"Ya'll are Funky!" Bootsy Collins
"I know they have a great version of Amazing Grace" Joan Baez
"EE,
veterans of street action and indomitable spirits" Mark Messing
"You make me want to dance with my six year-old." Alex
"Inimatable." Hungry March Band
"Our favorite roaming performers" Chicago Waldorf School
"EE has a storied NYC underground history" geminiandscorpio.com
From the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Fest 2009:
Review from JAMBASE
Although blues and bluegrass music are the only two genres in the title, the festival breathes creativity across dozens of musical influences.
This was most obvious as the Environmental Encroachment Magic Circus Band assembled for their brief set. The group – a motley crew of bunny-ear-wearing bohemian bandsters – fiddled with their instruments amongst the patrons. Then, without warning, they blasted into the opening of Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Phish's "2001" for those less familiar with Strauss) from areas all over the lobby. Eventually congregating near the stage, the drummers and horn players brought the song to its crescendo. The ensuing funk jam brought all 17 or 18 Magic Circus members to the stage for their next song. The pavilion audience was enthralled with the scene.
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/Story.aspx?storyID=21007
--------------
Review from Festival Family
Then it was time to give the most fun band of the day their shot! The Environmental Encroachment Magic Circus Band is a twenty to thirty-ish odd piece band dedicated to bring a little madness to any and all situations. A spectacle of whirling marching band jams, psychedelic uniforms and bunny ears, they brought such a good and majestic level of insanity to the day. Solidly their own, they marched through the crowd and serpentined their way through each other while never missing a beat. I will do all I can to promote their particular brand of weirdness and can not wait to experience them again! -Rex
http://www.festivalfamily.com/reviews/210-chicago-bluegrass-a-blues-festival-2009-review-
"Throughout the hallways of the school, people hung out drinking beers from cans, or forming their own informal circles of guitars, banjos, whatever. Around am, we wandered into the main auditorium and found EE (Environmental Encroachment) on the stage. I'm not sure if this ensemble plays other venues or just came together for the night, but they were about 12 musicians dressed as bunny rabbits, Easter baskets, etc., emanating a hypnotic fusion of drums, horns, guitars.
"A bunch of us got up and danced
at the front of the stage at this point I had beaten drums, sang "Joey" at
the top of my lungs, and I was not above letting loose to this freakishly wonderful
music. It was completely surreal on stage one guy was playing the drums in
a rabbit mask, and another guy in a tall pointy red velvet hat was simultaneously
playing a trumpet and a trombone. And the rest of us were flailing our arms
and swinging our hips to the sounds. This Alice in Wonderland-esque scene could
have been a really good acid trip, yet I had hardly had two beers all night.
It was at this moment I realized that I hadn't felt this completely un-self-conscious
in a long time."
Helen W. Wilson from http://www.gloriousnoise.com/arch/000039.php
http://www.examiner.com/x-31369-Chicago-Music-Examiner~y2009m12d14-Review-of-the-successful-and-unique-Chicago-Bluegrass--Blues-Festival
"And on top of that, adding to the flavor of the festival was the Enviornmental Encroachment’s Magic Circus Band (which was basically a small marching band all dressed up in mascot-like costumes). They were one of the highlights of the day in general, being walking personifications of fun & mischief. These guys would perform in the main room, just walking around on the floor with the crowd. They would present altered versions of bluegrass numbers, marching band tunes, and contemporary popular songs. They were supplied with girls who could do gymnastic acts and at one point there was a girl hula-hooping while she stood on the shoulders of a man who was also hula-hooping. That moment, one would have to say, was the pinnacle of the festival for every little one in attendance; which there were many, as kids under 12 were permitted in free of charge. Yet their pinnacle was probably the performance in the Lobby in the afternoon. They took to the stage playing a fantastic version of the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, and even moved on to play a brass-heavy rendition of the Radiohead song “National Anthem”. But the most merrymaking moment of their set was when certain members of band went out into the crowd and did an ever-loudening, call and response type-song, with the other members remaining on the stage. The crowd was left dancing and laughing in-between the intense sounds of the talking-horns, and it created a moment of musical ecstasy for all who were watching within the cavernous lobby."
Hey! I have been working with you
and your fellow coworkers, at John Garvy School. We are working on the Paul
Bunyun!! Thank you so much for taking your time out to help us with it. You
guys have been like the only people that have gotten me to really have fun with
art, and I am hoping that when I am older I will be able to have a job like
you because you guys are real good at it, and it seems like you guys have a
lot of fun. I have been doing a lot of artwork lately which I normally don't
do and you guys are great teachers, and I wish you guys weren't leaving because
I wish I could learn more from you! Thanks for helping us out, it means a lot
to me, and I am never going to forget anything you guys taught me because you
are the only people that there are to thanks for me finding my new talent.
I love you all and I wish you guys weren't leaving because you guys are so awesome
and I am planning on going to one of your plays or whatever you call them to
see you guys!!!!
Love always, Jenny Galiano , August 2002
It was damn good working with your
company. I think we made an impression and changed some minds about buskers.
A lot of this success is directly because of your participation. We'll be in
touch.
Thanks again, John Mills, BuskerFest 2002
Thanks always for your generosity
and professionalism. We're very happy to have you here.,
Yolanda Cest Cursach assistant Director of Performance Programs ,MCA, 312-397-4095
July, 1999
Wow! What an experience. Thank you
so much. It was a pleasure to work with you.
Cecilia Escobar Performance Programs Coordinator, MCA, 312-397-4065
July, 1999
Thank you for sending the video of
your work for our consideration. Our Art Show Committee enjoyed watching it.
Unfortunately, we do not have the facilities to accommodate performance or installation
art.
Janet M. Devlin Chair, Art Show Selection Committee
Chicago School of Professional Psychology,
July 1998
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