Wed. July 16, 2014
By Danny Bernardo
Jayson "JC" Brooks is a lot of things. He's a certifiable rockstar as frontman of the funk/soul band JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound. He's an award-nominated actor with whom I had the pleasure of working with twice: I directed him as "Hud" in HAiR when he first moved to the city and most recently in Bailiwick Chicago's Dessa Rose. But did you know the rockstar is also a huge geek? I caught up for a brief and fun chat with my pal as he gears up for a special performance at a variety show presented by Nightcaps and Geeks OUT this Friday at Berlin at 10pm:
Danny Bernardo (DB): Hey dude how was Europe?
JC Brooks (JB): Hey! Europe was great! We played in France and in the Netherlands, and the people in both places were incredibly kind and supportive. Plus we were in the Netherlands for their World Cup win, so that was a crazy awesome night! We're going back to France in November to do 9 or 10 dates all around the country and I can't wait.
DB: Well welcome home, glad to have you back stateside. and thanks for performing for this event on Friday. now I know the answer to this, but for the record: do you identify as a geek?
JB: I absolutely do!
DB: Geek is becoming epically more chic. why do you think that is?
JB: I honestly couldn't say...Although I'm glad that it is because that means more of a kind of stuff that I like will get produced.
DB: Probably because of cool guys like you making it chic.
JB: (chuckles) Whatever Danny.
DB: If you had to pick one specific aspect of geekdom to fanboy about for the rest of your life, what would it be?
JB: Damn. Wheel Of Time/Dr. Who/The Varleyverse I know I was only supposed to pick one...I suck at decisions.
DB: I'd have a hard time picking between Spider-Man, X-Men, or Scott Pilgrim myself. So a little birdie tells me you're debuting a brand new song about geek love at the event?
JB: I am indeed! It's a hip-hop track and it should be fun because I don't think that anyone has ever seen me rap...karaoke notwithstanding.
DB: What's next for you and the Uptown Sound?
JB: We're in the process of writing the next album. We're trying to record it this winter and it'll hopefully be out next spring.
--JC Brooks will be performing this Friday at 10pm Nightcaps presents Geeks OUT at Berlin Nightclub which will be hosted by Adam Guerino. Performances include a word from Hunger Games champion Katniss Everdeen (Casey Larwood,) a rant from The Simpon's Comic Book Guy (Jamie Carbone,) drag Princess Peach + Barbarella (Ivory,) drag Buffy Summers (Ruby Dee,) Harry Potter burlesque (Ben D. Mann,) theme song medley from Manny Capozzi, and more. Click here for more info.
To keep updated on JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound visit their website.
For the complete article (non-reader view with multimedia and original links),
Tap here.
Head to the local LGBTQ news, events, directory and people network at ChicagoPride.com