Even though we are creatures of habit, our intelligence, ability to learn and adapt quickly are a few aspects of human nature than help us to survive and advance, so after 15 years of leaving by the back door every day, I should be able to simply change that habit and remember to leave by the front door, because going out the front door is now the shortest route to my car. I walked out the back door twice today, and instead of unlocking the back door and walking through the building, I walked around the block both times. Yet it wasn’t all for naught, because between 1:30 this afternoon and 7:30 this evening some new art was installed in the pocket park on the end of the block at 2nd and Gold.
Film crews often block streets and take our parking in downtown Albuquerque. They had 3rd Street blocked off the between Gold and Central the other night while filming “Force of Execution” with Steven Seagal. While I was making my way out of downtown the same night, I noticed the Kimo Theater’s marque read “Story of Film.”
There were a lot of band tour buses parked out behind the office this afternoon, so I looked up on the Sunshine Theater’s schedule to see who was playing tonight. As usual I had never heard of or heard any of the groups listed, so I looked up samples of their music on Youtube. The first group in the list is Emmure and the music video I chose at random was what I would call hyper-grunge with caveman lyrics, although to be fair, cavemen were probably much more clear and articulate. After a few painful seconds on listening to Emmure, I looked up Whitechapel, the next group on the list, and the random song I chose sounded just like the song I listened to by Emmure. I had to do a double take to make sure I hadn’t reloaded Emmure — I hadn’t. Obey The Brave and The Plot In You also sounded the same to me. If I got it right, these bands tour together as Brothers of Brutality and from the snippets of the songs I listened to, they are brutal.
I guess I’m getting too old, because I don’t know why the groups want to subject themselves to themselves, or why anyone else, of any age, would want to subject themselves to the Brothers of Brutality, but there is an appeal that goes beyond both my understanding and sensitivities. I left the office a little after 5:00 pm tonight, a bit later than I had intended since I was supposed to pick up Laurie and Tristan at school at 5:00 pm. When I walked out the door the cold hit me like a stinging slap on my face, and I shivered as I walked to the car. While I was sitting at the light at 2nd and Gold, I got a text from Laurie that read “Hypothermia!” The light turned green and as I drove by the Sunshine theater, I noticed that many of the kids who waiting in line for The Brothers of Brutality concert were wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts, and many of the girls who were wearing jeans had slits all over them and plenty of flesh exposed to the cold air. Maybe being brutalized by the elements is a required to properly experience The Bothers of Brutality? Call me old, call me a prude, but it’s much too brutal and mysterious for me.
We got a little snow before I went to class at UNM this afternoon, then the clouds broke up for a couple of hours, regrouped and it started snowing again. We got over an inch in Corrales, and I drove most of the way home in a blizzard. The storm let up as I got on the west side of Albuquerque, where I was able to get a panorama of it snowing on the east side. The snow had hardly settled on a wall at UNM before a student walked in it.
Logan Mitchell as Robbie Hart & Devon Frieder as Julia Sullivan
We went to the opening night of The Wedding Singer directed and choreographed by Devon Frieder. The show was fantastic, and I would encourage anyone living in the greater Albuquerque area to go and see it. The show dates and times, ticket prices and the location are available on my Happy New Year post.
The show is at the Musical Theatre Southwest Black Box Performance Space, which is a small, intimate theater where the performance space is larger than the space allocated for seating (about 100 seats), which gives the allusion that the number of performers are about equal to the audience members. When the full cast is on stage dancing and singing the intimacy, activity, variety of colors and the performers expressions are so exciting that it all becomes almost overwhelming trying to decide who to watch — you can’t take it all in at once like you can in a larger theater.
The story is about Robbie Hart, a singer/song writer, who plays for weddings with his friends Sammy and George. Julia Sullivan is a waitress who becomes engaged to a successful broker, Glen Guglia, but she and Robbie fall in love and everything seems to go wrong for them becoming a couple.
The music and choreography are fun and were delightful to listen to and watch. The comic lines are delivered flawlessly, and the acting was superb. Most of the cast play multiple characters and they play them well. They wouldn’t have had to name the stars and famous people they portrayed, as even I, the no TV, cultural misfit that I am, recognized all of them. Although I don’t usually care much for musicals, I throughly enjoyed the performance, was taken in by the story and characters, and I even fell for the romance and wanted to see Robbie and Julia get together and be happy in the end.
Rikki Carroll as Rosie & Bryan Daniels as George
Amy Burgen as Holly, Gus Spencer as Sammy & Erik Joshua Clack as Glen Guglia
Off Center & Not Even 