Chris Feyrer

Beginnings

Chris Feyrer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and now lives in Madison, the state capital. As a child he discovered his love of music and computers. A self-described “excitable child with insatiable curiosity” Feyrer credits Carroll College’s Project Create program and a musical family for fostering a life-long love of music.  “I wouldn’t be who I am without my Mom’s plunking at the piano every night, her love of musical theater, and immersion in classic movies and television.  As for computers, I was the happiest kid in my neighborhood when I got my own Commodore 64 and began learning about programming and playing video games.   I discovered how enabling technology could be at a very young age.”

Early Information Technology Career and Viral Website

Feyrer began his information technology career while at college in Whitewater, Wisconsin in the 1990s where he worked in the computer labs. His first websites were simple javascript programs or storytelling sites.  

The groundbreaking advice animal humor website, the Naked Dancing Llama Homepage, followed.  “NDL” collected a large number of online mentions in its run from 1996-2004, including mentions in Yahoo! Internet Life, The Web Magazine, and the book The World’s Weirdest Websites and the People who Write Them published by No Starch Press. Feyrer’s website was one of the first to sell merch, featuring Glow-in-the-Dark llama shirts that were sold to promote the site. Chris Feyrer is credited with being an early pioneer in what would later become known as “advice animal memes” on the Internet.

Professional Information Technology Career

Chris Feyrer manages a team of engineers for an Internet Managed Services Provider (MSP).  His Information Technology career spans over two decades, functioning in IT Operations administration and support in various roles, most notably as a lead network engineer specializing in Cisco and Palo Alto Networks technologies at CDW, headquartered in Vernon Hills, IL.

Return to Music in Adulthood

Chris Feyrer plays music live on the Twitch streaming service, including video game music, classical, sung pop tunes, and originals, on Sunday afternoons, Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Feyrer’s original compositions are exercises in genre work. New Age music was in fashion in the 1990s when Feyrer, a college student,  released the piano album Emotional Release #1 which rose the charts at mp3.com, an online music service.

In the 2000s, Feyrer sang with the Madison Symphony Orchestra Chorus, performing in the Christmas celebration concert as a tenor chorus member and in several Spring concerts as well, including Mozart’s Requiem Mass under the direction of Beverly Taylor.

Focusing on fatherhood and his Information Technology career, Feyrer put any musical aspirations on hold during the late 2000s and 2010s.  When the pandemic hit in 2020, Feyrer took the opportunity to reintegrate music into his life.

“I don’t recommend returning to the piano after 15 years unless you are willing to practice, practice, practice,” Feyrer comments, and adds, “a supportive community that sets a high bar like the music community at Twitch is a great motivator.”

Chris also has published transcriptions of his original music at musescore.com.