Hot Times at Old Town

Appearing below are selections from the hard copy Hot Times. The objective is to highlight activities at the School and in the larger community, especially those featuring or of special interest to teachers and staff. Your suggestions are welcome. Enter a comment (under any item); it will come to me rather than automatically appearing.

Chicago music in danger

Yes, it’s hard to believe but free music in Chicago is threatened.

The cause: an ordinance pending with the Chicago City Council that would require musicians to be licensed and to carry liability insurance — it’s another bizarre law, poorly conceived, yet could shut down the kind of music we hear in coffee shops, restaurants, bars, and other establishments.

The documentary ‘The Chicago Promoter’s Ordinance Kills Independent Music’ can be seen at therecordindustry.com. Defenders of the ordinance note that it was developed to target Raves and similar large scale activities and that it would not be enforced against small venues. But once on the books, when and where it would be enforced would depend upon the discretion of the authorities.

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | February 28, 2009 | Comments (0)

Antiques you can taste!

Ever wonder what apple pies tasted like 100 years ago? That was before designer products, crossbred for characteristics such as shelf life. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were over 7000 different varieties of apples. Now there are less then 2000 varieties available.

It’s too late for this year, but next early in spring 2010 you can learn how to grow an antique apple tree or three in your own backyard, courtesy of Garfield Farm, that wonderful, old-time, working farm out in the burbs. On a Sunday in early March, the Garfield Farm folks are had their annual tree grafting seminar. « Read more »

Filed under: Interesting elsewhere by Skip | February 18, 2009 | Comments (0)

Stop by for the Wednesday Noon Jam

If you’re of an old-timey, barndance frame of mind — or if you just like to sit around and sing — stop by the school Wednesdays around noon. We open up the stage and have a banjo/fiddle/ guitar/whatever jam.

There’s usually eight or ten people and a wonderful mix of instruments: guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica, melodica, and (when our prayers are answered) bass!

The jam goes until about 2 pm.

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | February 14, 2009 | Comments (0)