It’s been 50 years since the Woodstock Music Festival, which promoted peace, love and music. We’ve formed a fabulous tribute band with some of our favorite musicians, including Nic Barnum, Dana Lawrence Gillis, Kathleen Doetsch, Andrew Festin, Danny McMurray, Jeff Lackie, Fred Koch and yours truly. We’ve got some great tunes as performed by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Joe Cocker and Santana. As a bonus we’re doing two songs that weren’t performed at Woodstock. First, a special version of the song “Woodstock” penned by Joni Mitchell whose agent thought it was wiser for her to appear on the Dick Cavett show than attend the festival. Her boyfriend at the time, Graham Nash, filled her in on the festivities and it inspired her to write the song. The other tune not performed at the festival is by Country Joe McDonald, and called “Starship Ride.” It turns out that Dana Lawrence Gillis is Barry “The Fish” Melton’s cousin and he, of course, performed at Woodstock with Country Joe & the Fish. Unfortunately most of the tunes they performed weren’t church appropriate, but “Starship Ride” is a wonderful song. We’re hoping Barry will enjoy watching the video of cousin Dana performing this Sunday! Here’s a little trailer I put together from our last rehearsal https://youtu.be/NhaWnjZPuGo Enjoy!
Friday: Soul Message band will be at Nick’s Beer Garden in Chicago. Music starts at 9 pm.
November 6: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm.
November 7: Soul Message Band will be at Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago for the early show at 5 pm.
November 8: Soul Message Band is at The Front Room in Chicago. Music starts at 10 pm
November 9: Soul Message Band will be at Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro. Music starts at 8 pm.
November 13: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm.
November 14: Soul Message Band will be back at Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago for the early show at 5 pm.
November 15: Steve Rashid takes a turn performing his own music at Studio 5 in Evanston. The show starts at 8 pm.
November 20: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm.
November 27: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm. The Hellhounds will be at The Humble Pub in Highwood for Black Wednesday. Music starts at 8 pm.
November 29: Compass Rose will be at Maya Del Sol in Oak Park. Music starts at 9 pm.
December 4: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm
December 11: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm
December 13: The Don Stiernberg Quartet will be playing at Studio 5 in Evanston. The show starts at 8 pm.
December 18: The Love plays every Wednesday at the Tudor Wine Bar in Glencoe from 7 pm - 10 pm
Always inspiring: the opening address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations. Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.
Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument. It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.
Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.
And now, jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.
-Ken
Announcements
MUSICIANS: I regularly check out Facebook and your home pages to see where you all are playing, but often I miss or don’t get the information in time for the newsletter. If you’d like me to advertise your gigs, please let me know when and where you're playing.
