It’s Wednesday evening, and Jeff Gramm has been fretting over the sparse turnout for his band Dingle, which is headlining Lounge Ax for the first time. His mother Wendy, an economist, happens to be in town for a meeting at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Now she’s sitting off to the side of the Lincoln Avenue rock club, sipping Huber draft from a plastic cup. Today’s her 51st birthday.
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Earlier Jeff had been told that his father Phil, the Republican presidential candidate, would also be coming to the show. To his relief, that plan has since been scrapped. Jeff says he’s always trying to convince his father that the band occupies very little of his time and interest. But he adds that his mother has been more supportive. She often listens to tapes of the band–which plays a reflective brand of folk rock–and comes to shows whenever she can. Jeff says this would have been the first and probably last time that his father watched him rock.
“Especially when we don’t have cars, hint hint,” Jeff chimes in. She rolls her eyes.
Phil, Wendy, and Jeff Gramm join me and a photographer as we clamber upstairs to the empty apartment above the club. It’s a bit strange, but none of the candidate’s handlers accompany us on our little mission.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Yael Routtenberg.
