CHIRP Presents The First Time: First Child

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Georg Coleman
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Gerald Dowd
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Matt Spiegel
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Susan Messing
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Megan Stielstra
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Erin Shea
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Jocelyn Geboy, MC & Event Organizer
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The week before I went to Toronto, Sara, Steve and I went to the CHIRP event, The First Time: First Child at Beat Kitchen. Like the last few times (First Date, First Record, First Digs, First City), we had so much fun! This time I knew one of the readers, Erin Shea, but also recognized a few from previous events. We’re becoming a family!! 🙂

As always, all of the essays were great. I enjoyed the music so much too. I, of course, especially like Erin’s piece. Over the years, since we’re not working together any more, we’ve grown apart and I while we’ve kept in contact online, it was interesting to hear her tell her tale in person. I also really enjoyed Gerald Dowd’s essay, which brought him out from behind the drumset. I’ve seen Tributosaurus perform, so was also especially interested Matt Spiegel’s reading. And Megan Stielstra is always great. Ok. They were all great. I call them each out on their own merits, but just believe me, they were all good.

The event was $10 and all proceeds went to benefit CHIRP. Follow CHIRP’s Facebook page to make sure you get alerted when the next event is planned! You won’t want to miss it.

CHIRP Presents The First Time: First City


Jenn-Anne Gledhill and Mare Swallow


Wendy Mateo and Jennifer Lizak


Mary Ralph and Samantha Abernethy


Jocelyn Geboy and Gerald Dowd


Liam Davis and Steve Frisbie

Last week Jess, Sara, Chris and I went to the CHIRP event, The First Time: First City at Beat Kitchen. Like the last few times (1, 2, 3), we had so much fun! This was the first time I went to an event in this series and I didn’t know any of the readers, but I did see and get to catch up with a bunch of my former Chicagoist cohorts – Chuck, Jocelyn, Matt, Jim, and Marcus.

Sara and I met up early and ate outside. Surprisingly, Beat Kitchen has super tasty salads, many to choose from, lots of fresh ingredients. The weather was just right, we were in the shade and there was a breeze. Then we headed in a few minutes early to make sure we could get a seat for the show.

As always, all of the essays were great. Anyone who gets up on stage and reads what they write has more guts than I do. I especially liked Jennifer Lizak’s essay about Chicago and how many generations of her family have lived in the city. After each essay the band plays a song of the essayist’s choosing. The band is so talented. That night they played everything from hip hop to country and western. For real. They played “Homecoming” with Gerald doing the Kanye West rap parts and Steve doing the Chris Martin singing parts. And Gerald showed off his diversity again when he sang the lead for “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” by David Allan Coe. I also liked when they played “Chicago Slow Down” by the local band Canasta. Check out their awesome video for the song below:

The event was $10 and all proceeds went to benefit CHIRP. Follow CHIRP’s Facebook page to make sure you get alerted when the next event is planned! You won’t want to miss it.

CHIRP Presents The First Time: First Digs


Scott Hess, Jessi Langsen, Steve Forstneger


Sondra Morin, Andrew Huff, Ingrid Graudins


Jocelyn Geboy, Liam Davis, Gerald Dowd, Steve Frisbie

Last week Jess and Sara and I went to a CHIRP event, The First Time: First Digs at Beat Kitchen. Like the last two times (1, 2, we had so much fun! This time I only knew one of the readers, Andrew, but as always, they were all great.

We went to Beat Kitchen early and ate dinner. It was half price pizza night and the pies were pretty decent. Because we were there early, we were able to get a seat in the second row. Actually, this time it seemed like everyone in attendance got a seat, where last time, it was so packed, it was standing room only.

All of the essays were good and I admire anyone who has the guts to write something and then stand up and read it in front of a room of people. That said, I loved Steve Forstneger’s story of when he moved to the super dangerous neighborhood of Lincoln Park. He had me rolling on the ground. Hilarious.

Again, after each essay, the band played a song of the writer/reader’s choosing. Again, the band was fabulous. They have such range, they played everything from the theme to Three’s Company to Cyprus Hill. Speaking of which, Insane in the Membrane was one of my favorites of the night. It was by the request of Andrew Huff. Here’s a short clip of it:

If you’re interested, you can read Andrew’s essay here.

The event was $10 and all proceeds went to benefit CHIRP. The next event is going to be in July. Follow CHIRP’s Facebook page to make sure you get alerted as to the exact date! You won’t want to miss it.

CHIRP Presents The First Time: First Date


Jocelyn of CHIRP (and formerly of Chicagoist)


Jason Crock of CHIRP


Jackie Schimmel of Not Ready for Naptime Players


Tony Breed of Finn & Charlie are Hitched


Kyra Kyles of Kyles Files


Georg Coleman of Worst Cook in America


Megan Stielstra of 2nd Story and Everyone Remain Calm


Kevin Robinson of Chicagoist


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Jocelyn

Last Wednesday, Jess and I went to an event at Beat Kitchen called The First Time: First Date. It was part of a reading series with a “First Time” theme. There previously was First High, First Car and First Job. It was $10 and all the proceeds benefitted the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP).

I always had friends reading and attending these events, but I hadn’t ever been able to go to go in the past. This time I knew Kevin, who read, and Jocelyn, who coordinated the event for CHIRP. I also saw Chuck there. All of these people I know from my Chicagoist days.

The event was really fun. Each person wrote an essay based on the theme “The First Time: First Date” and could interpret it however they wanted. Each reading was so thoughtful and funny. At then end of each essay a live band played a song the reader chose to accompany their piece. And so it went reading, song, reading, song, etc. Loved the format. The songs were so great. Many times hilarious, what each reader chose to go with their reading. The band was called The First Time and consisted of Steve Frisbie, Liam Davis, and Gerald Dowd. I thought these guys were familiar then I realized that Jocelyn interviewed them for Chicagoist way back in 2005 (Part 1, Part 2)!

The next event is scheduled for Wedsnesday, January 25 an I’m really going to try to go again because I had so much fun. Also, for all my years I lived in Roscoe Village, I never once went to Beat Kitchen. I don’t know how that could be. It’s only a block or two from where Jen & Chad live. In fact, I was hanging out with Jen and Limey and Quinn there before heading over to the event.

** Note: I didn’t get any photos of the band performing because my camera battery was about to die any second and I was trying to save it to take photos of Kevin, the last reader! And at least one photo of every other reader. I put my backup battery in and guess what? Dead. The band are the guys sitting in the background of each photo. I felt kind of bad for them because everyone was staring at them the whole time whether they were performing or not. Ha! Anyway, I didn’t think the photos came out half bad, given that I was just quick snapping one off then turning my camera off. And also because we were at a weird angle, front row seating.