This is Awkward

You know that I never tire of writing about the subject of love.  Foz the Hook has a bunch of love songs, including My Kind of Mess, and the Ballad of Casino Kit.  Someday soon we will put songs like Between a Bed and a Chair and Her Head on a Pillow back in the set, which will shock and confuse you with their not-funniness.  In those cases we have substituted good for funny with the help of a dead gay playwright from St. Louis (Note:  As far as I know Tennessee Williams died of old age – we had nothing to do with it). 

Love.  This brings me to the subject if our recent appearance on the live podcast performance of Awkward Moments by Collin A. Bullock.  It was a pretty great show, and we recorded it with Collin and Mike Lebovitz, Chris Condren, Jacob Williams, and Byron.  Collin has completed the post-production stuff and the recording is now available for your listening pleasure.

We played a little at the beginning and the end.  But, in the middle Collin embarked on a mission of trying destroy as many romantic relationships as possible, and the comics who stood the lose the most played right along.  There are some pretty wild moments in there, and Mike Lebovitz provides some particularly hilarious and soul-searching insights.  It’s like he also understands that in comedy it is often useful to substitute good for funny.

Anyway, the show definitely lives up to its title this time – awkward and funny.  It is well worth your time listening to it, and not just because we play at the end.

Also, speaking of good and funny:  will you be at Cole’s tonight at 9:00?  FtH will be opening the comedy show like we always do.  We never play the same set the same way twice.  In fact, every single song we have ever played over the course of two years has been different than every other performance. 

That’s what I call love.

Foz Gets Awkward With Collin Bullock

What a beautiful night we had last week at Foz the Hook’s Poison Valentine Pageant.  So romantic.

But all good things must end so other good things might take their place.  That is why Foz the Hook, your new favorite band, will be taking the stage this very night with our pal, Collin Bullock on his bill for Awkward Moments With Collin Bullock, a LIVE recording of his podcast by the same name.  Fantastic!

We presume that Collin will want to talk about all sorts of awkward moments that FtH has brought you over the last couple of years, including but not limited to…

The time Old Foz and Jason Earl Folks kissed each other on stage in front of everybody at Foz the Hook’s Poison Valentines Pageant on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.

That time I just talked about when Jason Earl Folks put on a cowboy hat and kissed Foz.

The time a couple sitting immediately in front of the stage wouldn’t stop talking, so Foz went out in the audience and sat with them during Whiskey What Done It.  That was last night, but it has happened before.

There was this one time that that thing happened, but there were two ladies (same table as #3), and they wouldn’t shut up.  When Foz sat down with them they gave him the old stink-eye and tried to continue their conversation.  They were bound and determined that they would not recognize the fact that they were sitting in the front row of a music show (full house of our usual fans, making their usual racket).  These ladies made sure to show me that I was the boorish interloper for sitting at their table and interrupting their conversation with a performance of music.  We all laughed at them, not with them.  Still, they were immune to the awkwardness of the situation.

So come out to Cole’s tonight, and see Awkward moments With Collin Bullock, featuring FtH, Mike Lebovitz, Chris Condren, Byron, Jacob Williams, and the two ladies in the front row who won’t shut up. 

The fun begins at 8 and goes to 10.  It will be recorded live, so be prepared to hear what your voice sounds like on a recording.

Forty Funny Things

happened at Cole's last night as Foz the Hook opened for the open mic, which was hosted by Mo Welch and Kevin Hogan. As usual, the show featured a long list of forty comics, who did some serious funny business. There were excellent sets by the likes of Natalie Jose and Christopher Condron. Also, the comics/real people ratio seems to be down to about 2/1. The bar was full and there seemed to be sixty souls in the back room. This is getting to be one of the best free comedy shows in Chicago.

But you are here to read about the FtH set, no? Well, we took a bit of a risk by opening with Somebody Write Some Music, a spoken word beat poem. Drums and bass got rearranged into a more regular Jazz vamp, and we even added a piano intro. It was a good call, and credit is due Dan for suggesting. It turned out to be an amusing segue from background music to beginning the show, and the room gradually transitioned from chat mode to show mode. That's so much better than shouting at everybody to shut their yaps and watch the funny.

With Drunk Astronauts yada yada yada.

Dancing was reported in the back of the room during Vibrating Chicken Stomp. That's what I'm talking about! It's not like we're playing Clair de Lune here. If a barn yard song with three upsetting super-vibrato chicken blurts makes you want to writhe on the ground like you're having a Grand Mal, then just drop trow and do it.

Gin-Soaked Yankee made the list tonight, and we all agreed that it went alright. This is not a laugh out loud song, but it's super fun to play. When the vocal performance gets up to speed, I think people will get into it.

Then we used Whiskey What Done It to lead into the Mo Welch Fanfare. This was an audience participation idea, so the audience gets the credit for just how crazy it it got. Basically, Foz got the audience to start chanting "Mo! Mo! Mo!" Then we did it double-time with Patrick increasing the pulse and Dan laying down a bass drone. Finally, when the whole room was thumping "Mo," Foz screamed out Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song, naturally substituting "Mo" for Robert Plant's "Waaaaaa".

Once we turned the show over the Mo and Kevin they kept the wild going for the rest of the night.

Regular hosts Adam Burke and Cameron Esposito turned up after their date at Schuba's, and that kept things on fire for the rest of the evening. Adam and Cameron have really created a comedy monster at Cole's. Can't wait till next week.

Oh, Also! Both Dan and Patrick begged off early, saying they had to get some sleep. They were both still there drinking when Foz staggered out at last call. I love this band.

Arsenic and Sauerkraut Sandwich!

I think that's spelled right.

Last night Foz and Dan and Patrick opened the weekly comedy open mic at Cole's with a blazing six-song set to warm the room for Cameron Esposito and the comics.

Must admit it sounded better in practice, but the crowd seemed to appreciate it, assuming the laughing was intended as a gesture of appreciation. The good thing about our set is that we have some reliable hits that draw enthusiastic responses whether we're on top of our game or not. By that I mean With Drunk Astronauts, of course. Then last night we brought Cameron up with Downhome Christmastime, which is an easy song to play right.

We still need to find the right groove for Nasty Snowman, but it will come around. Mother Russia was finally too fast, which I didn't think was possible. All the instruments kept up pretty well, but Ole Foz couldn't sing the words fast enough, and even if I had sung up to tempo it would have been too tough for the audience to understand the lyrics. So we'll probably have to draw the song down to a more relaxed 180 beats per minute.

Which brings us to Grinch Karaoke v.2. We knew this was a good idea after last week's unexpected success. This week, with just a little bit of planning, the bit blew the roof off the room. The credit goes to the comics, who each took the mic for one stanza, and gave some magnificent and inspired interpretations of the Dr. Seuss classic. The best readings I could hear came from Cameron and from Chris Condron. Maybe I heard Mo Welch? The piano faces away from the mic, so I couldn't really tell who all got up, but they all deserve credit for making Grinch Karaoke about the best time I've had playing Cole's open mic.

Unfortunately, Foz will miss next week's open mic as I will be in Kansas City to see my folks and my kid sister. Patrick and Dan might play themselves, though. We are nothing if not versatile.