Swans, cucumber soup, identifying trees

Hi buddies,

I’ve been on and off of lots of planes in the last few weeks, now happily getting my land legs back in Chicago. I’ve been in Detroit, New York, and San Francisco, and got to see both of my parents in a matter of weeks — a rare occurrence. A lovely side effect of traveling so much for work is that I get to see them both more often. In addition to being my parents, they are wonderful, insightful people and artists, and I am grateful to spend time with them.

I also got to experience my first film set! I love seeing how different art forms deal with the division of creative and logistical labor. Time, money, decision-making: there are so many ways of organizing them. It’s impressive how meticulously the film industry seems to divide up people’s roles; an expert for everything, a carefully calibrated machine. Working with dancers, and seeing how much time is taken with stretching and breathing, I’ve learned so much about remembering that we all have bodies (something easily forgotten by musicians!). Musicians often* excel at collaboration in many contexts — not only on stage or in rehearsal. Cooking, conversing, problem solving. I think music is a particularly intertwined art. It’s interesting to think about the art forms we gravitate toward, and what they say about us beyond artistic boundaries.

*but not always, ha.

a show!

not very performance focused this month, but here’s a particularly special one:

SWANS, a collaboration with sculptor Jess Bass — for six saxophonists and twelve dancers on swan pedal boats — premieres August 30th at 2pm in Veterans Park Lagoon in Milwaukee. It’s free and open to the public!

Performers include dancers Amanda Maraist, Angela Frederick, Ayako Kato, Graciela Gonzalez, Hattie Grimm, Maggie Seer, Nicole Spence, Saoirse Ahumada Furin, Tuli Bera, and Cristal Sabbagh, and musicians Gerrit Hatcher, Fred Jackson Jr., Molly Jones, Luc Mosley, Sen Morimoto, Mai Sugimoto.

It’s been such a pleasure to make this piece with Jess, to get to know the swan boat rental company guys (who are…so nice), and to bring more art to public places. We’re partnering with a lovely organization called Out There, which presents music in the parks in Milwaukee.

tiny recommendations:

1. My drink of the summer was going to be espresso tonic (again), but I found something more interesting: espresso and ginger beer! I made mine with Maria’s, but any truly gingery ginger beer will do: one shot espresso, two ice cubes, ginger beer to taste.

2. Unconsciously trendy recommendation: N and I read Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey (aloud! which I also recommend, whatever you’re reading). I was expecting it to be beautiful and interesting, but was amazed how gripping it was.

   [This was not in preparation for The Movie — I will not see The Movie because I’m not interested in seeing Jason Bourne’s little Boston booty playing an ancient Greek man. Also, in a devastating turn for Mr. Nolan, Emily Wilson hated it, hahaha.]

3. Learning —slowly — to identify the trees in your neighborhood. If you’re in Chicago, the Field Museum’s little guide is nice. I used to be skeptical of learning names for flora and fauna, arguing that knowing the human name for something doesn’t create a connection with it, and sometimes even makes for a kind of clinical distance from its magic. But my lived experience is that knowing the names of the trees on my block helps me pay attention to them more specifically, instead of seeing them as a pretty, vague wall of green.

4. This poem (thank you ZG). Chicago Summer rain is hardly ‘smalle rayne’, but the sentiment remains.

5. This lovely cucumber soup, which a friend brought for dinner a few weeks ago.

6. The same friend brought us a big thing of toilet paper as a host gift, which made us laugh. And then made us happy to not need to buy toilet paper for a little while.

7. This incredible Lee “Scratch” Perry and Mouse on Mars record (thank you, WJ)

8. Grated zucchini, in two forms: as part of a frittata — grate about a cup, salt and leave to sit in a colander for 10 minutes, squeeze out excess moisture and then add to the frittata. And in Yasmin Khan’s zucchini and feta fritters, which are also an excellent use of summer herbs.

I did not try this combination (nor would I recommend it), but it did make me laugh:

That’s all, for now,

Lia