Two-Bar Blues
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This understandably caused a stir among some musicians. “This is how we make a living and we should be able to play anywhere we want,” says guitarist and singer Michael Coleman, who hasn’t played Kingston Mines in 15 years and is now a regular at Rooster Blues. “We don’t tell them who to sell alcohol to or who to let into the club.” And Branch, taking a more incendiary tack, has repeatedly referred to Pellegrino’s proprietary attitude as a “plantation mentality.”
In fact, Battaglia enforces a similar policy in regard to musicians who play Famous Dave’s, a restaurant with live entertainment across the street from his 736 N. Clark location. “If you’ve got two movie theaters across the street from each other they’re not going to play the same movie,” Battaglia said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Christmas Singles, from the Champaign label Parasol Records, targets December 25 more specifically. Most of the 16 selections are sweet, jangly pop originals, but former Sarge front woman Elizabeth Elmore daringly takes on “White Christmas”; the best thing I can say about her version is that it’s brief. Among the participants are Philo, Angie Heaton, Vitesse, and White Town, whose “Merry Fucking Christmas” is the only tune that stuck with me after I put the CD away–“White Christmas” aside, natch.
