• New Events
  • Feed
  • Subject
    • Eat
    • Sleep
    • Visit
    • Read
    • Listen
    • Watch
    • Life
    • Moonridge
  • Trending
  • Karen
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe

Always Packed for Adventure!

It's the destination and the journey.

  • New Events
  • Feed
  • Subject
    • Eat
    • Sleep
    • Visit
    • Read
    • Listen
    • Watch
    • Life
    • Moonridge
  • Trending
  • Karen
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe

Celebrating the 4th in a New Way

With the exception of two years, I have always spent the 4th of July with my family. The two years that I skipped out, were due to having to work, the only acceptable excuse for missing my Aunt and Uncle's annual pool party. It used to be a big deal, between 30-40 people, BBQ, pool volleyball and fireworks. The party has dwindled over the years and is now more of a small gathering rather than a party. Still, attendance on my part was considered mandatory, I've never enjoyed it. I love the people who come, but a whole day of sitting around the pool, helping out and making small talk is just not my idea of a fun way to spend the 4th. Additionally, the mandatory attendance just irks me. Somehow, the 4th has been elevated to a family holiday, near to the same level as Thanksgiving or Christmas. This year, I decided to make a stand. It resulted in a bit of family drama and a fight, but I just wasn't going to do the normal 4th of July routine. I asserted my independence. This refusal led to a day without plans and an adventure!

For as long as I have known him, Dan has been wanting to drive up route two and into Angeles National Park. Growing up in Glendale, the Angeles Forrest is in my backyard, but I had never explored it. We fueled up on pancakes and hit the road with no particular destination in mind.

Here is one of our Smart Cars on Angeles Crest Highway. Zippy and a convertible, a perfect partner on our expedition.

Beautiful winding roads and nearly empty of other drivers, we decided to head up to Mount WIlson. Growing up in Southern California, I heard mention of Mount Wilson constantly on the news. The "Mount Wilson Cam" is always talked about with the weather reports. However, Mount Wilson was a vague concept, because I never knew or bothered to find out where it was located. Let me tell you that is was worth the drive.

Look what we saw at the top of Mount Wilson

And beautiful wildflowers at the head of a hiking trail. Next time we will come prepared to go on a hike.

Lastly, a memorial marker that has a bit of a tie in to the 4th of July with the D.A.R.. Speaking of which, I remember as a child that my mom was thinking of joining the D.A.R., which thinking back now, just seems odd.

After our driving adventure, we ended up having our own Hot Dog eating contest on the patio and washing it down with bucket loads of wine. The best 4th of July ever! ( Dan even said so and he naturally makes a point NOT to celebrate the day)

tags: LA Adventures, Mount Wilson, Angeles National Forrest, Smart Cars, D-A-R-, Angeles Crest Highway
categories: Life's Adventures, Hometown Tourist, Visit
Wednesday 07.04.12
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

Theatre Review - Los Otros

Image

Image

On Wednesday night, Dan and I went to the Mark Taper Forum to see the world premiere of the new musical Los Otros. This production was commissioned by the Center Theatre Group, with the book and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and the music by Michael John LaChiusa.

Los Otros is a musical that never should have been a musical. The musical elements did not add to the story telling and detracted from the emotion and tension. The style of singing was staccato and jarring, which made it worse.

Another problem with the story is the structure. It is told in two acts without an intermission. They got it right by not having an intermission, as an intermission would have really killed any momentum that they play may have gained.

The first act is all about a white woman and her various experiences with Mexican culture while living in Southern California. Parts of the story are very cliche and parts are a bit unexpected. Both acts were broken up into several stories occurring at different points in the characters life. The stories did not necessarily connect or build on each other. They seemed arbitrary. My interest in the stories varied greatly. I went from mildly engaged to going through my to-list in my mind. I kept wondering where the story was headed and what one story had to do with the other.

The second act was all about an American man of Mexican decent and his experiences growing up in Southern California. Much like the first act, I wasn't throughly engaged. Although, the man in the second act was a far superior actor and singer to the actress in the first act.

I was thrown a curve ball in the last five minutes of the play. Up until the very end, I thought that the two acts were just showing parallel experiences, but then at the very end the two characters were suddenly tied together in a very bizarre way. I am not going to spoil it for anyone who might be going to see the show, but I will say that it didn't work at all.

Here is how I would have improved the play...

1. Not made it a musical.

2. Some of the stories were actually good, but I would have spread them out among multiple characters, rather than the two. It didn't work that the story had two characters telling 2-3 stories. The main reason that it didn't work is the stories didn't relate or build to create a character sketch or emotional arc. It would have been better to take the strongest stories and make them individual monologues of various characters.

3. Or maybe, just take the male character and turn it into a one person show with stories that build to create a character and give it emotional content.

4. I would never have connected those two character in the end. It didn't work at all and make no sense.

Ellen Fitzhugh had an idea when she wrote this, but it felt like her idea was never fully formed. The parts of the story that were good got lost in the muddle. I can't imagine that this show will go far beyond this run without some major reworking.

One thing that I really love about live theater, is entering the space and seeing the set for the first time.Los Otros had a very visually promising set. A majority of the space was filled with hanging objects (chairs, flowers, crates) that dangled over the audience. It was full and immersive. It made me like the play before it even began. However, set pieces and props have to have purpose. Looking visually cool is not enough of a reason to have a particular set design. I felt like all of these objects were meaningless in the context of the play and this is yet another reason that I left feeling disappointed with the production.

tags: Center Theatre Group, LA Adventures, Los Otros, Mark Taper Forum, Music Center
categories: theatre review, Watch
Friday 06.29.12
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
Comments: 2
 

Rhett Miller and the Lady Serial Killers

Last night, my guy (who suggested that his blog code name be "Big Ben" ) and I headed to The Troubadour for Rhett Miller's tour in support of his latest album,The Dreamer.Rhett is my absolute favorite songwriter and I always try to catch him when he is in town, usually 3-4 times a year. This is the second time that I have seen him play with the Serial Lady Killers.

For those out there not familiar with Rhett, he is the front man for the alt-country (or I prefer Cow-punk, if labels must be used) band, The Old 97's. When he is not working with the 97's, he also puts out solo albums, which tend to have more of a pop feel. Occasionally when he tours, he brings along his band for his solo career, The Serial Lady Killers. The Lady Killers are awesome musicians, but it is a tad weird to see them perform some of the 97's biggest hits. It's almost like the 97's are replaced by younger models. In particular, I missed Ken on Guitar. However, I do love seeing Angela Webster kill it on the drums. It seems so rare to have bands with female drummer kicking ass!

We arrived at the Troubadour really early to get in line, not realizing that the doors opened at eight. The ticket listed the event as starting at eight. Rhett came out and greeted the few of us waiting in line, so any annoyance was washed away as I turned into a blushing teenager. It's not only that he is so damn good looking, but he an incredibly talented writer. I go weak in the knees for talented writers!

The openers were,The Spring Standards, a band that I was entirely unfamiliar to me. They hail from Brooklyn, Great stuff. They played about eight songs, each sounding entirely different than the next. The lead singer, Heather Robb, felt like a mix between Stevie Nicks and Jenny Lewis. She had this amazing joyful energy as she sang, played drums and the keyboard (all in the same song). Rhett really gets some great openers for his shows and I always feel like I walk away with a new music discovery.

Rhett and the Serial Lady Killers hit the stage at ten. They opened with my favorite song off of the new album, Lost WIthout You. I had actually sent Rhett a request via Twitter for this song, but I guarantee that it was already on the set list! The concert was a very even mix of songs from all of Rhett's solo albums, the new album and songs recorded with the 97's. Mid set, Rhett gave the band a break and did a few solo songs, including a cover of a song from the British Band, The Wedding Present. David Gedge was said to have been in the audience. Rhett also did a somewhat soft acoustic version of Timebomb, I've never seen a show where Timebomb wasn't the closing song and this was the least hard core version I have ever heard. It was very cool!

Rhett Brought out Heather Robb to sing three songs with him, including one that she co-wrote on the new album. She also sang Fireflies as beautifully as Rachael Yamagata. Rhett did a three song encore, ending withOur Love.Another awesome concert. I left the Troubadour smiling and bouncing around to the songs stuck in my head.

A quick bit about the new album, The Dreamer. It's great, a bit more folk/country feel than his previous solo albums. This is the first album that Rhett produced himself on his new label Maximum Sunshine Records. It's a very reflective album. In particular, I love the following tracks- Lost Without You, Swimmin' In Sunshine and Picture This. As always the writing is strong with all of the tracks, a lot of word play and vague ideas that allow the lister to fill in their own story, I love that Rhett's songs tell stories and evoke emotion. His lyrics can go from being cheeky to cutting. Even a song like Picture This, which seems so sweet and sentimental, has a moment that is dark and questioning. Rhett never writes simple lyrics and that's what I love most about his writing.

tags: The Spring Standards, LA Adventures, Rhett Miller, Old 97's, The Dreamer, The Troubadour, The Lady Serial Killers, Concerts
categories: Concert Review, Life
Tuesday 06.19.12
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 
Newer / Older

Powered by Squarespace 6