Saturday October 1st, 2011

UWTL geeking out about seeing Elvis Costello!!!

Excellent evening of entertainment from one of my all time favorite artists. The festivities were held way way way uptown in NYC at the United Palace Theater (or as they call it most days, The United Church) in Washington Heights. Was a great evening that was only slightly marred by being unawares that Mr. MacManus had no opener this evening, thus I found myself arriving 15-20 minutes into the 150 minute set. Surely missed some classics/ favorites as things kicked off, but was eating delicious chicken and plantains across the street, so what can you do?

The set was structured around a spinning wheel of track names and other ephemera, which was put into play by various attractive female audience members who then proceeded to dance on stage, usually within the confines of a go go cage to the band's right, my left. I was beyond pumped to see this 80's revival after missing the opportunity in LA back in May (Damn you reunited The Cars!).

 

One big surprise of the evening was that despite personally owning 18 (good god!) of the man's records, 14-15 of which include full length bonus discs, I barely recognized half of the evening's set. This could be attributed to the fact that the man is a freewheeling singer of standards, folk tunes and various other covers, but also to the fact that there must be close to a dozen of his records that I do not own. What can I say? The man is prolific if nothing else (but he is indeed something else).

Highlights of the night were definitely Mary Louise-Parker dancing in a gogo cage on stage during a few songs (man, did I wish I was closer for that). A back to back This Year's Model power pack of Chelsea and Pump It Up. A not so surprising, thanks to the interwebs, rendition of (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes that lead into a cover of Purple Rain, during which my friend and I decided to reposition ourselves up near the stage (by far the best choice of the night). And lastly the apparent closer of Nick Lowe's (What's So Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, one of the greatest pop songs around.

All in all a great night, after a more than solid day. What will day two of the weekend bring? Hopefully many good things.

I leave you with this awesome video of the aforementioned performer crashing in on another favorite band of mine's SNL performance.  Sweet Radio, Radio dreams.

September 30th, 2011

UWTL yet again. Think that makes pretty much every day this week. Think there's a chance that last Sunday ended before 1am but probs not.

This night I actually have a decent excuse, and didn't just space out for hours after a semi-late arrival home. Got home around 3:45, cause why not? It's friday night! Also too cheap to take a cab, esp. considering my investment in an unlimited subway card. Thus departing the East Village at 2:45 leads to a solid hour of walking and subway.

Another day gone by without too much productivity. Started the day super late yet again, and although I got in a nice workout, didn't really accomplish much til the night. Which consisted of probably my most significant standup show since gettin to NY, but even this one was in the dining hall of a NYC Hostel. It was pretty fun and my Jew jokes killed with the foreign and likely anti-semitic crowd, whereas no one outside of the US seems to know who Chubby Checker is, thus that joke ended more or less before it began.

The rest of the night consisted of a decent amount of drinking with a little bit of comedy sandwiched in. The freedom of being out til 2 0r 3 like it ain't know thing, is definitely something I miss. But considering how hard it's been to get the day goin after nights of drinking, maybe I can handle not having that freedom.

Either way, NYC: The Return, has been fun and all sorts of other things, but I'm pretty sure I'll be happy to be back in LA after a month out east and a month abroad.

Alright, the clock outside my window just hit 4:00 AM, time to go to F'in bed.