Yes, it’s safe to say, there has been an “Idiot Wind” blowing thru the Capitol, and it’s whipping across the land. What to do? Sing & play songs with all our hearts. Sing about love and mystery. And support others who do the same. In that small way, we do our part to stand against the madness. It’s really all we have, good vibes, and the ability to get together, and play and talk and support each other.

Yesterday was our first R&R Circus of 2017. A little gathering. Lots of worry & concern about the world on everyone’s mind. Almost seems like everything is falling apart right before our very eyes. Our great American Dream falling to pieces. But really, it’s up to us to keep the dream alive. Laughter, love, music, art, an engaged, generous, social conscience. These are our weapons. We must use them wisely. The important thing, we must use them! – Jammer

All that’s happening in the world… MLK Jr. Day, January 16, 2017 just seemed more profound,  more resonant than ever. The day before, Carla and I sat in our kitchen and recorded a demo of Bob Marley’s great tune “Redemption Song.” One of the last songs he ever wrote.

Not many songs about “redemption” – the process of off-setting, compensating, making better. That’s our job right? To make things better? A better world, a better heart, a better head? Be better human beings. And try to help make the world a kinder, gentler, more understanding and compassionate place.

And sometimes you have to stand up, and speak. For yourself and others, just like Martin, just like Bob… “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds…”

Jammer

“How to create a great r&r show?” Beats me. I mean, there are so many factors to consider. Time, place, the weather, vibe of the night, vibe of the people, the competence of the sound tech, the luck of the draw, the line-up, the order, the fates, the benevolent r&r gods looking down upon our sorry souls and taking pity.

Once in a great while everything converges. And it’s like magic. You didn’t create it. It just happens. Of course, nothing’s perfect. Perfection is that dream-state always just out of reach. So part of the whole thing is realizing that nothing is perfect, and still giving it everything. Being totally there in the moment.

So yes, great show, great night, great moments. But not perfect. That’s rock and roll. There are so many factors that come into play. A universe of variables. Can’t account for them all. That’s how it goes. And that “not perfectness” is actually the essence of rock and roll: cool, funky, grabs you by the lapels.

So yes, we did another one of our Toys for Tots Extravaganza shows last Saturday. It was just another r&r show. We were lucky to share the stage with lots of cool folks. It was great. Not perfect. R&R. Love. – Jammer

photo by Mary Schons

Love. Right? It’s all about love. Our tag-line on Twitter is “A band in love with being a band.” And it’s so true. We love to write songs, we love playing music with our band in rehearsal, in the studio, and out and about in the world.

We’ve had lots of memorable shows. We’ve played on street corners, in theater lobbies, in parks (singing to the trees), on the lakefront (singing against the raging wind & surf), at art galleries, dive bars, dingy & cluttered basements, coffeehouses, living rooms, kitchens, churches, on main stages of black box theaters.

On October 15, 2016 we played our first official whitewolfsonicprincess House Concert. It was exhilarating. 2 sets, 22 songs, a house full of love. Nothing better. Love x Love = Love.

Jammer

Photo by Prash Pokala

Black Forest our little fever dream of a theater group, birthed our band whitewolfsonicprincess. At least that’s how we tell the story. Black Forest = interpretive theater = we perform and you find an interpreter to figure out what happened. As one long-time observer of our work once said, “You do what you want.”

Over the years, we’ve evolved a kind of a r&r theater approach, and that’s what kicked open the door to the band. This photo shows us back at the scene of the initial crime: r&r theater at the Last Abbie Fest hosted this last weekend at the Den Theatre.

The sign says: Entrance –  “a gate, an opening, a door, or to hold interest & intention.”

“The myth looms larger than the reality.” – R. Cotovsky (as Abbie Hoffman).

Jammer

photo by Carlo Lorenzo Garcia

They say “A picture is worth a thousand words.” And sometimes they are right. This is from our show last month at La Principal. Photo by Michael Berns. We are thinking this might make a great cover for our next project, “Alternate Boot.” – Jammer

Yesterday it was a full moon and the Summer Solstice. Supposedly that hasn’t happened since 1967. So a special day. Cosmically special, right? To celebrate, we decided to release a “Summer Single” – one of the 1st songs Carla and I ever wrote together.

“Everything is Everything” is now a FREE download on BandCamp. It’s probably the closest we have ever gotten to a “Summer Single!” Stream it, download it, share it, etc. It’s our gift to the universe! – Jammer

What did we learn from our Radio Interview on WGN – The Nick Digilio Show? Check out Podcast here: http://wgnradio.com/…/whitewolfsonicprincess-theater-roots…/

1. Carla Hayden‘s first album -Bobby Sherman.
2. James & Carla met at a “slumber party” back in the old days.
3. Douglas Johnson was a child prodigy and has “a big brain!”
4. Doug & Nick share a “first concert” (same tour, different cities) – Rush.
4. Nick Digilio – was puked on at that same Rush concert.
5. All of us had lots of experience separating the “seeds and stems” on favorite LPs.
6. Chicago theater institution Richard Cotovsky has greatly inspired all of us!
7. It’s fun being on the Radio!

They say you learn something from every experience. What did we learn at our show at the Underground Lounge on May 13?

1. Cub fans still like to drink to excess and dance to Journey songs.
2. Our audience is quite patient and loyal – they stayed for our set even though the sound guy was super late.
3. Our band actually plays quite well after multiple beers and shots of Jaegermeister.
4. If Jammer breaks a “high” E string. It’s not fatal.
5. A good set, tight and powerful? All is forgiven!

Jammer

photo by Mr. Mo.

As Morrissey once sang… “It’s time the tale were told…”

People often ask: “What’s with the name?” Yes, well, it would be great if it came from a vision-quest fueled by peyote buttons and psilocybin mushrooms, and a visitation from the ghost of Syd Barrett – “…then Syd appeared out of the foggy mist, he was floating above the shimmering beach, humming a lyrical little nursery rhyme; and with shells, star-fish, and a few shiny black stones, he spelled out the name of our band in the holy, glowing, sand: whitewolfsonicprincess…”

That would be cool. But instead it was an inside joke from a Black Forest  performance piece called “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being White.” We wrote some goofy songs, and dressed up as a sort of arty, inept, white-trash, Hip-Hop duo. Not so hip and not so hop. We had a little boombox with backing tracks, some improbable scenes, and “raps” like “Funky Spermatozoa” – “once they get going it’s all about dividing and multiplying and turning into other things – they go through all the stages of evolution, they get a tail, gill-slits, they start looking like something, like a pterodactyl, they no longer exist as separate entities they can’t explain it, they are one, yeah, that’s right, they are one…”

We came up with the name, figured no-one in the world would ever come up with anything close to it, then it sort of stuck, and then it morphed! It was no longer two things, two identities, but one thing – whitewolfsonicprincess – one word, one thing, all lowercase. And then we were no longer a duo, we were a band, a full band – an amazing group of co-conspirators.

The songs started to flow, and they were decidedly not goofy, they were about life and loss, about being lost, and being found, and the mysteries underlying everything. Our name became a symbol – a wolf in a princess hat, high-heels, a peace symbol arm-band, clutching a few wildflowers. “Wolfie” embodies a series of dichotomies: male/female, animal/spiritual, body/soul, low-born/high aspiration, aggressive/peace-loving, darkness/light.

Still, too many syllables.

Think: U2, The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Dylan, Sting, Cher. One, two or three syllables are perfect. Easy to remember. Easy to say. The less syllables the better. We join the list of bands with names with way too many syllables: Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Airborne Toxic Event, Buffalo Springfield, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jefferson Airplane.

Oh well. Resistance is futile. We must embrace it all. This is our band, our music, our name. 6 syllables. Some people seem to love it, some can’t even say it. “You’re that girl from White…er… Snake… or something… right?!”

Anyway, let it rock, let it roll… off the tongue… trippingly… – Jammer