Cars abandoned on Northbound Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

On February 1, 2011, a mammoth snow storm covered the city of Chicago, burying cars, making streets inaccessible, and forcing businesses to shut down until the city’s snow plows could clear paths for traffic.  My car was one of those entombed in the frozen precipitation, and further buried when snow plows finally made it to my part of town.  My drafty 19^th century apartment was barely comfortable as the outside temperatures dropped below zero and snow continued to fall.  I washed dishes over and over again in an effort to keep my hands warm.  I walked around the house in 3 layers of clothing, running space heaters, and the forced air heat as high as they could go.

I feared that the electricity in my apartment might fail.  I was afraid the pipes might freeze.  I was afraid that the heat would stop working.  I was afraid I’d never see the outside world ever again.

After several hours of panic, I accepted the situation.  I set out to use the time for creative meditation.  I went to my bookshelf, grabbed some piano and vocal scores, and several books for reading.  Sonatas by Mozart, dance suites by Bach, etudes by Martinu, essays by Rousseau, a history of the occult, and a copy of “Frankenstein” became my entertainment for the next three days.

I spent hours reading, playing, singing, drawing, and writing.  Midway through the second day of the blizzard, I was washing dishes and began singing a melody that arrived in my brain.  It was a very simple idea, really: repeated broken 3rds in A minor on 8^th notes, descending one step each bar.  I sang this out loud for about 10 minutes straight, trying to imagine this turned into a song or instrumental piece for DSO.  I was, at first, convinced that it was too simple of a thing to use, that it was too much like an etude from Hanon’s “The virtuoso pianist”.

“Someday” – Intro

But, after 10 minutes, I also began singing the words, “Someday, somehow, somewhere!…someday!”  After repeating these words and melody several times as well, it was clear that the music was pursuing me, so I decided to write these two ideas on paper.

The thirds became a piano part, which was then repeated by violins.  This was then followed by the vocal part I came up with.  After writing all this out, I decided that I would take the etude-like nature of the music and expand that idea for the entire DSO ensemble.  The result was a super thick arrangement with cross-string arpeggios in the viola and cello, the descending 3rds motive in the violins and guitars, followed by a percussive, syncopated hand over hand riff for the piano.

“Someday” – Verse

For the next few days, I focused on this song, either writing more notes on paper, writing lyrics, or revising what I already had.  Within three days, I had composed the first 2 verses of the song, and sketched out lyrics for the remainder of it.  I was thinking about the crazy situation I might find myself in if the snow didn’t stop, or if I was left without heat and power.  Desperation, fear, hope that things would eventually turn for the better.

It was another 2 months before I had completed the song.  I not only wanted to show off the virtuosic talents of the musicians in DSO, but I felt compelled to explain the desperation of the situation in which the music was written.  It wasn’t just about desperation, but also about the yearning for something more than our reality, the yearning to change our reality, and the conviction that we are agents of change capable of anything if we dedicate ourselves to a purpose.

I wanted to explain this city I live in, and specifically my neighborhood.  The poverty, the garbage, the neglect by the city to maintain this area, and the anonymity of the masses of undocumented immigrants who inhabit this place.  I wanted to explain my own view of it: the agoraphobic onlooker, overwhelmed by trepidations towards the world outside.

And I wanted to discuss the loneliness of it all.  The feeling of sorrow as those who we have the chance to see as individuals leave this city or leave this life.  “I am at a loss for the words to describe the feeling that you get when somebody else dies.”

Ultimately, I was compelled to include an homage to Schönberg at the end of the piece, underscoring the words “…that we might change everything.”  The material I used is taken from his “Sechs kleine Klavierstücke” Op.19 no.6.  The bell-like sounds of the stacked 4ths and 5ths in the piano, harp and guitar, hearken to Schönberg’s micro-composition lamenting the death of Gustav Mahler.

“Someday” – Outro

Music and Lyrics by Mark Winston
Performed by the Dead Superheroes Orchestra and Golosá
July 29, 2011

Sometimes when writing, one struggles to be creative or to write anything at all.  The process of writing “Someday” was much the opposite.  I felt as though the song was literally pursuing me for three months straight.

It is terrifically exciting to imagine that we’ll be recording this song soon.  I’ve included some fragments of the song, which were rendered in MIDI by Finale.  I’ve also attached the outro fragment from our performance of this song with Golosa at the Abbey Pub on July 29, 2011.

Shani Schechter, Michelle Horvath; Photo: Catechism

Join the Dead Superheroes Orchestra at Reggie’s Rock Club on Wednesday, February 29, 2012. We will be performing works from our new song cycle, “Beyond the farthest star.”  Sioum, Bridges of Königsberg, and The Paver perform as well.

For now, enjoy some live footage:

“What would it take (to re-create a human being)?”
- Live at Martyrs’ in Chicago.  October 12, 2011

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPoLUTTCEoA

Celebrate Halloween with the Dead Superheroes Orchestra
and punk rock legend Hugh Cornwell (of the Stranglers)
and Clem Burke (of Blondie)

Get $6 off the ticket price for tonight’s show!

If you need some motivation to finish your Halloween Costume for tonight, here it is….$6 off the regular price ticket of $18. Print your coupon HERE. Limit one coupon per customer.

About the show

The Dead Superheroes Orchestra will be opening for Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers and Clem Burke of Blondie this Halloween at Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago. We’ll be dressing up like the dead to celebrate the holiday, premiering new music and performing with our full instrumental ensemble, including string quintet and harp! There will be a costume contest with a $200 cash prize, Glitter Guts photobooth and performances by The Handcuffs and Happy Hunting.

Details

The Dead Superheroes Orchestra
Opening for Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers w/ Clem Burke of Blondie
Monday, October 31, 2011
Doors at 8pm; Show at 8:30pm
Reggie’s Rock Club
2109 South State St
Chicago, IL
$18, 17+

Tickets available at http://www.ticketfly.com/event/55479/

Today! Radio Interview on WLUW

Tune in to WLUW 88.7 in Chicago at noon today for an interview with our singer, Mark, and harpist, Michelle. Don’t miss this broadcast, which will feature a preview of our studio recording of “Vexed” and more. The broadcast starts at noon Central time. 88.7 FM Chicago or http://wluw.org.

Friday, October 28 – Club Anything in Milwaukee

The Dead Superheroes Orchestra
DJs Scary Lady Sarah and William Faith
Milwaukee Ballet

Join us for this fundraiser for the Milwaukee Ballet ~ 21+

Journey into the strange and mysterious world of Theatre of the Vampires at Club Anything…

Mingle with performers from The Milwaukee Ballet’s production of “Dracula” and experience a vision of the Vampire world including absinthe, live music featuring the Dead Superhero’s Orchestra, roll players and fire dancing! The Elixir Lounge and Absintherie will be open especially for this event. Your entry includes one free absinthe courtesy of Milwaukee’s own Amerique 1912 Absinthe. A portion of your ticket price benefits Milwaukee Ballet.

Sponsored by Milwaukee Ballet and the Great Lakes Distillery

Tickets available at http://www.elektrotrash.com/

Opening for Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers and Clem Burke of Blondie

Celebrate Halloween with a punk rock legend and the former lead singer of The Stranglers…HUGH CORNWELL, Clem Burke (Blondie) on drums
The Handcuffs – The Dead Superheroes Orchestra – happy hunting
Dead Rockstar Costume Contest and a photobooth by Glitter Guts!

Doors @ 8PM – Show @ 8:30
Tickets $15 in adv. – $18 at the door
17+
Get your tickets here: http://ticketf.ly/nFL2zS

Purchase tickets online at Ticketweb.com and get a free copy of our EP “The Last Superhero”.

Sunny Shadows and Counterfeit i open.  DJ Scary Lady Sarah spins goth and shoegaze starting at 8pm and in between bands.

RSVP on Facebook

Piccolo Theater's Comedy of Errors

I wrote music for Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors”, which is being produced by Piccolo Theater and was directed by Christopher Marino.  The show opens on September 9 and runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Music will be performed live by members of the Dead Superheroes Orchestra, including myself on piano.  More information is available on Piccolo Theater’s website.

The music for the show is performed by 4 musicians, using accordion, flute, synthesizers, violin, percussion and theremin.  While writing, I sought to emulate the styles of cabaret, circus and gypsy music, while adding in quite a bit of Baroque and Classical style.  The play is filled with quirky waltzes, Baroque recitative-like accompaniment, and a show-stopping cabaret parody of Caccini’s “Amarilli, mia bella”. Below is a video of an exceptional traditional performance of that song.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG0Hqi8BQYM

Writing music for a straight play is quite a different thing than what I’ve become accustomed to with the Dead Superheroes Orchestra.  I have taken on such projects in the past, writing for productions of Shakespeare’s “Winter’s Tale” and Brecht’s “Gallileo”, as well as an adaptation of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”.  The main difference, and what I found quite troubling this time around, is writing short pieces to be played either under speeches or during scene changes.  Generally, these are vamps or riffs that last 4 to 12 bars and are repeated as necessary. I’ve grown accustomed to composing longer pieces, as those for DSO, which last 4 to 6 minutes and have an extensive ensemble to orchestrate for.  It was a challenge to cut back for this show.  I ended up writing probably about 20 different pieces, each lasting about 2 minutes.  In the end, we scaled that back to maybe 10 ideas that are used throughout the show, with three larger pieces lasting maybe 3 minutes each.  Additionally, it took me some time to come to terms with the styles that Christopher Marino was hoping to incorporate into the show.  Looking back on what I wrote and what I’ve written for previous shows and for DSO, I realize that I mostly struggled with this maybe because I was in denial that someone was actually hiring me to write music in the styles that I generally turn to for inspiration.

The play is in previews now and is shaping up to be hilarious, very unique and enchanting.  Since we have live musicians, we’ve been able to underscore things on the fly during rehearsals, using either the material that I wrote or even simpler things, like a sustained violin note.  The rehearsals and performance feel very vaudevillian at points, with the actors sometimes actually cueing the band to play something under their speeches, or the musicians reacting to an impulse to add underscoring to a scene that didn’t have set music before.

I included some homages to some of my favorite classical pieces and styles.  There’s a parody of Beethoven’s piano sonata “Pathetique”, the aforementioned “Amarilli, mia bella”, some twelve tone passages and some short quotes of Berg and imitations of Mozart. I also made an effort to take some cues from Emilie Autumn’s song “Opheliac” for the arrangement of “Amarilli”, using the harpsichord and making the arrangement somewhat through-composed, aside from the chord progression and melody.  The result is a hilariously lewd song that, through gratuitous instrumentation, reaches a climax point with a little Mozartian style bombast.

The show runs through October 22 at the Main Street Arts Depot in Evanston, IL.

Shani Shechter; Photo by Rodger Ruzanka

Join us on September 14 at Beat Kitchen in Chicago for a 17+ show.  Sunny Shadows and Counterfeit i open.  DJ Scary Lady Sarah spins between sets.  This will be our first performance with electric harp.

Tickets are available on ticketweb.com.

THE DEAD SUPERHEROES ORCHESTRA
SUNNY SHADOWS
COUNTERFEIT I
DJ SCARY LADY SARAH
Doors: 7:30 pm | Show: 8:00 pm
Tickets: $10.00 | 17 & Over

Shani Schechter Photo: Julia Groves

Our performance at the Abbey on July 29, 2011 is a featured event in the Chicago Reader!  You can read the copy on the Reader’s website here:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/dead-superheroes-orchestra-my-cold-dead-hand-we-are-hex-djs-scary-lady-sarah-and-william-faith/Event?oid=4297399

One thing that they didn’t mention is that we’re giving away copies of our EP, “The Last Superhero”, to the first 15 people who purchase tickets online.  Buy a ticket from Ticketfly.com and you’ll get a CD when you arrive at the Abbey tomorrow night.