In collaboration with the Baked Tomato Restaurant, 4358 N. Elston Ave.
Chicago, IL 60641 I developed a venue for showcasing
Chicago Songwriters. I thought we might have
some folks out there that would want to participate. Unlike jam
sessions, this wasn't intended to be open to everybody. Participants didn't have to be
professionals but I did have to have people who were proven to an
extent. I had to hear their work before accepting them
for a guest appearance. Even though there was no money
involved, we managed appearances some of the best songwriters Chicago had to offer.
I published a local email newsletter of these activities that went out to over 100
people. Each participating songwriter/composer let their
followings know of the project. The Baked Tomato did a robust pizza
delivery business and owner Steve Riordan
was connected into the WFMT program "The Midnight Special" that broadcasts down the
street from the restaurant. His connection to that program made it
possible to encourage those audience members to come to our events.
This was not an open mike situation. Rather than having an audience full
of musicians sitting there waiting for their turn to play, the
intention was to get an audience from the general public. Jam
sessions and open mikes abound around the city but venues where proven
songwriters are featured do not. "Proven" simply meant they will had to submit a recording to
me so I would know that they could play and carry a tune. We wanted this to be a
forum for serious songwriters. Songwriters who stayed away from open mikes came to this. It was a
well lit performance space with a good sound system, an elevated stage,
a focused audience and an MC intent on featuring their work. This was
attractive to artists who wouldn't otherwise have participated. ... and of
course, it was a good vehicle for selling their CDs.
Sadly, the Baked Tomato changed ownership and the new owners had no interest in supporting live music. It was just as well in that several problems plagued the endeovor from the beginning. 1) The location had little street traffic and was not a music friendly neighborhood. 2) We had some support from the participating musicians but it was hard to get the general public to turn out. 3) We were hoping to get the support of some of the folk music and songwriting cultural institutions in town but such support was not forthcoming.
BUT WE DID GET SOME GOOD VIDEO OF SOME OF THE PARTICIPANTS SO ENJOY THESE AT YOUR LEISURE. AND IF YOU HAVE WORK (OR A GOVERNMENT BAILOUT) AVAILABLE FOR ANY OF THESE ARTISTS LET ME KNOW. 312.961.6034
THANK YOU
Here are examples of some write ups used in promoting the artists
Susan Urban will be going on first and will be joined by side man,Phil Cooper, on guitar and vocals.
Susan Urban's songwriting influences are the old traditional ballads and such 20th Century story song masters as Harry Chapin, Malvina Reynolds, Stan Rogers and Steve Goodman. Sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes inspiring, Susan's performances weave a tapestry of humor, passion and reflection as rich and varied as life itself. Her clear, deep voice has been described as "Like fire!" Susan plays six and hvelve string guitar in varied tunings, six string banjo, mountain dulcimer, Native American and African Drum and (on ONE song) kazoo. Susan's mission as a songwnter is to help people to reclaim their attention spans!
Jay Einhorn
I was a jazz guitarist in high school--many years ago--playing at the Exit Coffeehouse and the Cotton Club, when I heard folk music, later became a poet for awhile, and a long process of music and poetry blending started way down somewhere that eventually came out as original songs. Starting over is an important theme in my life and music, and "Start Over" is the title song of my studio cd. Political and social hypocrisy bothers me, so I wrote "Appearance of Virtue" and some other songs. "Market Price" is about Emily Dickinson and her poetry. "After Our War" is an anti-Iraq war song, on my Myspace page. I'm a psychologist, so there are themes like cult-thinking ("Wrong Way Home"), non-verbal communication ("Honey, What You Trying To Do?"), making a life of your own when others have tried to take it away from you ("From There to Here"), facing a hopeless love that is partly an illusion that one created ("Out of the Fire"), and our nearly bottomless potential to regenerate ("Never Underestimate the Power of a Heart.")
Sam Ortega
(Sam writes in the vein of Bruce Cockburn, John Mayer and Bono) After spending two years working on my music in California (mostly writing, performing and collaborating) I recently moved to Chicago hoping to meet my personal mile-stones in the Windy City and launch my career to the next level. So far I've had a great response and good (honest) feed-back to my music and I've found out that Chicago is one of the friendliest places in the world! I'm hoping to do good music here and get to meet/collaborate with other local artists. (Lance Brown will be joining Sam as a sideman playing outside his comfort zone)
