Seriously, I will. Big plans. One day!
Then I’ll remove this post because I’ll actually have something to post.
Probably.
Possibly?
Seriously, I will. Big plans. One day!
Then I’ll remove this post because I’ll actually have something to post.
Probably.
Possibly?
UPDATE 11/21/2020: This was a failed project. I kept it going for 6 weeks and then sort of let it slip for the rest of the year. Can’t even blame it on Covid-19 – this would have been an easy-peasy thing to do in lockdown. Guess it was just not important enough. I may attempt again someday (with an improved way to make entries – this updating the same page thing was a little clunky). But I think this is done for now.
One of my intentions for 2020 is to listen to at least on new (to me) music album every week. This post is where I will record my progress. The “recommended by” for the most part are recommendations for the artist – not always (but sometimes) recommendations for the particular album.
WK | Album | Artist | Recommended By | Impressions |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sleep Well Beast | The National | Karen R, Mace D | It was interesting. Voice similar to Leonard Cohen. Liked Walk It Back and I’ll Still Destroy You the best. |
1 | High Violet | The National | Mace D, Karen R | This one did less for me than the Sleep Well Beast. If I had to choose a favorite song from the album it would probably be Bloodbuzz Ohio. |
2 | Aims | Vienna Teng | Saeri G, Karen R | I like this artist and plan to listen to more of her music. I think my favorite on this album would probably vary by what mood I were in, but for now, I’ll say, Close to Home. |
3 | Cuz I Love You | Lizzo | Rae M, Maria A | Great, powerful voice, powerful lyrics, and very dance-able beat. Will probably listen to more. Still deciding on favorite. |
4 | My Head is an Animal | Of Monsters and Men | Tracy F, Karen R, David S | Liked it, but I think that I wouldn’t binge listen to this because although I think the femme voice is beautiful, I think I’d only consider it so in small doses. Favorite of the album is Six Weeks. |
5 | When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? | Billie Eilish | The Grammys | Even though I don’t think anyone gave me a recommendation for this artist, I figured I’d have to check her out given her killing at the Grammys. This artist is my absolute favorite so far this year. I will definitely listen to this album again and again, and will check out her other work. A few of the songs I loved were: bad guy, all the good girls go to hell, my strange addiction, and listen before i go. |
5 | Takk | Sigur Ros | Ross M. | I think I’d really need to be in a particular mood for this. Or maybe 25 years ago when I was kind of into “new age” music. Now I just find it kind of monotonous. 🙁 I really hoped to enjoy Icelandic music, because I really enjoyed Iceland. Sigh. |
6 | Rammstein | Ramstein | Kat D. | I would definitely listen to this again – and others by this artist. Love the voice. It makes me really wish I knew me some German. |
6 | The Bifrost Incident | The Mechanisms | Andy S. | This was very interesting. I want to see the movie! (Not that there IS a movie – it’s just very narrative/cinematic). I’ll definitely try more by this group. I’ll also recommend it to my spawn – I think he might like it. |
In the beginning of 2019, I set an intention to see at least one live performing arts performance every week for the entire year. I’m happy to say that I succeeded. Not only did I attend at least one performance every single week of the year, I attending 101 different events over the 52 weeks. Even excluding my time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I “doubled up” 10 weeks of the year.
I was very happy that friends joined me at 26 of the events (or I joined them, in some cases), and 17 of the events involved people that I know personally. Also, 79 of the shows were by groups that I have never seen before.
Below is the list of events by week. When it says “w/” the name following is someone I know who was involved in the show (most often as a performer).
WEEK | SHOW | COMPANY |
---|---|---|
01 | The Winter Wolf | Otherworld Theatre |
02 | The Old Lady Broods | Trap Door Theatre (w/Manuela Rentea) |
03 | Antigone | Kirkwood Players |
04 | The Tin Woman | Theater of Western Springs |
05 | I Know My Own Heart | Pride Films and Theatre |
06 | Defiance | Buffalo Theatre Ensemble |
06 | Chinese New Year Parade | various |
07 | Chapatti | First Folio |
08 | Angelique Kidjo and Ladysmith Black Mambazo | Angelique Kidjo and Ladysmith Black Mambazo |
09 | Giselle | English National Ballet |
10 | Cardboard Piano | Timeline Theatre |
11 | Gross Indecency | Promethean Theatre Ensemble (w/Heather Smith) |
12 | How to Live on Earth | Chimera Ensemble |
13 | Southern Comfort | Pride Films and Theatre (w/Kyra Leigh) |
13 | The Man Who Was Thursday | Lifeline |
14 | Good Enough | 16th Street Theatre |
15 | Cambodian Rock Band | Victory Gardens |
16 | Best for Winter | Idle Muse Theatre (w/Erik Schnitger) |
17 | A Night at the Cabaret | Center Stage (w/Rose Bonarek) |
17 | Eurydice (Ruhl) | Jedlicka Performing Arts Center |
18 | Medusa Undone | Otherworld Theatre (w/Mary-Kate Arnold) |
18 | Small World | New Colony |
19 | Friends of Gamelan | Old School of Folk Music |
19 | Vagina Monologues | Elgin Community College (w/Brin Bixby) |
20 | Tribute to Cliff Alexis | Harper College Steel Bands (w/Pen Skrzynski) |
20 | I and You | OPFT and Open Door |
21 | Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez | CSO |
22 | BiPolar Bitch | Labrynth Arts & Sweetback Productions |
23 | It is Magic | Theater Oobleck |
24 | Bonnie Whitmore and James McMurtry | at Space, Evanston |
24 | A Few Good Men | TownSquare Players at Woodstock Opera House (w/Steve Pickering) |
25 | The Killing Game | A Red Orchid Theatre |
26 | Anne of Green Gables | Warrenville Masterpiece Community Theater (w/Brian Sebby) |
27 | Elizabeth Rex | Oak Park Festival Theatre |
28 | New Play Dev Workshop Showcase | Women’s Theatre Alliance (w/Sara Keely McGuire, Cherie McGuire, and Christopher Donaldson) |
29 | Ada and the Engine | The Artistic Home |
30 | 1776 | St. Genesius Productions (w/Rose Bonarek) |
31 | Pirates of Penzance | PM&L (w/Jennifer Biel) |
32 | Henry V | First Folio |
32 | Cake | at Out of Space |
33 | Being Norwegian | Entity Theatre e.V. (GER) @EF |
33 | Fight Song | CalArts Festival Theater (US) @EF (w/Fiona Casper-Strauss) |
33 | Trying it On | Warwick Arts Centre and China Plate (ENG) @EF |
34 | Dark Play | NeonBox Theatre Co (US) @EF |
34 | Dalloway | Dyad Productions (ENG) @EF |
34 | Dorian Gray | The Georgian Theatre Royal Youth Theatre (ENG) @EF |
34 | Metamorphosis | Different Theatre/Sweet Productions (ENG) @EF |
34 | Importance of Being Earnest | Shakespeare Reloaded (GER) @EF |
34 | Hyde and Seek | Flat Packed Theatre (ENG) @EF |
34 | Fishbowl | SIT Productions (ENG) @EF |
34 | Drowning | Dark Lady Co (US) @EF |
34 | Genesis, the Mary Shelley Play | Artists Collective Theatre (CA) @EF |
34 | To Fall in Love | Melpomene Productions (US) @EF |
34 | It’s True, It’s True, It’s True | Breach Theatre (ENG) @EF |
34 | The Patient Gloria | Gina Moxley and Abbey Theatre with Pan Pan Theatre Company (IRL) @EF |
34 | Elizabethan | David William Hughes (US) @EF |
34 | Chameleon | FRANK. Theatre (AUS) @EF |
34 | Happy Hour | FKP, Richard Jordan Productions, Teatro Metastasio, Teater Grob, The Pleasance (ITA) @EF |
34 | Piracy! A Comedy on the High C’s | Questing Vole Productions (ENG) @EF |
34 | The Burning | Incognito Theatre Company (ENG) @EF |
34 | The Incident Room | New Diorama Theatre in co-production with Pleasance and Greenwich Theatre (ENG) @EF |
34 | Ceilidh Dancing with Band Awry | Stramash (Band – Awry) (SCO) @EF |
34 | Quintessence | Emily Carding/Sweet Productions (ENG) @EF |
34 | DNA | Casus Circus and Cluster Arts (AUS) @EF |
34 | The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui | Bede’s (ENG) @EF |
34 | Fempire: Cleo, Theo, and Wu | Theatre of NOTE (US) @EF |
34 | The Wasp | Peppered Wit Productions (ENG) @EF |
34 | Noir Hamlet | Yasplz LLC (US) @EF |
34 | Spray | Cho-in Theatre Company – Korean Season presented by AtoBiz Ltd (KOR) @EF |
34 | Northanger Abbey | Fireside Theatre (ENG) @EF |
34 | And Then They Died | Riddled Image (ENG) @EF |
35 | 00 (zero zero) | Argonaut (ENG) @EF |
35 | My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice | Dead Rabbits Theatre (ENG) @EF |
35 | Einstein | Pip Utton Theatre Co (ENG) @EF |
35 | The War of the Worlds | Rhua and Clay (ENG) @EF |
35 | Thrones! The Musical Parody | Thrones! The Musical Parody (US) @EF |
35 | A Midsummer Night’s Droll | The Owle Schreame (ENG) @EF |
35 | Wild Swimming | FullRogue (ENG) @EF |
35 | Sexy Lamp | Katie Arnstein and Victoria Gagliano (ENG) @EF |
35 | Murder She Didn’t Write: The Improvised Murder Mystery | Degrees of Error and Something for the Weekend (ENG) @EF |
35 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | The Bridge Theatre, London |
35 | Bartholomew Fair | Sam Wanamaker Playhouse/Globe Theatre, London |
36 | Legally Blonde | Freemont St Theatre (w/Steve Pickering) |
37 | Glengarry Glen Ross | Hale Theatre Co. (w/Alan Ziebarth) |
38 | Oslo | Timeline Theatre |
38 | Best of Enemies | Open Door Repertory |
39 | Aurelio Voltaire | Chicago Steampunk Expo |
40 | Holmes and Watson | Buffalo Theatre Ensemble |
41 | Bernhardt/Hamlet | Goodman |
42 | Mother of the Maid | Northlight |
43 | Countess Dracula | Otherworld Theatre |
44 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | City Lit |
45 | Hell Followed With Her | WildClaw Theater |
46 | The Suffrage Plays | Artemesia |
47 | Tru | Goz & Fotos at Stage 773 |
47 | Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula, Two Scenes from Antony and Cleopatra, and The Planets | Chicago Symphony Orchestra |
48 | Packing | About Face Theatre |
49 | You Are Happy | Red Theatre |
50 | Steel Bands Tribute to Women Composers | Harper College Steel Bands (w/Pen Skrzynski) |
51 | Mystery of Edwin Drood | Blank Theatre |
52 | Burning Bluebeard | Porchlight Music Theatre |
On Friday, I headed out early in the morning to visit Windsor Castle, only to be told (after getting all the way to Paddington Station) that the free travel that comes with the London Pass doesn’t start until 12:30 pm! Sigh. So I regrouped and decided to go to St Paul’s Cathedral (which opens earlier than most “attractions”) after getting my coffee.
I still had some time to kill, so I found a massage therapist that was vaguely on the way back to Paddington (in Fitzrovia?) who had a 11:30 opening. I had been needing a massage for over a year now, and it felt really nice albeit a lighter pressure than I usually get.
So then off to Windsor Castle.
Then back to London to see Bartholomew Fair at the Globe Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. It was just okay. Took me a while to get a grasp on what was going on.
Passed this on the way back to my hostel.
Going to start trying to fill in the days with sketchy details (mostly photos) going backwards. Then maybe I’ll add details lately.
I’m currently at the top of The Shard waiting for the sun to set so I can get a night time view. Not sure if I’ll make it. I guess I made it (see last pix)
Before that, I had some nice pumpkin ravioli for dinner, at what I think I discovered (from the receipt) to be a hotel restaurant.
Before that, the Tower Bridge …
and before that the Tower of London, which I found less interesting than I had remembered from a quarter century ago.
I started out in the morning with a backstage tour of the National Theatre with a fun, but in pain guide, Jessica.