Workday Draws to a Close

I can't wait to get out of work! I'm gonna go tutor and then make a quick trip to the library to drop off some overdue books and then I'm going to make some cabbage rolls.

At lunch, I stopped at Mad City Music and bought a nice legal copy of Son Volt's new album, Okemah and the Melody of Riot. It's a dual-disc which means that one side is an audio CD while the other side is a DVD. The DVD side features an "enhanced" version of the album plus a documentary on the making of the album and some live concert footage. With CD in hand, I went next door to A Woman's Touch and bought a ticket for a forthcoming show by Cherry Pop Burlesque. Since I'm at work, I shan't go to their webpage and copy'n'paste a description but I will say that it's more or less an old-fashioned burlesque show. The show is called "Rhythm and Va Va Vooms" and is a celebration of the group's first anniversary. In addition to the usual crew, there will be special guests:

Hot Pink Feathers (San Francisco)
Tightly Bound (Chicago)
Mona N'wal (Madison)
delicate MICH (Madison)

Today I found out that, not only will C.J. Chenier be at the Orton Park Festival next month, but so will Cycropia, a local troupe of aerial dancers. I've seen them perform previously but it's been a few years. They do some pretty funky stuff with trapezes, poles, and big dangly ropes hoolies. I believe that, for the Orton Park shows, they do their routine from thingies suspended from the branches of a rather old and rather large tree in the park. Also in the theatrical vein, I've bought me a ticket for a play in the woods - at American Players Theater. APT is "...a professional, Equity, classical theatre located in Spring Green, Wisconsin, 40 miles west of Madison. The 1148 comfortably cushioned seats sit in a natural amphitheater on 110 acres of woods and meadow just off the Wisconsin River." Here's a picture:



I know it's not the best picture ever but it does demonstrate how cool it is to see a play at night with a full moon. (OK, the mosquitoes ain't good but they do provide bug repellent.) I shall be seeing a production of The Play's the Thing by Ferenc Molnar, adapted by P.G. Wodehouse:

A dream come true. Spend a gorgeous summer weekend in a
castle overlooking the Italian Riviera. Circa 1920. Here you’ll meet a famed playwright and his lifelong collaborator. The young friend they’re traveling with is the composer of their soon-to-debut operetta. He’s due to marry the show’s prima donna, who’s rumored to be joining them for this glamorous tryst. But then. Oh my word. An impassioned conversation overheard from a neighboring bedroom. That’s absurd! Disbelief then shock. Worlds come crashing in. All is lost. The new show, the marriage-to-be, the musical lad himself resigned to a perfectly odious, melodiously suicidal end. Exactly how the rich and famous are supposed to live. Out there, on the edge. Expect nothing less with this fantastical farce. An absolute riot. Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward would fit right in.

Next up I need a ticket for The Living Canvas. Oh! Dogger called me last night and the More Drama Tour will be stopping in Milwaukee so we're probably gonna go see it. It's next month on a Monday night. Dogger and I both love Yes and he's a former bass player so I'm sure we'll both have a good time watching Chris Squire ply his trade. Ooh! And I need to find out about going to a Ren Faire as well.

Last night I started reading the following book:



The introduction was a little informercialish in that it that nearly every sentence introducing the contents of the book was followed by a near-miraculous testimonial from an anonymous man. So I basically breezed through it ignoring the extraordinary claims and hit the first chapter. It stated purpose and gave background but also set Western concepts of orgasm against Eastern, particularly Taoist. There included claims of men having over a dozen orgasms hastily followed by a your-mileage-may-vary disclaimer. Plus the authors threw in one-sentence summaries of the odd medical study as proof of their claims, always a dubious tactic. The thrust, if you will, of the first chapter was that orgasm and ejaculation are separate and a man needn't do the latter to experience the former. From a pleasure perspective, this is a good thing but also, the authors explained, it was healthy. This is because the production and expelling of sperm taxes a man's constitution and could possibly shorten his life. The whole life-shortening bit was put forward along with lots of anecdotes and hyperbole from ancient Chinese texts. For example, men tend to sleep after ejaculating, salmon die after spawning, et al. Personally, I thought it sounded like a bunch of hocus pocus crap. I did, however, agree with their premise that the release of "sexual energy" by ejaculation does affect a guy. They pointed to an interview with Miles Davis who says that his playing is affected by sex and so is the performance of male athletes who are said to generally abstain from sex the night before a game or match. I'll go along with them and say that ejaculation (orgasm?) definitely has a draining affect. I'm not very creative or inspired after ejaculating and, if I abstain for a few days, I feel like I could write the next great American novel. Anyway, I finished the chapter and saw that the second was about anatomy so I put it away and pulled out some Liquid Silk instead...I'll get back to the book tonight, I suppose. So stay tuned to find out if I can get all Taoist on my member.