Hamilton!

It's a rare thing when something you've wanted for a long time and you've hoped would blow you away actually ends up being even better than you could have ever imagined. It's even rarer when it comes twice in a three-month period in the form of both a new relationship and Broadway's all-time most Tony-nominated show.

Since my last post, Jen and I have started navigating a new poly relationship between us (my long-term relationship with Puck continues to deepen as co-habitating partners). The tremendous NRE Jen and I are co-creating makes me joyful, excited and hopeful that we will make each other (and perhaps those close to us as well) very happy for a long time to come. Aside from a brief exploration in 2014, I haven't found myself in a new relationship since 2010 - but rather than feeling out of practice, I think that all I've learned in the past six years has better prepared me to create a more loving and sustainable romantic partnership that is integrated into my other significant relationships.

Last week Jen and I saw Hamilton together and it was probably one of the best experiences on Broadway I've ever had. It didn't top seeing Wicked from front row center but it was a close second. We were in the fifth row, just to the right of the center section in the orchestra.

 

We had sushi for dinner and actually got to the theater just in time because of the subway but we managed to sit down about five minutes before the lights went down. A lot of people came in late for the 7 pm show, which it pretty astonishing considering what a hot ticket this is. I've been trying to win the ticket lottery for the better part of last year - I probably entered about 10 times, which I know isn't much when there are hundreds of people entering each and every lottery.

I also approached the show cold, as in I didn't listen to the soundtrack beforehand. I saw the opening number on a TV show a while ago so I had an idea what the vibe was going to be like but otherwise I was a blank slate about the show.

The thing that impressed me most about Hamilton is the clear narrative flow despite the rapid-fire lyrics. Jen pointed out that the solos with King George ("You'll Be Back," "What Comes Next?" "I Know Him") were a welcome respite from the pace of the show and I agree. So the story is easy to follow, even if you miss a few words along the way.

One of the highlights for me was Washington's goodbye ("One Last Time"), not just because it's a stirring song but because the historical act of Washington giving up power is such an important (and somewhat overlooked) part of the history of our country. I remember my father telling me once how much he respected Washington because of that one action and how other political leaders throughout history have been unwilling to follow his example, sacrificing their benevolence in the pages of history.

I was also greatly impressed with the songwriting throughout, but especially with the songs featuring the female cast ("The Schuyler Sisters," "Helpless," "Satisfied"). The finale, "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" brought me to tears. I didn't expect a musical about one of our Founding Fathers to be such a moving love story.

As a thank you for the tickets, I bought Jen a hardbound copy of "Hamilton the Revolution" that has essays about the production and the entire libretto with annotations. Some of the footnotes are pretty hilarious and reveal obscure references that capture a glimpse of the creative process. We started reading it together on the trip back to Staten Island so maybe we'll pick that up next time we're listening to music together.

Top 20 albums

After an unusually quiet week last week I had a exciting and stimulating weekend filled with music, performances and friends. Friday night was my company's annual picnic, but since Puck couldn't make it this year, I didn't stick around for very long. I bid on a few silent auction items, but didn't win anything, and I didn't do the drawing this year (which resulted in a free hair cut and color appointment for Puck two years ago).

Saturday started out cloudy and cool, so I walked over to Ess-a-Bagel for brunch and then took the subway down to The Rack to pick up another dress on which I had alterations done. I walked through the Greenmarket in Union Square and picked up some cider and pickles before heading home for a nap before it was time to meet Kristina to try the Hedwig lottery. Kristina was very optimistic going in, and I was the third name picked! Our tickets were fifth row orchestra left, and a few seats in from the aisle.

We came back to TSMC to chat for the 90 minutes before the show and then headed back down at 7. Such are the advantages of living three blocks from the theater! The show was fun and the music was great, but I had some trouble following the plot as it was difficult to hear some of the dialogue. But it was a solid rock show and I'm glad I got to see it. We went out for dinner at John's Shanghai afterward - our usual adventuresome choices of soup dumplings and beef tongue and tripe in chili oil (Kristina's first time eating beef tongue).

Sunday Liz invited me to Union Square for Diana Oh's "My Lingerie Play" performance that consists of about 30 women wearing undergarments standing in a line on their soapboxes and holding up signs denouncing rape culture and supporting female sexual empowerment. Kacey, Becker and Storm were also there to document the event. Liz performed in a cute (and modest) yellow polka-dot nightgown. I could only stay for about half an hour before I had to leave for Williamsburg to attend Classic Album Sundays, which featured one of my all time favorite albums this month, Jeff Buckley's "Grace."

As a special bonus, the event featured Gary Lucas, the co-writer and guitarist for the first two tracks, "Mojo Pin" and "Grace," who signed my vinyl copy of the album and performed after the listening session with singer Caroline Cotto. They did live acoustic renditions of the two songs from the album, and Gary performed a few additional compositions of his own on guitar. It was such a privilege to listen to the artist that contributed to such an important work as "Grace." Since of course Buckley perished in a swimming accident after recording this singular debut album, this is about as close as we can get to an authentic performance of this work.

CAS this month inspired me to think about making a list of my top all-time favorite/most influential albums. Also, it's been fueled by all the lists of movies and books that have been making the rounds on Facebook recently. So for my album list, I wanted to include those that are more than just a bunch of hits (e.g. Michael Jackson's Thriller) and lean more toward albums that are constructed as a coherent work with an overarching theme, both musically and topically. Not every album on the list is like that, but when it came to choosing one over another, I put more weight on albums that met this criteria. I also tried to limit it to one album per artist (which is why there's only one Beatles album).

So my Top 20, in ascending order, looks like this - it's a pretty even mix from my old and new lives. Comments about each are below the list.

20.  Bridge Across Forever – Transatlantic

19.  Weather Systems – Anathema

18.  Deadwing – Porcupine Tree

17.  Very – Pet Shop Boys

16.  Talk – Yes

15.  Rain – Joe Jackson

14.  Hotel California – The Eagles

13.  Purple Rain – Prince

12.  Paramore – Paramore

11.  Remain in Light – Talking Heads

10. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

9.  Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morisette

8.  Ten – Pearl Jam

7.  Synchronicity – The Police

6.  The Beekeeper – Tori Amos

5.  The Joshua Tree – U2

4.  Avalon – Roxy Music

3.  Disintegration – The Cure

2.  Grace – Jeff Buckley

1.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club – Beatles

20. Transatlantic is kind of an All-Star progressive rock supergroup, featuring big names in the Third Wave of Prog: Neal Morse (keyboards/vocals, Spock's Beard), Roine Stolt (guitarist/vocals, Flower Kings), Mike Portnoy (drummer, Dream Theater), and Pete Trewevas (bassist, Marillion). I love all of these bands, but this album that blends the elements of Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, Dream Theater and Marillion is my favorite complete work among all of them.

19. I discovered Anathema from their label's sampler CD. K-Scope is the same label as Porcupine Tree and lead singer/solo artist Steven Wilson. Here's a great song-by-song review of this remarkable album.

18. The hardest thing to pick is a favorite album from your favorite band, but this one is probably the album I would give to anyone as an introduction to this awesome British prog rock band.

17. I've been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys since they released their first album "Please" in 1986, the year I graduated from high school (yes, I'm that old, biologically speaking). Over the years my interest has waxed and waned, but this album (regrettably, I lost the original pressing in the fire that included an EP called "Relentless" that is out of print and quite valuable as a rarity) has always stuck with me as the group's most fully realized work. Read a great track-by-track review written for the album's 20th anniversary last year.

16. The only Yes album I owned for the longest time was "90125" and that was pretty much all I knew about this timeless prog-rock band. But when I met Tara, she changed that completely by introducing me to "The Yes Album," "The Ladder" and this album that came right after 90125 but didn't do as well commercially. The final 15-minute song is what really sets this album apart, spanning three distinct movements like an symphonic tone poem that echos the rest of the songs on the album.

15. Most people only know piano man Joe Jackson from his 80s hit, "Steppin' Out." But this more recent offering from 2008 is a terrific work that evokes life in New York with irresistible musical hooks.

14. One of the pure concept albums on this list, "Hotel California" tells the familiar story of the new kid in town seeking fame and fortune, being seduced by the perils and perks of rock stardom. It's a uberstatement on celebrity excess drawn with such skill it becomes a surreal grotesque. One of the top all-time sellers in music history as well.

13. "Purple Rain" is arguably the best movie soundtrack of all time. It's too bad the movie is so awful. I wish someone would remake the movie and just use the stage performances to tell a different story that doesn't require the rest of the cast or the plot. Prince is pure energy on stage.

12. Paramore's self-titled latest album is a musical tour-de-force, and a breakup album reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" (a near miss for this list). The band lost its original rhythm section and emerged with its most mature and consistent work, punctuated by short confessional interstials performed on ukelele by lead singer Haley Williams.

11. This was one of the key milestones in last year's musical renaissance for me ("How Mischa got her groove back" - April 25, 2013). It's one of only a handful of albums I have actually purchased on both CD and vinyl (#s 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12 and 13 are most of the others).

10. This is actually the first and only Pink Floyd album I've ever owned. It covers the same theme as #14 - perhaps even more intensely and subtly.

9. "Jagged Little Pill" has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful debut albums ever made. This hugely influential album has a knack for bringing listeners into the center of the storm of the singer's anger. Listen to that bass line in "Hand in My Pocket" - it's one of my favorite moments on this unrelenting album.

8. One of the vanguards of the 90s grunge movement following the path blazed by Nirvana, this rousing debut by Pearl Jam is inspired by Eddie Vedder reflecting on his own life. When he was a teenager, his mother told him that the man he thought was his father was actually his stepfather, and that his biological father had died years before.

7. One of my all-time favorite bands, and one of only three artists that I've owned every commercially released album they've ever made (Paramore and Taylor Swift are the other two), "Synchronicity" marks the apex of a journey that started with the post-punk reggae beats of "Fall Out" and "Roxanne." What's more notable is that after this album and becoming the biggest rock band in the world, the trio concluded it had exhausted the artistic possibilities and they walked away. But they proved that a rock band could pursue challenging, defiantly non-commercial musical ideas and still thrill an awful lot of people.

6. I'm a recently acquired Tori Amos fan, so I didn't grow up on her edgy, angry phase that most of her longtime fans enjoy. This lush, lyrical album was my introduction to her music, and remains a standard for showcasing diverse musical styles on a single cohesive work.

5. "The Joshua Tree" is U2's vision quest of sorts when they outgrew their scrappy underdog image that fueled their early crusading albums like "War" and "The Unforgettable Fire." With this album, U2 redirected its crusade from outrage at external forces to confronting the existential void inside the human spirit.

4. Still the best make-out album for my money, this album recasts the pop song as a realm of lush, never-ending tactile pleasures. Roxy Music's final offering is one of the most sumptuous listening experiences to come out of the 1980s - hypnotically, gorgeously languid and striking for its depth. Listening to my rare, out-of-print Super Audio CD multi-channel copy of the album brings these qualities to even greater depths, although the analog record has its own unique charms.

3. From #4's sounds of love we come to The Cure's paean to loss, possibly the most deliciously depressing album by any singer who didn't commit suicide (e.g. Joy Division). The Cure mastered the formula pioneered by The Smiths of the gloomy lead singer backed by an incongruously breezy band playing catchy, pop-friendly tunes. Despite the overwhelmingly gloomy tone, almost every song is instantly hummable and a perfect balance of pain and musical joy.

2. "Grace" stands alone in 90s rock. It's a showcase for an unforgettably poised singing voice, locating a fertile ground between classic rock and post-grunge. Buckley took the outbursts of Nirvana and surrounded them with the elegant, yearning melodies reminiscent of the late Beatles. Lost to a swimming accident in 1997 at the age of 30, we can only speculate how much more this singular talent could have influenced the musical universe. With only this one full album completed before his untimely death, Buckley showed several generations that profoundly new rock music doesn't have to reject wholesale what came before.

1. This album was probably the first rock album I ever heard as a child because before I actually started collecting music I listened to library records. Most of the records in my local library were classical recordings, and this was probably one of the few popular titles available to check out. Of course the psychedelic cover proved irresistible for my young eyes. Certainly it's hard to listen to this album now with fresh ears, shed of the "All Time Best" estimations and the endless accolades that have attached, like barnacles, to it and encounter it on your own terms. But if you can do it, there's nothing more creative and satisfying in rock music - from its iconic and innovative gatefold jacket to its haunting leadout groove after the final track, "A Day in the Life."

Porgy and Bess

I saw a curious sight on my way to work – the rear half of a taxicab wedged into a garage doorway too small for it. I wonder why anyone would want to saw a car in half in the first place.

So, because of Newt Gingrich, polyamory and open relationships are all in the news these days. There was a reporter at the Columbia Journalism School who wanted to feature me and Puck in his article, but we turned that down (although we both granted him separate interviews). I also had a lengthy interview with another Columbia grad student who is working on a documentary. And my friend Diana was quoted last week in a New York Times story and might be in an upcoming cover story for TIME magazine. It’s a pretty exciting time to be poly, somewhat like it was in 2008 when I was first came out.

Puck and I have been spending a lot of quality time together and it’s been very affirming for our relationship. They surprised me with a visit on Monday (the 30th) and we had a nice dinner at the Palm which was full of good food and conversation. Snuggles are always nice too!

We’ve also been playing Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe on the PS3 a lot lately. We went through the DC half of the Story Mode to unlock Darkseid as a playable character, and now we’re going through the MK side. Nothing like blood and violence to keep a relationship strong.

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I’ve been working on a visual model to represent the human gender expression. I got a lot of feedback on my first version, so a revision is in the works.

Friday night I went to the MMMM and met a new couple from Philly, Sean and Aurora. Also got to hang out with Beth, Kiwi and Ilan. Saturday night we saw Porgy & Bess with Puck’s family and it was really good. I think I saw it once as an opera when I was little and I remember it being very sad and gloomy. It’s still sad and even horrifying in parts, but seeing it as a somewhat grownup, I enjoyed how jazzy Gershwin’s music is (“I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin,” “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon”).

Puck stayed over the rest of the weekend and Sunday we went to the gym to swim some laps in the pool and have a sauna. It’s about the only exercise they can do right now to start building their cardio back. Then in the evening they stayed home while I went up to Jonathan and Miriam’s apartment for my first yoga class with master yogi and calligrapher Emily Haydock. It was challenging and I’ve gained a newfound appreciation on how strong yoga practitioners have to be. I’m hoping this will be a weekly routine, since it’s very affordable and with familiar people.

I’ve also paid for classes in Japanese sword cutting, as I mentioned in a previous post (“A sword story” – Sept. 12, 2011) I’ve been interested in learning that art for some time. I just have to schedule them at times when I can out of work early so I can get back into the city in time. That may be a difficult thing to do until the annual report project is done in March.

Last night, Kacey invited me to join her and Becker (her bf) out to see aMios presenting Shotz, a series of spontaneous, hilarious and sometimes heart-warming short plays that are fearlessly written, rehearsed and performed within one month. Each one included the famous quote from hockey great, Wayne Gretzky: “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” It was in the Under St. Marks theater, where I’ve been before to see a burlesque show a couple years ago. Kacey had a friend in the performance; she played a Barbie doll among a set of three Barbies in a child’s closet – it was hilarious!

Tonight Kacey and I get some alone time to watch a movie and catch up. Wednesday is Women’s Poly Group, and Thursday Piper and I were going to continue our movie marathon with Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound, but she's starting a new job this week so we'll try again next week. I miss talking to her at work since her temporary assignment ended, but I'm so proud of her that she got an awesome new job right away! I’m looking forward to us all spending time together at Wicked Faire next weekend.

Wicked!

I went to see Wicked on Broadway Tuesday night with Lori, and it was spectacular. The untold story of the witches from the Wizard of Oz strikes me as a musical version of the way The Mists of Avalon tells the story of the women behind the legend of King Arthur. It was funny, charming, and a visual cornucopia, especially the flying effects at the end of Act One ("Defying Gravity"). I had checked out the soundtrack from the library months ago and put it on my iPod, not intending to listen to it until I'd seen the show, so I listened to it on the train ride home - how's that for instant gratification?

The songs are really starting to grow on me, and you can hear them online at the Web site's Music Player. One duet at the end of the show has a particularly poignant lyric that makes me think of Tara and what we've been through the last four years - the song is called "For Good" and the first part goes like this:

I've heard it said that people come into our lives
For a reason, bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those who help us most to grow
If we let them and we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true,
But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you

Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun,
Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
Because I knew you I have been changed for good.

Rent redux

Saturday my family and I went to see Rent on Broadway. The original lead actors, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp who play Roger and Mark respectively, are in the middle of a month-long run reprising their roles on stage. It was quite an interesting experience seeing this play again, because I'd seen it once before about six or seven years ago with my old Houston co-workers when we came to New York for a conference. Back then, it wasn't really my cup of tea, but since seeing the movie last year, it has had a tremendous effect on me. "No day but today" has become a idea I try to live by each day.