Archive for September, 2005

A word of warning: this is a guy doing Star Wars, by himself, for an hour. He doesn’t do any heartfelt monologues about what the movies have meant to him over the years. Like about the first time his dad took him to see A NEW HOPE or how, when he lost his virginity he thought about Admiral Ackbar to make it last longer. He just performs the scenes from the movies with a little editorializing thrown in for good measure. If you are expecting anything else (or are not familiar with Star Wars) you will probably be disappointed and spend the rest of the night complaining so much that it ruins everyone else’s good time. Ahem.

Charles Ross (the guy) does a great job conveying the spirit of Star Wars in a way that made me feel I was watching it for the first time. His energy is infectious and he knows how to work a crowd. What is more, he came out afterwards and told us that we should all follow our dreams, because they really can come true. Which was awesome, because I didn’t know you could do that.
All in all, a big fun time for big fat geeks. He also has plans to bring his well-received ONE MAN LORD OF THE RINGS show to New York in January, which I hope is based on the Ralph Bakshi animated movie and not that overblown Peter Jackson fiasco. Until then, the mezzanine is closed!
By the way, that Admiral Ackbar thing doesn’t work. Nothing does.

Decided to check out Scenic last night, a bar/music venue located on Ave B between 2nd and 3rd. Based on the location, I thought it would be a complete scenester sort of place, but upon entering I was pleasantly surprised. Our waitress was sweet as pie, and the place had a mellow vibe. We were able to find a table right away at one of the comfortable red silk upholstery banquettes. Beautiful dark maroon curtains lined the wall and Chinese lanterns covered the ceiling fans. There was a recessed elevated DJ booth in the front and nice sized bar/dance floor downstairs. It’s the kindof place I would go if I wanted a night out with my friends that was more upbeat than coffee, but didn’t want to have to stand in a crowded bar all night. My favorite thing about Scenic was their $1.50 mini-cheeseburgers. They also have on the menu a 40oz. of Colt 45 for $7 (served in a brown paper bag!) A little much, but seriously, when was the last time you were in a bar and ordered a 40oz? Oh, never.

By the time we left, around midnight, it was getting more crowded by the minute. I imagine it gets even worse on the weekends, but if you’re looking for a cool place to grab a drink with snacks at 9pm on a weeknight, I highly recommend this place.

MOMA is now offering audio broadcasts online. You can either download them onto an MP3 player and take them with you to the museum, or listen to them online with a slideshow of the pieces they are discussing.

Last night about 8pm I swung by Rififi to check out Bobby Tisdale and Eugene Mirman’s show Invite Them Up. For the next hour the stage looked like this:

Seriously, they started an hour late, which really sucked cause it was really crowded and there was no where to sit. Bobby Tisdale started the show off by spitting fire, which I have to admit was pretty damn cool, especially cause he was so excited about it.

He was able to do it twice, although during a failed attempted, the front row got doused in sambuca. First they brought up Tracie Jayne who did not get a ton of laughs, but was actually pretty funny; she was just performing to the wrong crowd. Next month she goes on the USO tour where I think she’ll be a big hit with her bit about being a beer girl in a thong. Patrick Borelli came up and showed us a slideshow of his trip home this summer. Apparently he has 20 sisters and all they do is hit on him all day long. After the break Eugene Mirman came up and answered questions about his trip to Edinburgh, where he’s been for the past month. Mirman is one of my favorite comedians. Anyone who has not seen him need to go check out his website and you’ll be hooked. Another one of my favorite comedians, Dmetri Martin, came up next.

He was also in Scotland for a couple weeks and talked about how cool Mirman was, and then did a funny pantomime of someone going through a revolving door marked pull. He even posed for this picture. At the end of the night a six piece country western band got up and played a couple of songs that totally made me want to get up and dance. I would love to go see them in a real concert venue. The Invite Them Up website says that they are The Defibrillaters, but when you go to that link it takes you to a website for a six piece baby boomer blues band. I don’t know if that’s a joke or not. Below is a picture of who I saw. If you know who they are, please tell me.

I didn’t stick around after the show but I think Mirman was DJing. For $5 this was one of the best nights of comedy I’ve been to in awhile. Invite Them Up is $5, and happens every Wednesday at Rififi, on 11th between 1st and 2nd, at 8pm (ish).

*UPDATE* They are called The Defibulators. Can’t find a website for them though.

Last night I stopped back by Niagara to check out The Antagonist Movement’s Emancipation of the Grotesque show again. I really like the following two pieces, but they weren’t tagged. If anybody knows who the two artists are, please let me know.