Comfort Zone

As a performer, Ted shares a passion, intensity and energy with audiences. Whether performing as a soloist with his acoustic guitar or accompanied by a variety of musician friends, Ted delivers an entertaining and enjoyable show. 'Comfort Zone,' Ted's six-song solo debut, was produced by John Condron and recorded and engineered by Bill Aldridge of The Vaudevileins at Third City Sound in Joliet, Illinois. John and Bill help out on some tracks, and Aly Flood and Pat Otto are featured as well. Ted's a musical veteran who performed as a hobbyist for many years and only recently began pursuing music professionally. In his career he worked as a journalist for more than 20 years and as a publicist for more than five years. He played bass for 30 years in various blues and rock bands but has focused on playing acoustic guitar since 2011. Growing up the youngest of 12 children in Countryside, Illinois, Ted studied Suzuki violin from ages 6 to 11, then took two years of piano lessons. (The same nun, Sister Carl, taught piano to all 12 Slowik children). At his brother-in-law Rory's suggestion Ted bought his first guitar at age 15 from a garage sale for $50 and borrowed a library book on how to play guitar. He joined his first band, Suspended Animation with drummer Ron Kostka, keyboardist Rich Westrick and others in summer 1982 while attending Lyons Township High School and serving as program director of the student-run radio station, WLTL-FM 88.1. While earning a journalism degree from Lewis University, he performed with the band Nobody Knows while interning in the news department at WXRT-FM 93.1, serving as editor of the college newspaper and working as a cook part-time. In the 1990s he played bass in a heavy-metal band with Ron and George 'Blusin'' Barnes, then a country band. He played bass with the Big Eddy Springs Blues Band from 2000 to 2011. He wrote and edited for such newspapers as the LaGrange Sun, Joliet Herald-News and Naperville Sun and freelanced for the Chicago Tribune. He has been director of PR and media relations at North Central College in Naperville since 2008. He began writing songs in the early 1980s and was content to record home demos of his originals for three decades. He's now ready to share his original music with a wider audience.