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July 13, 2009

Photos from the Great Performers of Illinois 2009

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The Viper and His Famous Orchestra, Millennium Park, Chicago (July 12, 2009)

The Viper and His Famous Orchestra, Millennium Park, Chicago (July 12, 2009)

The setting was one of the great pleasures of playing with The Viper and His Famous Orchestra this past Sunday, July 12, at the Great Performers of Illinois 2009 festival in Chicago. The festival was held in Millennium Park, and our stage was right next to the Cloud Gate sculpture by Anish Kapoor more familiarly known as the “bean.” (That’s us playing to the right of it in the picture above.) Just beyond the bean was Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain in which my daughter, Kip Rainey’s daughter, and daughters and sons everywhere could play when they got bored with us. Behind us was Michigan Avenue and the Chicago skyline. And in front of us was Dan Peterman’s 100-ft.-long bench and picnic table, which proved indispensable to getting a crowd to hand around while we played.

The picture above was posted to Facebook by Erica Mueller O’Donoghue. More photos to follow.

 

May 27, 2009

The Viper and His Famous Orchestra, Summer 2009

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cropped-seasons-600.jpgYou heard right. After many orchestra-free years, the universe will once again be subject to the dulcet tones of the full Viper and His Famous Orchestra band: Riley Broach, Ryan Jerving, Edward Burch, and Rob Henn, representing four cities and three states. But most of all representing downstate Illinois.

We have at least 5 shows set up at the moment, the most public of which are the following:

  • Sunday, July 12, at the Great Performers of Illinois Festival 2009, at Millennium Park (stage T.B.A.), 201 E. Randolph St., Chicago, Illinois, 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m. The show is free and will feature a special set from Edward Burch, flown in like a secessionist lobster from Texas. For more, see the event announcement the event announcement on the Millennium Park site
  • Friday, August 7, 2009, Mike ‘N Molly’s , 105 N Market St., Champaign, Illinois, 8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
    See Mike ‘N Molly’s
  • Friday, August 9, 2009, Mike ‘N Molly’s, special matinee show, 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. You know, for kids.

It looks like the July show, and likely the August shows, will feature an expanded version of the orchestra, with Tangleweed’s Kip Rainey and Rectangle’s Victor Cortez filling out the sound. Other special guests have been promised and will be delivered. Let’s hear it for all the great performers of Illinois.

And there will be new material! So if you’ve worn out your copies of Everything for Everyone and A Song for All Seasons, take heart.

 

August 27, 2008

Viper at the New Deal, August 28: UPDATE

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New Deal Cafe logo

As of this writing, I have three of the Paint Branch Ramblers confirmed for my set at the Songwriters Association of Washington (SAW) open mic at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, MD, on August 28 (some time between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m.). This will include fiddlin’ Peter Jensen, flatpickin’ Bob Smith, and our newest Rambler, Susan Johnson, on the washboard and autoharp. This pocket-sized version of the Ramblers will sing and play on at least two songs and will guarantee me an audience of at least three for my solo numbers as I go head-to-head with Barack Obama.

I’d been trying to figure out how exactly to fill my 15 minutes of New Deal fame. And all I’m going to say at this point is that we’ll be doing something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

 

August 13, 2008

The Viper to play at the New Deal Cafe, Thursday, August 28

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The Viper will be playing Thursday evening, August 28, at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, MD. I’ll be doing a 15-minute slot at some point between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. as part of an open mic sponsored by the Songwriters Association of Washington and run by Lynn Hollyfield and David Weaver.

The trick now is figuring out how many songs to try and cram into 15 minutes, and what kind of balance I should make between my standard baritone ukulele crooners and some of the newer old-time marches, polkas, and freylakhs I’ve been writing on my recently acquired cumbus (actually, cümbüş, if you want to get authentically Turkish about it). I guess some of this will depend upon how many Ramblers I can round up for the occasion.

 

July 28, 2008

Stone cold dead in the market

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Be sure this summer to stop by the Riverdale Park Farmer’s Market on Thursday afternoons — sure, for the fresh produce and the fresh-made crepes, but also for the music. You’ll be able to see my old time band, the Paint Branch Ramblers, at least 4 times there this summer.

Some times we’ll be busking, unplugged. But other times, as on July 31, we’ll be all plugged in and loud-like.

 

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