It’s incredible the talent that can be uncovered when good people gather with the goal of celebrating creativity! Last Thursday, Project X-Tract held its second Open Mic, Open Walls night at Packback’s South Loop office. The second Project X-tract, cohosted by Jammber and Packback, was just as successful, if not more than the first! Through the power of Word of Mouth and in just a short amount of time, the amount of attendees increased significantly and featured new, fresh talent who were eager to share their gifts with us.
The night kicked off with Punting Baxter, a group of 5 students that formed a band comprised of a vocalist, two acoustic guitarists, a drum box and an electric guitarist. They shared with us two original tracks- “hippie girl” and another, “moving moment”, which featured a saxophone and tambourine ankle that proved to go over very nicely with the crowd.
At its second event, Project X-tract featured two Chicago visual artists, Stephanie Behaim and Tierra Armstrong. Originally from Miami, Stephanie Benhaim is a printmaker and painter whose current work features ink drawings of minimalist desert landscapes. Her work captures the atmosphere of sparse, harsh desert wastelands with restrained brushstrokes in stark black ink on white paper. One of her newest pieces, Black Hole Sun, made its debut at Project X-tract.
After Stephanie’s work was introduced and her artist statement was read, the second showing artist of the evening, Tierra Armstrong was introduced. Tierra, 18, is a fashion student and visual artists whose large-scale works fuse mixed media portraits with a fashion aesthetic. Her piece, Pretty in Pink, was a hit of the evening. Tierra spoke to the audience about her influences as an artist.
After the introduction of the visual artwork on display, the evening progressed to the second scheduled Mic slot. Band of five, Friends of the Bog brought their own flavor to the stage as they incorporated instruments like the melodica and xylophone to bring their songs to life.
Then John Micensky from Punting Baxter sat down on the piano, to accompany with Grace Coletta & Alec Hoge’s vocals for Packback cofounder Mike Shannon’s powerful rap, Statues Fall. Mike then continued with a solo rap inspired by his reading of the Steve Jobs biography during his time as an undergrad student at Illinois State. The message, Mike’s flow, and his obvious passion captivated the room.
Jammber’s own Ben Strick then took the stage and blew everyone away with his mastery of classical guitar technique. From the moment Ben began tuning his guitar before flowing immediately into his instrumental-only set, he commanded the attention of every eye in the room.
Chelsea Burns, a singer-songwriter who is moving to Nashville to pursue her dreams, enchanted the crowd as she crooned over her keyboard and sang lyrics full of inspiration and encouragement to follow your heart and achieve your goals. Packback’s office dog Pepper seemed captivated by her voice too, and curled right up next to her on stage to watch her sing.
Chicago’s Plus+Sign owned the stage with his exuberance and unconventional hip-hop performance. His song’s resounding chorus of “I don’t want to have to be a man, all I want is a lover!” got the entire crowd hooked. He built up the beat for his rap by leading the audience through an exercise of sign-alongs, clap alongs and participation. Not only was everyone clapping and singing along; everyone was smiling from ear-to-ear from his positive lyrics and contagious energy.
Aaron Stern was next up with emotional guitar & vocals, full of personal stories of heartbreak and loss. His lyrics, while obviously personal, were universally relatable. Aaron even performed (and nailed) a song that he had just written the previous night! That’s the mission of Project X-tract at work; a community to fearlessly share creativity.
The 92s, a normally electric folk-rock group that unplugged for an acoustic set with two guitars, raw vocals and a cajon (box drum). The skillful percussion played by Packback’s Matt Mullen was inspired tons of audience participation and clapping. The group played two songs, “Read my Mind” and “Unrest”. Both songs featured jazz-influenced folk guitar played by Packback cofounder Kasey Gandham on lead guitar, and Dan Durley on rhythm guitar and vocals. The lyrics and vocal melodies of the songs were ultra-catchy, particularly the chorus of Read my Mind, which was brightened by Dan’s crystal-clear falsetto.
Jammber’s Matt Brown sang two covers with the help of Eden Sierotnik on the keyboard and back-up vocals. The two tackled “Monks” by Frank Ocean and “The Edge” by CANT. His jazzy R&B style was underscored by carefully layered synth beats and melodies. Despite stepping on a nail (as we discovered on his Twitter account) earlier in the day, Matt still had jazz in his step, coupling his smooth voice with equally smooth moves! Talk about a true performer.
At the end of the night, every performer had a chance to win a VIP session with acclaimed industry professional, Steph Gray. Steph is an Associate Board Member of Foundations of Music, and a former Redfrog Talent Manager and Events Coordinator, who recruited talent for the popular Firefly Music Festival.
One name was drawn at random and our VIP winner of the night was none other than Plus+Sign! Very well deserved, indeed. In addition to winning an hour-long coffee with Steph Gray, Plus+Sign ended the night with one final song as he called on the crowd one last time provide the beat to his favorite tune, “ You That N***a, God.”
The second Project X-tract Open Mic, Open Walls night was immensely successful and we look forward to another great event in June.
If you have a passion and you’re looking for a place to share it, come join us next month at Project X-tract.
-Project X-Tract team
