Been a busy weekend. Friday the family went to The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie at Theatre in the Round. Might be one of my favorite Agatha Christie plays there so far. Not my favorite Agatha Christie story. But a really good adaptation by Kate Danley. A little shorter than some. Snappy. Good humor. A Poirot story with a foil in the form of Captain Arthur Hastings. I won’t ruin the plot, but in some ways it’s not that original. Then again, maybe it was when Christie wrote it.
Ben Tallen and Jake Leif as Poirot and Hastings, respectively, were excellent. Some real personality came through. I worried that Hastings was a little old for being as love struck and immature as he was in some aspects, but in places the not very old at all ex-military came through the performance/script, and it was a little more obvious how young and inexperienced with love he was supposed to be. Monsieur Giraud – which sounds like a spoof of Poirot out loud during the play – was the somewhat incompetent French inspector who was investigating the same case as Poirot. That’s a nice touch on Christie’s part. He added a lot of humor, someone to play off multiple misdirecting theories against, and quite a bit of interaction that wasn’t strictly Poirot and Hastings.
If you get a chance, I recommend it, although I think the TITR showings were running out of seating. We ended up in a non-standard spot for us and the place was absolutely packed.
Saturday I ended up at Tattersall Distillery to see Spiked! It’s a mixed revue – is that the right word? – with Brave New Workshop comedians, Ukrainian musicians, Leslie Vincent (jazz singer), and a host. I originally wasn’t going to go because Pooteewheet had a baby shower, so I’d be going on my own, but I reverted to my usual habit of “I’d normally pass, so that means I should go” behavior. Some of the best experiences in my life have been the ones where I just show up to something I’m not sure about. Not that I wasn’t sure about Leslie’s performing. That’s solid.
The distillery is over in River Falls. They used to be in north Minneapolis, not far from my father in law’s (and mother in law’s) old art studio. When they moved to Wisconsin, I figured it was simply an uprooting of the old setup plopped down over there. That is so far from the fact. The distillery is HUGE. Dining. Gift shop with all their spirit lines (and there are a LOT – their Tightline Vodka is my favorite vodka after getting a bottle of it after a Give Us Wings cycling event a few years ago; excellent taste, acceptable price point) and drink book by Bentley, their head distiller (and a really nice guy who’s into the local music scene – I spent an afternoon in his backyard this last summer listening to Surge and Swell, Emmy Woods, Bentley, and any kid that would come up to sing), among other things. And then a huge production facility and all sorts of space for dinner theater and meetings. Definitely want to go back for a dinner date with my spouse, although maybe it’s worth finding a hotel and calling it a whole thing.
I ended up at a table (it was a meal event) with two women from town, and we shared all sorts of favorite notes about area theatre and music. I’m not particularly charming, but I think I was at my best in my Santa-tee Manatee wearing a holiday hat Christmas sweater. The revue was fun. We got Ukrainian Chorus of the Bells, which was beautiful with a full band including a fiddle/violin. A mix of Christmas music in Ukrainian, English, and acoustic guitar solo. A huge variety of skits from four Brave New Workshop alum that included some audience participation. They pulled Brad onstage to be their therapist in a skit and after a few moments he asked for a pause so someone would fetch his drink from his table. The actor noted that their whole therapist relationship had a different tone now that he had a drink in his hand. They did a LOT of callback to Brad’s involvement during the event which helped tie together a lot of various holiday skits.
Leslie performed Joni Mitchell’s River, which I’ve heard her do before, and is a perfect non-standard Christmas song. And in the second half, she did Grinch (you’re a mean one). Grinch was a powerhouse performance. She went all in in this sparsely packed venue (there were quite a few people there, but the room was large, and it was nothing like her album launch at the Parkway) and when she was done both the audience and performers looked a little startled at how sexy and over-the-top a performance of Grinch could be. At the end of the show, one of the two women at my table, who’d seen Leslie say “hi” so she knew we were acquainted, said, “She is amazingly talented.” Then there was a just-long-enough-to-be-uncomfortable pause and she added, “I mean, everyone up there is talented. They’re all talented. But…”
Random note: if you like your Old Fashioneds sweet, the Wisconsin style with apple brandy is your jam. Good, but I’m not a fan, at least compared to the traditional rye version.
After the event, I put on my coat and wandered to the rest room before the 45 minute trip home. I found myself fussing with my jacket and noticed my Santa-tee sweater sleeves were sticking out weird. So I was tugging on my jacket sleeves. Tugging on my sweater cuffs. I was really confused and getting frustrated. After a couple of minutes I found myself wandering down the side hall and almost getting angry that I couldn’t get it all aligned and dapper. Which was because... it wasn’t my jacket. I’m looking at the buttons and thought, “those aren’t my buttons.” So I went back to the rack, and sure enough, there’s my jacket. I swapped and was walking away when a guy came over with a confused look on his face and started carefully looking at the rack. I confessed that I had pilfered his jacket, and he laughed and said it was his wife’s jacket and that she was so confused about whether she’d brought it in the first place, left it in the car, or misplaced it elsewhere. I didn’t steal anything out of her pockets, so everyone had a good laugh. Sorry there’s no photo of me in a woman’s coat so you can make your own opinion about how clueless I had to be to grab the wrong coat.
And, I snuck in a lot of Zwift riding end of week/weekend. I was telling Sank over beer and games at North 20 – bit of Azul, bit of Alhambra – when he told me about his poetry blog feedback, that there was always someone with a contrary opinion, and I thought I might get one when I blogged about bike training RPMs. So here it goes, a TMI moment. I’ve found that I’m not putting out quite as much power this season as I did last season, particularly in races. My average over an hour last year was about 240 watts. This year I’m closer to 220-225 and it cranks my heart rate up to 172. That probably says good things about my heart in the sense I’m not dropping dead off the trainer at my age. I can place in the lowest race category still – again, I’m not a spring chicken, so no racing with the super fit 20-30 year olds – but there’s a clear gap between where I am and the 2.4 watts/kg racers. Part of that is a couple extra pounds that are quickly going away. Part of it, after some contemplation, is that my RPMs suffered from summer riding activities. Puttering around the Twin Cities does not contribute to high RPM maintenance even if I had power meters on my pedals to track it. Looking at my metrics, I’ve gotten into the habit of 68-75 RPM, and a constant 85+ RPM is definitely something I feel. But 85 (or better) is where you want to be to race. It simply generates a lot more power. So once or twice a week I’ve been focusing on keeping my cadence up. But...and here’s your TMI...what I’ve found is that if you’re out of practice with your cadence, getting back into the flow of things can really stress your testicles. They’re simply not used to that aggressive spin. Your cycling shorts keep them mostly tucked and safe, and standing now and then helps, but it’s really a different level of friction. It’s already abating – but it was certainly uncomfortable for a few days. My men’s health Ted Talk – maintain your testicular habits instead of engaging in significant changes, they’ll appreciate your consideration.
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