Tributosaurus – The Appreciator

Tributosaurus, Uncategorized, Videos

Matt with Tributosaurus

There are a ton of Tributosaurus videos out there, of wildly varying video quality and sound quality.

It’s always more fun to let the legend live as it was in our minds.

But here are a few. From The Copernicus Center, doing The Beatles Project, in which we performed every song they ever recorded in chronological order:

Or a snippet from when we became David Bowie at Wire:

Or from that time we played in Daley Plaza, just before Chicago was so rudely denied the chance to host The Olympics:

Or from one of the innumerable times we became The Who at Martyrs, and played one of the world’s most satisfying songs:

And one more from the Tributosaurus Beatles Project. Skip through the banter to hear one of George Harrison’s bests at the 1:22 mark:

Music Writings, On Musical Output, Soul Fillers, Tributosaurus

Interdimensional Connections via Chet Baker

One night Max Crawford came out to join Tributosaurus as we became Elvis Costello. Max transcribed the hauntingly ethereal Chet Baker flugelhorn solos on “Shipbuilding,” and it was a highlight of the night to do that with him. Afterwards, we reveled and discussed; the soundman had used some reverb and echo on the 2nd solo, as a nod to a similar effective production moment on the recording. But…then later when talking with soundman Sergio, I complimented him on the reverb. He said “yeah…it just kind of seemed to fit what he was doing. Glad you didn’t mind.” Sergio had never heard the song Shipbuilding, ever. He was just nudged and inspired somehow to do EXACTLY what producer Clive Langer had done on the record.

So, what to glean from this beautiful moment?
1) A good soundman is a band member, listening and aesthetically reacting along with us.
2) Somewhere, Chet Baker appreciated Max’s playing, transcription, and the night’s vibe in general, so he pushed Sergio’s hand towards the reverb.
3) Live music continues to offer cosmic, emotional, powerful connections across dimensions.
4) I’m an eternal hippie.

Press, Tributosaurus

Tributosaurus Press

Chris Borelli of the Chicago Tribune wrote a terrific long form feature about the band and what we might signify in the musical landscape:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-10-02/entertainment/0909300462_1_rock-n-roll-original-song-sound

Chrissie Dickinson wrote about Tributosaurus when we became Johnny Cash, and here you’ll find detailed explanations of the band’s musical mandate:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-04/entertainment/ct-live-0804-cash-tributosaurus-20100804_1_cash-show-american-recordings-sing

Here’s a review of when we became Bob Dylan at Fitzgerald’s, from Tomorrow’s Verse:

http://tomorrowsverse.com/story/setlist-recap-tributosaurus-becomes-bob-dylan-fitzgeralds-1172014-18077.html