eighth blackbird held its inaugural fundraising benefit last Thursday night at Blackbird restaurant. The event showcased the many talents of superstar chef Mario Batali, who both cooked and also performed during the evening.
The evening attracted a diverse crowd: Chicago foodies; Mario Batali disciples; long-time eighth blackbird fans and supporters; Chicago folk who were up for an interesting night out but had no idea what to expect.
We managed to sell out the event (we even had a waiting list!), and everyone seemed to have a great time.
The evening began with a short concert at FLATFILE galleries. As a sextet, we played our newest commission, Joseph Schwantner’s Rhiannon’s Blackbirds, and a movement from our oldest, Tom Albert’s thirteen ways. But in the highlight of the concert, Mario Batali joined Lisa, Matt and Nick for Aaron Kernis’ hilarious piano-trio-plus-narrator piece The four seasons of futurist cuisine. The concert was filmed by Bob Borchardt and a crew from cuisinepopulaire.com for future use in a documentary.
We then headed over to Blackbird restaurant for a spectacular meal. Mike Sula was there from the Chicago Reader, and you can read about the menu and look at photos of the dishes at his blog, The Food Chain. Mike seemed to have a good time; he ended his report with the line, “Music and food should always be this much fun.”
The benefit was almost a year in the planning, and last month in particular was completely crazy for all involved. Lisa was the driving force behind the event, and worked tirelessly from the beginning of the process.
We started out as clueless rank amateurs, with little or no idea how to host such a complicated evening, and came out of it as rank amateurs, but with a much better grasp of what makes a benefit tick….
For more photos, go to our Flickr photoblog.
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