I Do Stuff…

Jersey Boys marquee

When Jersey Boys announced they were coming back to the National Theatre for a limited engagement Pat and Nancy started working out when we could go.  Shortly after tickets went on sale my Dad and Pat got tickets for Nancy and I as part of a combined birthday gift for us.  The day of the show it rained all day and there was a tree lighting ceremony on the Mall that night.  Fortunately traffic was surprisingly good and we made it to M&S Grill well before our dinner reservation.  In fact I got rock star parking on the street and with the money we saved, we got a round of drinks!

Not long after we sat down Tracy walked in followed by my Dad.  Tracy walked from her office a few blocks away and my Dad drove from his job in Maryland.  We had a great time at the restaurant, finished off two bottles of wine and a few beers before we headed to the theater for curtain call.  I unfortunately was a little disappointment with the food.  McCormick and Schmick’s is known as a seafood place, unfortunately the Grill has very little.  Of the three seafood options they offered I went with the stuffed flounder.  It was good but it didn’t blow my socks off.

We arrived at the theater just in time to grab another drink and take our seats on the middle balcony.  I am sure that the floor cost more but I thought I seats we had were better.  We had a clear view of the entire stage from this vantage point.  The stage setup was interesting as it had a balcony of sorts and wire fence everywhere.  I thought it was a little small but they had plenty of space for the performance that night.  Props would be rolled onto the stage or dropped from the ceiling to set the scene.

I am of course to young to have heard the Four Seasons when they where in their prime creating hit after hit.  The performance follows the members of the band from their humble beginnings on a street corner in New Jersey all the way to their introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I found the story fascinating, their personal lives and the careers were intermingled tightly.  The story is told mostly through songs with very little dialog which was cool.  My Dad said the time he saw it before the dialog and singing was reversed.  The entire cast was fantastic, the guy that played Frankie Valli (with an “i”, see the play) did a great job and had the dynamic range of the original Frankie.  Nancy turned the show into one long karaoke session, she was having a blast all night.

nice view from here

After the performance we went to rooftop bar at the W Washington hotel just down the street.  I have never been here but Tracy highly recommended it.  I must say that the hotel lobby was decorated very trendy, I certainly didn’t fell like this was my type of hotel.  Even the bar was all trendy with bird cages hanging from fake trees and a white bar that was all lite up.  The place was packed when we arrived with lots of people, the bar was a sausage fest.  Luckily we found a small table and chairs in the corner over looking the Washington Monument.  For the view alone the price of the drinks was worth it.

It was just after 11pm when we walked out of the place and started making our way home.  It was a good night out.  We had some good food, saw a play and had drinks on a rooftop bar overlooking the White House and the Washington Monument.  The next morning I was hurting from the long night, but the pain was certainly worth the effort.

Last night had to be one of the hottest day’s of the year so far.  There were record heats across the state with heat advisories from the National Weather Service that basically said “stay inside if you don’t have to go out.”  So what did Nancy, Matt and I decide to do…….go see Sweeney Todd at Wolf Trap.  We actually planned this out a few weeks ago so we didn’t know what the weather was going to be like the night of the performance.  My crystal ball can be a little fuzzy that far into the future.

We first planned to get some snake food, a few six packs, and camp out on the lawn till the performance started.  As the day approached we got a better idea the weather was going to be hot and humid, we adjusted our plan a little.  Instead of arriving early for a picnic we stopped by a pizza shop in Vienna for food.  We first tried Whole Foods but it was a bust, they don’t have the eateries like the one in Fair Lakes.  The pizza place was over priced and the waitress screwed up Matt and my order.  Ugh, the night was not starting off well.  To raise our spirits a little we headed over to Norm’s to get some beer for the evening.  Matt picked out A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale (Lagunitas Brewing Co.) and Nancy got the Longboard Island Lager (Kona Brewing Co.).

When we got to the venue I was a little discouraged, I thought the heat would keep most people away but the overflow parking lot was pretty full.  As I picked up the tickets from will call the warning bell rings letting us know we should be taking our seat shortly.  Finding a seat on the lawn this evening was rather easy despite the full parking lot.  The last time Nancy and I saw a show at Wolf Trap, Mamma Mia, the lawn was smashed and we were packed in like sardines.  Tonight’s performance had plenty of open space for us to spread our blanket and enjoy the show.

The National Symphony Orchestra was in hand to perform the musical score for the evening and they where already on stage tuning and getting ready for the night.  Within a few minutes the conductor walks in stage followed by the extras.  The stage setup was rather sparse, the orchestra was setup in the back of the stage with the rest of the “set” in front.  I use that term loosely as the set consisted of two simple raised platforms and about a dozen red chairs setup in various spots on the stage.  The chairs where the major set design for the evening, providing most of the scenory and setting up the various locations needed for the play.  The only other major prop on stage was a window that dropped from the ceiling to represent various rooms in the play.  Above the stage was a giant screen that would display various pictures to help tell the scene location, could be the streets, the barber shop, or sometimes blood strewn when someone died.  Not much in the way of stage design.

The entire play had this feel of scarcity and simplicity that is hard to described.  There were very few props throughout the entire performance.  A table here and there, the barber chair, the giant window.  During scene changes the extras would pick up the chairs and move them around the stage, rather bizarre when you see it.  As for the costumes only the main characters had anything close to original outfits, all the extra were dressed in similar plain cloths.  From what I could gather this minimal stage presence was because the play was being put on by the Wolf Trap Opera Company, not a nationally touring troop.  What they lacked in set design they more than made up for with their acting/singing ability.

All told the show was about 2:30 hours long.  Thankfully as the show progressed the temperature dropped but our sweat soaked cloths from earlier prevented us from cooling off.  Despite the heat we were not disappointed, enjoying a great evening out on a Friday night.

Mamma Mia at Wolf Trap

Last night we trekked out to Wolf Trap to see the opening night of Mamma Mia.  We got half price lawn tickets about 6 months ago so we of course had not idea what the weather was going to be like.  Fortunately the weather ended up being perfect unlike last years were it was incredibly hot and humid.  Because of the nicer weather we didn’t drink nearly as much wine to cool off.  I could actually remember more of the show this year, but it certainly was just as fun.  There was zero humidity and the temps stayed in the low 70′s all evening.

It took over an hour to get from Springfield to the venue so when we arrived the lawn was absolutely smashed with blankets.  We fortunately snuck our way into a close spot stage right as a group was headed into the pavilion for the show.  We spread our blanket and took up residency for the evening.  Quickly we got the food out and cracked open a bottle of wine just as the stage lights dimmed and the show started.

This year the entire cast changed with maybe the exception of Rosie and Tanya, everyone else was new and did a great job.  There was some debate as to weather the stage setup and even the show itself had changed from last year.  I happen to believe that neither changed.  Maybe seeing the new cast threw everyone off.  Or maybe it was the fact of seeing the show from a different perspective this year, stage right.  I know when I sit behind the stage at Phish it certainly appears to be a different show to me.

The show was fantastic as always.  The weather that night was cool, in the low 70′s all evening and perfect for spend the evening outside.  By the time the show ended it was getting a little chilly and I could have used a light jacket.  Getting out of Wolf Trap is always a pain even though we waited 30 minutes for the venue to clear out.  Everyone wants to head east on Wolf Trap Road towards the toll road so it is a bottle neck getting dumping all the lots onto a single lane road.  Eventually we made it to Springfield and stayed for a night cap before heading home to Stafford.  It was after 1am before we got home and we both crashed hard.  It has been a long week of parties and late nights which finally caught up with me.  The only consolation was that Friday’s are usually light on the work load so feeling like crap wouldn’t be that big of an impact on my ability  to work.  I will say that I was looking forward to sleep on Friday night and not having to wake up early on Saturday.

Looks like we might make this an annual tradition.  Wolf Trap is such a great place to see a show we talked about seeing other shows together over the summer.  Under the stars on the lawn with some food and uh hello BYOB, sounds like a can’t miss evening.

lets party!

Concert Photos | NYE Photos

This years New Years Eve party happened again at the beach house in Rehoboth with a few additions and surprises.  First off Marvin flew in for the holidays again after having surgery last years.  We also convinced Matt to come along for the first time and join in the festivities.  A not-to-be-missed once-in-a-lifetime concert with Nancy and my Dad was to take place as well.  Last year while at the beach, late in the evening and after many drinks, a plan was hatched for the two of them to play a duet together on acoustic guitar.  This was going to be the best NYE ever!

Getting to the beach turned out to be more of a hassle than in years past, traffic was not the problem.  The post-Christmas crowds had already died down and not many people travel long distances for celebrations.  The timing of January 1 also worked in our favor as Friday was the observed holiday so we all left on Thursday night after work, again making traffic a breeze.  What we didn’t count on was the blizzard that hit the beach a few days before.  When Nancy, Pat, and Marvin arrived in the afternoon they where greeted with a five foot pile of snow blocking the drive way.  The snow was plowed directly into the driveway from a cross street.  They spent over an hour clearing the snow till Matt showed up and finished what remained.  My Dad and I had to work so we got a late start and completely missed shoveling snow, what great timing.

lots of great food

It was great having a long weekend at the beach house with plenty of time to prepare for the party and a long night of drinking.  Getting up on NYE at the house was a fantastic way to start the day.  We pretty much lounged around all day till the afternoon hours when we started getting dinner ready for our feast.  By now the first beers and wine has been opened for everyone to enjoy so we where off and running.  For dinner Matt hooked up some nice fat pork chops with side of pasta and homemade sauce.  Nancy and I contributed with a <INSERT DISH NAME> dish we got from a recent cook book her brother gave us for Christmas.  The food was fantastic as we all stuffed our faces in preparations for the long night ahead.

Around 6pm, before dinner was served, the concert took place in a grand spectacle in the living room.  As the official audio and photo archivist I had my gear setup and ready to roll come show time.  The two of them played for almost an hour with various songs ranging all types of genera.  I must say the recording came out alright, very low levels as it was an acoustic show.  I think were I really shined where in the photos I took that night.  I of course would love to have a better lens that bigger aperture to shot in low light, but I think they came out rather well.

the highlight was the concert

After dinner stuck around the dinner table talking for a long while just relaxing.  That is probably the thing I love most about the beach house is the rush to do nothing.  There are not schedules, no time lines, nothing has to be done so we just sit around and relax.  Eventually the discussion turned to what to do at the witching hour of midnight.  We decided on a little bar hoping and got an early start, we left just after 10.  We wanted to grab our first drink at Fins which from last year we knew would close early.  Even though we arrived just after 10pm, the bar already took last call so we immediately walked out and headed across the street to Finbar.  Here they were remodeling in the off season and we got a preview of the new layout.  The big change was to move the bar close to the entrance and expanded it greatly to accommodate three times as many people.

The service here was not to great so we quickly finished our round and headed down to our local haunt for New Years, Dos Locos.  Here the crowd was lively and the place packed.  We were fortunate to grab two tables just as another group got up to leave.  The table was not yet cleared but we snatched it regardless.  Here was spent almost an hour as we drank a few rounds and rang in the new year with champagne.  After the hooping and hollering died down we headed back to the house to continue the celebrations.  Some more drinks and dancing, all of a sudden it was about 3am as everyone started dropping out for some much needed rest.

dance party

January 1 was a quite and lazy day for everyone.  I didn’t feel so hot for much of the morning and early afternoon, I should not have had that last whiskey sour with Matt.  That drink did me in, but it certainly was worth it.  We watched a lot of football and I was able to finish the book I was reading, Deception Point by Dan Brown.  As a matter of fact I don’t know if anyone even left the house that day.

By the time Sunday rolled around everyone was feeling good and back to life as we all headed back home.  Another successful New Years celebration.  We even got Nancy and my Dad to commit to another concert next year with an expanded list of songs.  Both committed to getting together once a month practice for the never-to-be-repeated-again concert event of the year.

See you all next year at the beach, have a wonderful new year everyone!

Over the 4th of July weekend Pat asked around if anyone was interested in seeing Mamma Mia at Wolf Trap.  She is a big fan and I know has wanted to see it for sometime.  A few years ago when the movie came out she was all excited.  Both Nancy and Tracy were in because they loved the movie too, as does my Dad.  I will admit I like the movie, but I was in because the venue was Wolf Trap.  Wolf Trap is the only venue I know of that allow you to bring in your own food and drink, how cool is that.

Mamma Mia at Wolf Trap

With a record breaking heat wave sweeping the mid-atlantic and heat advisers that ran till almost midnight, we packed several picnic baskets and headed for the show.  I meet Nancy at her place and we headed over to Tracy’s house to pick her up and car pool.  We arrived just after 7pm and it was already starting to fill in.  I was surprised to see so many people out on one of the worst days you could imagine.  The fans of Mamma Mia didn’t care about the weather, they wanted to sing along to the music of Abba.

We sat a little off to the right, but we where down low on the lawn.  When the show did start I was surprised by how well I could see.  One of the strange things that I noticed immediately was the entire venue was quite and the lawn remained seated for the entire performance.  Not till the encore did anyone actually get up and dance.  Now and again you would hear people shushing others as they talked, this was a very respectful crowd.  As for the show I was surprised by just how little the set changed.  They managed to portray a small hotel on a Greek island very well with just two set pieces.  These two pieces would occasionally twist around to various angles to produce the desired stage setting.  For my first play it was great.  To me the best part was after the second act the performers all come out to take their bows but stayed on stage to sing a few more songs.  Finally everyone on the lawn and in the pavilion is up on their feet, for the first time all night, dancing and getting into the groove.

The show was very entertaining and it was a great time spent with the family.  We polished off six bottles of wine and an unknown amount of food.  Having carried two coolers to and from the venue I could tell you we ate and drank a lot because they were much lighter when we left.  We managed to be the second to last group to leave the pavilion.  Once the play ended everyone cleared out, some even left before the encore even started.  We all walked back to our cars, said our goodbyes and Nancy, Tracy and I headed back home in the Jeep.  What a cool show, I can’t thank Pat enough for picking up tickets for everyone.