Exhibits

Brewseum Exhibit – Field Museum – November 4, 2019

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Tucked away among fearsome-looking predators on the Field Museum’s first floor, there’s a small room housing the temporary Brewseum exhibit, which provides information about the history of Chicago breweries that they never taught us in school, and apparently still don’t, as evidenced by the lack of screaming children on field trips in my midst.

Having previously enjoyed hearing the Brewseum’s executive director, Liz Garibay, speak at the Art Institute, I was hoping for a larger, not just lager, exhibit. But at least they give you the opportunity to design your own beer label, and present you with some particulars for use in your next bar discussion after you run out of things to say about sports and politics.

William Lill and Michael Diversey owned the first Chicago brewery, which was destroyed in the Chicago Fire. What makes this interesting is knowing that the city eventually named a major street after Diversey, but only a minor one after Lill. The unstated reason, I presume, is that Diversey also was a Chicago alderman.

The Siebel Institute of Technology, located on Goose Island, founded in 1868 as the Siebel Zymotechnic Institute, and renamed in 1872, is a vocational school that focuses on brewing science. Perhaps my next career move.

As if they were children playing tee ball, the Pabst and Schlitz brewing companies both received participation medals at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. But Pabst later added Blue Ribbon to its name, even though there was no blue ribbon awarded at the fair.

On my way out, I made a quick stop at the museum’s Science Hub, where I was told that the Philippines contains two-thirds of the earth’s biodiversity and where I was given the opportunity to pet a dead chipmunk, which might have seemed more appealing had the Brewseum offered free samples.

Andy Warhol Exhibit – The Art Institute of Chicago – October 24, 2019

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In 1963, Andy Warhol silkscreened thirty black-and-white images of the Mona Lisa onto a canvas and called it Thirty Are Better Than One. Now part of the Warhol exhibit at The Art Institute, it reminded me of the scene between Ted and the hitchhiker from There’s Something About Mary.

Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. . . . the exercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7 Minute Abs. . . . Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sitting there, there’s 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted: You guarantee it? That’s — how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you’re not happy with the first 7 minutes, we’re gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That’s it. . . .
Ted: . . . . That’s good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you’re in trouble, huh?

Irrefutable logic. If someone had dared to silkscreen 31 images of the Mona Lisa, we might be viewing their body of work instead of Warhol’s. James Dean instead of Marlin Brando. Progresso soup instead of Campbell’s.

Among the plethora of Warhol merchandise being sold in The Art Institute gift shop are jigsaw puzzles of his displayed work, including the famous portrait of Mao Tse Tung, which the museum label acknowledges, presented the ironic possibility of subverting a communist icon into a commercial one. I didn’t notice the price tag for the puzzle or whether its directions suggest that it be assembled communally.
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Fittingly, the exhibit is a very large one, evoking Warhol’s credo “Always leave them wanting less.”

Upcoming Events

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Normally I don’t take up my extremely valuable time, which could be better spent working on my hip flexors, publishing information about upcoming events, but the website has been acting up lately, causing several problems, like no one receiving newly published posts.  So, after two days of chatting with my new best friends in two different tech departments in two different countries, I feel the need to test the system to see if it’s working properly again, and what better way than to annoy my subscribers with unnecessary, verbose emails.

So, without revealing too much information about my clandestine movements, here’s some things you might consider attending.

Arts in the Dark Parade at 6:00 pm on October 19 on State Street.  You can dress up like your favorite movie character or just watch from the sidelines and admire the total lack of shame of the participants.

Sunset Boulevard just opened at the Porchlight Music Theatre, featuring Chicago legend Hollis Resnik as Norma Desmond.   Having attended an invitational rehearsal, I can tell you that the cast is great and the music is wonderful, but I did catch Resnik smoking in the parking lot during a break, which calls for detention.

The Art Institute is opening its Andy Warhol exhibit for member previews this week, which makes me want to look for clues as to whether he was really an undercover agent spying on extraterrestrial aliens as depicted in Men in Black III.

The Chicago Humanities Festival presents dozens of programs the last week of October.  Just like your insurance company, the festival has been furtively raising prices the last few years, but, unlike your insurer, there’s no competition, so suck it up and treat yourself.

And though I receive no commission for my continuing promotion of her (but should I?), don’t miss Meghan Murphy in Spamalot at the Mercury Theater.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Near Millennium Park Without Anyone Named George – July 21, 2019

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Interestingly, both Doctors Without Borders and Borders book stores, which no one was able to save (thereby making the doctors’ organizational name prescient), were founded in 1971. On the other hand, Crossing Borders Music, which put on the concert by my piano teacher, Marianne Parker, that I attended at the Chicago Cultural Center, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park, originated in 2011.

The wonderful solo concert featured music from Marianne’s new album of Haitian music, entitled Pages intimes. As I told her afterward, she obviously has been holding out on me, not teaching me everything she knows, because, shockingly, I can’t play like she can. What other reason could there be?

I then rushed over to the Art Institute, across Monroe Street from Millennium Park, to attend its annual Block Party. On my way to the Impressionism room containing Van Gogh’s The Drinkers, for a program put on by the Brewseum, I passed by Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, thereby completing my park-adjacent trilogy.

Pub historian, and Brewseum founder and executive director, Liz Garibay presented a delightful lecture to the crowd on both the Van Gogh painting and the history and culture of drinking and drinking establishments in Chicago, including the 1855 Lager Beer Riot. After this educational tasting, I now thirst for more information, which I attend to drink in at the Brewseum’s exhibition currently on tap at the Field Museum.

I ended my near-the-park Sunday by watching Mucca Pazza (which translates as mad cow) end the party with one of their unique musical performances. P.T. Barnum would have been proud of the way they closed by marching through the Monroe Street exit, helping to clear the building by leading out hundreds of visitors, who then realized that the show was over.  This way to the egress.

MSI After Hours – Wired to Wear – Museum of Science and Industry – May 31, 2019

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I was hoping to see the museum’s exhibits come alive as in one of the Night at the Museum movies, but, upon second thought, the simulated tornado in the Science Storms exhibit, for example, might have brought the party to a crashing halt, and the adventure just wouldn’t be the same without Robin Williams.

The museum’s new Wired to Wear exhibit is fascinating. It’s described as “smart clothing and devices designed to extend the human body’s capabilities and make us healthier, stronger and safer.” Although I have my doubts that the dress that barks like a dog when someone gets too close to the wearer will catch on, there are a lot of interesting innovations that are likely to result in useful options for the disabled, the professional athlete, and the idle rich searching for a Halloween costume.

In addition to the new exhibit and access to all the others at the museum without having to fight off busloads of school children, this adults-only party offered microscopic veggie sliders, generous-pour bartenders, and access to a live podcast of WBEZ’s Nerdette, featuring two of the Wired to Wear inventors.

If you listen to the podcast once they post it, you’ll likely get a digitally-cleansed version, so you won’t be able to appreciate the fact that the guest tech nerds couldn’t figure out that you have to hold the microphone near your mouth when you’re talking so that the audience can hear you, and you probably won’t hear me yelling from the audience “can’t hear you”, an act that didn’t get me kicked out, brought a murmur of appreciation from a part of the audience, and caused one of the guests to use the microphone properly for two seconds, before once again holding it as far away from his mouth as humanly possible.

Perhaps clothing with a built-in amplifier would be more useful than clothing that barks like a dog.

Louder Than Words: Rock, Power & Politics – Museum of Broadcast Communications – May 24, 2019

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I didn’t know that Neil Young wrote Ohio in an hour or ever think that I would see his handwritten lyrics for that anthem on a scrap of paper, but now I have, along with a lot of other interesting memorabilia and historical insights.

Going the morning of opening day, I was the first paying customer (there had been an invitation-only preview to which I wasn’t invited – I must be slipping) to see the museum’s new exhibit, on loan from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I had a nice chat with a museum curator who approached me to ask me if I was enjoying the exhibit. I assured him I was (I really was – it’s great), but, me being me, I led him to one of the didactic wall panels on which there are a couple statements that I thought were inconsistent and confusing, though not of sufficient importance to shut down the exhibit. He assured me that he understood my concern and would discuss it with higher powers.

I couldn’t tell whether he was just being polite, but he did inform that I wasn’t the first person to point out an issue. At the preview (again, to which I wasn’t invited) someone noticed that the reed on the Bill Clinton saxophone on exhibit was improperly attached to the mouthpiece (insert own joke here). The curator, without the authority to change anything, had sent a message, with a picture of the saxophone, to the Rock & Roll Museum and was awaiting word as to whether they would be sending a swat team to correct the error.

The exhibit is arranged chronologically, with reference to the President of the time, starting with Eisenhower. Interestingly, there is a photograph of Clinton with Lou Reed, who did not appear to be improperly attached.

International Museum of Surgical Science – April 23, 2019

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Dr. Robert Liston (1794-1847) was renowned for his ability to quickly amputate a limb, a skill that was highly valued in the days before anesthesia. He was nicknamed the Fastest Knife in the West End (London), but apparently sometimes was a little too quick, there being stories about him cutting off more than he was supposed to (like his assistant’s fingers in one instance). He died before the days of Jack the Ripper. I double-checked out of curiosity.

The International Museum of Surgical Science includes medical exhibits that go beyond surgery, including a Hall of Immortals, containing full length sculptures of people like Hippocrates. But, it occurred to me, if they were immortal, why couldn’t they be there in person? Perhaps it should be called the Hall of Physicians of Enduring Fame. Not catchy enough?

On display were Patent Medicine Trade Cards, which were used for advertising, though I couldn’t find mention of whether people traded them, or if there were things like rookie cards for new patents.

There’s a collection of gall, kidney, and bladder stones, a few of which are disturbingly large.

There’s a shoe-fitting fluoroscope in the Medical Imaging and X-Ray room. I remember those machines from when I was growing up. They seemed cool at the time, until, like so many other things, we discovered that they were hazardous to your health.  Not like in the movie Sleeper, where things like deep fat turn out to be good for you.

The ophthalmology exhibit includes a wide variety of eyeglasses. Extending the theme of the day, I looked for, but couldn’t find the broken glasses that H.G. Welles replaces from a museum exhibit in Time After Time while chasing after Jack the Ripper.  Admittedly, that was in San Francisco.  As was the antique shop where Captain Kirk pawned his glasses in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I couldn’t find them either.

Boston Typewriter Orchestra – ONWORD – American Writers Museum Annual Benefit – Four Seasons Hotel – April 9, 2019

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The ONWORD event featured, on display, eight typewriters from the forthcoming Tools of the Trade exhibit, opening in June at the American Writers Museum. There were typewriters that had been used by Ernest Hemingway, Ray Bradbury, and Hugh Hefner, among others.

Working off the theme of the exhibit, the entertainment was the Boston Typewriter Orchestra. I’m not sure what makes the Boston Typewriter Orchestra an orchestra, which is normally thought of as consisting of instruments from different families, such as strings and woodwinds, as opposed to an ensemble of, in this case, only percussion instruments. My guess is that it’s because the name sounds more pretentious.

Nevertheless, the idea of a typewriter orchestra sounded interesting, as it turned out, more interesting than the orchestra sounded. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about someone playing Leroy Anderson’s famous Typewriter on a typewriter with The Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra. That’s two minutes of fun.

I think the all-typewriter Boston group should have combined their music with a literary theme. For example, with a nod to the earth’s monkey population, they could have read whatever they typed as a result of their “music” to see if their compositions resulted in Shakespeare.

Or, they could have taken a piece of written work and tunefully typed it out in a manner that reflected the substance of the work. Maybe, even make it a name that tune, or rather book, game. Listen to the typewriters and try to guess what book they’re typing. That would have kept everyone’s attention longer than the 15 seconds that the actual performance did.

I wonder what the museum will do next year.  Perhaps they’ll bring in the Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project and its Paper Orchestra.  Or, what about a fountain pen orchestra, making different sounds with different colors of ink? Too subtle?

Culture Like a Local at the Chicago Association of Specialized Museums Kickoff Event and Gallery Opening – Cards Against Humanity Theater – April 5, 2019

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The Chicago Association of Specialized Museums is a self-described “coalition of small and quirky institutions throughout Chicago.”

Each museum invited its members to the party to introduce them to the other museums. Unfortunately, the space at the Cards Against Humanity Theater was too small to allow for a real appreciation of the visual presentations on the walls, though it did make it easy to mingle. All you had to do was turn around or try to scratch your nose.

What I did appreciate, however, was that, as at the opening of the American Writers Museum Bob Dylan exhibit, there was Heaven’s Door whiskey available for tasting. Also, the Fat Shallot food truck had excellent sandwiches.

The Chicago Gadhon Ensemble provided the Javanese gamelan background music on bamboo flutes and xylophones. I would have preferred Lionel Hampton and a jazz selection, but he hasn’t been available for quite a while.

I’ll mention a few of the museums. You can look the rest of them up on the association’s website. I was invited as a member of the American Writers Museum, which I love and have written about many times.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications is great. I get there regularly because it’s an early voting location and they let you roam around the museum for free if you go there to vote.

I’ve walked past the Poetry Foundation a million times, and if I ever figure out where the door is, I might check it out.

I also have never been to the International Museum of Surgical Science, but I see that they have an upcoming Nerd Night, for which they suggest that, after that night’s three featured talks, one of which is titled “Fecal transplants: Real science or a load of crap?”, you grab a drink at their bar and look at the exhibits because “everyone will be too drunk to mock you for reading every letter of every plaque!” Sounds like fun.

The Science Behind Pixar – Museum of Science and Industry – October 25, 2018

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As promised, after seeing the robot exhibit in January, I came back to the museum for The Science Behind Pixar. If you go in the afternoon it’s less crowded, because the school field trips are finishing up, and, after all, your competition to get into the exhibit is children of a lesser age.

Each of the nine elements of the Pixar Production Pipeline – story and art, modeling, rigging, surfaces, sets and cameras, animation, simulation, lighting, and rendering – has its own section where you can play at the process and hear from people at Pixar who do the jobs associated with that specialty. I now want to be one of them, although I have absolutely no knowledge in any of the areas.

The company says it employs between 500 and 1000 people. That’s a little vague considering their technical expertise. Perhaps job security, except at the top of the food chain, isn’t so great. But, given that I’m already retired, that’s not a deterrent.

Their website lists, as qualifications for an internship, “enrollment in an undergraduate or graduate program, or have graduated within one year from start of internship” That might be a problem. But what if I went back to school?

The element of rendering holds some promise. In computing it’s defined as “the processing of an outline image using color and shading to make it appear solid and three-dimensional.” Apparently I’ve been rendering my personality for years, without the aid of a computer.

And there’s a current opening for Vice President, Renderman. It’s always been my understanding that vice presidents don’t have to know or do much.

While at the museum I also went through the mirror maze in the Numbers in Nature exhibit. It’s also advantageous to see this exhibit in the afternoon, as a day’s worth of fingerprints on the mirrors helps you navigate, and, if you get lost, staff probably will rescue you before closing time.