Charles Joseph Smith at Rozz-Tox -- April 10.
Friday, April 10, 8 p.m.
Rozz-Tox,. 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
A Chicago-based pianist, composer, arranger, writer, and dancer known for his work in both classical and experimental music, music icon Dr. Charles Joseph Smith headlines a special April 10 event Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, his creative work and community involvement having made him a major figure in Chicago’s DIY and experimental arts scene.
Smith’s remarkable story begins with a mute child’s gift for music, and the purposeful way he nurtured this talent to become both life practice and raison d'être. Charles recounts this artistic journey in his autobiography The 88 Keys That Opened Doors, a self-published book that chronicles a life in which music was (and still is) the primary key to overcoming immense challenges posed by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
His career as a musician starts in the church, reaches into the international concert piano circuit, and eventually settles to bear strange fruit in Chicago’s experimental underground. Along the way, Smith’s compositional voice absorbed and metabolized popular music spanning pop to jazz, the gospel of the church, the canon of the classical conservatory, modern dance scores, and the rule-shattering experimentalism of his city’s DIY subculture, where he has been a mainstay for over 30 years.
Since the mid-1990s, Charles has been performing, dancing, and selling his self-published musical and written works in person, often at the local shows he frequents. He is known around Chicago as a living symbol of the power of music, and of the beloved spirit of community at the heart of DIY. He will appear at Rozz Tox to celebrate the first retrospective collection of his work, a 90-minute album titled Collected Works and War of the Martian Ghosts, out April 3 on Chicago's Sooper Records. This is the definitive collection of his original recordings – though it would be impossible to ever encompass the galaxies of music, poetry, and prose penned by the prolific Dr. Charles Joseph Smith.
Charles Joseph Smith headlines his Rock Island event on April 10 alongside the guest artists of Nonnie Parry, a two-piece computer-punk act that delights in minimalism, ambiance, and low noise, with performance-art duo The Personals being showcased for one night only. Admission to the 8 p.m. all-ages concert is $10-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)200-0978 and visiting RozzTox.com.
