That Greenery Holiday Again

May you live as long as you want
and never want as long as you live.
~ Irish Blessing (allegedly)

Sounded like a good one regarding the world of Peter Pan.

The picture on the right I received from Dragonfly via email.  To describe it, he used the word:  ridonk  Seriously...is the baby minuscule or is that a whopper of a shamrock?
And the pig??

Life Imitates Art, again.

Sometimes Life throws you a mix of random events that turn out to be seemingly orchestrated. This past evening I experiened this phenomenon again. I'll try and keep it organized as I explain. It's chart-worthy.

Earlier in the day, I 'texted' our friend Banky, to see if he wanted to do the proverbial "something" later that night. He wrote back that sure, that would be fun. Clara would also be coming by... and they had planned on playing Scrabble and watching Bill Maher. Banky rather enjoys Maher and turned us on to him. (I liked him previously, but Bart and I don't have HBO so we don't see his show. Thus, it's a good excuse to hang out at Banky's.) Well, Bart isn't fond of Scrabble but knew he'd have fun just being there, so... we headed on over later.

Clara, to clarify, is a sheer delight of a woman who is Banky's 'lady friend.' We'd met her before and instantly took a shine to her, wondering where she's been all our life. When we first met her, she told of us her various theatre gigs. She mentioned a famous theatre here in Chicago. Our friend Dragonfly worked as a public relations and fund raiser manager there at one time. Yes, Clara met him, loved him. (It's hard not to love Dragonfly.) Small world.

About to get a little bigger.

Clara phoned and said she'd be bringing a friend. Banky had never met this guy, but he's very fun loving and happy to meet new people. (Thank goodness, or else he'd not be in our life. A conversation struck up on the El* when he rode with Bart one evening. We've been getting together ever since.) Okay, so eventually Clara arrives with Cowboy. [Note: This psuedonym is not based on his attire.] Before she came over with him, she apparently had asked him if he knew Bart and Peter. Nope. Didn't ring a bell. So, we met in the usual way, shook hands, exchanged pleasantries.

We never made it to Scrabble, but a decanter of wine (Banky's first use of it) flowed copiously. Not so very long into the night, we discovered Cowboy also knows Dragonfly. Clara knows who he is and has seen him around, so to speak. But Cowboy hangs out with him. We'd not known about Cowboy (or so we thought) but it's not surprising, for Dragonfly has a plethora of people he partakes of, as he is a social Dragonfly, both personally and professionally. Okay, so Cowboy mentioned that he's the one who accompanied Dragonfly to the So You Think You Can Dance! Tour. Neither Bart nor I are fans of that show (not not fans, just never watched it) and it seemed like something to tease him about. He must have mentioned Cowboy. But he certainly mentioned Bart and me to Cowboy, as now that bell rang. "You're that Bart and Peter?!" Yep.

I couldn't help but wonder about this group of people. Suppose, for instance, that Bart had not met Banky on the train. We then wouldn't know Clara. Nor Cowboy. But wait. Obviously, Dragonfly could have navigated his friendship to introduce me and Bart to Cowboy. But Cowboy knew Clara from college. Thus, we could have met her through him, and if Clara's meeting of Banky remained intact, it could have been Bart and me going to a stranger's house and meeting Banky for the first time. In other words, would 'Great Spirit' have stacked the cards so that this group of individuals would have met in this configuration no matter what? It's almost Dickensian.

We had plenty of fun that evening. Banky's a musician, so he treated us to some guitar playing which prompted some singing along. But not campfire stuff... more like "Pork and Beans" by Weezer (yes, again), some Phish, Tenacious D and The Cranberries. Reminded me a bit of my freshmyn year of college. And such spontaneous crazy behavior seemed just what the doctor ordered. We also had some references back to topics that had been brought up during the course of the day for Bart and me, but we were not the ones who instigated talking about them during our soiree. You know..."coincidences."

Much later in the evening (or morning, depending on your perception) Cowboy took his leave. Clara, Bart, Banky and I chatted away, then...bumfcht. The power went out. Banky seemed eeriely cool with it, in a refreshing sort of way. He just lit a few more candles and we continued along. (He'd said it happened once before, to the whole block and it seemed like this had been another case of that as the whole building had shut off.) The fun continued, a little more mellow and thrilling in the darker room. (We had also been diving into the "virtues" of YouTube earlier, so it also proved a nice change from the previous activity. Suddenly you couldn't look up "just one more thing...")

So there we sat, talking, playing a game akin to Mad Libs but far more creative and wacky. Banky and a friend back home invented it. At one point, nature called for Bart so he traversed down the hall by bringing a candle with him. He returned and asked Banky where he got the candle. From one of his clients, it seemed. He elaborated. A bit of a sad story: The client lost a daughter in an untimely death and the candles and other items had been part of a collection on a website to raise awareness or money, or some such goal...Banky couldn't remember for sure and did not get all of the details. He did, however, know the name of the "organization." [We'll call it Amanda's Wish] Bart's red flag waved! I didn't remember it, but apparently Amanda's Wish had a large function recently, which, yes, Dragonfly had handled all the arrangements for at his current job. Another unexpected and strange connection for the night. But what makes this funnier...

Dragonfly "hates" Banky. Note the quotes. Actually, Dragonfly has never met Banky. But Dragonfly adores being ornery, in the most delightful ways. Suddenly you and he are "in a fight" because you like, say, cucumbers over tomatoes. He's not serious, of course, but his delivery provides entertainment value. Dragonfly is a very quick wit, quite fond of pushing the envelope. Trust me, you'd want his shenanigans to occur. Dragonfly, Tall Boy, Bart and I had planned to see a movie, but it took a while before our schedules matched. By then, Banky had expressed an interest. So I texted Dragonfly and said Banky might come. (Just days before, Dragonfly, in an imaginary huff, inquired about "this Banky" Bart and I had been talking about. The sparks of the "hatred" for hanging out with "this guy" so much.) Well, Dragonfly did not take kindly to Banky trying to barge into the scene...and hoped that he didn't get into an unfortunate accident on the way to the restaurant. [Turns out Banky could not make it, but didn't mind us going without him.] So...when it's revealed that the two of them are separated only by this woman's campaign to help the ill, it's almost too much. Especially since Bart related that Dragonfly worked very hard on the project and it began to wear on him. Another reason to hate Banky? Nah... For the record, the two of them will meet for the first time, today. For it's Lage's anniversary of her birth. The Earth has gone around three decades since she's been on it, and we're celebrating with a big party.

Looking back through it again, it all seems fictional. Almost like someone wrote it up. The connections, the random events... concocted. But by whom? Well, whomever it is, I'm enjoying this chapter very much.

* The Elevator Train

"Pete Rogers" in the 21st Century?

Allow me to speak off the topic of writing and storytelling for today’s post so I may tell you what transpired this weekend.

Bart and took another step into the 21st Century. Our 52” widescreen flat HDTV arrived. Hosah. We also now have a Blu-Ray player and HD TiVo (150 hours of HD storage). To quote Napoleon Dynamite, “SWEET!”

That’s what we did on Saturday…waited beyond the “window” of time for the delivery and patiently waited for it to be set up. As you may know from the cover flap of Peter Pan’s NeverWorld, Bart and I live on the third floor. It’s a walk up. Obviously we did not want to lug it up ourselves when we could have someone used to the task do it for us. But we’re the “recipients who care” as we had coffee, orange juice, multi-flavor bagels from ‘Einstein!’ and both regular and strawberry cream cheese spread. He told us that many folks don’t even offer water!

I’m not going to typing rave about how “sweet” it is…you all either know or can imagine.

But wowsers.

As of right now, we have to wait until tomorrow evening to actually get HD channels…or even cable stations like the Food Network (a favorite of Bart, my adorable cook.) It’s because of a lack of knowledge both on my part and on the part of our cable provider. The cable provider is notorious for making “customer service” an oxymoron. [Thanks to Mission Improvisational, see post here.] However, don’t think me a moron. My misunderstanding is caused by unfamiliarity. We no longer have a “cable box.” A “cable card” slides into our TiVo and it becomes both. So the card equals/replaces the box. Completely foreign and wacky concept to me. Cable Provider had told me "oh just plug it in!" but...NO. "Lied" to, again. They need to activate it somehow and cannot do so until Tuesday because not enough people are aware of how to do it. (The technology/procedure is “foreign” to many, including their own staff.)

Having a dual tuner TiVo makes it all the more wonderful. And Bart is truly astounded and satisfied with the amazing quality of Disney’s first Blu-Ray animated feature, Sleeping Beauty. (It’s his favorite.) I gave him the Blu-Ray of it (as well as the enhanced regular DVD version) for our Anniversary this past October. So only now (then) has he been able to experience its glory. [And, yes, I too relish said glory.]

Okay. Enough about the 21st Century upgrade at our place.

The rest of our weekend (when not seeing [and learning remotes and settings and such of] the magnitude) had its share of delights. We had a lovely meal on Saturday night at the home of a family which is friends with ours.

Sunday morning we brunched with Dragonfly and Tall Boy. We had them meet us at our place first, as they had not been told about the “new arrival.” Needless to say, they Oooed and Ahhhed. We then went on to brunch, choosing a place just blocks from where we live. For the weather proved rather unwelcoming. Yes, Winter has officially come to Chicago. We braved the sleet-like rain and wind, rewarded, thankfully, with a great meal and a lovely visit. Tall Boy regaled us with some inside information on The Ville, his live theatre soap opera. Even better, he told us about the opera he has conceived. It's marvelously inventive...and it had been inspired by something Dragonfly said. How great is that? I wish could explain the premise to you, but 1) it is not place to do so with an unestablished work and 2) it's something you'd be better off discovering. It's that imaginative. "Wow," said I with utmost weight and sincerity to Tall Boy. "Yeah," he replied, "I've been thinking about this for a while now." Let us hope that he finds the time and gumption to bring it to fruition!

Meanwhile, Winter progressed to horrendous as the day wore on into a nighttime snowy, icy mess. But it looks damn pretty everywhere!

I then spent much of the rest of Sunday cleaning up the den. Before the new TV came, we had been using the television I use to play Wii, for we gave our living room TV to friends who had a television a fraction of the size of most folks. (Circa 18”) Since they have two adorable little girls, we knew they’d enjoy receiving a bigger screen, too. They also inherited our all-the-bells-and-whistles DVD player. Hooray for sharing and caring. Thus, since the TV had been removed, I took the opportunity to dust and just generally clean up and out and entire room. It had become a tangled overstuffed mess. Incidentally, the den is also where the computer is and hence, where I do my writing.

All righty, thanks for letting me ramble about my lovely weekend.

I’ll be back on track with story/writing posts tomorrow with a review of the movie we watched in HD.

Mystical Elegance

- my two word description
of the set for Anung’s First American Christmas.

Yes, I returned to the theatre last night. (Twice, actually. But two different theatres - more in a bit.)

Let me say that my prediction had been correct. The results of the work done are wonderful. (Not that it had been any great feat to predict as such!) Walking in, I beheld a complete dreamcatcher. Even the “web” portion has been colored to match the sinew of the real dreamtime tool. Every detail certainly counts toward the whole effect.

I painted this time - but all the “fun” parts had already been done. It’s best, anyway, to leave that to professionals like Laughter. But now, by my meager hand, the rest of the theatre floor is black, which sets off the…er…set. For the record, Laughter’s Cosmos is much more subtle than the photos I showed. He did have a plethora of pictures much the same, but it’s easy to see why he toned it down. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of shining stars and streaming wufts of color. Just not as prominent. And, of course, it works much better. All part of the elegance. The fabrics, too, have been fancified with hues. It’s marvelous.

I also saw my college prof, the one who wrote the show. (I suppose I should give him a name!) Very nice to see Sparrow again. We chatted about the show a little. Naturally, he asked about Peter Pan’s NeverWorld, too. Sparrow then showed Laughter and me the materials he’ll be using for the Installation. Vitalist Theatre is known for its elaborate ante-room presentations. And Sparrow goes to town on them, for they are his domain. Whether it be bits of literature, photos or actual pieces (in this case branches/trees, antlers, animal skulls, etc.) the decorative and informative display is a theatrical event all its own.

I also chanced to wander through the Green Room. Know what I saw? The puppets, masks and costumes! Wow! Bravo to everyone involved. The puppets are truly remarkable. They are adorable yet reverently realistic of the Animals they represent. I can’t wait to see them in motion. Exquisite work all around. And I’m too curious who wears what and when!

Mighty fine work. Oh, by the way, Laughter says the 40 foot silks are in fact 45 feet.

While Anung rehearsed, I attened The Ville, a series by Bare Boned Theatre. The brainchild of Dragonfly’s beau, Tall Boy (along with Sappho), The Ville is a madcap soap opera depicting the lives of gays and lesbians in Andersonville. Regrettably I have not been able to make every performance in the saga. (A new “episode” begins the first Monday of each month.) But I am quite glad to have seen this one, the musical season finale. Tall Boy wrote all the music and lyrics. He’s quite talented, skilled in not only varying the melodies and tone, but able to wittily convey the story through song. [You know, like an composer and lyricist should! ;) ] Bravo, Tall Boy! And bravo to Sappho and everyone else in the company. It’s quite the amusing show. And yet, for every purposeful over-the-top scenario is an undercut of poignancy and a deeper issue. It’s always a delight.

My first post about Anung's First American Christmas can be found here.

Misbehave? Down, Austin!

Last night Bart and I attended Ain't Misbehavin' at the Goodman Theatre.
Though it did not blow me away, it provided a great time.
Very strong voices, great dance routines, top notch music and a delightful set.

On the way home, Bart spotted Dragonfly and Tall Boy in a "greasy spoon" from the cab window.
This time the serendipity isn't so amazing, as Tall Boy lives merely blocks away from us and the diner isn't even a whole block away. Bart had an omelete. I ate his (unwanted) hash browns and had a root beer float. We misbehaved. Just a little...all in fun.

Another Culture Weekend

Once again we packed our weekend with much fun and culture. Bart and I went to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant with his sister Lage. Then Bart and I headed down to The Greenhouse Theater, a smaller space affiliated with the Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater. We saw a performance of five one-woman shows, the fruits of Tekki Lomnicki’s class on writing a one-person show. Sunshine attended this class before moving to Ohio and came back to perform her piece, Inconceivable! All in all it proved to be great. Each show had both charm and weight, true delights, relating issues ranging from insights into historical figures to dealing with ludicrous racism during 9/11.
Brava to them all!

After that Bart and I moved on to the Tony-winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater for their latest rendition of Comedy of Errors. Let me tell you, Bart and I have been subscribers for about four years now. We are always impressed, but this show had to be one of the best we have ever seen. Wow! Genius. Brilliant! The show did not just contain Shakespeare’s wacky classic, but another play erected on top of it. The concept took place in London during the 1940’s when a troupe of screen actors get together to film Comedy of Errors and only having 36 hours to do so. They filmed it gratis for the troops fighting Hitler. The new script shined with delicious characters and relationships “on the set.” Yes, it had the obligatory moments such as “CUT!” But it never overused such devices, either. The special effects (bombings!) were fantastic and it even began by staging the prologue as a screening, making it appear flickering and in black & white! Top notch performances (as always at Chicago Shakespeare) and a miraculously expanding set that worked well both as stage and movie studio pieces, complete with cameras and cinema lights [the kind on the stands] creating the perfect atmosphere. Ron West, who wrote the script for the Shepperton Studio scenes and Barbara Gaines (always love her direction!) are to be congratulated, measure for measure. (Sorry for that bad pun.) Just fantastic. If you are in Chicago, don’t miss this one. BRAVO! Not much time left - it runs until June 29.

Today is also Fathers’ Day, so a nod and shout to all our patriarchs out there!
We will be having a lovely dinner with Bart’s father.

Later tonight we’ll have Lage, Dragonfly and Tall Boy over to watch the Tonys. More culture! We of course will be using the magic of TiVo in order to watch.

So, hooray. Another lovely weekend.

Sound the Horn, Caspian!

Tonight Cassidy and Dragonfly will join Bart and I for a scrumptious Pan-Asian feast, after which we will be attending The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. As can be guessed, I am very excited. Not only am I a Narnia fan, I am a fan of Andrew Adamson & his crew. Quite pleased with their adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I am curious to see what they do with the plight of Caspian. Long ago I read their assessment of the novel and how they planned to tackle it. At first skepticism loomed as I read of their desire to include more action and other such touch ups. So I re-read the novel...and agreed. The book is primarily walking and talking. Coupled with their incredible job at punching up LWW without losing any of Lewis' story, I realized I should trust Adamson again. I cannot be the first to note this, but how fitting that Adam-son is so passionate and skilled at bringing the vision of Narnia to life. If you've read the books or saw LWW, you'll understand.
I'll be sure and let you know how I liked it.
Long live the Lion!