Finally Talking About Grant Slam with Grant Lendvay (and friends)
Post Show Chat #3: Performers and Patrons
This conversation features a handful of familiar faces: Grant Lendvay (the eponymous “Grant” of “Grant Slam”), Caradoc Crandall and Cormick Costello (Intoner), Ian Kloehn (Daundry), and Cordia Ritz (my beloved friend), as well as some newer ones: Collin Sincaglia (recent DePaul grad and new friend), and Jay Gardoqui (new friend to me, dear friend to everyone else). It has been edited for (relative) clarity (once AGAIN: I tried my best. This time it was 23 minutes of audio plus 2 addendums…)
I texted Grant on the day of his Archie’s show with Lace for Leisure and asked if he’d be interested in doing a “Grant Slam Retrospective” for Substack. Grant Slam, a DIY arts and music festival, took place at Jonquil Park on May 18th, 2024. A month after the fact—as it was a recurring topic in two previous interviews with Intoner and Daundry—I was hoping to talk to him about the festival and hear from both performers and fellow audience members to get (nearly) every side of the experience. The following interview consists of people who were, and are, very close to the event – it is very honest and also very biased (objectivity is not the goal here).
6/12/2024 @ 9:30 ish: Grant Lendvay, Caradoc Crandall, Aly Wojo, and Lace for Leisure @ Archie’s Cafe:
After Lace for Leisure’s (awesome) set (in which they covered Big Thief!), Grant, Cordia, Ian, Cormick, Collin and I walk toward the alley behind Archie’s (same one as the first Intoner interview). I turn to see Grant putting his face up to the window peering into the art installation next door. Tonight, it’s a beach scene with a single folding chair sitting amongst empty beer cans scattered in a pile of sand in an otherwise empty room. I start recording:
Ian: That’s a performance piece, Grant.
A beat.
Ian: Where’s the person? The person comes out every twenty minutes and drinks another beer.
I look over to Ian.
Ella: Really?
He shakes his head and laughs. He made that up.
Ella: Last time I was here, it was just those inflatable flailing arm men in there…
Cordia: Was that when we were here with Ben?
Ella: I think so…
Grant walks away from the window closer to our circle.
Ella: Ok, Grant! Let’s start with tonight: how would you rate your set out of ten?
Grant exhales and slowly nods, looking a bit defeated.
Grant: I’m gonna give it a…6.4…
Ella: Oh… Do you want to elaborate on that at all…?
He sighs.
Grant: I’m giving it a 6.4 because… Well, today was my first day playing keys, and I definitely learned how to… uh… not EQ the keys. I mean, I had a great time…
I have no idea what that means.
Ian does, but he still asks for the folks at home in a way that almost sounds scripted:
Ian: What’s EQ mean, Grant?
Ella: Thank God you asked that!
Grant: Equalization! Putting in the lows, mids, highs, making it sound tight.
Ella: And do you think this was noticeable to people who aren’t music majors?
Grant: No, I’m just being a nerd.
Ella: Totally.
He sighs.
Grant: Overall, I’d say the set was pretty yummy… but I definitely should’ve eaten some food because I haven’t really eaten anything today…
Ella: That’s bad…
Grant: That’s why I’m trying to go get some Raising Cane’s later! *
Ella: This’ll be quick, this’ll be quick—
(It was… not quick at all.)
He clears his throat:
Grant: But yeah, I’d say it was good. I’d like to eat next time, I think I’ll have better vibes… some of my jokes could’ve been… more articulate… and would’ve… landed better if I’d been more fed, but I had a great time.
Ella: Well, you have two sets this weekend to redeem yourself…
(Context: Grant and friends perform at Lilly’s on Lincoln for a few nights every month.)
Grant: Yeah… eight hours… total. Four hours each.
Ella: What time are you starting?
Grant: Well, it’s 9 pm to 2 am, but there’s kinda breaks in there.
Ella: Mostly covers? Half covers? What’s the haps…
Grant: Like…covers…
Ella: What’s your favorite song to cover?
He bursts into song:
Grant: WELL I’VE BEEN OUT WALKIN’…
He stops abruptly:
Grant: “These Days.” Jackson Browne.
Ella: I DON’T DO TOO MUCH TALKIN’–
Grant and Ella ( with Grant as the upper harmony): THESE DAYSSS…
Out of seemingly nowhere, Caradoc runs over and jumps on Ian:
Laughter.
Jay walks over normally.
Grant (laughing): Jesus Christ, that was so aggressive–
Ian: Do y’all wanna say anything?
Jay: Grant Slam 2025! Grant Slam is the greatest music festival–
Caradoc starts rapping (kind of):
Caradoc: “I like slammin on Grant, ay”
Jay: Grant Slam is an illegal operation, actually…
Cormick gets close to my phone, which I’m holding out in the middle of the circle.
Cormick: Get this—
He flicks his lighter directly into my phone microphone.
Cordia: Are you lighting her phone on fire?
He’s actually lighting a cigarette.
Overlapping conversation about “hand-rolled cigarettes only” at Grant Slam.
Ian and Jay leave. We all wave bye.
Cordia bops me on the head with her new Intoner poster.
Cordia: Dunce.
Cordia, Cormick, and I argue about the correct way to pronounce “Tevas,” the brand of sandals he is currently wearing (with no socks).
Cordia: I used to say “Tee-vas,” and then the first time I met Cormick on the Red Line going to the Fiji party—
Grant: Ella, do you include, like… everything?
Cormick: You asking this question is 100% gonna make it in.
We talk about what I ended up cutting from the Intoner interview.
The conversation further de-rails:
Grant: I actually hate this group of people.
Ella: Oh, that’s going in.
***
Ella: OKAYY! Let’s actually talk about what we’re supposed to talk about.
We all quiet down.
Ella: Ok so, Grant Slam: most of us have heard the story before. This year was your third time putting it on…
Grant: Fourth. 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. This was the first “Grant Slam”...
Ella: My bad…
(I want to add that despite writing it at least 20 times, every single time I typed “Grant Slam” it auto-corrected to “Grand Slam.”)
Cordia: Were they all “Grantchella” before that?
Grant: Yep.
Ella: What was the first one?
Grant: That was a senior year grad party, and then the second one was like… me…trying…
He trails off and shrugs.
Grant: Y’ know, the Squeakquel is always worse…
The “Squeakquel” got me good.
Cormick: Sophomore slump—
Grant: Sophomore slump! But then the third one—
Ella: The one sophomore year was awesome though!
Cormick: That’s not the sophomore slump we’re talking about…
Ella: Ohhh…
Cormick: That was the… “Junior Year Jack-Up!”
Caradoc: “Junior Year Jamboree,” baby!
We all laugh.
Grant: Well, if Grant Slam was the “Junior Year Jack-Up,” I’d call Grantchella 2023 the “Sophomore Slam.”
Ella: It was so fun. Cordia’s mom was there!
Cordia: My mom’s always there…
Grant: I love that. I love that she’s like, a regular there.
(For the past two years, by sheer coincidence, Cordia’s mom has been in town for Grant Slam. Jennifer is a lung nurse and she always tells us that we need to quit smoking/vaping when we’re 25.)
Grant does a (spot on) impression of Cormick justifying his nicotine habits.
Cordia (laughing): I hate that she’s talking to you guys about this!
Cormick: I gave it a looser cut-off this year… I just said, “Well, it’s up in the air…”
Grant: Like the smoke!
Cordia: Much like the smoke…
Ella: That was really poetic guys.
Cormick: Like my habits… the smoke rises…
I have no idea what that means.
Grant and Cormick start singing “Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy.
Grant: That was my dish washing song.
He starts beatboxing.
Grant: Yeah. Transcribe all this.
Ella: Oh, I’ll try… and I will fail…
(I didn’t even try)
Cordia: How long is this already?
I check my phone.
Ella: Um… we’re at six minutes…
Grant: Let’s… focus in for a couple minutes…
Ella: Alright, we’re locking in…
***
Ella: Grant, when you think about this year specifically, what are the moments you know you’re gonna look back on and think: “That was such an awesome day”? Was it crowd surfing? Was it the minutes before crowd surfing…?
Grant chuckles to himself.
Grant: I’d say I was pretty “pick up and go” the entire day and the days preceding, but I think my first moment of really taking it all in was during my good friends, Intoner’s set—
We clap.
Cormick: Aw, shucks.
Grant: They were playing a classic—
Ella: Which song?
Grant: Uh… I actually can’t remember, but—
Caradoc: Damn… that’s fucked up…
Grant: I dunno, it was one of the bangers, but I just looked to my left at the front row of the crowd and I let out some tears… I was just like, “Wow, this is pretty beautiful.”
We all nod.
Grant: I’m definitely not the only one who made the thing happen—there are certainly a lot of people who helped and made it awesome—but I was the person, like, running the meetings and getting the cool people in the same place, and it was just really, really exciting and heartwarming to finally see a lot of people smiling and enjoying the music… So yeah, I’d say the middle of Intoner.
Ella: How about at the end when you guys did “Goodbye Stranger”?
Cordia: That was beautiful!
Grant: When people were singing along—
Collin: I was… moshing to that—
Cordia: Oh, I was involved in that—
Collin: I was involved in that—
Cordia: Supertramp is my mom’s favorite—
Ella: They were also Princess Diana’s favorite…
Cordia: I wonder if that’s a coincidence…
Collin: Some would say Grant is the new Princess Diana—
Ella: He’s the People’s Princess…
Cordia: No, Grant is Princess Diana.
Grant: Oh my God, wow! Jeez Louise…
Collin: That’s the headline.
Cordia: “Grant: The People’s Princess.”
***
Ella: What was the hardest part of the planning process?
Grant: Hm… that’s a good question…
Ella: Thank you…
He pauses.
Grant: I guess the hardest part is knowing how capable all of the talented people are, and trying to get the most from them in a short amount of time… which is a very broad statement…
He takes his time answering.
Grant: It came to a certain point where I only had so much time… even though I had a lot of other ideas and things I wanted to do, there was only so much time to execute everything… Time is a burden, but I think we did a lot in the time we had and I think we did a great job cramming. We made a lot of merchandise the day before, for hours on end—
(I think it’s worth mentioning that Grant Slam was completely free to attend; Grant and the team relied on donations from local vendors/businesses to get the project off the ground. Grant didn’t make a single dollar off Grant Slam (if anything, he’s in the hole), which he’s unbothered by because money isn’t the point!)
Ella: Shoutout Max Blanchard—
(Our friend Max made the t-shirts! @max.made.this on Instagram!)
Grant: Shoutout Max Blanchard, shoutout Maddie Voelkel, shoutout Dawn Jackson, Catalina Torres Reyes, Erica Doan… Owen, who is an associate of Max Blanchard—
Ella (laughing): “Associate” —
Grant: Coworker—No, uh… colleague, is the word.
Cordia: I kinda liked “Associate.”
Grant: Umm… Haley Meister, Elijah Mercado, for sure… Lloyd Snyder… Todd Lendvay, my dad…
Ella: Your dad! Your whole family was there, right? That’s awesome.
Grant: Yeah. That was awesome.
He smiles.
Grant: I was also incredibly happy and surprised to see a lot of young kids running around, like, still learning to walk, and also some really old people who were getting protected in the mosh… just all kinds of ages—
Ella: It was definitely an inter-generational situation—
Grant: We kept on advertising it as an all-ages event to promote a certain… behavior, or expectation from the audience, I guess? But I was really heartwarmed to actually see all ages. Everyone was so great. We had a couple people just in case, but we really didn’t even need security.
Ella: Collin, you were at Grant Slam, what was your favorite moment of the day?
Collin: I was just gonna say moshing to “Goodbye Stranger.” That felt like the culmination of everything. Everybody was coming together, everybody was… vibing… it felt like everything was clicking all at once, and, you know, it’s a very “end of the year” sort of thing. That was the moment I was like: “this is an achievement.”
Ella: This is kind of a sidebar, but a few years ago, my friend stayed at her aunt’s beach house for a month or so, and when she left, she posted this thing on Instagram—I promise this relates—and she said something like, “I love this place so much, but if I stayed here forever it wouldn’t be as special so I’m ok with leaving it for now.”
Grant: Yeah. Real.
Ella: Well, that’s exactly how I felt during “Goodbye Stranger.” If the fest had gone on for like, two more hours, I just would’ve been really drunk and sleepy, but it ended on such a high note. I really felt like I was part of something.
***
Grant: Another moment I thought of when Collin was talking, one of my favorites for sure—at least the most energetic moment—was in the mosh during Daundry’s set with the dirt in the air. That was the most exciting and nerve-wracking thing because I didn’t think the dirt was gonna be as bad as it was, but it was really cinematic and the photos look insane. It was a dust bowl, and like… I was smiling, laughing, and screaming, and coughing up dirt and rubbing my eyes, but it was so worth it. They really just write the songs for the drops… There's a video that the lead dude from [the band] Schlupp recorded, where you can hear me in the background screaming: “LET’S GO!” and then: [I’m pretty sure he beatboxes the drop in “Stairway to Kevin:)” by Daundry here].
Laughter.
Caradoc: Can you put a cowboy on the next one and just say: “Welcome to the Dust Bowl”?
Grant: “Welcome to the Dust Bowl”? Fuck yeah. Welcome to… “Grant’s… Dust…”
We all make a face.
Ella: We can workshop that.
Cordia: “Grant’s Dust…”
Ella: I remember when I got home, I blew my nose and it was just pitch black with dirt.
Grant: We cleaned every audio cable we owned.
***
I look over at Caradoc.
Ella: What was your best moment of Grant Slam…? Describe it in the most detail possible…
He thinks for a moment.
Caradoc: Well, Grant Slam pulls out not only college students, it also pulls out college professors, and I’m sittin’ here at the Chun Dawgs stand, you know, I was a bit hot because I spray painted so I had my shirt off, I’m sitting there yappin’ to Nick, and all of the sudden I see Mr. Wagstaff himself —shoutout Peter— and he walks up with his skateboard and I’m like, “Peter, you’ve gotta let me spray paint your skateboard,” and he looks at me and goes… “I guess!”
The pause before “I guess!” cracks us up.
Collin: Editorial note: Peter is the physics professor—
Caradoc: He’s like, 26 or something, I don’t fuckin’ know—
Laughter.
Caradoc: So I spray painted his board, and I was drinking my beer, and it was good.
Ella: That’s beautiful.
Cordia: Hell yeah.
Ella: So like… your set…? Any notes on the set…?
He shrugs.
Caradoc: Nah, just Peter.
Ella (laughing): That’s perfect.
I turn to Cormick.
Ella: Cormick?
Cormick: Hm…
Ella: Think about it like… it’s May 2029, and you’re thinking really hard about Grant Slam and you’re like, “God, that was a great day…” What are the things you think you’d be thinking about?
He takes his time thinking of an answer:
Cormick: I also really enjoyed playing the final song with everyone, purely just because… the “moment” of Grant Slam in general was all about people coming together, and it was really cool to play people that I do not usually play with. Like, I’d never played with any of those people before, besides Grant, but that’s always just for fun or at Lilly’s… I just think the whole point of music is to create community... Nothing beats dancing with your fellow peer, or a stranger next to you, and in both times I’ve played at Grant Slam, I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a more communal experience.
Grant (quietly): Fuck yeah.
Cormick: And, more importantly, that song is something Grant holds deeply to his heart, and it was cool to do something together that was for Grant and for Grant Slam… Overall, I always say that parties are most enjoyable when I don’t talk to the people I came there with… like, I didn’t really spend any time with Caradoc, and I came to this thing with him, but I spent all of my time just walking around, talking to people—
Ella: Including Cordia’s mom—
Cormick: Including Cordia’s mom! You should include the stuff about Cordia’s mom, I think that’s a great little anecdote! Yeah, no, it was cool. Long story short: talking to everyone there, I think, was the whole point of this—besides, obviously, going to see music. Like, yeah, I performed, that was cool, but I think just walking around, hanging out with people that I know, people that I don’t know, is what made it.
A beat.
Ella: Grant, what’s the significance of “Goodbye Stranger”?
Grant: It’s an amazing song and it gave Maeve Riley [of My Sister, The Heron] a great time to rip, because she makes awesome sounds—
Cormick: Yeah, but what about your father?
Grant: My father?
A beat.
Cormick: Wasn’t it for him? I thought it was a song he loved—
Grant: Nah…
Cormick: Oh, I’m making things up..
We all start laughing.
Cormick: I performed that song thinking it was for Grant’s dad—
Grant looks a bit confused…
Grant: That’s interesting… I don’t… I don’t know if I said anything along those lines, but… No, it’s just a great song, “Goodbye Stranger,” and I wanted to have a more personal message to the audience: “Goodbye Stranger, it’s been nice/ Hope you find your paradise/ Tried to see your point of view…” I can’t remember the rest of the lyrics, but… it’s just a good time.
Ella: “Hope your dreams will all come true…”
Grant: “Hope your dreams will all come true”!
Ella: Yeah…
Grant: There’s a lot of incredible people in the space… in the “Chicago scene”… who were at Grant Slam, and I know that a lot of these faces and names, I’ll look back on in like, twenty years, and be like, “wow, they’re doing insane things.” I’m just really grateful to have provided them with a space to do anything at all, whether it be making their art and expressing themselves, or just being there, enjoying a Chun Dawg. But yeah, “Goodbye Stranger” was a really nice send-off and I’m glad that Cormick and others could join us for the final song. It’s always nice to challenge your musical views, and I feel like I have a lot of rigidity with who I play with, so it was really fun just to play with everyone.
***
Ella: Collin, you just went to Grant Slam for fun; what drew you to the event?
Collin: I went to the last one… I um… I dunno, I gave some minor input here and there, and I was like “well, I have to go and have a kickass time…” I knew everybody was gonna be there, you know? It was a union, it was like a send-off for the year, it was like the big performance.
Ella: Cordia, how about you? Why did you want to go?
(I know very well why she wanted to go…)
Cordia: It’s fucking Grant Slam.
Grant: Yeah—
Cormick: That’s a fucking answer—
Collin: Yeah, that’s a soundbite—
Ella: Keep going! Why is it important?
Cordia: I feel like it was such a thing last year… I dunno... It was awesome, we had so much fun. Like, have you ever seen anyone do something like that before?
Grant: Erica Doan did Sour Sap Fest! Very cool festival. She made stickers, shirts, a lot of cool things for Grant Slam, and she had Sour Sap Fest, where she played in her band, and that was her own music festival. I’m definitely not the only one.
Ella: I heard about that! It’s so cool to see people putting things on, and it’s so cool that they can.
Everyone nods in agreement.
Ella: Grant, you’re still planning to do this every year, right? Do you think it’s gonna—
Grant: I hope to get bought out by Live Nation.
We all laugh.
Grant (in the same breath): —No, I’m just kidding—
Ella: Doesn’t Live Nation have Train on tour right now?
Grant sings “Drops of Jupiter” and “Drive By” by Train.
Grant: But I hope Grant Slam just gets more epic and maintains its level of fun-ness—
Cormick: And it only could—
Grant: And it only could, because we have a great thing going. I like it when people are like, “oh, you must be graduating this year,” and I’m not! We’re gonna do it again next year!
Cormick: And who says you can’t do this after college?
Grant: That’s true. I feel like I’m at a very special point in my life where I’m young and I know a lot of awesome people that are currently in this space, but sadly, a lot of people move after college… I’m just really grateful. I know I’ll look back on these couple years very fondly, and I know next year is going to be an absolute bash as well… the work is cut out for me and my friends, and I’m excited to do it next year, it’s gonna be good—
Ella: But ultimately, it’s you and your friends, and that’s really special.
Collin: For something with so many moving parts, I’m glad that it all coalesced.
Grant: I couldn’t thank everyone enough, seriously.
~Fin~
* I glance at the time and see that 23 and a half minutes have passed. I stop recording and we all join everyone else chatting outside of Archie’s. The show started at 7 and it’s only a little past 10, the night isn’t over yet. We all take the Red Line to Addison and walk to the 7/11 on Broadway and Waveland. We stop in for beer while Grant goes to the WingStop across the street (not Cane’s, but still good! He’s still hungry!), and end up sitting in Cormick, Caradoc, and Max’s kitchen. We tell stories, talk about music and writing, and I mention the book, “Night Moves” by Jessica Hopper. Grant —who had been sitting at the table eating his WingStop— hears me say “Night Moves” and immediately stands up to add “Night Moves” by Bob Seger to the queue. I, again, start an audio recording. He takes my phone and a PERFORMANCE ensues: *
HUGE thank you to Grant, to the people who took the time to talk to me, and to everyone who came together to make Grant Slam 2024 what it was: an earnest celebration of art, music, and community, a day I’ll remember for a long time. Listen to local bands and go to their shows! Support young people in the DIY scene! Come to Grant Slam 2025!
perfect as always. night moves forever
every time u drop its the best day ever!