November 20, 2005 at 7:09 PM

Wow, I have tons and tons to write about. Let's see...better start with Chicago.

We were picked up at the airport by Ted, our grandfather. He grew a beard and now looks a lot like Santa Claus. We were greeted outside by Larry, our step-grandmother Susan's brother. A few minutes later Susan pulled up in the arrival/departure area. I really wanted to go to their house (the Coonley Playhouse, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) but us kids we all pretty tired so we just wanted to get to the hotel. Mads and I were in a car with Ted and Larry, but both of us fell asleep rather promptly. We arrived at the motel. My sisters and I went to settle in, and the adults drove to the Playhouse to get things like water bottles.

Although it was nice of Ted and Susan to put us up for three days, I must say the motel was the very worst place I'd ever stayed. The rooms were horribly smoky (nobody in our family smokes). It was the kind of place where you didn't want to take off your shoes, let alone sleep in the sheets. It was overall a rather dreary experience.

The next morning my mom and I had to get up really early and drive to Evanston, where the accompanist we had hired for the recital was. Dad, Mads and Calla slept in, then headed over to Ted and Susan's for breakfast. We found Evanston a lot easier than was expected, and being early, we stopped for breakfast at a little coffee house muffiny place. I was expecting to just get one of the afore mentioned pastries, but we saw as soon as we got in there this BEAUTIFUL gelato in a glass case. It doesn't look like ice cream, it's fluffier. It was so pretty that we couldn't NOT get it, and besides, everyone has to have ice cream for breakfast once in a while. I got belgian chocolate and pumpkin spice flavored. But they also had flavors like pink grapefruit and nutella.

Okay, moving on. We had no trouble locating the right apartment. We got there on time, and were met by Timothy Mah, the accompanist. He was very nice and accommodating, and turned what was supposed to be a one hour session into two. Not only was he very willing to learn all the music (my rehearsal accompanist wasn't exactly in love with the Piazzolla), he was a WONDERFUL pianist and also had some really good artistic ideas he shared with me. Also on the plus side was that he is a violinist, so he knew the repertoire too.

After the rehearsal we went to the Playhouse, which I was finally seeing for the first time. Both Mads and Lauren had gone there by themselves for a week when they were younger, but Calla and I hadn't gotten to. Let me just say that when you walk into the house it's like a museum. (Well, it is actually. People show up there every day for unscheduled tours, and then, as Susan told us, ask where the gift shop is! But this is really their house that they live in.) There is Nakashima furniture everywhere, and all this art glass that made me feel like a bull in a china shop. The house used to be a schoolhouse for kids, and they still have this charming little thing in the kitchen that the good kids got to use (sort of like a soda machine. There are two levers, one says Coke or something, and the other says Water or Ice. Then there are little buttons with labels like Lemon, Root Beer, Chocolate.)

So we had lunch there, and then we got a tour from Ted of the neighborhood, and saw a few more Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Then we got a tour of his home and studio, which was REALLY cool and included things like a piano which Frank Lloyd Wright supposedly loved to play, but because he hated clutter, he built it INTO the wall, so that all you saw was the keyboard front. Upon leaving the room and going down a flight of stairs, if you looked up you saw half a piano hanging over your head.

(During the course of the day, Ted also toured us through the Unity Temple, which was where the recital was going to be the next day, although of course he didn't know that because it was planned as a surprise for him. We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner, then back to the motel.

Next morning we went to the Playhouse for a big, delicious breakfast cooked by Ted. Then everyone kind of hung out there for a few hours, while I practiced. The acoustics in the Playhouse are great. Sometimes Ted and Susan have concerts there-- there is a real stage, which is now part of the living room.

Then headed back to the motel to change into our fancy clothes, then to the Unity Temple. The hall (well, it's a Unitarian church, not really a hall) is really nice, and has great acoustics. High ceiling, lots of stone. So I warm up for a while, meet Timothy Mah and run some things.

Because this is turning into such a long post and I have to get off of the computer for a while, I'll finish this up later.

--alice

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

November 20, 2005 at 7:09 PM

Subscribe

Laurie's Books