09/10/07
It was a weekend of high culture: a lovely wedding in Grant Park (not mine) and a fabulous CSO performance in Millennium Park that featured Savion Glover tapping the Duke Ellington suite, River. It was also a weekend of rock culture: the ever-so-awesome Hideout Block Party. My only gripe: The sound for Brit band Bloc Party (who played the Block Party) was pretty weak; having seen them a few months ago at the Congress, I can attest what a strong live band they are. That didn't so much come across, but, heck, it was still great.
Now I'm off to Europe for a three-week sejour in Italy and France. Check back for...
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09/05/07
Lunched yesterday with Jason Palmquist, the new executive director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He joked about having successfully survived his first 100 days at the helm of the contemporary dance company, a Chicago institution that has, of late, been rocked with major changes (the departures of its longtime executive director and second company directors, retiring dancers, etc). Arts administrators are an interesting bunch (and, no, that’s not a joke). The successful ones are fluent in the language of balance sheets and budgets; but they have to speak a creative language too. It looks like Palmquist has the background required to do both:...
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08/31/07
Nifty stuff has been landing on my desk and in my inbox. Thought I’d share.
1. Two great sites for quirky stuff: Swap Meat, a funny little designophile project by local Web company Coudal Partners. You send something cool in—you know, something that you made yourself. They assess its value and send something equally cool back. Get it? It’s a swap! There are great prints, handmade books, T-shirts, etc. I don’t make things by hand, so I have nothing to send. But if I did make things by hand, and if they didn’t suck, well, you know...
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08/29/07
Here I was, trying to understand “country couture” with a veritable expert: Grammy winner Gretchen Wilson, who was performing at the fashion event Glamorama. Note: If you ever get a chance to interview Gretchen Wilson, she is much happier talking about baseball than style.
Coda: You grew up in Pocahontas, Illinois. Do you have a fondness for performing in Chicago?
GW: It’s always great to be back. I have a few relatives around here still. But you know, I grew up closer to St. Louis than Chicago...
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08/27/07
My Glamorama experience, in a nutshell: Lots of cowboy hats and sparkly shirts—and a midget zooming by on a scooter. (Actually, he might have been a dwarf. I’m sure someone will write in and correct me, so I’ll just say right now that I’m not sure which category he falls into. He was small. That much I know. He is part of the MusikMafia, the country supergroup fronted by Gretchen Wilson, Big and Rich, and the rappin’ Cowboy Troy, who all played at the main runway event. Who knew that Chicago people would lose their cool during the song “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy?”)
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08/22/07
 How do you perk up a dull Tuesday? Drink at work!
Luckily, I have a new acquaintance: Gabriel Magliaro, who, with some friends, has started a new Chicago beer company, Half Acre. Their first beer—a tomcat-colored lager that is brewed in Black River Falls, Wisconsin—just landed at Pint, Rodan, Jerry’s 2, and several other bars in Wicker Park. I was intrigued when Gabriel called me about it; I mean, how many local beers are there? For a city this size, there is a dearth of homegrown ale. Business idea, people!
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08/20/07
Last week, I was surprised to hear some grumbles in Time Out Chicago—and from some dancers I know—about the Chicago Dancing Festival.
If you don’t know what this is, it’s the free dance night on Wednesday at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Dancers from Alvin Ailey, the Joffrey, American Ballet Theatre, and the experimental, New York-based Complexions Contemporary Dance Co., are among those performing.
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08/17/07
Gwyneth Paltrow has a lovely light pink pedicure. This is all I can see. I’ve crowded into the press “pit,” which is kind of like a cattle corral. The reporters and photographers in front of me have mostly blocked my view. So after a few minutes, I squat down, and peek between Bill Zwecker’s legs. Finally, an unobstructed view of Gwyneth—her feet...
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08/13/07
Starting Wednesday, the Bicycle Film Fest hits Chicago for four days of parties, races, scavenger hunts, and films galore. It’s a huge event in New York, Paris, Tokyo, and other cities, but in Chicago it hasn’t quite caught on. Coda talked to founder Brendt Barbur, who lives in Manhattan, about registering higher on the city’s culture meter this time around.
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08/10/07
This post could just as easily be called "How to Have a Dinner Party." Earlier this week, Kara Mann, Chicago’s fast rising interior designer, who’s in her 30s, invited two dozen or so interiors people, architects, and design types into her new showroom on Hubbard Street. The party had a look—that look—that we all try to achieve when we throw parties: classy, but with the idea that things could easily get slightly off-kilter. I guess it just looked fun. I took notes.
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47.0F
Coda is a blog by arts and culture editor Cassie Walker, who, love it or hate it, always has an opinion. During the course of her weekly culture hunting, she reviews high art and pop culture events so you'll know what you need to check out and what you can miss.
