The Red Apples: News

The Red Apples Trio is out and about this Spring-cold as hell though it is!- trying to keep warm. For the moment we are content playing acoustically -with a few electric licks thrown in from time to time. And it presents new and interesting challenges. Wendy is digging it for the ease of singing...and new songs are in the works. Do come and join us for an interesting mix or roots originals and covers, swing, rockabilly, a little country thrown in there-something for everybody!

The Red Apples have been mighty busy with writing some new tunes, breaking in a new bass player and generally keeping busy. So the gigs have been a bit in the background. But not for long. Into the recording studio we go (pretty soon) and then let 'em rip we will! Anyway fall is apple picking time as we all know, and there is more than one way to harvest APPLES! Meanwhile, the Red Apples loved playing the V-Spann Veterans Run benefit at Montefiori, and Ron and Wendy were interviewed for the documentary they are making about the event as well as the hoped for television station for Vets only. Aren't we special?
Stay tuned for upcoming gigs and more....
Also while you're at check out Wendy's blog at http://wendysvoice.blogspot.com

Thanks to everybody who came out to see us at Galvin's, Lilly's and The Tonic Room. We'll be hitting some of those spots again in the very near future so please check back in. We've been having loads of fun playing with Beau Barry, our awesome new sax man who also brought Myron Katz on board for some super sweet drumming (yeah he can rock, and even play with brushes!!). Working up some new material with some surprises from Dave in the form of new original songs.
Don't forget to check out Wendy's voice teaching website for all of you wannabe singers at www.vocalperformanceworkshop.com and PLEASE fan us on facebook!
Bring on the SPRING!!!!!!!!!!

The Red Apples had a heap of fun at Gallery Cabaret this past Saturday and are looking forward to some crazy show with them in the VERY NEAR FUTURE, probably Oct 16, with another soon to be announced band. Yes it was mighty sweet playing with Bob Sass (that rhymes with boss not ass) and Chris Hopper filling in on guitar. Ron was smoking (I mean ya know on the guitar) and Don was bringing on the bass as usual. What can I say? I was my usual sweet self. Ran into some folks who remembered our version of Lucinda Williams' "Essence" at the Mayfest a few years back and danced up a storm. That was nice.
Come out to see us next Monday night. We're the featured band at Underground Wonderbar on their open mike night! David Lenef on guitar and Bob Sass again! Whoo hoo! Hope to see ya there!

Wow, we've been terrible, we realize suddenly, about keeping up to date on this here site. We shall try to do better henceforth. Heck. Let's face it, there's just too much to do. But we must put forth that we just had a great recording session this weekend with Don King on bass and Dave Lenef on guitar. We're putting together a nice little acoustic package with some new originals and some covers...more on that too come! Please check out our fall calendar dates and come out and show your love!

Let us welcome in the Spring and also the greatest bass player around. We are too too pleased to have Chris Hopper joining us on bass. Chris is relatively new to the Chicago area and we feel pretty lucky that we snapped him up quickly. He is an accomplished musician who totally syncs up with the rest of the Apples. Chris is also going to be gigging with us as a second guitar player on the acoustic gigs that Ron and Wendy do-and guess what? His guitar playing is even more amazing! We're trying to come up with a name for this side project which promises to keep growing...got any ideas?

Oh my it's that time again. It must be the fall. The Red Apples are doing some apple pickin' that is regrouping, yes once again. As noted previously we have lost some dear band members due to illness and personal problems, but we are already working hard with new members that promise to be super Apple editions. In the meanwhile, you can check out Ron and Wendy's various acoustic gigs around and about. Thank you for all your support and fun times at The Horseshoe last Saturday. Leave us a comment and tell us how you feel. Love, Wendy, Ron/The Red Apples

Hey there! You all do not want to miss the Horseshoe this coming Friday night, no way no how. We are losing some of our favorite Apples and this may be the last time you see us onstage with Tim, our beloved bassist, who has to leave the band for personal reasons. Rich, our beloved drummer, has bowed out due to health issues and will be unable to play Friday. We love them both to bits and wish both every good thing that can be wished. And then some. Filling in for Rich will be our most excellent former drummer and all around awesome guy, Gerry Jalove. Kudos to Gerry for being such a standup guy. Jim Hintz will be providing some nice new licks and of course Wendy and Ron just keep keeping it together with the love...IT PROMISES TO BE A PARTY!

We are very sad to announce the cancellation of The Red Line Tap gig due to a death in the immediate family of one of the band members. We are sorry both to The Red Line and our loyal fans who planned to attend. Unfortunately, it is too late to find a replacement and we hope there are no hard feelings. It is beyond our control, obviously. Our prayers go out to the family members.

Howdy to all...The Red Apples are very happy to announce an excellent new guitar player to our line up that we feel will add not only musical savvy but stability to our Appledom. His name is Jim Hintz, and he is an old friend and musical partner of both Ron's and Rich's from back in the day, as they say. Jim played with R & R in the fabulous roots band of the 80's known as The Wascally Wabbits, and will add his lead, rhythm and vocal chops to The Red Apples starting ASAP! Hooray!

I am perhaps remiss in not blogging about our California gig cause I'm waiting for PIX!!! It's a long story involving a teenager and a camera, but I promise it is forthcoming! In the meantime head out for your Apple fix this Friday night at The Red Line Tap!

Unfortunately, The Red Apples won't be playing the benefit for Animal Care and Control in Lincoln Park on Sept 14 after all. Although we were looking forward to it and would happily play for the pets, our former guitar player Pete, has bowed out of the band and taken his benefit with him, so to speak, a thing we have tried, but are unable to comprehend. This is just to let you all know, that it is through no fault of the rest of the Apples that we are not playing the benefit.

The Red Apples had an excellent weekend! We rocked the house Friday night at the Horseshoe where a good time was had by all. The youngsters having a birthday party were a great audience (Happy Birthday again Cory wherever you are) and danced up a storm. Even though we missed Pete, the Apples were on fire with Wendy burning up the vocals and Ron kickin it on his strat! (Yeah we know when we're good...) Many thanks to John Wills for his excellent acoustic set-good luck on your tour!

Then, Sunday afternoon, Ron and Wendy did a finely calibrated set or two at Let Them Eat Chocolate. Talk about a different slice of the same pie! That place has the best doggone acoustics. (not to mention the gelato....)We love singing there...thanks to Jim and Marge for showing up and cheering us on and reminding Ron of his bluegrass days.

Keep in touch everybody and don't forget to call us if you need a rockin' roots band!

We're very sorry to announce it but The Dugout was forced to cancel our gig Sat. July 5 due to some licensing problems they are experiencing. OUCH! They promise to have us back when things get cleared up. Well never fear, for we are hard at work coming up with new places to play. In the meantime, we had a great time both at the Bowling League Trophy party and a great turn out at the Randolph Street Market, where, despite a short downpour the Apples played on! And don't forget to mark your calendars for July 12th at Bernice's Tavern.

The Red Apples are pleased to announce that we will officially play every Sunday at the Randolph St. Market which commences the final weekend of every month until the end of the season (October). Won't that be fun? It's a real good time and we look forward to playing with a little antiqueing on the side. See the Calendar for more details or go to their website-also on calendar.
Thanks so much to our new bass player Tim's lovely wife, Karen, for the pix of us crazy Apples hamming it up at the Levee and The Nitecap. She Rocks. And takes a mean picture. We mean a good picture. Hey, Tim kinda rocks too. That's why he playing with us!

Hey Everybody,
Sorry to say that there was a mixup at the Crosstown in Naperville and the Red Apples will not be playing there June 7. However, they will be rescheduling us in the near future-we'll let 'cha know!

The Red Apples had a rockin' sweet time at The Nite Cap and many thanks to all of you who came out to support. Extra special thinks to new bassist Tim O'Brien who really helped us out, (last minute lineup change on the bass front)and his charming wife Karen who took some smashing photos. Awesome couple dat!
If you weren't there you missed a special moment when Ron's nephew Mike Lowy stepped up to the plate (or rather the pedal) and played drums on two improvised numbers with Pete singing for a change. Alright now!
And isn't it cool to hear Ron and Rich playing together after all these years? Way it's got to be....

That's right. After a very long and very cold winter the blossoming begins which will yield many more Red Apple appearances. We are very happy to announce our new line-up which includes Rich Castillo on drums, Pete Alinovich on guitar and Tim O'Brien on bass. You'll be hearing more about them in the near future, in the meantime check out our Calendar for upcoming dates. We can't wait to see everybody again and get down to some serious music playing!

So last night we got our feet wet a little with an open mike at The Beacon Tap in Des Plaines. Our good buddy and now drummer Rich Castillo, hosts the open mike there with one his other bands, Lords of Q, and we joined them to try out some tunes with the new line-up including Tim O'Donnell on bass and another old buddy, Jim Hintz on guitar. We'll told it sounded pretty good! It was great to be out performing again! Keep checking back-we'll be posting new info about the new band memebers and plans for Red Appledom in the near future....

The Red Apples are pleased and excited to say they are starting work with a new rhythm section that has great promise. We're just in the first flush of romance, so to speak, so we're keeping things on the QT, (or is that the downlow?) Yes, fellow Chicago- ites, winter cannot last forever, and soon the Apples will be rockin' out and about again in the near future....SO please stay in touch and so will we!

Howdy to anybody out there checking in on us . We love you deeply.
Now that the holidaze are past we're getting down to bidness. We are working on our lineup and working on material. We've been auditioning guitar players and generally looking around...some things are slowly starting to gel. It isn't easy (oh man could we tell you some stories...) so please be patient and don't give up on us! As winter bears down, I guess it's a good time to hunker into our bunkers and find the right stuff. Hope everyone had a jolly one - onward and upward!

I suppose it's high time we posted something on here about what the heck's goin' on. Without going into the gory details, suffice it to say that The Red Apples are going through some changes. Yes things were happening, things were getting exciting even. But shit happens. This we know to be true. So now we are having a change of lineup and maybe even a change of approach.

But know, please, that the core of The Red Apples, (pun somewhat intended)a.k.a. Ron and Wendy, remain true to their vision and still hearing the music and still living the music, pick themselves up, dust themselves off and carry on.

Please keep checking in on us and we will keep you up to date. It won't be long before we'll be out there again. For now, re-examination, perhaps even experimentation and renewel. And as always, thanks for your support and love and right back atcha.

Wendy and Ron

What the %^&%@%*&$&^?
Was I dreaming or did Ron blow my mind last week at Cary's? Nope I was not dreaming. It seems everyone, band members and audience members alike, agree that that man was &^%^$*! ON FIRE throughout the night. Was it the never before played by us version of Folsom Prison that drew the house down, or the totally improvised down and dirty blues? OR just the all fired rad steamin' guitar licks that emanated from the Strat? I don't know I just know RESPECT. Now I look forward to the kitties and doggies of the Adopt a Pet in the Park dealie.

PS don't tell Ron I posted this. It will only embarrass him. He's a Virgo that way. Wendy of the Aps

Wow last Saturday night at The Hidden Cove was an amazing time. Our special guest, guitarist Mike Powell, played some tunes with us and cranked it up a notch. It was like-Guitar Wars with he and Ron revving off into the stratosphere of strings.On the vocal front Smokey just couldn't get enough of Wendy and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves-including us!

A wacky time was had by all at The Oakwood last Saturday night. Despite a few technical difficulites, and Wendy being pelted in the face with rosebuds by an overenthusiastic fan (?) it was all and all a successful outing. Thanks to everyone who came and a special thanks to Anne Van der Muelen, Michelle Costello and Kim Juszynski (and friends) for your support! See ya next time...

We had a great time Friday night at Cary's with an excellent turnout-thanks all you folks that showed up. We unveiled the new banner and boy did she look sweet. In the photo gallery you can see a picture of her compliments Anna Margarella. Thanks Anna! And thanks Rudy Montero for the original design and hard work.