michael brook Testimonial for the bitter jester music festival

Read what musician Michael Brook had to say about the Bitter Jester Music Fest!

Hello!

Thank you for reading this letter of support! I'm writing this letter in the hopes of making it blatantly evident just how important the Bitter Jester Music Festival is to young musicians all across Highland Park, the Chicagoland area, and more recently, the greater Midwest area. The Bitter Jester Music Festival serves as a space for young artists to network with other young musicians, share their music with others, and receive critical and well-informed feedback from generally overqualified professional musicians and educators. These experiences are so valuable for any up-and-coming musician, and in my experience, there is nothing that even compares to Bitter Jester Music Festival. I'd like to elaborate on my own years-long experience with Bitter Jester to provide some insight into just how important this experience is to young artists.

The first show I ever played was Bitter Jester Battle of the Bands in the summer of 2013 with what was called the Xazz Quintet at the time. We were a 5-piece band consisting of bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, and alto saxophone. Our performance was sloppy, unrehearsed and unprofessional. We prepared two songs for our 20-minute set. Those two songs came and went, and with 12 minutes remaining in our set, we jammed on what I can only describe as a botched Bb blues. We lost our Friday night battle (shocking, right?). Although there is a lot of negative to remember from that night, I can't help but think of the positives. I remember the excitement in the minutes coming up to the show. I remember the first time I felt the rush of people cheering after a solo. I remember the feeling of accomplishment after finishing my first real show. For the first time in my life, I really felt like I was part of something much larger than myself. We went on to play shows for the whole year, adding a singer somewhere along the line. We participated in Bitter Jester the following year and got 1st place on the 4th of July in 2014. Up to that point, Bitter Jester Music Festival taught me that hard work, passion, and perseverance (combined with some guidance) can do wonders.

In 2015, we entered the contest with a bit of an ego. Reigning champs, two years of performances under our belt, a solid and growing fan base... we thought we had it all. We won our Friday night battle and went on to the 4th of July. We got into the finale. We were sure it was a lock. Back-to- back winners for the first time in the event's history! We played our finale song, and the opposing band played theirs. Drum roll please...

We got 2nd place.

Had this been any other ordinary battle of the bands, we would have left and went on to the next show. We probably would have blamed the event for giving the 1st place title to the other band due to poor judging, bias, or some other poor excuse. Luckily for us, this was no ordinary battle of the bands. This event insists on a positive and uplifting culture. All of the bands support each other and bring each other up. It is by far the most supportive musical environment I've ever been a part of to this day (and I say that as a musician with 10 years of performingunder his belt!). That being said, we stuck around after the show to talk to the band that secured the 1st place spot.

That band was called PROFUSION, and they had a lead singer who blew all the competition out of the water: 14-year-old Caroline Baran. After talking for a while, we all exchanged numbers and went our separate ways. 

A few weeks passed and our singer left for college. We didn't know what to do. We played a show with a girl who said she was a singer, but it just didn't click. That was when we remembered Caroline. Long story short, we started a new band with Caroline as the lead singer. That band was called Caroline & The Priority. We went on to play shows all year long, and when we came back to Bitter Jester in 2016, we secured that 1st place spot again as a whole new band with a whole new sound. What a wild ride this was up to this point, and I can largely accredit it to Bitter Jester. By this point, we had learned so much. We learned to stay humble, because there's always someone that's better. We learned to respect other musicians and their musical paths, because at the end of the day music is something that brings people together. We learned to make meaningful connections with our peers, because who knows what pathsmight cross again down the road.

That last sentiment held very true for me. Briefly after this, I went on to perform with several band members from another group I met through Bitter Jester called Elise and the Police, under the name of F I Z Z. We played a few shows together, most notably opening for Hippo Campus at Northwestern University's Dillo Day. I then performed with a group called Out of Pocket, who knew me from my past performances at Bitter Jester Music Festival as well as from high school (HPHS!). If the point here has not been made clear yet, Bitter Jester Music Festival is an absolute beast at allowing young musicians to network and explore their musical identities.

Seriously, as a seasoned and well-experienced performing musician, it is next to none.

I am probably as good of an example as you can find of just how impactful this event can be on a young artist. After playing in this event, I was an All-State saxophonist my junior and senior year of high school. I pursued and completed my Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Illinois. This was not because of my music experiences in school. In fact, this was despite them. I noticed how much more I learned in myexperiences performing in events like the Bitter Jester Music Festival than I did in school, and I decided that these types of experiences need to be put on a larger pedestal. Young artists in school don't have musical autonomy. They don't pick the music they play, the clothes they wear, the dates they perform, the venues they perform at... they don't even get to decide how they play their music! Bitter Jester Music Festival gives youngmusicians a space where they get to make all the calls. They choose the music, the look, the sound, and the performance. What an invaluable experience for any young musician to have!

Enough about my experience, I'd now like to talk a bit about Bitter Jester Music Festival as an entity. This event isnow a must for Highland Park every Friday night in Port Clinton Square, and it brings people together all across the Chicagoland area at Wolters Field for the 4th of July. Bitter Jester consistently brings in thousands of people for that 4th of July event every single year. The craziest part is, they're growing exponentially. This year they had 43 bands apply from five different states. This event will only continue to grow, and as it continues to grow, it needs to continue to provide more opportunities for its artists. That being said, they will need money to continueto provide meaningful experiences to their artists. I can only hope that Bitter Jester Music Festival continues to have the same impact on young musicians that it did for me 8 years ago, and that can only happen with financial help from donors.

I sincerely hope that this letter helped to explain just how important this event is to young artists, the city ofHighland Park, and the greater Midwest area. They deserve all of the financial help they can get, and if you have the means to make that happen, please, please, please make that happen! These young artists will benefit so much from it.

Thank you again for reading this letter!

Signed: Michael Brook