organissimo does Chicago again!!

[ghost of miles]

as well as two gentlemen who drove over 70 miles to see us (now that's what I'm talking about!)

I still claim dibs on the record, though.

Man, what a great review in the Trib! One for the press-kit too, I'll bet.

[Jim Alfredson]

P.S. As I mentioned to Jim and Joe at Hothouse, I preferred the sound setup at Martyrs and said something about it being a bit drier or more crisp. I've been thinking more about that, and I believe that the key factor is that care must be taken to separate Joe's sound a reasonable amount from Jim's -- tonally and spatially. At Martyrs, the guitar seemed to ride on top of the Hammond like a surfboard on the crest of wave -- a wonderful effect and one that I'm pretty sure is close to what you intend. (The underlying closeness/collaboration of thought between Jim and Joe is a given.) At Hothouse, though, it sounded to me like Joe's sound and Jim's were placed, tonally and spatially, a bit too close to each other; in particular, guitar notes tended to be half-swallowed by the Hammond (this may in part be because Hothouse is a shallower room than Martyrs, though I suspect that Martyrs, which apparently books a lot of rock bands, also had a sound man who's more used to tweaking bands in which most instruments are electronic). Just a thought.

Larry, most likely this was due to the way we set-up at HotHouse, which was different than how we usually arrange ourselves. Randy is normally in the middle, with Joe and I flanking him on either side, which separates the two of us well. Lately, however, we've been having problems with Joe's amp rattling Randy's snare, so we thought we'd try setting up with me in the middle and Randy and Joe as far apart as we could. But from what you say, it might be better to stick with what we've been doing.

Thanks for the observation!

[Chuck Nessa]

Just tell Joe to turn the amp down.

[Jim Alfredson]

I would, but he'd probably reply with "You first!" And I ain't touchin' my Leslie volume.

[sal]

Good job, fellas! A review like that from Howard Reich is rare.

I was out of town the night of your gig, unfortunately. I hope to catch the next one.