Music

Chicago Cabaret Professionals Gala – Park West – October 21, 2018

Posted on by admin

The show opened with a parody of Cabaret from the Boomer Babes, Pam Peterson and Jan Slavin, whom I mention because I know Pam and she asked me to mention them.

Liberace would have fit right in. There was more glitter on stage and in the audience than at a sixth century Mayan temple.

There are some important things to know about glitter.

It’s not allowed in jail. Apparently it can be used to smuggle in Suboxone, which is a drug, not a deli sandwich.

Glitter never goes away. I can vouch for that, as I’m still having nightmares about it days after the event.

You can unstick glitter on your body with oil and a cotton ball. But then how do you get rid of the oil on your body? You could try in situ burning. But that seems like a bad idea on your skin.

Glitter is used on fishing lures because fish also like shiny things. I felt a little like a fish out of water at the event in my non-sparkly blue jeans, but my personality was luminous and the Park West had no problem accepting my charge card.

The show was long, in part because the organizers apparently felt the need to give everyone their moment on stage. And not all the performances were glittering. They ranged from hysterical to let’s talk about something us.

I was happy to see Anne and Mark Burnell perform, having enjoyed them at a Fourth Presbyterian Church noon hour concert over the summer.

But the highlights were Hilary Ann Feldman, Cynthia Clarey, and Caryn Caffarelli singing about their longing to eat cake instead of salad, while eating cake, and Jeff Dean telling us about the travails of a young caveman whose predilections didn’t fit in among his contemporaries.

 

Music of the Baroque – Millennium Park – September 12, 2018

Posted on by admin

The big screen above the stage was used to zoom in on the musicians, along with showing the occasional picture of something related to the music, like a shot of the score. And while there were a couple photos that left me wondering as to their relationship to the music, I thought this was a wonderful addition, though I noticed, in some closeups, that a couple of the chorus members needed dental work.

Yes, I went to a concert that featured a chorus, but I only stayed for two of their numbers, and got to hear three other uninfected pieces, including Autumn from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which I, and doubtless countless others, never tire of, no matter how many times we hear it when we’re on hold on the phone.

On the other hand, listening to the chorus repeat the word “rejoiced” six times in a row in Handel’s “Zadok the Priest” reminded me of how agonizing it was to hear the Beatles repeat the chorus of Hey Jude 19 times in a row at the end of that song, unless, I guess, you were stoned.

Another thing I noticed was that the violinists bobbed their heads differently (and apparently for different reasons, as I discovered). I wonder whether violinists sitting next to each other ever bang heads. When holding auditions, do orchestra leaders ever consider whether the seat they have to fill needs someone with a left or right head bobbing tendency. Have they ever thought of choreographing the head bobs, like a Temptations dance routine?

In regard to his Symphony No. 59, the program wrongly showed Hayden’s life as being between 1770 and 1827, which turns out to be Beethoven’s life, whereas Hayden really lived from 1732 to 1809. I wonder if those guys ever got each other’s mail. And I wonder if heads will roll, which is apparently a song by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, speaking of repetitious lyrics by the Beatles, as opposed to bob, as a result of this mistake.

Chicago Jazz Festival – Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park – August 30, 2018

Posted on by admin

The Chicago Cellar Boys played my kind of music at the Cultural Center – Fats Waller, Count Basie, and Jelly Roll Morton, among others. (I may have to check them out on a Sunday night at the Honky Tonk BBQ in Pilsen.) When I saw Andy Schumm take one hand off his clarinet and pat his head, looking like he was trying to keep a toupee on, I was mildly amused, until I realized he actually was signaling the other musicians about something, I knew not what. So I looked it up. I found “8 Jam Session Hand Signals That Every Musician Should Know”, which explained to me that a head pat “denotes a return to the beginning.”

This is one of the many reasons that I could never be a jazz musician. Isn’t it enough just to be able to improvise on your instrument, which I can’t? You also have to memorize signals as if you were a third base coach waving off the bunt and implementing the hit and run. It’s one thing to be able to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time, after years of practice, but pat your head and play an instrument, way out of my league. I don’t chew gum either, unless I’m seated.

I slid over from the Cultural Center to Millennium Park for the Second-line Procession led by Mystick Krewe of Laff, featuring the Big Shoulders Brass Band. it wasn’t quite like the Krewe du Vieux I once witnessed in New Orleans (here there was no float with a keg on it serving the crowd and nobody in the group was borderline naked), but it was fun to join with them as they marched around the park, playing traditional Dixieland jazz, leading an entourage of people like me making videos with their phones. Next year (or maybe tomorrow) I’ll bring some beads.

Rush Hour Concerts and Broadway in Chicago

Posted on by admin

Fifth House Ensemble – Rush Hour Concert – St. James Cathedral – July 2, 2018 (better late than never)
Broadway in Chicago – Millennium Park – August 13, 2018
Avalon String Quartet – Rush Hour Concert – St. James Cathedral – August 14, 2018

The abbreviation used for the Fifth House Ensemble is 5HE. Since the group I saw play was composed of three women, I thought 5HE was supposed to look like SHE. Very clever. But no. The musicians I saw are part of a larger group that makes up 5HE and some of the members are men. Oh well.

Anyway, it was a wonderful musical performance, BUT, the videos that went with it, didn’t. The one during the first movement displayed a vague nothingness that made me instead think of the song Nothing from A Chorus Line, which actually is about something.

During the second movement, they showed someone painting a picture, which struck me as a poor man’s version of Bill Alexander on the PBS tv show, The Magic of Oil Painting, in the 1970s.

The cellist did a lot of head shaking, which suggested that she probably doesn’t play golf, or at least not well.

The Avalon String Quartet added another cellist and beautifully played Schubert’s String Quintet (four plus one equals five) in C Major, which the program notes said ends in a slightly ambiguous note. My only confusion was as to the basis for that statement.

The upright bass player in the orchestra backing up the performers (who were shuffled on and off stage as if they were the singing waitstaff at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Times Square) at the Broadway in Chicago event kept looking at his top hand, which led me to a fun online response to a question about guitarists doing that, which ended by saying that “if your eyes are closed all of the time you may miss important visual cues like when the song is supposed to end”, which reminded me of my torts law professor’s unambiguous declaration that if you change the facts, you may change the result.

 

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – August 8 and 11, 2018

Posted on by admin

This week’s guest soloists at the Grant Park Music Festival were pianist George Li, showing off Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and cellist Pablo Ferrández, treating us to Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante. But neither could hold a candle, so to speak, from an entertainment, if not talent, viewpoint, to the guest soloist bagpiper on the Michigan Avenue bridge, whose music was so hot that he had flames shooting from his instrument as he played, which apparently is not uncommon for street bagpipers.

I wonder whether the city knew about the fiery nature of his act when they gave him a street license. The application form only seems concerned with noise and congestion, not possible loss of life.

Nevertheless, getting a license to be a street performer, also known as a busker (news to me), can be a challenge, which has led to numerous legal challenges across the country.

It’s unlikely that Li or Ferrández will have to resort to playing in the street for tips, but that doesn’t mean that they are without their challenges. For instance, in particular in regard to a pianist, what about one’s height?  I read that 6 foot, 4 inch Bruce Hornsby hunches over the keyboard. and doesn’t use the pedals.

So what about Li, who, from a distance, appeared rather short. Li’s height, or lack thereof, was a topic of concern when, as a ten-year-old prodigy playing with a trio, he could barely reach the pedals.  I wonder if he used a pedal extender.

This also led me to wonder whether bicycle manufacturers make toe clips for piano pedals, so that you can play faster? Ukrainian Lubomyr Melnyk claims that he is the world’s fastest playing pianist, at 19 piano notes on each hand every second. It strikes me that a tuba player might have trouble keeping up with him.

 

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – July 27, 2018

Posted on by admin

I don’t write about every GPMF concert I see because it would get boring to say I loved the music and the orchestra sounded great. So here’s a twist. The orchestra sounded great throughout the evening, and I loved two of the pieces they played (Ralph Williams’ Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3), but I hated Andrew Norman’s Switch. It is for moments like this that they should have two overhead signs, one that lights up for Applause for the Orchestra and one that lights up for Applause for the Music, so that we can show our appreciation for the musicians’ efforts and our disdain for the music.

Actually, if you could filter out the sounds created by the guest percussion soloist and just listen to the orchestra’s backup, there was music to be heard. But I thought I was watching a symphonic version of This Is Spinal Tap, with Michael McKean as the percussionist, acting the part by pretentiously parading around the stage in anticipation of the next singular (as in one, not as in special) note he would tap out on a variety of paraphernalia on the front of the stage that blocked our view of half the orchestra.

To be fair (as much as it pains me), of the four of us together at the concert, one appreciated the composer’s efforts. So our group rating was above the musical equivalent of the Mendoza Line. But to me, what I was hearing wasn’t music (much like, I concede, some of our parents thought of rock and roll). Perhaps, however, it could be described as some non-electronic form of noise music (a term I had not heard of before looking up the definition of music).

Project Inclusion String Quartet – July 17 and 26, 2018 – Washington Square Park and Lake Shore Park

Posted on by admin

If you didn’t get a chance to see the wonderful Project Inclusion String Quartet this summer at one of their outdoor concerts in various city parks, don’t worry, you can see them next summer, except it will be a whole new quartet, made up of new Fellows.

“Project Inclusion is a unique training opportunity for singers and string players from diverse backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the symphonic orchestral and choral world.” That description certainly applies to this year’s quartet, one of whom is from Havana, and another of whom, perhaps more impressively, made it to Chicago from rural Texas.

Their last concert, in Lake Shore Park, highlighted a couple of challenges of playing in the elements. First, one always has to deal with the wind. A website I found about playing outdoors notes that “[y]ou can never have too many clothespins for the wind.”

And, indeed, the quartet used the largest clothespins I’ve ever seen to hold their music in place. They could have held Shaquille O’Neal’s clothes out to dry on the line with them. This led me to find a website that lists 15 smart uses for clothespins, none of which involve clothes.

Second, while the music was delightful, the background to the Lake Shore Park performance suggested to me a Fellini movie with a John Cage soundtrack. There were children doing cartwheels on the lawn, runners doing wind sprints on the track, and dogs catching frisbees, while other dogs barked, and buses roared by.

The quartet was exposed to other Chicago ambient sounds as they introduced and performed with the Grant Park Symphony in Millennium Park on July 18. There one has to deal with sirens, cicadas, the occasional helicopter, and, in the audience, the guy sitting behind you who thinks he’s whispering.

 

Mark and Anne Burnell – Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – July 20, 2018

Posted on by admin

My faith now has been restored in the Church’s outdoor jazz concerts, even when they’re indoors because of rain. The Burnells were a joy to see. Their arrangements were lively. There was humor and energy. Mark rocked the piano and did a great impression of a bass fiddle.

The Burnells appear at churches with some regularity. And, in addition to other venues at which they both perform, Mark’s trio regularly plays at the Tortoise Supper Club on State Street, without Anne, as a way, I suppose, of keeping the separation between church and State Street.

I haven’t seen their act before (though I would gladly see it again), so I have nothing against which to compare this performance, but they didn’t seem to let the venue restrict their playlist, which included the double-entendred (an adjective I just invented) Cy Coleman ditty, The Tennis Song, from City of Angels.

During the performance, Anne mentioned that she was wearing jewelry given to her by a couple friends in the audience, that she liked to wear the jewelry as a way of having her friends with her wherever she goes, but that she now had enough jewelry, so, if anyone wanted to give her gift, she could use some underwear. Something to think about if we get a group together to see her sing sometime in the future.

At the end of the concert, before two encores that pleasantly extended ten minutes past the scheduled conclusion of the program, the crowd rose in unison to give the Burnells a standing ovation. That seemed like no small feat given the average age of the Noonday Concert patrons (which doesn’t lend itself to them rising quickly from their seats), until I discovered that Anne also does fitness instruction for seniors.

Summer Festivals – July 15, 2018

Posted on by admin

I could have gone to the Square Roots Music Fest, the Windy City Smokeout (where I could have eaten beef belly burnt ends, or not), the Roscoe Village Burger Fest, the Southport Art & Music Festival, or the Dearborn Garden Walk, but I chose to go to the Chinatown Summer Fair, which was free and worth every penny of that.

The Dearborn Garden Walk would have been the most convenient, but I’ve been to the Tuileries Garden in Paris and the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island, so why would I pay $35 to see someone’s backyard?

I opted against the Southport Art & Music Festival because I had walked past it the day before, after it closed, only to encounter an unusually foul aroma coming from somewhere in the vicinity (perhaps from a surfeit of skunks) on my way to the Mercury Theater to see Avenue Q, which unfortunately was cancelled due to the illness of one of the actors. I posited that one of the puppets had tasted, after that day’s matinee, whatever I had smelled, and was now retching up felt at the local emergency room or tailor shop.

The Chinatown Summer Fair included a petting zoo of goats, but, alas, no goat yoga, which, as a result, remains on my bucket list. There also was a meager lion dance (a line dance would have been better), and a basketball shooting contest where the two people I briefly watched couldn’t even hit the rim from 15 feet. Confident that I could do better, I walked away to avoid personal embarrassment.

The Fair included a performance by the Jesse White Tumbling Team, but so does every other event in Chicago. Next year I think I’ll opt for the Square Roots Music Fest. After all, I was a math major for a while.

Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael, cabaret – Fourth Presbyterian Church – July 13, 2018

Posted on by admin

I was ten minutes late for the performance because I was tied up on a conference call (yes, even in retirement, there is the occasional conference call). I wish the call had gone longer.

I know Menzie and Michael perform together a lot around town and that, in addition, Menzie is a sought after arranger and accompanist. But how do you make I’ve Got Rhythm boring? Did the fact that it was Friday the 13th have anything to do with it? How about the partial solar eclipse in India today?

I imagined Gershwin turning over in his grave, which, since we were in Fourth Presbyterian’s courtyard, made me think of Elegy in a Country Churchyard, which I’m sure I’ve never read (or wanted to), but probably have seen as a Jeopardy answer numerous times. I tried to take my mind off such thoughts by visualizing Sutton Foster tap dancing to the song. That always helps.

According to Wikipedia, cabaret “is mainly distinguished by the performance venue, which might be a pub, a restaurant or a nightclub with a stage for performances.” That was the problem. The church didn’t serve alcohol.

I would have gotten up and left, but it was hot and I had a seat in the shade, so instead I pulled out my cell phone and checked my emails. It also helped that a couple seemingly mutant pigeons (at least by their odd coloring) landed on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard, and one of them did its best imitation of the Drinking Bird toy for several minutes.

I’m not a religious person, but, since I was at a church, I decided to pray during the final song, McArthur Park (voted in 1992 as the worst song ever recorded), and my prayers were answered, as there was no encore.