Tell You Why, Mrs. Lovett, Tell You Why

Greetings, friends. Nothing particularly fantastical has occurred since last we met EXCEPT that I realized I'd forgotten to tell you all about Sweeney Todd. About two weeks ago Liz and I went to see a youth summer production of the musical and it was one of the best plays I've ever seen, youth, professional, community or otherwise. Seriously. The kid who played Sweeney was mind blowing. I've never heard any guy his age (nine-friggin-teen!!!) with a voice that sounded that good. If there were a cast recording with him in it I'd buy it and rank him juuuust behind the original with Len Cairou, slightly before the revival with Michael Cerveris (and I love MC's voice, I want to have it's babies, but still...) and way the hell out in front of the movie with Johnny Depp (sorry, Johnny). I also loved it because he made Sweeney almost affable. Really, you can play him creepy all you want but it seems more likely that you'd get in his chair if he appeared to be a normal person rather than a terrifying dead-faced brooder, right? And yet he was entirely believable when he had to be a horrific, hopeless, outraged, vengeful killer. This production also put in all the humor and just-bordering-on-over-the-topness that I love about the play and which was sorely lacking in the movie. Mrs. Lovett was loud, busty, deceitful, ditsy, amoral, needy, salty and thoroughly entertaining. Sweeney and Lovett really seemed to be enjoying themselves while heckling Tobias as he tried to sell Pirelli's Miracle Elixer and the puns go over so much better in "A Little Priest" when they seem silly and even a little slap-happy with their so-crazy-it-just-might-work murder/cannibalism plan. It wasn't a perfect production, of course, and some little things REALLY made me laugh in a way that the director probably did not intend. Example: the kid playing Antony was, shall we say, of noble heft, and the tight white sailor pants really did nothing to flatter his figure. But all in all, a damn fine way to spend $15 and a Wednesday night. If it weren't for the fact that it's no longer running I'd go see it again right now.

"Silence is the Perfectest Herald of Joy""

For all that I can be incredibly loud, one thing I really appreciate is comfortable silence. While half the time I'm rambling at a high decibel, the other half I absolutely cannot think of anything to say and would prefer not to try. In honor of my second half, I judge to some extent the strength of my relationships with people by whether or not I can just sit in silence with them. Maybe we're doing nothing, maybe we're engaged in separate activities, but whatever the reason, it feels comfortable, relaxing, and pretty darned okay.

Have I mentioned before how awesome Liz is? Today we had a Quiet Day. We both woke up fairly early considering how late we went to bed, moved out to the living room and have spent most of the day napping, reading, going on the computer, watching a movie, and being almost entirely silent. Despite the fact that I felt ill for a majority of the time, it was one of the most pleasant days I've had in recent memory. And this afternoon when she went out for a walk, she came back with a popsicle for me. I have an awesome friend.

Recommendation: Buy someone a surprise frozen treat, it'll make their day.

The Hills Are Alive

You know what I enjoy? Music. In many different forms it causes me to freak out. As in my last post, there is Sondre Lerche squeal-mellow-joy-bouncy-upbeat-adorableness-wicked-way-with-words style joy. In February The Sleeping Beauty Ballet is going to be performed in Seattle which brings me a dance-Sleeping-Beauty-on-Ice-Diseny-movie-memories-instrumental-kick-assness kind of joy. Last night I went to a Summer Sing, an event put on by my choir that's open to the public where you spend one evening singing through a well-known piece on stage in Benaroya. It was PACKED and made me smile to see all the new people; plus, I forgot how plain ol' FUN Carmina Burana is. This brought me sexy-drinking-reversal-of-fortune-good-memories-I-wish-I-were-a-dude-so-I-could-sing-THAT-part-choral-music-f-ing-ROCKS kind of joy. It took me about two hours to wind down after Carmina last night, I was so jazzed.

How does music do that? Case in point: sitting at work today I put Carmina on to entertain myself. Several times I found that I had to restrain my enthusiasm and force myself to work instead of dancing and silent-singing. Having spent so much time in choir and hanging out with music majors in college part of me thinks I should have been a music major, too. On the other hand, I only took one Survey of Western Music course and while it was pretty darned cool to learn, I apparently didn't need to take all that theory and history and composition and conducting to enjoy music to the point of soul-bursting, face-splitting, high-kicking joy that occurs oh so frequently in my life. If I added any new musical knowledge, thus increasing my ability to appreciate and enjoy, I might explode.

Rock on.

I'm Toning Up for my Norwegian Lover

I hurt. After...holy crap, a YEAR, I finally joined a gym again and have now gone a total of twice. In order to give myself energy for my workout today, I ate approximately 3,000 pretzle thins at work - soooo delicious. After I moved up here I ran a bit, but then I mangled myself at Christmas and it was all downhill and up calories from there. So I'm back, baby, and weaker than ever. Here's hoping my muscles remember how to do something other than sit.

Unrelated to exercise, I found out that Sondre Lerche's new album comes out September 8th. I can't wait for two more months. I can't! it's too long! But now I have something to look forward to. You know what else I have to look forward to? SONDRE LERCHE IS GOING TO BE IN SEATTLE IN SEPTEMBER!!!! WOOOOOOOO!

He's only smiling because he doesn't know we're married yet.

Maybe I'm ever so slightly excited. I've missed him! And he'll be playing at the Triple Door, a right spiffy venue. Alas it's not as awesomely intimate as the Troubadore, but it's got more candlelight and lights on stage that make it look like the band is in space. Tickets go on sale on Saturday and I am so buying mine immediately. Thusly, I shall prove my love.

Lord, Smite This Music...

I don't think I've mentioned it, but my choir is performing a piece that was commissioned (read: brand spankin' new) for us ... and it's KILLING us. Over the weeks we've been rehearsing we've sloooooooooooowly grown fond of a few certain parts but the majority is still just unbearable and difficult (Direct quote from a singer last night during break: "Can you spell 'painful'?"). Our concerts are this Thursday - Saturday and I cannot WAIT for it to be over. We had a last minute rehearsal on Saturday afternoon (hooray?) and every night this week is rehearsal/performance (rehearsal didn't even END until 10pm on Monday). Let's just say that while I know we desperately need all the practice we can get, I am NOT pleased that THIS is the reason I haven't really been home except to sleep since Sunday. The only thing that makes it better is that Liz promised we could go see Transformers 2 on IMAX on Sunday. Nothing clears horrible choral music out of your head like 2 hours of robots fighting and blowing shit up. Later this weekend I will also post the only thing that kept me sane during this process: the series of (slightly blasphemous?) cartoons I did wherein the composer is a completely oblivious devil who doesn't realize that his music is making God cry. Stay tuned - we'll see if I survive.

Eat, Eat, You're Skin & Bones!

My sister came up for a visit last weekend and it was GREAT. Fortunately my sister and I actually like each other a whole lot (though we wouldn't make for any good dramatic films involving awkward holiday homecomings with tears and bitter recriminations that end in the realization that even though we fight we love each other and we're all we've got - how unfortunate). We started the weekend right with a trip to the Triple Door to see The Portland Cello Project. I'd heard of them from the sister but hadn't listened to them -they were great! And it was actually like seeing about 6 mini concerts because every few songs another guest artist would come out and there would be 2-3 totally different kinds of music. There was pop (covers of Justin Timberlake, anyone?), classical, trumpet-infused folk, soulful delicate folk, modern indie girl rock, and straight up cello. We also went to the symphony (yeaaaah comp tickets!) where we heard Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, a 20th century violin concerto (interesting, and ultimately enjoyed it) and Stravinsky's The Firebird. The funny thing is that, though I've been in the symphony hall plenty, I've only done it as a performer, so I had no idea how to go about entering through the front door - I honestly didn't even know where the entrance to the hall was. My main reason for attending was The Firebird. I'd never heard all of it, but I do love the ending - I think "rousing" is a good word for it. Verdict: Awesome (I would be the worst music critic ever). In between concerts there was a LOT of eating. Man, do Sis and I love to eat and boy are we good at it. And Liz got to come along for the gastronomic ride. The best discovery was a Puerto Rican restaurant on Market called La Isla. I pass it all the time and don't know why I've never been in, but we LOVED it. Shrimp, rice and beans have never tasted better. They have a plantain sampler plate! Their margaritas are EXCELLENT (and pretty sturdy)! Their happy hour is AWESOME! ($2 plantain plate, anyone?) They bring my favorite flavors into one place: garlic, cilantro and margarita. Damn, I love eating. That was a good weekend.

Holy Crap! It's the Sun!

I believe I mentioned in an earlier post how much happier the sun makes me here in Washington than it did in Santa Barbara...

Sorry for the bad image quality, I am neither a technological nor photographic wizard, so just go ahead and click on it to see a bigger version.