tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296769702009-07-10T18:18:29.079-05:00music and other diversions with a pomo/homo spinIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-36250953626025960022009-07-10T17:08:00.004-05:002009-07-10T18:17:57.928-05:00

I'm teaching a few days a week at School of Rock's summer program, or Rock Camp. It's also been called Boot Camp, which is an apt analogy since we throw the kids into bands and tell them they have two weeks to write and record a demo track and play a whole show (mostly covers). They're coming in with a huge range of age and experience levels, so a lot of what the kids learn is how to write and

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-90416506950146269542009-07-03T09:49:00.002-05:002009-07-03T10:52:14.238-05:00

I completely forgot to plug Canasta's two dates with White Rabbits on the blog, but the Empty Bottle sold out on Wednesday before we even got on stage, so you wouldn't have gotten in anyways.If you've seen me at all since our first date with them on Tuesday, I have already pathetically gushed about how fucking awesome this band is. If not, allow me to let someone else do the gushing for me.

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-26422252692332573552009-06-23T08:35:00.003-05:002009-06-23T09:06:13.824-05:00

Sidetrack has ordered nightly air-drop shipments of Booze Slushie mix directly to their roofdeck should supplies start running low. A reverse curfew will be in effect starting on Friday night mandating that anyone living in Boystown remain outside of their homes after 10pm. Charlie's and Hydrate have ordered sleeping cots for stranded, horny suburbanites who were not able to land a trick by

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-84928631411552757432009-06-16T10:22:00.002-05:002009-06-16T10:49:45.452-05:00

Two gigs and a 10 hour recording day in the past two weeks, so lots to read today. A teaser: I'm about to get really snarky.Thanks to everyone who came out to the Martyrs' show last Monday. Usually I go for quantity over quality when a venue gives me free drinks, but there was no way I could perform, walk, carry 40 pound pianos, or drive a vehicle with the size of the bar tab I was given. So

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-14682076614679830022009-06-05T09:31:00.006-05:002009-06-05T10:37:39.013-05:00

I'm going to the suburbs today to enjoy/suffer the Baudrillardian self-assembly-fest that is IKEA. In the spirit of new furniture I have tons of new stuff for you:New Show Poster from Josh Shalek, who designed The Crater EP's cover. Here's the conversation I had with Josh last night:"Josh, should we coordinate our blog posts about my show at Martyrs' on Monday and your poster that advertises

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-75795158962331444042009-05-30T09:55:00.002-05:002009-05-30T10:04:22.354-05:00

It's moving weekend, so I'm keeping this short so I can start piling up ugly shirts to donate and wrapping various fragile things in newspaper.Head over to Canasta's Facebook page and check out our pictures from our recording session earlier this month at Wall2Wall Studios. We used no less than seven different keyboard instruments in the studio, most of which were vintage instruments with

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-39182146725169314752009-05-19T10:54:00.007-05:002009-05-19T11:21:12.887-05:00

I'm the guest on this week's Chicago Acoustic Underground podcast, a live interview/session that I recorded with them back in the fall. I am unusually chatty but somewhat more adept at my mic banter than usually comes across on stage with a beer or two in me. You can also hear live acoustic versions of "Inanimate Objects," "Mies van der Rohe," "The Crater," and "Creative Writing Workshop."

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-12472847902481480262009-05-12T12:48:00.002-05:002009-05-12T13:01:39.480-05:00

If you're on my official mailing list (and not the dozens of other lists people rightly accuse me of keeping), you've been getting emails from a third-party website called ReverbNation that provides a bunch of free tools for indie artists like yours truly. It seems to be growing in popularity, although it doesn't have the stature of MySpace or Facebook. Still, it helps me do things like email

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-30834515511289365722009-04-30T12:18:00.004-05:002009-04-30T16:54:03.301-05:00

In a funny connection to my last post, I was trolling the musician forum on craigslist again and came across yet another interestingly-worded Christian rock ad: "I'm sick of secular bands writing all the good tunes". Which, in my mind, seems kind of similar to "I'm sick of atheists writing all the good theorems," or "I'm sick of Jewish people hogging all the klezmer music." (I.e. I don't see

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-20355423879917005692009-04-28T10:45:00.002-05:002009-04-28T10:49:50.958-05:00

From Craigslist:"DRUMMER AND KEYBOARDIST WANTED...We are an Apostolic Ministry looking for a saved drummer and saved keyboardist to play at all of our services."What kind of keyboardist are you if you're not saved... would that be a deleted keyboardist? Maybe a wasted keyboardist?

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-56554287847277040832009-04-23T10:08:00.002-05:002009-04-23T10:18:17.875-05:00

Since I'm swamped with shows this weekend, I'm going to keep this week's update brief and then get back to the pit of the Athenaeum, where the Gays have me tied up for the rest of the weekend. (Entendres intended.)It's official: I'm performing at Milwaukee PrideFest on Sunday, June 14th. Details on my calendar, which will also link you to the full schedule of events. There has been some talk

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-34660261280298143972009-04-14T23:34:00.000-05:002009-04-14T23:35:20.089-05:00

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the Uncommon Ground gig on Friday. I decided I like playing early in the evening because then I can use my food discount immediately and eat while I'm still at the venue, and it's really good food too. Usually my post-show food cravings have to wait until after I've loaded out and long stopped drinking, and by then it's 1 or 2 in the morning, and any

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-81052120325128989832009-04-07T10:57:00.003-05:002009-04-07T11:05:07.371-05:00

I'll be playing a solo acoustic set at Uncommon Ground on Clark on Friday night at 10pm. I'll be leaving the synthesizer and loop pedal at home since it's a more intimate room, but that means I'll be able to dust off some old favorites from last year that haven't made it into the set rotation lately. I might even do my Regina Spektor cover if someone asks really, really nicely and buys me a

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-73681907189315343252009-04-01T18:15:00.002-05:002009-04-01T18:17:37.558-05:00

I was really hoping for a fake New Hampshire tracklist but maybe Sufjan will come through next year:http://allgoodnaysayers.net/news/2009/04/01/sufjans-next-state-delaware/

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-26753346966820255772009-03-31T11:30:00.002-05:002009-03-31T11:43:18.139-05:00

March was another marathon show month, so apologies for the lack of actual content on the Pedal lately. I will hopefully be able to regail you with esoteric music chat or interesting web links more often in April. Here's your 30-day forecast...An acoustic set at Uncommon Ground on April 10th. The lineup's been changed so I'm playing at 10pm and will be followed by a guy who plays Roger in Rent

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-33631760510852139812009-03-22T11:04:00.002-05:002009-03-22T11:14:53.984-05:00

Cake Chicago continues to blow me away with how rowdy and friendly a crowd full of strangers can be. My only regret is that towards the end of the night I looked at my flyers for my next show and realized I had a non-existent date/day combination listed. So, if you're one of my new friends from last night and you've stumbled on the blog, the Uncommon Ground show is Friday, April 10. (Though I

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-14552793332533114152009-03-18T11:01:00.004-05:002009-03-18T11:19:22.325-05:00

Serendipitously timed with my queerific Cake Chicago show on Saturday, the boys over at the gay fun show, Feast of Fools, featured "Creative Writing Workshop" on their podcast this week. I knew Feast of Fools was one of the most popular LGBT podcasts available, but I just checked their website, and it actually has the largest audience of any LGBT-themed podcast, period. Rock! And it's

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-18763543892823716852009-03-17T12:14:00.002-05:002009-03-17T12:51:21.831-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks and it doesn't stop now. There's a lot of music out there, some of which I am playing, some of which I am not, but let's round up some of the highlights since it's been -- jesus, really, almost a month? How do you people let me get away with this? You're reading other blogs, aren't you? I thought you were acting funny.My first local solo show in a while

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-50550959438554915502009-02-20T10:47:00.002-06:002009-02-20T11:12:49.429-06:00

A few weeks ago I started teaching keyboards at the School of Rock, and one of my favorite things so far has been how many of the students there are already writing their own original material. I'm running a songwriting workshop there tonight and in prepping for it I decided to look for notes I took a long time ago at a songwriting workshop at Berklee. (How long ago? So long ago that when I

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-79569570103307491412009-02-04T22:48:00.005-06:002009-02-04T23:55:42.229-06:00

I'm pleased to announce the birth of Team Milwaukee, coming to term on Friday, March 13th to be exact. I'll be playing my first show up there at the very hip-sounding Art Bar in Riverwest. I'm very excited about the venue because it's two-thirds of an entrepeneurial dream I once had with one of my high school friends, which is that someone should combine a coffeeshop and a bar, plus have a book

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-37591565202060490682009-01-27T22:34:00.005-06:002009-01-27T23:34:03.187-06:00

Canasta moved into a new rehearsal space last night. I'd say that leaving the old space feels like the end of an era, but we observed the occasion of our departure with all of the reverence and care of a CTA announcement. We loaded out faster than we do for shows. I mentioned our new move to a friend of mine and he remembered reading about the space, which surprised me, because it's not

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-41443360355312058422009-01-15T09:56:00.003-06:002009-01-15T10:06:01.371-06:00

Microsoft has released the next wave of software that will eventually let the robots crush humanity under their virus-prone and user-unfriendly boot. It's called "SongSmith", and the Reader's music critic, Miles Raymer, has pretty much summed up how much it sucks on his blog. I don't think I have anything to add, but you should click over there and watch the ad for the new app. As of this

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-59071281193758131752009-01-14T10:11:00.002-06:002009-01-14T10:21:28.317-06:00

Chicago Acoustic Underground just released a podcast session Canasta did with them back in June. CAU has been experiencing a huge posting backlog of shows in the past year due to some extenuating circumstances, so there are references to weather events and concerts that seem like ancient history now. But there is some good banter about the origins of the band's name, for those who are curious.

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-53610816183343574272009-01-07T01:15:00.001-06:002009-01-07T01:17:49.814-06:00

I have been missing Andrew Bird's scheduled shows left and right ever since I moved to Chicago, so it struck me as somewhat magical that I finally got to see him perform tonight by accident at Martyr's. Former Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire member Kevin O'Donnell hosted an evening of music benefiting the House Theatre company, who he currently contributes his songwriting talents to. Most of the

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676970.post-38222590190781206512009-01-06T12:30:00.001-06:002009-01-06T12:33:05.312-06:00

Hopefully all of you are settled back into life from a week or two of excessive merriment. I'm back from a brief trip out east for the holidays and a long weekend out in the burbs finishing up material for the next Canasta album. The problem with being in a writing phase is that there are very few milestones along the way, at least any that would make sense to an objective observer (such as you

Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04639361167011466330noreply@blogger.com0