Even in the dim nightclub light, the golden "Y" around his neck glittered. Clad in a pastel tuxedo and armed with only a microphone and recording device, Lord of the Yum Yum [1] wailed and boomed, jived and gyrated, turning classical music into a wacky, modern performance piece.
After a half hour, Yum Yum took his bow and minutes later the man behind the act, Paul Velat, casually returned to the main floor of the Bucktown nightclub Subterranean [2]. In comparison to his zany alter-ego, Velat seemed unassuming, dressed in jeans and drinking a $2 Schlitz from the bar. Though he spoke of his early years in punk rock bands as an influence, children inspire much of his routine, he said. While Velat indulges his passion for performance art on weekends as Yum Yum, during the week he teaches general music at Chicago elementary and middle schools.
"It's mostly little kids," said Velat, 33, about where he gets his ideas. "I tell them to do something like 'Become something green.' Their reactions are so important. They can go in a completely new direction."
To Velat, his two jobs are not different.
"Teaching is very similar to performing. You make a lot of preparations. You're up in front of a crowd. With teaching you're trying to leave with something," he said. "Well, I do try to leave the crowd with something too."
In Bucktown on Sunday, Velat was one of six artists performing at the Consumatron.com First Annual Revue [3], an exhibition sponsored by the blog Consumatron.com [4] to explore the different possibilities of performance art.
Consumatron.com, a blog originally started by Kevin Elliott, 27, as a joke in October 2005, explores the everyday aspects of consumerism. Each day on the Web site, Elliott posts reviews of his purchases, everything from the routine - a bunch of bananas he bought at Jewel-Osco, a cup of coffee from 7-11 - to once-in-a-lifetime events, like the Tom Waits concert he attended this summer.
The revue featured Chicago-area artists from a half-dozen performance genres at the North Avenue club. Elliott, who arranged the exhibition, said he envisioned the event as an opportunity for the artists he'd encountered through his blog to meet and collaborate.
"As I started to think about it, I had met a lot of people through the reviews of the music and creative scenes in the Chicago area. [The revue] would be great way to showcase these people I admire," Elliott said.
Performers and those who attended said they were drawn to the event by the idea of mixing genres.
"I like the idea of cross-pollination," said Dan Solomon, 26, a slam-poet [5]. "The different scenes get to come together as equals."
Pete Klockau [6], 24, a cartoonist who set up a table near the back to sell his comics and freestyle drawings, said the event gave him a chance to reach out to people who might not otherwise see his work.
"[The event] is a great idea," Klockau said. "It's a good opportunity for some of us who don't often have the opportunity to have our art seen to step out and [get exposure]."
For about an hour at the beginning of the event, performers and attendees mingled in the main floor of the club while drinking cans of Schlitz and PBR. Along the wall near the bar, artists set up tables showcasing their CDs, books and art. Elliott and Michaelia Fosses, 23, sold tickets for a raffle to benefit 826 Chicago [7], a tutoring program that encourages children and teenagers to write. In the background, DJ Oh Shinobi, 25, spun records.
At about 9 p.m., Charles Blackstone [8], author of "The Week You Weren't Here," a coming-of-age novel set in Chicago, kicked off the event by reading excerpts from his book. After Blackstone's reading, Solomon, 26, explored the idea of anger toward America as an entity through his poetry.
By far the most popular act was by Yum Yum. Half beat-box and half wordless vocalizations, Yum Yum uses a digital voice recorder to recreate classical music pieces.
But his performance is more than just music. With his brightly colored costume, Yum Yum merges the music with zany antics, such as a recreation of a Wild West showdown. The performance also focused on viewer participation, with Yum Yum frequently moving from the stage to the floor and adding vocalizations from the crowd into the mix.
Rounding out the revue, Russell Williamson, 22, performed his stand-up comedy routine and singer-songwriter Adam Fitz [9] finished the night with a concert.
Kelly McNamara, 23, a Logan Square resident who regularly reads the blog, said she enjoyed the event because of the mix of genres.
"I wish something like this would happen more in Chicago with a mix of different performances," McNamara said. "This brings so many people together."
By the end of the night, the raffle raised $150 for 826 Chicago, Elliott said.
"I'm happy with it," Elliot said. "We had about 75-80 people through the door, which is great for a first time out. I'd like to do it again, even if we have to do it in a smaller venue next time."