Friday, December 03, 2010 

The Congregation

Last night, my pals Mark Battrell, Jeff Kleeman & I shot some photos & video at Chicago Recording Company of a VERY solid/fun band called The Congregation. As the featured band for CRC's "Spotlight Series," these guys are old school R & B with a 3-piece horn section and a terrific singer up front. The best compliment I heard all night on their original tunes: The engineer (Matt) saying he didn't notice any letdown in the song quality when they switched from a cover tune to one of theirs (I agree). Photo by Mark Battrell.

 

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2:00 PM | |

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 

The Rock & Roll Kitchen® Live | December 2008

Finally got around to editing some video from a private party we did last December at Chicago Recording Company (in Chicago - can you believe it?!?). The band features some of my very favorite, world-class musicians, who I hope you agree are also excellent performers. What you don't know is this: There was no soundcheck OR rehearsal for this one - everyone just got in cold & went at it. Professor John (a great singer & writer) does "Jambalaya" while Chef Joel Nickson of Wishbone Restaurants & I cook jambalaya in front of the band. Also features Tim Beattie, Chip Znuff, Dennis Webber, Tony Dale and Paul Coscino. Directed by Hank Neuberger, audio by Chris Shepard. Enjoy!


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4:34 PM | |

Thursday, March 19, 2009 

Creedence Again | 5 Song Sampler

Just got this one done (for the most part). It has to be said that while using Chicago Recording Company for a video shoot is like killing a cockroach with an atom bomb, it does convey a certain image that's over and beyond what other tributes would ever do for their recordings. Truth is, unless folks weren't always bugging us for CDs at these shows, we would never bother messing with re-doing these classics - I mean, you're only going to suffer by comparison, right?

And so, although this video is far from perfect (we recorded & taped everything in 2 hours), I think it gets across the idea of our somewhat unique approach to a tribute band: we're a sort of tribute. In other words: Since we definitely don't look anything like the original guys in CCR - especially John Fogerty - why bother trying? As long as we do justice to those timeless classics (I think we do); as long as we're entertaining (we definitely are); as long as we sound good (and I know we do, especially Rich Perez's vocals), I'd like to think that's enough for any true CCR fan.


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3:23 PM | |