Nu, May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Who Knew?

 

I certainly was not aware that May is Jewish American Heritage Month.   I knew that February was Black History month, and that March is Women's History Month, and that Pride Month is in June.  I didn't realize that Jewish American Heritage  was this month.  (By the way, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is also in May.  Which makes sense, because if you count from 2000 years ago, Israel (Judea) is officially Asia. 

May is also Older Americans Month.  This is the time that Israel, Florida, and the Jews all align as one.  Did I mention Chinese food on Christmas Eve?  I was about to.  It is all coming together!

Some of the many prominent Jewish Americans.  I am not prominent enough to be on this list

But despite the obviousness of all these co-occurences, plus the fact that I am a Jewish American, I somehow missed the memo.

JAHM began as an effort by the Jewish Museum of Florida and South Florida Jewish community leaders. Through the bi-partisan efforts of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) and the late Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, JAHM was established in 2006 by President George W. Bush to honor the contributions and achievements of Jewish Americans and to educate all Americans.

 It’s been continued every year since then by Presidential Proclamation. 

Other notable milestones include the formation of a national advisory committee in 2007 to drive the effort forward; NASA Astronaut Garrett Reisman, a New Jersey native and University of Pennsylvania graduate, carrying the original JAHM proclamation into space in 2010, and President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama hosting the first-ever White House reception in honor of JAHM that same year. 

In 2018, The Weitzman  National Museum of American Jewish History. (Hereafter known as The Weitzman) became the home of JAHM and now leads the nationwide effort. Located in Philadelphia, the Weitzman does a great job of cataloging and promoting American Jewish culture.  Especially in light of the recent rise of anti-semitism in the US, and the unrest that is on college campuses, 

If you are looking for additional Jewish American Heritage Month events around the country, here's a list maintained by The Weitzman. 

https://jewishamericanheritage.org/events/2024-events-in-your-community/


There are many more events happening around the country, and the list above has a pretty comprehensive list of them.  


Last year, an amazing concert by Frank London and the Klezmer Brass All-Stars (in association with Joshua Nelson and the Kosher Gospel Singers) was held to celebrate.  When Klezmer meets Gospel, the results are electric!

Here it is for your listening and viewing entertainment.
(If you can't see the video below, log in here to view it)

The Race -Virtual Theatre- Extended March 13-28!

 I previously wrote about my friend Mark Binder's play, that had its World premiere via Zoom at the Wilbury Theatre Group in January. 

Read that article here.

It closed on January 31, but due to popular demand, it's being brought back from March 13-March 28.

Here's a video trailer for the play.

The Race - live theater that disrupts the zoomscape from Mark Binder on Vimeo.

 
In the play, two candidates (Mr. White and Mr. Black) are vying for a position.  One is white, and one is not (and during the course of the production, the actors change roles, so their name is NOT an indicator) As they are interviewed by an unseen third party (who may be a person, or an algorithm, or some strange amalgamation of the two) politics, race, bias, competition, complicity and computer mediation are all explored.  The questions are off-putting and relevant (and audience members can participate in the live chat and vote on some of the questions using Zoom's Poll feature)  And at the end of the show, the audience is invited for a talkback.

Don't miss the chance to see it!

Tickets are available at https://thewilburygroup.org/the-race.html

The Race by Mark Binder features Rodney Eric Lopez (left), Jim O'Brien (right) and Jennifer Mischley (unpictured)  The actors change roles nightly, which adds to the interest of this production.

Star Guard Academy: Digital LARP camp for kids starts August 17!

 A friend of mine sent this over, and it looks awesome!  

It's a LARP Camp that is played online (digitally) and has counselors acting as NPC's and moderators.

In case you don't know what a larp is, 
it stands for live action role-playing game.  The players (or campers!) physically portray their characters and pursue goals within a fictional setting represented while interacting with each other in character. It's kind of like a moderated form of make-believe with rules, or Dungeons and Dragons without rolling dice. 
​
The Players unlock plot, interact with camp counselors who act as different characters in the narrative, and work together to defend the galaxy.

We just enrolled my son in this camp.  Tickets are on sale through tomorrow if you are interested in enrolling your child.

Along the way I found out about the Other Worlds Theatre company, and I have to say, I have no idea why I didn't know about them before.  They seem 100% up my alley, and fairly close to my house.  

Otherworld Theatre Company was founded in June 2012 with the mission to bring a theatrical experience to the science fiction and fantasy genre. Their work celebrates the depth of human imagination by engaging our spectators with high quality storytelling. 

They have a number of shows and events that seem fantastic, in addition to the summer camp.  They have LARPs for adults (which are usually played in person, and with COVID, it's possible that those will be played online as well)- as well as (during non-COVID times) plays, events, colloquys, and all other sorts of mashups of theatre and science fiction.  It sounds like great fun, and I definitely want to keep these guys on my radar!

Their first full length production (which is available on Youtube for free until August 14) is a show called Of Dice and Men.  It's a play about gamers and Dungeons and Dragons, and during the show the game comes to life.  

Here's the synopsis (please note that it is suggested 14+ because of strong language throughout. Viewer discretion is advised.)

SYNOPSIS:
Few dungeon masters can make the game come to life better than John Francis. Dwarves, Mages and Barbarians jump right off of their character sheets whenever he sits down at the gaming table of frisky suburbanite parents, Linda and Brandon. John Francis’ best friends, sailor-mouthed John Alex and thoughtful jock Jason, bring roguish swagger and knightly nobility to the game. And the object of John Francis’ affection, the feisty Tara, provides all the Half Elven Double Princess backstory they could ever need. 

But when Jason enlists to go to Iraq and with the relationship with Tara going nowhere, it may be time for John Francis to hang up his twenty sided dice and take a job on the other side of the country. However, John Francis is about to discover that leaving will prove tougher than the Tomb of Horrors. A blisteringly funny and heartwarming comedy about gamers, for a general theatre audience.

Here's the video (which may or may not disappear after August 14)

You can find out more about Other World Theatre Company on their website https://www.otherworldtheatre.org/ and on their Youtube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmsppAgXfNCZm8ZjRaz0uQ

Edgewater Chamber hosts Virtual Business Conference

I've posted about this before, but I'm a board member of our local Chamber of Commerce. 

With all that is going on with COVID-19, I'm happy to say that the Chamber is hosting an educational forum for local businesses on how to meet the challenges brought to the forefront by the pandemic.

RESCHEDULED!:  Due to a technical glitch in the presenting software, this has been rescheduled to Thursday May 28.  

Same bat time, Same bat place.  Different bat day! 

(A reference to the original Batman, starring Adam West?  Okay, Boomer!)

It's going to happen on Thursday May 28 from 9 am-3 pm.  And my wife Stephanie Schwab (who as many of you might know, is a super-dynamite marketer and thought leader in digital marketing) is going to be speaking at one of the forums. 

(She's also going to be teaching separately a class on how to switch your business from offline to online and go from stuck to productive in 3 short weeks)  

SWITCH: Go from stuck and overwhelmed to bringing in online revenue - in just three short weeks!)

But enough spousal promotion (for now)

At the Edgewater Essentials Virtual Forum, there will be 5 education sessions with more than 15 presenters, and topics ranging from managing your online presence to how to protect your business and its employees, to how to establish healthy routines.   I've included the schedule below.

There will also be chat and networking rooms, so that registrants can expand their professional circles, collaborate with others, and provide (and receive) personal support.

And at 12 pm, you can attend our annual business meeting, and find out about what's going on with the Chamber, about our recent merger with the Edgewater Development Corporation, and how our new 3-year plan can help our community.

Attendees will be able to diversify their skills through these presentations, facilitated discussions, workshops, networking opportunities, and other virtual activities, all from the privacy of their own home.

This event is meant to be a springboard for the community to share experiences and interact with like-minded business owners and professionals. Everyone is welcome to participate, even people who are not yet members of the Chamber.   Attendees can join for one session or stay on for the full schedule of events featured in the day-long program free of charge.

Registration is free, and all of the conferences will be recorded, so all registrants will be able to view all of the sessions, even if they can't attend all of them.

Register online for free tickets to the Edgewater Essentials Virtual Forum.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:  EDGEWATER ESSENTIALS VIRTUAL FORUM

9:00 AM Managing Your Online Presence  

• Janice Means (Marketing With JR)
• George Lowe (SparkFactor)
• John Honkala (Blueshoon)

10:00 AM Establishing A Healthy Routine

• Amanda Montgomery (Heartland Health)
• Patricia Stasjak (Andersonville Physical Therapy)
• Kelsey Mathis (KAM Meditation)
• Dave Rasmussen (Sacred Health)

11:00 AM Spinning Straw Into Gold: Email Marketing

•  Stephanie Schwab (Crackerjack Marketing)

11:30 AM Moving Forward Together: Breakout /Networking Sessions

• Stephanie Kusibab (Essentiam Strategy)

12:30 PM Edgewater Chamber Business Meeting

1:00 PM Putting Your Best Face Forward

• Kate Piatt Eckert (Steep Theatre)
• Thomas Kubik (TK Photography)
• Jenn Eicher (Hazel's Career Coaching)
• Julianne Ehre (Pivot Arts)
• Lisa Ripson (Ripson Communications)

2:00 PM Pivoting Your Business

• Shawn Ash (Farm Bar)
• Michael Caramagno (Caramagno CPA)
• Corey Bradberry (Theatre In The Dark)
• Christine Forster (Smack Dab)

2:30 PM Incubate Your Brand

• Stacey Neier Beran, PHD (Quinlan School of Business)

Virtual Vaudeville This Saturday: Featuring The Acme Flea Circus!

I'm very pleased to announce that I'm getting into the remote performing craze.

This Saturday, from 3 pm to 9 pm (Chicago time), I and 8 other performers are creating a "Virtual Vaudeville" show that will feature 6 hours of continuous entertainment from some of the top vaudeville and variety artists in the country.

The show will take place on Instagram Live on the account phonographdjmac.

You can find out more about it on the following facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2361081560859357/

Over the course of the 6 hours, each performer will do a show or piece of their show at least 3 times.

UPDATE:  I will be on at 3:50 pm, 5:50 pm, and 7:50 pm.  All times CST.  Tune in a little before that to make sure to catch the whole flea circus act. 

Viewing is free, but we are asking for donations that will be split equally with all of the performers.

In addition to my show, the performers include some of the best in the business, including:

The performers of the first Virtual Vaudeville (Listed below top left to right, middle left to right, bottom left to right.)

•      Professor A.G. Gertsacov - Acme Miniature Flea Circus
•      Alex Vernon & Sarah Olmsted Thomas – Puppeteers
•      Mark Jaster & Sabrina Selma Mandell - Dizz & Izzy
•      DJ Phonograph Mac- MC and DJ
•      Gin Minsky– The Tapdancing Sword Swallowing Delight
•      Keith Bindlestiff – Top Spinning Extraordinaire
•      Peter Mintun –  1920s Keyboard Capers 
•      Andy Sapora– Variety Performer/ Clown

I've seen and worked with a few of these people before, and they are great.  And what I've seen from the other performers shows that they will also be a lot of fun.

I've got a few technical issues to solve, like where in my relatively crowded apartment I'm going to perform the show, and whether or not I have enough lighting for it, and how I'm going to adapt my heavily audience-involved show happen without being able to see the audience!

 All solvable and all worth the challenge.

 I look forward to you seeing me (and the fleas!) and my friends on Saturday!

How StoreFront Theaters are Dealing With the Coronavirus Crisis

Just a quick note about a fantastic article that recently appeared on the WTTW website, which talked about how storefront theatres in Chicago are dealing with the cancellations necessary to deal with COVID-19.

Photo from TeenAge Dick Livestream.

Chicago is  the storefront theatre capital of the country, with over 200 theatres in Chicago, and each one is taking a different (and often creative) approach to solving the problem of what to do when the audience can't come to you.

The article on WTTW (link below) highlights several different tactics that theatres are taking, from delaying productions to canceling productions to even leaving the sets in place and praying that this hiatus is short.

It also goes into shocking detail about the magnitude of the loss-- one theatre is out over $80,000 in lost revenues, including two different tours that have been canceled.  That's for the next month alone!  And insurance is not paying for that.  And many theatres have not yet had their gala, which typically raises 20% of their income for the year.


One of my favorite stories in the article is a positive one from Theatre Wit, who were producing the Midwest premiere of Teenage Dick by Mike Lew (a hilarious re-telling of Richard III, set in a high school, with a cerebral palsy survivor who wants to be class president.)  They were all set to open the show, when it became clear that the Corona Virus was going to put a kibosh on their plans.

This is a screen-capture of the Theater Wit website, which explains more about how remote viewing works.

Rather than canceling the show, they videotaped the show (without an audience), and with permission of Actor's Equity and the actors, each night that the show was supposed to be on, they are selling tickets to a streamed production of the show.  (It's not live-streamed, as it is the tape, but you can only see it that night.  In addition, after each show, there is a cast Q&A  Livestream on Gotomeeting.com  that ups the interactive potential of the show dramatically.   And the cast and crew are still getting paid!

Buy TeenAge Dick on Amazon
(boy, could that sound any worse?)

Furthermore, some of the first tickets purchased for this show were from NY, suggesting that this could be a future income stream for plays, extending the boundaries (and marketing) of a play, assuming that they can get continue to get Equity approval for these remote showings.

I love this kind of creativity in the face of adversity!

Read the full article at  https://news.wttw.com/2020/03/18/how-chicagos-storefront-theaters-are-facing-coronavirus-crisis

And you can read the Chicago Tribune review of the experience of watching Teenage Dick online here:  https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-teenage-dick-theater-wit-livestream-0320-20200320-l6jx5bw6fnbmdk2d5aypiqg6si-story.html

Storytelling during the Great Pause

Nick North of Epic Danger has taken to calling this moment in time The Great Pause and I have to say I am a pretty big fan of this idea. 

It's like the Great Depression, but instead, it captures our moment a little bit more.  We don't know what is coming (although it probably isn't good)  And in the meantime, we are in our homes, paused, waiting for the next big thing to hit.   It's almost like someone has hit the remote to stop, and now life is just inching along at a much slower pace.

I know this isn't true-- Life is continuing of course, and plumbers must be called and grocery stores must be shopped and prescriptions must be picked up, but there's a certain amount where there isn't.  Lots of businesses are closed, many schools are closed, and things are cancelled.  Theatres, libraries, and non-essential stores are mostly shuttered.  The same is true for lots of restaurants, which here in Illinois are now delivery or take-out only, at least until the end of March, and probably a lot further.

As you can imagine, many of my friends are artists, and this Great Pause is going to play havoc with their livelihoods.  On a school performers Facebook group that I am in, guys who make their sole living in schools are suddenly having to face the likelihood of extended times of forced unemployment.

A few of them are doing some great things during the great pause to entertain children, adults, and everybody in between.   I thought I'd tout a few of them.   (And if you are a friend of mine and would like to be featured, please post your Great Pause project

In the meantime,  I haven't quite figured out what it is that I could do.

VALERIE TUTSON

Val is a great storyteller based in Rhode Island.  You can find her online at https://yamass.org/our-programs/valerie-tutson/  (she had a website http://www.valerietutson.com, but I can't get it to work right now.)  She's posting Facebook Live videos of her stories on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/valerie.tutson/

 

DAVID LADON

David is a performer and teacher from Boston who I met while he lived in Chicago.  He was my son's Hebrew School Teacher.  He's now living in Colorado, and he also has a great band Animal Farm, which I've featured previously on the blog.  David is also doing some Live Streaming via FaceBook on a Pay What You Can basis-- asking for donations on Paypal or Venmo.   It's free to watch, and if you like it, you should donate.  This is for younger kids, and he's quite engaging.  He'll be doing different shows and tea time stories each day.  You can find the live events on his facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/AnimalFarmMusic/

---

BRIAN FOLEY

Brian Foley has been producing Vaudeville Variety Shows in Phoenix once a month for the last couple of years. The two year anniversary was March 17, and it was canceled due to COVID-19.  Undeterred, he produced a Virtual Variety Show in the Valley, in front of his garage, using videos from Youtube as his "Acts"  I think he will be planning on doing it again if he needs to.

You can find Brian on his website: http://www.brianfoley.net/ (although it doesn't seem like it's been updated lately)   You can also check out his page on FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/BrianFoleyArtist/

And this series is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dk2lBcFtu-8

REVIEW: Q Brothers Christmas Carol

I've loved the Q Brothers since I saw them do their version of Othello three years ago.  READ MY REVIEW OF OTHELLO.

 That soundtrack has become a staple in my household.

They've been busy since then, including a successful Off-Broadway run of Othello, playwriting a new show (an adaptation of Lysistrata called Ms. Estrada) performing at festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, and continuing on with their busy lives as musicians, actors, and creators.

In the meantime, their "rap-daptation" version of the Dickens Christmas classic has become a Chicago Shakespeare staple for the last few seasons.  I've missed it the last couple of years and was very excited when I got invited to the opening of this season's production.

The Ghost of Christmas Past (Pos) throws it back to Scrooge’s past with the help of back-up dancers (JQ and Jax) in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's production of Q Brothers Christmas Carol, presented in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare, November 29–December 23, 2019.
Photo by Liz Lauren.

The show does not disappoint.  It tells the basic story of greedy misanthrope Ebeneezer Scrooge and his journey to (SPOILER ALERT): happiness through the intervention of ghosts.  His partner, Jacob Marley, who died 7 years ago on Christmas Eve appears first, followed by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.  Scrooge realizes through this intervention that his previous misanthropy is not serving him well, and resolves to be a better person.  It's become a holiday classic because of its story of redemption, and the melodramatic storyline that fits perfectly with the Christmas spirit.

A Rastafarian Jacob Marley (JQ, center) and his crew of reggae spirits (left to right, Jax and Pos) haunt Scrooge. Photo by Liz Lauren.

Like most actors, I am very familiar with the story, having performed and done tech for multiple versions of the show.  I can recite many of the original lines that usually remain in every production.  ("I forged these chains in life" | "Nothing but a piece of cheese, or an undigested bit of beef" | "You boy, what day is today" are three samples that Dickens aficionados will easily recognize.) 

In their re-telling, most of these old chestnuts have been cut by the Q brothers, although I have no doubt they could make a fine rhyme for undigested beef)   Instead, we get their words, which are usually super clever, contain multiple pop culture references, and come a mile a minute with a hard-driving beat.  Although I missed some of those old friend phrases, I wasn't so sad about it, as the Q brothers found other inventive ways to say the same things.

"There’s no time like the present" for the Ghost of Christmas Present (JQ), surrounded by his crew (Pos and Jax)  Photo by Liz Lauren.

One of the things that I appreciate about the Q Brothers' work most is their acting.  The style is broad and inventive, yet also filled with authenticity.  They cut away inessential elements, and in the end, we focus on their acting.

In this production, GQ, the brother who plays Scrooge, manages the transformation deftly.  His delight in pissing people off early shows in a hilarious number called Crissmyassmus.  But by the end, when he begs the spirit to take him in death rather than Lil Timm (Tiny Tim from the original, who has been transposed into a rap-star wannabe with a bum leg and multiple multiple diseases) the mood in the theater is chilling.


All four of the actors do the same with their roles, veering from silly to serious and back again.

Scrooge (GQ) embraces the magic of the holiday season.
Photo by Liz Lauren.

Some of the highlights include Postell Pringle as a smoove Grandmaster Flash style Ghost of Christmas Past,  as the ultra-cheerful Bob Cratchit, and his precocious college student/daughter Martha (there's a couple of hilarious and cheesy moments as the actor takes turns smelling delicious corn so that he can portray both characters using a bit of microphone ventriloquism. 

Jackson Doran, who plays the nephew Fred as a charades loving gay man with a penchant for Christmas, as well as Mama Cratchit, and a hilarious friend of Scrooge from year's past.  He also has a hilarious turn as one of the people who dun Scrooge at the beginning (and who Scrooge tells to "Chrissmyassmus")  These two guys are Jewish. for the Rahm and Manual Foundation. Big laugh from the audience.

Lil’ Tim (JQ, at center) pops a move while Mama Cratchit (Jax) and Martha Cratchit (Pos) dance along. Photo by Liz Lauren.

GQ's actual brother JQ plays the aforementioned Lil Timm, whose various diseases cracked the audience up, as well as the Ghost of Christmas Present, who was a weird combination of Stevie Wonder and Vanilla Ice, as geeky girl Belle (who owns Fezzy Wigs, a wig production company that  Scrooge and Marley make their fortune on (but Scrooge insists that they be called wigmakers and not wiggers)  and Jacob Marley (who  visits Scrooge in dreadlocks and sings a rasta-style rap, because his personal hell is Jamaica, and he insists that he is not a long lost son of Bob Marley.)  JQ also has a little bit of a tour-de-force performance as a friend of Scrooge's who waxes philosophically on what it means to Level up.  He got all of the other actors cracking up, as well as the audience.

In short, this is a great adaptation, and well worth seeing.  Tickets are sure to go quickly, so get them before they sell out.

INFORMATION:  Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents Q Brothers Christmas Carol, November 29–December 23, 2019 in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare. Single tickets ($32-$56) are on sale now. Special discounts will be available for groups of 10 or more. For more information, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater’s website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Scrooge (GQ, at center) lights up with the holiday spirit in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's production of Q Brothers Christmas Carol, presented in The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare, November 29–December 23, 2019.
Photo by joe mazza.

ChiTAG 2019 is this weekend!

One of my favorite events of the year is nearly upon us-- The Chicago Toy and Game Fair .(CHITAG) where toy and game makers from around the world gather at Navy Pier to display their new wares and sell the hottest new games to consumers, just in time for the holidays.

The two day event is THIS WEEKEND at Navy Pier, and it promises to be a lot of fun!

Photo of past CHITAG-- provided by http://www.chitag.com 
(and if you haven't played Klask, you totally should.  It's great fun!)
BUY KLASK ON AMAZON.

One of the things I love about CHITAG is that each year they host kid game inventors to display their games, and the winner gets a deal to produce their game!  Of course, it's cool that happens, but even more cool is the amazing creativity and high degree of professionalism that some of the games have.  And you get to talk to the kids and see what drove them to do that.

Photo of past CHITAG-- provided by http://www.chitag.com

That's also true for adults.  CHITAG gives many fledgling game designers the chance to get out into the marketplace and see if their game is going to find a buyer/distributor/ or just players and fans.  I love chatting with the new game designers and seeing why they decided to risk a sizable portion of their savings (as well as time and energy) on a brand new venture.  It's exciting!

Photo of past CHITAG-- provided by http://www.chitag.com

And of course there's tons and tons of game playing and game booths and games to try out and toys to look at.  It's just a lot of fun!

A couple of years ago, we saw this amazing life-size dino at #chitag

Over 30,000 people are expected to walk through the doors this weekend.

Will one of them be you?

Check out CHITAG.COM for more details.
(or look below!)

View this post on Instagram

A Yoyo champion from Chitag in year's past (from my Instagram account)

Some of the Highlights of this year's CHITAG

A kid-designed game from past CHITAG

• The World’s Largest Kid-Powered Rocket (Kite and Rocket Research)

• The new Super Things line of collectible toys and receive free blind bag samples before the toys hit retail stores (Goliath)

• Get crafty and decorate a Fuzzikins to take home (PlayMonster)

• Test your putting skills at the Gator Golf Putting Station (Goliath)

• Take a spin on the My Buddy Wheels balance bikes and new Yvolution scooters (Yvolution)

• Young inventors ages six to 18 compete in the Young Inventor Challenge on Saturday, November 23

• Join Sven’s Frozen Adventure for the Frozen II Scavenger Hunt (JAKKS Pacific)

A local young man brought the X-cube to life from
CHITAG a couple of years ago.
BUY X-CUBE ON AMAZON

• Experience the first public showcasing of the adorable new D-O being introduced in Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker (Hasbro)

• Enjoy a performance of WTTW’s The Big Idea Tour’s Traveling Lab on Saturday, November 23 

• Watch contestants from coast to coast compete in the Yo-Yo Championship

• Adults can stop by the Beer Garden for pints of cold suds and sit down to play some of the
industry’s best games for grown-ups, including the newest from the makers of Exploding Kittens (Let’s Play Games)

• Watch Princess Etch bring your favorite characters to life on her Etch-a-Sketch

• Enjoy Ben’s Giant Bubble Show and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

This was a fun game we discovered 3 years ago at CHITAG
Buy The Presidential Game on Amazon

• Snap a photo with your favorite Star Wars characters from the 501st Legion

• Meet toy and game inventors from around the world

• Take advantage of discounts on the hottest holiday toys

• Special needs families can come early both days for the Sensory Power Hour 

Visit http://www.Chitag.com for more details

Groupon also has limited amounts of CHITAG tickets on sale today!
Get them before they are gone!

Museum Exhibit: Virgil Abloh "Figures of Speech"

Before I left for Europe for the summer, I took in an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art which I've been thinking about how to write about for almost two months.  The exhibit was a retrospective of Virgil Abloh called "Figures Of Speech."

Abloh is an artist, designer, engineer, and architect, who, while pursuing his masters degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, managed to hook up with Kanye West, and become the creative director of his creative team, working on album covers, concert designs, and merchandising.  He parlayed that work to create his own fashion brand Off-White, and recently became the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection.

View this post on Instagram

I was really struck by a couple of the pieces, including "You're Obviously In The Wrong Place" which quotes Pretty Woman with George Segal style sculptures in white that manages to be funny and meaningful on a number of levels, accessing racial discrimination, class discrimination, and impostor syndrome all at once. I loved it.

Another piece I really loved was the Figures of Speech mural, which incorporates a whole lot of imagery and signs and signals.  I did a video flyby of it, but it really deserves looking at and studying.



And a third piece I loved was the Black Cotton Logo.  With a simple inversion, Abloh manages to elegantly make a statement about consumerism, racism, history, and branding.  It's this kind of elegant and sardonic minimalism where I think Abloh is at his best.


There were lots of other pieces that I was not enamored of, but I'm not going to focus on them.

Abloh is an interesting character-- in 2002 he was a student, in 2006 a graduate student and in 2009 he was an intern at Fendi, and by 2019 he is a ruler of the universe.  One of Abloh's mandates in his work is "Question everything."  So here are my questions.  How did he rise so fast?  What is it about his work that is so fantastic that in 10 years he can rise to the literal top?  And could the next Virgil Abloh be a white female septugenarian?


I'm not exactly sure, but after listening to him talk at the opening of the exhibit (which runs through September 22 in Chicago, before going on to Atlanta (Nov 9-2019 to March 8, 2020), Boston (July-September 2020) and Brooklyn (Winter 2020 to Spring 2021) I'd say it's a combination of a few things.

Articulate  Abloh is a good talker.  He's got a lot of ideas and he likes to talk about them.  It was a little frustrating, someone asked him a straight forward question at the opening (about the difference between appropriating, stealing, and quoting) , and he preceded to talk for ten minutes, say all kinds of interesting stuff, and never answer the question.  He didn't even directly talk about the question, he just followed his own thoughts.  This is a guy whose trademark image is a quotation mark.




Actuator.  After looking through the entire exhibit, I think that Abloh is an actuator.  He takes his ideas and puts them on canvas/fabric/sculpture/whatever.  (He's come out with furniture, music, clothing, and a whole lot of other stuff.  It makes sense now when he has the money to make things happen, but I got the feeling from looking at his work that he was making stuff constantly, even if it wasn't very good.  He puts out his ideas concretely, even if they aren't fully formed or fully functional.  He lays it out there.

His Master's thesis project.  He redid it for this exhibition.

Iteration  The second part of that is that Abloh seems able to move on from one piece or idea and into another fairly effortlessly.  He has no problem releasing 10 or 15 different versions of something as he strives for what works (both aesthetically and in the marketplace)

Collaboration  Abloh enlists lots of other artists into his works and is able to use their contributions to fuel his own ideas and then take off even further.  He's worked with some powerhouses, including Kanye, Jenny Holzer, and Arthur Jafa, and has been inspired by diverse influences including the movies Black Panther, Pretty Woman and architect Mies van der Rohe.

Merchandising  Abloh seems to be a master merchandiser.  He's really great at putting price tags on things and getting people to buy them.  It's not so much a zeitgeist thing (I think) but a "knowing how to be the cool kid" thing.  Anyway you slice it, he knows what sells, and he seems to do a great job selling.  (By the way, that's the third artist who is a commercial success that I've seen have an exhibit at MCA- Virgil Abloh, David Bowie, and Takashi Murakami. Food for thought.)

These 5 elements seem to be at the heart of his work, and so I think the answer to my question lies somewhere in the middle here.

But whoever the next Virgil Abloh is, I'm going to guess that they will exhibit some or all of those traits above.

You can find out more about the MCA exhibit Figures of Speech at their website: 
https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2019/Virgil-Abloh   Timed tickets are being sold for this exhibition, which also allows you access to all of the other museum exhibits.  And the Museum has a particularly strong slate of events around the Abloh exhibit, including talks with the artist, performances, student opportunities, and more.  Click the link above to find out more.