A lot has been happening lately--it could be the great weather we're having in Da Windy City or it could just be life proceeding on an upward trajectory.
First, I'd like to briefly talk about the Kraftwerk show I saw this past weekend. It was great, and I found a positive review in the Chicago Tribune, while the New York times panned it. I have a lot more to say about the Times' reaction, but basically, they just don't get it. New York is the cultural capital of the U.S., yet the Kraftwerk concept of Man-Machine and the band's visual and musical expression of that concept was perhaps too abstract for the reviewer to grasp, probably because he was expecting a group that glorifies itself through superstar maneuvers and extreme effects. Kraftwerk has revolutionized music and they are unapologetically themselves--quite German, quite restrained. Too bad an American reviewer is imposing the "bigger is better" stereotypical perception. I'll have more to say about it later.
The morning after the concert, I stopped by Rick Kogan's show again, where I've been before, and ended up expressing my opinions on the air about the creative writing scene in Chicago, and offered some "critiques" of poetry by Charlie Rossiter and Al DeGenova. It was fun, and those guys are cool. They're going to be performing at the Blues Fest this week.
French is waiting, but I'll have more to say later.
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