BLOGPALOOZA: PART FOUR! Sal's Other Super-Busy Day, Part Three: "Move On!" at Near West Theatre

For many years I've been attending Near West Theatre shows and loving them!  My dear friend Avril has two daughters who often appear in plays at Near West, which is why I started going.  These talented young ladies -- and the rest of the Near West cast -- have entertained and inspired me many times.  Since I began Travels with Sal last year, I've been bringing my little uke along.  (For those who enjoy a bit of nostalgia, here are Sal's previous posts about Near West Shows:  Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and Side Show.)

While the shows at Near West have been wonderful, the facility where they took place was not so hot.  Actually, it was very hot!  It was sometimes unbearably hot!  And the seats were uncomfortable.  And the long downstairs and upstairs and vice-versa trip back and forth to the tiny leaky ladies' room was good exercise, but far from what the ADA would recommend.

The show Sal and I attended on June 27th was, therefore, a bittersweet experience.  Titled Move On, it was the last Near West show to take place in the old hall.  Near West is building a new facility to house its fabulous entertainments -- and all of the great work they do to prepare for them.  Move On was entertaining and touching. I loved every minute of it!  Thanks, Near West, for all the great memories!  (And thanks, Avril, for introducing me to Near West!)

Looking forward to seeing lots of plays in Near West's beautiful new home -- but also feeling nostalgic for the old creaky place...

The cast of Move On singing a song that brought tears to my eyes...

From left to right:  Patricia, a fellow Near West fan, and Sal with Maggie (one of my two favorite cast members).

From left to right:  Avril, Sal with Mary (my other favorite cast member), and Peet.

Sal with Julianne -- always a wonderful addition to any Near West show!

BLOGPALOOZA: PART THREE! Another Super-Busy Day, Part Two: Ukulele Workshop with Victoria Vox

It's time for BLOGPALOOZA: PART THREE!  Just a few more hastily-written posts, and we'll be all caught up!

Sal and I were very excited when we found out that Victoria Vox  would be coming to Marrell Music to do a ukulele workship and house concert on June 27th.  Victoria is an extremely entertaining singer/songwriter/ukulele player!  She did a house concert at Marrell Music last year -- and it was a great time!   (If you're interested, you can read about it in this post.) 

This year Victoria would be doing a workshop in addition to her concert.  We would be learning to play her song, Technicolor Way.  It sounded like a great time... and then I realized that Sal and I were already committed for the evening, so would not be able to attend the concert.  :(  But I was happy to find out that the workshop was perfectly timed so we could squeeze it in between the daytime trip to the Butler Institute (see yesterday's post) and the evening's previously-planned event (to be described in the next post).  :)

I listened to Technicolor Way on CD, in hopes that I would be semi-ready to tackle it.  The strum pattern of the song is quite complicated, but Victoria rolled it out step-by-step so that many in the group were able to catch on.  I was able to do some of it, but as a world-class klutz, there were parts I couldn't do.  My hope was that I would practice it very slowly at home, and soon be strumming like a champ.   Unfortunately, due to time issues (I don't have any), I have not practiced and have, therefore, forgotten what I learned.  Happily, one of my Flea friends has been practicing, and seems to have the pattern down pretty well, so I will be asking her to show it to me again. 

When the workshop was over, I quickly bugged everyone to pose for the photo below, and then rushed off to my next engagement.  Why is it that there are times when a person wants to go out and do something, but there is nothing to do -- and other times there is a plethora of great options!?  My friends who stayed for the concert said it was wonderful, and I'm sure that is true.  Hoping that Victoria returns to the area soon!

Victoria and Sal posing with a bunch of happy Cleveland Jumping Fleas!

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BLOGPALOOZA: PART TWO! Sal Has Another Super-Busy Day, Part One: The Butler Institute of American Art

Here is BLOGPALOOZA, Part Two -- an attempt to catch up with Sal's recent activities!  She has so much fun it's hard to keep up with her!

My friend Heidi, the guru of all things pop culture, told me that there was a Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown.  Trying to find a date we were both free was a challenge, but we finally settled on Friday, June 27th.  Heidi also wanted to see another exhibit at the museum -- Kim Novak: Pastel Paintings.  Two celebrity exhibits at the same time.  Cool.

I took some pictures at the Sendak exhibit, but because of the challenges involved in posing Sal with a small drawing or painting high on a wall, the results were meh. 

We walked around the rest of the museum, and saw many cool things, some of which are pictured below.  You won't see the museum's most famous paintings, though, because Sal and I went to the Butler last year and I took photos of those works at that time.  If you are interested in more of what the museum has to offer, here's last July's Butler post. 

This is so cool!  The next photo explains what's going on in the painting.

Neat, right!?

I know it was naughty, but the frame around this painting was plenty wide and flat for Sal to sit on.  There's a ukulele!  And a record player!  How could I resist!?

A room full of carousel horses -- and decorative objects from carousels.  I did not try to pose Sal on one of the saddles -- even though I really wanted to! 

I had to take a picture of this painting because of the hidden ukulele shape within.  Do you see it?  The painting is called Seer, and it was painted in 1947 by Adolph Gottleib.

Raenell, Heidi, and Sal posing with an incredibly life-like sculpture of a security guard -- punnily named Seated Security Guard #2 (Art).

Eventually we ended up in the room containing the Kim Novak exhibit.  I'm not going to say what I thought of her work.  I will let it speak for itself. 

Heidi and Sal with Kim Novak's painting about the film Vertigo.

Read this, and then look at the painting below...

I solved the problem of getting Sal into a photo of a painting by standing in such a way that she is reflected in the glass of the painting.  Of course you can see me, too, but the point is that Sal is in the photo.

Our museum day ended in the gift shop.  I purchased a copy of Maurice Sendak's wonderful Pierre.  I read Pierre to my kids many times when they were young, and am looking forward to reading it to the darling Sophia.  The shop had lots of other Sendak stuff, too -- magnets, shirts, and the oh-so-tempting jigsaw puzzle pictured below.

Because of time pressures, I have given up doing jigsaw puzzle and hosting jigsaw puzzle nights at my house.  I actually gave away most of the puzzles I had purchased -- keeping just a couple of favorites to maybe do someday.  When I saw this Where the Wild Things Are puzzle, I came every close to caving, but something held me back -- the realization that I have NO TIME to do this puzzle!!!

BLOGPALOOZA, PART ONE! Sal Sees Incredible Fiddlers: Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy, & Kids

On June 22nd, a friend and I went to Cain Park to see The Masters of Fiddle at Cain Park.  Ordinarily I would have spent a few days writing and rewriting, and then posted about the evening.  Obviously this didn't happen.   Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on how you look at it -- Sal and I have been so busy that I didn't have time to write!  I'm planning to knock off all the posts that are in the pipeline in the next two days so we can start from scratch.  The posts will be short and lacking detail -- but they will be finished!  (It is possible that some of Sal's readers will be grateful for the brevity...)  I will be calling this series of posts BLOGPALOOZA!

On to the concert!  It was a beautiful night -- perfect weather for an outdoor musical experience.  And the show was incredible!  Amazing music.  We loved every minute of it! The Masters of Fiddle are Natalie MacMaster and her husband Donnell Leahy -- both absolutely mind-blowing fiddlers.  What a fabulous night! 

We arrived early enough to check out the merch table before the show.  This very friendly guy assisted us in deciding what to buy.

While wandering about with Sal in hand, I came across these two ushers.  The lady plays the uke herself, so I gave her a Cleveland Jumping Flea card to entice her to come to a playalong sometime.

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy have six children.  Here are two of them showing that they have inherited their parents' fiddling talents.  Seeing them play confirmed my view that it was time to put my violin back in the closet.  I'm sure that even if I practiced for years, I couldn't play as well as those two little kids already do!

Here are four of the kids demonstrating that they are following in their parents dancing footsteps.  Amazing!

I was very glad to say hi to these incredible performers and get their picture with Sal!

Sal's Super-Busy Day: Part Two -- "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

I think I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but whenever I try to read a Shakespeare play, I don't know what the heck the characters are talking about.  Therefore, a Shakespeare fan I am not.  Saturday night, however, found me attending a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, put on by the  Cleveland Shakespeare Festival at Lakewood Park.  Why would I do this?  Because my very British mother is a big fan of Shakespeare and doesn't often have the opportunity to do interesting things.  She is very particular about what she likes -- and what she doesn't -- so finding things she will want to do is pretty tough.  Whenever I come across something I think she will enjoy, I'm on it -- so Saturday night Shakespeare was it! 

I made the trek out to her house to pick her up, and my sister drove her back home.  In between we were all mightily entertained!  The production was a delight!  And we were lucky to have chosen to attend Saturday's performance, since the Friday night show had to be moved indoors because rain was coming down in buckets. Saturday's weather could not have been better -- and Lakewood Park was a perfect venue.

Thanks to Brian, one of the Cleveland Jumping Fleas, and Operations Director of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival.  If it weren't for him, I would not have known about this delightful al fresco theater. Another good thing about playing the ukulele = you meet other ukulele players who connect you with even more life-enriching arts.

Brian and Sal before the show.

Sal enjoyed hanging out on this sign -- which was literally pointing the audience in the right direction.

Anne, Mom and Sal.  Don't even ask...  ;)

Before the play began Brian told me that there would be a ukulele in the show, so I was watching for it -- and here it is!   Sal and I were very happy, because we think ukuleles should be scattered liberally everywhere!

After the show the talented troop of actors walked through the audience collecting donations -- and agreeably posing for photos with Sal.  Here is Hillary Wheelock, who did an amazing job playing Puck and Philostrate.

The actors in the production played multiple roles -- changing their costumes a bit to indicate their change of character.  Sal is posing here with Alli St. John (Helena//Quince/Moth) and Jennifer Cull (Hermia/Snug/Peaseblossom).  Both of these ladies were wonderful in all of their roles.

Sal posing with the blushing bride, Titania -- charmingly played by Pamela Harwood -- whose other role in the play was that of Hippolyta.

The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival will be doing this show through June 29th, and then Romeo and Juliet in July.  Go if you can!  Details HERE.

Sal is Soooo Busy!

Sal and I have been doing so many fun things that I am falling behind on writing about them!  But don't worry!  I'm currently working on a post about The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that we went to last Saturday evening.  Next will be a post about the Cain Park concert we went to on Sunday night -- Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy.  And then a post about Tuesday night's show -- also at Cain Park -- by Hey, Mavis! 

Fortunately for Sal and me -- but unfortunately for people who want to read about the events listed above -- we're doing more cool things in the next few days.   We're going to have to take a break from having so much fun very soon or I'll never catch up!  Yikes!

Sal's Super-Busy Day: Part One -- CPR and Fun with the Fleas

Sal and I did so many things yesterday that I decided not to squeeze them into one post!  We started with a CPR class at Southwest Hospital.  I have taken CPR several times over the years, but it's always good to refresh one's knowledge and get the most current information about what is recommended.  I hope that I never have to actually do what I learned today, but it would be great if I could keep my wits about me and save somebody if such a situation arose.  Keeping my fingers crossed it never does!

Sal with two of the dummies (no insult intended) we practiced doing CPR on.

After the class, Sal and I traveled to Visible Voice Books, which is my favorite spot to meet with the Cleveland Jumping Fleas.  Half of our small band of performing Fleas gathered together to practice the music we'll be doing at a Ukulele Singalong at Middleburg Heights Library on July 8th.  The rest of the group was otherwise occupied, but this little bunch ironed out some of our performance kinks -- and had quite a few laughs, too.  It's always a pleasure to play with these folks!

Dedicated practicers!  From left to right, Bruce, Holly and Sal, Thomas.

After the pleasantly ukulele-filled afternoon at Visible Voice, it was time for Sal and I to get on the road and start the next part of our very busy day...  Read about it in our next post. 

Postscript:  As I read what I've written here, it doesn't sound like the day was that busy -- or interesting for that matter!  And the post seems a bit hum-drum.  At least it's short.  Never fear!  The next one will be much more entertaining.  :)