What's Happs At OTB Records (see previous What's Happs)

Dave Mason, OTB’s Chris Stewart and Ronnie Baker Brooks perform together at the Lake Forest 150th Anniversary celebration

A year long celebration of the 150th anniversary of Lake Forest, dubbed The Sesquicentennial Heritage Festival, was held Saturday Sep 3, 2011. Legendary rock guitarist Dave Mason launched into all of his classic tunes, from originals to songs he played with Jimi Hendrix and others. Chris Stewart joined Mason adding his special percussive touch. Blues guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks also joined in, coming on stage later in the night to join Mason and Stewart.

The celebration, more than two years in the making, was held in Market Square behind Lake Forest City Hall. Fans cheered and sang along from the start, jamming the parking lot, streets and surrounding cafes. Dave showed his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame roots through his duets with Ronnie Baker Brooks and a powerful closing.

Photos by Sam Subar Photography. Click to view larger photo

Harvey Mandel joins Bob Dylan at the Grammys

Here's Harvey Mandel with Bob Dylan at the 53rd Grammy Awards. Read a great article, "Interview with Canned Heat's Harvey Mandel, Bob Dylan's Grammy guitarist" from Examiner.com

OTB's Chris Stewart on 'The Story'

American Public Media's The Story featured OTB's Managing Partner Chris Stewart in its Friday, January 21 2011 edition of Next Chapter. Chris speaks about his dual careers as a stock trader in Chicago and as a percussionist with the Dave Mason Band. Since that time, Chris has added another title to his resume, one that allows him to meet even more of his favorite musicians. To listen to the show (audio) Click Here!

Oh My God Wins Best Music Video Award

Timm Martin and Ig from oh my god

Chicago’s melodic pop-rockers Oh My God won best music video at the 2010 Midwest Independent Film Awards for its video “Bring Yourself.”

Metalocalypse artist Dan Bigelow conceived and created the black-and-white animated video for "Bring Yourself" from Oh My God's latest album, "The Night Undoes the Work of the Day" (Split Red Records, OTB's sister label). The art was inked on paper, refined in Photoshop and then moved in AfterEffects.The award was presented on Tuesday, December 7th at Rockit Bar & Grill, 22 West Hubbard Street.

Troubled Identity Show

Troubled Identity opens for The Freddy Jones Band this Friday November 26th at Park West in Chicago, IL. Click Here to listen to the radio spot...

OTB Friends, the Fab Faux

OTB Friends, the Fab Faux performed "A Tribute to the Timeless Music of The Beatles" playing REVOLVER and SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND in their entirety on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 7:30pm at the Vic in Chicago. The Fab Faux features Will Lee from The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Vivino of Conan who will also be featured on the new Chicago Blues Reunion double live CD coming out in 2011.

This Fab Faux recording of most of side two of 'Abbey Road' is a live, in-the-studio performance for a two-camera video shoot. It was originally recorded for The Howard Stern Show and only the audio has been broadcast - until now. Howard and company were kind enough to allow video taping of the session. For more on the band, see www.thefabfaux.com.

White, Black & Blues to be released 2011
They Brought The Blues To Rock and Roll

White, Black &Blues is a feature-length documentary film that chronicles the story of the Chicago teenage musicians who, in the early sixties, cut their teeth in the city’s tough blues neighborhoods, were accepted and treated like sons by the original blues masters, then went on to play a key role in bringing the blues to rock and roll, in what many refer to as the “blues-rock explosion.”

With special appearances by Jack White and Marshall Chess, the film stars Nick Gravenites, Michael Bloomfield, Barry Goldberg, Paul Butterfield, Harvey Mandel, Corky Siegel, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, Steve Miller, Sam Lay, Dave Mason, Marcy Levy and B.B. King.

White, Black & Blues
They Brought The Blues To Rock and Roll
A Film by John Anderson
Produced by Out The Box Records and Anderson Productions
Executive Producers: Timm Martin, Chris Stewart, Bert Moreno
Producers: Barry Goldberg, John Anderson
Projected Release Date: Late 2011
Film Information * View Clip * PR Release

Blues Reunion band comes alive

MUSIC REVIEW | Free-form odyssey sets tone for finale of 27th annual festival
June 14, 2010 By Jeff Johnson, Staff Reporter, Chicago Sun Times.

By Sunday night, the finale of the 27th annual Chicago Blues Festival, everyone was feeling "Buried Alive in the World," so it was fitting that the Chicago Blues Reunion band used that song not only to open its set on the Petrillo Main Stage but also to set the tone for the evening.

And what a great song it is. Written by guitarist-vocalist Nick Gravenites for Janis Joplin, who was set to record it the morning after she died, it propelled the band on a free-form 70-minute blues, rock, jazz and psychedelic odyssey. Gravenites and other soul survivors of the '60s white Chicago blues movement got together at the 2003 blues fest for a one-time reunion gig, then re-formed two years later for a highly successful tour and CD/DVD. This summer, they're a real band. Exit vocalists Tracy Nelson and Marcy Levy; welcome (at least for this Chicago homecoming gig) Charlie Musselwhite, a terrific harpist-vocalist and long-ago Chicago running mate of Gravenites, keyboardist Barry Goldberg, guitarist Harvey Mandel and harpist Corky Siegel.

Among them, they had a couple of centuries of material from which to build their set. Highlights included a Musselwhite-led "Help Me" that he dedicated to Sonny Boy Williamson II, who worked Curly's Twist City on the West Side with a young Musselwhite and Mandel in the audience, and a pair of instrumentals, "Wade in the Water" and Mandel's "Cristo Redentor." For the latter, Musselwhite made his harp gently weep while Mandel squeezed out sparks of ecstasy with his fuzz tone- and feedback-laden guitar, and Goldberg's Hammond B-3 laid the foundation. Sam Lay and James Cotton helped with the encore, "I've Got My Mojo Workin'."

The Reunion band will be seen in a new documentary, "White, Black & Blues," which is being screened privately after the blues festival. The three-day festival attendance was announced Sunday night at 500,000 -- not bad, given three days of threatening weather, a lack of genre-crossing stars and a reined-in budget. (see the complete article at: http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/2389754,CST-FTR-blues14.article

OTB's Chris Stewart performs with Dave Mason

OTB's Managing Partner, Chirs Stewart, joined Dave Mason at the 2010 Benefit Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum May 1 at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. Rock fans enjoyed performances by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason, the Georgia Satellites, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Alan White’s White Sox All-Star Band featuring former members of Yes, Queen and Journey, and a closing performance by power rockers Cheap Trick. Proceeds from the show benefited the Rock Hall's award-winning music education program, as well as the United Way of the Greater Triangle.

Troubled Identity plays at RRHOF

OTB’s newly signed artists, Troubled Identity joined Professor Louie & The Crowmatix and 94 East at the April 30th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Weekend concert in downtown Raleigh paying tribute to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees. Music lovers enjoyed tributes to the legendary musicians of The Band, Prince and The Revolution, and a foray into alternative rock with the teens of Troubled Identity.

Tagged by some reviewers as the next Jonas Brothers, Troubled Identity, a hot alternative rock band out of Chicago, is amassing fans with its unheard of riffs, honest lyrics and liveliness. Teenagers Max Subar, Alex Pomerantz, Shane Stewart and Jake Nankin formed the band in 2006, after meeting at the Highwood outpost of the performance-based Paul Green School of Rock, where they learned to cover classic-rock songs. Signed by Out the Box Records, Troubled Identity has just released its first self- titled EP. Time Out Chicago blogger Lily Hansen reviewed the band’s show at Park West in November and said, “The band’s vibrant energy and sheer enthusiasm at playing in front of a live audience was infectious and put a smile on my face. As it played its last song, a cover of ‘Rollover DJ’, it became evident that the band has at least one identity as an option: Rock stars.” See more on the band at:
The band’s site: http://troubledidentity.tumblr.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/troubledidentity
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Troubled-Identity/62872497982
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSMX1o2YvLk&feature=channel

 Quick Clips:

Mandel at the Grammys

Troubled Identity opens for Freddy Jones Band 11/26 at Park West in Chicago

OTB Friends Fab Faux & Jimy Vivino perform at The Vic in Chicago

White Black & Blues film debut coming soon!

CBR closes out Chicago Blues Fest with a feeling...

OTB's Chris Stewart performes live with Dave Mason

Troubled Identity at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame event