Adams, Liam crushed it. I must say, playing/recording with others is truly rewarding. The way Liam sang it was different than I would have done, and it was awesome. When you’re exposed to other folks’ methods, it invites you to approach things in a fresh way yourself. I mean, I haven’t mixed the thing yet, but just trying to replicate the part for Amy afterward proved that I’m really stuck in my own singing style, you know? It’s cool to get a glimpse outside of that box I always hear people talking about trying to think outside…of. Yeah.

Anyway, thanks to Liam for the hospitality and ass-kicking. This thing is really shaping up!

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Yeah, Deans, I Stole from Ya.

And then it fit well onto Liz’s kitchen table, like so:

Mini-Mission Control

It was an easy operation from a technical standpoint, so I was kind of left wondering why I didn’t (don’t) do this more often. I mean, duh, this is what laptops are for, right? And Elizabeth made the session just fly by. She’d not only learned the melody and harmony for the part I’d sent her — she threw in a lower harmony AND an octave-up from the original part. That’s right, I got QUAD FIDDLE on this piece! I might not stack all of them for each passage…but we’ll see.

I rang the buzzer at 7:30, and was walking back to my car at 8:28. That’s what I call pro-fessional. Thanks much to E.L. for her good spirits and excellent playing!

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The Adaptations Set Up

While in Cleveland, I met a friend of a friend who was, like me, visiting from Chicago. Sneza said she was in a pair of bands, one of which had a standing gig every other Thursday at a coffee shop in Pilsen. Since I’m of course always whoring myself out for gigs, I asked if I could play some time, and she said sure. When I got back into town, we emailed, and she suggested I hit up the venue’s open mike, to get a feel for the place.

The place is called Cafe Mestizo (1738 W. 18th), and it’s in a neighborhood that only a few weeks ago I would’ve considered unfamiliar. But as fate would have it, I recently switched up my bike route to work, and I cruise right through the heart of Pilsen — and past Mestizo — every time I make the trip. The open mike host had a DJ blasting hip-hop to warm everyone up, which I have to admit was a little off-putting at first. Not your typical open mike vibe. But then Sneza showed up with Caren, her bandmate in the Adaptations, and they started dancing and laughing. I struck up a conversation with a guy who runs the film series at the cafe. He was asking about my guitar; he told me he used to have a Jazzmaster, too, back in the 70′s, when they apparently weighed even more. The host and the DJ and everyone signed up for the open mike all seemed to know each other, but I didn’t feel excluded. On the contrary — even though I didn’t give in to any requests that I bust a move myself (Kompressor does not dance), I felt completely, instantly welcome.  Truly a gracious, friendly scene.

In short, Cafe Mestizo has a groovey thing going. They might be a little rough around the edges, but they’re what a neighborhood coffee shop should be — a genuine pillar of the community, always something going on, families and bohemians of all creeds and colors coming together to nosh and jam. I look forward to playing there with the Adaptations on May 20th.   I think they’re doing two sets of covers and originals — with their flute-and-guitar charm! — and I’ll be dropping a short set in the middle.  Come on by and soak up the vibes!  (And fair warning — the address IS 1738 West 18th, but the sign out front might still say “Lavanderia.”  They recently moved, and may have yet to switch it up…)

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http://notwhatyouthink.tumblr.com/

The video can also be viewed at that location (along with the 40+ other awesome entries), but if you want to see it directly, you can do so here:

http://vimeo.com/6734539

You have until Saturday (10/3) at midnight to vote. Please share this with anyone you think might be willing to help, too!  Thanks!

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Zapruder Point: “Steps from the Lake” from Zapruder Point on Vimeo.

On the technical aside tip, I would have liked to’ve cut away from the performance more, peppering in bits like you see at the beginning and end. I did a little poking around, and apparently if you have iMovie 6 or iMovie 9, placing bits of “b-roll” atop “a-roll” footage without interrupting the original audio is easy. But what do I have? iMovie 8, naturally. Ah, well. I think it turned out pretty good, regardless. Thanks again to E.L., Liam, Amy, and Bob. YES!

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Bob, Amy, Liam

So two or three weeks ago, I read in Gaper’s Block about a song contest the Chicago Public Library was putting on. Write a song about Chicago, post a video of it, and you could win maybe some money (I forget), and a chance to play a concert outdoors downtown. I had the song in mind — “Steps from the Lake” — but how on earth could I film it? And wouldn’t it sound dumb with just me? No violin, no backups? Without those elements, it’s a ridiculously minimalist song.

I remembered that Tom and Casey might be swinging into town for an art show. Would it be sometime before the contest deadline (September 27th)? I called Casey, and it turned out they weren’t coming until October. “But you should call Elizabeth from Canasta. She’s really nice, and maybe she’d be into it.” I tried to change the subject, but before I hung up, Casey again prompted me to not be shy, and to give Elizabeth a call.

I did the next best thing: I sent her a Facebook message. Canasta is a good band, and a successful and therefore crazy-busy one, so I didn’t feel too confident. But she hit me back the next day, saying it sounded like fun. I was thrilled. Meanwhile, other gears got turning in my head — and in Amy’s. Amy thought maybe she could borrow a camera from work, and she volunteered to be cinematographer. She brought home a Flip video camera for us to play with. We tested it in the backyard for sound. Not bad. (It was and remains hard to tell what level of quality this contest is going to get, but the website seems to emphasize the SONG rather than the video…)

As for location, I called my friend Bob C, who had access to the roof of one of “The Cobs,” a.k.a. Marina City, a.k.a. “the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot buildings.” He was down with it. Now all we needed was to coordinate. I wanted to work around Elizabeth, who’d mentioned up-front that she had a tight schedule. When we finally got a date in place that worked for Bob and Elizabeth, I pulled a hail-Mary: I contacted Liam Davis from Frisbie. He hit me back the same day I sent the email, saying he’d be down for singing backups, sure.

Elizabeth, Me, Liam

Wowzers, people! Liam used to be in this band The Moviegoers, and their farewell show back in 1999 was the first show I saw as a Chicago citizen. Since then, we’ve been in each others’ peripheries, playing a weird open mike once several years ago, and running into each other at Hoot Nites, and sharing the bill on a rare appearance of Lovers on Third (his and Justin Roberts’ stripped-down rock combo). He also sang “God Loves Everyone” at Justin’s wedding, which is where I got the idea. Anyway, the main thing is that Liam’s, like, the best singer in Chicago. The Moviegoers actually tackled “Hounds of Love” by Kate Bush on the “I Wanna Be Kate” tribute album. I’m raving, here, so I’ll just say that between him…and Elizabeth…and Bob and the Cob…and having a kick-ass wife…this was a real coup.

Such a delicate operation it was, such an aligning of stars…that I didn’t want to jinx things by writing about it until it was all over. Which it is, now.  Whew!

I met up with Amy last Thursday and we had some lovely mussels at Bin 36 right below the Cob. Everyone else was due at 6:30. We shook hands, smiling on the sidewalk. Bob led us through the lobby to the elevator, and away we went.

Elizabeth was in fine form, even though she was under the weather. Liam rocked it as well. We did one take with tambourine, and two without. Various angles were captured by Amy and Bob C (Amy got a second camera at the last minute). After the third take, it was pretty much too dark to go on, anyway. But man, it was gorgeous up there. And I think we pulled off a sweet take of the song — or maybe two.

I can’t believe how lucky I am to live in a city this beautiful, and full of musicians who are down with supporting each other and doing things just for fun. Thanks to Liam, Elizabeth, Bob and Amy! I’ll post a link to the video once I cut it up. Cheers!

-- Pic by Amy --

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