The Blues: of Grassy and Moody Varieties

It's been a blues-filled week. (I may be stretching a little bit by tying these two events together, but I like to think of it as "being creative.")

First, on a quick, unrelated note: I had a birthday. There's not much to report on the subject, but it seemed a little weird to just go past it without acknowledging it. So: I had a birthday. It went by pretty uneventfully, as I was in dress rehearsals for my show at the time. I bought myself some new clothes (from Matt... he got away easy this year), had a little dinner with my family, and got some books, craft stuff, and more clothes for gifts. It was nice, and now I'm older. That's all.

Anyway, back to my bluesy week.

On Tuesday, I went out for what I hope will become a new summer tradition. There's a fun restaurant up in Lyons, Colorado called Oskar Blues. This place is known for its good beer and fun music events, and every Tuesday night is bluegrass night. My friend, Rachel, and I headed up for dinner and some good music.

Rachel and Stumpy (her cast).

I hadn't realized that there would be no organized bluegrass band performing for us. Instead, a ton of bluegrass musicians gathered around to jam. With no plan and no set list, these people just came together and played music. It was pretty awesome.

Bluegrass jam.

Yay, music.

As the night went on, more and more musicians kept coming in. The circle grew, with many people standing around the edges. At one point, I counted over 25 musicians.

Lots of bluegrass-ers.

Rachel and I got lucky with a front row table to the whole event. It was really cool, and we hope to repeat the fun many times this summer.

After bluegrassing it up on Tuesday, my blues became... blue-er. (I'm really pulling this out of nowhere now... oh, well.)

This weekend, I closed the show I've been working on for the last month or so. It was very sad for me.

See. I'm sad. I'm about to perform my show for the last time.

I'm totally suffering from the post-show blues. But I tried to enjoy the opportunity while I still had it. I had a blast performing this weekend. In fact, I think Saturday night's show was one of the most fun performances I've ever been involved in.

I went a little picture crazy during the last show. I just had to capture the memories!

Men getting ready.

Women getting ready.

Me and Mom.

We had a little drama before our final show. Our hero and leading man was late! He was driving from a dress rehearsal in Larkspur to our show in Brighton (a really long way, for all you non-Coloradans). We knew he was doing his best to get to the show, so we weren't too worried. But it is a little nerve-wracking to be missing the star of the show.

Our director, on the phone with Jack Swan.

Our show was supposed to start at 2. He still wasn't there.

The cast, waiting and worried.

Finally, he has arrived. I'm not sure if I've ever seen anyone run across a parking lot that fast.

Our hero.

Finally, our show could start. It was pretty ridiculously awesome.

Mother McGoof and Captain Bermuda.

Me and the director/Carlota.

Rawhide, eating his sandwich.

The preacher. He tried to marry me.

Now that the show's over, I can let out the secret: the damsel does not end up with the hero. We're tricky. I end up with this guy:

Lt. Lorne Order and my future husband. He's 6'8", so he pretty much looks like this to me when I look up at him.

Scary villain.

Showing off my bloomers. They were cute.

After the show, Jack Swan took the time to meet one of his biggest fans, my niece. She liked him.

Hero and villain after the show. Now they can be friends. How nice.

As is usually the case, post-show is the time for parties. We had a last hurrah together at the cast party.

Food and party.

Now it's over, and I've got the post-show blues. I usually get pretty sad when shows end, but this time I'm really sad. Now I'm back on hiatus until I finish grad school. It's really hard to walk away from this much fun, knowing that I have no more theatre in my near future. Of course, I wasn't planning on being involved in this show until I got pulled in at the last minute. So, I guess you never know what will happen. In any case, there will be more shows. Just maybe not for a while.

Dark Deeds Are Afoot!

Yup, it's true. Even though I told everyone (including myself) that I was giving up theatre while in grad school, here I am in another show. I just couldn't turn down the opportunity to play the damsel in a ridiculous melodrama. Doesn't that just sound like tons of fun?

Well, it is.

Though it made my life a little crazy and stressful at times, I'm really glad I decided to accept the role. It's been such a release from the stress of work and grad school. I have had a blast!
Last weekend, we opened our show to great (if small) houses! Tomorrow night, we continue our run! If you're in the Denver area you should definitely come check us out. Just look at how much fun we have:

Damsel, Bertha Birthright (me) and the villain, Montague Leech

Getting ready for the show. Look, it's my mom.

It's been a lot of fun getting to be in a show with my mom again. This is only the third time in my life it's happened, and the only time as an adult. I was five and thirteen during each of the previous shows we've done together.

I'm a pirate... before I turn into a damsel.

Tai Pan.

Our hero, Jack Swan, and the evil villain.

Jack Swan, saving me from... something. I look a little scared. I think it's because my giant dress is eating us.

Even heroes need to be saved some times. Lt. Lorne Order to the rescue!

Me and one of my men...

Oooh, scary. See this show has everything.

Damsel and villain. We're obviously not in character or he would be doing something mean and I would be crying about it.

Carlota Castanet de San Diego. Dead... under mysterious circumstances (or resting during intermission).

As you can see, this show is ridiculous. But it's also hilarious and tons of fun! I had originally thought that I didn't have time to participate in theatre and keep my sanity. Now I'm thinking that being involved in this show has helped me to keep my sanity. It's been such a relief to stop thinking about special education for a couple hours, and just play and have fun!

Come see Dark Deeds at Swan's Place (or Never Trust a Tattooed Sailor) this weekend: Friday and Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 2. For information, visit the Platte Valley Players website!

Kelly's Not as Strenuous - But Still Fun! - Weekend

Because Matt was off on his boys' trip (see previous post), I had to find a way to entertain myself this weekend. On Friday night, my mom and I went to see August: Osage County at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. We had wanted to see the show when we were in New York last year, but didn't get the chance. So when we saw that the Broadway tour was coming to Denver, we had to get tickets.


I really enjoyed the experience of seeing the show with my mom, and getting to discuss it after. The show itself? It was quite good, but not as great as we'd expected. It won many awards on Broadway, including the Tony for best play, so we were expecting this amazing evening of theatre. Unfortunately, for various reasons, it didn't deliver quite like we'd hoped. But it was an interesting show, and it was fun getting to go with my mom.

Each summer, my sisters and I make a trip to our local Renaissance Festival north of Colorado Springs. Matt's never been as much of a fan of the festival as the rest of us, and with him gone Saturday, it was a good day to make our trek.

On our way.

So excited.

The whole idea of a Renaissance Festival is really pretty odd, yet it is one of my favorite things to do in the summer. Most of the time, we just stand around outside in the dirt, have some food and drinks, and look at pretty things that are usually too expensive to buy. Occasionally, we'll watch some of the silly jousting shows. But somehow, it's still so much fun!

Cheers!

A few of the crazy people who worked at the festival. They were funny.

The kiddos, about to enter the maze.

Chris bought beautiful flowers for his wife and daughter. They left the baby with Grandma. Probably smart, given the heat, sun, and dirt.

Salem also bought flowers for her girls. Aww, happy family. Just look how Salem looks lovingly at her daughter.

While at the festival, we saw Dog the Bounty Hunter. So... that was cool.

Dog.

The kiddos got their faces painted.

The joust.

After the festival, we tried to have an impromptu birthday party for my brother-in-law, as Matt and I will be out of town next week during his actual birthday. Unfortunately, we were all so tired from the day, that we weren't a lot of fun.

Sleepy.

I guess we'll just have to owe you a good party, Chris!

Sunday, we celebrated my dad's birthday with a little bar-b-que gathering. It was quite exciting because Matt wasn't around to grill. I channeled my "inner man" and made some pretty good brats and hot dogs. I was a little proud.

As a gift to my dad, my sisters and I framed some of my dad's old 45s. As in 45s my dad recorded back in the 70s. There were a few of his songs that he performed with Fyre, his band at the time. There was also one he recorded himself, and one he produced. It ended up looking pretty darn good. But I forgot to get a picture of the end product before he took it home, so I'll have to add it later.

Well, I may not have climbed a mountain this weekend, but I had a pretty good time. Matt looked like he had a great weekend, too. I guess I may need to make him take me along next time!