The Lincoln Highway

My Book of the Month selection for October was The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (the other options were The Perishing by Natasha Deon, The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead, and Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart) and I absolutely loved it (almost as much as I loved his previous novel A Gentleman in Moscow which is high praise, indeed).  In 1954 Emmett Watson, age 18, has been released a few months early, in consideration of his father's death, from a work camp in Kansas where he has served 15 months for involuntary manslaughter.  He is driven home to Nebraska by the kindly warden who tells him that he has paid his debt to society and should try to live a productive life.  He learns that his father's farm has been foreclosed by the bank and decides that it would be best if he and his eight-year-old brother Billy make a fresh start in a new state.  After much research he decides that Texas would be a good option because the population is growing and he can use his carpentry skills to buy rundown houses and renovate them in order to sell them for profit.  However, his brother Billy, inspired by his copy of Professor Abacus Abernathe's Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers, wants to go on an adventure to find their mother, who abandoned the family several years earlier.  He suspects that she is in California based on postcards sent to the boys from stops on her journey.  However, the brothers are surprised when they discover that two other inmates, Duchess and Wallace "Woolly" Wolcott Martin, went AWOL from the work camp and stowed away in the trunk of the warden's car.  They have a plan to go to New York to claim $150,000.00 left in a safe by Woolly's wealthy grandfather and offer to split the money with Emmett in exchange for a ride.  The four of them ultimately embark on an odyssey of sorts on the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway in the U.S., in Emmett's baby blue Studebaker and they have a series of adventures, and misadventures, as they attempt to settle old scores and make a future for themselves. The narrative spans ten days and is told from multiple perspectives, including a myriad of secondary characters encountered in numerous settings, each with a distinctive voice. All four protagonists are incredibly compelling, especially the wide-eyed Billy, and the storytelling, reminiscent of Steinbeck and Twain, drew me in completely.  I really enjoyed the exploration of intention in determining culpability.  The three young men take actions that seem justified given what they have experienced in their lives but, when those actions have unintended consequences, should they be held accountable?  The prose is beautiful and I savored every single word!  After falling in love with A Gentleman in Moscow during the lockdown, I had very high expectations for The Lincoln Highway and it definitely did not disappoint. I highly recommend this thought-provoking tale of friendship, self-discovery, and adventure.

Amy Grant at the Eccles

When I was in college I worked as a counselor at a summer camp and my bunk mate was really into Christian rock.  Some of it rubbed off on me because that was the summer I became a huge fan of Amy Grant.  Some people are surprised when they learn this about me but I love her and I've seen her several times in concert.  I was so excited to see her again last night at the Eccles Theater for a concert to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Heart in Motion, her most mainstream and commercially successful album (although my favorite is Lead Me On).  As such, she played quite a few songs from this album, including "Hope Set High," "Good For Me," "That's What Love Is For," "Ask Me," "Baby Baby," and "Every Heartbeat."  She also played "Don't Ever Want to Lose It" which is a song she began writing when she was working on material for Heart in Motion but never finished.  When she was in the process of releasing a 30th Anniversary edition of the album she decided to finish and record it.  I had never heard it before and I really liked it.  She played "Saved By Love" and "1974" (which I had never heard live before) from my favorite album Lead Me On and I absolutely loved hearing these songs.  She also sang quite a few of my favorites from The Collection (which I listened to over and over again when I was in college), such as "Stay For a While," "Angels," "Find a Way," "El-Shaddai" (one of my favorite moments of the night), "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" (which got the crowd on their feet), and "Emmanuel" (another favorite moment).  She included a few songs from some of her later albums, such as "Say Once More," "If I Could See (What the Angels See)," "Children of the World," "Helping Hand," "Turn This World Around," "Out in the Open," and "Better Than a Hallelujah."  I wasn't as familiar with these songs but I really enjoyed them.  She ended her set with a cover of "Put A Little Love in Your Heart," which she often does, and then came back to perform a heartfelt version of "I Will Remember You" from Heart in Motion as the encore (when she came back to the stage for the encore people started shouting songs they wanted to hear, I wanted "Everywhere I Go," and she said she wasn't singing any of them but she was making a setlist for the next time she came to town).  Grant is a very charismatic performer and last night was no exception because she recounted many amusing stories before each song and she frequently had the audience laughing out loud.  I loved this concert (I sang almost every word) and it was wonderful to be back at the Eccles Theater for such a fun show!

No Time To Die

As a huge fan of the Bond franchise (I've seen every movie several times and some are definitely better than others) I have been anticipating Daniel Craig's final outing as my favorite Bond for what seems like forever!  I finally had the chance to see No Time To Die at a Thursday preview last night and I think it is an epic conclusion to a story arc that began with Casino Royale.  After the events of Spectre, Bond (Craig) is on holiday in Italy with Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) but an incident at Vesper Lynde's grave leads him to believe that Swann has betrayed him and he leaves her.  Five years later, Bond has retired to Jamaica but CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) enlists his help to investigate the kidnapping of Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), a scientist who has created a deadly bioweapon capable of targeting an individual's DNA.  He joins a rookie CIA agent named Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Cuba to rescue Obruchev at a Spectre gathering coordinated by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) but encounters a new MI6 agent named Nomi (Lashana Lynch) who is there for the same reason.  It turns out that Obruchev is working for Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), a terrorist with a grudge against Blofeld and Spectre, and capturing him forces Bond to work with Nomi and, more importantly, Madeleine.  I really enjoyed so many things about this movie.  There are lots of iconic action sequences, including some amazing car chases featuring several Aston Martin models, but there is also quite a bit of heart because, while the stakes are incredibly high for mankind, they are also high for Bond personally and I love Bond's character arc through the five movies.  I have to admit that I particularly enjoyed the evolution of his attitude towards women (but I am glad the gadgets, cars, and martinis remained).  Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas are fantastic and their characters more than hold their own with Bond in saving the world.  Naomie Harris isn't given much to do as Moneypenny but Ben Whishaw provides a lot of comic relief, as usual, as Q and Ralph Fiennes shows some vulnerability as M.  Rami Malek gives an incredibly menacing performance as the villain but one of my few criticisms is his character's lack of motivation for targeting Bond after destroying Spectre (my other criticisms are the length and Lea Seydoux as a bland love interest yet again).  Finally, I didn't especially care for the theme song by Billie Eilish but I loved the score by Hans Zimmer, especially during Bond's visit to Blofeld in Belmarsh Prison.  I had so much fun watching this on an IMAX screen with a large and enthusiastic crowd and I highly recommend it to fans of the franchise.

Note:  Producers will begin the process of looking for a new Bond next year.  Might I suggest Dev Patel?  It would be a bold choice but he is definitely up for an action role (if you don't believe me, watch The Wedding Guest).

The Hunchback of Notre Dame at HCTO

After seeing two outstanding productions (one at HCT and another at CPT) I have become a huge fan of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and, since I thoroughly enjoyed HCTO's production of The 39 Steps, I have been looking forward to their version of this stirring musical for weeks.  I was particularly interested in seeing how this big and complicated show (both of the aforementioned productions had very elaborate sets) could be adapted for the small and intimate stage at HCTO.  I was able to see it last night and I loved everything about it!  Quasimodo (Chase Ramsey) has been hidden by his uncle Frollo (Chase Petersen) in the bell tower of Notre Dame Cathedral all of his life because of a deformity.  He yearns to leave the cathedral and decides that the Feast of Fools would be the perfect opportunity to do so.  He is eventually crowned the King of Fools but, when the crowd turns on him, he is rescued by a gypsy named Esmeralda (Phoebe Shepherd Beenfield).  She also catches the eye of the captain of the cathedral guard, Phoebus de Martin (Woody Brook), who falls in love with her and she bewitches Frollo who becomes obsessed with possessing her.  When Esmeralda rejects Frollo, he orders Phoebus to arrest her but he refuses and they both become fugitives.  Quasimodo gives them sanctuary in the cathedral forcing a dramatic confrontation in the bell tower.  All four leads have incredibly beautiful voices and I loved their performances of "God Help the Outcasts," "Hellfire," "Heaven's Light," and "Someday."  Ramsey imbues Quasimodo with a childlike wonder while Petersen does an outstanding job of portraying Frollo's torment. I also really enjoyed the depiction of the Gargoyles, especially their interactions with Quasimodo in the songs "Top of the World" and "Made of Stone."  The staging of this show is incredibly innovative, particularly "Hellfire" because Esmeralda taunts Frollo in what appears to be flames and the confrontation in the bell tower because the pyrotechnics are quite spectacular.  The choreography in "Topsy Turvy," "Rhythm of the Tambourine," and "Tavern Song" is brilliant because it involves many dancers performing intricate steps in a small space.  I loved the set and, while it is not as substantial as the others I've seen, it is highly effective.  I particularly liked the stained glass windows and the bell tower (one of my favorite scenes is when Quasimodo rings the bells).  I was so impressed with this show (I actually saw a preview which was flawless) and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets).

Note:  My dear friend Karen, whom I haven't seen in more than a year, was in the audience and it was so much fun to talk to her during the intermission.  I met her on a trip to NYC and we bonded over our shared obsession with Hamilton.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

I was not a fan of Venom (to put it mildly) but I spontaneously decided to see the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, last night and it was much better than I was expecting.  Shortly after the events of the first movie Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiote Venom are struggling to coexist because Eddie wants to reestablish himself as a serious journalist and Venom is increasingly frustrated because he wants more freedom to eat people.  A serial killer on death row named Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) gives Eddie an exclusive interview but Venom is provoked into attacking him and the resulting altercation causes Cletus to ingest a piece of the symbiote.  Eventually a fully formed symbiote named Carnage emerges which allows Cletus to escape from prison during his execution.  The relationship between Eddie and Venom deteriorates and they separate for a time (with a hilarious scene where Venom goes to a club) but they are forced to work together when Cletus uses Carnage to rescue his girlfriend Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), a mutant known as Shriek because of her sonic vocal abilities, and kidnap Anne (Michelle Williams), Eddie's former fiancee.  An epic confrontation ensues in which Eddie and Venom must learn that they are better when they work together.  I think the plot is incredibly thin with quite a few holes (Venom is inexplicably able to spawn a red symbiote that is bigger and stronger than him) but I still found it to be a lot of fun.  I especially enjoyed the witty and amusing banter between Eddie and Venom but I also found the exploration of their relationship to be surprisingly poignant.  Hardy's characterization of Eddie is more consistent in this movie than the last one and Harrelson looks like he is having a ball playing such an over the top homicidal maniac.  The battle between Eddie/Venom and Cletus/Carnage seems like it is over very quickly and the stakes are not as high compared to other superhero movies but it is still quite thrilling.  I can't say that I loved this movie but, in my opinion, it is an improvement over the first one and I recommend it to fans of the characters.

Note:  It goes without saying that you should stay for a mid-credits scene.  It's a good one!