Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Friend Encounters: Renee Neufville and Chris Bejcek

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

When we last saw Chris Bejcek, he was probably with a member of the Chicago Bandits or a musician. A longtime member of Bandit Nation, Chris is a season ticket holder for the Bandits. He is also an avid concert-goer, having attended more than 1,000 shows in his life.
Chris had a headstart on me with the Bandits, but I have done pretty good catching up with him on meeting players. He crushes me on the music scene though. He probably sees more concerts in any year than I have seen in my entire life. Chris has started to document his concerts and has accounted for at least 1,000, but he knows it is even higher. that doesn't count some musical performances like Julia Cole's short set at the National Pro Fastpitch awards banquet.
Earlier this year, Chris saw Renee Neufville, formerly one-half of Zhané (with Jean Morris), an R&B pair from the '90s. After Zhané, Neufville kept busy with various collaborations, before releasing her debut solo single in 2015.
Obviously with 1,000 concerts on his resume, Chris must be a fan of a lot of different styles. If you follow him on social media or catch my occasional features on him here, you will see he is a big fan of Bruce Hornsby, but he also sees plenty of other musicians from many genres of music.
If you go to a Bandits game next year (and I highly encourage you to do so), look for Chris in his front row seat behind home plate. If you go to any convert in the Chicago area, keep an eye out for Chris, because there is a decent chance you will see him grooving to whatever music is being played.
Chris Bejcek and Renee Neufville in Chicago, IL-March 2019.

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