The Buckinghams in Concert

One of the best things about being a creative artist is that the New Year is a time to look back at the preceding 365 days and assess where you’ve grown and stretched the preceding year. Asking yourself frankly, “So what did you do last year?” “Did you change any lives? “Did you tackle any new challenges?” you must answer honestly. For an established musician or band, almost anytime you take a step away from “home base,” or the thing that audiences and fans know you for, you take a chance. What if, someone decides it’s a little different, or far afield, from what you’ve done before? What if, it showcases you in a brand new light? What happens to the original thing you’ve come to be known for? The answer is: You just made “great” become “greater.” Simply put, it’s like the Grammy-winning Jim Peterik model of music. One day, he cowrites a new song with Brian Wilson for The Beach Boys (“That’s Why God Made the Radio”), or he presents his World Stage Project, or he does a video for his...

From the simplest sounds of a solo guitar can come the most powerful of unforgettable songs that stay on your mind long after you’ve heard them in the car, on your phone, or on other electronic delivery means. Just hearing two voices seemingly made to blend together can easily send the listener into creative mode, envisioning the scenes being sung about and adopting the mood that is conveyed by sterling lyrics. Such is the song, “Little Something,” cowritten by Sting and Dominic Miller. Today marks the release of the Official Video of the song as performed by Chicago-based singer/songwriter Carl Giammarese and Chicago native, Lisa McClowry. Despite the scenes portrayed in the video, the duo was never in person during the making of the song, or of the official video. However, the “together from far away” method of song and video production, today, is almost routine procedure that artists have taken to share music and be creative during the safe, sure, and confining times of ...