BLACKBIRDS
BLACKBIRDS is more an organism than a band. When Mike Slajchert came out of musical "semi-retirement" to once more write and record, he found himself with several songs which were clearly not going to work with his raspy old vocals. Fortunately, he has been able to call on the talents of several former students to provide backing or lead vocals when the "feminine touch" was necessary. Claire Hellige was the first, to be followed by Jasmine Quintana, Sarah Boyle, Sam Grams, Julie Samuelson, and Dee McElhattan. Mike continues to provide all the instrumentation himself, which cuts down considerably on conflicts between the guitarists and the drummer. Ever since the beginning, Blackbirds music has been a vehicle to make money for children in Africa, particularly in Uganda. Our contributions these days help the Invisible Children organization rebuild the Layibi Secondary School outside of Gulu, Uganda. One of Mike's favorite things is playing benefit concerts once or twice a year with Matt Scharpf, formerly a member of "Jamestown", and currently an active musician on the Chicago scene. Matt is a pro's pro, and generously lends his talents to our efforts. BLACKBIRDS is grateful to you for having read this far, for your support, and always for your listening. Life is meant to be lived for others; if we can make you smile a little bit with our music while we try to pick your pockets for the kids of Uganda, we hope you'll turn those pockets inside out. If you'd like to be part of our mailing list, please drop me a line on the "contacts" page; I've stayed away from a standard "leave a comment"-type page, as I want to make sure that you're not spammed by anyone. At the same time, I'd love to hear from any old friends out there, as well as new listeners who've stumbled upon us. Please visit the "Links" page to find other music and perhaps become attuned to a way to improve the world in some small way. Our first three CDs, "Blackbirds", "Anatomy of Melancholy", and "Unlicensed" are available on CDBaby, Garageband.com, iTunes, and on this website. Individual tunes from those CDs are available on iTunes and many other sites, including a couple in Japan and Latvia (I think we'll hit it big there, as long as somebody can put together an anime music video with Latvian subtitles). You can also purchase t-shirts, bags, and tiny little shirts which you can send pictures of yourself in on the "Products" page. TWO other CDs are available directly on this website, and new downloads can be found at http://amiestreet.com/music/blackbirds-of-chicago/ Thanks for listening. Mike
