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The CHIRP Blog
Mike Nikolich writesZigtebra Stoked for Encore Whistler Performance
Wednesday, November 28 will be a special evening when Chicago lo-fi dream pop duo Zigtebra delivers an encore performance at CHIRP Night at the Whistler. The Andy Pratt Trio, which also has received extensive airplay on CHIRP-107.1 FM, opens the show.
This is the second time Zigtebra has performed at CHIRP Night at the Whistler, and after spending a good portion of 2018 touring the country, the duo is looking forward to performing before an appreciative hometown crowd.
Emily Rose and Joe Zeph met while performing with an LGBTQ dance troupe called Pure Magical Love. They began writing musicals and playing basement shows, before going on the road in 2017. While they were touring, they made a pact to write and record one new song and music video every month. Those songs were just released on a brand-new album called Major Crush, which is currently in the CHIRP rotation, and Zigtebra will play many of these songs on the Whistler stage. Tickets are free, but you will need to RSVP to this 21+ show.
I had the chance to sit down with Joe to discuss the upcoming show.
Q You and Emily have performed together since 2013, and CHIRP has played your music ever since. How did your work with Pure Magical Love turn into a musical duo?
A I met Emily while we were members of a Pilsen-based underground dance troupe called Pure Magical Love that morphed into a couple of other projects. We began writing our own musicals and one of the first was called the Parrot Pirate. It featured Emily and me performing in a clothing chest that we called the SS Zigtebra. Since then, we’ve collaborated on several other musicals, including one about Leonard Cohen, which we have performed live during some of our longer Zigtebra shows.
Jenny Lizak writesA Holiday Feast: Top 9 Favorite Songs About Food
Happy Thanksgiving, CHIRP turkeys! Every year, I’ve done a special edition of my show on Thanksgiving weekend, featuring two hours of songs referencing food in some way. I thought this year, it would be fun to share a few of my favorite songs about food, so you can listen while you chop carrots, roast the turkey and bake pies - or just make a trip to the liquor store for the wine, if that’s more your speed. Happy feasting!
First off, you have to go shopping before you can cook, or eat, so start your musical feast with “The Market of Farms” by Artichoke.
Kyle writesHealing with Hilarity: A Review of “Care to Laugh”
by Kyle Sanders
Laughter isn't always the best medicine--sometimes, it's the only medicine. There's a reason "it's funny cuz it's true" is the typical response to a solidly funny joke, because the raw punch of the line stems from the reality in which it was thrown. The relief one gets from laughing at the joke, is equal to the solace received from the jokester, aka the stand-up comic.
Every comic has their schtick, but ultimately all of their material is based in some degree of reality, and it often stems from their personal lives--a tap of endless material. Take for instance Jesus Trejo, a young stand-up comic from Long Beach, California. When Trejo isn't traveling hundreds of miles to perform at open mics, he's at home taking care of his aging parents. An only child, it is up to Trejo to care for his mother, a diabetic recovering from a brain tumor, and his father, recovering from cancer. It's a difficult balance, but through familial love and unbending tenacity, Trejo uses his experiences as a millennial caregiver as material for his comedic sets.
It is Trejo's story that convinced AARP Studios to film a documentary, Care to Laugh, and release it as their first full-length feature about the burgeoning role of the Millennial caregiver. "We basically just work to tell the best personal stories we can with priorities that are about helping people improve their life with a brighter outlook," says Jeffrey Eagle, Executive Producer at AARP Studios and one of the producers of the film. "We conducted a search for what caregivers want and we landed on two things: time and laughter. What would be better than a comedy show?"
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writes@CHIRPRadio (Week of November 19)
New Media
- Amanda Roscoe Mayo sits down with Direct Hit
SKaiser writes@CHIRPRadio (Week of November 5)
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Wednesday, November 7 | 7:00 PM | Roscoe Books (2142 W Roscoe St) | Join us for the last CHIRP Music Book Club meeting of 2018 where we'll cover Carrie Brownstein's memoir, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl.
- Friday, November 9 | 11:00 AM | Constellation (3111 N Western Ave) | CHIRP spins at Chicago Printer's Guild Publisher's Fair
NEW MEDIA
- Kyle Sanders attends the 2018 Chicago International Film Festival and reports on Growig Pains: Reviews of "Flammable Children" and "Gui'dani's Navel", A Series of Unfortunate Events: Reviews of "Boys Cry" and "Volcano", Living Out Loud: Reviews of "Mario", "Rafiki", and "Sauvage", One More for the Road: Reviews of "The Road Not Taken" and the Chicago International Film Festival
- Featuers Director Amanda Roscoe Mayo caught up with Alyse Vellturo - who uses the moniker Pronoun for her music - after her set at Riot Fest to discuss her release There's No One New Around You
- Ari Mejia chats with singer/songwriter Tasha at the CHIRP studio about her unique self-teaching style, the black radical tradition, and the importance of rest
- Mike Nikolich writes Diagonal Returns from Successful East Coast Tour