After the Blackhawks trounced the Penguins in the snow at Soldier Field, I headed out to see my friend Adam Balcazar perform at J.J. Kelley's. Adam & I have had lots of long & deep...OK maybe not that deep...conversations about music. We agree on quite a few bands and he loves Dave Matthews Band the same way I love Bruce and the E Street Band. That's probably due to the over twenty year difference in our ages than about musical tastes. Anyway, Adam has written some really good songs over the past few years and tonight he sounded really good performing them. He mixed in a few covers...Frank Turner and DMB that I recognized and Margo & the Nuclear So and So's that I did not know but really liked. But I thought he really shined when performing his own songs...they seemed to mean more to him.
Here he is during his second set which is when a female fan left the following note on his monitor...
...the ladies just can't resist a man with a guitar.
This is Adam's friend Matt Hess. Adam says Matt & I would get along because he is a music snob. Apparently insinuating that I am too. In my defense, I like all types of music if it is played well, if not, all types of music can suck. I thoroughly enjoyed both of Matt's sets. He had no problems telling the crowd to fuck off...I'm pretty sure he knew most of the crowd, but if he didn't, I think he'd still do the same. He also sang covers and originals. Since I wasn't familiar with most of the covers I had a hard time deciding which it was...unless he told us. I think he said since you don't know this song I'll say it is an original...which made me laugh. Then he announced he was gonna play an Archers of Loaf song. Then said no one here knows them but you should...so go home and look them up on the internet. I have at least five of their albums and I recognized "Web in Front" immediately. Maybe I am a music snob...LOL...maybe I just love good music.
It looks like Adam photobombed Matt on this shot. Adam seemed to have more of a singer/songwriter style and Matt definitely seemed to have more of a punk rock style. I enjoyed both of them.Matt combined his punk attitude in his music with a punk attitude toward the crowd. When I told Adam that Matt reminded me of Andy Kaufman if he had been a musician...Adam said Matt would like that description. If these guys had CD's to sell, I would have bought them.
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