“The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival will prove to be the next great landmark in Chicago music culture” – Herschel Concepcion, Jambase.com

Chicago, IL – September 5th, 2009. The Congress Theater, in conjunction with Chicago independents Kingtello Presents, is proud to announce the second coming of the 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 all-ages one-day event, held on Saturday, December 12th from 11am to midnight, 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.

Against the backdrop of an official Chicago landmark and one of the last of the classic “movie palaces,” fans will be treated to a party with a purpose, featuring 3 stages and 25 bands for less than the typical price of the headliners alone. Six-time Grammy-winner Béla Fleck and his Flecktones will unite for their first Chicago date together since mid-2007, as Béla has been devoting extended stints to the likes of the Sparrow Quartet, The Africa Project, Edgar Meyer, and Zakir Hussain.

They’ll be joined by Philadelphia’s psych-folk harmonizers, Dr. Dog, who’ve rapidly ascended the public consciousness this year with breakout performances at both Coachella and Camp Bisco. The Emmitt-Nershi Band, uniting Leftover Salmon’s mandolin and vocals (Drew Emmitt) with the songwriting and flat-picking guitar of the String Cheese Incident (Billy Nershi), joins the party as well. And Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater, proudly declared “Chicago’s premier blues entertainer” by the Chicago Tribune, will properly represent the scene that put his city on the international music map.

Tickets for the festival go on sale on Saturday, September 12^th at 9am CST for $35 through the event’s website (cbbfestival.com), ticketmaster.com, and clubtix.net.

The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival will offer a musical reprieve from the merciless Chicago Winter by adapting elements of a summer music festival to the historic and intimate indoor setting In addition to 13 hours of 3 stages worth of nonstop music, the day’s activities will also include a pickin’ circle, a live-art exhibition and indoor gallery, charitable raffles, film screenings, the original Blues Brothers car, and impromptu marching band performances.

In between main stage sets, an array of performers will treat festival-goers to special “pop-up” sets from the Congress Theater’s historic balcony.

Joing the Headliners on the Main Stage – Last Banjo Standing Contest: Organizers have announced that they will once again hold the “LAST BANJO STANDING,” an online contest that scours Chicagoland to find the top bluegrass or blues inspired artist. The winner, as voted on by fans, family, friends and music lovers around the city will join the headliners on the main stage roster. Sign up and vote at cbbfestival.com/contest.

About the Charities:

And while the festival will serve to break a band or two, festival-goers will get to help children. A portion of ticket proceeds will be donated to two non-profit organizations, the Saving tiny Hearts Society (www.savingtinyhearts.org), and Prevent Child Abuse America (www.preventchildabuse.org)

Lineup:

The complete artist roster includes:

Béla Fleck & the Flecktones

Dr. Dog

Emmitt-Nershi Band

Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater

The Giving Tree Band

Josh Phillips Folk Festival

Van Ghost

Majors Junction

Chicago Farmer

Jaik Willis

Mike Mangione & The Band

Holy Ghost Tent Revival

Tangleweed

Environmental Encroachment

Squeeze-bot

GreenSugar

How Far to Austin

Liberty Bluegrass Band

The Right Now

Cobalt & the Hired Guns

The Shams Band

Goodbyehome

The Junior League Band

· Sample them all at cbbfestival.com

About the Congress Theater:

The Congress Theater (www.congresschicago.com) is an official Chicago City Landmark and one of the largest and most unique entertainment venues in the entire city. Over a quarter-million music fans visit the Congress each year to see acts such as The Shins, Girl Talk, Prince, Tiesto, The Roots, The Killers, Ludacris and Dave Chappelle in one the last of the city’s classic movie ‘palaces.’

Built in 1926 and designed by Friedstein & Co, the 4,000 capacity theatre features a mix of architectural styles, including neo-classical and Italian Baroque, with an elaborate domed auditorium covered with decorations in stone, terra-cotta, and plaster. In addition to the main theater, the venue also features a spacious four-story Entrance Pavilion, Skybox Suites and private meeting rooms and exhibition areas. The theater is located in the burgeoning Logan Square/Bucktown/Wicker Park area, the seat of the artistic and music communities in the Midwest. It sits perfectly situated, in close proximity to the immense variety of ethic and social communities that it serves, just blocks from the 90/94 expressway, Metra and CTA blue line trains.

Check it out. The planet is arriving at it’s 6th extinction. This time it it isnt Dinasaurs. It’s us, the human species. Our dirty filthy minds transcend our waste into our clean water. On top of it, plastic, our own demise, is a huge contamination of our only legit water source. Besides the natural springs, of course. But companies are stealing it out of nature. Dirty, greedy corporations are mass sucking our fresh water source to sell it right back to us in bottled water form. Bottled water is LESS regulated than our public water system. Stop drinking bottled water, it’s taking away from our fresh water system.

The Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival today announced their support of the RESPECT! CampaignSM – an innovative new campaign to end domestic and sexual violence by starting with respect. The campaign benefits the Family Violence Prevention Fund and encourages everyone to do their part to prevent abuse by giving and teaching respect to the young people in their lives.

In support of the campaign, a variety of performers at the November 22 festival at Chicago’s Congress Theater will be sharing stories about the people they respect most and asking the audience to support the campaign by texting the keyword “respect” to 41010, adding a $5 donation to the Family Violence Prevention Fund to their mobile bill.

To learn more, visit GiveRespect.org

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!

CHICAGO’S MOST SOUGHT-AFTER ROCKUMENTARIANS POISED TO FILM A FIRST FOR CHARITY: WIGGLE PUPPY PRODUCTIONS ON BOARD TO CAPTURE INAUGURAL CHICAGO BLUEGRASS & BLUES FESTIVAL

An event boasting such a diverse bill piled into such a historic building couldn’t go unrecorded.  Wiggle Puppy Productions, the enigmatic filmmakers behind popular High Definition concert films of icons like Phish,, The Flaming Lips, Umphrey’s McGee, Matisyahu, and the Secret Machines, have offered their services to ensure that it won’t.

From WPP's "Umphrey's McGee: Wrapped Around Chicago"

While David Grisman, The Avett Brothers, The Giving Tree Band, Ha Ha Tonka, Lil ‘Ed and the rest of the artists lead the foot-stomping on-stage at the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival (www.cbbfestival.com), director Mark Krieglstein and producer Sara Yule will coordinate the filming of 18 sets and 24 hours of music. The duo will use their footage to create a live album and concert documentary of Chicago’s historic winter music festival, available for digital download in return for a donation to the Saving Tiny Heats Society’s (www.savingtinyhearts.org) research efforts.

In addition to helping a righteous and homegrown cause, the production will mark the first performance to be filmed inside the historic Chicago City Landmark.

Upon completion of the feature length documentary, Wiggle Puppy’s cinematic tribute to this needed addition to the city’s winter concert calendar will be available on cbbfestival.com and leading download destinations.  All profits from the sales of these HD video downloads will go to support the Saving Tiny Hearts Society’s mission to find cures for America’s #1 birth defect.

ABOUT WIGGLE PUPPY PRODUCTIONS:

WPP has cut out a small niche making films and videos working with an eclectic group of organizations and bands including but definitely not limited to: Phish, The Flaming Lips, Super Furry Animals, Dios (Malos), Ingrid Michaelson, Candylion (w/ Gruff Rhys of SFA), The Benevento Russo Duo, Dead Meadow, Preface 73, Califone, Dan Wilson, Meiko, Natalie Walker, Bustle in Your Hedgerow, Grace Potter, The Benevento Russo Duo, Addison Groove Project, The North Mississippi AllStars, Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, moe, Matisyahu, The Mink Lungs, Burning Spear, Jennifer Hartswick Band, Big Frog (”Japan’s only Jamband”), Chris Berry & Panjea, The Violent Femmes, Raq, Joshua Radin, Panavision, The Hotel Café Tour 2008, The Art of Being, etc. as well as local Chicago talents such as: Umphrey’s McGee, Ultra Sonic Edukators, Gio, The Giving Tree Band, Future Rock, Todd Carey, Dearborn, Andreas Kapsalis Trio, Oucho Sparks, Treologic, Wicker Park Festival, Silver Wrapper Presents, Triple Dat Mas, amongst many many other

The Giving Tree Band planted its roots more than five years ago, built on a foundation of Americana and a sustainable philosophy. The Chicago Blue Grass and Blues Festival is not quite the one year anniversary of their first release, Unified Folk Theory. Since then, TGTB have been the first band ever reviewed in Mother Earth News. They have recorded 2.5 more albums: the ‘world’s greenest album’; a Concert for Peace celebrating the Dalai Lama; and several songs inspired by the upcoming movie, “Public Enemies” with Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. TGTB submitted the songs live one Saturday and so impressed the casting director they were extras in scenes by that Monday. Studio versions include Casey Driessen of Sparrow Quartet on fiddle.

Their positive and accessible personalities, including appearances at music and eco fairs, make them a media friendly interview. NBC, ABC, WGN and RedEye have all ran pieces on TGTB. November, the same month as the CBGB Fest, “Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour” will have TGTB ask guest November 3. That Monday at 7 PM the live recording will stream from Woodsongs.com, then again two and three months later on 500 stations and XM respectively, with PBS a possibility.

Songs from all their projects will be performed in prime time at the Chicago Blue Grass and Blues Festival, November 22 at the Congress Theater. Playing two slots before David Grisman and the Avett Brothers, The Giving Tree Band is set for special main hall balcony performances in the classic one mic tradition.

What to Expect at CBGB November 22:
The Giving Tree Band Rocks Green Festival 2008-
“For those of you who were not one of the 30,000 attendees at the Green Festival that took place at Navy Pier in Chicago last weekend, here’s what you missed…an outstanding performance by Chicago’s very own eco-folk rockers, The Giving Tree Band. The largest audience of the weekend gathered as the band took the stage.”     — EcoRazzi.com

Interviews available before or at the festival… Thanks for your support of the band and the first annual “indoor all day fest” dubbed Chicago Blue Grass and Blues Festival.

World’s Greenest Album Recorded at Aldo Leopold ‘Studios’–
Great Possessions, the now named album mentioned below, is finished and will be released Spring/Summer ‘09. The Giving Tree Band presents the World’s First Carbon Free Album. Recording the ‘world’s greenest album’ took place at the ‘world’s greenest building’, the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. Carbon Free meaning no pollutants are made during the recording and production, a step farther than offsetting emissions (Carbon Neutral).

The Giving Tree Band produced their second album using only renewable energy and recycled materials. The album was created in the most environmentally friendly way currently possible and is 100% carbon neutral. No electricity came from a grid source. All of the power used in the recording, editing, mixing, mastering, post-production, even the manufacturing and CD duplication, comes from renewable wind and solar energy. The CD packaging will also be made from 100% recycled materials of the highest post-consumer content, and after the completion of this project, ten trees will continue to be planted for every thousand CD’s produced to offset emissions created in the shipping process. Essentially, this album will be the greenest ever and do no ecological harm to the planet.

Mother Earth News Magazine First Music Review Ever!-
Giving Back to the Trees, The Giving Tree Band makes music with a mission.
The Giving Tree Band’s “Unified Folk Theory” is worth a listen.

“Folk fans will appreciate the varied American music traditions found on The Giving Tree Band’s double-CD set, “Unified Folk Theory.” The acoustic quartet from Chicago seamlessly combines their traditional folk style with plucky bluegrass, then tosses in a dose of early Bob Dylan for good measure.

Even better, the band’s on an eco-mission: the CDs were manufactured at the wind-powered Earthology Records using recycled materials; manufacturing and shipping pollutants are offset by planting 10 trees for every 1,000 CDs sold, and the band’s instruments are made of naturally fallen trees and recycled wood. The Giving Tree Band encourages a spirit of community through artful expression, with lyrics that give an uplifting boost to like-minded souls who care for the Earth.”      –Stephanie Bloyd

SAMPLE REVIEWS
“They’re an all-acoustic folk music group that sings about cherishing the earth and living simply.”
-Steve Edwards, Chicago Public Radio

“They write songs worth hearing.”
-Richard Milne, 93WXRT Chicago

“The band sounds awesome, absolutely. The music has a serious atmospheric quality to it, mighty fine stuff.”
-Cary Allen Fields, Columnist for Bluegrass Now

“Their music is real and vibrant; a good piece of Midwestern Americana.”
-Brian Campbell, ChicagoAtHome.com (CBS radio)

“The best folk songs you’re likely to hear in a long time. The Giving Tree Band’s status as a band to watch is undeniable.”
-Anthony Bennett, CDREVIEWS.COM

“Great songwriting and passion for the concepts behind the words and music and stands up to the best in the folk/newgrass/Americana music industry.”
-Rich Reardin, “In Search Of A Song” (Syndicated Radio)

“Living what they sing, transforming words into a journey through time, The Giving Tree Band promotes wholesome, earth friendly living, giving back to the community through their songs.”
-Nina Goodrich, JAZZREVIEW.COM

For Interviews with David Grisman, The Giving Tree Band or Chicago Blue Grass and Blues Festival Organizers…
CONTACT: Anthony Scott Piatt
fly@flyonthewallmedia.com
812.336.7938

Press kits for TGTB, Grisman and CBGB here…
(Press Ready Pics, Music, Bios)
www.FlyOnTheWallMedia.com

As you may have heard, we’ve announced a surprise that has been in the works for some time:  balcony pop-up sets from Tangleweed.  I barely even knows what that means, but I know the folks dig it and the bands think it’s a gay ‘ole time as well.  Show up at the show, and you can experience the acoustic hootenanny that is some spotlit pickin’ from above.  But don’t sit at home like a jerk the night before.

Check out a few free Tangleweed sets at The Charleston in Bucktown, perpetual purveyors of space-time continuum screwballs.  There’ll be a few last minute ticket giveaways.  I’ll let the Charleston take it from here, as stated on their site:

You are traveling through to another dimension,
a dimension not only of sight and sound but of
liquid. It is a dimension as vast as a corner
saloon and timeless as infinity. It is the
middle ground between light and shadow,
between coffee and Cuervo, between
Dickens and Shakespeare.

To some it is the first city of the New World, to
others a frivolous bit of nostalgia left over from
the jazz age. This is a dimension of the
imagination or if you prefer, a tavern.
It is in the area which we call
The Charleston.

CHECK OUT MORE ABOUT THE SHOW AT http://www.tangleweed.org/blog/calendar/

STAGE THAT ONCE HOSTED THE DEAD HOSTS PRE-PARTY FOR LONGTIME GARCIA COLLABORATOR

For three days in early 1969, the Grateful Dead graced Chicago’s original Kinetic Playground with their now-ubiquitous brand of jam-infused eclectic rock.  Shortly thereafter, Jerry Garcia began his decades-long collaboration with Mandolin impresario David Grisman, changing the face of The Dead’s music forever. Now, almost 40 years later, the new Kinetic Playground will participate in Grisman’s latest collaboration, the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival.

On October 24th, the Kinetic Playground will host the first of two official Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival pre-parties, co-presented by Chicago music website FANFOUND.com and music promotion company, It’s Real Music.

The event will feature Chicago Bluegrass & Blues festival VIP package giveaways, and mark the first trip to Chicago for D.C’s newest “newgrass” sensations, the Junior League Band.  Supporting JLB on the bill will be an eclectic mix of Chicago artists, including soulful pianist Dylan Lloyd, melodic electro-punks Empra and Boom Alert, and Furious Frank’s hobocamp mud show, self-described as “Frank Zappa meets Herb Alpert in Texas.”

Doors are at 8pm, and tickets are $9, redeemable for a discount off of the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival ticket price.

About the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival:

On November 22nd, 2008, the Congress Theater will host the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival (www.cbbfestival.com), featuring the David Grisman Quintet, The Avett Brothers, and 14 other leading Chicago and national acts. While rooted in the foot-stomping influences of bluegrass and blues, the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival will transport the concertgoer through the genre-defying evolution of music today.  The one-day event, with music from noon ‘til midnight, 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).