BILL DYSZEL - THE INTERNET ATE MY BRAIN

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Ever feel like you want to throw your cell phone away, but then realize you need to call someone to tell them where you are? Was the last time you ended an argument with a Google search around lunchtime today? How many pairs of shoes did Amazon send to you before you actually wore them?

If you are a keen social observer like Bill Dyszel, there is a good chance that you already know how amazingly dependent we are on the internet, that highway of information and practical applications that make life so easy we often forget to actually live it in real time. Dyszel, an accomplished opera singer who has written and is performing The Internet Ate My Brain at Davenport's Piano Bar and Cabaret on May 14th, is an expert on the topic. He is the author of a growing list of 20 books that includes Microsoft Outlook for Dummies, the popular series of self-help manuals that age like a fine wine with every new version. As we found out in our Q & A this week, in between the finer points of making our lives more efficient in his real job, Dyszel has developed his own special brand of musical commentary about the way we live our lives in the social media age.

We also found out that Bill Dyszel's manic, fresh and inventive style is perfectly suited for the intimate stage at Davenport's. The multimedia show, with musical director Beckie Menzie, is loaded with masterful parodies on a range of comic viewpoints about Amazon, Google, WebMD and a particularly hilarious take on selfies. Dyszel's New York performance was named a Top Ten show by Theater Pizzazz and won a coveted nomination for the Broadway World NY Cabaret Award for Best Musical Comedy.

We caught up with Bill Dyszel to pose a few questions in advance of the Davenport's appearance.

Q & A with Bill Dyszel

ET: Is it safe to say that you straddle two very different worlds: by day, the mild-mannered reporter who dissects complex software upgrades so the rest of us don’t have to, and, by night, a kinetic, hilarious, dialed-up and tuned-in cabaret performer whose laser-sharp musical parodies and original material hit at the heart of our Internet-based world? Or, is there another Bill Dyszel that we do not see as often?
BD: There’s also the content marketing guy who creates lots of business communications material that sells stuff to big companies. It’s not as funny, but it pays better. Now and again there’s also an opera singer, a task that is much less serious than it often looks.

ET: How did the book writing project begin?
BD: I wrote for lots of computer magazines in the heyday of titles like PC Magazine and Computer Shopper, mostly doing product reviews, etc. I reviewed Microsoft Outlook in its first release, and kept covering it ever since.

ET: How much of a program like Outlook does an average person use? There are some obvious priorities, but talk about a couple of features that you were surprised more people don’t use.
BD: I doubt that most people use more than 10 percent of what’s in there. Part of that is because Microsoft used to add flashy new features every 2 to 3 years as a competitive practice. Some of those features stayed in the product, no matter whether they were widely adopted. Most people don’t use the task list much, but it’s a great way to stay on top of all the little chores we all need to do every day. I like the Notes feature, which is where you can keep random scribblings of things you’d like to remember. Microsoft wants people to use One Note for that, but I think the Outlook version is more helpful because it’s right there with your email.

ET: There does not appear to be a lot of IT in the opera world. How has your opera career influenced your musical interests now and what prompted the transition to the very unique and original style you have developed?
BD: It’s hard to say what influences what—do I prefer “legit” sounding music because I did opera, or the other way around? Hard to say. I do prefer performing music that incorporates good vocalism. I’ve also always enjoyed classical music comedians like Victor Borge and PDQ Bach, but I like extending that kind of humor to non-musical topics.

ET: You have performed TIAMB multiple times in New York and Skokie. How has the show been adapted to fit in the smaller and more intimate backroom at Davenport’s on May 14th?
BD: The approach is substantially similar, except that in smaller rooms like Davenport’s in Chicago or Don’t Tell Mama in New York, I have to rig my own tech and run my own cues. The show has some lecture/demo qualities, anyway, so it isn’t a problem. The smaller room also makes audience interaction easier, because audience members aren’t so far from the stage.

ET: Do you consider TIAMB a comedy show with music or a cabaret show with comedy?
BD: It’s comedy with music, the comedy comes first.

ET: Why?
BD: The show only achieves its goals if the comedic parts land right. The comedic material conveys the meaning of the show.

Bill Dyszel THE INTERNET ATE MY BRAIN

ET: There is an interactive element to the show. Can you give us an idea about what is in store?
BD: One goal of the show is to provide an experience that couldn’t be duplicated online. Much of that revolves around allowing audience members to interact with each other, face-to-face, in a way that they can’t online. I don’t want a performance that could be replaced by an online video. There are billions of those. This is about the unique value of live performance and live events involving live, in-person interaction.

ET: Conservatively, you have written over 100 songs and song parodies. What are two or three elements of a good parody?
BD: In my view, a good parody adds a new layer of meaning of the original material while also exposing an unexpected resemblance with the topic of the parody. I like to retain as much of the language and structure of the original material as I can, while creating a new meaning with the result. There is a tendency for people to write parodies so that they don’t have to write music. Sometimes that works, but I prefer parodies that honor the original material in some way. Those yield a much richer and compelling result.

ET: When you are doing your show, what are the three most important rules to follow?
BD:
1.       Relax—if the performer is having fun, the audience will, too.
2.       Respect the audience—The interactive segments allow audience members to express their opinions, and they should feel safe and respected in doing so.
3.       Check your fly.

ET: Any other careers we have failed to mention?
BD: I’ve done enough odd little things than I can’t remember them all—radio announcer, improv actor, Navy officer, filmmaker…That should probably be another show sometime.

ET: Thank you for your service. What’s up next?
BD: I don’t think this piece is completely mature yet, it’s always growing. I may push more on developing the blog at TheIntenetAteMyBrain.com and expand that to see where it goes. With any luck, the blog and the show could feed into each other.

CARL BECKER & SON - CRAFTING MUSIC WITH PAUL BECKER

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Becker violins and cellos -- and the family that makes them -- have a long and storied history. The craftsmanship involved in a "Becker" is an art form all to itself, developed and handcrafted with techniques passed down from generation to generation. Four generations, to be exact. When you ask PAUL BECKER about the extraordinary value and longevity of these instruments, he says, in the proper hands, they only improve with age … and can be immortal.

A visit to the new West Hubbard Street location of the Becker shop in Chicago will give anyone a greater appreciation for the artistry involved in creating these fine instruments. Handcrafted to exacting measurements, each has its own tonal identity, sized to fit the artist and adjusted to their own particular requirements. It is hard to imagine the patience and precision necessary for this highly-detailed work that has kept Paul Becker busy since he got his first bench in the family shop at 13 years old.

What has happened in the decades since was the topic of our conversation when we took a tour of his shop. We brought a 100 year old violin -- a Tracy family heirloom -- for show and tell to see whether or not there may still be some music in it and we discovered more about the Becker family’s extraordinary contribution to creating and preserving their craft.

Why instruments are invaluable …
“Well it is art … Art has a beauty. It produces a human voice. It recreates not just a beauty to look at but a beauty to listen to.”

On the intricate detailing and craftsmanship …
“Everything on a violin is important … ten hundredths of an inch, not one hundredth of an inch ... The measurements are incredibly important. This is much finer than a human hair. You cannot see these moves, yet, you will know those moves … anyone will hear those moves … any musician will feel those moves.”

How to create that special sound …
“I am dealing with engineering, chemistry, psychology, hearing … I mean the hearing part is an amazing thing … being in touch with how what I hear makes me feel is what creates that special sound.”

The inspiration behind a musical masterpiece …
“What I am looking for is an instrument that inspires the musician so they want to practice and find that violin … another corner that is in it … a sound or feel they did not have prior. I am looking for that in my work and if I can inspire a musician, then I am more likely to get that masterpiece of a performance from them.”

Loyola University Chicago
2015 Illinois Family Business of the Year
Small Family Business of the Year
Carl Becker & Son Ltd.
WEBSITE

Paul Becker of Carl Becker & Son talks about a 100 year old violin at his shop in Chicago. March 24, 2017

STEVE BIOSSAT - JUMP JIVIN' AT THE DRAKE

You can be sure that if the very hip sounds of Steve Biossat's SWAY CHICAGO are in the house, be prepared to dance the night away.  At the top of everyone's date list, Biossat's band can be seen regularly at major corporate events, exclusive private parties and weddings and at monthly appearances at The Drake. And there is more to come when Speakeasy Swing returns to The Drake's famous Palm Court on Friday, March 17th.

There is something for everyone on the band's "SwayList" from Top 40, Motown and Classic Rock to R&B, Funk, Disco, Jazz, Swing, Big Band and ethnic music. At the core of SWAY CHICAGO's talented, versatile, high energy group is a quartet of Chicago's top vocalists. Their sound -- backed by a hip, hop, jump jivin' beat -- is fresh, unique, non-stop and always entertaining.

Steve Biossat joined the conversation on February 3rd to talk about the relaunch of Speakeasy Swing with vocalists Alyssa Allgood and Marcus Gress, growing up in the US and abroad, and how that effected his approach to music and working in Chicago's busy music scene.

On the Resurgence of Swing Music and Dancing …
“It has always been a passion of mine ... jazz and swing have been something I have loved since I was a child. I do see it resurfacing a bit more now. I do not think it is quite what the craze was in the late 90’s and early 2000’s … We were playing five or six nights a week ... featured on national and Chicago compilation CDs … There were 10-12 piece swing bands playing all over the country … There is still a great subculture of dancers hard core involved in the swing dance movement and because of that I am getting to be more active in that community once again.”

The Sway Chicago Allure ...
“We have a following of people from their 20’s to their 90’s. We have a couple of ladies who are consistently there every month … I think it really gives them this outlet to be social and sometimes they dance, sometimes they just listen. I think SWAY CHICAGO has that allure because we try to put on a show that people can listen, watch, be entertained and also dance.”

Developing the "SwayList" ...
“Developing a list that works is probably the most important thing a band or musician can do. We have our staples that stay with us year after year … but being that it is a top 40’s band through the decades, that also means we have to stay viable and current. January is our time to develop the new songs for the season … We do a lot of research, not to see what songs are new and cool, but songs that are new, cool and will last through the season, hopefully a couple of seasons.”

Technology’s Positive Impact on Live Performances ...
“I used to have to carry four huge racks to every gig … huge mixing consoles … a lot of weight to carry around and a lot of setup. Nowadays, we have everything controlled by computer and iPads … I personally go out with the same rig that Adele tours with … It fits in one small box.  It is short attention span theater these days. People do not want to hear five-minute version of songs. They want to hear three or two-minute versions, and if I want to change gears quickly I can. It is all due to the technology available probably in the last ten years.”

Gena's Surprise ...
“Gena is a godsend … literally, I prayed for her and she came into my life. I wanted to do something special and include our friends and loved ones in this monumental thing for me and her. The Drake hotel has always been a special place for both of us … There was not supposed to be entertainment that evening but they agreed to staff the room and bring everyone in for this special occasion. Standing room only. The whole band came in and learned a special song for Gena … I was concerned with overwhelming Gena with a public proposal, so, I did the proposal intimately in a side room … We both cried. We look over the picture to this day and revel in all the love that was in the room that night.”

VISIT: SWAY CHICAGO
DRAKE HOTEL
1st Friday
Speakeasy Swing
3rd Friday(beginning March 17th)

MORE AT: DE USURIS

A BOY NAMED MAX - A NIGHT AT THE STEINWAY PIANO GALLERY

Max Lai - Steinway Piano Gallery

After discovering the Steinway Piano Gallery in Hinsdale and speaking with Diane Duncan and Andree Marie Hancock, it was a pleasure to attend the recent holiday recital of Steinway Artist Jue He’s students on December 8th. It was a two-concert evening series with a couple dozen performers ranging in age from 4 to 15. The place was bursting with pride and admiration with a healthy amount of encouragement and goodwill to go around.

And, it is important to mention that these students get to perform their selections on an exquisite 9 foot Steinway concert grand piano. It all takes place in the bright, well-appointed 50-seat performance area that the Gallery provides to piano instructors free of charge. There is no doubt that it is the thrill of a lifetime for these budding musical artists to perform here. It just may be the catalyst that Steinway was hoping for all along to keep these students on a path to bigger and better things. As the old saying goes: “Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?” *

Something I did not count on was the amazing talent of every young person I heard at the recital. They are all immortalized on my personal digital recorder and Jue has a You-Tube channel dedicated to her student performances that you can visit to hear more.  

Our conversation with Diane Duncan includes an overview of what Steinway is doing to support young artists and families. We also talk about teaching techniques with Jue. The highlight, however, is the performance and discussion with a 12 year-old boy named Max Lai who has given me reason to believe that the next generation of performing artists is a very talented lot indeed.

* Practice.

Performances on this episode of Conversations with Ed Tracy include:

Snowflake Rag by Nancy Faber performed by Abigail Wong

Rhapsody in G Sharp Minor by Johannes Brahms performed by Max Lai

Special Thanks to Diane Duncan and Andree Marie Hancock.

BUILDING CHICAGO - LIVE AT THE CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

Expert Panel Discusses John Zukowsky's Book at the
Chicago History Museum

A new and extraordinary addition to the great body of work about architectural history in Chicago is now available and should have a prominent place in every public and private collection. At just over 300 pages, John Zukowsky’s Building Chicago: The Architectural Masterworks, published by Rizzoli, covers the sweeping history of Chicago with fresh scholarly commentary and hundreds of images – many from the Chicago History Museum’s vast collection.
 
John Zukowsky, Lee Bey and Rolf Achilles joined the conversation on Thursday, October 20th, 2016 at the national launch of Building Chicago to discuss the evolving landscape of Chicago architecture in the 20th century. 

Rolf Achilles on what has influenced Chicago architecture …
“… Chicago was this amazing vacuum that just sucked everything up … It was also the fastest growing city in 1833. There were 350 people here and by 1900 it was 1.5 million. Well, that 1.5 million needed stuff that the 350 did not. So you have 70 mad years, and that’s what you can see … how architecture affects culture but culture affects architecture too.”
 
Lee Bey on his favorite architect …
“I like modernism … I like the work of Mies van der Rohe … obviously Crown Hall. I like late Mies … Hotel Langham now, the former IBM building … but I like the clarity … how rational the design is.”

John Zukowsky on Chicago and American Modernism …
“What’s interesting to me about Chicago modernism, and it’s true with American modernism … you always think of modernism as being just one solution … in reality it’s about 20 to 30 individual solutions. Every modern building has a different feel and a different look to it … and that’s the same when you look at buildings in Chicago … what I like about that is not just the discipline and rationalism but the variety of expressions that everybody else had around the country.”
 
Bey on growing the city …
“There are two Chicagos. There’s a central area … Cermak to North Avenue, the lake to Halsted and outside that there’s another Chicago where population loss is happening that we need to fix. We have to grow the city …. the central area is going to be taken care of … but we have to figure out the south and west sides of the city … how to get people there, how to grow the population…  put houses, buildings, factories, office buildings, the whole mix in this area.”

Achilles on why other cities have surpassed Chicago …
 “They are all using the Chicago tradition to get in to the future, and we’re not in the same way … it’s not the architecture that’s the problem. It’s the socio-economic state. It’s the politicians … those with a semblance of authority that can make the rules, and they’re not making very interesting rules … It’s like in the 1910’s and 1920’s, Chicago imposed a height limit on its buildings because they were scared you couldn’t get out of a building in a fire. Well, New York wasn’t afraid of that and surpassed Chicago. New York becomes ‘skyscraperville’ and Chicago is this ‘little stubby town in the prairies.’”
 
Zukowsky on who we will be talking about in 100 years …
“I’d include the classics [Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright] … I’d put in pioneers of the 70’s and 80’s Bruce Gray … Stanley Tigerman … Richard Nickel … Harry Weese … Jeanne Gang … I think you’ll also be talking about other architects who built here …  We tend to forget about that especially in the 90's. Foreign architects and New York architects were building here … We’ll be talking about Norman Foster [and] the Apple store ... I think he’s a great architect … so it’s great to have something of his work here, no doubt about it.”

Our thanks to the generous sponsors Bulley & Andrews, Eli's Cheesecake, Rizzoli and the Chicago History Museum.

Listen to Entire Podcast HERE
Purchase Building Chicago HERE

DOREEN SAYEGH - SHAKESPEARE 400 CHICAGO

"I think that Shakespeare really does live in this city, and it’s so clear to see in this year that you have the spirit of Chicago, the grittiness, the strength, the poetry of it really does meet this playwright in an incredible way. It’s why the largest celebration of Shakespeare’s 400-year legacy is happening in Chicago … because the city wants it." – Doreen Sayegh, Festival Producer, Shakespeare 400 Chicago  Listen to entire podcast HERE

In 1616, William Shakespeare shuffled off (his) mortal coil, reason enough 400 years later for an international celebration fit for a King!

In 2016, culminating years of preparation, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater has launched Shakespeare 400 Chicago, an ambitious program series that has brought together cultural and educational institutions, national and intentional theater companies, performing artists and scholars to present their own impressive contribution to the celebration.

Festival Producer, Doreen Sayegh, joined the conversation on August 26, 2016 to discuss everything that has been happening twixt wake and sleep, including what's coming up this fall and a treasury of everlasting “scholarly” joy called City Desk 400.

Doreen on the collective nature of the the festival:
“What has been amazing is that Chicago Shakespeare Theater has worked with 60 different institutions across the city to program 850 events in 2016 ... we have artists and institutions from all disciplines that are pulling together and reflecting on what Shakespeare means to Chicago … bringing in international perspectives, trying to show Shakespeare across the genres and forms … we even have a culinary strand where 38 different restaurants - 38 of Chicago’s greatest chefs- are interpreting Shakespeare’s titles.”

What she loves about her job:
“I feel very lucky to be working on this festival …. to have incredible partners like Barbara [Gaines] and Criss [Henderson] who are inspiring and really daring …  who also took the chance on someone who’s young in their career to help them pull this together.  For me I’ve loved how much the city has come around this. I don’t think any of us imagined it. I think we hoped for it, and we weren’t sure what was going to happen, but you see all of these institutions and all of these audience members really excited about the idea that their city is uniting around a theme … that the theme has been universally celebrated for 400 years and still resonates in all of these different ways.”

On the diversity within the festival:
“Some theaters that we brought in are full of classically trained actors who have done Shakespeare all their life and do these beautiful interpretations. And some of them have conflicted relationships with Shakespeare but have taken a work of his and have used their own cultural lens and experience to produce something that matters to them and their community … to have both of those things under the same festival umbrella is incredibly exciting to me and sort of a gift to be able to see that.”

What Chicago audiences will take away from the festival:
“Audiences will have felt that their city is full of incredible cultural and creative organizations. I think that Shakespeare really does live in this city, and it’s so clear to see in this year that you have the spirit of Chicago, the grittiness, the strength, the poetry of it really does meet this playwright in an incredible way. It’s why the largest celebration of Shakespeare’s 400-year legacy is happening in Chicago … because the city wants it. My goal for the year has really been that everybody feels this festival in some way …. that something has reached them. I hope that people feel the spirit of Shakespeare in the city and excited about exploring the city.”

Listen to the podcast HERE
City Desk 400: HERE
More information on Shakespeare 400 HERE