Snow. Sleet. Ice. Cold, cold temps. For the bulk of the past week, we’ve been concerned about a coming storm—and I’m not talking metaphorically. Local and national weather folks have gone above and beyond, predicting freezing rain for our region and, due to an ice buildup, widespread power outages starting in the overnight hours. It may all come to pass, of course, as it’s Sunday morning and we have some 24 hours to go—but, thus far, the predictions have gone wrong. We could still end up in cold and darkness, mind you, but if not—a Diane Keaton marathon on TCM beckons us for the afternoon and evening.
For now, however, I’m lost in a 75-minute Hayley Reardon concert posted to YouTube last week. Diane and I watched it Thursday night on the big-screen TV in the living room; now I’m watching it at my desk, though—as the picture shows—the Magnificent Mister Mo is blocking my view. It’s as mesmerizing the second time through as the first.
For those unfamiliar with Reardon, she’s a folk-flavored, velvety-voiced singer-songwriter from Massachusetts who paints colorful vignettes that conjure times and places beyond one’s immediate confines. I.e., they transport us. Some, such as “Enough Is Everything,” “Betheny,” and “The Little Sadness,” stop time, as well. The concert finds her alone on a picturesque stage in Ruhr, Germany; she delivers a 16-song performance that’s simply stunning.
The set list: Karaoke; Good News; Something’s Gonna Hurt; Honest; The Way I Am; Bone Dance; Awake in Berlin; Enough Is Everything; Bleed Together; Bethany; In the Good Light; In My Country; Barcelona; The Little Sadness; Blues and Blueberries; There Will Be Love
The Old Grey Cat 