Chicago Son

Lar Lubovitch Dance Comapny @ Harris Theater (Day 2)

North Star wasn't as horrendous the second time around but I suppose that is similar to becoming accustom to a certain level of abuse.  Dogs of War was equally boring with a slumber inducing score by Prokofiev.  It does seem Lubovitch seeks out the worst pieces from very successful composers.

Nature Boy: Kurt Elling was a pleasant surprise.  The music was light and playful.  The various segments of this 5 song piece were all enjoyable.  It was the highlight of the performance without question.  Cavalcade was slightly anti-climatic but fortunately didn't regress to the overly formulaic style of other pieces.

I can't say the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company will be on my "things to see" list again any time soon.

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company @ Harris Theater

Perhaps Lar Lubovitch spent too much time at the sea as a child.  Or maybe in a previous life he was a variable speed windshield wiper.  There must be a reason his signature characteristic of all the Wednesday evening performances was a rhythmic back and forth giving the sense the dancers were immersed in a tidal flow from which they could not break free.  Helplessly they were compelled forward as the water rushed in only to be pulled back with the retreating wave.  The cycle repeated relentlessly until curtain.

I appreciate that different styles of dance appeal to different people so if it was simply the choreography that seemed overwhelming confined but the costumes and music were interesting that could have been enough to carry me through.  This did not prove to be the case.

The initial piece, North Star, was set to what must be some of the worst music ever composed by Philip Glass, making movement that was already tiresome to watch more painful to endure.  If I were to make a fake documentary that lampooned modern dance, North Star could be used as a featured work.

Sadly, the second piece, Duet from Meadow, was also set to equally insulting music, distracting from what could have been the highlight piece of the evening.

Given my displeasure with the music up to the intermission, I was excited to notice the third piece, Coltrane's Favorite Things would be danced to a live version of My Favorite Things by John Coltrane.  Proving there is no accounting for taste, the version chosen must have been performed under the heavy influence of heroin.  It was cacophonous and rambling.  Contributing to the unpleasantness, forced upon the music was again the forward and back drifting of the dancers as if they were passive creatures on a coral reef.

So jaded was I by the time the final piece, Marimba, was performed that I could not enjoy it as much as I would have as a stand-alone performance.  This time the music matched the movement very well and the the back and forth tone was complimentary to the finer movements of the individual dancers.

I'm going to see the remaining pieces Thursday night (Dogs of War, Nature Boy: Kurt Elling and Cavalcade) though I will conveniently be 15 minutes late to avoid the repeat performance of North Star.

It Made for an Interesting Saturday

Saturday night, walking north along Lasalle Street with a friend, I saw a man fire two shots from his Range Rover into a Dodge Charger in the lane next to it.  Two sharp cracks rang out in quick succession.

We momentarily stood in disbelief.  Did we really just see someone take shots at another motorist?  It must have been a small caliber pistol as the reports weren't too loud and I didn't hear or see any immediate damage.

When the traffic light changed and cars were able to move, I stepped into the street behind the Range Rover to get the plate number.  The Charger drove off down the wrong the side of the road but didn't make it very far.

My friend and I walked up to the Charger and discovered the passenger side window had been shot out.  As we approached the driver pushed open his door but remained relatively still in his seat.  "I got shot", he said, part complaint, part whimper.  There was a woman in the passenger seat who was hysterically yelling into her phone, though apparently not to the police.  She eventually made her way outside the vehicle while continuing to scream that her boyfriend had been shot to whoever had the misfortune of being on the other end of the line.

I dialed the emergency number for the police to report the event and gave them the location of the fleeing Range Rover, the plate number and the direction of travel.  The police showed up so quickly other people must have called.  Still, oddly, they didn't go after the fleeing vehicle but surrounded the victims car.

I've since been contacted by the police to pick the shooter out of a photo line up.  The victim won't cooperate and apparently knows the shooter so the police are relying on witnesses to put a case together.  How they didn't catch the guy is beyond me.  I could have followed him on foot for a while with the amount of traffic in that neighborhood.

Talent

I keep coming back to this video on youtube because I find these people incredibly talented.  The performance (a cover of Lady Gaga's Just Dance) is fantastic yet they are casually gathered in a kitchen, one of the women even distracted with her phone while the video is being made.  I find it hard to believe it only has just over 100k views.

Just Dance Acapella (Lady Gaga cover)

Happy New Year!

恭喜发财 (Gong xi fa cai!) I miss all my friends in Singapore and Hong Kong.  I hope the new year is a prosperous one for you all.

And a heartfelt 새해복 많이 받으세요! (Sae-hae-bok ma-ni pa-dŭ-se-yo!) to my Korean friends.  Seoul always felt like home away from home because of my good friends and the beautiful changing seasons.

Children Playing in Seoul, Korea

4 Earthquakes - 2 Cities

As of 4:00 AM today I've experienced four earthquakes in my life time.  Two in Chicago, admittedly not known for seismic activity, with the other two taking place in Tokyo, a city known for its rigorous building codes to protect against frequent shocks...and giant lizard attacks.

Chicago's most recent quake registered a 3.8 on the Richter Scale with the epicenter 40 miles northwest of the city center.  By most accounts, a 3.8 means the shock is noticeable but results in little to no damage, kind of like a Kanye West album.  This morning the shock waves rocked my building with enough force to wake me up though I wasn't cognizant enough to realize what was happening.  I remember thinking that the world's largest train must be passing by just before falling right back asleep.

In Tokyo, I was woken up by the sound of a headboard slapping rhythmically against the wall.  I thought it was odd because I had never heard my neighbors before, let alone heard them in an amorous act.  Then I realized it was my headboard, and I was alone.  I got out of bed to gaze down 30 stories at the traffic racing unaffected on the highway below.  It wasn't a powerful earthquake but it last a minute or so.  True to form and convinced the city wasn't under attack by Gojira, I decided going back to bed was the best solution.

Richter Scale

A Good Cause & Good Music

City of Thieves - David Benioff

My friend Karl recommended the book City of Thieves by David Benioff a short while back.  City of Thieves is based on a week in the life Benioff's grandfather during the siege of Leningrad.  So this weekend I finally got around to reading it and was pleasantly surprised.  The story is a captivating tale of reluctant heroism and the extraordinary things an ordinary individual will do when necessary.  definitely worth reading.

City of Thieves

Port Townsend, WA

During my recent trip to Washington, we ventured over to Port Townsend to take in the views and enjoy the clear weather.  The Cascades were clearly visible to the east with Whidbey Island in the foreground and Mt Baker sitting prominently on the distant horizon.  I'm constantly amazed with the photos produced by my little Panasonic Lumix (link is for current fx150 model; mine is a 2 year old fx100).

East From Port Townsend (Mt Baker)

East From Port Townsend

East From Port Townsend (Person on Spit)

Boxing Day 2009

The skies remained clear through late morning thus provided views of the surrounding mountains.  At dawn the air was cold, crisp and unusually dry. As the sun crept over the Cascades, the silhouette of Mt Rainier was set aflame in oranges and reds.

Mt Rainier Sunrise