Don't Freak Out!

I know, everything looks different! You're scared! You don't know who to trust! Fear not. The content shall maintain its high quality, I give you my word. The visuals just needed a little sprucing up, that's all.
Where to begin? As the school year ended, I had my last guitar class at the Pilgrim Lutheran school. Unfortunately some of the older kids missed our last day because they were on a field trip, but I still got to photograph a few.
Here are Adrian and Riley showing off their guitar/pokemon skills:
And here are Hayden and Hayley, the best brother-sister guitar duo since the Gallaghers (zing!)











It was a great semester, the kids who practiced showed a heck of a lot of improvement, and I learned more than I thought I would along the way. Maybe I'll be back in the fall to teach them again, but if not, don't stop believing!
Directly after this last class, Mom and Ellie flew into town for a weekend of adventures. Needless to say, we sampled all of the finest Chicago had to offer. Ellie captured some great moments and views, so we'll start with a classic shot from the tour boat:
We took an architectural boat tour of downtown Chicago, so they take you up and down the river telling you about all the cool buildings and architects and history and so on. Tons of information, most of it quite interesting, and ample time to set up your sweet camera to grab cool pics like this:
We spent some time in the Art Institute, saw awesome paintings, and walked around the loop just taking in the amazing weather. Even made it to Old Faithful:
Ok, my sources are telling me that may not actually be Old Faithful, but rather Buckingham Fountain. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
We heard some killer jazz at the Jazz Showcase, another fantastic recommendation from Uncle Charlie. And then we saw a Cubs game!!!!
Like I said, the weather was AMAZING. Apparently parking spots are so tough to find in Wrigleyville that someone decided to try the warning track. Probably a lot cheaper, why not.
So that was a blast. In other news, my Calypso band has returned from hibernation, and we're back to rehearsing. It feels good, real good. Bricklayers Foundation is moving into a new practice space, which is inspiring. I'm writing more music for my solo album, and as always reading up a storm. I finished the Blade Runner book, very fine indeed. It's nice mixing a little sci-fi into my collection every once in a while. I read Vonnegut's Galápagos, which blew me out of the water (pun probably intended). After that I cruised through Eric Ambler's A Coffin for Dimitrios, a brilliant detective novel with suspense that just grows and grows and some unforgettable characters and stories. Now I'm onto Mountains Beyond Mountains, detailing one doctor's quest to actually help a third world country (pre-earthquake Haiti), but most of the messages could be applied to so many other places. Obviously there are parallels to what Gabe is doing in El Salvador (getting clean water, building schools and hospitals, fixing roofs, etc) so that brings it a little closer to home, which is cool.
Dogs and cats are mostly doing well. Here are a couple of wonderful little guys I got to spend a week with, Oliver and Gus:
On a sad note, Elmer the puppy bulldog I've been walking isn't doing well. Apparently he's had a few heart attacks, I honestly couldn't believe it. He's in the hospital, and it's not looking good. It's very surreal to me, they say it's the breeder's fault, but he's so young it doesn't make sense to me. Mega bummer.
Luckily the Celtics have been carrying their load. As if beating the Heat, and Cavs, and Magic weren't enough, we're one win away from beating the Lakers. Granted, this series is far from over, but I think we can do it. Our bench has been huge, and everybody's been helping in one way or another, that's just good basketball. But here's a thought that few in Boston will agree with: even if they lose the next two games, let's give our 2010 Celtics a parade. First off, who knows if Ray Allen will come back, let alone the rest of our team. Second, this has been an unbelievable run. If you had asked anyone in mid-April when the postseason started how the Celtics would do, it was pretty unanimous that we would maybe make it to the second round and then definitely get destroyed by Lebron. But we keep beating these amazing players one by one, and it really makes you see how important this whole "team" thing is. The Impossible Dream Red Sox got a parade after losing to the Cardinals, simply because they exceeded everyone's expectations. Of course, I think we're going to win, but it's food for thought.
Lastly, I'm seeing the Chicago Symphony do Beethoven's 7th Symphony this Wednesday. Rock and Roll!
And here's a little parting gift, care of the Bean:

Sorry for the confusion...

but I don't actually own a bulldog. I have already heard from a couple people who thought I went out and bought a bulldog. Are you crazy?! I spend every day with other people's crazy dogs, what reason would I possibly have to buy a dog of my own? That would be like a teacher having their own kid...Oh wait, nevermind.
Those pictures were of Elmer, the puppy I walk downtown twice a day. Just to add to the confusion, here's a dog Mazy I walked a couple times.
And here's a cat I took care of named Snowball. I really like that her eyes are different colors, it was hard to capture via cameraphone but that's the best I could do.
In other news, May has been glorious. The weather is fantastic, and we have continued our weekly barbecues. Here's an old pic that I forgot to post because it's too amazing for your human eyes.
Yeah, that's right. WE ATE THAT. One of the few truly American things I am actually proud of.
Other than that, I went to Butler to see my buds graduate. As usual, a wonderful time hanging with great friends, drinking and eating great food. Here's our creepy clan with our mentor Dr. Schelle leading the way.
Not sure if you got this from looking at the picture but some of us were doing our best "serious composer pose." Others were smiling for some reason.
That was a blast. Of course there was Mother's Day, and even though it's belated I would like to thank all the matriarchs out there, even my non-biological mothers like Ellie and Jamie and Vicki who make sure this crazy family doesn't fall apart. Well done!
Chuck Palahniuk, my favorite living author, actually came to Chicago recently to speak about his new book. He was at the big library downtown, and I got there 25 minutes before only to find that the main hall was full. So they started putting us in nearby rooms for a simulcast where we got to watch him speak on live video feed. Still pretty awesome, I love that guy. Funny, dark, and original stuff.
Then there are the sports subplots. The Bruins blew it big time, but who really cares anyway? Would've been cool to see them win something or whatever, but not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. On to the more important matters: the Celtics are back! I know what you're thinking, "Adam we just lost two in a row!" Blah blah blah. Beating the Cavaliers was insane. The Magic are giving us a good fight, but I think we'll overpower them in Game 6. And then the Red Sox are surging again. Our pitching is coming back nicely, which is awesome.
In terms of books, I finally finished the Fountainhead. I liked it, definitely too long and repetitive but it was certainly interesting even though I didn't agree with everything she said and the ending was disappointing. After that was Hocus Pocus, another Vonnegut masterpiece once again taking a good plot and just playing around with his narrative structure to make it even more memorable. After that I took on another Palahniuk book, this one called Rant. Dark, slightly disturbing, slightly sci-fi, definitely funny and entertaining. After that I read The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. I actually saw and enjoyed the movie first, about disillusioned kids in college whose lives consist of drugs, alcohol and sex, but the book had many more layers to it which I liked even better. Now I'm almost done with the book that inspired Blade Runner called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K Dick consistently creates phenomenal dystopian futures with conflicted characters and great plot twists.
Last weekend my buddy Charles came to town with his girlfriend Artie and we had a blast showing them the wonders of Chicago. Great food and drinks, the Art Institute, a boat tour, checking out the top of the Sears/Willis tower, just a killer time had by all. And now mom and Ellie fly in tomorrow! Gotta put on my tour leader hat again and show these East-Coasters the majesty of our fair Windy Cindy. And we're going to a Cubs game Sunday! Eat that!

Read it and weep

I think I got videos to work! Party time!
First video: Elmer chewing on my shoes. He absolutely LOVES biting my shoelaces. And the drawstrings from my hoodie. And my jacket. And my jeans. And my toes that day I wore flipflops. Not doing that again!
My favorite part: towards the end he looks like a panda.


Round 2: Playing fetch.


Round 3: More shoes!


So yeah, that's awesome. You can wipe the tears of joy and jealousy off your faces now.
The weather is nice, the doggies are good, and I'm back to giving group guitar lessons at the school nearby. Those kids are so smart and enthusiastic, they're bored with the standard songs in our lessons plan (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, Mary Had a Little Lamb, even Smoke on the Water!), so last class I wrote out Iron Man and the Zelda theme.
Still recording with Bricklayers Foundation, and I decided I'm going to record another solo album. Not sure how many people remember/were aware, but in the summer of 2004 I formed "A Hand" and recorded my first album, "High Five." It had some good tracks, and some not-so-good tracks too. Anyways, I got the idea because since I've been in Chicago I've written a few classical/instrumental pieces as well as some more pop-oriented tunes for the bands I'm in. I thought it would be cool to combine them. We'll see what happens!

I finished the Spanish Bow, which was surprisingly good. Like I said, Mom bought it for me solely because it is about music and Spain, but it was a winner. Kind of an epic journey through 20th century Spain, constantly mixing the political and musical worlds. After that I tried The Devil in the White City, given to me by our very own Eleanor Sullivan. Another fantastic book, it reminded me of Sister Carrie in its portrayal of turn of the century Chicago. Nice job of juxtaposing the inspiring story of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition with the serial killer who lived blocks away. So cool.
Now I'm on to the Fountainhead. We watched the movie in our Humanities class at Boston Latin, but the book is really good. It looks like it's 800,000 pages long, but that won't stop me! I'll probably be reading it for the next thirteen years.
Hopefully the videos worked, but in case they didn't, here's a peak at some chili my buddy Justin made a while back.
We're turning it into a weekly barbecue session. He loves cooking, and I love eating, so we go over, drink beer, fill our bellies, take in the nice weather, and maybe even catch a little Star Trek. Does it get any better than that?
In sports news, Game 3 of the Celtics series was awesome. I hope everyone got to watch it, I hadn't been that excited in a long time. Bring it on Cavaleotards!
As for the Red Sox, we hit a rough patch, but things are slowly moving in the right direction. Anyone else notice how our wins are always by one run? That's a dangerous trend to continue, but hey, we're a .500 team again! Party!

Time for some pictures

Chicago is beautiful. The weather has been amazing recently, and it makes being outside all day just wonderful. Randomly it would shoot up to 70 or 80 degrees, which just boggles my mind, so Justin and I were hanging out by the water, just soaking up as much sun as possible.

That night we went to his place and grilled some chicken on his barbecue with some friends, it was glorious. Even though the legs were enormous and not always cooked all the way through, they were drenched in Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce which makes everything better.
Friday I came home with a craving for mac n cheese, but I decided to live on the edge and try baked mac n cheese. I think it was an awesome first try:

Then there are my doggies. Here's a new guy named Chief, he has way too much energy to be living in a studio apartment, but I guess that's what I'm there for. Anyways I am not picky with big dogs, I just love not having another tiny little guy I have to worry about stepping on.

And here's the coup de grâce: my bulldog puppy. His name is Elmer, and he's literally too adorable. Like borderline illegal. Basically everyone on the street stops and tells me how cute he is. He's just irresistible.

So you know, I got that going for me. Other recent events include watching the Red Sox Opening Night on my laptop (very exciting game, the beginning of a new season always makes me jump for joy), watching Butler almost defeat Duke (crazy game, still proud of those guys for almost single-handedly writing Hoosiers 2), and seeing Julian Casablancas live (great show, I'll never get tired of that guy's voice).
In terms of books, I finished Sister Carrie which was incredible. The story takes some totally unpredictable twists and turns and never ceased to amaze me with its brutally honest look at metropolitan life in the 1890s. I just finished Player Piano, Vonnegut's very first novel. This one is based on his experiences working at General Electric, and details a future in which we basically have machines do everything for us. On one hand it's great, as technology and mass-production are streamlined without any human faults. At the same time, the average human feels worthless and expendable, unless they have a high enough IQ to be an engineer or manager. As usual, I loved it. I just started The Spanish Bow, given to me by my adventurous mother who bought the book for me without knowing anything other than it was about Catalonia and music. So far so good!
And that about wraps it up. Far Things is playing a show Sunday night, Bricklayers Foundation is still in the studio, and hopefully my calypso guy will come back from Florida soon so we can get back to jamming! Go Sox!

Proud to be an American...finally

Obviously I was heavily invested in all the health insurance hubbub going on in Washington, and despite all the craziness it finally passed! And instead of conceding defeat and moving on, the Republicans are going to sue! Whatever, maybe it'll distract them while the Democrats pass some legislation to curb Wall Street and pollution and other fun stuff, that would be sweet.
Anyway, things in Chicago have been going really well. The weather is getting better and better, which makes walking dogs more and more enjoyable. I also joined Ross' other band, Far Things. They're definitely harder and punkier and louder than Bricklayers Foundation, but we played a gig Friday night and it went really well. It was in a basement, and the ceiling was about 6 feet high, so I had to play with my head down the entire time, and we still sounded really good. Hopefully we play some more gigs together and get more comfortable.
As for reading, I finished the Human Stain, which was great. Roth's style is very unique, and I really like it. After that I went back to the sci-fi genre, trying another Philip K. Dick book called Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Very cool stuff, definitely trippy, as usual a neat glimpse into a possible future. Now I'm halfway done with Sister Carrie, recommended by Uncle Charlie himself about a Wisconsin girl who moves to Chicago in 1890. I love reading about their adventures downtown and in Lincoln Park, riding in carriages and paying 5 cents for breakfast. After that I'm thinking about another Vonnegut book I got from the library, Player Piano. And then hopefully some of the books I actually own for a change.
Ooh, I'm seeing Julian Casablancas when he comes to town April 6th. For those of you who don't know him, he's the lead singer of the Strokes, one of my favorite bands. His solo album is pretty good, but he's just too dreamy to miss in person.
Last night me and my buddy Justin grilled on his porch, made hotdogs and garlic fries, and just ate up the gorgeous weather. Followed by watching Star Trek and Adult Swim. Great night. Here's a glimpse, with his aunt's crazy Chihuahua in the background:
Who else is excited for Opening Day?!?!?!?!?! Go Orioles!

A Masterrific Weekend

Great Success! I passed my oral exam. And I turned in my revised thesis to the library. I have completed my Master's Degree. It was a phenomenal weekend with the gang, hitting the bars of Broad Ripple, tasting the wonderful cajun/creole splendor of Yats, celebrating the timeless festival of Purim, watching the most awesomely terrible movie The Room, and perusing my old notebooks. I had been preparing for weeks, even rereading the beginning of The Rest is Noise, but I was always confident. Well, almost always. Luckily my professors are great guys, so they asked me some tough but good questions relating to my 2 years of studies at Butler. I wasn't perfect, but I proved that I knew my stuff. I got over the nerves pretty quickly, and by the end of it we were all smiling and laughing. To celebrate, we went out for buffet Indian food. Doesn't get much better than that. I printed my officially completed thesis on some special paper, turned it into the library, and am now done. It was a bittersweet ending, as expected. I love that Butler gang, and even though Chicago is a far superior city, I still miss being there sometimes. Those two years were unforgettable. Granted, I will probably go back and visit again, and they will come up here and visit me, but it was still a surreal feeling.
Here are some pictures of our third and final Purim Party (I apologize for the low quality, these moments were too good to ruin with a flash):
Dace opening the ceremony with a song.
Max and Scott were chosen to be the cantors for the evening, and did a great job of improvising some modern prayers.
And Max tells us how Mordecai and Esther defeated Hamen on the Lower East Side.
I finished the Power and the Glory, and have just started the Human Stain. I have a nice long to-read list, but please keep the recommendations coming!

It's Go Time

Biggest news first: my thesis was approved. I scheduled my oral exam for Monday, March 1st. It's so soon! The plan is to spend that weekend in Indy, hanging with the gang, getting signatures and preparing my thesis to be bound at the library. Then Monday morning I sit in a room with my composition professors and my theory professor, and they ask me questions relating to the classes I took at Butler. It's supposed to take about 45 minutes, and it's gonna be awesome. I can feel it. Should be a great weekend because it coincides with Purim, so we will be hosting our third annual Purim Party.
Bricklayers Foundation had another performance, this time at a legitimate bar in Wicker Park. There were more people in the audience, we had more time to rehearse, and we played more songs, so basically it rocked. The microphones weren't perfect, but that's life.
Betsy came to visit for an audition, and then I went to Michigan to visit her over Valentine's Day. As always it was a blast, super fun place, we made some great food, played euchre, and lived it up. When I came back, Dean Colpack was in Chicago. He visited for a week, so we had fun checking out some of our favorite bars, his old barbecue restaurant, the Art Institute, and other such adventures. I can't divulge where this came from, but we even got to meet a sloth! It was the coolest thing ever. I want to be one.
No joke. This was not taken in El Salvador. This was in Chicago.
So now that he's gone, I've had more time to study up for my oral exam, reading my old notebooks and papers and textbooks. And watching Rambo 2. Great movie.
It's hard to remember all the books I've read recently. After Catch-22, which was amazing and will require another read in the future, I tried a book by Philip K. Dick called The Man in the High Castle. Really cool story that describes the world if Japan and Germany had won World War II. After that I went back to another Palahniuk book, this one called Diary. As usual, it was dark, a little disturbing, and very enjoyable. Right now I'm trying the Power and the Glory, but I also want to reread the Rest is Noise, which you might remember I finished last year.
Other than that, the doggies are doing well, and the group lessons are going better than I expected. The kids are actually practicing at home and getting better! It's a cool feeling seeing the improvement right before your eyes.
Ok, that's it for me, but I'll definitely let everyone know how my epic weekend in Indianapolis goes. Wish me luck!