Hot Times at Old Town

Appearing below are selections from the hard copy Hot Times. The objective is to highlight activities at the School and in the larger community, especially those featuring or of special interest to teachers and staff. Your suggestions are welcome. Enter a comment (under any item); it will come to me rather than automatically appearing.

Highlight: Julia Storke

Many Old Towners know Julia as a voice or piano teacher; some have seen her before as a singer-songwriter, performing her music and reading her poetry. But did you know that she’s also an actress and dancer, with credits in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Argentina? Her work has included performing the lead role of Lili in Why We Have a Body at Theater Rhinoceros and dancing in the long-running hit musical, Floss! Julia brings her students this background, plus years of K-8 classroom experience and the benefit of multiple grants from the Chicago Foundation for Education for her classroom work.

Julia performs periodically in the Chicago area, including at Davenports, 1383 N. Milwaukee. To find out when she will be there next, call the club at 773-278-1830 or check with Julia at the School.

Filed under: Teacher bios by Skip | November 24, 2007 | Comments (0)

Frank Hamilton Workshops

Frank’s teaching inspired creation of the Old Town School of Folk Music. For the 50th anniversary, Frank came back to teach workshops for today’s students. This was a rare opportunity to learn from the man who had the school built around him. He’s still the same exciting, tall, skinny guy he was then; it’s just 50 years later.

During this trip, Frank taught two workshops: Accompaniment for Singing and a Beginners Approach to Jazz. Those of us who attended one or both have expressed the hope that the School will arrange to have him come back regularly — his teaching is both a link to our earliest days and an inspiration.

Filed under: Interesting at Old Town by Skip | November 19, 2007 | Comments (2)

Paper as Art: Papel Mexicano Exhibit at Columbia College

Paper can be used to create rich and fascinating art — to see examples, think of visiting the Papel Mexicano exhibit at Columbia College.

The art of paper in Mexico is uniquely ingenious, artistic, and varied.The spindley paper mache skeletons and toy skulls that appear surreal or frightening to many outsiders are part of the religious and cultural symbols that characterize the lively arts of Mexico. Exotic winged creatures with long tongues, a plethora of painted masks, papel picado, and amate ritual figures are some of the visual curiosities included in the Papel Mexicano exhibition.

With the help of members of the College’s Latino Alliance and contributions from Chicago’s Mexican Americans have prepared a Dia de los Muertos altar to honor the papermaker Dard Hunter, one of the pioneers of 20th century papermaking in America.

The exhibit opened this week and will run to December 15th at Columbia College, 1104 S. Wabash, 2nd floor. Gallery hours are 10 am to 6 pm, Monday-Saturday. Information: 312-344-6630 or bookandpaper.org.

Other recent posts:

Celebrate the Holidays with Reggio the Hoofer
The Exquisite Corpse Lives Again!
Filisko and Noden on European Tour
Old Town School Harmonica Student wins Nobel Prize
For something a bit unusual…..
Arlo Leach: Guitar and Jug Band
Cafe Menu Specials
A Walk Through the Blues
Diandra Jones in Ghaha

Filed under: Interesting outside the Old Town School by Skip | November 19, 2007 | Comments (0)

We get mail: “Reservation Enquiry”

Earlier in November Hot Times at Old Town has received the following communication via email. We requested suggestions on how to respond. Shown below is the original request, a proposed response from one reader (among several submitted), and an explanation of the inquiry (which was a scam):

Hello,

I am Irkins Stewart,from MacArthur Stewart Solicitors, United Kingdom. I want to book dinner for my Staffs arriving from London. They will all come for dinner at your place as from the 26th, 27th and 28th December, 2007 by 7:00pm each day. They are 15 in number.

Get back with your response if there is availability in your restaurant.

Kind Regards,

Barr. Irkins Stewart
106 Bunhill Row London EC1Y 8TZ Phone:+447024062538
Fax#:+44-7005-806-775
email: irkins.stewart05@yahoo.co.uk

[End of email]

The winning response (excerpted):

Dear Sir,

As much as we appreciate having guests from the West Highlands, I cannot accommodate your group on these evenings in standard dining facilities. We have become a “destination”; only a short time back we hosted Australian solictors. Post xmas is especially busy.

While time to time we have placed a tent on the lawn for groups we could not otherwise serve, I should warn you that late December can be a bit cold in Chicago. We would probably have to provide each of you with mittens and scarf. Expect a surcharge.

Let us know.

Please greet McDermott on our behalf. We had a jolly time last he was here.

Submitted by
DBN
Chicago, IL USA

Chris lindberg, a restaurant manager in Rhode Island, commented:

This is a scam. We received the same inquiry. He wanted us to charge a 3rd party CC for 10k and transfer 8k back to him. It is a identity theft ring.

Other recent stories:

Highlight: Julia Storke at Davenports
Celebrate the Holidays with Reggio the Hoofer
The Exquisite Corpse Lives Again!
Filisko and Noden on European Tour
Old Town School Harmonica Student wins Nobel Prize
For something a bit unusual…..
Arlo Leach: Guitar and Jug Band
Cafe Menu Specials
A Walk Through the Blues
Diandra Jones in Ghaha

For any of these and other items, explore the right hand menu or just scroll down.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Skip | November 10, 2007 | Comments (5)

Reggio’s Holiday Show — look for it in December ‘08!

On December 9th 2007, Reggio performed his annual program, “The Nut Tapper.” This spirited Christmas show put a new twist on Tschaikovsky’s holiday classic. Instead of ballet, Reggio uses percussive dance to tell his story, drawing fascinating rhythms from multiple traditions, including Spanish gipsy flamenco, Mexican Zapateado, Appalachian clogging, and — of course — American tap dancing.

You can enjoy this show In December 2008 at the Athenaeum Theatre. Many families make this show an annual part of their holiday season. Call the theater and ask about the 2008 dates. It will be a reminder to the theatre of Reggio’s popularity.

Filed under: Interesting elsewhere by Skip | November 9, 2007 | Comments (0)