Video Interview With Kindie Band: Human Tim + Robot Tim

Here's a fun, original interview with the human half of Human Tim + Robot Tim.   ChiIL Mama caught up with them for some live show footage and an interview at Schubas in January.   Enjoy!

How Far To Austin & The Shams Band-Double Disc Winners

The Shams (are the real thing!).   All photos by ChiIL Mama.   

Lincoln Hall 1/27/11.   Dbl click for full screen options.

The last of our double disc winners is Laura M. from Whiting, IN.   Congrats!   She's won our 2 adult CDs this month (though the kids are likely to dig 'em, too) by How Far To Austin & The Shams Band.


The Shams Band Update:   
These genre jumping, blues funkin' guys are some serious fun.   They're self labeled "Chicago's original rock folk group".   Whatever you wanna call their style, these boys have style, and we wanna hear MORE of it.

You can check 'em out on UIC Radio today, 4-5pm.  Thanks SLY Radio!

We'll have our own review of The Shams Band's super sweet CD, Champagne, up soon.   If you weren't picked this week, we've got 2 more copies to give away in the future.

You can friend, follow and otherwise stalk these guys in all the usual socially approved ways.   Check 'em out on FB, Twitter My Space, etc. to hear the latest on their scheduled shows.   Check out their website to hear their original music and for a real treat, come on out the 12th or 13th, and see 'em live for free.

THE SHAMS BAND SHOWS

Mar 12, 2011Blarney Stone Pub3:30 pm - FREE - 15400 S. Cicero Ave, Chicago, IL

Mar 13, 2011The Whistler9:00 pm - FREE - 2421 N. Milwaukee Ave

Mar 31, 2011Hell's Kitchen10:30 pm - $5 - 80 9th St S Minneapolis, MN

Apr 1, 2011IQ's10:00 pm - FREE - 2105 Univeristy Ave Green Bay, WI

Apr 2, 2011The Lift9:00 pm - $5 - 180 Main st Dubuque, IA

See them live NOW before they're playing $50 arena shows.   Then you can be one of the lucky ones who said, I saw 'em in this little club........back in 2011.....

How Far To Austin:  If you missed our recent coverage, click HERE for live footage, our exclusive video interview with the parents in the band, and our signed CDs/ ticket give away this week only.   Our review of Goodnight Madison will be up in the near future.

March Freebies, Give Aways, Reviews and Upcoming Shows

Here at ChiIL Mama, we've been crazy busy reviewin', and doin' what we're doin'.    Here's a list of what's upcoming in March:

MUSIC:

Tonight we're back in the photo pit at The Congress for The Pogues, to bring you all the crowd surfin', and raucous rock these Irish punks can dish up.   Rumor is, this will be the last tour with the original line up.   So, come on out tonight, because it may be your last chance to see Shane McGowan.   All ages.

Save the dates-March shows of note.   We're particularly looking forward to the following:

3/6  Human Tim + Robot Tim-Beat Kitchen-Kids

3/11  How Far To Austin-Mayne Stage-Adult/Family Friendly

3/11 & 12  Flogging Molly-The Congress-Adult (all ages)

3/13  The Candy Band & Little Miss Ann-Beat Kitchen-Kids

3/13  The Shams Band-(FREE SHOW)-The Whistler-Adult (21+)

3/16   Dreamworks Madagascar Live! opens-Rosemont Theatre-Kids

3/20  Dreamtree Shakers-Schubas-Kids

3/26  The Residents-MCA-Adult (all ages)

3/29  English Beat-SPACE-Adult (all ages)

3/30   Henry Rollins-SPACE-Adult (all ages)-SOLD OUT


**We'll also be giving away family 4 packs of tickets to Madagascar Live!, all the Beat Kitchen shows, and Dreamtree Shakers at Schubas.   And for How Far To Austin on 3/11/11, we have 2 pairs of tickets paired with 4 signed CDs, for 2 lucky winners!

We also can't wait to see World Inferno Friendship Society and Subhumans at Reggie's Rock Club in April.   We'll be covering the World Inferno Show.

THEATRE:

We'll have a round up of theatre benefits, camps, classes and kids shows, coming soon.   We also have the following theatre reviews for you:

This at Theater Wit-what happens when you sleep with your friends?   This adds a twist of new babies and sleep deprivation, middle age malaise, death and mourning and bi-sexual French Doctors without borders or morals.   Oh yeah...and a gay boy friend with a photographic recall, that has earned him spots on TV shows.

Blue Man Group at Briar Street--new and still blue.    Our favorite cyan man actors have retooled their long running hit with a technological twist, perfect for 2011.   We'll have a photo filled recap and more in depth coverage of these artists' excellent exploration of how cell phones and tech toys simultaneously bring us closer together and isolate us.

FILM:

Race to Nowhere--We had a chance to screen this thought provoking, revolutionary documentary and highly suggest catching a screening near you.

A History Lesson:  Part 1 Punk Rock in Los Angeles in 1984--We've got a review of this brand new release on DVD, and we have one for you!   If you love The Meat Puppets, Redd Kross, The Minutemen & Twisted Roots, check this out.

**We'll also be giving away one copy of A History Lesson:  Part 1 Punk Rock in Los Angeles in 1984

BOOKS:

This month we'll be reviewing two books.   Hand Songs, is a multicultural adventure, for parents to read to and with their little ones.   Cinderella Ate My Daughter, is a social commentary, for parents to read, regarding their daughters.   

**We'll also be giving away one copy of Hand Songs book/CD set and 3 hard back copies of Cinderella Ate My Daughter.

So, check in with ChiIL Mama and we'll help feed your brain and your creativity.

  

Video Interview & Sound Check With The Band: How Far To Austin

Here are two original videos ChiIL Mama shot in January at Beat Kitchen.   Enjoy!

How Far To Austin is heading out to SXSW, to quite literally experience how far it is to Austin.    Before they go, Chi Town has another chance to hear them, live at the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park on 3/11/11.

ChiIL Mama's got 2 pairs of tickets and 4 signed CDs for all the ticket winners.   Enter HERE through midnight on 3/7.

In case you're one of many Chicagoans heading down to Austin, these guys are playing The Iguana Grill on Friday, March 18th.


Like what you hear?   You can friend, follow and keep up to date with Tate and Katie and How Far To Austin's adventures in all the usual ways, via Facebook, Twitter, myspace, etc.   


**We'll be announcing our winners of 2 pairs of tickets and 4 signed CDs on Free Ticket Tuesday, 3/8.**


We have many more music and theatre interviews, reviews, tickets to Chicago shows for adults and children, and great music and book give aways.   So check in with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chicago...early and often.

DC Super-Pets! ChiIL Mama's Contest Winner is 4 year old Sean Z.

Big congrats to 4 year old, Sean Z. from Chicago, who wins 3 awesome DC Super-pets Books!   Heroes of the High Seas, Midway Monkey Madness, and Pooches of Power,  


His super-pet creation that won our contest is:


Max Cat.   This super pet has the ability to claw bad guys into being good.   He also has super heat powers to warm cold bodies.   His superhero costume is a studded collar & paw cuffs.   


That sounds like one super punk, super-pet.   Look out bad guys.   You're about to be rehabilitated back from the dark side with the swipe of a claw.


If you have a kid who loves superheros, pets, and cartoons.   Check out this great new series that makes reading super fun.


What do Batman’s dog, Superman’s cat, and Wonder Woman’s kangaroo all have in common? They’re Super-Pets, of course! Picture Window Books (a division of Capstone) is proud to introduce DC Super-Pets, a new line of adventure books for young readers featuring the crime-fighting pets of everyone’s favorite super heroes. 

The DC Super-Pets series features the crime-fighting adventures of the pets of favorite super heroes from beloved DC Comics: Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Lantern. These intrepid Super-Pets—Krypto the Super-Dog, Ace the Bat-Hound, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, Jumpa the Super-Kangaroo, and their friends—save the day and foil the evil plans of the universe’s most dastardly super villains.

The books have been specially designed for children just learning to read independently. Included in the endpapers are illustrations of all the Super-Pets in the series (both heroesand villains), jokes, and a guide to the meaning and pronunciation for each book’s most challenging words.

DC Super-Pets is the second project Capstone and DC Comics have collaborated on in recent history. The publishers launched a successful partnership in 2008 under Capstone’s Stone Arch Books imprint to publish DC Super Heroes, an original book series based around DC Comics’ iconic characters Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and, coming in Spring 2011, Green Lantern and the Flash.   

Picture Window Books is a division of Capstone, a leading publisher of children’s books and digital products and services, offering everything from nonfiction, fiction, and picture books to interactive books, audio books, and literacy programs. Divisions include Capstone Press, Compass Point Books, Stone Arch Books, Red Brick Learning, Capstone Digital, and Heinemann-Raintree. Visit them at www.CapstonePub.com.

DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Sandman. These DC super heroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. Visit DC Comics’ website at www.DCComics.com for more information.  

Click HERE to check out more info on this super new series.   Check out the illustrator, Art Baltazar's page HERE.   And if you want to see videos, play games, solve puzzles, and meet more heroes and villains, authors and illustrators, check out http://capstonekids.com/.

  

For new or reluctant readers, parents can read aloud and kids can take all the colorful words. 

  

Before you know it, your super readers will be reading aloud to their pets and handling the whole story themselves.

These are recommended for 1st -3rd graders, but younger kids will love the bright, graphic novel like illustrations as parents read aloud.    Reading with your kids is one of the most important things you can do to encourage developing readers and a life long love of books.

The first six books in the series launched in January 2011: The Fastest Pet on Earth, Heroes of the High Seas, Midway Monkey Madness, Pooches of Power, Royal Rodent Rescue, and Super Hero Splash Down. The series illustrator is Eisner Award-winning DC Comics artist Art Baltazar.

The DC Super-Pets books are so much fun, they will give the most reluctant readers super word power.

Check out their web site HERE for ordering info.

Human Tim + Robot Tim at Beat Kitchen This Sunday at Noon

Double click the slide show for full screen options.   All Human Tim+ Robot Tim photos taken by ChiIL Mama at Schubas 1-16-2011.


It's free ticket Tuesday again, kidlets, and today our winner is Nicole F.   She likes to rock out with her kids to Mindy Hester and the Timeouts and Bari Koral.


This Sunday she'll be rockin' out with her kids to Human Tim + Robot Tim at Beat Kitchen!   She's won a free family 4 pack of tickets.   Nicole, your name will be on the guest list (+3).


You could be our next family 4 pack winner.   We have tickets to so many great shows this month for adults and kids.   Enter for your chance to win tickets to any or all of them.   Check out ChiIL Mama's original, fun Human Tim+ Robot Tim video interview, live footage and stills from his January appearance at Schubas between now and the show Sunday.

Free For All:   We'll even point you toward a free download MP3 of the song, I Like Mice, HERE.


Check in on Win A Disc Wednesdays all month and enter to win a copy of his awesome CD, Pop of the Tots through midnight 3/8.   All the March CDs will be up tomorrow.

The Pogues Play The Congress This Thursday!

Congress Theater Announces A Parting Glass With…The Pogues, March 3, 2010.   Come to The Congress this Thursday for another all ages, Irish punk night "

of musical anarchy"

.

*Full Original Line-up w/ Shane McGowan, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy, James Fearnley, Darryl Hunt, Andrew Ranken, Phillip Chevron & Terry Woods*

We've been looking forward to this one since we first got the word in January!   We'll have a photo filled feature up soon after the show, but catch 'em live if you can.   If you didn't get enough Irish punk with 2 nights of Dropkick Murphys, last weekend, come on out and get your punk on with The Pogues.

Traditional Irish folk music collides with punk-rock grit and shamelessness in The Pogues. The legendary rabble rousers return with the full original line-up intact for a night of musical anarchy Thursday, March 3rd at Congress Theater. They’ll be joined by Titus Andronicus, one of the most exciting punk bands to emerge in recent years. Doors open at 7pm. General admission is 40.00, VIP Tickets (w/ free drinks & access to VIP balconies) are 100.00.

Tickets are available here: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3327025

Led by sparingly-toothed and grumbling singer-songwriter Shane MacGowan, the Pogues specialize in highly-charged songs bespeaking tales of alcohol over-indulgence, illicit love, death, urban blight, and political protest, all set to music recalling the folk melodies of Irish ballads, jigs, drinking songs, and sailor chantys. On the surface, their sound bears echoes of traditional Irish folk groups such as The Clancy Brothers or The Dubliners, yet, as Richard Grabel wrote in Creem, The Pogues are easily distinguished: "The Pogues... infuse... traditional music with punkish energy and abandon, an anarchic spirit, and a hard, aggressive, stomping instrumental approach.”

The Pogues rose out of the North London punk scene of the early 1980s when MacGowan, who had founded the punk-group Nipple Erectors (a.k.a. The Nips), joined English tin whistle player Spider Stacey to sing Irish folk songs in a popular London rock club. Disgruntled with a dying-out punk scene, the musicians began performing old standards at pubs in a highly-revved and furious fashion. They were soon joined in their musical venture by ex-Nips guitarist Jim Fearnley, and the group initially named itself Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for "kiss my ass"). 

Pogue Mahone began performing their energized folk alongside MacGowan originals throughout London, and three other musicians were recruited for a sextet, including drummer Andrew Ranken, banjo player Jem Finer, and female bass guitarist Cait O'Riordan. Acoustic instruments such as the accordion and fiddle were added, and as Stacey recalled to Lisa Russell in People, "we'd pick up instruments we couldn't play and do Irish folk songs at 140 miles an hour, playing them badly, but with spirit."

The same year, The Pogues—featuring a shortened, less outrageous, name—were signed to a recording contract with Stiff Records, which in 1984 released the group's first album, Red Roses for Me. Their second album, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash— taken from an expression of Winston Churchill describing life in the Royal Navy—was produced by singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and brought them wider attention in both Britain and the United States. 

The album also spawned their first British hit single, "A Pair of Brown Eyes." Phil Chevron, formerly of the punk group Radiators from Space, joined The Pogues after their first album, and Terry Woods, a multi-instrumentalist, came on board after their second. O'Riordan married Costello and left the group in 1986, and was replaced by Darryl Hunt, who had been a roadie of The Pogues.

Many critics consider The Pogues' million-selling 1988 album, If I Should Fall from Grace with God,Peace and Love, was worked on more fully in the recording studio and as a result, features a more polished sound. The lyrics of The Pogues' songs, particularly MacGowan's contributions, express what Karen Schoemer in the New York Times called "desperation," yet they are "almost always pitted against the jubilant fast tempos and merry accordion whirl of Irish music, and that conflict between the insanely joyful and the intoxicatingly sad." 

MacGowan commented to Grabel that The Pogues' music reflects "…the way life is…one minute you're up, the next minute you're down" and similarly noted to Russell that he simply feels "…there's lots of good in this world and lots of ugliness. Can't have one without the other." to be their finest effort. Peel describes it as "a riotous, whirling, reeling brawl of tavern ribaldry, pock-marked love songs, boozy prayers, gutter balladry, Thatcher-bashing, and, above all, Joycean romanticism." The Pogues' 1989 album,

A Parting Glass with the Pogues Thursday, March 3, 2010

Titus Andronicus Opens

 

Congress Theater

2135 N Milwaukee Ave

Chicago, Illinois 60647

(773) 276-1235

Doors 7pm Tickets 40.00/100.00

March-In Like A...

Bookamania, Harold Washington Library-Chicago      

photo by ChiIL Mama

Welcome to March, that crazy month that jerks us around with snow on the crocuses and gusty winds that have us breakin' out the kites and optimistically wearing shorts and snow boots.   We might even get a little taste of tank top weather in Chi Town, just don't pack up your winter coat just yet.   

It's a double birthday month in our family.  Du-Jay's turning double digits at the tail end of winter this year, and I've got a duplicate digit birthday in early spring, the day before April fools day.   Yes...I am 22, thanks for askin'.   OK, double that.

But, we're not "lion" below...March also means Music Month!

Here are all the kindie bands with new March releases, that we'll be reviewing AND giving away (nationwide) in the near future:

• March 1st-The wait is over! Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock, the fourth in the award-winning series of Gustafer Yellowgold DVD/CD sets by illustrator/songwriter Morgan Taylor, will be released March 1, 2011 (Apple-Eye Productions, $19.99. run time approx. 90 minutes total content, for ages 4 and up).    

Morgan Taylor developed the “musical moving storybook” Gustafer Yellowgold experience as equal parts pop rock concert and minimally animated movie.  Featuring guest artists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of WILCO, along with John Munson (bassist for Semisonic and late ‘80s cult favorite Trip Shakespeare), Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock is the first Gustafer Yellowgold DVD/CD package to have a storyline, unfolding in graphic novel fashion and weaving together ten thought provoking, melodic soft-rock music videos in the inimitable Gustafer Yellowgold style, ranging from sublime alt-pop to gentle acoustic.   *Enter to win a signed and numbered, limited edition Infinity Sock poster, through midnight 3/29.

• March 8th-Brooklyn-based, multi-faceted independent children’s recording artist David Weinstone, whose music videos are seen daily on the Nick Jr. channel, announces the March 8th release of his newest Music for Aardvarks and Other Mammals CD, All I Want! (Music for Aardvarks and Other Mammals, $13.98, for ages 0 – 7, run time 41 minutes.) The highly anticipated disc is the first full-length album of new songs in three years from one of the most influential children’s songwriters of our time.   *Enter to win your own copy through midnight 3/29

• March 15th-Broza is back!  Four-time Emmy-winning composer/performer Jamie Broza announces the March 15 release of his first new children’s album in five years, I Want a Dog! (Good Mood Records, $12.99, for ages 3 – 7, run time 41 minutes). The Latin-infused album features a guest appearance by Jamie’s cousin, Israeli superstar David Broza.   *Enter to win your own copy through midnight 3/29.

Free Ticket Tuesdays (In Chicago)-Beat Kitchen Concerts for Kids and Schubas Family Series both continue their excellent family friendly shows.    ChiIL Mama will have free CD give away tie ins and reviews, our very own video interviews with bands, live performance footage, and stills.   

We pick our first today with tickets to Human Tim + Robot Tim at Beat Kitchen next Sunday, 3/6 at noon.    You can still enter to win your own copy of their excellent CD, Pop of the Tots in our Win A Disc Wednesday entry form, through midnight 3/8.

Check out the details and enter HERE through midnight 3/7 for tickets to any or all of the following:

• Dreamworks Madagascar Live! is coming to Rosemont Theatre starting March 16th, and you can still enter to win a Family 4 pack of FREE tickets to opening night.

• Little Miss Ann and Candy Band are on a double bill at Beat Kitchen, Sunday March 13th.   We'll be posting interviews, live footage and lots of pixs of both bands, leading up to the show.   Enter for your chance at 4 free tickets.
  *In conjunction with the show, we have a 3 CD special for one lucky winner--Candy Band's latest release-High Five plus Little Miss Anne's Clap for Love AND Music for Tots.   Enter on Win A Disc Wednesdays.

• How Far To Austin, an adult, but family friendly, rock/pop/soul band, featuring Chicago parents Tate and Katie Troelstrup, have offered our readers a great give away.   *We have 2 pairs of tickets to their show on 3/11/11 AND 4 signed CDs for all winners.   Enter for your chance to win and/or click HERE to purchase tixs. 

• Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock poster the last Wednesday of March.   Enter all month through midnight 3/29.  *Our give away is a special, limited edition, signed and numbered, “retro-screened” Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock poster.   The DVD you've gotta buy, but it's soo worth it.   

Good luck!   Check in with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chicago...early and often.   We often add new tickets, reviews, photo filled features and give away throughout the month.