Street Music: Let them play!

Chicago is a city known for its music, Jazz, Blues, the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And, every now and then, if you're visiting Chicago or commuting to work you get a little taste of that musical tradition. I can recall a xylophone player on the corner Randolph and Michigan Avenues that you could hear on the 11th floor balcony of the Prudential Center building, a block away -the perfect serenade for the end of a hard week in a cubicle typing out numbers. There was also a great band of retirees who played nearby. These guys could play everything from Glenn Miller to Kenny Loggins! (Just name a song, and they'll play it!). And, of course there are the Bucket Boys who spice any Chicago evening up with their loud, but lively, drumming.

A talented string duet in Mexico City

I had long thought that Chicago was the home of street music, but after a short trip to Mexico City, I learned Chicago may be falling behind in that category. Mexico City has amazing musicians everywhere you could look! It wasn't simply one busy corner, or one busy subway stop, it was all up-and-down every street! 

When you think of Mexico, you might think of Mariachi or Mexican Folk Music, and there was a lot of that; but, the breadth of musical talent in Mexico was astounding. I heard American Jazz, ragtime Jazz, Baroque Classical and John Philip Sousa marches in one walk down Calle Fancisco Madero. Of course, I stopped to watch, and gave the performers some Pesos for their effort, but no one seemed to care about the money. They did it for the love of music, and the love of performing. It made my trip so much more wonderful! 

One of the coolest things Mexico City had was amateur marching bands; groups of young adults who came in to town on the weekends and made little parades. In the morning they were tuning their instruments, and marching. In the afternoon, they were hanging out by the food vendors, chilling and socializing with their band-mates. Sounds like a fun time to me!   

But that said, Chicago, even with it's beautiful musical tradition, kind of disappointed me after I got back from Mexico. We do have awesome music clubs, The Green Mill, Kingston Mines, Buddy Guy's and the whole House scene to name a few. However, it's rare on the normal workday to hear such good music on the street while you're walking to work. Of course, I've mentioned that we do have some great outdoor street musicians, but the cacophony of tunes in Chicago pales in comparison to those of Mexico, and other countries around the world. Chicagoans: We've got a lot of catching up to do!

 

Hinech Yafa, "Light in Babylon", Street Performance in Istanbul. Youtube Video, Five Minutes and Ten Seconds.

Slap Shot: Secretly Feminist, pro-LGBTQ & pro-Labor?

As a young hockey player that skated with guys from both North and South of the Canadian-United States border, Slap Shot was required viewing. The 1977 film about a failing minor-league ice hockey team, directed by George Roy Hill and written by Nancy Dowd, was essentially a cult classic among hockey dudes like myself -mostly, for the fighting, and the brutal hits. 

The Charlestown Chiefs

Now, Slap Shot may not be a film suitable for a young child; and, if you're particularly sensitive, it may not be suitable for you either. The film depicts, in my view, a very accurate representation of what a hockey locker room in 1977 might have looked and sounded like. To give you a hint, there is a lot of language that would be considered beyond-the-pale today: lots of "f***s," "d***s", "c***s" and other words we'd never want to utter to someone public in these days. But, before anyone gets too worried about the message of the film, it's very much the opposite of the hyper-violent, hyper-masculine and somewhat bigoted stories of its characters. Slap Shot is actually, secretly, about women, sexual identity and labor in a capitalist society. 

The first hint that the film might be deeper than a simple montage of fighting matches between washed-up pro hockey players, is in the first act when Ned Braden (played by Michael Ontkean) tells coach Reggie Dunlop (played brilliantly by Paul Newman), that the steel mill in Charlestown (the fictional home of the team), is shuttering, and leaving tens of thousands of workers without jobs or income. The writing is on the wall, when the factory goes, the town goes... and so go the Chiefs, Charlestown's hockey team. "These people aren't going to have money to spend on hockey games," Ned says. 

From that point forward Newman's character, Dunlop, hatched scheme after scheme to try to save the team from bankruptcy by using violent antics to bring in frothing crowds of frustrated, angry, blue-collar fans who just want to see their Chiefs kick butt! If the Chiefs can fill the seats, they may just have a chance to stay in business, and the boys on Dunlop's team can continue their careers in the sport they love. Dunlop goes pretty far too; he even goads an opposing player into a fight by suggesting that his wife may prefer women to men -though don't get too mad at him, because that player was very likely abusive to his wife in the first place. If you don't watch and listen carefully, this may all sound a bit crude. However, you must consider that this was a film depicting hockey goons in the 1970's -people weren't as sophisticated back then. And, very importantly, our hero Reggie Dunlop never suggests he has any issue with homosexuality or the LGBTQ community. He just used some language we wouldn't use today. 

Lily (Lindsay Crouse) attempting to cope

One of the most important plot lines of Slap Shot is the story of the women who, despite everything, stand by and tolerate their terrible hockey playing boyfriends and husbands -and, at least one woman who broke free of her marriage and went on to create a wonderful life for herself! If you get the chance to watch this beautiful film, pay close attention to the women. They are more than half of the story. They go through hell to support their partners, showing up in the middle of the night to greet their men when they return, win or lose. One in particular, Lily (played by Lindsay Crouse) has a particularly difficult time dealing with her hockey player partner. Who could blame her?

When I watched the movie as an adult, it made so much sense that the screenplay itself was written by a woman, Nancy Dowd. She had written the script, in part, to tell the story of her own brother's trials in the brutal world of pro hockey. But, she didn't simply succeed in creating a film about hockey. She captured a very broad working class North American experience involving the beauty of the sport, as well as the violence. But, more-than-that, she captured a slice of American and Canadian life that involves the challenges every low-life, good-for-nothing, steel town faces when the big-money company pulls-up anchor and moves out, leaving the workers holding the tab. 

Roy Hill, George. Slap Shot, Universal Pictures, Universal City, California. 1977.   

The Joys of Music Continued: One of the Orginal Coding Systems

As I continue to write and practice on my trumpet, I wanted to provide yet another "random thought." I had learned to read music as a teen in the wonderful Theodore Roosevelt marching band and symphony, but I didn't think about it much -I simply learned and played... and then all the band members got to hang-out and have a fun time together. 

Image of New York sheet music makers. 

But, as an adult, I now realize that music is a bit like computer code! And it was invented and produced centuries ago. Have you heard of Bach, Mozart?... Those guys put their music on paper, so we, in the Twenty-First century could still hear it, and it could still be played by expert musicians. 

As I wrote in a previous post, I recently went to a workshop at Google Cloud to play around with their codes and programing. Also, I took a linguistics course in grad school at DePaul. And, now, I'm re-learning to read sheet music. All of these forms of communication are meant to assist us humans in making something happen: maybe it's playing a fun song on your instrument, perhaps it's speaking to a lovely Italian woman you just met, maybe it's something as simple as programing your software system to know there is going be an outage today at 5 PM sharp, and you better log-out and save your work before then!

Glen Miller's, "In the Mood".

But, either way, music is like code. It's a language we read and understand to make cool, and fun, music! In fact, before most people even knew what a computer was, there was a big "coding" industry in New York City, and likely other cities across the United States. The most famous sellers of sheet music were in Manhattan, in a neighborhood called "Tin-Pan Alley." People waited in lines to get sheet music. With the middle-class growing, and the ability for normal (non-millionaires) to buy instruments, such as violins, trumpets, pianos, etc... Everyone needed sheet music to play from. Everyone wanted fun music!

This is something fun, and helpful, that all Americans took part in. Whites, Blacks, Native Americans, and everyone else took part in making the US a very musical place! And, they basically memorized code, because sheet music is basically code for a song. And other countries, outside of the US, were making music themselves! 

I'll end by saying on quick anecdote... I signed-up a talented young woman for medical school at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. This is one of the best-of-the-best institutions in the world for science and medicine. Her undergraduate degree was in music... and, I know she went on to the best doctor and scientist! And knowing music helped ;)   

The Joys of Music

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a trumpeter. My parents paid for a very nice second-hand b-flat trumpet and music lessons. These private lessons were supported by free music instruction, and even band-camp by the wonderful school district in Kent, Ohio. In the Fall, we were in the "Rough Rider" marching band of Kent Roosevelt High School, and in the Winter we were in the beautifully named "Wind Symphony." 

My chromatic scale for the b-flat trumpet

I can't write any further without giving a few thank-yous to my elementary school music teacher, and band directors who spent their days patiently working with me, and a few other hooligans from the neighborhood, as I blasted my out-of-tune horn loudly. I hope they're enjoying a quiet retirement, and have seen an ear doctor. I must have done a lot of hearing damage! 

However, recently, I decided to pick-up the art of music again. I truly enjoy playing my trumpet, and decided to get a new one for myself. I ordered a silver lacquer b-flat trumpet from Yamaha; it was shipped from Busan, Korea of all places! But it was a great purchase for a truly perfect musical instrument. It came in perfect condition, both the valves and slide were oiled and greased when I pulled it out of the case. I barely had to tune it, before playing it. 

My Yamaha Trumpet

The problem was that I had pretty much completely forgot the music and fingerings. I could blow a C-natural or a B-flat note, but I don't remember even my basic scales form high school. I honestly can't believe I used to march around a football field and play songs like "Come Sail Away" by Styx from memory, with no music in front of me. What an achievement!        

A little tuner!

Anyway, I'm re-learning the trumpet. I slowly forgot the fingerings and music writing over-time, but I have confidence that I'll re-gain that knowledge. I've even re-memorized the Chromatic scale! And, what's really brilliant is the availability of sheet music and helpful apps on the Internet to assist novice musicians, like myself. I even got a beautiful little tuner on Amazon to make sure my sound is always perfect. 

Maybe, one day, I'll be in a Mariachi or a Mexican (or Tex-Mex) folk music band! I'd love to learn music from Glenn Miller (and his orchestra), and perhaps, I might get a BIG SMOOCH on the cheek form a lovely French woman! Ladies love the musicians ;)

But, of course, I'm kidding, I have a lot a practice to do before I can play in front of a crowd. When I hear professional, classical and jazz trumpeters, I'm stuck in awe of just how good they really are at the music, and just how much I'd need to do to master this craft of music.

What the Heck is Artificial Intelligence?

When I first started hearing about artificial intelligence (AI) in the news this past year, I got a little paranoid. I've seen Terminator II and "Hal" from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I know what those machines can get up to... No! and thank you. 

Google's Offices in Chicago

However, after an 8+ hour workshop at the Google Cloud offices in Chicago, I felt a bit more comfortable, and even intrigued by the prospects of AI in our daily life. Now, this is not an advertisement or endorsement for Google or AI, it's just a bit about what I was able to learn thanks to the professional developers at Google. I still have serious concerns about AI and how it can be used maliciously. But, like any tool or weapon, it can be used for both good and bad. We, as a society must choose our limitations, and make sure that it's used for good, and for helping others, not hurting them. 

When I got the invite to join Google Cloud for a workshop, I jumped at the chance! It was free, and they provided a FREE LUNCH! Of course I'd go, for the free food specifically. But as I learned, asked questions and listened in, I started to know a lot more about Google's products and plans for the future. If you're not already aware, Google has pretty much indexed the entire Internet. Even the Googler at Google used Google to find the URL for his Power Point presentation. That's how immersed we are in Google!  

Google is an extremely well-developed provider of "AI" technology. When you call a customer service hotline and get an automated response, that's Google. When you send a text to a Chat Bot on a ticket website for a baseball game and it responds, that's likely Google. When you ask Siri what the weather is tomorrow, or if the Cleveland Guardians won the game, Google (probably). 

Inside the Google Cloud

What Google has done is to make AI extremely accessible to any-and-all business owners, both small and large, as well as novice developers like myself. They've created an extremely
user-friendly interface to assist new developers create helpful and interesting Chat Bots, and answering devices. I even built one myself in the Google Cloud building during our workshop. I could call it's phone number and talk to it! I basically created a little automated friend! I know, I've seen the product up close, both the interface, and the underlying code. Google was super generous in providing us such great access to their proprietary systems. 

However, the most important thing I learned, is that AI does not mean the computers and machines have taken control. Humans still have input into this process. Google officials were very clear about this, they want to make sure a real, human, person is manning the steering wheel at all times. Their AI tech is not meant to replace us, but to help us. But, we have to be cautious about how we use this technology as it becomes more and more advanced.

NASCAR & Community: A Beautiful Thing.

I recently mentioned that I am a radio guy; a guy who likes radios. But, I'm also a racing fan; a guy who likes race cars, and cars in general... This Fourth of July Weekend in Chicago presented a wonderful opportunity to explore and enjoy both of those passions!  

I had the very unique opportunity to attend the the very first NASCAR Street Race on the iconic city streets surrounding Grant Park in Chicago. It was AWESOME!. 

However, I wanted to spend a little bit of time explaining how my experience was enhanced by my little radio.. 

My Little Radio

With my little, pocket-sized, Uniden BC125AT radio I was able to tune-in every team and driver on the course: Their communications, warnings about blind turns, water on the track, engine problems etc. The thing about auto racing is that you can't see all the cars, all the time. So, you must rely on technology like radios, cameras, and sensors to know how well your favorite car is performing against other drivers. 

Listening to the radio was excellent, and kind of fun! We watched the Grant Park 220, the very first stock-car street race in the United States. However, even with premium passes, we could only see the cars when they roared through the strait-away. Once they turned, and passed onto Roosevelt, Michigan and Dusable Lakeshore Drive, they were out of view. This, is when the radio was helpful. 

Not only could I hear the team speaking to their drivers, I could hear the NBC broadcast crew -even during commercial breaks; "3-2-1... and, Kim you're on...". You could see NBC's professionals in action, really working beautifully to make sure everyone enjoys this crazy stock-car race in the middle of Chicago!

Enjoying myself, but listening in...

Speaking of professionalism, the teams' and divers' radio frequencies were very impressive as well. These drivers, and men and women in the pits, really do a great job maintaining their $100,000 (USD) and up Super Cars, and supporting their brave drivers. Everything I heard was a very short and informative tidbit; something like: "Watch out on turn 4 for water," or "Let's check the car on the next safety lap." For a race that has everything to do with speed, patience and professionalism seemed to win the day! 

So, I'll close by saying that Car Racing is one of the coolest things us humans will get to experience in this world; fast, loud machines, and the technicians who help those cars go! If you're interested in this sport, check it out. It's a great way to meet new people, see (and hear!) some awesome cars and have a wonderful time! 

And, if you're a Super-Nerd (like me), think about getting a radio to listen in on the action.