Fists and Feist

Quite a full last day in Ohio for me before departing for Texas and getting a jump on Thanksgiving travel.

First on the docket: a big rivalry game for the local professional hockey team. The Red Wings tend to dominate the Blue Jackets--and the rest of the NHL, for that matter--but this was a close, competitive game. OK, so Detroit ended up winning, but it took them to the fifth round of the shootout to finish off Columbus.

I've never played hockey. I've never even laced up a pair of ice skates and slipped my way around a rink. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate the skill of these players. If anything, they are more of a mystery to me than athletes who do things I can do, albeit on a significantly higher level than me. (There was that one pitch I threw as a twelve-year-old that dropped off the table to notch a strikeout but I digress...) I enjoy going to these hockey games and being astounded by the players' performances. TV gives a glimpse of their artistry, but it's not the same.

Tonight's game was a corker--no big brawls, though, despite this entry's title--and I found myself getting wrapped up in it. Eventually I realized one of the reasons why. Although there are breaks in the action, the game's flow can be unbroken for long stretches of time, something that doesn't happen in almost any other televised sport. Pro football seems like it's at a standstill if you're in the stands. Division I college basketball never finds a rhythm because they're always stopping for TV timeout, or so it feels. With hockey there's time to be immersed in the game. That makes a huge difference as a spectator.

Since I had to hightail it up High Street after the game, of course it had to go into overtime and then the tiebreaker. Luckily I've found a parking lot where I can slide out a back way and avoid post-game traffic. With the game over, I made the dash to get to the Feist concert at the Wexner Center on time.

I made great time, but upon reaching my next destination I had to circle all the way to the parking garage's roof behind four other cars searching for spots. That got me a hair late to the show and a couple songs into opening artist Jason Collett's set. I'm not familiar with his music, but his set was good enough to pass the time for forty-five minutes. (I know, talk about damning with faint praise. I didn't know the songs. He was fine. That sums it up.)

After a half hour break, out hobbled headliner Feist. And I do mean hobbled. She played drums for some of Collett's set, and I thought I saw her leave the stage with a cane. Sure enough, she had a cane as she went to center stage. Turns out that she tripped and injured her foot a few days ago. Tonight marked her return to singing and playing standing up.

Attending this concert six months ago would have given me plenty of indie cred--not that I care--but with "1 2 3 4" all over an iPod commercial, "My Moon, My Man" in a car ad, and a song apparently in a promo for a Lifetime movie, the arbiters of cultural cool are less impressed. Whatever.

Her 95-minute set alternated between up-tempo rockers and contemplative ballads that could have been at home in a Parisian coffeehouse. It was an interesting juxtaposition. I think Feist struck the balance better in concert than on her recordings, not that I'd raise any major complaints with them. She rearranged many of her songs to excellent effect. I would have preferred the disco vibe to "Inside and Out", a Bee Gees cover, but she and her four-piece band transformed it into an arena-worthy power ballad. (I did miss "One Evening", though.)

Feist took the spotlight off herself late in the show to ask if someone was in attendance and then let the audience member's boyfriend propose to her. (Apparently he'd contacted Feist's management to see if he could pull this off.) Usually I get irritated by such self-aggrandizement, but it was a nice moment that led to a cover of fellow Canadian Sarah Harmer's "Open Window (The Wedding Song)". "1 2 3 4" and "Mushaboom" provided a strong finish to the main set. A rousing "Sea Lion Woman" and mellow "Let It Die" capped the evening.

On the knitting front, I'm not having trouble with tight stitches any longer. One more round of reduced tension did the trick. I promise not to be so uptight.

That said, I'm glad I made a bonus (or throwaway) post earlier in the day. To address Donna's comment, I've been doing magic loop incorrectly. I've only been using one loop, and that wasn't really a loop. I didn't have one on the left that divided the stitches. I would bring all the stitches together so there was a long length of free cable leading to the right needle. The funny thing is that prior to the hockey game I came across a loop on the left by accident. Gee, this is a lot easier than what I was doing! Thanks for the advice, though. It probably wouldn't hurt for me to experiment a little more.