Here’s the press release for the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site “Made for Music” event we’ll be playing on Saturday, April 5 in Springfield, along with a kids-centered instrument-building event we’ll be doing earlier in the day at the offices of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency ($1 – cheap!).
These are going to be fun events, and we hope to see you there.
The Viper and His Famous Orchestra have just set up our next Milwaukee show for March 7, 8:15 – 10:45 at the Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co.’s Walker’s Point Roastery location, which only began hosting live music relatively recently.
The cafe space itself is a fairly new extension of the roastery, and is nicely done up: “a refurbished warehouse space offering cream city brick, exposed wooden beams, natural wood harvest tables, a raised stage, and a reclaimed 40 foot old-world bar.” Nice, huh? And we’ll be on that raised stage playing our little hearts out.
224 W. Bruce Street, Milwaukee, WI 53204 | (414) 763-1143
$7 cover
Saturday, February 15 (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
House show in Springfield, Illinois — an intimate house-concert setting on a lovely cobblestone street near Washington Park in Springfield, Illinois. Admission is $10 and by advance tickets only, so purchase your tickets here. Or right here!
Sunday, February 16, 2014 (4:00-5:00 p.m.)
Music Under the Dome — Jacksonville Public Library
201 W. College Ave. | Jacksonville, IL 62650 | 217-243-5435
As with all Music Under the Dome concerts, this one is free and open to the public.
$0 cover
Saturday, March 8, 2014 (10:00 p.m.- close)
Mickey’s Tavern
1524 Williamson Street, Madison, WI 53703 | (608) 251-9964
With Madison supergroup, Guided By Puppets. And because we get paid out of the bar take, this show is free! But come thirsty.
$0 cover
On January 31, 2014, The Viper and His Famous Orchestra played their first full set of stuff NOT played in John Peacock’s living room or on his front porch. We played two sets of material at the lovely cabaret-style back room of the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, with a nice full set in the middle by, of course, John Peacock — because you just can’t keep a good man down.
As you’ll see from the images at the bottom of this post, we handed out a program for the show, titled “4 Strings and the Sharp Vinegar of Truth, or: Homo Ludens.” For those not inclined to read the words in images, here’s the list of songs we played.
PRELUDE: THE VIPER
LUDE #1
INTERLUDE: JOHN PEACOCK PRESENTS
LUDE #2
POSTLUDE
* Slight change to the program: played as an encore. Though listed in the program, “Make a World Brand New” was not played on this evening. So be sure to ask for it next time!
A great time was had by all at Sousaphenia 3 at Martyrs’ in Chicago, and The Viper and His Famous Orchestra kept good company with Environmental Encroachment, Bassel & The Supernaturals, and the 4 Star Brass Band. We’ll be back in Chicago on Jan. 25 to play at the Uncommon Ground on Devon, along with Jack & Ace. So come and see us there — it’ll be an event!.
We played the following songs at Martyrs’, two of which (“Bled-a-Loe Lang-de-lang” and “Hotzeplotz Calls”) saw their debut at this show (extra points if you can spot the typo in the image of the set-list at the bottom of the page):
Here’s what you missed if you missed The Viper & His Famous Orchestra playing at the Underground Wonder Bar this past Friday night, December 13, along with John Peacock and Edward Burch.
And it should give you a taste of what to expect at our upcoming shows: Saturday, Jan. 11 at Martyrs’ in Chicago for the big Sousaphenia event; Saturday, Jan. 25 at Uncommon Ground on Devon in Chicago (with Jack & Ace); and Friday, Jan. 31, at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee. Details on our shows page at https://theviper.org/shows.
Viper set #1
John Peacock
Edward Burch
Viper set #2
As you’ll see from the actual stage set lists below, we cut a bunch due to time and a sense that the audience wasn’t going to go for a whole set of un-mic’ed on-the-floor washtub bass tunes. AND when John and I were putting the list together while sitting in his car on the way down stopped on the interstate for and hour-and-a-half outside of Northbrookfieldparkridgeviewgrovemette, we somehow forgot to transfer some of our biggest crowdpleasers, including “Stopper in My Hand” and a season-appropriate “Mele Kalikimaka.”
C’est l’amour, c’est la guerre.
The Viper & His Famous Orchestra 