The mission of Chicago-based Ghostlight Ensemble is to ask questions that challenge the status quo through timeless stories, immersive environments and unconventional staging.
So it only makes sense that it will open its eighth season with "Alabama Story," a drama about censorship, book banning and civil rights set within the framework of 1950s racial tensions. Written by Kenneth Jones and inspired by true events, "Alabama Story" is
a drama about a segregationist senator and the state librarian who
clash over the content of a children’s book about bunny rabbits against
the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama.
"Alabama Story" is also the company’s first mainstage show since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. "Alabama Story" will open on Let Freedom Read Day on Sept. 28, part of Banned Books Week.
There will be a preview performance at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at After-Words Bookstore,23 East Illinois St., Chicago, followed by performances on Sept. 28-29 and Oct. 4-6.
Performances at Haymarket Books at Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena Ave., Chicago) will take place Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20.
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30
p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are pay-what-you-will, with an average donation of $25, and are available at https://ghostlightensembletheatreco.thundertix.com/.
I had the chance to talk to director Holly Robison about the show.
Q – I understand that “Alabama Story" is Ghostlight Ensenble’s first mainstage show since the start of the pandemic. That must make you feel good.
Yeah, it's definitely good to be back. It feels goodto have such a big project on the horizon.
We're a small company and we just wanted to make sure that we had all the resources in place and things that we needed in order to ensure a really successful run. It's exciting and it's really great to finally have a big project to wrap our arms around.
Q – Of course, "Alabama Story" is addressing a timely issue as book bans are accelerating across the country. Did you think it was just the right time to put on a production like this?
We're in sort of a new environment where it's not even just going after the books. It's going after the libraries and the librarians and the teachers.
Part of our mission is to do timeless stories and to ask questions. And I think a story like this, even though it's set in the 1950s, shows that there's still sort of nothing new.
It's still happening. It looks a little bit different, but in a lot of ways, it's the same.
Q – Why do you think book bans have come back?
There's a lot of reasons. I don't know if it's any one thing.
When groups of people or marginalized communities start making headway or start becoming prominent, there's a lot of backlash. In "Alabama Story," the focus is sort of on Montgomery, Alabama.
This is happening right after the Montgomery bus boycott. The politicians are in a way reacting towards the gains that were made by that movement and that were continuing to be made in the civil rights era, which was getting stronger and stronger.
That's happening now. As marginalized communities are gaining more and more progress, the reaction is to shut them down, to try and silence that.
It's a reactionary movement. We've seen that throughout history.
Q – How have rehearsals been going?
It's a really amazing cast. I'm so excited for people to see this cast.
They're such great actors.
Q – What do you like in particular about this cast?
It's just the thrill of the moment of seeing an actorembody a characterand seeing that character come alivebefore your eyes. I saw that in auditions.
There were so many great actors that came out. You always wish you could cast so many more people than you can.
It was just seeing really great actors embodying these characters and making them come alive in sort of the way that I imagined but also bringing their own creativity to it and creating aspects of the characters that I hadn't thought about before.
Q – I know that you are a founding member of Ghostlight Ensemble. How did the ensemble come together and what were you looking to achieve through the ensemble?
Our mission is to do unconventional staging, unorthodox settings and tell timeless stories that challenge the status quo.
So really, what we're looking to do with our ensemble is to just create theater that fulfills our mission and also gives opportunities to our ensemble members. We want to try to give the ensemble members within the company opportunities to do their art, whether they want to be an actor, designer or what have you.
And for people to grow and support each other.
Q – What do you like the best about being a director?
I like being able to realize the story from a lot of different angles. I definitely perform a lot as well and when you're a performer, you're really only controlling your character and making decisions about your character.
I like that I can sort of shape the story more fully. I can figure out how to tell a story and how to make the narrative go along.
I can help actors because I have experience as an actor. It was just something that happened very naturally.
On its new album "Back Home," Chicago-based children's music duo Wendy and DB is continuing the mission of educating young people about the blues.
The album, released in July, is the follow up to 2022's "Into the Little Big House," which was nominated for a Grammy for best children's album.
That album featured an all-star cast of Chicago musicians including
Grammy-winning drummer Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, Anne Harris,
Billy Branch and Mike Wheeler.
Those same musicians along with others are on "Back Home," which also features blues musicians from Memphis, Tennessee – the original home of the blues – as well as from Austin, Texas.
Thomas is the granddaughter of Otha Turner, one of the best-known exponents of the African American fife and drum tradition. The band is devoted to preserving the vanishing Mississippi Hill Country fife and drum blues tradition and presenting it in combination with other blues, jazz, hip hop and R&B stylings.
In Austin, Wendy and DB recorded with three-time Grammy nominee Ruthie Foster. "Back Home" is produced by Grammy and blues music award winner Michael Freeman and Wendy Morgan.
The duo will perform songs from the album and other songs from its catalog during its appearance at the The Mix on Main Street Music Festival in downtown Wheaton on Sept. 21.
Wendy and DB will perform from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on the family stage. Admission to the festival is free.
VIP access tickets will also be available for purchase. More details about the festival, which will be held Sept. 21-Sept. 22, is at downtownwheaton.com/the-mix-on-main.
I had the chance to talk to Wendy Morgan and Darryl Boggs about the new album.
Q – Great to talk to the both of you again. Of course, your last album, “Little Blue House,” was nominated for a Grammy for best children’s album. Did you feel any pressure in following up the album?
Wendy – No pressure. We have another album that we're working on that's not a blues album.
But I felt it was important to follow up the blues album with another blues album.
Q – The fact that it was nominated for a Grammy must make you feel pretty good. What do you think made the album stand out?
Darryl – One of the thingsthat I think made it stand out is the fact that nobodyhad really ever done a blues album for kids. You can kind of lookthrough the history of family musicand not really see anything like that.
We used real blues musicians. A lot of people have done things with a blues flavor. It's not the same.
Q – “Back Home” is your sixth children’s album and your second blues album for families. What goals did you have for the album?
Wendy – I think we're exposing people to traditional blues, which is a different kind of style. We got to work with Ruthie Foster, who is amazing.
We traveled. We went to Austin, Texas. We went to Memphis.
He was a fife player back in the day. She is following in his tradition.
It was amazing. It was hard to get them, but we got them.
Q – Of course, this is introducing that type of music not only to kids, but also their parents.
Wendy – It was really fun to have them join us. We didn't know until the last minute that they were going to make that session.
Q – In another tie to Memphis, you are donating 10% of the proceeds from the album to the Blues Foundation, which of course is based in Memphis. Part of the mission of the Blues Foundation is to preserve blues heritage and expand worldwide awareness of the blues.
I know that you have done this with your past albums and given a portion of the proceeds to nonprofit organizations.
Why do you think it is important to do that?
Wendy – With the Blues Foundation, they are teaching people about the blues. They go into schools and that's super important, because it's underrepresented in schools.
Q – It seems like every song on "Back Home" carries a message. For example, it seems like the song “Moving Mountains” is about how one can achieve and overcoming any obstacles in your way. There are references to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks on the song.
Wendy – Sharing their stories I think is important. In one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, he talks about how he has been to the mountaintop.
My favorite line in "Moving Mountains" is how Rosa Parks took a stand without standing up.
Q – Darryl, I understand your dad was part-owner of a blues club and you got to see Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed when you were 5 or 6 years old.
Darryl – The club was just outside of Chicago. It was in the south suburbs.
At that age, you don't know the importance of Muddy Waters. You don't know the importance of Jimmy Reed or Howlin' Wolf.
And yet you're sitting right there on the floor watching them perform and playing these great songs. That was a great experience.
A lot of musicians would come over to our house. That's how I found a lot of my musical gifts.
I would just sit around and play on the drum set and on the piano. They told me I might become a musician someday.
And here we are today.
Q – Is that where your love for the blues started?
Darryl – I feel my love for the blues startedright there.Blues, jazz and R&B were played in our house all the time, almost nonstop.
So I knew those genres real well. The musicians who played in our house were mostly blues musicians.
Q – Did Koko Taylor ever stop by?
Darryl – No, not that I know of. She may have played in the club.
That is a possibility, because I saw a lot of different people there.
Q – Are you already working on your next album?
Wendy – That is a four-year project. That album started in 2021.
It won't be a blues album. It's more pop. It also has some folk music in there.
Darryl – The album definitely leans a little bit more towards the pop-rock thing.
Q – Is it also a children's album?
Wendy – Yes. It's probably going to come out in 2025.
It's called "Sunnyside Up." We've been performing some of the songs live.
One of the songs is called "Talk About It." That's one of my favorite songs.
It really speaks to what's going on right now.
We need to listen and be able to hear and understand each other.
On the song "Lotta Love," the opening track of his latest album, "Bringing It Back," Chicago area musician Joe Di Zillo aims to spread love and joy to everyone.
He is doing just that as the song – and the album – continues to gain listeners. "Lotta Love" has been included on a Spotify list of best power pop songs of 2024 and the album is at number 21 at Chicago-based CHIRP Radio for the week of Aug. 5.
Di Zillo has a couple of shows coming up, including at 6 p.m. Aug. 17 at Kelsey Road House, 352 Kelsey Road, Lake Barrington and at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 at Sketchbook Brewing Co., 4901 Main St., Skokie.
I had the chance to talk to the Glen Ellyn native and fellow Glenbard West High School grad about the album.
Q – It's good to talk to a fellow Glenbard West grad. Of course, you recently performed in your hometown.
You played at Two Hound Red, which had been Schmid Pharmacy when I lived in Glen Ellyn. Was that a weird experience?
It's strange when you really think about it. I used to walk there and buy baseball cards and go there for all of our prescriptions.
So yeah, it was different.
Q – Of course, "Bringing It Back" was released in June on vinyl. The album is at number 21 at Chicago-based CHIRP Radio for the week of Aug. 5.
Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
Q – Did you think that it would be embraced in that manner, that it would be so popular?
I didn't know what to think. The stuff that I write is just kind of very much based off of everything that I lovewhen it comes to music or just people in my life.
The lyrics are pretty heartfelt. You really want people to just feel it and hopefully like it.
Q – I see that "Lotta Love" has also been included on a Spotify list of best power pop songs of 2024. What was your inspiration for the song?
I wrote that song during the pandemic. You would go on Facebook and see all these people just hating and bashing each other.
And I was inspired by Stevie Wonder's song, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)."
Q – Like other musicians, you weren't able to perform live during the height of the pandemic. Has it been good playing live again?
I would think that playing live you would feel more of a connection to your audience than if you were doing a Facebook Live concert.
Yes, 100%. It was great that we were able to do that as musicians. But yeah, there's nothing like playing a show and people getting into it and coming up to you afterwards.
Q – Speaking of power pop, one of the well-known Chicago power pop bands was Material Issue. Were they an influence on you?
I would say yes, because almost anything that I listen to and that I really dig into and like, it influences me.
Everything has been influencing me. And I think that comes out especially fairly well on the album because there's so many different genres that I touch upon.
Q – I know that you're a self-taught musician and you fell in love with rock 'n roll as a freshman at Glenbard West. Speaking of Glenbard West, do you remember any of your high school music teachers?
Dr. Richard Whitecotton. He was such a jovial man.
He just always seemed like he was in a good mood. I signed up for a music theory class for a year.
It really helped out with my songwriting because I learned about all the keys. Even today, when I write a song, I think, this is going to be in the key of A, what else can I throw in there?
Dr. Whitecotton was a great guy. He made everything fun.
He got as much joy out of it as we did.
Q – I was listening to a few of your other albums and it seems like with this album in particular, you wanted to convey a lot of energy.
That's very true. There's more of a flow on this album than the other two albums, that's for sure.
One of the reasons I call it "Bringing It Back" is because some of the songs happen to be a little bit older. The song "Copper," I started writing that in 2002 and this was finally the right time to record it.
"Copper" is the only song on the album that's really that old. Most of the songs I wrote between the pandemic and when the album came out.
The title refers to bringing back some older songs that I had never recorded and bringing back musicians that I hadn't played with in years.
Q – Do you have any short-term or long-term goals?
Short-term for me right now is just continuing to get people to listen to my music and just get different audiences to come out to shows and enjoy what we're doing.
And the other thing is to continue to have consistency in our band. A long-term goal is to release new music.
Right now, I have about 15 to 20 songs/song ideas written and I would definitely like to start recording again sometime next year.
Ever since writing the song "Peg-Leg Killer Jonez" 12 years ago, Fox Valley musician Noah Gabriel has wanted to record a blues album under that name.
He fulfilled that goal in April with the release of his 14th studio album, "Peg-Leg Killer Jonez and the Pitchfork Pine." On Aug. 9, the Aurora native and a few of his musical friends will perform songs from that album along with other songs from his career during a hometown show at The Venue, 21 S. Broadway Ave. in downtown Aurora.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.
I had the chance to talk to Gabriel about the upcoming show.
Q – Great talking to you again. How are people responding to the new songs?
Every time we perform them, people seem to dig them. The songwriting is very unique to that album.
Q – I know that "Peg-Leg Killer Jonez" was originally released on your 2012 album, "Austin Bound" and that ever since you wrote that song, you've wanted to record a blues album under that name.
It's been something that I've been talking about and kicking around. Slowly throughout the years, I've been writing these songs that seem to be in that vein.
I've just been setting them aside. It's just a fun way to approach things.
I like to do different things every time I record.
Q – Of course, you grew up in Aurora, a city that has strong connections to the blues community as a result of Sony Boy Williamson, Henry Townsend and
other notable Bluebird artists who made recordings at the Leland Hotel
in downtown Aurora between 1937 and 1938. Is the album also paying homage to Aurora and Aurora's connection to the blues community?
Yeah. That was the whole idea, to create a modern blues album for Aurora.
When I first started playing guitar, one of the first shows I got to see was the early Aurora Blues Fest. I remember my dad taking me down there and we went and saw Shirley King, B.B. King's daughter, perform.
I'm pretty sure Kiss the Sky had a tent there and they were selling CDs and I found Jonny Lang's "Lie to Me" album, which is still one of my all time favorite blues rock records.
It all spawned from Aurora's connection to the blues. And I've gotten older and learned more and more about it, I find myself even more intrigued and drawn to it.
I was trying to hook up with David Karademas, who owns the Leland Tower Apartments. We were in talks to record some stuff at the Leland Tower for the record.
But schedules never worked out and I finally just had to finish the album on my own. But that's still a goal, to get into Leland Tower and try and get something recorded there.
I thought it would be cool to go in there just with my guitar and record a bunch of songs, kind of like Robert Johnson and all those guys used to do back in the day.
One day I still hope to make that happen.
Q – I've seen you perform solo as part of the songwriter series at The Venue. To me, I felt more connected to your songs because it was just you and your guitar.
I love that stuff. I do a lot of solo acoustic shows.
For me, it's always been about the songwriting. I know a lot of people think of me as a guitar player, and I am, but my guitar more than anything has become a vehicle for songwriting.
It's my means for expression.
Q – As I understand, the upcoming show at The Venue is going to feature you with other musicians.
It's going to be the Noah Gabriel Trio with Ryan Carney on cello and Chris Palmerin on percussion. And the Noah Gabriel Band and Noah's Arcade with special guests Dave Nelson and Dave Ramont followed by a set with just the Arcade.
So it will be four different groups of people. I wouldn't be the musician that I am without the musicians that surround me.
It's a good group of guys that I've been able to surround myself with.
Q – It seems like that is what makes the Fox Valley such a great music scene. Musicians in the Fox Valley truly want to learn from each other and be around each other.
It seems like Fox Valley musicians really want to collaborate with each other.
That's the only way that a scene happens. You look at all the major music scenes in the past and it's all because the bands would collaborate.
For example, look back at the '60s and '70s and see what was happening in San Francisco and Laurel Canyon.
Q – As far as how your latest album, "Peg-Leg Killer Jonez and the Pitchfork Pine" turned out, did it exceed your expectations?
I like doing these conceptional things. It's part of this journey as a creative person.
I started out wanting to learn how to play a song. When I figured out how to play a song, then I wanted to learn how to write a song.
You write enough songs and then all of a sudden, writing a song isn't enough. You have to figure out how to produce those songs.
Now it's not just about songs. I'm trying to create bodies of work.
I was very pleased with how it turned out. For the very minimal budget that I had and the fact that I did most of it on my own, I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Q – Is it on vinyl as well?
Yes. Kiss The Sky owner Steve Warrenfeltz financed the pressing of it. The only reason it's on vinyl is because of Steve.
Hopefully when people buy the record they will sit down and put it on, they'll read the story and they'll look through the jacket and they'll disappear for a while.
