The Lucky Trikes

Description

The Lucky Trikes, a Chicago-based literacy chamber band for all ages, have been presenting story times with live, improvised music and original songs since 2014.

Story teller Deirdre Harrison curates picture book sets around a theme or in partnership with event hosts, while composer and percussionist Kyle Gregory Price assembles a band with 1-3 additional guest artists from Illinois' free jazz and new music scenes on a range of instruments (strings, brass, reeds, vocals and electronics).  Deirdre is the storyteller unless a dual language performer is needed. The Tikes are open to bringing in local librarians and teachers as guests as part of workshops in somatic storytelling.

Story times typically run 30-45 minutes and can be extended with an instrument petting zoo, book signing, Little Free Library install, or other related event.  Movement, sound making and guest reading from the audience often occurs.  The Lucky Trikes considers its audience a key part of the improvised performance; so out of 20 books at the ready, 5-10 might be chosen to best suit the energy of the room on that particular day.

The Lucky Trikes can design large scale events with projections and projection, but cannot provide the AV or tech staff for such events without a separate fee. Fees for multiple events on one or consecutive days, or for a multi-week/month residency fees and payment terms will be set with our host.  The Lucky Trikes pays its artists a fair wage on the day they perform.

Work Sample

We Are The Lucky Trikes, 4 original songs by KG Price recored by an ensemble of top Chicago free jazz /new music artists at the Experimental Sound Studio; underwritten in part with a grant from the IACA in 2018/19. Each track is 1.5-3 minutes in length.  The 7" vinyl album is for sale at the Chicago Cultural Center Buddy store and online. Bringing an ensemble this large would require a fee higher than the typical ones we charge for 3-05 artists.  

Chicago Park District Your Night Out at Home video, 2019. Clarinetist Richard Zelli joins Deirdre Harrison and Kyle Price at Indian Boundary Park. Watch from 8:06 to 14:04.  This was a response to our annual summer park series being canceled during the pandemic.

A project underwritten by CHicago's DCASE, this is 1 of 9 videos recorded in the fall of 2021 with guest artists Avreeayl Ra, Angel bat Dawid, Chris Dammann and Trevor Patricia Watkin. Each runs about 12-16 minutes and includes 2-4 picture books curated around a theme. Each is dedicated to a local literacy champion, most members of the former Chicago Literacy Alliance, for use in their own activities, as well as for public consumption.  The project was part of a a campaign to fund, install and steward three new Little Free libraries in the La Villita and South/North Lawndale neighborhoods on Chicago's west side in partnership with the CHicago Park District. The full playlist can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5qnQI--DNE&list=PLm23pKXxGMTMdblHOMmuVeND-BLQqQj8P

#1 The Lucky Trikes can bring a full band to an event to perform composed original or scored music (such as Debussy's La boîte à joujoux at The Newberry) as heard on the first sample, or to an outdoor festival.

A second album, Listen! Listen! Listen!, also underwritten by a grant from the IACA, was completed in 2021 with a full band and puppeteers, and will eventually be presented as a staged performance with educational puppet partners Sajja and Kabba. More on the album release and this e stages show soon! https://www.youtube.com/c/SajjaandKabba

#2&3 The Trikes primarily perform with Kyle on percussion and Deirdre as storyteller/uke player, with one or two guest artists as seen in the second and third samples.

Pre-pandemic we included an instrument petting zoo after many events, often with partners from music instrument stores around Chicago. We look forward to returning to this model, as well as  to curating book sets with librarians and teachers around relevant themes for our hosts and audiences.

History

The Lucky Trikes was founded in 2014 by composer, percussionist and turntablist Kyle Gregory Price, and performance artist, writer and arts administrator Deirdre Harrison with their Saturday morning series "Stories Wrapped in String" at William Harris Lee luthier shops in Wilmette and Chicago's Fine Arts Building.

Deirdre was trained as an actor and director at Yale and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked for many years as performer of new plays and musicals in Europe and New York, before shifting to nonprofit admin in Chicago while raising her daughter as a solo mom.  The Lucky Trikes allowed her to repurpose her skills for new audiences in a more social practice primarily on weekends and in the evenings - times she remembers being able to join her daughter for such events back in the day.

Kyle studied composition at NYU Fredonia, and has worked as a performer, composer and producer in Buffalo and Chicago for the past 20 years. The Lucky Trikes is one of many music and multi-disciplinary projects he is devotes his time to when not teaching or curating his music series at Esquina.

Over the years the duo has worked with a long list of Chicago's top free jazz and new music artists in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings providing fee, accessible experiences all over Chicagoland, while paying guest artists well through a fee-based structure.

Artistic Vision

The Lucky Trikes imagines an Illinois where literacy chamber bands pop up like mushrooms in hundreds of unpredictable and awesome forms inspired by groups like ours who promote joyful, shared storytelling as one pathway to a 100% literate state.

The Lucky Trikes looks forward to returning to seasonal residencies at public libraries and book stores in the Chicago area as well as performances at venues around the state.

Of particular interest is the future development a curriculum in somatic storytelling for parents, day care providers and caregivers who are no native English speakers or of low literacy in partnership with an early childhood research partner focused on intergenerational literacy as an equity issue.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

The Lucky Trikes work best in settings such as libraries, schools, day programs (including for developmentally disabled youth or adults and we hope to add programs for seniors) where the acoustics and physical setting are predictable and allow the group to focus on what is happening, while also allowing for room to participate in the unexpected ways (mini parades or movement) safely. 

We prefer not to perform on stage or at a remove from our audiences, though we have worked with institutions such as The Newberry Library, Art Institute of Chicago, Navy Pier, the Chicago Park District and various festivals to present events for large publics and using projections of book plates and microphones.

Deirdre is a certified teacher of English as a Second Language, a lead administrator and drama teacher at progressive elementary schools in Chicago for many years, and has worked with low income, refugee and incarcerated populations in volunteer positions.

Kyle worked at day residency for youth with developmental disabilities in New York State and was a manger at a toy store in Chicago for many years, working with young children and their adults. He currently teaches music at Access Contemporary Music.

The Lucky Trikes were one of the only interactive workshops in the first iteration of Equip to Achieve's online SEL summit in 2020 with a parent/educator/caregiver session on Somatic Storytelling.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

Storytelling is an ancient form of human communication and culture making ~ the transfer of knowledge, values and cultural identity in community. It is also a form or performance that encourages reflection, discourse, dissent and action.  The Lucky Trikes model an irreverent, playful approach to intergenerational literacy for adults and youth which we hope leads to the desire for developing a strong voice and sense of language in our audiences, however might best serve each individual in telling their own stories and living their lives with a sense of agency.