That’s Life: The Blue Whiskey Windup

It’s almost time to bid farewell to The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival for another year. The festival will screen one feature-length film and three shorts at Cutting Hall in Palatine from 7:00 to 10:30 PM tonight. The action moves to the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights tomorrow, July 27th, for an Awards Dinner and a feature-length film that will serve as the Blue Whiskey Chaser. All films were made in the USA except as noted. 

Tonight’s main attraction is Life Inside Out, director Jill D’Agnenica’s 108-minute family drama about a mother and her alienated son and how they grow closer by performing music together. Life Inside Out, which stars Maggie Baird and Finneas O’Connell, has won awards as Best Narrative Film at a number of independent film festivals. It will be preceded by director Mischa Jakupcak’s The Hero Pose, a 13-minute comedy about a father and his eight-year old daughter learning to connect; Lost In The Sky, a 15-minute sci-fi/family film from Canadian director Matt Landry; and Canadian director Ben Petrie’s 17-minute surrealistic comedy Nice Is Cool.

The Blue Glass Awards Dinner, which will include honors for this year’s Best Of Fest, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and several other categories, will take place at the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights tomorrow night, starting at 7:00 PM. The Awards Dinner will be followed by the Midwest Premiere of Life After Beth, director Jeff Baena’s comedy/horror film about a young man named Zach who finds his girlfriend Beth behaves much differently after she returns from the dead. It stars Dane DeHaan as Zach and Aubrey Plaza as Beth, along with Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Gray Gubler, Cheryl Hines, and Paul Reiser.

If you’re a suburban resident who longs for more cultural diversity, this is a great place to find it. I would like to thank the Blue Whiskey organizers for once again bringing their impressive creative event to our humble community. May the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival always thrive here, and may it also inspire other festivals to set up shop in Palatine.

Slumgullion

It’s my party and I’ll post if I want to. Today is my birthday but I’ve been celebrating with live music since last Saturday night with a Shoes and The Valley Downs double bill at SPACE in Evanston. Next up was a concert by Aimee Mann and Ted Leo as The Both (with opening act Tongues And Pillars) at Millennium Park on Monday; and then a swing by Durty Nellies on Wednesday night for the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival Center Piece Concert featuring Big Paraid (I got home too late from work to see Jackpot Donnie.) There are plenty of opportunities for me and everyone else in Chicago to make merry during the next few days.

The Fifth Annual Blue Whiskey Film Festival  wraps up this weekend with screenings at Cutting Hall in Palatine this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow night, and The Awards Dinner and Chaser at Star cinema Grill in Arlington Heights on Sunday. There’s another double bill today; the 70-minute documentary Not Exactly Cooperstown and the comedy short Wooing Wes Wilson in the 4:00 to 5:45 PM showcase, and the feature-length drama Nightlights, along with the short comedy Four In The Morning, the 12-minute drama A Man On The Edge, and the 15-minute drama Insomniacs in the 7:00 to 10:30 PM showcase.

No, but I went to LollaShop. If you’re brokenhearted because you missed out on Lollapalooza tickets, or you really like the acts scheduled but were worried you’d feel out of place at the indie rock fest because you’re over 20, you can still have a Lollapalooza experience by going to its LollaShop pop-up store at Block 37 (108 N. State Street) in downtown Chicago. It opens today and runs through August 4th.

The Bangles will be in Chicago for two sold-out shows at City Winery on July 27th and 28th. If they arrive two days early they could come to my birthday party, but they would more likely check out their good buddy Matthew Sweet who has a gig at that very same City Winery tonight, with special guests Stolen Silver and Tommy Keene. A lot of people come to Bangles concerts eager to hear the hits like “Manic Monday” and “Eternal Flame.” Which is fine, but truly knowledgeable power pop fans also embrace the album tracks like “Some Dreams Come” and “Tear Off Your Own Head,” as well as the well-chosen cover versions of 1960s nuggets.

Chicagoans who come to The Bangles show on the 27th will get an added treat. Our own Brad Elvis will be playing drums on a few songs while Debbi Peterson moves up front to join Vicki Peterson and Susanna Hoffs. Brad Elvis, formerly of Screams and The Elvis Brothers, also performs with The Romantics and is very active with The Handcuffs, the band he formed with his wife, singer-guitarist Chloe F. Orwell. The Handcuffs will be playing at Northalsted Market Days on August 10th. I wonder if Brad will be wearing a Bangles t-shirt at that gig.

Belinda Carlisle will be the main act on Saturday night, at 8:45 PM at Northalsted Market Days. Other bands on the bill include The Locals, Girl In A Coma, Catfight, and Lez Zeppelin.

Make That A Double Shot Of Blue Whiskey

Photo from the Plato’s Reality Machine Facebook page.

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival returns to Cutting Hall in Palatine today after taking a musically inclined detour to nearby Durty Nellie’s for the Festival Centerpiece Concert last night. There are two separate showcases today; one from 4:00 PM to 5:45 PM, and a second from 7:00 PM 10:30 PM. All films are from the USA except where noted.

The earlier showcase has two films, and one has a local connection. Director Susanne Suffredin is an Illinois resident whose 56-minute documentary @Home casts a spotlight on homeless advocate Mark Horvath. He had spent time as an addict living on the streets of Los Angeles after losing a successful television career in Hollywood. Once he was back on his feet, Horvath decided to chronicle the plight and feelings of homeless people in California, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania, using a digital camera and his cell phone.

Director Thomas Wood’s 25-minute documentary LA Miner follows the mining adventures of Patrick Blankenship, an engaging eccentric who hopes to find gold just outside of Los Angeles.

Later tonight, Blue Whiskey presents director Myles Sorensen’s 80-minute drama Plato’s Reality Machine. It’s a study of modern relationships, centered on Charles, a video games fanatic and five people who become involved in sexual/romantic encounters. Plato’s Reality Machine will be preceded by four short films. 

Director Jeff Wolfe’s 11-minute drama Pennance concerns a man seeking to escape the sins of his past. The Fall, directed by Kristof Hoornaert from Belgium, is a drama about a couple getting lost while driving on vacation. Black Water is director Ryan Ovadia’s 16-minute drama about crime activity in West Texas; and director Andrew Eckblad’s 30-minute drama/series pilot Blood Brothers is about a well-educated young man forced into a life of hustling as he tries to help a loved one.

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival has three more shows at Cutting Hall in Palatine before moving on to the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights on Sunday, July 28th, for the Awards Dinner and Blue Whiskey Chaser.

A Classical Blast And A Shot Of Blue Whiskey

My usually sedate hometown of Palatine has a pair of competing events going on tonight, and both look very promising. I might have to dash back and forth between the two of them. At the Fred P. Hall Amphitheater, there’s an outdoor concert by Classical Blast that looks like it could be the most interesting booking of Palatine’s 2014 Sounds Of Summer series. Actually, it’s hard to figure why they were scheduled on a Wednesday instead of a Friday.

The quartet blends cello and violin with guitars and drums while performing songs like Cream’s “The White Room” and Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” Founder/cellist Petar Kecenovici has worked with Dennis DeYoung from Styx, classical superstar Andrea Bocelli, and Cheap Trick. He’s also performed in Broadway musicals. Violinist Jimmy Chaos is a classically trained musician and instructor; guitarist David Kav is also a member of the duo KAVUS and has performed in local productions of Tommy and Man Of La Mancha; drummer Glen Kosche has logged time with JP and The Cats, Tom Carey Band, and Kickbend; and guitarist Bill Syniar was a founding member/producer of Tantrum, and has worked with Survivor, The Doobie Bros., and Steve Walsh of Kansas. Admission to the Classical Blast concert is free.

Also tonight in Palatine, The Blue Whiskey Film Festival will present its Festival Centerpiece Concert at Durty Nellie’s. The headliner is Big Paraid, an alt rock trio that incorporates dancers and a theatrical approach in its shows. The band has performed at the Double Door, House Of Blues, and Metro. They go on at 8:45 PM. Earlier, the rock/reggae quintet Jackpot Donnie opens at 7:30 PM. There will be five Official Selection Music Videos screened between the two live acts. Admission is $10.

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival continues at Cutting Hall in Palatine through Saturday, July 26th, and on Sunday, July 28th, it returns to the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights for the Awards Dinner and Blue Whiskey Chaser.

Shoes Leave A Lasting Impression

Photo from the Shoes Facebook page/CHIRP Radio.

Considering that Shoes have only done a handful of shows since reuniting in 2012 after an 18-year absence, it’s possible that many of the people at SPACE in Evanston last Saturday night were seeing the legendary band for the first time. Or for the first time in a few decades. If that was the case, then Shoes made a strong first impression. Jeff Murphy, John Murphy, and Gary Klebe, along with drummer John Richardson and tambourine/harmonica player-backup vocalist Leroy Bocchieri, tore through over 20 classic examples of power pop, without showing any signs of rust.

The emphasis was on the more energetic songs in Shoes’ repertoire. “Your Very Eyes” and “The Summer Rain,” with their exquisite melodies, were about as subtle as Shoes got, and even those songs had plenty of juice. The set list embraced the band’s entire recording career; from “Okay” and “Do You Wanna Get Lucky?” from their 1977 debut Black Vinyl Shoes to “Head Vs Heart” and “Hot Mess” from 2012’s Ignition. Shoes’ tragically underrated sophomore effort Tongue Twister was well-represented with “Burned Out Love,” “Hate To Run,” “Your Imagination,” “She Satisfies,”and “When It Hits.”

The audience rightfully greeted “Tomorrow Night” and “Too Late” from Present Tense with enthusiastic applause, but it was also great to hear deep cuts from their albums, like “Animal Attraction,” “I Don’t Miss You,” and “Tore A Hole.” As composers, the Murphys and Klebe always had that knack for using irresistible melodies to couch acerbic observations on relationships, like “Your favorite story has no happy ending,” “Cry away, but not on my shoulder,” and “All my hesitation never got me anywhere/Now I ask no questions, when I’m wrong I just dont care.” Initially pegged as studio geeks with no live performance experience, the trio has grown stronger and more confident over the years. As always, they came across as regular guys; joking around and interacting with an audience that would eventually call them back for three encores.

The Valley Downs served as the opening act, reprising that role from when Shoes played at SPACE last year. Bassist-backup vocalist Mike Galassini has a long history with Shoes—his other band 92 Degrees released its self-titled debut on the Black Vinyl label in 1995. The Valley Downs, led by Galassini and his wife, vocalist Marianne Shimkus, (with on Todd Rusin on guitar and Christian Peterson on drums) have developed into a first-rate group with a wealth of good material. “Better,” from the group’s Behemoth EP, evokes The Bangles and has definite hit single potential. “Drama Queen,” a catchy tune about a transsexual, and “Sorry,” were also highlights. The Valley Downs plan to release a full-length effort within the next few months.

The Lengths A Guy Will Go To For Love

The Fifth Annual Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival continues tonight at Cutting Hall in Palatine, from 7:00 to 10:30 PM. Once again, a feature-length film will be preceded by three shorter works.

Tim Driscoll’s 108-minute film The Lengths combines comedy and drama in a tale of a heartbroken guy determined to keep his ex-girlfriend from marrying someone else. His quest involves a cross-country journey with a not-so-trustworthy buddy, and later, a hitchhiker with her own priorities enters the picture. 

A trio of short films will be screened before The Lengths. Pint is director Nic Barker’s nine-minute comedy from Australia concerning a guy who drinks too much at a wedding where he wasn’t particularly welcome to begin with. Craig Elrod’s Molly is a 12-minute comedy made in America about the complications that arise when a man enlists his best friend to help him cope with a shattered romance. The 13-minute comedy V Is For Visa comes from UK director John McPhail, and tells the story of a musician who marries the deranged woman who has been stalking his band, just so he can remain in the country.

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival continues at Cutting Hall in Palatine through Saturday, July 26th, and on Sunday, July 28th, it returns to the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights for the Awards Dinner and Blue Whiskey Chaser.

One Story Of Love And Three Short Films

The Fifth Annual Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival kicked off yesterday with a Blue Carpet Opening Night at the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights. Tonight’s Blue action takes place from 7:00 to 10:30 PM at Cutting Hall in Palatine, where a feature film and three shorts will be shown. One: A Story Of Love And Equality is director Becca Roth’s documentary about the recent Amendment One in North Carolina that would have limited legal recognition for any couple that is not a married man and woman. Roth’s goal with the film, which won the Best Director award at the Queens World Film Festival, was to spark a dialog by carefully listening to both sides of the issue.

One: A Story Of Love And Equality will be preceded by three short films. A teenager attempts to get her straight-laced Dad to accept her bad-news boyfriend in Sheltered Love, a 10-minute dramedy/satire set in the 1950s and directed by the cleverly named Alex Italics. Najes (The Unclean) is a 20-minute drama set in Iran, directed by Bahram and Bahman Ark (Hajaboullou). Called To Serve, from director Michael Van Orden, is a 22 minute romantic comedy/series pilot. 

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival continues at Cutting Hall in Palatine through Saturday, July 26th. On Sunday, July 28th, it returns to the Star Cinema Grill in Arlington Heights for the Awards Dinner and Blue Whiskey Chaser.