Evergreen or Bust: Road Blog! (Day 3)

Rolling out of bed and looking forward to rolling into Colorado had everyone energized in the morning. Josh was even up early enough to catch the tasty breakfast provided by the North Platte Holiday Inn Express.

I can't wait to see that car when they finally get those wheels on it! Finally, we pulled into the awesome sights of the mountains of Colorado and found our way to the uniquely beautiful Bear Creek Cabins of Evergreen, CO, where the crew will be staying for the next few days. Wow, is it picturesque and the folks staying there couldn't be finer or nicer. We're looking forward to seeing some of our new friends at the show in Evergreen!

While we were driving around Evergreen, we saw this interesting little store-front, offering a pretty specific service.

One of the gentlemen sitting on the bench in front the store said they called the particular establishment "Urine Trouble." Ha!

And now we're looking forward to enjoying Evergreen and the excellent hospitality of the Finebergs as we delight in the gorgeous surroundings and relax knowing we've reached our destination. A destination... of rock.

The water was incredibly cold, but after a bracing dip and a little hot tub action, we all felt better. A daily ritual ascribed by Nate Fineberg for all our aches and pains and it worked like a charm.

We're rockin' and rollin' and doing it like we only we know how,

-Nate Bellon(bass)

Evergreen or Bust: Road Blog! (Day 2)

Sometimes, we spend a day driving. Just... driving. That was Sunday, driving from Cedar Rapids, IA to North Platte, NE. An eight-hour drive-a-thon. We all piled into the Pocket Rocketeer and pushed our way through the heartlands.

Van time.

Ah ha!

Slipping time away in the van involves reading, listening to music, chatting about the hot topics of the day and sleeping. Food stops are always a chance for exploring local or exotic flavors. In Des Moines, IA, we stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant slightly off the beaten track named A Dong [ link ]. The food was surprisingly good and the prices were very reasonable. Selections for the table included Pho and fried squid and we all filled our bellies with deliciousness.

Onward we continued to our Holiday Inn Express in North Platte, NE and hunkered down for the final leg of our trip, into the heart of Colorado itself and into the very mouth of Evergreen.

Pushing to 'Rado,

-Nate Bellon(bass)

Evergreen or Bust: Road Blog! (Day 1)

"On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again." It's as true today as when Willie Nelson sang it in 1980. A band on the road is a beautiful thing and the Empty Pockets are excited to be back in the game. Colorado here we come!

We started the day off with a rocking good show at the Landshark Beer Garden at Navy Pier. Thanks to Crystal and the whole staff at Navy Pier for helping us put on a great show and thanks to everybody that boogied with us at the Landshark Beer Garden stage. Rock on!

So what do the Pockets do after rocking a show at Navy Pier? Why, pile into the van and drive to Colorado, of course! We're headed out to Evergreen, Colorado for the Evergreen Lakes Presents Summer Concert series [ link ] and the first leg of the tour took us to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. So we drove... and drove some more.

On our way out of Illinois, we hazard a stop for food in Moline, wondering what madness we may find. Much to our surprise, we stumbled upon an incredible German restaurant named Bier Stube. The food was authentic and delicious and the beers were delightful. If you ever find yourself in the area of the Quad Cities with a hunger for some wurst, stop in at Bier Stube. [ link ]

Tomorrow, it's time to head off the North Platte, Nebraska. Allons-y!

-Nate Bellon(bass)

A Piano, a Madman and a Delightful Time ( or Tim Minchin, We Love You )

Tuesday night, The Empty Pockets family headed out to Lincoln Hall to catch one of our favorite performers in his first ever Chicago show. Danielle and I rode the train in from the burbs and met up with Josh, Eri and Dan at Josh and Eri's apartment, had a quick aperitif [ link ] and headed out to grab some delicious food and discuss what songs we would love to hear out of our favorite piano-playing mad-man:

Tim!

His name is Tim Minchin [ link ] and he's a delightful English-Australian comedian, musician and actor. His songs are as thought-provoking as they are hilarious, cleverly written and masterfully executed through wonderfully robust piano chops and excellently timed pauses or looks. His lyrical content is a swirling mixture of rhythm and poetry executed with a straight-faced precision that is made only more stimulating by the subject matter. Betwixt songs, his observational stand-up is hilariously pointed, deeply insightful, and sometimes just plain silly, all of which when added together makes for absolutely excellent theatre experience.

Here's a small cross-sampling of some of his music, most of which is easily viewable on his website or on the YouTubes. Disclaimer: Tim Minchin's comedy, while delightfully intelligent, can also be quite ribald and possibly offensive to those with delicate sensibilities. If you feel you may be one of these people, perhaps you'd be happier with someone slightly less offensive, such as the ineffable Tom Lehrer [ link ].

Tim Minchin's love song, "Inflatable You" shows off his hilarious word-play and rhyming schemes as well as his jaw-dropping piano chops and is an undeniable Empty Pockets favorite: [ link ]

"Not Perfect" is a great representation of Minchin's ability to create a song that has humor in it but is more than just a "comedy song," being a thought-provoking and insightful journey through man's existence in a sort of Matryoshka doll way. It's one of Danielle's favorites and is certainly worth your attention. [ link ]

And as a final taste of the brilliance of Tim Minchin, here's another favorite of the Pockets. It's the song I walked around the house singing before we split for the concert and I feel it's a perfect blending of comedy and musical-geekery. Witness for yourselves the genius of "F-Sharp". [ link ]

Tim Minchin will be at Lincoln Hall for the rest of the week, performing to sold-out audiences for the "Just For Laughs Comedy Festival" sponsored by TBS and Twix, so you may be out of luck if you want to see him in Chicago. However, he's on tour around the rest of the country for the next few months, so check out his website and go see him live. You won't regret it.

With a rift betwixt my fingers and my tenor,

-Nate Bellon(bass)

Hot Fun in the Summertime ( or Insert Clever Heat Pun Here)

This summer has already been many different things for many different people, as all summers are. There's even disagreement as to when the season begins. Some say Memorial Day, some say the summer solstice. (Retailers have taken to placing summer items in mid-March or earlier.) Despite all the differences, we have shared a common experience this summer. It has been HOT.

Smeriously hot.

Though just as aging a fine wine can make it better, heat has the ability to amp up the Rock and Roll and is an absolute must for the summer concert season. It wouldn't be an outdoor rock-fest if it wasn't blazingly hot. It makes the food and beer taste better and makes the sweet sounds coming from the nearby speaker that much sweeter. The Empty Pockets have been a busy crew at this, the beginning (or not) of the summer. We kicked off our summer concert season by closing out the 3rd Annual Taste of Bolingbrook, which was an absolute blast, and we've been rolling strong since.

We spent a whole day rocking in the sun on June 1, starting with one of our favorite activities: Rocking for the kids. Rutledge Hall and Todd Hall in Lincolnwood were hip enough to bring their students outside for a bit of highly curricular rocking as Josh and the Empty Pockets presented their "A (Very) Brief History of Rock and Roll" show. These kids sure do know a lot about the history of Rock and Roll!

Kids love to rock!

No, you rock!

 

After the Scholastic Rock Fest, we boogied on out to Warrenville to open up the Warrenville Library's free "Concert on the Commons" series. [ link ] We had a great time there and everyone was super nice! It was great to see some familiar faces amongst the crowd and we enjoyed it so much, we hope to be invited back next year!

Fish-eye Rocking!

 

A lovely day for a concert

 

Of course, all the summer fun of rocking in the sun cannot be had in one day. The Empty Pockets enjoyed all the sun (and a little rain) on Saturday, June 4 at the Lakeview Sausage Fest. This festival had everything: Rocking music, A Sausage King, Ronnie Woo Woo, and of course, sausage! (Sausage is pronounced thusly: [ link ])

 

It's glorious. * single tear *

 

The Sausage King and Dann-o discuss important sausage secrets.

 

Josh shreds it up

 

Even Ronnie Woo Woo digs the Pockets!

 

And of course, this is just the beginning of the summer fun. We've got awesome outdoor summer shows coming up all the time, so don't forget to stop by our website [ link ] or like us on Facebook [ link ] and keep up on the blistering summer rock brought out by the Empty Pockets.

Hot or not, you just can't stop,

-Nate Bellon(bass)

FOCUS! ( or School House Rock! )

The arts. Often they are ignored in the hustle-bustle of normal life. "The arts" are seen as a superfluous accessory to the "real world," a meandering of the mind and soul that oft-times must be wrangled into a small time frame that fits extra-curricular activities. Consistently inside the educational system, the arts go underfunded or unfunded and are relegated to the back-burner for the "well-rounded student."

Keeping in such a mindset, Highland Park High School deserves commendations for many reasons and one of which being the award-winning "FOCUS on the Arts" program. [ link ] Josh and the Empty Pockets were delighted to be involved with this excellent program and were given a first-hand look on Tuesday as we rocked out in the H-wing gymnasium to an awesome group of attendees.

Setting up in the gym.

The Empty Pockets loved rocking out and discussing some of the finer points of rock 'n roll with the fine FOCUS folks. Everyone was super attentive and we really enjoyed every minute of our stay. Nicer folks cannot be found and we were so happy to be asked to present this year.

Hey, what's that?

The sights, the sounds, the smells... of rock n' roll.

Erika drinks in the rock, in water form.

Other prestigious presenters at the absolutely excellent FOCUS on the Arts program include Gary Sinise, David Rudman, Audrey Niffenegger, Mark Giangreco and the often imitated but never duplicated Dave Mason [ link ], among many others.

We hope to be brought back for the next FOCUS on the Arts program so that Josh and the Empty Pockets can continue to share their excellent message of peace, love and really-ripping rock 'n roll with the future generation of movers and shakers. Thank you so much Highland Park High School and thanks to everyone who came and rocked with us during our session. You all kick!

If you wanna be funky, be free,
-Nate Bellon(bass)

The Next Club Sport ( or Table Top Tunes )

After poking about the internets for new and exciting instruments like the awesome Eigenharp Alpha [ link ] and the still-in-prototype "Linnstrument" [ link ], I stumbled across an old favorite of mine, the Reactable. [ link ] Basically, the Reactable is a touch-surface on which you use multi-shaped blocks to make tones, beats, music, etc. Each of the blocks does a specific thing and you can alter functions of the blocks by turning them a specific way or making them closer to or farther from another block. It's really awesome.

How cool is this? Ice cold, baby.

There's even some sweet performance videos of people making some bumpin' tracks on the Reactable. It's right here. It starts to really crank around the 2 minute mark, but the video gives a pretty excellent view of how the pieces interact on the table. [ link ]

So here's the idea. Start a club or take an already existing club with a dance room. Move the DJ station from that little booth in the corner to center stage and drop two Reactables there. DJs bring their cubes, with their samples and filters loaded and ready to go. Somebody hits a fog machine (ambiance is still part of the show), a gong is struck, and two DJs take the stage and begin battling each other on the Reactables. The music is pumped through the house and the crowd is called upon to crown a victor after an agreed-upon amount of time has passed.

Maybe they even battle on the same table, trying to musically one-up one another until the song stops and one is judged a winner and given his or her evenings accolades, while the other falls down into a chute, back into the DJ training center, where the guards haul the loser back into the cell from whence they came. Their only hope of escape is the day they hone their Reactable DJ skills to a razor sharp point with which they stab at the reigning champion, toppling the greatest of foes and taking the honored and hunted position of "DJicus, Layer of Beats"

Hail, DJicus, Layer of Beats! Hail! Hail!

Nah, too Roman.

I still think the idea is awesome, but perhaps it needs some work. That and Reactables are in the area of instrument that I would call "eye-gogglingly expensive." ($12,000+) Sure they have a iPhone or iPod app, but it's not the same thing. That's like using a synthesizer to synthesize a synthesizer that's synthesizing a synthesizer. Somewhere along the lines, it just gets too confusing. But one day, I hope against hopes, this technology will make it from "expensive oddity" to "tool that's integrated with the surfaces of my house" and I'll be able to play with it on my countertop while cooking FutureChicken (tm). Yes. That will be a sweet day indeed.

Right on, right off,

-Nate Bellon(bass)