Jonny thinks that everyone who reads Windy City Times should be aware that the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s annual AIDS Run & Walk takes place on Sept. 15. Furthermore, for the first time this year, Season of Concern is sponsoring a team that will run, walk, hop, skip, jump, side-step, prance, dance, mince or get on its knees and crawl to the finish. Season of Concern, as many of Jonny’s dear readers know, is the ongoing fundraising effort by the Chicagoland theater community to provide care for those living with HIV/AIDS or other catastrophic illnesses. The heart of Season of Concern is the Biscotto-Miller Fund, which provides personal financial support, housing care, meals, medications, legal assistance and other services. It’s named after the first two Chicago theater artists who died of AIDS more than 20 years ago, and Jonny is proud to have been one of the founders and early board members of that fund.
The goal of Season of Concern is to raise $15,000, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago will donate to Season of Concern 100 percent of all funds raised through the Season of Concern team, including registration fees (if you decide to run, walk, hop, skip, etc., with the team) and matching gifts. It’s such a deal, Jonny could plotz. To join the Season of Concern team, or sponsor a team runner, go to www.aidsrunwalk.org and follow the links to (a) form/join a team or (b) sponsor a participant (enter Season of Concern as team name). Jonny suggests you sponsor Season of Concern Executive Director Stephen Rader, the well-known actor and singer whom Jonny thinks will look quite hot in his running kip.
Speaking of talented singers, Mssrs. Daryl Nitz and George Howe have reminded Jonny that they’ve been performing together as the Nitz and Howe Experience for eight years, on weekends at Davenport’s Wine Bar and Cabaret. On Sept. 22, the duo will celebrate its 500th performance and everyone is invited. Daryl and George hold forth—as is said in the cabaret biz—every Friday and Saturday night, 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Their show generally includes a lot of music, a lot of comedy, requests from the audience, a few of Nitz’s famous celebrity vocal impressions and a wide range of music—Broadway, blues, jazz, rock and pop. You can catch the Nitz and Howe Experience any weekend, but if you wanna be there for the 500th show, you’d best make a reservation: 773-278-1830. The $2 cover charge is a bargain. Howe is worth far more than that all by himself, more than making up for Nitz.
Nitz does dead-on impressions of so many female divas, you’d think he had tits. Well, he doesn’t, but the participants in Dyke Mic 2.0 definitely do. Jonny is pleased to report that the weekly open mic variety show for queer women of all gender persuasions—and for audiences of all ages—has been extended through December at the Hoover-Leppen Theater at the Center on Halsted. Dyke Mic 2.0 is a rotating poetry-music-performance series with each performance unique. WCT critic Mary Shen Barnidge reviewed the pastiche in our Aug. 8 issue, saying ‘if the night that I attended is any measure, Dyke Mic 2.0 looks to settle in for a long run.’ Jonny’s dear readers know they always can count on WCT to hit the nail on the head. Performances are Wednesday nights, 8-10 p.m. The series is co-hosted and produced by JT Newman and Nikki Patin.
This is the week that summer goes out not only with a bang, but with a very stylish bang at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. On Wed.-Sun., Sept. 5-9, the pavilion is home to the third annual Blockbuster Week, featuring free concerts and performances by Chicago’s most renowned performing arts institutions, such as The Joffrey Ballet, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Blockbuster Week kicks off Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m. with the Joffrey, performing Deuce Coupe (Beach Boys music), Motown Sweet and Sometimes it Snows in April (the music of Prince). Steppenwolf is up Thurs., Sept. 6, at 6:30 p.m. with I Sing America, pairing Steppenwolf ensemble members with the Chicago Children’s Choir in poetry and song while exploring American citizenship and arts. Next, on Sat., Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m., is Stars of Lyric Opera, led by music director Sir Andrew Davis, and featuring operatic favorites performed by international stars including Elizabeth Futral, Isabel Bayrakdarian, James Morris and Sondra Radvanovsky. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra concludes things on Sun., Sept. 9, at 4 p.m. in a program including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
But wait, there’s more! Blockbuster Week also is opening daytime rehearsals to the public, at Prtizker Pavilion. The Joffrey rehearses Wednesday afternoon, Steppenwolf on Thursday afternoon, Lyric Opera on Friday afternoon and the Chicago Symphony on Sunday afternoon (12-2:30 p.m.)