Michel and Sarah's Excellent Adventures

James and I with his painting above I awaited James in the “Buzz Cafe”. It had been more than 25 years since I had seen him in person. To say he was a friend in High school would have been an exaggeration, probably. For the most part I saw him through the smoke at parties in the late 80’s where many teenage boys with long hair and “Iron Maiden” shirts converged to “get fucked up”. I was a young woman who would not leave the side of my dream-man Dave. I followed him everywhere. Even when his band practiced, I was sitting there. I should have been studying. When a party was happening, one person would always get on the phone, the 80’s phone, the one in which the receiver is a couple pounds and you need to use a rotary to dial 7 numbers. Someone would call a friend and say, “Dude you gotta get over here.” He would name the people and I was always just “Dave’s girlfriend”. It used to bother me a little but I was nearly silent at all times, and when I attempted speech, I stammer...

Tom Palazzolo with photograph of "The tattooed lady"  photo by Joseph Bryll Tom Palazzolo’s gritty City. My hero and dad has a show of hi s photos at the Ed Paschke Art Center. Hi s talk was sold out on 2-21-16. The show is up until March 6th http://www.edpaschkeartcenter.org/Module/Event/EventDetail/Tom_Palazzolo's_Gritty_City?id=28 Tom Palazzolo has been an experimental and documentary film maker, painter and photographer of Chicago for more than fifty years.  His subject matter has included the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where he was tear gassed ; i nteresting people in Chicago, for example, Jerry, a 1960's deli owner who would yell at his customers ; and Mary Ellen, a little person who ran a "midget bar" where little people would walk on ramps. These and so much m ore. I really liked seeing several of his photographs blown up and well framed. He told funny stories about each photo around him. Jack Helbig  did a gre...

Michel and I just saw the opera Nabucco by Verdi. Just when I thought most Opera plots were "The hooker with a heart of gold" We stumble upon an Opera with no such heart of gold.  This opera is based the historical and biblical figure,  Nebuchadnezzar   known for sending many Jews into exile to Babylon. Plot: Nabucco starts Jewish exile, decides he's also a God, God hits him with a lightning bolt as a lesson, Nabucco becomes special needs. His power hungry daughter takes control. Nabucco prays and all his faculties are restored.  Every time we go to the Opera, the two same older men are sitting to our right. One sleeps most of the time. Michel refers to them as the old men from "The Muppet Show".  The other seats are taken by Chronologically advanced regulars that seem to express surprise to find each other still alive and at the next event.(Michel's joke). Michel has adapted to living with me, who might swear on occasion, and or burp. The onl...