why is it everyone now is a pain in the ass?

Or do I have the word "Sucker" stamped on my forehead or something? Yesterday, at lunchtime, I was on my way to drop off a package and someone outside Borders stopped me "Excuse me, miss, can I ask you a question?" Usually I say no, or just hastily move to the other side of the sidewalk, but then the (cute) guy went on to ask "About your hair?" Huh? My hair? That threw me, and I stopped. What could he possibly want to know about my hair? Well, you guessed it, it was a sales pitch for some alleged salon in the south loop. It involved all kinds of special treatments, all for one low price, and if you give me your credit card number right now, we'll sign you up. Yeah, right! I don't give my credit card information to people on the street, I don't know about you. As lovely a plan as this sounded, I had no idea if the salon actually existed AND, I don't give my credit card information to people on the street. He got the huff with me and was all like "Do you think I'd memorize this stuff for fun?" etc. and told me to call the salon, call 411 etc. Regardless. He told me he only had 4 of the coupons left blah blah blah, so if I changed my mind... I had to come back that way, and he was still standing out there. He was actually still standing out there when I headed home that evening too. I started wondering why I always get called out for these kinds of things - do I look nice? Is my little round face too trusting looking? Or gullible looking? Or, in this particular instance, did he think I had bad hair and desperately needed this package?

Then on the train yesterday evening, I was scribbling away in a notebook (lists, you know) and this girl parks herself in the seat in front of me and starts talking on the phone. She talked solidly from Union Station all the way to Morton Grove (1/2 an hour!) . She was going to Libertyville (figures, doesn't it?) and I heard all about her journey on the Amtrak train. She freaked out because a lady with a baby sat in front of her. In her words "And I was like, 'Are you kidding me? I hate babies" she tells whoever she's talking to "HATE them!" Who the hell hates babies? Crying babies can be annoying, it is true, but hate the crying, don't hate the baby... Did she really think it was more courteous to her fellow passengers to yammer away at top volume on her phone for 30 solid minutes? At least the baby has an excuse... I hadn't put on my ipod while I was writing because I tend to get all absorbed in what I'm doing and I didn't want to miss my stop. But finally, I couldn't take it any more, and I put the headphones on and selected Patti singing "Mr. Tambourine Man" and you want to know something? I could still hear this chick babbling away. Over Patti. Singing at top volume. And her "Mr. Tambourine Man" is not a quiet song. I left my seat one stop away from Morton Grove and stood in the vestibule for the rest of the ride. Thank goodness it's Friday, huh?

a fond farewell to Gypsy...

New York magazine has published a gorgeous photo diary from Gypsy's final moments... Oh, how I wish I could have been there for the final one, but I'm happy that I had the chance to be there at all...

a classic love story on skates

That's right! I just got my tickets for Xanadu! I am excited, it sounds like so much fun. Every time I walk by one of the theaters downtown (I pass the Cadillac Palace and the Oriental on my walk from the station every day), I start singing "ZZZZZZZ---AANNNN-- AHHHH-- DOOOO" so now I can finally see it and get that out of my head. And about time, too, I think people walking by and hearing me singing away are thinking I am a bit farmhouse nutty.

This also reminds me of one of the Rock Boat cruises. All of them took place on Carnival ships that had been decorated sometime in the 70s and had pretty much not seen any updates since. It was all bright colors and blinding patterns - which was not fun after a few drinks, I am telling you. Anyway, the last cruise we were on, some of the shows took place in the Xanadu lounge. Ah, good times, good times...

Can't wait! I'm seeing it on Sunday 2/8, and will report fully afterwards.

a night at the opera...

From today's Sun Times, Neil Steinberg is giving a healthy push in favor of going to the opera, and the paper is giving away 100 tickets for Cav/Pag next month. If you haven't been to the opera before I would not necessarily recommend Wagner as a first opera, but Cav/Pag are good ones to see. See Mr. Steinberg's article below. It lists the link for the ticket giveaway. Good luck!

Opera audience in another world
LYRIC Here's a preview for 100 ticket winners

January 26, 2009
BY NEIL STEINBERG
Culture can be a duty, almost a burden, and to be honest it was not without qualms that I slipped into my seat at the Lyric Opera on Friday afternoon to catch the dress rehearsal of Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde." First, it's five hours long. That's a long time for anything; Angelina Jolie performing a lap dance could grow wearisome toward the end of the fourth hour. Unlikely, but possible.

Second, it's Wagner. Heavy stuff, with its crashing minor chords and overheated lovers locked in doomed embrace, singing their hearts out in praise of Liebestod (love-death). No sooner do Tristan (the boy) and Isolde (the girl, to stretch the term) meet than they are anticipating the grave the way other new couples ponder china patterns. But once you actually break out of your routine and find yourself there, the world melts away. Heck, just walking into the Civic Opera House is thrill enough, with its soaring ceiling and bronze Jazz Age opulence. The fact that they also put on a show is an added bonus.

Last Monday, I plumped the opera a bit, teasing for the 100 readers I'm inviting to join me next month at the paired performance of "Pagliacci" and "Cavalleria Rusticana." I mentioned how you don't have to speak a foreign language (there are projected English titles) or dress fancy.
Frankly, because of space, I missed a few other important elements. Seeing an opera is a social experience. People talk to one another during the intermissions. You can listen to a CD at home, but you won't find yourself, as I did, sitting next to Arnold Voketaitis, a former Lyric singer, sharing memories of our common acquaintance, Valdas Adamkus, onetime president of Lithuania.
Not only do people chat, but there are bars -- I limit myself to peppermint candies, but if a stiff brandy helps you, then by all means it's there and you won't be alone.
Lastly -- and the Lyric folks might want to skip this paragraph -- you don't have to adore every aspect of the opera, and true fans don't. Disliking things is part of the fun. I could fill the column with judgmental comments I heard at Friday's "Tristan" -- the swordplay was tepid (true); the big boulders in David Hockney's set were unfortunate (also true, though I considered them rather Ernie Bushmillerian).
And so to the gist. The Chicago Sun-Times is giving away 50 pairs of tickets to the Feb. 18 performance of Pagliacci/Cavalleria. There are rules, and I'm sure someone will read them. The most important restriction is that you cannot have bought tickets to the Lyric before -- and yes, they'll be checking, so they tell me. To read the rules, and to apply, go online at suntimes.com/win and click on "The Sun-Times goes to the Lyric Opera." Good luck.

frost/blago?

So I've been thinking... (yes, that is what that sound was) our governor has decided to ditch his impeachment trial in favor of chatting it up with the ladies on The View. Why not bring in our friend David Frost and give the governor the trial he doesn't want to have? Maybe he can illicit a deep dark confession from the governor. Or have a conversation about hair products, whatever. Brilliant, mais non?

tell me if this is too bitchy

People, I need to know something - Can you unfriend somebody on Facebook? And, furthermore, is it considered rude/bitchy/immature to do so if you discovered that someone who "friended" you, who was actually someone that you knew from when you were in jr high and didn't really like and has now become a born again christian with pro-life and anti-Obama style views that you have to read about on the status page all the time? I feel that it is kind of immature and rude, because everyone is entitled to their opinions. I haven't done anything yet, and I am pretty sure I can just do the live and let live thing (even if that person is a tough, arrogant, redneck dairy farmer with a rather limited world view... no, scratch the dairy farmer part, but the rest is true). We weren't friends back in the day and we aren't friends now. I am pretty sure we could not have a conversation about anything without it devolving into something not very pretty. I am happy if she is happy, I don't wish ill on anyone, but reading that crap makes me so angry. I had to stop myself from writing narkily on her wall - which would be even more bitchy and immature... Hmmm. What is the etiquette here? This is all so exhausting. Someone friended me the other day and I have no clue who she is. But I said yes anyway, because you know, whatever.

Have I mentioned that I kinda hate facebook?

Frost/Nixon

Every year, I make (in vain) the same vow: that I will see all of the Best Picture Oscar nominees before the ceremony, so I have at least some clue as to what's going on. That hardly ever happens though, due to a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's a schedule thing, but most of the time, it's because I have no interest in any of the nominated films. Too smart for me, maybe or too epic or too something. I had no interest in The Departed, for instance, No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood, or even Syriana. I have to be in a certain mood for heavy films, or Cohen brothers films, for that matter, and sometimes, I just can't get there. And then I wonder if it is worth it spending my hard earned money on something that I don't know if I will like. And, also, sometimes these best picture nominess are so bizzarely obscure, it's like huh? Who the hell is watching this? What the hell were they thinking when they nominated this??

Anyway. This year is a little different because, for once, I have no serious issues about seeing any of the nominated films. I would happily sit through each and every one of them and so I have, once again, made the vow that it will happen before the ceremony.

I attended my first of the nominated films this afternoon, Frost/Nixon. I have been wanting to see it since it came out, but as with so many other things, it did not happen until today. It's only in about 2 theaters that are close by, so I figured I had to see it before it went away completely. It fascinated me - not just because of its two stars that also starred in the Broadway show of the same name, but because I had no idea that this interview had ever taken place. Weird, no? It's true - I love history and even majored in it. But none of my classes had ever ever gotten to history past WW2. Seriously. There is a lot of effort spent in schools over the constitution (understandably) and the early years of the nation etc., the Civil War, all of that, but I've never gotten to Vietnam in a class. Or heck, even the Korean War. So, while I had learned OF Nixon, and probably had to memorize one or two interesting facts about his administration back in 8th grade when Mr. Daiberl taught us about the Presidents (some of these come in handy, the other day, a Jeopardy question focused on who was President during the Tea Pot Dome Scandal. Hello? It was Warren G. Harding, duh. I have no clue what else he did, but that, I knew.)

So. I knew of Nixon, and that he'd resigned, and that it was him and his lying and his cover ups that soured politics and the presidency for my mom forever, but I knew nothing about David Frost and his interview, giving the 37th President "the trial he never had." Who was this funny little man, with his penchant for colorful socks, and what made him think that he would be able to get the answers out of the former President, whose nickname, after all, was "Tricky Dick"?

The film goes back, sets up the context for those of us in the audience (me) who had not actually been alive during Nixon's administration, introduces Frost (played by Michael Sheen), a talk show host, with a failed show in the US, who has this crazy idea to interview Richard Nixon (apparently for the ratings it would bring and the credibility it would lend to his reputation), and then brings us into the world of Nixon (a jowly Frank Langella, who I am assured portrays a very accurate Nixon). He is living in California and is resisting the trappings of retirement. He takes the interview with Frost because he figures it will be a way to get himself back into public life, and that Frost will most likely be a soft and sympathetic interviewer. He is well prepared, in the initial sessions, and Frost is not. But the final session is what everyone's been waiting for, when Frost gets Nixon to admit to wrong doing in office and even letting the American people down.

It's fascinating, even more so because it's true. I'm glad I caught it - and I admit that I was inspired this morning after seeing an interview with Frank Langella on the CBS morning show. He is riveting as Nixon.

ding dong, the witch is dead...

Wicked is ending its Chicago run this weekend. I saw it, when it first opened here, I think we took Beth for her birthday?? Don't remember. We were all the way in the back of the house in the nosebleeds. I remember it was loud, it was fun, there was a lot of rah rah girl power sisterhood stuff in it, and the music was pretty (and we sang the shit out of when I took voice classes at Virtuoso) and now? I am Over It. Time Out Chicago had this to say about the show's departure... here

So, as soon as we get rid of Jersey Boys, we will be able to have more stuff tour through here. It's not like I have anything against juke box musicals per se, but I have zero interest in Jersey Boys. If I want to listen to the 4 Seasons, I'll listen to the 4 Seasons, a little of that voice (or people pretending to have that voice) goes a long way... That said, I will most likely wander around for the rest of the day going "Walk like a MAN, my Sooo-ohhohhoohh-NNN!" because their music is infectious. But anyway, now that the Oriental is freed up, we will be able to bring in the tour/homecoming of August:Osage County (according to Playbill.

the audacity of hope...

"there always has been - another tradition to politics, a tradition that stretched from the days of the country's founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done..." - Barack Obama

i haven't watched an inauguration in 8 years!

You'd better believe I would not have missed this one for anything in the world. To celebrate, we projected live stream onto a wall in our conference room and had pizza... WLS across the street was also broadcasting live to a small gathering of people on the sidewalk. I admit it, guys, I was WRONG in the beginning. I didn't "get" the fascination with this man. But I do now, I was wrong, wrong, wrong, and today I am SO proud & excited & hopeful.

Can you believe it's really here?

Bye, Dubya! It was... yeah, pretty crappy! See ya around, though... Maybe you can open a Presidential Library or something... (Can you imagine what he'd have in his library?)

you never know who you're gonna see on check, please!

Last night, WTTW re-ran an epoisode of Check Please! (SO much better when Amanda Puck was hosting, am I right?) that featured a retail buyer, a Chicago firefighter and... an Illinois state senator named Barack Obama. During the show, Mr. Obama listened thoughtfully, offered polite and eloquent comments and was generally very charming and positive about each of the dining experiences he'd had. His choice? The Dixie Kitchen in Hyde Park. On the night that he and Michelle went there, he enjoyed a southern combo platter and saved room for the peach cobbler (which got a hearty endorsement from our now President-elect!)

times is hard...

It seems that these hard times are having an effect on even the most seemingly invincible institutions - including, according to the New York Times, the mighty Metropolitan Opera with their gazillion dollar endowment and forty + person development department. Peter Gelb has had to cut several new revivals (including one of Frau, according to the Times, which is no great loss, if you ask me, but nobody did...) and may even (GASP!) take a pay cut...

it is colder here than it is in alaska...

I can see Indiana from my window!

the following takes place between 8:00 and 9:00 am

So, I was watching something or other on the tv and I saw a commercial for McCafe beverages, you know, the new fancy coffee at McDonald's. Hmmm, I thought, watching the foamy hot milk and the delicious looking chocolate pools. I wonder if those are good? Probably cheaper than getting the brew at Starbucks* and look at how fantastic that looks on tv and do they really make the "M" like that in the foam? And lo and behold the following morning I went and got myself a mocha because they just looked so darned good on that commerical. It was okay, not terrific, I was happy to hold a hot cup (this was yesterday) and so I think I would have thought a cup of steaming hot water a delicious prospect. There was no M in the foam (damn).

Also, I've been getting sucked back in to a few tv shows I'd sort of grown away from. The two hour premiere event for "24" was on Monday and I really like Kiefer Sutherland, but the thing with 24 is that it takes itself so seriously. Like, I would have had that song "So you had a bad day" playing over the commercial teasers, because honestly, this man has had nothing but horrible days in his life. Just once, it would be kind of fun to have the show open with Jack wearing his bathrobe and enjoying his morning coffee and some pancakes BEFORE all the wacky mayhem ensues. Or, "the following takes place between 9:00 and 10:00" showing Jack trying to return something without a receipt. Or, like, checking his facebook page (Hey look, Tony Almeda just "friended" me!) Anyway, 24 was on, I was doing something else, but I found myself getting all drawn into the action. Gosh, I thought, how is Jack going to bust Tony out of the FBI HQ? Is the FBI computer chick (Janeane Garofalo! Where have you been??) going to out-Chloe Chloe (Pft. As if!) who was doing some ace FBI systems hacking? So I had to watch and see what was going to happen. I went away during the second hour, so I don't know what other trouble Jack has managed to get himself in to, but I am afraid of getting too sucked in...

AND speaking of getting sucked in, American Idol has started up again. In the past, it had so pissed me off (ooh, I think it's because Chris Daughtry was prematurely voted off) and so I had started a one-woman anti-idol crusade. It was weird though, because even though I wasn't physically watching it, I STILL knew what was going on. So last night, the audition round in Kansas City was on, and I got all sucked in and started watching it. I really do like the auditions, but as the show goes on, I lose interest. It was kind of boring last night, actually, Simon was not too terribly narky (although he got in a really good dig at a girl by telling her her song sounded like a cat falling off the empire state building) Paula was not too terribly crazy, the new judge seems cool, where's the fun in that??

* Remember the disasterous tea latte thing? I emailed Starbucks' rival, telling them how much I aime their product and how I will never stray again and... I've heard NOTHING. Not even thanks a lot for liking our tea!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

So this was totally me this morning (minus the suitcase and umbrella, and slogging through the snow covered streets of downtown Chicago and not Racine, but why are you getting so bogged down with these stupid details?). I really really really really hate snow and why are we getting so much of it? I blame Dubya (for most things, actually. The war, the economy, the snow, my sinus infection, all of it. Very convenient, no?) Can we keep blaming him after next week?

sing out, louise

Haven't you seen Gypsy yet? Do you not believe me when I rattle on in blog posts about how great it is? "The Stuff Broadway Dreams are Made Of" according to the Daily News, and lemme tell you, they are not wrong. It closes on Sunday, so get your ass in gear and get some tickets. I had planned to go when it was set to close in March, and I found out upon my return from my most recent NYC trip that it would close early. That was also the same day I got into my little fender bender - and really? I think I was more upset about the show closing... Since my checkbook will not sustain another jaunt to the city so close to the last one, I will have to be content with the last time I saw it, which you know? Was pretty damn great. All in all, I saw the thing 12 times, counting Ravinia, City Center and Broadway and it was worth it - great show, a diva who is the very definition of "beyond beyond" new friends (who taught me all I know and who just understand) and lots of memories.

Ravinia

(I am totally in this photo - back row on the right - you can see my head!)

City Center!

tears of joy...

The Chicago Tribune (which I don't usually like, since it converted to its new, obnoxious and USA Today style format) has a story today about moments in theater/art/music that make us cry. They interviewed Chicago arts community notables Barbara Gaines and Bill Mason and ask about moments that have moved them. So I got to thinking what moments have truly moved me whilst watching live theater? I don't usually cry at things, but there have been a few instances... these are the some of the ones I remember most clearly.

Billy Elliot - So, yeah, I was pretty much laughing and crying throughout the whole thing. I think the labor struggle, and the "he can go and he can shine" thing really got to me.

Company - I'm with Barbara Gaines on this one. Raul Esparza singing "Being Alive" after spending the entire show not playing an instrument and being on the outside, looking in, Bobby sits down at the piano... so powerful.

Sweeney Todd - the closing night, after scoring front row tickets, for which I will always owe a debt of gratitude to Sarah, sitting there, looking up at the cast, whose emotions were written all over their faces, and getting stared down by Ms. Patti, at her fiercest. Oh, I am not describing this very well, but this, for me, was the first time I'd ever been moved to tears during a live theater performance. I'm used to going to shows and being entertained AT, and this was the first time I'd been engaged through all my senses, I felt part of it, and that's why this performance will always be kind of special to me...

At the ballet? I don't usually cry when I'm watching performances at the Auditorium, but I did cry a lot at Mr. Arpino's memorial service, during the last piece the company performed. It is called Trinity, and it ends with the dancers coming out onto the stage with candles. They put the candles down on the stage and then leap away, leaving one solo dancer among the flickering lights. He is holding a single candle, and continues the dance, then he puts his candle down and exits, leaving a dark stage, empty except for the tiny points of flickering light. When the company came back to take their bows, the solo dancer lifted one of the candles to Mr. A's box, in a salute to him. That was a very moving tribute.

As far as I can recall, I have never cried at an opera, except maybe some tears of joy when some particularly stinky ones ended (Manon Lescaut, this means YOU. I would also be talking about Frau here, as well, but we left before its great hulking HORRIFIC-ness sucked the life force out of us...)

almost friday

Just reading over that last post... that's an awful lot of punctuation, huh? Still, I was (am) very excited for the opening of Sugar Bliss, they've been announcing the opening of their new shop since the summertime.

Verdict on the cakes? Not, sadly, as good as Crumbs (and not as big as the Crumbs ones, either)but pretty darn good. So go and check them out and swing by the office and say hello while you are at it. If you come by on a Monday night, you can catch me in my tap shoes.

What else? Really terrible sinus infection has morphed into a really terrible cold, I don't know what's going on anymore. So in addition to all the hanging around over bowls of hot water, I am also eating a lot of soup, and have become very fond of TheraFlu's new Warming Liquid. Right now, I am sipping an Earl Grey Vanilla Creme tea latte from Argo - THAT is how you make a tea latte, bitches.

mmmmmm, cupcakes...

It's a good thing that I didn't make any new year's resolutions relating to losing weight, because people, listen up! Sugar Bliss has (finally!!) opened its shop a mere block away from work! I can walk to cupcake happiness in minutes! Look at me, using all these exclamation points and I haven't even had any cupcakes yet!!!

Dear Starbucks, For the Love of God...

STICK TO COFFEE! PLEASE! I drank half of the vanilla roobios, I doctored it with cream and sugar, extra water, everything and finally, I had to toss the offensive brew that you call a "tea latte" and start all over again, with a new cup of tea made here at the office. This thing has taken over my morning - I love starting the day with a nice hot beverage and now I'm traumatized. Thank goodness for the chocolate croissant my colleague has generously shared with me...

Coffee. That's what you do. Live it. Love it. No more craptacular tea drinks, please. Oh, but if you feel like bringing back the chantico chocolate deliciousness, there would be no objections from Chicago.

Thanks loads!

tea time?

So. I am writing this morning with the assistance of a tall vanilla rooibos tea latte from Starbucks. They are attempting to belatedly join the Argo tea latte bandwagon and introducing a new Tazo tea line. My dad found a coupon for a free tall tea latte, and because I would never pass up a free beverage (or a free pretty much anything, actually) I picked one up.

Let me just say, Argo? You have nothing to worry about. This vanilla roobiwhatever is NO earl grey vanilla creme. I am just glad it was free...

welcome to 2009

Hello, everybody. How's the new year been treating you?? I rang it in with a FIERCE and persistent sinus infection, that I've had off and on for the past few weeks. On New Year's Eve, after Heidi cooked a lovely dinner, and we played some Rock Band, and watched Dirty Dancing (I have to admit - I'd never seen the whole thing until that night. I was not a movie person when I was a kid, and so I missed the whole thing entirely.) I went home at 11:30, and was therefore in the shower, steaming my sinuses, when the clock struck 12:00. New Year's Day and the rest of the weekend found me either in bed, hovering over a bowl of steam with a towel wrapped around my head, or... well, actually, that was about it.

I'm resolved to do a few things, namely learn to purl, then make things utilizing both the knit and purl stitch WITHIN THE SAME PROJECT (Ooooohhhhhoooohhhh), and pretty much, I've decided that this is the year that I'm gonna become fabulous. You know that there are those people that when you think of them you gush effusively to your friends "Oh, that so and so. She's FABULOUS" - yeah, well I want that to be me. I've enlisted the assistance of Clinton Kelly and his book (wait for it) "Freakin' Fabulous" which is very very useful. Oh, and since we're offering free classes at our new Academy, I'm going to be donning the tap shoes once again. For nothing is more fabulous than tap dancing, no?