Got questions about what the show will be like, what the rules will be, or what we’ll be wearing? Feel free to e-mail us at Michael.raspatello@gmail.com. Hopefully, however, here are some of the answers you were looking for….

SHOW SCHEDULE

*2 Stages, a Balcony, 18 Acts, and Costumed Marching Band “Environmental Encroachment” parading throughout the venue at impromptu times

MAIN STAGE
12:30-1:15pm – Donnie Biggins
1:15-1:30 – Tangleweed
1:30-2:15 - Dollar Store
2:15-2:45 – Tangleweed/Chicago Sketch Comedy Troupe “Cell Camp”
2:45-3:30 – Billy Childers
3:30-4:00 – Tangleweed/Chicago Sketch Comedy Troupe“Cell Camp”
4:00-4:45 – Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials
4:45-5:15 – Tangleweed/Chicago Sketch Comedy Troupe“Cell Camp”
5:15-6:15 – Majors Junction
6:15-6:45 – Tangleweed/Chicago Sketch Comedy Troupe“Cell Camp”
6:45-7:45 – Ha Ha Tonka
7:45-8:15 – The Giving Tree Band
8:15-9:45 - David Grisman Quintet
9:45-10:15 – The Giving Tree Band
10:15-However Long They Want – The Avett Brothers

Jambase.com’s 312 PAVILION STAGE
Noon-12:45 – Blue Room Hero
1:00-1:45 – Cobalt & the Hired Guns
2:00-2:45 - Lindsey O’Brien Band & Friends
3:00-3:45 - Mike Mangione
4:00-4:45 – Jessica Lee
5:00-5:45 – How Far to Austin
6:00-6:45 – Blue Mother Tupelo
7:00-8:00 – Blackdog

• This show is All Ages, runs from 11am-Midnight-ish, tickets are $31 until day-of, when it increases (if there are any left)

• Unlimited Re-Entry: Can come and go freely to and from the theater until 5pm.  AFTER 5PM YOU CAN STILL ARRIVE.  All this means is that once you’ve left the building after 5pm, you can’t come back in.  As in, if you leave at 4:59 you can still get stamped and come back any time throughout the night.  However a minute later that would not be an option. 

• Smoking lounge access without leaving the theater. Security is about as strong as a one-armed swimmer (as in “weak”)

• Sketch Comedy throughout the day from Chicago Sketch Comedy Group “Cell Camp”

• An open jam session and picking circle from the second the doors open. Musicians are all invited to bring their instruments and participate. There’ll be an “instrument check” along with the coat check so that you don’t have to lug your noisemaker around with you all day.

• Over 50 booths of artists, vendors, and charitable causes. Artists will be creating their art on-site and selling it while the Saving Tiny Hearts Society will be raffling off swag from the artists

• The theater is located at 2135 N. Milwaukee (just north of Armitage). There is street parking available all around the theater, as well as very cheap reserved parking by clicking here

• Traveling to the theater is easy via the CTA, as it is within two blocks of the Blue Line train stations at California (& Milwaukee) and Western (& Milwaukee) which operate twenty four hours a day. The theater is also served by the following bus routes: #52 Kedzie/Calfornia, #56 Milwaukee, #73 Armitage, #49 Western (www.transitchicago.com)

• The theater is also a quick walk or bus ride from the METRA train station at Clybourn & Ashland on the Union Pacific District Northwest line. Exit the station to the south to transfer to the #73 Armitage bus going west on Cortland Ave. to the theater.

• The “Official After-Party” will be held at Chicago’s #1 rock club The Elbo Room immediately following the show. Entry is free with your festival ticket. Check out more details at elboroomchicago.com

•A WARM FUZZY FEELING FOR MAKING THIS EVENT AMAZING AND HELPING PEOPLE AT THE SAME TIME!

MORE RAUCOUS FOOT-TAPPERS AND CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BALLADS TO BE EXPECTED FROM BILLY CHILDERS, ONE OF COUNTRY’S FASTEST RISTING TALENTS

When the inaugural installation of the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues festival touches down at the historic Congress Theater later this month, the city’s surprisingly-vast mainstream country music fan base won’t go unfulfilled.

That’s because the Midwest’s latest country music sensation will be there to greet fans from the festival’s main stage, showcasing a range of styles that has perked the ears of mainstream and alt country fans alike.

After upwards of 400 fans filled the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Chicago last June to help Billy Childers land a spot in Kenny Chesney’s “Poets and Pirates” shows at Soldier Field, Billy’s career ascension was unstoppable.  First up: Sharing the stage with an all-star lineup comprised of Chesney, Luke Bryan, Gary Allan, LeAnn Rimes, and Keith Urban at the Midwest’s biggest venue.  Next came premiere spots in front of the region’s biggest country music gatherings, including Country Thunder and the Chicago Country Music Festival, and the growing legion of fans that inevitably followed.

Fresh off a set of Vegas dates, Childers is ready to take his modern honky-tonk stylings to one of Chicago’s most historic stages, alongside a roster of Roots and Americana powerhouses that includes David Grisman, The Avett Brothers, Ha Ha Tonka, Lil ‘Ed, Giving Tree Band, and Waco Brothers offshoot Dollar Store.

Learn more about Billy’s November 22 date at Chicago’s only winter music festival at www.cbbfestival.com  Learn more about Billy at www.billychilders.com

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:

On November 22nd, 2008, the Congress Theater will host the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival (cbbfestival.com). While rooted in the foot-stomping influences of bluegrass and blues, the festival will transport the concertgoer through the genre-defying evolution of music today.  The one-day event will serve as a tribute to two schools of music that continue to shape and inspire contemporary rock, jamband, funk, folk, roots, Americana, and indie cultures, while allowing festivalgoers to save a heart.  A portion of each $31 ticket will be donated to the Saving tiny Hearts Society (www.savingtinyhearts.org), an non-profit organization that raises money for America’s #1 birth defect, congenital heart defects (CHD).