Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Shiner beer 100th anniversary show @ Joe's bar


The Chicago stop of the Shiner beers 100th anniversary tour made its way up to the windy city for a night of great Texas music at Joe's bar.
A Local band played while the crowd started arriving and the Shiner beer varieties on tap began flowing. Dallas Texas resident Darryl Lee Rush took the stage and sang his self penned songs that are narratives of the Texas landscape and way of life written with a sometimes humorous viewpoint. Darryl is an artist on the Palo Duro/Shiner records label and he has released two albums with "Live at the River Road Icehouse" as his latest. Gruene Hall regulars Two Tons of Steel were up next. Lead singer Kevin Geil brought his energetic and entertaining persona to the stage with a good set of songs that combine the sound of rockabilly and Buddy Holly with influences of classic country and even some Ramones covering the song "I wanna be sedated" in their live set. Two Tons of Steel are a staple in the Texas music scene and have been over the last 8 years or more bringing in huge crowds for "Two Ton Tuesdays" in Gruene. Look for their live CD/DVD also on Palo Duro records. After the Shiner girls came out on the stage to hand out Shiner merchandise, Stoney LaRue & the Arsenal took the stage. Stoney is an artist originally from Oklahoma and is one of the most genuine and outgoing musicians in the red dirt music scene. Coming from the same Stillwater Oklahoma music scene as Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jason Boland, He has been known to hang out with fans and other musicians hours after a show creating spontaneous jam sessions till the sun comes up. Stoney listens to an eclectic variety of music and seamlessly combines those influences into a sound that is all his own. If he ever is in a bad mood its never shown in public, he one of the most enthusiastic performers in music today.Even as some of the crowd thinned out slowly, maybe because it was a Thursday night show, he continued to play his style of red dirt music. He hung around after the show to sign merchandise and when that sun came up, we found him "solid gone".

Monday, April 6, 2009

Chicago Tribune article mentions Joe's bar

Alison Bonaguro wrote an article recapping some of the ACM award winners and tells just how big a deal it is that Joe's bar in Chicago was named Nightclub of the year. Congratulations to Joe's bar for being honored with this prestigious award. Click on the above link (title) to read the article.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Keith Urban in Chicago at Joe's


Verizon wireless and Keith Urban joined forces once again for a series of small club dates called the "no frills" tour. Keith played to a capacity crowd on March 30th. His dedicated fans were waiting outside in the Chicago weather starting at 8am for the 9pm show. If you were one of the lucky ones chosen by Verizon to attend the show, you were treated to a show by one of the biggest names in country music in a venue that is very small and intimate especially for someone like Keith Urban. His fans were "defying gravity" when they were able to meet & greet him before the show. Keith played about an hour and 45 minutes, maybe Joe's bar has had larger crowds, but i have not seen anything like that until then.