4/12/98

It's Guinness Fleadh Music Festival time again... 

Saturday, June 12th
at
Chicago Motor Speedway
Sportman's Park

The Drovers will be preforming on the main stage along with Van Morrisson, Elvis Costello,
and many others during this celebration of Irish culture and performance arts.

Tickets are already on sale!!
Click here for ordering information or call 773-878-1177 for more info

2/25/99

Click here for more info
on ordering this poster

The Drovers
St Patrick's Celebration at Chicago's

Saturday, March 13th
(day of St Pats Parade)
Two Shows
Early All Ages Show - Doors 6pm
w/ special guest Sammy Llanas of The BoDeans
Late 21+ Show - Doors 10pm
w/ special guests The Gathering Field

St Pats Lucky 99 Contest
And the winners are:

Michelle Stringham from Champaign, IL
Anna Strizak from Richmond, IL
Kim Wheatley from Mount Prospect, IL
Steve Huddlestun from Oswego, IL

We will be contacting the winners and letting them know the details.

Congratulations, and thanks for playing.....

2/18/99

The Drovers February Newsletter

Hello to everybody, We'll keep this brief, but first we just want to thank all of you who've been supporting us and enjoying our shows the past few months. We've had some great times and there are more to come, as you can see by the schedule enclosed. Once again, it's time for our St. Patrick's Grand Revue, and this year, the action takes place at the House Of Blues in Chicago. This show begins the evening of The St. Patrick's Parade in Chicago, Saturday March 13th. There will be two shows on that day with Sammy Llanas from The BoDeans opening the first show at 6:00 pm. This show is an All Ages show. The doors open for the second show at 10:30pm and our friends The Gathering Field from Pittsburgh will be supporting. This show is 21+. Also, expect some special guests, dancers and other surprises. The Drovers also going to appear on the WGN-TV Morning Show on Friday, March 5th starting at 6:50am (that is 6:50 in the morning for you college folks) Tune in to WGN TV.

Also, a word of thanks to all of you who put up posters and fliers around your college campuses, and to those who spread the word in other ways. We appreciate your help very much and we hope you have a good time being part of the show's success.

In other news, Dave has added another beautiful niece to his burgeoning uncledom (this makes seven total, though he himself has as yet no heirs). Congratulations are in order. Paul recently treated the band to a new police radio scanner for the van, which is incredible entertainment, especially in Chicago. We are dying to try it out in New York & East L.A.. Merritt's cat had a recent adventure. He escaped the house and disappeared into her neighborhood for a few days and wound up being given away by one of her neighbors. A thorough flier campaign successfully led Merritt to her estranged feline and we are all satisfied with the outcome. Mike has been teaching a class in Irish traditional music at the Old Town School of Folk Music. We're always getting questions about where to go to learn weird instruments like mandolins and penny whistles . . . so, here's our advice, check the Old Town School catalog. They have something for everyone, and it's not all folk, either.

As for our recording update, to all of those who are wondering when they can hear new music, check our website (www.thedrovers.com) for real audio and MP3 clips. Once again, thanks to the following people who have made our lives easier, MORE FUN, and just generally better: Bob and Kathy in Cleveland, Fred G in Minneapolis, Eileen Harkin in New York, Jonathan Judge in Brooklyn, The Annoyance Theater Folks, and you.

1/1/99

Five winners per show, no Chicago shows please.

12/1/98

New Year's Eve Show!!!
with
The Drovers
and
The Bottle Rockets

The Annoyance Theater
3747 N. Clark, Chicago, IL
It is near Clark and Grace.
It is 1 and 1/2 blocks
north of Wrigley Field.
It is right across the street from
Cabaret Metro.

We recently completed another delightful and successful tour of the East Coast, the highlights of which were a performance at NYC's Mercury Lounge (after which we sampled hot sake with globefish fins....a truly vile potion). Attending the show were Chicago cinema stars John & Joan Cusack and rumor has it both gave a left-eye wink of approval. Ending the tour in Arlington, VA just across the Potomac River from D.C. performing with The Silos at the lovely IOTA.

Recent concerts that we have enjoyed (it is only by coincidence that the first several begin with the letter "B"):

The Beer Nuts, @ Thurston's
Belle and Sebastian @ Metro
Blue Meanies and the Baltimores @ Halloween Party in Wicker Park
Servotron @ Lounge Ax
Alanis Morrissette @ Metro
Archer Prewitt @ Lounge Ax
Dag Julien @ Uncommon Ground
Son Volt @ Congress Theater
Dave Matthew's & Poi Dog Pondering @ Red Rocks
The Velmas and Lush Budget @ Empty Bottle
Archers Of Loaf @ Metro
Front Of Truck & The Figgs @ Cactus Club
Liz Phair @ The Vic
Promise Ring @ Fireside Bowl

Well, that's the news from our end. Write to us sometime and let us know what's going on out there. See you soon. Do not delay in ordering your tickets if you want to attend any of these events. You don't want to be left out in the cold.

9/9/98

News Flash !!

The reason we are contacting you today is to let those who live across big bodies of water and have been asking us to come to their country an alternative way to hear and talk to The Drovers live. This alternative does not require preparing the van for optimum bouyancy or injesting Dramamine.

The band will be broadcast live on the internet during a radio show on THE WEB 93.5 FM (Champaign, IL) The show is on Friday, Sept 11th at 4:00 p.m. Central time at http://www.webxfm.com.

The band will be answering questions, taking requests, and performing acoustically. We'd love to hear from you. Also, to see and hear new songs go to The Drovers homepage at http://www.thedrovers.com. You might need to get real player for your browser if you don't already have it.

6/1/98

The 1998 Guinness Fleadh Festival is coming to the Chicagoland area by way of the Arlington Racetrack in Arlington Heights, IL on June 20th, featuring the best of Irish and folk influenced musicians from around the globe. Chicago- based band, The Drovers, will perform with an impressive lineup, including Sinead OConnor, Wilco, Billy Bragg and the Chieftains. Call 773-878-1177 for more info or click here.

3/1/98

St. Patrick's Day is March 17th, but since people usually like to rip it up on a weekend rather than a Tuesday, most of Chicago has declared Saturday March 14th to be Honorary St. Patrick's Day. On this day, the Chicago River gets a green dye job (by the 15th its roots are showing), there's a big parade, many revelers switch over to green beer, and... THE DROVERS take the stage at the VIC THEATER for TWO SHOWS. The stage might look a little different than usual if you haven't seen us in a while. First, we have two relatively new members with the names Tim Larson and Merritt Lear. Tim's tambourine act during "Juliette" is a crowd favorite and he has yet to injure himself. Merritt is a girl. Second, we're in the process of wrangling some Irish dancers to strut their stuff on stage with us. Tickets are available through the Vic Theater 773-472-0449 and through Ticketmaster 312-559-1212. Please buy your tickets early because we've sold out our St. Pat's shows each of the past seven years.

We're looking for volunteers to distribute Drovers flyers at the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown and around the Chicagoland area on March 14th show at the Vic. And in general, we're always grateful to those who will poster, hand out flyers, or sell merchandise wherever we have upcoming shows. In the past we've given back free discs, T-shirts, show passes, and the occasional bottle of Jim Beam as thanks for the help. Just email us.

1/15/98

March is the month for St. Patrick's revelers and what celebration would be complete without a visit from Chicago's Celtic rockers, the Drovers. Beefed up with some new additions, the group is taking a break from work on a forthcoming release to spread its psychedelic sound over the American heartland. This spring tour offers fans and newcomers alike a chance to hear the band's new lineup, featuring the lovely voice of Ms. Merritt Lear, who also plays fiery mandolin, and Mr. Tim Larson on guitars. The Drovers a re working on a follow-up to their 1996 LP, "Little High Sky Show," and it is anyone's guess whether they will revisit the dreamy, ambient folkscapes that characterized that record. What is certain, though, is that the sextet will drum up plenty of the Celtic energy and melodic sensibility with which they built their loyal following. And those elements will be evoked when they appear here live. Get there early, order a pint and be ready to hop around for the rest of the night. .

Tickets for this event go on sale Feb 12, 1998 and will be available through Ticketmaster.

11/14/97

Greetings from the Canadian Rockies. Due to the wonders of modern technology we can all stay in touch even when we're in such remote northern lands. Hence, we present this emailer.

Overall, Canadians share certain traits (such as the ubiquitous "Eh?") but as one might expect, it's a pretty diverse place. Our shows have been similarly diverse. In spite of a handful of misbookings (i.e. a heavy metal club, a quaint bistro) we've had a lot of fun playing all over. We've witnessed changing leaves and snowy mountain peaks, one town literally overrun with insouciant herds of elk, and a bald eagle (who we told to go back to the U.S.)

While on a brief southward jaunt into the American east coast, we stayed at a friend's house where a band member sat on the host's teacup sized kitten, Psyche. Stunned by the impact, Psyche's irrepressible spirit was successfully "pressed". Decked out in full sailor regalia, our host ran all the way home from his job as a fishmonger at the A & P to whisk Psyche to her vet, who not only said she'd live but that she was just razzing us. Disaster averted, we all breathed a sigh of relief and we are happy to report that Psyche is back to business -- toe biting, jumping around, the whole bit.

Highlights of our tour include a show at Wetlands in NYC with the Canadian band The Paperboys. In addition, October 31 and November 1 at Lydia's in SaskatoonyLooney were great fun. On Halloween Merritt wore a rhinestone three piece leisure suit while the rest of the band posed expertly as band guys. There was poetry, shiatszu massage, a group running around as the Knights Who Say Neef (sp?) and a lot of dancing during the two days. Alas, every silver cloud does have an evil fluff as you shall see. We encountered our one and only criminal at Lydia's, who appeared on Halloween dressed as a convincing Tin Man. He tried to make off with a bunch of Drovers t-shirts, and upon his apprehension, he threw the shirts at our drummer and called us cheap bastards. We've since had him "erased".

The band is looking forward to a show at Chicago's Lounge Ax on the night before Thanksgiving. So all you Chicagoans, come on out and bring your Grandpa if he's in town.

Also, we are all wiggly about the New Year's Eve blowout. We're playing the Congress Theater in Chicago and it will be a blast. We'll be joined by another *secret* band. So secret, we don't even know who it is yet. So get your tickets and count the days until 1998.

A couple of months ago we mentioned how much Tim likes flowers -- black roses, especially. He's offering hugs for flowers, a la Morrissey. At first, audience members responded to our plea sporadically, but we've seen the trend trickly off. Please. They make the boy so happy. And we have to co-exist with him 24 hours a day.

New album in the works. Coming soon.

As always, promotional help on your part (via postering/flyering/hyping/etc) for your hometown shows is not only appreciated but dearly rewarded. Email us at thedrovers@aol.com for details.

Until next time, The Drovers

9/1/97

Hi, this has been such a busy summer, rife with such overwhelming streams of news and things, that we have no time to extend pleasantries but must begin immediately with our report.

First of all, after four years as a quartet, the Drovers have added two members: violinist/mandolinist/vocalist Merritt Lear and guitarist Tim Larson, both of whom hail from Chicago and have made excellent contributions in their first months with the band. Tim's daytime activities presently include construction work at Beverly Asphalt, where they discourage his preferred wardrobe of velvet capes and silken thongs. Once a fiddle student of Sean (aka "Snoofy"), Tim's musical expertise was additionally cultivated through the bootcamp atmosphere that permeated the counterpoint and ear training classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Merritt, having scraped out of college in a cloud of confusion, anger and complacency, found clarity through the old family connection route. Freaked out by Merritt's plans to just "see what happens after graduation", her mother...blah blah schma... now Merritt is a contributing member. Tim and Merritt's arrival boosted the intense happy vibe on the night of Sean's birthday (Cancer, for all you astrologers) when they united with the former quartet to blow everyone's minds.

A plethora of exciting shows with the new lineup soon followed. We showcased in the Chicago New Music Festival at Metro, opened for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at Navy Pier. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, we joined the Canadian band, the Paperboys, for a night at the Ark, narrowly avoiding diarrehea onstage after an abysmal meal at a nearby dive. We also played at the Chicago-Minneapolis AIDS Ride campsite.

Things in the works... Do you remember "Backdraft"? The piece de resistance also known as "Blink"? Our triumphant "She's as Pretty as Brian Jones Was" video? Our cinematic resume will expand next summer with the filming of "Alternate Sides", an independent feature co-starring Carol Kane (of "Annie Hall" and the television show "Taxi") Our music sets the romantic tone for a tale of two teenagers unraveling the labrynth of love amid neighborhood squabbling in Bronx, NY.

Wai...wai... What's this? Who is talking? What? "ME. THE MACHINE OVER HERE WITH ALL THE DIALS AND KNOBS." Mike's new recording studio wants to know, "will we begin recording our new album soon?" The Drovers respond with a hearty "Yes! Soon, we'll begin recording for our next release. Now be quiet cause you're freakin' us out." "Please give me music" it is saying right now. "We're writing it as fast as we can." We are debuting much of this self-touted new music all summer.

In addition, we are on a newly released CD compilation featuring performances everyon's formative rock and roll band, Led Zeppelin. The compilation is called "The Inner Flame" and pays tribute to Tucson based underground songwriter-guitarist Rainer Ptacek, a founding member of Giant Sand. The proceeds from the record help pay for the staggering medical bills incurred since Rainer was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The project was conceived by Rainer's former bandmate, Howe Gelb, and with Robert Plant's collaboration, the disc was put out on Atlantic Records. It also features Emmylou Harris, Evan Dando, P.J. Harvey, Jonathan Richman and Victoria Williams.

We also have a tour planned that will take us across beautiful Canada, "a friendly country with its own laws and customs," from swinging Toronto to rustic Vancouver in October and November. Additionally, keep an eye out for upcoming dates with Leftover Salmon. We can't wait to see you again, so make sure to come see us. Until then, Bring it On.