Excited to announce two shows, and other updates

By Ted Slowik

This week's post includes news about upcoming shows, updates about the website and debut recording, and a little about other musical adventures this week.

First, excited to say I'll play a set at the Halfway to St. Paddy's Day show Saturday, Sept. 21 at Chicago Street Pub, 75 N. Chicago St., Joliet. The fun gets underway at 5:30 p.m. and live music continues until 12:30 a.m. My slot's from 7 to 8 p.m. The lineup that evening includes Anne Hatfield, Gavin Coyle, Aly Flood, Scott McNeil, Chris Flood, Jeff Lindblade and John Condron. Many thanks to Flood Management Group for the invitation to perform!

This is my first time being asked to perform at an Irish-themed festival so I'm learning a couple songs I think will be appropriate for the occasion, though the set will be mostly originals.

Also I'm very excited to announce a show at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, in the Philip Lynch Theatre's new black box Studio Theatre at Lewis University, 1 University Parkway, Romeoville. I'll play an hour of originals opening for the up-and-coming band Jack Be Nimble. It's an intimate space, so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to play for an audience of listeners! Also thanks Jo for hooking me up with the gig, presented by the PLT's alumni Heritage Theatre Company.

Last week I wrote about launching a website, Ted Slowik Music, and I'm overwhelmed with the response from people! Many great comments about the excellent work of Brian Powers Photography, and why not--Brian's work is awesome! I mentioned that one cool part about building this site myself is that I can add content whenever I have something important to contribute, and this week I made a VERY important addition of a Beer tab.

You see, the acoustic Americana music I write, perform and record seems to go hand in hand with craft beer, so I've listed a few microbreweries whose products I enjoy. This isn't intended to be a definitive listing of the nation's many fine craft breweries, just a sampling of ones that I can vouch for. I do like beer, after all.

Speaking of recording, John Condron, Bill Aldridge and I are scheduled to wrap production on the debut studio recording later this month at Bill's Third City Sound in Joliet. We accomplished much during one long weekend in August, but it turned out we needed another day to finish. Between John's busy schedule of performances and Bill's work at the studio and on the road as bassist with The Vaudevileins, we haven't been able to schedule any time sooner to finish, which is no big deal. I've waited nearly 30 years to make my first studio recording as a solo artist, another month or two is no problem! Thanks to many who have inquired about the status of the collection, which will be called "Comfort Zone" and be available later this fall. The plan is to sell the six-song EP for $5 and make it available through the website, iTunes, at shows and other places.

And speaking of John, he and Pat Otto, Tom Maslowski and Don Nudi put on a great show yesterday at the Will County Celtic Fest at St. Joe's Park in Joliet. This lineup of talented players really fits John's music well, and it was a great time hearing the Old Gang Orchestra and other great bands perform and seeing many good friends. The turnout was phenomenal!

As many of you know, John hosts the weekly acoustic open mic on Wednesdays at Tribes Alehouse in Mokena at which I regularly perform. This past week I performed a set of bluesy originals, including "Stand Your Ground," about George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin and gun rights. I made a new video of it and shared it publicly this week, so check out the link if you're so inclined. I make a lot of videos of myself performing, mainly to hear the flaws and work on correcting them, but once in a while I share some of them. Enjoy!