Chicago Music
Here are some interesting upcoming Chicago musical (bass-related) events. These are recent press announcements from the various ensembles:
Gunnelpumpers
This is a heads up for what we’re calling the BIG WEEKEND. No, Gunnelpumpersare not playing at Lollapalooza, but will be the house band for anambitious program called The Dutch National Ballet Project. The culmination of acollaboration between Dance Chicago and the Dutch National Ballet, the twoshows will take place at the Athaneum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Avenue, onSaturday, August 5th at 8:00 p.m. an Sunday, August 6th at 3:00 p.m. Theperformances will feature world premieres by five choreographers and specialguests The Joffrey Ballet and River North Chicago Dance Company. Of the fivenew pieces, Gunnelpumper Douglas Johnson has written the music for “Into theAgape”, a collaboration with choreographer Altin Naska.
For more information, see the recent article in the Chicago Sun Times(http://www.suntimes.com/output/weiss/wkp-news-stage21a.html).
Although we intensely dislike their exorbitant handling fees, ticketsare available through Ticketmaster, and are $10-35.(http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1033597)
A few other notes. Gunnelpumpers was featured in the Summer issue ofDouble Bassist magazine (http://www.doublebassist.com) in an article on theChicago bass scene. The article included interviews with all threeGunnelpumpers bassists Douglas Johnson, Michael Hovnanian, and Matthew Golombisky, aswell as several other important personages in Chicago’s low-key world. Therestill might be a copy at your local Borders! I’d be happy to email youa pdf of the article if you request it. It’s about 1.5 MB, so it’d take awhile to download through a dial-up connection.
We’ve also recently finished an interview with Zero Tolerance Magazine(http://www.ztmag.com), a progressive music publication published inthe UK. Their motto is “Extreme Views on Extreme Music by Extreme People”, so Iguess we’re officially “extreme” now.
Including the ballet, upcoming Gunnelpumpers shows include:
Saturday, August 5th, 8:00 p.m.Dutch National Ballet ProjectAthaneum Theatre2936 N. Southport AvenueChicago
Saturday, August 6th, 3:00 p.m.Dutch National Ballet ProjectAthaneum Theatre2936 N. Southport AvenueChicago
Tuesday, August 22nd, 8-10 p.m.Muse Café817 N. Milwaukee Ave in ChicagoFree
Tuesday, September 12th, 8:00 p.m.Martyrs’ Restaurant and Pub3855 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago$6-10, not sure yet
Chamber Blues