Doors at 7:30pm, show at 8:00pm
The Make Out Party, an annual event celebrating LOVE for its own sake, is turning 20 this year, and we're excited to share the news! Since 2006, every Valentine's Day weekend (or thereabouts), composer Jefferey Thomas has led an ensemble of musicians, dancers, poets, and personalities through a never-repeated, "one night only" performance exploring love in its many forms.
For most of its life, the Make Out Party has been in residence at the Hideout, whose Chinook Lounge was traditionally converted into a cozy love nest for the occasion. This year the show makes its debut in the upstairs ballroom of Avondale's Color Club. Jefferey, a founding member of world-renowned marching band Mucca Pazza, alongside musical director Billie Howard, will guide the 17-member core group through a three-hour extravaganza of unpredictable moments, accompanied by a revolving cast of soloists, guest vocalists, and storytellers.
The event is structured like a variety show or a revue, though it's far from a rote stage show. The Make Out Party's stated goal is "to inspire the tickle one feels in one's stomach upon receiving a first kiss," and many attendees can attest to having reached new heights of fever, passion, and warmth during the show.
The music can move from Herb Alpert-inspired arrangements to dirty blues ballads; 70's soul jams to 80's rock anthems; along with sensuous film scores, high-energy dance floor fillers, Indian classical melodies, and exotic original instrumental compositions, creating an evening of titillating performances as varied as there are kinds of kisses.
Over the years, many notables have joined the Make Out Party as soloists, including the late Cynthia Plaster Caster, performance poet Marvin Tate, Chicago glam-hag Bobby Conn, guzheng master Xu YuYen, blues legend Ramblin' Rose Kelly, Mongolian throat singer Tamir Hargana, and Boston Red Sox organist Josh Kantor. The core group has included musicians from Poi Dog Pondering, Cheer-Accident, Lowdown Brass Band, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Cirque du Soleil, The Fruit Stare, a.pe.ri.od.ic, & Herculaneum.