Wasted is a duo of ladies from my hometown of Muscatine, Iowa who get sad at the thought of old furniture wasting away in landfills and garbage dumps. So they refurbish, recycle and reinvent old throw aways–like they are literally trolling the alleys and street corners of Muscatine for their next diamond in the rough. They do great work and display much of it in the empty storefront next to Baar on 2nd. Like them on Facebook. look at the photos, and claim your treasure. I bought this mirror!
The hubs and Chad talk about Mike and Joe like everyone who went to the University of Illinois knows who they are. Like most people in Chicago of a certain age (read early to mid 30’s) worship these cover band gods. This may be true but only because Mike and Joe allow these Illinoisans to cling to their music the way they cling to their college years and lost youth. So you can imagine my disappointment when the legends themselves played at the Southport Festival to a crowd of only 100 or less. Though there were some definite rockers of the early 90’s reliving senior year of high school through this duo’s soothing covers of DMB and Third Eye Blind (the hubs and Chad included). Ok, fine. I was totally jamming out as if my high school boyfriend was introducing me to Weezer all over again. Playing The Sweater Song is what did it for me Mike and Joe.
The hubs and I spent the day together looking for Art. First, we hit up the Gold Coast Arts Fair, which is not in the Gold Coast at all but in Grant Park. Last year, we bought some lovely cloud pictures taken by an artist with a kids camera. Unfortunately, we did not really find anything we wanted to spend our money on.
Next, we headed up to the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, a short street fair full over home made jewelry, clothing and other crafts. Again, we came home empty handed, but had a great time looking at everything and discussing our opinions of many of the pieces.
When I lived in Minneapolis, I was very involved at a wonderful place called The Playwrights’ Center whose mission is to champion playwrights and new plays in order to build upon a living theater that demands new and innovative works. One of the many opportunities they provide for playwrights is what is called the One-on-One with a Dramaturg. Mostly used by amateur writers, this program matches a playwright with a dramaturg who will read their play and offer feedback twice during the writing process. Participating in this program allows me the opportunity to meet new writers and continue to exercise my dramaturgical skills.
On Day 277 I had a great phone meeting with the playwright I am currently paired. We really understood one another, and I felt like I really understood where she wanted her play to go. We talked through all of my notes and all of her questions ending the conversation on such a positive note. She has a workshop she is writing toward, which is all the more motivating for her, and we have plans to speak again once that is complete. I just love positive collaboration and believe fully that criticism can be positive if communicated effectively, which, in this situation, is always with the goals of the play in mind. I cannot wait to read the next draft and continue this great relationship!
After the first 24 hours back on methotrexate, my energy was a little low but I was up enough to go to a play. The hubs and I went to Othello the Remix created, written and performed by the Q Brothers. And I am glad we did.
The Q Brothers take Shakespeare and urbanize it by setting much of it to rap music. Sometime they keep his language and sometimes they use the story and write their own. With Othello, they set the story within hip hip culture using a combination of Shakespeare’s language and their own. Othello is an insanely popular rapper who worked his way up the ranks, Iago a member of his crew and Cassio the new “pretty boy” with a huge jump start to his career displacing Iago for the second slot. And the story goes the way we know it to from there.
Going to see Q Brothers shows, I am always excited by how diverse the audience is both in age and race. They attract an audience all their own to Shakespeare. And the people are always jazzed, sometimes clapping or bobbing along with the beat. I love this kind of energy in the theater, regardless of the criticisms I may have of the show (like the fact that no actor played Desdemona-she was an imagined/off stage character and recorded voice on a sound cue which is pretty problematic in Othello, especially the death scene). They also really engage and play well to a youth audience in a way that “straight” Shakespeare often does not.
Despite my Desdemona issue, it was a fun and satisfying new take on Othello that I’m excited has extended so many times!
year of fun 