To recap the events of the last week:
Went to see Citadel’s Oliver! It was going to be fun regardless of how much Paul dislikes musicals, since there was a real life dog in it! But the dog, as we learned, was out with an injury. Nevertheless, just hearing those songs (Food, Glorious Food! Consider Youself) was kind of surreal. And when that fails, there was always Pam Gordon’s breasts. Lovely and prominent!
I interviewed Shawn Colvin for the Journal. I think she’s pretty great, very down to earth and a little cynical. You get the sense that she not only loves music, she likes it enought to still listen to it. Her show was at the Maclab Theatre, a lovely venue with comfortable seats, and she was great to see. Funny, sweet.
Last night I went to catch the last bit of Darrin Hagen’s book launches. He’s re-releasing Edmonton Queen, 10 years later. I saw his first performance of the Lulu bit years ago at Loud N Queer, and so am really happy to see him taking it on again. Some people are weird about the idea of being responsible for the stories that they are given, but Darrin has taken on the role with panache. His Trailer Court Women book was also being launched, and that too is an important bit of Alberta fiction. There’s some cute pictures of little (though even at the time he was over 6 feet) Darrin, glasses and accordion.
Then, running into Trevor, we went to see the new Spider Man. What a glorious train wreck! Too many villains, too much girl-melodrama (dude, if you steal your best friend’s girl on his wedding day– AT THE ALTAR!– everything is NOT going to be OK.) and then the strangest Saturday Night Fever, finger-guns pointing, Spidey cruising the streets bit followed by a JAZZ NUMBER. Yes, Spidey jumping up on stage, calling for “Double time!”
Terrible, but mesmerizing.