"Le Tragedie de Carmen" at the Harris Theater

We went to see "La Tragedie de Carmen" produced by the Chicago Opera Theater at the Harris theater in Millenium Park last night. It is an interesting remix of Bizet's Carmen by Marius Constant. Same music (different sequence), smaller orchestra, condensed down to about 75 minutes by eliminating dancing, choruses, and happy parts. The whole cast plus the conductor appear in the photo above. Four of the six characters ended up dead. Two plus the conductor lived on.
The cast had great singing talent, with somwhat awkward acting by the Lead, Carmen.
We especially enjoyed the pre-concert talk by the assistant which gave us an insight into what Constant did, and why.

Abigail and Julia

Abigail and Julia

A walk around Streeterville

Shakespeare and Mozart's last works.

This week we went downtown to see two excellent productions - Shakespeare's last play - "The Tempest" and Mozart's last work - "La Clemenza di Tito".
Both were unusual and excellent productions.

"The Tempest" at Steppenwolf was played in non-traditional dress, with the players shunning traditional Shakespearean declamatory style in favor of totally modern prosody. The result was an enthralling performance.



"La Clemenza di Tito" was played on a simple, but credible, set. By any measure the Chicago Opera Theater is Chicago's second string Opera Company. However, this production was in no way inferior to anything produced by the Chicago Lyric Opera. The voices of the young singers were world class. I have no doubt that their names will become famous. Watch, in particular, for Dominic Armstrong, Charlotte Dobbs, and Renata Pokupic.

What is not mentioned in the course of the performance is that the Tito of the title is the Titus who destroyed the second Temple in Jerusalem!

Haitink and the Chicago Symphony

We listened to a program of Webern, Mahler and Schubert (The Great Symphony) at the CSO last night. Despite walking with the aid of a cane, Haitink delivered his usual masterful performance.

The Botanic Gardens

We rode to the Gardens on one of the first nice days of spring. This is one of my favorite views - not hard to find - its from the bridge as one walks in.


On the other hand, this field of Crocuses (Crocii) looks like it is afflicted with the pox.

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center

The design is impressive and moving. Moving around it is disorienting, with a surprise at every turn. An eerie feeling. We attended the Yom Hashoah Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration last Tuesday. Click on the photo for more pictures.

Back at watercolor class again

This week's effort - from a photo taken in Spain in 1972

Botanic Garden

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Paris in the 70s

I have been neglecting my blog in favor of Facebook and LinkedIn, and scanning old slides and negatives - so, here is an album of a day in Paris sometime in the 1970s. Enjoy.

My Grandfathers Mother

Our earliest photographed ancestor - my great granddmother - Ruscha - 1848-1918

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Pics from Sydney, at last!

Frozen Lake Michigan

Frozen Lake Michigan

I went for a walk to the lake today. This was a first for me this winter, because of travel, cold weather, and plantar fasciitis. I have never seen it looking like this before.

Incredible Story - Pause for 10 minutes and Watch

The story of our visit to the site where Hilda's grandparents were murdered by the Nazis is online here.

The Power of Dreams

While packing to go to Australia I dropped a small accessory viewfinder (for a 15mm wide angle lens for my Leica) in the walk-in closet I use as the storage place for my camera gear. I was in a hurry, so I glanced around in a perfunctory fashion, did not find it, and made a mental note to look for it when I got back.
Seven weeks later I returned, and started looking in earnest. Could not find it. I moved everything on the floor of the closet (tripods, empty camera bags, tools, extension cords, etc)
I emptied a couple of drawers, just in case. No luck.
Last night I dreamed that I found it on an upper shelf of the closet, in a drawer. It had been slightly modified - a parallax correction screw had been added. Nice.
This morning when I awoke I went to my closet - and it it was not there!
I then looked on the upper shelf - there was no drawer, and the viewfinder was not on the shelf - at least, not near the front. I emptied the shelf, and there was the viewfinder, right at the back, under a tangle of old USB cords. I have no idea how it could have bounced there.
It did not have the parallax correction screw.
Hmmm

I am losing patience with the Republicans' obstructive tactics

The Republican attacks on the Stimulus Bill and related initiatives are motivated by a single thought. If the economy fails, they will have a major advantage in the next Presidential election. Thus, in their usual selfish and unpatriotic way, they block everything that might help the economy.
Their argument that they want to reduce the deficit and contain government spending is destroyed by the manner in which they managed to to destroy the surplus that the Bushbaby inherited, and replace it with an enormous deficit.

Le Sacre du Printemps

We went to the ballet this afternoon to see the Joffrey Ballet production of Le Sacre (Stravinsky's great genre shattering ballet), done so as to reproduce the original Ballet Russe production. It was good, but the orchestra was not as exciting as some recordings I have. Still, very interesting.

Jacob Prepares for his School Concert

Jacob took his own drum to his school concert. He set it up, and now waits for the performance to start.

Jacob Dances

Is his education paying off?

More New Zealand pictures

The drive from Franz Josef to Queenstown


Milford Sound and the Milford Road to Queenstown

Joke - inappropriate :-)

Day 3 in New Zealand - Franz Josef Glacier

Click for more...

Day 2 of our New Zealand visit

I have started posting pics from our side trip from Australia to New Zealand. I have completed complete day 2 - from Christchurch to Franz Josef. (Day 1 we flew into Christchurch and went to bed!)

We are in Australia

More Watercolors

This fall I missed many of my painting classes for a variety of reasons. These few are the best of the bunch:

There is still hope

Peter Sellers: A Hard Day's Night

Maybe the Beatles had something after all!

The Seafarer at Steppenwolf

We saw "The Seafarer" at Steppenwolf Theater tonight. It was the first preview of the play - with John Mahoney playing an old Irish fart. This is funnier.

Parallel Operas - Bess and Lulu?

Last night we went to see "Porgy and Bess" at the Chicago Lyric Opera. We saw Lulu by Alban Berg a couple of weeks ago. The operas share were both written at the same time in the mid-30s, and focus on a women's relationship with several men. I enjoyed Lulu much more than Porgy and Bess - not a common view among my acquaintances in Chicago, several of whom did not stay for the whole work. My view of Porgy may be colored by my memories of the great jazz performances of some of Gershwin's melodies. The Ella Fitzgerald version below gives me goosebumps!



The operatic voices don't stand a chance.

Symphony - Murray Periah - Beethoven Piano Concerto #4

We went to the CSO tonight - overall a very good program:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitink, conductor
Murray Perahia, piano

Haydn -   Symphony No. 44 (Mourning)
Lutoslawski -   Symphony No. 4
Beethoven -   Piano Concerto No. 4

The pre-concert talk was given by Johann Buis, whose enthusiasm and knowledge always make for an entertaining lecture.
As the Lutoslawski ended, somebody rudely booed - presumably to display his displeasure at any music from the last century, or something.
The video below shows a much younger Murray Perahia playing the end of the Beethoven.

Another video of the whole last movement - better filmed, conducted by Colin Davis.

And finally, further from tonight's actual performance, but very interesting - Ricardo Muti (the next CSO Music Director) and Claudio Arrau rehearsing the Beethoven in mixed English and Italian:

Even in his waning moments, he is scary

I thought I could stop beating a dead horse - but the lunacy of the horse that avoided real military service keeps me coming back.
If a horse wants to be beaten, it shows.

“During this holiday season, we give thanks for those who defend our freedom. America's men and women in uniform deserve our highest respect – and so do the families who love and support them,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “Lately, I have been asked what I will miss about the presidency. And my answer is that I will miss being the Commander-in-Chief of these brave warriors.”

We were outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai two years ago...

... and now it is in flames after a terrorist attack!

CSO - Mahler's Symphony #2 - wonderful

Last night we went to the Chicago Symphony and heard Mahler's Symphony #2. Wonderful performance from the full orchestra and chorus - and the organ. A literally ground shaking event. After seeing and hearing the opera Lulu by Alban Berg the night before, I realized how much my taste in music has moved to the more modern - Mahler the bridge from the old and Berg the new.
This morning I heard that the Chicago Symphony has been voted the best symphony orchestra in the USA by the Gramophone Magazine critics - and fifth in the world. I feel privileged to be able to attend so many of their concerts.
The full listing is:

1 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

2 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

3 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

4 London Symphony Orchestra

5 Chicago Symphony Orchestra

6 Bavarian Radio Symphony

7 Cleveland Orchestra

8 Los Angeles Philharmonic

9 Budapest Festival Orchestra

10 Dresden Staatskapelle

11 Boston Symphony Orchestra

12 New York Philharmonic

13 San Francisco Symphony

14 Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra

15 Russian National Orchestra

16 Leningrad Philharmonic

17 Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

18 Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

19 Saito Kinen Symphony Orchestra

20 Czech Philharmonic

Source: Gramophone

Why I shoot

David Pogue of the New York Times wrote an article explaining why he, like me, records everything he sees and does in photographs and videos. He is more into moving images than I, but his overall reasons are the same as mine.

Lulu

We went to the opera "Lulu" by Alban Berg last night. Magnificent!
This was the most integrated work I have ever seen. The music, lyrics, staging, plot, directing and acting combined to create an amazingly effective experience. Marlis Petersen in the title role was outstanding - singing and acting - and visibly aging as the plot progressed.

The director of Lulu...

Bread Machine Challah Recipe

Bread Machine Challah Recipe

In your bread machine, follow your bread machine instructions for "Dough Only" prepare the dough using:

22 oz Bread flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk (Keep white for wash)
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast


While waiting for the dough to be completed, warm an oven to 150F and turn it off, warm a large bowl, and oil it well.
Take dough out of bread machine and place it in the warm, oiled bowl.
Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and then with a clean kitchen towel.
Let it rise in a warm, draught-free place (like the warmed, open oven) about 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size.

Prepare an egg wash by beating the reserved egg white with a tablespoon of water

Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside (I usually forget this step but ill effects have not yet occurred.

Punch down and braid as follows:

Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface. Divide dough into 2 pieces, one roughly half size of other.

Divide large piece into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into rope, about 1 inch in diameter.
Line up ropes of dough side by side and pinch ends together, braid, then pinch ends together. Place braid on baking sheet.
Divide the smaller piece of dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into rope
as long as the first ropes, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Braid together, pinching the ends together to seal.
Brush some of egg wash on top of large loaf and place the small braid on the larger braid.

Or braid it any way you like!

Loosely drape loaf with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until loaf becomes puffy and increases in size by a third, 30 to 45 minutes.
(or, freeze and remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.)

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. (190 F on instant read thermometer)

Allow to cool on a rack.

Timing (for my machine):
Prepare ingredients: 15 Min
Dough: 2 Hr 20 min
Rise: 1 Hr 30 min
Braid: 15 min
Rise: 30-45 min
Bake: 25 min
Cool down: 15 min

So, start about six hours before your guests arrive!

This recipe is derived from several others that I have have read, modified as I go for every mistake I made. I suspect that the exact quantities may or may not be important - recipes I studied vary widely in their proportions. The process above gives a nice yeasty, moist loaf that pulls off in satisfying long strips. If you prefer a more cake-like challah, the Cook's Illustrated recipe may be more to your liking - I did not like it.

I need this guy to tidy my desk

One final remark on the election: Why Sarah Palin Conservatism is dangerous

One of my favorite sources is Edge. To quote from its "About" page:

"Edge Foundation, Inc., was established in 1988 as an outgrowth of a group known as The Reality Club. Its informal membership includes of some of the most interesting minds in the world.

The mandate of Edge Foundation is to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society."

Today's edition contains an article by Jerry Coyne commenting on the war on science being carried out by the Right in the USA.

"In her usual faux-folksy style, Palin lit out after a congressional earmark involving these insects: "You've heard about some of these pet projects — they really don't make a whole lot of sense — and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit-fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not." (Reading this diatribe is not sufficient; only video reveals the scorn and condescension dripping from her words.) ... The research Palin attacked was a perfectly valid project designed to protect American growers from the olive fruit fly, a destructive pest. But fruit-fly research is good for far more than that."

"Trying to bond with the American people by taking pride in your ignorance and making science the common enemy — now that's a bridge to nowhere."

Read the article - and subscribe to Edge.

The good guys won...

... in case you missed it:-)
I will make a prediction. This Blog is the best place for me to do this, because if it is wrong, nobody will know, and if it is right, I can point to it and say "I told you so".

The USA economy will receive a major boost simply from the psychological lift that the election of Obama will give to under-achieving minorities. The power of hope and confidence should not be overlooked. People without hope and confidence achieve nothing.

The opponents of Obama dismiss his rhetoric as "empty words" - but words have the power to motivate and motivated people can achieve great things. Obama talks about hope, and give people hope. McCain used the rhetoric of war even when talking about domestic policy and his campaign. His speeches ended using the word "fight" and the metaphors of war over and over again.
 
People worldwide are tired of fighting. They want hope. This is why McCain lost. His rhetoric was hopeless.
With hope anything can be achieved. With war nothing can be achieved except destruction.

Marc Ambinder explaining "Unbalanced and Fair"

Marc Ambinder has been my "Blogger of choice" for some time now. Not because his views are exactly mine, but because he does appear to be a neutral observer, calling out the blunders, misspeaks, and distortions of both sides of the race. I find no value in reading blogs that are blatantly partisan on either side.
The McCain forces are intensely irritating because they keep explaining to me why people like me are the problem with America. I am over-educated, concerned about the welfare of other people, not "middle class" enough, don't like hockey, and don't own a gun. (even though I was an expert rifleman in my teen years)
The Obama forces tell me what I think I already know, and irritate me when they exaggerate unnecessarily.

These times remind me of...

... being an undergraduate at the Univeristy of the Witwatersrand in the 1960s. I was learning to play Bridge - the game of intellectuals, and I had to learn it because after all I was a Math and Mathematical Statistics major who was also studying Economics and Philosophy, thus I must be an intellectual, right?

Wrong. I hated it. I was petrified by the need to remember who bid what, and what cards had been played. My hands shook under the pressure of the need to remember trivia of events of the last few minutes.

Math was easy - I could deduce it from first principles. Philosophy was easy, I could deduce what Russel or Plato would say about anything (at least close enough to fake it through a test) because I grokked their view on the world.

Why does this memory of trembling hands holding a bunch of cards surface now?
The South African social situation was a disaster. Police were shooting at protesters in the streets. I was joining with other students in marches. The political situation today in the USA is much milder, but McCain/Palin campaign reminds me of the politics of hate that prevailed in South Africa in the 60s.

My bridge teacher asked - why are we playing Bridge now? Good question, I thought, and stopped learning the game, which seemed totally irrelevant at the time, and continues to appear so to me.

Guilt by assocation...

... could work against you, my few, but esteemed, readers.
The McCain campaign has partially succeeded in painting Obama as "a Marxist" - at least it succeeded with one of my friends who claimed that Obama just that was in an email last night. The fact that the claimer probably does not know what Marx expoused is not relevant.
Marxist is a bad word, even worse than a liberal, which I am.
Well - you, dear reader, and my email friend are associating with me, (either in person or by reading my blog). I am left of Obama, mostly. You are therefore even left of Marxist, by association.
Be wary of embracing the McCain campaign's mud-slinging, and the Palin babbling. It may come back to hurt you.

The presence of my absence...

... has probably not been missed. I have not posted much lately, other rants at the weird politics going on around us. The economic situation has been a distraction, to say the least. I know that I cannot do much to solve the global liquidity problem, so being pragmatic, I am not trying to do so. However, the advice that is being freely dished out along the lines of "Hang in there, it will get better in time" is not really applicable in my case. When the time comes, I may be too old to benefit from it. Living in retirement with no earning power, it is always a concern that the money will run out before I do.
Long running bull markets are nice, and younger people can look at 30 year outlooks and say that mostly they will be fine. However for me a 30-year outlook has me outliving all family members of whom I am aware. So the good news is that I will probably be dead before my assets are depleted.
Or, more likely, the "Right to Life" movement will ensure that so much money is spent on keeping me alive for the last few hours of my life that my assets will depleted about 30 seconds before die, at which point the "Right to Life" folk will decide that health care is available only to those who can buy it in an open market environment, and I should be allowed to expire peacefully with no impact on the bottom line of the hospital in which I am being killed. If I don't like their decision, I can always rip off the oxygen and feeding tubes and go shopping for a different medical insurance policy.
What a beautiful balance between morality and economy.
So, the question posed by the chart below (presented with thanks to the Wall Street Journal, who may sue me for showing this, but I think it is fine to show it with attribution and a comment that while the WSJ's political posture detracts from their journalistic integrity, their presentation of data can be trusted (mostly) to be free of political bias.) is: Is this 1906 (15 years of no growth punctuated by a horrific war), 1929 (13 years of no growth ended by a horriffic war) or 1966 (16 years of no growth for reasons that escape me - this was the era in which computers rose from oddities to essentials)?
The other point to be mentioned that if you can actually understand the deeply nested sentence above, you are clearly a member of the elite, and not be be trusted with a position in government.

What is it that Palin does not understand?

The cocky kook, Sarah Palin, wants to be treated with respect. She will be so treated when she acts in a manner that deserves respect. After her Katie Couric interview she "has accused Mrs Couric of not asking the right questions - those that
would give her an opportunity to attack the Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama."

Palin and McCain are trying to get a job. Their interviews with the press are public job interviews. I have interviewed many candidates for jobs over the course of my career. Not once has anyone felt that the appropriate way to get a job was to talk about how bad the other candidates are. It is generally understood that to get a job one has to demonstrate to the prospective employer (in this case, the American public) that you are the most able candidate.

They do not seem to understand what the job is. The job is not, as they appear to believe:

• To "shake up" Washington - a task that McCain has already proven that he cannot do after many years trying
  
• To cut "earmarks" which are basically irrelevant in the grand scheme of things
• To win the war in Iraq - which is unwinnable under any reasonable definition of "win"
• To be unblinking

According to the Constitution, the task of the President is to exercise executive power - i.e. to:

• Be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
  States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual
  Service of the United States
• Make Treaties by and with the Advice and
  Consent of the Senate
• Appoint Ambassadors,
  other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other
  Officers of the United States
  by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate
• Give to the Congress Information of the State of
  the Union
• Recommend to the Consideration of Congress such Measures as he shall judge
  necessary and expedient
• On extraordinary Occasions, convene either or both
  Houses
• Receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers
• Take
  Care that the Laws be faithfully executed
• Commission all the
  Officers of the United States

The job of the Vice-President is:

• To be President of the Senate,
  but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided
• To check the morning obituaries to see if the President is still alive and functioning, and, if not, act as President

The nature and scope of the duties are such that no candidate can ever be expected to have significant relevant experience in more than one of the duties specified by the Congress. In this election the only task in which any of the candidates can claim relevant experience is recommending measures for consideration.
Thus, in course of the job interview with the American public (aka the Campaign), the candidates' task is to convince the public that they (the candidates) have the moral fibre and administrative acumen to establish an administration that will best meet the needs of the public.
Palin will get respect when she begins to treat the American public with respect by getting on with her job interview.
Given the age of McCain, she must show evidence that she can reasonably be expected to capably perform the duties of the President at some time in the future. Her performance to date shows no such indication.

Its marvelous

The "bailout bill" passed by our Congress and signed into law last Friday demonstrates just how smart our congress is. In the short space of a week they managed to cover all the ramifications of the plan to restore stability to our financial system.

The full title of the Act is:

‘‘To provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes’’

They have worked though all the details of what it takes to make the law workable and minimize the impact on American people. The Act contains a section entitled:

"Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children."

Who would have thought that some wooden childrens' arrows could have had such an impact on the world financial system. Amazing!

Debate analysis as art

The VP debate - by frequency of word usage by each candidate. Guess who was who, and then click on the image to find out.