On With The Show!

I was a writer/performer with the Famous In The Future comedy group for 20 years before leaving to pursue other interests about a year and a half ago. The others continue to roll along, and we remain friends. I plug their occasional shows, usually when they’re teaming up with Black Forest Theatre. In less than a month, FIF will be playing at Abbie Fest XXII at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre.

Today, I’m plugging my own comedic endeavors. My wife Pam and I have created a series called Manchester Gallery, which can be seen on Jeff Kelley’s Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff Internet show. I play Terrence, the devious and inept curator of a pop culture museum who lies about all the items he’s displaying. Kelley and I have developed a mutual admiration for each other’s comedic styles, so we decided that he would direct a sketch that I had written.

We got together this past Saturday, along with Dave Metzger, who had done so well in a previous Manchester Gallery, and Karen Yashon-Brown, a talented comic actress who had performed with Famous In The Future for over 10 years. We taped a skit called The Cancelers that I had written and performed with FIF a few years ago. We also taped an episode of Manchester Gallery, with Karen playing the museum’s Director of Public Relations; Dave reprising his role of a victimized button collector from the earlier episode; and Jeff doing a cameo.

Everything went extremely well, and it looks like we’ll be taping more sketches in the future. It was a kick performing with Karen again, and she really brought her character to life. Manchester Gallery has had a few running jokes and story lines involving Terrence getting into more and more hot water, and within the next few episodes, they’ll all be resolved. I’m not sure if there will be a season or series finale. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing and performing Manchester Gallery, and being part of the fun and eclectic Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff lineup. So I’m hesitant to abandon it. I’m hoping for inspiration for a new series.

In the meantime, check out Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. In addition to having Manchester Gallery every other week, it has enjoyable features like On The Road With Willy, The News With Mark, Anklebone Stories, Cinema Cheese, vintage clips, and Jeff’s commentary.

Slumgullion #4

Picture of Ellis Clark taken from his Facebook page.

Another buffet of entertainment snippets for a Friday.

The Ellis Clark SuperGroup at Viaduct Theatre March 6th I first met vocalist Ellis Clark back in the late 1980s when I did a Streetwalkin’ profile on his band Social Act for the Illinois Entertainer. Clark played a melodic brand of hard rock in that group, but he also founded the power pop/punk outfit Epicycle, which still performs from time to time, and he’s done a lot of producing for other artists. These days, Clark is probably most active as the keyboards player-guitarist-back up vocalist for The Handcuffs. On March 6th, at 10PM, he has something special going on at The Viaduct Theatre in Chicago. That’s when The Ellis Clark SuperGroup hits the stage, as part of a Chicago Acoustic Underground sponsored triple bill. Clark has put together an impressive line-up that includes drummer Brad Elvis of The Handcuffs; bassist Jon Brant, who played with Cheap Trick, as well as d’thumbs; sax player Mars Williams, who has worked with the Psychedelic Furs and several other bands; power pop veteran Phil Angotti; The Chamber Strings piano player Carol Engelmann; and percussionist Jim Hines. Special guests include guitarist Alfonso Ponticelli and The Handcuffs vocalist Chloe F. Orwell. It will be interesting to what these guys come up with. Clark has created a promo film, which can be viewed on YouTube. Also on the Chicago Acoustic Underground bill that night are Goodbyehome, a folk rock ensemble Clark has been known to collaborate with, and acoustic pop/folk artist Dawn Xiana Moon.

Possible Twigs Reunion? One of my very first Broken Hearted Toy posts last August concerned singer-songwriter Linda Good. She moved to Los Angeles 10 years earlier to pursue a solo career, and was visiting her old home town for a show at the Uncommon Ground on Chicago’s north side. At one point during that performance, Good called her sister up to the stage. It was a sort of reunion of The Twigs, the popular band Linda and Laura had founded years earlier. The Twigs had recorded two full CDs; the promising Bring Me The Head Of Eternity and the more polished The Universe Tonight, which found them successfully covering a variety of styles, from the sunny pop of “It’s Alright” to the hip hop of “Lucky.” Now, about six months later, Linda Good is reporting on Facebook that she and Laura are recording a new Twigs single together. Or as she dubbed it, a Twingle. Hopefully, she’ll keep fans posted as to its release date.

M.A.S.S. Appeal at Angel Island As its current production of Andrew Case’s emotionally charged cop drama Rant clearly illustrates, the Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company has established a reputation for cutting edge work. Now the group’s Angel Island space at the corner of Broadway and Sheridan Road in Chicago is also a great place to discover new musical artists. With M.A.S.S. (Mary-Arrchie Sound Series,) the group will present live electro, rock, and hip hop music. Acts who have already performed include Ol’Boy, an indie rock band that claims The Temptations and Tom Waits among its influences; Americana/punk singer-guitarist Garrett Santora; indie rock duo LionLimb; and cutting edge singer-keyboards player Natalie Grace Alford. Artist-In-Residence Ol’Boy will be a frequent M.A.S.S. participant, with shows on March 10th with The Ours, and The El is a Sound of Joy; with Merryweather and Teenage Rage on March 22nd; with Granny Frost and The Dirty Diamonds on April 12th; and with Audio and a special guest on April 19th. M.A.S.S. is also hoping to snag touring bands who might want to use the space for after-show or acoustic gigs. Portions of the proceeds from these shows will help fund the Mary-Arrchie, which is a non-profit theatre company. Acts looking to be part of M.A.S.S. can contact Carlo at info@maryarrchie.com

Abbie Fest Aftermath

Photo by Gavin Robinson, taken from Mary-Arrchie Facebook Photo Album

Mary-Arrchie Theatre presented Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins XXI over the past weekend, and this annual festival showed no signs of losing steam. Having only seen a fraction of the performances this year, it’s hard to make a fully informed assessment, but the opening ceremonies on Friday literally set the stage for what was to follow. Audience members clapped, stamped their feet, and whooped it up in anticipation of Artistic Directory Richard Cotovsky’s arrival in the persona of Abbie Hoffman. His political ranting, flavored with a touch of stand-up comedy and delivered from a makeshift soapbox, was highly entertaining.

Team Venture Productions had the difficult task of following this mayhem. Just Us Two, their gentle sci-fi comedy about two socially awkward virgins being whisked off to populate another planet, won over the audience with appealing performances from its cast.

The Plagiarists have a well-deserved reputation at the fest for intellectually stimulating comedy, and their new parody American Stage Sessions was both clever and laugh out loud funny. This is a group that bears watching closely, as they engage in several sight gags.

Bruised Orange’s show I Saw You fell somewhere between improv and sketch comedy as the group drew inspiration from the classified section of The Chicago Reader. It wasn’t clear if these were actual or fictional ads, or if the cast members had seen the ads before bringing them to life, but the results were very funny.

The cast of Red Ink Theatre showed their singing and dancing chops as they reeled off a series of provocative songs and sketches about our current president’s effect on the country in their revue Obama Nation. Their material brought laughs at the expense of liberals as well as conservatives.

Mary-Arrchie Theatre performs Gas Mask 101, a politically-charged comedy set at Southern Illinois University during the Viet Nam War, every year, and this goofy and touching play is a welcome Abbie Fest tradition.

On the Fest’s second day, my old comedy group Famous In The Future surprised me by going back to basics with its all new revue Loose Animals rather than performing the more elaborate song and dance routines of recent years. Much of the material was driven by current events, featuring sketches about animal rights and the slow economy. As an FIF cast member for several years, I can’t give an unbiased critique, so I’ll simply say I enjoyed the show.

Black Forest’s performance of their original piece The Drugs, which was inspired by David Bowie’s Low album, found James Moeller dressed in a long black coat and Carla Hayden decked out in a white pants suit. The imaginative and funny show included Moeller’s guitar playing and a blast of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” on the sound system.

The Mary-Arrchie's crew of actors and actresses, more accustomed to performing onstage than selling tickets, did a super job of keeping things running smoothly. Pictures and more information on this year’s Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins can be found on the Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s website (www.maryarrchie.com). Also check out the blog http://jimmydumpssunnyjimmy.blogspot.com/