Pete Guither has once again made his mark on modern theatre, this time pushing the envelope of artistic creativity to new realms with the latest rendition of his own creation, The Living Canvas - Demons. As part of National Pastime Theatre’s Naked July Festival, Guither ingeniously showcases his ability to intertwine the beauty of the naked body with flowing motion, mesmerizing projections and a riveting storyline that invokes a wide range of emotions.

The story is about an autistic girl and her sister who so desperately wants to break through to her. As the story progresses, the audience, along with her sister, are taken into an autistic mind that at times is chaotic while at other moments becomes a calm, warm haven. Superbly conveyed with the use of spellbinding music played over eleven talented performers (demons) dressed only in complex projections, the theatre is transformed into a world like no other that is both visually compelling and highly sensual.

Back for it’s seventh run in Chicago since 2001, The Living Canvas changes its theme for each production barring its fundamental premise of body acceptance in which audience members are challenged by the cast at the end of each performance to strip down and join them on stage in order to get a taste of what it is like to be “Living Canvasses”. “What are bodily flaws to one might appear as beauty to another,” leading cast member, Emily Mark, explains during the invite while also touching on being comfortable in your own skin. In the particular performance I attended, over a dozen people from the crowd took to the stage to dance with the performers and perform instructed motions such as swimming. The show finally comes to an end with a fun Q&A session that offers the opportunity for cast members and director to field questions related to the production. This is certainly a show not to be missed and one that will have you coming back to see it again. Who knows - maybe you’ll even take part in enjoying a liberating experience on stage.

The Living Canvas – Demons is playing at the National Pastime Theatre (4139 N. Broadway) on Friday and Saturday evenings at 10pm through July 31^st. For more information please visit www.thelivingcanvas.com or call 773-327-7077.     

While supporting their recently released studio album, Hello Hurricane, Switchfoot returned to Chicago, this time to the House of Blues, where they brought their highly-charged live show, beguiling songs and positive point of view to their doting fans once again. As the San Diego-based band made their way onto the stage the expected screams and cries were heard, but the moment the music rang out the crowd began to jump in unison, causing the floor to buckle enough to feel like a mild earthquake (4.3?) – and the shaking continued throughout the entirety of the concert.

The band’s first three songs, including “Stars”, were enhanced by a massive strobe light attack, making what were already high-energy numbers even more intense. By the time Switchfoot cruised into their fourth song, “Oh! Gravity”, the energy of the crowd was completely projected onto the band and vice versa, evident in both Switchfoot’s performance and fan reaction. Singer/guitarist/frontman, Jon Foreman, then set course through the jam-packed hall, high-fiving and delivering hugs to anyone near at the same time singing as the band played on. 

Switchfoot’s sound couldn’t have been more crisp and full. Meaty guitars echoed throughout the House of Blues via Jon and Drew Shirley’s rich sounding axes, often augmented when Jerome Fontamillas added a third when he wasn’t manning the keyboards or fielding a percussion instrument. Two toms – one on each side of the stage – were the victims of random beatings by both Jon and his brother, bassist Tim Foreman, adding to drummer Chad Butler’s bashing beats. 

Taking a break from the joie de vivre of the revved power set about midway through the show, Switchfoot went into their emotional ballad “Always” as a piano was wheeled to center stage for Jon to play. Jon first explained how he learned to play music on his parent’s piano. The band’s set list was well-rounded and included such songs as “Free”, “Mess of Me”, “Bullet Soul”, “Dare You to Move”, “Needle and Haystack Life” and that night’s encore opener, “Hello Hurricane”, a melodic and hard-hitting piece that again found Jon enthusiastically roaming throughout the crowd.  

As for a complete rock and roll show, Switchfoot’s performance had it all…almost. There was no talk of drug use, no cursing, no vulgarities, no negativity, no womanizing and no relating to the crowd with the message that being lost and depressed is cool. However, the lack of these rock show familiars is testament to how good Switchfoot really is – proof that a band can be highly entertaining with good music, high energy, fun crowd interaction and a strong message that there is always hope. 

35 years? Wow. It’s not so hard to believe that KISS has been around since forming in New York City in January of 1973, but what’s so amazing is their ability to still rock as hard as ever. Known for their spectacular live shows, KISS reminded everyone why they’ve always had a larger than life image

For those, like me, who have never seen Grand Archives before last Saturday night at Chicago's Schuba’s Tavern there’s one word that probably entered our minds collectively – WOW. On tour for their new release Keep in Mind Frankenstein, Sub Pop’s Seattle based artist, Grand Archives, kept the crowd mesmerized

Leave it to U2 to revolutionize the art of the concert. In U2’s 360 Tour the band brings their show to major stadiums, in Chicago’s case Soldier Field, where they play their music on a circular stage below a giant, claw-like “spaceship”, catering to fans in every direction.

I was happy to see that Davy’s set included the great Monkees songs that he is known most for like “I Want to Be Free” and “Valleri”, but was also pleased to hear him sing songs in which Mickey Dolenz sang the leads such as “Steppin’ Stone”, “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”.

Fans dressed in gothic attire and many disguised as bloody nightmares entered the ballroom where a giant six-foot-high chainsaw was sitting atop a stage. Resembling something between The Night of the Living Dead and a Nine Inch Nails concert, the crowd was a big part of the show itself creating it’s own brand of entertainment (for people watchers like myself) before the first act even took the stage.