A few interesting things have happened in past week, but those stories will have to wait. Last Saturday, I went out to Stratford to see Something Rotten. The bus trip was quite terrible, but I think it deserves its own post. The musical was very good, though I couldn't have helped think that I would have preferred to go out on the earlier date I had selected (but that the bus was sold out, then briefly available, then off-limits again...). Not only I would have been able to see Get That Hope, instead of just hoping it will transfer to Mirvish or perhaps Soulpepper, but the bus ride would have been much smoother. On the other hand, maybe I never would have finished work on the deck. It's not looking that promising that I stain the other parts of the deck or tackle the fence, but I guess one never knows.
Anyway, on the way back, I was towards the back of the line, and two of the actors from Something Rotten were going back to Toronto. That led to several exchanges where people would ask how they enjoyed Something Rotten, and then they would say they were actually in Something Rotten! One of them was basically part of the chorus, but the other one was the actor who played Lady Clapham. (She had also been in Kat Sandler's Bang Bang over at Factory Theatre.) I talked to them a little bit, including about the issues we had faced on the way over and then the remount of The Master Plan because the husband of one of the actor's was playing Dan Doctoroff. If the bus had been quite full, I would have probably sat next to one of them and perhaps even asked for background detail to help flesh out my idea of writing up something about Stratford (or even just asking them if they had seen Slings & Arrows, which is the main reason I never will bother writing this up...). So a bit of a missed opportunity. I did manage to read more on the way back, whereas the tension on the trip in made it extremely poor setting for getting any casual reading in.
The following day I was at Trinity-St. Paul's to see Tafelmusik performing. I certainly didn't recognize her, but I was sitting next to Alison Mackay, who retired from performing as a bassist with Tafelmusik in 2019 but still often pulls together multi-media programming like Staircases or The Galileo Project. She was just up in the balcony with the rest of the plebes... She also had ridden her bike to the concert, and I almost commented on that, as I was a bit sweaty from my ride in. However, I had not brought a shirt to change into (it was still sitting on the sofa when I got home), so I had just turned my t-shirt inside out to make it seem slightly more appropriate for the venue, and thus didn't want to call a lot of attention to myself...
While it would be somewhat challenging to top this in Toronto classical music circles, I was just at the Nick Lowe show over at TD Music Hall (next to Massey Hall). I was going through the security check when a few older gentlemen just brushed by. The guards almost stopped them but then realized it was Nick Lowe and some of his entourage! If the woman scanning tickets had been a bit more on the ball, I would have been in the same elevator as Nick Lowe! As it happened, I was in the following elevator with Rob Baker (guitarist for the Tragically Hip). He had almost waltzed in without having the tickets for the rest of his guests scanned. So they made fun of him for that on the way up. I didn't intentionally do it, but I had moved over to where he was standing watching the concert (to avoid standing behind some tall people on the left side of the floor). I actually heard him get excited as the band played some particular song.* He really knew Nick Lowe's body of work, even the new material, and had apparently gone to see him when he played the Horseshoe a few years back. There was even one song where he moved up and stood right next to me and we both did our terrible white boy dancing while the music played! So that will be extremely hard to top.
I guess I could drop that I was at one of Skye Wallace's secret shows at The Only Cafe. I have gotten to know her a little bit over the years and we usually talk before her gigs. I had noticed one of the guys from Lowest of the Low is also at the vast majority of her shows, so definitely a fan. We ended up sitting at adjoining tables at that gig. I actually talked to him a bit during one of the breaks and asked him if he was indeed in the band. He said yes. (It was Lawrence Nichols.) I said that I really liked the newer material and that it was great they didn't only tour off the hits from the 90s. He said that it was great to hear that. I didn't want to be a complete gushing fanboy, so I kept the conversation fairly short. I did ask a bit about their plans to tour later in the year, but they don't have too many Toronto dates lined up yet. I may well see him the next time at the next Skye Wallace gig, which is Nov. 1, rather than at his own gig.
* Unfortunately, no one has filled in the setlist. The set was very similar to the Pittsburgh show a couple of days before, though I think Los Straitjackets did different instrumentals during their part of the show. For instance, they ended with "Venus" not "Itchy Chicken." I don't believe Nick sang "Different Kind of Blue," and he definitely did "Blue on Blue." Hopefully, someone else can fill in the details. For me the standout songs were "I Went to a Party," "Lately I've Let Things Slide," "House for Sale," "Half a Boy and Half a Man" and of course "Cruel to Be Kind." The encore "When I Write the Book" was also great. I liked the show a lot, but it would have been better (for me) if it had been at Danforth Music Hall where I could have sat down, even if that meant not getting close to Rob Baker. And while he doesn't sing it much any more, it would have been cool to hear "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," but only if he actually sang it, not just the instrumental version...
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