Much of my performance work after College was with a fringe theatre co. located in Bridgeport, Chicago called The Bridge. The Bridge was run by Chicago playwright Kestutis Nakas. My long time collaborator and Friend, Andrew Taylor and I created a score to The Nakas production of Hyacinth Macaw by Mac Wellman

Rip!: An Audio Fantasia

I acted in and performed a live score for Nakas’ Rip!: An Audio Fantasia an adaptation of the Rip Van Winkle story set in 1980’s New York’s East Village and based on Nakas’ life as a young performer and artist. I was lucky enough to participate in a performance of the show at Howl! Happening: an Arturo Vega Project Gallery.

FOLLOWSPOT

I also helped produce a weekly cabaret style variety show called Followspot, which allowed performers of all kinds with all experience levels to engage in live performance.

Pirates!!!

This was my first independent music project in Chicago. There have and will be many rock music groups under this moniker, so we added three exclamation points to our name to nod not-so-discreetly to our emphatic nature. We called ourselves a show band, and played flamboyant punk music influenced heavily by the ridiculous aesthetic of stadium rock and the hot ‘n’ heavy atmosphere of any raucous underground concert.

We aimed not-so-subtly to satire the hyper-masculinity of electric guitar-based music, but also embrace our desire as performers to be larger than life.

We played the D.I.Y. and dive bar circuit in Chicago through the 2010’s.