That's right ... I can blog as well

So ... I thought I would finally take the plunge and post to our blog. Prepare yourself for a bounty of wisdom, deep thoughts, and useful tidbits. You may have to go elsewhere for all that but preparation is a good idea anyway.

This year V and I have gotten back into seeing shows and musicals with some friends of ours, Glenn and David. So far we have gone to see The Jersey Boys, Camelot, The Color Purple, and Sweeney Todd all at the Gammage Theater on the ASU campus. My favorite show by far was The Jersey Boys. Great music, lots of energy, and extremely well performed. Camelot feature Lou Diamond Phillips as King Arthur ... it was okay. It falls into the "glad I saw it, never go again" category. The Color Purple had a good second act which made up for the first act. The music was good but at times the singers got a little too much into "let me show you good I can belt this out" mode. It kind of reminded of those renditions of the Star Spangled Banner where someone just has to come up with their own unique interpretation and over sings the song. Sweeney Todd was also pretty good ... although the direction was a little distracting. The performers, in addition to their character roles, were the orchestra ... playing instruments on stage during scenes. Additionally, many of the scenes had the performers interacting but not facing each other i.e. two people singing to each other would be looking in opposite directions even though they were supposedly looking at each other. Don't go and see it if you haven't seen the original production or the movie. The movie was excellent, although graphic in the violence at times, and will help keep you up to speed for the musical.

On a final note, I wanted to ask everyone to pray for some dear friends of ours Matt and Holly. Holly is 4 1/2 months pregnant with their first child Annabelle. About a month ago, they discovered Annabelle has spina bifida and they are struggling through a tremendously difficult time. Nothing I write here can possible express the reality of what they are going through. If you are intersted in their story, you can read about them and Annabelle at thedawgrun.blogspot.com. Matt posts regularly on their progress. They are a wondeful couple and any well wishes or prayers are greatly appreciated.