Good news - thanks to the large public outcry against the Promoter Ordinance, the proposal has been pulled from tomorrow’s City Council meeting. There will be further review and undoubtedly this is not the end of the issue, so hopefully everyone will stay informed. We’ll try to keep you updated on the Tangleweed blog. In the meantime, contact your alderman and let him/her know how important the independent music scene is to Chicago, and why an ordinance like this is a bad idea.

For this of you (like me) who are just finding out about this issue, Jim DeRogatis of the Sun-Times has written an excellent blog detailing the ordinance, its history, and public reaction to it:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/

Here’s another blog that was also responsible for raising public awareness.  They collected almost 6,000 signatures for their online petition opposing the ordinance:

http://savechicagoculture.org/

Power to the people!

My friend Julie Benner (banjoist and musical activist) just sent this out. Hope everyone will read and act accordingly…

Hey friends:

Quickly, a plea. There is an ordinance being voted on in the city council meeting tomorrow that will severely impact the freedom of small venues to host events. It is called the Promoter Ordinance and it is going to require venues to pay more fees and jump through more bureaucratic hoops than ever! This means music, performance, theatre, comedy, etc will be affected and limited to only the wealthy and established venues and promoters! Yuk!

I encourage you to email or call your alderman TODAY. Particularly if you live in the 47th ward, as the Gene Schulter himself is the one who brings this ordinance before the council.

Here is more information about the ordinance:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/2008/05/update_musical_advocates_gear.html#more

And here is a link to find your alderman:
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalProgramAction.do?programId=536879154&channelId=-536879035&topChannelName=Government

Extra Credit: Join me and others tomorrow morning at 9 am at city hall to protest! There will be a musical uprising!

I’ll bring the banjo - you bring a guitar, harp, kazoo, castanets, your audition monologue, mime act or baritone uke - whatever! For real, we are going to sing out! 121 N. LaSalle St. The council meets on the second floor. See you there! (The meeting itself is at 10. Attend that for extra extra extra credit and speak out!)

yours truly,

Julie B

ps. forward on to people I don’t know but you do.

My cousin recently sent me a couple links featuring cultural icon Stephen Colbert. It turns out he has a long standing feud with the Korean R&B pop star “Rain.” As a fellow Korean involved in playing music quite outside my traditional cultural heritage I took interest and decided to share.

Here is Colbert with his own Korean pop video, He’s Singin’ In Korean:

Rain and Stephen Colbert finally settle the score with a Dance Off:

***Disclaimer: In no way am I advocating the singing of Korean R&B songs or the production of their videos, either by Korean pop stars or American satiric comedians, but this was just too funny to pass up.

After more than three years of procrastinating, I finally got around to visiting the barbershop again. I figured a nice trim would go well with this season of change, and I’ve always been of the philosophy that if you’re going to pay someone to cut your hair, you might as well get the most for your money. So it was with giddy anticipation that I scheduled an appointment at the Belmont Barbershop in Roscoe Village, the only place in Chicago where you can shoot pool and drink PBR while you wait. They run a fine establishment and everyone there is well schooled in the barberial arts, including hot towel shaves. Thanks to Andrew who did a wonderful job.

Not being one to be wasteful, I also decided I would donate my shorn hair to a good cause. My 14 inch locks are now on their way to Wigs For Kids, an organization that provides free hairpieces to children with medical conditions. There are a few other charities that provide similar services, and anyone interested can read about it in this article from the New York Times.

By pure coincidence, while I was waiting for a chair to open up I received a call from my sister who informed me she’d just given birth to my newest nephew, Gabriel DaeMyung Shen. I’ll be visiting him next week and hope that he likes my new ‘do.
For anyone curious to see what my face looks like without a mop of hair surrounding it, come check it out at our next show.

With my mane sheared, this once again leaves Scott as the only hirsute member of the band, and this marks the first time I’ve ever used that word in a sentence!

You can now become a fan of Tangleweed on facebook.com. Just in case MySpace wasn’t enough to satisfy your online social networking appetite!

Last Friday Ryan and I attended the Friday Night Jam on the South Side. This is a weekly gathering of musicians and friends that has been going on since 1973 to play original and traditional acoustic music in an informal setting. It was hosted by Vik and Suzie who invited us into their home for some good music, company, and refreshments. Vik has modernized the jam by setting up microphones around his living room, recording the entire session, and then making a few of the songs available on the web. You can check them out here. Many thanks for their hospitality, and we hope to be jamming again soon!

Tangleweed:

A wet legend

Dang wet eel

Glee wanted

Get New Deal

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Add your own!

We had an interesting experience when we arrived in Lawrence, KS. It turns out that our motel room was already occupied by a Lucho Libre, or Mexican wrestler. He went by the name of “El Jugador de Pleitobajo.” Not wanting to jeapardize our tour in any way, we let him be and found a different room. However, we were awakened in the middle of the night by sounds of powerbombs and piledrivers off the balcony into the motel pool below. El Jugador was obviously practicing for his exhibition match the next night. Good luck to him and his career!