Groove for the Ages

Last night we drove out to see my brother perform at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, MA - ahead of such celebs as Betty Buckley and John Oliver - with his one of a kind a capella group the GrooveBarbers. For those of you who don't know, Charlie was one of the founding members of the modern a capella sensation, Rockapella. Sadly, having to decide between going full time with group or earning a living for his children, he had to choose the latter, and left the group before their breakout hit Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? Luckily, the other founders eventually left the group as well, and re-formed in a more relaxed, goofy and hip form as the GrooveBarbers.

They sing several time a year, around the country, and they are tight, tight tight!

Here is there typically tongue-in-cheek promo video - which they put together after they landed a national spot for an allergy medicine called Astelin:

The thing that made this event in Pittsfield really special was this. They do a version of "Concrete and Clay" by Unit 4 + 2, and they traditionally bring up some sweet young thing and make her play the triangle while Kevin, the baritone, sings mock-romantically to her. This time, thanks to my brother, they brought my Mom and Dad up on stage in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary, which is coming up next month. The whole place was cheering and laughing, and utterly transported, and I was a happy wreck. My folks were funny and sweet and great and the big hit of the evening. And my brother, he's got a heart the size of Alaska, and he sings about it, too.

Ovo O boy

So somehow I got on this nice woman named Kathy's list. She works at Rochefort Associates, a publicity firm, and they handle Cirque du Soleil here in Boston. So suddenly, out of the blue, she sends me two fifth row center seats to the new show, Ovo. She'd done the same about three years ago, with Kooza, and I'd taken Spencer. He was seven at the time, and kinda liked it, but ran out of gas in the second half so we went home early.

I asked Dash if he wanted to go, and he didn't, so I brought Spencer again. This time, we were both totally blown away. It's a fantastic show.

Every time I see a great circus I wonder what the hell we think we are doing in the theatre. The circus is so much more amazing, breathtaking, moving, exciting, involving, immediate, visceral, and, in spite of the superhuman abilities of the people performing, human.

These performers have spent their lives perfecting boundary-defying abilities - really putting us lazy-ass actors to shame. And they are so in the moment, so real, pushing up against the limits of human possibility - it's just incredibly powerful.

Some of my favorite things (click on the link to see the performers):

Little chinese girls whirling drums on their feet so fast it looked like they were running in to some new dimension.

Chinese yoyo guy spinning three of those yoyos on his string in a tiny circle an inch from the floor.

Slack wire guy standing on his hands on a unicycle on a loosely swinging wire that was being pulled up into the air while he balanced.

Spider woman crawling head first down the vertical climbing wall at the back of the stage.

The whole thing is a play on the world of insects, and the strange abilities of these performers fit so well into the crazy world of superstrong, superflexible, wild and mysterious bugs. It was lively, entertaining, full of joy, and utter captivating.

Check it out.

Moan

For the last 15 years I have pretty refused to accept that was getting further and further from the age of 30. It is still pretty much impossible for me to comprehend how the words "46 years old" and myself could both be descriptors of my personhood. So this summer I've been really irritated with the way my body is refusing to go along with my determination not to get actually older.

First, after a fall during Opus, I developed an impingement of a nerve in my neck which is causing numbness in my left thumb, and when I over-exert myself it sends shockwaves up my arm. It's not really getting any better, and every time I do anything really physical it seems to get bad again. So basically, it seems like I'm just no supposed to anything physical.

Of course, I do anyway, because I am staunchly refusing to accept that I can't do everything I want to do. So I was playing tennis with Spencer yesterday - he's really into it, and since I am, too, I'm incredibly excited about the possibility of playing real games with him - and pull a groin muscle running for a shot. I've never had a pull like this before - it really hurt, and now I can barely walk. It just gave out - spectacularly, in the middle of doing something I've done a million times.

My big concern is that I'm starting to slide down the slippery slope. My neck injury means I can't exercise as much as I should, which makes my body weaker and more susceptible to injury, which means I get hurt more, which means I can't exercise as much as I should, which means... pretty soon I'll be driving around the mall on a little red SpinLife Scooter.

I'm not ready!