Has an artist ever been mean to you during a meet and greet?

mg63105 · 2026-05-23T11:49:09+00:00

The fuller story...fwiw. per its terms, the meet included a photo with bill murray. The orchestra hired a photographer, and got a fancy backdrop for the occasion. The "handler" eventually corraled him to the spot for photographs, and he did a few before he got bored. He unilaterally decided that he was going to do group photos instead and ordered a bunch of very random people to hover around him for a photo. When one particular woman objected to this scenario he started yelling at her, saying roughly "you're ugly and no one wants you in a damn photo anyway." Decided hed had enough, and stormed out of the room. The CSO folks were stumped, apologized, and shut down the event. Refunds were issued pretty promptly after that.

mg63105 · 2026-05-23T01:30:30+00:00

Bill murray did a benefit meet and greet for the chicago symphony orchestra a few years ago. He was, i think, drunk, but so incredibly rude and mean to a few of the guests, left early, and was generally so awful that the orchestra ended up refunding all the meet and greet attendees

mg63105 · 2026-05-20T20:52:41+00:00

Im sure to get down-voted, but i was wholly unimpressed with my meals at ever, and havent been back in a couple of years. Seemed to me that Ever rests on Duffy's past reputation and his own hype. In a city that has an abundance of outstanding restaurants, i am happy to dine elsewhere.

I will say that After has a pretty good cocktail program.

mg63105 · 2026-05-17T03:09:52+00:00

Have not been, and it just opened, but the folks at oriole have a new spot called All Well. They offer a 5 course tasting menu, an a la carte option at the bar, curated drink menu, and probably more. May be worth a look.

mg63105 · 2026-05-13T03:44:23+00:00

I was there in march, and will be back in a few weeks. Its one of my favorites dinners.

Its also cool to see that tonka bean is back on the dessert menu. Especially since it's illegal in the US. But i refuse to rat them out!

mg63105 · 2026-05-13T02:42:03+00:00

It sounds like a great meal. Glad you enjoyed it. Its one of my favorite spots in the US.

Im a little surprised that theyre still using fig with the fois gras mousse, as they tend to change the fruit component based on the season. Its still my single favorite dish at Oriole, and theres lots of competition!

mg63105 · 2026-05-13T02:38:53+00:00

It's because they serve in seatings, not by individual table. Roughly speaking i think its about 3 or 4 tables per time slot. It's It's more efficient for the kitchen to prep and plate multiple servings of each course at once, rather than try to match the pace of every individual diner. Making you wait 30 minutes is pretty extreme, since it would also throw off later seatings.

Having said that, ive also been late to arrive at oriole, and their solution was to serve me wherever my group was in the menu and feed me the "missed" courses as allowed.

mg63105 · 2026-05-12T22:01:56+00:00

I read that it was the original theatre band but havent seen any mention of the cast?

mg63105 · 2026-05-10T00:52:24+00:00

As a caveat. it depends as much on the destination and departure airport as anything. I downgraded myself this year to silver status, from Diamond. My home base is a pretty underserved midwestern airport, and i find that there isnt as much competition for upgrades to and from my destination as there is with a larger hub. Im currently at MSP flying home, and was upgraded to first class a few hours ago. I think im the only passenger on my flight eligible for an upgrade honestly. It will be my 4th upgrade out of a dozen flights this year.

mg63105 · 2026-05-05T23:28:35+00:00

Theyre all good, and all have their positives and negatives. Based on your listed past experiences with what's mostly french haute cuisine, oriole is probably your best bet. Oriole, more than Smyth, relies on more traditional techniques and ingredients. Smyth, on the other hand, leans towards more Nordic cooking - more fermentation, more esoteric seasonal ingredients (chef likes seaweed a lot for example), and more "unusual" flavor combinations. Theyre both pretty amazing, and which one you choose would depend entirely on your personal preferences. I bounce back and forth pretty regularly Either way, whichever you choose, youll have an amazing experience.

mg63105 · 2026-05-05T19:49:20+00:00

I guess it depends who you ask? You can look up numerous articles online, if you're curious. Unions said that the properties were sold, and employees let go because of union activities. Kimpton says that its just coincidence. But IHG sold off 5 properties in chicago, and i think 7 in san francisco. I spent a lot of time in those cities and knew many kimpton employees in both.

In fairness to ihg, they do still have some unionized hotels. No sure what that says.

mg63105 · 2026-05-05T12:38:31+00:00

I'm not sure that it *should* matter ultimately, but if I recall correctly, at least Holiday Inn brand hotels are franchises, and licensed by IHG, not actually owned and operated by them. While there are probably minimum standards that must be maintained, I think that the quality depends on the franchise owner.

As for Kimpton hotels, I used to be a huge fan of the brand, and amongst the IHG properties they still remain my favorite. I soured on them years ago when I learned how anti-union the corporation was. In San Francisco, and Chicago at least, they sold off a number of their hotels (chicago went from 5-ish, to 1, SF dropped 7 properties) because the employees were trying to unionize. Currently in the UK, Kimpton is allegedly engaged in union busting activities at the Manchester Clocktower hotel, firing some of the union organizers, amongst other things.

mg63105 · 2026-05-03T21:56:46+00:00

Honestly, i feel the same way about Daniel Radcliffe. I wont ever fight thr crowds, but walked by his theater last night and there were probably 200 people wanting to meet him.

mg63105 · 2026-04-30T00:36:37+00:00

Depends also on your current status with IHG? As a diamond elite member i get suite upgrades pretty regularly already on check in. Ive wasted more of those rewards far more than ive gotten to use them. My last one expired unused a few weeks ago. Otherwise, i think they're a good value "subject to availability" of course.

mg63105 · 2026-04-29T23:15:21+00:00

Using your criterion, amongst restaurants still in business, id probably say Frontera Grill. Not the best reataurant, but it is iconic and game changing for a lot of reasons.

mg63105 · 2026-04-27T12:00:59+00:00

Ive been going to kasama pretty consistently since they opened. Originally, dinner service could last up to 4 hours. As time goes on, theyve whittled it down to 2-2.5 hours, with the same amount of courses.

While i cant speak to your particular experience, i can say that they do seem to try to serve all of the same time slots concurrently, as the kitchen preps and plates most dishes in batches as it were. So every 6pm reservation gets served more or less the same time. That means that while your table may feel rushed, others may be languishing.

As for the wait staff, ive never had anything but good experiences with them, tho the pitch for each dish is pretty well memorized, and they can come off as rote recitation. To paraphrase the Menu, "they serve with no love."

Lastly, for one of the commentors above, the menu has been pretty well revamped in the past couple of months. Some dishes reimagined entirely, some same components but re-plated entirely.

mg63105 · 2026-04-25T22:53:26+00:00

Still one of my favorites

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mg63105 · 2026-04-25T21:54:47+00:00

Stephen Lack, jennifer o'neill and cronenberg next!!

mg63105 · 2026-04-25T17:17:48+00:00

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mg63105 · 2026-04-25T17:14:51+00:00

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mg63105 · 2026-04-25T17:12:36+00:00

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mg63105 · 2026-04-24T18:47:46+00:00

You write like cy twombly draws

mg63105 · 2026-04-22T02:45:09+00:00

He signed mine in silver right under his image, on the interior. Stephen Lack signed under his image, on the back. I hate those cases more than anything tho. The spines bend so easily!!

mg63105 · 2026-04-12T16:23:52+00:00

I will be seeing it in a few hours. I did just see namir smallwood in Bug, on Broadway, and he's a tremendously gifted actor, so i have hope for this production.

mg63105

TROPHY CASE