Home again. The blind schnauzer and her bouncy baby brother were turned back over to their humans on Friday afternoon, and then the rest of the weekend took off like a rocket ship, which is to say, I had plans for one night, can you believe it? and it left me a little worn down.
But the even keel is back and all is cool. I don’t know what it is about sleeping in someone else’s bed, or a hotel bed, or any bed other than my own, for a few days — it’s different (appreciated), but also weirdly unsettling (less so).
So, Friday. Shadow Show had their record-release parties over two night, Friday and Saturday, both sellouts at a local bar. We went Friday night, and Alan went back Saturday, too. (Me, I could not handle it, after a couple hours of standing on Friday night. My knees were screaming.) But it was a smashing success, and both shows were well-received. They brought in some friends to do guest appearances on individual songs, but the big surprise was the Friday-night encore. They invited Zoe, their old vocalist from the Deadly Vipers days, and they did a short set of their 2015-era songs. I was totally surprised, and it sent me back to their very first gig, when we took them to a blind pig* in the north end of Detroit. A *blind pig is Detroit patois for an illegal spot, and this place was a dark storefront that someone had briefly liberated into an underage nightspot. But the set went off well, even though I can’t tell you how, exactly, they got electricity into the place. And Alan remembers broken glass strewn across the floor; I remember a pile of beer and pop cans in the corner, perhaps waiting for deposit redemption. Whatever, I do remember that the Black Lodge closed a few weeks later, when they tried to stage a burlesque show and it was busted by the police.
Anyway, the shows this past weekend were pretty great. And they got played three times the following day on WDET, so again: Good news. A couple pix, from an admittedly terrible angle because it was crowded as hell. Here’s the bassist for Shadow Show, shown appropriately in shadow:
And here’s the encore, with Zoe looking all sassy:
Now for the break, and the national tour starts at month’s end, with the European leg to follow. If any of you live in Los Angeles — and yeah, I’m looking at you, Mary — you might want to save this date:
It’s not every day that you get to see a girl group with a psychedelic-garage sound perform with marionettes, after all. This is the gig that was cancelled in 2020 for Covid.
And that was the weekend. Tomorrow starts a perfect week — if I play it right, the best balance of work and not-work. I’ll take it.
Jeff Borden said on February 18, 2024 at 9:17 pm
I love “Shadow Show.” If all goes well, I’ll see them again at the Empty Bottle in late March. If you can’t make it, I’ll do a Chicago Handshake in your honor. If you can, free room and board.
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Joe Kobiela said on February 18, 2024 at 10:05 pm
I guess being in your early 20’s makes a difference but looking at those tour dates wear me out.
Pilot Joe
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jcburns said on February 18, 2024 at 10:23 pm
Puppets. Hunh.
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Dave said on February 18, 2024 at 11:12 pm
Wow, Fort Wayne native is gonna play The Brass Rail. I see they’re going to play Indy, too, but I doubt my aged ears could stand the assault. Oh, that and being the old folks in the room, perhaps way out of place. Other than that. . .European tour, that’s exciting.
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Alan Stamm said on February 19, 2024 at 7:24 am
Wow on those tour skeds — I feel tired, and impressed, just reading the month-long whirlwinds. I’m with Joe — my decades of vim ‘n vigor at that level also are long gone.
Such a pride-worthy ascent for spaceladie Kate and mates.
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alex said on February 19, 2024 at 7:49 am
Wow… playing on Easter Sunday in Fort Wayne. That’s quite a schedule.
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basset said on February 19, 2024 at 9:41 am
They’ll definitely be in a better location here than they were last time.
Spent Saturday working the national turkey hunters’ convention, which has, as you’d expect. a lot of interesting things to see, including a big display of taxidermy. You walk through it and see all these preserved dead animals set up in dioramas… turkey, another turkey, couple of deer… human? They had a really well done life-size figure of a steam-era mountain climber, wool scarf and all. Surely it’s all manikin, thought at first that there might be the remains of a Chinese prisoner in there but I guess not.
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alex said on February 19, 2024 at 9:43 am
Neil Steinberg’s in fine form today.
Fucking scary.
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basset said on February 19, 2024 at 10:32 am
I’ve had to explain the Chinese prisoners reference:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30bodies.html
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Heather said on February 19, 2024 at 11:32 am
Dang, I’ll probably be out of town when they come to Chicago. I hope to catch them next time.
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Julie Robinson said on February 19, 2024 at 12:55 pm
The schedule looks exhausting to me, too. When we cleaned out the basement I found my old appointment calendars and was amazed at how we worked and went to meetings or events three or four nights every single week. And had kids! We like a much slower pace these days.
How do they work out such long leaves of absence with their day jobs?
We’re seeing the sun for the first time since Friday. I kept looking for Noah’s Ark going by, because the rain never stopped, so what a surprise it only added up to three inches.
It’s hardly Japan, like Deborah, but we are headed back to NYC next week. A part of me thinks we are totally crazy for going in the winter, but this was when the show was. Also, hotels are (relatively) cheap.
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LAMary said on February 19, 2024 at 1:13 pm
Back with the puppets, eh? My sons’ recollection of the Bob Baker Marionettes is how weird and creepy they were. Of course the guys were 5 years old when their kindergarten classes went to see them. The current location of that theatre is on a street that’s getting hipper and more expensive daily. No more bodegas or 2 dollar burritos. If Kate and crew want Mexican food post performance El Atacor on Figueroa Street is open until 2 am and has great al pastor.
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ROGirl said on February 19, 2024 at 2:17 pm
There used to be a marionette theater in Chicago that I remember going to on a school trip, the Kungsholm. They played records of operas and the marionettes “acted” out the parts.
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alex said on February 19, 2024 at 2:27 pm
I remember going to see a marionette show in Old Town on Chicago Ave. Impressive performance from what I recall.
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Deborah said on February 19, 2024 at 3:51 pm
We’re in the car driving to Pasadena in the rain, I’m burying my nose in my phone so I don’t freak out about traffic flying by around us.
We will be in Chicago on March 30th and I’d like to go to the Shadow Show performance, only problem is we are headed back to NM the next morning, a 9am flight (Easter). So I’m not sure my old bones could take it. We’ll see how much energy we have after getting back from Japan mid March.
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Jeff Gill said on February 19, 2024 at 4:54 pm
The marionette stuff got me searching, found this; William Fosser came to my elementary school in 1967-8 (not sure of precisely when) and put on “Peer Gynt” for us. Vivid memories in general, even if I can’t say which year it was exactly.
https://www.chicagomag.com/arts-culture/a-chicago-puppet-tradition-lives-on-at-opera-in-focus/
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nancy said on February 20, 2024 at 10:41 am
The thing I most remember about marionette shows is the puppeteers sticking their heads in to take a bow at the end. You get so immersed in the scale of the production that suddenly it’s like a giant appears on that little stage.
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