With A Voice Like This

Whether it's Music or Media - this is the Voice you're looking for.

You are here: Home / Archives for jim & tim

Jim & Tim on Hiatus until 2016

Jim & Tim take a hiatus every year around the holidays. This year, we’re just starting a bit earlier. But we’ll be back in 2016, so keep a eye out for our dates coming up. In the meantime, we’d like to thank Double J Sports Bar, Salt Creek Pizza and Pub, Church Street Brewing and the Moran Athletic Club and the private functions that we played during 2015.

Jim will be out and about during the holiday season, in fact, you may even trip over him if  you’re not watching closely as you bustle along during the busy season. We’ll have more information on where you can see him in the coming weeks.

Where is your tip jar?

tips are appreciated you sexy beast rawr

Photo Credit: bradleygee

If you follow us, you know we had a gig at El Sombrero Restaurant last Saturday night.

We had a great time and from all the indications, so did everyone else. There was a lot of dancing in a room with no dance floor (the aisles were packed), a few of “That’s my most favorite @#$*in’ song” proclamations and then singing every word along with us, a request for a ‘foot’ song (I don’t think I can tell that story by myself if I wanted to, but ask me sometime and I might try) and a couple of impassioned pleas to the bartender to let us sing ‘One more song’ at the end of the night. But the one that got me thinking was when one of the dancers danced close to us and at the end of the song was looking around to the side of us and on the floor, looked at us and asked

“Where’s your tip jar?”

And we replied in unison “We don’t have a tip jar”.

First, let me tell you, I’m all for tipping. If you want to tip us, we’re going to let you. We just don’t have a tip jar. And that got me to thinking about it and why we don’t.

I think that like all things, tip jars can be used well and abused. That goes for musicians as well as anywhere else you see them. I expect to see tip jars when I see:

  • Someone Busking
    It’s the way they’re making money, after all
  • A piano player at a piano bar or a house band that appears more than once a month at a venue
    They’re usually taking less money per performance, they take a ton of requests and are building a fan base and that’s the way people will show their appreciation

Where I don’t expect to see tip jars:

  • A band playing at a festival
    It’s a one time shot, or you’re looking to get asked back next year
  •  A band booked into a venue once or on a long rotation (every other month)
    Same reason as above
Jim & Tim setup at El Sombrero

Jim & Tim setup at El Sombrero

Last Saturday’s gig falls into that second category. In that case it’s not about us, it’s about you. Now before you go thinking I’ve gone all saccharinely sweet “our music is all for you” on you, there’s a business reality to that statement too. If the owner thinks that having us back to play will get you back as a customer, we’ll be back to play.

So dance in the aisles, tell us that’s your most favorite song, sing along with us, beg the bartender to let us play longer, tell the staff you’re having a great time listening to us play and even ask them when we’ll be back there. Have a great time and let the staff know about it. If that happens, we’ll all be back together to do it again.

And if you feel like it, feel free to tip us. We’ll take it, just don’t expect to see a tip jar at our gigs anytime soon.

Where is your tip jar? originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 10, 2012. Tweet This

The post Where is your tip jar? appeared first on Jim & Tim.

I wanna SEE you!

I can’t tell you how many times someone had said to one of us “I want to see you guys! When are you playing near me?”.

Well, it took awhile and a learning curve, but while we can’t play near everyone, you can still see us in this video.

I’d say come up and say hi, but that might be a little uncomfortable, talking to your computer…or maybe not, so feel free to come up and say hi if you want to after watching this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkZz3HEhFLo

And now you know where to go or music that you love to sing along with as well. Right here.

I wanna SEE you! originally appeared on Jim & Tim on March 27, 2012. Tweet This

The post I wanna SEE you! appeared first on Jim & Tim.

To pick a perfect set

Just finished updating our song list and the grand total came out to 68 songs.

The quick math rule of thumb we use is that the average song is three and a half minutes long. So take 68 multiplied by 3.5 and you end up with 238 minutes worth of music, or just 2 minutes shy of 4 full hours…If we played them back to back, non-stop with no talking in between. Which never happens.

Depending on the gig, we play anywhere between 1 – 4 sets and a set is either 45 or 50 minutes. That means we basically have 5 full sets worth of music at our disposal.

So how do we pick a set? It’s different every time. While we have some “standards” (considering we play covers, does that go without saying?) we use most of the time,  what order they go in depends on the gig itself. But yes, we like to try and mix it up  so that if we have fans coming to multiple shows, they won’t hear the same songs in the same order every time we play. We use a 15 song base for a set. That gives us some wiggle room at the gig to see how it’s going and make adjustments on the fly, because the best plan is to plan for the plan to not go as planned and make it work from there.

So that’s how we do it, one gig at a time.

And we thought you might like to try it and pick your perfect set from our song list (And I wanted to play with the polling plugin – Jim).  Below is our full song list as recently updated. Pick 15 songs that you think would be the perfect set and then click the Vote button. That’s all there is to it.  Enjoy!

 

To pick a perfect set originally appeared on Jim & Tim on February 16, 2012. Tweet This

The post To pick a perfect set appeared first on Jim & Tim.

Why don’t we see Jim & Tim this holiday?

Well, the biggest reason is because I’m off being a crazy caroling madman with the Merry Maskers and performing in the show A White Christmas Holiday Revue. That’s because that’s what is most requested at this time of year.

And we love that. We love the time of year and we love the music too.

That doesn’t mean we stop making music. Far from it. We understand that there are many events and parties that aren’t holiday related. You know we’re there for those whenever and wherever they may be. And we’ll even do a holiday song or two when they’re wanted/requested by popular demand.

It just means that in December you’re less likely to see something like this in your Twitter stream:

 

Just keep watching, these will start popping up again very soon and we’ll be having a great time doing what we do best. Singing for you.

Happy Holidays from Jim & Tim.

 Photo Credit: mikecogh

Why don’t we see Jim & Tim this holiday? originally appeared on Jim & Tim on December 1, 2011. Tweet This

The post Why don’t we see Jim & Tim this holiday? appeared first on Jim & Tim.

Hey, what are you doing the 21st?

Jim & Tim at Elburn Days 2010

Hey, it’s this coming Sunday and if you’re not busy…

We had our rehearsal and a couple of weeks ago we determined the songs we were going to use for the day. Elburn Days is always a fun gig for us, we’ve been playing a for a few years now. It’s the site of the infamous seven and a half hour gig  a few years back and it’s been a favorite of mine ever since then.

I don’t think that we’ll be playing that long this year (you never can be sure, can you?), but we’ve got our set list all ready. Come out and join us, it’s a great place and it supports the Elburn Lions Club. A worthy cause and a great group of people.

Even if you’re thinking about coming out, do, you’ll have a great time and I just don’t think…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMgRnygok8

Photo and Video Credit: Theresa Carter

Hey, what are you doing the 21st? originally appeared on Jim & Tim on August 18, 2011. Tweet This

The post Hey, what are you doing the 21st? appeared first on Jim & Tim.

Just playing around

Okay, I’m trying something new here. I’ve been working with some video and I wanted to see how it looks in a regular post. So what I’m going to do is post a few videos that I have and then you’ll be seeing more as I have them ready. I’m also going to have a small poll afterwards. I’d like to see which ones you like. Here they are.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMgRnygok8

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCJWpKD97-s

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95d5vpanVYk

 

Just playing around originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 4, 2011. Tweet This

The post Just playing around appeared first on Jim & Tim.

One door…

I just found out last night that our July 15 gig was cancelled. The venue has decided not to have live music in the beer garden on Fridays anymore.  On the other hand, we’re talking with that same venue about taking a Saturday night slot coming up soon. Keep your eyes and ears here to find out how that turns out. I’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything about it.

Now for that open door. I also just found out that Jim & Tim will be playing at Elburn Days this year. It’s at Lions Park in Elburn on August 21 and it’s one of my favorite gigs because of its history. We’ll have some fun and probably even play some songs you haven’t heard us play before. In the meantime, we’ll be looking to set up some more gigs in the area so you have a chance to hear us play. Because that’s what we love to do.

Photo by Steve Snodgrass

 

One door… originally appeared on Jim & Tim on June 25, 2011. Tweet This

The post One door… appeared first on Jim & Tim.

Who is that mysterious Jim?

Hey there, Jim here. Well, not really here, I’m over there. On the West Coast, in California to be exact. I’m on a road trip, but I wanted to make sure that you knew that Jim & Tim have a gig tomorrow night in Des Plaines at the Beacon Tap.

But wait, how can that be? Jim, are you some sort of Svengali that can transport himself through space and time in the blink of an eye? Hmmm, can you…Can you?!

While I’d like to say yes, the answer is no, I’m not. I have to get back the old fashioned way in this case, by driving. So you might ask yourself  ”How are Jim and Tim going to perform Friday night, if Jim’s halfway across the country?”. Well, it’s simple, really and it happens a lot in the music world. The role of Jim will be played by someone else Friday night. Ken Overbey will be filling in for me and I’m glad he is.

So please, make sure to go out and See Jim (Ken) & Tim at the Beacon Tap in the Beer Garden. And come up and say hi to me when you get there.

Who is that mysterious Jim? originally appeared on Jim & Tim on June 17, 2011. Tweet This

The post Who is that mysterious Jim? appeared first on Jim & Tim.

You want more? You got more!


Jim & Tim in the Beer Garden at the Beacon Tap

Photo credit Theresa Carter 2010

Okay, I’ve been remiss in writing. I’ve had a few things happen that kept me from writing about our last gig (And I’m not going to go into them here). And I will post some pictures, but let me tell you how it went and some news because of it and more.

The gig was fun, got there, got set up, said hi to the people we knew and started playing.  Now we had a good group of friends at the gig, which is always nice and a couple people came out that I literally haven’t seen in years, good surprises. But the best surprise of all is the unintentional one, and by that I mean the one that just sort of grows out of the situation.

We had a table of people come in that didn’t look any too interested in us or listening to us play. They seemed to be disinterested at best so at least from my point of view, I just tried to focus on the rest of the crowd who were enjoying us. Pretty standard performance, you just can’t please everyone all the time and so you go with the ones you do make happy. Well, I began to notice a change and soon enough, this table started lighting their lighters and more people came to the table (I found out after we were done that people at that table started calling their friends to come and hear us play and just have a great time at Beacon Tap, works for me!).

Even though it’s too late for long story short, what happened when we finished playing, they came up and asked how much it would take for us to stay and play a little longer. I told them it wasn’t up to me, they’d have to talk to the management at Beacon Tap. So they took up a collection and went to the folks there at the Beacon and we ended up playing for a little over an hour longer. Always a good thing when you have a gig like that. And the best thing? We talked with the Management there and they booked us for two more gigs in August! So you’ll have plenty of opportunities to come out and hear us and we’ll have a great time at a great place to have some summer fun! You just can’t beat that.

You want more? You got more! originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 31, 2010. Tweet This

The post You want more? You got more! appeared first on Jim & Tim.

Gig Redux

Okay, so it’s really not a Redux, we were scheduled for this one before the infamous power outage cancelled gig at Beacon Tap, but it is our first gig there.

We had our regular rehearsal last night and let me tell you, it was a good run through for tomorrow’s gig to be sure. We rehearse in the closest thing to a factory that I’ve ever spent time in and there are a lot of fans, but no air conditioning in the area we rehearse. If you’re in the Chicago area you already know where I’m headed with this. The temp was in the 90′s with high enough humidity that it took all of about 10 minutes before I’d sweat through my T-shirt. Now you may think that’s  pretty gross, but I look  at it a little differently. It’s good training for the gig. You see, the forecast is pretty much the same for Friday night and we’ll be outside in the Beer Garden. I’m hoping for a breeze, but I’m not counting on it.

Besides, if you ain’t sweating, it ain’t Rock ‘N’ Roll, right?

Hope to see you there tomorrow night and stop by and say hello if you’re there.

Gig Redux originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 15, 2010. Tweet This

The post Gig Redux appeared first on Jim & Tim.

It’s out of the bag now!

Whew! I can finally talk about something I’ve had to keep quiet about for awhile now. It’s no secret that the City is cutting back on some of their offerings due to budgetary reasons (Like the fireworks with the Grant Park Symphony playing the 1812 Overture? Not tomorrow, not this year anyway). And one of the casualties of the budget wars this year is Venetian night, which would have been Saturday, July 31st.  But who says we have to have the city to have Venetian night anyway, right?

So The Local Tourist and Free Spirit Yacht Cruises have teamed up to present Bringing Back Venetian Night and Jim & Tim will be aboard The Free Spirit providing the live music for the entire cruise! Man, I’m excited, this is going to be a ton of fun. So here are the details:

The cruise is from 8:00 – 11:00pm on Saturday, July 31st.  There will be an Italian Buffet meal, an Open Bar and we’ll be sailing to watch the fireworks at Navy Pier from the water! The cost is $99 per person with everything I’ve just talked about included.

[UPDATE: This event has come and gone] Come and join us and a lot of fun people by buying your tickets for Bringing Back Venetian Night!

It’s out of the bag now! originally appeared on Jim & Tim on July 2, 2010. Tweet This

The post It’s out of the bag now! appeared first on Jim & Tim.

Here we go

Hey there, Jim here. What do you think of the new site? I’m digging it. This is the beginning for us. Here’s a brief background on us.

Tim and I have known each other somewhere between 8-10 years, I don’t remember exactly. We’ve sung together a lot in those years, subbed in for gigs, been called up to sing, things like that. We’ve just never put it together as our own gig.

Until now.

Tim plays a mean guitar(s) and sings and my main gig is singing. We do a ton of harmony work. You’ll be hearing everything out of us from Aerosmith to Josh Turner to the Beatles. Yeah, it’s a wide variety and everyone will something they love in what we sing. You can take a look at our Song List and see what I mean. We’ll be adding more as time goes by, just like we’ll be adding more pictures and of course, more gigs.

We’ve set a goal for ourselves of performing by Memorial Day and you can hear what we can do on our Media page and what you hear there is what we can do in any setting. We use MIDI tracks to fill in the rest of the band so we always have a big sound, but a small footprint. How can you beat that?

Check up on us to see how we’re doing or just come to the page to see and if I can ever get that Facebook Like box working right, you can even join our page on Facebook…But then again, you can do that already, can’t you? Well, I hope to see you soon at one of our gigs and get a picture with you.

Bye for now.

Here we go originally appeared on Jim & Tim on April 30, 2010.