Concert: Lauren Alaina's "Top of the World" Tour

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I knew I recognized the name Lauren Alaina, and I knew she was a country singer. But if you asked me to name one of her songs, I couldn't do it. But I bought tickets to see her at the Fillmore Silver Spring  last week, and I had a great time! There were so many young people there (which made me feel old, but), and their lively energy added to the show. I was afraid that the young ladies in front of me were going to stomp on my feet with their dancing, though! But it was all good, and we all had fun.

Her opener was Spencer Crandall. I didn't recognize his name (or his face. He kind of looks like a B-side Chris Pratt), but I loved his energy! He definitely has a pop/rap twist to his country music, kind of like Sam Hunt, but that's very popular right now, and I liked it! He sang some cover songs, like Justin Timberlake's Mirrors and the Killers' Mr. Brightside, so that was neat. I liked his show enough to buy his CD, Wilderness. Not the best album, but it surely has some hits on it! And he writes a lot of his own songs, which I can appreciate.

My Person (As soon as this song started, I was so psyched! I heard this song for the first time last fall and instantly loved it. So I did know this guy!)

Things I Can't Say (This was my second-favorite song of his of the night! I listened to it later, and I think I like it better with him just singing it, rather than as a duet.)

Say in This (I like this song, but he rhymes "this" with "this" in the chorus, which is a bit of a cop-out.)

Made (Another great song! I can imagine this playing on the radio for sure!)

More (Just another romantic song from Spencer Crandall! He keeps 'em coming'!)

Before I Do (Very reminiscent of Jordan Davis' song, Singles You Up. I would listen to this on repeat!)

When You Think of Me (I can't remember if he actually performed this song or if it's just from the album. But it makes me think of my ex from college. The song is asking his ex-girlfriend to remember the good times and not just the end. But that young relationship for me was ruined by the ending. It is sad that I can't remember the good times without those memories being tainted by how awful the end was.)

I really enjoyed his music! I mean, I bought one of his CDs at the merch table! I would definitely see him in concert again, no doubt!

Lauren Alaina put on a good show, too! I didn't realize it, but this show was the first one of her Top of the World tour. She has a new album out, Sitting Pretty on the Top of the World, which has a lot of heartbreak songs. She even said there's only one love song on the album about the man she's seeing now (It's pretty cool that she writes a lot of her songs; she co-wrote 14 of the 15 songs on the album). Most of the songs she performed were from this new album, but she did some older favorites, too. 

If the World Was a Small Town (*cringe* at the lack of subjunctive tense)

What Do You Think Of? (Kind of a similar to Spencer's song above!)

You Ain't a Cowboy

Same Story, Different Saturday Night (This isn't a love song, but it's not a break-up song, either. It's just a fun country song!)

It Was Me

Run

When the Party's Over

I'm Not Sad Anymore

Change My Mind (This is the one love song on the album. Clever lyrics!)

Good Ole Boy

What Ifs (She just sings the girl part of the song on the official version, but during the concert she sang the whole thing. I love the version with Kane Brown, but I think she did a good job on her own.)

Ladies in the '90s (Girl power, yeah!)

Getting Good (As a person with a positive outlook on life, I love this song, since it tells people to see that life is good!)

Road Less Traveled (I love this song! Such an empowering message!)

Such a great concert! I didn't know what to expect, and I certainly was impressed. I would see either of these artists live again. I'm going to see Chris Lane at the Fillmore on Friday (tickets are still available if you want one!). That blog post to come next week!

Why You Should See Theater J's "Compulsion or The House Behind"

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I had a subscription with the DCJCC's Theater J this season, and I saw three shows (I saw Tuesdays with Morrie, and I wrote a blog post for Becoming Dr. Ruth. Read it!). The last one in the package was Rinne B. Groff's Compulsion or The House Behind. I didn't know much about it other than that it involved Anne Frank. It's really a story based upon the writer Meyer Levin's obsession with the story of Anne Frank and getting it out to the masses. I read a little bit about this in the book, Treasures from the Attic, since he had a close relationship with Otto Frank once the diary was discovered and they were trying to get it published, translated, etc. to share with the world.

I thought this play was really interesting! Here are some cools things about it that you should check out:

The character of Sid Silver, played by Paul Morella, is based on Meyer Levin. He is haunted by his infatuation with Anne Frank and her story, and a puppet is a manifestation of his thoughts. Image found here.

• There are puppets! Okay, I know that sounds creepy, but how many plays do you get to see with puppets in them? Matt Acheson and Eirin Stevenson were the puppeteers, and the way they make the puppets move is so lifelike! Simple nods of the head, a slight gesture of the hands... they almost seem real! 

Marcus Kyd (L) and Kimberly Gilbert play multiple roles. Image found here.

• Two of the actors play multiple roles, and even do different voices and accents! Kimberly Gilbert not only plays Miss Mermin of the publishing world and Sid Silver's wife (who is French), but she also does the voice of the puppet Anne! Marcus Kyd plays several businessmen related to publishing the screenplay of The Diary of Anne Frank, as well as a director of a soldiers' theater company in Israel, Israeli accent included! After the performance I saw, there was a call back with the actors, and it was interesting to hear their normal, day-to-day voices. Their real voices were almost unexpected!

• It's clever. I like how there are little nuggets sprinkled throughout. For example, we all know that Kyd is playing several similar characters, and parts of the script are almost breaking the fourth wall, letting us know that they know they're in on the joke that we are supposed to buy that this is a different man each time. Even the title has an interesting backstory. Compulsion is the title of a work of fiction that Meyer Levin wrote based on the Leopold and Loeb murder, and the House Behind is a more literal translation of "the hidden annex." So it's a combination of the name of one of his own pieces of work, combined with that of Anne Frank, and the word "compulsion," meaning an obsession, is very fitting.

• Anything related to the Holocaust helps enforce the mantra "never again." Theater J's associate artistic director, Johanna Gruenhut, wrote a great piece in the play's program called, "How We Remember and Never Forget." I loved how she wrote about memory versus history, remembering versus not forgetting. History is information about the past that is recorded, while memory is fluid through time and lives in each of us. And remembering is something each of us can do individually, but 'not forgetting' is something that we all have to do together, like saying the Mourner's Kaddish as a group to honor the dead. Even though Anne Frank was murdered nearly 80 years ago, her storytelling is memory that lives on, and any way we continue to talk about her story, like in a play such as this one, we never forget what happened to her and six million other Jews. 

There are only a few more days to see this play! Buy your tickets now!

Alvin Ailey - 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Kennedy Center

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This week I saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company perform at the Kennedy Center. I don't think I had seem them since college, probably because it's more modern dance as opposed to ballet. But I needed to exchange one of my tickets because of a calendar conflict, so I thought I'd see this show.

Robert Battle, the company's artistic director, gave some remarks before the performance, which I thought was really nice. He gave some background information, and he also told jokes, so he was quite entertaining. He mentioned that the company was part of the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971, and that the company's first two artistic directors won Kennedy Center honors, so he's waiting for his as the third director! He also said that there is a new documentary called Ailey about the choreographer and dancer who created this namesake company. He told us a little bit about each piece as well, which I thought was good preparation for the performance.

Blues Suite

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This first piece was created in 1958, so it's been around for a while! I love blues music, and I liked that the piece started and ended with the sounds of a train moving and a bell tolling, like marking the arrival and departure of the locomotive. I also liked the costumes, particularly the women dressed like flappers. But I wasn't particularly impressed by the choreography. A lot of it is pretty simple; I think your average set of back-up dancers at a concert could do it. I also didn't like that much of it is men grabbing women and the women swatting them away. This certainly is not with the current times, and it was almost hard to watch. #MeToo, anyone? I did find that this piece told a story, though, and almost felt more like a silent play. Maybe that's why they described themselves as "dance theater" as opposed to simply a "dance company"? I understand that most dances tell a story (they aren't there just to look pretty), but the pantomiming in this piece made me feel like I was really watching a story unfold. 

I wasn't able to find many videos for this piece, but the full soundtrack for the Blues Suite is on YouTube. So if there was no video of the dance, I have at least included a video of the song so you can hear the music.

Good Morning Blues

I Cried

Mean Ol' Frisco

House of the Rising Sun

Backwater Blues: This pas de deux was playful, with the "couple" (performed by Belén Indhira Pereyra and Jeroboam Bozeman) rough housing and flirting with each other, but was it dance? Again, this was one of the parts that felt more like theater than a dance performance. BUT I did like watching it, and I was impressed by his strength and the way the two worked together. I was having fun while watching it, and the rest of the crowd was, too. 

In the Evening

Yancey Special

Sham

Love Stories

This is what I mean when I say "zombies." Image found here.

Battle described this second piece as showing the past, present, and future of the company: starting in all these tiny studios, then getting its permanent home in New York City, and then where the company is going. We only saw an excerpt, which was the last, "future" part, actually created by Battle himself. The music at first sounds kind of sci-fi, so that makes sense for the futuristic part; all the dancers were wearing matching jumpsuits, which I also think aligns with most images of our space-age future. But eventually both the music and the dancing made me think of the intro to Austin Powers:

Again, I was not into some of the choreography. A lot of it just isn't "aesthetically pleasing." The dancers first come onto the stage crouched and shuffling their feet, and later they are stomping, punching at the air, and even marching around with their mouths open like zombies (see image above); the dancers would also frequently turn with their arms at 90 degrees (this was throughout the performance, not just this one part), which doesn't lend itself to grace. 

However, it was joyful to watch, and the woman next to me said, "That was fun!" And that's what dance should be, right? Watch the video below and judge for yourself:

Cry

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"Cry" was the next main piece of the show, and Battle said that Ailey had created this for his mother and for black women in general. This year marks the 50th anniversary of this dance, and the timing for this particular performance was good, since we are celebrating Black History Month.

The dancer (Constance Stamatiou) first came on stage, and while she looked eerie, the cool jazz music kept it from feeling weird. But there was a strange dichotomy between the sad dance and the upbeat music! From the choreography, you can tell that this woman is in pain, is tired, and is struggling; she is also a hot-blooded woman and sexy at times, too. I could completely see the message this dance was sending. This is a very athletic dance, and the performer showed a lot of stamina to be dancing on her own like that for so long! The piece did incorporate some of my least favorite parts of modern dance, like using a large piece of fabric as a prop and crawling on the crowd. I can certainly say I was entertained, but did I like it? I wasn't amazed or in awe, but I still appreciated the work into creating this piece of art. And she received a bouquet of roses afterwards, just like a prima ballerina!

While this is one piece, it is performed in three separate parts:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Revelations

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Battle described this piece as, "confronting the fragility of mortality and democracy," and said that Revelations is "challenging us to look forward," quoting the Maya Angelou poem, On the Pulse of Morning:

        The horizon leans forward,

        offering you space to place new steps of change.

Clearly this is a religious piece tied to the Book of Revelation. Because this is part of the New Testament, I am not familiar with it. But the music clearly has a gospel sound, and a lot of the choreography seemed to portray the joy that people have for God. If you have a time, here is an entire video of this piece (just over 30 minutes):

If you don't want to watch the whole thing or don't have time, here's a breakdown of some of the separate parts: 

We start with this part called, "I Been 'Buked" :

The dresses reminded me of the one in the previous part, "Cry." 

I couldn't find a video of the next dance part, but I did find the music for the song, "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel," which you can listen to here:

I think my favorite was the pas de deux called, "Fix me Jesus," performed by Sarah Daley-Perdomo and Jermaine Terry. Here's a video with different dancers:

"Wade in the Water" came next, during which the choreography was very flowy to match the waves:

The water piece was followed by "I Wanna Be Ready," performed by one man (I saw Clifton Brown, although this video shows Amos Machanic):

"Sinner Man" came next:

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The piece closes out with the powerful, "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham," which the company pretty much performed twice (once as the show, and again after their first curtain call). The crowd was clapping along: I felt like I was at church! While I didn't like some of the choreography (Dancing on stools? Makes me think of chair yoga for old people!), I very much appreciate the joy that the dancers expressed. Not only did it look like they were having so much fun, but I do think some of them were moved by the religious message, just like you would be in a house of worship. Below is a video of the piece:

Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on modern dance. I normally have the attitude of, "I know what's going to happen because it's modern dance." But don't I know what to expect from ballet, too?  While I usually don't like modern dance and much prefer ballet, throughout the show I kept thinking, "Am I having fun? Am I entertained?" And the answer was yes. What else can you ask for from supporting the arts? Even if not every part was to my taste, I can still appreciate all of the work that goes into this, and the feeling and love that is poured into creating a show like this one. I would certainly see this company again in the future!

Recipe: Soft White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

 

I happened to look in my cupboard and saw a bag of Craisins that I totally forgot I had! I was immediately inspired to bake something with them. I found this recipe on the Sally's Baking Addiction blog, and since I already had the rest of the ingredients, I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¾ cup white chocolate chips, plus a few extra for garnish
• 1 cup dried cranberries, plus a few extra for garnish

Directions

1. In a large bowl using a mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together. On low speed, slowly mix the dry mixture into the wet ingredients mixture until combined. The cookie dough will be soft and thick. Add the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries and beat on low speed until combined. Cover dough tightly and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 3-4 days. Chilling is imperative to prevent the cookies from overspreading.
3. Remove cookie dough from the fridge. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3-4 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. This makes the firm cookie dough easier to scoop and roll.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
5. As the oven preheats, scoop and roll dough, about 1.5 tablespoons of dough each, into balls. The dough may be slightly crumbly, but it will come together as you work it with your hands. Arrange dough balls 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. The centers will still look soft. If cookies didn’t spread much, lightly band the baking sheets on the counter a couple of times while the cookies are still warm. They will stretch and deflate.
7. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. During this time, press extra white chocolate chips and dried cranberries into the warm tops. This is optional and only for looks. After 5 minutes, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

As usual, I did some things my way. I almost always melt the butter, since I take it from the freezer and I'm too impatient to leave it sitting on the counter to cool down to room temperature. And I used regular chocolate chips instead of white ones, since most people prefer the traditional chocolate. Also, my brown sugar had turned into a solid rock (I try my best to prevent this, but I guess the last time I baked some air got into the container), so I just crumbled it with my hands the best I could; there was no measuring involved. But the rock looked like it would be less than ¾ cup, so I did add ½ cup of regular sugar just to make sure there was enough sweetness. 

I did actually chill the dough as recommended (well, for the one hour. If I'm baking cookies, I want to eat them THAT day!). Even though I told myself to read both the ingredient list AND the directions before baking so I knew what I was getting myself into, alas, I did not listen to my own advice. So I started preheating the oven too early, only to turn it off once I realized why Sally didn't list "Preheat the oven" as the first step. This is why I bolded that step in the directions; Sally didn't, but I think it's important to know that at least an hour is going to slow your roll. I normally don't like to have to interrupt my baking and wait:

BUT I followed the instructions and waited for the dough to chill. I didn't bother adding the extra chips or craisins on top before putting them into the oven; when I read optional, I hear, "Don't bother." And while I did add the cornstarch since it was listed and I had some at home, the notes of the recipe said that it's not really necessary. So if you don't have any , NBD. I also didn't check how much parchment paper I had on hand before making the dough, and I had just enough to cover one cookie sheet. *Sigh* So I baked one round of cookies, and then for the second round, I used the same parchment paper, but I placed the cookies on the "clean" spots so as not to over-bake any section. I guess I should be thankful that this dough should be refrigerated, because I couldn't bake all of it at once!

I baked them for 11 minutes, but they looked so anemic that I kept them in for another two minutes. Probably not a good idea because it puts them at risk for being overbaked, but even after the extra time they weren't even close to being "lightly" or "golden" brown. That's why I didn't bother to add a filter to the photo at the top: that's what they look like, aaaaaand...they're not very pretty. They taste okay. They are a bit dry on the outside, but still soft on the inside. They certainly aren't a total failure, but I don't think I will be making this recipe again.