Sunday, December 31, 2006

The consequences of elections

Since the November elections, I've been taking a little break from writing about politics. The consequences of the Democrats taking over Congress has been widely reported in the national media, and I have nothing to add. But there have been some interesting little aftershocks at the local level in Chicago.

Prior to November 8, it looked like there might be at least one big name on the ballot to run against Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley this coming February -- namely, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL). While I acknowledge that Daley has done many good things for the city, I think he needs to be held accountable for pervasive corruption (Hired Truck and patronage scandals) and for the occasional abuse of power such as the midnight demolition of Meigs Field. If the Aldermen won't put checks on his power, the voters at least have the opportunity to elect someone else. I was hoping Jackson would run, but he was disinclined to give up his seat in Congress just as his party attained majority status.

As of year's end, 2006, there are two less-well-known candidates challenging Da Mayor: Dorothy Brown and Bill "Dock" Walls. Both are positioning themselves as reformers, which unfortunately splits the opposition vote. In my opinion, Brown has the more impressive resume of the two, but it will be a long shot for either to unseat Daley.

Another result of the November elections was that Todd Stroger succeeded his father, John Stroger, as Cook County Board President. The younger Stroger was handpicked by the Cook County Democratic Central Committee to replace his father on the ballot after John Stroger, incapacitated by a severe stroke, was forced to withdraw from the race. The choice was controversial, but good, old-fashioned nepotism was validated by the voters on Election Day.

Commissioner Bobbie Steele was appointed interim Board President in July, serving for the remainder of John Stroger's term, and I thought she did a reasonably good job. However, she retired shortly after the election (no surprise -- as a retiring president, she gets double the pension than as a mere commissioner) and picked her son Robert as her replacement. As in the case of Todd Stroger, there are some doubts about Robert Steele's qualifications, and the voters of Steele's district had little say in his selection.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Foster Beach

foster_beach

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Band music from the October concert

Somehow I neglected to write about my band's fall concert, which took place on October 28 -- exactly two months ago. Here is the program:

Ride - Samuel Hazo
Selections from Wicked - Stephen Schwartz (arr. ???)
Concerto for Violin in D Maj.* - Tchaikovsky
Symph. Metamporphoses, etc., Mvt. 4 (March) - Hindemith

Intermission

La Gazza Ladra Overture - Rossini
Irish Tune from County Derry & Shepherd's Hey - Percy Grainger
Klezmer Classics - Johan De Meij
Symphony No. 9 in E min. (New World), Finale - Dvorak
Orpheus in the Underworld Overture - Offenbach

*The violin soloist for the Tchaikovsky was Cynthia Arden.


The concert was recorded, and I got the CD two weeks ago. The two tracks I thought came out the best were the final two movements of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (as one track) and La Gazza Ladra. For your listening enjoyment, I've uploaded MP3s of these tracks:

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Canzonetta and Finale

La Gazza Ladra, The Thieving Magpie

I think the slow Canzonetta movement of the violin concerto is a good example of the band's orchestral style. The faster finale begins with an attacca transition at the 6:16 mark. It requires more technical skill from the band, especially after 15:10, when the band takes over the line from the violin; it was about this point where the trumpets and woodwinds got embarrassingly out of sync in the midst of a roller-coaster sixteenth-note run.

If I had my way, I'd probably take parts of La Gazza Ladra a little slower than we played it. (We did the ending at an absolute break-neck speed!) It is a common problem among community bands to drag the tempo, accommodating the members who can't play so fast. My band, if anything, has the opposite problem. Sometimes I think the band director takes things faster than they need to be just to show everyone that we can do it. But it doesn't always sound good.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Broadway update

About a year and a half ago, I did a little survey of everything on Broadway between Foster and Bryn Mawr. Last month, I walked up and down the street to see what has changed since then, and I'm finally getting around to writing about it.

At 5200-04, the building is still boarded up, but there is now a For Sale sign posted high on the exterior wall, near the corner. The building adjacent to the north, formerly a funeral home, also remains boarded up. During the summer, a temporary fence had gone up around it, which had a tendency to blow down. The fence is gone now. In the summer of '05, both of these properties were owned by a developer who wanted to build a large, five-story complex; it was approved at the Alderman's Zoning & Planning meeting (where I was the only one to vote against it), but the developer was unable to get the project financed.

On the east side of the 5200 block, there is a suburban-style shopping center. The northeast corner of the shopping center, facing Berwyn, used to be the Dr. Wax record store. This summer, they moved into a smaller space under the Berwyn 'L' stop. The old Dr. Wax location is still vacant.

The real estate office that had been at 5354-06 has moved to 5503. The old location is now vacant.

I believe the owner of the Chinese grocery at 5353 N. Broadway has bought the building to its north (5355-59). It's freshly painted and has new windows, but it is still empty.

5401 used to be Adria Mare, a Croatian restaurant. It seemed to be struggling for a long time, and I think it has finally gone out of business.

At the time I did my original survey, it looked like a tanning salon was opening up at 5411; it did indeed open and remains so.

The Zengler complex that runs from about 5423 to 5441 is still under construction. Pepitone's, an Italian restaurant, has an awning up at about 5437, but it is not yet open.

The florist at 5459 is no longer there. When I went past there last month, it was vacant. Now it is the campaign office for someone running for alderman against Chris Persons. After the municipal elections on February 27, I imagine it will revert to its former, unused state. An interesting thing I noticed is that when the sign for the florist came down, it revealed the "Care for Real" sign behind it -- Care for Real, a neighborhood food pantry, used to be located at 5459.

At the northwest corner of Broadway and Balmoral, Bromann Park is being renovated.

The taqueria at 5424 is now closed, and the storefront is vacant.

There was a condo sales office at 5501; apparently, all units have sold, and the sales office is no longer needed. 5501 is still empty.

The store that had just moved from 5557 to 5553 at the time of the original survey is no longer at 5553. Instead, this storefront contains the "Enchanted Mystic Shop." Sounds enchanting. And maybe a little mystical.

At the southeast corner of Broadway and Bryn Mawr, 5555-57, which was vacant, now houses a small grocery.

On the other side of the street, 5524, which was a dentist, is now a physical therapy office.

The cell phone store that was at 5556 has moved out, and the storefront remains vacant.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Something's not kosher

I don't keep kosher, but I have noticed that the laws of kashrut still seem to have some influence on my diet. I avoid eating some things that aren't kosher; on the other hand, for no rational reason, I have no problem with some other non-kosher foods. If I could rewrite Leviticus, this is how it would classify the following foods:

Shellfish: OK
Catfish: MARGINAL
Pork chops: NOT OK
Ham: NOT OK
Spam: SADLY, NO
Prosciutto: SINFUL BUT DELICIOUS
Pork egg roll: OK
Pork hot dog: NOT OK
Bacon: OK
Pork ribs: OK
Pork snouts: EWWW
Cheeseburger: MARGINAL
Sausage pizza: OK
Blueberry bagel: NOT KOSHER. MAY LIGHTNING STRIKE YOU DOWN.

Poetry

Lest anyone think I am lacking culture, I'd like to share a haiku I heard yesterday. The poet has not had it published, so I will maintain his anonymity by identifying him only by his initials.

Condominiums
by M.B.

Condominiums.
Condominiums are nice.
Condominiums.

Friday, December 01, 2006

What I've been reading

I've already gotten through three of the books from my October reading list. I just finished one that was not on that list -- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. I hadn't read anything by Roth since high school, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy his writing.

The Plot Against America is a memoir of Roth's childhood, set in the early 1940s when Charles Lindbergh was President and we nearly went to war against Canada on the side of the fascists. What's that? You don't remember a Lindbergh presidency?

The book is, of course, a work of fiction. There have been many, many works, both fiction and non-fiction, written about various aspects of World War II and the Holocaust. For instance, these themes were prominent in another novel I read recently (also highly recommended): The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. I was a little skeptical that Roth would be able to find anything truly original to say, but the novel easily exceeded my expectations.