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.

Add jug band to your resume!

Or if not to your resume, at least to your life. Registration is open for the next term of school’s jug band! It’s both a band AND a class, with the next class starting in late October. So when someone asks you what you’ve been doing — here’s what you can say.

“You didn’t know? I’m now a member of the Hump Night Thumpers Jug Band. That’s the band that won the 25th Annual Battle of the Jug Bands in 2007.” « Read more »

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | April 27, 2009 | Comments (0)

You missed Fender day?

Ouch! But it should be a reminder: keep checking the School’s website!

One Saturday earlier this year, the Different Strummer (the School’s store) had staff from Fender come in to do free bench checks on electric guitars. No Fender? That was ok too, they didn’t discriminate.

By the end of the afternoon, 90 folks had received FREE restrings and and set ups. And those who bought Feder or Squier products got 10% back in cash, on top of the already discounted prices. But this wasn’t a standard sales offer. « Read more »

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | April 27, 2009 | Comments (0)

Ready for an ensemble?

If you’re a private student, ask your teacher if you may be ready for ensemble playing. If the answer is yes, consider the Beatles for Beginners Ensemble: it’s a great place for intermediate/ advanced students in guitar/bass/drums/ piano/vocal to learn how to play together, play in time with a band, sing group harmony, and learn how to build arrangements. In this ensemble you’ll get to work on the Beatles songs (and solo records) — some great stuff! The great part: you can work on the songs in private lessons, then bring what you learn to the class, where everything comes together.

This class is great preparation to get ready to play in all the other ensembles as well. Want to visit? Leave a note for Charles Kim or email him at ckim@oldtownschool.org). Beatles for Beginners meets at 2:30 on Saturdays at Lincoln Square.

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | April 10, 2009 | Comments (0)

A taste of the new Dylan album

Hard core Dylan fans know this already, but in case you’re more an appreciator — he’s produced yet another album, Together Through Life, now in the pre-release hype stage. It’s his 33rd studio release (46th album overall!) and is being praised by initial reviewers. We learned about it from a new-to-us feature on NPR, their All Songs Considered.

Want a free taste of this new offering? One fine track, Beyond Here Lies Nothing, can be heard at

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102785158

Josh Hathaway of Blogcritics Magazine writes: “‘Beyond” has just a hint of Eric Clapton’s cover of Otis Rush’s classic “All Your Love (I Miss Loving)” from Clapton’s time with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. It’s a blues joint with some mariachi trumpet, organ, and accordion. From a production standpoint, “Beyond” is a little edgier than anything on Dylan’s previous record (Modern Times).”

(Want to play along? it’s in A minor!)

Filed under: Music by Skip | April 7, 2009 | Comments (0)