The best purveyors of barbecue in Chicagoland have announced their menu for the MAC's 25th birthday bash. After being treated to some of these dishes I can assure you that Chef Dylan is a barbecue artist.
Sweet Baby Ray's Sandwiches accompanied by a side of creamy coleslaw
Pulled Pork
seasoned with our special rub, smoked low & slow for up to 12 hours hand pulled and tossed with sweet baby ray's barbecue sauce
Pulled Chicken
seasoned and smoked then hand pulled tossed with sweet baby ray's barbecue sauce
Sliced Texas Brisket
seasoned with our Texas rub, smoked for up to 14 hours sliced and served with our Texas inspired barbecue sauce
Sweet Baby Ray's Martinis
Classic Barbecue Martini
layers of our signature creamy coleslaw & our housemade barbecue baked beans garnished with a single bone of our award winning sweet baby ray's ribs
Green Chile Mac Martini
our housemade signature green chile mac & cheese garnished with honey kissed cornbread
Dessert
Housemade Caramel Chocolate Bread Pudding
Sweet Baby Ray's Signature Housemade Side Shots
Sweet Baby Ray's Signature Barbecue Baked Beans
Creamy Coleslaw
Green Chile Mac & Cheese
The guys at Two Brother's Brewing Company are also artists in the craft of making amazing beer. They will feature three fine artisan brews this weekend.
Domaine Dupage
A french country ale with a toasty and sweet caramel start with a light hoppy finish
Bitter End
An American pale ale with a subtle malty character that combines three classic American hop varieties
Pararie Path Ale
A crip and drinkable golden ale with a complex malt character paired with Saaz and Golding hops
We look forward to seeing lots of our friends this Saturday for good food, good beer and good Blues.
be well
Stephen
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Music of a Mountain Man
By Amy Calhoun
Wade Mainer, the “Grandfather of Bluegrass,” passed away on Sept. 12 at the age of 104.
A legendary banjo player, Mainer influenced many including the likes of David Holt, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs and Ralph Stanley.
A pioneer in the bluegrass and country music world, Mainer performed regularly with his wife Julia.
Mainer’s musical contributions will continue to live on in the sounds of today’s country and bluegrass bands.
Wade Mainer, the “Grandfather of Bluegrass,” passed away on Sept. 12 at the age of 104.
A legendary banjo player, Mainer influenced many including the likes of David Holt, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs and Ralph Stanley.
A pioneer in the bluegrass and country music world, Mainer performed regularly with his wife Julia.
Mainer’s musical contributions will continue to live on in the sounds of today’s country and bluegrass bands.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Lights Camera Action
By Amy Calhoun
What is it that draws us to film? For some it is action, others the story and some would say cinematography.
In his book, The Power of Film, UCLA professor Howard Suber suggests it is the give and take of film that makes is appealing and memorable.
While Suber is specifically referring to memorable American films, the same still spplies to the viewing of international films - maybe even more so.
In languages you may not even speak, you are actively projecting upon what you are viewing as well as quickly absorbing the dialogue through subtitles - and you are drawn in. The protagonist and antagonist demonstrating their "individual human decisions and actions, and the consequences of both" (Suber) often relate to our own lives through these actions.
Film in any language can fascinate us, help us to create our own stories and simply release us into an experience outside of our own.
At the MAC, we look forward to sharing Global Flicks with you this season and hope you will join us this fall for three films.
What is it that draws us to film? For some it is action, others the story and some would say cinematography.
In his book, The Power of Film, UCLA professor Howard Suber suggests it is the give and take of film that makes is appealing and memorable.
"The audience projects onto the image on the screen the relationship between thought and emotion. It is therefore an active collaborator in the process ofconstructing the story.
The trick, of course, is to get the audience to project onto the screen what you intend them to."
While Suber is specifically referring to memorable American films, the same still spplies to the viewing of international films - maybe even more so.
In languages you may not even speak, you are actively projecting upon what you are viewing as well as quickly absorbing the dialogue through subtitles - and you are drawn in. The protagonist and antagonist demonstrating their "individual human decisions and actions, and the consequences of both" (Suber) often relate to our own lives through these actions.
Film in any language can fascinate us, help us to create our own stories and simply release us into an experience outside of our own.
At the MAC, we look forward to sharing Global Flicks with you this season and hope you will join us this fall for three films.
Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Sita Sings the Blues
Web site
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Hadewijch
Web site
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Anita
Web site
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Season Announced
We have announced our 2011-2012 season - and we think it is pretty special.
We have some great events including Rosanne Cash, Garrison Keillor, Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain, Buckwheat Zydeco, Hot Club of Cowtown, Patricia Barber, and much much more. Including our gallery shows, the Schoolstage series, Global Flicks, and our lecture series there are over 70 events for arts lovers to choose from.
Donors and past subscribers may purchase now through June 14.
On June 15 MAC Packs (subscriptions) are available to the public and on
August 10 single tickets go on sale.
Brochures are in the mail or available at our ticket office. If you have not received one you may contact our ticket office and we will be happy to mail one out. View the MAC PACK 2011-2012 Subscription E-Booklet! MAC Ticket Office: 630-942-4000
Hope to see you at the MAC.
be well
Stephen
We have some great events including Rosanne Cash, Garrison Keillor, Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain, Buckwheat Zydeco, Hot Club of Cowtown, Patricia Barber, and much much more. Including our gallery shows, the Schoolstage series, Global Flicks, and our lecture series there are over 70 events for arts lovers to choose from.
Donors and past subscribers may purchase now through June 14.
On June 15 MAC Packs (subscriptions) are available to the public and on
August 10 single tickets go on sale.
Brochures are in the mail or available at our ticket office. If you have not received one you may contact our ticket office and we will be happy to mail one out. View the MAC PACK 2011-2012 Subscription E-Booklet! MAC Ticket Office: 630-942-4000
Hope to see you at the MAC.
be well
Stephen
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Love, Marriage … and Divorce
by Jessica Lippman, PhD
Noël Coward’ s Private Lives focuses on a couple who have divorced after a volatile three-year-long marriage, and, five years later, discover that they are sharing a terrace while on their honeymoons with their new and spouses. Despite the stormy marriage, which was filled with screeching egos and obsessions, they realize that they still have feelings for one another.
“Love is no use unless it's wise, and kind, and undramatic,” Elyot insists to his new wife Sybil. “Something steady and sweet, to smooth out your nerves when you're tired.”
Amanda and Elyot fight, shriek, scream and yet love each other all the way through the play. Yet, they have an unbreakable bond and cannot live without each other, although they also appear to have difficulty living with each other. By the end of play they are older and wiser and aware that what unites them is more powerful than what divides them. The audience witnesses that there is something like love or at least the romantic fascination cloaked in bruised hostility. Marriage and romance are difficult but the poignant point is that they are an essential aspect of the human condition.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, is the author of the often quoted adage, “What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” This appears to be the axiom that Elyot and Amanda follow.
Elyot and Amanda had an explosive partnership while married to each other. After their divorce they operated on the principle that opposites attract and apparently that is what they sought in their new relationships. This proved to be unfulfilling and uninspired, and, at the end of the play, they are reunited.
Although the play lampoons the social conventions of the early 20th century, today two million couples marry each year. One million couples file for divorce every year, and over seventy percent of second marriages end in divorce. In the United States alone, 2.2 million people under the age of thirty-five get divorced. The people who seek therapy may change but over time the problems remain the same, relationships and communication.
I tell my patients there are 8 C’s that are important and required for every relationship if the connection is to work:
1. Commitment to the relationship and to each other –spend time with one another and do not be prone to run out of a relationship when things go wrong.
2. Connection - people often marry because they want to be married not because they want to be married to that particular person. You should feel a real deep connection
3. Chemistry
4. Communication
5. Concern and empathic involvement
6. Caution – words and actions have consequences on another person.
7. Clarity – do not have unrealistic expectation of the other person. Know and accept the other person. Do not marry thinking you will change your partner. Probably, one of the major reasons for divorce.
8. Changing someone –I want to say, expect the unexpected- Untoward (inconvenient) things happen - example losing your job, people getting ill.
Divorce and its aftermath is a lifelong force that follows an individual and helps to guide their decision making throughout their life.
Many people who are contemplating divorce feel lonely and alone and overwhelmed by what lies ahead of them. How do they handle their own emotional upheaval let alone be available and helpful to their children who have to handle the residual “fall out?” While the decisions of the couples in “Private Lives” affect only one another, in reality any discussion of divorce must encompass the impact on children, if any.
Some important considerations for people with children who are thinking of a divorce, in the middle of a divorce or are divorced:
1. It is important for meaningful relationships to remain undisturbed.
A. School, sitters, daycare, contact with family, grandparents, neighbors.
B. Sometimes the extended family will feel it is disloyal to their daughter or son if civil relationships are continued. Maintain these important relationships. A couple divorces one another they do not divorce the children or meaningful family or community relationships
2. If it is possible stay in the same home. Sometimes this is not possible because of finances, or job issues.
3. Degree of support that the home parent offers is of primary importance.
4. It is important not to devalue the other parent because if this is done it can be another loss for the child. It is important to value and not denigrate the other parent, because the child may identify with that parent. The identification is an aspect of the child’s self.
5. IF HOSTILITIES can be contained THE FAMILY support network can remain intact.
6. Parents when under stress often accuse a child of being “just like” the absent parent in a derogatory way. This is not helpful.
7. It is found that having community and social networks in place is important for helping people to deal with the consequences of adverse events, like divorce.
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's production of PRIVATE LIVES runs from May 5 to 29.
Jessica Lippman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Chicago, Illinois for more than 30 years. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, IL and is the co-author of two books, "Divorcing With Children: Expert Answers to Tough Questions from Parents and Children" and “Helping Children Cope with the Death of a Parent: A Guide for the First Year” . She regularly treats children, adolescents and adults who have experienced divorce themselves or have experienced the divorce of their parents. Dr. Lippman regularly appears in media and has been interviewed and featured in the Wall Street Journal, London Times, Chicago Tribune, Sirius Satellite Radio’s Judith Regan and Out Q.
Noël Coward’ s Private Lives focuses on a couple who have divorced after a volatile three-year-long marriage, and, five years later, discover that they are sharing a terrace while on their honeymoons with their new and spouses. Despite the stormy marriage, which was filled with screeching egos and obsessions, they realize that they still have feelings for one another.
“Love is no use unless it's wise, and kind, and undramatic,” Elyot insists to his new wife Sybil. “Something steady and sweet, to smooth out your nerves when you're tired.”
Amanda and Elyot fight, shriek, scream and yet love each other all the way through the play. Yet, they have an unbreakable bond and cannot live without each other, although they also appear to have difficulty living with each other. By the end of play they are older and wiser and aware that what unites them is more powerful than what divides them. The audience witnesses that there is something like love or at least the romantic fascination cloaked in bruised hostility. Marriage and romance are difficult but the poignant point is that they are an essential aspect of the human condition.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, is the author of the often quoted adage, “What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” This appears to be the axiom that Elyot and Amanda follow.
Elyot and Amanda had an explosive partnership while married to each other. After their divorce they operated on the principle that opposites attract and apparently that is what they sought in their new relationships. This proved to be unfulfilling and uninspired, and, at the end of the play, they are reunited.
Although the play lampoons the social conventions of the early 20th century, today two million couples marry each year. One million couples file for divorce every year, and over seventy percent of second marriages end in divorce. In the United States alone, 2.2 million people under the age of thirty-five get divorced. The people who seek therapy may change but over time the problems remain the same, relationships and communication.
I tell my patients there are 8 C’s that are important and required for every relationship if the connection is to work:
1. Commitment to the relationship and to each other –spend time with one another and do not be prone to run out of a relationship when things go wrong.
2. Connection - people often marry because they want to be married not because they want to be married to that particular person. You should feel a real deep connection
3. Chemistry
4. Communication
5. Concern and empathic involvement
6. Caution – words and actions have consequences on another person.
7. Clarity – do not have unrealistic expectation of the other person. Know and accept the other person. Do not marry thinking you will change your partner. Probably, one of the major reasons for divorce.
8. Changing someone –I want to say, expect the unexpected- Untoward (inconvenient) things happen - example losing your job, people getting ill.
Divorce and its aftermath is a lifelong force that follows an individual and helps to guide their decision making throughout their life.
Many people who are contemplating divorce feel lonely and alone and overwhelmed by what lies ahead of them. How do they handle their own emotional upheaval let alone be available and helpful to their children who have to handle the residual “fall out?” While the decisions of the couples in “Private Lives” affect only one another, in reality any discussion of divorce must encompass the impact on children, if any.
Some important considerations for people with children who are thinking of a divorce, in the middle of a divorce or are divorced:
1. It is important for meaningful relationships to remain undisturbed.
A. School, sitters, daycare, contact with family, grandparents, neighbors.
B. Sometimes the extended family will feel it is disloyal to their daughter or son if civil relationships are continued. Maintain these important relationships. A couple divorces one another they do not divorce the children or meaningful family or community relationships
2. If it is possible stay in the same home. Sometimes this is not possible because of finances, or job issues.
3. Degree of support that the home parent offers is of primary importance.
4. It is important not to devalue the other parent because if this is done it can be another loss for the child. It is important to value and not denigrate the other parent, because the child may identify with that parent. The identification is an aspect of the child’s self.
5. IF HOSTILITIES can be contained THE FAMILY support network can remain intact.
6. Parents when under stress often accuse a child of being “just like” the absent parent in a derogatory way. This is not helpful.
7. It is found that having community and social networks in place is important for helping people to deal with the consequences of adverse events, like divorce.
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's production of PRIVATE LIVES runs from May 5 to 29.
Jessica Lippman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Chicago, Illinois for more than 30 years. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, IL and is the co-author of two books, "Divorcing With Children: Expert Answers to Tough Questions from Parents and Children" and “Helping Children Cope with the Death of a Parent: A Guide for the First Year” . She regularly treats children, adolescents and adults who have experienced divorce themselves or have experienced the divorce of their parents. Dr. Lippman regularly appears in media and has been interviewed and featured in the Wall Street Journal, London Times, Chicago Tribune, Sirius Satellite Radio’s Judith Regan and Out Q.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Next Season - Already?
Folks have been coming up to me and asking about the 2011-12 season. I'm thrilled people are so eager to learn what is coming next year. Although we still have many great events left in this season - NYG&S Pirates of Penzance, John Pizzarelli, Capitol Steps..., everyone at the MAC has been working hard to button down our plans for next year.
New Philharmonic is considering a big Beethoven and a concert featuring a Van Cliburn finalist. Kirk will announce their season at the April 15 and 16 Brahms concert.
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble has another great slate of dramas and a side splitting farce in store for theatre patrons and will announce their season this May during the run of Noel Coward's Private Lives.
The MAC hopes to kick off its season with a Blues Bash celebrating homegrown Chicago Blues. I can tell you that the season will be full of Taiko drumming from Japan, American roots music from a legend, passionate Flamenco from Spain, Afro-Latin Jazz, Grammy winners in Country, Bluegrass, Jazz and Pop, and much, much more.
Sorry to be coy, but we are finalizing our deals and hope to have more information out in late May.
be well
Stephen
New Philharmonic is considering a big Beethoven and a concert featuring a Van Cliburn finalist. Kirk will announce their season at the April 15 and 16 Brahms concert.
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble has another great slate of dramas and a side splitting farce in store for theatre patrons and will announce their season this May during the run of Noel Coward's Private Lives.
The MAC hopes to kick off its season with a Blues Bash celebrating homegrown Chicago Blues. I can tell you that the season will be full of Taiko drumming from Japan, American roots music from a legend, passionate Flamenco from Spain, Afro-Latin Jazz, Grammy winners in Country, Bluegrass, Jazz and Pop, and much, much more.
Sorry to be coy, but we are finalizing our deals and hope to have more information out in late May.
be well
Stephen
Thursday, March 3, 2011
One of the Best Voices I’ve Ever Heard
By Amy Calhoun
I was introduced to Rani Arbo’s beautiful vocals back in 1997 when she and bandmate Andrew Kinsey were part of a group called Salamander Crossing.
Fast forward 13 years and you can imagine my surprise when I learned Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem had been booked for Club MAC. I was thrilled!
Why am I looking forward to Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem so much? 
Their voices blend into a cohesive sound creating the most beautiful harmonies I’ve ever heard. From upbeat bluegrass tunes to lilting ballads, the band’s delivery is like butter melting over hot toast.
One minute you’re bouncing along to a catchy gospel number and the next you’re choking back tears over a heartfelt strain about love and romance.
From joy and laughter to compassion and sorrow, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem gets into your soul and takes you on a harmony filled musical journey.
If you want to check out the band, take a listen to this interview and live performance on Minnesota Public Radio.
You can be sure I’ll be at the Club MAC performance (March 18 and 19, 8 p.m.) and I can’t wait to introduce my kids to this great music on Saturday morning (March 19, 10 a.m.) when Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem hold a Pajama Party and feature songs from their kids cd Ranky Tanky.
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