Mike Vanier and Ivan Martirena , Berklee College of Music graduates, will hold an Open House at their new music school, concert venue and outreach program facility, The Music Station 1808 W. 103rd St. Chicago 60643 on Sunday, January 10 from 12:00 noon until 6:00P.M. The Music Station will have refreshments, musical acts and a puppet show courtesy of Jeannie McQueenie starting at 1:00P. Vanier and Martirena have brought together a professionally trained staff and are pleased to offer a comprehensive training program based on Berklee College of Music programs for musicians of all ages.

A sampling of new instructors will be on hand to meet and greet perspective students and their families. The music Station has 11 newly decorated studios that will be open for viewing. Classes are forming daily in Song/Lyric Writing, Ear Training, Rock Band, Acoustic Classic rock Guitar, Piano, Bass Drums, Violin, Flute, Trumpet, Voice and many more. The Music Station will also offer professional instrument and amplifiers repairs, everything from re-strings and setups to re-frets, electronics and custom hand-carved instruments.

Mike and Ivan are both active performers in the Chicago scene in many different groups and ensembles. Mike performs with several Blue-Grass and alternative/rock ensembles while Ivan leads his own South-american Jazz Trio and Quartet with some of the best jazz musicians in town.

Beverly resident, Lisa M. Martirena, a board certified music therapist with a degree in Music Therapy from Berklee College of Music , and a Masters degree in Counseling will head up the Lullaby Station. She will explore children’s sense of melody, and rhythm, crucial elements for early music learning, while incorporating developmentally appropriate early childhood education aspects in a socially appealing manner. This musical experience is shared in an open, friendly environment where parents, grandparents, or guardians are invited to attend with their children ages infant to toddler. Lisa is a graduate of Mother McAuley High School where she performed many leading roles in the school plays and the Beverly Theatre Community. She is a soloist at Nativity of Our Lord Church and a professional vocalist.

The Kids Station will be lead by Jean Vanier, a graduate of Clarke College in Dubuque Iowa with a double major in Theatre and Education and a Masters degree in Theatre from The University of Illinois, Chicago. The Kids Station is an educational music outreach program geared to students aged pre-school to 8th grade available at The Music Station’s 125 seat auditorium.. Programs will be offered on The History of Illinois through Abraham Lincoln’s eyes, Opera Appreciation, Women’s History, Black History, Irish Music, Cinco de Mayo, Song Writing, African Drumming, Music and Story Telling, Puppet Shows and many more.

Open Mics will be available as well. There will be two Acoustic open mics a month were musicians will be invited to test their skills on a stage with their friends and family to support them. Admission is free and open to the public. Check the website for further details or call to be added to the mailing list.

Please call 773 840-3005 for more details. Registration is open and ongoing for music lessons. Winter Session starts January 4th, so hurry up, stop by and sign up!

On New Year’s Eve 2009-2010, Polo Cafe & Catering, Bridgeport, at 3322 S. Morgan in Chicago, is pleased to present a celebration destined to be remembered as the most fun, swingin’ New Year’s Eve bash of the season. Admission includes full buffet by Chef David Samber, and a complete evening of top musical entertainment provided by Firepoint Music Company. Tickets are $50 in advance until December 25th, $75 thereafter and at the door. Reservations may be made by calling 773.927.POLO(7656). Guests may also take advantage of free parking.

Celebrity guests and special offers are in the offing. Already on the guest list, DJ Al Greer of WKKC 89.3 FM will be on hand to join revelers in ringing in the second decade of this century. The first 10 ladies and gentleman to arrive before 9pm will receive complimentary gift bags sponsored by Halsik Cosmeceutical and including gift certificates for subsequent visits to Polo Cafe & Catering in Bridgeport. The first 20 people who visit FirePointMusicCompany.com and sign up for the ChillZoneVIP mailing list, will receive one complimentary drink.

Providing entertainment for the evening, FirePoint Music Company is pleased to present an evening of top Chicago musical performers including, Aperture, voted “Best Band” in 2009 at St. Helen’s Festival, acclaimed local Jazz great Peter Lerner, whose latest album charted to #25 on the national Jazz charts, and the Tony Alvarez Band.

This event will be held at the Polo Cafe & Catering, Bridgeport Chicago, in the elegant Old Eagle Ballroom, a former theatre which, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, “has some of the best acoustics in the City,” in addition to finely appointed décor including dark Mahogany wood floors, a custom Chandelier, and a marble top bar. The Buffet will be planned and prepared by renowned area chef and restaurateur David Samber, sure to include a delicious and eclectic mix of home style cooking and sophisticated cuisine that Polo Cafe and Catering is known for.

To claim a complimentary drink for yourself, visit FirePointMusicCompany.com. To confirm your reservations, call 773.972.POLO(7656). Space is limited so call today.

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The Music Station is pleased to announce their arrival in Beverly at the location of the former World Music Company, 1808 W. 103rd Street, just steps away from the 103rd Street Metra station. The new music school and store is a joint venture of Mike Vanier and Ivan Martirena. Both partners are Berklee School of Music graduates holding degrees in guitar performance, with roots in the Beverly neighborhood. Vanier was born and raised here, while Martirena currently resides in west Beverly. Mike Vanier has worked as a music teacher and active performer for nearly ten years. Martirena, also an active performer, additionally owns and manages the successful Dr. Fretgood Music Store on the North side in Bucktown.

The new management aims to make this transition as smooth and easy for students and staff as possible. The Music Station will retain many of the staff of the now defunct World Music Company, and continue classes and lessons of WMC students. While there are plans for many improvements, private guitar, piano, and drum lessons will still be offered, most with the same teachers and schedules. The popular Infant and Toddler classes and Little Folkies classes will still be available to the community.

The concert space will continue to be active, though with some differences. Jeannie McQueenie Productions will be handling the performance space, offering arts outreach programs, childrens entertainment, and reading enrichment. Run by Beverly resident Jean Vanier, former director of Childrens theatre at the Beverly Arts Center, Vanier plans to bring to the community and local schools, a wider array of arts oriented programming and educational opportunities. Also on the drawing board, will be classes and workshops in musical theatre, improv, and other dramatic arts disciplines. “Beverly is a family community, and I will work to continue the perception that this is a great place to raise a family and offer growing children a well-rounded education and quality, constructive activities.” More information about Jeannie McQueenie Productions can be found online at http://www.JeannieMcQueenie.com/, and they will be presenting one of their programs on December 11th at the Blue Moon CoffeeHouse. The performance space will also be available for rentals by musicians, entertainers, and planners of special events, meetings, and private parties.

The Music Station has slated their grand opening for January 8th, 2010. Featured will be music, spirits and lots of food. The community is invited to participate in a sampling of the variety of different instructors and their specialty instruments.

Beginning at 10:00 am on Saturday, October 24th, the Beverly Area Merchants of 99th and Walden Parkway will roll out the welcome mats and close off the street to traffic for a free family harvest festival featuring food, entertainment, and bargains!

Beginning at 11:00 am, Calabria Imports of 1905 W. 103rd Street offers Hot Dogs and fresh hot chips until 2pm. Loads of activities for kids and families will be available. There will be free face painting from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, cookie decorating at Cakewalk Chicago, 1741 W. 99th Street, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, a children’s musical variety show from 12:30 to 1:30 pm at Bluemoon Coffeehouse, 1742 W. 99th Street, a Puppet Show called Buddy the Bus at 1:45 pm, and Taffy Apples available all day long, courtesy of My Sister’s Knits, 9907 S. Walden Pkwy. For $1.00, there will be pumpkin painting from 10:30 – 1:00 pm, and you may have your picture taken inside the Great Pumpkin for $5.00 all day long.

For moms and dads, the merchants of 99th and Walden area will have their doors open and their newest fall and holiday stock available. The Blossom Boys, European Floral Designers at 9911 S. Walden Pkwy will offer 20% on all Halloween Merchandise and Gifts. Next door, boutiques Ms. Priss and My Sister’s Knits will offer 15% and 20% off sales all day. Cakewalk Chicago and Bluemoon Coffeehouse will both offer discounts and sales on their culinary offerings.

Local artisans Dan McCabe, pottery, Lulu Bell, jewelry, Laura Hubka, millinery, and Christine Funk, photography, will also be on hand.

The Bluemoon Coffeehouse will be unveiling their new website, by ChicagoCreativeDesign.com, at the event. Chicago Creative specializes in making enterprise level web solutions and marketing accessible to small businesses and has also developed TheBlossomBoys.com among many others.

The Puppet Show, Buddy the Bus, is based on a children’s book by Chicagoan Brian Jones, and the stage adaptation will be presented by Jeannie McQueenie Production’s Jean Vanier, an area reading enrichment and outreach presenter.

The Fall Festival at 99th and Walden offers the community a chance to enjoy an afternoon of family fun, get to know these unique merchants, enjoy the fall weather, and begin your holiday shopping. The Festival will be held from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm, Saturday, October 24th, at corner of 99th Street and Walden Parkway in Chicago.

Irish Singer Cara Dillon has, so far, released four albums to critical acclaim. Her newest album, “Hill of Thieves” is due for release on Tuesday, September 15th. On the 18th, Dillon and band come to Chicago at World Music Company, 1808 W. 103rd Street, to present a full length concert and kick off Chicago’s World Music Festival 2009. This concert will be a rare opportunity for stateside audiences to hear the live debut of the music from “Hill of Thieves” in an intimate concert setting.

Cara Dillon’s “Hill of Thieves” has been released and well received in the UK. This Friday’s concert will be the first time US audiences will be able to hear material from the new album live. It will also be the opening feature of Chicago’s World Music Festival. In the UK publication The Guardian, journalist Robin Denselow reviews the album as “a cool, relaxed treatment of almost exclusively traditional songs on which Dillon’s singing is as fine as ever”. Writing for the Belfast Telegraph, Nigel Gould says of Dillon and the album, “Blessed with the voice of an angel, Dillon gently eases the listener through a series of deliciously uplifting tunes.”

The World Music Company offers lessons, classes, family activities, a Jazz series, and the annual Concert Series. The Concert Series aims to bring a wide and varied array of entertainers and musical performances to Chicago’s south side. It is the only venue like this in the immediate area. World Music Company is located at 1808 W. 103rd Street. Their website can be found at http://www.WorldMusicCompany.org/.

This year’s World Music Festival brings to Chicago fifty seven artists, fifty five events, 21 venues, with the music of thirty two countries represented. Kicking off the fest, The World Music Company, 1808 W. 103rd Street, is pleased to present Cara Dillon in concert at 8pm on Friday, September 18th.

Dillon hails from Northern Ireland, and has been singing and performing since a very young age. She won the All Ireland Singing Trophy at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, at age 14. She has since gone on to sing and play with a number of the UK’s biggest folk bands. She met her now husband and collaborator Sam Lakeman in the band Equation in the mid-nineties. The pair formed a strong musical bond with Lakeman as Guitarist/Pianist/Producer, and Dillon as vocalist. Their original music combines traditional Celtic influences with modern sensibilities, and blends well with the Celtic traditional and standards that are a part of their performing repertoire. Dillon’s albums have been well received and have prompted comparison to another great UK vocalist, Kate Bush, along with many other critical accolades.

The World Music Company is a Not-For-Profit school of music located in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood. In addition to music classes and activities for children and adults, World Music Company presents a concert series every year from September through May. This year’s concert series is funded in part by a City Arts grant, and features Cara Dillon on September 18th in cooperation with the World Music Festival Chicago. All performances take place in the World Music Company Concert Hall, a comfortable, intimate space. Dillon and band will perform a full evening of original and traditional music from 8-10:30. More information on Dillon, including video clips, is available at www.WorldMusicCompany.org. Tickets are only $15 and may be purchased online or by calling 773.779.7059.

Sample music and buy tickets.

The Chicago Air & Water Show is the largest spectator event in the United States and the longest ongoing show of its kind in North America. This year’s event will take place on August 15 and August 16, from 10 am – 4 pm, at North Avenue Beach. The Air & Water portions are now combined into one continuous show. View a slideshow!

2009 Performers

Air Show Headliners

• U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds

• U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights

• U.S. Navy Parachute Team Leap Frogs

Civilian Aircraft

• Aeroshell Aerobatic Team

• Sean D. Tucker & Team Oracle

• Lime Lima Flight Team

• Chicago Fire Department Air/Sea Rescue

• Lima Lima Flight Crew

• Sean D. Tucker & Team Oracle

• The Firebirds Delta Team

• Ed Hamill – Air Force Reserve Bi-Plane

• Red Bull Mig

• Red Bull Helicopter

Pilot – Chuck Aaron

• P-51 Mustang

• Chicago Fire Department Air/Sea Rescue

Military

• C-130

• F-15

• F-16

• A-10 Demo

• B-1B

• Apache Helicopter

• Black Hawk Helicopter

• KC-135

• KC-10

• C-17

• U.S. Coast Guard Air/Sea Recsue

Announcer

• Herb Hunter

The Chicago Country Music Fest, one of the City’s newest fests, is pleased to announce that this year, 2009, one of Country Music’s highest flying young starts, Miranda Lambert, will headline.

Chicago Mayor Daley is a country music fan and rallied for a Chicago Country Music Festival in the city. Chicago is home to a vast number of country singers/songwriters and bands here.

the inaugural Chicago Country Music Festival was held in 1991. It was a two-day event, held on city streets, near Sheffield and Weed Street. Over 40,000 country music fans turned out in 99 degree heat to watch an extensive talent line-up, featuring everything from clog dancers and square dancers to the singing group The Texas Tornadoes, Rodney Crowell and Pam Tillis. Music critics gave it a thumbs up for the variety of country music offered. Because of the big crowds, it was decided to move the event the following year to Grant Park to accommodate the crowds.

For 16 years, the Chicago Country Music Festival took place on the first weekend of Taste of Chicago, the city’s premier culinary event. It was considered a festival within a festival. Country music was featured on two music stages and performers over the years have included Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Wynonna, Yonder Mountain String Band, Randy Travis, Loretta Lynn and the father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe.

In 2008, the Chicago Country Music Festival moved out from the Taste of Chicago to a new location and a new date. The festival moved to Soldier Field Parkland. Large crowds turned out for Gretchen Wilson, Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift, among others. The Best Buy Honky Tonk Stage and the Americana Stage rounded out the talent lineup. Also added was a Kids Corral and Dance Tent.

The festival is moving again – to Oct. 3 & 4, 2009 in Grant Park. Headlining this year’s fest is Miranda Lambert.

The World Music Company at 1808 West 103^rd Street is pleased to welcome to our stage Chicago’s own, The Frantic on August 6^th at 6:30 pm for an all-ages evening of punk influenced, hard rockin’ fun!

Aside from the local interest (band members hail from the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago), is their youth and their almost fairytale-like story of being “discovered” and embarking on a rise to prominence in the music scene. Two of the band members are still not old enough to be served alcohol at establishments where they play.

According to guitarist-vocalist Kyle Dee in an interview, The Frantic were opening at the Beat Kitchen for The Riverboat Gamblers, and producer Andrew Murdock (aka Mudrock, Godsmack, Alice Cooper, Avenged Sevenfold) happened to catch their act and took an interest. They were soon on an airplane out to LA and recording their first album, Audio and Murder for the indie label Sinister Muse Records.

In spite of their youth, the band can truthfully say they have logged over ten years together. Two band members are brothers, and the others from the same area. These guys literally grew up playing music together. And their time, experience, and dedication shine through on their album and in their live performance. Journalist Jim DeRogatis called them “one of the best I caught at the prestigious (South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin)” in a review published in 2008. Check out a video on our videos section.

Promising and on the rise, The Frantic are still into giving their best onstage and, in their own words “shaking hands with the audience”. The intimate space at The World Music Company will afford both fans and the band the perfect venue for getting to know each other and enjoying an evening of hard hitting rock.

The Frantic appears on stage August 6^th at 6:30 pm. Tickets are only $10 and may be purchased by calling 773.779.7059. Visit WorldMusicCompany.org for more information.

You’ve no doubt heard all about it. Blogging is all the rage online nowadays. You’ve probably seen websites or gotten emails claiming you can make thousands per month just by blogging. It follows, then, that you may want to know more about what blogging is, what its advantages are, and how it can help your own interests or help you to get online easily and affordably.

In its original form, a “blog” was a term derived from “Weblog”, or a type of online journal or diary. In the beginning, it was more or less just a pastime for programmers and the very tech-savvy. Individuals would maintain a personal site, and maintain a diary of their work, hobbies, or just about anything else they felt like writing about.  At the same time as the “blog” was becoming popular, over the last five years or so, CMS, or Content Management Systems also were becoming more popular. A Content Management System is defined most frequently as, a control panel type portion of a website, that allows owners to update the website using a series of web forms. As technology improved, the Content Management System came to be a viable and cost-effective way for businesses to host and maintain websites. As the demand for more affordable online alternatives has grown, many blog style websites have changed to become better adaptable to business usage.

SO WHERE’S THE BLOGGING RICHES?

One of the key points that came to be discovered about blogs, was that by design, they would come to include many, many pages of textual content that could be read and evaluated by search engine programs. Many blogs that were fairly focused in their content, began to climb to the top of search listings. Picking up on this, online marketers began to use blogs as a way to get focused websites online, filled with content, and housing advertising for which they get paid, either by direct sales or from user clicks. Most of the online “programs” to get rich blogging, will tell you to set up a blog, focused on some sort of popular topic or special interest, start writing articles in it, and show you where to sign up for some online advertising programs, that could make you a lot of money if your amount of traffic and clicks  reaches to the thousands per month (”actual results may vary” disclaimer here!). If this is what you aspire to do, be aware that it may turn out to be a long hard road, and may only amount to a small supplemental income after considerable time investment. And, as of this writing, a lot of people have already tried this.

There are, however, some positive points to be learned from the lessons of the blog explosion. As far as the Search Optimization, it is true that websites with lots of content, and particularly textual content, will do better attracting better search listings and the resulting traffic. Take, for instance, a plumber’s website. Hopefully, they would do pretty well coming up for people searching for a plumber in their locale. If that website also has a page of tips on how to check your faucet, or decide if it really is time to call a plumber about that troublesome faucet in your spare bathroom, that website might also come up on top for a search like “faucet repair in Dolton”. Hopefully, every page of the website features the company name and phone number prominently so it is easy for people to contact them no matter which page of the site people are sent to.

Another advantage of a blog website, is that it can be easily updated, or that content can be removed when it is no longer applicable. Say your business hosts events. They can be announced in a timely manner, and immediately removed when they are past. If your business relies on sponsorships or partnerships with other businesses, you can always offer mention on your blog style website.

One of the most prominent, popular, and thoroughly developed blog website solutions is called WordPress. WordPress is basically, a turnkey blog website that you can download free of charge, follow some simple instructions, and have it up and running on most commercial web hosts very quickly. There are a number of options that allow you to make it appear as much or as little like a blog as you desire. You can create a custom home page, or “landing page”. You could, for example, create categories for different types of stock you carry, then create “postings” in those categories, that are a picture and description of each product in that category. When you sell out of that product, it is a simple matter of logging into your website control panel and deleting that post.

EVALUATE YOUR SKILLS

Many people say that using a WordPress blog is “as easy as using MySpace”. On the one hand, this is quite correct. On the other hand, there are still people who find MySpace a little confusing or difficult to use. It is important to be honest with yourself about your computer skills, and at what point you would need to seek outside help. You will also need to give some thought to how much you will want to customize your website. The available turnkey blog websites offer a pretty basic look and feel just coming out of the box. You may need to get into some involved graphic editing or actual code modification to get an exact look and feel you are seeking.

There are two pluses about blogs and WordPress. As far as posting content, uploading pictures, basic maintenance, and the like, a blog style website can be maintained by someone who is adept with computer usage and the internet. These days, many young people have grown up using computers, and the requirements of even basic administrative and clerical jobs include a fair amount of computing knowledge. There is likely someone in your office who could handle day to day maintenance of your blog style website. For those interested in finding out more, there is a wealth of online resources dedicated to the use and knowledge of WordPress websites, such as that found at http://www.WordPressHacking.com/.

If you do feel that your website will require extensive design and functionality customization, you will find that programmers and design companies are able to work with packages like WordPress to help you design a website that will be easily maintainable and best suit your needs, and it is usually quite a bit more affordable than starting from scratch and building a website from the ground up. The company Chicago Creative Design, for example, creates custom websites from WordPress starting at only $600.00.

The DIY website revolution is upon us. Many people will try to tell you how easy it is. Hopefully, the information in this article has given you a clear and true idea of what is really involved in using a blog style website for your business. A couple examples of Chicago area businesses using custom WordPress websites can be found online at http://www.WorldMusicCompany.org/ or at http://www.TheBlossomBoys.com/.