Merge Records

This week in Live Music: October 15-20

97X, Concert Listings, Music, podcast

Howdy kids, I’m back from the City of the Big Shoulders, the Windy City. I’d like to propose a toast to my wife, who ran the Chicago Marathon yesterday.

And I’d also like to propose a toast to my Chicago-dwelling friend Jessica, who hooked me up with an extra ticket to the Luna concert at Lincoln Hall last night, where they played their album Penthouse in its entirety.

OK, short week, short post.

Tuesday, Macy Gray plays Ludlow Garage. All That Remains and Lacuna Coil are at Riverfront Live. Capstan plays Top Cats and local musician Zapruder Point is at the Brew House.

On Wednesday, Just Friends, Save Face, the Sonder Bombs and Pool Kids play the Southgate House; Andy Frasco and the UN are at Madison Live; The New Mastersounds are at Ludlow; Sarah Asher plays MOTR with Mavis Guitar, Billy Alletzhauser and Beth Harris; and list member John Sandman’s Tye Dye Band plays Tina’s downtown from 4:30-8 p.m.

Della Mae is at Memorial Hall on Thursday, Charlie Parr has a CD release show in Southgate’s Revival Room, and Brit blues artist Joanne Shaw Taylor is in Southgate’s main room. Brand X is at Ludlow Garage that evening… not to be confused with Kroger’s old generic brand.

Mmm, tasty!

Friday, you can enjoy Cigarettes After Sex… at the Madison Theater. Or you can go to the zombie party hosted by 500 Miles to Memphis at Southgate, in the Sanctuary. The Minks and the Nailers are in Southgate’s Sanctuary, and Arlo McKinley & the Lonesome Sound play Madison Live.

Murphy’s Pub is celebrating 30th years with Dirty Thirty gigs on Friday and Saturday. You can read more in CityBeat.

Taking Back Sunday kicks off a two-night stand at Bogart’s on Friday. Apparently they are trying to corner the market on weekends.

Mmm, tasty!

On Saturday:

  • Warrick & Lowell play Neltner’s Farm Fall Fest
  • Rickie Lee Jones is at Ludlow Garage
  • the father-son duo of Ritt & Wilder Dietz plays the Parlor & Patio house concert in Ft. Thomas
  • Maurice Mattei is in Southgate’s Lounge
  • Rob Harris & Marcia Ramirez play a special Downtowne Listening Room show at Covenant First Presbyterian Church
  • Rhonda Vincent & The Rage are at Miami U – Hamilton
  • The Cliftones play MOTR
  • Comedian John Mulaney is at Miami’s main campus

Sunday, John Morgen plays Neltner’s Farm, the Aquadolls are at Top Cats, and the Q102 Bosom Ball is at Madison Theater, with Ingrid Michaelson as the headliner and Maddie Poppe, the Season 16 winner of American karaoke Idol, also on the bill.

My Favorite Record Label

Merge Records was founded by Mac & Laura from Superchunk, so naturally I’m biased, but they have a stellar stable of artists. This year, they were celebrating their 30th anniversary and I subscribed to their “Born Under A Good Sign” promo, which got me a quarterly shipment of surprise/limited edition tunes and some other swag. This quarter, it was a Polvo reissue on green vinyl and a Holiday Sampler on peppermint vinyl.

Mmm, tasty!

Dude to follow on the socials

Speaking of Superchunk, if you’re not following Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster (also drummer for Bob Mould and The Mountain Goats and co-star of The Best Show), you’re missing out. On Insta, he does a “new worst friend” thing when someone sends him a weird photo:

And his tweets are great too:

Shameless self-promotion

The latest episode of the 97X “Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast features our chat with Rik Helton, the former owner of CD World, who used to promote his record store by attending indie rock concerts dressed in superhero tights. We also play some other throwback commercials from the 97X airwaves.

Eric the Awesome

Music

Eric Bachmann played a house concert at my place last night. The crowd can best be described as “small but mighty”…. about 20 folks. But those few and proud folks were treated to a fantastic night of tunes… and some funny stories as well.

Because I enjoy Eric’s music so much, part of me wishes more folks showed up, so they could experience his brilliance firsthand. But I promoted it the best that I could (flyers at Shake It Records and Everybody’s Records, attempted giveaway on Inhailer Radio‘s social channels, my weekly email x 2) so I’m at peace. Realistically, Eric’s band Archers of Loaf wasn’t exactly a household name, and their heyday was 25 years ago. At the turn of the century (I feel old just typing that), he formed Crooked Fingers… again, not a band where most folks would recognize the name, let alone the music. And he’s been doing solo albums for several years (his newest is No Recover) but the potential audience is not exactly Taylor Swiftian. So, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. I knew a lot of the attendees, and they’re really cool folks. The strangers that I welcomed into our house turned out to be very nice people as well. They all experienced a very memorable, very enjoyable night of music.

The show was through Undertow music, which books house shows for fringe/niche/indie artists like Eric. They handle all the ticket sales, and keep a 15% fee while the other 85% goes to the performer. Surely a better deal for artists than most gigs. Eric sold some merch too, so he made a bit of coin for his efforts. Not many people buy records these days, and streaming is not lucrative at all for most artists. So gassing up the van and hitting the road, t-shirts and vinyl in tow, is the only way to make a buck. And house concerts offer a more intimate, relaxed setting, with less hassles (and an earlier set time) than a dingy club. It may not be the wave of the future, but it’s the wave of today for the unsung singers, and I’m happy to ride it.

He did several songs on piano, several on guitar, and a couple on banjo.

My friend Jacqui was in attendance. She and her husband Dave are my house concert heroes – they’re booking an entire series of house shows throughout the year (they call it Parlor and Patio). And they serve homemade pie at intermission! Hmm, maybe I’ll have to start baking…

Undertow books a lot of house shows, and they’re always looking for hosts. There’s also a company called HomeDitty where you can sign up to be a host for scrappy artists trying to make their way in the music world. If you can’t host, at least attend a few house shows. You won’t regret it. In fact, you’ll enjoy the heck out of it.

Eric Bachmann may not mean much to some of the world (yet!), but having him play at my house last night meant the world to me.