Mucca Pazza blew the roof off The Hideout last Tuesday, June 12th, in a sold out, sneak peek/album release party for Safety Fifth, now out on Electric Cowbell.Check out their main site for more of a taste of Chi-Town's punk rock marching band.
ChiIL Mama has caught their head muckety muck, Mark Messing, for video interviews twice at Chicago Children's Theatre--once in a duo with Brian Selznick, author/illustrator of Hugo Cabret. (Brian's book was the basis for Oscar Award winning hit movie, Hugo, and The Houdini Box play.)
Mark is the mad maestro and musical mastermind behind Mucca Pazza and the scores to numerous musicals and plays including the critically acclaimed Hunchback Variations.
Freaky Facts:
We shot the heck out of their live show, but didn't try to do anything as formal as an interview at The Hideout. But I did have a few burning questions that Mark Messing and one of the girls were happy to enlighten me on.
ChiIL Live Shows:Does anyone have their old uniforms from school bands they actually used to BE in back in the day?
Mucca Girl: Yeah, one guy does, but he has to remain anonymous because technically he stole it....
CLS: Where do the others all come from?
Mucca Girl:
We've had good luck finding cheap ones on Ebay. Sometimes when a band
is doing new uniforms they'll contact us and ask if we want their old
ones. Or sometimes thrift stores. The wool hatsare handmade, newfor us, though.
CLS: You must be roasting!
Mucca Girl:Yeah,
I'm ready to change outta this! Most of the costumes are wool and
really hot. I dry cleaned mine recently and it was still a little
stinky.
Mark Messing:We spray all the costumes with Vodka, to keep down the funk.
CLS: Wow! Vodka, huh. Does that work?!
Mucca Girl:Not always, but it definitely helps.
CLS:
Maybe with all that vodka soaked wool seeping into your pores, the
costumes are still ripe, but you just don't notice or mind so much anymore, eh?
There was plenty of funk (of the good kind) to go around at Hideout, and Mucca Pazza certainly didn't stink up the joint.
Space was at a premium and the band created some serious heat with their hot new material, but no one was complaining. Mucca Pazza worked the space well--splitting the sizable (30 member) band to border three sides of the rectangular room, encompassing their captive audience and narrowly missing a few noggins with their brass trombones. They even managed to "march" around a bit in the friendly confines....swapping sides and wending through the crowd. I think I got goosed a couple of times by caution tape pom pom flinging cheerleaders. Fun fun! Been there...shot that...bought the t-shirt.
We snagged a press preview of their new album, Safety Fifth (Electric Cowbell), and have been thoroughly enjoying it!
Mucca Pazza--Italian for crazy cow or mad cow--is always high energy, wabi sabi, and entirely endearing. Over the years, we've seen them play to a zombie cast, rock out on top of a paper mache elephant?! and even march into a port-a-let with a sousaphone!! They're a must see live, but they can't play every night. And when you're jonesing for more Mucca, Safety Fifth can fill the void!
Their third disc can't help but make listeners grin ear to ear. The drums and all the horns make the band, but we also dig all the eclectics like mandolin, glockenspiel, violin, and of course, the accordion. Mucca Pazza defies easy classification with whiffs of New Orleans brass carousing around with Balkan folk, surf, reggae, marching band, gypsy, jazz, and the kitchen sink.Mucca Pazza is....seriously talented musicians, being seriously funny, while having some serious fun. Highly recommended. Just don't lick the uniforms......
Over 100 comedians make Chi-Town funny ha-ha AND funny weird through this Sunday, June 17th. Check out their main site here. We had the great pleasure of checking out Kevin Smith(a not so silent version of Silent Bob) last night at Chicago Theater. It was a pleasure to give away 10 tickets to our readers and to hear him get raunchy and real in a great Q & A.
At ChiIL Mama/ChiIL Live Shows, we've been doing a long running video exploration of How Creatives Parent and How Parents Createwhich you can check out here at our Pinterest Board. I would love to catch up with Kevin Smith for a little one on one convo. about his wife and daughter.
Some great stuff came out at the Chicago Theater about how his family influences and inspires his creative work....from his wife's paranoid pot freak out to his toddler daughter's rocking out to theme music show credits, leading him to seek out a cameo appearance on one of their family favorites, Law and Order in 2000. Smith is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith. Their 13 year old daughter, Harley Quinn, was named for the Batman character.
Fan(atics) wait beside The Chicago Theater to get their memorabilia signed by Kevin Smith.
Our favorite TBS promo was the 7
foot tall custom bike! We scored an exclusive video interview with the
rider/bike creator/bike shop owner that we'll have up in the very near future.
Chi-town has character & characters!
Even a street Tina came out to sing and dance with passers by!
TBS Just for Laughs is ubiquitous this week.
We saw their rickshaws and signage over outside of the Cubs game
yesterday and they had a bunch of billboard trucks outside of The
Chicago Theater last night. They also had clever swag dispensers like a
free t-shirt vending machine that works with a Conan code and a human
roulette prize wheel.
Enter the year of the Dragon, 2012. What better way to celebrate than with Chi-town's favorite Chinese circus, Cirque Shanghai. ChiIL Mama caught opening night, and the whole family had a blast. We welcome this circus' annual summer residency at Navy Pier and eagerly anticipate it.
For the price and the frequency of shows, Cirque Shanghai is hard to beat. They play Navy Pier all summer, making this an easy, entertaining option for visiting friends and relatives.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION
“Cirque Shanghai: Year of the Dragon”will perform May 24 – Sept. 3, with regular run performances as follows:
Wednesday at 2, 6 and 8 p.m. Thursday at 2 and 8 p.m. Friday at 2, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday at 2, 6 and 8 p.m.
Sunday at 2 and 4 p.m.
There will be additional performances Tuesday, July 3 at 2 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. and Monday, Sept. 3 (Labor Day) at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Tickets are $15.50 - $29.50 and are available by calling 800-745-3000 or visiting Ticket Master here. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more are available by calling GroupTix at 773.327.3778 or visiting GroupTixs website here.
Our whole family loves to watch people push the boundaries with circus arts
and we've NEVER seen someone unicycle on a parasol,
fit so many girls on one bike,
or flip so many simultaneous pots on their head from a rolla bolla board!
The new horizontal configuration of the hoop diving was sweet, too.
The motorcycle wire tricks are gone this year, but theGlobe of Doom with 5 bikers in a metal globeis always breathtakingly impressive, even though we've seen it in past years with Cirque Shanghai and with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.
We've seen it at Ringling Brothers, but the metal Wheel of Destiny was a new addition for Cirque Shanghai, and provided quite a few gasps, as a blindfolded/hooded performer nearly plunged to the stage below.
He nearly bit it again during the jump rope routine,
which I first thought was intentional, to mess with the audience and freak us out. On further discussion we agreed that maybe his blonde partner (who had less taxing tricks) was walking a bit too fast and threw off his timing. Thankfully he hung in there!
My kids adore circus arts and have become quite the critics after seeing world class acts from Cirque du Soleil's Ovo and Quidam, Ringling Brothers, Cirque Eloize, Zoppe Family Circus, George Orange, New York's Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, and local favs El Circo Cheapo, Aloft, Midnight Circus, The Actor's Gymnasium and more! Our kids are also taking circus arts classes from local gem, CircEsteem, where they're learning juggling, unicycle, silks, trapeze, lyra, pyramids, Spanish Web, Chinese Pole, acro, and more. They've auditioned for and been invited onto the pre-team and hone their circus skills 3 times a week. So, they're harder to impress than the average 9 & 11 year old off the street.
When the kids saw Cirque Shanghai's 7 ball bounce juggling act, they rightfully noted, "That was pretty cool, and he did juggle up stairs which was impressive, but our friend Will can do 7 ball bounce juggling and he's still in high school, and we just saw it in our own spring CircEsteem show. They did envy and want a pair of his cool, juggling pocket pants, though!
They were likewise nonplussed by the silks and lyra, diablo, and even the contortion and acro acts. Those elicited a series of "My friends and/or I can do that....and that....and most of that act too," from the kids. Though admittedly their friends are way more flexible and adept at circus arts than the average bear. As long as they don't want to master the Wheel of Destiny or Globe of Death next....!!
Nonetheless, they thoroughly enjoyed the show and thought that kids of all ages and adults would dig it, whether they're well schooled in circus arts themselves, are avid fans, or have never seen anything like it. In addition to the super stars in Globe of Death,
and Wheel of Destiny,
the slackwire unicycle,
spring board,
creative foot juggling,
and chair stacking acts were particularly fun.
Both kids were entranced with the 5 bikers, simultaneously circling the metal globe and Sagezilla, in particular, loved that one was a long haired girl!
Sage's more interested in being strong than cute. She's all about grrrl power and nontraditional roles, and she was elated that the biker girl gave her a high five on the way up the aisle at the close of the show.
Come celebrate the Year of the Dragon in style with Cirque Shanghai! Here are further official details:
“CIRQUE SHANGHAI: YEAR OF THE DRAGON” COMES TO NAVY PIER® PEPSI® SKYLINE STAGE MAY 24 – SEPTEMBER 3
Cirque Shanghai returns to Chicago’s Navy Pier this summer with a magnificent new show “Cirque Shanghai: Year of the Dragon”. The production will run now through September 3, 2012 (Labor Day), rain or shine, at the Navy Pier® Pepsi® Skyline Stage, the 1,500-seat, canopied, open-air theater on Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave.
“Cirque Shanghai: Year of the Dragon” is a spectacle for audiences of all ages, featuring performers direct from China who are leaders in their craft of tumbling, juggling, balancing and more. This year’s production features an incredible line up of awe- inspiring acts, including favorites such as Bike Balanceand Hoop Diving, as well as an all-new Group Chair Stack, Teeterboard act and the Wheel of Death!
China’s finest daredevil motorcycle troupe, “Imperial Thunder,” returns with not two, not four, but five motorcyclists riding at break-neck speed within a steel globe – more than ever before in this death-defying feat.
Audiences and critics alike rave about Cirque Shanghai. The Chicago Tribune hails the production to be a
“beguiling, sophisticated and contemporary 75-minute show, replete with some bravura acrobatics and infused with fabric-strewn visuals,”
and the Chicago Sun-Times raves “Cirque Shanghai has been an especially bright spot on Navy Pier...bringing young, talented acrobatic troupes and first-rate production values to the canopied, open-air Skyline Stage.”
Time Out Chicago says, “Jaw-dropping, aerobatic stunts...adults will enjoy this show every bit as much as kids.”
Directed by Miao Miao Chen, “Cirque Shanghai: Year of the Dragon” is presented in this exclusive U.S. engagement by Navy Pier in conjunction with International Special Attractions, Ltd. (ISA) production headquarters in Shanghai, China.
MEET THE CREATIVE TEAM:
International Special Attractions (ISA)was established in 1989 and over the past two decades has become a world leader in the production of large scale special attractions, events and theatrical productions. ISA’s ICE! attractions can be seen annually at four Gaylord Hotel locations throughout the United States, and have been enjoyed by over 5 million people worldwide. ISA was the first company to bring Chinese acrobats to Broadway and also produces Cirque Shanghai, which has performed in some of the most prestigious venues in the world, and recently played a sold out run at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway in New York City. Additionally, ISA has produced Luminasia for the past two years at The Galt House Hotel in Louisville, KY, USA. Clients have included The Walt Disney Company, Gaylord Entertainment, Navy Pier Chicago, Busch Entertainment Corp and Six Flags, Inc. Featured Television coverage has aired internationally, including networks such as NBC, CBS and ABC to name but a few.
Originally from a classical music background, Haiping Gewas one of the earliest producers serving in the Shanghai government's Office of Cultural Exchange Affairs. From that office, he hosted many of the first Western entertainers performing in China. For the last two decades, Haiping Ge has been producing shows with ISA for the world's premium venues. His current productions include: Cirque Shanghai for New Victory Theatre on Broadway; ICE! attractions in Dallas, Nashville, Orlando and Washington D.C. in association with Gaylord Resorts; Luminasia at The Galt House in Louisville, KY, USA. Haiping also produced a Chinese acrobatic show for Disney World, Florida which will run through the end of this year.
Miao Miao Chen is a second-generation performer as well as the show’s director. She studied with the internationally famous Shenyang Performing Arts Academy beginning at age five,and joined the acclaimed Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe, one of the top ten troupes in all of China, at age 13. Chen is the recipient of a Gold Lion Award from the International Acrobatics Competition in France, and received the top award for Best Innovative Performance in Uruguay. Chen has performed throughout the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia. In 2006 and 2007, Chen worked as a choreographer for “Le Grand Cirque” which has toured in cities across Australia, the United Kingdom and United States. Chen previously directed hit productions of “Cirque Shanghai” in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
About Navy Pier:
Located on Lake Michigan, just east of Chicago’s downtown, Navy Pier is the most- visited tourist and leisure destination in the Midwest, welcoming more than 8 million visitors annually. Originally opened in 1916 as a shipping and recreation facility, it is now one of the country’s preeminent recreation and exposition facilities, showcasing 50 acres of parks, gardens, restaurants, shops, attractions, sightseeing and dining cruise boats, exhibition facilities and more.
