Music, The people in our neighborhood

If you need us, we’ll be on the Ave #MileofMusic3

by Another Slice

I’ll fold the load of towels in my drier on Monday. I haven’t worked out in two days, and won’t cook a meal until next week.

Mile of Music is back in town and we intend to spend every minute we can prowling the Avenue welcoming back old friends and discovering new ones.

A song writer’s festival, Mile of Music celebrates original music and introduces us all to the artists who create it.

The discoveries we’ve made in past festivals have provided a year-long sound track to ours lives. We buy the CDs and download the songs to support these artists and to stretch the weekend’s entertainment into the cold winter months.

So far this year, we’ve seen Swear and Shake, Greg McMonagle, Ryan Hommel, Camille Rae, Maggie Thorn, Ross Catterton, Jordin Bass, Son Little, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Suitcase Junket and Crane Wives.

We’ll be back today, well-prepared thanks to both a spreadsheet denoting musical group, genre, site and refreshment capabilities Katherine put together for us, and to the slick Mile of Music app we highly recommend.

We’ve written plenty about Mile of Music in the three years we’ve attended.

Yesterday, I met a 13-year old girl who spent time between bands writing poetry and she generously shared her latest work with me.

Mile of Music

by Emily J. Karth

I sit and wait for what feels like hours.

Dying of boredom and anticipation

Then, all of a sudden, something magical happens…

Magical sounds begin emanating from musical instruments

Guitars, drums, pianos and beautiful voices

Makings hundreds, millions of smiling faces, grinning because of this magical sound.

Everyone stops and stares at the amazing sights of beautiful, wonderful, amazing music

Then it stops…and clapping starts…

Screaming, cheering, grinning people

Because of this magical thing called music.

 

Rock on, Emily. We’ll see you back on the Avenue today.

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We have every CD Swear and Shake has made and we try to see them every chance we get.
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My traditional Mile of Music picture of RaeAnn Blom, sandwiched here between our friends John and Melissa Ptacek.
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Ross Catterton played all of the instruments you see on that stage in a cool, layered sound.
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Austin Lucas brought his dignified dog.
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I don’t think these street musicians had any association with the festival, but I love the vibe that allowed them to feel comfortable strutting their stuff.
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Camille Rae played the Wooden Nickel and a pop up concert at Houdini Square.
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We loved running into our friend Hillary Reynolds and look forward to joining her in the Mile of Music sing-along on Saturday.
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Hillary took some time to read Emily’s poem and showed it to festival organizer Cory Chisel.
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A huge crowd turned out for Son Little.
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The Suitcase Junket is an amazing one man band. You have to see him in your lifetime. The crowd last night overflowed the Fox River House Patti-O, so we watched from behind the fence. We’re going to try to catch him from the front side later this week because we want to see how he gets such amazing sound.
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Molly and her friend Jacie spent 11 hours on the Ave yesterday, and they’re coming back for even more today. They both loved the Crane Wives (so did we).

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