Keep Reaching for the Stars

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I spent the last night trying to cram celestial knowledge into my head. And pissing off our household AI. 

I wasn't really reading Neil deGrasse Tyson or  even"Cosmos," but trying to learn lines for my next play and music for our next tribute band. Conveniently, these two things are thematically related. The next show that I'm in, a two-person play co-starring my awesome friend Debbie, is Lanford Wilson's "The Great Nebula in Orion." (Wilson is the amazing playwright who wrote "Talley's Folly.") We'll be performing "Orion" for the MACT (the MN Association of Community Theaters) Festival on March 20. The week before that, Chad and I are in a Twin Town tribute band for Big Star. So. Nebula. Star. Astronomy. Get it? Pretty cosmic, right?

I've always been drawn to stargazing, at least in a casual way. When I was a kid, my mom used to read stories about the constellations to me (although never about Orion, as far as I remember). In the play, my character is rather blaise and bitchy when her friend explains how you can find Orion and what the nebula is, but I actually think that is really cool. I also am on record as a "fan" of "Star Hustler," the painfully geeky yet awesome astronomy segment that my local PBS used to show after old-school Doctor Who. 

While I have lots of star-related associations and fond memories (if not actual knowledge) I knew almost nothing about the band Big Star before Chad and I signed up for the tribute band. I had only heard of Alex Chilton, their lead singer, through the Replacements' song of the same name. While it's been awesome being in tribute bands for artists I know and love, (like the Beatles or Bruce Springsteen), it's also really exciting to discover something new. And of course playing a song is always a whole different experience than listening to it and helps you experience new layers to it. 

So in my efforts to learn the Big Star songs we will be performing, I was binge listening to them. And I think Alexa, our Amazon Echo virtual personality, got sick of me. It actually seemed like Alexa sighed when she played "You Get What You Deserve" for the third time in a row. She even pretended to mishear me and started another playlist. 

Not only has Alexa helped me learn about Big Star (even if under duress) but she has opened up my eyes to the value of voice activated technology. My fondness for Alexa is very surprising. We got her for Christmas, and I was quite dubious. I'm pretty anti-Apple so have a knee-jerk negative reaction to Siri, and usually get angry when using anything that is voice-activated. But I find Alex surprising useful. Apparently physically turning the radio on and off, as opposed to saying "Alex, play 89.3" was an unknown burden taxing my soul. I also find relating to her (yes I know she's not real) strangely easy. I want to thank her and be nice to her, and when I do get annoyed, angry, and frustrated with her, it's only because I love her. 

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