Every musician, and indeed all people, have goals and dreams that mold their lives. Alan Bailey is working hard to fulfill his. His recent studio album, "Can't Let Go," contains an assortment of honest songs, from the pounding of 'The Moments Passing', to the heartfelt 'How Could I Be Blue?', and to the thoughtful lullabye of 'I'm Off To Bed'. The influence of Ben Folds and The Dresden Dolls are immediately obvious, and specific songs have drawn comparisons to Elvis Costello, The Who, Jeff Tweedy, and even Rocky Horror and the Spice Girls. This album was recorded and performed with the Alan-Bailey Continuum, a band consisting only of piano, cello, and Liz Ele on drums.

Since the release of his piano-rock album, Alan started a new original jazz band named Jazzacadabra. With a fabulous singer in Meghan Phillipp, and a horn section, this band is an outlet for Alan's jazz songwriting and arranging. A friendly debut show took place at the Gallery Cabaret in May, on a real grand piano.

Alan has played in the best small music venues in Chicago with his band or another, including Schubas, Double Door, Subterranean, Abbey Pub, Beat Kitchen, and the Elbo Room. In addition to his original work, Alan founded Bended & Folded: A Ben Folds Five Tribute Band that has played in Chicago for two years. He also passes on knowledge to future generations by teaching keyboards at the National Paul Green School of Rock Music.

Alan is no stranger to touring, and the complications and hardships that come with it. He toured as a musician for the Second City National Touring company for most of 2008, touring to California, Texas, Massachusetts, and many points in between. Alan also has been a pianist for cruise ship bands, cruising all over Europe, as well as Alaska and the Bahamas.

• I won't know what to do without ConanSaturday, January 23rd 2010 5:47 PMI feel like someone just broke up with me. I'm wandering around without a sense of purpose and just viewing clips and reading articles about Conan online... in a state of denial thinking what just happened didn't actually happen.
  
  Late night TV was always kind of a curiosity to me... almost like a temptation because I was going to bed right around when it was starting... I have quite a few fading memories of going to sleep while still hearing Johnny Carson's theme song playing on the (black & white) TV in the kitchen while my Dad watched it (or just had it in the background). Of course sometimes I had the pleasure of being awake for Carson or his guest host Jay Leno. Even then I thought Leno was an intrusion into quality Johnny time. Sure, Carson needed a break but why not just reruns? Anyway, enough about Johnny because I know I was too young for it to effect me much.
  
  And Conan has been on the television since 1993. I remember the first Late Night war with Leno and Letterman. I obviously don't remember the details but then heard this new guy Conan was coming into Late Night. This was last year of junior high I guess. I think I made a point to watch the first show, although perhaps it wasn't quite the first one. At any rate, I saw many early shows. And because of school, it was in the summer when I watched the most. I was somehow attracted to it... perhaps even then I couldn't connect with Leno or Letterman, even they felt too old. As well, Conan's geekiness was probably easy for me to identify with.
  
  High school summers I probably watched Conan every night. (Yeah, for those who don't know me I didn't have much of a life then). The 1996 Clinton/Dole election was turned into entertainment for me when he had Clinton and Dole (Live, via satellite, of course) talking on his TV. (Or at least their lips were talking.) They haven't done that bit in a while, though. And who can forget Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting "JINGLE ALL THE WAY!" I started quoting so many Bob Dole lines from Conan that I had the nickname Bob Dole at my church youth group.
  
  I have a memory of being in the high school library and looking up information on Conan (and specifically Pimpbot 5000 quotes.. don't ask me) on the new interwebs. There were a lot of cute fansites at the time which have now really become unnecessary since EVERYONE is online. Who remembers newsgroups? alt.fan.conan-obrien I think it was.
  
  High school summers a lot of the time I spent programming... computers/calculators/whatever. But Conan would always be on at 11:30. Either I would take a break or have it on during in the family room at my parent's house. I remember hearing about Princess Diana's death while Conan was on.
  
  1998, off to college. I had to think of a good password for my school email/computer accounts. I wanted to pick something that I knew would always be on my mind. It was something to do with Conan's show and I had that password for many, many years for many different accounts. In the computer lab at college I was surfing for Conan one time and this guy next to me introduced himself who had interned at The Tonight Show with Leno and had pictures on his page with Jay and other celebrities. But that was not to be a friendship because he seemed to have a thing going on with this girl I had a crush on in college. (White Sweater Girl anyone?) Of course who knows if he ever had a "thing" or whatever... I was hopeless back then.
  
  The thing is, Conan was always my fall-back entertainment, and pretty much the only thing on TV that I ever planned around. I never wanted to see EVERY single show, but if I was hard at work in the computer lab programming for eight hours, I would think "I'll work til 11:20 then walk home to catch Conan." My other shows that I watch, Simpsons and Family Guy, have enough reruns for me to catch when I want. Plus those shows don't rely on current events as much, so I am totally fine watching them as reruns.
  
  But now there will be no Conan. Sure, he could be back but right now it's an unknown. I don't know what to do. I eagerly await news of what he will be doing next.
  
  Really this should have happened in 2004. Conan was leaving a contract at NBC and considering offers from other networks. A new contract was worked out to have Conan replace Leno in FIVE YEARS. That is a long time. I was ecstatic that Conan would be on an hour earlier but at the time I felt sorry for Jay.... who knows what will come in five years? Will Jay want to retire? Isn't he kind of like a federal judge who can stay until he resigns or retires? It seemed like they were just grasping to keep Conan on the network and convinced Jay to this agreement. Plus Carson had the show for THIRTY YEARS. Jay had twelve when he signed the contract, so seventeen in the end. So Jay didn't seem like he really wanted to leave and now we know...
  
  So then Obama becomes president, Jay retires, Conan is in and all seems perfect in my world. Jay comes on in prime-time, I'm like what the hell? You've already reached the top... don't be like Michael Jordan and retire 332543 times. I figured the prime time show would be even more watered down family comedy and... yes. Plus this confirmed my suspicion that Jay was leaving before he even wanted to. When you make a living doing something for decades, it's hard to put it down. And of course he was looking at offers from other networks but NBC was greedy and wanted to keep him, so they shoved him in at a weird time slot that made everyone think huh?
  
  Then it all comes down to two weeks ago. NBC announces they are cancelling Jay's show but not only that... moving it back to 11:30(10:30 Central)... Oh, and what mention of Conan? Oh, we'll bump him to 12:05, without asking him, he'll be cool with it. To be fair, both Conan and Jay had current contracts with NBC. They wanted to keep both, but at different times. Conan made a power move and said no. NBC was like, fine, we'll put Jay back on the Tonight Show. Jay COULD HAVE SAID "No I don't want to take Conan's spot," but as he was still on contract and is apparently a lapdog of NBC, he didn't want to violate his contract.
  
  Conan risked a lot making that power move. He could have kept the Tonight Show, but at 12:05. Many of his staff apparently that was acceptable. But he is probably DONE with NBC after the 13 week contracts he had when he was starting, to the weird agreement to take over the Tonight Show in five years, and now this. He should have jumped ship in '04 instead of signing a weird contract with Jay and NBC.
  
  I'm afraid one result of this risky move could be that Conan becomes an asterisk in the history of the Tonight Show. He becomes known as the guy that took it from Leno, didn't have good ratings, and Leno had to come back to save it. It's stupid, but that's probably how old people view it.
  
  On the good side of this move, is that he IS part of Tonight Show history. He's reached the top, lived it for a while, and now he can do a show more his style somewhere else. Because I don't deny it, I was afraid he wouldn't fit the classy style of the Tonight Show. But I figured they would give him time to REDEFINE it.
  
  Anyway, I am looking forward to the day when Conan rises again. I now have no reason to ever watch NBC. I also don't plan on ever watching Jay Leno again, he does not deserve the throne back. I hope his ratings stink while he's back because people view him as a bad guy. (As I kind of said above, I don't fault NBC because they are just making business decisions, and I don't fault Jay because he was following contracts.) But still, Jay, you are a douchebag. If your ratings aren't pathetic during the next year, they will be in years to come as your fanbase starts to pass from this world, or go to sleep earlier, or become hard of hearing.
  
  I'm guessing the maximum age of a Conan fan is 45 (they were 28 when he started). There's still ten more years until Conan fans start retiring, become empty-nesters and watch late night again.
  Ratings have skyrocketed this week because all Conan fans realize this COULD be the last they see of him. We're here, but we watch Conan on Hulu, or somewhere else online, or hear about it from friends, or just read about it. We're smart. We all expected him to be around on the Tonight Show for at least ten years and thought we had time. But no. It feels like a breakup that I wasn't expecting.
  
  To be continued...
  
• Took me long enough to write a new blog post, eh?Friday, December 25th 2009 5:31 AMYeah, quite. And now I'm doing it 6:30 Christmas morning. Weird. But I just finished my Christmas album, which I had barely any time to work on this year, with everything else going on. Some of them were rushed... just like every year... until someone actually pays me to make Christmas albums that's what it'll be like.
  
  I am looking forward to soooo many things in the new year. 2009 was crap. I'm just ticking down the days until it's over. I shouldn't be so hard on 2009. I got a lot done, it just seemed like I didn't. And a lot of what I've accomplished in '09 is a foundation for the new year, like e.g. my NEW JOB. But quite a transition period.
  
  Moving into my new apartment, ummm sometime soon after Christmas. Where I will have my own grand piano. Brilliant.
  
  Anyway, that's enough for now.
  
• Four years in Chicago and now a new job...Tuesday, December 1st 2009 9:46 PM(As of this month, I've been in Chicago four years. Except for those ship excursions...)
  
  Well, it's been a while since my last blog post. (At least it's less than a month!) But I was planning that. See I got a job and wanted to wait a while to see how everything would pan out.
  
  And it's great. I work for Juju.com, a job search engine. You should go to the site and look for a job, even if you already have one! Right now I'm programming Python and processing a lot of XML feeds to make sure current jobs all get correctly processed into our site. And now have been jumping into more stuff. It is an internship, so we'll see where things head in the future. Going into the first day, I thought it was part-time, but it turns out there's plenty of work for me to get into and I've been working full-time while I get up to speed. And I'm not complaining! More stuff to hack on and more income.
  
  I work from home. So do all the other developers, though two of them also live in Chicago. This week is the one exception, because we're all in Chicago for a "mini-conference." It's great! I've met my co-workers now, instead of just talking on IRC, and they're all brilliant and great people. Score.
  
  Some might ask what is going on with my music work. I still do a bunch of songwriting on my own time. I lost a lot of interest in performance (maybe the cruise ships had something to do with that). But basically, it comes down to... time management or something:
  
  I don't need to be writing/practicing/making music or doing promotion/related music work 24/7. I was, along with Second City, ComedySportz, School of Rock, etc, etc... While I was getting by with my (meager) income, there wasn't a lot of satisfaction. For a few reasons:
  
  - I was doing way too much comedy work, which was a profession that I never wanted to start a career in. Even though I was doing music, it was still within the realm of comedy, and I got no satisfaction from it. ...I never wanted people to laugh at me while playing piano...
  
  - Hard work in music doesn't always pay off. This is fairly obvious, but it's the risk many musicians take. My satisfaction is and always has been based on productivity and doing good work. And I would have that sometimes when I would make good progress on songwriting. But other criteria for success in music include appreciation (fans or purchases) and attendance (at shows). But no matter how hard I work at advertising, or promotion, or selling, the success ultimately depends on other people's decisions. I'm aware that I am a terrible salesman as well (because I'm honest/hard on myself), and may not be a good musician/songwriter, but I am working at it.
  
  - Working too much at music is destructive. It turns it into a job and makes me think of it too much like a business. Songs become to-do lists, practicing and performing become manual labor, friends become numbers in attendance, and fans turn away because they're treated like numbers. And it's a downward spiral. The less success I see, the harder I work, making it even worse.
  
  - No respect. This is an odd one, but sometimes it's hard to receive respect when a musician. I might get labeled as a slacker, a pothead, or a drunk (that one is sometimes true). On ships musicians are known as the drinkers that barely do any work. While that is really easy to do, we're not all like that. And what does that do to my attitude and self-esteem? After a while, sure, I'll fall into that stereotype. In the world of comedy, musicians kind of have to earn their respect, which is fine, but like I said, I never wanted to dive completely into the world of comedy.
  
  So. I am not "giving up" on music. The ebb and flow of life is taking me back to computer programming for a while. While I spent six years doing solely computer science, then three years doing solely music, it is now time to successfully merge the two. Plus my three years of focusing solely on music taught me a LOT about many different aspects of the music business. And the mistakes not to make when I dive in further.
  
  So I'll be a lot busier these days, which is great, as I'm getting tons of of work done in both computer science and music. But I can now base my "professional satisfaction" on my job and my artistic satisfaction on music, as it really should be.
  
  I'm looking forward to good things happening in my life soon. Also since I work remotely, perhaps I might move soon. We'll see.
  
  That's it.
  
  Upcoming Shows:
  Dirty Rooks show this Friday at Martyrs' 12/4
  and stay tuned for a Jazzacadabra show in the new year.
  
• Hey! I'm starting a web design business!Friday, November 6th 2009 4:01 PMIf you're a musician, have you ever...
  
  - wanted a website of your very own?
  - wanted to have your website kept current with your Twitter updates, Facebook statuses, or blog entries?
  - wanted to post an upcoming show on your website just by posting a blog entry?
  - wanted to put pictures on your website just by putting them in a blog?, or
  - wanted to have your photos imported from your albums on Flickr or Picasa?
  - wanted to have the MP3s you just uploaded to Last.fm available on your website?
  - wanted a website music player to fit in your webpage style and be able to play tracks from any link on your site?
  
  If you're interested, keep reading.
  
  -----------------------------------
  
  "Alan's Web Business (AWB) - Friends don't let friends use MySpace."
  
  I know you, and I know that you are a musician or in a band. You're doing your thing, writing music and playing out and making connections. Maybe you really know how to use the internet to your advantage in promoting your music already. For example, you're signed up on all the music websites, and keep your Facebook and Twitter fans informed of your shows and successes. It's been working really well but you want to go to the next step.
  
  On the other hand, maybe you've never really adopted the internet. Sure you have a MySpace page with three songs but you never really update it and it's beginning to look stale. It looks stale to everyone else as well.
  
  In either case, you've wanted your own website for a while now but haven't taken the plunge for a variety of reasons -
  
  - Perhaps you're just fine with the limitations of MySpace or Facebook for your web presence.
  - Perhaps you actually asked a web developer for a quote and almost choked on your coffee.
  - Perhaps you "know a guy" that will make your website, and keeps saying he will, but he's just too darn busy.
  
  The other problem with websites (besides the startup) is the maintenance. If your friend designed it, you might have to ask him each time you want a new show or demo song put on the website. And he's starting to get annoyed.
  
  If you hired a web developer perhaps he gave you some tools to post news items or shows, but heaven forbid you want to add some more photos or MP3s.
  
  This is where Alan's Web Business (AWB) comes in. AWB is a web development business solely for musicians or other starving artists. AWB is affordable and won't deplete your band account. AWB = Alan Walter Bailey.
  
  * How It Works
  
  I am not developing your website to get an award. I want it to get the job done. You are not Lady Gaga, and do not need a super visual website. You are aspiring, and need to make it easy for people to read about you, find your upcoming shows, look at pictures and watch some videos, without annoying them. There will be logos and graphics and some cool dynamic content. Anything else is overkill. Save it for when you have a record deal.
  
  Because I keep the design slim, it will be quick. I will not spend three months designing your website like a web design firm would. You'll have a working site in maybe two weeks, then we'll make a few changes and be done. You should view my website at http://www.alan-bailey.com to get an idea for the "slim" design. Notice there is no Flash, no splash page, just easy access to information and music. There are interactive menus and pages to remind people they're looking at a modern website, but I'm not shoving it down their throats.
  
  The internet is becoming very interoperable and more open these days. Data is being shared, because it makes sense. Don't replicate data, or it will be hard to manage. How many music websites do you have to keep updated with current shows and news? Way too many, right? I don't want your website to become stale and hard to maintain, so I have it update *automatically* based on what you have already done on other sites:
  
  - The most current information you have is on Twitter or Facebook. I can display your recent tweets, Facebook statuses, or Facebook notes on your website. This is possible because of the RSS feeds that these websites provide of your current information.
  
  - The next most current information is a blog you might have. Well, blogs from any blogging site can be displayed on your website. Blogger, Wordpress, or LiveJournal are some examples. I recommend Blogger for its simplicity. The less you have to worry about the better, because you're too busy trying to write your next hit.
  
  - Even if you don't have a blog, I still recommend setting one up for administration of your website. If you look back at my website, none of the text is stored on my website. I import my News from a blog, my Bio page, my Press page, my Shows, and even my Photo Albums from the same blog. In addition to having RSS feeds for access, blogs usually have "tags" or "labels" that you can apply to posts. When I have a new show, I post a blog with the label "shows" and it will appear on my website. Easy, huh? Tag a post with "news" and it will be in the news section. If you know how to use a blog you can update your website. (If you are a heavy Flickr or Picasa user, they have RSS feeds as well, and I can import photos from them on your website.)
  
  - The hardest things to put on the website are also the most essential - MP3s and videos. But, it's easy to do because I use data you've already uploaded on other sites. For videos, I'm sure you have some on YouTube already. Just put a link to them in your administration blog and they will appear on your website. (Pretty much the same way you've put them on MySpace.)
  
  - MP3s are the hardest. Good music is a hot commodity, and everybody tries to control it. MySpace, Facebook, Reverbnation, and Sonicbids all hide the MP3s that you have uploaded so they are only available for streaming from their site. The one site that allows access to their data, created by computer scientists with an emphasis on music sharing, is Last.fm. You may not have
  heard of it, because it started in the UK. However, the top songs being played on the website are broadcast on WXRT's digital HD:
  
  http://www.radio-info.com/sections/2-breaking-news/news_items/6868-cbs-radio-to-use-lastfm-programming-on-hd-2-channels-in-four-major-markets
  
  "This is the first time that a music website has been turned into a terrestrial broadcast." So it's a pretty cool site. And I can have your website look at your albums on Last.fm, and display the tracks on your site, for playing or download. Keep Last.fm updated, and your website follows. For special cases or more "hidden" tracks, you can use good ol' FTP to put songs on your site.
  
  - I will also provide a music player that is similar to the one on my website. It will not interfere with your site, and will blend in with the color and layout you have designed. It could even be hidden if you want, or you could provide no way to turn it off (not suggested). Any songlink on the site starts up the song in the music player. You could even announce a new track in a News entry on your blog, and link to the song, and it will be playable from that link. Nice 'n' easy.
  
  * What I Don't Provide
  
  - I am not a graphic designer or a visual artist. If you want some cool art for your site, I know a number of artistic types that would be happy to be paid to make art for your website. Perhaps you could have it coincide with your new album. As well, many musicians already have their own artist friends that have made a logo or some graphics to support their friend's music. I will gladly work on putting that art into the website.
  
  - I don't provide hosting, but I will set it up for you. If there's a certain domain name you want (www.yourband.com), we'll order it from GoDaddy.com for less than $10 a year. Hosting is also available for less than $5 a month or so. I'm never entirely sure on GoDaddy's deals - they change every week.
  
  - Eternal support. I will help you out for the first few months if you have problems or changes. But I won't be your friendly "Support Dude". Once the site is up and you can update with your blog, my job is done. Though if something breaks in my infrastructure I'll fix it. If you want a site redesign, that will be the same price as a new site, because that's most of the work.
  
  * The Price and Process
  
  To get your website going, I am charging $200. This is incredibly low for what I am providing. Plus, the first two people or bands that take me up on this offer will get $50 off. That's how crazy I am, $150! I am academically interested in seeing this technology work for some other people. And we'll see where it goes from there. If you want my services, the process will be something like this:
  
  - We'll meet up. If you have any art already designed, or an artist ready to work for you, bring it or he/she so we can discuss the art in the context of the website. We'll decide on a basic layout and color style, the kinds of pages you want and need, and anything else you want displayed on the site. Remember, I am trying to keep the design graphical but simple. If you come in with ideas of birds flying across the screen and landing on an image of your head, then I am not the web designer for you. Sorry. That's annoying.
  
  - After we meet up, I'll do a lot of work setting up the initial layout. At the same time, remember when I said you can update content through your blog? I'll have you doing that, writing your bio and any other pages you want and just posting them on the blog that I'll set you up with.
  
  - When I have an initial design, I'll check in with you to make sure you like it, and will get it working with your Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Last.fm, or photo albums.
  
  - At this point, if there are changes, we'll work those out and it should soon be good to go!
  
  * Well?
  
  If you are interested, just get in touch with me at alanbailey@gmail.com and we will discuss the many options ahead.
  
  This is the first time I'm doing web design for others, so there might be some kinks along the way. Hopefully you'll work with me. I have had a website since 1995, and have made three band websites for my bands since 2003. Those two computer science degrees might be useful for something too.
  
• Jobs, Ruby, Websites, CDBaby, Pizza, Halloween, oh my!Tuesday, October 20th 2009 7:36 PMRight. I thought to myself what this blog will be about before I started writing just now. Now that my title contains all my subject matter I will be sure to hit everything.
  
  A) I didn't get that job in Evanston. I thought I did well at the interview. Maybe it was that one guy that I had a sub-par interview with, but the other four were fine. Or maybe they just google stalked me and found out some juicy details about me that they didn't want at their company.
  
  Oh, but I can share that when I was google stalking the company, they apparently were sued by a former employee because he thought they owed him salary and commission that was never got to him. The company then hired computer forensics experts to analyze his work computer and found out he emailed company material offsite in a zip file. Umm... how can they track that? If you're using your company's email then sure it might be in SMTP logs but why wouldn't he just use web email? Anyway it apparently got settled out of court and the *employee* paid large sums of money to the company, for legal fees or whatever. There's a stupid battle.
  
  Anyway, it is an online marketing company, and this happened in the soulless marketing side of the company. (Which would also explain why someone would be stupid enough to leave traces of sending email offsite.) The actual "online" side of the company seemed pretty cool, supporting new technology and having smart, satisfied employees. But enough of that.
  
  I have applied to more jobs (mostly last week, haven't gotten to it this week yet, but that's after this blog).
  
  One week ago I got two books on Ruby at the Chipublib. Figured I might as well learn a new language. I found a job posting for a three month *internship* as well using Ruby and Rails. Involving another programming project to prove your skills. So since Thursday or Friday of last week I've been learning Ruby and programming in it. It's very similar to Python in how I think and program, just with syntax differences. So... just remember the syntax for both languages and you're set.
  
  I've now done a project in Django and one in Rails, and they both have cool things that I like. As do the languages. There were like two things in Rails that I could NOT seem to do at all (like an action which does SQL DELETE should return the number of rows affected, why can you not tell me that?). Rails was very lean though, attributed also to the leanness of Ruby. Documentation sucks balls for both Ruby and Rails though. Django is MUCH better in that regard. Duh.
  
  The number of things I dislike in Python is less than the number of things I dislike in Ruby/Rails. I think. This is from using Ruby less than a week. I wish I could pick and choose the features from each language that I liked and form my own syntax. Kinda like Mr. Potato Head language. That said, Ruby has some VERY awesome things in it as well. The optional parentheses on method calls is beautifully shown in Rails, where lots of files just look like config files, and not code.
  
  And today I submitted that project and we'll see. Good to be done, but I'm glad it was a shorter project.
  
  Enough of that. Onto the other side of my life, that being music.
  
  My website (where you may be reading this blog post) is totally updated, and works on so many browsers, and its just so lovely! Kill me now. But yes, I worked on that, learning lots of CSS that I didn't know, and jQuery to make things more fun. There may be more functionality later but I like it as is.
  
  Along with that, also updated my MySpace page (actually removed content and just made the theme fit my website) and the Facebook page. I've never sent out Invites for the Facebook Artist Page so I am doing it in a bit to coincide with the new website.
  
  Yay!
  
  In fairly happy news, I got an email that I was being electronically sent $11.87 from CDbaby for selling my music. This is good, because I pretty much had forgotten I had a CDbaby account, and then they pay me money. Sweet.
  
  They've funneled money from two purchases on CDbaby and from an iTunes purchase and some streaming on Rhapsody. See how many places my music is accessible online! The Rhapsody income was funny, because it's about .9 cents per listen or something.
  
  If you are interested in purchasing music online, all the links to sites are on my website, in the new Buy section.
  
  Cool. What else. Pizza. This is very short, but I ordered me some Robey Pizza tonight. They have delicious pizza and a more delicious MonTueWed deal of buy one get one free when you have the coupon. Plus it's right across the street. So I get two pizzas and it lasts me about three days. Ah... budgeting when you have no money. The only deal better is Little Ceasers Hot 'N' Ready pizza, but that is not across the street from me. (It was in Wicker Park though... ah).
  
  Halloween. I think I know what I am going to be, I just need to find one article of clothing, everything else I have. It'll be great. Checked one thrift store right before pizza but they didn't have it. Also there might be one at my parents, need to call to see if its still there. If this costume doesn't pan out then I'll be... um... myself for Halloween.
  
  That looks like I hit everything. Til next time...
  
  Alan
  
• My first ever blog posting from a busSaturday, October 10th 2009 9:27 PMYep, on my IPhone on the Western bus. I'm heading to my friend Nicolas' to play Beatles Rock Band for the first time. Yippee!!!
  
  What else this weekend... I had a good show with The Dirty Rooks last night at Martyrs'. It was musically very good, even though we are not doing stuff off the new studio songs. The sound is just great there. We brought in enough people, and then the Waco Brothers had the place pretty full after us.
  
  Just passed Armitage.
  
  Today did teaching at the School of Rock like every Saturday... back up to six students, one of which is an adult! Getting better at fitting the lessons to the type of student/personality they are. Kids are funny.
  
  Spent many hours today and yesterday getting a workaround for this one small bug with my website with Internet Explorer.. there were many other bugs at first but they have been dealt with.
  
  Almost to Division.
  
  Haven't heard back about the interview I had on Tuesday.. yet. We shall see.
  
  And if everything works, this should be up on my website right after I post it!
  
  Ta ta!
  Alan
  
• Interviews, shows, and October.. bloggityblogblog.Tuesday, October 6th 2009 9:06 PMThis is my new blog, remember?
  
  I went to buy new black dress pants last night. It was exciting. To interview for a job where I will where corduroys and a t-shirt probably. We'll see. There was a variety of attire in the people that interviewed me. It was in Evanston. I've already done a programming project to show my skills and a phone interview with them, and now I went in for the gauntlet of talking to five different people for half a day. Exciting. It's a python programming job, which is my preferred language, and they have an experimental, learn new stuff if it fits the job better, kinda environment there. Which is good for me at the moment, because I'm excited to get back to work and use my brain.
  
  The interview went well among the five guys that interviewed me. None of them were serious do-these-programming-puzzles and get back to me, but there were some questions of how would you write this statement or do this in python or sql. And then one guy started asking me Java questions, I'm like I didn't think I was interviewing for Java! Well I didn't say that. But I think I passed that with flying (or at least hovering) colors after I looked up stuff on my iPhone after leaving. Must have been in my sub-conscience somewhere.
  
  Anyway, that's that! Time now to work out some kinks on my website and practice for a show Friday.
  
  Yep, there's a show Friday! I'm playing with the Dirty Rooks, who I first played with like two and a half years ago! Time flies. This is all happening at Martyrs', which I have *never* played at. Brilliant, can cross that one off the list. They just recorded their second album, which is sounding awesome. I helped with the piani. Not the piano, but the piani.
  
  Also, the night before, Thursday, my friends in the band ATHENS are playing at the exact same venue! I'll be there! Perhaps I should just sleep on the curb. Or the kerb. Whichever. Come if you want to watch their show with me, it'll be fun.
  
  And welcome October to your life. I'm kind of already considering it winter. It's all downhill from here.
  
  Alan
  
• Starting a new blogFriday, October 2nd 2009 6:57 PMThe title says it all. I am starting a new blog. I always hated the word blog, which is why when the word became popular, and I went to start one at blogger, I called it my journal. Duh, because that's what it is.
  
  Anyway, this is clearly not an exciting way to start a blog post, so I'll let you know that I have an action packed weekend. Tonight I'm going to a housewarming party in the south loop, and then Saturday is filled with a half day at the School of Rock and then watching the Fortunate Sons (CCR Tribute) at night, which my buddies are in.
  
  I still am not employed, but this week felt like I was, because of all the work I did on my new website. Yay! Yippee! And it's pretty much done. There will be a little more work on it but it looks pretty good as is! And of course, I have it set to read these blog posts and have them on the website. In the Blog section. Clearly.
  
  Okay, I'll stop stating obvious things and get going.
  
  (Oh. And I was never for or against it, but it sucks that Chicago didn't get the Olympics. It would have been fun.)
  

"Alan Bailey evokes theatrical productions with the ambitious keyboard and string arrangements on Can't Let Go. The forced wackiness of "To The Breaking Point" gets annoying, but Bailey entertains with fluid piano playing and inviting melodies on "(Don't) Get Your Hopes Up" and "Release." On the simple but charming "I'm Off To Bed," Bailey sounds like he could have a successful career as an accompanist for silent films. (www.alan-bailey.com)"

-- Terrence Flamm from Illinois Entertainer

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"It only makes sense that Alan Bailey would have founded a Ben Folds Five tribute band. Alan's original material plays out to a similar beat, but nicely changes its highs and lows to make it his own. The piano arrangements and sparkly vocals work nicely as new layers and surprises rarely end. "Can't Let Go" sits close to happy pop songs and happy pop things with a nice twist that makes one wonder where those nine songs have been hiding."

-- Bill V. from Theft Liable To Prosecution

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"The Alan-Bailey Continuum celebrated a new CD Release and their first anniversary at Subterranean on December 10th. The new album, titled Can't Let Go, is a collection of nine of Alan's songs, each unique in their music, lyrics, and inspiration. The songs range from the pounding and epic 'The Moments Passing', to the heartfelt 'How Could I Be Blue?', and to the thoughtful lullaby of 'I'm Off To Bed'. By limiting his songwriting to piano and cello, Alan pushes the limits of the two instruments to create sounds never before heard in a rock band. Liz Ele adds the necessary rock and necessary rolls on the drum kit, while Chris Fiore plays the cello. The album was recorded at a number of studios in the Chicago area, and was mixed by Manny Sanchez of I.V. Lab Studios (Umphrey's McGee, Plain White T's, The Hush Sound). Mastering was done by Airshow Mastering with artwork by Jason Castillo.

It was on December 12th of 2007 that Alan debuted his band the Alan-Bailey Continuum. Fresh from working as a cruise ship pianist, Alan brought a number of songs to drummer Liz Ele to work on, and began to write his own cello parts. In short order, they performed their first show to finish off the year. In 2008, The Continuum has played at the Beat Kitchen and at Schubas, as well as Alan's favorite Quenchers.

Having practiced and performed with myriad cello players, Alan knows what to look for in a cello player. Chris Fiore, holding a Masters from Depaul's Music School, helped record on the album and is now performing with the band. Chris was recommended by former cellist Michelle Morales, who also recorded on the album.

The CD Release show opened with two bands that have recently released CDs of their own. Lying Delilah have opened for the Continuum twice before, and now have their new CD With No Gravity for sale. My My My, whose guitarist Johnny helped record and edit Alan's album, performed second. Their CD, Little Cat Plays The Alpha Rave, was released just a couple months ago and is available for purchase as well.

Alan appreciates every single person that came out to his show, and wanted to give something in return. Everyone attending the CD Release received a copy of the new CD, Can't Let Go, by just paying what they wished, Radiohead style. Also available was Alan's self-made first album, Happiness Pursued, and his annual "just for fun" Christmas CD! In addition, a raffle was held during the show - Alan's favorite way to give you wacky and sometimes cool prizes!

Subterranean: http://www.subt.net
Alan Bailey: http://www.alan-bailey.com
Lying Delilah: http://www.myspace.com/lyingdelilah3
My My My: http://www.myspace.com/iluvmymymy"

-- Full Press Release included in BuzzNEWS

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• Recent Demo Tracks
• Can't Let Go
• Jazzacadabra Demos
• Happiness Pursued
• Christmastastic
• Christmasriffic
• Christmastacular

• Dirty Rooks CD Release Show - Valentine's Day at Lincoln Hall Sunday, February 14th 2010 at 9 PM

  
  Lincoln Hall. Schubas' new mid-sized venue.
  
  The Dirty Rooks releasing their second album.
  
  More information forthcoming. Not to be missed.

  

• Promo Shots
• At Schubas, July 23rd 2008
• At Uncommon Ground, June 30th 2009
• In The Studio
• Ship Pictures

• How Could I Be Blue? - Chicago Montage
• Can't Let Go Of You
• Don't Get Your Hopes Up

You can listen to and purchase music through any of these fine online distributors. In addition, CDBaby offers physical copies of the CD "Can't Let Go" for only $7.

CDBaby Amazon Rhapsody last.fm iTunes eMusic