Howard Jones at Red Butte Garden

Last night I went to the Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre to see Howard Jones in concert and I had so much fun!  I absolutely love Howard Jones!  I've seen him at least five times in concert and I've enjoyed every single one because he always puts on such a great show!  The opening band was Men Without Hats and they began with their biggest hit, "The Safety Dance."  That got the crowd up and dancing because you can dance if you want to!  They played their other big hit, "Pop Goes the World," and then a cover of Abba's "SOS" followed by a song from their new album Love in the Age of War called "Head Above Water."  They ended their set with an extended version of "The Safety Dance" which got another big cheer from the audience.  They sounded exactly like they did in their heyday and I enjoyed their set.  The next act was the English Beat and they brought back lots of memories of my high school days with "Tears of a Clown," "Too Nice to Talk To," "Tenderness," and "I Confess."  I was thrilled when they played one of my favorite songs, "Save It For Later," and they joked about it being included on the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Homecoming (I may or may not have squealed when the song played while Peter got ready for the dance because I hadn't heard it for a long time).  They ended their set with "Mirror in the Bathroom" to the delight of the crowd.  Finally, Howard Jones took the stage and my inner fifteen year old was absolutely thrilled!  He began with "Conditioning," "Equality," and "The Human Touch."  Every time I go to a concert there is always one obscure song that I hope the band will play and I hoped Howard Jones would play "The Prisoner."  I was so excited when he played it early in his set!  Then he played all of his biggest hits: "Like to Get to Know You Well," "You Know I Love You...Don't You?," "Hide and Seek" (the crowd sang the chorus just like they did at Live Aid in 1985), an acoustic version of "No One Is to Blame," "What Is Love?," "Everlasting Love," "Life In One Day," and "New Song." For the encore he sang "Things Can Only Get Better" accompanied by the crowd in an exuberant and extended chorus!  So much fun!  It was the perfect summer concert because, while it was extremely hot while standing in line, the temperature dropped quite a bit in time for the music and Red Butte Garden is such a great venue.

Note:  I went to this concert with my friend Cyndi.  We became friends on Facebook because we have a lot of friends in common but we haven't ever done anything together until last night.  We had such a great time and I hope we can get together again soon.

Valerian

Last night I went to see Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and, despite what many critics have said, I really enjoyed it.  The spectacle opens with a montage of the history of space travel and the establishment of Alpha, the titular city where representatives of a thousand planets live and cooperate with each other, with David Bowie's "Space Oddity" underneath it.  My attention was completely drawn in and it never wavered as one dazzling sequence after another filled the screen (it is one of the rare films I recommend seeing in IMAX 3D).  The narrative focuses on the destruction of a planet which federal agents Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delivigne) must investigate with the help of a few strange and magical creatures, including Bubble (Rihanna) a shape-shifting performer, and a few wild adventures, in multiple dimensions, before they solve the mystery.  If you have seen the trailers you know that the visual effects are absolutely incredible.  I was most impressed with the world-building and the character design, especially a sequence at a market that takes place in multiple dimensions at the same time (mind blown).  Unlike many, I thought the campy performances of DeHaan and Delivigne really worked and I laughed out loud at Ethan Hawke's turn as a pimp.  I even liked Rihanna who has an unexpectedly poignant scene.  In my opinion this film is funny, quirky, and wildly entertaining.  It never takes itself too seriously so I think it is destined to become a cult classic.  I highly recommend it for a really good time.

Utah Shakespeare Festival 2017

On Thursday I spontaneously decided to take a road trip to Cedar City (about four hours south of SLC) to see a few Utah Shakespeare Festival productions and I had a great time!  I saw a matinee performance of Guys and Dolls, a musical I have seen countless times, and, for the most part, I really enjoyed it.  The story, which is a bit dated but a lot of fun, revolves around the romantic struggles between Nathan Detroit (Quinn Mattfeld), who runs the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, and Miss Adelaide (Melinda Parrett), his fiancee of fourteen years, as well as Sky Masterson (Brian Vaughn), a gambler, and Sarah Brown (Alexander Zorn), a sergeant with the Save-a-Soul Mission trying to reform him.  All four of the lead actors give wonderful performances and I especially enjoyed Zorn's over-the-top antics in "Havana" and Parrett's hilarious rendition of "Adelaide's Lament." I also laughed out loud at the comedic turns by Leslie Brott as General Cartright and James Newcomb as Big Jule.  The big song and dance numbers "Luck Be a Lady," and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" featured fantastic choreography.  My only complaint with this show was the set, which didn't seem to me to be up to Utah Shakespeare Festival standards.  The set for the Save-a-Soul Mission, specifically, was rotated multiple times so that the seemingly unfinished back faced the audience.  I don't know if this was done intentionally for artistic reasons but it looked rather shabby.  It reminded me of something you would see in an amateur production (Hunter High has better sets and they are performing Guys and Dolls in the fall).  In the evening I saw Romeo and Juliet in the wonderful Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre and I absolutely loved it!  Everyone is familiar with the story of star-crossed lovers and their feuding families but this production was very fresh.  While Shakespeare's language is retained, I felt that the actors delivered their lines with a very modern sensibility making the play more accessible to everyone, including the young people sitting near me who were enthralled.  I was particularly struck by the juxtaposition between the almost light-hearted first half with the weighty and tragic second half.  The contrast worked very well.  Shane Kenyon and Betsy Mugavero are perfect as Romeo and Juliet with very passionate performances but, in my opinion, Jeb Burris steals the show as Mercutio.  He is incredibly appealing in his early scenes and his death scene was most affecting.  I also really enjoyed Leslie Brott's performance as the nurse, which made me laugh out loud at times and cry at others.  It is an intense production which will surprise audience members who think they know the story.  I was able to have a few of the signature tarts in between shows so my day was a success.  Go here for more information about the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Summer Reading: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

The next selection on my summer reading list was All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. The story revolves around a young girl named Wavy and her incredibly dysfunctional childhood. Her father is a drug dealer and her mother is completely delusional with a compulsion for cleanliness that she uses to brainwash Wavy into thinking that anything she eats is contaminated. Wavy is basically responsible for raising her baby brother, Donal, and she is bounced between her negligent parents and an uptight aunt whenever her parents are in prison. She rarely speaks and refuses to eat in front of anyone. The only person who pays any attention to Wavy is an older man named Kellen who occasionally works as a drug-runner for her father. He is rough, anti-social, and quick to get into fights at the local bar but he takes responsibility for Wavy and she grows more and more attached to him. Eventually, the two of them begin an inappropriate relationship. When a tragedy strikes, Wavy is sent to live permanently with her aunt, who disapproves of this relationship and has Kellen charged with statutory rape. Wavy spends all of her energy, for the next six years, trying to reunite with the only person who has ever cared about her. I had a very difficult time with this novel.  On the one hand, it is beautifully written and Wavy's story about triumphing despite overwhelming odds is very compelling. In fact, I couldn't put it down and I confess that the story has stayed with me for quite a while. However, I just couldn't get past the relationship between Wavy and Kellen. I know that they are both profoundly damaged and turn to each other for the only comfort they can find in horrific circumstances but, to me, it is not a love story. No matter what they are going through, it is wrong for a 12 year old girl to be sexually involved with a 26 year old man. No matter how neglected, abused, or unhappy the protagonist is, she is still a child and there are just some boundaries that should not be crossed. I didn't view Kellen as Wavy's savior; rather, I feel that Wavy had so many opportunities in college that she threw away in pursuing a relationship with him. This is not a romance and I did not view the ending as a happy one. I don't think I can recommend this book but the very things that made me so uncomfortable might make this a compelling read for someone else.

Have you read All the Ugly and Wonderful Things? What did you think?

Camping in Hanna

I have spent the past five days camping in Hanna (with a little interlude in Park City) and it has been wonderful.

Kristine and Trent were camping in Hanna the week of July 4 and they will camp there again all of next week so they decided to leave their camper there.  They asked me if I wanted to go up while their camper was just sitting empty and I immediately said yes!  Always say yes to an adventure!  I took three books with me (I finished two of them) and spent most of my time sitting outside and reading.  The campsite was ringed with pine trees and it seemed like there was always a breeze blowing through the trees.  It was so nice to be up in the mountains out of the heat in the valley.  Every afternoon it would rain for a little while so I would go inside the trailer and listen.  I love the sound of rain.

I loved looking at the sky as it would start to rain.  In the evenings I would go back outside and make dinner and then make a big fire.  I would spend the rest of the night sitting by the fire until it went out and the stars came out.

After the fire went out I would go inside the trailer and read late into the night.  It was so peaceful.  I thought that I would be a little bit freaked out to be up there by myself but I actually enjoyed it once I realized that the strange noises I head in the middle of the night were just the boughs of the trees hitting the trailer!  I also had a lot of squirrels to keep me company and one afternoon a deer came quite close to me.  It was such a great few days!