Random Bits

Periodically something brings home to me that while I am able to sing... I sing in a very limited kind of way.

Had a road trip last weekend and I popped "Big River" in the CD player... My range and Huck's ... well, pretty much the same. Yup. Teenage boy. *sigh*

On the plus side Huck's music in the musical is pretty damned awesome. "Waitin' for the Light to Shine" is both an awesome ballad *and* a rockin' hard driving song. "Worlds Apart" is probably the best non-lovers love duet I've heard. And "Leavings Not the Only Way to Go" rips your heart out. And in each and every one of them the part I can sing most comfortably and reach 95% of the correct notes? Huck's.

And yes, I can growl out "Guv'ment" along with John Goodman - but there isn't a ton of musicality needed for that.

One of the things I really wish I could do - and do really well - is sing. Oh well. Maybe in my next life.

So every time I travel to the SF Bay Area to visit the mothership... I mean the home office... which happens about three or four times a year, I make a visit to a used bookshop a couple miles from the hotel that carries a hell of a lot more than books. They also carry vinyl, CDs, DVDs, games, cassette tapes - I even saw a small section of 8-tracks.

This last visit I picked up a couple of CDs - the two CD set of "Aspects of Love" a Webber musical that did not do well (and boy, I understand why!). I also picked up "Bloomer Girl" and "Starlight Express."

But while I knew nothing of "Aspects of Love" other than the main anthem ("Love Changes Everything"), I finished listening to it in the car. It has some nice anthems, but it is definitely WEBBER - with quite a bit of melodrama and overwrought-ness.

It traces the relationship among a young actress, her younger lover, her eventual husband, his long-time mistress, and the actress's daughter (with her husband - all we needed to make it more incestuous as well as molestation if the girl turned out to be her younger lover's). In short, it is more of a mess than the most convoluted soap opera. And it would be more believable if it took place in 1900-1920-ish instead of between 1947 and 1967-ish. Just for era and mores. Although I give it points for lesbianism (the long-time mistress and the young actress get along REALLY well when they meet, much to their shared man's delight. And the mistress kisses the young actress at her wedding to her husband - as the mistress stood up for the man as his "best man" she claimed her right to kiss the bride. I don't know, but it made me laugh - at this point in the story it is like 1950. So.).

I think I'll put in "Starlight Express" the next time I'm out. I am only really familiar with two or three numbers, and while I know its a pretty ridiculous premise, it still seems like it might be kinda fun. And well, it was all of seven bucks.

Once we got past the earthquake thing, California was great for the rest of the week. The company holiday party was at a fairly local (within about 45 minutes of the office) winery. Our event took place in the "tasting room" which was very nice - with the "casino" in the barrel room (which was kind of coldish). The food was terrific, the music was unobtrusive (and mostly instrumental), the casino games entertained us - and since we were not "playing" with real "money" losing didn't suck - the dealers just gave you more chips to keep you playing and entertained. I understand blackjack, but its kind of boring. Didn't make it over to the table to see the poker going on, and got sucked into the rhythm of craps. I still don't understand it - would probably not play it for real - but the rules were starting to make sense to me when I finally got tired of standing there collecting and losing colored chips (I am still unclear about *why* the dealer paid out what he paid out when he paid it - and how much.).

Getting home was alright - the new NY JFK terminal is sparkly and new - and quite spiffy. I expect the shine to wear off pretty quick, but for right now JetBlue's new home in NYC is pretty sweet. My layover was all of an hour - we were half an hour early from Oakland, so my layover ended up being almost twice as long as it was scheduled to be (35 minutes).

I saw the sun rise over the Oakland airport as we left, and the sun set over the JFK airport - also as we left. It was an enormously long day.

Yesterday was the Players holiday party which was great fun. C and K brought their seven month old son A and I got to make faces and blow kisses and generally act very foolish in the direction of the baby. I guess tomorrow is a big day for them on the path to finalizing the adoption. I'm not sure what other than going into court it all entails at this point, I didn't get a chance to really ask.

Feeling kind of crappy about declining assisting with a show with my home theatre group today. I was right to say no, but I'm still going to feel torn and maybe a little guilty about my decision. But there comes a time when stuff just gets to be too much, and I guess I found where I draw my line. I'm also telling myself it is good to say no once in a while on general principal, and hoping the producers eventually realize it is nothing against them. But I do theatre in my spare time because I love it. And I do it on a volunteer basis. And it tends to give me something back - sense of community, fun, purpose, creative outlet, etc.

I just don't see any of that being true for this show. So I explained pretty carefully *why* I was saying no, but I'm going to feel crappy about it for a while, and I just have to realize that, own that, and be okay with that. I think I will be better off having said no, than having said yes and regretting it. Because I don't think I will ever regret saying no - and that just makes me feel a tiny bit guiltier. Love the catch 22s.

So music. I've been listening (trying to anyway) to other kinds of music lately. My collection is pretty much mostly broadway. I've got a few CDs that are other (kids, classical, folk, country, little bit of rock, more a cappella than I should, some random mix tapes). And Broadway tends to run the gamut from what people think of as typical "showtunes" to country, hard rock, and pop, even stylized near-opera. Anyone out there have a favorite band currently? Because I am realizing growing up in the era of bubblegum pop and metal hair bands did me no favors, because between you and me, a lot of the popular music from the eighties was fucking horrible. And a lot of the stories you see on VH1 and MTV just don't touch me because my musical taste, while wide-ranging in style, didn't make me a rabid fan of any particular band or genre.

My iTunes is completely schizo - and I haven't even loaded all my CDs into it yet.

What are you listening to right now? Why - and how did you get to like them? Rec me something!