Summer Reading

Summer.  Reading.  Two of my favorite words.  My birthday is June 23 and for me Summer always began on my birthday.  It was like the start of something; FUN!   Long lazy days of swimming and bike riding and a baseball game we called "three flies up"  where the batter would toss up the ball for a pop fly and whoever caught three would then become the batter.  The beauty of the game is you could play it with as few as two people, although three or four made for a better game.  As a child I ALWAYS participated in the Library's Summer Reading program. I was a competitive little kid; one summer I read 64 books, I think. My mom would ask me to tell her about each book before she wrote it down on the sheet they gave you to keep track so you could get your "prize"  I believe the "Prize" was a certificate that said you completed the Summer Reading Program.  I don't remember getting any cool stuff.  Maybe there was a coupon for a free ice cream?  I don't remember.  I stopped when I was a teen because I really don't remember the teens being involved in any kind of organized Summer Reading Program,  "YA Lit" as it is sometimes called, was in it's infancy when I was a teen.  Sure, I read and LOVED "The Outsiders" ( better than the movie) . I read "The Cat Ate  My Gym-suit" and the novels of Paul Zindel, "My Darling, My Hamburger" and "The Pigman".  Most of the books dealt with a teen angst that was at once familiar and foreign to me.    Summer in tenth grad and then again in eleventh I spent rereading the "Lord of the Ring" trilogy ( a fine set of films but again,the books are better), but there was no official group to join.  If there were one, they never recruited me.  NOW the Library goes full-bore to keep teens engaged in the Library and lifelong reading.  The past few years they have begun to include everyone in the Summer Reading program.  I signed up this year, but  as I did so online, I did not get the bag they give you and the program is apparently SO successful they are out of them!  I think I can get over the disappointment.

I will talk more about the two books I have read for it so far Julia Glass' " A House Among the Trees" and Jill Shalvis "Lost and Found Sisters" which is SUCH a "Beach Read" the cover features a beach umbrella and a beach bag which as far as I can tell - and I'm halfway through the book- has NOTHING to do with the story.  I have slowed down considerably since my 64 book achievement all those Summers ago.  But  I have a question for all of you reading this right now.  I am listening to "The Handmaid's tale". It is totally giving me the creeps, and a LOT to think about, but does LISTENING to a book count as reading it?  I'm not so sure. If I am not actually doing the "work" of reading, does it count?

Birthday weekend, Part 2

At the America show, I found myself thinking how much I missed going to see live music and live theater and thinking that I should make more of an effort to see both.  When we ran into the very kind Hank Linderman in front of the venue, he gave us each a slip of paper with the name "The Barefoot Movement " and a time and place- McCabes- on it. I had never actually BEEN to McCabes, although I had heard of it.  My great-great grandmother's maiden name was McCabe, which is an incidental thing, but that gives me a family connection right ?

 We looked them up on YouTube.  What did we do before YouTube, oh yeah  RADIO actually played new music and new acts.  We liked what we saw and heard and tried to get tickets.  The website said they had ONE ticket left.  I was disappointed and went upstairs to take a shower.  Sometimes, I get my best ideas in the shower and I came down and asked Chris to call the venue, as I found it odd that they only had ONE ticket.  Sure enough they had more and we gleefully bough a pair.  Turns out that the website had crashed AND they always have more at the box office ( good to know! )

We go to the Westside early and found parking in front of the venue.  We walked down the street to a local Mexican place, Lares.  The service was friendly, but the food was only serviceable.  I got a couple of cheese enchiladas and a margarita. They forgot the margarita mix, it was triple sec and tequila and undrinkable.  I will probably elaborate on"Stuff you can Stomach"  my food review page.

We really enjoyed the show except for the two  annoying women behind us who kept up a running discourse on what was going on.  You would think they were  baseball announcers, calling the game.    At one point, Chris turned and SHUSHED them, LOUDLY.  It worked for about two songs, but ah, the temporary silence was bliss.

The band, The Barefoot Movement, plays... barefoot.  They do rock hits and original music as well as classic Americana music, all in the style of bluegrass.  They did some interesting mashups; who KNEW "I get Around" by the Beach Boys could seamlessly blend into "Crazy Train" and back again?  Or that Jimi could be played bluegrass style?  It sounded GREAT and I did not want the night to end.  I am sorry they are not playing here for a while, but I hope to catch them when they do. I bought the EP and will be looking to buy the rest of their catalog soon. Yeah, they were THAT good.  They made me want to brave the Topanga Bluegrass Festival next year.

I am enjoying the live music and getting back out.  Strange how a serious illness makes you want to embrace things.  Chris made my birthday weekend amazing, even if we had serious building drama the next day.

Interlude

I will post birthday weekend part two and three in the coming days, but  I have been thinking about this for a while.

At the America show, I thought to myself that I really missed seeing live music and live performances and should see more of them.  As it happens, I was able to go out the next night to see The Barefoot Movement and last night went out to the Bowl to see the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Pentatonix.   Both events were a lot of fun and I will post more details in the next few days but BOTH events had me wondering about the following question;  WHY do people feel the need to TALK  and SING during quiet musical performances?   The people behind me at both shows acted like they were in their living room, keeping up a running commentary, observations so inane, I felt like slapping them.  HELLO Captain Obvious. Then the singing.  I'm sorry, but I did not pay to hear YOU sing and I really would like to be able to enjoy the professional performers  I DID pay to hear.  I mouth the words to songs I feel the need to "Sing" along with.  Last night, the orchestra played a song that had special meaning to me and the drunken millennials behind me chatted through the whole thing.  Gee, I'm glad YOU were having a good time, but you ruined it for me.  If you want to talk and sing drunkenly along, off key and with the wrong words, GO TO A BAR.  If you want to talk, GO TO A BAR. When I was little I was taught to be QUIET at the symphony.  Now it's like a sporting event.  Even a good dose of the "Hairy eyeball" did not shut these people up.  I hope I ruined their video, I kept shifting and stretching and ant one point stood up.  Ok, maybe that was uncalled for but I was annoyed.  At the Barefoot Movement show, Chris SHUSHED the chattering women behind us.  It only lasted  a few songs, but the silence was blissful.

Weigh in here. How do You feel about chattering audience members and people who seem to need to perform in their seat?  How do you react to it?   It won't stop me from going to live shows, but there must be a way to handle this, or am I overreacting?