It’s the first real week after the holidays, and you’re pretty much broke. But you want to have fun. Every week, this town has free shows, events that probably make you suspicious because they’re free.
But between curators that cull through thousands of bands and acts looking for the best, to bands that evince an amazing quality of musicianship and art galleries that offer a museum-quality experience, you can spend hours whiling away your weekend — and not pay a cent.
Not that free means cheap … or bad.
For the past seven years, The Hoyle Brothers have been playing a honky-tonk set at the Empty Bottle. It’s country music any way you like it — butter smooth or gritty — as long as you want it beautifully played.
“I think the free thing probably came from the idea that it’s hard enough to get people to even cross the street to hear live music,” says Lance Helgeson, drummer for The Hoyle Brothers. “So our thinking is that it gives them an incentive to come out.”
They work for tips, when they pass a tip jar around, and a piece of the bar if more than 50 people come out. There are evenings when they clear about $10 per member (of a quintet) after they pay the sound man his $50. So the Hoyles aren’t living the rock-star life.
But man, are they good.
“I think we hear more often than not the comment ‘Hey, this is free? I can’t believe this is free,’ ” Helgeson said. “That impression is going to be a lasting one, and they’re going to come back.”
This is all part of the band’s goal of staying together, playing out and making great music. Sure, they’d love to be touring on jets, making $80,000 per man and living the life. But sometimes, as the title of a ditty done by the Flat Duo Jets suggests, “Dreams Don’t Cost A Thing.”
“We’re living the dream in our own way,” Helgeson said.
Like the Empty Bottle, the Chicago Cultural Center could have lots of bands playing there for free. Culling from the thousands of solicitations to find not only the best, but the best bands that fit the venue’s mission, is hard work. Brian Keigher, along with Mike Orlove, does the curatorial work to make it all go. The Cultural Center has hosted shows ranging from a European free jazz colossus to an Indian classical music performer. All have been brilliant, and all have been free.
“We pride ourselves on paying the artists and nurturing these musicians,” Keigher said. “We just really feel like we’re giving back to Chicago.”
As the Hoyles have found, audiences ebb and flow, with no seeming correlation to these funky times. People strapped for cash aren’t seeking out free stuff in droves … yet. But it’s all about audience building, as Keigher was quick to remind.
“I would hope that people already know about the caliber of our talent, rather than ‘We’re going to these shows because they’re free,’ ” Keigher said. “It’s a fine line between our desire to draw an audience, but hoping that people will have the interest in a series.
“But at least they came to experiment and hear some music.”
