Spongebob the Musical

And so, as on many occasions before, Julia's big Christmas present was tickets to see a Broadway show. In this case, Spongebob the Musical.

When we bought the tickets, the show had been shown in previews off Broadway, but hadn't opened yet. Preliminary reviews were good. So tickets in the 12th row were bought and off we went...

Waiting for the Show to Begin

The show was in the Palace Theater, right on Times Square, and when Amp and I were looking at this, we realized that this was the same theater in which we had seen An American in Paris back in the fall of 2015, on an anniversary trip. Our experience with this older theater was that being higher up was like looking down an elevator shaft at the stage. So we used Citibank access codes to buy seats in the 12th row of the floor level. Which turned out to be great seats...

The Band Begins to Play

The show itself was entertaining, with some catchy songs, good performances, and a nice staging. Having at least some familiarity with the world of Spongebob from the cartoon series, it was easy to follow along with the characters and what was going on, in terms of tying things back to the show. If you weren't familiar with the cartoon series, it might have been less fun to watch.

Spongebob!!!

A very obviously kid-oriented show, but we all like it quite a bit. I thought it was worth the money and the day in New York. Julia loved it. Grace liked it. The Broadway community apparently liked it as well, as it would subsequently be nominated for 12 Tony awards, winning only 1. Ethan Slater as Spongebob was especially good, and I thought the casting overall was very good.

Ellen's Stardust Diner

After the show we intended to get back in the car and head out, but as we were leaving the theater, we were all hungry. Grace had not been to Ellen's Stardust Diner previously (the rest of us had), so we decided to wait in the not-overly-long line and have an early dinner before heading home. Grace thought the singing waitstaff was silly and fun, which about sums it up.

Another good Broadway gift for Julia...

Postscript: It was announced on July 8 that the show would close on September 16, after a run of less than a year. Low box office grosses compared to comparable shows are generally believed to be the reason, but the official reason given by the production team was that the Nederlander organization is closing the Palace Theater for renovations, leaving the show homeless. Both, I'm sure, are true. I'm glad we saw it when we did. It was well worth it.

Lava Caverns Crafting

There is a situation developing in our D&D campaign that has me needing to put together some lava terrain for an ancient fire elemental temple cavern complex. Taking a cue from some terrain building I had seen recently on Runehammer Games' YouTube channel, I decided to do mine in a similar vein.

Walkways, platforms, monuments and passages were all carved from 3/4 inch foam insulation board, with a sharp beveled edge and linear geometric patterns. This was all done with simple free hand carving using an Xacto hobby knife. I didn't bother to base coat the pieces since they would be getting multiple layers of paint.

Stage 1 was a thorough coating of a ~60/40 mix of Craftsmart "Wine" and Black. This was liberally applied with the most important thing being that the recesses were filled in. The flat surfaces were less important to get an even coat on, since they would be getting 3 more coats.

Stage 1 - 60/40 mix of "Wine" and Black

Stage 2 was a heavy sponge of "Wine", unmixed out of the bottle.

Stage 2 - Heavy sponge of "Wine"

Stage 3 was a medium sponging of Craftsmart "Terra Cotta". This was done heavily enough to lighten up the pieces pretty substantially, but not so heavy as to completely obscure the darker "Wine" color underneath.

Stage 3 - Medium sponge of "Terra Cotta"

Stage 4 - Seen below in action (complete with Arian the Sorcerer's lightning bolt template!), the final stage was a somewhat random and somewhat heavy dry brush of Folk Art "Yellow Ochre". This simple step was the magic ingredient that took the pieces from "nice" to "yeah, that's what I was going for!"

Stage 4 - Light dry brush of "Yellow Ochre"

We used these pieces in our most recent D&D session, and they looked great. More on that over on my D&D campaign blog...

Folk Art acrylic craft paints are probably better quality than Craftsmart paints, but the local Michaels store now stocks a broader range of Craftsmart colors than Folk Art, and at 70 cents each (compared to 1.59 or so for Folk Art), you can't beat the value. For bulk use in crafting projects like this, I'm liking the Craftsmart paints a lot.

Closet Remodel

Not a glamorous project to be sure, but I pulled apart the shelving in the coat closet in our laundry room (our primary everyday entrance into the house from the garage), and replaced it with the HangTrak system that we have done all of the bedroom closets and pantry in.

Part of what we wanted was better shoe storage at the bottom of the closet, and due to the fact that we have nine foot ceilings on the first floor, the hang track vertical supports aren't long enough to go from the ceiling to near the floor (they max out at 7 feet long). This necessitated a 48 inch vertical from a support at the top, and another 48 inch vertical for the show racks from another support bar halfway up the wall. It's not the best look, but when coats are hanging, it is completely hidden so it doesn't really matter.

Mostly done

Dismantling, spackling, painting and then installing the new closet system took maybe 4 hours spread over the course of a couple of days. Now instead of fixed wire shelving in a less-than-optimal arrangement, we have a 100% fully adjustable closet.

Ray Thomas (1941-2018)

Ray Thomas, a founding member of the Moody Blues, my favorite band, died on January 4 of prostate cancer at the age of 76.

Ray Thomas in recent years

Ray had been retired from touring with the band for the last 15 years or so, but I was fortunate enough to have seen him perform with the band maybe 8 or 10 times between 1982 and his retirement from the band in 2002 (has it possibly been that long??). His rich powerful voice was amazing, even though he was not considered one of the lead singers of the band (and less and less as the years went by).

Earlier times

Ray was less active with the band in later years, but he wrote a bunch of great songs from the "core seven" albums between 1967 and 1972.

Moody Blues from the core seven years

He would probably be best known for the flute solo on Nights in White Satin, but Moodies fans would probably pick Legend of a Mind (this link is Royal Albert Hall in 2000, not the famous Red Rocks show as it claims to be) performed live as his most lasting contribution. The band retired Legend when Ray left, and I still miss it. Shows always ended with Nights, Legend, Question and Ride My Seesaw...

Ray on stage, 1990's

Other favorites of mine that were written by Ray include And the Tide Rushes In, For My Lady, Eternity Road, Our Guessing Game. There are many more.

It is nice that the announcement that the Moodies were being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year came before Ray's passing, but that is probably a more important event for the fans than the band.

I had hoped that the band's induction would bring Ray and Mike Pinder back on stage one last time. Sadly, that can't happen now (and likely wouldn't have anyway).

Thanks for the memories, Ray. And all the great music.

River Update - 12/28

A bunch of us went down to the River on a holiday-season day off to see where things stood, and do a walkthrough of a few things that the builder wanted us to take a look at.

There were a lot of changes since the last time I had been down. Plumbing and electrical rough in was partially complete, some HVAC work was underway, all of the interior framing was done. Windows and doors were all in.

Kitchen-to-be

The most significant difference though was the outside. Roofing was on. Siding was mostly done. From the outside, it looked almost done, as compared to the inside which looks nowhere near done.

River facing facade

I really like the style and color of siding we picked, and the roofing looks great too.

Exciting stuff.

Bernina 830

With all of the quilting, costume sewing and other sewing that Amp has been doing, she has been on the lookout for an upgrade machine. The Bernina she has now as her main machine is terrific, but it is on the smaller side for quilting.

The Bernina 830 has been the one she has had her eye on for a while, but they are prohibitively expensive. However, now that there is a newer model replacing the 830, she found one at the local sewing shop that she frequents that was a very good deal, relatively speaking. Done and done.

Bernina 830

As you can see in the picture compared to her old Bernina, this thing is huge, with a very wide throat which will make quilting much easier. It is fully computerized, and can even do programmed embroidery.

Amp has barely had time to scratch the surface of what it can do, but loves it. Which makes me happy. Many great projects to come...

Gratuitous Dog Pics - Late Fall Edition

My indulgence...another round of gratuitous dog pictures. Pardon me...

Comfy dog bed

One and a half year old blue tick beagle.

Bundled up against the cold (by Grace)

We have had a number of snow storms early in the winter this year, and Ryder has had a blast in all of them. He seems unaccustomed to the snow, which would make sense if he is from Georgia or the Carolinas, as we have been told.

New winter coat

He runs around, chases imaginary things, and generally acts as though he has no idea what snow is or how he is supposed to behave in it. It's pretty adorable.

Greater New York Invitational

The third and final gymnastics meets of the fall season was the Greater New York Invitational at Rockland Community College in Suffern NY. This would be a three hour drive from home for a mid-Saturday reporting time, but only a one hour drive from Amp's sister's home in northern NJ.

This was another larger meet with good competition, and Grace didn't have her best meet. She was doing her best to compete on a sore foot that had hindered her practices, and she just wasn't sharp.

5th in Beam

That being said, she still did pretty well, placing 5th in beam and 6th in floor.

6th in Floor

That was good enough for 6th in the All Around.

6th All Around

Epilogue - Grace knew her foot was hurt leading up to this meet, but not severely. She didn't want to go to the doctor for it, figuring that if they took an X-ray and found something small, she would be shut down for a while, and she didn't want to miss this last meet of the fall season. Her coaches thought she probably had a small stress fracture in the 4th metatarsal of her right foot.

So we went to her orthopod a couple days after the meet, got X-rays and an MRI, and sure enough, she had a tiny stress fracture of the 4th metatarsal of her right foot. She would spend 4 weeks in a boot, and miss the first meet of the spring season (the first weekend in January).

Map Work - Ishtala

Sketching recently has resulted in a draft map of the desert city of Ishtala, in the Kossaran realm of Marishtana. I love these 18 by 24 inch sketch pads...

Ishtala work in process

The heroes of our D&D campaign may (or may not) find themselves in this place at some point in the not too distant future...

Legally Blonde

The Garnet Valley Performing Arts Association performance of Legally Blonde was this weekend, overlapping with Grace's gymnastics meet in York PA.

I have to admit that I knew very little about this show, and hadn't seen the movie that spawned the musical. With Amp doing costumes, I had heard many disjointed bits playing on iPads and iPhones and iMacs as Amp listened for inspiration, but knew very little of the overall show.

Julia in the beauty salon

I was very pleasantly surprised. The show was very entertaining, had a number of good songs, and our kids did a very good production (not surprisingly).

Curtain call

On the sadder side of things, this may well have been Julia's 8th and final show. She did Les Miserables (her [and my] all time favorite) in the spring of her freshman year, both shows in her sophomore, junior, and senior years, and now this in the fall of her "super senior" year. She would be eligible to participate in these shows as long as she is in the school, which in her case will be in the year in which she turns 21, but she seems to be reaching the point at which other things are taking precedence, and she may not want to commit the time for Evita in the spring, and the other shows to come in the next couple of years.

You never know what the future will bring, but if this is the finale, then it would be hard to ask for a better experience than Julia has had. And so the curtain falls.

Tim Weaver Battlefield Invitational

Grace's second meet of the season was the Tim Weaver Battlefield Invitational in York PA.  Reporting time for Excel Gold was 7:00am, almost 2 hours from home, so this was the first meet where Grace and I drove out to York the evening before and stayed in a hotel near the venue. Amp and Julia stayed home since this weekend was the fall musical (Legally Blonde) at the high school, and they were both busy with four shows (1 Thursday, 1 Friday and 2 on Saturday).

Walk in for warm ups

This was a much larger meet than the West Chester meet a couple of weeks ago, and the competition was much stiffer. Grace still did very well, placing 4th in floor (with a personal best of 9.325).

4th place in Floor

...and 6th in Vault (8.2).

6th place in Vault

...and 5th in Beam (8.575).

5th place in Beam

Her team placed second overall.

Excel Gold team second place

Most importantly, she had a lot of fun, and had a great day with her teammates. Next up, Suffern, New York in two weeks.

West Chester Meet

Grace's first gymnastics meet of the season (Excel Gold level) was at West Chester University. Last year she competed at the Excel Silver level, and did well. The more important thing for me is that she is involved in a team sport that challenges her, and those challenges will serve here well in the future.

She had a really great meet, placing first in vault (her best apparatus) and beam (a personal best, and typically her most challenging apparatus).

Top spot (twice)!!!

She was 6th in floor...

Excel Gold team trophy!

...and 7th in bars (another challenging event for her).

Good times with friends

And had a personal best in the all around. Her team did great as well. There was a big trophy, but I honestly did't make a note of what place they finished. Oh well...

We're not in Kansas anymore...

...but maybe we should be.

I was lucky enough to see these guys live in 1983, shortly after Steve Walsh left the band. They were perhaps the best instrumentalists I had ever seen, and still are to this day. Hyper-talented. Everybody playing everything. And singing at the same time in multi-layered harmonies.

This came back to mind recently because my 13 year old daughter likes a band called Panic at the Disco. They did a cover of the song Carry on My Wayward Son for all the old dads in the audience who brought their daughters to the concert. Not a bad thought, and not a bad version. Relatively.

Panic at the Disco - Carry on My Wayward Son (2011) - Not bad for a bunch of young pups... Song starts at about 1:40.

Carry On My Wayward Son  (1976) - The real deal. Raw magnificence.

And again in 2009 - Not bad for a bunch of 60 year olds. So much for panicking at ye old disco. Steve Walsh. Kerry Livgren. Richard Williams.

No offense Grace.

OK. Some offense intended. Don't question your elders... Sometimes old school is the best school.

Hence... Miracles Out of Nowhere (43 minutes in). Old School is the best school.

I rest my case.

Yellow Perch

We made another brief trip to the River today to check on progress with the house.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, not too much progress has been made on the house in the last couple of months, but Grace did get some fishing in while Dave and I checked out the house and talked with the builder.

Snagged yellow perch

Using a simple spinner lure, Grace snagged a beautiful yellow perch (no harm done). We don't see a whole lot of yellow perch in the Sassafras, but they are definitely the prettiest fish you can catch in the River.

Well done, Grace. Seeing you gleefully catch fish at the River makes my heart swell in a way that you won't understand until many years from now...

Gratuitous Dog Pictures - Early Fall Edition

So it's been a little while since our last batch of gratuitous dog photos, so here we go...

Ryder loves laundry baskets

Ryder is a bit quirky.

...and loves nesting on my bed

And a little bit nuts.

...and loves a good sun spot

But he's ours...

...and loves a nice warm fall day

...and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

The girls and I have this conversation frequently:

• But dad, you said you didn't want a dog.
• I don't.
• But you love Ryder.
• Of course I do.
• So you want a dog?
• No.
• But you love him?
• Yes.
• And we're keeping him?
• Of course we are. He's family. Ohana means family, and family means no one left behind... (thanks Lilo).

School of Rock

Julia is a huge musical theater fan, so this year's birthday present for her was a family trip to see School of Rock at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway.

View from our seats - nice theater

We were able to get pretty good tickets in the balcony for the Sunday matinee. Before the show, we had lunch at Guy Fieri's American Grill, where we had also had lunch a couple of years before, soon after it had opened [note that by the next time we went to Broadway in January 2018, it had closed its doors...]

Girls on Broadway

The show itself was far better than I expected it to be, and if the PR materials are to be believed, featured a bunch of kids playing the instruments live.

Having liked the musical, I think I will make it a point of going back and watching the movie on which it was based.

As far as family traditions go, doing a Broadway show once or twice a year for Julia is turning out to be a really nice thing...

Avalon 2017

From the 21st to the 25th we did our annual week in Avalon, at the Windrift with the cousins, as usual, and it was a lot of fun.

Girls on Moreys Pier in Wildwood

There is something to be said for family traditions, and this has become a vacation one for us over the last 5 or 6 years.

Moreys Pier

We do beach. Pool. More beach. More pool. Wildwood boardwalk.

The compulsory mini golf evening

Mini golf. Eat too much.

Julia taking it slow

Sleep in.

Unfortunate pic framing on Moby Dick

Enjoy the ocean. Enjoy the pool. Again. Enjoy being with family.

There should be another post just like this next August, although that one will probably need to be planned around Band Camp, since Grace will be a freshman in the high school marching band by then, and that will take up the latter part of the month. Where does the time go?

Standing Stones

In a D&D game, there are a few types of must-have terrain to keep in your back pocket for use as your players and their characters bumble and stumble around the world (if you are into that sort of thing...). Standing stones, obelisks, and forgotten monument stones rank high on that list.

When the mood strikes me to make something in the way of fantasy terrain, and I can't figure out something specific to do, it is an easy choice to carve up a few standing stones, monuments or forgotten altars (blood-stained perhaps...).

Standing stone and forgotten altar miscellany

These take virtually no time at all, and consist of a little bit of knife-carved foam coated with a darker gray undercoat and a light gray sponging overtop. Throw in a little dark green or light green weathering for a change of pace. Easy Peasy.

Sewer Tiles

What's a good Dungeons and Dragons town or city without sewers underneath, inhabited by all sorts of evil and ill-intentioned creatures? With that in mind, I have spent a little time recently finishing a modular set of sewer tiles for our games.

The tiles are carved out of 1/2 inch extruded polystyrene insulation foam board (same as most of my D&D terrain). Each piece has a 1/2 inch base layer topped by another 1/2 inch "walkway" layer. The channels are either 5 foot (one square) or 10 foot (2 square) wide, with 5 or 10 foot wide walkways alongside. Where there is no walkway it assumes "solid rock" negative space.

Step 1, after foam assembly and a black base coat, is a sponging of Folk Art brand "medium gray".

Step 1 - medium gray sponging

Step 2 is a sponging of Folk Art "dove gray", a light gray applied more sparingly than the "medium gray". You want to highlight but not totally hide the darker gray, although I admittedly still go fairly heavy-handed on this step. Lighter colors "pop" better on the table during gameplay, and what might look more realistic up close from an artistic point of view often looks dark and dreary during games...

Step 2 - light gray sponging

Step 3 is a little bit of spot dry brushing of Folk Art "buckskin brown" (this is a nice rich medium brown color no longer stocked by the local Michaels stores - sad face...). This just aims to give a bit of a muddy feel, and to break up the potential monotony of gray.

Step 3 - a brown dry brush in spots

Step 4 is to retouch any "water" areas and edges with black, as you will unavoidably sponge some gray onto these areas.

Step 5 is to apply a brush-textured coat of gloss Mod Podge to the water areas to give them texture before painting. This is important, as you will be relying on the raised texture of this first Mod Podge coat to give something for steps 6 and 7 to catch on. The dry brushing in the next two steps will not be as effective if there is not some texture for them to pick up and accent.

Step 6 is to lightly dry brush some "buckskin brown" onto the water areas. This needs to be done streakily (is that even a word?) and sparingly - you are looking for hints of a sludgy nasty greenish-brown water, not an outright brown water.

Step 7 is to drag a heavy dry brush coat of Folk Art "citrus green", or a similarly putrid green, over the Mod Podge texture from step 5 (this is why step 5 is so important).

Step 8 is to re-coat the water areas with another coat (or two) of brush-textured gloss Mod Podge. You can see the way I did the brush-texturing of the Mod Podge (in step 5) by how the "citrus green" dry brush caught on that texture. The important thing in steps 6 and 7 is that I was looking for some hints of brown overlaid with a good bit of putrid yellowy-green, but didn't want the end result to totally overlay the black undercoat. I was hoping for a yucky greenish-brown over a still-dark base. I think this gives that effect. It might not be everyone's idea of a D&D under-the-town sewer, but it did achieve the exact result I was looking for...

Steps 4-8: brown water, putrid green, and gloss Mod Podge

By the end of this mini project I've added enough new pieces to the ones I had made several months ago to fill a medium sized Sterilite storage container with a good variety of 5 and 10 foot sewers with 5 and 10 foot walkways, including enough junction pieces to give me good flexibility to create all sorts of layouts. [In other words, probably much more than I will ever need...]

As with the badlands terrain pieces documented a few days ago, I'm not sure how much use I will have of these pieces, but they were fun to make, and the entire project probably took less than $20 in materials and 3-4 hours of time. And most importantly, it was fun...

Glen Campbell

Music legend Glen Campbell passed away August 8 at the age of 81. I can honestly say that as a younger person, I had no interest at all (or frankly, knowledge of...) his music. Rhinestone Cowboy would be enough to send me out of the room...

Glen Campbell, earlier

But then sometimes you grow up, and your mind opens up a bit, and your musical horizons expand. My knowledge of his music is admittedly still very limited, but I can recognize that he certainly had a substantial handful of timeless classics, songs that I can now appreciate for what they are.

Glen Campbell, later

My favorite Glen Campbell song is Wichita Lineman, a song written by Jimmy Webb in 1968 (the background to which is here...a good story in and of itself)

Wichita Lineman on PBS, a wonderful version of a classic song. Lovely. Great understated guitar work, with a beautiful simple solo and a bunch of seemingly effortless fills.

...And an amazing solo version with terrific guitar work (and a very interesting arrangement) - song starts at about 8:50 after an interview.

Guitar Man with Jerry Reed.

By the Time I Get to Phoenix, and Galveston. The guitar solo on Galveston (~5:30 on) would make many modern day "shredders" blush. (Who knew?)

Lastly, Ghost Riders in the Sky with Roy Clark. Roy Clark could be a whole other post...