Friday Noonday Concert – Fourth Presbyterian Church – September 15, 2023

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I haven’t been bowling in many, many years, but today I went Bolling, Claude that is, the famous French pianist, composer, arranger and conductor, a couple of whose compositions made up the program presented by the Richard Sladek Trio (plus one).

Bolling’s jazz compositions have been on my radar for a while but I haven’t worked up the nerve to try to learn one of them after listening to his recordings. My fingers don’t function on that level.

Listening to Sladek at the piano seemed like a much better idea. And it paid a psychic dividend of a sort. In reading his bio in the program, I first was struck by the fact that, among his past gigs, he had been a staff accompanist for the Second City Touring Company. My kind of guy.

Reading further, skipping over all his other credits, something else caught my eye. He’d been a musical composer/conductor for 16 years with the theater troupe Wavelength. I was there when Wavelength was born, having taken improv classes with its founder, Jim Winter, with whom, and two others (one of them being Paul Raci, the Academy Award-nominated actor I wrote about two years ago), I actually sang the Banana Boat song on the Second City stage during a skit (as previously reported), which goes a long way toward explaining why I wasn’t invited to join the new group being formed at that time.

If I had only hit one or two notes correctly, who knows. But things turned out pretty well, so I was satisfied with introducing myself to Sladek after the performance and sending my regards to Jim, my long-ago friend from another life.

Bally’s Chicago Casino – September 12, 2023

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Prior to today, I had been in 5 different casinos, the most recent being in 2019 in Las Vegas. I didn’t indulge in any of the games there but spent a fair amount of time in the casino nevertheless, holding my breath every step of the way due to all the cigarette smoke, as walking through the maze of machines was the only way to get to and from my room in the hotel.

I’ve also stayed in a hotel with a casino in Santa Fe, but at least there the bulk of the gambling was done in the lower level, out of harm’s way. There was a small blackjack room on the lobby level that I entered in order to watch some friends participate, but didn’t stay long because the floor manager apparently decided I might be helping them count cards, even though they were all losing faster than I can count, and politely asked me to leave, which resulted in me and my companions instead trying to crash a wedding in the hotel, from which we also were summarily ejected.

My hotel casino trifecta started on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. I actually did play a little blackjack there, as I was young and foolish and it was back in the days when you didn’t have to mortgage your home to sit at the table. If I recall correctly, a bold assumption, I may have walked away slightly ahead.

I walked through a casino in New Orleans as a shortcut to get in out of the unbearable heat and humidity.

I once spent about 10 minutes in a riverboat casino in Dubuque. I have no idea why.

So, it was out of curiosity, and with no expectations, that I decided to enter the spanking new Bally’s Chicago casino, feeling secure by the presence of two police cars parked in front and a policeman at the door.

My stay lasted approximately five seconds. The noise wasn’t too bad, as it was 11:15 am and not crowded, at least on the first floor, but there was enough evidence to support bringing ear plugs for any return visit, though one is not likely.

The neon lights almost made me wish I had cataracts. Fortunately, I still had my sunglasses on.

The line of one person in front of me was enough to dissuade me from proceeding further, along with the thought that providing my identification would undoubtedly result in a barrage of junk mail promoting the venue and other gambling possibilities. I also managed to escape any facial recognition by pulling my baseball cap down, just like thieves do in all the tv crime shows I watch.

Printers Row Lit Fest – September 10, 2023

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Among other things, Jena Friedman has been a field producer at The Daily Show and written for Late Show with David Letterman. She was at the Fest promoting her book, Not Funny: Essays on Life, Comedy, Culture, Et Cetera.

She actually is funny, but the most interesting thing she had to say about her book was that you can find a couple publications on Amazon that appear to want to steal her thunder, including Jena Friedman: The Biography of Jena Friedman and Her Rule to Success, which was written by someone (something) named Justice Wall, who supposedly has written 107 biographies, all published in 2023, sold by Amazon Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited. According to Bloomberg.com, that company’s line of business includes providing computer programming services, which provides some insight into how it can be so prolific.

When it was suggested to Friedman that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, she countered that, in fact, payment is the sincerest form of flattery, and so the writers are on strike over, among other things, the threat posed by artificial intelligence.

From a discussion of AI’s potential for taking bread from writers’ mouths, I went to a program on Taking a Bite Out of the Heartland, with Monica Eng and David Hammond, (Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites) and Big Jones Chef Paul Fehribach (Midwestern Food: A Chef’s Guide to the Surprising History of a Great American Cuisine, with More than 100 Tasty Recipes).

They discussed pizza, ribs, and tamales, but most importantly, when questioned about hot dogs, the chef voted for Super Dawg (also my pick).

On my way out I paid my annual visit to the popular Vintage Graphic Art vendor and did a 10-second sound bite for this week’s Get Lit Podcast, my first radio appearance in years.

World Dumpling Fest – Logan Square Park – September 9, 2023

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Except in passing on my way somewhere else, I haven’t been to Logan Square in almost 50 years, at which time I was coaching a church league basketball team of high school freshman in a game at the local boys club (which I believe has since been torn down and replaced by an apartment building), my primary responsibilities being to drive the players to the game in the church van (without getting into an accident), buy them something to eat at Jack in the Box after the game (win or lose), and hold onto my star player’s switchblade during the game (to avoid any accidents).

So it was not just the lure of eight different food vendors, representing as many different cultures, that lured me to the neighborhood, but also the appeal of walking around without a deadly weapon in my pocket. If anything was going to kill me, it would be deep fried dumplings.

As it turned out, I didn’t need to worry about that either. By the time I got to the fest, a little over an hour after it opened, they were already sold out of food tickets, which was just as well, as each booth had a very long line of people waiting to gorge themselves, and, as we know, I don’t do lines.

But the trip wasn’t a total loss. A couple blocks away I happened across the Chicago Citywide Classic Car Club (or so their t-shirts read) hanging out by dozens of unique, shiny vehicles, which they probably wouldn’t have wanted me to approach with a leaky dumpling in hand.

Porchlight ICONS: Celebrating Ben Vereen – Athenaeum Center – September 8, 2023

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I skipped the reception, because so did honoree Ben Vereen. He couldn’t make it because he was stuck in Romania. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to me (and Dracula).

Vereen’s filming a miniseries there about the American Civil War (huh?). To his credit, despite the last minute cancellation, he found time to sing a song and provide a very engaging interview for a tape played during the night’s festivities, which also featured wonderful performances by event cochairs Felicia Fields and Kenny Ingram, along with a group of regular Porchlight performers and musicians.

If you’re wondering how Vereen can be filming during an actors’ strike, it’s because his is one of at least 281 productions (as of September 5) that are working under an interim agreement approved by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) negotiators, which, according to them, is not a waiver, but rather a contract that includes all the terms of the last SAG-AFTRA counteroffer to the producers.

There are those who aren’t happy about these agreements. Some big names, such as Viola Davis and Sarah Silverman, have declined to work on these films.

Meanwhile, with the writers also on strike, the public is relegated to watching game and reality shows (would Dracula qualify?), reruns of The Nanny or news conferences with its star Fran Drescher, who is the current National President of SAG-AFTRA.

While a taped Vereen was entertaining, Drescher in person might have been even more interesting. She doesn’t have Vereen’s theatrical resume, but a Broadway (not Romanian) musical version of The Nanny, book cowritten by Drescher and lyrics by Rachel Bloom (yeah!) has been in the works for a few years.

Chicago Jazz Festival – Millennium Park – September 3, 2023

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In some year before I started writing this blog I saw Petra’s Recession Seven somewhere, I think. And I’ve seen clips of them on YouTube, I think. I liked their music, I think.

Probably good enough, when combined with their promotion as performing traditional jazz and swing from the 20s, 30s and 40s, for me to brave the heat and potential crowds to go see them. And then, surprise, I read that bandleader and singer Petra van Nuis is married to guitarist Andy Brown, whom I have enjoyed and written very favorably about on several occasions, I know.

So, it was off to the Von Freeman Pavilion for an hour of smooth nostalgia, with a seat in the shade, including songs from Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday and Cole Porter and appropriately finishing with King Oliver’s Doctor Jazz, a song I fondly remember hearing the Ezra Quantine Ragtime Memorial Band play many times in local clubs in the 1970s, I think.

Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert and Chicago Jazz Festival – September 1, 2023

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At the church, Ashley Ertz (oboe) and Lillia Woolschlager (piano) treated us with a Samuel Coleridge-Taylor piece I can’t remember the name of, possibly because I never looked at it in the program. 

I didn’t stay for the rest of the concert, featuring composers unknown to me, and compositions from the latter half of the 20th century, a potential red flag for me, though, I admit, the music wafting through the Sanctuary as I left sounded like something I might have liked. But I had other fish, or beignets, to fry and so headed for the Jazz Festival.  

As promised to myself last week after seeing the Juan Pastor trio at the Noonday Concert, I went to see Pastor’s Chincahno, expecting a quintet, but pleasantly surprised to hear a septet, whose sound filled Millennium Park with Peruvian-inspired top-tapping rhythms.    

And, as with any music festival worth its salt, a wide variety of overpriced t-shirts were available for purchase.  

More interestingly, there was a creole food stand, whose offerings included the aforementioned beignets. The last time I had one of those, it was with a cup of coffee and chicory, sitting outside at the original Cafe du Monde (there are now 10) on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, where the beignets are served in threes in case eating just one of these deeply fried treats is not enough to clog every artery in your body. The approximately 60 million steps I’ve taken since then hopefully have negated that indulgence, but I decided not to risk further damage this time, even though there was a medical vehicle stationed not too far away.

Chicago Jazz Festival – Chicago Cultural Center – August 31, 2023

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I was drawn to this program by the fact that it was promoted as Zack Markstet, Performing Horace Silvers’ 1966 release “The Jody Grind”. My interest may have been surprising as I had never heard of Markstet or The Jody Grind.

However, I have three CDs (remember them) of Silver’s music, two of them featuring The Jazz Messengers. The third is entitled Jazz . . . has . . . a Sense of Humor (his final studio album), a title that fairly reflects part of why I’m a fan of his music.

That said, for all I knew going in, Markstet’s sextet was make up of guys from downtown street corners who would turn the six-track album into something resembling the theme song from The Jetsons. I still don’t actually know anything about the musicians, but they sounded good and, as far as I could tell, remained true to the original recording, though they substituted a trombone for the second saxophone that the Blue note label gave us in 1966.

I don’t write music, so I found a website that told me that a trombone can read alto sax parts by reading as in bass clef and adding 3 flats to the written key. Unless those changes are written out ahead of time, it sounds like playing blindfolded chess to me, which would be a real grind.

Coming Attractions (or not) – September, 2023

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I was berated today for not telling people about events before they happen. So, for all of you out there who haven’t yet learned how to use your computer, and since I have a little time to kill, here are some ideas for things to do in September.

First, and foremost, and before you tire of my sarcasm, you must go to the Porchlight Music Theatre’s Icons Gala on the 8th at the Athenaeum Center. It will, as always, be a very entertaining evening and, if you buy one of the top-tier tickets, you get to mingle with me at the pre-show cocktail reception. Also, the guest of honor, Ben Vereen, will be in attendance.

As I alluded to in an earlier post, the Chicago Jazz Festival comes to town the first few days of the month. You’re on your own as to which acts might interest you. I stopped going years ago, as I tired of the modern, atonal nonsense they inappropriately call music, but there are a few acts on the calendar this year that I either have seen before and liked or am confident enough about to risk a trek down to Millennium Park or the Cultural Center for a look-see.

The Fourth Presbyterian Church takes its Noonday Concerts indoors starting this Friday, which seems premature to me, but allows them to put to use their big honking organ, though, fortunately for my tastes, not until the end of the month, so, again, why not keep things outdoors until then.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is celebrating its 20th Anniversary (seems like 40 years taking into account having to traverse all those stairs) on the 9th in Millennium Park. The unprecise schedule makes it hard to know when I might want to drop in, though the likelihood of families attending the afternoon sessions is fair warning to avoid those.

The Printers Row Lit Fest is that same weekend (both days). It always presents a plethora of interesting exhibitors and programs, if you can find them in the event’s labyrinth (watch out for the Minotaur).

And, not finally, but I’m tired, the American Writers Museum is hosting Get Lit: Grown-Up Book Fair on the 12th, which will feature refreshments, carnival games, and an Adult Spelling Bee, which, I assume, means either dirty words and/or easier ones than the obnoxiously well-prepared kids at the real one have to tackle.

Juan Pastor Trio – Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – August 25, 2023

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The Juan Pastor Trio treated attendees to a wonderful last outdoor Noonday Concert of the year. This group was new to me, but I’m already hoping to see Pastor’s larger band, Chinchano, which adds two saxophones to the trio’s bass, piano and drums, at the upcoming Chicago Jazz Festival.

Chinchano is promoted as “Pastor’s modern instrumental jazz group that fuses the traditional North American jazz harmonic palette with exciting rhythmic concepts drawn from Central and South America.” Sounds good to me.

Pastor is Peruvian by birth, I assume from the Chincha Province, based upon his group’s name. Chincha means ocelot in Quechua (an indigenous language spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes), which confuses me because chinchillas, historically, lived in Peru (and Bolivia and Chile), but are rodents, not felines, which makes me think about a different kind of fusion, that of two different orders of mammalia, rodentia and carnivora, which might produce a very atonal product.