Anywho, more important than school (always, especially in the summer!) is fun and adventure. So on Thursday, we surprised a friend with tickets to see David Allan Coe for her birthday. I'm not big on country music in general, unless it is older and rock-based, ie Johnny Cash. Coe was actually quite good, too. He is a rebel/outlaw country singer with a whole bunch of tattoos (see below) and a whole bunch of raunchy stories (involving Willie Nelson among others) but he was very personable and really fun. I only knew one of the songs he sang, "Mama don't let your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys" but I think his most well known one is probably "You Never Even Called me by My Name," and it's a fun one too.
If you are wondering what the deal is with those beard pig-tails (as was I) he used to have long hair to match them, but then last year at a gig in Alabama someone threw a whiskey bottle at his head! During a show! And his head got cut and infected due to his hair dye, so he had to shave it. We were totally baffled by this--how did they get a bottle? (the bar we were in doesn't even let people have bottle caps on show nights, in case people flick them on stage) and why were they so angry that they felt the need to throw it? Questions, questions.
None of those beers are ours, by the way! And this is Coe's son (Tyler?) who was really, really good. His whole band was really talented, and his roadie has the most perfect curly-mullet that I've ever seen. The opening act was actually great, too--The Cox Brothers, a local band from Brown County. This is country I can appreciate! Also, my friends are super cute:
Then yesterday, two of us ventured to the Farmers Market (I got local honey, she got Thai basil) and an antique store where we fawned over old jewelery before meeting another friend for lunch. I've been making the rounds of the restaurants here, but I had never been to Roots, which has a prominent place on the square. It's vegetarian/vegan, and has outdoor seating which is always a plus (although we actually ate inside which is pretty too, a lot of wood and plants). I had a portobello-spinach melt with sweet potato fries and the "house juice". I'm a recent mushroom-convert, but this was nice as it was portobello strips on hearty wheat bread, so it wasn't soggy like some portobello sandwiches tend to be. Plus, put caramelized onions, spinach and melted cheese on a tin can and I would eat it. The "house juice" was like natural ginger ale plus limes. It would be especially refreshing if you had a cold! Then we booked it over to the Buskirk-Chumley to see...MY FAIR LADY.
My Fair Lady is arguably my favorite musical, but I've never seen it on stage before now. It was spectacular, I think because there are not many (any?) subpar songs in it, because it is funny, and most of all because the cast was tremendously good. The three leads--Eliza, Higgins, and Pickering--were not locals, but I believe everyone else was. The English accents were spot on (I'm always a bit worried about Americans doing English accents, as it could result in a Dick Van Dyke-Cockney Accent fiasco) but they were really very good here. This Higgins could actually sing, and sing well, which Rex Harrison (as wonderful as he was) didn't do as much. Since I was used to hearing Higgin's songs sort of spoken, sort of sung, this musicality was different, but equally good. Alfred P Doolittle, Eliza's gin-swilling father, was perfectly slapstick and weaselly, and his dance numbers were fun. The costumes were stellar--the hats! The dresses! Especially at Ascot. The three of us were so excited. I just rewatched a few clips of the movie and the stage version (as is often the case) feels freer, funnier, and less staged (pun intended!), maybe because no one was lip-synching. I still am so ambiguous about the ending, though. Are they friends? Should they be more than that? You really get a sense of Higgin's loss and bewilderment when he sings "Accustomed to Her Face" on stage--it was heartbreaking. I decided this time that she absolutely should not have married Freddy--he is too weak. But I think I'd rather have Eliza open a flower shop on her own, than be simply coupled with someone. For more on this production, see here and here. Oh, one more thing--the music was provided not by an orchestra, but by two grand pianos. And it worked really well!
Afterwards we were all giddy with sensory overload and sexy Freddy Eynsford-Hill singing "On the Street Where you Live" and we got chocolates next door to celebrate. Blu Boy Bakery actually connects through the theater, which is very convenient! I had a chocolate mudslide cookie--I don't know how they make them, but it is like a brownie in cookie form with chocolate chunks, but then there is also melty chocolate inside. One of my friends said she once put one of them in the fridge and it was STILL melty. Mysterious, but oh so good. Then we walked around campus in the late afternoon sun.
The agenda for today is less exciting--grocery shopping, studying and more studying, a few phone dates with good friends. But no matter how much I might tweak out about Arabic, let there be no doubt: I love this town!
No comments:
Post a Comment