Summmmmer

Summer always arrives hot and heavy. My work schedule declines (to 3 1/2 days a week) but my social schedule explodes to the point where I have even less free time! This summer’s weekends are booked solid with great adventures and the next two months are bursting with potential goodness…

June 11 brought a great start to Summer ’12 with the arrival of my nephew, Lincoln Eustace Taylor! Andrew and Rachel instantly became amazing parents dedicated to offering their child the best life he could dream of… Lincoln was born into battle; within 24 hours was having an MRI and he is scheduled for brain surgery in his first month. It has been a difficult emotional journey for everyone, but I feel good about him and believe that this experience will make us all stronger. This is how a great hero is made!

And in the midst of this chaos, Andrew has built his first restaurant! Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland, Maine opens tomorrow and is poised to become a beautiful and amazing addition to the already wonderful dining scene there. Alaina and I are headed north tomorrow for the grand delicious unveiling…

Last weekend was another birth, of sorts, as Alaina’s latest stage-managed production completed a workshop run of “Here Lies Love”, a new musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, at Mass MoCA. I was in North Adams, MA for three days and got to enjoy some beautiful hikes in the region (including a couple of backcountry ski trails on Mt. Greylock that I hope to return to in powdery delight) and experienced the show for the first time. It is a truly amazing piece of theater about former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos. The Audience stands in a central pit while the action takes place on four-foot tall moving platforms swirling around them. The music throbs, the lights blare, the projections flash and the actors dance with a personally riveting and morally ambiguous story that makes for great entertainment.