the ions

the ions the ions are the slickest, the loudest, the sickest, the most-sensitive, harmonious, brashest, sweet

Good times at Underground Lounge
03/14/2026

Good times at Underground Lounge

03/09/2026

Gimme an “R”, gimme an “I”, gimme a “P” for Country Joe McDonald

FRIDAY MARCH 13UNDERGROUND LOUNGE, 952 W. Newport Avenue, Chicago, IL 60657(773) 799-8833, instagram.com/underground_lou...
03/03/2026

FRIDAY MARCH 13
UNDERGROUND LOUNGE, 952 W. Newport Avenue, Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 799-8833, instagram.com/underground_lounge_chi
$10 advance, $15 day of show; 21+ w/ID

Bands Performing:
8pm The Ions (instagram.com/theionsmusic0)
9pm Dan Vallejo (instagram.com/dvallejo22)
10pm Silk Parlor (instagram.com/silkparlorband)
11pm Medicine For Machines (instagram.com/medicineformachines)

SHOW INVITE: https://www.facebook.com/events/1017511847201550
ADVANCE TICKETS: https://www.eventim.us/event/The-IonsDan-VallejoSilk-ParlorMedicine-For-Machines/672374

02/11/2026

It’s the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison (1990).

Look out, Sam!
01/27/2026

Look out, Sam!

Let us be your halftime show! We start at 7 pm.
01/18/2026

Let us be your halftime show! We start at 7 pm.

Pix from Friday’s show at Montrose Saloon
12/29/2025

Pix from Friday’s show at Montrose Saloon

12/05/2025

track by the ions

12/03/2025

“The first time I heard Wes Montgomery play, it was like being hit by a bolt of lightning. Once he hit the guitar strings with his thumb, you could feel it in your gut anywhere within the reach of sound.”

So recalled Ralph Gleason in a 1973 piece about the jazz guitarist for Guitar Player. Gleason had interviewed Montgomery many years earlier, but the interview went unpublished until it appeared in GP’s pages for a cover feature in the July/August issue.

Gleason’s interview is a candid portrait of Wes that reveals the doubts he harbored about his talent and the struggles he faced with his playing. He took up guitar relatively late, at age 19. Untrained on the instrument, he taught himself by listening to Charlie Christian records, all while raising seven kids and working as a welder.

Even by the early 1960s, when his star was ascendant in the jazz world, he felt he lacked the talent of more experienced jazz guitarists who had years of playing behind them.

“I’m so limited. Like, playing octaves was just a coincidence,” he told Gleason. “And it’s still such a challenge, like chord inversions — block chords like cats play on piano. There are a lot of things that can be done with it, but each is a field of its own, and like I said, it takes so much time to develop all your technique.

“I used to have headaches every time I played octaves, because it was extra strain, but the minute I’d quit I’d be all right. I don’t know why, but it was my way, and my way just backfired on me.”

Click the link in comments for the full story.

PHOTO: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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2933 W Montrose Ave
Chicago, IL
60618-1414

Telephone

7087499744

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