U N I V E R S I T Y   C L U B   O F   C H I C A G O

                CIGAR NEWS for April 25, 2006

                        

Tuesday, April 25.  Informal Smoker at the Tower Club, 5-7pm.
Observances abound this week as April's sweet showers pierce
the drought of March.  We will observe the 53d anniversary of
Sir Winston Churchill's knighthood (Monday) with some remarks
from David O'CONNOR on the article, Rescuing Churchill from the
Neocons, in this month's issue of Harper's.  Ted FOSS, in partial
preparation for his lecture at the Harris Theater next month
(see below), will stop by to help us observe the 22d anniversary
of Ronald Reagan's pilgrymage to the straunge strondes of China
(Wednesday) with a political and musical comparison to Richard
Nixon's historic visit in 1972, and perhaps engage the table in
a discussion of which composer should be commissioned to maken
melodiyes for an opera on Reagan's life and presidency.  (John
Cage, though deceased, should not be automatically disqualified:
Greg O'LEARY has suggested the opera be called 3h23m6s, perhaps
an extended orchestration of Cage's groundbreaking 4'33".  Cage
himself maintained that his composition could have any length and
hence any title.)  Next, we shall bathe a few veins in swich licour
by drinking numerous rounds of Johnny Walksr Black Label in salute
of Scottish philosopher David Hume's birthday anniversary (also
Wednesday).  Now better known for his empirical philosophy (and
in particular his Treatise of Human Nature) Hume (like Churchill,
as O'CONNOR will have explained) accumulated his great wealth from
writing histories.  His last volume of The History of England from
the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688 (1754-1762)
was completed when Hume was 50.  He was pressed by his publisher
to write an additional volume to bring his history up to the (then)
present, but despite an offer of a pension from the King, Hume
declined, saying that "I have four reasons for not writing: I am
too old, too fat, too lazy -- and too rich."  Members of the table
will offer various perspectives on their own diverse uses of this
venerable excuse.  In sober counterpoint, our own (amateur analytic)
philosopher Clifford YUKNIS will explain scientific induction and
discuss Hume's famous Problem of Induction.  Induction says that
if one gains weight in each passing year, then eventually one will
become enormously fat.  Some see Hume's principal contribution to
humane philosophy to be in showing that such reasoning is fallacious,
or at best unknowable.  Avoirdupoisian lightweight Stephen CONDREN
will explain how Hume’s Problem was used to excellent effect in the
destruction of philosophy by the (ever slender) Austrian philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose birthday is this Wednesday and death day
this coming Saturday.



David Hume, by Allan Ramsay, from the Scottish
National Portrait Gallery, and Ludwig Witt-
genstein, photographer unknown.


Coming up . . .


Wednesday, May 10.  Cigar Society Scotch Tasting and Dinner
at the Tower Club, featuring six classic single malts, 5:30pm. 
Bring your own cigars.

Program
5:30-6:00  Reception
             Smoked-salmon bruschetta (Glenkinchie)
6:00       Dinner
             Trout chowder (Talisker)
             Grilled pear salad (Cragganmore)
             Peppercorn crusted filet mignon (Oban)
             Vanilla ice cream and honey (Dalwhinnie)
             Coffee and Mignardise (Lagavulin)

The whiskies will be introduced by Martin C. Duffy, Master of Scotch.
$75 .   Bring your own cigars.  Jacket and tie recommended. 
RSVP ASAP to Sarah Lewis.

   
A precocious teenager.



Tuesday, May 16.    Informal Smoker at the Tower Club, 5-7pm.
Program to be announced.



Sunday,  May 21.    Theodore FOSS, Associate Director of the
Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago and
(nonsmoking) cigar-club irregular, will lecture on John Adams's
opera Nixon in China at 2:00pm in the Harris Theater, prior to
the matinee performance of the opera.

Mill on Floss, or Foss on Mao?


Tuesday, May 30.    Informal Smoker ar the Tower Club, 5-7pm, and
Cigar Club / Book Club discussion, to be led by U Club member Jorge
del CASTILLO.  The book is Holy Smoke, by Cuban-born British novelist
Guillermo Cabrera Infante, winner of the 1997 Cervantes Prize.

    

From the review of Holy Smoke in Publisher's Weekly:
 

This curious volume is a potpourri of information and lore
about cigars, their smokers from Rodrigo de Xeres of
Columbus's crew to Winston Churchill and Castro, their
manufacture, their sale and their appearance in song and
story.  All this is presented in a style brim full of literary
references to Congreve, Conan Doyle, Ogden Nash, Italo
Calvino and other writers through every paragraph.  The
cigar-smoking on-screen images of W. C. Fields, Groucho
Marx, Orson Welles and Gary Cooper are evoked; the
author also considers cigarettes and their contrasting
Hollywood image.
 

This book is a bit hard to find, so find your copy
early.
 

                                               Respectfully submitted by
                         Your Loyal Secretary,
                           Curtis TUCKEY