Fu Manchu LIVE at Double Door Chicago #originalshowshots

Fu Manchu LIVE at Double Door, Chicago 4-9-13    Bonnie Kenaz-Mara for ChiILLiveShows.com

We were stoked to catch Fu Manchu at Double Door earlier this month. 

Stoner Rock Lives.   The show was packed and it was sweet to hear them play The Action Is Go in its entirety.   





Check back like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often.   We'll have live show video up shortly as well.

ACT OUT CLOSING: American Idiot #review

American Idiot is Hair for the next generation.   There's a lovable band of misfits, a tragic enlistment storyline, 

drug use, an inditement of capitalist America, and a celebration of individuality. 



We also dug the side thread about the accidental pregnancy and the social commentary on how much having an infant changes your rock n roll lifestyle.

With a rockin' sound track of Greenday hits, Two Tony Awards, and a 2010 Grammy for Best Musical Show Album, it's certainly worth catching.    Chicago's own Northwestern student, Alex Nee, stars.

There's even some fun, wire work!



Of course there are theatre fanatics out there who will only see the A list celeb Broadway shows, but we've seen some seriously sweet touring shows that just blew through town for a week or two.   The sets and costumes are still top notch and despite the fact that there aren't huge draw, famous names in the cast, there's certainly talent and charm.    The touring shows have heart, youthful energy, and the glitz and drama Broadway musicals are renowned for.

It's always a treat to see a show at the ornate Cadillac Palace.   My kids like to play rorschach test with the marble walls and find hidden creatures.   Their fav is "the elephant" at the top of the stairs to the basement in the front, left side of the lobby.

Tickets start at just $18 and half price day of show tickets, or discounts through Hot Tixs or Goldstar are often available.

So go already.


 

American Idiot Theatre : Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago Illinois Dates : April 16, 2013 - April 21, 2013 Winner of two Tony Awards® and a Grammy Award® for Best Musical Show Album, AMERICAN IDIOT features the music of Green Day with the lyrics of its lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The book is by Armstrong and Michael Mayer and direction is by Tony Award®-winner Mayer (Spring Awakening).  AMERICAN IDIOT is the story of three boyhood friends, each searching for meaning in a post 9/11 world. Through incredible spectacle, thrilling performances and with the hope embodied by a new generation, AMERICAN IDIOT has given audiences the time of their lives night after night since its Broadway run at the St. James Theatre and its critically acclaimed national tour, which returns to Chicago this Spring after a critically acclaimed 10-week run in the UK. Ticket prices are $18 to $85. Groups of 10+ on sale now! Call 312-977-1710

ACT OUT OPENING: Yellow Moon at Writers' Theatre

Writers’ Theatre presents

Yellow Moon

by David Greig

Directed by Associate Artistic Director Stuart Carden,

Featuring Ashleigh LaThrop, John Lister,

Josh Salt and Karen Janes Woditsch,

April 16 – August 4, 2013

 

Featuring Ashleigh LaThrop, John Lister*, Josh Salt and Karen Janes Woditsch*

 

Scenic Designer Kevin Depinet, USA 

Costume Designer  Rachel Anne Healy, USA

Lighting Designer  Lee Fiskness

Original Music and Sound Designer Christopher Kriz, USA 

Properties Designer Nick Heggestad 

Dialect Coach Eva Breneman

Production Stage Manager Rebecca Pechter*

 

*Denotes Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers

This is the ballad of Leila and Lee—a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde who learn that they aren’t alone in the world the night that they discover each other. Their wild ramble across the Scottish highlands in search of an absent father is told in a series of lyrical narratives that will immerse audiences in the action, forging a breathless drama of beauty in the darkness.

Associate Artistic Director Stuart Carden (Travels With My Aunt, Hesperia) directs this intimate bookstore production.

TICKET INFORMATION

Performances are April 16, 2013 – August 4, 2013. The press openings are Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 7:30 and Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 7:30pm. Curtain times are Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm (with select Wednesday 2pm matinees – May 22 & 29, June 5, and July 3 & 24); Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 4:00pm and 8:00 pm; Sundays at 2:00pm and 6:00pm.  Tickets are $35-$60 and are available at the Box Office, 376 Park Avenue, Glencoe; 847-242-6000 or online at www.writerstheatre.org.

 

AUDIENCE ENRICHMENT

Writers’ Theatre is thrilled to announce the expansion of their post-show discussions. Throughout the season they will be offering post-show discussions on select Wednesday evenings following the performance in our Tudor Court space. In the Books on Vernon space they will be offering post-show discussions every other Wednesday evening.

 

Post-show discussions provide a forum for audience members to ask questions of the artists in the production and gain new insight into the work.

 

Post-show discussions for Yellow Moon are every Wednesday evening following the performance: May 8, 22; June 5, 19; and July 3, 17, 31.

 

Visit writerstheatre.org/enrichment for more information.

 

TWEET SEATS

Follow Writers' Theatre on Twitter (Twitter.com/WritersTheatre) and by 3:00pm, when available, Writers' will Tweet a code that can be used to purchase remaining seats for that day’s performance at a discount. When available, Tweet Seats may be purchased only through the Writers' Theatre website atwriterstheatre.org.  

WRITERS’ PARTNERS

Writers' Theatre is pleased to welcome back BMO Harris Bank as Season Sponsor of its 2012/13 Season. The Season Sponsor is Mary Winton Green and the Major Production Sponsor for Yellow Moon is Mary Pat Studdert. The Corporate Sponsor Partner is Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable.

 

Writers' Theatre welcomes back Winnetka’s award-winning Restaurant Michael as Restaurant Partner and Event Sponsor. Writers' Theatre patrons receive 10% off their guest check when they present their ticket stub when ordering. Just 10 minutes from the theater at 64 Green Bay Road, Restaurant Michael is the perfect fit for any dining occasion. Call 847-441-3100 to make your reservation.

 

For more information about Writers' 2012/13 Season Restaurant Partners and offer restrictions visit writerstheatre.org/visitus.

ABOUT WRITERS’ THEATRE

Over the past twenty seasons, Writers' Theatre has become a major Chicagoland cultural destination with a national reputation for excellence. Under the artistic leadership of Michael Halberstam and the executive leadership of Kathryn M. Lipuma, Writers’ Theatre has been deemed the “best drama company in the nation” by the Wall Street Journal and achieved twenty years of surplus operations. The company, which plays to a sold-out and discerning audience of 35,000 patrons each season, has garnered critical praise for the consistent high quality and intimacy of its artistry. Prized for the finest interpretations of classic and contemporary theatre in its two intensely intimate venues, Writers’ Theatre’s acclaimed work includes Artistic Director Michael Halberstam’s world premiere in Glencoe and subsequent production of A Minister’s Wife at Lincoln Center Theater; David Cromer’s productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Picnic; and the commissioning, world premiere and New York premiere of Crime and Punishment, which has received more than 30 subsequent regional theater productions.

In July, 2011, Writers’ Theatre announced the hiring of the award-winning, internationally renowned Studio Gang Architects, led by principle Jeanne Gang, FAIA to design a new home for the Theatre in downtown Glencoe which will once again allow the Theatre to grow to accommodate its audience, while maintaining its trademark intimacy. The new facility will resonate with and complement the Theatre’s neighboring Glencoe community and will add tremendous value to Chicagoland and the North Shore as a premier cultural destination.

You can find Writers’ Theatre on Facebook or follow Writers' Theatre on Twitter at Twitter.com/WritersTheatre. For more information, visitwww.writerstheatre.org.

 

 

Title:                 Yellow Moon

Written by:        David Greig

Directed by:      Stuart Carden

                        Featuring:         Karen Janes Woditsch (Jenni/Holly), Josh Salt (Lee),

Ashleigh Lathrop (Leila) and John Lister (Billy/Frank).  

                                               

                                                Dates:              First performance: April 16, 2013

                                               Closing performance: August 4, 2013

           

            Schedule:         Tuesdays: 7:30pm

                                    Wednesdays: 7:30pm (2:00pm matinees May 22 & 29,

                                    June 5, and July 3 & 24)

            Thursdays & Fridays: 8:00pm 

                                                Saturdays: 4:00pm and 8:00pm

            Sundays: 2:00pm and 6:00pm (no 6pm show May 26, June 2, 9 & 28)

           

                         Location:         Books on Vernon – 664 Vernon Ave, Glencoe

                        Prices:              Prices for all performances range from $35 - $60

                                                Purchase early for best prices   

Box Office:       The Box Office is located at 376 Park Avenue, Glencoe;

            847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org

 

 

 

Notes of Interest:

 

• Yellow Moon was commissioned by TAG Theatre Company, produced in association with the Citizens' Theatre, and premiered at the Circle Studio of Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow, in September 2006. The play re-toured in 2007, including an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

 

• Writer David Greig is currently writing the book for the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical produced by Warner Bros. at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

 

·         Greig’s work has been produced recently in Chicago at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart) and Remy Bumppo Theatre (The Creditors).

 

• Associate Artistic Director Stuart Carden directs in the Writers’ bookstore space for the first time since his hit production of Travels with my Aunt (2010-11).  Like that production, Yellow Moon will transform the space into multiple locations, this time including a small village near the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh, a speeding Land Rover, a placid mountain lake and a small cabin in the Scottish Highlands.

 

• Actors Ashleigh LaThrop and Josh Salt make their Writers’ debuts alongside Writers’ veterans John Lister (Heartbreak House, As You Like It) and Karen Janes Woditsch (Heartbreak House, Othello, The Seagull, Butley, and Spite for Spite, among others).

CLOSING: CIMMfest, the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival #CIMMfest13

Last call for CIMMfest fun.   The four-day showcase is winding down and ends today, Sunday 4/21.   We were able to catch a video interview with German filmmaker, Julia Ostertag.   She's garnered critical acclaim for her past political punk documentary Noise and Resistance and her feature film, Saila (punk distopia from Berlin)   She brought the US premier of her latest documentary, And You Belong to CIMMfest this year. 

  

Her feature doc about Scream Club, the queer, electro hip hop girls, played Saturday night at Hideout just prior to the infamous Sister Spit.   We have screeners of all 3 films mentioned above and we'll be running our reviews of those along with our original interview.

We'll also have a photo filled feature on The Funky Meters show, with live shots from the pit at Congress Theater.

The fest was full of outstanding films, energetic concerts, visually stunning VJ/DJ sets, lively Q&A’s, daring live score performances…anything to show just what movies and music mean to each other.

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, music, film, and theatre are our passions.   CIMMfest combines them all!   Check back with ChiIL Live Shows like we vote in Chi, IL... early and often.   We'll be bringing you all our fest favorites, original content, exclusive interviews, and photo filled features.   So come ChiIL out with us.

CIMMfest was imagined and brought to life by musician Josh Chicoine (Cloudbirds, The M’s) and filmmaker Ilko Davidov (BulletProof Film). Neither knew what he was getting into at the start, but hundreds of films, thousands of attendees and countless incredible experiences later, CIMMfest is a publicized, respected Chicago fixture. 

The program lineup is available at www.CIMMfest.org. 

“CIMMfest audiences will have the rare opportunity to experience first – and firsthand – an incredible range of movies and music.  We are thrilled to be producing our fifth festival showcasing amazing films and live performances, with much more live music alongside innovative crossover events,” said Josh Chicoine, CIMMfest Co-Director, with Ilko Davidov. “We are happy to bring satellite venues like The Hideout, The Burlington, the Music Box and the brand new Constellation to our main drag: Milwaukee Avenue from Wicker Park to Logan Square. CIMMfest is unique in that we truly aim to highlight the crossover of film and song, movies and music, past, present and future, in the best city on earth. Along with our board of directors, staff, partners, sponsors, friends and supporters, we are thrilled to be curating these amazing four days in April!”

CIMMCon

New this year is the launch of CIMMCon, a dynamic professional and entrepreneurial industry conference, presented in association with Columbia College Chicago and the Engineering and Recording Society of Chicago (EARS).  CIMMCon will offer, at no charge, compelling presentations from industry professionals, film icons, artist entrepreneurs and music makers, including Keynote Speaker Martin Atkins (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Public image Limited, Killing Joke) renowned for his candor regarding the music business.   More information on CIMMCon programming will be announced shortly.  

COMPETITION 

For the fifth year, most films will be up for competition, with awards given to the Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Fictional Feature, Best Short Fiction and Best Music Video. The esteemed jury consists of: award-winning documentary filmmaker Jeff Scheftel; two-time Emmy Award©-winning Executive Producer at VH1, Warren Cohen; co-founder and chief content wrangler at MusicFilmWeb.com, Andy Markowitz; Film Presence’s director of marketing, Sara Kiener; WBEZ 91.5FM arts and culture reporter, Alison Cuddy; Chair of the Film & Video Department at Columbia College Chicago, Professor Bruce Sheridan; film critic and essayist Ignatiy Vishnevetsky; and film director and contributing editor atFilmmaker Magazine, Brandon Harris.

FESTIVAL TICKETS & VENUES 
All-Access Festival passes, priced at $79, are now available at www.CIMMfest.org.  Festival passes not only offer a substantial savings on individual tickets but provide access to four days of outstanding premiere films, concerts, Q&As, performances, after parties and more.  Single tickets are priced at $10-$12 (Some events are discounted for students with valid ID); most special events are priced at $15.  Concerts are priced per venue.  

Festival venues include: The Burlington (3425 W. Fullerton Avenue), CIMMCity Headquarters (2634 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Cole’s (2838 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Comfort Station (2579 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Congress Theater (2135 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Constellation (formerly the Viaduct, 3111 N. Western Avenue), Double Door (1572 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Elastic Arts (2830 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Green Eye (2403 W. Homer Avenue), Heaven Gallery (1550 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia), Logan Square Studio (2341 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Logan Theatre (2646 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Loyola University Crown Center Auditorium (1032 W. Sheridan Road), the Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Avenue), Northwestern Block Cinema (40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston), Rosa’s Lounge (3420 W. Armitage Avenue), The Society for Arts (1112 N. Milwaukee Avenue), Subterranean (2011 W. North Avenue), Township (2200 N. California Avenue), Underbar (3243 N. Western Avenue), and The Whistler (2421 N. Milwaukee Avenue). 

Corporate and Community sponsors of CIMMfest No. 5 include Columbia College Chicago, ACME Hotel, Ticketfly, ABKCO, Wicker Park Bucktown SSA #33, the Logan Theatre, the Music Box Theatre, The Society for Arts and Eagle Rock Entertainment.

A recent Driehaus Foundation Grant winner, CIMMfest is a Non-profit 501(c)3 organization.  For information on how to get involved, visit www.CIMMfest.org.

ABOUT CIMMFEST

The mission of the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival (CIMMfest) is to highlight the inseparability of film and music through the production of an annual four-day, multi-venue festival. CIMMfest is a convergence event that highlights the interconnectedness of all people shown through the lens of music and movies, on stage and on screen.  All participating films have music at their center: short and long form documentaries and narrative fiction; concert films; animation; music videos; performances; live concert events; art exhibits; and panel discussions, presented at both new and historic venues around Chicago.  CIMMfest is a platform for filmmakers and musicians, artists and producers, to present their vision and offer a connection point for people to come together for a celebration of movies, music and good times in the greatest city on earth – Chicago!  For more information, visitwww.CIMMfest.org.

INCOMING: ALO + Ryan Montbleau Band at Double Door Saturday (21+) #originalbandinterview #Scamp13 #Scamp12

JAM Productions and Double Door Present

ALO

Ryan Mountbleu Band

Saturday April 20

9:00 PM  •  Doors: 8:00 PM

21 and over

$20 - $25

Click here for tickets

ChiIL Live Shows had the chance to interview ALO and catch them at Summer Camp Music Festival.   They had some sweet insights for our long running interview series on How Creatives Parent & How Parents Create.

They also kicked us a press download of their latest album, Sounds Like This that we've been enjoying and intrigued by this past year.

Check 'em out live this Saturday 4/20 at Double Door!

Click here for ALO's main site and tour dates

“We’ve never fit into any quickly digestible category,” says ALO’s keyboardist/singer Zach Gill. “It’s just a different kind of experience.”

With its delightfully vibrant blend of inventive musicality and genre-blurring reach, Sounds Like This sees ALO operating with fresh verve and vitality, their always-kaleidoscopic funk pop n roll aglow with exceptionally ebullient songcraft and deliriously danceable grooves. The California-based band’s fourth Brushfire Records release showcases their unfettered passion, wit, and imagination while simultaneously exploring hitherto uncharted musical terrain. Invigorated by an unstructured approach to the studio process, ALO have accessed new avenues of resourcefulness, resulting in a truly distinctive collection of songs that adroitly captures all the glorious ingenuity and adventure of the band’s legendary live sets.

“There has always been a division between the fans that get to know us through our live shows vs. the fans that get to know us through our albums,” guitarist Lebo says. “This album is going to bridge that gap.”

Long acclaimed for their deft musicianship, potent songwriting, and astonishing on-stage interaction, the members of ALO have played together for more than two decades, with the current permutation now in its 10th year and counting. The band followed the release of 2010′s Jack Johnson-produced Man Of The World by doing what they do best: playing live, with highlights including the Halloween-themed “Haunted Carnival of Traveling Freaks & Frights” tour and their annual Tour d’Amour benefitting public music school programs.

In April 2011, ALO convened at San Francisco’s Mission Bells studio with no plans other than to make some music together. With studio owner/longtime collaborator David Simon-Baker assisting behind the board, the band opted to take the same improvisational tack towards recording as they do on stage. Any distinctions between pre-production and real recording would be shed, allowing for ALO’s instinctive spontaneity to make it to track.

“We thought, what if we started recording from the get-go,” Gill says, “instead of rehearsing, making songs, and then going into the studio. We decided to start the whole process all at once, with the intention of wanting things to feel really live.”

“Without a clear roadmap, we hit a lot of dead ends,” says drummer Dave Brogan says, “which forced us to create our way out of the morass. I think that helped us look to within ourselves,rather than outside influences, to bring the music to life.”

The band , all based in the Bay Area, Gill, who resides in sunny Santa Barbara, were also able to utilize a lifetime’s bag of tricks in a way the previous album’s sonic scope only suggested.

“The previous record was done in Hawaii, so we simply couldn’t fly with much,” bassist Steve Adams says. “Doing this one in San Francisco definitely made it easier to bring anything we wanted from home, Dave set up a more elaborate drum zone, Lebo had more guitars and amps, Zach brought up more keyboards. I had all my basses and a keyboard rig as well. Having a broader palette of sounds definitely had an influence on how the record turned out.”

In the past, ALO felt compelled to adjust their expansive songs to better suit the recorded format, trimming tracks to a more easily consumed length. While this certainly honed the band’s songwriting skills, ALO were now eager to let it all hang out, marking tracks like the bombastic “Dead Still Dance” with collage-like structures, deep dance grooves, and inventive, intricate solos. The inclusion of longer songs on Sounds Like This epitomizes “ALO being more comfortable with who ALO is,” according to Lebo.

“The truth is, longer songs come more naturally to us,” he continues. “In the past we’ve spent more time whittling the songs down because we felt that we needed to do so in order to ‘fit in.’ This time around, we let the songs be what they wanted to be, and sometimes that meant a long song.”

“There was a part of us that went,”Are we being a tad too indulgent?,’” says Gill, “but in the end we decided that we wouldn’t say we were being indulgent “we were being generous.”

ALO let their imagination run free, both musically and lyrically, resulting in such larger-than-life highlights as the Old West flight of fancy, “Cowboys and Chorus Girls” or the self-explanatory glitterball workout, “Room For Bloomin.” Where prior albums featured songs penned individually and then arranged by the band, this time out, ALO were determined that their collective spirit inform every groove.

“With collaborative writing, everyone’s personal stamp is in the DNA of the song,” Lebo says. “That makes these songs definitively ALO.”

At the heart of the album is ALO’s raucous reverie for days past, “Blew Out The Walls,” as well as its more subdued sibling, “Sounds Like That” (included exclusively as an iTunes bonus track). The track reverberates with the excitement and passion of a rock n’ roll band in its nascent stage, that magical moment where four friends first get together in someone’s basement for the sheer joy of making music together.

“I think we all were feeling the dream again,” Adams says, “remembering back to where it all started.”

All four members of ALO agree that a similar sense of excitement is currently spurring the band forward. Sounds Like This has imbued ALO with an audacious energy that is certain to infiltrate the band’s already spirited live shows, not to mention their next studio outing.

“Like all ALO albums, the next one will be a culmination of all the past albums and everything that happens in between,” Brogan says, “I don’t know if we’ll be so bold in our lack of planning next time, but I’m sure we’ll find some other way to challenge ourselves.”

“I love making records,” Gill says. “With this one done, now there’s the excitement of, what about the next one? Those juices are already brewing. I feel like we just cracked the ice so it’ll be exciting to see what happens next.”