Rachel and I went to Spamalot in Salt Lake last night. It was a lot of fun! I already knew all of the lines without having seen the musical before. Solid evidence of my geeky high school experience. Still had a great time though. And the music written for this musical is hilarious.
Jonathan, David, Rachel and I went to see the Salt Lake Symphony on Saturday. We had a great time. Good excuse to get out of the house. Only snowed a little. It was a the Libby Gardner Hall next to Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus. Rachel and the boys had never been to the U of U campus. Jonathan has a bit of a Cougar bias, so it was good to show him that the enemy’s lair isn’t so terrible after all.
Rachel and I went to see Death Cab for Cutie last night. They’re a talented bunch of kids, so I changed their band name a little. I hope they don’t mind.
Seriously, I’m one of their newest fans now. Good stuff. We had a good time.
The Arts Festival was fun. We listened to some jazz rock fusion played by some guys who called themselves Desecration of the Johnny People, and a guy who did really funny (and good) impersonations. He has Adam Sandler and Bill Cosby down pat.
The art was fun to look at too. Of course, it would be more fun if I had some money to buy some of it with, but it was worth looking anyway.
The Vegas trip was a blast. We did end up going to see Mamma Mia, which was excellent. There was also a Rubens exhibit at the Venetian that was cool to see.
For the last two years Sarah has played violin for the Timpanogos Sinfonietta Orchestra, which consists of a group of really fine musicians near the Jr. High age range. Many of those kids go on to be in the Timpanogos Chamber Orchestra which is one of the finest orchestras of high school age musicians in the country. Rachel and I attended their concert last night. Sarah and the others performed very well. I especially enjoyed Brandenburg Concerto, No. 3 by Bach and Adagio Cantabile, from the Pathetique Sonata by Beethoven. It’s really a treat for me to hear Sarah play, especially since I hear her play so rarely now since she’s usually at her mom’s house when she practices. It’s good to know that all of those Saturday mornings I spent driving her to and from practice 20 miles away is paying off. 
Allison was there with Marc and I finally got to meet him. He seems very nice. The boys had saved seats for me and Rachel so we ended up sitting all together. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as you might expect. It seemed to work quite well. When Sarah was finished with her part and came to sit with us, she understandably eyed the whole group with a little uncertainty but then came and sat down anyway. I’m glad that the first encounter seemed to go well. I think it will help the kids to know that we can all be at their activities and still get along.
The concert was good. Daniel Jobim is Antonio’s grandson, not son as I originally said based on a local radio spot about the concert. The show was divided into two parts–the first part being bossa nova (mostly Jobim) and the second part being more standards and crooning stuff. The whole concert was good but the first part was my favorite. Isn’t there enough great Brazilian jazz to produce a whole concert?
After the first couple songs it seemed Daniel Jobim would sing the Portuguese lyrics and John Pizzarelli would sing the English ones, but they quickly dispelled that notion when both of them were switching back and forth between the two languages–which they both did well.
The best part of the concert was definitely Ray Kennedy. His talent on the piano is extraordinary. There were a few times when he and John would play off each other–competing in a Deliverance-style showdown. Good stuff.
One more note on Girl from Ipanema. I’ve heard it said that whenever you get a song stuck in your head that you can’t get rid of, all you need to do is hum a few bars from Girl from Ipanema to get rid of it. But this is a fine line. If you happen to get Girl from Ipanema stuck in your head, there is no known cure.
If that’s true, I’m in trouble.
Oh, one more note to myself about the evening: If I ever find myself at IHOP again (which I will try to avoid from now on) then it’s best to stick to breakfast food. IHOP is NOT the place to order spaghetti.
Rachel and I are going to Abravanel Hall tonight to see the John Pizzarelli Trio perform bossa nova and the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. They will be joined by Antonio’s son, Daniel Jobim. As Rachel and the kids will attest, I love Brazilian jazz, bossa nova, and especially Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes and I serenade them with Girl from Ipanema and S?? Dan?�o Samba on a regular basis. So, needless to say, I am really looking forward to the concert tonight.
Speaking of Girl from Ipanema, that is one of those Brazilian songs whose English translations just doesn’t do it justice. The Portuguese is beautiful, lilting, and poetic. The English translation is good, but a bit harsh compared to the Portuguese and its meaning is substantially changed. If you don’t speak Portuguese and you want to see a good English translation of the original, I would recommend this article.
