Hooray for you, Mari Sasano.

WAY LOTS OF SPOILERS. GO SEE THE PLAY FIRST, AT THEATRE NETWORK.

Several years ago, I wrote a review of Stop Kiss. It was kind of lukewarm, and some people kind of got mad at me. I thought it had a bit too much, “Oh my god! We’re lesbians!” kind of vibe to it. Earnest, tortured, ending in a tragedy. I just was hoping for a little more emotional complexity, a little less love-in-a-dangerous-time. Because true love has its real test when things are boring, don’t you think?

Well, A Beautiful View is the play I *wished* Stop Kiss was, at the time. So thank you Daniel MacIvor for fulfilling my critical wishes. Daniel MacIvor is a super-duper genius. I love him. Maybe because times have changed, I don’t know, but his play is a little more forgiving about sexual boundaries, and sees the same-sex relationship as way more fluid and full of possibility– when you don’t know what it is, you can kind of make your own rules. And it’s lovely.

But this cast! Caroline Livingstone (who was also, I believe, in the production of Stop Kiss that I saw) and Davina Stewart are a couple of women who keep bumping into each other. They have a strange attraction, and eventually spend the night together. Later, they find out neither identified as lesbian or bi. Hm. Well. Years pass, and eventually they become friends, maybe sometime lovers. Who knows? They’re inseparable. They do date men, break up, and especially go camping.

I love the tacit love they have for each other, and the surprise they both feel at a sudden “infidelity” committed. In a conventional relationship (straight or gay), there are understandings and rules that can be followed or broken, but since neither woman seems to know what it is that they DO have (friendship? love affair?), they are making things up on the fly. All they know is that they are togehter, in some deep, unintelligible way.

I think it’s really exciting and scary to approach relationships that way: feelings can change (is it friendly or romantic? sexual or nonsexual?) but knowing that there is something under there that holds you there regardless that is more powerful than what we normally think is love or sexuality. Enforced monogamy (through marriage, usually) can really disappoint if we assume that romantic love holds people together. But what if we expected that things were going to develop and evolve? That being “in love” isn’t all that important in the long run?

It’s great, don’t get me wrong. But it’s only part of a great range. Shouldn’t we want to experience them all?

Puppy cuddles on the sofa til 2.

But then we got tickets to the Police Dog Competitions from the guy who designed their artwork (see it here: http://www.police.edmonton.ab.ca/Pages/ctrials/trials_home.asp). We got there in time to see the simulated crime take-downs, where a dog and handler apprehend two criminals. What good dogs! They spotted the bad guys, held them while their human counterpart disarmed the criminals. They had to hold on until their target stopped fighting, and at one point was asked to chase down a guy who was running away, but stopped short of biting on command.

And over in Sportex way, the EKC fall dog show. I, of course, love dog and cat shows. It’s a way of being around all the different kinds of dogs without actually having to own one. My heart almost exploded! When we got there, they were judging Papillons and Dalmations. There were a good number of French bulldogs, which we were considering before we found Henry. And there were two Henries– one black and one brindle Boston terrier. I have to say, even though they were show dogs, they were not cuter than our fella.

My first concert, or at least the first one not involveing puppets, when I was 14 years old, was Crowded House.

I was excited. Going out without my parents, seeing my favourite band… whee! My sister and I got crappy tickets in the balcony of the Jube, but it didn’t matter. The second CD I ever bought was the first Crowded House (I wish it weren’t true, but the very first was The Cutting Crew). The show itself was fantastic: with big volcano stage sets, the trio (with Mark Hart on keyboards) bantered, sang, and made me feel a little more grown-up. One crazy lady in the audience (why is there always one?) shouted, “I love you, Neil!” To that, he said, “How could you love me if you haven’t even smelled me?” Touche, Mr. Finn. I filed that away just in case I got a stalker later.

A cowboy named Townes Van Zandt opened. Wow, this is country music that I actually like! Well, I had no idea who he was at the time, but I am thoroughly, retroactively impressed by my 14-year-old self. Good taste there, young Sasano!

20 or so years later, I got to see them again. I got Paul some tickets for the show for his birthday. Again, crappy balcony seats. I asked to do the review (and therefore, excellent AND free tickets), but no go. So I got tickets too late, nothing better was left. But it didn’t matter.

And then, a couple days ago, Sandra asked me to cover the concert for her– she didn’t have time! At the 11th hour, awesome media tickets were mine! And a double happy birthday for Paul, and a nice surprise for the couple who got to have the crappy balcony seats.

It was SOOOO great. The band was happy and loose– sometimes it’s really nice to see musicians willing to play, in that other sense of the word. The new drummer is awesome. When Liam Finn (a loop pedal indie rock kid in the opening act) was on stage with the band, there were five singers, which made for some really beautiful harmonies. Speaking of which, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree– Liam’s voice is a dead ringer for his dad’s. Spooky.

They played a lot of old songs and a bunch of their new ones, and you woudn’t know which were which if the classics weren’t so familiar. Everything sounded timeless. And of course, the sets were moody and gorgeous.

And Pete Yorn, who was also enjoyable, managed to accidentally point out how awesome Peter Bjorn and John might have been as the opening act. His version of Young Folks was meant as a joke, but I’m embarrassed to say it was “his” best song. PBJ’s dark Scandinavian pop would have been a great accompaniment to the rest of the night.

Anyhow, Nick and Neil were hilarious. It was like sitting at a party with the designated drivers– sober and still witty while the rest of us would just giggle. Mark Hart provided the occasional straight man line here and there, and the new drummer Matt Sherrod (of Beck’s band) was like a mad metronome. So sharp!

There were singalongs:Don’t Dream, Sister Madly, Better Be Home Soon, Weather With You– the last sung as a Henry song, as in “Everywhere you go, always take Henry with you.”

I probably looked like a goof, but I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. But hey– when do you get to see your favourite band of all time from the ’80s? And they’re still good!