Move It On Over

...even though The Sky is Crying, it's time to shift focus a bit. George T. and the Destroyers have just reminded me that Fringeaholics can get more of That Same Thing, year-round, right here in the Twin Cities:

Jane and I went to Pillsbury House Theater last night (one of the Fringe venues, where Narcisso Lobo had captivated us with "Please Don't Eat the Dogs" two weeks earlier). We sat front row center in a pretty full house, and were thrilled to experience the music and spoken word and wisdom of Oliver Lake, up close and personal. Mr. Lake is one of the members of the World Saxophone Quartet, and has been artist-in-residence at Pillsbury House this summer, where he wrote the (solo violin!) music for Carlyle Brown's outstanding six-short-play production,"Talking Masks", performed earlier this year. (Shades of "Fast Fringe"!)

In last night's solo show "The Matador of 1st and 1st", which he wrote and performed, Oliver Lake wowed us with 70 too-short minutes of non-stop conversation, in song and rhyme and rap, through voice and saxes and flute, about the power of music. His message was unity: All music, from rap to reggae and bop to Beethoven, is about That Same Thing: the expression of human emotion. And he told us that god breathes the same breath into ALL of us humans. (But DAMN, Jane and I marveled afterward, some people are way better at breathin' it back out!) Jane said she had never heard musical instruments actually SPEAK to her in the way that they did that evening. Thank you, Oliver!!!