Robbie Fulks, Jay Farrar, Devil in a Woodpile, Dolly Varden and More to Play Benefit for Gary Schepers January 19, 2006

Behind the public and well-known faces of musicians and bands of Chicago's vibrant and wildly diverse music scene there is a community of creative and dedicated people who make it all possible. Theirs are names you will likely never know and whose faces don't make the glossy magazines, but whose contributions to the music we all love are irreplaceable.

If you have been a regular concert-goer in Chicago during the past twenty plus years, odds are strong that you have benefited from the ubiquitous and experienced ears of Gary Schepers behind the soundboard. He has been the big man with the big voice and the good heart working the sound at Lounge Ax, the Abbey Pub, Empty Bottle, Martyr's, Fitzgerald's, Schuba's and every other venue you can think of. He's been the sound man for Eleventh Dream Day, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Material Issue, and John Parish. In short, Gary is one of THE unsung people that help keep our city the vital and accessible music scene that it is.

Recently, Gary was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and has spent the holiday season in a hospital room recovering and getting treatments. Like many people in the music industry, Gary is without health insurance. To help defray his mounting medical bills, there will be a series of benefit concerts featuring just a tiny percentage of the artists he has worked with over the years. The speed and ease with which these fundraisers have come together, and the breadth of talent participating in them, is testimony to the appreciation and high regard held for him within the community of musicians that have performed in this city.

From the Bloodshot perspective, Gary was responsible for the sound at our first showcases at Lounge Ax and Empty Bottle. He handled our neophyte, multi-band nights of chaos with a serene, unflappable manner. He never let on if he was bothered by a bunch of screwballs learning how to put on a show on the fly and on his watch. Over the years he's taught us when to worry, when to yell and when to just enjoy the moment. He has produced and engineered several records for us, both live and in the studio, and has been holding down the bottom end on the tuba with Devil in a Woodpile at the Hideout.

Gary's steady and quiet contribution to the Chicago music community is one of building, in quotidian fashion, a body of work and experience that has shaped the concert going experience for all of us.

SOUND CHECK; A CONCERT SERIES TO BENEFIT GARY SCHEPERS

FitzGerald's
Friday 1/20
main room:
midnight -  Robbie Fulks
11 -   Jay Farrar
9:45 -   Corky Siegel
8:45 -   Bakelite 78
side bar:   Devil In A Woodpile
side bar music room:
11:15 -  Dolly Varden
10:15 -  Bunker Town
9:15 -   Jane Baxter-Miller
8 -   Prohibition Orchestra
Tickets $25 main room etc., $10 minimum requested donation side bar music room, hat passed in side bar.
Tickets available at FitzGerald's ticketbooth,
Will Call by phone (708-788-2118x25),
e-mail ([email protected]), or by fax (708-788-6965)
Download fax order forms at www.fitzgeraldsnightclub.com.

100% of all ticket, door, and donated money will go to Gary Schepers. Some of the venues are also donating a percentage of the bar ring.

A Gary Schepers Benefit Trust account is being set up at National City Bank, 1520 N. Damen Chicago IL 60622. Until such time that the account is active, please send donations, made payable to Gary Schepers, to Bloodshot 3039 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago IL 60618; all donations will be deposited into the Trust for Gary once it's open.

The outpouring of bands has been impressive. Bands not yet been slotted on a showcase include Jim Bohquist (ex-Son Volt), Deanna Varagona, James Conway, Eric Noden, Diamond Jim Greene, Yellowhammers, Hoyle Brothers, Talkin Shoes, and Billhouse. In addition to the clubs 5 clubs above, the Empty Bottle also offered their venue for a benefit concert.

Corporate donors & sponsors:
Goose Island
Land of Nod
Berghoff Beer
WXRT Big Beat

For more shows and info, go to: http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/news/