A new piece, some good restaurants, and a tiny watermelon.
Lia Kohl's November Newsletter
Hi buddies,
Whew, it’s November. Aren’t the trees pretty? There are a lot of delightful half red, half green trees around our house. They look like they’re blushing at the sky.
This month I worked almost constantly and was out of town a lot, which has left me feeling simultaneously hyper-focussed and floaty. And a bit like a sandwich with too many ingredients. Now I’m home for a while and I want to see all my friends at once, and I also want to never leave my house. I am doing a good amount of the latter, because I’m furiously composing a piece (more on that below), but I want to come to your shows and dinner parties and pop-up shops, so please tell me about them.
A show + a talk:
After a month of almost daily shows (phew), I have one single show this month! I got a grant to write a piece for seven musicians, which we’ll present Saturday November 16th, at Constellation. For those of you outside Chicago: we’re recording it!
The piece is for two bass clarinets (Zachary Good and Jason Stein), two basses (Zach Moore and Ro Lundberg), two cellos (Dorothy Carlos and me), percussion (Sam Scranton), and a few radios. I’ve never done something like this before and I’m very excited. My good friend and art crush Jeff Kolar is opening up the night with some radio magic.
I’m also doing an artist talk at Northwestern on November 21st, let me know if you want to come (I’m actually not sure if it’s open to the public but if you let me know, I’ll let you know).
Tiny recommendations:
Danielle Dutton’s Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other — a marvelous and surprising book with an enviably flexible relationship to genre. There’s a series of surreal short stories, an essay about art, and a play. Best book I’ve read in a while.
Bonbons from Sugoi Sweets — very pretty, very yummy.
Reading aloud as a group activity: N and I read Tolstoy’s novella The Death of Ivan Illyich (which I also highly recommend) to each other one afternoon. Took about the same amount of time as a long movie and was extremely cozy.
In lieu of recipe recommendations — not a lot of cooking at home last month — some road recs: Ahan, for Laotian food in Madison, The Crunkleton (yep), for cocktails in Chapel Hill.
If you’re a white noise/rain-sounds-for-sleep person, the app Atmosphere lets you make a mix of your own. My go-to is storm+rain+fireplace, but you can also add ocean waves, traffic sounds, duck sounds (??) and more.
The Internet has been telling me that I should have a skincare routine. Is it true? Do you have a skincare routine?
If you haven’t been to Taqueria Chingon yet, I hear they’re closing for a while. Amazing tacos, and churros that are like small warm clouds.
This record, by Hara Alonso, who I had the pleasure of collaborating with for a few days this month during her residency at ESS.
Amidst of the general heaviness of election malaise and feeling profoundly powerless, this progressive voter guide for Illinois and this guide to judges are both incredibly helpful.
Tell your friends you love them!
That’s all, for now.
Lia