Then This Happened: Musical Stories

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Most Brazilians believe their national identity is closely tied to the country’s music, as it unites those of all social backgrounds and creates a place of refuge from real life. However, as the dictatorship gained more control and became increasingly strict during the mid-1960s, innovation and creativity in art greatly diminished.

One key figure in uprooting this paradigm was Caetano Veloso. He aligned with the hippie movement and joined Gil to create a new form of music known as Tropicalia, which artists used to express provocative ideas and politically daring lyrics in a form of peaceful protest. It combined traditional Brazilian culture with various foreign countries’s artistic characteristics. Certain sections of the public found their voice for freedom in the music, while others reacted angrily to the political content expressed in the art of Tropicalia. This is the story of Caetano Veloso's journey with his friend Gilberto Gil.
Samba/Bossa Nova Band

• (Chambered Electric/Acoustic Guitar) Mercedes Sara Landazuri
• (Ukulele Bass) Adam Haus
• (Percussion) Leo Peña
  • 18" bass drum
  • 14" snare
  • Hi hat
  • Ride & stand
  • Pandeiro, tamborim, shakers
  • 14" Floortom

VOCALISTS

• Matt Griffo
• Drake Shrader
• Kathleen Gibson
• Kerri Morrison

STORYTELLER

• Mercedes Landazuri

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Cosmic science. Black holes and how we know about them thanks to multiple scientists and LIGO (The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).
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Drake Shrader (Storyteller)

BAND:

• Matt Griffo (vocals, bass, electric guitar on "I'm On The Sun" song)
• Brittany Flynn (vocals)
• Andy Masters (electric guitar)
• Robbie Ellis (piano)
• Mike Amandes (cajon)

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In 2019, a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The investigation into the conspiracy was nicknamed Operation Varsity Blues.
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Danielle Elizabeth (Storyteller)

BAND:

• Drake Shrader (vocals)
• Holly Souchack (vocals)
• Lexi Alioto (vocals)
• Arne Parrot (guitar)
• Matt Griffo (vocal/piano/bass)
• Dan Krackhardt (cajon)

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CHARNA HALPERN

Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is founded the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers,

She and Close co-authored the book Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation with editor Kim "Howard" Johnson in 1994.She published Group Improvisation in 2003 and Art by Committee in 2006.

The remaining theater in Chicago, originally located in the Wrigleyville neighborhood was forced to relocate due to neighborhood development. In 2017, the theater reopened in the Clyborn North Area. In 2020 during a forced shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic Charna decided to close theater and sell it. iO was then purchased and as of 2022 has reopened with new management.

DEL CLOSE

Del Close, an actor, improviser, and coach who taught John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray and elevated improvisation to an art form.

Close pioneered the concept of “long form” improvisation.

“Long form is one suggestion and then you improvise for 25 minutes, and in short form you are constantly coming to the audience for suggestions throughout the evening and treating each improv game as its own little three- or four-minute piece,”

While many comedy groups use improvisation as a tool to develop characters and sketches, Close believed that improvisation was the show. He often said there was really only one role for a director: “Light fuse and run!”

His ideas, although hotly debated in the comedy world, have influenced nearly every improvisation group in America, from Chicago’s legendary Second City to San Francisco’s the Committee. “He was the singular most powerful force in improvisation in the world,” said Kelly Leonard, the producer of Second City, where Close acted and directed before opening his own theater. iO with Charna Halpern

The resident guru at “Saturday Night Live” during the show’s early years, Close trained several generations of comics, from Belushi and Murray to Mike Myers and the late Chris Farley. Close came up with the idea for the popular early 1980s television show “SCTV,” which stood for Second City Television and was widely credited as the intellectual and spiritual force behind a recent renaissance in Chicago’s hotbed of improvisation.

Although groups such as Second City use improvisation as a rehearsal tool to develop characters and sketches, Close believed in improvisation as an end in itself. In collaboration with Halpern, he was constantly tinkering with the form, turning the Harold into a more elaborate tapestry of scenes with a cinematic flavor. The ImprovOlympic became the cutting-edge training ground, sending many of its graduates, such as Farley, to better-known venues like Second City and television and movie careers.

STORYTELLER

• Charna Halpern

BAND

• (Piano) Dave Asher
• (Guitar) Ross Plunkett
• (Drums) Mike Amandes
• (Saxophone) Eli V Wilson
• (Trumpet, Vocals) Ivan Pyzow
• (Bass) Gordon

VOCALISTS

• Matt Griffo
• Drake Shrader
• Amber Linde
• Lisa Burton
• Joe Bill

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The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. The painting was done by women at three different factories, and the term now applies to the women working at the facilities: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facility in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s.

After being told that the paint was harmless, the women in each facility ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine tip; some also painted their fingernails, face and teeth with the glowing substance. The women were instructed to point their brushes in this way because using rags or a water rinse caused them to use more time and material, as the paint was made from powdered radium, gum arabic and water.

Five of the women in New Jersey challenged their employer in a case over the right of individual workers who contract occupational diseases to sue their employers under New Jersey's occupational injuries law, which at the time had a two-year statute of limitations, but settled out of court in 1928. Five women in Illinois who were employees of the Radium Dial Company (which was unaffiliated with the United States Radium Corporation) sued their employer under Illinois law, winning damages in 1938.

STORYTELLER

• Lindsey Shaw

Swing Band

• Matt Griffo (Piano)
• Mason Jiller (Electric Guitar)
• Graham Nelson (Harmonica)
• Ethan Adelsman (Violin)
• Mike Amandes (Drums
• Tom Irwin (Bass)

VOCALISTS

• Matt Griffo
• Drake Shrader
• Emily Ramirez
• Derek Demkowitz
• Cat Amato

AUDIO GEAR
SOFTWARE
LUNA Recording System
Apollo x8p
Apollo X4
Apollo Octo Satellite
MICROPHONES
AEA KU5A - Griffo & Storyteller
TOWNSEND LABS SPHERE L22 - Group Vocals
EARTHWORKS SR25 - VIOLIN
INSTRUMENTS
E. Guitar - Direct in Using Buxom Betty UAD Guitar Amp Emulation
Piano - Coming in MIDI using the Ravel piano sound in LUNA Recording Software from Universal Audio
Bass - Amp Emulation SVTPro from UAD
Upright Bass - Griffo playing MIDI using a sample

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Support the show via Matt Griffo's Patreon page at Patreon.com/mattgriffo