{"id":27358,"date":"2018-11-02T09:35:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T13:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=27358"},"modified":"2018-11-02T09:35:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T13:35:57","slug":"on-stage-downingtowns-haas-brings-his-comedy-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=27358","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Downingtown’s Haas brings his comedy home"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chris Haas<\/p><\/div>\n

Chris Haas is coming back home \u2013 at least for a few days.<\/p>\n

Haas, who now lives in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, graduated from Downingtown High in 2005. On November 3, Haas is returning to Chester County to perform a live comedy show.<\/p>\n

On Saturday evening, Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295<\/a>,\u00a0http:\/\/www.kennettflash.org<\/a>) will present \u201cThe Chris Haas Comedy Show: Blind & Brown.\u201d Haas is both blind (almost) and brown (almost).<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in Asuncion, Paraguay,\u201d said Haas, during a phone interview this week from his home in southern California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was adopted when I was one year old. My parents were white and lived in Pennsylvania. So, I feel authentically white. Growing up in Pennsylvania during my early years, I stood out and looked different.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I\u2019m in L.A. I feel authentically white with music theater. But, I\u2019m brown. All the folks in my neighborhood who are brown speak Spanish and I don\u2019t speak a word of it. Ironically, my girlfriend, who is snowy white, is fluent in Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the \u201cbrown\u201d part. The \u201cblind\u201d part is more serious. Haas has keratoconus.<\/p>\n

Keratoconus is a disorder of the eye which results in progressive thinning of the cornea.\u00a0 Usually both eyes are affected. The underlying mechanism involves changes of the cornea to a cone shape. Initially the condition can typically be corrected with glasses or soft contact lenses. In a small number of people scarring of the cornea occurs and a corneal transplantation is required.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have five per cent of my vision in my left eye and 25-30 per cent in my right eye,\u201d said Haas, who performed in shows at Exton\u2019s Barley Sheaf Theater when he was a kid. \u201cI\u2019ve already had some surgery done and I have three more surgeries coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas is a comedian, writer, director, actor and playwright. He has performed at The Comedy Store, Flappers & The HaHa Comedy Club. His original play \u201cTo All The Lights In The Windows\u201d is being produced this winter at The Loft Ensemble in Los Angeles. Chris is also in pre-production on his original feature film \u201cKill The Detectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went to school at Downingtown, I was at East first and then spent junior and senior year at West,\u201d said Haas. \u201cMy dad Tom Haas taught English at Downingtown High from 1973-2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I graduated, I went to Castleton University in Vermont. I stayed in Vermont for a year, spent a few years in Pennsylvania and then had another year in Vermont. Then, I decided it was time to get out of the East. I moved to L.A. in 2011. I worked at musical theater for children and directed shows for kids. I also worked as an educator with one-on-one teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two years have been really bad with my keratoconus. My eyesight is really bad. Because of the condition and the surgeries, I don\u2019t spend much time outside. Instead, I\u2019ve hunkered down and worked on my writing. I just wrote a pilot for a show about a photojournalist and it is being shopped around to cable stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, Jared Bonner, a buddy I had in sixth grade in Downingtown, is in the movie industry here. He hired me to write a comedy film about two brothers in the porn industry who want to make a porn film version of \u2018Hamilton.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI also have a new play called \u2018To all the Lights in the Window\u2019 that\u2019s going up this winter. I first started doing stand-up trying to get money together to do a feature film.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started doing free-verse poetry about four years ago and that poetry took on a comedic edge. My comedy career started very slow. It\u2019s very difficult to do. But, I like it because it\u2019s an art form where I don\u2019t have to change anything for someone else if I don\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Chris Haas \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/gGiosXH_IxE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Kennett Flash, which also features Marc Huppman, Mallory Leonard, Steph Termini & host Melissa Kirkpatrick, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.<\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at Kennett Flash are Andrew Lipke & The Azrael String Quartet <\/u>on November 2 and \u201cOpen Mic with guest host Sam Kwietniak<\/u>\u201d on November 4.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mother Feather<\/p><\/div>\n

The wait is finally over for the New York-based band Mother Feather and its legion of fans. More than two years have gone by since the rocking quintet released its eponymous debut album on Metal Blade records.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the album\u2019s arrival, the band known for its in-your-face live shows, will play a Philly album release show this Friday at Johnny Brenda\u2019s (1201 North Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, 215-739-9684<\/a>, www.johnnybrendas.com<\/a>). The band will also have hometown release show December 6 at Brooklyn\u2019s Knitting Factory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe album officially drops Thursday at midnight,\u201d said frontwoman Ann Courtney, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from her home in Brooklyn. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m getting ready to prep about 8,000 t-shirts. We have some new styles \u2013 and some new hats \u2013 in stock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album will be a mixture old tracks that have been around for a while and tracks which were recently written.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started playing some of the songs from the record as early as 2010,\u201d said Courtney. \u201cOthers, we started with in 2017. The majority were written at the end of 2016 when we came home from the Warped Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote most of the music for the album after the presidential election. I locked myself away. I was too depressed to go outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it was time to record the album, we worked with producer Joshua Valleau. We recorded the album at his studio, The Glass Wall. We also cut some tracks at Mission Sound. Both studios are here in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hunkered down and completed the bulk of the writing in fall of 2016. After doing the Warped Tour, we knew we had to make an album. The bulk of the recording was done in the spring of 2017 during a concentrated three-month period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album is just the second full-length in the nine-year history of Mother Feather, a quintet that features Elizabeth Carena (Vocals, Keyboards), Chris Foley (Guitar), Gunnar Olsen (Drums), Seth Ondracek (Bass) and Courtney (Vocals).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe formed in the summer of 2009 and did our first show in early 2010,\u201d said Courtney. \u201cThree-fifths of that lineup is still in the group. Gunnar has been with us since almost the beginning and Seth joined a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, we released two EPs on our own \u2013 \u2018Mother Feather\u2019 and \u2018Living Breathing.\u2019 When Metal Blade found out about us, they signed us in 2015. They took the songs from the two EPs and added a few more to have enough to release the \u2018Mother Feather\u2019 album.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band has evolved and matured sonically and lyrically since its formative days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new album is exuberant, but it also goes to some sad and dark places,\u201d said Courtney. \u201cThere is a lot more color there \u2013 a broader emotional palette. We expanded what Mother Feather is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Mother Feather \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/zUv4U8ZaJxM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Johnny Brenda\u2019s, which also features West Philadelphia Orchestra<\/a> and OOLALA<\/a>, will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10.<\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at Johnny Brenda\u2019s are Mothers<\/a>, Mega Bog, and Arthur<\/a> on November 3, Ian Sweet<\/a>, Young Jesus, and Sean Henry<\/a> on November 6, and The Blow<\/a> andKarima Walker<\/a> on November 7.<\/p>\n

On November 2, music fans who head to the Theatre of the Living Arts (334 South Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1011<\/a>, http:\/\/www.lnphilly.com<\/a>) for a concert by PRETTYMUCH should plan on getting there early enough to catch the opening act.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gunnar Gehl<\/p><\/div>\n

The show will feature the Philadelphia debut of new teen pop singer,\u00a0Gunnar Gehl. The singer from southern California has just gotten started but is already taking the music industry by storm. He has amassed more than 200K followers on\u00a0Instagram without even a single release of music.<\/p>\n

Although music has been an obsession for Gehl since sitting down at age seven at his grandfather\u2019s piano and effortlessly playing by\u00a0ear what he just heard, the 17-year-old\u00a0Newport Beach, California, high school junior only decided to pursue playing and writing\u00a0seriously in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn high school, I always had a fear of letting people know I sang,\u201d said Gehl, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon from a tour stop in Orlando, Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn high school, people can be very judgmental. Then, I reached a point where I decided to go ahead with my singing. Two years ago, I put a cover of a John Mayer song on social media and it did well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heartened by the internet response, Gehl\u00a0proceeded to post his own original songs onto Instagram, receiving 30,000 plays\u00a0instantaneously. Now, Gehl has put the rest of\u00a0his life on hold to pursue his musical career. While he now numbers more than 172,000 Instagram followers, Gehl insists amassing likes and views is secondary to working\u00a0on his craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been writing for the last six months,\u201d said Gehl. \u201cI made a trip to Nashville to record the song \u2018Ocean Blue.\u2019 It came out in October. It\u2019s a great song. My next single \u2013 \u2018Out of My Mind\u2019 — is another great song. It will be out in about two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gehl is in the process of realizing a number of \u201cfirsts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first show on this tour was my first live show,\u201d said Gehl. \u201cThis is also my first time to travel to the East Coast \u2013 except when I came to Philadelphia and New York on a class trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Gehl has enough songs ready to full his 30-minute opening set.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my set list for this tour are six original songs and a cover of four pieces of songs,\u201d said Gehl. \u201cI have about six more originals I haven\u2019t sung for anybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan after this tour is to get back in the studio for a while and then go out on the road again. I\u2019m already finding fans that are coming to these shows to hear me play. And, PRETTYMUCH\u2019s fans are coming over too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Gunnar Gehl \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/8yb2CzulP6c<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at the Theatre of the Living Arts, which has PRETTYMUCH as the headliner, will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $28.<\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at the TLA are Sabrina Claudio on November 3, Elle King on November 4, Queen Naija on November 5, Kiiara on November 6 and St. Lucia on November 7.<\/p>\n

The Steel City Coffee House (203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, 610-933-4043<\/a>, www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com<\/a>) will host Megan Slankard and Alex Wong on November 3.<\/p>\n

Chaplin\u2019s (66 North Main Street, Spring City, 610-792-4110<\/a>,\u00a0http:\/\/chaplinslive.com<\/a>) will present Janet Gardner (of Vixen), Mantis, Dog Bite Money, Stella and the Voodoo Fish on November 3.<\/p>\n

The Ardmore Music Hall (23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, 610-649-8389<\/a>,\u00a0www.ardmoremusic.com<\/a>) will host Chris Robinson Brotherhood on November 2 and 3, and The Orb on November 4.<\/p>\n

Burlap & Bean Coffeehouse (204 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, 484-427-4547<\/a>,\u00a0www.burlapandbean.com<\/a>) will present Antje Duvekot with Brianna Lane on November 2.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An Evening with The Hooters<\/p><\/div>\n

The Keswick Theater (291 N. Keswick Avenue, Glenside, 215-572-7650<\/a>,\u00a0www.keswicktheatre.com<\/a>) presents \u201cAn Evening with The Hooters\u201d on November 2 and 3 and Gordon Lightfoot on November 4.<\/p>\n

The Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808<\/a>,\u00a0www.st94.com<\/a>) presents Rhonda Vincent & The Rage on November 3, Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore on November 4, and George Winston on November 7.<\/p>\n

The Grand Opera House (818 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-652-5577<\/a>, www.thegrandwilmington.org<\/a>) will host Kathleen Madigan on November 2 and Wanda Sykes on November 4.<\/p>\n

The Locks at Sona (4417 Main Street, Manayunk, 484- 273-0481<\/a>, sonapub.com<\/a>) will host Adam Ezra Group on November 2, Jim Lauderdale on November 3, and Dawn Landes and Chris Stills on November 7.<\/p>\n

The Candlelight Theater (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware,\u00a0302- 475-2313<\/a>,\u00a0www.candlelighttheatredelaware.org<\/a>) will present The Rhythm Doctors on November 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Chris Haas is coming back home \u2013 at least for a few days. Haas, who now lives in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, graduated from Downingtown High in 2005. On November 3, Haas is returning to Chester County to perform a live comedy show. On Saturday evening, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7441],"tags":[11018,11016,6269,11017,7627],"class_list":["post-27358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-an-evening-with-the-hooters","tag-chris-haas","tag-featured","tag-gunnar-gehl","tag-mother-feather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27359,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27358\/revisions\/27359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}