Category — music

Cupid's Loveshack party flyer

Appetizers from LA SCAROLA • Desserts from DESSERT CONCEPTS
Special guest performance by singer-songwriter DAKOTA
LIVE JAZZ music by Steve Biossat at The Deep City Band
DJ BOOGIEMAN • Sweet DOOR PRIZES • And much MORE!

$10 tickets: http://cupidsloveshack.eventbrite.com/
$15 at the door

Wear RED or PINK and your first cocktail is on CUPID!
PLUS… $6 SWEETIE-TINIS!

JenChicago, NBC Chicago Street Team
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Or even better, WATCH all about it! The weekend starts early with a performance and celebration this Thursday at The Joynt. Cellist Ian Maksin will be performing, with special guests, songs from his new CD, Solo Flight. The night is also the launch of the newly released CD, so expect plenty of celebrating to go along with the unique and soulful music of Ian Maskin.

Want a little taste? Watch below as I host a “Gimme 5!” interview with “The Cello Man”.

This event was also listed twice in Time Out this week!

http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/opera-classical/82091/ian-maskin-at-heaven-gallery-and-the-joynt-concert-preview

http://chicago.timeout.com/bars-clubs/river-north/17511/the-joynt

Have an awesome day and we hope you decide to explore Ian’s music with us on Thursday! Embrace something DIFFERENT this week!

Hi everyone, I’m JenChicago and you’re watching The SAUCE. We had a very full week, last week so let’s get into it, shall we?

Starting Wednesday, Tiffany Junta, Karen Kovach and I hosted the learning of the Thriller dance downstairs in the retro room. We were joined by Steve Green, of course, Angela Woodward, Sarah Vargo John Abels, Chris Mahlmann and Michelle Reed. We practiced until we were sweaty, ate some pizza and then remembered to commemorate the union of fun with a picture. I love you guys for playing with me! Meanwhile, upstairs, Stella Foster of the Sun Times chatted with “I on The Scene’s” Irene Michaels, birthday girl Roni Siegel, and Irina Kaiser. The classy ladies had such a good time listening to Kenny and the Deep City Band, Stella mentioned it in her Sun Times column . Mm-hmm. If you don’t know what you are missing on Wednesday nights, here’s a taste. [video of Kenny singing]

In the words of Stella Foster, on a Wednesday night. “That’s a jam!”

Then, Thursday night, Chef Lloyd and I are discussing the menu when Junta rolls in. Tiffany is one of my many smart and pretty friends and is also the Director of Sales over at Devon-yum!- So once she hears of the impending menu redesign, she whips off her jacket and 4 hours later, we have a new menu called “small bites for late nights” and it even includes dessert. Mmm! I love it. And so will you.

So then, the Halloween celebration started off on Friday and one of the highlights has to be DJ Jack dressed up as Stan. He had the slicked back hair, the draping tie, and even walked around with a snifter of Crown Royal. Only the “die hards” dressed up on Friday, but Saturday was a different story…

First of all, Stan and Paul’s costumes didn’t make it here in time, even though I paid $40 in priority shipping and the site said it would. There was only ONE site that had sheep costumes, which I found rather odd, but anyway, it’s in the past and I have every confidence they will refund ALL of my money, yada-ya, but… in the meantime, I was short 2 black sheep costumes and knew I would have to MAKE costumes! More like “I wanted to” but whatever. So, I come up with a plan that consists of black sweat suits, with socks for ears and black batting all over. Batting is like stuffing for a quilt, so of course, you can’t buy it at your Walgreens or 7-11. No problem. I go to Michaels and buy WHITE batting. Then I beg Stan to buy me some contraband black spray paint with his commercial account. Long story short, I spray painted the batting on Paul’s costume first and shortly realized those guys would be high as a kites with a killer headache if I made them wear spray paint all night. But it would have looked cool. So Stan was a good sport and let me sew some ears and a tail on a hoodie as he took Theresa, Karen and I to Ari’s party. BTW, Ryan and Jack- you guys owe me $5 a piece because anything with ears definitely counts as a costume.

So, The Graveyard Millionaire Party!! What an amazing concert of coordination and attention to detail! Ari, dressed as Wolverine had multiple bands, multiple rooms, great decorations and EVERYONE was dressed up, which made it incredibly fun! Awesome party, Ari! My birthday is in June.

So, with a good buzz, and Stan as the designated drive, who had apparently had enough of costume-time, we all came back to The Joynt and had a blast with new friends, old friends and some people that we will probably never know the true identity of! Birthday Boy, Bill Zheme came by along with prisoner/CBS news anchor Jim Williams. He doesn’t look sad at all about being captured does he? DJ Architect was sweet enough to play Thriller for 5 girls who practiced for 2 days but apparently couldn’t seem to remember what comes after the third round of head-snaps, so they just made some stuff up at the end. I guess we should have drank while we practiced too. Oh well, it was fun and we looked cute trying, so everyone cut us some slack and clapped anyway. Ahh! What a night! We want to thank everyone who came out, and “double dog” thank you to everyone who dressed up! We all had so much fun looking at each other and taking pictures. I have got to give a huge shout out to Batman characters Zach Cox, Justin Buhmann, Michael Fox and James Helgerson. You guys TOTALLY made our night!

Well, Halloween IS over, and the smell of Thanksgiving turkeys are beginning to waft in the air, and YOU know what the means…
[santa costume]

SCRIPT
• Ho-ho-ho!
• Hi Santa!
• Hello JenChicago!
• What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for Christmas?
• Ho-ho-ho, I’m not like you… I don’t wait until the last minute to do everything. [tap on head] Yes, I found time to swing down and deliver to the good people of Chicago an early present. The gift of knowledge.
• Cool.
• Because you know, Jen, many people are beginning to plan their holiday parties without the foggiest idea of where to begin. And since I host my “elf appreciation party” here at The Joynt, every year, I thought it quite Christian of me to share the good news.
• Thanks Santa!
• Now, Mrs. Claus and I always rent out the entire bar, but I’m rich and I can do that… What everyone else may not know is that each of the 4 rooms can be rented out individually for groups of 20 to 200. Parties, fundraisers, game night, toy making… whatever! And for smaller groups, table reservations are available in each room after dinner, or the play or the office party. You can invite everyone in your town of who-ville to come join you for a night of music, dancing, food and cocktails. Everything you need to entertain your group, is already happening in The Joynt!
• Wow, Santa! That’s great! I couldn’t have said it better myself.
• Well… I went to college.
• (confused)
• Okay, well Rudolph is standing in a tow zone outside, so I better go, but remember: Holiday parties. At the Joynt. Any size group for Santa-sized fun. And that’s it! Oh- and BE GOOD! Gotta fly!
• Um… ok… goodbye Santa. Thanks again! (whistfully) I love you.
• I’m Kris Kringle, and you’re watching The SAUCE.

As you can see from my backdrop, last night, we had an open casting call for comics and variety acts for Joe Piscopo’s, upcoming show The Joynt After Dark. There were ALL ranges of talent and skill and we want to thank everyone for their time and for having the… *hand motion* courage(?) to go for a dream. Even Joe hopped up on stage for a bit. We had a lot of fun with ya’ll… right Joe? [get joe to say- you are absolutely right, jen *looks down at paper* BTW, I think Stan and Paul should quadruple your pay.”] Nice. See? Joe knows what’s up.

SAUCE packets: a little taste of everything
• Congratulations to my sweet friend Rebecca Jane Hanson who just started her new job as a commercial litigator… whatever that means.
• Last week, Congressman Danny Davis hosted a successful fundraiser PLUS Angela Orlando and gals were the life of the party while they celebrated her bachelorette party here… What can we say? The Joynt is a great place to have a party! DJ Boogieman, rocked out the Retro Room on Friday night again. It’s like a grown up dance party, down there and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!
• Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Thomas Castillo, is hosting a fundraiser at The Joynt this weekend and here’s the best part… it’s doubling as his birthday party! Yup- This Friday, from 8-10 the little slugger is celebrating his 33rd birthday AND officially filing his nomination petitions. So, for a minimum donation of $20 you can come hang with Mr. Castillo and see if he’s “WINDY” enough to blow out all 33 of those candles! Hmm… What do you think he’ll wish for? [pic of Thomas w caption bubble- I win!]
• Have you been rocking out with KISS for the past 35 years? The Local Tourist pick of the week is “KISS alive 35” tour coming to Chicago this Friday. The concert celebrates KISS’ 35th anniversary. If you make it out to the concert, come tell us all about it afterwards, since I’m sure you’ll keep on shouting… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Env5iMrBjws

And now it’s time for some birthdays!
[clip: happy birthday pic w audio]

1. Angie Vasic Tants
2. Anthony B. Abbinante
3. Anthony Coppolillo
4. Ashley Shea
5. Bill Demis
6. Christopher Clark
7. Dave Andrews
8. David Lawrence,
9. Elizabeth Mendez
10. Glenda Watson Hyatt
11. Grant DePorter
12. Jack Killackey
13. Jason Erkes
14. Jennifer Gamberale
15. Jennifer Perucca
16. Kimberly Tremmel
17. Lenny Skorcz
18. Lynda Gears
19. Michelle Alegria
20. Mookie Lee
21. Paula Riggins
22. Ray Doeksen
23. Robert Mudd
24. Ryan Steele
25. Sarah Evans
26. Thomas Castillo

And that’s it for this week’s edition of the SAUCE. Until next week… you stay saucy, Chicago!

Hearing Impaired?  Find the original script here.

Ok, so maybe that title doesn’t make TOTAL sense, but it’s 5:40 AM… I haven’t gone to sleep yet… I KNOW I will sleep so much better if I get this post out… So “Drifting and sniffing” it is. And besides, it just sounds way more intriguing than “The Joynt Weekend Line-up”, don’t ‘cha think?

So here’s the DRIFTING PART: An impromptu performance of The Legendary Drifters at The Joynt, along with some good old-fashioned Chicago staycation advice!

The Legendary Drifters at The Joynt! from Joynt Chicago on Vimeo.

And now for the SNIFFING: A new-carpet-lounging, red-wine-spilling, Labor-Day-Weekend line-up!

Joynt Line-up: September 3-5, 2009 from Joynt Chicago on Vimeo.

That’s it. Have an awesome holiday weekend!
I love y’alls guts. Good night.

JenChicago, NBC Chicago Street Team

Last night I went to one of the best events all year! The Dos Equis Most Interesting Academy held at the Museum of Science and Industry was AMAZING! The venue is, of course, outstanding in its own right and so was everything else! In addition to free free food and drinks, there was windtunnel sky diving, edible bugs with Andrew Zimmern (of the TV show Bizarre Foods), mohawk coiffeurs, a tattoo parlor, burlesque dancing lessons, an old timey photo booth, birds of prey, performance art, lots of dancing and so much more that I didn’t even have time to see it all! There were three different DJs pumping out hot dance beats inside, outside and all around! DJs Z-Trip, Flosstradamus, and White Shadow did an outstanding job of keeping us on the dance floor all night!

The party planning was impeccable all the way down to the free trolley service running from the museum to River North to shuttle us party-goers to and fro. I had so much fun, I had to “live vicariously through myself!”

Here’s a little taste if you missed it!

Dos Equis Most Interesting Academy in Chicago! from Jen Knoedl on Vimeo.

Find out about more fun things to do in Chicago with me on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team

The fun never stops in Chicago and this past Cinco de Mayo was another full night of fun! Youth Technology Corps is a local non-profit that came from extremely simple beginnings. Founder Dave Finkel gave some computers to some inner-city Chicago teens, who then figured out how to refurbish them on their own! This program now has the original teens doing outreach and being mentors in other countries like Mexico, thus the tie in with Cinco Del Soul.

As you can see, the event was skillfully executed with me as the host emcee for the night! Special thanks to Katie Bormaster, who invited me to participate and planned the entire event, including the video production! That girl called in a lot of favors with her very talented friends!

To find out more about YTC or to donate, click here.

PS: Can you hear me losing my voice?

YTC’s Cinco del Soul Party! from Jen Knoedl on Vimeo.

Find me on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team
If you have been checking out my last few posts, you may notice a theme… Live music and The Joynt. I moved here a year ago from Austin, TX (also known as the live music capital of the world) and maybe that has a little something to do with my love for live music. And undoubtedly, my love for dance, draws me to The Joynt. Now, I can break it down with the rest of them to a hot DJ (like Tim Spinnin’ Schommer that is guest DJ-ing tonight) but there is just something about a live performance. You know what I’m talking about. That sizzle in the air. The energy.

Jacqui Horton is my friend. And we became friends from me hearing her sing, totally falling in love with her as a person, and then asking her if she would like to be my friend. (She said “yes”.) Jacqui loves people, loves life and has a beautiful heart! I feel it when I talk to her, and I DEFINITELY feel it when she sings! I tell people she gives me goosebumps… and she does.

I shot this video at The Joynt last Saturday to give you a little taste of what you may not even know you are missing in your life! I make no apologies about the video, save this… There WERE a lot of people dancing around me… AND I was in heels. So cut me some slack on the shooting, eh?

This group of musicians work incredibly well together and as you can see, the crowd loves every second of it! Like any live performance, a recording isn’t quit the same as actually feeling the energy of the room. Luckily for you, you can check out the real deal on Saturday nights at The Joynt! You will have a good time because “We’re gonna boogie-oogie-oogie ’til we just can’t boogie NO MORE!”

Boogie-Oogie-Oogie at The Joynt! from Jen Knoedl on Vimeo.

Find me on Facebook! (Search: JenChicago)

JenChicago, NBC5 Street Team
If you are any kind of a night owl, like I am, you are looking for something great to do on any given night of the week. Well, I’ve got you covered for Tuesday. Fatt Finger is a great band playing at The Joynt every Tuesday night starting at 9:30! The perform originals and covers from many genres of rock. Come out for drink specials and a classic rockin’ good time! I’ll see you on the dance floor! (No cover.)

PS: Here’s a little sample song from last week:

Fatt Finger: Use me up! from Jen Knoedl on Vimeo.