Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Photos from Ford Library

As promised, here are some photos from the concert at "Fridays at the Ford" in Western Springs. Thanks to Rick for sending the pictures. One of the things I enjoy most about these community concerts is the opportunity to have alot of interaction with the audience. Problem is, if I'm not careful I end up talking more than playing.



































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Monday, September 26, 2005

The blog that cried content

My apologies to the feeders out there who actually thought I was posting new content earlier this morning. Just me fiddling with the blog trying to figure out how to set up some categories. I think I got the jist of it!!

While I'm writing, Donnybrook did play a pretty darn good show this weekend with the McNulty School of Irish Dance at the Schauer Center for Performing Arts in Hartford, WI. It's a concert we put on combining some of Donnybrook's typical pub stuff, with a few things more suitable to the theatre setting, all intertwined with the McNulty dancers spinning and jumping around us. If Socknitter or anyone else sends any pictures of the event my way (hint, hint) I'll post 'em here.

We're doing another one of these this coming Saturday in Spencer, WI, if you happen to be in the area.

see ya soon,
-Andy

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Recent Gigs

Hey folks,

It's been a busy few weeks here, so I haven't had much time to update things. I do want to take a minute to say thanks to a few folks. A couple weeks ago I played at the West End Art Fair in downtown LaGrange, Il. It was a really enjoyable weekend. I met lots of really nice folks, made some new friendships, and just had a good time. I want to say thanks to Sharon, at Someplace Else Coffeehouse, also in LaGrange. She's the one who passed my name on to the folks at the art fair. Sharon's a wonderful person and advocate for local folk music. If you get the chance, check out her website and make it to a concert at Someplace Else, it's sure to be an enjoyable evening.

Secondly, I want to say thanks to Rick at The Thomas Ford Library in Western Springs, IL. I played there last week for their "Fridays at the Ford" concert series and, again, had a wonderful time. I love finding those 'hidden gem' venues, and The Ford is just such a place. They only have five concerts a year, but mark your calendar for November 11th, Mark Dvorak will be playing there. If Rick sends me pictures from the evening I'll post some here.

Well, that's all for now. I think my lunch is ready!! More soon. Thanks for stopping by and please keep in touch. If you were at any recent gigs, let me know, I'd love to hear from you.

-Andy

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Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Fox Valley Folk Fest


I performed yesterday with Al Tauber at the Fox Valley Folk Festival in Geneva, Illinois. I haven't been there in a couple years, so it was good to be back and see people I hadn't seen in a while, Dan & Dona Benkert, the Joneses, the Murphy Roche folks, and others. Thanks to Dave Humphreys at Two Way Street for the invite!! Thanks also to those who came out to see us.

Al also performed a set with his 'other' Andi (as andi and i) at the festival.

I talked on stage about being a punk rocker at heart. While I usually state that for the comic irony of a punk rocker playing the dulcimer, it's true. Here's a link to a website I found that chronicles my "early years". I especially like the religious cult twist. Put's me in the same camp as Cat stevens, I think. If you don't know that story you'll have to ask me at a gig sometime.

But I've also been remembering those long gone days recently because Randy 'Biscuit' Turner, singer of The Big Boys, a great Austin punk bank in the eighties, just died a couple weeks ago. Going to a Big Boys show was incredible. By the end of the night you couldn't distinguish the audience from the band, because they worked hard at getting the whole crowd involved. And then at the end of the show they always implored the kids in the audience to go start their own band. That was a great influence on me as a teenager.

While, my music sounds pretty different now, I think punk rock and folk music share that common theme of getting everybody involved. I'm interested in finding new creative ways to do that in my music now. I used to do shows at cafe's where I would invite just about any musicians I knew. Whoever showed up would dictate what tunes we played. I've also seen audience members drawing and sketching during my shows. That might be interesting to facilitate that more intentionally. Maybe bring along a common sketch book to my shows and pass it around for anyone interested in adding something to it. It could become a sort of collective archive of audience creativity. Might be kind of cheezy though. Any ideas?

Here's a few more photos of Andi and Al, to demonstrate the many emotions of our favorite newly cropped crooner:








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