Third World, first world, the West, the Mideast, the Right, the Left, Patriot Act, illegal immigration, we accept too easily the subversion of language to divide and anesthetize us from our own moral injunctions—feed the poor, heal the sick and house the homeless.  Individual human revolution awakens us from this paralytic sleep to confront these harsh contradictions in our society—Tim Wais

Jungle of Cities is Tim Wais, Rich Harrington, Kimi Carpenter, Adam Spiegel and Paul Chen.  They offer lyrics freshly cut from the disturbing history being made in these times.

Songwriter Tim Wais (lead vocals, acoustic guitar and banjo) is well known in the Chicago folk scene.  Tim had the pleasure of performing with some of the premiere artists from the 1970s Chicago folk music community, including Ginni Clemmons, who loved Tim’s work and selected his song “Twelve Days at Three Mile” to perform during her shows.  Bob Gibson, an icon of songwriter/performers, also felt that Tim’s poignant lyrics continued the tradition of socially aware music integral to the cultural movements of the 1960s.

Rich Harrington (Fender Telecaster and Stringmaster steel guitars, Rickenbacker lap steel guitar, electric mandolin) took up the guitar in 1964, and except for his “real life coma” which lasted 20 years, has been involved in the Chicago music scene since the 1970s.  He dimly recalls entering the music industry as manager, soundman, MC and visionary for the infamous Space Place industrial conglomerate and the early 1980s punka-locka scene.

Kimi Carpenter (keyboards, saxophone, backup vocals) spent much of her youth in a practice room playing whatever instrument she could find.  After several summers at band camp, she studied music for a time in college before realizing that she should probably get a day job.  Now gainfully employed outside the music business, Kimi enjoys singing and playing sax around town.

Adam Spiegel (percussion and sound effects) played trombone, baritone horn and tuba while young, but changed to hand percussion after being exposed to Santana’s “Abraxas”.  He has been playing bongo, conga and other hand percussion for 30 years.  Adam likes to combine his love for travel with his love of music.  He has played with reggae bands in Jamaica, punta rock bands in Belize, and all kinds of bands in Mexico, including a few nights sitting in with Lila Downs and Paul Cohen.

 Paul Chen (bass guitar) remains an enigma.