On the road: ALCon 2012, Chicago, July 7, 2012

Well, the big day finally came. After practicing for six months and packing an enormous amount of gear, driving 120 to 200 miles, and preparing specially selected sets, the Astronomy Magazine Blues Band was ready for our debut. It would come on the last day of ALCon 2012 in Chicago, the annual meeting of the Astronomical League, which took place at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort in northwest suburban Chicago, Illinois. Following three straight days of incredibly busy activities, Saturday turned out to be more laid back.

The morning featured several more talks by amateur astronomers. The enthusiastic and ambitious Gerry Kocken of the Green Bay area described refurbishing his mammoth 10-inch Alvan Clark refractor; James Roe shared outreach activities he has conducted in eastern Missouri; Raymond Rienks told the group about his telescopic drawings; Bert Stephens talked about observations of asteroids; and Sue Rose described her image processing of digital astrophotos.

Three youth award winners were also on hand and talked about their projects. Justin Tieman of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, told the audience about his “Alien Worlds” project. Travis Le of Aica, Hawaii, then talked about his interest and work in solar astronomy. And Ben Palmer, a name familiar to many of you as Youth Committee Chair of the Astronomy Foundation, described his outreach activities that captured the Jack Horkheimer/Smith Award.

In the late afternoon, attendees readied themselves for the awards banquet, which would include director David Gaynes’ great film Saving Hubble, and the Astronomy Magazine Blues Band, featuring Megan Bobo (vocals), Steve Kryscio (vocals, guitar, and saxophone), Keith Bauer (guitar), Jeff Felbab (guitar), Mike Soliday (bass guitar and vocals), Ron Kovach (Hammond B3 organ), and me (drums and vocals).

I wish I could tell you that the event went completely smoothly. A few people in the crowd of about 175 were apparently surprised that a live band produces significant sound, and were distressed. John Goss, vice president of the Astronomical League, confronted us, so we turned down as much as possible and carried on. We played the first “rock” set with Steve Kryscio, with stops and starts, as we were interrupted several times by Goss. As League president Carroll Iorg said afterward, “95 percent of the people loved the music, and a few people complained about the noise.” We jammed out “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” “Green River,” “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Squeeze Box,” “Born on the Bayou,” “The Weight,” “White Room,” “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” “The Waiting,” “Crossroads,” and “Long Live Rock.”

The dinner was great and the Hubble movie terrific. If you have not seen it, I encourage you to do so. The film’s director, David, is an extremely nice fellow and deserves the whole community’s support.

Our “blues set,” following the movie, was a little smoother. This time, however, the organizers surprised us by claiming we could not play past a certain hour and that we had only a few minutes rather than the whole hour. We started with our singer Megan Bobo and actually ended up playing seven songs of 10, with those who had never heard and were bothered by a live band having left, and a good and enthusiastic bunch of maybe 150 remained.

We hammered out “It Hurts So Bad,” “Rock Me Right,” “Key to the Highway,” “The Thrill is Gone,” “Superstition,” “Statesboro Blues,” “Voodoo Woman,” and “Something to Talk About” before they told us the time was up. The crowd enjoyed the show enormously, and it’s a shame that it was marred by the kind of disorganization and dysfunction that characterized parts of the whole convention. Ah well. Throughout the night, my son Chris Eicher filmed the event, and we will, after editing, have a movie of the show for those who wish to see it.

The AMBB will be appearing elsewhere in the future where the crowd understands that bands create sound! Ha.

Thanks to the many who helped us, and who said they loved the show! And be sure to check out all the images from our sets and the rest of ALCon in the Reader Photo Gallery.

Related blogs:

ALCon 2012, Chicago, July 6

ALCon 2012, Chicago, July 5

ALCon 2012, Chicago, July 4