Abbey Pub, Reckless, and the end of winter.

We are excited to announce that Reckless Records is selling our Fey 7 inches. If you're afraid of future crimes and don't want to pay with your credit card, you can swing by any of the Reckless locations in Chicago and pick one up there. The clerk will undoubtedly approve of your philanthropy and good taste and you can feel good about supporting such a venerable institution.

We are also pumped to announce a benefit Show at the Abbey Pub on April 7th. The bill is looking pretty eclectic with a slew of artists much more versed in gettin' down than yours truly. It's 10 bucks but this show is going to be so much fun I can't even tell you. Here's a little sneak peak at Chicago's next big deal.

April 7th @ The Abbey Pub

10$ (it all goes to charity)

Big Splashes, Ragged Claws, Jams Dean, Sequoia, Eyes Like Architecture, Panda Riot, EnJoy, Goodlife Music, GrG & Kli

In the meantime, here's a song you may not have heard. We've been playin' a different version around lately, but here's the original. As an artist in the midwest, you would think I'd have developed a somewhat poetic appreciation for winter by now. Not the case. I hate winter and from the moment it starts snowing, I want it to be over. In celebration of the imminent spring, here's a sad song about winter making my life more difficult.

Winter Face.mp3

Fey 7" CD Release Show Wednesday 3/17

We're super excited to release our first ever physical actual thing as Ragged Claws. It's happening on Wednesday at Ronny's venerable center for the performing arts. You can read the previous post or go to the official website for info on the 7". It's a split with Michael Noyce who will also be gracing us with a performance. It will be really wonderful to finally get these into your hands and start the charity wagon moving. Come help us celebrate a good cause and also celebrate my new freedom from employment. Oh busking, you earn such an honest wage.

Wednesday 3/17 @ Ronny's
2101 N. California Ave. Chicago, IL
Ragged Claws
Mike Noyce
Brier Rabbit
The Mother Z's

Birthday Kate Bush Cover

Paul forgot to mention that the show was also on his birthday! So happy belated birthday to Paul! As a gift I recorded one of his favorite songs (or at least one of his favorite songs to play on juke boxes, eg. at the beloved Deuce Deuce Ultra Lounge) in commemoration of his glorious quarter century. Listen to it! I used Garage Band, that great democratizing force of man and technology. Garage Band, (like anything furthering the cause of democratization) imbues all that it produces with an aura of the lowest common denominator, or at least a subtle averaging/distribution of quality (which I adamantly support as being of The Good). And I used the sweet microphone that Paul bought me for my own birthday back in the day, the merits of which however did not overcome my significant technological handicaps. I’m sure that’s enough of a disclaimer; I beg of you to look kindly upon my efforts, and I only hope that Kate Bush listens to it and wants to be my new best friend. It's bound to happen some day. Happy Happy Birthday Paul! ~Kimberly

running up that hill cover.mp3

Benefit Show Tonight, Jan. 31st

Haiti has held a special place in our heart for a long time and in the wake of the earthquake we want to help out our fellow musicians who have been effected. Tonight at Cole's Bar (2338 N. Milwaukee) we're playing with some friends of ours to raise money to help the students and teachers of the Ste. Trinite School of Music that was destroyed in the Quake. The show is free, but there will be tons of opportunities to support the school. Cash donations, proceeds from the bar, sales from cds and food, as well as the sales of some haitian art will all go directly to the hands of people in need. It's been a while, but what a great time to reignite the Ragged Claws flame that has perhaps dimmed, but burns nonetheless. Love and happiness.
Sunday, Jan. 31st.
8pm Cole's Bar
2338 n. Milwaukee
Ragged Claws
War at Sea
Mike Noyce
Story of Everest
Free as hell.

Discovery! and a Soundgarden song.

Today was my day off from work, so I decided to go downtown and get some stuff done. The first thing I did today was visit City Hall and get a street performer license. This is something I've talked about doing for a while, but haven't gotten around to. It's $100, which is a little steep if you ask me, but hopefully I can get that back in a few days if I'm diligent. Once I make a $100 we'll get one for Kimberly and Ragged Claws will be busking all over town like its our job. I guess it will be in a way. Keep a look out for some cowboy songs and melancholy folk tunes echoing through the subway or mingling with the sounds of cars and buses and electronic clicks of digital cameras. After I had my license in hand (which looked slightly craft-fairish after having laid down 100 bones for the damn thing) I felt strangely accomplished. 'I'll reward myself with a drink!' I thought. Well, I had some Canadian Club left over from last night's pizza party and went to 7 eleven for a mixer/chaser. Without thinking about the consequences I went with the iced coffee - a concoction which tastes somewhere between nesquik and yoohoo - and boy did I luck out. I should preface this by saying that I've always been a fan of Brass Monkeys (tm). The glorious mix of Old English* and orange juice (the poor man's mimosa as I like to call it) has resulted in many a great evening over the past few years - a drink to be enjoyed guilt-free (albeit shame-free) and a bit of class and refinement for the classless and unrefined. Well, my fellow brownbaggers and old style connossieurs, there is a new bum cocktail to rival the brass monkey and bring joy to those with refined tastes and shallow wallets. I give you the 'White Corsican' or the poor man's white russian. Go forth and be merry.
White Corsican:
2 1/2 shots Blended Whiskey
12 ounces of 7 eleven iced coffee (mocha flavor is preferred, but feel free to experiment with French Vanilla)

notes:It's preferred that you grab a spare cup and tuck it under the iced coffee at the time of purchase. when you find a secluded spot to sit and mix discreetly, poor the whiskey into the empty cup and transfer the contents from the other cup into the whiskey cup. This makes for a more homogenous mixture and thus ensures that your White Corsican will be good to the last drop.
PK

Black Hole Sun.mp3

Ragged Claws Daytrotter session

Check out our Daytrotter session that posted today. We're pretty pumped about it. Click Here! If you don't know, Daytrotter is a recording studio that has a music blog. There's tons of awesome recordings for free and they're all recorded live at the Daytrotter studio in Rock Island, IL. Personally I think the bonnie 'prince' billy session contains some of his best recordings. Download our songs (almost all of which we haven't recorded before) and then check out the rest of the site.

p.s. if you wandered over here for the first time be sure to download our free e.p. on Common Cloud Records right here: The Sleepwalker e.p.

Benefit Show this Friday, May 29th

This Friday we've got a benefit show we're playing at the Oasis in Grayslake, IL (151 N. Hawley St). We're playing as well as our friends Venna, Zach Petrini and the Broken Bones among others. There's art and jazz music going on at 4:00 p.m. so come by and peruse some art and meet some people. There are certain things in life that are simply too important for my usual bumbling irreverence. While the irony and the lack of meaning that seems to flow through much of the indie scene (like an air pocket swimming lethally through the blood stream) is great for a Saturday night it is often difficult to do something overtly serious and meaningful in the presence of such overwhelming light-heartedness (and its so coooool!). Haiti has been a kind of obsession for me ever since I went there in the summer of '06. I've taught music mainly at the Dessaix Baptiste School of music in Jacmel Haiti and a little bit at the Saint Trinity School in Port Au Prince. Haiti has not made me into an open hearted optimist, but somewhat of an embittered realist. I believe that the problems facing this country (compounded by a 200 year history of marginilization and injustice) are unimaginable to most people. Having spent a fair amount of time there, the depth of the problems there and the reality of their effects continue to move me and challenge my ways of thinking. That being said, the music schools that I've worked with are rays of light in a really dark place. Amidst all of the difficulties present in the lives of the students, they are given the opportunity to discover their artistic inclinations and their capability to create something beautiful. I won't delve too deep into my beleifs about music and the expansion of ones perception of beauty, but I assure you that I think music is incomparably powerful and yet understand its limitations. The School in Jacmel feeds a need that is less tangible than the social and economic needs of Haiti, but one that is nonetheless deprived and hungry. The call of the spirit, the endless pursuit of beauty that we in our country can mingle with and call upon as we wish (at least more easily). Kimberly and I are going there in July to work with Jean Marie, an artist who lives just outside Jacmel, and we'll be teaching at the School there. More on that as the time approaches. In the meantime, please come over to the Oasis this Friday. You'll be glad you came.

PK

p.s. It kinda sucks that I feel like we need to post music now to get you to read this. Is this true? Either way, here's another composition of mine. It's called Wood and Stone. It's kind of like a remix or something of the hymn "Great is thy Faithfulness." Musings on my religious education and the persistence of certain images and ideas throughout so many strange times. Lindsey Crabb is playing Cello and Megan Karls is Playing Violin.

wood and stone.mp3