It was actually a bit initimidating to play our songs for a cafe full of singer-songwriters, musicians & poets at Kopi A Travelers Cafe. Such an amazing, beautfiul gem of a room, and Al Rose is a fabulous host, and prodigiously-talented singer/songwriter too. And Carla Hayden & were so happy to reconnect with long-time friends. Long strange trip, indeed… – Jammer
Druid – A modern movement focused on nature worship, harmony, and earth-based spirituality.
Actually, the Lovely Carla & I don’t feel very modern at all, no, we feel pretty much out of time, out of synch, not really fitting in anywhere, but still, definitely deeply-connected to nature, harmony & an earth-based spirituality. You know, as the Grateful Dead once sang: “Wake up to find, you are the Eyes of the World.”
We feel deeply connected to all things. This is what drives our music & our performances. It is an act of devotion; a devotion to creativity, music, & healing. As our own song tells it: “You Must Believe.” What to believe? Well, certainly believe in the interconnectedness of all things, and sure, make the leap to believing in a better way & better day.
I am convinced that Carla is a world-class healer. After our shows, folks will often come up to us and tell us they have been deeply moved & healed by our music. This is always so surprising, humbling, and also so very gratifying.
What are they responding to? Probably lots of things. The groove, the energy, the commitment, the lyrics, the vision, the open-ness, the embracing of the moment, Carla and I trying to embrace all things at once. These are just guesses. Who knows?! There is mystery around this whole adventure.
The picture above, in a way, points to an answer. There we are, singing our truth, with a painting of a deer, almost like a religious icon, on the wall behind us; a magical, wonderous, mysterious creature, watching us, & watching over us too. Sure, yes, we believe… – Jammer
The last few days have been all about doing things. A flurry of constant motion. Carrying on. Persevering. Powering thru the days, even as our energy surges & retreats. Walking dogs, playing music, gallivanting about. Finally show time! There is the show as well as the pre-show and the post-show schlep. That’s the beauty of the DIY life. We get to do everything. We performed at Picinic Wine & Provisions, last Friday evening. There is a beautiful, music room in the back of the shop, and a gorgeous, dangling chandelier overhead. It was just four of us: bass, violin, guitar, percussion two voices. Very, very intimate setting. The audience right in front of us. Super-friendly crowd. Lots of folks we knew, and many who had just discovered our music and band. We were happily surprised by the turnout. You never can tell who is gonna show up. It was an incredibly satisfying show. When everything clicks, there are moments of complete transformation & transcendence. Everything drops away, you find yourself, by losing yourself, fully alive in the moment to moment. It is basically an incredible expenditure of energy. Exhausting, thrilling, and afterwards, there is an emptiness, a profound hollowness that hangs over and inside of us. I suppose it’s just a major clearing, a bold opening, a little doorway leading to the next thing. There is nothing better than that kind of all-consuming performance. The finest of joyous kicks. The only way forward is to find the next opportunty, the next time & place, to do it all again. – Jammer
Yes. We are very excited to be playing SPACE in Evanston, IL on Tuesday July 28. It is a truly fabulous music room. We will be in full force with our 8 piece ensemble. We are sharing the night with special guests The Handcuffs (“known for blending glam, indie, and punk…”), and the charismatic & charming acoustic duo Scott & Odie.
We will have a super-limited edition vinyl version of our album “Love Without Fear,” for sale at our merch table. As our friends at Little Elephant Custom Vinyl remarked to us: “Thank you for allowing us to preserve your art on the best medium that has ever existed.” Yes. Indeed. Drop the needle in the groove, that’s where the magic happens.
Anyway, it is such an important show for us, we have two fabulous posters vying for your attention. Hope you can join us. Tickets are selling fast but excellent seats are still available. Ticket link here: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/whitewolfsonicprincess-and-the-handcuffs-w-space-tickets/14879263 —
Jammer
Yesterday, the Lovely Carla & I spent late afternoon in packed little Chicago bar singing “our truth,” with whitewolfsonicprincess. It is quite the thing. Write songs, take them out into the world and sing them with all your heart & soul. I, for one, am not saying I am a fabulous singer or anything, but “my voice,” is truly mine, it’s authentically mine, it took me a long time to truly find it, and there is something about letting it fly into the atmosphere with complete confidence, backed by a kick-ass band. It took a long time to get to this place without worry, doubts, or second thoughts. Also, there is the long process of finding out what “works,” & what doesn’t; working thru all the elements, having the right gear, working thru bad sound, broken strings, tuning issues, not being being able to hear your voice or guitar in the center of the hurricane. The audience was appreciative, enthusiastic; our voices were just one element in an 8 piece ensemble. The “magic” comes from losing yourself in the moment. The vibe the band creates is bigger than any one of us. So yeah, our voices in the middle of the maelstrom of sound, just vibes in the ocean of vibes. Whenever you do anything “creative,” you are edging out on the high wire, not knowing if what you are doing is really good, bad, or indifferent. Really, you are just trusting the creative impulse. Giving your all, losing your “self,” dropping your ego, in moments of complete trascendence. Those moments can’t be ordered up, or commanded, they descend upon you, like a cloud, or like a gentle rain. There is nothing better in the world. You bask in the glow of an uncommon, beautiful thing. Just another show, but it is a little glimpse of everything, imperfectly conjured up just right, everything truly in it’s right place, in the right moment to moment. – Jammer
Holy Shite. Yoko Ono’s show at the MCA is absolutely fantastic. No doubt, she is one of the greatest artists of the 20th & 21st Centuries. I have come a long way around. I remember in high school sort of hating on Yoko for breaking up the Beatles. But it was a bad rap. John & Paul just didn’t see eye to eye anymore.
Anyway the show is great. There is a video with a young & gorgeous John & Yoko doing a crazy-ass performance piece. It is so cool and inspiring to see them performing together with total, unbridled, discipline & commitment.
Yoko also has been doing little “dot” drawings since the 90’s. They are absolutely fabulous. A truly thrilling and inspiring show, there is a surprise in every room.
Yoko has had an uncommon, quite brilliant, sad, and wonderful, inspiring, life. As young girl in Japan running & sheltering from the bombs dropped by the USA in World War II, later making avant garde art with John Cage, making short films, doing crazy performances pieces in London & New York, meeting John Lennon and totally blowing his mind, expanding his vision, breaking up the Beatles (ha!), inspiring John to expand his artistic approach, creating some great solo records herself, inspiring John to make music too, then tragically having her husband gunned down in front of her in New York City in 1980.
She has carried on, to this day, doing her thing, never stopping, creating art, and promoting Peace. And that old revolutionary philosophy she & John promoted early on works today too: “Change a Mind/Change a World.”
Peace, yes, but also, in the face of Tyranny, Peaceful, Non-Violent, RESISTANCE! Abolish ICE. Damn the fucking torpedoes. – Jammer
Best way forward in 2026? Do the things we love to do with all our love, heart & soul. For the Lovely Carla and I, that means making music with our band, whitewolfsonicprincess, and the incredible collection of creative souls we are lucky to create with & know. Fellow creative spirits onto the next thing. Creating new songs, new worlds, exploring new territory. For us, the new year also means spending lots of time with our little flock of birds, and all the happy little furry creatures we hang with; living with body, mind & spirit aligned, navigating a fantastically strange existence as best we can.
Still, 2026 in America: difficult circumstannces, no doubt…
If you have read Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel “The Road,” (2006) (it is a worthy read), you know one of the key existential questions, that “the Boy” asks “his Father,” after much drama & trama, and a long, winding journey across a bleak & scarred land, a question that sort of makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up: “Are we still the good guys?”
It’s a question that this particular American is asking himself this particular morning, the 1st day of 2026. This country I live in has taken a very dark turn. The USA is being led by a criminal & a criminal administration. All evidence points to the conclusion that “No, sorry to say, we aren’t still the good guys.”
Crimes against humanity near & far. The USA now seems to be a force for evil, corruption, murder, greed, racism, white supremacy & idiocy. It’s a major bummer. Makes living in the USA a very difficult proposition. A thorny, contradictory, porcupine-like existence.
It’s a killer conundrum. I cling to a disciplined positivity as a basic & essential survival strategy, but also I adhere to a determined clarity. To see the world as it really is, not just how I want it to be, no rosy-colored glasses. Clarity. Stone-cold clear-seeing.
How to live a good life, knowing that crimes are being committed in my name every damn day? The only answers I can conjure up: Stay close to ground. Create music. Try to do my best to be honest, true, with positive thoughts for a better day and a better way. Love those I love. And resist, oppose the evil-doers, refuse to go along with the idiocy, and the bad actions of others, to stand against them with every ounce of my being.
The Lovely Carla and I choose Love, Grace, Beauty, Intelligence. Happy New Year! – Jammer
Photos from our Studio Show on 12.20.25
Sometimes I do think chaos is my middle name. I wonder, am I the source, the channel, the generator or receiver, or the conductor of the chaos? I am not thinking of major, catastrophic, chaos, no, more like little, tiny, moments of micro-chaos built into the smallest of actions & thoughts. I can be orderly & disciplined, I enjoy & cultivate my silences & quiet times, I love working in the calm before the storm times, setting up a theater space or a performance space, arranging the deck chairs, running the cables, placing the microphone stands in just the right place, setting the lights, conjuring up a mood & a positive, beautiful vibe. But then fill that space with a rambunctious crowd of human beings in close quarters, with friendly noise, and chatter, and the power of electricty animating everything, drinks flowing, a soft buzzing in the air, anticipation & expectation floating above us, things happen. Unsourced feedback, a drop of sweat in the corner of an eye, an imprecise instrument, a cable fail, a weird noise from some unknown location, a tiny almost imperceptible tuning issue, being slightly sharp or flat, a surprising demand or comment from an innocent, a dropped guitar pick, a teetering, a nearly tripping & falling, a hint of mortality, a surge of energy running through the cells of my body; funny, unconnected thoughts, words falling from my lips in surprising ways, my head suddenly swimming, uncommon feelings of being unmoored, uncomfortable. Conducting moments of chaos, trying to corral & tame things, but watching, listening, experiencing the awesome powerlessness alive in every tiny moment.- Jammer
Yes. It’s true. As of right now. This will be our last show of 2025. It will be at our own little humble rehearsal space. Details here:
12.20.25 – PM Woodwinds Studio Show – 826 Custer St. Evanston, IL – We decided the best way to end 2025 would be a little party/concert at our humble rehearsal studio, one door north of the shop at 826 Custer St. Evanston, IL We will have some of our favorite performers joining us.
4:00 p.m. – 4:35 p.m. – The Lightning Round of Cover Songs from: James & Carla, Chris Bock, Randy Farr, Pat McDonald.
4:45 p.m.- 5:45 p.m.
Solo Sets: Karen Singer, Daniel Connolly, Scott Judd
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
whitewolfsonicprincess (6 piece)
The Telepaths (acoustic quartet)
BYOB if so inclined. There is limited seating. Suggested donation $10 (or pay what you can). – Jammer
Yes. Back to our favorite Lounge in the Big City. Smack dab in the middle of Devon!
A special Saturday afternoon concert.
4:00 p.m. – Dark Room Men will do an opening set
5:00 p.m. – whitewolfsonicprincess will play a full set.
Always fun, a great, welcoming, classic Chicago bar. TIP HARD! Hope you can join us. – Jammer