mojosmom

Bookstore owner extraordinaire. I used to love going into his store, though it's been quite a number of years since it closed.

Norm Pellegrini

Yesterday, I woke, as usual, to WFMT's Morning Program. Shortly after the regular newscast and a bit of music, the host, Carl Grapentine, announced that they had just been told of the death of Norm Pellegrini. Who, you ask, is Norm Pellegrini? For forty-three years, he was WFMT's program director, and it is no exaggeration to say, as the Trib's classical music critic John von Rhein does: If WFMT is a unique classical radio station in the nation and the world, it is largely due to Mr. Pellegrini's vision, influence, elevated taste and uncompromising principles.

I do not recall any other radio station being on in our house as I was growing up. Norm was, therefore, an enormous influence on my musical education. As an on-air host, his voice was instantly recognizable. The words "mellifluous tones" seem to have been invented to describe it.


( Chicago Tribune obituary-Norm Pellegrini )

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Dempsey Travis

Later in the day, I saw the news of the passing of Dempsey Travis, another name not well-known outside Chicago, but a man whose life had an extraordinary impact on the city. Born into a blue-collar, working-class family, he rose to become a business leader and real estate developer who fought redlining and segregated housing, and worked to revitalize Chicago's South Side. Jazz buff, historian, author, he was also very politically active, and was instrumental in Harold Washington's election as the first black mayor of Chicago.

( Chicago Tribune obituary-Dempsey Travis )

Every criminal defense lawyer who gets the chance goes to the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia. As a baby adolescent public defender, I was lucky enough to be sent there by my office. And lucky enough to have, as one of my instructors, Bill Moffitt. He challenged me. He made me mad. He made me try new things. He taught me never to say, "I can't do that in my jurisdiction." He showed me how to make myself a better lawyer.

Bill, a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, represented people nobody else would, people like Dr. Sami Al-Arian, for whom he won an acquittal of terrorism charges after a six-month trial and three years of solitary confinement. (Dr. Al-Arian's tribute to Bill is here.)

Bill died last Friday. There aren't enough lawyers like him, and now there's one fewer.

Obit from Law.com

Antoinette K-Doe died today.

First, it's Yves.

Then, it's Bo.

Now, it's Paul.

Jules Dassin has died. Now will somebody please release "He Who Must Die" on DVD?

We have also lost Robert Fagles, the brilliant translator of Homer and Virgil. (I admit, however, to a sentimental fondness for Lattimore, whose translation first introduced me to the power and beauty of Homer.)

No, don't go rushing off looking for tickets. Here's what happened.

I went to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last night. The first piece of the second half was Webern's Five Pieces for Orchestra. Before it was played, the conductor, Mark Elder, addressed the audience, beginning, "I know most of you came for the Brahms . . .", and then discussed the Webern a bit. A then he said that, after the concert, they would play the Webern again (it's incredibly short - about five minutes), and said that he would invite us (or as many as could be accommodated) to join them on the stage (it's a small orchestra - 19 - for this piece), to, as he put it, "enter our space". So I stayed! It's an intriguing piece, and it was most interesting to listen to the musicians sitting behind them, seeing the hall they way they see it. And Elder talked about the piece for several minutes before hand, having different musicians demonstrate with a note or chord or two what Webern was doing with the instruments. I had such a good time!

This shows the importance of having subscriptions*. I rarely go to the Symphony (not a lack of desire, but a lack of time, money and organization!), but I got talked into a four-concert series. I'd have missed this! CSO is getting a bit more, well, "informal" comes to mind, but that's not quite right. It's more a "demystification" of classical music, via this sort of educational component, early evening "after work" concerts, etc.

Before the concert, I stopped off at a home décor boutique across the street from where I live, as they were having a holiday open house. I had a pomegranate martini (excellent, by the way) and scoped out some cute things. I didn't want to buy as I didn't want to carry packages downtown, but I'm going to go back tomorrow and take advantage of their 20% discount on holiday decorations. Saw some very pretty artist-made Christmas tree balls that will make nice stocking-stuffers.

Last weekend, I went out in the nasty weather for a concert of German Renaissance Christmas music by the Newberry Consort. It was at Saint Clement Catholic Church, which is a gorgeous, Byzantine-inspired church on Chicago's north side. Wish I'd brought my camera! It's not, though, the greatest place for a concert, despite excellent acoustics, at least not for the Consort, because it lacks the intimacy that I associate with this group. (Not to mention that the altar is between the audience and the musicians!) The music was glorious, lots of Praetorius, plus some other folks, including Martin Luther himself (who was, by the way, a very accomplished musician, composer and singer).

*Speaking of which, Danny Newman, who practically single-handedly invented the subscription series, died recently. ( Danny Newman obit behind the cut )

It was Amahl and the Night Visitors. My father had bought our first TV for the family one Christmas, and I watched it with him.

( Gian Carlo Menotti dies at 95 )