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.
Production Photo Credit: Tyler Core Goodbye Cruel World at Theatre Wit
THE STRANGE TREE GROUP PRESENTS THE MIDWEST PREMIERE OF GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD
A SATIRICAL SOVIET FARCE PLAYING NOW THROUGH JULY 22 AT THEATER WIT
Adapted from Nicolai Erdman's 1928 play “The Suicide”, Strange Tree GroupBrings this Stalin-Banned, Side-Splitting, Sausage-Filled, Suicidal Story to Chicago
We've been promoting this show on our FB and Twitter feeds and are looking forward to checking it out. ChiIL Live Shows will be there for opening night tonight and we'll have a full review up for you shortly.
The Strange Tree Group (STG) is proud to play a part in the torturous production history of Nicolai Erdman's The Suicide, “a spectacular mixture of the ridiculous and the sublime” that caused Joseph Stalin to send its playwright straight to Siberia before the thing could ever be produced. Adapted by Robert Ross Parker of New York’s Obie Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre, with the literal translation by Marina Raydun, Goodbye Cruel World, crackles with comedy, 38 costume changes and terrible tuba playing. In the vein of Strange Trees 2010 Jeff Award-winning Shakespeare’s King Phycus, the ensemble is made up of six fearless actors portraying 27 distinctly different parts.
Directed by Strange Tree Group ensemble member Bob Kruse, Goodbye Cruel World is currently playing at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., in Theater 1, through July 22, 2012. Tickets are available at theaterwit.org or by calling 773.975.8150.
In this acclaimed 2010 adaptation our hero, poor Semyón Semyónovich, lives in a glorious worker’s republic, and yet, he has no job! His most recent scheme – to become a world-class tuba player and spend his fortune on vast quantities of eggnog – has fallen to ashes. In the depths of despair, Semyón contemplates bringing it all to an end…but that’s when his troubles truly begin. Before long, ambrosial actresses, passionate priests, and policy makers plot to exploit Semyón’s death for their own gain and, while they’re at it, topple an entire regime.
Goodbye Cruel World has only been produced once before by The Roundtable Ensemble in 2010 at Arclight Theater in New York. Of the production Jason Zinoman of the New York Times raved, “A rarely produced gem...Robert Ross Parker’s target is pure, silly farce. And he hits it, dead-on.”
One of the finest plays to come out of Communist Russia, Nicolai Erdman's The Suicide is a comic masterpiece, but unfortunately its production history is not as funny. Written in 1928, three of Russia’s acclaimed theatre companies, the Vaktangov Theatre, Stanislavski's Moscow Arts Theatre, and the Meyerhold Theatre all battled for the production rights.
The Meyerhold Theater won; however, after a closed dress rehearsal before members of the Cultural Propaganda Department of the Central Committee, the Stalinist government banned the play before its first public performance. Playwright Nikolai Erdman was arrested and exiled. The play wasn't produced in the USSR until 50 years later, after Erdman’s death. The Strange Tree Group is a collective of multifaceted individuals dedicated to creating intricate, intimate theatrical experiences that extend beyond the boundaries of a traditional stage. The company produces works that inspire creativity not only in its actors but also its audience. The Strange Tree Group is committed to producing pieces that celebrate the strange and the magical; the dangerous and the fantastical; and the surprisingly usual nature of unusual behavior.
The Strange Tree Group won a Non-Equity Jeff Award for Best Ensemble for their 2010 production of Shakespeare's King Phycus. The STG ensemble was nominated again for The Three Faces of Dr. Crippen, presented as part of the Steppenwolf Garage Rep, and Artistic Director Emily Schwartz won the Jeff Award for New Work for Dr. Crippen (which also picked up the Jeff Award for Best Director, given to Jimmy McDermott). For more information, visit strangetree.org.
Schedule & Ticket Information The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through July 22 at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave., in Theater 1.
Tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for Industry offered on Thursdays and Sundays (20 industry tickets available online per show, first come first serve); $15 for preview performances on June 13 and 14; and $13.50 for students with valid ID.
$20 discounted tickets available for groups of six or more. To reserve, call 773.975.8150.
$50 RIP (Really Important Person) seats, also known as the best seats in the Republic, along with a cast signed limited edition screen print are available.
Chicago's own Bruce Lamont is Fearless Frontman by night, and Mild Mannered Mixologist....also by night.
By day you're likely to find him at a Sox game.
Check out his metal magic with Yakuza, Bloodiest, A Corporate Death, Solo and even Led Zeppelin 2.
His costume (or lack thereof) was so complete with his transformation to Robert Plant, that I didn't even recognize him when I shot their set at Do Division last year!
It wasn't till some music industry friends clued me in that I went back and checked out the shots and realized it was true!
He's got a superman worthy summer schedule too. Catch him live:
Led Zeppelin 2--Tomorrow-Saturday, 6/16/12
South Side Chi-Town in Merrionette Park
Buy tickets: 115bourbonstreet.com
Only $5!!
Led Zeppelin 2 tore it up for sold out shows from Chicago to Texas earlier this year, and now they're coming back for more!
Timeout New York: "Led Zeppelin 2 is far and away the best Zep band around."
Dallas Observer: "...the closest thing to seeing the real Led Zeppelin."
Atlanta's Backstage Beat: ": “...such authentic raw flair, the entire crowd bought it, no questions lingering… It was nasty… hard to believe how balls out fantastic they are."
Bloodiest at Lincoln Hall--Saturday, June 23, 2012 9pm
Yes, the rumors are true -- this will be be Del Rey's last* real headlining show before going on an extended hiatus.
After spending the better part of 15 years as one of Chicago's most formidable space-art-math-post-whatever-rock outfits, the band will be taking a break of unknown duration.
So come on out and bask in the cosmic soundscapes and epic odysseys that Del Rey has made its trademark while you still can. We'll also be previewing some material from a yet-to-be-released new recording that's currently in the works.
We're very honored to be sharing this momentous occasion with Bloodiest (metal-meets-psychedelia-via-early-AmRep) and Ken Camden (spaced-out guitar explorations).
(* The band reserves the right to get back together whenever it damn well pleases, thank you very much.)
Bloodiest:
We're still editing, but we will have loads of live video and stills from the last Bloodiest Empty Bottle show up in the near future. Live, they lead the listeners on a haunting, eerie and intense journey. Their sound is primal, heavy, meditative and entirely compelling. This music resonates on the molecular level. Go.
Yakuza
As fun and excellent as LZ2 is, Yakuza is the real deal! They're honestly one of my favorite local bands, and I see and review and shoot a LOT of bands. What they are doing is unique and addictive. I can't remember who turned me on to their stuff back in the day. I was saying how much I adore sax with a heavier edge and how there should be a setting on Pandora to search out new/similar bands for punk/metal with sax, when my friend said, you've gotta check out Yakuza, then. I caught them at a rare metal show at The Hideout where Bruce was doing the hair band/head bang thing and got his hair wrapped around and stuck on the strands of Christmas lights. He stoically finished the song, then got a little help from his friends to get free. I was hooked. Since then we've seen & shot stills at their shows numerous times all over town--most recently at Reggie's. Their music is amazing, and doubly so live.
I was telling this friend that I only half jokingly told my young kids they should grow up and make mama proud by learning the sax and forming a punk/metal band. My grandfather played and so did my little sister. So far, the 9 year old's rocking the guitar and my 11 year old son's learning drums.
Weirdly enough, though, I recently did a video interview with the drummer, Alexei from Prong, who said he played sax, too. And the same scenario happened in our video interview with the band, The Royal Baths. Their drummer also plays sax. His parents flew in for their Empty Bottle Show and outed him.....much to the surprise of his bandmates, who only knew him as a drummer. Not that I ever ask that as an interview question....it just came up in conversation.
So stoked we have Yakuza to break the sound barrier and pave the way for more avant-garde metal!
Help Locally--Yakuza Doc Kickstarter Campaign needs a serious kick in the ass!! Pony up--this will be one for the archives and you can say YOU made it happen. Click here for full kickstarter details. Going till 6/23.
local filmmaker Justin Baron has been working off and on for almost a decade on a documentary about local metal group Yakuza, whose integration of jazzlike elements—front man Bruce Lamont plays a variety of saxophones—has made them a tough sell for mainstream metal audiences. The archetypal "band's band," they seem to have made fans out of half the metal musicians in the world, but without earning widespread popularity.
"I just feel called to do this," Baron explains, "and whatever that means for me, I have to incur the cost of that life decision to make this happen, you know?" He's currently putting the finishing touches on the doc, entitled Be That as It May: Yakuza's Seismic Consequence; it combines footage of the group in the studio recording 2010's Of Seismic Consequence (Profound Lore), live clips, and interviews with high-profile Yakuza fans, among them Greg Kot, Jim DeRogatis, modern-jazz heavyweight Ken Vandermark, and members of Mastodon, Celtic Frost, Neurosis, Municipal Waste, and more.
A couple weeks ago Baron launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,500, hoping to pay for the editing, postproduction, manufacturing, and distribution of the film. The campaign runs till Sat 6/23, and incentives range from a thank-you e-mail from Baron (for a $5 donation) to one of Lamont's saxes (for $3,500). Baron says all the work he's put into the movie so far has been worth it, just for the experiences he's had in the burgeoning Chicago metal scene. "There's something going on right now, and Yakuza is definitely a big part of that," he says. "I just sort of felt like Charles Peterson from the 90s Sub Pop grunge era."
You're in for a treat at Chicago Theatre tonight! Congrats to the following five, whose evening is about to get a bit funnier. Two free tickets will be waiting at the box office under your name (ID required). The show is at 8PM. ChiIL Live Shows will be there....will YOU?!
Symptoms: Uncontrollable fits of laughter, sore facial muscles, improved outlook on life, guffas, chortles, snickers, and snorts.
Treatment:
Quarantine centers have been set up throughout the city at The
Chicago Theatre, Bank of America Theatre, The Vic, The Beat Kitchen,
Laugh Factory, UP Comedy Club, Lincoln Hall, Park West, The Playground
Theater, iO Theater, Gene Siskel Film Center, Lincoln Lodge, The Comedy
Bar, ShowPlace ICON, The Hideout, The Second City, Annoyance Theatre,
Jokes & Notes, The House of Blues, & Victory Gardens!
Over 100 comedians/ The nation's biggest comedy festival will hit Chicago June 12-17 with an
astonishing array of comedians, sketch shows, specialty acts and films.
The line-up includes performances by Vince Vaughn, Aziz Ansari, Stephen
Merchant, Bill Engvall, Billy Gardell, John Pinette, and more.
About Just for Laughs Chicago
Founded in 1983, the Just For Laughs Group's
growth is concentrated on four major focal points: Festivals (in
Montreal, Toronto and Chicago); television production (most notably Gags
seen in 135 countries and on 95 airlines); live shows (Canadian tour
dates for Jerry Seinfeld, Jeremy Hotz, John Pinette, Louis C.K., the
Capital One Just For Laughs Comedy Tour, North American dates for Family
Guy Live!); and talent management.
Its inaugural Montreal Festival 30
years ago is now the world's largest and most prestigious comedy event
welcoming 2 million people each summer. The Group has offices in
Montreal, Paris, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and in a dark alley at the
end of the street.
Last day of 5th grade and 3rd grade for the punk kin
Today's THE Last Day of School for CPS (except for that odd, optional ONE hour on Thurs morning?!). Du-Jay & Sagezilla Rock the Wear Anything (Non Uniform) Day. Buh bye blue polo shirts till August 13th!!
School's out for summer..........If school's also out forever for you, you're likely old enough for our hot 21+ shows. If not...we've got funky, family friendly recommendations, too.
We adore our kids, but love to get out with AND without them.
We've been promoting this one and now it's here, for two days only!! Don't miss this one. Du-Jay, Sagezilla and ChiIL Mama will be there for opening night tonight. Highly recommended. Get your tickets now, if you haven't already. Family friendly.
Here are the basics from Auditorium Theatre's site:
The Nanning Art Theatre - Legend of the Sun
Presented by the China Arts & Entertainment Group in
association with Chicago Human Rhythm Project and Chicago Chinese
Cultural Institute
Venue: Auditorium Theatre
Dates: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Times: 7:30 pm
Price: $55-$17.50
Legend of the Sun, a unique, large-scale dance drama
based on a centuries-old Chinese folk tale, makes its U.S. debut at the
Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. Both exquisitely beautiful
and joyously uplifting, this inspired work features more than 60 dancers
while showcasing the songs, dances and traditions of China�s Zhuang
ethnic minority. The piece also incorporates elements of Western modern
dance and music.
Leave the littles at home for this puppet show. This raunchy improv show is rated R and recommended for 17+ or mature underagers accompanied by an adult. We can't wait to check it out. Get your tixs today. This is a short one week run. Here's the poop on these potty mouthed puppeteers from our friends at Broadway in Chicago.
Stuffed and Unstrung Theatre : Bank of America Theatre, Chicago Illinois
Dates : June 12, 2012 - June 17, 2012
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission
*This show is rated R and contains language and themes that are not intended for unaccompanied children under the age of 17. **JUST ANNOUNCED! BRIAN HENSON to perform at Tuesday June 12, Wednesday June 13, and Thursday June 14 shows!**
STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG, a live uncensored show that lets loose the perilous and provocative elements of comedic improvisation on stage with a bunch of puppets. Produced by WestBeth Entertainment and Henson Alternative, STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG was created by award-winning director, producer, and writer Brian Henson and actor and improvisational guru Patrick Bristow and features the Miskreant puppets and The Jim Henson Company's renowned puppeteers.
STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG is a wild romp in which the skilled art of puppetry and spontaneous comedy collide. Unpredictable and irreverent, it's never the same show twice. Expert puppeteers create twisted scenes and songs on the fly, as suggestions from the audience prompt the improvised storylines unfolding on stage. This production delivers "two shows in one" as the hilarious puppet action is projected live on large screens flanking the stage, while the puppeteers race around below - displaying their skills in full view of the audience. With live musical accompaniment and Bristow as host, STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG boasts a cast of six world-class puppeteers in an uninhibited live puppet performance.
STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG evolved from Henson's production "Puppet Up! -Uncensored," which made its debut at the 2006 HBO Comedy Festival (Aspen, CO) and later toured to the 2006 Edinburgh Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland), The 2007 Comedy Festival (Las Vegas, NV), and Australia's Sydney Big Laugh Comedy Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (both 2007). The 2010 Off Broadway engagement of STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG marked the debut of this completely revamped production featuring all new technical wizardry with original music and staging. STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG appeared alongside Cee-Lo Green and Gwyneth Paltrow at the 2011 Grammy Awards and was featured on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice in 2012.
*This show is part of the TBS Just For Laughs Chicago festivalall over our city this week. Chi-Town will be funny ha-ha and funny weird all week long. Click the link above for all the venues, shows, and details and see your fav TV shows come to life with the dynamic of LIVE comedy.
**You still have till midnight tonight to enter to win one of 5 pairs of tixs to see Kevin Smith (AKA: Silent Bob) in a not so silent show at The Chicago Theatre. Click here to enter.**
photo credit: 8 Eyes Photography
Mucca Pazza CD Sneak Peek Party at Hideout 21+(sold out) If you had the foresight to snag a ticket, I'll see you there. If you were a punk slacker and did not, check out ChiIL Mama/ChiIL Live Shows in the very near future for our photo filled recap. We also have some amazing original live video footage and stills from March Fourth, Portland's version of Mucca Pazza. We'll be reviewing Mucca Pazza's upcoming release, Safety Fifth and March Fourth's newest as well!
Here's the secret scoop about tonight from Hideout:
Mucca
Pazza has been called a lot of things in its day - abnormal,
discordant, uncouth, indecorous, malodorous, %$@# crazy - but one word
that's never popped up in any description of those voluminous marching
freaks is 'sneaky'...
...until now!
MUCCA PAZZA is inviting you to the official
SNEAK PEAK RELEASE PARTY
for their new record SAFETY FIFTH
available NOW for PRE-ORDER through Electric Cowbell Records!
You're invited to a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime event at the Hideout, in
celebration of our new record, Safety Fifth, which will be performed in
its entirety! You've never been this intimate with a marching band
before! There will be brassy spaz-outs, there will be guitar freak-outs,
there will be obscure drum rudiments, there will be absurd cheers,
there will be an accordion, a sousaphone, fish on the wall, beer, there
might even be music stands!
The Found Footage Festival, the acclaimed touring showcase of odd and hilarious found videos, will make its triumphant return to Chicago in June with a brand-new show. Hosts Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, whose credits include The Onion and the Late Show with David Letterman, are excited to show off their 2012 lineup of found video clips and live comedy on Saturday, June 16th at 8:30 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.). The special, one-night-only appearance will be taped for the Found Footage Festival’s Volume 6 DVD. Tickets are $12 and are available HERE.
The Found Footage Festival is a one-of-a-kind event showcasing videos found at garage sales and thrift stores and in warehouses and dumpsters throughout North America. Curators Pickett and Prueher host each screening in-person and provide their unique observations and commentary on these found video obscurities. From the curiously-produced industrial training video to the forsaken home movie donated to Goodwill, the Found Footage Festival resurrects these forgotten treasures and serves them up in a lively celebration of all things found.
Among the new clips featured in the 2012 program:
- A video featuring a woman whose enthusiasm for craft sponging borders on psychotic - A new collection of exercise tapes, including one called “The Sexy Treadmill Workout” - Never-before-seen clips from the Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser yo-yo pranks that the FFF hosts pulled on local news stations last year - An “opening act” of found classroom films from the ‘60s and ‘70s, curated especially for the show by renowned collector Skip Elsheimer of A.V. Geeks - Highlights from a 1986 video about how to care for your ferret The Found Footage Festival was founded in New York in 2004 and has gone on to sell out hundreds of shows across the U.S. and Canada, including the HBO Comedy Festival at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. The festival has been featured on National Public Radio, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and G4 TV’s Attack of the Show, and has been named a critic’s pick in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and The Chicago Tribune. The FFF can also be seen twice a week in a popular web series on The Onion’s A.V. Club, in the hit documentary “Winnebago Man,” and in their new book, “VHS: Absurd, Odd and Ridiculous Relics from the Videotape Era.”
For more info, check out the festival’s official website HERE. ABOUT THE CURATORS: Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher began collecting found videotapes in 1991 after stumbling across a training video entitled, “Inside and Outside Custodial Duties,” at a McDonald’s in their home state of Wisconsin. Since then, they have compiled an impressive collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos. Pickett, a writer/director, and Prueher, a former researcher at the Late Show with David Letterman, have written for The Onion and Entertainment Weekly and directed the award-winning documentary, “Dirty Country” (www.dirtycountrymovie.com), now available on DVD. They are also the masterminds behind the Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser yo-yo pranks that hit local morning TV news shows across the Midwest and have since racked up millions of hits on YouTube. About the Music Box Theatre: For nearly 30 years the Music Box Theatre has been the premiere venue in Chicago for independent and foreign films, festivals and some of the greatest cinematic events in Chicago. It currently has the largest theater space operated full time in the city. The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD and television markets throughout the United States. www.musicboxtheatre.com.
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