Day 19.208: Hadestown: The Musical

In the end, three of us traveled to South Portland to see the proshot of Hadestown. We weren’t sure we were in the right place as this looked very much like a shutdown movie theater.

This was coming out - we were less-confident on the way in

The signs saying it was open were very much needed.

This version was filmed in the West End theatre where E5N1 saw it last year with the original principal cast. E5N1 missed it today to help his friend out with a camp. None of us who saw it today had seen the musical before although Exile #3 knew the soundtrack and therefore the story very well. It was excellent in every way. 

The inside of the building was rather more convincing that the outside with some fun vintage movie posters. 

We wondered what sign had been roughly obscured here. The wrong answers we came up with were more fun than what we decided it probably really said. 

All in all, a 10/10 experience. 

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 19.084: 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 19.075: Project Hail Mary

Exile #2 and I fought off the jet lag to go and see this movie yesterday. I read the book last month as part of Elle’s Sci-Fi Book Club. Exile #2 knew basically nothing about the story. We both really enjoyed it from our different starting points.

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 18.240: The State Theatre rocked!

In a change of pace, we drove the four and a half hours home and then headed out with Exile #3 to see Phantogram at the State Theatre in Portland. We’ve had mixed experiences there - not because of the performers or the staff but because of the audiences who sometimes seem to have forgotten that they’ve paid to hear the music and would rather try to carry on a conversation during the performances. Today, the crowd and the band and the support act Open Mike Eagle all brought their A-game and it was a great evening.

Day 18.131: They got my like

When Exile #2, Exile #4 and I stopped for lunch on our way to E5N1’s concert on Saturday, it was at Central Bagel in Bangor. As we were eating, I spotted this sign celebrating their 17,000-odd “likes” on Facebook:

I joked that it would change if I liked them, but Exile #4 noticed that the sign did appear to have a wire going to it, so we had to do the experiment. I got my phone out and did my part and then we waited. After maybe 20 seconds, the right hand number extravagantly incremented 11 times and to get to the next value (I assume they want it to take long enough that people like us get to see it happening). 

So there you go, we enjoyed our lunch and really like their sign. 

Day 18.026: The Scottish Play

With another winter storm coming in tomorrow, Exile #2 and I were thankful for a calm dry night to drive just over the Piscataqua into New Hampshire to see the filmed stage rendition of Macbeth starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. 

We were also thankful that the nearly full (albeit small) cinema screening audience was well behaved throughout the main feature having been rather talkative during the preamble. 

The play itself was wonderfully staged and acted and had us both noticing things that had never caught our eyes or ears before despite both having studied it in the distant past. It was also gloriously Scottish throughout - which is as obviously appropriate as it is rare. 

Day 15.311: Thirty years a fan

I probably first saw Radiohead live in 1992. It was certainly significantly before their debut album Pablo Honey came out in February 1993. I’ve taken more than a passing interest in the musical output of all of them ever since. 

Most recently, that has included The Smile - perhaps in some ways the most Radiohead-ish of the side projects - thanks to the presence of two of the creative cores of the older band - Thom and Jonny. 

This is no Radiohead-lite however and drummer Tom Skinner is no stand-in. Rather, it is artsy and gutsy and experimental and pop all at the same time. The three members not only take their turns on various instruments (all played keys at some point and both Thom and Jonny played both guitar and bass, Jonny even played a small harp at point with one hand while playing a piano with the other) but also seemed to take it in turns holding things together while the other two were able to indulge their flights of rhythmic and melodic fancy. 

The quiet songs were beautiful, the rocky pop songs really rocked and a lot of the intricate experimental songs landed very well live. There were a few moments that were less perfect, but maybe it’s allowing themselves the freedom to have those moments that allows the free creative rein to produce the best moments - and they were very good indeed. 

Day 15.126: When Tori came to Maine

It was less than a year into the Exile and nearly 15 years ago that we last saw Tori Amos live when she visited Albany NY on the American Doll Posse tour. We'd seen her a few years earlier in London too. 

I've told the story before, but my first conversation with Exile #2 arose from an offer to record a CD single that she owned but had nothing to play it on onto tape. I think I added a couple of tracks from different CD single I owned to make a kind of uncurated mix tape. In any case, it got us talking albeit rather shyly and - over the next couple of years - one thing led to another.

Anyway, since Tori made the effort to come to Maine yesterday on the Ocean to Ocean tour, we made the effort to get tickets, specifically on the front row of the circle at the Merrill Auditorium:

Tori was on great form -  she played for two hours or so (setlist here) and seemed to be really loving it:

Her two piece band - bass and drums were excellent:

We also enjoyed the support act Gracie and Rachel and their - as they described it - "songs about anxiety - it's kind of our thing" set.

The concert brought our weekend of entertainment to a fitting (if slightly late-at-night) end.

Day 15.124: Lower brow entertainment

After our theater trip yesterday, we went to the movie theater today to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It got mixed reviews from the teenagers, but Exile #2 and I were rather more generous in our takes on it.

In particular, we both thought that Elizabeth Olsen was excellent throughout - and had us both tearing up at times.

Overall, it was quite overblown, but I thought in quite a successful way. 

Day 15.123: Off-Broadway

Exile #2, Exile #3 and I went to the theater tonight - it was off-Broadway in the sense that it was in a lovely little community theater not far off Broadway in South Portland.

Two of our friends were among the five person cast, but I forgot that almost immediately as I was caught up in their performances. The whole cast and the staging were excellent and this New York play as Maine community theater could have been tailor-made for our American experience.

Mad Horse Theatre Company - Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties by Jen Silverman

Day 15.102: Sucked in by Severance

I already admitted that we only planned to watch Foundation with our free trial of Apple TV+, then ended up watching Ted Lasso (three times in some cases).

Well, they did it again. We recently completed watching the first season of Severance. It's a really weird show - but we have all loved it and we're currently halfway through watching it again to see what hints we missed the first time through. Maybe not for everyone, but it's a slow-burn mystery that we're really enjoying.

Day 15.037: Ted Lasso

When I got my new phone, it came with a free trial of Apple TV+. We waited until the last moment to start it and immediately watched the first season of the ambitious adaptation of the science fiction classic Foundation.

After that, Exile #2 tried to persuade me to try Ted Lasso, but I was unmoved by the suggestion. So she watched both seasons on her own.

Some time later she suggested I try it and we ended up watching it all.

And now, we're watching it again with the kids. It really is excellent TV. Even Exile #2 - now on her third viewing in a couple of months - is thoroughly enjoying it again.

Day 15.032: MyShahRona

I'm enjoying this beer. 

Here's why:

1. It's hoppy but not stupidly strong in terms of alcohol content - a rare find.
2. Its name is a play on a classic late 70's pop song.
3. It's also a play on Dr. Shah who is the head of the Maine CDC and has been a constant presence during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (or 'Rona for short);
4. But mostly the hops and alcohol thing.

Day 14.078: We "went" to a gig

We spent the evening yesterday watching an exquisitely put together livestream concert by Madison Cunningham. I'm not sure when I first looked up her music - but it was having seen her contributions to the Porter's Gate Work Songs project. Her own music seemed to be a beguiling mix of expert guitar playing and effortless vocals and somehow reminiscent simultaneously of Joni Mitchell and Radiohead. I do know I bought her album in late summer of last year (albeit after time stopped having any real meaning) and listened to it almost on repeat for several months.

Last night she gave us some favorites and some new songs and we joined a little Q&A with a couple of performances of some older songs thrown in. It was great - if not quite a going to a gig experience.

Here's a taste of her work - a recent performance of a recent song.

Day 13.233: Exile #2's Sunday Column #311

Exile #2 writes...

We felt very virtuous after our big basement tidy up yesterday, even if some items were only moved purposefully to another part of the house. With a sprinkle of admin jobs and the conversion of some of our tomato bounty into sun dried tomatoes, it was a productive weekend all round. This being Maine, they are actually oven dried tomatoes but the effect is the same and they are delicious.

As a reward, we treated ourselves to a short but sweet hike and the final couple of episodes of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, season one. Exile #1 and I decided to rewatch it so Exile #4 and E5N1 could enjoy it too. It’s hard to describe. There’s plenty of music. It’s funny, surprisingly deep, and occasionally, like today, very, very sad (I’m not crying!... well, yes I am, quite a bit actually). We’d recommend, if you’re looking for something a little bit different.

Day 13.209: Buffy and Life

We're currently nearing the end of Season 5 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer - I'm thoroughly enjoying watching it at a rate of 10-12 episodes a week. The proportion of trauma has been higher this season, but the acting and story-telling really holds up remarkably well more than 20 years on.

I'm not sure whether it was inspired by the character Anya's love of the game - and all things money - or not, but Exile #2, Exile #4 and E5N1 played The Game of Life yesterday. Exile #4 won - to no-one's surprise.

Day 13.192: Color sorting - the next challenge

I've talked before about the joys of "I Love Hue" - the color sorting game I've been playing as a casual stress-reliever and time filler. It's satisfyingly quick to play a level or two and almost entirely lacking in adrenaline-inducing tension. Having completed all the levels some time ago, I was delighted to find there is a sequel - "I Love Hue Too" which adds a feature I always wished the original had - a count of the fewest possible moves - and therefore a "perfect" solution to aim for. 

As ever - be careful what you wish for.

Of course, I now feel that I have to achieve this perfection on every level. Some - such as this one - are extremely difficult to complete with no mistakes. It took me about a week I think - but in the end, I managed it:

Not - perhaps - my most significant achievement in life, but satisfying none the less.