Squonk Opera is coming to Indiana…

Around the age of 19 I used to hang out at a cafe in Roger’s Park in Chicago called The No Exit Cafe/Gallery. Eventually I started waiting tables there, opening and running the place on Saturday mornings and some Sundays, even had a go at running the place full time. The cafe opened in 1958 in Evanston and moved to Roger’s Park in the 1960’s or 70’s. The owners were like parents to me, and I spent many, many years of my life there. Being the long-haired hippy/metal head kid I was, I wandered around with long hair and usually trashed out of my mind. One inebriated moment I recall is going over to the Heartland Cafe to see this strange show of sorts. There was a band from Pittsburgh playing there called Squonk Opera. They were a small group of people playing some really eclectic music. It was down right weird, but in a very good way. They used various electronic instruments amongst some more traditional instruments. The music is hard to describe really, it’s sort of an opera of strangeness. You really have to see these guys to understand. The album they had out at the time was “Howandever.”

Well after a number of years went by, they didn’t hit Chicago much anymore, and I lost track of them. Once I got into the whole world wide web thing, I spent a good long time trying to track them down. Well, a few years ago I tried it again and found their site. I purchased a copy of:

 

“Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk“

I have to say, they had progressed quite a bit from the looks of the show. They started doing these giant theatrical performances at various theaters, and even made it to Broadway. You have to watch the videos.

So, I was thinking about them yesterday and decided to drop them a note inquiring about doing a performance in Chicago. Jackie Dempsey, the Co-Artistic Director, Composer and Accordionista sent me a reply:

“Our current touring show is a series we call: “(put your hometown’s name here):  The Opera” and we’ve done about 7 cities so far.  We premiered with ”Pittsburgh: The Opera” in the summer of 2006 and right now we’re in the midst of a 2-week run of “Baltimore: The Opera.”  The closest we’ll be getting to Chicago is Bloomington, Indiana in March.”

I’m looking forward to seeing the show, all of their shows look pretty crazy, but very kewl. Wish I could have gotten to see Inferno or Forgotten Works, they looked really good. I can’t wait for March…It’s been a really, really long time since I got to see these guys.

~ by g0thicicecream on December 7, 2007.