A Look Back: Days Of Blotto Passed

For many people, myself included, Mr. Blotto was the right band at the right time during the nineties.  With copious amounts of free time, a relatively robust entertainment budget, and residence near the beating heart of Chicago's bar and club scene, we gravitated to Blotto to fulfill our insatiable desire for live music.  They were, in the most complementary sense of the word, a fixture; an endearing, reliable and stable part of our Chicago area scene.  They were the default when we weren't on the road following our band of choice or catching a tour as it breezed through town.  When you had to get your live fix, Blotto was there.

In that spirit, and in anticipation of The Barn's upcoming Blotto show, I present my top five Mr. Blotto moments from the mid-nineties.

1.  Street Festival Repartee

Mr Blotto is the unquestioned king of the Chicago street festival bands.  They got so many of these gigs in the nineties, I was convinced they had dirt on somebody from Daley's Office of Special Events.  On some mid-summer nights, I was pretty sure I could catch them at two festivals along different stretches of Lincoln Avenue on the same night... at the same time.  This particular memory comes during one of Paul's trademark raps during the Taste of the Lower West Lakeview (or some such event).  I vividly remember him rapping at the people hanging out on an apartment balcony overlooking the event, getting a reaction out of them, which included lewd and suggestive gestures.  This, in turn, changed the direction of his stream of consciousness rap, getting progressively randier and funnier.  This practice of involving the audience, and using it so visibly to shape the direction of the music was such a refreshing and engaging counterpoint to your typical level of crowd interaction at a festival.  The rapport was baked right into the improvisation and brought a unique experience to an otherwise very boilerplate event.

2.  The Two Night Stand at the Cubby Bear

Don't get me wrong, I love the words "Cubby" and "Bear", but putting them together sometimes makes be bristle.  The Cubby Bear is a decent club in a prime location, but that location can often bring out the "tourists" and "amateurs" looking to spend a night at this iconic venue across from an even more iconic ballpark.  But when Blotto scheduled the two night stand, one night all Blotto and and one night all Dead, exceptions needed to be issued.  It takes a special kind of band to be not only able, but willing, to offer two separate shows at the same venue on consecutive nights, one focusing on its original catalog and one interpreting another band's oeuvre.  There is a certain respect afforded to a band, not only committed to cultivating original music, but also paying tribute to the music they love and, as a byproduct, delighting their crowds.  The linkage between Blotto and the Dead, cemented in later years through collaboration with John Perry Barlow, has always been a special one.  Blotto is a band who knows where they come from, with enough room under their tent for all comers and an unabashed admiration for their influences.

3.  Blotto at the Vic.

Blotto always had the best sound of any bands that regularly played the clubs.  So, it pleased everybody to see them get the opportunity to take it to the big room.  Vic Theater is the official big time for bands working up the chain, a graduation from clubs to theaters, a jump made recently by Phish and Widespread Panic.  Scheduled on a perfect night to assemble a large gathering of the freaks who found ourselves at Blotto shows scattered among the city on different nights (it was a precursor of sorts to the Blottopia festivals of the next decade) as well as bring in some of the curious and uninitiated, anticipation was high and the crowd was pumped.  They ripped off a "Scarlet > Rider" in the first set that had one excited, but befuddled fan, screaming out for "Fire On The Mountain" during the transition section, while Blotto fans "in-the-know" could just look on and smile.

4.  Country Night at Whiskey River.

For a Chicago Band, Blotto has always had a hint of the South in it.  Between Paul's southern rock grit and occasional bluegrassy runs on the acoustic, it wasn't an enormous leap to not only to book the band in a country bar, but also for it to dedicate the evening to a country music theme.  In reality, in turned out to be inspired.  Score them some points for adaptability and unpredictability, rolling out countrified versions of "Sail Away Virginia" and "Any Kind of Lover," and the stroke-of-genius cover of Pure Prairie League's Amie that served as a centerpiece of these sets.  I defy any people who fall in the "I like every type of music.... EXCEPT COUNTRY" category not to toe tap and sing along with this number.

5.  Stump The Band at Waterloo Tavern.

Taking a page from Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band, this was incredible way for Blotto to showcase their sharp wit and encyclopedic knowledge of rock and pop catalogs.  Inviting the often inebriated, sometime unintelligle bar crowd to shout the name of a song, any song, for them to play, allowed for some playful give-and-take, and some interesting results.  Sometimes we'd get a decent rendition, sometimes we'd get a standard version of a song in the already expansive repertoire.  And sometimes we'd get something so wild and gut-bustingly funny, that it justified the Wednesday night at Waterloo.

That's what I got.  What are your favorites?  You needn't confine your responses to the nineties.  Let us know what draws you to Blotto, either now or in the past.

Personally, I am tickled by the fact that Mr. Blotto has not let up one bit in continuing to innovate and experiment within their framework, even while reforming their lineup and adding new songs to the rotation.  Though many of us who devoted many nights to Blotto in the nineties saw a decrease in free time, reallocated entertainment budget or proxmity to the shows, but the next generation was right there to take our places, and they were no worse for wear.  In fact, I'm not sure I could process how giddy I would have been at the prospect of the band covering entire albums (as an encore!!) as they've taken to do at their yearly festivals.

I am thrilled to help push it on into the next decade as a part of The Barn.  I look forward to what surprises our show on December 12 will have in store.   Remember, only 3 more days to get discounted tickets at http://tickets.tomorrowsverse.com (password is mambo).