Wow it's been almost two weeks since I blogged last. Since this blog in some ways serves as a brain/memory replacement for me (otherwise I'd totally forget what I've seen, done, and eaten), a quick rundown of what I've been doing:
- Went to Phoenix for a day for a skating show. 95 degrees outside, with an ice rink inside produces a very disconcerting effect. Downtown Phoenix is odd - it seems like it's currently in the process of being constructed, with over half of the high-rises I saw mid-construction. However, the "Copper Square Ambassadors" are awesome. Before I went to the show, I emailed them to find out if it was safe to walk from the arena back to my hotel around midnight, and in return got an offer for someone to stay at their office (they close at 11) to walk me back. Then, when I was arriving at the show, I was trying to find the media entrance and one of the Ambassadors took me around until he could find where I should go, and told the arena people to let me in. That's just awesome service.
FYI, ate at Matt's Big Breakfast (long wait, small cute place, pretty good breakfast food, nice service) and Majerle's Sports Grill (super-nice and accommodating, let me occupy a booth and order nothing but a Coke for an hour before I finally ordered dinner, even as more and more parties showed up and I kept offering to move to a smaller table. Decent salad for dinner - was still full from Matt's). Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express downtown on N 6th St, which had free internet, free breakfast, and free parking, was within walking distance (sort of, if you don't mind walking in 95 degree weather) of downtown, and was nice and clean and comfortable.
- Went to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park sans lawn chairs (mistake, given how crappy my knees are). It was a pretty neat event, with a whole bunch of stages (like 5?) set up all around the park, featuring a whole range of bluegrass acts and a bunch of festival food. Had a very yummy Polish sausage and garlic fries, and then later had to snatch up some funnel cake (a bit disappointing) - hey it was splurge time. We caught about 3 or 4 acts, including Hot Buttered Rum (my favorite), the Songwriters' Circle, and some other groups I don't remember the name of. The Blue Angels were flying around the city that day for Fleet Week, so it was a bit disconcerting to sometimes have the music drowned out by the super-loud jets. We left a bit early after it got crowded enough that we couldn't find a place to stand within reasonable hearing distance of the stages.
- Flew into Buffalo to go to a skating show in Mississauga, ON. Nothing special to report about the cuisine since I ate at the hotel restaurant (Delta Meadowvale - everything was overpriced), Swiss Chalet (actually pretty good rotisserie chicken), and Tim Horton's. Then visited a friend in Rochester (best friend from high school) and her new absolutely adorable 8-month old baby. That was a really nice visit and I really like the little guy (and he seemed to like me, so yay). That was my day of overindulgence and trying to splurge on all the stuff I usually miss - my favorite apple cider, followed by ice cream at Abbott's Frozen Custard for lunch (love their Mexican sundaes), and Pizzeria Uno's for dinner. Again, it's all about chains, but hey, chains that I like!
- Went to the Jimmy Eat World concert at the Fillmore. My conclusion is I'm a REALLY crappy concertgoer b/c I could just think about how my knees hurt and I wish I could sit down. Plus, I HATE the sound balancing - all I could hear was the bass and drums, along with a really annoying bad distortion throughout. I like Jimmy Eat World's harmonies and melodies and I couldn't hear either almost at all. Didn't help that I actually only know one of their albums so for a while, I didn't know any of the songs! I still like the band, but the concert wasn't something I particularly enjoyed. Oh well.
New restaurants in SF I've tried:
Kushi Tsuru (1737 Post St - next door to Mifune in Japantown) Bf wanted to try something different b/c he's not the biggest fan of Mifune (can't find stuff he wants to eat there) and we were looking for a place to eat before the concert at the Fillmore. IMO, it was ok. I got the Nabeyaki Udon and it was...eh. Bland but fine. Not the best I'd had, nothing wrong with it. Bf got the Sukiyaki beef which was flavorful, just smaller than the ones I've gotten elsewhere. We also got an order of Shiro Maguro sashimi (of course) which was great texture (as usual for Shiro Maguro) but tasted the most like the tuna out of a can of any tuna sushi I've ever tried. It is albacore so that sort of makes sense, and it didn't taste strongly of it, but it was definitely somewhat tuna-in-a-can reminiscent. He liked it - says it has the type of dishes he'd like to order. I would rather go back to Mifune.
Suppenkuche (525 Laguna between Hayes and Fell). First German restaurant I've tried, gets great reviews on Yelp. I can't vouch for the beer since I don't drink beer (or at all) but the people there seemed happy. Shared seating (we shared the table with a party of 3, and then a party of 4) which I hear is fairly typical of Germany, small bar around which many people were gathered, a kind of rustic environment (or bare-bones, however you want to look at it). Food was very yummy, or at least the Jagerschnitzel I ordered. That was pork loin with mushroom sauce, spatzel, and a green salad. The meat texture was ok but the sauce was very yummy. Me like spatzel. My green salad was butter lettuce with dressing on it. My bf got the beef in red wine sauce, except he didn't realize it was in red wine sauce (which he doesn't like), so he didn't like his food nearly as much as me. I would recommend the place if you're not looking for good date atmosphere b/c as far as I can tell, the food is quite good. Not cheap, though.
Can not remember for the life of me if we ate anywhere else in the last two weeks. We *have* been eating at home a lot - Costco tenderloin is great meat, and my bf has a great technique for his filet and his roast (out of Best Recipe, I believe). So yummy. And I guess I was away for most of one week....
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Busy days...
Sunday was a pretty stacked day. We went to Alice's Now and Zen during the day, and then drove over to North Beach (I think the first time we actually chose to drive in the city to do something since moving here) to catch Russell Peters at the Cobb's Comedy Club.
The rationale behind going to Alice's Now and Zen was primarily "there's a fairly cheap concert in the park, and we're relatively near the park. Why not go?" The bands I didn't particularly care one way or the other about - Gin Blossoms, Joss Stone, James Blunt, and opening group Peter Bjorn and John. Turns out I knew and liked the Gin Blossoms music the best, didn't know anything by Joss Stone, and James Blunt is a lot more energetic than I would have expected in concert. And for some reason unknown to me, he covered Peter Bjorn and John's "Whistle Song", only minus any whistling. We got to the park around 10:50AM (doors opened at 11) to discover a long line stretching down JFK Drive, but luckily it turned out to not be so bad when we got in - got a good-size spot a reasonable distance from the stage so it wasn't too loud but we weren't super-far, either. I was extremely happy that the day before we'd gone to get lawn/beach chairs from Sports Authority - a 5 hour concert lounging in chairs with $5 toss pillows we'd gotten from Target turned out to be a great way to see things. Admittedly, after the crowd stood up for Joss Stone, we stayed resolutely sitting so I didn't end up *seeing* much (also, I pulled out my book), but it was an enjoyable way to spend the day. The weather was typical SF - went from slightly drizzly and extremely grey when we arrived to bright blue and sunny and almost hot by the time we left. We brought our own sandwich-making materials and a lot of snacks, so I didn't have to pay for any over-priced festival food (plus, they didn't have funnel cake!). They did have a number of booths giving stuff away for free, though.
The Russell Peters show at Cobb's was hilarious. It's always interesting to see the distribution of the audiences to shows, and the audience for his show was very telling - primarily Asian/Indian. It was totally sold out, and the line was already stretching halfway up the next block by the time we arrived almost an hour before the show. We got a great seat - not close enough to the stage for him to pick on us, but close enough to get a great view. They chose an interesting array of comics to open for him - one white guy, one Mexican, one black guy, and one Japanese guy. Definite rainbow there. The Japanese guy I didn't like that much - he had funny jokes that he would then ruin by taking too far, laughing at too hard, or explaining. The other guys were pretty good. Russell Peters was definitely the highlight, though. I'm still unclear how much of the show is pre-scripted and how much is spontaneous (drawing from his pool of jokes) based on the audience responses he gets...and how much is planted (why are people suddenly shouting their nationalities at random points in the show when he doesn't even ask?). But his style is very loose and funny and very interactive. He can get quite insulting when interacting with the audience, but he turns it out all into hilarity. And his accents are great - Indian, Chinese, Filipino, etc. His comedy is largely about race and racial stereotypes (or not even so much stereotypes as inside joke for each culture) and it totally cracks me up.
The rationale behind going to Alice's Now and Zen was primarily "there's a fairly cheap concert in the park, and we're relatively near the park. Why not go?" The bands I didn't particularly care one way or the other about - Gin Blossoms, Joss Stone, James Blunt, and opening group Peter Bjorn and John. Turns out I knew and liked the Gin Blossoms music the best, didn't know anything by Joss Stone, and James Blunt is a lot more energetic than I would have expected in concert. And for some reason unknown to me, he covered Peter Bjorn and John's "Whistle Song", only minus any whistling. We got to the park around 10:50AM (doors opened at 11) to discover a long line stretching down JFK Drive, but luckily it turned out to not be so bad when we got in - got a good-size spot a reasonable distance from the stage so it wasn't too loud but we weren't super-far, either. I was extremely happy that the day before we'd gone to get lawn/beach chairs from Sports Authority - a 5 hour concert lounging in chairs with $5 toss pillows we'd gotten from Target turned out to be a great way to see things. Admittedly, after the crowd stood up for Joss Stone, we stayed resolutely sitting so I didn't end up *seeing* much (also, I pulled out my book), but it was an enjoyable way to spend the day. The weather was typical SF - went from slightly drizzly and extremely grey when we arrived to bright blue and sunny and almost hot by the time we left. We brought our own sandwich-making materials and a lot of snacks, so I didn't have to pay for any over-priced festival food (plus, they didn't have funnel cake!). They did have a number of booths giving stuff away for free, though.
The Russell Peters show at Cobb's was hilarious. It's always interesting to see the distribution of the audiences to shows, and the audience for his show was very telling - primarily Asian/Indian. It was totally sold out, and the line was already stretching halfway up the next block by the time we arrived almost an hour before the show. We got a great seat - not close enough to the stage for him to pick on us, but close enough to get a great view. They chose an interesting array of comics to open for him - one white guy, one Mexican, one black guy, and one Japanese guy. Definite rainbow there. The Japanese guy I didn't like that much - he had funny jokes that he would then ruin by taking too far, laughing at too hard, or explaining. The other guys were pretty good. Russell Peters was definitely the highlight, though. I'm still unclear how much of the show is pre-scripted and how much is spontaneous (drawing from his pool of jokes) based on the audience responses he gets...and how much is planted (why are people suddenly shouting their nationalities at random points in the show when he doesn't even ask?). But his style is very loose and funny and very interactive. He can get quite insulting when interacting with the audience, but he turns it out all into hilarity. And his accents are great - Indian, Chinese, Filipino, etc. His comedy is largely about race and racial stereotypes (or not even so much stereotypes as inside joke for each culture) and it totally cracks me up.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Who loves you?
I love, love, love the Jersey Boys. Absolutely adore it. The music, the harmonies, the story, the jokes, the energy, everything. Puts a huge smile on my face while I'm watching.
I just came back from seeing the Jersey Boys for the third time at the Curran Theater, first time from rush seats (I arrived at 5pm, I was probably the 8th or 9th person in line?). They aren't kidding when they say the seats are limited view. We were in the front row of the left orchestra - I had the centermost seat of the four of us, and most of my view was blocked everytime they had a bar or table or something set up, and I couldn't see anything from the actors' waists down once they got only halfway back (or barely their heads when they were in the back), and my friends were even further to the left and could see even less. On the other hand, you really get caught up in the energy of the show when you're that close up, watching the spit fly, getting a wink or a glance from a cast member, seeing the glittering moisture in Jarrod Spector's eyes during "Fallen Angel," watching every facial expression cross the actors' faces (when they weren't facing away from you, at least), and almost, almost thinking you could hear their actual voices instead of the projected voices.
I've now seen the original SF cast - Christopher Kale Jones as Frankie, Deven May as Tommy, Miles Aubrey as Bob (Erich Bergen was off that day), and Michael Ingersoll as Nick - from 3rd row center orchestra seats we were lucky enough to snag the day or two before the show. I've seen the new SF cast shortly after they started - Jarrod Spector as Frankie, Jeremy Kushnier as Tommy, Drew Gehling as Bob, and Steve Gouveia as Nick - from balcony seats. And now I've seen the current SF (soon to be Chicago, I believe) cast with Michael Ingersoll as Nick from 1st row left orchestra. Not to mention countless YouTube clips of the Broadway cast. My assessment? It's far, far, better to be close up, to feel more caught up in the energy and the emotion. Center orchestra 3rd row (which probably cost 4x as much as rush seats) are much better than left orchestra 1st row. Jarrod Spector sounds an awful lot like the actual Frankie Valli and his acting is spot on - the emotion feels genuine, his growth from callow youth to mature father very convincing, yet extremely subtle, his quiet strength and barely-restrained anger in the confrontation scene with Tommy believable, and his anguish during "Fallen Angel" palpable. He delivers one of the most beautiful versions of "Fallen Angel" (and "My Eyes Adored You") I've heard, and his voice is fantastic. My only complaint is that I sometimes felt, in both performances I saw of him, that he was a bit too restrained - his falsetto is flawless but doesn't project as strongly as his non-falsetto singing voice so he could get a bit lost in the orchestrations, and he doesn't have the extroverted energy of the rest of the cast (though how he could maintain that for the length of time he's on stage, I don't know). On the other hand, from the recordings I've seen of John Lloyd Young, that could simply be the character. He seems to me to approach the character in a very similar way to JLY. Christopher Kale Jones, on the other hand, was a bundle of joyous energy. Of the three Frankie's I've heard, he's the least authentically Valli sounding, but he has a very powerful falsetto and possibly the best musical theater singing voice (though when Jarrod actually got going on songs like "Beggin'", he was right up there in the projection and energy as well). His energy level was infectious, and it could be b/c it was the first time I saw it, but Sherry/Big Girls Don't Cry/Walk Like a Man was an absolutely incredible energy shot in that first performance in a way that didn't quite hold as true after that. On the other hand, I found his dramatic scenes - the confrontation with Tommy, the "Fallen Angel" scene (though sung beautifully) a bit less convincing. Christopher Kale Jones was a ton of fun to watch, Jarrod Spector is extremely compelling to watch. The funny thing is, the first time I heard both Chris Jones and Jarrod Spector sing as young Frankie, I could not stand their voices - both were far too nasally (and I thought Chris Jones went slightly off key from time to time). It was my bf who suggested that it was a deliberate acting choice to indicate him being young and untrained, I was too busy cringing to interpret =P. I don't know if it's b/c I expected it or b/c he's toned it down, but I didn't think Jarrod's voice was nearly as nasally as young Frankie tonight. At any rate, I would love to see Chris Jones' interpretation of Frankie again now that he's had more time to settle into the role and I'm much more familiar with it, but I'm not *quite* crazy enough to drive out to Sacramento to see the show for the fourth time. It's tempting...
As for the rest of the cast, I have a definite fondness for Deven May as Tommy DeVito - he seemed more dangerous, more edgy, but really played up the sly humor and the broad winking at the audience. Plus I like his voice. However, Jeremy Kushnier brings his own spin to the role and is equally compelling in a different way. He plays Tommy more as an ineffectual blowhard than someone actually dangerous or tough, which I initially found a bit offputting after Deven May's interpretation, but made him backing down to Frankie and the way everyone started dismissing him after a while a lot more believable. Both are awesome and I'm glad I saw them both. Of the Bob Gaudios, Miles Aubrey had a wonderful, wonderful voice, but as a character, I thought Drew Gehling was both more convincing and brought a lot more interpretation to the role. Of course, Aubrey was an understudy so he didn't have night after night to perfect the role, but IMO he also didn't have the right look to play the super-youthful Gaudio early on. I loved his "Cry for Me" and "Oh What a Night" but Drew Gehling also has a wonderful voice and made me laugh harder. His rather overexaggerated but hilarious reactions as the extremely nervous inexperienced youth at the beginning of "Oh What a Night" (and when he first talked to some girls at the bar in his first scene) were priceless. And it was pretty amazing glancing at him as he stood on the catwalk and watched Frankie sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You". He was facing me directly from where he stood, and even though he's in the background of the scene, he looks completely proud, and fond, and every emotion you would imagine Bob Gaudio feeling as he watched his best friend sing this song and capture the audience you could see on his face. It had me wondering if he's just a great actor, or if that was actually his genuine emotion watching Jarrod. Pretty cool moment. Though I was a bit distracted at times b/c I think he looks a bit like Todd Eldredge, the figure skater. As for Nick Massi, there's no question about it. Michael Ingersoll's interpretation wins for me hands down. The character can be a bit of a non-entity, in the background all the time but never really exhibiting a really strong sense of who he is in the way the other three do, but Michael Ingersoll brings him to life in his line deliveries, facial expressions, and body language as a slightly offbeat, quirky, precise and fussy, and wistful person. His every line reading is deliberate in the same way he straightens his cuffs, really taking what's in the script about this slightly OCD character and embodying him with dignity and humor. And the way he turns "maybe I should start my own group" into a running joke, just by his delivery and expressions, is awesome. Steve Gouveia's interpretation was far more ordinary guy, and given how in the background Nick Massi already is, it just didn't make him stand out at all. And the "maybe I should start my own group" repetition seemed to just blow over the audience's heads, wasting a great joke. He was good, but I love Michael Ingersoll's version.
Overall, though, it's the music more than anything that keeps me obsessed with this show. I love guys harmonizing anyway but there's something about the Four Seasons music that is just so infectious and addictive. One of the people we talked to in line was waiting for her 3rd show in a row, and had seen the show a total of six times. I'm not quite at that level yet, but boy..it is kind of tempting to go back tomorrow night and try again... ;)
Oh I almost forgot - one funny bit that I don't remember ever seeing in my previous two viewings of the show (maybe they added it, maybe I didn't notice it?) was when Frankie and the guys are singing backup for "Miss Frankie Nolan", at one point Frankie sings backup alone for her, really belting out his part in falsetto, and she starts looking really pissed, waving at him to be quieter, and trying to outsing him, finally giving him a very dirty look as she leaves the stage. In the meantime, he's looking really amused (probably one of the few times you see him laugh on stage) while the other guys are basically laughing and slapping him on the back for it. That was cute. Ah, poor threatened lead singer...
Who loves you, pretty baby? Who's gonna help you through the night... *goes off singing(
I just came back from seeing the Jersey Boys for the third time at the Curran Theater, first time from rush seats (I arrived at 5pm, I was probably the 8th or 9th person in line?). They aren't kidding when they say the seats are limited view. We were in the front row of the left orchestra - I had the centermost seat of the four of us, and most of my view was blocked everytime they had a bar or table or something set up, and I couldn't see anything from the actors' waists down once they got only halfway back (or barely their heads when they were in the back), and my friends were even further to the left and could see even less. On the other hand, you really get caught up in the energy of the show when you're that close up, watching the spit fly, getting a wink or a glance from a cast member, seeing the glittering moisture in Jarrod Spector's eyes during "Fallen Angel," watching every facial expression cross the actors' faces (when they weren't facing away from you, at least), and almost, almost thinking you could hear their actual voices instead of the projected voices.
I've now seen the original SF cast - Christopher Kale Jones as Frankie, Deven May as Tommy, Miles Aubrey as Bob (Erich Bergen was off that day), and Michael Ingersoll as Nick - from 3rd row center orchestra seats we were lucky enough to snag the day or two before the show. I've seen the new SF cast shortly after they started - Jarrod Spector as Frankie, Jeremy Kushnier as Tommy, Drew Gehling as Bob, and Steve Gouveia as Nick - from balcony seats. And now I've seen the current SF (soon to be Chicago, I believe) cast with Michael Ingersoll as Nick from 1st row left orchestra. Not to mention countless YouTube clips of the Broadway cast. My assessment? It's far, far, better to be close up, to feel more caught up in the energy and the emotion. Center orchestra 3rd row (which probably cost 4x as much as rush seats) are much better than left orchestra 1st row. Jarrod Spector sounds an awful lot like the actual Frankie Valli and his acting is spot on - the emotion feels genuine, his growth from callow youth to mature father very convincing, yet extremely subtle, his quiet strength and barely-restrained anger in the confrontation scene with Tommy believable, and his anguish during "Fallen Angel" palpable. He delivers one of the most beautiful versions of "Fallen Angel" (and "My Eyes Adored You") I've heard, and his voice is fantastic. My only complaint is that I sometimes felt, in both performances I saw of him, that he was a bit too restrained - his falsetto is flawless but doesn't project as strongly as his non-falsetto singing voice so he could get a bit lost in the orchestrations, and he doesn't have the extroverted energy of the rest of the cast (though how he could maintain that for the length of time he's on stage, I don't know). On the other hand, from the recordings I've seen of John Lloyd Young, that could simply be the character. He seems to me to approach the character in a very similar way to JLY. Christopher Kale Jones, on the other hand, was a bundle of joyous energy. Of the three Frankie's I've heard, he's the least authentically Valli sounding, but he has a very powerful falsetto and possibly the best musical theater singing voice (though when Jarrod actually got going on songs like "Beggin'", he was right up there in the projection and energy as well). His energy level was infectious, and it could be b/c it was the first time I saw it, but Sherry/Big Girls Don't Cry/Walk Like a Man was an absolutely incredible energy shot in that first performance in a way that didn't quite hold as true after that. On the other hand, I found his dramatic scenes - the confrontation with Tommy, the "Fallen Angel" scene (though sung beautifully) a bit less convincing. Christopher Kale Jones was a ton of fun to watch, Jarrod Spector is extremely compelling to watch. The funny thing is, the first time I heard both Chris Jones and Jarrod Spector sing as young Frankie, I could not stand their voices - both were far too nasally (and I thought Chris Jones went slightly off key from time to time). It was my bf who suggested that it was a deliberate acting choice to indicate him being young and untrained, I was too busy cringing to interpret =P. I don't know if it's b/c I expected it or b/c he's toned it down, but I didn't think Jarrod's voice was nearly as nasally as young Frankie tonight. At any rate, I would love to see Chris Jones' interpretation of Frankie again now that he's had more time to settle into the role and I'm much more familiar with it, but I'm not *quite* crazy enough to drive out to Sacramento to see the show for the fourth time. It's tempting...
As for the rest of the cast, I have a definite fondness for Deven May as Tommy DeVito - he seemed more dangerous, more edgy, but really played up the sly humor and the broad winking at the audience. Plus I like his voice. However, Jeremy Kushnier brings his own spin to the role and is equally compelling in a different way. He plays Tommy more as an ineffectual blowhard than someone actually dangerous or tough, which I initially found a bit offputting after Deven May's interpretation, but made him backing down to Frankie and the way everyone started dismissing him after a while a lot more believable. Both are awesome and I'm glad I saw them both. Of the Bob Gaudios, Miles Aubrey had a wonderful, wonderful voice, but as a character, I thought Drew Gehling was both more convincing and brought a lot more interpretation to the role. Of course, Aubrey was an understudy so he didn't have night after night to perfect the role, but IMO he also didn't have the right look to play the super-youthful Gaudio early on. I loved his "Cry for Me" and "Oh What a Night" but Drew Gehling also has a wonderful voice and made me laugh harder. His rather overexaggerated but hilarious reactions as the extremely nervous inexperienced youth at the beginning of "Oh What a Night" (and when he first talked to some girls at the bar in his first scene) were priceless. And it was pretty amazing glancing at him as he stood on the catwalk and watched Frankie sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You". He was facing me directly from where he stood, and even though he's in the background of the scene, he looks completely proud, and fond, and every emotion you would imagine Bob Gaudio feeling as he watched his best friend sing this song and capture the audience you could see on his face. It had me wondering if he's just a great actor, or if that was actually his genuine emotion watching Jarrod. Pretty cool moment. Though I was a bit distracted at times b/c I think he looks a bit like Todd Eldredge, the figure skater. As for Nick Massi, there's no question about it. Michael Ingersoll's interpretation wins for me hands down. The character can be a bit of a non-entity, in the background all the time but never really exhibiting a really strong sense of who he is in the way the other three do, but Michael Ingersoll brings him to life in his line deliveries, facial expressions, and body language as a slightly offbeat, quirky, precise and fussy, and wistful person. His every line reading is deliberate in the same way he straightens his cuffs, really taking what's in the script about this slightly OCD character and embodying him with dignity and humor. And the way he turns "maybe I should start my own group" into a running joke, just by his delivery and expressions, is awesome. Steve Gouveia's interpretation was far more ordinary guy, and given how in the background Nick Massi already is, it just didn't make him stand out at all. And the "maybe I should start my own group" repetition seemed to just blow over the audience's heads, wasting a great joke. He was good, but I love Michael Ingersoll's version.
Overall, though, it's the music more than anything that keeps me obsessed with this show. I love guys harmonizing anyway but there's something about the Four Seasons music that is just so infectious and addictive. One of the people we talked to in line was waiting for her 3rd show in a row, and had seen the show a total of six times. I'm not quite at that level yet, but boy..it is kind of tempting to go back tomorrow night and try again... ;)
Oh I almost forgot - one funny bit that I don't remember ever seeing in my previous two viewings of the show (maybe they added it, maybe I didn't notice it?) was when Frankie and the guys are singing backup for "Miss Frankie Nolan", at one point Frankie sings backup alone for her, really belting out his part in falsetto, and she starts looking really pissed, waving at him to be quieter, and trying to outsing him, finally giving him a very dirty look as she leaves the stage. In the meantime, he's looking really amused (probably one of the few times you see him laugh on stage) while the other guys are basically laughing and slapping him on the back for it. That was cute. Ah, poor threatened lead singer...
Who loves you, pretty baby? Who's gonna help you through the night... *goes off singing(
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
How far is heaven?
Los Lonely Boys sure put on a good show. High energy, great harmonies, a rockin' guitar (or bass, or both) solo in every song, special guest appearance by their dad on two songs, and a very show-off but impressive encore where they played the hell out of their instruments, out of each other's instruments, simultaneously out of their own instruments and each others' instruments, and then played the guitar and bass one-handed (I guess for the electric instruments you don't actually need to pluck the strings??) and behind their heads...
Apparently for the Fillmore you either need to get there super-early to claim one of the very few tables/chairs along the balcony (and I think you may have to order food) or you may as well not try to get there early at all, since it's pretty much standing only, with just a few half-walls around you can sit on. I'm a lame concert goer - my knees hurt too easily while standing and I'd rather be sitting. Still, Los Lonely Boys got me moving around enough that it wasn't nearly as bad on my knees as I had feared.
Dinner was at Little Star Pizza (846 Divisadero, between Fulton and McAllister), reportedly the best deep dish pizza in SF. Having never tried any other pizza in SF I couldn't really judge the merits of that statement. It *was* very yummy, but quite different than the deep dish pizza I've had in the past. The crusts I'm used to are like Pizzeria Unos (which I love) - buttery and I guess chewy. Little Star's crust was some kind of cornmeal, actually kind of crunchy and a lot less greasy. Not exactly what I love in a pizza crust but it was good. It was also less cheesy and more tomato-ey than I'm used to. The sauce was good, though, and sufficiently buried the Italian sausage (which I usually can't stand, or maybe the sausage here was particularly good) that I could eat our Classic (sausage, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions) without picking anything off and enjoy it. It's not exactly the type of deep dish I like best, but I do recommend it. Apparently there's usually a huge wait on weekends but if you get there at 6pm on a Tuesday like we did, it's fairly empty.
Apparently for the Fillmore you either need to get there super-early to claim one of the very few tables/chairs along the balcony (and I think you may have to order food) or you may as well not try to get there early at all, since it's pretty much standing only, with just a few half-walls around you can sit on. I'm a lame concert goer - my knees hurt too easily while standing and I'd rather be sitting. Still, Los Lonely Boys got me moving around enough that it wasn't nearly as bad on my knees as I had feared.
Dinner was at Little Star Pizza (846 Divisadero, between Fulton and McAllister), reportedly the best deep dish pizza in SF. Having never tried any other pizza in SF I couldn't really judge the merits of that statement. It *was* very yummy, but quite different than the deep dish pizza I've had in the past. The crusts I'm used to are like Pizzeria Unos (which I love) - buttery and I guess chewy. Little Star's crust was some kind of cornmeal, actually kind of crunchy and a lot less greasy. Not exactly what I love in a pizza crust but it was good. It was also less cheesy and more tomato-ey than I'm used to. The sauce was good, though, and sufficiently buried the Italian sausage (which I usually can't stand, or maybe the sausage here was particularly good) that I could eat our Classic (sausage, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions) without picking anything off and enjoy it. It's not exactly the type of deep dish I like best, but I do recommend it. Apparently there's usually a huge wait on weekends but if you get there at 6pm on a Tuesday like we did, it's fairly empty.
Friday, August 24, 2007
All That Jazz
Apparently living in the city doesn't just mean we spontaneously go to events in the city, it also means we spontaneously go to events in Oakland.
Last night, two of my bf's coworkers, my bf, and I hopped BART to see James Carter, a saxophonist, and his "sax-tet" at Yoshi's in Oakland. I'm not really a jazz fan, don't really understand well enough to appreciate the music, but it was still an interesting night out. James Carter is apparently quite a famous saxophonist who seems to really like to explore every possible sound his instrument can make, from the sweetest, purest notes, to the loudest squawks and squeaks, to sustaining a note for long past when you think any human being could reasonably produce air and not need to breathe... His audience was highly appreciative, laughing at the expressive squawks and squeaks, cheering his super-fast, frenetic playing, and rocking their heads to the music. He was accompanied by a guy on the trumpet, an insane player on the piano, an awesome bassist (he played that bass like a piano, or something, every finger working away), a frenetic drummer (is there such a thing as a fat drummer? They get a full body workout!), and a musician who played a bit of everything - flute, a xylophone-looking instrument he was crazily good at, a number of percussive instruments... It's not really my style of music but it was neat to see. And it's interesting how each song is like 15 minutes long, so when they did their encore after an hour 15 minute long set, they basically extended their set by 20% (or whatever the math is). Pretty cool.
We had dinner at Everett & Jones BBQ, a couple blocks away. It was all right... Memphis Minnie's is better.
Last night, two of my bf's coworkers, my bf, and I hopped BART to see James Carter, a saxophonist, and his "sax-tet" at Yoshi's in Oakland. I'm not really a jazz fan, don't really understand well enough to appreciate the music, but it was still an interesting night out. James Carter is apparently quite a famous saxophonist who seems to really like to explore every possible sound his instrument can make, from the sweetest, purest notes, to the loudest squawks and squeaks, to sustaining a note for long past when you think any human being could reasonably produce air and not need to breathe... His audience was highly appreciative, laughing at the expressive squawks and squeaks, cheering his super-fast, frenetic playing, and rocking their heads to the music. He was accompanied by a guy on the trumpet, an insane player on the piano, an awesome bassist (he played that bass like a piano, or something, every finger working away), a frenetic drummer (is there such a thing as a fat drummer? They get a full body workout!), and a musician who played a bit of everything - flute, a xylophone-looking instrument he was crazily good at, a number of percussive instruments... It's not really my style of music but it was neat to see. And it's interesting how each song is like 15 minutes long, so when they did their encore after an hour 15 minute long set, they basically extended their set by 20% (or whatever the math is). Pretty cool.
We had dinner at Everett & Jones BBQ, a couple blocks away. It was all right... Memphis Minnie's is better.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Canadian parents
I wonder if Canadian parents have particularly high expectations for their kids or something. I'm listening to my iPod and Alanis Morissette's "Perfect" came on ("we'll love you..just the way you are..if you're perfect") which reminded me of Barenaked Ladies' "What a Good Boy" ("We've got these chains that hang around our necks. People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath."). Parental pressure, eh?
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