Victory!

What a month. First off, my kickstarter was a success! Thank you all for your donations and help spreading the word, you guys are the best. Family, friends, family friends, I obviously couldn't have done this without your support. So far I have a conductor and a venue, I just need to lock down specific dates and times and then find performers. Very exciting stuff!
I've been lucky enough to see many great performances recently, one such treat was being able to see Michael Showalter perform in a bar near here. He's one of my favorite comedians, hilarious stuff, intimate venue, unforgettable night. We were able to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim like we did back in Indianapolis, with storytelling and libations and general jubilation.
My college buddy Matt Dresher came to Chicago for almost a week, so we had a killer time checking out the Field Museum, the Nature Museum, and generally just eating our brains out. Yes, I took him to my favorite spot (Flub a Dub Chubs), not only did he eat one of their enormous hamburgers but he also devoured a chicago style hot dog. The man is a legend. Of course we also sampled some delicious deep dish pizza. And in true college form, we hung out at my place, had a few beers, and watched two Richard Pryor classics: The Toy and my personal favorite Brewster's Millions. I especially like the baseball sequences and the subtle similarities to a Communist revolution.
There was Opening Day, normally a festive time for Boston fans but this year started off pretty horribly. Luckily things have gone much better recently, same goes for the Celtics and Bruins. We did get to watch Butler make another improbably run to the Final Four, followed by a disappointing loss to UCONN. Only two more championship losses in a row and they'll be called the Buffalo Bills of college basketball!
We got to see the robot opera, which is actually called "Death and the Powers." I enjoyed the music but the set and technology used were even better.
My buddies and I took part in an It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia trivia night, and came in close second place. Then I got to spend an evening with my other college roommate Zach Milner. We checked out the dive bar up the street, the chic whiskey bar, and ended our night at the famous Kuma's Corner for burgers and beers. More recently I've also sampled a polish buffet and a delicious seder dinner, but the crème de la crème was definitely seeing two of my favorite current bands perform: the National and Arcade Fire. Tickets were expensive, but both acts were fantastic and it was absolutely worth it.
The weather is finally getting nicer, we've had the rare beautiful day mixed in with lots of blahness. But last night we had our first barbecue of the season, and I can assure you a glorious time was had by all. So now I can focus on putting my ensemble together and having the best premiere ever!

Good Times

Hey people, sorry for the delay. A lot's happened since the great 'Zard of '11. First was Bricklayers Foundation's live performance at Strange Beauty Show Salon. We played some songs, had a great time, and got free haircuts in the process.

A while back I had another crazy week of music that was reminiscent of the good times at Butler. I saw the Civic Orchestra perform Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, which just blew me away. I saw the Lyric Opera perform Wagner's Lohengrin, which was better than I expected, especially story-wise. I got to see the Met's version of Nixon in China in a movie theater (loved the music, the songs were pretty good). And then we heard a talk by this composer who wrote "'Death and the Powers' (2010), an opera with live electronics and robotics developed by the M.I.T. Media Lab." It sounded pretty intense, and actually starred the same guy who portrayed Nixon in the opera we saw the night before. What a week.
In other news I got promoted in my company, now I focus more on vacation clients and keeping everything running smoothly. And I got a blackberry. Weird.
But I still get to see a ton of cool animals, such as Hemma:

She's a super sweet, quite old bulldog who doesn't like walking. So I get to push her around in a stroller for a couple blocks, take her out to do her business, and bring her back. I got lots of strange looks, definitely some laughs, but I just kept whistling to myself because this dog is so nice. She also lives with a cat who always sleeps in/on a plastic bag, so clearly it's a progressive household.
The big news is I finally put up my kickstarter page! For those of you who haven't heard, I'm raising funds to get my thesis performed. It's my homage to a season of baseball entitled "Pastime," check out my page! Thank you to all who have already donated, if all goes well it should be awesome. And if I don't raise enough money at least I went for it.
I recently finished a collection of Gabriel García Márquez's short stories, some truly amazing works in there, although they're in chronological order and I think everyone would agree he got better with age. I just started I Married a Communist, and already Roth's style is somehow comforting to me. Well, as comforting as his books can be.
And lastly, the Strokes new album is coming out soon! If anyone is mildly interested in the band that completely influenced my life and taste in music from 2001 to the present, take a listen. There are some killer tracks in there.

There's No Business Like Snow Business

For those of you who haven't heard, Chicago had an insane snowstorm Tuesday night. It was awesome. I even got my first experience of thundersnow, which is not only a real thing but also a cool band name. We got somewhere around 18 inches of snow, and lots of people had work canceled (including me). So what do "adults" do when they get snow days? Start off with a killer breakfast of bacon egg and cheese bagel sandwich, of course:

Follow that up with watching cartoons, cleaning the house, organizing my room, and then celebrating Will's birthday the best way possible: with enormous delicious burgers and beers at Kuma's Corner!

That place is heaven on earth, no joke. Totally worth trekking through the feet of unshoveled snow. And what do I find upon my return home but a dead cat on my bed?

Ok, he wasn't dead. He just looked like it. For some reason he loves sleeping on my bed, and I couldn't be happier. But before this whole blizzard business I had a wonderful time with Charlie and Jeanne, eating oysters and other sea creatures at Shaw's Crab House/Raw Bar, and filling my belly with all things Greek at Santorini's. I've been fortunate enough to see some cool art, hear some killer music around town, sample some fantastic karaoke, and eat great food all over the place. What a city. If only I had friends to share it with...
Bookwise I finished Listen to This by Alex Ross, a collection of some great articles about all kinds of music. My favorite thing about him is that he treats all styles of music with equal reverence, and I completely agree. He draws comparisons across hundreds of years, never condescending or implying that older is better than newer or vice versa, or that an orchestra is better than a rock quartet or a jazz band or a poet with a guitar, etc. As Alban Berg famously said to George Gershwin, "Music is music" (This oft-used quote is also in Ross' phenomenal book the Rest is Noise).
I read a book about Bach's Cello Suites by Eric Siblin, intertwining a history of the composer and his manuscripts after his death, as well as Pablo Casals' discovery of them and role in bringing them back into the public spotlight, and for some reason the author's attempts at finding the original copy and trying to play them on his own. A little boring and reverential at times, but overall interesting.
Next came Slapstick, another Vonnegut book about a strange future. Not as good as his other works, but as always, enjoyable. I finally read Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth, as well as the short stories that accompany it. Loved his detailed descriptions of life, the city, love, family, and of course, religion. Now I am in the middle of Look at the Birdie, another posthumous collection of Vonnegut stories. So far they're top notch. There was a time when I couldn't read short stories, something about the starting and stopping and always trying to get back into it, but recently they've been quite rewarding.
I apologize if my post-Patriots loss post went a little too far, I often overcompensate when I feel like punching my computer screen and try to convince myself it wasn't a big deal. All I can say is it felt so good to see the Steelers destroy those little snots. I don't know why we're supposed to hate the Steelers, they're a good team that focuses on defense, and they earned their Super Bowl trophies. Still, I hope Green Bay wins. Of course the Celtics are proving that teamwork is more important than age, and spring training is just around the corner!
Lastly, here's a quote I came up with:
"The stupidest thing you can do is to be content being stupid"
-Adam

Well that was fast

Goodbye Patriots. Once again our Boston heroes blew it. I'm just glad I'm in Chicago, away from all the negative writers and Debbie-Downers that control Boston. It was a great season, a lot of memorable games that were truly enjoyable. The Jets played better today, and that sucks. That's all there is to it. We had our chance. I'm just glad that the Steelers will beat them next week, and hopefully the Bears or Packers will go on to win the Superbowl. The Celtics are doing good things, and the Red Sox look to be stupid good next season.
But this loss had me thinking about the big picture, and the roller coaster ride that is Boston Sports. Let's just remember all the highs, like the Patriots' three Super Bowl rings, the Red Sox' miraculous run in 2004 and slightly less-awesome World Series title in 2007. And of course the Celtics' return to prominence culminating in a championship over the Lakers in 2008. All of those teams were amazing, and truly inspired all of Boston, not to mention all of New England.
But with every great victory there comes great tragedy, that's just a part of the game. Unless you want to be the Pittsburgh Pirates and lose every year (sorry Dad), the price you pay by having a great team and high expectations is you're also going to have some epic losses. We can start with the worst of the worst, '03 to the Yankees. Close second would be losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl, and third is losing to the Lakers in last year's Finals. I'd say fourth would be losing to the Colts in '07, followed in no particular order by losing to the Jets, Rays, Ravens, Magic, Angels, Broncos, and just for fun, Flyers (there's your one hockey reference). The timeless question is: do the victories make the heartbreaking losses worth it? And of course the answer is yes. Luckily we can block out some of those losses (I mean who really cares about the Broncos anyway). But some of our teams that lost in the postseason had incredible years, which of course are forgotten since they weren't #1. What's wrong with being #2, or #3? If Boston were in the Olympics, we'd have a ton of medals, some gold, more silver and bronze. And of course we'd display them all prominently, because they're awesome, and they show how much hard work we put into our teams. I apologize for this rant, but having a good team that makes it to the postseason should be reason enough to be a proud New Englander. Just be thankful you don't live in Cleveland.
And now, here are some things to take your minds off sports until the baseball season and NBA playoffs start:
First, this from Saturday Night Live.
Or, if you'd rather just mope, here's one of my favorite songs/scenes from a beautiful French movie called Cleo from 5 to 7.
And...here's a puppy I get to hang out with!

So what does New York have that Boston doesn't? Other than trains that run past midnight? We started a little thing called the American Revolution, have you heard of it? And maybe you've eaten some of our clam chowder. And had some of Samuel Adams' beer, yeah that's right, it's delicious. And...I guess some people enjoy Aerosmith and Matt Damon. But I think we can all agree the only good things ever to come out of New York are the Velvet Underground, the Strokes, and Manny Ramirez. Who's with me?

Here's to a New Year of Stuff and Things!

Now that the holidays are over I can finally take a deep breath and contemplate the tornado that has just swept through. In early December my former roommates Nate & Elf treated me to a Chicago Symphony performance of Schoenberg's Transfigured Night, truly one of the most beautiful pieces ever written. It was so good I had to see it again the next night! (You should know by now that I am not one to turn down free tickets, let alone free tickets to one of my favorite pieces played by America's best orchestra) A gorgeous late-romantic piece for strings, filled with enough drama and heartbreak to last a lifetime. Now I just need to see Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and I'll die a happy man.
The week after a group of us saw The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan, another fabulous work that's been flowing through my brain since as long as I can remember.
The second weekend of December brought the insane feat of saying goodbye to the house I grew up in. It was great, having a garage sale on our first floor, practically giving everything away to support Gabe's favorite charity Aid El Salvador. Once everything was gone (including my first guitar and my awesome collection of action figures) we had a wonderful potluck dinner with friends and neighbors and kids and anyone else who wanted some good food, drinks and company. Toasts were made, memories were shared, tears were shed, but it really was the perfect farewell. The weirdest part will be next time I'm back in Boston and not returning to 11 Robeson Street. Ah well, the nice thing is knowing that a new family will take our place and their kids will be running around where we used to. Hopefully on nicer floors and never in that terrifying basement.
Back in Chicago everything was leading up to the Christmas explosion! Like last year I decided to stay in town to make the big bucks, and it didn't disappoint. Luckily I had other friends who were hanging around so on Christmas Eve I was able to enjoy some excellent food and karaoke with Ross, his girlfriend Lindsey and her whole clan. And then on Christmas Day of course I celebrated like all should by enjoying some delicious sushi with my Jewish buddies.
Seriously though, I saw so many cats and dogs over the holidays that I barely had any time to think, and once things briefly calmed down we immediately had thousands of friends staying over for New Years. It was great having so many visitors, several Butlerites made the trek, and we surely didn't disappoint. And then there were the Three Musketeers: Gabe, Lauren and Jimbo. I took them to the Salvadoran restaurant a couple blocks away and they got to talking to the waitress, it was like I was back in that beautiful country, not comfortable enough with my Spanish to start a conversation but always ready to nod and laugh at the appropriate times. Everyone came for our New Years bash, which centered around my newest batch of beer (a Russian Imperial Stout which blew me away as well as the top of its bucket due to overheating) and a performance by some band called Bricklayers Foundation. Actually it was tons of fun, we played really well, and we received no noise complaints so I'd say it was a great success.
In terms of reading I enjoyed Alex Ross' Listen To This, a collection of articles about all sorts of music and musicians. Not quite as good as The Rest Is Noise but still fascinating. Next was The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, an epic story about Boston around 1918, dealing with everything from the flu to racism to corruption and the Police Strike. Gritty, exciting, historically fictional, I highly recommend it. I mean, bringing in Babe Ruth every now and again obviously sucked me in.
Lastly I read A Clockwork Orange, similar to American Psycho in its graphic description of violence and lack of any iota of morality. Great book, hard to get through the futuristic dialect but still top-notch stuff. I even got to read the 21st chapter which was cut out of American publications (and thus the Kubrick movie based off of it).
And if you have the chance, watch (Untitled), a brilliantly funny movie about modern art and music and all the nonsense that goes with it. My apologies for the lack of pictures, I promise I have some cute puppy pics but for some reason they're being difficult. Lastly, go Pats!

What a wild ride it's been

My apologies for the delay, but man oh man it's been a crazy couple months. Let's dive right into it:
The calypso gig we did was just like last year, playing for several hours outdoors for a youth soccer tournament. Pretty sweet getting paid to jam with some old steel drummers, not to mention the free snacks we got.
The day after that my buddies and I went to Six Flags Great America, which predictably blew my mind. Much like the park in New Jersey, this place was HUGE. Tons of cool rides, plenty of massive roller coasters with a nice variety. They had the old wooden guys which shake you to the core, as well as the flashy newer models which go higher and faster than anything humans should ever do. To me, the scariest coasters are the ones that tilt you down and make you stare at the ground, like Superman, mostly because during the slow ascent I cannot stop thinking about falling out. Still, American Eagle is an amazing wooden coaster, and Raging Bull is your classic out-of-this-world ride.
And what should come two weeks after that awesome trip but our house's Halloween Party. I had two batches of beer ready, the IPA (so good I almost cried) and the American Amber Ale (sadly I didn't have the time/confidence to add pumpkin to it, but delicious nonetheless). My roommates and I set up the apartment and a great crowd stopped by. Needless to say, our costumes were of the highest quality. Some of the best would be Riccardo Muti (conductor of the Chicago Symphony), a Roller Derby team, Bob Ross, a Publishers Clearing House enormous-check-giver and receiver, and then me: Ace Ventura as he sneaks into the mental institute. Special thanks go to Anna for sewing me the tutu, it really made the costume.

Dance party in the basement, Paul Bunyan chopping wood in the street, and my beer thoroughly satisfying the thirst of people I had and hadn't met before, all in all it rocked.
For my actual birthday Anna and I grabbed some fantastic tapas (only to be challenged by our homemade tapas, but we'll get to that later), followed by a concert by Oh No Oh My, a band that came to Bowdoin in 2006 and even partied with us after the show. Their first album was very nice, and their new stuff was just as good. The week after a group of us saw Benjamin Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream, that was lots of fun with very cool visuals.
Our Butler buddy Max came to visit, and he even brought his accordion. What a guy. We took him around our hood to some of our favorite food and drink spots, talked about music, and basically had an awesome time.
Now we come to the crux of this post: Thanksgiving in Arizona. For those of you who weren't aware, in 2004 my family spent this holiday week in Maui. Swimming, snorkeling, hiking, eating like a king, it was great. Now I've got this little niece, and my stepbrothers have two kids apiece, so we decided to find a cheaper and more convenient spot. Tuscon won the bid, and then we found this mansion for rent which sounded too good to be true. Considering there were 10 adults and 5 little ones, it just made sense, but man oh man this place was nuts. Amazing house, pool and jacuzzi, outdoor grill and patio, massive tv, secret room behind a bookshelf, enormous living room and solarium, and...a grand piano. I couldn't believe it. Plus the landscape was like nothing I had ever seen before, it really did feel like an alien planet. My apologies for the quality of my pictures, I'll try to post better ones soon enough.

And the sunsets were too good to be true.

We had this nice dinner tradition of divvying up each night to two people, so for our night Gabe and I did what we know best: tapas. Well, he did most of it. There was steak, grilled eggplant, bruschetta, prosciutto with melon, homemade sangria, and my pièce de résistance: tortilla de patata, also known as potato omelet. We ate these all the time in Barcelona, and they were always one of my favorites. I was pretty nervous, but it turned out perfect. Gotta try that at home more often.

But seriously, the quality of the food all week was too high to describe with words. The thanksgiving feast itself was beyond compare, as usual I whipped up my broccoli casserole which is paralyzingly scrumptious. Watching football, eating buffalo chicken dip (another Adam contribution), going on hikes, checking out the desert museum, and getting to play with all of these tiny nieces and nephews, it was too good to be true. In summary, check out these cute little guys!

I couldn't fit everything in here, it was just an amazing week, so bear with me if I add more in future posts.
As for books, Pugilist at Rest was fantastic. I read American Psycho, easily one of the most gruesome books every written. If you're not familiar, it is Bret Easton Ellis' story of a rich, young New Yorker who parties and dines and shops and exercises at only the best places with his fellow yuppies, but he also has this hidden, surreal side of murder and horrific torture. After that I read Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells, all about the hidden consequences of our shift from hunters to cultivators. He talks about everything from our genetics, to diseases and mental illness, relating it all back to our decision to control our surroundings instead of letting them control us. A little scattershot, and I was hoping there would be more of a final message or suggestion of hope, but hey, still great.
The Cellist of Sarajevo was fascinating, a fictional story about people surviving during the Siege of Sarajevo. It's based on a real cellist who, once a day for 22 days, played in the rubble of an explosion which killed 22 people waiting in line for bread.
I finished Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine, another collection of stories by Thom Jones. Once again, it floored me. His stories are sometimes heartbreaking, other times uplifting and even hilarious. Whether they're about Vietnam, boxing, drinking, or mental illness, I never finish one of his stories without sitting back and just marveling at his uniqueness.
Well, that about sums it up. I'm heading back to Boston for the weekend of December 10-12 to say goodbye to the house I grew up in, should be as bittersweet as ever. I don't think it's really set in yet, but what better way to bid farewell to that place than to have the three F's: friends, family and food.
As for the Patriots, ever since I witnessed their assault on Miami a month and a half ago I have been keeping close tabs. Love this team. By no means are we perfect, but we're a solid, exciting group of guys that I enjoy watching. The Celtics are still doing their thing as expected, which means I just have to sit here and wait for the playoffs. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

More of the goodness

Things continue to be awesome, who would've thought. The apartment is still perfect, and here's the proof: a few weeks ago I made another batch of home-made beer (my 4th overall if you've been keeping score). Just to refresh your memory, my first batch was an Oktoberfest, which was fine. Nothing special. I blame it on my first time jitters. Second beer was a red ale, which was too good to be true. Delicious and strong at the same time. Third batch was a stout, dark like outer space. More potent than the red ale, definitely more of an acquired taste, still delicious but not quite as accessible. This time around I was more adventurous, going with an IPA. Slightly more difficult to make, but oh man. We popped open a bottle last night and I almost cried it was so good. The hard part will be saving it for our Halloween party. And to top it off, today I brewed an American Amber Ale which will be ready right on...you guessed it, Halloween. And if you're thinking to yourself, "Adam, come on, an amber ale? BORING!" To this I say, "Ah, but what if we were to add something to it...something, like, I don't know, PUMPKIN?!?!" That's right, the guy at the home-brew store suggested adding pumpkin and spices to it right before we bottle it, so I took the challenge. I've never felt to alive!
So yeah, Chicago continues to rock. We got to see the International Contemporary Ensemble play at a museum downtown, amazing stuff. My roommates and I got a Costco membership so now I can eat a platoon's worth of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in one day. We watched Roadhouse, a fantastic Patrick Swayze action movie which I highly recommend. The big event though was a free concert in Millennium Park of the Chicago Symphony playing some classics, conducted by none other than Riccardo Muti! Check it out:

Seriously, all of Chicago was out on that lawn. The concert rocked, the crowd loved it, and they ended with fireworks! Unreal. All this for the new conductor of the symphony. I wish I could compare it to Boston when we signed Curt Schilling, but I seriously can't.

That rocked. Unfortunately he got sick and is missing some concerts this fall but hey, I probably wasn't going to any of those anyway. That's life.
Will and I also got to see the Chicago Civic orchestra play some amazing stuff, Betsy got us free tickets and we composers do not turn down free concerts of that caliber. I went to a Cubs game with Ross, which was a blast despite the rain delay and loss to the Giants by the final score of 1-0. I saw a concert by a pretty cool band called Walter Meego, and took care of some crazy little doggies:

We've eaten some great local food, continued the barbecues, and we made it to the Museum of Contemporary Art for an exhibit on Alexander Calder which was fascinating. And our calypso band has a gig next weekend, woohoo!
I read Pygmy, another strange one by Chuck Palahniuk. This one was from the perspective of a foreign exchange student living in the Midwest who is secretly a spy sent to destroy us. Nice take on American culture, brutally graphic and hilarious as always.
After that I read Franny & Zooey, which I really liked. Then I finally read Fight Club, although I must admit I kind of preferred the movie. I know, I know, I'm sorry. Great book, but even better movie as far as I'm concerned.
Next was Just Kids, an autobiography of Patti Smith detailing her youth and relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Very cool stuff, loved hearing about the artists' life in the 60s and 70s. Next up was another one by Bret Easton Ellis, Lunar Park. Unlike his other works, this was a thriller/sci-fi kind of thing. Parts were amazing, especially the faux-autobiographical sections, but overall it didn't wow me like his other stuff. And lastly, I read Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I didn't realize it was a young adult book when I got it from the library, but as usual he's amazing at combining the humor with the heartbreak. And I just started Thom Jones' collection of short stories called Pugilist at Rest. So far, on par with Cold Snap. Love it.
And that wraps it up! My apologies to the Red Sox, another good year as far as I'm concerned. And come on, Tampa Bay is clearly going to lose their best players in the offseason and suck next year so I guarantee a playoff spot for us. Watching the Pats last Monday night was one of the most fun games I've ever watched. And the Celtics are getting ready for another long season, I am truly excited.