This is a panoramic picture stitched from ten photographs, all depicting Millenium Park in Chicago on the evening of May 27, 2012. Mykala and I walked down from our hotel through the muggy air to sit on the pristine grass and listen to some great music. The night was perfect: the setting sun, the still air, little ones running around on the grass, couples eating picnic dinners on foot-high tables. I’m told the performers were the “Northwestern University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus” — and they were great. The material, however, was not good. Very dissonant, difficult material about 9/11, former president Bush, etc. Not exactly what you expect to hear for symphony music in a park. The piece was Richard Blackford’s oratorio Not in Our Time. I would not recommend it. I would recommend Millenium Park.
Keith Jarrett and neuroscience. Sympathetically innervated sweat glands are the exception when it comes to neurotransmitters — their transmitter is acetylcholine, but you would expect norepinephrine! Whoah!
If you’re in Germany, in Hamburg specifically, then you should check out an amazing concert hall rising above the port; it will house the Elbphilhamonie Hamburg in 2012. Called the Elbe Philharmonic Hall, the building appears to float atop an old structure from 1963 called Warehouse A.
Trains and sewing machines! Lordy this was a good concert. My First Time at the Ascot Room the past Friday at the Quest, and certainly that room did not disappoint, except for the morons who were talking. They were really annoying and should have stopped talking. Seriously, they had an entire lounge area to yell about pointless things but they chose the back of the Ascot Room. Ridiculous. Anyhow. I was expecting Imogen Heap to have the delicate voice of Dido (who, from the cuts I have heard, sounds horrible live), but Ms. Heap (can I call her that?) is anything but weak live. Her voice is smooth as silk, effortlessly running up and down her catchy melodies, and dropping down from high notes with a signature and distinctive sound.
Rolling Stones in St. Paul - These guys are still rockin’ after all this time? Amazing. I did not have the financial means to attend this concert, but I am quite impressed with the review:
“The Stones played with the energy and drive of a band about to say farewell — even though the band members have never confirmed this is their last tour. Indeed, the band’s new album ‘A Bigger Bang’ is the best Stones disc in decades, and they’ve hinted that it’s just the start of a creative revival in the studio.”
Oh, indeed firsts are what make our lives. Nobody really remembers the second man who walked on the moon or the second place in elections. Who wants to be Vice President, or get the silver medal? Lance Armstrong isn’t saying “I’m going to get second in my last Tour de France.”
Permission to recount yesterday in its entirety? Permission denied? Hmm. Sorry, I guess I will have to risk court marshal on this one.
My sister’s commencement exercises, my birthday, and the Dashboard Confessional concert all happened to fall on the same day. In the morning, I dragged my sorry carcass out of bed and ran off to the gym to squeeze in a quick workout. Running down the stairs back to the car, I noticed I had shaved five (5!) minutes off of my usual hour and forty-five regimen. I sarcastically congratulated myself with an “Oh yay me” as I put some rubber down on the road.
