Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Of Snow, Lutes, and Seasonally-Depressed Cooks...

Christopher and I went to see Paula Poundstone in concert last night at the Guthrie in Minneapolis. 

She talked, basically non-stop, from 7:30 until 10:45, with one 15-minute intermission. And we laughed, basically non-stop, that whole time.

She talked of snow and Duluth and... due to mis-hearing an audience response... of people being "on Superior" as an attitude problem. 

She talked to a guy in the front row who said he is a cook "for now" but later admitted that he'd been a cook for 8 years. She wasn't sure if he understood what "for now" really alluded to.

She spent a long time discussing the manufacture and market-importance of lutes -- not to be confused with flutes -- with a gentleman who makes lutes and violins while his wife works in the office. Much of this was accompanied by her own brand of lute music and a slight jig. It made sense at the time.

She went off on tangents about her kids and the set of "Caroline, or Change" which she was performing on, and discussed how many different sets of directions she has seen on the boxes of Pop-Tarts. (Do you know where your "toasting appliance" is?)

We laughed. We nodded in agreement. We even enjoyed ourselves enough to (mostly) ignore how uncomfortable the seats are in the theater. We left ever-so-happy to have been there, and then came home and were absolutely pooped. 

I'm not sure how Christopher is doing at work today. I know that I'm not getting nearly as much done as I was hoping to. But... wow... if you ever the chance to see Paula Poundstone live, all of the pain of the next day is definitely worth it.

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