eric hutchinson 11.29.14

Oh man, Eric Hutchinson. You guys, it was so good!

I went with my friend Michelle to see Eric Hutchinson in Spokane last November. I was stoked that he'd be that close and since he is Michelle's celebrity crush I splurged and got the VIP pre-show meet and greet. Worth it! I hoped that this show would be better than the last time we saw Eric. We saw him about 2.5 years earlier in Spokane with Allen Stone (what a guy, haha) and mostly it seemed like Eric was not enjoying himself and was ticked off that Allen had like twice as long a show as he did even though Eric had top billing.

We drove up to Spokane on Saturday afternoon, planning to have time for a nice dinner somewhere fun. We ended up eating in the food court at the mall...but we got to see some nuns singing Christmas carols; they were a novelty for us. We don't so much have nuns here in the TC.

I also invited my brother and sister in law to the show since they live in Spokane and thought they might enjoy the show.

Michelle and I made our way to the Knitting Factory (where I've also seen Ms. Sara Bareilles) and waited for our meet and greet. It was kind of a strange experience, to meet someone that you have this idea of in your head, and what are you supposed to say to them. Act cool! Anyway, we just kind of hung out on main floor of the venue and then Eric's tour manager came out and told us what to expect. He said Eric would come out and say "Hi" and play a few songs for us and sign our tickets, cds, poster whatever, and we could take a photo with him. Eventually Eric came out with one of his band members, and they played and he sang for us.

Then he asked if anyone had questions (which I was not prepared for!) but mostly everyone was shy. (It was also kinda weird because we were all just casually standing around in a semicircle just watching him, up close and personal!). I came up with, "What's your favorite song to perform that's not your own?" and he said he would save that answer for later when he would sing it. It turned out to be "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen. Someone asked him to sing a Christmas song and he sang the jazzy version of "White Christmas," and in my head I was like "Do you know that you are singing Bing Crosby's song in Bing Crosby's hometown?!!" He sang "Not There Yet" and "Forget about Joni" with his band member. I'm not remembering so much the other questions that were asked, there were maybe 20 of us, probably more like 15. I teased Michelle and told her that she should smell Eric and see if he smelled good. Then we got to meet Eric and get his autograph. I got a bit nervous but I told him I'd seen him before when he came to Spokane with Allen Stone and that I hoped he had a good show that night. And I got my photo taken with him.

He was pretty nice. I really enjoyed watching Michelle meet him though. It was fun! I also got an autographed poster and a free cd of his last tour, recorded live. So then he went away and they started letting all the other people in for the concert. We went back and sat down in the "bar" area because there were tables and chairs and it ended up being a good idea. There were two other opening acts so that would have been a long time to stand. My brother and sister in law came in then, but Stephen forgot his ID so they gave him grief for trying to get in the bar area, but eventually they let him in. The opening acts were ok, Nick Howard (a British guy, actually pretty good) and Tristian Prettyman, (I could have done without her).

Eric's set was so gooooood!! And a really fun time! He is great live and he talks to the crowd (which I enjoy); he seemed to enjoy Spokane a lot more than the other time I saw him there. Here is the setlist that I copied from another tour date-but this looks pretty accurate.
Tell the World
Watching You Watch Him
Oh!/Food Chain
The Basement
All Over Now
Ok, It's Alright With Me
Outside Villanova
You Don't Have to Believe Me
Breakdown More
Back to Where I Was
A Little More/Shake it Off/Hey Ya
Rock 'n' Roll
You've Got You

Encore:
Love Like You
Forever

I feel like he didn't play too many from his newest album, which I was ok with because they are my least favorite of his work. I didn't really enjoy when Tristian came out and sang "Ok, It's alright with me," it was not alright with me. I love when he plays "The Basement" at his shows because it really gets the crowd going, it's so pumped up on energy. I love the song "Breakdown More" and he also played a new song he's been working on that was really good. It's a slower song, I think it had the word "You"  in it, like "You Know" or "You think you know me." something sadder, like telling someone they are wrong or bad for you....anyway, it was good. Maybe it will make it on an album or something. LOVED the mashup of his, T-Swifts, and OutKasts songs. He is really good at mashups and they are usually really fun. By this point in the concert Michelle and I had gone out to the main floor so we could get a little closer and dance around. A great decision. The encore songs he kind of just played continuously, one right after the other and during "Forever" he went to the side, came down off the stage and made everyone do a dance circle in the middle of the floor. Then at this epic point of the music he threw confetti sticks in the air and a flurry of colored paper rained down on the mosh pit. It was magical really. It all happened so fast, I sort of got a video of it. I saw on youtube that he alternated nights with beach balls, which I thought didn't quite have the same effect. So glad we got the confetti. Michelle and I walked back to my car and pumped Eric the entire way home. It was probably one of the top three concerts I've ever been to in terms of quality, singing, entertainment and all around enjoyment. I loved the smaller venue and that we were able to meet Eric!

Video and pics to come laters!

cinco de mayo

Blog title has nothing to do with the post, except is May 5th right now. I'm home by my onsie savvy all night and you know what boredom brings...online shopping. Whoops. I got some really cute scrapbooking paper (I have a weakness for pretty paper) but I did have a gift card and used a code for cheaper shipping. Papa is out being the Bish and Mama is in AZ being a Grandma so more alone time for me it is! But here is the little princess:

She's getting so big already! She needs to stop growing till Auntie Moo sees her!!

Also, whilst online, I've been bumping Josh Groban's new album, Stages. All the songs come from Broadway shows. It is very very very good. Like, give him a Tony award for services to the Theatre or something already. Here is my initial review:

At first I was a little disappointed that he decided to sing the songs as himself versus trying to portray the character. But they turned out fabulous anyway, the only song I miss it on is "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" because in the play Marius sings with such grief and desperation. I'd describe half of the album as power ballads and the other half as a mix of fun and mellow songs. But even the "mellower" ones tend to ramp up during the song. Also, getting the Target edition with the four bonus songs is a must. Some of my favorites have been these extras: "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," "Gold Can Turn to Sand," "Dulcinea," and my surprise favorite "If I Can't Love Her" from Beauty and the Beast. Oh man, Joshy just belts it on the Beauty and the Beast song. And Dulcinea is so fun! I just want to prance around and play castanets or something, and I love the mariachi band!

The main body of the album-
Pure Imagination-just gorgeous, and melodious; like a dream
What I Did for Love-oh man, the power ballad of the album, great to sing in the car with acoustics
Bring Him Home-a little high for J, but he can do it, I love the simplistic version of the solo piano
Le Temps Des Cathedrales-a French power ballad, and I kinda understand the words because this song is sung slowly, this is a perfect song for Josh
All I Ask of You-with Kelly Clarkson, it's good, it's not my favorite song in life nor on the album
Try to Remember-maybe my least favorite, he's singing a crooner song and Josh is not a crooner, really
Over the Rainbow-a sleeper power ballad, starts off like a lullaby and by the end grows to a swelling orchestra, very beautiful
Children Will Listen/Not While I'm Around-another hit, a beautiful melody and these songs go great together
You'll Never Walk Alone-wonderful power ballad, I like to listen to this song as I pull into work
Finishing the Hat-I'd never heard this song before but I just love it, has a very broadway feel
If I Loved You-Nice song, it's growing on me
Anthem-oh man, great power ballad, he's sung this song before but I love the power of this song with the choir and the organ, way to go Joshy

Ok, I guess I'll go to the gym now.

the Russian ballet, we never miss it!

I was lucky enough to go to not one but two professional ballets last year! I took ballet from age 5 through age 16 and did about 4 years of that on pointe shoes. I appreciate good ballet. Not that I was ever really good (we'll blame my body type), but I still like to watch. Before last year I have seen three other professional ballets, Swan Lake at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, a random grouping of three ballets at PNB, and La Fille Mal Gardee at the Royal Ballet in London. (That last part was pretty snooty wasn't it!)

In November, when I went to Jessica's wedding, my sister took me to see Ballet West's production of Giselle. I enjoyed it and learned about that story. Since seeing it I've read a book about the history of ballet, which was like a stinking textbook, and learned that Giselle is important because it is one of the very very first story ballets. It was first performed by a French ballet company and then imported to Russia and from there spun off many of the important classic Russian ballets we know today like Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. It's kinda simple in its choreography but I like the ghost story aspect of it. I just remember that the Ballet West production had live greyhounds come out on stage at one point (the nobility came to town and therefore brought their dogs), and I thought that was kind of crazy. 'Twas good.

In December I got to see the Nutcracker danced professionally for the first time, with my mom.  It was so much better than my local ballet academy production-they don't really dance too much, just run around. We saw the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. Their version has sets and costumes designed by Maurice Sendak (who wrote "Where the Wild Things Are") and has been around since the 80's. I used to watch the Patricia Barker (Richland Native!) version each year in ballet class the last class before Christmas. 2014 was the last year they were going to do this version because they want to be snooty and produce a Balanchine version for 2015, but they are continuing the theme of having a children's book illustrator do the costumes and sets so they have the guy who does the Olivia pig books, Ian Falconer. The old version doesn't do all the "candy" dances that the Balanchine version does, ie coffee, marzipan, grandma ginger, etc, instead they set the second act in a kind of an Arabian country with exotic animals and plants. Which I kind of didn't get because they still had rats there, and I thought the Nutcracker had just beaten them in a fierce battle...???

 I really liked this version and liked how it was different than the "candy" version. I loved the huge grandfather clock that turns into Drosselmeyer and the base splits apart into legs. The Arabian/bird dance was pretty wild and had an exotic costume.

 Instead of grandma ginger they had this "Wild Thing"-esque puppet thing that jumped around, it was cute and fun.

Instead of a sleigh that takes Clara and the Nutcracker to the magic kingdom, they had a pirate-looking ship that sailed to the exotic land, complete with jumping dolphins! I kinda missed the Sugar Plum Fairy because I like her solo, they just had Clara do another solo for that song. But I did like how Clara got to dance a lot more in the second act than she normally does. I think my favorite part was the pas de deux that Clara and the Nutcracker did right after he kills off the rat king. I love the music for that part and the dancing was just amazing. I was so moved. And the thing that gets me is that the leads weren't even principal dancers with PNB, they were soloists or corps members. They were the "second tier" and they were amazing!! The whole thing was just wonderful, the ballet mixed with the Christmastime was magical. Mom and I just loved it and wanted to go again.

Of course our trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Dahlia Bakery and Nancy's Sewing Basket in Queen Anne.

They make the best soft molasses cookies and a kind of chocolate truffle cookie that takes like heaven.

Nancy's Sewing Basket provides a lot of stuff costume-wise to PNB, I liked this window display, they made doll costumes that look like ones from the show!

And then in the lobby at the ballet, to tease and tempt us, costumes from the upcoming Swan Lake. Gorgeous.
So now that I've been to a few professional ballets I need to see more and more and more.

so you think you can dance

My review of the So You Think You Can Dance performance!

The day of the show I was in a grouchy mood all day. Things were not going my way, I was tired, and I got frustrated at a coworker. I had lunch with Mom at the cancer center and she was tired. I was also closing at work—which I thought I wouldn’t be that week—so I was anxious to get out the door at a decent time. And then they added on a 5:20 MRI. It was a tiring week already and I was worried that I’d have a headache at the concert and not be able to enjoy it. The only good thing is that I work right next door to the Toyota center so even if I got off at 7, I’d still be able to make it. I got off about 6, drove home, took a 10 minute nap and then drove back with mom over to Kennewck. 

I parked near the Tour buses and joked with mom that maybe we’d see them after the concert. We met Michelle and Whitney at the front and headed in. I think Michelle and Whitney were surprised at how good the seats were. I’m all about getting the good seats at things now. Why be cheap? They were good in that they were close, but sometimes you couldn’t see the dancers’ feet, which you want to. And also the moves where they have to roll around on the ground. But the Toyota center performances are crappy anyway… 

The show was pretty fun. They did a lot of dances and it was longer than I thought it would be. It even had an intermission. They had the top ten dancers and then four more from the season to be kinda like “extras”. I had forgotten some of the good ones and like I usually do at concerts, I was like “Oooo I love this one!” They did group dances, partnering, and solos. There were a couple that were created special for the tour. It was weird because they had a movie screen in the back and Nigel, Mary, Nappy Tabs, Travis, Sonia etc would come on every so often and say a little blurb. I think they were trying to tie in the show. Ricky was my favorite, of course. Tanisha danced in almost every single dance. That girl is a beast. I enjoyed Emilio again. Valerie was cute. I still thought Rudy was annoying. Casey surprised me, I thought he was better than on the show. I thought many of them were better than on the show. I think the practicing helped a lot. Kennewick was like stop number 60 on their 70 city tour. For some reason I didn’t really remember some of the girls. A lot of them looked the same to me.

Some of my favorite routines were: the hip hop: Ricky and Zach-the playing cards, and they did another that was good,

 

also Emilio and the Pharoh that he danced with Jasmine on the show, another gal filled in; the michael jackson songs-the one about the earth, and dirty diana, (they did it better on the show);

 the group routine where they were chess pieces in black and white;

the mens group routine and the women’s group routine were both really good;
valerie and Casey? tap routine to Sing (one of the best routines ever for tap);

Ricky and Valerie broadway-the one where he is supposed to jump through a swing at the beginning, they had to revise the routine for the tour, no swing. So sad!

This is a link to the real dance, it is so sweet and perfect and Ricky has amazing extension. It makes me so happy.

Umm...Oh, the one Jessica did with Ricky-Sonia Tayeh maybe?

Also the guy who looked like David Bowie (Teddy) was there. I don’t remember what he did but I was happy he was hired for the tour. Marquette and Jessica did the fun one that Jessica and tWitch did, oh man, tWitch. They did this Travis Wall routine that was my friend Jenny's favorite. Oh, the group routine they did to One Republic’s “Till the Love Runs Out” was good, the music has a good beat. They did a finale song to T-Swift’s “Shake it off” and it was fun, not the most awesome choreography but a fun closer.

Ricky’s solo was amazing. His extension on his legs and feet!! He is such a good dancer--but he is so short, so the partnering thing doesn’t work as well. There was one point in his dancing I was watching him and thought, “wow, you can tell he is projecting his passion and energy through his entire body, even to his toes.” It was a great moment where I just really connected with him as a dancer and what he was trying to show through his art. And it was art, it was one of those times where I get why people do creative things like dancing, painting, art, drama, etc. It made me wish I was good enough at something. But it also made me realize that even if I’m not good at it I should still try and can still enjoy it. 

just look at that extension!!

 

Michelle forgot her glasses so she couldn’t see too well...I hope she still enjoyed it. The Robinsons were there and Kerilynn and Libbie were really excited to see the dancers. Mom was such a trouper. She was tired and hot, but she was enjoying the show and that was what kept her going. After routines she liked a lot she would cheer “Weeehoooo, weeehooo!” which is like her new cheer now! Hahah. Maybe it was adrenaline, IDK, but she did so good and I was so proud of her for still coming to the show. 

After the show I said good-bye to Whitney and Michelle and we walked to the parking lot and started looking at the tour bus. Sister Robinson and Libby found us and they wanted to wait for the dancers to come out too. (It was like 10:00 by this time). Some others were waiting with us and a girl said she had been to other shows in previous tours and they did sign autographs after. So we waited for like 30 minutes and then this guy came out and asked if we were waiting for autographs, we said we were and he said “Come with me.” So he took us back into the Toyota center and into the hallway where the hockey players go and there was a room and we went in and they were all there!! They had showered after the show and were all in their PJs and sweats. It was kinda weird because they are all young. like 19 & 20 but it was fun. I wasn’t too concerned with meeting them all (honestly, I forgot some of their names) but I talked to Marquette, Valerie, Emilio, Jacque (the ballerina), Tanisha, and Ricky. I got autographs from them. Jacque told me she liked my glasses, I told her we all hated when her ballet dance was dark on the show because we couldn’t see her feet! She said people asked her if something went wrong, like it wasn’t supposed to be dark. I asked if they had gotten job offers or anything from the tour and she said not so much but that some of them were planning on moving to LA to look for work once the tour was over. The only picture I really needed was with Ricky.

 I told him he was one of my all-time favorites, that his dancing is amazing, that I can’t wait to see what he does next with his career. I didn’t really chat with him, but he was very nice and grateful and willing to be in a photo. Mom said she spoke with Teddy and told him we call him “David Bowie”! I can’t believe she told him that. But he said he gets that a lot. Mom was so funny though, she got really excited and was telling everyone how Libby was a ballerina. I was like, she’s not your kid!! But mom really enjoyed meeting the dancers. I told them thanks for coming to little old Tri-Cities! She was on such a high after the show. We didn’t get home until about 11 pm but it was worth it. And I made it through the concert with enough energy and really enjoyed it. It was so fun that something like that came here. I was also glad that I didn’t spring for the VIP seats with the meet and greet because I ended up meeting the dancers after the show for freeeeeeee!! Good times.