A Self-Indulgent Recap of 2013 (and the best of all the rest)

2013, for me, feels like it was a really good year.

I say this without any emphatic evidence, overt rationale, measurable successes or demonstrable self-improvement.

I did not land a terrific job, and while I am grateful for the 7 months I did work, a supposedly permanent job turned out to be temporary, an exciting freelance opportunity turned out to be fleeting & unfulfilling and the contract role I'm currently in doesn't offer much in the way of creative challenge or professional development.

I did not find true love, or at least it didn't find me.

I did not lose weight, even though I should have.

I did not write a book, play or movie, and really didn't create anything tangible. 

I did not move up in the world, or even increase my net worth, which likely still remains in the red.

On a personal and professional level, I experienced a number of disappointments, and don't mean to imply that 2013 was all a bowl of cherries. Or even Frosted Flakes.

I remained incredibly chagrined by the state of the world, including ongoing nonsense in Washington, and not at all coincidentally, on Wall Street. I believe the system might be irrevocably broken, and the employment marketplace--despite the misleading shrinking unemployment rate--remains in shambles.

I am pessimistic of anytime soon, if not ever, securing steady work that makes thorough use of my talents.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Heck, the only real highlight of a brutally dismal year in Chicago sports--the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup, in exceedingly dramatic fashion--happened entirely while I was in Europe. Hence I didn't see a single minute of the Finals. (Live, that is; I subsequently watched the final 2 minutes.)

Still, as I sit here on New Year's Day, just two days removed from a medical test that revealed no issues of imminent concern but reiterated the need to shape up, and also--arising on the way to the hospital for said test--a car problem that required $736 for repairs I cannot name, I can't help but feel good about the past 12 months.

And with healthy cynicism ever-present, I am looking forward to what 2014 brings.

Before I get to travel and entertainment and culture and dining and this blog and whatever else I pursue to pretend my life has a purpose, let me start thanking the family and friends who truly comprise the highlight of this year...and all others.

I'll never be the person with the most friends, or even relatives with whom I'm close. But over the course of the year, I have gotten together with a number of relatives and at least a couple dozen different friends, some recent, some dating back 40 years.

All cherished. 

I have shared one-on-one meals with about 15 different people, several as part of my Chicago Dining World Tour "Sethnic dining" excursions (more on that below).

And I hosted seven Movie Nights, each attended by a good smattering of family & friends.

Plus I enjoyed using Facebook to share the articles I posted here, interact about music, movies and more, and offer the more-than-occasional inane comment.

Certainly, as this blog should convey, I derive plenty of pleasure and nourishment from entertainment, and over the past week I posted my picks for the Best Albums, Concerts, Plays, Musicals and Movies I enjoyed in 2013.

While I rue that there aren't more new musical artists who excited me, any year that sees the unexpected return of David Bowie and terrific concerts by Bruce Springsteen (who I saw at London's Wembley Stadium), The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam (at Wrigley Field), Leonard Cohen, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Bob Seger and more has to be considered a pretty good one.

I won't reiterate what I wrote in my Best of 2013 posts, but in addition to the genres I covered, I wanted to cite the following:

Television - I don't watch many of the most highly acclaimed shows--e.g. The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad (I started Season 1 and intend to watch more)--but my favorites were The Good Wife, Person of Interest and Orange is the New Black. HBO's documentary on Stephen Sondheim, Six by Sondheim, was absolutely terrific; I've long been a fan and still learned a lot.

Books - I only read 8 books in full during 2013, but enjoyed them all. These include Bruce (by Peter Carlin), Inferno (Dan Brown), Never Go Back (Lee Child), The Art Forger (B.A. Shapiro), Joyland (Stephen King), Trust Your Eyes (Linwood Barclay), Brilliance (Marcus Sakey) and likely my favorite, Six Years by Harlan Coben. (Links go to my reviews.)


Jazz - I love hearing great saxophonists, and tremendously enjoyed Chicago concerts by Ravi Coltrane and Joshua Redman. I also really liked the shows I saw while in Krakow, Poland, at the Harris Piano Jazz Bar and La Muniaka. And I wish I had gotten to Davenport, Iowa just a bit earlier so as to have heard more of Bix Lives, that city's annual tribute to native son Bix Beiderbecke.

Misc - I caught a good stand-up comedy show by Joel McHale of TV's The Soup and saw an excellent bluegrass performance by mandolin virtuoso Sienna Hull and her band.

In addition to large-scale rock concerts, I saw and sometimes even met personal favorites like Grant Hart, Ash, Willie Nile, Dave Davies and the best Beatles' cover band, American English.

I had the thrill of hearing Harry Belafonte speak in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., heard and met Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero of Hotel Rwanda, and may well be the only person to have my picture taken in 2013 with both him and My Big Fat Greek Wedding star Nia Vardalos, who spoke at the Skokie Public Library about safe adoption practices.

Among many outstanding theatrical performances I saw in 2013 were those by well-known stars such as Jimmy Smits, Rhea Perlman, Michael Shannon, John Mahoney, Chelcie Ross and Cathy Rigby, plus others of local and national stage renown.

Art and Museums - The Art Institute of Chicago had three excellent exhibitions this year, on Picasso, Fashion & Impressionism and Art & Appetite, while I also enjoyed the Museum of Science & Industry's Peanuts exhibit. On a smaller scale but also enjoyable, the Kenosha Public Museum also had a nice exhibit on Charlie Brown and friends.

Also quite a pleasant surprise was the Lake County Discovery Museum, including their vast postcard archives. And the Chicago History Museum had some worthwhile exhibits on a February visit.

I toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House in Chicago's Hyde Park, and his Stockman House in Mason City, Iowa, where I stayed in a marvelously-refurbished hotel he had designed, the Park Inn. Also in Iowa, I visited museums or attractions pertaining to Buddy Holly, John Wayne, Meredith Willson (The Music Man composer), Bob Feller, Herbert Hoover, puppeteer Bil Baird and others.

On my trip to Europe, I saw many other fabulous museums, including the National Gallery in London, the Belvedere, Kunsthistorisches and Secession Building in Vienna and the Museum of Modern Art inside the Pompidou Center in Paris. Plus numerous astonishing churches, palaces and more.

Sports - It was a rather dismal year for the Cubs and White Sox, but I got to 10 games between them, including at least one won by a walk-off homer. I didn't go to any Blackhawks games, but enjoyed watching them during their initial winning streak and then in the playoffs (until being in Europe kept me from seeing the Stanley Cup Finals.

I don't know if this counts as "Sports," but having not been able to attend a performance of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, I wandered up to Wadsworth to see the Tempel Lippizans.

Dining - I certainly had my share of good meals in 2013, many in service to my Chicago Dining World Tour blog series. All told I made it to 48 area representing different ethnic cuisines--actually more, but only wrote about one place per culture.

I still have a number of recaps to write and may explore a few more ethnicities in 2014, upon which point I'll post a summary of where I went with links to all. And a friend of mine is exploring how to turn my blog series into an e-Book.

But a few particularly terrific places that come to mind include Irazu (Costa Rican), Ay Ay Picante (Peruvian), Staropolska (Polish), Nonno Pino's (Italian), Ras Dashen (Ethiopian) and Jilly's (French).

Travel - In June, I went on a 2-week trip to Europe that included London, Krakow, Vienna, Budapest and Paris. It was pretty incredible, even a visit to the worst place in the history of mankind, Auschwitz.

It would take about 10 more paragraphs to sketch upon some of the highlights, and this piece is already long and pretentious enough. 

So you can see photos of my European vacation here, and if you really want to revisit my daily recaps, you can do so here (they start with this post on June 12).

In addition to Europe, I enjoyed getting to Kenosha, Milwaukee, Urbana--for Ebertfest, the first following Roger's death, which likely hit me hardest of all celebrity passings in 2013--and as mentioned above, multiple stops in Iowa.

You can read my recap of Iowa here, but in concluding this, as much for my own memory's sake as anything else, I'll mention that at the Surf Ballroom in Cedar Lake, IA, famous for being the venue last played by Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper, I met Richie Valens' sister, Connie. As in, I sat down at a table and she just happened to be at the same one.

It was that kind of year.

Hope you enjoyed it as well.

Here's to this one.

--
2013 by the numbers:

Movies seen: 143
Ticketed events (theater, concerts, sports, etc): 99
Photographs taken: 84,190
Blog posts written: 172
SethSaith.com pageviews: 238,646

The Best of 2013: The Best Musicals I Saw on Stage

With a relative scarcity of new musicals making big Broadway splashes—only Kinky Boots, Matilda and Motown the Musical seem to be successes worth noting—and the relative mediocrity of Big Fish, which was Chicago's big world premiere production before heading to a disappointing run on Broadway, 2013 doesn't instantly strike me as a great year for musical theater.

Yet even without a trip to New York this year—seemingly theatrically unnecessary due to having seen Kinky Boots in its 2012 pre-Broadway Chicago run, catching Matilda while in London this summer and already having tickets to Motown next year as part of my Broadway in Chicago subscription—I wound up enjoying a good number of musicals I saw on stage over the past 12 months.

From the Lyric Opera's glorious staging of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma to a terrific touring production of Anything Goes to a resplendent, full-octane Les Miserables in London's West End, plus satisfying takes on Cabaret and Evita, I was reminded how mirthful "classic" musicals can be. Not too surprisingly, I was also fully satisfied with another viewing of The Book of Mormon before it left Chicago, and of Wicked in its return.

Oklahoma - Lyric Opera of Chicago

In terms of anything new, I largely loved Mary Zimmerman's lush staging of The Jungle Book at the Goodman Theatre (likely to wind up on Broadway), tremendously enjoyed the laudably rocking and rebellious Matilda and liked the recent Tony-winning Once, though wished I could have seen it in a more intimate setting than the cavernous Oriental Theatre.

Big Fish had much to appreciate--including Norbert Leo Butz in the lead role and inventive staging by Susan Stroman--but the songs were largely forgettable, an issue that also relegated Catch Me If You Can to just "so-so."

Once Upon a Dream starring the Rascals wasn't much of a "musical," but enjoyable nonetheless, as were Hank Williams: Lost Highway and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story.

The Jungle Book - Goodman Theatre

I appreciated getting to see Barnum for the first time ever, in a strong Mercury Theatre production, and enjoyed the stage musical of Elf despite never seeing the movie.

All in all, out of 27 musicals seen on stage this year, from London's West End to Skokie's Devonshire Playhouse for community theater, there was really only one I didn't much like: Flashdance the Musical, and even that had its moments.

But after having cited virtually everything on it, here is my list of...

The Best Musicals I Saw On Stage in 2013:

(Note: My rankings are based on my enjoyment of the particular productions, but blend in the quality of the source material as well. I included a couple shows that were staged as operas.)

Matilda

1. Oklahoma - Lyric Opera of Chicago (my review)

2. Les Misérables - Queen's Theatre, London 

3. Wicked - Oriental Theatre (my review)

4. The Book of Mormon - Bank of America Theater (Broadway in Chicago) 

5. Matilda - Cambridge Theatre, London

Once

6. Anything Goes - Cadillac Palace (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

7. The Jungle Book - Goodman Theatre (my review)

8. Next to Normal - Drury Lane Oakbrook (my review)

9. The Grapes of Wrath - Northwestern University Opera Theater (my review)

10. Once - Oriental Theatre (my review)

Honorable Mention (in order of preference)

Barnum - Mercury Theatre (my review)

Barnum - Mercury Theatre

Buddy - Cadillac Palace (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

Evita - Oriental Theatre (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

Mary Poppins - Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire (my review)

Hank Williams: Lost Highway - Greenhouse Theater (American Blues Theater) (my review)

Opera in Focus

Now & Forever: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber - Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire (my review)

Jekyll & Hyde - Cadillac Palace (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)


Special Mention  

Opera in Focus (Puppet Opera) - June production featuring opera & musical selections (my review)

The Best of 2013: The Best Concerts I Attended

Yes, this list is something of a farce. 

No, that doesn't mean it represents anything other than my honest appraisal of the rock concerts I most enjoyed in 2013.

But while I saw, and loved, several of the greatest artists in rock 'n roll history, including classic rock icons like Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Leonard Cohen, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Rush, The Rascals and Cheap Trick, as well alternative rock heroes such as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Green Day, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Garbage, Pixies and a reunited-for-3-shows-only Replacements, none of these really had much of a chance to claim the top berth. 

So be it that Bruce Springsteen—my all-time favorite musician and, with the E Street Band, the best live performer in rock 'n roll history, IMHO—didn't play any shows on North American soil in 2013. And so what if I had already seen him 42 times, and in 11 of the prior 14 years?

Having never seen him in Europe—where he has arguably been bigger in recent years than anywhere in America beyond the New Jersey vicinity—in December 2012 I bought a ticket for his show with the E Street Band at London's Wembley Stadium on June 15, 2013. I didn't actually book my trip, using American Airlines' miles, until May, and in addition to London (where I'd been multiple times), I went to Krakow, Vienna, Budapest and Paris (see photos here).

While the trip and almost everything I saw and did was awesome, there was considerable time, effort and expense expended in going to Europe, and even just in getting to the venerable grounds of Wembley—the historic stadium itself was fairly recently rebuilt.

Plus there was the sacrifice of missing the entire final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in which my hometown Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins in 6 games.

But even with rather lofty expectations, per usual, the Boss didn't disappoint.

Except for a bit of an echo bouncing around the cavernous stadium, the concert was every bit as good as I could have hoped, with "Rosalita" being played earlier in the set than it ever has been, relative rarities like "Jackson Cage" and "Lost in the Flood," the Darkness on the Edge of Town album being performed in full and Bruce playing "Thunder Road" all by himself to close out the 3+ hour concert.

Thus, even in a year with an absolutely sensational Stones show, Sir Paul please pleasing me on a sweltering night in Milwaukee, Pearl Jam playing until 2am at Wrigley Field (following a lengthy rain delay), my first live exposure to the legendary Leonard Cohen, the reunited Replacements—long a favorite—being perfectly outstanding, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were virtually promised to land atop this list before 2013 even began.

And having thunderously fulfilled that promise, this "farce" of an open competition essentially begins with second place

Nonetheless, entirely filled with shows that I rated either @@@@@ or @@@@1/2—even those in  Honorable Mention—here's my forthright ranking of the Best Concerts I Attended in 2013:

(Note: I will cite opening acts in cases where I enjoyed them in their own right, but my rankings are based solely on the performance of the headliner. All venues are in Chicago area except as noted.)

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - June 15 - Wembley Stadium, London (my review)
(Full concert audio on YouTube) 

2. The Rolling Stones - May 31 - United Center (my review)

3. Paul McCartney - July 16 - Miller Park, Milwaukee (my review)

4. The Replacements - September 15 - Riot Fest, Chicago (my review)
(YouTube playlist of most of the show)

5. Pearl Jam - July 19 - Wrigley Field (my review)

6. Soundgarden - January 29 - Riviera Theatre (my review)

7. Willie Nile - October 18 - SPACE Evanston (my review)

8. Leonard Cohen - March 13 - Chicago Theatre (my review)

9. Depeche Mode - August 24 - First Midwest Bank Amphitheater (my review)

10. Elton John - November 30 - Allstate Arena (my review)

Honorable Mention (in order of preference)

Green Day - March 28 - Allstate Arena (my review)
Opening act: Best Coast

Ash - March 17 - Lincoln Hall (my review)

Brian Wilson - July 26 - Ravinia (my review)

Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - April 6 - United Center (my review)
Opening act: Joe Walsh

Fleetwood Mac - April 13 - United Center (my review)

Heart w/ Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience - July 29 - Ravinia (my review)

The Best of 2013: The Best Plays I Saw

I have to assume that in any given year, I see more non-musical plays in Chicago (and its vicinity) than I would if I lived in New York, London or anywhere else on Earth. 

As has been the case as a tourist, in those theatrical meccas I would likely focus mostly on the big budget Broadway and West End musicals, with perhaps only a handful of dramas piquing my interest.

I prefer musicals and see more of them in Chicago as well, but I also have a subscription to the Goodman Theatre—which mostly stages non-musicals—and enjoy dramatic works at other first-rate “in-house production troupe” theaters such as Steppenwolf, TimeLine, Court and Northlight, the latter being just minutes from my Skokie home.

And then there are Chicago's true storefront theaters—something for which I believe there is little equivalent, at least in terms of breadth, in NYC, London, Toronto, L.A., etc.—including Profiles, Gift, Strawdog, Steep, Redtwist and many others regularly doing stellar work in venues seating as few as 30 patrons.

In 2013, I attended 18 plays—again, not including musicals—with 17 of them being at 10 different theaters in and around Chicago; I also caught an all-female production of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew at the Globe Theatre in London.

Blending together the play itself and the quality of the production in a completely non-scientific manner, here's my ranking of the Best Plays I Saw in 2013:

(Note: all are in the Chicago area unless noted; new or recent plays are denoted with an *)

1. Proof - Court Theatre (my review)
written by David Auburn; directed by Charles Newell

2. A Raisin in the Sun - TimeLine Theatre (my review)
written by Lorraine Hansberry; directed by Ron OJ Parson

3. Other Desert Cities* - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Jon Robin Baitz; directed by Henry Wishcamper

4. Measure for Measure - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by William Shakespeare; directed by Robert Falls

5. The Birthday Party - Steppenwolf Theatre (my review)
written by Harold Pinter; directed by Austin Pendleton

6. Simpatico - A Red Orchid Theatre (my review)
written by Sam Shepard; directed by Dado

7. Stella & Lou* - Northlight Theatre (my review)
written by Bruce Graham ; directed by B.J. Jones

8. The Whipping Man* - Northlight Theatre (my review)
written by Matthew Lopez; directed by Kimberly Senior

9. Julius Caesar - Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (my review)
written by William Shakespeare; directed by Jonathan Munby

10. The Motherf**ker with the Hat* - Steppenwolf Theatre (my review)
written by Stephen Adly Guirgis; directed by Anna D. Shapiro

Honorable Mention (in order of preference)

Detroit '67* - Northlight Theatre (my review)
written by Dominique Morrisseau; directed by Ron OJ Parson

Big Love - Strawdog Theatre (my review)
written by Charles L. Mee; directed by Matt Hawkins

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark* - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Lynn Nottage; directed by Chuck Smith

To Master the Art - Broadway Playhouse / TimeLine Theatre (my review)
written by William Brown and Doug Frew; directed by William Brown

The Taming of the Shrew - Globe Theatre, London (traveling troupe)
written by William Shakespeare; directed by ??

The Best of 2013: My Favorite Rock Albums

And on the 8th day...of 2013...the Thin White Duke reappeared.

Kind of.

Ten years after his last studio album and about six since he made any type of public appearance or granted an interview (to my awareness)—prompting speculation about his well-being—David Bowie surprised just about everyone.

On the night of January 7, I went to bed planning on posting a classic Bowie song to Facebook the next morning in honor of his 66th birthday, while wondering if he would ever re-emerge.

The next day I awoke to find that—sans any social media rumors or hints that his silence might be broken—Bowie released a brand new single/video, “Where Are We Now,” and announced a forthcoming album, appropriately titled The Next Day.

Especially as it was preceded by seemingly universal praise, and another fine single/video, “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” I could hardly wait for The Next Day to be released on March 12. Though it doesn't quite match any of Bowie's many 1970s masterpieces—Honky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Aladdin Sane, Station to Station, Low, Lodger or Heroes, which the new album cover riffs on—it is a rather exemplary work, particularly given the circumstances.

And at a time when rock 'n roll is in a slumber in terms of no more than a handful of great new acts or recordings, The Next Day served to remind that—and why—David Bowie is truly an “Artist,” something that was further enunciated by the David Bowie Is exhibition I saw in London and which is coming to Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art in Fall 2014.

Although throughout the year I purchased some album downloads and listened to a number more on Spotify—which enabled me to hear several others over the last few weeks with an eye toward compiling this list—The Next Day was one of only four albums I cared enough about to buy on CD (something I still do for any artist I truly relish).

The other three CDs I bought were Paul McCartney's New, Pearl Jam's Lightning Bolt and Arcade Fire's Reflektor, all released in October.

But with the aid of Best Albums of 2013 lists from several other sources, as well as suggestions from friends, I did a deep dive recently—and some albums I hadn't heard or even heard of have wound up rather high on my list. Which, as my post title denotes, covers albums in the key of rock, although I use the term rather loosely.

My tastes start with electric guitar driven hard rock, but extend well-beyond, yet while I in no way mean to disparage the artistry many others have praised, my list won't include Kanye West, Daft Punk or Beyonce. In other words, these are simply the albums of 2013 that I liked best.

I can't provide any greater criteria, except to suggest that—as with the Bowie album—I like albums that seem to be substantive, not just in the present, but that I'll look forward to hearing years down the road.

A number of albums I checked out sounded alright, but just felt slight, or nothing likely to seem special in retrospect. Hopefully, some of those I deemed worthy enough to make this list, will not only merit your discovery, but stand the test of time.

And with that preamble, here are My Favorite Rock Albums of 2013:

1. David Bowie - The Next Day (Spotify link)
2. Johnny Marr - The Messenger (Spotify link)
3. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse (Spotify link)
4. The National - Trouble Will Find Me (Spotify link)
5. Arcade Fire - Reflektor (Spotify link)
6. Paul McCartney - NEW (Spotify link)
7. Hey! Hello! - self-titled (Spotify link)
8. Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (Spotify link)
9. Matthew Sweet and Susannah Hoffs - Under the Covers, Vol. 3 (Spotify link)
10. Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt (Spotify link)

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

Dawes - Stories Don't End (Spotify link)
The So So Glos - Blowout (Spotify link)
Elton John - The Diving Board (Spotify link)
Lee Ranaldo and the Dust - Last Night on Earth (Spotify link)
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks (Spotify link)
Willie Nile - American Ride (Spotify link)
Cage the Elephant - Melophobia (Spotify link)
CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe (Spotify link)
Haim - Days Are Gone (Spotify link)
Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork (Spotify link)