Mon, Nov 11 - 8pm - $10

 Jeff Brown, Goodbye Home, Jess Godwin, Xoe Wise, Cobalt & The Hired Guns, Lady Laura and other musical acts will celebrate Chicago musician Matt Ryd in concert. Chicago Musician and Producer, Matt Ryd, passed away on August 4th at the age of 28 after a long and tough battle with anxiety, depression and eating disorder. A self-described "singer/songwriter/all-around-geeky-nice-guy from Chicago", Matt lived to write, perform, record and produce music and to encourage others to do the same. After honing his vocal skills as a member of the "Purple Haze" a cappella group at Northwestern University, Matt began his music career singing solo acoustic gigs until forming his band "The Matt Ryd All Stars" in 2008 (named after the Converse All-Star shoes which were his only shoe wear of choice). Matt recorded five CD's between 2008 and 2013. The song "Healed" from his debut EP was placed on episode 803 of the hit ABC show "Scrubs" and has also received radio attention, including play on Radio New Zealand. His full length LP, "Looking for Home", was released to a sold-out crowd at the nationally-known Schubas Tavern in late 2010. In 2012, Matt formed his media production company, RydMedia, Inc., and recorded and produced numerous CD's for local artists. Matt was an amazing young man with many talents, but most importantly he had a sensitive spirit and heart of gold and touched people's lives all around him. Matt will be defined not by the music that he loved to write and play, but by the extraordinary way in which he helped and supported those around him and the open and honest manner in which he publically addressed his illnesses. He will be missed greatly by his parents, Steve and Joani Ryd, and his sister, Meg (Jon) Huffman, as well as his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and music fans. Let’s celebrate Matt’s life together with music. All proceeds will go to ANAD (www.anad.org) or NEDA (www.nationaleatingdisorders.org) which are two support organizations that were important part of Matt's life for many years.

 After losing the band she loved, and losing the husband she loved even more, Lady Laura had no where to go but up. And down. And up. Then maybe down again. But then up. And up. And up.Formerly of the Chicago band I Fight Dragons, Lady Laura has struck out on her own to write about what it means to lose nearly everything that she thought defined her, and how she could rebuild. Her debut album, JEZEBEL, chronicles this journey with only her voice and her piano to focus on what it means to really be solo and alone. The results are songs that are emotionally raw, revealing, and, in the end, empowering.Lady Laura draws heavily on influential women such as Sandy Denny, Chrissie Hynde, and Maddy Prior, but also from great songwriters who tell the most simple but true stories like Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein. It would be a lie to say she takes nothing from her time with IFD, even if it is in opposition: to be more human than machine and to simplify rather than complicate. But because of her time with them, she is able to speak up and say, or sing, what is necessary, inspiring, and meaningful.

 Cobalt & the Hired Guns is about love and guts, energy and enthusiasm – refusing to pretend they aren’t having fun.The repertoire for this band from Chicago has been described as Americana, Folk Punk, Pop, or just Good Ol’ Fashioned Rock n’ Roll. They’ve been compared to The Hold Steady, The Clash, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, The Fratellis, Frightened Rabbit, Backyard Tire Fire, and “Wilco on Xanax covering The Clash”Cobalt & the Hired Guns plays at venues and clubs all over Chicago, including the Metro, Schuba’s, Cubby Bear, Double Door, and Subterranean with bands such as State Radio, I Fight Dragons, Josh Ritter, Baby Teeth, Dashboard Confessional and Big D and the Kids’ Table to name just a few.Their first album, Jump the Fence, was released as a carbon neutral project in 2008.The second album, Everybody Wins! was released in June of 2012 to a much acclaimed homecoming show at the Metro. The record features punky Americana inspired songs with instrumentation including not only the typical band setup but also a full horn section, string section, keyboard, steel guitar, and Moog synthesizer.A follow up EP to the last album is currently being planned out with recording to begin in the fall of 2013.

Picking up the guitar at five years old Xoe and her younger sister wrote their first song for their sick baby goat. From a small town on the ocean in NC to a brief period in Michigan she continued to pursue music and now is based in Chicago, IL.She entered the Chicago music scene in 2009 collaborating with Ethan Stoller. Stoller has contributed music to the DVD featurettes and promo materials of several major Hollywood films, including V for Vendetta (film), Ninja Assassin,Sherlock Holmes and more.Xoe released her first album Echo that October. After growing in the Chicago music scene and simply growing up, her music has taken on a dreamy folk tone drawing comparisons to a female Bon Iver with her 6 piece band selling out shows in Chicago. She has been heard at venues from Hotel Cafe in CA to Hard Rock in Nashville. She has been supporting acts with artists Lisa Loeb, Greg Laswell, John Legend, and Colbie Caillat. Microsoft scooped Xoe up when opening their IL store now helping sponsor her 25 stop US tour.Xoe continues to rise to the top MTV-ourstage.com charts winning pop categories, and having been featured multiple times. Chicago Innerview recognizes Xoe as "easily the singer/songwriter and pop counterpart to Columbia native Chaz Bundick’s (a.k.a. Toro Y Moi) laconic chill-wave synth ballads. Both share an evanescent “dreaminess,” as if washing in the aquamarine surf of their native environs. On Wise’s new album, Echo, simple guitar and keyboard arrangements back up almost deliquescent vocals and lyrics tinged with starry-eyed romanticism." While Chicago Redeye states "the song as something of a spiritual accident."Xoe Wise has played the Korean festival with 3000+ audience, as well as Oakland arena in MI for the Miracles for Life benefit show alongside Rolling stone featured band Jamestown Revival. Xoe also was the fall 2010 Uncommon ground open mic runner up (Crystal Bowersox previous winner).

Atlanta/Chicago Based singer songwriter Jess Godwin is currently performing with her band in Atlanta. In the past few months, she has been seen on stage in Chicago, New York, Nashville, and she was most recently a performer at the VOODOO FEST in New Orleans. KISS, Eminem, and Lenny Kravitz headlined this annual festival of music, which featured recording artist from around the world. In Atlanta Jess has performed at Red Light Cafe, Cafe 290, Bella's, Old Ephraim's, and 10 High Club. Jess was voted one of the top five “Best Breakout Atlanta Artists” on the MTV VMA OURSTAGE independent musician website. For more information go to http://blog.ourstage.com/?s=jess+godwin. Jess is currently working in Atlanta on several music projects including writing with the London/Atlanta based songwriting team JINJA {Guus Hoevenaars and Lann J.}. “Her expressive vocals swing from lilting jabs to heart-wrenching explosions, putting her somewhere in between Regina Spektor and Alicia Keys”. -ourstage.com

 The band formed officially in 2008, the line-up has changed frequently, though Greg Jackson Combs and Jeff Brown are the only remaining original members. Since 2008, Goodbyehome has been making themselves known not only in their local Chicago scene but on the national circuit. In 2010 they hit the road to spread their debut album The Troubles(2010) in over 20 states, kicking off in Nashville and ending in Los Angeles. The band received press in the Chicago Tribune following the release. There music has brought them to share bills with acts like Bela Fleck, Dr. Dog, Grace Potter and Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes. Goodbyehome’s music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles,. The Troubles(2010) focused primarily on a sound reflecting folk or alternative country, but has since introduced more experimental aspects to their music to be released in their follow up Electric Cowboy Lullabies, including elements of alternative rock, jazz, heavy metal and classic pop. The band plans to release Electric Cowboy Lullabies sometime in 2013. The Album will be released on CAU Dog Records.

 Often reluctant – or unable – to characterize with any particularity the definitive style of his music, guitarist-turned-entertainment-attorney-turned-singer-songwriter Jeff Brown's shows and music run the range from delicate indie-folk (think Civil Wars and Damien Rice) to more aggressive alt-rock with forays into jazz and chamber pop. His songwriting trends towards the melancholic and his Facebook page cites his songwriting influences as “Girls and alcohol, mostly,” though in reality, his music is rarely that one-dimensional. Brown writes love songs for people who are sick of love songs.