Monday review - Chelsea Hotel

The other night I went to see a play at Vancouver's coolest theatre - the Firehall Arts Centre. It's an old firehall that's been converted into a theatre where you can take your glass of wine in (as long as it's in a blue plastic cup) with you and enjoy the wine as you watch some of the most interesting plays in Vancouver. It's also on the outskirts of one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city and somehow that worked especially well for this play.

Over the years I've seen cutting edge theatre in the round, exciting and entertaining musicals, original plays, and plays transformed from great Canadian literature - I've never yet been disappointed and I wasn't disappointed the other night.

Those of you who follow my blog know of my pash for Leonard Cohen - but when I saw the play Chelsea Hotel, I hesitated. I like my Leonard straight with a very few exceptions. Jennifer Warnes and K.D. Lang - that's about it for me. They can cover his work, no one else.

But a friend had two free tickets and I'm glad we went.

I loved the way there were no spoken words, only songs sung to tell a story of a man, a writer, in the Chelsea Hotel. I liked the cast, the way they worked together, the way they convinced me they were in a rundown hotel, living lives on the edge. I liked the set, very simple, the way they used paper to convey the thousands of pieces of paper a writer throws away before there's one he keeps.

It was fun to listen to the way they turned the songs into a coherent story - and the way they made connections between songs I wouldn't have connected. So I'm going to forgive them for not being Leonard, but thank them for praising him.

Kate

Kris Kristofferson and buying CDs

I don't know whether this has ever happened to you, but I was meeting a friend for lunch today and I was a few minutes early so I stopped into HMV. I wasn't going to buy anything, just checking out what was in the store, what was hot, what wasn't, and maybe just a little bit of getting out of the rain (yes, it's raining again today in Vancouver plus we have a boil water order because of yesterday's storm - which means that our water is disgusting right now).

Big CD stores often have sales - like 2 for $30 or 3 for $20 - and I occasionally (very occasionally) manage to buy two of the 2 for $30 CDs although I think the last time I did that was probably 6 or 7 years ago. And I have never once, in all the years I've been buying CDs, managed to buy 3 for $20. I might find one CD I'd buy, but never 3.

Well, okay, you know that saying never say never? Now I get it. Because today I bought 3 for $20 CDs and including tax they cost me $22.61, three CDs for $3 less than the full price CD I bought yesterday.

Wanna know what they were? You've probably guessed one of them from the title.

Kris Kristofferson - who I love passionately. I bought a CD that included (all in one place) half a dozen of my favorite ballads of all time: Loving Her Was Easier, Me and Bobby McGee, For the Good Times, Help Me Make It Through the Night, and Sunday Morning Coming Down. The fact that I think he's dropdead gorgeous - especially now - has nothing to do with it. Okay, maybe just a little.

Bill Withers - another one of my favorite singers. And this CD includes at least two of my favorite songs, not just of his, but in general - Ain't No Sunshyine, Lean on Me.

And then to top it all off, a Leonard Cohen CD - and those of you who've been reading my blog or checking out my website know how much I love his music, and especially his lyrics.

I think this serendipity was the universe's way of telling me that there are days when small lovely things are going to happen to make up for the small miserable things that we live with so often. They may not happen all the time, but they do happen. So thanks, universe, this was a good one.

Kate