Sending a Signal

Once upon a time on a Sunday afternoon...

First off, food is required before tales of torture and murder.

And while some people might consider 2:00 lunch time, I was all about some pancakes and scrapple (still not great, but better than the last time I had it there) at Lunch when our foursome convened for a shared meal.

At one point, When in Rome's "The Promise" came on, causing one in our group to grin widely and observe, "This song sounds like sunny days and happiness  I love it. The music is always great here."

Coincidentally, she was born the year the song came out (1988) but she'd nailed one of Lunch's strong points - the music (and pig) always pleases.

The womenfolk were eating breakfast and the men went with massive meat sandwiches, like roast beast and turkey and bacon.

Okay, I had some of that one and it was pretty damn awesome, so I stand corrected at unfairly calling it obscene.

Apparently some times you do need a carnivorous trifecta.

Full of syrup and someone else's sausage, we headed to Virginia Rep to see Cadence Theater Company's "The Pillowman."

I'd seen some VCU students do a staged reading of this black comedy just last December and been wildly impressed with Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's tale of bad parenting, sibling sacrifice and child murders.

If it sounds like a downer of an afternoon, let me assure you it was not. But it was long.

Really, it's a sociological study of a screwed up family living in a totalitarian state and the unfortunate way it all plays out.

The main character is a writer of children's stories (Once upon a time...), most of which wind down in horrific endings.

With a minimal but effective set, the cast of eight gradually settled into their roles as the drama unfolded.

Depending on your own personal landscape, there were any number of hot button issues touched upon- the death of a child, willful child abuse, sadism.

That said, despite the grisly things that happen, it is the story of a man with a compulsion to write and naturally I could appreciate that.

One of the funniest lines was on that subject.

"You execute a writer, it sends a signal. I don't know what kind of signal..."

In this case, death was tolerable only because he know his words would live on.

I have to give Cadence credit; they continue to produce thoughtfully chosen works by top notch casts on the tiniest of stages, succeeding every time.

The evening concluded with a show at the Nile, while, as all Nile shows are wont to do, started far later than it was supposed to.

Paul Ivey and the Rubes were playing without a drummer tonight (he's vacationing in the mountains, no doubt OD'ing on leaf color), but sounded terrific in their reincarnation as a trio.

Part of that is my affection for New Wave, at which Paul is a master, part of that is his incredibly smart lyrics and last night in particular, his guitar was just sounding amazing to me.

But Paul is also funny, like when he announced, "This song is dedicated to yet another person who greatly disappointed me," before launching into yet another catchy tune.

The band covered (with minimal practice, according to them) the Kinks' "Oklahoma, USA" in a nod to the traveling band, Luna Moth from (no surprise) Oklahoma and did a worthy rendition of it.

"If life's worth livin', what's livin' for?"

Well, let's see, livin's for pancakes and Tony award winning plays and New Wave music played in African restaurants.

Only then do people like me live happily ever after.