The handshake began in the times of King Pepin

It was done to prove that there wasn’t a weapon.

But now there’s a virus that handshakes transmit.

So  let’s greet another without doing it.

Most, BUT NOT ALL upcoming con certs have been postponed or cancelled. Here’s what we have, though it is certainly not complete.

Today, Saturday, March 14.

Garnet Rogers at Acoustic Renaissance is still on.

Mark Dvorak at St. Tim’s is still on.

Ides of March at Club 21 has been postponed.

Chris Vallillo at Acorn Coffeehouse has been cancelled.

Ian Maksin at Ethuical Humanist Society is cancelled.

I have no information regarding Moonshine Band at Christ Community Mennonite Church, Mulligan Stew at Andy’s Jazz Club, or Trillium at Southbark Original BBQ.

Sunday, March 15.

The Ides of March proved unlucky for Jan and Jim at Lake County Folk Club – cancelled.

I have no news regarding Mulligan Stew at Fox’s Pub, or Trillium at Warrenville Public Library.

For the upcoming week, I will mention those events that were scheduled and postponed or cancelled, and, of course, those for which I have no cancellation information. That doesn’t guarantee the event will still take place. It is best to check with the venue or performer before heading out. Or take your chances – your call.

Tuesday, March 17.

“Greenin’ the Folk” on Folk Festival with Lilli Kuzma. It was to be a wdcb fundraiser, but that has been postponed (scratching my head on that one). 8 PM. 90.9 FM, or www.wdcb.org.

Mulligan Stew at Harp and Fiddle, somewhere in Park Ridge, probably some time in the evening. Hey, I can only tell you what I am given.

Trillium at O’Hare’s Pub, 207 S. Main St, Bartlett. 5:30 PM.

Thursday, March 19.

Spring begins. As far as I know, that is still on.

Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, scheduled for Thursday and Friday at Old Town School, has been postponed to July 12.

Friday, March 20.

Eric Lugosch at Two Way Street Coffee House, 1047 Curtiss St, Downers Grove. 8:15 PM $10. As we go to press, the venue web page states that  no final decision has been made regarding this event.

Larry O. Dean’s Folk You, with Larry, Dan Cooney, and Jamie Wagner, at Silvie’s Lounge, 1902 W. Irving Park Rd, Chicago. 7:30 PM.

  Dean Milano will be doing sets, not reps, at Fitness Formula Club, 140 N. Addison, Elmhurst. 6 PM.

Saturday, March 21.

The Rich Kreuger Band at The Gallery Cabaret, 2020 N. Oakley, Chicago. 9:30 PM.

Sunday, March 22.

Kypin Martin performs a house concert in Oak Park. 3 PM. [email protected] for details.

The Rachel Drew Band at Montrose Saloon, 2933 W. Montrose, Chicago. 8 PM.

If any performer or venue (or groupie) has more information about cancellations, please use the comments section, either here or on Facebook. The “share” function has not been cancelled or postponed, so feel free to share as usual.

Coronavirus has its grip on the world. People are working from home. School is cancelled. Social distancing is encouraged. Toilet paper is running out. Hand sanitizer is already long gone. Studios are delaying their big-budget tentpoles to later this year (No Time to Die) or next year (F9) or some unknown date (A Quiet Place Part II) or even indefinitely (poor New Mutants). Perfect time to head out and see a movie in the theater, right?

Well, that’s exactly what I did on Thursday night. I headed to the AMC Rosemont 12 theater, knowing that it may be my last opportunity to see a new release for the next few weeks. What a sad thought. The moviegoing experience was already in trouble, having been threatened by state-of-the-art home setups and free streaming options, but I’m afraid that the combo of audience fear of crowded places and lack of new product could be a one-two punch from which some theaters never really recover. I hope I’m wrong, but I seriously think the economic repercussions of this pandemic will reverberate for many months long after (fingers crossed) the contagion flattens out and clears up. And, that’s something no theater chain or film lover wants.

So, what I’d go see? Well, the options for this weekend – the last wave of new releases before a nearly 2-month long drought – were not exactly the best and brightest that Hollywood has to offer: I Still Believe – a faith-based tearjerker along the lines of The Fault in Our Stars; Bloodshot – an obscure comic book adaptation starring Vin Diesel; and The Hunt – the controversial, long-delayed action comedy from Blumhouse. I chose The Hunt.

First things first – how was the moviegoing experience? Let me tell you – it was quite pleasant. I went to a 9:40pm showing on Thursday. While certainly not crowded at the AMC Rosemont, I was pleased to see I was not the only one there. The theater was super clean, the concession stand was well-manned, and I saw cleaning products around, which – whether intentionally left out or not – was oddly comforting. There were about 10 others in the auditorium showing The Hunt with me, but we were all adequately spaced out by way more than 6 feet (social distancing success!), and I even had the whole row to myself.

AMC Rosemont recently upgraded its auditoriums to reduce its seat count and include super comfortable reclining leather seats, with ample leg room between aisles. It’s also a dine-in theater, so you can order food at concessions and have it delivered to your individual seat. The food is better than normal theater fare – gourmet burgers, pretzel bites, brussel sprouts, and more. It’s a premier moviegoing experience, and actually quite perfect for these coronavirus-challenged times. Earlier this week, AMC, like Regal and other chains, modified its individual auditorium capacities, so that shows are considered sold out when 50% full, which gives viewers even more space away from each other than they already had.

I tell you all this so that as the weeks go by, and your kids are home and you’re not sure what to do with them, heading out to see a movie may be a valid choice. That’s especially true if other theaters do as good a job as AMC Rosemont. But it also depends on how things develop in these crazy times we’re living in.

As for The Hunt? Well, if that’s the last new movie I see in theaters for a while, I didn’t exactly go out with a bang. Seriously, has any movie had as troubled a release history as The Hunt? Maybe Seth Rogen and James Franco’s The Interview. Originally scheduled for Sept. 27, it was pushed back due to a recent mass shooting. Then Fox News got word of the general premise – liberal elites hunting so-called deplorables – and made a big deal out of it, without having seen the movie. And, to cap it all off, President Dumbass weighed in on the film, tweeting his typical nonsense, and Universal eventually pulled the film from release. Finally, after the holidays, Universal announced it would open The Hunt on Friday the 13th (of March), and leaned into all the pre-release controversy, using it as a selling point.

I’d say it was all much ado about nothing. I’m usually a big fan of Damon Lindelof’s work (he co-wrote the script), and while he certainly tries to hit on some political hot button issues (neither party comes out smelling like a rose here), I think he missed a lot of his targets by a long mile.  The first hour is frisky and fun, offering shocking yet hilarious bursts of extreme gore, and a few surprise kills of its B-list celebrity cast. But, the story jumps off the rail in the last half-hour – right around the flashback and re-appearance of Hillary Swank – and then drains any goodwill the movie had previously built up. That being said, I appreciate its attempt to tackle relevant societal issues in a genre film, and GLOW’s Betty Gilpin gives a real “we’re not worthy” lead performance, striking just the right tone and finding little bursts of humor in some of her facial expressions.

Star Rating: **1/2 out of 5 stars

Better Than: Surviving the Game

Worse Than: Hard Target

* * *

For more movie/TV commentary and other mischief, follow me on Twitter: @Hammervision and on Letterboxd: @Hammervision

When my fellow blogger Marianne Goss published this post on her fine blog, Retired in Chicago, the phrase “editing reference books” caught my eye much better than the word “outdated.” Her edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations is two editions younger than my previous 1956 edition, which I inherited from a friend of a friend, so — surprise! — I got in touch with Marianne and her edition is now mine.

(Other books came home with me, too, and at least one — “On Language” by William Safire — will be the subject of several other posts.)

The other night, I decided to move the forest of bookmarks in the old Bartlett’s into the new one. Most of them have been there long enough that I can find things by the picture on the bookmark in my mind. However, some adjustments were needed.

The Anglican Communion’s Book of Common Prayer didn’t show up on first browsing, so I took the bookmark with a painting of an angel out of the old edition’s Book of Common Prayer section and moved it to the section for the Holy Bible in the new (to me) edition.

Some things are marked with sticky notes in the 1956 edition. I decided to leave them on those pages. In some cases, I wrote notes to signal the same author or quotation in the new book.

But I’m keeping the old one around… my handwritten circles and arrows should come in handy for some of the older quotations.

I just have my new(er) edition on the shelf and my old(er) edition on the lowest shelf, a.k.a. a pile on the floor.

Margaret Serious has a page on Facebook.

Hello all you lovely people in pseudo quarantine! I’m here to express my continuing frustration in having to read some of you complain on social media about your finances, day-in-day-out, with phrases like, “We can’t afford that” and “We’re broke”.

Now the great majority of you saying these things aren’t actually hurting for money at all. Your income comes from a white collar job with a good company. You have employee sponsored health and life insurance. You have 401Ks and 529 plans for the kids. You probably even have a well padded savings account (you might call it your “vacation fund”).

Guess what! You’re not broke!

You might be saying these things because you have a budget. Maybe this budget is constrained because there are student loans to pay back, your mortgage payment is high, or you have credit card debt.

You’re still not broke. What you should be saying is, “We have a tight budget”.

When you complain about being broke or not being able to afford something, it is hurtful to those that have far less than you. You are belittling a very serious situation.  There are so many people in this country right now living paycheck to paycheck. One stroke of misfortune or bad timing, and they are likely to spiral into poverty. There are those in this country who have never known anything but poverty. And then there are those struggling with homelessness. You don’t meet any of these qualifications.

So now, the next time you’re tempted to say you’re “too broke” to go out for dinner or “can’t afford” a nonfat latte, please show a little respect and rephrase: “It’s not in our budget” would suffice.

Today I only left the house to take a short drive…to nowhere.  It is cold today with snow flurries, so I couldn’t hike outside.  Make that, wouldn’t hike outside on this gray cloudy day.

The traffic was heavy.  People were out running normal errands and probably also stocking up on food and supplies.  The last roll of toilet paper in the city has been found and fought over and purchased by the lucky champion.

As I drove I listened on the radio to J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, voicing his disappointment that so many were out and about, especially younger people at the bars celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.  I take this to be a hint that, like Italy and now France and Spain, that in a very short time, all shops and restaurants and services will be closed by order of law and we will be under lockdown due to Covid-19.  This will probably be followed by orders to not leave your house unless it’s for food or emergencies or for necessary work.

I didn’t leave my car as I drove a route around my area, so no need to worry about decontamination, even though I did wash my hands when I got home.  I thought in the days ahead– if it is warm enough–where should I hike to avoid other people?  Usually, I can find some deserted spot in the Cook County Forest Preserves, but I have to conserve on gas as I expect to be out of work very soon.  I passed Holy Seplucure Cemetery and I had my answer. I would walk in the cemetery.  It is deserted.  For now.

Cemeteries are not my favorite places to hike or even visit, but for now, it seems like a good idea to get some fresh air and avoid crowds.  Fitting, too.  For the last two months, we have been whistling past the graveyard of the Novel Coronavirus and the ghoul is soon to be upon us.

Science-based channels focusing on Covid-19:

Dr. John Campbell

MedCram

I’m going to cut to the chase, my apartment was broken into. I was burglarized. My privacy was violated. My security has been ransacked. Words are muddling into one, but the synonyms seem to all make sense. Tomorrow will make two weeks since this happened. This is how my March began and yes, now the month will probably hold some ominous tinge for the next couple of years. But in the last two weeks, I’ve realized some interesting things:

1. People are more resilient than they think.

2. You can go through a series of emotions in an astonishingly short amount of time.

3. The knowledge that “it can always be worse,” really does help put things in perspective.

4. We need to accept the healing process.

5. True friends rise to the occasion when you are at your lowest.

6. Stuff is replaceable, people and pets are not.

It is really easy to feel defeated when something like a break in happens to you because your home is supposed to be the place that is safe. It’s supposed to be the place that is yours. It symbolizes something private so yeah, it sucks when some unauthorized douche-bag goes in there and dismantles everything you worked for. It’s not completely about what you lost that’s tangible. What matters is the stuff that’s unseen.

The sentimental value of the graduation gift your mom gave you.

The emotional value of a gift given to you by your brother-in-law on the day he married your sister.

The memory of having something that used to be your late grandma’s.

I may as well have just laid down on the floor curled up into a tight ball that first week. But then I thought about how experiences like this can obliterate people. You could just lay the fuck down and give up on the world because it’s full of crappy ass people. But within a couple of days I decided that I wasn’t going to lay down. So I got the fuck up a day later and went to work. I made kids at my school smile to heal my hurt. I became active in my push to get an ET to my apartment to look for fingerprints and succeeded. I started my own search for my stuff. I was proactive and filed a claim. I yelled at the management company of my building when they fucked up.

I stopped being the sad, apologetic woman waiting for shit to get done.

Yes, I’m hurt. Yes, I’m slightly paranoid. Yes, sometimes I’m scared. But do you want to know what else I am?

I am thankful to have the support of the people who really care about me.

I am aware that things could have been worse.

I am more vigilant of my surroundings.

I am resilient.

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