City skyline and the three of us

Underwater Stress

Yesterday, August 23, the GMGs and the three of us went to the Shedd Aquarium, another of Chicago's attractions. But I'm not convinced. The price is way too high, and the whole thing was a bit too hectic and stressful for my taste.

We watched Fantasea, the Shedd's big show, with beluga whales, dolphins, a Californian sea-lion, penguins and a white-tailed falcon. Well, the penguins and the white-tailed falcon made an appearance, but it was hard to understand what the purpose of it was. Total flop, if you want my opinion. The beluga whales were fascinating, and the dolphins were delightful.

I always have mixed feelings about this kind of show because of their exploitative nature, but in the end we succumbed to the "consumer of thrills" that lurks in all of us. The organisers of the show went the extra mile to underline that the animals were not taught to do tricks, but being trained to show their natural behaviour on cue, but the circus element was very present and that always makes me wince. I don't like it.

Moreover, the whole place was full of interactive computer monitors (at children's height) and it was frustrating to see them pay more attention to the fish on screen than the real ones swimming around. Talk about over-stimulation and attention deficit! They should dump those computers in one of the tanks! On second thoughts, poor fish...

We also took part in an "experience". It felt more like an experiment, if you ask me. We went to see a 4-D film called "Happy Feet", about a supposedly cute penguin who loved to tap-dance and in the process changed the world and reconciled humans and beasts... sniff, sniff, bring in the kleenex please! What's a 4-D film? Well, it's one where there's cold wind blown into the room, and snow, and water is sprinkled in your face, and your chair trembles, and you are poked in the back, whenever something similar happens in the film. You may think that it sounds interesting, or fun, but to us it was more like a nightmare. Talk about over-stimulation and attention-deficit! I hope this is not the future of film, because it stinks!

The film also left me and Jarl in a pool of anger, because of its xenophobic undertones; the bad guy was a penguin with a Scottish accent, the fools were the "Amigos", a group of penguins with Spanish accents, the silly guru was an "African-American" penguin, and the hero was the only blue-eyed penguin of the whole of Antarctica, with a cute American accent... too much for us "evil foreigners" to take. The underlying message was sweet, how overfishing by humans is taking the penguins' food, and that there should be a ban on fishing in Antarctica, but this was all lost in the fast-paced, stupidity-induced plot. Give me an old Disney film anytime.

If you want my opinion, don't "shedd your money at the Shedd! Chicago has a lot of other great places to visit, worth your money, your time, and your intelligence.

(L)

Gonçalo, Manuel, Guilherme - the GMGs

The GMGs arrived to Chicago on Saturday, August 21, from Lisbon via Boston, where they spent a week with another Portuguese friend.

It's funny, weird, great to have them around. I thought we might spend holidays together in Sweden at the summerhouse someday, but Chicago took the lead I guess.

It was interesting to see their fascination for Chicago bloom little by little when Georgie and I took them downtown on the "L Train". Chicago has that effect on all the people I know.

Here are photos of our time at Chase Park, about a 10-minutes walk from where we live. Georgie and Guilherme had time to watch a bit of an amateur, but serious, basketball game at the park's community centre. Très américain!

(L)

Our street in Chicago

In less than a week's time we are leaving back to Brussels. Three months go by in a puff of air. It's that fast.

We love the street where we live and this week we started to document it with a few photos of our favourite houses.

Sometimes, walking down the street watching people go by, the lazy feet taking us slowly along the trees and the squares of grass, contemplating the beautiful facades and front gardens, tasting the breeze of summer in our bodies, we forget all our worries and wonder how we will ever manage to live in Brussels again.

(L)

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

On 17 August we had dinner at Ben's and Karen's house. We also briefly met their son, Jacob, who is now 16! We had a picture in our mind of a child, and he is now a young man. Children do make you realise that time goes by, that and old photos of oneself!

Talking about photos, for some mysterious reason the photos I was transferring this evening from my camera to the computer never materialised and now they are gone from the camera's card too. It's such a pity really, we had captured some fun moments with Georgie on Debbie's lap singing the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight... It's one of Georgie's favourites and Ben had a Public TV programme on Doo Woop with the group that made the song an international hit, The Tokens. Oh well, these things happen, but it's a shame. Better luck next time.

To compensate for that, here is a full explanation of how the song came about, found in the Smart Science homepage. It's not a story, nor even a history, it's more like a saga. It's long, but worth reading. After all, this song has been around for 71 years. Respect!

I have also included two photos, one of Solomon Linda and his band (the creator of the song), and another one of The Tokens, who made the version that is now known all over the globe.

"THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT

Mbube is Zulu for lion and is the original name for one of the most popular songs ever written. It was written in 1939 by Solomon Linda, a Zulu tribesman, who was born in the bush near Ladysmith, South Africa.

As a young man, Solomon Linda moved to Johannesburg to seek his fortune. He organized a singing group named the Evening Birds who sang on the weekends. They were a big hit in the beer halls in the Soweto Township where the black laborers lived.

Mr. Linda sang soprano while the other members of the group sang four part harmony. A style they originated was quickly copied.

In 1939 they met Griffiths Motsieloam, the black partner of Eric Gallo, a jovial Italian who owned the first recoding studio in sub-Saharan Africa. Linda was illiterate and could not read or write music. In 1939 they recorded Mbube and required three takes to get the final, incredible recording. Solly Linda, perhaps because he had no musical score to work from, improvised as he sang the falsetto part over the strong bass chant. At the end of the third take, he abruptly added the melody that has become associated with the words, "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight." It was a hit and, by 1948, had sold around 100,000 copies. Solomon Linda became famous among the Zulu immigrants.

At that time, Pete Seeger was a banjo player living in a cold water flat in Greenwich Village with a wife and two young children. The to-be-famous musicologist Alan Lomax popped up at Pete's place with some African 78s that he thought Seeger might like. One of the records was Mbube, which immediately fascinated Seeger. He transcribed from the record but could not make out the chant of "uyimbube" on the scratchy recording and wrote it as "wimoweh." He taught the tune to his band, the Weavers, a white singing group who sang folk songs and spirituals. They began singing at the Village Vanguard, where a Decca talent scout found them. Because their first record was a hit (Good Night Irene), they recorded more until they did a version of "Wimoweh," which became an enormous hit.

Seeger and the Weavers became victims of McCarthyism. But the song lived on and was recorded by Jimmy Dorsey in 1952 and others including a famous recording by the Kingston Trio live at the Hungry I in San Francisco that remained on the charts for three years.

Jay Siegel the leader of a young singing group from Brooklyn called “The Tokens” introduced the song to his group. He had learned it from an old Weavers album. Their producers had George David Weiss rework the song. Weiss gave the song the name, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and added the now famous line “In the jungle, the mighty jungle.” He also excised all of the falsetto hollering from the original and retained the famous, magical melody of Solomon Linda. Weiss obtained a copyright.

Recorded live in RCA's Manhattan studios on July 21, 1961, the song quickly became a big international hit, but not until some weird music history. The recording was the B side of a record with a flop on the A side called "Tina." An obscure DJ in Worcester, MA flipped "Tina" over and was so impressed that he played "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" frequently. The response was unexpectedly strong, and the song reached the national charts by November and quickly become the number one recording..

In the 1990’s, the song was adapted by Disney for use in “The Lion King”. Of course, it was used in the Broadway version too.

Solomon Linda received 10 shillings for the rights to his song about his childhood where he watched his family’s cattle at night to protect them from the lions.

The song has been recorded by 72 different groups over the years and has generated an estimated 15 million dollars or more in royalties, most of which have gone to George David Weiss. Solomon Linda spent his last years in poverty and died in 1962 of renal failure. His descendants have successfully prosecuted a lawsuit against those who have made so much money from Linda's genius. The settlement was reached in February, 2006.

Contents copyright 2006 by Dr. A. V. Persson and ParaComp, Inc. All rights reserved."

(L)

Ana Maria Pasteria

Ana Maria Pasteria is the name of an Italian restaurant a few metres away from our place in Chicago, on N Clark Street. Georgie and I were the first ones to discover it and since then we have been there at least three times; last time was with Denise and Andreia.

Georgie's favourite is the Linguine Pesto (very yummy indeed!). Their Tiramisu is divine!

Ana and Maria are two sisters from Italy who opened the restaurant in 1989. Their food is simple, really Italian, and very tasty. And the staff is friendly too.

(L)

Chicago Airshow

On Sunday afternoon we met with Aunt Debbie and headed to Phil's and Linda's deck to watch the Chicago Airshow. Phil and Linda are longtime friends of Debbie and her husband, Syd. Phil and Linda were great hosts and made us feel very welcome.

Apparently, this year the show was not as nice as in previous years (maybe too short?). We were afraid of the noise the planes would make and how Georgie might react to it (Georgie is quite sensitive to noise) and bought some ear mufflers for the occasion. They made Jarl look like Mickey Mouse... In the end they weren't needed, the planes were flying far away and were just about audible, even to sensitive ears.

(L)