If you're in upstate New York and unfamiliar with Chicago native, Kidd Russell, you're probably not alone. That's not to say you haven't stumble across one of his many youtube videos at some point or caught him on MTV Jams Chicago Day, just that the likelyhood of you recognizing him by name wasn't regionally realistic.. untill now.  

I've been sporatically listening to his music for almost three years, since he first contacted me after making E North Avenue. And the same statements I said about that video still hold true; "laidback, catchy, good shit"!

Since then, Kidd and company have been busy writing new songs, making more videos, and playing lots of live shows. He's got two new tunes up, including one sweet tribute to his girl (which I *really* love), and another to his boy DJ Blaze. 

Kidd wrote a little background on the song for you to check out here. 

"DJ Blaze and I recorded this song almost a year ago on a random summer day. Blaze was um....between homes after breaking up with his lady and I was giving him shit about it. I was like dude you live in bus stations, on couches and where ever you can, and you have no money bro.. your "homeless". It was tough times for both of us but especially Blaze. Recording this song made us laugh about his difficult situation and is one of our staples during live shows. It's a true story about John and his hilarious life as the homeless DJ but you do what you gotta do to chase your dreams. If you ever meet Blaze he is the happiest dude on the planet.  If you see him put a doller in his box, some change, cigs, weed, knee pads, your phone number, anythings helps."

Show him some support by liking his facebook page, youtube videos, following his twitter, viewing his website, and of course buying his albums or checking out a show!

I am beyond stoked about this show! It’ll be my first time seeing them play live, and Bogies should be the perfect spot for it.  

Original member Joe Queer will be singing lead and rocking lead guitar, along with longtime bassist Dangerous Dave (1998 – 2002 & 2007 – present) and Lurch Nobody (2000 – 2001 & 2006 – present) on drums.

Hoping everyone has a great holiday with their family and friends!

After a lot of parties and running around, we're having a nice white Christmas at the family's house in the country!

Just up and making my holiday coffee as well! Simply prepare coffee as normal, sprinkle a few dashes of cinnamon in the coffee filter with grinds, and line the bottom of the caraf with some maple syrup. It's a little something that adds to the holiday and it tastes so good!

Just back from Mexico, with an empty fridge, I woke up with the urge to bake. Since our supplies were low; no milk or eggs, I scoured the web for some vegan recipes and came up with my own little something that actually worked well. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinager
• 1 1/2 milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

The regular recipe called for 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk. I took 1 cup of white chocolate chips and melted them down to liquid. When melted, the measuring cup was well under the cup level. I decided to fill up to the cup line with water and stirred until smooth.

First mixing the dry ingredients, then adding the liquids and stirred vigorously. The batter appears more like cookie dough than muffin mix but I dropped it into the muffin tins anyway and baked for 13 - 15 minutes at 350. It made about 12 muffins.

Quite good for a impromptu morning recipe!

Check out our new travel blog! The main site we set up with pages at the top of places we have traveled together so far, or are about to.

We'll be posting from the Yucatan Pennisula starting next weekend until the end of December so be sure to save it, subscribe or check back occasionally for our frequent updates!