Cathy Richardson/the Macrodots

The Macrodots: The Other Side

Rock goddess Cathy Richardson has been wowing audiences since 2008 in Jefferson Starship, where she fills in for the legendary Grace Slick in stunning fashion. Now she’s taken that classic rock aura and teamed up with former Scandal guitarist Zack Smith to create a great new band. Richardson has a dynamic range that few can match, evidenced from the powerful opening title track. “Beautiful Girl” shows a softer side, yet in compelling fashion. The metaphysical “I Am” soars, while “Not Too Late” and “Every Time” just flat out rock with great hooks and arrangements. This is a band ready to break out to a large audience if they could just get the exposure. - Bullz-eye.com, Eat, Sleep, Drink Music

5 Stars (out of 5)

When was the last time you heard a really good power pop record? When the last time recorded music compulsively dictated your feet to tap from the beginning of track one to the end of the last song? When was the last time you heard a disk that sounded fun, nearly flawless and still had enough of a left hook to knock you out? Boys and girls, that record has arrived and it is the brainchild of two music vets who absolutely and unapologetically have made a tremendous pop record.

Zack Smith is the founder of Scandal, which launched several tracks into the collective consciousness of the ’80s, including “Goodbye to You,” “Love’s Got a Line on You” and “The Warrior.” Cathy Richardson has released five studio discs, including the masterpieces Road To Bliss (2003), Delusions of Grandeur (2006) and Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty (2008) as part of Jefferson Starship. The collaboration here is nothing short of magically delicious (well, it may not be Lucky Charms but it is one hell of a record). Vocally, Richardson has always shifted in and out of styles gracefully with tremendous command and presence. The Other Side features her staying in the power pop realm from beginning to end. This is demanding material and she is up for the challenge. This statement is one that is difficult to make considering her tremendous reputation, but it needs to be said; this is her best vocal performance to date.

“Beautiful Girl” mixes two parts Beach Boys with two parts late-period Beatles with just a splash of Tears for Fears to create a powerful ambiance and a brilliant canvass for Richardson to blast out the dreamy lyrics. Much like the rest of the record, Smith and Richardson create arrangements that are devoured by the ear. “Everything” begins with a dreamy effects laced introduction before building into an arena-sized chorus and features some very clever guitar work. It is such a perfectly crafted song that it begs to be placed on permanent repeat status. The power ballad “If I Could” caresses your heart and kicks you in the gut at the same time. Studio vets Michael Lockwood and Jude Gold, along with Smith and Richardson, create enough guitar crunch to give the record the kick that provide the perfect complement to Richardson’s monstrous vocal talent. I am hoping that this is not a onetime project. This is a record that begs for a sequel. (Cash Rich 2010)
- Bullz-eye.com, Eat, Sleep, Drink Music

http://www.crband.com/press.html - http://www.crband.com/press.html

If Tom Skilling worked late Saturday, he would have picked up a reading on his WGN weather radar on Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. A force of nature touched down at FitzGerald’s and nearly blew off its roof.

Let’s get this out of the way first. Cathy Richardson has the best female voice in rock today. I can’t think of a comparable one. I might allow Ann Wilson, but Richardson consistently digs deeper and is a sure bet these days to break on through to the other side during a performance. The voices of the contenders for her newly ascended throne go to 10. Richardson’s voice goes to 11. During the past few years while portraying Janis Joplin in a musical and fronting Jefferson Starship in the role vacated by Grace Slick, Richardson has developed and matured into a bona fide rock goddess of her own.

Richardson lived in San Francisco for a stint, but moved back to the area last year and has played a number of shows around town in 2010 in between her outings on the road. She had been billing her concerts as Cathy Richardson and her San Fran Band with Anne, but Saturday’s show was billed as the Macrodots, Richardson’s new project with guitarist, writer and producer Zack Smith. They recently released an album called the Other Side as the Macrodots. They’ve enlisted the help of Richardson’s San Fran Band -- guitarist Jude Gold, bassist Jonathon Herrera and Jefferson Starship drummer Donny Baldwin along with Chicago ace fiddler Anne Harris – to make the new songs come to life.

Saturday’s performance showcased the Macrodots material. The first half of the two-hour set saw Richardson lead the band through the Other Side’s 11 songs in album order. “FitzGerald’s, are we ready to do this?” Richardson announced after taking the stage. “I feel excited.” She performed like it. The title song provided a big opening and the band continued rocking the new material, which is a mix of classic ‘70s rock and ‘60s psychedelia brought up to date by Richardson’s personal lyrics and Smith’s musical touches. The first songs presented featured an array of rockers as the band worked to find its footing as it played together for the first time in awhile.

Richardson had played gigs the previous two nights in Texas and New York, but she showed no signs of fatigue. She seemed capable of lighting up the city with the power of her vocals. As the band jammed on “I Am” it dawned on me that the United Center would be most equipped to handle its big rock sound. Fully warmed up, Richardson unleashed her voice on “If I Could,” and the game was on for the rest of the night. Richardson noted that three years was spent making the Other Side and it’s apparent by its songs being so fully realized. The Led Zeppelin-like “Rock and Roll Part II” was a highlight with Baldwin’s pounding drums keeping up with Richardson’s belting vocals.

After the Other Side was played, the band took a breather offstage while Harris played a long, spiritual solo on her fiddle. The band returned and the show saw a welcomed change in dynamics with Richardson sitting to play keyboards on a pair of songs from her 2007 album Delusions of Grandeur, “G.O.D.” and “Ain’t No Home” -- the latter featuring an extended instrumental jam with Richardson occasional guiding Baldwin with hand gestures. Beyond having an awesome voice, Richardson is a commanding frontman and band leader. She segued from “Fly” into a cover of “Aquarius” from the ‘60s musical Hair. Her confidence allowed her to have her band tackle an improvised jam that she noted was simply listed as “free form” on the setlist. The journey turned out to be worth taking. The second set saw a contagious, combustible energy that had Richardson’s whirlwind foil Harris jumping higher than I’ve ever seen. When the band concluded the main set with “Over Your Shoulder,” Richardson had the last word. “Rock and roll forever,” she said before leaving the stage.

But Richardson had two treats left for the encore, beginning with the band taking a stab at Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” for the first time. “Okay, we’ve never done this before so if it totally sucks, please don’t put it on YouTube,” she said. No worries. It turned out to be a killer cover that jazzed the crowded roadhouse. Then came the closer, Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love,” with Richardson diving so deep into the song that she temporarily made it her own.

Remarkably, the final setlist contained 11 different songs from Richardson’s powerhouse 24-song show at FitzGerald’s in January when she previewed some of her new material. The local hero has an overabundance of quality material now. She’s in peak form as a singer and performer. Financial considerations and long-term security may understandably prohibit this, but I’d sure like to see her take this band on the road for a long tour, play shows as long as her voice allows each night and see what happens. Greatness deserves a full hearing.

The setlist:

the Other Side
Beautiful Girl
Everything is All I Want
Not Too Late
Piece of Me
I Am
Every Time
If I Could
Kiss My Ass
Rock and Roll Part II
Save Me
-------------------
Anne Harris solo
-------------------
G.O.D.
Ain’t No Home
Tiny Particles
Fly/Age of Aquarius
- free form -
Making a List
Over Your Shoulder
----------------------
Surrender
Somebody to Love

Start: 10:36 p.m./Finish: 12:37 a.m.
Totals: 21 songs, two hours and one minute
salukidave

Posts: 566
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:52 am
- Chicagoconcertgoers.com

Another "Side" of Cathy Richardson

Out singer/songwriter Cathy Richardson is full of surprises. A staple on the Chicago music scene since the early 1990s, the Cathy Richardson Band developed a devoted following and released several CDs. Richardson’s portrayal of Janis Joplin in the stage musical “Love, Janis” led to an off-Broadwayrun and acclaim. More recently, Richardson joined Jefferson Starship and performed on the legendary
rock act’s 2008 “Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty” disc. Inn her latest musical unit, Macrodots, Richardson rocks harder than ever on songs such as “Rock and Roll Part II,” “Piece of Me” and the sassy “Kiss My Ass” from nthe band’s full-length debut disc “The Other Side” (themacrodots.com). I spoke with Richardson at
Winston’s Cafe in Andersonville who headlines the Belmont Stage at Northalsted Market Days with Macrodots at 8:15 p.m. Aug. 7.

GREGG SHAPIRO: Not that you’re keeping track, but do you know how many times you’ve performed at Northalsted Market Days?
CATHY RICHARDSON: No, I don’t. I mean, I can think of a few offhand, quite a few times, at least six.
GS: Do you have a favorite or most memorable year that you played?
CR: The year that I smashed my guitar stands out [laughs]. We were doing our encore. It was “My Generation” by The Who. I got caught up in the moment and picked my guitar up over my head and smashed it on the ground and it bounced back up and I smashed it again. It’s on YouTube. I threw water on the audience. That was really fun. I ended up getting the guitar fixed. I didn’t destroy it or anything.
GS: It’s good to know that it was repairable.
CR: That’s why I like my Ovation Viper. You can throw that thing down the stairs and it’s still in tune [laughs].
GS: As one of Chicago’s most popular outdoor summer events (MarketDays), and as someone who has played other such events, how do you think it
compares to the rest?
CR: Being that it’s in Boystown, I think that makes it really special. It’s always packed. It’s always a great crowd and people are always having fun. It seems like
it gets bigger and more expanded every year.
GS: You are currently involved in a new music venture, the band Macrodots, with Zack Smith.
CR: It’s a full band. I’ve been playing with these guys in San Francisco for a while. When I was living there, they were backing me up. Donny Baldwin, who plays with me in Jefferson Starship, started playing drums with me. I’ve been informally calling it Cath’s San Fran Band and Anne, because Anne Harris plays with us. So it’s those same guys and Anne and Zack who will be at the show. We’re going to play the whole Macrodots album in its entirety. The Macrodots are basically me and Zack, but it’s a full-rocking thing.
GS: The songs on the disc are credited to both you and Zack. How does that process work?
CR: The way we did it was that he would send me snippets, 10 at a time, of arranged ideas with drum machines and guitars and keyboards, a verse and a
chorus. And he would say, “What do you think of this?” Some of them he had lyric ideas for, but I wrote most of the lyrics and melodies. I also brought a couple of songs in. We wanted to do a really rocking, hooky something with mass appeal that could still be really cool. That’s what we were going for.
GS: How did you come up with the name Macrodots?
CR: We had lists and lists of possible ideas.
GS: What were some of the other ideas?
CR: We played a few gigs as Pillow Face. There was another Pillow Face on the East Coast that was hard rock/heavy metal. I meant Pillow Face in a cute way, like you wake up with creases (on your face), but apparently it’s some disgusting sexual thing where you bury someone’s face in a pillow. We dropped that. I was reading some book about 2013, the year after the Mayan calendar ends and I was getting all kinds of psychedelic ideas. Macrodots are big dots, more of a universal, existential thing.
GS: “Piece of Me” and “Rock and Roll Part II” are two of the rawest rock numbers I’ve ever heard you do. Is the harder-rocking Cathy Richardson of the
Macrodots a reflection of your time in San Francisco with the folks in Jefferson Starship or were you listening to different kinds of music?
CR: “Piece of Me,” that riff and that song are something I’ve been kicking around for a really long time. It was a different song at another time and I thought that it would fit with the Macrodots sound, so I brought it back out and finished it more. When I was growing up, I was a real rocker. Heart is my favorite band ever. I never tried to emulate them, but that’s born and bred, that’s my soul [laughs]. Zack saw me
in “Love, Janis” and he said, “You have to make a rock record. Your records are really nice and your songs are great, but the way you sing hasn’t been captured yet.”
He led me in that direction. None of this would have ever happened if not for him. I love it so much. I’m so excited about it,
GS: It’s funny that you should mention Heart because I recently saw them perform at Lilith Fair. We were talking about how Ann Wilson of Heart is still the first lady of rock and roll. So you would definitely consider Heart to be an influence?
CR: They’re the whole reason I got into music. I was already into music, but they’re why I got into rock and roll.
GS: Have you ever seen them live?
CR: Oh, 20 times. I opened for them in 2008, by myself, in Hawaii, two shows. Fucking unbelievable. I had my T-shirt that I’ve had since the `80s that I got
at one of their concerts. It’s all ripped up and worn out. I love them!
GS: You’ve had different musical incarnations throughout your career, from Cathy Richardson Band to Jefferson Starship to working solo. Do you consider Macrodots to be a side project or is it something you are committed to as a permanent musical direction?
CR: To me, it’s like a reinvention or coming out with something new, which is something I always want to do. (Solo disc) “Delusions of Grandeur” was a really
personal record. I’m going to cry if I start talking about it. That record was so much a process. I needed to do it. If I was going to make a record that was just
me and what I was feeling and thinking musically and everything, that record was my artistic statement to the world. Macrodots is definitely more in the vein of
fun – let’s rock [laughs]! Let’s not cry, let’s have a good time [laughs].
- Gay Chicago (Cover Story)

Veteran performer Cathy Richardson exploded onto the Chicago music scene in the 1990s with a rootsy sound, a powerhouse voice and a kinetic stage presence. Now, she's ready to really rock.
Richardson is leading a new band, the Macrodots, that delivers modern, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll designed to be heard with the volume set at “MAX.”

“It's the hardest-rocking band I've been a part of,” Richardson said. “I'm really excited about it.”

The idea for the new approach came while Richardson, a Burr Ridge native who now lives in Elmhurst, was based in San Francisco. She was there playing the title role in “Love, Janis,” the acclaimed off-Broadway stage musical about the life and times of Janis Joplin.

Musician and producer Zack Smith, who co-founded the group Scandal in the 1980s, liked Richardson's performance in the musical and her past records. He thought there was potential to bring out a different side to the singer.

“I also think he was eager to get out of the studio and start playing again,” Richardson said. “It worked out well. He would turn out these musical ideas, some of them just one-minute snippets, and I'd go into the studio and let the lyrics come to me.”

The result is “The Other Side,” the Macrodots' debut record, now available for download on iTunes and amazon.com.

Longtime fans of Richardson will surely recognize the attitude and energy of her singing here, but they might be surprised to hear the bluesy, acoustic touches of her previous records largely replaced by a hard-driving electric sound.

The new songs evoke '70s classic rock, but with a contemporary sheen. Consider the track “Rock and Roll Part II,” which opens with a crunching, Zeppelin-like riff, or “Piece of Me,” with its propulsive drums and insistent guitar-driven groove.

“When I was a kid, classic rock was what really hooked me,” Richardson said. “Especially Heart. I listened to lots and lots of Heart. This record is the most obvious nod to Heart and their influence on me.”

The Macrodots is just the latest turn in a colorful and varied career for Richardson. She performed onstage tirelessly with her own group, the Cathy Richardson Band, throughout the '90s, establishing herself as a top-shelf live act.

Near the end of that decade, she joined the original cast of “Love, Janis,” which enjoyed successful runs around the country. Richardson, who earned raves for her performances as Joplin, would appear in the musical off and on during the next 10 years.

Her most recent performances happened in front of Joplin's hometown fans in San Francisco.

“That was so rewarding,” she said. “I was performing in front of people who actually knew her. Opening night was one of the best experiences I've had.”
Playing Joplin tested Richardson both as a vocalist and as a live performer. Richardson said she had to learn how to sing hard while also evoking the distinctive sound of Joplin's voice.

“I hope the experience made me better as a singer,” she said. “It pushed me to do things I didn't think I could. It also made me more aware of my limits, which is a good thing to know.”

Playing the role also forced Richardson to ditch her guitar, which she'd always performed with during Cathy Richardson Band shows.

“I had never stalked the stage the way I had to do in the musical,” she said. “It was a learning experience.”

In addition to her stage work, Richardson spent the last 10 years putting out records and making regular appearances on “Jack's Big Music Show,” a wildly popular children's television show that still airs on the Nick Jr. cable channel.

In 2007, Richardson toured with Joplin's old band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. In 2008 and 2009, she toured with another classic-rock heavyweight, Jefferson Starship.

Now, she's hitting the road with the Macrodots. The band has a show coming up on Saturday, Nov. 20, at Fitzgerald's Nightclub in Berwyn.

“I always wanted to do different kinds of things with my career, so I'm grateful for the experiences I've had,” she said. “The Macrodots is the latest part of that, but I hope I can keep doing new things in the future. I hope to keep evolving.”
- Daily Herald

The Big Room at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. didn't seem quite big enough for the sound of the Cathy Richardson Band, a small band with a big sound that played there Sunday evening.

It certainly wasn't big enough for the number of people wanting to see the show, judging from the early sold-out date. Judging from the swaying, foot-tapping, clapping and nodding throughout the crowd, the sound was appreciated in a big way.

Richardson filled the house with people and filled the room with rock 'n' roll -- new, old and in-between.

Starting off with two fast, hard-rocking songs, she showed the intense vocal power that earned her two years in off-Broadway performances of "Love, Janis," playing the part of '60s rocker Janis Joplin.

The performance rarely slowed during the next two hours, as Richardson belted and stomped her way through selections from her albums and a couple of yet-to-be released numbers.

Pausing briefly between songs to chat with the audience, she belittled herself in a cheerful, joking manner.

The album "Road to Bliss" was nominated in 2003 for a best recording package Grammy Award, she explained.

"However, we did not win," she dead-panned, then joked that the CD's cover really had looked good.

Richardson is well-known in the Chicago area, where she was voted best local band in polls by the Chicago Tribune and Fox News Chicago, but she assumed that Chico audiences were not as familiar with her seven albums.

"I'm guessing a lot of these songs will be new to you anyway," she said, "but these next couple are new."

At times the band's sound reminded listeners of '60s acid rock as Richardson augmented the full electric mix with intentional feedback screeches. As the heavy-weighted beat continued, Richardson's voice melted into the guitars' wail, melding and mixing perfectly.

Richardson, who played guitar and keyboard, was accompanied by a lead guitar, bass guitar and drums. Lead guitarist Joel Hoekstra provided vocal harmony and performed impressive solos.

Repeatedly, the baby boomer audience was carried to the past, as Richardson made references to tie-dye, patchouli and indoor marijuana gardening.

She wore tie-dye shirt, sandals and jeans, with sunglasses pushed back on her head, looking like a native of San Francisco, rather than a recent transplant from Chicago, via New York.

The end of one piece first morphed smoothly into a refrain from "The Age of Aquarius," then into an electric storm, Jimi Hendrix-style. About an hour into the show, people suddenly treaded to the dance floor when the band launched into a funky Latin beat.

Richardson performed a set from her latest album, "Delusions of Grandeur," released in 2006. Calling it her genius album, she teasingly introduced one selection with, "Here's another song about how sexy I am."

Most song lyrics were lost behind the driving instrumentation of the performance, but a few of Richardson's witty words came through, such as "I've got g-o-d in my d-n-a," in "I Am God."

Returning for an encore, she gave the audience the Beatles' "Oh! Darling," and Joplin's "Get It While You Can."

"I don't think it will be proper to leave you without at least one Janis Joplin song," she admitted.

Leaving the Big Room, one person was heard remarking that he could listen to her singing covers like those all night long and she could make a lot of money doing it, too, but he admired her for performing her own music instead.

After the show, guitarist Hoekstra told The Buzz reporter that he was pleased with the band's performance, since it was only the third time the drummer played with them.

The Big Room and the reception he and the band received impressed him, too, he said.

On the Net: www.crband.com - By CHRIS GULLICK - The Buzz :: Chico Enterprise-Record

Here it is, my 2006 record of the year. That's right, I know other artists on big labels have released some interesting stuff this year, but for my money, the divine Ms. Richardson and her latest effort on her own little independent label is the strongest complete piece of art to come out this year.

For the uninitiated, Richardson is a singer/songwriter from Chicago who has built a reputation as a passionate performer and one hell of a live act. She also has taken her fabulous pipes and been the voice of Janis Joplin in two separate productions of "Love, Janis," including a stint that is just wrapping up in San Francisco where she alternates nights in performing the musical side of the blues/rock legend. Ms. Richardson has come an awful long way as an artist since 1993 debut disc, Moon, Not Banana. Beginning with 2001's Buzzed EP and continuing with 2003's The Road to Bliss to the current release, Richardson has evolved as a songwriter and talented producer.

Delusions of Grandeur is bigger and deeper sounding than The Road to Bliss in that there are cellos, string arrangements, and the Chicago Children's Choir. Not all songs have these elements, but a good chunk of them do. Although Cathy's sense of humor is present here and there, this is a much more serious record than Bliss. Thematically, the record is mostly focused on loneliness and loss ("Ain't No Home," "A Phone Call to Joe Quinn," "Things Are Different" and "Fool's Regret"). She throws in a bit of spirituality on "G.O.D." and even offers us a laugh about wanting some of the neighbor's home grown pot in the reggae-tinged "Closet Cultivator".

Having the ability to wrap her voice around a song in whatever the necessary format, be it country twangish, gospel, or singing from the depth of her soul, Richardson knows how to deliver the appropriate vocal performance. She restrains that powerful instrument when necessary, as in the moody "Ain't No Home," and unleashes it for "Two Questions" and parts of "Overwhelmed," the best track on an outstanding disc.

In 2004, The Road to Bliss was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Recording Package field for its very unique design, in which the jacket folded out into a dashboard. Delusions follows that blueprint in that the inner portion of the packaging when unfolded displays the inside of a beautiful theatre. The outside of some of those same panels display that same theatre in the future, closed and graffiti-riddled. The liner notes contain the lyrics to the songs but also share little vignettes and stories, as if the album is a musical. The entire thing is a complete piece of art with complete attention to detail. The music, the production, the packaging are all incredibly well done.

Aimee Mann and Shelby Lynne are incredibly talented songwriters who make me run out and buy their new releases regardless of what has been written about them. Cathy Richardson has now moved into that neighborhood.

~R. David Smola


- Bullz-Eye.com

Upon my first listen to "Delusions of Grandeur," the follow-up CD to Cathy Richardson’s Grammy nominated "Road to Bliss," my first thoughts went along the lines of "Maybe I missed something, but I think I prefer my Cathy rockin’ a little bit more. This CD seems a little bit more melancholy, laid-back. I’m not really sure if I’m liking it." So I listened to the CD again, paying a little more attention since I was stuck in the dude-mobile on my way to Ohio, but I was still kind of daydreaming. Then the song "Things Are Different" started, the bridge of the song hit, and I was snapped back into my liking most everything by Ms. Richardson, rockin’ or laid-back. I finished the song, bounced back to the first track, and paid a lot bit more attention, still stuck in the dude-mobile, somewhere in Indiana, and began to like the CD a little more and more with each listen.

So listening to "Delusions of Grandeur" a few more times, I have begun to recognize many gems of songs that I missed that first time through. Of course there is the song, "Things Are Different," the song that snapped me back into Cathy Richardson reality. It’s a ballad-styled song, with a great line in the bridge – "Time erases faces, changes hearts and minds and dreams," and is sort of reflective song at someone you remember from your past whom you’d like to show how your life is now, and how they might have fit into it. Another is "Overwhelmed," a nice love song which kicks ass as the song wraps up. "I Don’t Want Anything" is a song that starts off slow, and at first had me patiently waiting for it to turn into a rocking number, but it didn’t, and you know what, after a few listens I didn’t care anymore, because the song worked perfectly into a section of the lyrics – "And I’m turning off my phone, ‘cuz when I sit here all alone I don’t want hear how many times you didn’t call." Cathy did this one right because it ends up being a nice, bluesy, reflection at a busted relationship.

The other song infecting my head sort of confuses me a little, because I have absolutely no idea why you might be growing a garden in your closet. The song is called "Closet Cultivator" and it sort of tells the story of a next-door neighbor in an apartment complex who seems to grow a nice garden, in a closet no less. It’s got a slight reggae beat, which I think is also supposed to mean something, I just can’t wrap my lips and breath around it. The neighbor seems to know what to do with a good seed, and the person in the song, who seems to have writer’s block, seems to think that by visiting her neighbor emitting a fragrant aroma, it will help break the block. I think there is more to this song, I’ll just have to study the lyrics a little more, I think. Sadly, or maybe happily, me and my neighbors don't share a common vent in our townhouse walls. Enough bad innuendo on my part, Cathy Richardson does a much better job with the innuendo in the song, and dammit, that bouncing beat is catchy.

But Cathy does do something else on this CD which I found just fantastic, and that is on the song "Two Questions." She took two questions, formed into lyrics, simply "Why are you such a drag? And why do you fuck me up every time you come around here?" and by repeating them differently, made a full-length song out of those questions. And it so works.

Cathy Richardson, for "Delusions of Grandeur," slips away from her rocker style and keeps things in a bluesy mode, almost gospelly at times, and seems to have gotten a jazz bug a little up her butt. I have to admit that I am not really a fan of jazz, which her song "The Sacred Relationship Between Humans & Plants" reminds me of, but I do understand where she is going with it, but I just didn’t like it.

A couple of listens in I realized that I’m really liking this new Cathy Richardson CD, even if the rockin’ isn’t there. And once again she has teamed with Bill Dolan to create some great CD packaging outside of your standard "jewel box" when you buy the CD. My only recommendation is don’t try to get the CD out of the packaging while you are driving, and I’m not talking about the shrink-wrap. Buy it, you’ll understand.

The CD comes packaged as a theatrical performance, with each song being a scene in a play on a grand stage. Explanations abound for each song, in the little playbill booklet included with the CD, the lyrics are there as well, and some of the songs make a little more sense with the stories that preface them. I have to admit that I didn’t pay that much attention to the stories (I’m sorry Cathy) in the booklet because I’m not a reader type of person.

Anyway, for this review, I’m going to kick the "Bonus Material" out of the equation, it’s five tracks of the same songs on the CD that have been re-done for language or editing purposes, and will ignore the first track, because it’s an "Overture" and I didn’t like it. With that I’m giving "Delusions of Grandeur" from Cathy Richardson an 82% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale. I’m not a fan of "A Fool’s Regret" and "The Sacred Relationship" song, so I’ll leave it at that. But the rest have grown on me like a fungus, and it’s a good fungus.

Though not being rockin’ as much, this CD will probably grow on you if you give it a couple of listens. Sometimes you need to do that. I did, and I’m glad.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! - Entertainment Ave. (entertainmentavenue.com)

Chicagoist was out at Martyrs' last night for the launch of the Chicago Music Commission, which kept the focus not so much on the "commission" but on the "music." The soft-sell approach was probably best considering the crowd of "extras from High Fidelity" (in the word of one Chicagoist writer), ex-hippies and others with nothing better to do on a Tuesday night. It was a night to "solidify the base" as political consultants like to say.

While CMC board members signed up people for the mailing list, emcee Terri Hemmert made plugged their mission of advocacy for Chicago musicians, club owners, and other music industry professionals. Greg Kot expressed cautious optimism about the project in an article last week and noted the strength of the board is in its veteran members like

Martyrs' owner Kate Hill, photographer Paul Natkin, Alligator Records founder Bruce Iglauer, and Pressure Point recording studio honcho Chris Schneider (who reminded us of Penn Jillette if he had been a roadie for the Grateful Dead). The CMC's biggest hurdle will be finding a way to work with the city, which has been reluctant (at best) to support the expansion of music outside of already existing clubs. Some of their other goals include developing industry resources for musicians and organizing networking events. In fact, the networking had already begun as we watched a shy Columbia College student drop flyers on the bar for a talent showcase presented by their Record Deal Strategies Class.

But last night was mainly about giving attendees a sampling of why the CMC needs to exist and that came courtesy of local mainstays DJ Maurice Joshua, Lil' Ed (without his Blues Imperials), Howard Levy, and the Cathy Richardson Band (pictured at right).

No matter what show we go to, there's always one guy who's unabashedly rocking out to the music between sets and last night was no exception. While on most nights That Guy stands alone, last night the communal vibe brought him some luck as well as a couple of dance partners. So perhaps that's more of the networking the CMC's trying to foster. But the laid-back atmosphere worked against Lil' Ed and Howard Levy as the crowd was appreciative, but distracted by conversation.

So when headliner Cathy Richardson took the stage, she became the first artist that night to own the stage as she seduced and then broke the crowd's heart with her too-short set. While comparisons to Lucinda Williams are inevitable, Richardson's act is not a pose. Like the best musicians, she gives a part of herself every time she performs. The highlight of the evening was her thundering rendition of the Beatles' "Oh Darling!" with Levy sitting in on keyboards. In fact, it was probably the best advertisement the CMC could hope for: a reminder that the pool of talent in Chicago is wide and ever-present but shouldn't be taken for granted.

--Scott Smith
- Chicagoist (Chicagoist.com)