Location: Humboldt Park Boathouse
Date: Saturday, June 01, 2013; 10:30 am-1:30 pm
I spent the time between projects
at a coffee shop and then took a bus to Humboldt Park. I was crossing the road to get to the park
when I passed by a car with a familiar driver.
I stopped, and got in and only then did Wilson realize that I had joined
him in the car. He had in fact convinced
me to come for this One Brick event, when I was supposed to be doing another
Chicago Cares project where we were going to the zoo. Now, that would have been
awesome as well, but then I read the following description on the One Brick
website: “The Intonation Workshop
presents the 3rd Annual Stars of Tomorrow Youth Music Fest! This day-long
indoor/outdoor musical extravaganza is perfect for the whole family and
features a stellar line-up of 15 young pop groups, sets from Future Hits and
Psalm One, and lots of great activities for all who attend.” Well, I was going to get to watch kids in a
battle of the bands. Zoo could wait.
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| Outside the building |
We parked the car and then walked
through the park over to the location.
Inside we found that our Event Manager Laura was already there, along
with Rich, who is a regular and other volunteers, Tracy, Angie, Jill, Matt and
Sonal. Hannah, the site coordinator came
and told us that she had 3 tasks for us: First was at the ‘Style Zone’, which included face painting, temporary tattoos and
essentially helping the band members with their rock star styling. Next was ‘Instrument
Petting Zoo’, which was an area where kids could come and play some
instruments and finally, ‘Band
Hospitality’, which was the backstage ‘green
room’, where bands got ready. The ‘Style Zone’ was right in the room where
the bands would be playing and since it involved getting the bands ready, it
was the most popular task and was picked by almost everyone. That left the other two and since I cannot
play an instrument to save my life, I picked the ‘green room’, along with Sonal and Rich.
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| The t-shirt station |
Inside the ‘green room’ there were two main tasks. First there was a snack station where kids
could come and get a snack bag and there was a t-shirt counter. Rich took over at the snack bags station while
Sonal and I would be by the t-shirts.
The t-shirts were for the band members with the caveat that they either
return them before leaving, or purchase for $5.
Another awkward situation with t-shirts for me to deal with! There wasn’t much activity at the t-shirt
section since the band members were either going to be using their own designs
or had already obtained these shirts.
There were some takers for the snack bag, though with the healthy
initiative for kids, there was nothing in the bag that I wanted for
myself.
The bands were on a schedule and
while one group was performing, the other one was in our ‘green room’. Their music
instructors were with them going over the last minute instructions. I chatted with one such instructors of a band
called ‘Psycosmix’, who was getting
his kids pumped up. I went over and
asked the kids who was playing what and learned that they were performing two
songs and most of them would be switching roles from one song to another. Soon it was their time to go on stage and I
wished them luck. Since the traffic was
slow, I went outside and joined the rest of our team at the ‘Style Zone’. I got a small temporary tattoo saying “Pump volume to 11”, though I do not
know if the kids would get the significance of that reference. Wilson was going all out and had got the
painting lady to draw a skeleton on the outside of his arm and also got a
flaming tattoo followed by a One Brick painting on his other arm.
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| The Schedule |
I could now watch the performing
area and ‘Psycosmix’ was on. It was fantastic, not because the kids were
performing at the highest musical level.
In fact, they were singing and playing out of tune; but were having a
great time doing so. They were
completely involved and behaving like true rock stars. They gave us a great show, and I would much
rather be here to see this than at a professional concert. The rest of our One Brick team was getting
the next group ready with their body art and two other girls had managed to get
their hands on balloon swords and were mock fighting. I asked them to ‘knight’ me and bowed down as
one of them put the sword over my head and shoulders. It was a great time for all, the performers
as well as the others in attendance.
I kept checking on the t-shirt
station and while some actually bought the shirt, there wasn’t much to do
there. I walked over to the ‘Instrument Petting Zoo’, which was in a
gymnasium where some kids sized instruments like drums set, guitars and
keyboards were set-up for anyone to come and practice. I went back to my room and Rich was busy
cleaning up after the most recent group, who was now performing. Wilson joined us and we chatted about this
project, which is an after school program that allows kids to build confidence
and self-esteem. According to Intonation
Music Workshop’s website, “The Intonation
Music Workshop empowers children to become rock stars on every stage in life
through innovative music education. Using
donated instruments and a unique pop-band curriculum, their after-school and
summer music program provides kids age 6-17 in Chicago’s undeserved communities with access to instruction and performance opportunities in a safe
and positive environment, sparking for many a life-changing sense of
accomplishment and belonging. Students
learn to express themselves musically, at the same time developing essential
life skills such as cooperation, practice, risk-taking, and setting and meeting
goals.” It is another heroic way in
which the community is being served.
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| It had been a great event |
Soon our time was up and another
group came to relieve us. Wilson was the
EC for the event, but considering I was soon to have my own event, asked me to
choose a place to go for lunch with the group.
The group was just us, Rich and Tracy.
I found one place nearby and through some faulty directions; we had to
walk all the way around the park to reach it.
Tracy, who I had met at another event, asked Wilson and me about Chicago
Cares and we learned that Rich was a super volunteer in his own right and ran a
youth center for kids whose parents were either absent or showed limited
interest; and has been doing so for several years. We talked about my morning at the Avon
project and Wilson was going to drop me at the ‘Wellness Village’ for my afternoon shift.
As I got into Wilson’s car, I
mentioned that my phone was running out of juice, especially since I had been
out since very early and to my least surprise, Wilson had an iPhone charged,
even though he doesn’t use one. When
asked why he had one, he mentioned something about being prepared for all
emergencies. He asked me how I felt this
program compared with ‘CircEsteem’ in
terms of building the kids confidence and esteem. I said that both are invaluable, though I
thought today’s program was more special.
‘CircEsteem’ requires a lot of
skill and concentration. When I saw the
performance a few months ago, the kids were "in
the zone" and could be mistaken for professionals. That was great and their self-belief is
something that will help the kids in their future life. On the other hand, the kids performing today
were just having fun and not worrying too much if they were in tune or
not. Their confidence was through the
roof and there’s something to be said about that spirit. I had enjoyed myself and wished that the
level of energy that they displayed would inspire me to get through my next
project.
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