Cultural Events

Last week marked the opening of the new theater season. So far, I attended the following events;

The Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas concert at the Guarneri Hall. It was good (the pianist, Adam Neiman, was excellent), but the lecture before the concert was unnecessarily long and not very informative. I have a feeling that everyone was just waiting for the speaker to be done and to listen to the music. Also, because of that lecture, the concert ended later than scheduled
Dirty Dancing at Nederlander Theater. I never saw the movie, so I couldn’t appreciate all of the details my neighbor was admiring, but I liked the music, the acting, and how the dances were staged. Not out of this world, but really nice.

Liliom – John Neumeier’s ballet at Joffrey. The libretto is based on the play Liliom, which was also the basis of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. Great, as always 🙂 (well, so far, the only ballet I didn’t like much was Eugene Onegin)

Pictures below were taken by me:

To be continued next week 🙂

Bike The Drive 2026

This year’s Bike the Drive was the 25th, and participants could get the anniversary T-shirts and jerseys, all in Chicago’s official colors. That was my fourth Bike the Drive, the third one in which I did the 30-mile challenge, making the whole route and back, the second one we did together with Boris, and the first one in which Anna joined us 🙂

The photo above is the only one I copied from the Chicago Tribune; all the rest are ours, and the best were taken by Anna. She has enough balance to take pictures while biking, and we had ride coverage like never before!!!

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Odyssey

Last week I finally watched Odyssey. I watched it on Thursday at the AMC Dine-in Theater, not because I wanted to eat while watching, but because it was the only convenient option in terms of showtime and distance to the venue. That was my first time attending a screening in this theater, so now I know how the theater looks and what the best row is to sit in.

I think that’t the third Odyssey movie I watched in my lifetime. I liked, but without a hype. I think it says something that for thousands year, people still find inspiration in this epic. It’s a great story, and if after all these years, we still find something that draws us to the that plot, it’s not for nothing. The movie is very well done, the cast, the quality of cinematograthy, etc., except stepping away from the historical accuracty with costumes and armory (the wrong helmet types are bothersome, but I am unsure whether it was done on purpose to cater to the public expectations or not). Also, I didn’t like Polyphemus representation in a Gollum-like style, I like more the “traditional” presentation from the previous movies, and I think that Ancient Greeks thought about Polyphemus that way!

As much as I try not to read any reviews before watching anything, it was hard not to notice, that people were discussing the moral grounds of Odyssey’s decision, like sactrificing the lives of some of his men. But I believe that was the most true-to-the-story part! A special significans of Homer’s Odyssey is it’s representation of a snapshot in time, not only want people believed back than, but what they considered to be honorable, caurageous, what they considered being a treason, what they admired and hated, and what the “defaults” were.

I heardfrom some that this movie was better at IMAX, but to be honest, it was already enough noise for me to plug my ears from time to time, and I had no desire to be in a middle of a battle

Today’s Positivities

Mom’s internet was finally fixed! I am exceptionally thankful to Igor, who was able to come and be present during the technician’s visit. I am still switching my mom to another internet provider because I don’t want another poor customer service experience, but at least she has internet and is happy.
I attended the first Chicago GNU/Linux meetup, and it was 2.5 hours of infinite positive emotions! Interested and enthusiastic people, great conversations, lots of new plans and new connections, and a great feeling that I am doing something good and making a positive impact.

A Very Eventful Day And Bats Monitoring

Yesterday was one of the record days in terms of the number of times the weather changed, and how much it took to an extreme. I had a nice early morning bike ride before work, then, it was a tornado warning during the day. Fortunately, it didn’t touch Rogers Park, but in the office, we were instructed to shelter in place, and it continued for 45 minutes. The rain was pouring, and it was very windy, and it was hard to believe it will get better any time soon.

Then, suddenly, things started to clear up, and by 4 PM, there were no traces of it. I was hoping I could go to the beach right after I get home, but for some reason, the beach alert ws not removed. The red flag was up, and a lifeguard was marching around the pier. I was extremely disappointed, but decided to repeat the attempt at 7 PM. The problem was that I also wanted to attend the Bat Monitoring event, which was scheduled for 7:30, so I had very little time. Still, I decided that something is better than mothing, and I didn’t regret it! Just half on hour was plenty to be thankful to the lake and the happy fact that I live so close to it!

The Bat Monitoring was another super-interesting thing. The presentation took place at the Loyola fieldhouse. Liza Lehrer, Assistant Director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo, gave an overview of the Urban Wildlife Institute’s bat research program and its key findings. I learned a lot! For start, I didn’t know we have bats right here, in Chicago! I didn’t know that they migrate, like birds, and that some of them hybernate in winter! And I didn’t know they are closer to humans than rodents.

The most exiting part was a live demo! It turned out, that there is a special equipment one can use to detect and record the bats that are flying around us! Also, there is a program which can autoamtically decode the sounds and identify the species, and also record the place were recording was made. The Lincoln Park Zoo people had two of these sets, and we had an opportunity to see them in action! It was surreal – I never ever thought that there are bats, and so many, right there, by the beach, where I walk almost every day.

If it wouldn’t be so late, I would stay longer!

The Notebook Musical

There was a book, and there was a movie, and there was a musical. They met. They fell in love. Life circumstances separated them. They found each other ten years later to stay together forever. Then she developed dementia. And he moved to the nursing home to be close to her, although she couldn’t recognize him anymore and didn’t know who he was. He reads to her “a book” – a notebook with the story of their lives, in hopes that she will remember and return to him.

Most of the Broadway productions are great, and this one was no exception. Also, in addition to great music, a live orchestra, and beautiful voices, the acting was… one of those moments when everything is so real and so recognizable that it’s heartbreaking. Of course, the story touches on the topics that are constantly on my mind, but it’s not like I couldn’t watch it because of some similarities to real life. It just went along with my thinking…

Three pairs of actors play the main characters in three different stages of their lives.

Shakespear In The Park: As You Like It

I only heard about Shakespeare in the Park before, but I never attended their performances. Last weekend, they were right here, and Touhy Park, and also I had a friend visiting, so there was no excuse not to go (except for it was raining until alomost the preformance time!) Fortunately, it stopped raining, and the performance was not cancelled, and there was not a single drop of rain during the whole show.

I loved it!!! It was so authentic, brilliant in each and single detail: no amplification, of course, following the original script to the letter, accentinuating as I imaginge they did in the Globe, so that no one would have any doubt about heroes and villans, the costumes with just enough details, the music, and I can keep going!

After the play was over, I had one very distinct feeling: from now on, I will never be able to watch Shakespear plays any other way! My friend was overjoyed to see so many Black actors, and one lady from the audience told us, that she was an English major, and saw “As You Like It” at least fifteen times, but never-ever…

I know that at most ten persent of my readers click the links I share, but please-please-please, read their mission statement.

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Grant Park Music Festival: A Space Odyssey

Yesterday’s concert was another of my favorites: Grant Park Orchestra accompanied Troupe Vertigo. As I have already said multiple times, I shamelessly love circus, even the aspects which are usually considered vulgar, but Vertigo performances are always beautiful, elegant, and breathtaking! This season’s concert theme was Space:

Now that you have an idea about the music, I will just post the photos of the artists. I didn’t take a lot of photos because I didn’t want to take my gaze off the stage, but I think you can still get an impression of how amazing it was!

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Grant Park Music Festival: Broadway Sings America

I have been to two Grant Park concerts in a row, and I absolutely loved both of them! The first one was yesterday:

Since this whole season is dedicated to the USA 250th birthday, that concert featured the numbers from various musicals about different periods of American history (in a loosely chronological order).

I heard most of these songs many times, but all of them presented in one concert made them especially powerful. At the end of the program, the orchestra and chorus performed one more song, which was not in the program: “Keep Marching” from Suffs, which we just recently heard on Broadway in Chicago. And the conductor concluded the concert with a reminder how important is it in the times like this, to “keep marching.”

As I already mentioned, the GPMF series is the only way I feel I can celebrate the America’s 250th…