Summer Vacation

Yes, I know that yesterday was only the first day of Spring. And yes, I know that we got 3 inches of snow here in Chicago yesterday. But it's never too early to start thinking about how Eric and I are planning on spending our lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer. I would love to go back to London, but it's expensive, and with the economy lately, not too practical. I'd like to go to Vegas since I've never been, but who wants to go to Vegas in the summer? Same with Florida. I have some good friends down there and it would be fun to take the ferry from Ft. Myers to Key West, but again, not in summer. Eric wants to take me to California and show me the LA that he knows and loves. He also wouldn't mind going to Door County but I don't want to be up there with all those other people during that time. I'd rather go there in the "off" season. We are going to go the Wisconsin State Fair again this year, but that's just a day trip.

So, we've decided to stick close to home and have a summer of music at Ravinia. Ravinia, when I was growing up, was the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). My mother was going when she was pregnant with me, so I went pretty much 3 to 4 times a week every summer from before I was born until about 1992 when I graduated from college and moved to Wisconsin. I have seen some great acts. I have played frisbee on the lawn with members of the CSO. I have watched Jean Pierre Rampal swipe at a fly with his gold flute. I was there the night Harry Chapin was supposed to play and his brother played instead because Harry died in a crash on the way to Ravinia. I have done a sound check with the Little River Band. I have been there when a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and blew the sheets of music off the orchestra's music holders, causing the music to stop and everyone to leave their soaked blankets on the lawn and run for their cars. I have seen Chuck Mangione, Spyro Gyra and always enjoyed it when Preservation Hall came every year. I remember in my youth, Barry Manilow used to play Ravinia until he got so popular, kids would line up the night before and they stopped inviting him.

I think there is something so nice, so civilized about sitting out on the lawn with your blanket and a packed picnic dinner and relaxing to some beautiful music. Ravinia used to have benches that you sat on to eat, and then turned over to make an area to rest your back while you closed your eyes or gazed up at the stars and listened to Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. They used to let us bring torches that would keep the bugs away and would let my brother and I know where our parents were sitting after we were done throwing the frisbee around, or crawling on the sculptures, or standing in line for giant scoops of ice cream.

Ravinia has changed over the years. The pavilion is still there, the lawn is still there...but where we used to get fried chicken is now a big, fancy, two level sit down restaurant. The beer/wine gazebo is now another place for food. And the music has changed. Sure the CSO is there...for maybe 2 weeks now. Now the Backstreet Boys and Carrie Underwood are the big sellers. And now, the lawn sells out. How can that be? I remember when Preservation Hall would come and people would set up blankets and chairs on the pavement just beyond the lawn. It never sold out. I'm not picking on it, or saying I don't like it. Just saying it's changed.

Last concert I went to at Ravinia was Gordon Lightfoot. This had to be back in the early 1990's. It stunk. Gordon played only 45 minutes, and because I had taken the train, he played just long enough for all of us to miss the early train and have to wait an hour and a half for the next one. Gave us a lot of time to bitch about how awful Gordon was.

But, again, I'm willing to have another go. I think Eric and I will have a good time. Most of the concerts we have picked are on the weekends except for one on a Wednesday night. It will be nice to have someone to go with. It will be fun preparing picnic food and packing a blanket and setting up a Crate & Barrel table. I am looking forward to our summer of music and for those of you who are interested here's our lineup.

We are starting the summer off in June on the 5th with Vince Gill and then a week later Steve Martin on the banjo.

We are then going to skip the month of July because its usually hot and sticky and also because no one is coming that we are interested in seeing.

Next comes August where we are going to see the BoDeans who I absolutely love, Crosby, Stills, & Nash whom Eric absolutely loves and Poi Dog Pondering which is a great and very interesting Chicago band.

This will bring us to the end of summer, and the first week in September or the week before Labor Day. And who better to take us to the end of summer than the boys who wanted us to spend the endless summer The Beach Boys! We're also going to see Train because I have loved them since they started and I turned Eric onto them.

So that's our summer plan. A little picnic food, a little music, and all close to home. Come and look for us on the lawn if you want!

Another Whine Bites the Dust

Earlier this week I finished "The Anthologist" by Nicholson Baker. This was the next book on my list of the now 45 fiction books I am reading this year. Several years ago Mr. Baker wrote a book called "Vox." I remember this book because everyone said it was very controversial. It was about phone sex, which, as Americans, we're not supposed to talk about in public. I got caught up in the "ooohhh...giggle, giggle, we can't read that" baloney that the news was all atwitter about and bought it. I hated it. It wasn't really about phone sex. Or maybe it was, somewhat. All I know and remember is that I was upset that it wasn't as racy, or controversial as I thought it would be. It was also not well written and it is now hidden somewhere in my boxes of books and if I don't happen to find it, I will not be too upset.

So lets just say I probably went into "The Anthologist" with a little bit of pre-conceived, "I'm not going to like this" attitude. But I'm always willing to give an author another shot. Especially because this one was about poetry and I have loved poetry, and some poets, for most of my life. Well, I read the first chapter and made a face. Here we had Paul Chowder who had just lost his girlfriend because he was supposed to be writing an introduction to an anthology of poetry and he couldn't get himself to do it. She was tired of waiting for him to do it, or do anything in fact, that she moved out. So here was another book about another middle-aged whiner. He whined about being alone, he whined about not being able to write, he whined about having to travel, he whined about free verse. Well boo f*ing hoo. I whined because I kept reading the book. It was short, thank goodness, and I could read a chapter or two on the train in the morning and again on the way home. He did have some clever alliterations in there like thinking another poets work was a "firkin of flaccidness." But he also had weird parts that didn't really belong in the book like the time he ran into Edgar Allen Poe in the grocery store and asked him about The Raven. Not sure if this was a dream or if it was just a daydream or he actually thought he ran into Edgar Allen Poe. He also kept falling down and cutting himself, which of course, meant he had to call his ex to come take care of him. In the end, he wrote the introduction, started dating the ex again, and became a carpenter instead of a poet/teacher. Another ho hum ending to a life I really cared nothing about.

The next book in my list is "The Art Student's War." I haven't bought it yet, but I just received a free kindle download for my Mac, meaning I could read the book on my computer. I know, all my friends in publishing are screaming "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" right now. I may try it out. It's cheaper than the actual book, plus, I spend enough time on my laptop that it would be just as easy to carry that on the train as it would the book. It's just an experiment. And I didn't have to buy a Kindle in order to try it out, so all in all, I'm only out $15, rather than hundreds. I have not heard of the author of "The Art Student's War" so I cannot go into this book with any prior ideas. That is a good beginning right there. Also, its about a woman, so hopefully no whining.