Lazer X

“My name is Aimee. I like to dance.” Just about any parent of the 5-and-under set can identify that refrain from Yo Gabba Gabba! And my husband and I—we like to dance. But since we had our little one, long nights out dancing have been few and far between. If we’re up past 10 p.m., it’s because that’s the only baby-free time we get to catch up on The Walking Dead. Luckily, we’ve found a place where parents can cut a rug without having to hire a babysitter. On a balmy Sunday night in October, we headed to CAN-TV studios (322 N. Green St.) for the Halloween taping of Chic-A-Go-Go—a kids’ dance show that first aired in 1996. We donned a couple of Star Wars–inspired wigs and '70s dance gear for our costumes: Luke Flywalker and Princess Playa, a disco spin on the famous duo. Our little one, dressed as Yoda, was tucked snugly into her BabyBjörn. Chic-A-Go-Go is hosted by my friend Mia Park and her wisecracking puppet sidekick, Ratso. However, despite the element of puppetry, you won’t see the likes of Raffi or Barney on the stage. Instead, Mia and the show’s producer, Jake Austen (who also voices Ratso), invite a staggering lineup of local musicians and renowned indie acts to perform. Since its inception, Chic-A-Go-Go’s wide range of musical guests has included soul quintet JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, trippy garage rocker Nobunny, and self-described “circus punk marching band” Mucca Pazza. Park herself is a fixture in the Chicago music scene, serving as auxiliary percussionist for Girl Group Chicago and playing in a string of other local bands, including the all-female Asian punk outfit Kim. She and Ratso also roam the crowds at numerous music festivals, where they interview musicians, then later have the kids to dance to recordings of their songs on the show. (At Lollapalooza, Ratso even earned some street cred when Perry Farrell asked him to leave during the puppet’s conversation with Patti Smith. Smith, for the record, is a fan of Chic-A-Go-Go.) Once we got to the studio, we waited with the rest of the crowd in the basement green room. Mia soon came down to usher us upstairs. She was dressed up for Halloween too, clad in black vinyl with a wooden sword at her hip—“a space-age martial artist,” she said. Ratso kept with this theme, having donned his own miniature karate uniform. Once the cameras started rolling, the Boris Karloff–style vocals of “Monster Mash” surged from the speakers. And with that, the dancing began. Mia announced that the famed novelty song opens the Halloween special every year. Our baby dangled in her carrier as my husband and I twisted and and watusi’d; all of the music that night had a 1960s feel, even the “live” performances from the musical guests. I say “live” because all of the music is prerecorded. This is a low-fi production, and lip-synching makes for better sound quality. But that doesn’t make things any less fun. Playing on a kids’ show seems to be a rare treat for all of the musical guests, including the two pop-punk acts booked for the Halloween taping. Lisa Doll & the Rock n Roll Romance showed up with working guitars made from Simpsons’ cereal boxes. The members of Masked Intruder wore their trademark ski masks, Chuck Taylors, and guitars to match their color-themed stage names: Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. They even stayed to dance after their set. However, all this enthusiasm wasn’t limited to the bands. Like us, many of the parents  came to the studio in costumes, showing just as much excitement as their children. One father did the mashed potato in a Winnie the Pooh costume. Elsewhere, two 20-somethings shook their hips while wearing pink and purple wigs. Another older man had no costume and no kids of his own but was thrilled just to dance. A few families chatted with Mia and the cameramen during breaks. Regulars, I realized. Since both of the musical acts were true rock bands as opposed to children’s fare in the vein of, say, The Wiggles, the evening had a raucousness often absent from other kids’ shows. Jake keeps this kind of adult appeal in mind when booking musicians, opting for performers who have grown-up followings but whose energy will also be attractive to children. Nothing is dumbed down. “Even the knock-knock jokes are presented more as hokey comedy chestnuts than kiddie fare,” he said. When the show was over, our wigs were sweaty, our baby was nodding off in the back seat, and my husband and I made a promise to each other: if this is the only way we can get out of the house to shake our booties, we would have to become regulars ourselves. Tapings are open to the public. More information on the next taping can be found on the Chic-A-Go-Go website or Facebook page. Photo: © Stephanie Bassos, Groupon

Poetry has a reputation for being stuffy, boring, and inaccessible. Just don’t tell that to Mairead Case. Before she stepped into the role of Youth Services Coordinator at the Poetry Foundation Library (61 W. Superior St.), Case worked as a volunteer coordinator for Young Chicago Authors’ Louder Than a Bomb youth poetry festival. There, she saw just how relevant poetry can be to Chicago’s teenagers. “There are a couple poems that people wrote at YCA that really speak to life in Chicago,” Case says. “Kevin Coval wrote one about riding the Blue Line, and José Olivarez wrote about how he always says his name differently depending on who he’s talking to.” Now that she’s charged with introducing young children to the Poetry Foundation’s massive library, Case often finds herself drawing on her experience with YCA. She constantly searches the library’s 30,000 volumes for books that similarly echo the real-life experience of a kid growing up in Chicago. The books that she does find are available for kids and their parents to peruse during the library’s open hours (Monday–Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.). But for the library, availability has always been less of a problem than publicity. The Poetry Foundation houses one of the most expansive collections of poetry in the world, and many local parents and children don’t realize that it’s right in their backyard. Case and Katherine Litwin, the library’s director, are out to change that. Learning to Play with Language One of their surest tactics is to catch kids at a young age. I spoke with Litwin about some of the weekly events the library puts on to accomplish this—in particular, an event called “Poemtime” geared toward children aged 2–5. Held every Wednesday, the event often reveals something that both Case and Litwin have noticed in their time at the foundation: how naturally receptive young children are to poetry. “They’re very open to playing with language,” Litwin explains. “If you look at books for very small kids, they’re almost all written in rhyme, which I think really has to do with the musicality of language. That’s something that kids respond to innately.” But the young kids aren’t the only ones who react in exciting, unpredictable ways. “When we have a group that’s a little bit older, we’ll read them a poem and then let them play something like Mad Libs,” Litwin explains. “They’ll get the same poem, and they have to insert words into it.” If they’re feeling especially daring, Litwin and Case will try to introduce the concept of “found” poetry, which compiles and rearranges words from various different texts. “Once, we looked at two books that were written about Hurricane Katrina,” Litwin recalls. “One of them was controversial because it used the words of Katrina survivors without getting permission from those people, so we asked the kids, ‘Well, what do you think?’” They were met with a grab bag of reactions. One kid just shook his head and said, “This is a huge mess,” remembers Case. Another’s reaction: “Oh my God, this is incredible!” For her part, Litwin loves the debate. “There’s not a right or wrong answer,” she says. “Contemporary poets don’t even agree on these issues.” Case often finds humor—and a kind of refreshing honesty—in the way kids interpret the art in the Poetry Foundation’s rotating exhibition room. “There was this Joan Mitchell painting in here for a while, and it was very fun to look at it with them. This one kid wrote a poem that said [the painting] reminds him of when his mom burns macaroni and cheese. And it was very funny, because it did look like that.” Rhyme and Relevance “I think that here in Chicago, there are a lot of different ways that poetry has been taught,” Case reflects, “and a lot of kids think it has nothing to do with their lives.” But she thinks that the experience of living and commuting in a modern city like Chicago creates exciting opportunities to engage with the medium. These opportunities are hardly limited to annual festivals such as Louder Than a Bomb. In a city with nearly three million residents, it doesn’t take long to find a teenager with something to say. Weekly events such as YCA’s #WordPlay workshop and open mic exist to amplify their voices, but Case insists that there’s also a joy in experiencing poetry on the page. “Poetry is something you can just hold in your hand. You can browse a book of poetry a lot more easily than you can browse a book of fiction,” she says. Poetry may never take over the world, but that’s not the point. So long as Chicago’s kids know what’s out there, there may come a day when they reach for a book of poems instead of a pair of headphones to pass the time between train stops. The Poetry Foundation Library is open Monday–Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Browse the foundation’s website for children’s poetry resources and a calendar of upcoming events.

You don’t have to be 5 years old to get breathless at the sight of a towering fir tree cutting through the winter darkness with a thousand points of light. In honor of this centuries-old tradition, we’ve compiled five festive ways to light up a cold winter’s night. 1. Lights + Animals You’ll find dazzling light displays at both Lincoln Park Zoo (2001 N. Clark St.) and Brookfield Zoo (8400 31st St., Brookfield). Lincoln Park’s ZooLights twinkle to a soundtrack each night, and Brookfield’s Holiday Magic event counters with a laser light show plus more than one million bulbs that form a luminous display some polar bears may confuse for the northern lights. At both nighttime events, you’ll find live ice carving, entertainment, and, of course, critters big and small. Admission to ZooLights is free, but cars must pay a parking fee of $20. Brookfield Zoo admission fees ($15 for adults; $10.50 for kids aged 3–11) and parking fees ($10) apply.  2. Lights + Plants The Chicago Botanic Garden (1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe) offers a treasure trove of holiday delights, not the least of which is a display of more than 750,000 lights strung throughout the trees that light the path to Wonderland. Inside Wonderland, kids will find an intricate holiday train, known as the Wonderland Express, chugging its way through a detailed model of Chicago landmarks. A 40-foot fir tree, brought in via helicopter, stands guard outside Wonderland, serving as a helpful air-traffic control tower for lost flying reindeer. Wonderland admission ($12 for adults; $10 for kids aged 3–12) and parking fees ($25+) apply.  3. Lights + History As the former home of a General Electric founder, it’s no surprise that historic Cuneo Mansion & Gardens (1350 N. Milwaukee Ave., Vernon Hills) shines extra brightly around the holidays. The turn-of-the-century estate—owned by Loyola University—partners with the Village of Vernon Hills each year to illuminate its 97 acres with a drive-through Winter Wonderland display. Cars pass under dozens of bright archways flanked by animated displays of light-up animals, trees, and toys, all accompanied by music streamed by a local radio station. Admission costs $5 per car Monday­–Thursday, $10 per car Friday­–Sunday; cash only. 4. Lights + Beer Known most of the year for its well-executed pub fare, signature cocktails, and innovative “layered” draft beers, Butch McGuire’s (20 W. Division St.) transforms into a twinkling wonderland come December. The electric spectacle takes over the entire restaurant, with strings of lights dripping from every inch of the ceiling and a platoon of toy soldiers standing guard over the bar, awaiting a beer delivery from the model train running overhead. 5. Lights + Giant Toys A giant biplane, tall ship, and locomotive take over North School Park each year as just three of the majestic light sculptures that form Arlington Heights’ holiday display (Arlington Heights Rd. and Eastman St.). More than 70,000 lights make up the city’s 22nd annual display, whose theme is classic children’s toys such as dump trucks, teddy bears, dreidels, and hopelessly tangled Slinkys. Admission is free. Photos courtesy of Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago Botanic Garden, Cuneo Mansion, and Butch McGuire's.