Filed by Lance at 2:36 pm under Fightin' Words, General, Hatemail, Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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Tip Your Waiter is hosting a recording session for our ongoing, collaborative project called Hatemail on the last Sunday of every month, and here’s what happening this time around:
(Keep reading…)
Filed by Bil at 7:58 pm under Pop Culture, Shameless Plugs, Social Issues, The Arts
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Good people of Cyberspace, prithee, look to the right side of thy screen and hark! You’ll notice we are holding an open recording session for actors to read some hatemail for us. Inquire within for more info if you’re interested. It’s from 2 to 5 PM at Trevor’s live-in recording studio (AKA his apartment). There will be coffee.
For those of you who haven’t heard me talk about it a gajillion times already, the premise is this: we get people to send us hatemail intended for someone else (anyone in the world can participate). Then, we get local actors to give them dramatic readings (any actor in town can participate). Once we have recordings, we get local musicians to underscore them (any musician in town can participate). Finally, we get local visual artists to make something pretty/grotesque/interesting for them (any visual artist in town can participate). It’s pretty simple, really.
Now then.
You know those people who claim to have read “1984″ and say that the future Orwell presents is the scariest thing they can think of? I’m gonna go ahead and call bullshit on that one.
(Keep reading…)
Filed by Bil at 8:01 pm under Love, Pop Culture, Religion, Shameless Plugs, The Media
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I’m gonna say it up front: I have no idea who this blog’s audience is. It is entirely possible that we have NO audience, and that the hit counter is just making shit up so that we don’t fire it.
That being said, I still take it as bad news that teenagers and pre-teens are reading fewer and fewer blogs these days:
In light of the fact that it’s going to get harder instead of easier to pull an audience, I think it’s time to ask myself: what do I want from this blog?
(Keep reading…)
Filed by Bil at 8:08 pm under Fightin' Words, Shameless Plugs, The Media
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First things first:
Click to help bring an independent film to theatres!
I want to say right now that I don’t know any of these people. I have only a vague idea of what the movie is about, and I have absolutely no idea at all if the film is any good. However, this is just such an ingenious marketing idea that I want to see it succeed. If nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment in the usefulness of social media and internet marketing.
Building off of that, I want to turn your attention now to an earlier blog post from this same blog:
Must Filmmakers be Businessmen?
One of the ideas that drives me to marry entrepreneurism with my creative interests is the observation that studios are becoming so risk adverse, that the rewards of producing original content will soon be exclusively in the hands of individuals with the vision and the cajones to take the risk on themselves.
According to this article in the Hollywood Reporter, the same is becoming true in the distribution market - even for wide releases!
This process will only continue, as shareholders drive the studios into more and more conservative investments and social media changes the marketing landscape. What we’re seeing now is only the beginning.
Filed by Bil at 8:36 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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Coming off of the artistic high of Infamous Commonwealth’s marvelous 24-hour fest at the Vittum Theatre down in Wicker Park this weekend, I find myself once again at odds with technology. The organic flow of creative thoughts and human connection has ceased, and in its wake you see me, here, struggling to find a way to get the massive video file condensed into a web-appropriate file size and uploaded for the general public’s pleasure.
(Keep reading…)
Filed by Bil at 12:40 pm under Love, Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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If you haven’t already donated money to help Haiti (or even if you have, but want to donate more), I recommend one of two things:
A) Text the word “HAITI” to 90999. This will give $10 to the Red Cross. The $10 will show up on your cell phone bill. You’ll probably never even notice the $10, but every little bit will help get them through this disaster.
B) Go to the We Can Build An Orphanage homepage (http://wecanbuildanorphanage.com/) and follow the links to donate. This is a charity that was already in the process of building a home for AIDS orphans in Haiti when the earthquake hit.
If you’ve already helped Haiti and are now looking to help yourself, I strongly recommend the INFAMOUS COMMONWEALTH THEATRE’S 5TH ANNUAL 24-HOUR PROJECT going on Saturday night (the 16th) at 8 PM. I will be one of four playwrights on the bill, and Trevor will be one of the musicians. The theme is REDEMPTION, so this will probably make you a better person if you come and watch it.
Saturday, January 16, 8PM
Vittum Theater
1012 N. Noble St
Tickets are $20 (student discount available).
Call 312-458-9780 or email info@infamouscommonwealth.org
for ticket reservations.
Filed by Bil at 1:27 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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Ordinarily, I don’t like to post articles here on tipyourwaiter.org unless I feel that I have something of accessible importance to say, or else when I have a show to promote.
But this is just too magnificently geeky to pass up. One of my favorite aspects of my young life (prior to college) was my time in marching band. And one of my increasingly favorite bands, coincidentally hailing from my current home city of Chicago, is OK Go.
Like Voltron, these two separate elements have fused together to create an ultra-powerful super-robot of a music video. Behold…
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.
Filed by Bil at 10:19 am under Shameless Plugs, The Arts, The Media
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Nothing flavors a meal quite like your waitress delivering your food to your table, checking to see if you need anything else, then making a beeline for the bathroom while muttering a little too loudly to herself that she’s going to weigh three pounds less by the time she comes out of there.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Start the year right for us, Little Dragon:
Filed by Bil at 2:45 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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This is a plug for a show I’m not even directly involved in…but since I am an active Dream Theatre Company member, and since it’s very possible I won’t be seeing any other holiday-themed shows this month, I thought I’d give it some love.
“Cold” by playwright and DTC Artistic Director Jeremy Menekseoglu is not your typical Christmas play. It’s about lonely people. Plain and simple. It’s not about finding the secret meaning of Christmas. It’s more about using a special time of year as an excuse to deal with your personality disorders. It’s about taking steps away from warmth and safety, and into the unknown or the terrifying. There are no holiday spirits. There are no cute children. There is plenty of eggnog.
It’s an unexpected romantic comedy, and - believe it or not - probably one of the best date plays in town at this time of year, despite the humor being rather dark and biting. It is, by the end of it, remarkably heartwarming…But you don’t have to take my word for it:
Also - check it out, this is super-cool: the cast of Dream Theatre was on local radio talking about the show. You can listen at Vocalo.org’s website, where they discuss not only the current production, but also the accepted spellings of the word “theatre.”
Listen to their radio interview on VOCALO 89.5 FM
Check back to this radio station this coming week, as the cast will be back to perform the show in radio-drama format! Old-timey style!
Filed by Bil at 2:53 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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Last Thursday night was Theatre Thursday at the Dream Theatre, and instead of a talk-back, we offered our audience a little more show.
A little burlesque show.
(Keep reading…)
