Attend more cultural events.

Fall Festival is in Japantown (Nihon-Machi) SF October 4th and 5th!! I’m really excited to go!

Last weekend we saw a play at the local college, a rocking funny British farce of mistaken identities. Brett laughed harder than I did!

I also took my daughter (8) to her first opera. Tosca. Weird first opera, I know. But she loved every minute. Laughed her head off through Scene I and even in the scenes that followed she never once asked when it would be over (though she did say once, in utter admiration, “They really know how to make a little story last a long time!” She’s a budding writer.)

It helped, of course, that her beloved aunt was the star; that Grandma bought her a new dress and sparkly shoes and another aunt a sparkly matching purse; that she was showered with attention, before and after and during intermission, by charmed opera patrons dazzled by her youthful glamour and enthusiasm!

My sister is in the Army so every time she comes home my days are always fun filled and I get to go exciting places. This past visit was comprised of many events I am happy to have experienced. First we went to Las Vegas together. I haven’t been there since I was like 5 so I didn’t remember it very well and I was so pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone is there! People would ask how our trip was going and they wished us good times almost everywhere we went! I fear I am off topic, so I shall continue :) Onto the cultural events, well, we saw Wicked this past Sunday and it was amazing! I totally got chills whenever Elphaba sang and it was fun to dress up for an event like that. Then just two days later we went to see Jersey Boys, a very entertaining musical. Just outside the theater, there was a small group of men singing and they sang beautifully. Everyone stood around and clapped to the music and smiled at each other’s enjoyment. I simply love moments like that when a group of strangers have an opportunity to be connected by an experience like that. I hope I have not ventured too far off topic but that has been my recent cultural events and I hope to attend more once my sister is finally free of the Army! :)

I always think I’ll go to some of the presentations, but I never seem to actually make it. Well, this year I did, and saw a presentation about Erma Bombeck done in impersonation style. It was fun…

Also, I’m flying down to Boise so I can go to Sun Valley to see my brother in Forever Plaid.

I almost don’t think going to family things counts…but then, when else would I ever go to operas? Maybe I will count family things.

It was great. Leslie was GREAT! The guy who played Giorgio was great. The guy who played Alfredo was great, although when he cried Violetta’s name at the end he didn’t have the same intensity as the Alfredo in Boise did (the emotion in that guy’s voice, this incredibly musical huskiness – in a tenor voice – just tore you in half).

Funny thing…At intermission we (my sister-in-law, other family members, and I) heard one of the young women who works with Spokane Opera talking to an older patron about Leslie – She’s so wonderful, just brilliant, what a voice” etc – and the opera girl said this: “She’s local, too. She’s from here, one of our own!”

Mel and I looked at each other and quietly cracked up in slightly stunned laughter. Local? One of their own? Leslie was born in L. A., lived most of her childhood in Southern Idaho, attended college in Utah, lived most of her adult life in L. A., and has lived the last few years in Boise. She’s never lived in Washington, never went to school there, her home is eight hours away by car, I don’t think she’s ever even vacationed there—the longest visits she has made to Washington have been the three operas she has performed in there in the past four years!

I tried to tell myself it was silly for me to be annoyed by the girl’s attempt to bask in her reflected glory when I do it all the time myself (sister of the diva, you know) – but the fact is, she really IS my sister, and she really is NOT a Washingtonian, a Spokanite, or even a North Idahoan! LOL! (She, in fact, considers herself if anything to be a Los Angelino – despite a small-town Idaho upbringing, the city got into her blood, and moving back to Boise was a huge adjustment.)

1) someone started a terrific local website that lists all the goings-on – arts, sports, everything – in our area. YEAH! No more trying to sort out the N. Idaho stuff from the Eastern Washington and Spokane stuff in The Inlander.

2) My sister’s playing Violetta in La Traviata in Spokane in May, and I have a friend who wants to go. The great thing is, Les just played the same role in Boise last October, so I get to compare productions, which will be really fun!

There’s a lot going on around here in the galleries, indie bookstores, playhouses, etc. I just need to pick up the local alternative paper the day it comes out and go through their cultural listings. They don’t give much lead time, but it’s not like Brett and I plan our dates ahead anyway. What’s the difference between checking to see what movies are playing a half hour before we head out, and checking the day before to see if there’s a reading at Auntie’s or an exhibit opening or something?

I went two one meeting, two lectures by Shalom Paul (He is more a preacher than a scholar. His lecture at Columbus State may be different), and one potluck party this weekend. It never rains but it pours. The party and the lectures were all with people from my synagogue. The meeting was of the local Democratic party.