James Farrell

What’s been said about James: “In his songs about love, loss, regret, sin and repentance, James expresses what we all think about in the shower but are too afraid to talk about once we’ve toweled off. He sings a simple message, in simple language, for a simple purpose: to get it off of his chest, and allow his listeners to do the same.”

His Site

Tom Fort

What’s been said about Tom (and his band Cobalt and Hired Guns):

“…Incredibly charming, poppy, youthful music…” –Roctober Magazine

“They remind me of a band that would be playing at a party in a movie that is more fun than a party that would happen in real life” -Mike Raspatello of Kingtello Productions
“If you’re looking for a cool twist to Americana music, SouthSide recommends checking out Cobalt & the Hired Guns at their next show.” -SouthSide of the Town, Fearless Radio Blog

His Site

He’s also been here on North and Clark

Emily Claire Palmer

What I am Saying about Emily Right Now: “Emily Palmer is a Chicago-based folky/indie singer/songwriter musician extraordinaire.” –Me, Right Now, Paraphrasing her website.

Her Site

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Like I said at the top of the blog I am going to try and bring this to you in a different way than we I have been bringing you content here in the past.  I am still waiting on a couple of details, but if you are in Chicago and you are intrigued by any of these musician’s or like North and Clark you might want to consider leaving December the 3^rd open.

I wish I could give you all the details right now but this is a collaboration with a bunch of different people and I need to make sure all the ducks are in a row before I make too many announcements.  If the suspense is killing you and you really want more details you can write me at northandclark@gmail.com.  Otherwise keep checking this space for more info.

This is a big deal, to me because this is my band.  We’re playing the best venue we have ever been booked at on the biggest night of the week. So, in honor of Hombre headlining the Friday show at the Elbo Room I am gonna feature the story of Tom and I, the first Hombres.

Tom and Casey

Tommy and I have been buddies since we were 12, but we haven’t always been band mates. Tom has always had bands, lessons and drive to play. I saw every incarnation of those bands.  I often tried to write songs and never finished them. Tom wrote hundreds of songs played by a number of bands. I wrote melodies and lyrics without knowing what key they were in or how they would ever get played. While Tom played his songs at school assemblies I sang mine in the shower, where most of them lived and died.

But, every once in a while I would take one of my songs to Tom, and that’s awesome for me. Tom is a top notch guitar player with plenty of his own songs, so when I took him my songs he not only translated my melodies into notes he also wrote hooks and transitions, changed verses and added bridges. He took tunes for humming and made them into playable music.

I always looked forward to taking Tom whatever new songs I had.  Hearing these songs with instrumentation translated them from musical sketches or tunes in my head to real songs. Arranging the songs was more than enough to make me happy for years.

Playing Gigs

Recently we have started picking up enough collaborators to have a proper band.  With a committed drummer and bassist (Amanda and Cool Keith) our band finally has the muscle and sound to gig out.  A rhythm section in a song that always wanted to make you dance but never could is water in the desert. Songs without a rhythm section need an audiences attention songs with a good rhythm section demand it. All of the sudden the songs started to bloom.

We have started playing a smattering of small gigs. Then two weeks Tom used his credibility as a member of Cobalt and the Hired Guns to get us this gig at the Elbo Room.  Its a big enough gig that we called in an extra Amanda to play her horn for us.

So, If you want to see the Hombres play the biggest gig we’ve ever had come out to the Elbo Room Friday the 23rd.  Its a show a decade in the making.

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1. H for Hombre, my band, preforming live this Saturday
2. UFC 98
3. Cobalt and the Hired Guns live at Shuba’s this Sunday

North and Clark has got love for all these guys so we are going to celebrate them in the following ways:

First, the Hombre show is a private gig, but if you, gentle reader, want to come write a comment below or contact the boys in the band, and we will make sure we get your name on the list. It’s on the west side at Avers and Fullerton at about 8:30.

Second, we who write for North and Clark love the UFC, but know precious little about it. So, we called in our long time supporter (can you be a long time supporter of something that has existed for a month?) and general homie Elias Cepeda from InsideFighting.com in to do a preview (posted in a couple hours). You will see a longer interview with Elias on Wednesday.

Third, we got a great response to the first interview with Tom Fort so I put together a little mini clip of some of Tom’s thoughts (Post Saturday) on metal for all you Cobalt heads, or Metal heads, or podcast heads.

It’s a Holiday weekend folks enjoy yourselves.