4-AM » Happenings http://4-am.net It's 4-AM, Do You Know Where Your Music Is? Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://4-am.net http://4-am.net/favicon.ico 4-AM I found it! http://4-am.net/i-found-it http://4-am.net/i-found-it#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:16:02 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=307 Do you remember around a year ago when I wrote about the independent short film Bound with Love in which we sang and appeared? I ran across it in a search in a format I could post here on the blog. So here it is. Anytime you hear singing, it’s us and we get some screen time at about the 4:48 mark. Yes, it’s a bit belated in that it’s a Christmas short, but it’s still a nice piece to watch. I hope you enjoy it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://4-am.net/i-found-it/feed 0 It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas http://4-am.net/its-beginning-to-feel-a-lot-like-christmas http://4-am.net/its-beginning-to-feel-a-lot-like-christmas#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:13:43 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=293 At least from the perspective of our busy time of year. Last Saturday, November 21st was our first Holiday gig. It was for the grand opening of the Elysian Hotel in accordance with the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. We were one block over from the staging area for the parade on E. Walton and were singing outside from 1 – 4 pm. Here’s a picture of us that day:

4-AM_at_Elysian

L-R Jim, Jenny, Flora & Gary (click to enlarge)

The first gig out of the gate is always fun in a lot of ways. You get to see what you remember and what you don’t, and by this point of singing together for almost 15 years, there’s very little we don’t remember, except the occasional lyric (why did I forget that one anyway? Oh…Rudolph, that’s right).

It’s a busy time of year, but one I wouldn’t want to do without. I get to see old friends and catch up with them and enjoy the time of year and help people celebrate it. What more can you ask for?

]]> http://4-am.net/its-beginning-to-feel-a-lot-like-christmas/feed 0 And the pictures to prove it! http://4-am.net/and-the-pictures-to-prove-it http://4-am.net/and-the-pictures-to-prove-it#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:04:32 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=239 Considering there was a thick fog Saturday morning, the weather was near perfect for the Buffalo Grove Days gig. It was a beautiful , warm day, but at one point of the show, Gary said I was “swarthy”. I think that’s code for “Get away from me, you’re all sweaty!”


4-AM jammin' l-r Gary, Flora, Jenny, Jim 4-AM onstage


We always have a great time when we perform, whether it’s singing, the chatter in between or playing with the audience (and this audience was a lot of fun).

But the best thing about the gig for me came in two parts. Even though it was the beer tent, it was early enough in the day that all ages were allowed to site in and around the area and as we were singing, the crowd grew. That’s always a good sign. And then I was watching as wel were singing and most of the crowd was singing along with us, which is really cool too. Okay, and I always enjoy a chance to use the music to mack on the ladies.

Jim mackin' on the ladies during a song

Jim mackin' on the ladies during a song

It was great to see some friends who came to the show, Steve, David and Ginny, Tim of The Legends and also meet some new friends like Rodney and get the chance to talk with Rich of the White Saddle Band, if only for a moment. There were even rumors that after the show ended Gary and Flora transformed into Austin Powers and Lucille Ball, but I don’t have any pic…

Gary as Austin Powers

Gary as Austin Powers

Well, unfortunately no pictures of Flora as Lucy.

I’d like to thank Karen, the Entertainment Director for the Buffalo Grove Days and Ed, the guy who manned the Sound Board for us. We appreciate everything you did to make us feel right at home. There are a couple of other people who were working Buffalo Grove  Days I’d like to thank, but I didn’t get their names, so I hope this will do. It was a wonderful time for us and the crowd had a good time with us.

Photos courtesy of David Gibbs of Fallingrock Photography
]]> http://4-am.net/and-the-pictures-to-prove-it/feed 0 Gary http://4-am.net/gary http://4-am.net/gary#comments Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:44:59 +0000 Gary http://4-am.net/?p=211 Last Saturday, March 21st, we trotted out a whole new set list out in Carol Stream, IL. Overall, I was very pleased with the way the set played. Most of the songs were getting their first play in front of an audience. I can always tell if our song choices are hitting the mark when one or two audience members turn to each other and nod as if saying, “I remember that one”. A few people even began to sing along. A good omen! As in any debut performance, we discovered our blemishes and now know where tweaking and added rehearsal is required. However, I am very excited and inspired with where we are headed.

Remember, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition”? I am currently working on “I Just Dropped In”. Very 60′s and kind of tongue and cheek lyrics in today’s world. Look for it soon. We are gearing up for the summertime festivals so keep an eye on the gig posting to see if we are appearing near you.        Peace

]]> http://4-am.net/gary/feed 0 Time to try it out Live http://4-am.net/time-to-try-it-out-live http://4-am.net/time-to-try-it-out-live#comments Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:52:14 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=188 Well, we’re going to jump in with both feet. At our rehearsal on Wednesday we felt really good about the set and so we decided it’s time for a time honored tradition of finding a spot to try it out and see how it plays in front of a live audience. Not a full gig…But run the set as a whole. And do it as soon as possible.

That does a couple of things for us. It gives us extra motivation to work out all the tweaks we need to make now and it gives us the chance to get comfortable with the set. You know, kick the tires and see how it rides. So you might want to keep looking for us while we’re looking for the place we’ll play because it might happen pretty quickly. We’ll give you as much notice as we can, of course, but it’s likely to happen with a short turnaround time.

While you can look for us here (lets not be too obvious, Jim), you can also find us and become a fan of our Facebook page at http://band.to/4-am/ and become a fan while you’re at it. Oh and don’t forget to come up and say after any gig you attend. We’re nice…And silly…And well, I could go on for awhile, but not now.

]]> http://4-am.net/time-to-try-it-out-live/feed 0 There’s a new Set on the Horizon http://4-am.net/theres-a-new-set-on-the-horizon http://4-am.net/theres-a-new-set-on-the-horizon#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:58:27 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=165 We’ve been working up a lot of new arrangements lately and we’re really happy with what’s happening with them. So we decided to take the next step and put together a set that includes a lot of these new arrangements. It’s a set of 13 songs and out of the 13, 9 of them are brand new arrangements we’ve done. So we’re getting this set together and we’re going to rehearse it and try it out in the near future live.  So here it is:

Song Original Artist(s)
Drift Away Dobie Gray or Uncle Kracker with Dobie Gray
Eli’s Comin’ Three Dog Night
Follow Me Uncle Kracker
Temptation Eyes The Grass Roots
Come See About Me The Supremes
Down on the Corner Creedence Clearwater Revival
The River Garth Brooks
It’s A Little Bit Me The Monkees
Rhumba Girl Nicolette Larson
Spooky Classics IV
No Time Left for You The Guess Who
Black Velvet Alannah Myles
Mony, Mony Tommy James and the Shondells or Billy Idol

 
We’re excited about the set, what do you think?

]]> http://4-am.net/theres-a-new-set-on-the-horizon/feed 0 Picking up and Carrying On http://4-am.net/picking-up-and-carrying-on http://4-am.net/picking-up-and-carrying-on#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:48:00 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=157 I can’t believe it’s the middle of February already.  It was a busy holiday season for us and one of the things that was out of the ordinary for us was the work we did on the short film Bound with Love. This was one of a series of films based on the works of Mike Royko, a Chicago Columnist. You can find out more about the series of films at Royko.tv.

On December 5th, we went into a recording studio and recorded O Tannenbaum in about as many different ways as you could imagine, Fast, slow, in German, in English, only on Oooo, on Oooo switching to Ah and… well, you get the idea. It was a great time and we enjoyed every minute of the time we spent recording, even when we left the warmth of the recording studio to go out in the back lot to record the ambiance of singing outdoors and believe it was very cold that night, but it was a great experience, all the way around and that was only the beginning.

We did our part of the filming on December 13th. There had been a major part of the shoot the night before as well and true to Chicago, the weather was very different between the two. The night before was cold with wind chill dropping to somewhere near -20 degrees Fahrenheit, but the night we filmed, it was near 40 degrees above zero and the snow was melting with standing water all around, amazing (you can see production stills from the shoot on our Sights & Sounds page). Once again, despite the weird weather, everything went pretty well, we actually lip synched to a small alarm clock/cd player for the shoot as well as did some live takes, that was interesting. Everyone was great to work with and a lot of that had to do with the person who was the driving force behind the project, Norman Skul. One of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet and one of those guys that you hope you’re going to get the opportunity to work for and with again. He made everything flow really smoothly and there was just a great attitude throughout the entire experience.

Sadly, we learned that Norman passed away suddenly and unexpectedly after the first of the year. I didn’t get to know him very well in that short time, but based on what I saw when I did get to work with him, everyone who knew him, loved him and he will be missed. Fortunately, we’ve been told that production is going to continue not just on Bound with Love, but on the whole series and Norman’s vision will continue. Maybe that’s the best tribute of all.

]]> http://4-am.net/picking-up-and-carrying-on/feed 0 From 4-AM to You http://4-am.net/from-4-am-to-you http://4-am.net/from-4-am-to-you#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:05:52 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=133

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://4-am.net/from-4-am-to-you/feed 0 Gary http://4-am.net/garys http://4-am.net/garys#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:58:19 +0000 Gary http://4-am.net/?p=74 Gary here. I am the Tenor of the group  I just thought I would post my first entry into the 4-AM site. As a group and with Jim’s help we are just starting to grasp the possibilities of sharing our work out in the cyber world. As we gain greater skills in our use of music production technology as an arranging tool I think you will begin to hear changes in the kind of sounds we create as a group. Traditionally, we have worked from written musical arrangements. We would then experiment using the written piece as our source. We are now experimenting with vocally improvised sketches and then developing the arrangements from these “vocal ideas”. It really is not much different than standing on a street corner and making up harmonies as was often the case with “Du-Wop” groups. Only now, we record the ideas and expand upon them. The more I learn the more I find out I need to learn. I really dig the creative possibilities.

Keep checking in for a listen and look at what we are doing and where we are going as artists.  I think you will find it an interesting journey.

]]> http://4-am.net/garys/feed 0 Happy Labor Day! http://4-am.net/happy-labor-day http://4-am.net/happy-labor-day#comments Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:31:30 +0000 Jim http://4-am.net/?p=67 It’s that time of year again and that means that I’m in a parade. Actually, it means we all are, just not as 4-AM.  Jenny, Flora, Gary and I are going to be in the Zion, IL Labor Day Parade as The Garden Club. If you’ve seen Mary Poppins, think the chalk drawing and that’s what we look like. This has always been a fun group for me for a lot of reasons, some of it is the music, but one of the most important is because this is a big reason for becoming 4-AM, so it’s special.

So if you’re up in the Zion, IL area and want to see us, the parade starts at 1:00 CT, you can click the map link under the Next Show heading at the bottom of the page. If you want to follow me on Twitter or Plurk you’ll get some on the scene updates and probably a picture or two (I’ll see what I can work out, cell phones don’t really go with the turn of the 20th Century costumes).

No matter what you do, have a great weekend!

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