23 Oct 2016

A good week for theater!

On Wednesday, we attended Poe… And All The Others, a new play by Tony Tsendeas, as presented at Reynold’s Tavern by the Annapolis Shakespeare Company. Last year’s production of Poe was one of the first shows we saw from this company, and it was a good show. This year’s production, again featuring Brian Keith MacDonald and Renata Plecha, is simply superb! The new script is much stronger, but still works very well in the confines of a dining room at Reynold’s Tavern. We turned up at 6:45 or so, and enjoyed a good salad and supper (I had grilled salmon on pasta, and Marcia had a chicken breast) before the play started at 7:30. 40 enthralling minutes inside Poe’s head later, we had intermission and dessert service (we can recommend the tea cakes). The second act kept bringing the power of Poe’s writing, aptly adapted by Mr. Tsendeas, and brought thoroughly to life by Mr. MacDonald. All the while, Ms. Plecha played every other character in the show, often several within a matter of seconds, all flawlessly! Whew!

Then after a couple of days of rest (or, in my case, work), we attended Twelfth Night last night at the company’s intimate theater on Chinquapin Round Road. I’ve seen Twelfth night staged several times, here and there. Last night, though… The Bard’s words, set at the end of the Roaring Twenties, some set to music and dance! A forceful farce, flawlessly fulfilled by this wonderful group of actors! I’d call out especially good individual performances, frankly all were awesome, so special hats off to Olivia Ercolano, Renata Plecha, Brian Keigh MacDonald, Laura Louise Smith, and Jamison Foreman. How good? This show got the first standing ovation I’ve seen at the Annapolis Shakespeare Company! And they deserve every bit of it – especially Founding Artistic Director Sally Boyett, who directed both shows we saw this last week.

I’d go see both shows again, in a heartbeat … but we’re going to be out of commission for the next several weeks due to Marcia’s pending hip replacement surgery (Wednesday, 10/26). You should go see these shows, and anything else this Company puts on. Seriously.

*        *        *

Alongside all that fun, I fought a cold, had a productive work week, and helped get things organized for the post-surgical eventfulness to come. Wish us luck!

*        *        *

Our condolences to the families and friends of these fallen warriors:

  • Sgt. Douglas J. Riney, 26, of Fairview, Illinois, died Oct. 19 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds received from encountering hostile enemy forces.
  • Michael G. Sauro, 40, of McAlester, Oklahoma, died Oct. 19 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds received from encountering hostile enemy forces.
  • Chief Petty Officer Jason C. Finan, 34, of Anaheim, California, died Oct. 20 in northern Iraq, of wounds sustained in an improvised explosive device blast.

JoCo Artificial Heart Package

Among the contents therein is the signed CD, which I most incautiously tore whilst attempting a manual decoupling of the liner notes from the case. Sigh. So I used an obtrusive and intimately personal repair method: thin strips of electrical tape. They seem most appropriate, given the title and image of the album. The good news is that it also arrived in Vinyl!

A nearly broken ArtHeart

A nearly broken ArtHeart

Is Not and Is … Insanely Great

Some of the folks I know are really disappointed that today’s announcement was only for an iPhone 4S + some new iPods and release dates for those and for iOS 5.

I pointed out that if all the features and guts of the new phone were in a angular new skin (like some of the “leaked” photos showed) with a bit more screen resolution and it were called an iPhone 5, they’d be drooling. There was general acknowledgement of this, yet and still, “it’s just an iPhone 4S, argh!”

There’s no pleasing some people. Of course, it doesn’t please me either, at least not enough to even remotely think I need a refresh. The bloody phone has far more capability today than I ask of it. What I do need is a new case, since the old bumper is disintegrating, and I’ll find one I like someday.

*     *     *

I want to point out Bitter Ruin, a “new” band out of the UK that pleases me and a great number of other people. They’re another of the leading edge of unsigned, self-promoted, highly talented people that really define the modern music scene for me, along with folks like JoCo, Pomplamoose, and Zoe Keating. The new video for Trust is cool, the song is insanely great, and they’re worthy of your attention and your dollars.

*     *     *

A mid-week-ish visit from Linda tonight, and pizza for supper (Yay!). So it’s time to get organized and feed the mutt. Ciao!

More Zoë

Zoë Keating, last night. Two items of interest: First, Wil Wheaton introduced me to Zoë’s music with this blog post. Second, listen to Zoë talk about her music and play in Musicians@Google: WNYC’s Radiolab + Zoë Keating. In the latter, Zoë describes how the version of each composition gets selected for an album, and how that relates to what gets played live. When she loops and layers music so intricately, there are infinite variations for every work. I could recognize the bones of nearly every piece she played last night, but deeply appreciated the nuance and freshness of each piece. I’m so, so happy she added Annapolis to her tour, and I can but hope she returns to our area someday soon.

Zoë

Just back from Ram’s Head Live, where we saw the amazing Zoë Keating. Did I mention amazing? There’s more to say, but I’m whacked and it’s a school night. We had great seats, at a table abutting the stage. I cannot recommend enough seeing Zoe live – she rocks!

Zoe Keating at Ram's Head On Stage

Zoe Keating at Ram's Head On Stage