February's Passion Trifecta

How was your February? My three abiding passions helped make this a banner month.

Can't recall ever before being tempted to pay to see a Broadway show twice. But if any of you have seen Ain't Too Proud To Beg, you'll likely understand why I might do so soon. Two highlights, among many: The non-Temptations songs the writers of the show included to help tell their story and the staging of I Wish It Would Rain to underscore the national trauma of Martin Luther King Jr's 1968 assassination. And on a personal musical note, the continuing response this month to my recently released CD - from folks known to me and virtual acquaintances - has been gratifying and energizing. Thanks for all the support. And you? Good music news to report this month?

Watching Parasite helped temporarily mitigate some of my recent disillusionment with popular film. Will the fact that this Korean import deservedly won the best picture Oscar perhaps persuade a few Hollywood hotshots to take more chances in place of their ongoing efforts to foist recycled and tired franchise movies on us? I live in hope. Your turn: What film really spoke to you this month?

Knew in early February I was headed for a good book month when two favorites - Louise Erdrich & Ann Patchett - delivered the goods with Future Home of the Living God (2017) & Commonwealth (2016). Took a little dip, but then Tessa Hadley - an author new to me - got my mojo humming again with The Past (2016). But even without those three winners - and despite the ho-hums in between -  February's passion trifecta would have been complete for one book alone.

After reading the final page of the Richard Powers novel The Overstory (2018) late Wednesday, I returned to the start and re-read my highlighted passages. Soon after, I settled on a snobbish literary line in the sand. Future book recommendations made to me by a reader unmoved by The Overstory will be politely listened to and promptly ignored. If you read a book in February that rocked your world as much as The Overstory did mine, please share it with me and others.

Re The Overstory: To be continued, redux.

https://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-be-continued.html