Thirsty Ear Festival 8/11 at Empty Bottle

The Empty Bottle is going classical! Come on out on August 11th as one of Chicago’s premier rock venues opens its doors to the first Thirsty Ear Festival, featuring new music by James Falzone, the Chicago Q Ensemble, the Palomar Ensemble, and the MAVerick Ensemble. The performances will be broadcast live on 98.7 WFMT’s contemporary classical music show, Relevant Tones.

The Thirsty Ear Festival is presented in association with the Active Transportation Alliance. Tickets are $10 or show your bike helmet or other proof that you rode your bike to the show and you can get in for $5. The broadcast begins promptly at 5:00 but doors open at 4:00 and there will be a performance of Ben Vida’s Liminal Bends, by all of the festival performers from 4:15 to 4:45.

Benefit for Frank Rosaly on 8/2 at Experimental Sound Studio

Last week, acclaimed Chicago drummer and Physics for Listeners composer Frank Rosaly ran into an extremely unfortunate circumstance; his car, containing many cymbals and other hardware, was stolen. To help get Frank back on his feet, the Experimental Sound Studio (5925 N Ravenswood) will be hosting a benefit concert for Frank on Friday, August 2 at 8:30. Find more information here.

Photo by Kelly Weime.

"Pales" & "The Clinking, Clanking Lowesleaf" runs July 20-29 at DCA Storefront Theater

“Pales” and “The Clinking, Clanking Lowesleaf,” 2 new dance pieces directed and Choreographed by Julia Rae Antonick & Jonathan Meyer, will run at the DCA Storefront Theater (66 East Randolph Street) July 20-29. Tickets and information can be found here.

“Pales” is a work for four dancers created by Jonathan Meyer. It is a somatically-derived, kinetically-driven work, presenting an ambiguous terrain rife with undercurrents of aggression, community, identity, and ownership. Homeroom is especially excited about this piece because the music for “Pales” was composed by Christopher Preissing and will be performed by MAVerick Ensemble. In Pales, instrumental and fixed sounds share and swap roles: polished performances of concert musicians abut manipulated field recordings; shimmering computer-generated sound set against the wail of buskers—today’s troubadours—plying their trade.

We think it’s worth checking out.

Suport Art on Track

Homeroom is a big fan of Art on Track: a mobile art gallery on board a six-car CTA train. Each train car is given over, for free, to a different local artist or arts group to curate. The public is invited to board the train and view the artwork.

This year’s Art on Track will run on Saturday, September 22. Please consider supporting the project through Kickstarter.

Art on Track is free for artists to apply because the organizers want this venue to be accessible to anyone with a great idea. Everyone can apply and they specifically target artists they find to be brilliant but under-represented.

Homeroom Received $650 from the City of Chicago

We are excited to announce that Homeroom was awarded Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago. Homeroom received $650 to hire fundraising consultant Jane Beckett. Ms. Beckett will work with Homeroom to develop and implement a comprehensive fundraising strategy.

Never Enough Hope this Sunday at the Empty Bottle for only $3!

This Sunday, June 24th, you’ll get a chance to see the greatest $3 show ever. After a four year hiatus, Toby Summerfield brings his “Never Enough Hope” to the Empty Bottle (1035 N Western.) With a 20-plus piece ensemble features scores of saxophones, vibraphones and violins mingling with guitar, bass, trumps and dual drum kits, this show will amaze and confound your ear buds. “Never Enough Hope” will be releasing “The Gravity of Our Commitment.” The evening will also feature A Light Sleeper and Chicago Scratch Orchestra.

Do not miss this.

Venue Profile: Elastic Arts Foundation

In light of our Songwriter Showcase today at Elastic Arts Homeroom sat down with the Co-Founder/Director of Elastic, Paul Giallorenzo, to learn all about the ins and outs of this wonderful non-profit foundation. Elastic has been with us for a long time and we couldn’t be happier to showcase them to you. Elastic Arts is our venue of choice for our Songwriter Showcase series. They have been so good to us and we have been so grateful to use their versatile space. Please read on to learn about them, check out their website to learn even more and most importantly make sure to come to Elastic tonight for our Songwriter Showcase with Antony & The Tramps and Wooden Rings!

Interview with Natasha Casanova from I Am Logan Square

If you haven’t heard of I Am Logan Square yet you’re missing out. I Am Logan Square is a non-profit organization that promotes and supports the arts and cultural development in Chicago’s vibrant Logan Square neighborhood. And ever since their establishment in 2010 they have been uniting artists in the Logan Square area and making tremendous progress creating a more connected artistic community.

Homeroom sat down with Natasha Casanova, Director of Marking & Development, to get the whole scoop. Read on below to learn all about it and afterwards make sure to get updated with all their events!