Throwing back to a stripped down duo performance Maria and I did at a fundraiser for my play “Fairfield is Beautiful.” Mounting that production with Zach Hebert directing stands out as an exciting pre-quarantine live performance memory. The most recent time the full Truancy Club band performed also happened to be at Cafe Mustache. Love that venue and can’t wait to be on their stage again soon. Stay up on what Mustache is up to food, drink, and streaming entertainment-wise at http://cafemustache.com.

Honored to be included in such a broad and dense swath of Chicago music on Aftermath: Chicago Unites for Puerto Rico. Get it at the link below and know that your $$ will be going where it is still very much needed. Congratulations and thanks to Mike Sugarman at Groove Cafe for putting this together!

Recently got to chat with Ari Mejia for CHIRP Radio about songwriting and banding:

http://chirpradio.org/podcasts/bret-koontz

Looking forward to playing a full band jawn on this nite of nites!

It was my extreme pleasure to return to the west coast for a jaunt with dear friends John Bellows, Glenn Hendrick, and Sydney Roth. Some highlights include a show in a 100+ year old cabin (audio forthcoming), playing on Berkeley Public Media TV (video forthcoming), a night of Twin Peaks vibes and paranoia in Redding, CA (video and audio redacted) & catching a glimpse of deep Chicago and Nashville friends who are now LA rezzies. Thanks so much to everyone who facilitated, played, and listened. Thanks also to John and Glenn for their friendship and music and to Sydney for the same plus singing with me every night. Below is our route for your sleuthing pleasure and the only three photos I’ve got to prove it all even happened.

Being filmed turning 36 on community TV in Berkeley with Sydney Roth. Photo by Glenn Hendrick.

Glenn with horse and cop as John and Rio the dog pose in background as runner approaches in Oakland.

Tarot reading administered by Glenn at a juice bar in LA. Youch, that’s a lot of swords! Also, that sun card was reversed so wish me luck.

Proud to be premiering the music video for ‘Walk’ on This Week in Pop with Impose Magazine. Shot by Bob Ness and David T. Kindler. Thanks to Sjimon Gompers for the kind words about the song and some of the things I do in Pop –and thanks to everyone who helped out!

http://bit.ly/2DGSQNT

http://bit.ly/2DGSQNT

Absolutely thrilled to have a track on this comp alongside a lot of dear friends and contempos. It’s always good when someone decides to showcase the more avant side of this amazing and complicated town. Thanks to Emily and thanks to Love Lion!

https://www.emilyelhaj.com/coming-soon-grid-city/

Love Lion’s Chicago-centric release is now available for pre-order (official release date 1/26/18). It features my newest track ‘Gloaming, Nightshade’ as well as new material by ONO, Melina Ausikaitis & Angela Mullenhour, Matt Jencik, John Bellows, Famous Laughs, HIDE,Michuel Beau Wanzer, Quarter Mile Thunder, Wet Key, Sweet Cobra, Gula-Gila, Lilac, Alex Barnett, Brett Naucke, FACS, Justin Demus, Jeremiah Meece, AZITA, & Equip.