Limited Perspective

I found this on my Facebook from ten years ago today. Liked it. Thought I should post it. So, I did (with a little bit of editing.) Music! If you know anything about music, get ready to laugh because I am about to review tonight's performance by the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall. I can't read music, I can't play an instrument. But I am as big a fan of the Brandenburg Concertos and the Four Seasons (no, not those Four Seasons) as the next guy. So it is with all modesty (and only about 10 to 15 percent of it false) that I begin my review. I loved it! On the way in to the hall tonight, I told my companion that I never know what I am supposed to do at a live music performance. Do I hum along? Do I sit or stand in respectful silence? Do I dance? What? The answer for tonight was: just take it all in. We sat in the front row, off toward stage left. I could see the faces of several violin players and also sometimes the conductor, depending on where he was directing his attent...

  I’m in a show right now at Annex Theatre at 11th and Pike on Capitol Hill called Leave Only Footprints. It’s an immersive show, blending elements of haunted house and escape room with an overarching vibe about a fictional state park in Washington. I play “The Camper,” who tells scary, spooky stories around a fire.  The audience is free to explore the space however they please and interact with the various characters. One recent night, when the very first pair of audience members came into the campground and sat down, I asked one of them what they are afraid of, as I am supposed to do. “Death,” they said. OK. Fair. Many of my scary stories include references to death. But then they went deep into it, talking about someone they knew, who had died recently. Maybe it was a family member. I don’t know because it really threw me. Like, this is too heavy! I’m not your therapist! I’m not your pastor.  It was so earnest and heartfelt. I didn’t think they were making it up. And i...