Come and see it! Come and see it!

Jeremy Menekseoglu has adapted everybody’s favorite Greek tragedy about a sorceress whose husband leaves her for a princess, and turned its thematic focus towards the children in the story. I play one of the children in this play…which means that it all pretty much revolves around me. (Just kiddin’…kinda…) If you’re in the Chicago area between tonight and August 24, you should make the trek down to the south side (beautiful, artistic east Pilsen) and check it out. It’s gonna be a hell of a show! (I’m not just saying that, it’s really going to be a good show. Really.)

See the website for info and tickets.

Filed by Bil at 1:22 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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I must apologize, but the post about my rehearsal process will have to come later. I have something much more interesting to talk about right now.

I have a bowl. I got it at Target. I’ve been needing one for a while now, and this week I finally got it. It’s not associated with any particular club or brand, and it doesn’t advertise any particular product, but it is red and black by a lucky coincidence, and therefore (almost) matches my red-and-black Angels coffee mug.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 12:58 pm under Shameless Plugs, Environmentality
2 Comments

See if you can figure out what it is.

A Joy Filled and Kingdomized New Year

This is a reading of a spam message that somehow found its way to the tech support queue where I work. I can’t even tell you how much joy it brought to my day, though perhaps not in the way that the author intended. I thought I needed to share it.

Filed by Bil at 11:28 pm under Shameless Plugs, Religion
3 Comments

Some are beginning to doubt of her existence. Perhaps her clever little page on the right side of this website is but a ruse, a childlike tale to give us all hope, like the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, or God.

But I’m here tonight to say yes, Virginia, there is a Devon. She exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Devon. She is alive and well and needs your love. And she needs to get her ass back over here and set us all straight again.

Until that happens, I give you the fabled Unabridged Oeuvre of Devo; read at your great pleasure:

Hello World!
Some Self-Involved Rambling from the Makers of Facebook™
Don’t Cry Out Loud. No, Please Don’t.
Hummmm…
Hmmm…
Incredible
Opera Nerdiness
The Manifesto

That is all.

Filed by Trevor at 11:58 pm under General, Shameless Plugs, Fightin' Words, Love
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So, like Trevor said, Bil will explain Hatemail in greater detail. So here it is.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 1:44 pm under Shameless Plugs, Social Issues, The Arts, Fightin' Words
3 Comments

You are warmly invited to take part in a massive social experiment hosted by all of us here at tip your waiter: Hatemail. As Bil was the originator of this project, I will allow him to explain it more deeply; in the meantime, I will allow the site to speak for itself.

And as for you, send us your hate.

Filed by Trevor at 2:56 am under Shameless Plugs, Social Issues, Fightin' Words
3 Comments

The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Trevor and I went to see Jenny Owen Youngs this evening. It was just about the most glorious rock concert I’ve been to in years. I know, I know. You’re probably thinking, “But, Bil, Jenny’s brand of rock isn’t exactly what you’d call ‘glorious.’” Or perhaps you’re thinking, “But, Bil, that doesn’t count, because you hadn’t even been to an actual rock concert in years.” And you’d be right in thinking those thoughts. But I have ways around them both. First of all, the word “glorious” is as vague and re-definable as the word “fuck.” It can mean anything I want it to mean. If I say so, it can include the words “mellow” and “hipsterrific” in the definition. Second of all, I’ve been to so many events that have included rockin’ out that I can add them all together and easily make the claim that my life is practically an ongoing series of rock concerts. (This claim is especially easy to make when you count going to a bar with a decent jukebox as an “event” – and when you realize that the word “practically” is as vague and re-definable as the word “glorious.”)

It was a new experience for me, however, when the headliner came up first and at the end of her set encouraged us to hang around afterward and listen to the opening act. I was expecting it to go the other way around. In fact, I had been told that it would be the other way around. But hey, I can respect that you have to keep an audience on its toes.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 1:56 am under Shameless Plugs, Social Issues, Pop Culture, The Arts
2 Comments

I’ve finally redesigned my website — take a peek. Tons of new stuff, particularly sound bites of my past work. Spread the word!

Filed by Trevor at 5:30 am under Shameless Plugs
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I am preparing to write my first real high-stakes proposal. By high-stakes I mean there’s a chance of rejection. I wrote grant proposals in college but that was pretty much like asking for pennies that fell through someone’s pants-pocket and into their shoe.

I’m not sure why I made that analogy, because there isn’t any money on the line. What I mean is this: I have a shot at getting an actual theatre space to have a staged reading of a play I wrote. Our bad-ass new theatre company, Per Diem, will be producing it in the spring and I want as much publicity for our ice-breaker show as we can get. And staged readings are key. I want to have several of them, in fact, at various venues around the city. I’m thinking small stages at bars and cafés may be the way to go, but if I can get a space that is known for doing staged readings, that would help take it a lot further. So in that sense, the stakes are rather high. At least, they are in my mind.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 10:57 pm under Shameless Plugs, The Arts, Politics, Fightin' Words
3 Comments

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m moving to Chicago late next month to start up my studio, so I’ve been here in the city since Monday afternoon looking for a place to live. I managed to find a wonderful space not long into my search, so now I’m just waiting for my application and deposit check to go through. I’ve decided to break with tradition and suspend excitement until I sign the lease, but I do have a lovely (note: expensive) bottle of wine chilling in the fridge for when things become set in stone. Which I hope is fast approaching, cause waiting sucks. At any rate, I have the penultimate performance of that super-smash musical HATS to look forward to. Only the finest!

On Tuesday morning I’ll be leaving bright and early for the Tampa area — specifically Clearwater, home to the worldwide headquarters of Scientology, don’t you know — for the UUMN annual conference, something I’ve been looking forward to for some time if only because I’m being right posh and staying at the Hilton all week. I’ve been a UU for only a short time, so this is my first major function in the larger community; I’ll be performing Michael Colquhoun’s Charanga and On a Windswept Plain (one of my own pieces — both off my summer recital program), conducting two pieces on the Choral Reading Session, and presenting one of my choral works at the Composer’s Workshop. And with any luck the Scientologists won’t sneak into my hotel and kill me in my sleep.

Take care, kiddos.

Filed by Trevor at 7:25 pm under General, Shameless Plugs, UU, The Arts
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