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.

YOUR audience is just a few steps away

Want a chance to perform outside the Old Town School?

Opportunity awaits, right across the street at the Mad Dog Tavern. Old Town teacher Scott Besaw runs an open mike every Wednesday night and will welcome you to show your stuff! There’s a signup list that he has out starting at 8; you get on the list, and then — depending on how many sign up — you’ll get your turn some time after the show starts, at 9 pm.

If there’s ever a non-threatening performance opportunity, this is it. Scott is there and runs it in the Old Town School style, welcoming, friendly and supportive. And since the Bad Dog is largely patronized by Old Town School students and their friends, you’ll have a receptive setting for your performance. (It doesn’t hurt to bring some of your own friends, of course!)

Hesitant to give this a try? You’re no different than most folks. But most people who do open mikes find out that they love the experience, and want to do it again. The best way to find out for yourself is….stop over some Wednesday, if only to listen!

Filed under: Interesting outside the Old Town School by Skip | October 5, 2009 | Comments (0)

Our Hall of Fame Nominee!

We are pleased to announce the great news!

Diane Blumensaadt, Teacher and Customer Service Representative at the Old Town School of Folk Music, has been nominated for membership in:

The White Castle
Cravers Hall of Fame

Diane has been nominated based on her account of an experience in one of Chicago’s Great Blizzards. It was a cold, windy, stormy day in Chicago, and the snow was piled high on all sides. Walking was difficult, and the icy wind chilled you to the bone. But she and a friend, cold and hungry, were on a long trudge home, through the drifts. Then, before them, white and gleaming, was a place that symbolized warmth and comfort — a White Castle. Each spent their last 12 cents on a slider, which they still remember: that slider bought both comfort to the stomach and a smile to the face. Diane still lives near that White Castle, and treasures that memory which comes to mind each time she passes that location. (Details in this account may differ from hers; I heard her account only once).

Diane has already been awarded an attractive White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame Nominee metal; if she is a finalist, she’ll be flown to the White Castle National Headquarters to be specially honored. But whatever celebration they have, we’ll have a bigger shindig here at the School!

Be sure to wish Diane well and cheer her on as the awards process continues!

Filed under: Uncategorized by Skip | October 5, 2009 | Comments (0)

This January, go on the road with your teachers!

During the last year our teachers have brought Old Town School style teaching, jamming, and celebration to Brazil, Estonia, Finland, Russia, and Mexico, Morocco, Quebec and Russia. Right now, during October, a teacher’s group is in India.

The news: we’re planning of the School’s first foreign excursion that is open to everyone staff, students, and friends as well as teachers. WARNING: Stop reading now if there’s no way you can get away in January! « Read more »

Filed under: Interesting outside the Old Town School by Skip | October 1, 2009 | Comments (0)

Bottles go solo!

The School is now taking the next step in recycling — separate bins for bottles. Dawn Patch, one of the all-but-invisible-but-god-knows-what-we’d-do-without-her adminstrators, has found a recycler who will take our bottles. The message: bottles go solo (but please give them soft landings).

This is a followup to the enormous reduction in our paper usage by Todd Lido and the Marketing Department; earlier this year they moved from thick paper catalogs to the attractive single sheet class schedules.

Beyond this, Gail Tyler is working with consultants to explore other ways to reduce our environmental footprint; stay tuned!

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

What ever happened to the good ol’ gals?

Nothing — they’re still with us, their voices ringing out in their music! You can be part of this revival in a class with Peggy Browning, featuring their songs and stories, starting October 29th.

Peggy has started a new class, dedicated to the pivotal women who pioneered traditional folk music. She’s guiding the class through the music and history of greats including Elizabeth Cotton, Sara and Maybelle Carter, Ola Belle Reed and Hazel Dickens. The class will include creating arrangements of their music, focusing on rhythm, melodies and harmonies using both instruments and voices

What fun! The class will meet at 8:30 Thursdays, at the Lincoln Avenue location. It’s open to students who can change basic chords comfortably on any instrument.

Peg’s email is pbrowning@oldtownschool.org.

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | September 24, 2009 | Comments (0)

Sorry!

The School has great concerts, and they’re in “the best listening room in Chicago” — that’s what the news media keep saying, and that’s the upside.

The downside is getting tickets: shows often sell out. Beyond that, they often sell out so early that only folks with memberships in the School can get a chance to buy them.

For example, tickets to these popular fall shows are already gone:

Leon Redbone – Friday, October 9th – sold out
Los Lonely Boys – Friday, October 23rd – sold out!
Leo Kottke – Sunday, November 1st – sold out
John Sebastian & David Grisman – Friday, December 11th – sold out

The lesson here? Look at the concert schedule. If you’re interested in any of the shows, call now for tickets: 773 728-6000. And to avoid this in the future, sign up and become a member. It gets you priority for tickets during the “members only” window, and it provides support the School needs to continue it’s great programs.

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | September 18, 2009 | Comments (0)

Truth about Old Town Revealed!

Read this now before it disappears!

The truth is that the “Old Town School of Folk Music” is NOT a school, at least by most traditional measures. Sure, some people come in, take a class, and go home. But they’ve missed the clues about what is really going on here; the “school” is really a cult. « Read more »

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | August 30, 2009 | Comments (1)

Jam with us or create one!

Everyone knows that the best way to keep improving is to keep playing — one great way to do that is to join one of the School’s jams: the Wednesday Mid-Day Jam, 12-2 pm or Thursdays, 7-10 pm.

For the past year, we’ve missed only one Wednesday of jamming; we even continue during periods between class sessions. Each Wednesday we meet in the lobby, then set up chairs on the main stage of the School (at Lincoln) and put up our Open Jam sign. We start about noon and end about 2 pm. The group is wonderfully varied in instrumentation: pretty much always guitar, banjo, harmonica, fiddle, and mandolin; sometimes bass and a wonderful tapdancer! People suggest songs in turn, often but not always from the songbook; we also do some fiddle tunes (calling out the chords when needed). If you’re free during the day, come on by! (No need to be an Old Town School student; everyone is welcome). A similar jam is held on Thursday evenings: same place, on the main stage of the school. « Read more »

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | August 30, 2009 | Comments (0)

The Stuff of Heaven

The Stuff of Heaven

OK, I work at the School for music, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. Man cannot live my music alone. Nor can we be satisfied, week after week, by the pretty good food served at our nearby restaurants, or even the wonderful but limited menu at our own Cafe.

Ever think of having a dinner comprised entirely of bread? Let’s not be picky about it — what about having a lunch of bread? Some folks say bread is the staff of life, but how about calling it the stuff of heaven?

The need overtook us recently, so we went to our favorite place to indulge. If your tastes incline to Indian cuisine – and its breads – head over to the Bombay Kabab House, 1901 W. Howard St. This wonderful restaurant ranks with very good restaurants on Devon Avenue – but surpasses them by offering sixteen “Tandoori breads,” including offerings like bhatoora (leavened, fermented bread fried in hot oil), onion kulcha (stuffed with onion and fresh coriander), a nan stuffed with pineapple, cherries, and walnuts, and a “special bread” stuffed with nuts and raisins. A basket of 6 varieties is $12.95. Very nice folks, wonderful food including a luncheon buffet daily, 11:30 am – 3 pm, and dinner buffet Monday-Thursday, 6 pm-9:30 pm.

Since we’d last visited, they’ve expanded the buffet — even the lunch buffet — by a few items, including a yogurt/bread/ potato/pea appetizer and a third dessert. For the future, I have my eye on their Chef’s Special “Tandoori Mix Grilled” which includes tandoori shrimp, tandoori chicken, chickern malai kaba and Bombay lamb boti kabab served with dal makhani nan and rice ($16.95). Wow.

Hope you’ll the Bombay Kabab House a try — they seem to be doing ok, but in this economy, who knows? The best way to keep them with us is to help them thrive! (I’ll continue to do my part!)

Filed under: Interesting dining by Skip | August 29, 2009 | Comments (0)

Old Town Students In Musical Comedy

They rocked years ago — and rock again today!

That’s the subject of “The Dreamers,” a new, original one-act musical comedy about a band of aging rockers aspiring to the big time. The show features several current and past Old Town School students: Steve Bishop, Larry Hazard, Norm Kantor, Bill Lange, Marge Weber, Jim Regan, and Donna Steele, All are products of the School’s music programs — which goes to show how those hours of developing skills can pay off. (Being a band member is fun, but the thrill of the footlights is a special joy!)

“The Dreamers” will be presented at the Apollo Theater in October. It’s a production of Time of Your Life players, directed by Avrum Krause and underwritten by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Illinois Arts Council, the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly. The Time of Your Life Players is a respected theater group that has produced shows for the past several years. See www.timeofyourlifeplayers.com .

The Apollo Theater is at 2540 North Lincoln Avenue. Shows will be every Wednesday and Friday at 2 pm, October 7th through 30th. For Tickets: Call the Apollo Theater box office at 773-935-6100 or their website: www.apollochicago.com.

Filed under: Interesting elsewhere by Skip | August 13, 2009 | Comments (0)


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