May I Help You?

The Reader’s Digest version for May!  I’m playing at Old Town School of Folk Music on Thursday May 9th in Szold Hall as part of the “Teacher Feature”.  I teach there & they’re being kind enough to feature me playing my music.  I’ll try to not to disappoint. I play at 9:30pm and tickets are only $5.  Click here for more info!  Oh… there’s an open mic before my performance so if you’re inclined please sign up for that.

Phil Angotti’s CD Release show at SPACE has been rescheduled to Wed May 29th .

Early warning:  I’ll be opening for some of my childhood rock heroes The Tubes at City Winery on Friday June 28th.  Tix & Info here.

Sun Jun 2nd 4-5pm Ambient Guitar concert at Wholelife Expo 2013 at Schaumberg Convention Center.  More info at the link above!

April Come You Will, Maybe?

First off I would like to thank Dave Sills again for playing my March residency show at Wishbone, and for letting me play guitar & sing with him.  Big thanks to all of you who attended & made the night really fun!  Also, thanks to those who came to Martyrs to support Phil Angotti Band for part 1 of the CD release celebration for Phil’s new LP “Life and Rhymes” (and big thanks to Brad Elvis, Chloe Orwell, and Ellis Clark for joining in–you all sounded great!)  April is looking to be a busy one, especially in the middle of the month, so I’ll get right to it:

Monday April 15th @ City Winery, 8PM (6pm doors) Music of Paul McCartney played by Phil Angotti, Steve Dawson & Co (featuring Carolyn Engelmann on keyboards/vocals, Casey McDonough on bass/vocals, and Tommi Zender on drums/percussion).  We’ll be reprising the bulk of the “Ram” LP (or 8-track tape if you prefer) as well as some key tracks from “Band On The Run” and other 70′s McCartney/Wings tunes.  Tickets and more info at the link above.  Watch us play “Band on The Run” from a show at SPACE in Evanston last year.

Now for more good news:  Phil Angotti’s new CD is officially released!

Thursday April 18th @ 7:30pm - Phil Angotti Band @ SPACE in Evanston. This will be the CD release (part 2) for “Life and Rhymes”.  The CDs are here and they will be available at this show.  SPACE is a great listening room; tickets are available at the link above.  Phil’s backing band for this show will be Tommi Zender on guitars/vocals, Charlie Short on bass/vocals, Jim Barclay on drums.  Opening act is Eric Howell & The Supplements.  Preview &/or buy Phil’s new record at CD Baby or get mp3′s on Amazon

And… the last show of Tommi’s spring residency series is…

Tommi Zender w/Mark William Johnson @ Wishbone – Sunday April 21st, 7-9pm.  Tommi has been accompanying Mark on/off for about 25 years.  Mark is a talented soulful singer & songwriter who is unfortunately kind of a well-kept secret on the Chicago music scene. (this is due to the fact he is often found running the Tiny Lounge)  This will be the LAST SHOW in the residency series, as curator Miki Greenberg is headed to work at the new Wishbone downtown (congrats Miki!)  Like I said, it’s the last one so you don’t want to miss it.  Tommi will accompany Mark in his set, as well as perform many of his own originals (and SOMEONE lucky will take the “Karaeoke Challenge”).  There is no cover charge for this show.  Great music, food, drink, company.

Other things for you to check out this month… the beat goes on!

Ron Sexsmith & Band @ City Winery – Thurs April 11th 8pm (doors at 6)  Ron is an amazing singer-songwriter who you should hear play live.

Happy Chichester – New LP “Torchwood Loop”  My friend from Ohio has recently released his new record.  You may know Happy from his work with Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers, RJD2, Brad, or as a founding member of Royal Crescent Mob & Howling Maggie.  His solo work is worth hearing, and he is a fellow multi-instrumentalist who plays every instrument on his record.  Check out the single “Motorbike”  He is a very engaging live performer–hopefully we’ll get him to visit Chicago again soon.

 

March Melodies

Thanks to everyone who made the February Wishbone Residency so much fun.  Thanks to Phil Angotti, Jim Barclay & Dave Budrys for playing (and our special guest Karaeoke Challenger Annabelle Barclay did a great job too).

The next residency show is Sunday March 24th, 7-9pm.  (Moved from the usual 3rd Sunday to the 4th in honor St Patrick’s Day.)  My special guest is my friend singer-songwriter Dave Sills.  I play bass & sing in Dave’s band, and I had the pleasure of playing some electric guitar on his fine LP “Sea of Strangers”.  I will accompany Dave on some of his songs this evening, & we will try out a new format where we’ll trade blocks of 3-4 songs over an hour & 20 minutes.  There will be a Karaeoke Challenge contestant TBA (and Dave Sills may or may not take the challenge… tune in to see!)  Here’s a handsome photo of Dave.  You may click on it to learn more about his music.

Thanks to Shelley Miller & The BCC for asking me to sit in & play drums for the Beloit Fillm Fest in February.  Here’s a photo from our performance.

Friday March 15th is the celebration performance for Phil Angotti’s record “Life in Rhymes” at Martyr’s.  We play about 10:30; the middle band of 3.  In addition to myself (on guitars/vox) and Carolyn Englemann (keyboards/vox) our band will include special guests Brad Elvis, Chloe Orwell, Ellis Clark, and Charlie Short.  Tickets are available here.

I’ll also be playing an opening acoustic mini-set for Black Dog House Concerts in Rogers Park on Saturday March 23rd… more details TBA.

For those who like to plan ahead Sunday April 21st my guest at the Wishbone Residency will be Mark William Johnson.  

Tommi Zender & Friends will play at the Old Town School of Folk Music in May on Thursday 5/9, details TBA.

Also there will be a show at Simon’s Tavern on Sunday May 26th, 9pm.

That’s all for now.  Cheers!

February Fun

Thanks to everyone who came out & helped us make the first of my Sunday residency shows at Wishbone so much fun.  Kudos to Marc Teamaker, who played a great set, and helped out in my set on extra guitars & vocals.  Also to Kelley Gant from Kansas City, MO who did a great walk-on, no rehearsal “Karaeoke Challenge” version of Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine”.  And to Miki & the staff at Wishbone for being great hosts.  (photo above by Lee Klawans)

Next Wishbone Residency show is:  Sunday February 17th, 7-9pm and will feature the acoustic trio of myself w/Dave Budrys & Jim Barclay and very special guest Phil Angotti.  We will perform 2 sets; there is no cover charge.

Coming up quick:  Thursday Jan 31st, Phil Angotti & co present Paul McCartney’s “Band on The Run” @ Reggies for classic album night.  I’ll be on drums.  Show is at 8:30 pm with The Clash’s 1st LP being performed, then BOTR (us!) followed by Androgynous Mustache doing Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers classic debut LP.  Cover is $7.  2105 S State St.

Sunday Feb 3 I’ll be the guest artist performer for services at Bodhi Spiritual Center at 9:00 and 11:00am.

Friday Feb 8 I’ll sit in on guitars/soundscapes with Mike Cohen Kirtan Group at Bodhi Spiritual Center.  Show at 9pm; Mike’s group starts at about 10pm. (event info at the link here)

Tuesday Feb 12 a rare duo show with Mark William Johnson (Ruben Waters Loves You, Tiny Lounge) and myself on guitar/vocals at Martyrs opening for Soundtrack Serenade Valentine’s Day Spectacular (which I’m guessing will include many movie classic songs relating to the theme).  We’ll be performing Mark’s songs.  Buy tix here.  Show at 8pm, $7.

 

 

Next Wishbone Residency show is:  Sunday February 17th, 7-9pm and will feature the acoustic trio of myself w/Dave Budrys & Jim Barclay and very special guest Phil Angotti.  We will perform 2 sets; there is no cover charge.

 

January 2013 Musical Happenings

Happy New Year to everyone!

My Wishbone on Lincoln Ave monthly residency series begins this month.  Sun Jan 20th on the eve of the Martin Luther King holiday  Marc Teamaker will be my special guest.  We will both play sets & accompany each other too.  The show runs 7-9pm, it’s all ages, with no cover charge.  Wishbone serves excellent reasonably-priced comfort food & drink.  Click here to listen to a song of Marc’s that we’ll play.

Saturday Jan 26th @ Old Town School – Prince Tribute Show.  My friend saxophonist extraordinaire Chris Greene will join me to play this event along with guest bandmates TBA.

Also on Sunday Feb 3rd I will at Bodhi Spiritual Center as the guest singer/performer with the great house band for Bodhi’s services at 9am and 11am.  Last year I did this, performing James Taylor’s “Shower The People” and it was a lot of fun.

The February 17th Wishbone residency date will feature a Tommi Zender & Friends acoustic trio formation w/very special guest TBA.  The March date will shift to the 4th Sunday 3.24.13 to avoid St Patricks Day; guest TBA.

Namaste!

Kirtan Concert, Art Rock Ensemble class & 2013 Wishbone Residency

Thanks to everyone who came to hear Phil Angotti Band @ Martyrs the Friday after Thanksgiving (pictured above).  It was a great show.  I’ll have a couple video clips to post from the show soon.

Here are some upcoming events for me:

Friday Dec 14th Kirtan concert with Mike Cohen & Co. @ Bodhi Spiritual Center, 9pm.  I’ll be contributing electric guitar lines & atmospherics along with some very talented instrumentalists (Alexander Duvel, Steve Emmerman & more).  Chanting/singing en masse is powerful stuff & Bodhi is a wonderful place to experience it.  This is recommended for ANYONE–all ages, regardless of previous musical experience.  ;)

Link to the event on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/events/369688606458570/?fref=ts%20–

New Classes at Old Town School in January 2013:  Art Rock Ensemble

Class starts Wed Jan 9th at 8pm in the East building in Lincoln Square. It’ll be co-taught by myself & multi-instrumentalist Bob Goins.  Come explore the music of Peter Gabriel, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Kate Bush, Wire, John Cale, Bowie & more!  Early sign-up discount code is NEWYEAR13.  This is good through 12.24.12. Other classes I’m teaching include Guitar 4, Guitar 3 Rep (both at Lincoln Square) and Beyond Guitar 3 (at 909 Armitage).  Visit the link below for full class listing and more information.

https://www.oldtownschool.org/teachers/Tommi-Zender/

Also, I’m very excited to announce my Wishbone Residency in 2013.  More details to follow soon, but essentially it’ll be 7 to 9pm the 3rd Sunday of each month and the shows are all-ages.  My first guest Sunday Jan 20th (the eve of the Martin Luther King holiday) is the fabulously talented Marc Teamaker (click link to preview audio).

Marc is a recent transplant from the NYC/east coast area.  He & I will both perform sets as well as perform with each other.  Visit Marc on Facebook.  Wishbone has amazing food & drink, a great staff, and a wonderful space for acoustic music with ample seating. The picture below is from a performance with Alaina Stacey; with Wishbone manager/host Miki Greenberg also pictured (right standing).

Tommi Zender – New Website, Show Updates, Teaching (11.2012)

This is a new official website to announce music-related activity I’m involved with.  I’m excited to share updates/links in a more timely manner.  There will be more content to come.  Cheers!

NEW SHOW:  Friday 11.23.12 @ Martyrs - w/Phil Angotti Band (feat Tz, Jim Barclay, Dave Budrys, & Alton Smith) opening the evening, then Anna Fermin plays, followed by Falldown (record release feat drummer Jordan Kozar).

Watch Phil Angotti Band play “Tomorrow Never Knows” at Park West.

———————–

Sat 10.27.12 @ Martyrs w/Phil Angotti appearing as The Bee Gees on Halloweekend (band also features Casey McDonough, Ellis Clark, and Alton Smith… TZ on drums for this one) Many other great acts appearing–click the link for full list of Fri/Sat eve line-ups; show at 9pm.  Tix are $10 advance/$12 day of show.

Sun 11.4.12 @ Wishbone (on Lincoln N of Belmont) Tommi Zender solo show with very special guest Alaina Stacey.  Show at 7pm; great food & drink avail, no cover charge. Tommi will play some with Alaina & visa versa, it’ll be great.

Upcoming classes at Old Town School of Folk Music (link for OTS website)

Guitar 3 – Tues at 8pm, 909 Armitage (Oct 30 – Dec 18)

Guitar 3 – Wed at 6pm in Lincoln Square (Oct 31 – Dec 19)

Guitar 3 Repertoire – Sundays at noon in Lincoln Square (Nov 4 – Dec 23)