Tonight at Ravinia Lisa and I saw Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright. They are both interesting songwriters in different ways, and they were also both solo, playing mostly piano. I’ve been developing an affection for both their work recently, and this show cemented that enjoyment even more.
Ravinia itself is, as promised, a beautiful place to see a big concert. There are trees surrounding the whole area, including many throughout the lawn, and surrounding the pavilion. The weather conspired to make us really appreciate the experience — the sun came out just in time for a gorgeous sunset to cast golden light over the stage. Ben Folds acknowledged the change, inspiring him to play George Michael’s Careless Whispers. How could you possibly go wrong?
Needless to say, I’m even more excited now to see Lyle and his large band at the end of the month than I was before. We’ll be on the lawn then, so we’ll need to get there early to stake out a spot.
It’s a good thing the show was good, because there was one part of the evening that sucked like I never would have imagined: the train ride. (Parental Advisory: Explicit And Probably Excessive Ranting)
It feels like a San Francisco summer here, not a midwest summer. It’s overcast and cool. Walking around outside, I can’t help but think of that first summer in the bay area, thinking I’d be fine in shorts and a t-shirt, going to Stern Grove for a free concert and freezing in the 50 degree foggy weather. The memory is very powerful, almost to the point of making me wonder where I really am.
If we had eucalyptus trees growing in the neighborhood, I would be a completely lost cause.
On the day Lisa and I got married, a significant piece of natural history in my home state fell apart. The Old Man In The Mountain was an icon you would see all over the state, on signs, books, coins, and artwork. It collapsed on May 3, 2003, much to everyone’s disappointment.
My dad just pointed out this article to me that describes what happened in a nice level of detail.
Today is her birthday. Wish her a happy one, won’t you?
We had people over this evening for cake and pie. How good can one possibly be to one’s beloved? Cake and pie. Chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting. Strawberry-rhubarb pie. Seriously. This is, obviously, not something we can do every day. But when we do, oh it is good.
Anyway, we had many friends over, went to Alice and Friends (a favorite pan-asian vegetarian restaurant), watched Eddie Izzard, ate desserts, talked and laughed. It was a lovely evening.
We have an old (can I even say that?) friend visiting this weekend whose birthday was yesterday, so it has been a very celebratory weekend. During the day we went to the Field Museum for my first time. The Forbidden City exhibit on China, and the Madagascar photography exhibit were both stellar. Neither is part of the permanent collection, so I recommend going and seeing. Especially if you can get a Great Kids Pass from your local Chicago library. We still had to pay to see the China exhibit, but it was worth it, and general admission was free with the pass.
I got back on Saturday following a whirlwind mini-tour with Tres Femmes. We drove over 1000 miles in four days, appeared on television twice, and played four shows. You could have seen us on WGN 9 in Chicago (or on cable nationwide), or on Fox 11 in Green Bay. You could have heard us at Cafe Montmatre in Madison, The 400 Bar in Minneapolis, The West Theatre in Green Bay, or Subterranean here in Chicago.
All of the shows were good, although I think the bookends were the best. We did pretty well, sold some CDs, had a lot of good feedback. We also had one idiot email us and say we are “BAD BAD BAD” and wondering how we ever made a CD and got on TV. All you have to do is do it, I guess.
I took some pictures of a few pieces of the tour. By which I mean a TV studio, Kellie’s cats, a piece of cross-stitch done by Split Lip Rayfield’s mandolin player, and a really weird motorcycle. I think they do a very credible job of not capturing the feeling of being on tour. The cats are really cute though.
One of the highlights of the tour was hanging out with my friend Andy from CMU. He’s also a drummer (working currently with Chill 7 and other groups in the Twin Cities), and we talked shop and caught up after our set at the 400. He’s a good guy, and a great drummer; it’s one of those situations where we’re both in the midwest, but just far enough away that we could go years without seeing each other. Let’s hope another five don’t pass before the next time. We might forget what we look like.