Joy, Beautiful Spark of the Gods

A couple weekends ago, I spent Saturday with The Dulcinea in Milwaukee. While the occasion was to attend the symphony, we also availed ourselves of the opportunity to visit my friend, Miss Pamela, who was heavy with child. It was the first time I'd seen her in a few months and she had really ballooned up since our last meeting. On the drive over, The Dulcinea rehearsed her lines of advice for new mothers but, when it came to crunch time, the only bit she offered was to sleep when the baby does. That weird feeling came over me as I was again confronted with a friend from high school soon to be a parent. Despite this feeling of having gotten old, I was tremendously happy for her. And so was The Dulcinea. In fact, I think she was happier than Pam. Whereas the mother to-be was keen on just getting it over with, The Dulcinea was giddy with excitement. Miss Pamela revealed that her hubby wasn't particularly receptive to her carnal overtures since she became pregnant. This led to jokes about my fondness for Shakespeare's phrase, "She takes passengers even when the boat is full". While I've had sex with a pregnant woman, I've never had sex with one who actually had a bulge. Maybe someday...Before heading out, we spent a few minutes watching Zoe play with a box.



Our destination was the Milwaukee Public Market.



MPM is at the corner of Water and St. Paul. Stepping inside, one is treated to a bounty of smells and sights. Twenty vendors proffer their wares which include produce, candy, wine, hot meals, meat, seafood, et al. The market is fairly open due to the high ceilings so it didn't have the feel of a grocery store and each vendor's stall was a bit different than the rest.





I began my purchasing by heading to the confectioner, Kehr's Candies, and eating dessert first. I had these cookie-like hoolies of dark chocolate and sunflower seeds in a gooey mess. For the meal proper, I got some Hawaiian pulled pork and, because the Hawaiian joint was next to a sushi stand, I also got some of that. I just couldn't get the taste of wasabi and pickled ginger out of my mind.



The 3 of us took our meals to a table on the second floor which had a great view of the Marquette Interchange construction. The area looked like a war zone. I am hoping that the project will be done before I am of retirement age. On the way into town, a sign said to follow 794 via the left lane when, in fact, the right lane was the way to go. This led to a wee detour which eventually led us to the area by Shank Hall. Once in that neck of the woods, it was pretty easy to get to Pam's house. Slowly but surely I'm learning my way around Milwaukee.

While I'm on the topic of Milwaukee, did anyone got to the "I-94 Outreach: Mayors Tom and Dave" discussion last week at the Overture Center?

I ate enough for an army and then, much to my dismay, Miss Pamela bought dessert.



After eating and talking plenty, we made a stop over at the Milwaukee A Woman's Touch to look at all things naughty.



I think it's highly unfair that Milwaukee – the 2nd AWT – gets a much larger store. Having been to an AWT with The Dulcinea & Pam previously, I knew exactly what to expect. First there was some noodling in the book section and some glances at the titles in the pr0n video shelf. This was followed up by those two spending a lengthy period of time checking out the vibes & dildos. While there's the token toy or two directed at men, it's the frauleins that have shelf after shelf of pleasure devices. I could see the naughty looks in their eyes as they surveyed plastic phallus after plastic phallus. This, in turn, led to naughty thoughts in my own mind…We returned to Pam's house and chatted for a while before it was time to head to the symphony for a little bit of the old Ludwig van.

In addition to taking in some great music and pretending to be all cultured & civilized, attending the Milwaukee Symphony also gives me a chance to ogle the only violinist on whom I have ever had a crush – Associate Concertmaster Samantha George.


*sigh…*

Oh Samantha, let me catch a ride on your violin strung upon your bow. I'll float on your melody and sing your chorus soft and low. (Hopefully Ms. George, the folks at the MSO, and everyone she knows is Internet-challenged – she must not know of my secret love for her!)

The full programme consisted of the world premiere (OK – the second world premiere) of Lowell Liebermann's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Beethoven's 9th. I was totally unfamiliar with Liebermann which shouldn't be surprising as, like 99.9% of the population, I am lacking in familiarity with contemporary composers. One Jeffrey Biegel would be tinkling the ivories. While I enjoy Western art music, I am not so immersed as to be able to critique the performances of various orchestras performing the same piece. I know what I like and it doesn't matter who the conductor is or what symphony is performing the piece. And so with a limited vocabulary and the distance of over a week, I am going to have a hard time describing the piece. However, I do recall thinking at the time that parts of it reminded me of Alberto Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto. While I'm sure that any musicologists that happen to be reading are laughing their asses off at my analogy but there's nothing I can do. Perhaps the pieces were composed in completely different manners and have dissimilar structures, but, if nothing else, they share mood. A bit somber with some very abrupt and jarring – almost angry - passages. The notes for the programme indicated that Liebermann wrote the piece about the feelings he has for certain current events. With our country embroiled in war, the somber tone of the piece is to be expected. On the whole, I quite enjoyed the piece and hope to be able to purchase a copy of a performance of it someday.

After the intermission, the chorus came out and took their seats on the bleachers (what's the high-falutin' name for them?) at the back of the stage as they would be needed for Beethoven's glorious 9th! It would be my first time seeing it live to boot. While the piece is a magnificent listen on the stereo, experiencing a live performance of it is absolutely extraordinary. It brought tears to my eyes a few times. Sitting there, I heard the motifs in embryo develop during the first three movements and then came the rousing fourth. If you know nothing about the piece, I recommend the Wikipedia article on it for a start. But the kernel here is that the final movement features the chorus in all its glory singing part of Friedrich Schiller's An die Freude or "Ode to Joy". There was a section in the final movement where the orchestra does its thing – playing the melody fast and with great force. Then it gets quiet and they repeat another musical theme in hushed tones. Then BAM! All at once, the whole chorus stands up and they start singing at the top of their lungs as the orchestra kicks it up a notch or ten. We were sitting in the sixth row and I could feel their voices as they blasted into me like a tidal wave. My eyes immediately welled with tears as a shiver ran down my back. I mean it was really a powerful moment. Brilliant!

I left the hall with a real high. How can people either hate classical music or just be indifferent to it? I think every genre or type of music has pieces where the composer/performer just does everything right and she or he taps into that Universal Chord. Those songs transcend everything. It's moments like I had that night that make me forget how much I paid for the ticket, for gas to drive to Milwaukee, and all else. I got so lost in the music, in the moment that nothing else mattered. It was a nice gestalt - the joy I felt for my friend who was about to become a mother and the joy of the music.



We wandered down a block to the Water Street Brewery where I had a tasty pale ale with my dinner before we headed home.