"Just wanted to touch base and say thanks for setting up a great tour. I can speak for all of us by saying that we were well booked in front of amazingly receptive punters. I was constantly impressed by your breadth of contacts and overall resourcefulness"
- Sorin Brouwer -
(guitarist for PALA)

"Thank you so much to everyone for helping make the tour such a success. From pre-rehearsals to picture taking,
CD making to transportation planning, teaching . . .
everyone pulled their weight and did a great job of working
together, having fun, and putting on stellar shows.

It was a pleasure taking the ride with you all...many good
memories!"
- Melissa Ziemer -

"The CME was an eye opening experience. From the legions of new fans to pints of great beer. Very well organized and worth every once of energy."
- Mike Andersen -
(bassist for PALA)

"Just a note of thanks. I had a great time at all the shows and especially enjoyed the workshops. Everyone did a fine job representin' for the US and I met some terrific new friends, too. Kudos to all!"
- Fran Kondorf -
(bassist w/Melissa Ziemer)

Western Telegraph (Wednesday, October 16th, 2002)

US roots music at its best CHICAGO MUSIC EXPLOSION Queens Hall Narbeth

THE Chicago music scene exploded in Narbeth recently as five of the best Chicago bands, collectively known as The Chicago Music Explosion, hit town. We were promised a night of American roots music at its best and it certainly was. The evening kicked off with Melissa Ziemer, her diminutive figure belying the strength and emotion of her powerful and passionate voice. Her first song was "Driftin' Nowhere", but this certainly wasn't where the night was going as her set of country rock transported us to the land of Stars and Stripes.

She gave way to the gravelly voice of Pete Special whose face must have seen a thousand bars. Pete sang the blues and took us from the north side of Chicago down to New Orleans, ending with a classic rendition of Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World", backed by blues harp player and tour manager Ben Ruth and the sensitive drumming of John Maloney, whose omnipresence made a difference to each band's sound.

Before I had time to refill my glass, the seamless change-over had the Juleps on stage fronted by Gary Yerkins and Melissa Ziemer; complete with brass section, they played new country through to Memphis. The Convulsions were something different; the hair may have been pure seventies but vocalist Ben Ruth's erratic English staccato vocals and stage persona brought an edge to this old style R'n'B groove - maybe a reincarnation of Paul Jones crossed with Iggy Pop. But if it's energy you're after this band had it by the sweat-filled bucket.

The highlight was the swaggering American country rock band that exuded stage presence with a front man (Rob Conway) who had a look of Brad Pitt about him (yes girls really, or maybe that was just the Guinness). This band captured the sweat, heat and excitement of this explosive night. Everyone was dancing by then - rock bands, hall managers, the works. The hall exploded as two and a half hours into this non-stop evening the whole entourage took to the stage to give us more gutsy, ballsy Stateside sounds, climaxing in "Rock Me Baby" with Melissa and Pete in a bantering duet reminding us all of what the phrase rock 'n' roll really means. For three hours tonight we were all proud to swear allegiance to the Stars and Stripes - yes it really was that good. Moll

Wiltshire Times, Mon. Oct. 13th, 2002

TOWN GETS LUCKY

Chicago Music Explosion White Swan, Trowbridge

AN EXPLOSION of musical talent blasted into Trowbridge last Wednesday evening at Pee Wee Hunt's White Swan pub. The 12-member group from Chicago is part way through a three-week tour of the UK, taking in 17 gigs taking in places like Brighton, Bristol, Manchester and Aberdeen. Some dates had been cancelled at short notice, which resulted in some hastily rearranged gigs at pubs, including the White Swan.

The tour is a "working holiday" the lads told me, and my goodness they certainly performed well to earn a crust to help them on their travels. You can always tell when something a bit special is in on the cards because the local music fraternity including the well-known musos are out in their hordes. We witnessed five acts within the group with a few members performing in all five of the range of genres.

Pete Special, a gravelly voiced blues man, was first up with his brand of howling and growling blues. He was followed by The Juleps. A tight country rock to pop rock band with good vocal harmonies. The sound in the tightly packed place was amazingly good. The Convulsions produced a wonderfully uptempo run's/soul set with horns and a mean mouth organ man (who just happened to be a Brit!). The fast and furious urban rock hillybilly style of the Ghettobillies followed with their amazing guitar work.

The evening climaxed with a performance from Melissa Ziemer. Although she supported the other sets with backing vocals she was now fronting her own band. The young diva from Chicago is already a veteran of the soul scene there and her set of catchy pop gems rounded off things nicely. This is a three-hour show packed with musical talent which is really for the bigger stage, but Trowbridge got lucky and who were we to complain? Tom Sangster

The Prom. Bristol UK Oct. 4th, 2002

CHICAGO MUSIC EXPLOSION

Right from the start this had the potential to be a truly great gig. How could it be anything but when you¹ve got five top line acts from Chicago on the same bill? But I doubt whether anyone the organisers, the artists or the audience who packed themselves sardine-like into the heaving Prom had any idea of just how great it was actually going to be.

The Chicago Music Explosion is a loose collective of roots and rock musicians from the windy city who set out to organise their own tour of small venues across the country. Pete Special had paved the way with a string of storming gigs in and around the city¹s blues venues in the past few weeks, and he was back and in cracking form, growling his way through a set that was, by necessity, far too short. Gary Yerkins, looking a bit like Elvis Costello, proved to be a very fine rootsy singer-songwriter in his own right, but he is better known as a member of the much acclaimed band The Juleps. His fellow Julep, Melissa Rose Zeimer was also on the bill, sharing vocals with him as well as doing her own set. That such a phenomenally powerful voice can possibly come from such a small frame surely defies the laws of nature?

Ben Ruth is the man we have to thank for getting the idea of the Chicago Music Explosion up and running and he worked tirelessly, playing in The Pete Special Trio and and his own hard driving rnb band The Convulsions who, with their horn section and Mr Ruth's harmonica playing,had the place jumping.

The Ghettobillies are a new name to me, but no one who saw them will forget it or their upbeat set. Despite the lack of space it was hard to stay still to their headbanging music, which they describe as country-punk, but heavy-metal bluegrass also came to mind.

A special mention should be made of the sheer stamina of The Convulsions' highly-rated drummer John Malone, who never left his seat for the whole night and played for every single act. But it was that sort of night. Back home the musicians and singers may be used to headlining their own shows but here they were obviously enjoying each other¹s music and selflessly helping each other out to the point where it was often difficult to know who was actually in which band. The artists all said that they¹d enjoyed themselves so much that they aim to be back next year for solo tours. Meanwhile The Chicago Music Explosion¹s visit to Bristol looks set to become an annual event. If you missed it this year, don't make the same mistake in 2003. Keith Clark star rating (five out of five) * * * * *