The only problem with having events scheduled for sequential Saturdays was that it was getting in the way of movie night. By the third week, we solved our dilemma by watching a movie on Friday night.
Radical, huh?
Anyone but You was quite entertaining. Very funny in parts. As long as you’re good with the whole romantic comedy genre, I say go for it.
But, on to the events.
The will they or won’t they tour: Jann Arden & Rick Mercer
Chronologically, this was first up. Not only for our series of outings, but also for Jann Arden and Rick Mercer, who began their tour of the country in Kitchener. Jann Arden is a singer/songwriter (and also actor and novelist). Rick Mercer is a satirist, comedian, and author.
How the two met was something Rick explained during their live “Night of laughs and intimate conversation”. He was in Calgary filming a bit for his show, Rick Mercer Report. Only the bit was a flop—wasn’t going to air. They had to quickly come up with something else. One suggestion he got was to have Jann Arden give him a tour of Calgary. And he was like, “Jann Arden? Great singer, but I think she’s a depressive!”
Because Rick didn’t yet know the paradox of Jann Arden, which is that despite the fact that her songs are sad and moving, she personally is hilarious!
Their first TV segment together, going behind the scenes of the Calgary Zoo, was a hit. Thereafter, Jann become the one and only recurring guest on the Rick Mercer Report. From the pretty mild debut of zoo animals, their activities became more and more risky—luging, rock climbing, doing the sky walk at the CN Tower…. That sort of thing.
The live evening was just them just talking—about what it was like to do some of these stunts (when neither is naturally a daredevil type), about their respective paths in show business (Rick started very young, Jann not until her 30s), about how they became real friends (later than you might think). While I’m sure they had given some thought to how the evening would go, it was not fully scripted, and I’m guessing that different stories will be told on different nights on this tour. They also had a few clips from the show, and took some audience questions at the end. No songs!
Since they are both very funny, it was a good time. And very well attended.
Hoser version of The Beatles Ones
The week next, we went to see The Beatles Ones show. I wrote about that more here (with some bonus musings on whether any Queen songs actually qualify as sexy). Basically, it’s a group who performs live versions of all the Beatles number one songs in Canada, most of them introduced by video clips of what was going on at the time the song hit number one. The musicians were excellent, the crowd was enthusiastic, and the evening ended with us all up dancing to “Twist and Shout”.
Pretty rockin’, eh.
The Odd Duck
Since we were on a roll of getting ourselves out of the house, we decided to go dine at The Odd Duck restaurant one Tuesday night. We hadn’t been there since our first visit last summer.
They have definitely smoothed out a few of those rough edges! They were able to offer us cocktails (though we didn’t have any), and to give a full accounting of any of the options on their wine list. And it’s quite an interesting list! They serve many by the 3 and 6 oz glass, and by selecting the 3 oz option and sharing, we were able to try a number of them and still be functional for work the next day.
The service was great, and the food was just outstanding. They do the sharing plates thing, of which we had four, then dessert. My favourite was probably the mushrooms.
Young brilliance at the symphony
So, it turns out that reports of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony’s demise might be premature? In September, the symphony had cancelled their entire 2023–34 concert season just days before it was to begin. Shortly thereafter, they declared bankruptcy. But, we recently got an email from them explaining that they might, in fact, be able to keep the legal structure of the organization intact, which brings with it ongoing eligibility for charitable donations and government grants.
The email also informed us that they’d managed to get the whole troop together, with conductor Andre Feher, to give a concert on May 11. The theme was Young Brilliance, and the guest performer was 9-year-old piano prodigy, Murasaki Matsutani. She was to play a Mozart piano concerto, and the whole concert was built around the music of composers who started young.
The concert was held at St. Matthews Church, rather than Centre in the Square. It did have excellent acoustics, but certainly not the same sight lines as a concert hall. Part of the sport of the evening was trying to figure out where all the symphony musicians were actually located, like the percussionists (finally spotted way off to the right). And when Matsutani played, all I could get were some glimpses of her face—no hand views.
But it was really lovely to hear this group again. My favourite piece overall was probably Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre. The evening was hosted by CBC’s Tom Allen, a talk radio star who provided fantastic introductions.
As befits the theme of youth and promise, here’s hoping this concert is just the start of something new for this amazing group of musicians. (And let’s hope they get back into Centre in the Square!)
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