Song of the day, 15 April 2026

This is featured in Hen, which I saw last night at the film fest.

Music, all I hear is music...guaranteed to please

Recently I put a CD shelf together and got all of my music CD's unpacked. Well, most of them. Bootlegs remain in a box. Since then I have bought even more and now have to rejigger things to make room for them on the proper shelves.

The Louis Michot and Alash albums were bought at their shows here earlier this month while the one by Verità Baroque was purchased online after seeing one of their performances at the Madison Early Music Festival back in January. Tomeka Reid - come back to Madison, please! 

I bought The Monks album just yesterday at B-Side. It was neat because I hadn't been there in ages and had never been to their new digs which, I suppose, aren't all that new anymore. The general layout is the same as the old space and the presence of Steve Manley behind the counter gave a familiar and welcoming feeling. But it was really odd to be able to browse without having to squeeze between shelves. All that space is so odd. Ha!

I was happy to see that the King Crimson selection remains strong there. 

Song of the day, 1 September 2025

I am welcoming the new month with some Bach and you should too because this piece is simply beautiful.

A distant performance

As a boy, I was entranced by György Ligeti's music that was featured in the films of Stanley Kubrick. I got the itch to hear any and all of these pieces performed live. Back in 2004 I jumped at the chance to hear the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra perform Atmospheres which was featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was glorious!

It took nearly 21 years but I finally saw that another of Ligeti's pieces, Lontano, was going to be performed by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. Again, I jumped at the chance and bought a ticket.

I swung into town a little before showtime and took the opportunity to wander the Fox River shore. The performance was to take place at the Hemmens Cultural Center so I strolled around a bit north of where I did the same last year.

There is an island that has been all gussied up for some lovely scenery on your stroll.

You can get right up to the water and there were several people, including a couple families, taking advantage of the opportunity to take in the scenery or do some fishing.

Canada geese were everywhere. This family were not impressed by the human and I ended up with a photo of all of their butts.

Showtime neared and so I headed to the hall where the great and the good of Kane County and beyond were filing in.

The performance was the ESO's season finale and was sold out.

The Music Director, Chad Goodman, is a young fellow and he introduced the pieces with exuberance and humor.

Lontano was sublime. It's eerie shimmering entranced me and would have been perfect for the soundtrack of Annihilation. I closed my eyes and let the music wash over me and take me somewhere else.

Mozart's "Paris" symphony, which followed, was a total 180 with its allegro movements standing in stark contrast to the ethereal moodiness of Lontano. Holst's The Planets closed out the program. I'd never heard it performed live so it was a real treat. "Mars, the Bringer of War" was just spectacular! The way it builds with such force was just fantastic to behold in-person.

Now onto finding performances of Lux Aeterna, Aventures, and Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 116: Play me my song

[View the foreward.]

(late November 2023)

Despite being nearly 3 months since Grabby's death, I still find myself waiting for her to come to the food dish at dinner time, to be on the bathroom counter when I step out of the shower, and to be present in any number of other situations. In my mind I can still picture that gimlet-eyed look she'd send my way when I entered a room where she was relaxing.

"Gotta keep an eye on those pesky humans!" she no doubt thought to herself.

I have also not stopped using her name. When I should be saying "Pipe!" or "Piper!", I am still exclaiming "Grabby and Pipey!" or "Grab and Pipe". Old habits die hard. Lord help me when we get another cat and I find myself blurting out three names.

While I wait for my brain to adjust, I figure it's best to keep myself occupied.

November started with a trip down to Chicago to see Steve Hackett in concert. He was the guitarist in the progressive rock band Genesis from 1970-77 and has 28 solo albums to his credit. He was to perform at the Copernicus Center, a venue I’d never been to.

Before the show, I met up with a quartet of friends/fellow concert goers at Iztatl Cocina Mexicana in Jefferson Park where I gorged myself on a tasty burrito as we chatted away until showtime was nigh. I’d gotten to know all of them through my brother and it seemed very fitting to be going to see Steve Hackett with them as he would have no doubt come along if he’d still been alive, work commitments notwithstanding.

Walking into the theater, I found it to be a beautiful, old venue.

I have since learned that it is the former Gateway Theatre, a movie palace dating back to 1930. It was the first movie theater in Chicago built exclusively for the talkies, apparently.

The show was similarly structured to the one my Frau and I had attended last spring in Minneapolis with a set of Hackett’s solo work followed by an intermission and then a second set comprised of Genesis material. I was delighted to find that our guitar hero had revamped the first set so that we were given a larger dose of his solo music and that it featured mostly different songs than he played last year. The second set was again a Genesis album in its entirety. However, instead of the live album Seconds Out, he played their 1972 opus Foxtrot.

It was a remarkable show! A couple of the songs from Foxtrot had never been played live by Genesis after the Foxtrot tour ended in 1973 and the band had never played one of the songs live ever. So it was a real treat to hear these rarely/never performed songs brought to life.

Again my eyes welled with tears during the 25 minute epic "Supper’s Ready" just as they had in Minneapolis. And just as he did last year, Hackett (and the band) brought the first set to a close with the instrumental section of "Shadow of the Hierophant". While I've always liked the song, I felt that Sally Oldfield's vocals on the studio version were rather twee for the longest time, as if they were some Hobbit maiden's hymn. At some point, I matured or got old or something and I just fell in love with them with their gentle clarity and delicate resonance. I hope to witness that song performed in full someday. And just as he did last time, Craig Blundell proved to be a monster on drums. His playing added so much excitement and dynamics to the performance. The song built in intensity with no small debt to his percussive prowess.

What a wonderful show!

Later in the month the Frau and I attended a performance by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and I am reminded that we went to see the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra perform back in October. It had slipped my mind when writing the previous entry because, unlike the MSO, the WCO does not send you an email afterwards with photographs from the concert. Without the visual reminders, I forgot to mention it last time.

The performance was called Harmony in Black and was part of a WCO initiative to feature the works of underrepresented composers of color. It featured two pieces by Dr. Bill Banfield, composer in residence at the WCO.

In addition, there was a piece by Patrice Rushen, who has composed jazz and pop music and holds a chair at USC Thornton School of Music.

Their music drew inspiration from Frederick Douglass, Paul Robeson, and Dr. Martin Luther King and, I suppose, the black experience in America, generally.

Rushen’s "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" opened the concert. Its three movements draw on King’s life and career. The first is called "Passion from the Pulpit" and began with an excerpt from King’s speech that contained the piece’s title. It then proceeds through a series of sections that alternate those that are faster with a dose of the dramatic and ones that are slower with a more pensive tone.

The second movement, "The Dreamer Cometh", is darker and moody. Perhaps it reflects King’s recognition of the struggles of his present and of his future while dreaming of the fulfillment of his life’s mission.

"Freedom Is Not Free" ends the piece. It begins with big, sweeping brass and transitions to a feeling of urgency led by a martial sounding snare drum. This tone would last until the piece reaches its denouement with another recording of King.

Banfield's "Testimony of Tone, Tune, and Time" reflected on Douglass and Robeson. The music was dotted with brief interludes featuring a narrator reading the words of these men. Joining the orchestra was a saxophonist who added tonal color as well as a distinct jazz element.

The 8 movements were fairly short and each had its own flavor. There was sadness, joy, tenderness, a contemplative mood, etc.

Another piece by Banfield, Symphony No. 8, closed the performance but my Frau's back pain was causing her extreme discomfort so we weren’t able to stay to hear it. Luckily the whole concert was recorded and is set to be released (even on CD!) in February.

Back here in November, the Frau and I attended a performance by the Madison Symphony Orchestra. We went down to the lovely Overture Center where we joined the great and the good for "Symphony Gems". On the bill were Mozart, Schumann, and William Levi Dawson.

I was unfamiliar with the opener, Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385, "Haffner". Almost right out of the gate the first movement was cookin'. The violinists were on fire and the piece really moved. Crescendos came replete with deep reinforcement from tympani.

The second movement was slower, but the violins couldn't be calmed completely as they contributed some rapid bowing to punctuate the gentle passages. Woodwinds were more prominent on the mid-tempo third movement while the fourth picked up the pace once again and the tympani made a triumphant return. It ended on a rousing note.

Schumann’s Concerto in A Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 54 came next. Guesting on the piano was a gentleman named Jonathan Biss. Hailing from Philadelphia, his CV is chock full of performances  with orchestras around the country and around Europe as well.

This was another piece that I'd never heard before and I was delighted by it. The first movement revels in dynamics. But whether it was a slow passage or something more spirited, Biss would throw in short bursts that cut through the symphonic sonorities of the orchestra. And then his playing became more sustained and melodic as the piano joined the orchestra in blissful melody.

The middle movement was slow and graceful while the final one upped the tempo again and featured some wonderful, dramatic soloing from Biss. That guy was animated too. There were times I thought he was going to jump up from the bench and launch into some kind of Jerry Lee Lewis routine.

William Levi Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony began slowly and a bit on the sullen side. Then waves of strings were joined by a simple tympani rhythm before the orchestra falls silent briefly. Brass takes over and a sprightly melody ensues. And so the first movement went with slow, gentle passages giving way to more rousing ones.

The second movement features slower, forlorn sounding sections sitting next to brighter, faster ones. This movement is called Hope in the Night and perhaps the slower parts are the night and the faster ones represent hope, some light in the darkness.

The third and final movement is generally upbeat with different parts of the orchestra repeating melodic lines in sequence. This final bit never really lets up and has an exuberance throughout that comes to a conclusion in the big, dramatic finale. O, Le’ Me Shine, Shine Like a Morning Star is an apt title.

********

We had a couple interesting animal sightings this month.

The first came when my Frau was out in the carport looking at her phone. Suddenly a loud noise rent the air...

THWAP!

She looked over at her car which was sitting in the driveway and saw that a hawk had landed on the roof.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered that Nature is truly red in tooth and claw as our avian visitor had come with its dinner.

Poor squirrel. But hawks gotta eat too.

We had a little snowfall one night and, upon going outside the following morning, I saw tracks.

There were turkeys about! I didn’t see them, however. Later, though, the Frau did. They were strutting through the backyard.

********

Just a day or 2 ago I received a text from a friend of mine that was simply a photograph.

That headless figure is his sister and she’s at their mom’s house up in Portage (about 30 miles north of Madison) making lefse.

Lefse is a Norwegian potato flat bread. While I have 3 brands on offer at my local supermarket, homemade remains the best. Folks in Wisconsin of Norwegian stock are known to make it for the holidays.

I replied saying I hoped that some of that would come my way.

********

Bonus photo. Here is a recent photo of Piper relaxing on the couch, no doubt patiently awaiting pets from her cat dad. Or perhaps wondering why he is putting this strange device in her face.

 

 

(Now check out the postlude.)

Harmonious

I picked up my latest CD today:

I attended this performance by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, "Harmony in Black", last October. Neat to have this recording of some wonderful music by Patrice Rushen and Dr. Bill Banfield.

Looney Toons by Robert Paterson

I stumbled upon this piece over the weekend. It's called Looney Toons by Robert Paterson, a contemporary composer. It's got 4 movements and each is inspired by a different Looney Toons character and each is just a hoot. Playful and melodic with strong rhythmic centers.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 90: Vernal Musings

(Listen to the prelude.)

(early May 2023)

We had some excitement at the end of last month when a black bear, fresh out of hibernation, moseyed into town on the southwest side, presumably in search of a picnic basket meal. It ended up relaxing in a tree near my father-in-law's house. Here’s a photo that my Frau's stepmother took as neighbors gathered to get a glimpse of the ursine visitor.

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Earlier this month I took my first spring trek down to Acewood Park. It was a Friday so I was working from home. As soon as the whistle blew, I yelled "Yabba dabba doo!" and jumped on my bike and was off.

The water was not yet weed-choked and the foliage was still coming in. Overall, it was calm and peaceful. Well, until a couple of Canada geese landed near another pair. This led to a big fight across the pond that sent threatening honks echoing throughout the park.

You may recall that last year I wandered around the park during a spring snowstorm and came upon a mother goose sitting on her nest. I was curious to know if there was another nest full of eggs out on the little peninsula so I headed over.

No eggs this time. Had they hatched already? Was a happy anserine couple who were expecting yet to move in?

However, I did spy many birds this trip. For instance, here’s a cardinal. It was fairly close to me yet I only managed to get it nearly in focus.

As you might expect, there were robins everywhere. So of course I managed to get only one photograph in focus.

I wandered down the culvert to the cattails at the south end of the pond. On the way there, I pissed off some corvine friends as a murder of crows flew from a spot that they were presumably comfortable at to another one closer to the pond. They cawed in irritation all the while.

I also spotted many deer tracks such as these.

No poop, though. I reckoned they sleep in the cattails and then wander down the culvert in search of food.

As I was standing by the cattails, I heard the loud trill of a bird. It was moderately familiar and coming from the top of a nearby tree. I struggled to find the source of the song but, luckily, the bird just kept singing. Eventually I found the creature responsible: an American goldfinch way up high.

Was it doing a mating call? Sounding a warning klaxon that a pesky human was nearby, perhaps?

I made my way back up the culvert and was standing around listening to bird song and keeping my eyes peeled when I heard a woodpecker. Not only did I hear it, but I also saw it. And, not only did I hear and see it, but it actually flew towards me and landed on a tree not too far away. It was a red-bellied one. I think.

It poked around various tree limbs for a while but never pecked. After several minutes it flew off into the distance.

Ooh! I almost forgot. Geese.

********

The Frau and I took in some high culture this month with the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s season finale. The show featured Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 in C minor and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Price was an African-American woman whom I first heard of a couple years ago in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement's rise to prominence. We were told during the pre-performance lecture that she was rather well-known during her lifetime but eventually disappeared down the cultural memory hole. I figured her standing rose once again as the classical music world scrambled to diversify itself after the Summer of Racial Reckoning. However, I was wrong as Price was “rediscovered” back in 2009 when a cache of her scores and manuscripts were unearthed in an old house south of Chicago that was her summer getaway.

Although born in Arkansas, she practiced her art in the Windy City. She was the first African-American woman to have a work performed by a major orchestra when her First Symphony was played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Maestro John DeMain took to the podium looking every inch the part with his angular features and black Nehru-looking jacket. For me, if you look up orchestra conductor in the dictionary, you get a picture of him. (Photos found at the MSO Facebook page.)

I rather liked Price’s piece. It was upbeat with great melodies and it incorporated African-American elements in a way that reminded me of Aaron Copeland’s use of American folk music. The third movement is called “Juba” after the African-American dance, a.k.a. – hambone.

After the intermission, DeMain returned to the stage which had swelled by dozens as the Madison Symphony Chorus joined the Symphony for Orff’s masterwork.

Whenever I hear the opening piece, “O Fortuna”, I picture scenes from the movie The Omen in my head. I can see the young Damien, spawn of Satan, doing his master’s bidding as his human "father", played by Gregory Peck, looks on in horror as the opening song of Orff's cantata evokes an infernal sense of menace. I just cannot help it.

While I thought that “O Fortuna” was used in the film, I apparently suffer from whatever you call the Mandela Effect for just one person as I can find no evidence that the song can be heard in it. The soundtrack was scored by Jerry Goldsmith and it has a piece called "Ave Satani" which bears more than a passing resemblance to "O Fortuna" so I suspect my mind just did a little switcheroo.

The lovely Jeni Hauser sang soprano in a red dress which was wholly appropriate as she performed pieces from the Court of Love section. She sang of a girl who “stood in a red tunic” and a glorious creature “redder than the rose”.

I adore Carmina Burana. It has great melodies and big, dramatic waves of choral goodness; songs about the caprices of Fortune and odes to drinking away one’s cares in a tavern; the laments of lonely women pining for a man and the songs of lustful young men.

The perfect piece for spring.

********

Bonus photo! No cats this time. Instead it’s Rodney Dangerfield on the UW's Bascom Hill here in Madison relaxing between takes during the shooting of Back to School in what I think is the fall of 1985.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 90 - Prelude: Misheard

Aurora borealis, the icy sky at night

This entry is something of a follow-up to my encomium for "Island in the Darkness" by Tony Banks as I discovered the music of Daria Shakhova shortly after I had compiled a YouTube playlist of Banks' most flowery, feminine, and/or Romantic songs and found a certain sonic kinship between the two players.

It would probably help if I could read Cyrillic because the internet is lacking in an English language biography of Shakhova. She currently resides in Novosibirsk, Russia and is probably in her late 20s by this point. Her Bandcamp page describes her as a composer and musician who plays the violin, piano, and guitar. She also sings. It goes on to note that she "compose[sic] instrumental music in post minimalist style with progressive shades". I am not sure what this means exactly but her Soundcloud page says she likes to create "instrumental music about [the] most beautiful things on the Earth and [the] human soul".

Shakhova seems to prefer chamber music for her own compositions as everything I've run into involves a string quartet plus her tickling the ivories. 

A couple years ago I read a review of her 2019 album Fluoresense which included the video for "Aurora". I was struck not only by the beauty of the piece but also that it had a vibe similar to that of "Mad Man Moon", a Tony Banks song that he recorded with Genesis. Each song runs about 7 and half minutes and goes through various sections with differing tempos and feels. The piano is at the core of both although one features a full band while the other has a string quartet with piano. Both pieces have a softness to them and then build in emotional intensity before a deft touch puts everything at ease once more.

"Aurora" begins with a gentle piano refrain with the drone of violins behind it. This introductory section quickly yields to one with a faster tempo and all of the instruments contributing to a melody that has a slight tension to it. This gives way to a longer, slower passage which is mainly the strings. Piano returns and gradually picks up the pace until the song reaches its climax. The outro features the same gentle melody as the opening but in a different key.

Fluoresense is about a man fulfilling his dream of wandering the most boreal parts of Scandanavia where he encounters icebergs and the northern lights. This song does a wonderful job of evoking the lights slowly building in intensity until our hero is agog at undulating waves of green and blue that pulse in the night sky.

"Aurora" is a gorgeous song, evocative of natural beauty and human awe before it.

.photobucket.com/images/v99/tim_archer/darias.jpg

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/v99/tim_archer/darias.jpg

The Corona Diaries Vol. 51: That's Not a Spicy Meat-a-ball!

(late April 2022)

 

(Listen to this entry's overture.) 

We got our final snow of the season in the middle of the month. While it didn’t stick around for long, it was very pretty and those leaves that I didn’t rake last fall were once again out of sight, out of mind.

When the snow melted, things began to feel much more spring-like with slightly warmer temperatures settling upon us and the odd tree or shrub beginning to bud. Looking to enjoy the weather, the changing scenery, and perhaps even learn a thing or two, I took a guided nature walk which began at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and then continued into the adjacent Edna Taylor Conservation Park.

The Nature Center is about 3.5 miles from home and so I hopped on my bike for what was, I think, my first ride of the year that wasn't a short hop to the library or store. 3.5 miles is a nice jaunt and the hills don't usually make for that arduous of a ride but, when it's your first time after a long winter, ascending them can seem like a Herculean labor.

But I made it.

While waiting for the group to assemble by the parking lot, a turkey hen strutted by. There were people gathering for a young child's birthday party nearby and, with purposeful strides, she smartly walked away from the growing crowd of celebrants and disappeared from view while heading towards Woodland Park.

 

Eventually everyone who was to go on the nature walk arrived and down the path we went. It was partly cloudy. Or partly sunny. I am unsure which.

It was nice to be with someone who could identify trees and plants because flora is my weak spot. But, since there was little in the way of plants in bloom, we’re stuck with fauna photos here. Walking through a prairie section which showed signs of fire, we received a mini-lesson on controlled burns. Then we came to the pond and found some turtles enjoying the sun.

Those harbingers of spring, red-winged blackbirds, were everywhere. At one point I was walking by a small tree and noticed one of them in its branches. Remarkably, the bird was unperturbed by the human and so I found myself only about 10 feet from it and managed to take a decent photo.

Between the two parks there are more than a few ponds and, since red-winged blackbirds nest near water, I was afforded many opportunities to take more pictures of them as I walked along the shores. Our guide told us that they build their nests amongst the stems of the cattails.

In my last entry, I described an encounter with a mother goose and I had another here. This goose, however, was firmly ensconced amongst the cattails on a patch of reeds out in the pond and safe from pesky perambulators.

When we were finished annoying the goose from afar, we continued down the path but, upon looking around, I noticed a flock of birds coming over a tree line. They were circling the area and slowly making their way towards us. A flock of turkey vultures were perusing the scene for a late breakfast.

Towards the end of the walk we came across a tree that was full of holes. Our guide explained that they were from sapsuckers, yellow-bellied ones, I think.

Sapsuckers are woodpeckers but, as their name indicates, they suck sap as well as eat insects, if it's on offer.

It was a lovely walk through the parks. Although offered every weekend, I would not be able to take advantage of the tours as my upcoming weekends were rather full.

On my way home, I took a picture of the remains of a telescope in the yard of a house.

Upon seeing it, "Workshop of the Telescopes" by Blue Öyster Cult popped into my head.

By salamander, drake, and the power that was undine
Rise to claim Saturn, ring and sky
By those who see with their eyes closed
You’ll know me by my black telescope

Surely anyone who has a telescope in their yard must be a cultist looking for a planetary alignment to signal the awakening of old gods. Cthulhu fhtagn!

It was built by a gentleman named Jack English. He was a chemistry teacher at a local vocational school but also built telescopes and helped found the Madison Astronomical Society in the mid-1930s. Remarkably, the tube in the yard has remained there even after the English family moved out of the house in 1958. I have not found any reference to English engaging in any cult activities...yet!

********

The first concert I attended this year was by the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The Frau and I joined the great and the good of Madison for a performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. It was to be a Beyond the Score performance. I believe this is an invention of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and involves actors doing an introductory skit where the audience learns about the piece to be played. That afternoon, actors portraying Stravinsky and Nicolas Roerich graced the stage. Roerich was a Russian artist and amateur archaeologist who was well-versed in pre-Christian Russian culture and he helped Stravinsky create The Rite of Spring.

It was pretty neat. The orchestra would play brief samples of the piece after our Stravinsky and Roerich elucidated on how that section was written and what folklore elements were involved.

I found this method of introducing the piece to be very interesting. Not only did I learn about the Russian folklore portrayed in The Rite of Spring but I also caught snippets of music theory.

The performance was wonderful, although no riot ensued as did at its premiere back in 1913 like I had hoped.

My second concert of 2022 was the rock band Transatlantic. It took place on a Thursday night down at the lovely Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. I went with a couple friends from the Chicago area one of whom lives in West Chicago so it was a short drive from his place.

                                                    (Screenscrape of video by eddienotvanhalen.)

Transatlantic are a progressive rock supergroup as its members are all well-known from being in other bands. I'd heard a little of their material over the years going in but can't say I was familiar with their music. They are one of those bands that you'd think I'd love given my love of prog, but I have always struggled to really get into their music. This concert was to be part socializing with friends but also partly an attempt to get Translatlantic into my musical diet.

The show was great but I must admit that it felt a bit odd to be at a public performance not wearing a mask. I think the band were overjoyed to once again be out on the road performing. Their last album came out during the pandemic so they hadn’t been able to tour behind it then and they made up for the tardiness of the live shows by giving us a 3-hour concert.

I stayed overnight in West Chicago and took Friday off from work. On Saturday it was off to another concert with several friends. That one was here in Madison. I hadn’t seen Primus in over a decade.

(Screenscrape of video by Rebecca Alsen.)

I can’t remember the last time I was at a concert with such a large group - there were half a dozen other people. It was at a newish venue here that I’d never been to before, The Sylvee. In a bid to avoid fees, I went to purchase tickets at the box office where I was told that they no longer print them on paper so I'd be getting digital ones. I asked how that worked and the ticket agent asked if I had my phone so she could show me. I did not. And so she explained that I'd get a text with a link that would become active a day or so before showtime which would take me to a page where I'd find QR codes in lieu of tickets.

"OK..." I skeptically muttered sotto voce.

When the doors were opened, I attempted to get to those codes and found that I could not. The webpage was blank. This is what I get for having a $60 phone, I guess. I asked the woman at the box office if that link could be texted to another number but she simply printed paper tickets. Go figure. We are moving towards a point where people without a smartphone are going to be excluded from large swaths of activities. Many probably are already.

I was happy to hear that the sound was excellent and that it was hard to find a spot with a bad sightline. $11 beers meant that I only drank one and I must admit that standing for 3 hours has become a lot more painful than it used to be. The bar did not take cash so, as with owning a smartphone, having a credit or debit card is becoming mandatory for participating in certain activities, if not the economy itself.

Primus were excellent! They played a couple new tunes, one of which, "Follow the Fool", received its live debut. This was part of their Rush tribute tour so they played A Farewell to Kings in the second set. It was hilarious hearing Les Claypool attempt to scream like a young Geddy Lee at the end of "Cygnus X-1".

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Every Christmas finds me struggling to figure out what gifts to give my Frau. I keep telling her that my love, generous displays of affection, and undying loyalty should be enough but she will not hear of it. And so every December I spend time desperately trying to secure gifts that I think she’ll like. Last year I gave her a gift card for Penzeys Spices along with a Caribbean/South American cookbook in the hope that she’d whip up some dishes from warmer climes during the winter to keep the cold at bay. This did not work out as planned so I’ve been spending some time with that cookbook.

The first thing I made was Spicy Meatballs in Tomato Sauce which were really Meatballs in a Mildly Spicy Tomato Sauce.

While they were very tasty, the sauce just didn’t have much of a kick. I think that the next time I make it, I shall adjust the chili payload in the sauce upwards a bit. Perhaps even use something hotter than a jalapeno. One thing I really enjoyed about this dish was that the vegetables in the sauce weren’t overpowered by seasoning so Bell pepper and tomato – especially tomato – were very prominent.

The next recipe I tried was found in the chapter for poultry recipes despite having more than a pound of pork loin in it. It was chicken, pork, and potato in a peanut sauce.

The recipe called for coarsely ground peanuts. I was too lazy to dig through boxes in the basement for the small food processor so I ground the peanut pieces with a mortar & pestle. Although sloth is a deadly sin, I was punished with a mere blister on my palm.

This was also quite tasty. My only quibble was that it needed more peanut flavor. Perhaps adding some peanut butter along with the ground peanuts might be the way to go. Or grinding up more peanuts. As with the meatballs, the seasoning was simple and light. A little cumin, salt, pepper – some paprika too, if I recall correctly. This left room for the peanut flavor to come to fore only there wasn’t enough of it. Oops.

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Bonus photo: this time it’s a sculpture that sits atop a nondescript office building here in Madison. A statue in the same style sits atop a building on the same street four blocks away on the Capital Square.