The Sunday Post

I don't know if you keep track, but I rarely post on the weekend. I figure that I'll use that time with my family, especially since I work full-time on weekdays. It's just one of my gestures of love towards my family, which in reality they probably don't notice at all, but I do it none the less.

That remindes me of a plaque that my mom had hanging up in our house when I was growing up.

Housework is something you do that nobody notices unless you don't do
it.

I need one of those signs now...

Anyway, I'm posting today because two things happened: Mr. Right just left to get the kids so that we can send them to the other grandparents house and I hurt my back on Friday, so I'm taking it slow and easy under doctor's orders. I've got time to do some things I want to do, like posting and catching up on bloglines. Woo hoo! (I'm not bed-ridden, but I was told to do nothing so as to let the muscle heal. I was also ordered by Mr. Right to not do anything that could make it worse, so being the obedient wife that I am, I'm faithfully following those instructions. I'll explain why I'm so adamant at obeying in a later post.)

I told Mr. Right as he was leavingthis morning that I hate being the one to stay home when one of us has to go away. It doesn't seem so lonely when you're the one doing the going away. I don't like being the one left in the empty house full of reminders of who I love. Plus he's going to have the joy of seeing the kids in front of him and I have the "comfort" of sleeping alone and waking to an empty house tomorrow morning. Yeah, fun. But that's just me.

Enough moping...

Last night, Mr. Right went to my mother's day gift, the Jim Brickman concert. It was a gorgeous night at the open-air Starlight Theatre. A pleasantly warm night, with nary a weather complication. Jim Brickman's piano music was exquisite and enchanting and the concert was aptly named An Evening For Romance. Brickman was appealing and amiable and is a kind of Victor Borge of new-age pop. He was funny as he poked fun at himself while recalling the title "America's new romantic piano sensation" and recalling little antidotes about himself as a child/teenager. He had a great sense of timing with the stories and the music.

It was also interesting as Brickman had a talented musician named Tracy Silverman touring with him. The interesting part was that Silverman played the six-stringed electric violin, or guit-fiddle as he named it. It was the most unique and fascinating instrument, and yet, it fit so well with Brickman's talented piano playing and it was enticing as a solo performance as well.

The down-sides to the night were two-fold. First, Brickman didn't stick to his piano-only music. If you don't know a lot about Brickman, he's a wonderful pianist, but he's also a collaborator with singers, producing such wonders as "Valentine" (with Martina McBride), "The Gift" (with Susan Ashton and Collin Raye ) and "The Simple Things" (with Rebecca Lynn Howard). However Brickman was touring with Anne Cochran, a performer who went to high school with Brickman. The first song she sang had me looking at Mr. Right and signing, "I don't like her voice and she's flat." He agreed. I thought that if I had to listen to her all night, I would really regret the concert. She sang better the second song, as it was more in her range, but really, she did nothing to enhance the night, and it would have been better for the audience if Brickman had stuck to instrumental only.

In addition to being disappointed with the singer, there was also the fact that Brickman himself sang. He had a pleasant enough voice, but it was not stage worthy, by any means. He had the kind of voice that worked for explaining the jingles he used to write or for giving a collaborating singer a feel for what he wants in a song, but it was not good enough to be featured in anything, especially his concert tour. So, Brickman, if you're reading this post, please stick to your piano playing only, leave Anne at home and let the audience come and enjoy what they came to enjoy - your piano music. Because had we known you would have brought a singer, we would have not chosen your concert.

The other down side to the night was that the concert didn't last nearly long enough. For as much as the tickets cost, we had expected a lot more music for the money. As we don't go out on dates like this often, there's something disappointing in knowing that a lot of cash was doled out for a less-than-desired performance. I don't mean to sound as if we didn't have a great time or that it was a complete bust because it wasn't. We thoroughly enjoyed the piano music and the night was full of romantic sounds. We just wanted to feel as if we received our money's worth for the entertainment and this performance didn't fit that bill, especially when you throw in an average singer and not enough piano-only music.

Something funny did happen in the concert though. Around early twilight I noticed something flying from the theatre wall. As I looked up, I could have swarn it was a bat. I told Mr. Right what I saw, and later he remarked that there were indeed bats coming from the building. They were swooping here and there, which probably explains why we didn't have a huge mosquito problem that evening. And it was truly funny to see the bats flying around the covered stage. You could see the performers eyes venturing upward at the movements in the air. I kept picturing one landing in Ms. Cochran's hair and her getting so freaked out that she couldn't sing anymore. But that wasn't really nice, so I knocked it off. (But it would have been funny!)

So that's my Saturday. Do me a favor and talk back would you? Tell me something that made you smile yesterday to distract me from missing everyone today.

Have a fantastic Sunday!