ECC Arts Center presents blues, brats during Bratoberfest Oct. 10
The ECC Arts Center will celebrate both blues and brats on Friday, Oct. 10 when it presents two up-and-coming blues musicians and hosts its first preshow Bratoberfest.
Blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eli Cook will headline the performance and special guest 14-year-old Tallan Noble Latz will open.
The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Blizzard Theater in the Building H Arts Center, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. The preshow Bratoberfest starts at 6:30 p.m. and takes place in Spartan Terrace Restaurant, located just a few steps from the Blizzard Theatre.
Blending the influences of artists like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Lightnin' Hopkins with the likes of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine, Eli Cook has forged a sound on the forefront of modern blues and rock. The All Music Guide proclaimed that Cook could be "the best blues singer of his generation."
Cook took up the guitar as a teenager in the Blue Ridge foothills of Virginia. Following the tradition of the great blues men, he performed in churches and late-night gospel revivals with only his acoustic and deep baritone voice, while playing every hole-in-the-wall bar that could handle his electric power trio. He has recorded and released three albums, opened for B.B. King, and shared the stage with Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Parliament Funkadelic, Gary Clark Jr., Roomful of Blues, and many others.
Fourteen-year-old guitar phenom Tallan Noble Latz started playing guitar at age 4, had his first professional gig at the age of 8, has been likened to Stevie Ray Vaughan, and has shared the stage with Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, and Jackson Browne.
Before the show, audience members are invited to enjoy the Arts Center's first Bratoberfest. Each Bratoberfest attendee will enjoy a delicious house made bratwurst prepared by ECC's award-winning Culinary Arts and Hospitality Program with a choice of mustard and sautéed onions plus an individual fruit cobbler or a glass of beer. Goose Island Oktoberfest will be served on draft. Additional brats, cobblers, and glasses of beer will be available for purchase.
Tickets for the Eli Cook with special guest Tallan Noble Latz are $16. Tickets for Bratoberfest are an additional $5. Tickets for all performances in the ECC Arts Center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu, at the ECC box office located in the Arts Center, or by phone at (847) 622-0300. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.