Day 232: An Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein

Following family Sunday dinner with Mom, Dad, Biz, and Jeff, I made my first trip over to the Ed Kenley Amphitheater in Layton (where *ahem* the Improvables will also be performing next week) for one of their free Sunday night concerts. This particular evening featured several songs by the great American songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and - oh yeah - my sister-in-law Jana was one of the main performers. A handful of both Plowmans and Jacksons were there to support her, and we enjoyed the cool summer evening and the entertainment together.

Afterward, Jana posed (above) with her two daughters, as well as several of her nieces from the Jackson side.

TMBG and JoCo in Concert

I finally checked a big item off of my “Bucket List” last night as Ben, Pepe, and I went to see They Might Be Giants live in concert at The Depot in Salt Lake City. I have been a big TMBG fan for years and had always missed them when they were in town – but not this time!

The Depot is a rather small venue for this type of show and was uncomfortably crowded at times, but it was nevertheless good to hear some familiar tunes, including "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Particle Man," "The Lion Sleeps Tonight/The Guitar," and "Fingertips," played live for the first time.

In addition, They Might Be Giants were joined by a talented musician named Jonathan Coulton, who opened the show for them. He played an enjoyable 45-minute set that included the very catchy "Mr. Fancy Pants," which may be stuck in my head for weeks.

"Alpocalypse" Comes to Salt Lake City

My next birthday is still a few weeks away, but earlier tonight, I was given an early birthday present by my good friend Pepe: tickets to the "Weird Al" Yankovic concert at the Utah State Fair.

If you know me - I'm assuming that you do if you're reading this, but you never know - you know that I'm a huge "Weird Al" fan and that I had already been to the last four of his previous concerts in Utah, as well as one in southern Georgia in 2003 (another birthday present; thanks, Clayton). They've all been hugely entertaining, and tonight's show was no exception.

Al is currently on a cross-country tour to promote his latest album, "Alpocalypse," and he performed six or seven songs from that record, including his Lady Gaga parody "Perform This Way," for which he dressed up as a peacock.

I guess the picture speaks for itself; I couldn't make this stuff up. Of course, it's really pretty tame when you think about some of Lady Gaga's outlandish wardrobe choices.

Additionally, "Weird Al" sang several of his older favorites, such as "Amish Paradise," "Canadian Idiot," "Fat," and "Smells like Nirvana." The evening's encore performance was a medley of his two Star Wars-themed songs, "Yoda" and "The Saga Begins."

Good times were had by all.

Peter and Pals in the Park

The Davis County mid-singles' latest extracurricular adventure took place this past Saturday night, when we were treated to a free concert at North Canyon Park. The featured musician was none other than Peter Breinholt, who is also one of the instructors of our Wednesday night Institute class.

Previously, I had seen Bro. Breinholt perform live once before, plus he often sings or shares some sort of music when he teaches, so I was looking forward to this night's shindig. The weather almost didn't cooperate for an outdoor concert, with an overcast sky threatening rain for the early part of the evening. Fortunately, it never did rain on the Big Parade.

We were treated to favorite songs such as "Jerusalem" and "You Wear Flowers," and during the latter song, Peter told us that his lyric "That's when it occurred to me; I like spontaneity" is often misheard as "That's when it occurred to me; I like Frosted Mini-Wheats." Well, that's good to know.
One of the other highlights was the medley of '80s songs, including "Sweet Child o' Mine" and A-ha's "Take On Me" (yes, he did reach the very high notes).

Good times were had by all.

Ben and Jon's Excellent California Adventure

Chalk it up to another one of those dumb things that boys do - I'm thinking of the McNuggets challenge here - but Ben and I went on a 1,400-mile round-trip road trip to California over the weekend.

It all started when Ben discovered the music of the Wailin' Jennys a year or so ago. He has become a devoted fan of theirs ever since. A few months ago, he learned that they would be on tour, but the closest they would come to visiting Utah would be Napa, California, which is a stone's throw from my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Dexter in Fairfield. So, he reserved a couple of tickets, and after pestering me to join him like an alarm clock commands you to wake up, I agreed to go along.

Other than a brief layover in Los Angeles on my way to the mission field in Peru - for some reason, we first flew west to L.A. before flying southeast to Lima - it had been 20 years (the summer of '89) since I had last been out to California to visit my aunt and uncle. So, I was probably overdue for the trip anyway.

There is a whole lot of nothing, including 410 miles of Nevada, along I-80 on the way out to the Golden State, but Ben and I managed to keep ourselves entertained during the journey by listening to good music and the seventh Harry Potter book on CD. An old, boarded-up house in the middle of nowhere with the words "Bobby Baby Boy Boo-Boo #1" spray painted on it kept us laughing for some time. I had also forgotten how much I liked the view of the Salt Flats and of the Sierra Nevadas.

Once we arrived in Fairfield, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Dexter took good care of us, as they have always done over the years. This morning before we left, they fed us one of the heartiest breakfasts I've eaten in years. They also sent us home with boxes full of oranges and lemons from the trees in their own backyard.

In addition, our cousin Sherrie, who lives just a few blocks away and whom I hadn't seen in several years, and her 13-year-old son Tony (who is almost as tall as I am now) came over to visit with us. Sherrie and I didn't always get along when we were growing up - I remember one particular traumatic event from my childhood when she whitewashed me in the snow outside of our grandpa's house in Smithfield - but fortunately that unfortunate experience never came up, and it was good to see them both.


The concert itself was great. It was held in the very nice Napa Valley Opera House, and in spite of my preconceived notions about the people of Napa being uptight, wine-tasting snobs, they were in actuality very friendly and cordial to us. Before the show, I was not very familiar with the Wailin' Jennys nor their music, which may be best described as a blend of folk, gospel, and bluegrass, but I was nevertheless entertained and now look forward to listening to some more.

After the show, the Jennys met with people in the foyer and signed autographs. Ben was excited to meet all three but was a little more excited to meet Ruth Moody, in particular:


I can't say that I blame him; in addition to being pretty, she is a talented musician and has a beautiful voice. When the Jennys learned that we had come all the way from Utah to see them perform, they were impressed and (off the record) said that we had won the award for traveling the farthest to see them.

Before returning home to Utah, Ben and I stayed in Fairfield long enough to attend sacrament meeting with our aunt and uncle at the Fairfield 3rd Ward. The people there were, likewise, very friendly to us, and we enjoyed hearing their testimonies before hitting the road once more.

We returned from our adventure earlier this evening. I am utterly exhausted from the experience, but I am also glad that I went.