Happy Holidays

Just breaking the silence, folks. Not a whole lot to report save for recording activities, speaking of which: A rough demo of "Her Signs Are" is currently streaming on MySpace for your enjoyment. It's the "whistling song" that seems to have been standing out in our live sets of late. If you have any suggestions on that score we'll hear you out. Enjoy the holidays!

Two New Recordings on MySpace

A few new draft mixes are up, for now, on Our MySpace Page. Check 'em out! One is a Glome EP redux and the other is a cover of a tune from Derek & Rich X's old band Mant.

Busy July

Thanks if you made it out to Quenchers Thursday, you great person, you. We're pleased to have finally played under Quenchers' old-timey chandelier. If you are lucky enough to be a child, and here in Chicago, please come and dance at our Chic-a-go-go taping on Saturday, July 7th. We'd love to see you there. In other news, we'll be playing the Rich Experience wedding on July 14th, and doing some recording at CarterCo on July 21st. A busy month! See you soon...

BMX Motorcade on FabSound's anti-autism compilation.

Our "BMX Motorcade" is featured on the compilation Fabsound Records recently put together to fight autism. Landing on a compilation is a first for us, so we're pumped, to say the least. I've previewed it and it's well worth the $10 price. And the $10 will fight a worthy battle, so please stop over to Fabsound's Store to buy the thing! -Derek

"The Monster Within" - Whole Ting

Our latest album is now streaming in its entirety on our website's home page. But not forever. If you have yet to hear it, enjoy! And please refer it to other folks if you like it!

A Question

Do you know which Recent Photo song is about Gang Lu? Be the first to tell us via an email to recentphotomusic@yahoo.com, and we'll mail you your choice of a free "Monster Within" CD/LP or a free Recent Photo T-Shirt! We'll keep this offer open 'til, say, June 1st.

Rockin' Out with the Kids

Joe and I just finished playing a gig for a Kindergarten class at A.N. Pritzker School in Wicker Park. We thank them! The gig came by way of Joe, uncle to one of the kids Grant, who was out sick today (sadly). Thanks in no small part to the fabulous Ms. Frank, the crowd of about 20 youngsters was friendly and polite. We quickly realized that their sensitive little ears couldn't handle super-loud, in-your-face rock, so we kept it pretty quiet. They giggled when Joe's drum machine said "Please Choose An Activity," and with the pressing of a button, we were OFF with "Itchin" ("Bitchin' with child-friendly lyrics). They seemed to take to it nicely, bobbin' their heads. Joe's theremin was of course a big hit. Next up was "Hi Love You" which inspired them to clap along with the Seeburg beatbox's Teen Beat. A beat-free "Gigantaur" was next... inspiring one little boy to fall asleep next to the bass speaker (which was actually kinda funny), while another young girl swayed in place, eyes closed, obviously lost in rapture. The other kids were kinda slack-jawed... I believe the little boy woke up when Joe's simulated siren started. At the behest of a blond bespectacled little audience member, we started out our final number "Derailment" as an instrumental and then, realizing it was starting to get sorta repetitive as a mere instrumental, added vocals when it came time to "shake your arms out." It was nice to see some pairs of little arms shake. To close things out all the kids got to try out the theremin (while I introduced them to the bass riff to the Cameo song "Candy"), and they liked it so much they all did it twice! What an interesting journey into the unknown. We'll put some show pix up soon, courtesy of Joe's wife Liz, who was kind enough to help us schlep gear and take pictures today. Thanks for reading!
-Deck

Recent Photo Merch Now Available

... at our CafePress storefront. It's about time!

"The Monster Within" Out Again

We're pleased to announce that the talented cabaret popster Dan Wallace recently re-released our Monster Within CD/LP on his Torito Bravo imprint. Our Craigslist sale mentioned below has expired, but fret not, as we have a little insider tip for those who read this blog: Our CD tends be a bit cheaper at our little nook at Amazon.com. But buy from us, not some reseller. We're doing more than just trying to make a buck, we're trying to crank out another recording for you!

Craigslist CD Sale

Poor? You've been on our mind. We're briefly selling our debut CD/LP "The Monster Within" for a only $4 via this Craigslist Ad. If you (wisely!) choose to act on our offer, please mention this blog entry - that'll help us weed out the Amazon, Ebay etc. volume resellers.

Happy New Year!

Dear Friends,

Thanks to you for making 2006 an exciting year for Recent Photo. We played our first headlining slots at Viaduct (thanks to Matt) and at Beat Kitchen (thanks to Neptali). Another "first" for us was to play some charity events: June '06 was the Darkroom benefit for devoted singer/songwriter Anthony Salazar, a friendly soul taken from his wife and child – and the rest of us - all too quickly. Also in June ‘06, we played a gig at DePaul University's McGaw Hall for the month-long Music With Meaning benefit for Rape Victim Advocates and America’s Second Harvest, organized by the Atlas-like Brandon Wetherbee and his fellow superheroes at The Machine Media. Speaking of superheroes, we played at the the Sept. 16-17 Heroes Helping Legends benefit for impoverished veterans of the comic book industry, held at Mercury Café and put on by The Hero Initiative. Thanks to you if you made it out to a show or helped us in any way in 2006.

A post below points to new Recent Photo recordings in 2007. ‘Nuff said on that score – listen for new developments right here, or find some rough cuts of new tracks at our MySpace Page.

Finally, thanks if you'd made it to one or both of our final 2006 gigs. If you'd like a recap of these gigs, and interesting related links, read on!

The Note - December 26, 2006

We thought folks would be either out of town or too gloggy from Christmas festivities to come out the very next day for our Boxing Day gig. Thanks for proving us wrong, folks! We greatly enjoyed sharing the stage with Chicken and the Chick Flicks, Baby and Hide, and our pleasant-surprise new billmates Belmondos, Harlan Pepper (Scott Solo), and Swimmer Missing. We’d be remiss not to personally thank Thax, MPShows and the great folks at The Note as well. Thax’ new poem “Recent Photo #4” will appear momentarily in our “press” section. If you'd like to download the whole evening's concert (except the very first opening slot which was unfortunately not captured), please visit Rich Experience's site.

Empty Bottle December 28, 2006

The Alex Chilton Bash at Empty Bottle (the 28th) was also a blast -- a good show review appears at Mike Bennett's MySpace Blog. Mr. Bennett was quite correct to call us on the looseness – we like to think it was at least a bit intentional in Kanga Roo. As of this writing, our version of "Roo" (recorded live at the Bottle) is now streaming at the Alex Chilton Birthday Bash Website, so check it out! We also give thanks to the always-fabulous folks at Empty Bottle for hosting and to Larry O. Dean of the Injured Parties for architecting the whole thing.

Until we meet again.. Have a happy and healthy new year!