nyc winter break 06

i'm back and finally settling down from my nyc vacation. this year the wife finally traveled with me and we crammed a whole lot into the trip. she is in grad school for the next 3 years and i know we might not get any extended vacation for quite a while.

the first few weeks of the new year is a pretty light time for music, but i was lucky to catch corey dargel's performance of his new piece "removable parts" at the here performance space. as my friend sean says "he really has his coffee cup"

i was interested to see him perform live. the irony that flowed freely during the performance works much better in his lyrics than the banter between songs. i really admire his ability to create a sonic pallete for each song. his strength comes from a real unique and subtle instrumental settings of his lyrics.

added note-
i just realized the main difference between corey's songs and those of overly "celebrated" arrangements of jon brion and wilco is that corey understands he doesn't need to throw the kitchen sink in with the soup. the "studio" bands that obsess on the fetish commodity of adding arcane and strange muscial sounds to create an musical interest are only trading on musical pastiche. i.e. the arrangements end up making no sense in live performance. at first glance corey's songs seem to live in this world of artifice, but actually are the real deal and are their own world.

other musical performances were mostly unispiring sets at the lower east side clubs. standing around in my winter coat with an eight dollar beer really sucks. i didn't find the diamond in the rough like the last trip, but i'll still drag my ass out in search of the band that can string more than two good songs together.

the rest of the trip was divided by days making the tour of the local museums (the whitney is still my favorite) , dance and theatre. after a few puzzling nights this fall trying to understand los angeles wunderkind ken roht's theatre hijinks, i decided to try out some of ny's finest "experimental theater" without getting into too much detail i came away with similar observations but no real understanding of these "avant-guard/elitist" spectacles.

1. all of the performances i attended had moments where many people were laughing at nothing in particular. was it nervous laughter?
2. if richard foreman is making a statement against the "avant-guard/elitist" perspective by using its theatrical language, how isn't this another "avant-guard/elitist" statement? it all seems to be commentary about artistic battles that were fought 20 years ago and have no meaning anymore. i think everybody who cared picked up their toys and have gone home.
3. i have seen a lot of "shadow acting" where one character mimes behind the person currently speaking to accent various phrases in monologue. it is kind of a strange counterpoint, but i have to seen it often enough to say... enough now, it really doesn't add anything and is obviously cliche on both coasts.
4. dressing up in leather and chains to be edgy and hip isn't working anymore.
   
5. can i say again how scary it is to see 35 people laugh at nothing in particular?

i guess i know what it feels like to be a music neophyte going to a "modern music" concert. all of these productions were well reviewed and higly recommened (except corey who gave me the heads up on richard foreman). i think i'm pretty "with-it" and felt like i forgot my secret decoder ring for each performance. if anyone would care to explain what i'm missing or offer alternative productions i should see, i would be happy to try them out (in los angeles), but after this debacle i haven't a clue where to start next.

i did take my wife to broadway with only mixed results. she had a real desire to see wicked (which after buying tickets online and applying for a new american express card to save $100 still cost me more than a few days of salary), and we both kinda enjoyed it but not at the prices we paid. it was one of those shows where for the character motivations to work out you had to forget everything that happened two scenes earlier. its probably best for teenage girls.

avenue q the best of any show i have seen in quite a while. best puppet sex ever!!! (although my violinist sam fisher prefers the uncut dvd versions in team america-world police) broadway may get pretty sappy, but its still intesting to see the new tricks in set design, choreography and costumes before they get watered down on their respective national tours. no matter if it is musical theatre or opera its not easy moving people around while singing and there are staging/design/choreography tricks to be learned from any show. i also really like how small the theatres are. tickets are expensive, but there really are not any bad seats.