by Jennifer Swanson and Eliza Bangert, Chicago Street Team Captains
About a month ago, we got together with ICE flutist/founder Claire Chase for a “brief” meeting that became an outline for the next month of our lives. Claire’s excitement was contagious and we left with a plan for ICE’s takeover of Chicago. The first step of this plan was to create a street team from scratch. The team quickly grew from two people to twenty in a week and a half, exceeding everyone’s expectations.
Where did these people come from? Who are they?
- composition students from Northwestern, University of Chicago, and Columbia
- a violinist and a classical guitarist from DePaul and Roosevelt
- flutists: one student from Oberlin, ICE’s home base; a freelancer from Evanston (also a former Oberlin student); a flute teacher/the Classical Revolution founder; and yours truly, the street team captains
- a friend of one of ICE’s board members
- the guitarist for Genital Hercules and son of a former classmate of Steve Schick
- a hipster sound artist from SAIC
- a contingency from the liberal-minded suburb of Oak Park; this includes a current classical literature major/cello player at the University of Chicago, an innovative environmentalist currently studying at Northeastern, and a bass vocalist from UIC
- two recording engineers
- a marketing coordinator for DePaul’s Community Music Division (also an active bass player)
- a freelance oboist in-between long-winded excursions to South America
- a recently graduated artist from SAIC, very excited about all contemporary forms of art
- a freelance pianist/Wicker Park barista
When approaching these people, all we had to do was utter the words “ICE,” “Xenakis,” and “buttons,” and they were on board.
Over the past few weeks, our team has covered the entire Chicago area with ICE posters, postcards, and buttons. This paraphernalia has infiltrated cafes, bars, restaurants, bookstores, record stores, schools, and various new music, jazz, and rock venues. The word is out and still moving throughout Chicago as we approach this hot ICE concert in less than two weeks, generating excitement in expected and unexpected places.
Both Xenakis fans and Xenakis virgins can’t wait for this live experience.
