Alverno Presents Christopher Porterfield: How to Write a Popular Song

Alverno Presents brings longtime friend Christopher Porterfield to the Pitman Theatre on Saturday, January 30 at 8:00 PM in a new show entitled Christopher Porterfield: How to Write A Popular Song. The show is based upon the book How to Write a Popular Song: A Practical Tutorial on Song Writing, written by Charles K. Harris in 1906. In 1893, his song “After the Ball” became the first multi-million seller. Declared the “king of the tear jerkers,” Harris believed songs should tell a story. The fact that Harris did all of this in Milwaukee at the close of the 19th century makes his story all the more intriguing to 21st century singer-songwriter Porterfield.

For the show, Porterfield is assembling a stellar consort of singer-songwriter friends to re-interpret the songs from the extensive Charles K. Harris catalogue, as well as follow the instructions from Charles K. Harris’ book to write their own, brand-new “popular songs.”

Patrons of Alverno Presents have seen Porterfield in previous shows including Beautiful Dreamer: The Foster Project, Unlooped Vs. Marvin Gaye, and Nick Sanborn: Lend Me Your Voice.

Porterfield, leader of the Milwaukee-based band Field Report, has released two critically acclaimed albums on Partisan records - Field Report (2012) and Marigolden (2014). He originally played with Justin Vernon in the Vernon-led band DeYarmond Edison.

Tickets are $25 and are available online at http://alvernopresents.alverno.edu or at the Alverno Presents box office at 414-382-6044. The box office is open Monday-Friday from noon to 6 p.m., and on the day of the performance from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

About Alverno Presents
Alverno Presents, the performing arts series of Alverno College, is celebrating its 56th year. The series has innovated beyond our history as the longest running, continuous arts presenter in the city, to our niche of presenting contemporary dance, world music and jazz and an array of performance events. Alverno Presents shares the school’s mission by ensuring broad access to and participation in learning, experiencing and developing the arts for the learning community of Alverno, and our community as a whole. For more information on Alverno Presents, special projects, media reviews and more, visit alvernopresents.alverno.edu, or contact the Alverno Presents Artistic Director at 414-382-6150, or e-mail david.ravel@alverno.edu.