Depeche Mode at USANA

Last night Depeche Mode brought their Global Spirit Tour to the USANA Amphitheatre and it was a fantastic concert.  Depeche Mode was one of my favorite bands in high school so I try to see them whenever they come to SLC.  My inner fifteen year old was so excited!  They played quite a few songs from their latest album, Spirit, including "Going Backwards," "So Much Love," "Cover Me," "Poison Heart," and the anthem "Where's the Revolution" which had the audience singing along with fists in the air.  Of course, I really loved it when they played the hits because these songs brought back so many memories for me!  I sang every single word to "Barrel of a Gun," "In Your Room," "World in My Eyes," "A Question of Lust," "Everything Counts," Stripped," and "Enjoy the Silence."  Whenever I see a band in concert there is always one song, usually an obscure one, that I hope they will play.  I was hoping that Depeche Mode would play "Blasphemous Rumours" but I wasn't too upset that they didn't play it because it is pretty depressing.  I think my favorite moment was when they played "Everything Counts."  I remember listening to the live album 101 on the bus to and from debate meets in high school and on one particular night, when we had a long way to travel back home, we all sang "Eveything Counts" at the top of our lungs.  The band had the audience sing an extended version of the chorus and it gave me goosebumps because I remembered that night long ago!  They ended their set with "Never Let Me Down" which featured another extended chorus with audience participation.  For the encore, they did an acoustic version of "Somebody" and the audience sang every word!  Sigh!  They continued with "Walking in My Shoes," a really amazing cover of David Bowie's "Heroes," "I Feel You," and "Personal Jesus."  The stage was pretty cool because it had a giant screen with a platform so Dave Gahan could strut in front of it and he can certainly strut!  He gave a very energetic performance and I found him just as appealing as I did when I was fifteen!  This concert was so much fun!

Note:  A big fight broke out in my row!  This guy just started punching the guy next to me for seemingly no reason.  He clipped my shoulder when they guy next to me tried to get out of the way!  Security came and they removed several people involved.  It was really scary but what irritated me most was that all of this commotion happened during the song "In Your Room" which is one of my favorites!

Logan Lucky

I am happy to report that the first day of school went extremely well yesterday so as a reward I decided to see a movie.  Most of my friends really liked Logan Lucky so, despite the fact that I was a little bit lukewarm on the trailer, I decided to give it a chance.  It is absolutely hilarious!  Down-and-out brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde (Adam Driver) Logan create an elaborate plan to rob the vault at the Charlotte Motor Speedway because Jimmy learns how the pneumatic system for moving money works after working there.  They recruit their younger sister Mellie (Riley Keough), an expert safecracker named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) who is currently in-car-cer-at-ed, and Joe's brothers Sam (Brian Gleeson) and Fish (Jack Quaid).  Due to circumstances beyond their control, they must move the date of the robbery to the biggest race of the year: the Coca-Cola 600.  While this is definitely a typical heist film it is just so much fun to watch the oddball characters execute the complicated plan and I really enjoyed the twist at the end.  The ensemble cast is excellent with an absolutely hilarious performance by Craig.  In addition to the principal cast there is Seth MacFarlane as an almost unrecognizable businessman, Sebastian Stan as a NASCAR driver, Katie Holmes as Jimmy's ex-wife, Katherine Waterston as a former classmate of Jimmy's, Hilary Swank as an FBI agent, and Dwight Yoakam as an incompetent prison warden.  In fact, these actors do such a good job that I would have liked to have seen even more character development.  The script is very clever and I laughed out loud during the prison riot scene when the inmates demand that George R. R. Martin release Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring!  So funny!  The action is as slick and stylized as in the Ocean's movies but just with a West Virginia accent and a soundtrack featuring John Denver.  This film is so entertaining and I highly recommend it!

Note:  Even though most of my friends really liked this film and recommended it, I have to admit that the main draw for me was Adam Driver.  I find him to be strangely appealing!

Farewell to Summer

This weekend my family took the motor home to the KOA in Fillmore and I had such a fun and relaxing time.   For me this camping trip was a sort of farewell to summer because, even though the calendar says there are a few more weeks of summer left, school starts today which means that my break is over.  I have had the best summer!  I didn't go on an overseas trip this year but I did have a quick trip to San Francisco, a few fun road trips, a bunch of camping trips, some wonderful outdoor concerts and performances, lots and lots of movies (with some great new friends who like movies as much as I do), and countless McDonald's ice cream cones (seriously, I am addicted to them and, on multiple occasions, I went out on midnight runs just to get one).  Usually, I am really sad for summer to end but I am actually looking forward to the start of the school year and to the fall which is my favorite season.  I feel like I can really enjoy the fall because this year I don't have to worry about student government responsibilities.  I have a few more outdoor concerts coming up and two road trips that I am so excited about (and the possibility of a third) plus the new symphony and theatre seasons will be starting soon and I am looking forward to many productions.  Bring on the fall!

Wind River

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of Wind River, a psychological thriller with an ending that I am still thinking about.  Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner, in one of his best performances to date) is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Officer who is called out to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming to track a mountain lion who is killing cattle.  He finds, instead, the body of a young woman.  The cause of death is exposure but, because it is clear that she has been assaulted and raped, the FBI sends rookie agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen, also excellent) to investigate.  She is laughably unprepared for the elements and doesn't understand the complex dynamic of the people on the reservation so she asks Lambert to help her.  The story is, on the surface, a typical murder mystery but dig a little deeper and it becomes a powerful commentary about life on a reservation in an environment where people live with silence and snow and little else and either survive or succumb.  It is also a story about grief with an incredibly poignant scene between two fathers who have lost daughters.  The scenery is starkly beautiful but always menacing, the dialogue is sparse, and the tension is almost unbearable.  The mystery unravels in a scene of shocking violence, which caught me by surprise, and the resolution is an interesting exploration of justice that I found to be strangely satisfying (the people at my screening cheered out loud) much like my reaction to another film by Taylor Sheridan.  All of the performances are compelling (I always enjoy Graham Greene) and the score, by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, is suitably atmospheric.  If you enjoy tense thrillers with something to say about people who live on the margins of society, go see this film!

Step

My friend saw the documentary Step at Sundance this year and she has been raving about it ever since.  It will hit select theaters nationwide this Friday but my friend invited me to a special screening last night at the Broadway and I'm so glad that she did.  Yesterday was my first day back to school to prepare for the upcoming academic year and I don't think I could have watched a more inspirational film to get me energized to help my students achieve success.  The film is set against the racially charged backdrop of inner-city Baltimore and follows a group of African-American girls selected by lottery in the sixth grade to attend the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women as they become the first graduating class.  The narrative emphasizes the struggles the girls face as they apply to college and find financial aid and the obstacles they overcome as the step team competes at a prestigious competition.  Blessin is the founder and captain of the step team but she struggles academically because of her attendance and lack of focus.  At the beginning of her senior year her GPA is too low for college acceptance but she vows to do whatever it takes to succeed despite her mother's depression and anger issues.  I have to admit that Blessin's story made me quite emotional because so many of my students get to their senior year having made many mistakes and struggle to overcome deficits.  Cori is a stellar student, set to become the valedictorian, who dreams of going to Johns Hopkins University so that she will never have the financial struggle that her blended family faces with six children.  While she has the grades and test scores to attend a prestigious university, she will need a full-ride scholarship to do so.  I also cried when she mentioned that the power was currently turned off at home and vowed that this would not be her life.  Tayla provides a bit of comic relief ("I'm a notch down from Beyonce because I still do mess up") with a helicopter mom who attends every practice and tells her to stay away from boys because they have cooties.  What I loved most about this film is that you cheer just as much as they achieve their academic goals as you do when they give the performance of their lives at the step competition (the audience in this screening literally cheered out loud and applauded at every milestone).  My favorite moment in the whole film is when the team gets new warm-ups and they swagger down the hall in their best Reservoir Dogs impersonation.  It made me laugh through my tears!  I cannot recommend this documentary enough!  Please go see this heart-warming celebration of hard work, dedication, and perseverance!