My Summer Sidekick

During the summer Sean and I usually spend a lot of time at the pool.  Last summer it was so hot that we ended up there just about every day!  This year we have only gone once!  Since I am trying to squeeze as much fun as possible out of the last few days of summer vacation, I decided that we needed a pool day on Thursday.  A friend of mine was there with her kids (who are great friends with Sean) so it was a lot of fun!

I sure do love this kid and I love that I get to spend so much time with him!

Paul McCartney at Energy Solutions Arena

I love Paul McCartney!  No I really, really love Paul McCartney!  When I was ten or eleven I bought a 45 record of McCartney's song "Coming Up" and I played it constantly.  I played it so much that my Dad finally took me to his closet where he kept all of his records and he handed me one.  It was Rubber Soul and thus began an obsession with the Beatles that continues to this day (I eventually stole borrowed all of his Beatles records).  I love all of the Beatles but Paul has always been my favorite.  I saw Paul in concert for the first time at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas during his Driving World Tour in 2002.  I can't even describe my emotions listening to all of the songs I grew up with played live!  It was literally a dream come true!  I was pretty much openly weeping during "Hey Jude."  I had the opportunity to see him again at Rio Tinto Stadium in 2010.  I was sitting next to a couple who were my parents' age on one side and a 13 year old girl on the other and we all knew the words to every single song.  Last night I had the opportunity to see Paul McCartney in concert again, this time at the ESA for his Out There World Tour.  The ticket was really expensive but I put it on my emergency credit card.  I considered it an emergency because I would literally die if I couldn't see him.  It was such an amazing show!  He played for almost three hours and included songs from the Beatles, Wings, and his latest album New.  He began with "Eight Days A Week," "All My Loving," "Listen to What the Man Said," "Let Me Roll It," and "Paperback Writer."  Then he moved to his piano and sang "My Valentine," which was written for his wife Nancy, "The Long and Winding Road," and "Maybe I'm Amazed," which was written for Linda.  He moved back to center stage and sang "I've Just Seen a Face," "We Can Work it Out," "Another Day," and "And I Love Her."  He moved to a rising platform at the front of the stage for a beautiful rendition of "Blackbird" and then sang "Here Today" as a tribute to John Lennon.  He sang a few from the new album including "New," "Queenie Eye," and "Everybody Out There."  Then he played a few more Beatles songs: "Lady Madonna," "All Together Now," "Lovely Rita," "Eleanor Rigby," and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite."  He gave a lovely tribute to George Harrison by playing "Something" on a ukulele with some great photos of George on the screen.  I really loved that!  He continued with "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Band on the Run," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," "Let it Be," and "Live and Let Die," which had some amazing pyrotechnics!  He finished his set with "Hey Jude," including some audience participation with the iconic chorus!  For the first encore he played "Day Tripper," "Hi, Hi, Hi," and "Get Back."  For his second encore he gave a beautiful rendition of "Yesterday," a rousing rendition of "Helter Skelter," and a touching rendition of "Golden Slumbers," "Carry that Weight," and "The End."  This set list includes quite a few songs I hadn't heard him play before. It was literally amazing and I didn't want it to end!  As much as I love watching Paul McCartney, I also really love his band.  He has had the same group of musicians for every concert I've been to and I particularly enjoy watching Rusty Anderson on lead guitar.  When he plays the solo on "Maybe I'm Amazed" I just about die!  What I love most about a Paul McCartney concert is that all of the songs sound fresh!  He is most definitely not just going through the motions and you get the sense that he loves these songs now as much as he did when he first played them!  I certainly love every song just as much as I did when I was a teenager!

Note:  The first time I saw Paul McCartney in Las Vegas, the crowd had to walk through the casinos to leave the arena.  We all spontaneously started singing "Na Na Na Na Na Na Na" as we walked and the people in the casinos applauded. I will never forget that moment!

Mill Creek Canyon Bonfire

There are two weeks left of summer vacation.  What?  Now is the time when I usually start freaking out thinking about all of the things I wanted to do over the summer but haven't done yet.  While I have been doing pretty well with my summer bucket list (a few things are coming up), I definitely haven't spent enough time camping and hiking so Marilyn and I decided to spend the day in Mill Creek Canyon yesterday.  We brought a picnic (whenever I mention picnic you should interpret that to mean we stopped at Subway on the way) and spent most of the afternoon reading.  It rained for a little while but we were under a big pine tree and didn't get wet.  Everything smelled so fresh and clean after the rain storm!  Eventually we built a fire and made s'mores.  We forgot all of our roasting sticks so I channeled my inner Girl Scout and whittled some for us.  It was the perfect day!

Wicked

While Les Miserables will always be my sentimental favorite, Wicked is definitely a close contender!  I love this show so much because I think it is extremely clever!  It tells the back-story of the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda the Good, and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  After all, a lot happened before Dorothy dropped in!  Oh and by the way, the music happens to be fantastic!  I think anyone who has ever felt a little bit different can relate to the songs "I'm Not That Girl" and "Defying Gravity" and I think everyone who has ever had a good friend in their life can relate to "For Good."  Last night I had the opportunity to see Wicked again at the Capitol Theatre and it was such a good production!  I thought that both lead actresses were spectacular!  I loved Chandra Lee Schwartz's rendition of "Popular."  In every production I have ever seen, the actress playing Glinda has added her own touch to this particular song.  Schwartz was absolutely hysterical, especially with the tossing of the hair!  Emma Hunton was incredibly powerful as Elphaba.  I think she blew the roof off the Capitol Theatre in "Defying Gravity" and I had goosebumps during "No Good Deed."  I think she was one of the best Elphabas I've seen!  Nick Adams (Fiyero) was a fabulous dancer (and pretty easy on the eyes).  He and Hunton had great chemistry, especially in "As Long As You're Mine."  The rest of the cast was great but I was not a fan of Madame Morrible (Alison Fraser).  I thought her voice was really raspy and I had a hard time understanding her sometimes (it seemed to come and go so she may have had a cold).  As always, I loved the set, costumes, and the choreography.  The whole production was wonderful and I had such a good time watching one of my favorites! I highly recommend seeing it if you have the opportunity.  Wicked will be playing at the Capitol Theatre until Aug. 24.

Utah Festival Opera's Les Miserables

When I was in high school I watched a documentary on PBS about the making of a new musical called Les Miserables.  I fell in love with the story, the music, the costumes, and the staging.  I bought the original Broadway recording (on vinyl) and listened to it over and over.  My greatest wish was to see this show!  I knew that I would be spending some time in London while I was studying abroad in France so I tried to get tickets.  Every show was sold out and I was devastated!  My Dad gave me an article about the West End in London from the travel section of the newspaper which said you could sometimes get tickets to sold out shows at kiosks throughout the city on the day of the show.  I decided to try it.  There were four tickets available but I would have to buy all four.  Such was my mania to see this show that I bought them (I couldn't really afford one ticket, let alone four).   When I got back to my hotel, I asked another student if she knew of anyone in our group who would like to go.  A man staying at the hotel overheard me and offered to buy the three tickets for himself, his wife, and his daughter.  He let me ride in the cab with them, bought me a program, and bought me a drink at intermission.  Hearing those opening notes was the biggest thrill of my life!  I have now seen Les Miserables at least twenty times (that would be a conservative estimate) and I still get goosebumps when I hear those opening notes!  Yesterday my friend Mel and I drove to Logan to see Utah Festival Opera's production of Les Miserables (I literally just saw this show six weeks ago in West Yellowstone but I never get tired of it) and we both loved it.  The Utah Festival Opera did a lovely job of staging this amazing story of one man's redemption with a very innovative set.  I was very impressed with the actor playing Jean Valjean (Patrick Miller).  He had an incredibly beautiful voice and his emotional rendition of "Bring Him Home" was very moving.  At first I thought Daniel Cilli looked much too young to play Inspector Javert but his powerful performance of "Stars" definitely won me over!  Ever since I saw Eddie Redmayne's tour de force performance as Marius in the movie version, I judge every actor who plays the role against him.  Patrick Massey held his own in "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables."  Finally, I have always judged every production by Eponine's performance of "On My Own" (my favorite song in the show).  Tyler Olshansky made me cry!  I thoroughly enjoyed watching my favorite musical...again and I had a lovely day with my friend Mel!

Note:  The Utah Festival Opera continues through Aug. 9.  They are also performing Oklahoma, Vanessa, and The Student Prince.  Go here for more information.