Day 19.200: Tori Amos

Exile #2 and I went to see Tori Amos on her In Times of Dragons tour this evening at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland. I remembered writing the story of how she played a part in our origin story after a previous concert but was surprised to discover it was nearly 19 years ago during the first year of the Exile!

In any case she was on great form tonight with a drummer and bass player and a trio of backing singers that really transformed the vibe compared with last time we saw her a couple of years ago. She seemed relaxed and like she was having fun again as she wandered through some hits and deep cuts from every phase of her career. 

Day 19.126: Home and hallow

We got home around lunchtime after a hotel breakfast and a busy drive. This afternoon, we took E5N1 into Portland for hear some of his friends who are in a band play. Then, this evening, we went back to Portland for an event called hallow - an hour of ambient guitar and field recordings by candlelight. The performer was local artist David Bruggink. It was a welcome break of calm after the hours of driving. 

Day 19.123: Second concert of the week

This evening we drove, not into Portland or Boston but north and inland to the small town of Bridgton Maine to see David Wimbish of The Collection and Jesse James DeConto of The Pinkerton Raid play at a small venue (really just someone’s lovely home) called The Dala House. 

Jesse played first:

Then the both did a couple of songs:

And then we had a mix of old familiar songs and new songs from David:

It was a lovely evening. 

Day 19.121: Silversun Pickups

Exile #2 and I had a lovely evening at the State Theatre to see Silversun Pickups. Our main connection point with them (apart from Lazy Eye - perhaps their biggest hit and the last song tonight) was the album Neck of the Woods which we listened to a lot around the time of its release. We have spent some time reacquainting ourselves of these and other parts of their back catalogue as well as their new album in preparation for tonight and I’m very glad we did. The songs are great and they were wonderful to see and hear live.

Day 19.105: Composers Ensemble

It was the second semester showcase for the Composers Ensemble today. E5N1 played trumpet, sang, played percussion and composed one of the pieces. The whole concert is on YouTube. I think this link will take you to his piece at around 1:06:00: [link]. It was a great program with a nice variety of styles of music written for this unique collection of instruments.  

Day 19.098: Concert

Exile #2 and I went to a concert this evening including E5N1 (and the rest of the university choir) singing with the symphony orchestra. It was excellent. I especially enjoyed their rendition of Zadok the Priest which I have also sung (many years ago). It has one of the best choral entrances I’ve ever heard. If the school posts a video I’ll add a link.

Day 19.091: Birthday (observed)

After lunch, I collected E5N1 from his college dorm to bring him to the high school for the Saturday matinee of the musical. Exile #2 and Exile #3 met us there. Afterward, we had takeout and birthday cake and did gifts etc. 

Day 19.085: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #548

Exile #2 writes...

After a fun and busy Easter service this morning, we had an unexpected visitor! E5N1 came home to hang out with us for the afternoon. There was much sharing of music, including a choral piece he’s been working on, and we also called Exile #4, who is getting very close to the end of their time at college!

Day 19.084: Madison Cunningham Ace Tour

After a day that included our nature group visiting four separate birding spots and then decorating the church for Easter, Exile #2 and I rounded it off with a drive into the theater district in Boston to see Madison Cunningham’s Ace Tour at The Wilbur. It was spectacularly good and made the drive and parking - both of which were more eventful that we might have liked - very much worthwhile. 

Madison Cunningham and Jesse Chandler

Day 19.060: Stereophonic

Exile #2 and I drove down to Boston, to the Emerson Colonial Theatre yesterday evening to see Sterephonic - a play about a fictional rock band making an album in 1976 - which is on currently on tour after a Broadway run. The play has some strong parallels with Fleetwood Mac around the making of the album Rumours but without the weight of representing the real people and relationships and with excellent original songs to work with.

Here's a picture of the theater:

And here's the excellent set:

The music was excellent, and the cast really shone during the musical parts. The whole stress of the process of making and recording music in the studio was represented very convincingly - honestly as people who have experienced that (albeit in small and relatively low-stress ways) it was a bit too real at times! The play as a whole has some odd pacing and at times intermittently loses its emotional weight. We also struggled at times with the patchy British accents, but overall, it was a great experience and well worth the trip.

Day 19.059: Mid-semester concert

On Sunday evening, we went to E5N1's mid-semester choral concert. It had been delayed by snow storms, but they eventually managed to find a window when it could happen. You can find it here if you want to see (or perhaps more-so hear) it. E5N1 is in the first section as part of the University Chorale, but the second part is also excellent - especially the modern pieces at the end. The Chamber Singers have been working with the composer of those pieces and - we discovered afterward - E5N1 had also attended a composition masterclass with her while she was on site.

Day 19.029: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #542

Exile #2 writes...

Well, there was a convincing victory in the east coast versus west coast Super Bowl tonight, along with the usual side serving of musical artists and ads. Green Day played before the game and were, surprisingly, allowed to play American Idiot. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny performed at half time and put on a show that was a real celebration of love and Latinx culture.

There is always some tension surrounding the choice of musicians and this year so much so that an “alternative” show was provided on another channel. But anyone tuning out would have missed a treat. It was joyful and just what was needed. Now to bed - how do they make 60 minutes last so long?

This bowl is also super (and I made it myself) [Ed.]

Day 19.025: Night out

This evening we took Exile #3 and her friend to a cinema in Methuen MA to see the Stray Kids movie (that was the nearest place showing it). While they did that Exile #2 and I went out for dinner in nearby North Andover. 

When we got back to the cinema, the movie finished and the K-pop fans came streaming out - many dressed up for the occasion. It seems we all had a fun night.

Day 18.359: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #537

Exile #2 writes...

Although Exile #1 went back to work for one day last week, today really feels like the end of the holidays proper. We are all getting back into gear and thoughts are turning to jobs that have been waiting on to do lists. We postponed things just a little longer this evening, however, by spending the evening watching the sequel to Wicked, having refreshed our memories of the first movie last night. It is maybe not the best sign that we spent the first 10 minutes after the movie discussing the things that had made us giggle but we did generally seem to be in agreement that it was not as strong as the first one. Anyway, it was still fun to pass the time watching it together.

Day 18.352: Self portrait

We’ve had a nice day - including brunch and carols at church preceded by helping a stranger by pushing her car out of the middle of an intersection nearby. Some puzzles, video editing and family TV watching rounded out the day along with some more eating of course. 

And just for fun, here’s a sort-of-selfie I took a week ago. 

Day 18.348: Merry Christmas #19

I think we do these with less and less preparation each year - but here it is - wishing you a very happy and healthy and - why not - merry - Christmas!

Day 18.345: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #536

Exile #2 writes...

We are back up to the full number of Exiles for the next few weeks. The washing machine is seeing plenty of action, we’re jockeying for bathroom time, and best of all, laughing lots. The pudding is prepared, the mince pies are made and in the freezer, and it sounds like we’re going to have a white Christmas, even though all our snow was washed away on Friday. Exile #1 has just a couple of days to go before his break, the rest of us have some jobs to do, including for me a bit of piano playing at the Christmas Eve service - yikes - but we look forward to enjoying the festivities this week!

Day 18.343: Composition

E5N1 snagged this poster from his Composition Showcase before he came home yesterday:

He also let us know that the concert is available on YouTube. I think this link should take you to his piece (it’s at 1:24:45 or so if it does not).

Day 18.338: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #535

Exile #2 writes ...

In the run up to Christmas, we thought we would feel the loss of the traditional High School music concerts that we’ve attended for the past 7 years but this week we seem to have more than made up for it with other concerts. It’s been lovely to enjoy all sorts of music (some of it involving E5N1) and to go into Portland to see everything lit up.

It was a slightly more dicey trip into Portland than we were anticipating this morning, however, as some very sticky and slippery snow was falling. This being Maine, however, a surprisingly large number of people still made it to church and we all watched the snow continue to fall throughout the service. It was not the easiest journey home but we made it. However, Exile #1 has just now noticed a rather large pile of snow that the snow plow has left for us at the end of the driveway. So, I guess that will be the first order of the day tomorrow. 

Not the worst pile - but more than can be ignored

Day 18.337: A cappella nella cattedrale

This evening we met some friends for dinner in Portland and then walked down the street to St Luke’s Cathedral for the Christmas concert by Renaissance Voices. It was a lovely evening.