I just got back from a middle of the week, quickie trip to Chicago. It was great. I got to see a couple of wonderful friends and went to see Vusi Mahlasela perform at the HotHouse. The show was last night and I still haven't recovered from the beauty of his performance. This guy is something else. The club was small, so we watched the show one table back from the stage. If you have any interest in African/World music you should try to see this show. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Vusi Mahlasela (with music, it starts when you arrive on the page)
NPR Story about Vusi Mahlesela
Upcoming Performances

And, in case he's not coming to your area, you can see a recorded performance on one of the special feature tracks of the Amandla! dvd.

I just downloaded the photos from my camera and found that I took one lonely photo of Chicago. It's a view towards the John Hancock Center, looking northeast out of my hotel window. Not too exciting, but there it is.

Wednesday morning I made a pilgrimage to the Intelligentsia Coffee Shop that is in the Monadnock Building. I had two cappucinos, because they were oh-so-delicious. I wish there was a place like this near me. Yum.

A bonus feature of my trip down to the coffee shop was getting to experience the Monadnock Building (This link is to a video about the building. It's in German, but just assume she's saying that this is a really cool building and is particularly striking when compared with the steel frame Mies van der Rohe building that is across the street.) The building is a wonderful example of the original masonry skyscrapers built without a steel frame. To support the building, the first level is at least six feet thick. The building is striking and kind of looks like it fell to earth and spread out at the bottom when it landed. It was designed by Daniel Burnham who is one of the main characters in one of my recent reads (The Devil in the White City).