Items filtered by date: November 2007

Has it ever ran through your mind what celebrities look like during a certain predicament, event or activity? After seeing Jonny Lang perform at the House of Blues on the 16th of July, I have a solid feeling I know what he really looks like when he is reminiscing, heartbroken, angry, passionate, intimate, thankful and going poo-poo and potty!
 
I hate to disturb any graves or upset any folks who consider Elvis as one of their faves, but his hip "thang" is pale in comparison to the mojo of Jonny Lang!
 
That is, Jonny's jerking movements of his entire body, tensed-up facial expressions and strong, animalistic vocal explosions and guitar playing throughout his show, I swear, must be how he appears during experiencing the big "O!" With that said, I came to conclude that while he performed at last Friday's show he seemed to have 69 or so!
 
Jonny Lang has had quite a ride, given the strapping young lad was invited to play at Mick Jagger's 56th Birthday Bash, where he jammed with Jagger, Bono, Elton John and Ron Wood side by side. (www.jonnylang.com 2010)
 
Plus, when Lang journeyed into the Gospel sound, he was awarded a Grammy for his album "Turn Around" (www.jonnylang.com 2010.)
 
Another notch was added to Jonny's belt when he performed at the White House when Bill Clinton was in office, and gave the President something heartfelt--Rather than giving Clinton a cigar, Jonny gave the President a Fender guitar! (www.jonnylang.com 2010)
 
Now, back to Jonny's Chicago performance where some of the songs he played were "Red Light," "Thankful," "Livin' for the City," "Breakin' Me," "Rack Em' Up" and an encore including "40 Days and 40 Nights" as well as "Lie to me," proving he and his band are undoubtedly some of the most talented jam musicians in existence!
 
Jonny had a Gospel singer do a handful of solos that gave me goosebumps from my gourde straight down to my toes!
 
Also, Jonny revealed he played at the old Fitzgeralds and Buddy Guy's Legends his first trip to Chicago. He elaborated he was really nervous to play at Buddy Guys, and while he did, he looked over and saw Buddy Guy watching him. "So I have a lot of good memories in Chicago," said Jonny while the lights were dim.
 
Right after Jonny left the stage of the House of Blues, I asked fans for their reviews.
 
"Amazing--nothing was missing from the show. It couldn't have been better, and I saw the Rolling Stones twice, and he was better than them," asserted Jill Matthews.
 
(Poor old slick, Mick Jagger, has seemed to have lost some of his swagger.)
 
Breck Reich, another satisfied concert-goer, confessed [Jonny Lang] "was better then John Mayer, and he loves John Mayer!"
 
Additionally, Mark said "the expressions on Jonny's face are real--they show what he's feeling. And we [he and his slightly buzzed buddies] like it best when he whales on the guitar and he did tonight," I agree with Mark whole-heartedly.
 
Lastly, before the interview I had with Jonny on Thursday, his PR had professed he hasn't been up to par and is in need of rest. Nonetheless, the show of his "Live by Request" tour screamed Jonny is still one of the Music Industry's best!
 
Sources:
www.jonnylang.com

*Photos by Tracy Walsh 

Would you want to live your life if you knew beforehand it has relatively no meaning and will cause more harm than good? What if you also already knew the future is going to bleak and there isn’t a God damn thing you can do to change the outcome. Bruce Norris’ masterful new play “A Parallelogram,” uses profound existential questions like these to cut his characters to the bone while giving the middle finger to Hollywood ’s romantic notion of time travel.

“A Parallelogram,” which is currently making its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre under the direction of Anna D. Shapiro, is simply a profound play. To sum it up, it’s a dark comedy perfectly balanced with sci-fi elements and unique curveballs. Norris brilliantly turns the tried and true method of knowing the future as a gift on its head. He cleverly orchestrates the concept of too much knowledge being a bad thing. His decision, as pessimistic as it may be, worked to create an extraordinary play.

The play begins with a couple in their rather nondescript bedroom. The man is a middle-aged corporate something-or-other who enjoys drinking a Heineken, watching the game and yammering on about how white men got the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Ironically, this is all while he has a Latino man (Tim Bickell) diligently mowing his lawn. From the very beginning, it becomes evidently clear this smug character named Jay (Tom Irwin) was destined to be the bad guy and yet would never understand why. 

Sitting on the bed, is a thirty-something year old woman named Bee (Kate Arrington). She restlessly plays solitaire in an attempt to mask that she consumed by an existential crisis. Bee believes she can see the future which proves to be quite the burden (especially when it comes to altering it).

In the corner is an old woman (Marylouise Burke) who watches the action while enjoying a smoke, Oreos and brandishing what appears to be a remote control. It quickly becomes apparent she’s Bee from the future and her remote control is capable of time travel. Breaking the cardinal rule of time travel, Bee 2 converses and can only be seen and heard by Bee. Using her trusty remote, Bee 2 can zap herself and Bee to any point in their life. It appears Bee 2’s sole purpose is to convince Bee that nothing she does has much weight on the world. Humanity is doomed and doesn’t warrant saving. Hell, even if she tried the results would be minimal at best so why waste the effort.  

 Bee 2 hardly resembles Bee. She’s lost all sense of compassion. Case in point, Bee 2 barely bats an eye after telling Bee about a global disaster that will wipe out most of the world’s population. She rationalizes, in a joking sense, it’s a good thing because now parking is no longer an issue.

Knowing the future weighs heavily on Bee and she begins to unravel at the seams. Is life really worth living if you already know what is going to happen and will be, more or less, apathetically trapped in it?

Aside from becoming very self-aware of her life, Bee forces Jay into her crisis. Jay is too shortsighted to become invested in Bee’s initial quandaries. He’s the type of person who doesn’t just accept what he’s told but rather takes stock in fate and freewill. Like the future, their relationship is doomed.

Norris than brings Bee’s sanity into question. This happens after Dr. Hein (also Marylouise Burke) reveals Bee could have a brain tumor. If this were true all of Bee's conjecture about the future just the delusions of a person who is losing their mind.  One must ponder if Bee is just losing her mind or is she actually haunted by the future? By believing Bee is losing her mind, one must conclude that fate is not predetermined. By believing she has premonitions, one must concede to their own insignificance in the greater scheme of destiny.  

At no point are the characters, in particular their emotions, ever lost in this shuffle. Instead, Norris and Shapiro carefully skin them alive, leaving them raw and exposed for the audience to examine. It’s then up to the viewer to decipher and draw conclusions based on what they’re seeing.

Needless to say, there is plenty for the audience to mull over. Questions are raised about the notion of “good,” fate, utter futility, relationships, confinement, the pros and cons of technology, fear, finances, sanity, etc. Take my word on it, this all makes for great discussion after the play.

Burke and Irwin (as Bee 2 and Jay respectively) did a remarkable job of making complicated characters endearing.  They gave some of the best stage performances I have ever seen and rightfully deserve as many accolades as I can give.

“A Parallelogram” is a must see show that will force your mind to think outside of the box. The show runs from now until August 29^th.  Tickets range from $20-$70 and are available at www.steppenwolf.org or (312) 335-1650.

Every now and again, I find an up-and-coming local band that instills a sense of hometown pride and the desire to share them with the rest of the world.  Last Friday night marked such an occasion. I had the distinct pleasure of witnessing A Friend Called Fire play live at Lincoln Hall. This show was to commemorate their homecoming as well as the release of their new album, An American Daydream.
 
For those who have yet to hear of A Friend Called Fire, the band consists of Jon Allegretto (vocals and guitar), Aaron J. (drums) and Powers (bass and backing vocals). They are a local rock trio whose music is heavily influenced by rock and classic metal grooves. Despite being relatively new to the scene, AFCF commands attention while also managing to get the girls in a tizzy. For the most part, that's a recipe for success (especially with their coveted demographic).

ACFC was able to combat less than desirable production issues during their set. Not every band can still win over the crowd while battling sound issues. That alone says a lot about AFCF. At times, the sound issues made Jon's vocals hard to decipher but their loyal following picked up the slack by singing along. The crowd favorites included "An American Daydream," "Dance Again," and a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs."
 
As only an avid music listener, I find it essential to bring an actual musician with me to either thoroughly heighten or challenge my review of the audio experience. For this show, I was accompanied by a bassist who was blown away by the masterful drumming of Aaron J. I’m rarely at a loss of words but my bassist friend summed it up perfectly when he referred to Aaron J. as, “fucking amazing.” Regardless of physically being located in the background, Aaron J.'s talent made him the front runner of the band.

AFCF won me over and perhaps will join the ranks of other legendary Chicago fires. For more information on ACFC,  check them out at http://www.myspace.com/afriendcalledfire or see them perform on August 21st at The House of Blues.

Pete Guither has once again made his mark on modern theatre, this time pushing the envelope of artistic creativity to new realms with the latest rendition of his own creation, The Living Canvas - Demons. As part of National Pastime Theatre’s Naked July Festival, Guither ingeniously showcases his ability to intertwine the beauty of the naked body with flowing motion, mesmerizing projections and a riveting storyline that invokes a wide range of emotions.

The story is about an autistic girl and her sister who so desperately wants to break through to her. As the story progresses, the audience, along with her sister, are taken into an autistic mind that at times is chaotic while at other moments becomes a calm, warm haven. Superbly conveyed with the use of spellbinding music played over eleven talented performers (demons) dressed only in complex projections, the theatre is transformed into a world like no other that is both visually compelling and highly sensual.

Back for it’s seventh run in Chicago since 2001, The Living Canvas changes its theme for each production barring its fundamental premise of body acceptance in which audience members are challenged by the cast at the end of each performance to strip down and join them on stage in order to get a taste of what it is like to be “Living Canvasses”. “What are bodily flaws to one might appear as beauty to another,” leading cast member, Emily Mark, explains during the invite while also touching on being comfortable in your own skin. In the particular performance I attended, over a dozen people from the crowd took to the stage to dance with the performers and perform instructed motions such as swimming. The show finally comes to an end with a fun Q&A session that offers the opportunity for cast members and director to field questions related to the production. This is certainly a show not to be missed and one that will have you coming back to see it again. Who knows - maybe you’ll even take part in enjoying a liberating experience on stage.

The Living Canvas – Demons is playing at the National Pastime Theatre (4139 N. Broadway) on Friday and Saturday evenings at 10pm through July 31^st. For more information please visit www.thelivingcanvas.com or call 773-327-7077.     

When is the last time you saw full frontal nudity in the theater? Was it “Hair”, “Oh, Calcutta!” or maybe “The Blue Room”? Maybe you have never seen a play with nudity in it, well, here is your chance to experience the liberating effect of live theater specifically designed to give you the feeling that your body - despite its quirks or flaws - is OK just the way it is.

Laurence Bryan, my old friend and classmate from DePaul, is the Artistic Director of National Pastime Theater and he has assembled a really wonderful assortment of plays that each utilizes nudity in an artistically sound fashion. I have already seen two of the one act plays, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” deftly directed by another talented DePaul Alumna, Carolyne Anderson, and “The Living Canvas: Demons”.

I highly recommend buying the festival pass or daily pass to enjoy more than one show because they are all very different in their approach, some farcical, and some more sensual or dance oriented and taken in combination you really get the full effect of  a democracy of positive body image that the Naked July Festival is trying to convey.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a light, funny, very clever take on the original tale by Hans Christian Andersen with a satirical political twist thrown in for good measure.

“The Living Canvas: Demons”, is the seventh show by this company, directed by founder Pete Guither and, by using projected light over nude dancer and actors bodies, beautifully portrays the journey into the mind of an autistic girl and her sister’s attempt to understand that world. It was tremendously moving and exciting to watch. The performance of the lead dancer Emily Mark, who portrays Lily the autistic, was worth noting as she was not only an accomplished dancer but also an accomplished actor in expressing without words a very precise and deeply moving sense of what it must be like to be trapped in a body and mind afflicted with Autism. Also, I think it is a tremendously courageous task to undertake a role like this involving nudity from beginning to end. The neat thing about “Living Canvas” shows is that at the end they allow the audience to strip down and join them onstage under the lights and a lot of people actually went for it and joined in. That in itself was a beautiful, free love kind of thing to see happen in a theater setting in the year 2010, not 1968!

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical. I have always felt that nudity in the theater is something to be avoided at all costs to avoid damaging the delicate psyche of a good actor. However, when it is undertaken in the way that Naked July Festival has with a real eye for liberal thought and artistic merit, it is a tremendously exciting and liberating experience rarely encountered in traditional theater going.

I especially enjoy returning to the atmospheric and historic National Pastime Theater (4139 N. Broadway), which was an actual speakeasy for almost twenty years and fills it’s lobby with wonderful local artwork for sale in the theme of the shows currently running.

I highly recommend attending the Naked July Festival: Art Stripped Down, and I look forward to seeing the last two pieces, “Eros” and “The Tumultuous Tale of the Tragically Transparent Tunic” next weekend. See you there!

Call 773.327.7077 for performance times or check in at www.np2.com.

The Down Side of Suicide: A Divine Comedy 

When: Fri 7/16 and Sat 7/31, 9:30 PM,

 Price: $15

When I heard the title of the newest show offered in Wicker Park’s quaint Gorilla Tango Nation Theatre: The Down Side of Suicide, “comedy” was not the first thing that crossed my mind.  This dark humored and at times raunchy show is not for the faint of heart.  Audience members find Abe Hutchins in a deplorable and outlandish act that sends him plummeting through the underworld on his journey to reach his eternal punishment.  Along the way, a few celebrities (some dead and some still living) are met, the ultimate divine spirit and devil cross paths, weird romances are formed, and some sort of message was learned in the end.

The cast of six talented actors carried out the jokes that lacked depth and intellect.  Most jokes fell short not in the delivery, but in the writing.  On the same level of “dead baby jokes”, I found my inner pre-teen self laughing nervously at jokes that I knew I shouldn’t find humorous. 

To sum it up: the actors have potential but the script and direction fall short of higher high school promise.  It was good for a few cheap laughs but not a show you’d want to see time after time.  Remember to keep an open mind if you decide to go and remember that they're just kidding even if they made fun of the son of God.

And if dead baby jokes and outlandish humor are your thing, performances run Wednesdays, June 16-30, 2010, Saturdays, July 3 & 31, 2010, and Fridays, July 9 & 16, 2010, all at 9:30pm at Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago 60647.  Tickets are $15; to purchase tickets call 773-598-4549 or visit www.gorillatango.com. Special student offer, buy one get one free with valid student ID that are available at the door.

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I saw Fureza Bruta for the second time last week as part of a special bloggers night and it is one of  the only shows I have  ever seen where I was planning while watching to see it a third time. It is such a thrilling multidimensional performance that makes the audience into one of the cast by literally bringing the whole audience onto the stage the entire show!

 Part of the reason I want to see it again and again is because of the fun I have had watching my friends get blown away by the experience as they watch. No one comes away saying -well it was just okay, or they should have done this or that differently. Their mouths just hang open for a while until they are enraptured and enthralled by the experience as much as I was

Another neat thing about this show is that they actually allow and even encourage you to take photos ( no flash) and video  during the performance. Just check out these short  video clips I shot  during the show and you’ll get a sneak peek at what all the excitement is about. If you enjoy innovative, sensual modern dance and over the top spectacle with a rip roaring nightclub feel, take my advice and gather some friends or a new love, wear comfy shoes and clothes that you don’t mind getting wet in and get to see Fuerza Bruta while it is still in Chicago. You will want to see it more than once so don’t wait till the end of the run!