Dave Cohen and a 24″ ride cymbal

It was a dark and stormy night (really, it was), and I was at the Celtic Knot to see Sexfist. I was looking to buy a couple of cymbals at the time, and I was talking to Gus about how there’s absolutely nowhere in the whole entire city of Chicago to buy drums (Guitar Center doesn’t count). Gus, of course, knows every musician and music-related person around here, and he told me about his friend Dave who has an amazing collection of drums and sells them out of his apartment right up the street. Gus proceeded to call him and tell him that we were coming over. So, at half-past midnight, I was on my way over to some guy’s apartment to bang on a bunch of cymbals.

And what an apartment it is–I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. If you get anything from this post, get Dave’s contact info, and get in touch with him for all of your drumming needs. Whether you’re looking for vintage stuff (read on to see and hear about some really cool vintage stuff), or just reasonably priced non-vintage stuff, he’s got it: 847-UNI-STIK or http://drumshtick.com/drumshtick.html.

But he also happens to be a really cool guy, and he was nice enough to talk to me about stuff like being a founding member of the Dark Star Orchestra, working in the legendary Frank’s Drum Shop downtown, and building this amazing collection. Read on to see the interview, more pictures, and my embarrassing lack of knowledge of Chicago music history.

Dan: How did this all get started?

Dave: Well, I started playing drums when I was ten. I took lessons in school and I got in the school band like everyone else. I had a lot of friends even at age 10 that were into drums, so I was always into drumming. We got here when I was 12, from New Jersey. I continued playing; I played in the Evanston Township high school band, and I played in many rock bands around the area, then the clubs as I got older.

Then, I got sick for a while… I had to re-learn how to play the drums after a bad illness. When I started to play again, and when I started to tour again, I found that wherever I went, there were drums. What do you do on your day off when you’re on the road? You go to the music store, right? So I would see all these drums that I liked, and I started bringing them all home [laughs]. I went to one estate sale where an older drummer had passed and had almost as many drums as you see here today–

Dan: I can’t imagine…

Dave: Yeah, and I bought a couple of 1920’s Ludwig snare drums without knowing too much about them, without really knowing their value. I knew they were collectable, and I thought I was getting a fair price. Turned out I did get a very good price.

From there I started looking into the whole vintage drum ‘category’ and saw that that was an interesting thing. In the middle 80’s or so, the American companies, Ludwig and Slingerland and Gretsch –they were all doing really poorly against the imports of the Japanese Tama Rockstars and the Pearl ‘Export’ drums. And they were wiped out pretty much, these companies. I remember when Biasco music was selling Ludwig kits out the door for $199, just to get rid of them.

Dan: What’s Biasco music? Is that a shop around here?

Dave: There were a bunch of them around here. The equivalent of a ‘Guitar Center’ today.

You saw the demise of the American companies, and then the Japanese take over. So then a few years later, there started to be a demand for good old American
Ludwig, Slingerland, Gretsch, Rogers, etc. drums. And so I started collecting.

I’ve got a whole room in the back there filled with sets, and I’ve got the twelve that you see out here. I’ve got about thirty or forty snare drums of different vintages. So that’s how I got into it.

Dave Cohen And The Rare Ludwig Green Sparkle Finish

Dan: Where do you find stuff?

Dave: In the progress of this thing, there were only a couple of us out there who were actually collecting vintage drums, although maybe more than I knew. Then Ebay came along and all these hard to find drums that you couldn’t find in your neighborhood, or in your city, now were right in front of you on your computer. So that kind of put a nail in my business [laughs]. But it also opened up parts of the business for me, so I could find parts I needed: a drum that I’m missing to finish up a set, or parts for a drum, something like that. And now Craigslist is a very good source for finding used equipment, trading stuff. I used to look in the newspapers every day to see who’s selling what–in the want ads. Now it’s mostly on computer.

Dan: Do you find anything from newspapers anymore?

Dave: Very rarely. And even then, I don’t look in the newspaper, I look in the online version of the newspaper. You know, the Sun Times site, or the Chicago Reader site.

But a lot of my business is word of mouth. People come looking for something. I do have a website. It’s not totally happening, but I get some business from that.

Dan: Do you deal mainly with other collectors, or do you deal a lot with guys like me that may just need a cymbal, or a drum throne, or a stand or something?

Dave: A lot of my business is really not the vintage stuff. It’s just a good used drum set, like that beautiful Pearl Export like that gray one right there which is probably two years old, which was maybe played for 6 months and given up. Those are the kind of people that I look for, because you find great drums in great condition, and you can buy them at a discount. So I can offer them to a young drummer at a reasonable price compared to what they’d have to pay in Guitar center to get the drums, then the hardware then the cymbals, you know… I try to make a good package deal for people, and get them going.

And then again, I have the more vintage drums that usually will sell on Ebay or though my website.

Drum Sets!

Dan: How many years have you been building up this collection?

Dave: Well I’ve been in this space here for I think 12 years, and I started before that, so probably 15 years.

Dan: Wow, it’s quite a collection.

Dave: And you’re only seeing about half of it [laughs].

Dan: I’ve gotta ask: we’re in an apartment right now–

Dave: Right, ‘how do you play drums in an apartment?’ Veeerrrrry quietly [laughs].

Dan: Have you ever had any complaints about noise?

Dave: Well, I worked it out with my neighbors. Condo living has taught me a lot about working with your neighbors on issues, and as ‘the drummer’ in the building [laughs], I’ve found that communication is the key. And I don’t really play in here… much. When someone comes to see a set, I’ll set it up and let them play it, and I usually do this in the afternoons when most neighbors have gone to work, or are not sleeping. Sometimes if I have a drum set that’s set up to sell, of I’ve been tuning it up for a customer, I’ll sit down and I’ll play it for a while, and nobody complains, so that’s nice.

Dan: Do you still play? Do you play in a band?

Dave: I don’ play out anymore, I’ve had some hearing issues and some tendinitis issues (which I’m trying to resolve), so it’s difficult for me to play. I’m always itching to play, though; sometimes I’ll sit in somewhere and play.

Dan: What kind of stuff?

Dave: I’m basically a rock drummer; most of my gigs were playing classic
rock and Grateful Dead music. I was with the Dark Star Orchestra when they first
started out. Now they’re huge! But yeah, I was the first drummer in that band.

I’ve played all styles of music; I’ve played with all the community bands around here, percussion in those concert bands. I’ve played a lot of very interesting music in them. I played with the Highland Park symphonic winds, it was a very good ensemble. A grade above your average community band.

Stands, and Mallets and Hardware, Oh My!

Dan: One of the reasons that I’m so excited about what you do is that I can’t find anywhere else in the whole entire city to buy drums. I go to Guitar Center, and there’s really nowhere else. Did there used to be more shops around here?

Dave: Well, let’s see… Yeah, there used to be. At 19, I got a job at Frank’s Drum Shop downtown. Now, Frank’s Drum Shop is the legendary, the best, you know, the coolest drum store ever in the world, basically. Started early in the 19th century by Frank Gault. And then passed on to my boss, Maurie Lishon, I think in the 50’s or so, I don’t really know the history exactly. But I got a job there in 1979, and was just knocked out. Not only did they have all these drums that they were selling, but they had teachers giving lessons, they had a workshop in the back (like I do in my kitchen). There was a guy named Clarence, I forget his last name, who could fix anything. He could fix anything! And if he couldn’t fix it, he would make it for you. They had a rental department, which I eventually started working in. I would take the rental orders, and then go take the stuff out. And that was fun; I would go to Poplar Creek with a set of tympani and set them up for the rock bands that were playing [laughs]. So I got a lot of free passes to be in there. I got a great education on drumming and drum parts. I spent weeks in the drum parts room. Maybe, half the size of this room [gestures to his living room] filled with just bins of parts. When I got there, it was in total chaos [laughs]. I spent hours just trying to get things arranged so you could find something. But all that experience has helped me do what I do now.

Dan: Frank’s Drum Shop eventually closed down?

Dave: Right. They had a competitor next door: Bill Crowden’s Drums Unlimited. This was on 200 South Wabash Street. So that was basically the two big stores down there. And there were other stores that were music stores, that had pianos, guitars, drums… most of those are gone as well. That’s kind of what gave way to the collection thing, because there weren’t all these drums available anymore. And people started collecting them.

Dan: Why are all these places gone? Is it because of the big giant Guitar Center stores, or the online thing, or what?

Dave: Oh, it’s too hard to compete with the big guys like Guitar Center. Look at Flatts and Sharpe down on Sheridan. They can hardly stay in business. So the small guy is pushed out. The only guys who can sustain it are specialty. My specialty is the vintage stuff.

A Twelve-Piece Ludwig Kit

Dan: Do you have anything really cool in here right now? I mean, besides everything…

Dave: [laughs] Let’s see… Super cool? I would have to dig something out… but lets just look at this set right here. See these here, these mahogany Ludwigs? That’s all one drum set.

Dan: How many pieces is that?

Dave: Twelve piece kit.

Dan: Where did you find that one?

Dave: That was from a fairly local suburban guy who had this giant kit in his basement; it took up his whole basement. He had like 20 cymbals and all these stands and everything, and he wasn’t even there. His dad was selling them, because he was out in California, not playing them, not using them, and so I said ‘deal or no deal’… He wanted them out of his house, so I got them at a reasonable price. But I don’t have the room to set them up and play them [laughs]. I’d like to set them up and play them, I’d like to get the Kieth Moon thing going here…

Vintage Rogers Snare Drums

Dave: This is some of my snare collection. These are all Dynasonic Rogers snare drums. If you want to learn something about Rogers, I’ll tell you right now, for when you’re out there looking. See all these drums here, with five center lines, this one with seven is one of the earliest ones, the most collectible. Mine is serial number 6424; that’s pretty low.

Ludwig Black Beauties

Dave: Below that, are my oldest drums, the most collectible drums I have. Those three scrolled drums are Ludwig Black Beauty drums. They are gun metal shells, and engraved. That’s how I started collecting. I got those three drums at a sale, and I said “Wow, I’m a collector!” [laughs]. And now it’s grown to this.

Irish Session @ The Celtic Knot 2008-01-22

Folk music isn’t just about some hot hippie chick on a coffee shop stage somewhere singing about candy and flowers and incompetently strumming a guitar.* Sort of like “country”, or “punk” or “I’ll call you”, “folk” means a lot of different things to different people. To me, folk music is about… well, folks. A bunch of folks getting together to play music for some reason other than to perform it.

You may be asking: what’s the point? It’s 2008, and this is Chicago. Am I supposed to go watch this stuff? Do these guys care if I watch it? Why not just stay home and do this instead of making a ruckus at <insert your favorite bar here>? And inevitably: How do I join in? Maybe that last one’s just me…

I’ll be going around and, as long as I can get away with it, talking to the guys and gals that organize this stuff, play it and listen to it. First is Gus Friedlander, a friend of mine who runs the Irish session every Tuesday night at the Celtic Knot pub in Evanston. Gus is a really cool guy who’s been playing music of all kinds for many years around Chicago. He’s got many a great story about many a Chicago musician, past and present, that I can’t print here. But stop by the session some Tuesday, I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you a few. Read on to see what he and some other guys at the Celtic Knot have to say about the session, and some of the questions above.

An embarrassing note before we start: you’ll have to forgive me for starting the recorder in the middle of Gus’s answer to the first question. I may be a software engineer by day, but a apparently a voice recorder still confuses the crap out of me. Second of all, in the interview, Lee is another guy at the session who played flute, whistle and fiddle at different times during the night.

—

On The Session

Dan: How did you start this session?

Gus: …I came to talk to Patrick Breslin [at the Celtic Knot], who was sort of the point man with the music, and told him that I’ve been playing Irish music, and had actually run the sessions at the Hidden Shamrock. And then we had a thing at the Edgewater for a while.

So anyway, I think Patrick.. Patrick has lived in this country for basically most all of his adult life, and he understands–some of these Irish guys do not–he understands that this is a melting pot. His wife is American, nearly all the patrons of this place are Americans. You know, there’s some Irish people and some English people who find their way here, but, you know–

Lee: There’s some Turkish people too

Gus: That’s right!

Lee: I found out when I played a Turkish tune.

Dan: Here in the bar?

Lee: Yeah, we were playing up there [Lee points to the window], and this group of foreign students standing against this bar here started applauding, it was so funny [laughs]! I said, oh, you must be Turkish!

Gus: Anyway, Patrick likes to be able to tell people that the session is run by a guy named Friedlander; you know, the Irish session [laughs].

And I, in turn, I appreciate that, because there’s a lot of people, you know, these pub owners that really are not into that. And so, I’ve had my adventures–I think we all have–of being snapped at, or even being chased away from sessions run either by Irish people or by Irish American people.

Dan: Why? Because you’re not traditional enough?

Gus: Well, yeah. I don’t mind playing a bluegrass tune or a swing tune; it’s no big deal. Or if someone wants to play or sing an original song, that’s totally fine as long as it doesn’t just sort of turn into a jam session where nobody knows what’s going on.

Now, there is something to be said for the.. the straight traditional art of Irish music–just Irish music. There are some extremely fine players in town: the other session, at Nevins, which is run by John Williams; John is a world-class accordion player.

Dan: What’s the best way to get into it? Say for someone like me, that already plays a different kind of music?

Gus: Exactly the same way that you get into bluegrass; you have to listen to the music. The thing to understand about Celtic music is that this is a tradition that is deeper, and richer than bluegrass, or Anglo-American folk music, and there’s only one reason for that; and that is that it’s older.

On The Folk Music Scene in Chicago

Gus: The thing about the folk music scene is that–it’s like you say, there is a folk music scene, there’s folk music all over, but it’s played by people who mostly play for each other. There was a little bit of a record industry, mostly back in the vinyl days. Now, the best folk musicians in Chicago, like Kat Eggleston–and Kat has recorded fairly prolifically, half a dozen albums or something, and she plays on other people’s records too–can hardly be bothered to even work with record stores or distributors or anything. They’re on little tiny labels, some of the very best ones, but mainly they just sell it off the stand; it’s tiny. And even that is going to change with websites and downloads, mp3s…

Dan: What’s your role here on Tuesday? What’s the point of the session?

Gus: Well, my feeling about all musical performance is that if the musicians are having a good time and entertaining one another and are not at odds in any way, but trying to work collegially, however imperfectly, then the audience will warm up to it; those people who care to come to listen. The truth is, most of the patrons who come here probably are not going to listen very intently, it’s just a little nice amenity.

What I appreciate about the people that run this… all these people are passionate about music. They understand the importance in a casual way, in an informal way, of just the presence of live music, it almost doesn’t matter what it is or who it is, as long as it’s of a certain quality.

Dan: And that’s almost like, when I went to Ireland, that’s what impressed me, just going into a bar and having the session going on in the corner…

Gus: Yeah, that’s exactly it. It’s just the aura of it. And that is a totally different thing from going to a show, paying a cover, buying a ticket, sitting down, watching the band. The people that appreciate this stuff, traditional– especially instrumental music, are the players. How many Irish trad players come in and listen to us who aren’t playing? Nobody. Then there’s the occasional Charles Smith [Charles, who is also sitting at the table, laughs], seriously, who’s actually a serious music fan. You come to listen… How many other people do you see that come and listen to the music specifically? Maybe a few, maybe a few. But 85%, 90% of the people in here did not come in for it. Everyone’s aware of it, nobody minds it.

—

That’s it. If you want to hear some great stories, stop by the session on Tuesday. If you want to check out the music, stop by. If you want to play, definitely stop by. As Gus said at the end of the night, “life’s too short not to play music.”

* To all such hippie chicks that read this and are looking for a dobro player for musical and/or other kinds of accompaniment: I’m just kidding; call me.

Driven by anti-materialism and a belief that the impending apocalypse will render cars useless and leave bicycles in power, Black Label Bike Club (BLBC) battles mainstream consumer culture and rival gangs for its vision of a better tomorrow. Pulling threads from Critical Mass and the wider bike counterculture, B.I.K.E. explores such themes as radical politics, personal artistic vision, global responsibility, relationships, group formation, and perhaps most prominently, pain and love.

Yea, but the fun part is seeing a bunch of crazy guys and girls setting themselves on fire, tall-bike jousting, fighting, drinking, partying, yelling, hanging out and causing trouble. From the parts of the film that I’ve seen, these guys sometimes seem like just a bunch of bums that happen to ride bikes, but most times they really do seem like part of some kind of loosely unified “subculture” that I don’t think a lot of people even know exists. In any case, they’re a hell of a lot of fun to watch, and the film is definitely worth checking out. Plus, even though these guys would probably beat me up instantly if they ever saw me, they definitely make riding my bike around the city feel just a little bit cooler.B.I.K.E.@ FacetsSat., Mar. 24 at 9 & 11 pmSun., Mar. 25 at 9 pmSat., Mar. 31 at 1 pm

4th Annual Frozen Snot Century: For the fourth year in a row Wisconsin and Illinois cyclists will unite on the Frozen Snot Century ride, connecting Milwaukee and Chicago. All are welcome on this free, unsupported, ride-at-your-own-pace-and-risk event. This year the Frozen Snot Century bike ride will have a optional stop in Madison which will complete the legendary “Bratwurst Triangle”. Here’s the schedule: Fri. Feb. 23: A dozen Chicagoans will take Metra commuter rail to Harvard, IL, and bike 70 miles to Madison. Meet at 7:30 AM on the platform at Clybourn Station, 1601 W. Armitage; train leaves at 7:38; pay on the train. Any Chicagoans interested in this option should RSVP to greenfieldjohn@hotmail.com. Riders will arrive at the Great Dane Brewing Co., 123 E. Doty in Madison around 5 PM, to meet up with Madisonians. Chicagoans crash on local couches (Housing organized by Madison Bike Winter / BFW). Sat. Feb. 24: Those Chicagoans plus any interested Madisonians ride 80 (?) miles to Milwaukee. Meanwhile, another, larger group of Chicagoans meets at 7 AM at the Hollywood Grill, 1601 W. North in Chicago, departing at 8 AM to ride 95 miles from Chicago to Milwaukee. Everyone meets up around 5 PM at Cafe Hollander, 2608 N. Downer Ave., in Milwaukee. Out-of-towners crash nearby with Milwaukeeans (housing organized by Milwaukee Bike Winter). Sun. Feb. 25: Everbody meets up at Fuel Cafe in Milwaukee, 818 E. Center St., at 8 AM, departing at 9 AM to ride 95 miles to Chicago. Meet up around 5 PM at Mercury Cafe, 1505 W. Chicago Ave. for the Critical Mass Art Show - BYOB. Wisconsinites stay with Chicagoans (Housing organized by Chicago Bike Winter). Mon. Feb. 26: Madisonians take Metra commuter rail to Harvard, IL and bike home OR take the Van Galder bus with their bikes. Milwaukeeans ride home.

See below for pictures and a long boring recap, but the most important thing I got from this whole deal was a good sense of yet another ’scene’ here in Chicago. That’s ’scene’ in a completely positive sense, by the way (not like, say, “the indie rock scene”). ‘Scene’ as in a bunch of people who get together over a common interest, and (in my experience at least) are completely welcoming and excited to share it with someone new. These guys and gals love bikes, know an unbelievable amount about them, and most importantly, they were a blast to hang out with for the weekend. There are a ton of rides going on all the time in the city (like the critical mass rides every last Friday of the month), and I’d definitely recommend checking one out. There are even still a few left that are part of BikeWinter.Anyways, it’s nice to see and experience something new with people who are really passionate about it. Just one more reason why Chicago is the coolest city in the world.Why in the crap would anyone do something like this? At the end of last summer, a good friend and former bike mechanic built me a really cool bike. I ended up using it to do almost everything, from commuting back and forth to work, to getting groceries, to hauling my Dobro around to various practices and gigs. I had planned to toss it in the closet when it got too cold to ride, but I loved riding it so much that it never seemed to be too cold. The simple act of riding back and forth to work earned me at least a 25% Quality Of Life improvement. At some point, I saw a BikeWinter sticker on a bike rack, checked out the website, and saw the Frozen Snot Century. I’ve never been a very athletic guy, and I’ve never set an athletic goal in my life, but for some crazy reason, I thought that it looked pretty cool, and I decided to get in shape to do it. I trained for it, because I didn’t have any idea who was gonna show up, and I didn’t want to get left behind on the ride. Crazy messenger guys? Hardcore racers in condom-suits (as a friend of mine likes to call the full-body spandex)?My Cool BikeSo I showed up at the Hollywood Grill on Saturday morning not knowing what to expect other than freezing rain. I was a little late, but I guess bike-time is even later, the first guy, Paul, showed up about 10 minutes later. Turns out I worked with Paul for about a month when I was doing an Americorps program up here a few years ago. I hadn’t seen him for years, and it was great to see him again, and a relief to see that someone that wasn’t a complete stranger. Over the next half hour, Steve, Jordan, and Rubani showed up. Everyone had cool vintage racers, and Rubani had a really cool orange fixed-gear. Yep, he rode a fixed gear the whole way up to Milwaukee and back. It was pretty amazing. I guess there were around 20 people starting from Chicago last year, but we left the Hollywood Grill at 8:30 with just us power five.We all started out together and rode up through Evanston, got on Sheridan road, and continued into Kenilworth. Steve had come well prepared with, among other necessities, a canvas sack full of Miller High Life attached to his seatpost. He had one in-hand as he all of the sudden got stopped by a few of Kenilworth’s finest. We all stopped and waited while he talked to the police. After a few minutes, an officer came over and started lecturing us on the rules of the road, and if we were riding in the street we have to obey the same rules as blah blah blah blah blah… and then he lightened up a little and told us that while he was running Steve’s ID, he was talking to one of his Chicago cop buddies:Kenilworth cop: “Wow, it’s not every day that you see a guy on a bike with an open beer in broad daylight!”Chicago cop: “Yes it is.”Thankfully, he let all of us go on (beers and all). I guess he was just excited that something interesting happened; I can’t imagine that a Kenilworth cop’s day is usually very exciting.After another 10 miles or so, we all stopped to take some pictures and eat some stuff. Luckily, Steve had also packed a full bundt cake. No, I’m not kidding, and no that’s not innuendo for anything else. It was a bundt cake. And it was damn good. A nice break from my steady diet of Fig Newtons and Gatorade. I went through about 3.5 stacks of Fig Newtons on the way–just thought thought of them now makes me nauseous.Me at the Illinois/Wisconsin borderRubani (foreground) and Steve (background) at some weird abandoned shack in WisconsinWe rode a bit on a bike trail (not sure which one) until it got too icy, and then we were back on Sheridan road, where we stayed for most of the rest of the way. We went at a pretty leisurely pace, and we stopped often enough that the first 50 or so miles felt really nice and relaxed. I stopped to take some more pictures at the Wisconsin border, and we continued on Route 32 (Sheridan turns into 32 at the Wisconsin border). Around this point, Jordan dropped back. Paul and Steve stopped at a boat house a little later to check out the ominously choppy Lake Michigan, and Rubani and I pressed on to Milwaukee. We stuck together the rest of the way, and ran into some snow drifts right around the town of South Milwaukee that continued the 20 miles to the city itself. Rubani didn’t seem to have any problems on his fixed-gear, but I was sliding all over the place, and I hurt my knee trying to stay upright with about 5 miles to go. Nothing too bad, and I finished the day with no problems, but it was pretty stiff the next day.We decided to meet up first at a bar called the Palomino before meeting up at Cafe Hollander with the Milwaukee contingent and the Chicagoans who had come from Madison. Rubani and I got slightly lost, and after a detour of a couple of miles, arrived at the Palomino just as Paul and Steve were locking their bikes. We all went in, got started on some much-needed drinking, and waited for Jordan, who showed up about a half an hour later. We did it! Little did we know that the hardest part of the day was yet to come.From L to R: Me, Rubani, Steve and Paul at the Palomino in MilwaukeeOff to Cafe Hollander to meet the other guys. We stepped out of the Palomino into a blizzard. For the 5 or so miles through downtown Milwaukee, we fought freezing rain, slick roads, and ridiculous wind. The wind drove the rain against my face to the point where each icy drop felt like a needle, and it was blowing so hard that it literally blew us directly sideways where the road was icy enough. For me, this was the scariest part of the whole trip.Relieved, we arrived at Cafe Hollander, and met up with everyone. From there we went with Shea and Jessica (both project coordinators for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin) to their houses to sleep and drink some more. Steve and I stayed with Jessica. She was an excellent hostess; we felt welcome and at home the whole time, and she makes a killer Hot Toddy (many, in fact).After a surprisingly good night’s sleep, we all met again in the morning at Fuel cafe (which was awesome enough to give all of us Chicago riders a free yogurt parfait and cup of coffee) to check out the weather and decide how we were gonna get home. Steve and I opted for the Megabus, Jordan for the Amtrak, and the rest of the guys toughed it out for another 60 miles to the Waukeegan Metra stop in yet another snowstorm.Whew! Thanks a ton to Jessica for the hospitality and John Greenfield for organizing the event. Overall, an awesome trip, and I met a ton of great people. Come along next year!

1. Go straight to the bar and drink a Bud (no PBR allowed, hipsters*, this is bluegrass) with the salty ol’ VFW regulars. Call the bartender ‘Tiny’
2. Find chip and say ‘hi’ to him. Chip is the big tall loud guy with the buzzed gray hair, you’ll know him when you see him. He’s a great guy, and he’ll talk to you for hours.
3. Claim a folding chair
4. Scan the crowd. If you can find a 10 year old, one each of a 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 year old, 5 guys with JUST a mustache, and a pair of suspenders, give yourself 100 points.
5. Get another Bud.
6. Strike up a conversation with a girl (I promise there will be AT LEAST two there).
7. Visit Tiny one more time.
8. Enjoy the show.

I make fun, but seriously: If you’re a musician and you’ve never seen bluegrass live before (it’s much different live), check this out. It’s pretty amazing how diverse the crowd is, so if you’re into people watching, check this out. If you’re looking for something to do that’s fun, different and a little bit bizarre, check this out.Honi Deaton and DreamFriday, February 23rd$20Evanston VFW Hallhttp://www.chicagobluegrass.com/show%20info.htm* Hipsters, do we still drink PBR? Or am I out of the club?