mojosmom

Quite literally. I went to a performance of Holst's The Planets, under the stars clouds at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion. The concert was accompanied by a video of astronomical charts and maps, and images and photos of the various planets. It was gorgeous. Thank you, Chicago Sinfonietta and Adler Planetarium!

It's been awhile since I posted, and I was a busy bee last weekend! The Latino Theatre Festival is on now at the Goodman, and friends and I went to a production last Friday called Taking Flight, by Adriana Sevan, who also performed the work, playing a multiplicity of characters. It's a story of friendship and loss, giving and taking, and made one furiously to think as sympathies shifted back and forth.

Saturday was a performance of opera choruses at the Pritzker. Perfect weather! And Sunday more good weather for a picnic with friends in Waukegan. I got back in time to go back to the Goodman for a staged reading of a play called Little Certainties, in which a woman's boy friend has disappeared, and she and his remaining family discover that he has kept secrets from them all.

I had considered doing so, because Buckwheat Zydeco were playing tonight. However, it seems that I am not as young as I used to be, and so I was way to tired. To find out why, read on.

Having dropped the car off to be serviced this morning, I hopped a bus to the Printers Row Book Fair (stopping briefly at a Panera Breads to have a cheese pastry for strength). Much time was spent browsing the many booksellers' booths, and, to what I am sure is no one's surprise, I bought a few books. Not a lot, but big and heavy. And it was hot today! Ghirardelli was handing out chocolate samples, which melted almost at once. However, I threw them in the freezer when I got home, and will nosh later. I stopped by the Poetry Tent to hear Achy Obejas, and caught the beginning of a reading by Nancy Horan (author of Loving Frank).

After a few hours there, I picked up the car and went home, where I immediately jumped into a cold shower. I was sticky! Then I hopped another bus and went to Rockefeller Chapel, where there was a concert to celebrate the restoration of both the organ and the carillon. The place holds (according to Wikipedia) 1700 people, but, believe me, there were a lot more crammed in. All the pews were filled, there were chairs set up in the side aisles, and people sitting on the floor and standing around. I've never seen the place that packed! The concert was great - the instruments are awesome - they'd commissioned a couple of new works for the organ (by William Bolcom, one of my favorite contemporary composers, and by Marta Ptaszynska, with whom I was not previously familiar). I ran into someone I worked with years ago; she is now enjoying retirement and living in the neighborhood. Also saw, and chatted with, Jim and Kevin.

The organ part of the concert was inside, and then we were all supposed to troop outside for the carillon portion, followed by "light refreshments on the lawn". However, it started pouring rain during the first half, and though by the time we were to hear the carillon it had eased up quite a bit, many stayed inside for that part, and the "refreshments on the lawn" turned into "punch bowls under the porte-cochère". Some were undaunted:


I decided to walk home via the produce and liquor stores (exercise being always a good thing).

For no reason other than I think it's adorable, here's a picture of Marissa catching a mouse:

Vivaldi and Biber and Bach, oh my! Also Albinoni.

There was a concert at Rockefeller Chapel this evening. I always like going to concerts there because it's just gorgeously Gothic. This was a small crowd, so the seating was in the chancel and the choir stalls, right bang up in front of the Baroque Band. It was a lovely concert, despite a mishap with a violin string. It was rather warm and sticky, so by the end of the first half, a couple of the guys had removed their ties. When they came back after the intermission, all the guys had removed their ties, and the conductor said that he had told them that they could remove any item of clothing they wanted, "but fortunately they didn't". The women in the group were mostly sensibly dressed in loose, sleeveless dresses.

A while back, I discovered an outfit called Goldstar, through which one can get tickets to all sorts of events at reduced rates (with, of course, a slight fee). It's not always a better price than Hottix, but they seem to have more of these smaller events, and you can get tickets further ahead (Hottix is mostly same day tickets, though sometimes you can get them a couple of days ahead). So tonight's concert cost me $6.50.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to hear Chicago Opera Theatre's performance of John Adams' A Flowering Tree, which is based on an Indian folk tale involving a poor girl who has the ability to transform into a flowering tree. The Storyteller, who narrates, is actually the largest role, and much of the "opera" is really dance with a sung narration. After having seen Nixon in China (also at COT) and Dr. Atomic at Lyric, I've become quite a fan of Adams' work, and I would definitely recommend this one.

The Harris Theatre, where COT performs, is at Millennium Park, so, as the weather was really gorgeous, I went to the Park Grille for an early dinner - any excuse to eat outside! Then I walked over to the Pritzker Pavilion and listened to various ensembles from the Northwestern School of Music for about 45 minutes. (It occurred to me that I did the very same thing last year!)

The reason I didn't stay for the whole concert is that I wanted to get home, feed the cats and then go to a jazz club. The Checkerboard Lounge does jazz on Sunday nights, sponsored by the Hyde Park Jazz Society, and I like going there as it's only a few blocks away. I don't go as often as I'd like, though, primarily because I work on Mondays! Not today, however, so I enjoyed Margaret Murphy (Note: you'll get music when you click the link) singing standards. A lot of jazz musicians come to listen to their colleagues, so she brought a couple up on stage to join her and the ensemble. She's very good!

Music on another day:

On Wednesday, I went to a free concert at the Cultural Center, a jazz artist named Manata Roberts. She and the ensemble played parts of her work in progress, Coin coin, based on the life of her ancestress, Marie Therese "Coin Coin." Powerful stuff.

In Non-musical events:

Saturday was pretty quiet. I went to a new farmers' market that began last week on 61st Street. As I can never get to the one a couple of blocks away (it's on Thursdays, and of course that means I'm at work), and parking at Green City is getting prohibitive, it was nice that there's a neighborhood one on Saturday. It's not huge, but I was able to get lettuces and scallions and asparagus, with plenty of other things available that I didn't need. The lamb purveyor I like was there, and I bought some kebobs which are presently marinating in olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and bay leaves, and the cheese guy had this awesome tart of St. André triple-crème layered with apricots, almonds and honey.

After that, I wandered by a rummage sale given by Meadville-Lombard Theological Seminary. It had been advertised in the local paper as a benefit for "Doctors without Boarders"!! They had books:

but I didn't see any I wanted. I did see a great pair of boots, but the back zipper on one was busted and it would cost more than I want to pay to get them fixed, so I let them lay.

The rest of Saturday was just doing stuff around the house.

On Thursday, I went to an author event at our local library. Former journalist, and current author and bookstore owner, Kenan Heise, wrote a book called Chicago Afternoons with Leon: 99 1/2 years old and looking forward, conversations with former alderman Leon Despres, lawyer, thorn in the side of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, social activist and gadfly. Here's why I like Leon: he was asked about the plan to bring the Olympics to Chicago in 2016, specifically, the plan to build a stadium in a local park. Said Leon, who is now 100: "If they build a stadium in Washington Park, I'm boycotting the Olympics!"

Naturally, I bought the book.

Oh, and more Croc_Sandwich photos.

I'm on the University of Chicago Music Department's email list, and just got an announcement of this event:

Senior Thesis: Stephen Raskauskas
J. S. Bach’s Coffee Cantata, BWV 211
Fulton Recital Hall
1010 E. 59th Street, Goodspeed Hall, 4th Floor
Admission: free; no tickets required.

Stephen Raskauskas presents a delightful and rarely attempted spectacle: a fully staged performance of J. S. Bach’s famous “Coffee” Cantata. Collaborating with members of University of Chicago’s student run University Theater, the production will include period costumes, antique props, and theatrics.

Doesn't that sound cool? I must check my calendar.

Cross-post from croc_sandwich
This was a tough one - not due to a dearth of material, but due to too much! I went out to take photos last weekend, and when I got home and started adding descriptions, I realized that just about every building I'd photographed was by Holabird & Roche. As a result, this was going to be a Holabird & Roche-fest, but there were a couple of others I couldn't resist posting, so it's not. But it is all Chicago!

( Holabird & Roche )

( Not Holabird & Roche )

Other things

Friday night, I went to Cineforum, Casa Italiana's movie night. They were showing De Sica's Umberto D, a 1952 neo-realist film, which I had never seen. It was very good, and generated much discussion afterwards. It's the story of a pensioner, who has no family or real friends, other than his dog, and his struggle to make ends meet in post-war Rome.

Yesterday, I was back at the Newberry Library for David Douglass' discussion of the Consort's last concert (which I mentioned in this post). There was much digression into music theory and notation, which, even for a non-musician such as myself, was really quite interesting. David dropped a bit of information about some of their plans for the next couple of seasons. Among other things, they are going to be dedicating concerts to the memory of musicologist Howard Mayer Brown, the first of which will be Venetian music from Carnevale and Ash Wednesday, as HMB died in Venice at Carnevale.

Last night, I went to the Goodman to see Horton Foote's Talking Pictures. What a marvelous play! Set in Texas in 1929, it deals with the changes wrought by technology and how people cope (or don't cope) with them. The main character, Myra, a divorcée, supports herself and her 14-year-old son by playing piano at the picture show. But with the advent of talkies, her job is threatened and she has to figure that out. The two teen-aged sisters of the family she boards with, Vesta and Katie Belle, are a study in contrasts. Vesta prefers the known, she's the sister you know will "tell" if the other does something outside the norm. Katie Belle, on the other hand, is the one who makes friends with the son of Mexican Baptist preacher (her family is Methodist, so whether it's the "Mexican" or the "Baptist" part that shocks Vesta most isn't certain), sneaks off to the picture show and wants a wider world. The acting was so great that, at the end, when Katie Belle says that she wants to go to Mexico someday, you feel certain that she will.

Goodman is doing a whole Horton Foote Festival, in fact. As part of one of the regular subscription series, they are also doing Trip to Bountiful. But off the series, they are doing an evening of two, one-act plays, and they've offered free tickets to subscribers, so I'm going to that, and also to some other "free to subscriber" events, such as "A Conversation with Horton Foote", with cake and champagne to celebrate his 92nd (!) birthday. But the one I am looking forward to most is a program called "Anatomy of a Trial: To Kill a Mockingbird, the Scottsboro Boys and the Jena 6". They haven't said who will be on the "distinguished panel of historians and social activists", but I'm hoping this will be as interesting a program as it ought to be!

I wouldn't mind running around in that fountain. It's October 7, and I went out today in shorts and sandals. For a while there, I seriously considered turning on the air conditioning. I did turn it on in the car when I went out. But at least I'm not crazy. Like those marathon runners. The Chicago Marathon was today, and they ended it early. One man died, and over 300 were sent to hospital, some in critical condition. I understand that these folks have trained and planned for months for this run, but you'd think common sense would prevail.

As usual, the Marathon meant road closures and bus re-routes. So I nixed the thought of going up to the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's their 40th anniversary this year, and they are having "Forty Free Days" with all kinds of events. There was an outdoor concert today in conjunction with the exhibit, "Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967". It would have been fun, but not so much fun that I wanted to deal with the traffic mess. And I can see the exhibit any time.

I also passed on going to the Checkerboard tonight. I was a bit headachey, and while it's not bad, it's such that I didn't think a bar, even a non-smoky one, was the best place to spend the evening.

Yesterday, I was a bit of a busy bee. I went to the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference's book sale in the morning (went again today, and will go tomorrow - they drop the prices each day!), and in the afternoon I went to hear Alice Waters speak (she's promoting a new book, which I didn't buy). I don't know. She seems awfully self-righteous and unaware. I completely agree with her that fast food sucks, and that we need to eat good food, locally-grown. For many people, however, that is easier said than done. Her visit was sponsored by the Green City Market, which I love, but it struck me that GCM is in an area of the city where people can get good produce, and a good variety of it, in their local supermarkets. (And it's not inexpensive either.) There are other, poorer parts of the city where the supermarkets have lousy produce. And the people who shop there do not have the time, money or transportation to go to Yuppie-ville and buy at GCM. Nor is it easy for a single parent working two minimum-wage jobs, living from paycheck to paycheck, to avoid feeding the kids MacDonald's or packaged meals a good part of the time. The problem Waters wants to address is very much intertwined with other problems, but she doesn't seem to recognize that. Edible schoolyards are a lovely thought, but, as I said to my sister, schools will devote time to students growing and cooking their own food when it shows up on standardized testing! She can talk Daley into trying this program at six schools, sure. That's easier for him to do than paying teachers a decent salary, cutting class size, and getting politics out of the schools.

Okay, end of that rant.

So then I went to a reception at the South Side Community Art Center, where my neighbor, a clay artist, is having a show. It's a marvelous show, too. After that, I went to the season's first Newberry Consort concert, The Shakespeare Songbook, all music from, or mentioned in, Shakespeare's plays. The pre-concert lecture by Ross Duffin was really interesting, because he talked about how just a word or phrase in a play referring to a popular ballad would conjure up to the audience a whole world of meaning that we, of course, can't begin to imagine. Made me realize that, however "timeless" we consider his plays, we miss a lot of Shakespeare's meaning because we aren't of his time.

One of the kids on the first floor has acquired a pogo stick! I hear this rhythmic, light pounding sound, and looked outside, and there she was, jumping up and down. Well, there are worse things she could be doing.