TBS Just for Laughs-Photo/ Video Kevin Smith Recap

Kevin Smith at Chicago Theater 6/14/12

TBS Just for Laughs Chicago continues







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 Create which 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.

There are still a ton of great shows going down Friday through Sunday.   Be sure to check out the full line up and performers' info here. 

Friday , June 15 SHOW VENUE TIME Tom Dreesen - Should Comedians Pay to Perform Laugh Factory 5:00 PM Best of the Fest UP Comedy Club 7:00 PM buy tickets Stuffed and Unstrung by Henson Alternative Bank of America Theater 7:00 PM buy tickets The Delocated Witness Protection Program Variety Show The Hideout 7:00 PM buy tickets Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive The Chicago Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets John Oliver The Vic Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies... Park West 7:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 7:30 PM buy tickets ALONE: Chicago's Best Solo Acts The Playground Theater 8:00 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 8:00 PM buy tickets The Bitter Buddha Gene Siskel Film Center 8:00 PM buy tickets Breakout Performers Jokes and Notes 8:30 PM Kelly Carlin: A Carlin Home Companion UP Comedy Club 9:00 PM buy tickets Matt Braunger The Hideout 9:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 9:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 9:30 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 10:00 PM buy tickets Jeff Ross Roasts Chicago Park West 10:00 PM buy tickets Never Been to Paris The Playground Theater 10:00 PM buy tickets 5-Star Leading Ladies Jokes and Notes 10:30 PM Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive The Chicago Theatre 10:30 PM buy tickets Natasha Leggero The Hideout 11:00 PM buy tickets TJ Miller Presents Performance Anxiety UP Comedy Club 11:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 11:30 PM buy tickets Scott Adsit and Jet Eveleth iO Theater 11:59 PM buy tickets		Saturday , June 16 SHOW VENUE TIME Tom Dreesen - The Joy Of Stand-Up Comedy And How To Get There Laugh Factory 5:00 PM Best of the Fest UP Comedy Club 7:00 PM buy tickets Stuffed and Unstrung by Henson Alternative Bank of America Theater 7:00 PM buy tickets The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About An Hour The Hideout 7:00 PM buy tickets Nick Offerman: American Ham The Vic Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets Sarah's Pro-Choice The Chicago Theatre 7:30 PM buy tickets Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies... Park West 7:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 7:30 PM buy tickets ALONE: Chicago's Best Solo Acts The Playground Theater 8:00 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 8:00 PM buy tickets Starting 5 Jokes and Notes 8:30 PM Best of the Fest UP Comedy Club 9:00 PM buy tickets Pete Holmes - You Made It Weird The Hideout 9:00 PM buy tickets The Dan Band House of Blues 9:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 9:30 PM buy tickets TBS LOL Lounge The Comedy Bar 9:30 PM buy tickets Chris D'Elia Laugh Factory 10:00 PM buy tickets Jeff Ross Roasts Chicago Park West 10:00 PM buy tickets Never Been to Paris The Playground Theater 10:00 PM buy tickets Nick Offerman: American Ham The Vic Theatre 10:00 PM buy tickets Best of the Midwest Jokes and Notes 10:30 PM Sarah's Pro-Choice The Chicago Theatre 10:30 PM buy tickets Brody Stevens The Hideout 11:00 PM buy tickets TJ Miller Presents Performance Anxiety UP Comedy Club 11:00 PM buy tickets Set List Lincoln Lodge 11:30 PM buy tickets Sunday , June 17 SHOW VENUE TIME Stuffed and Unstrung by Henson Alternative Bank of America Theater 7:00 PM buy tickets Stage Time Jokes and Notes 8:00 PM Vince Vaughn's Comedy Showcase The Chicago Theatre 8:00 PM buy tickets back to top Thursday , October 25 SHOW VENUE TIME Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 7:30 PM buy tickets back to top Friday , October 26 SHOW VENUE TIME Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 7:30 PM buy tickets Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 10:00 PM buy tickets back to top Saturday , October 27 SHOW VENUE TIME Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 7:30 PM buy tickets Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Victory Gardens 10:00 PM buy tickets

Play Locally-Highly Recommended Tonight--Blane Fonda Record Release & Goodbye Cruel World Opening at Theater Wit

Rock Out Tonight:



Blane Fonda Record Release @ Subterranean, Friday June 15 (17+)

Chicago electro-rockers Blane Fonda will celebrate the official release of Foolish Croon with a show at Subterranean tonight, Friday, June 15:

Blah Blah Blah and Volcanoes Make Islands will be the supporting acts.

House Call Entertainment, Inc. Presents!!

Blane Fonda/ Blah Blah Blah / Volcanoes Make Islands

Friday, Jun 15, 2012 9:00 PM CDT (8:30 PM Doors)
Subterranean
, Chicago, IL

17 years and over

Click here to purchase tickets

Check out the band's main site here for more info.





Act Out Tonight:



 

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.

Click here for tickets at Theater Wit's main site or call 773.975.8150. 

Bruce Lamont-Clark Kent of The Metal World (Upcoming Gigs)

 LZ2 at HOB Chicago January 2012

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!  


 


Check out our original photo filled coverage from LZ2's sold out January gig at House of Blues Chicago by clicking right here.










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." Visit www.zep2.com for more info!

6/21/12 - Bongripper / Winters In Osaka / Bruce Lamont / Akkolyte / Machismo

free show with RSVP link..https://docs.google.com/a/emptybottle.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFo5TVpnR05paDFrbXJvSnBERmpWV2c6MQ

• 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.   

Here's an excerpt from a recent Reader article--by Miles Raymer

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." 

ChiIL Live Shows past coverage:

Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) & Winters in Osaka at Empty Bottle-Show Photos/Metal 

Scott Kelly w/ Bruce Lamont "Cortez the Killer" 1/4/12 (video) 

Macabre-*Yakuza-Novembers Doom-*A Corporate Death (show photos/metal) 

*also Bruce Lamont

Congrats Kevin Smith Ticket Winners! TBS Epidemic Sweeps Chicago

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?!

Click here for our prior Kevin Smith and TBS Just for Laughs Coverage 

ChiIL Live Shows/ChiIL Mama Winners:

*  Dominick Mayer
*  Sydney Hart
*  Amy Mueller
*  Dianna VonKunkle
*  Lynn Durkovic Nelson

 a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

TBS Epidemic Sweeps Chicago

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!

Click this link for more information.

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.