October Favorites

Chromeo's video for "Old 45's": This gif, created by kibbe, says it all. But it has too much George-Michael-referencing, booty-shaking, funktastic goodness to be contained by this blog, so you need to click through. You know you want to see it.... and also watch the whole video, because it exists on the same high plane as the song it supports.

The Real Thing: Best play I've seen all year. No question. Somehow, even though I got this ticket through a Roundabout Theatre subscription, I ended up seeing this play on the second night of previews. At least I got to sit in the center of the fourth row, which was a pretty prime position for Ewan McGregor viewing ::swoon::  Even though the play is set in London, Ewan is the only Brit in the cast. I think the other three main players (Cynthia Nixon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Josh Hamilton) did a pretty good job with their British accents, but I have yet to hear a report on this from an actual British person. Anyway, as much as I adore Ewan McGregor, the real draw was that The Real Thing was written by Tom Stoppard, whose work I've been a big fan of since seeing Arcadia several years back. This play is so sharp and intellectual and witty and entertaining. There are jokes about gerunds! There is commentary on music snobbery and book snobbery! It is everything I could ever want from a play. The Real Thing succeeds because it is not only well written, but also superbly acted. Ewan is really quite a fine actor, and he is *that* really really ridiculously good looking in person. By intermission, I knew I needed to see this play again, and by the end of the right I was in a mood as elated as the one I was in after the Chromeo show last month. In fact, I did buy a ticket to see The Real Thing again on a date after it's official opening night -- partly to see if it has changed or improved in any way after more performances, and partly because even if it were exactly the same, I want to feel exhilarated by it one more time.

Fleetwood Mac On With The Show at Madison Square Garden: Fleetwood Mac have so many timeless songs and they have Stevie Nicks, but I was never really fussed about going to see them live until it was announced that Christine McVie would be joining the band on tour this time around. Somehow Christine made it all seem worthwhile, and indeed it was. This band deserves their legendary status because all of its members are performers of the very best caliber and all of them can still put on one heck of a show (two and half hours' worth!). I never quite realized how great of a guitar player Lindsey Buckingham is until I heard him play live. For a band that has been around as long and experienced as much drama as these guys have, I was pleased to see and hear everyone in top form. Christine and Stevie both still sound excellent. In fact, many of the songs sounded better than any album version that I've ever heard. Whoever was running the sound at the Garden that night was doing things right. There is no question that this gets added to the list of epic and unforgettable shows I've had the privilege to attend this year.

Days Are Gone, HAIM: For as long as my best friend has been trying to get me to listen to these gals, you would think his nudging is finally what broke this camel's back. And you'd be wrong. I finally succumbed to HAIM because Chromeo seem pretty tight with them. Once the girls were in the video for "Old 45's," I ordered their CD without ever having knowingly listened to any of their songs. I am happy to report that my faith in both Dave 1 and my bestie remains intact. These are, without a doubt, two men with excellent musical taste, and Days Are Gone has been my go-to album for the past month.

Umami Burger: It's being away from home that makes you miss all the things you normally take for granted. Since I pretty much avoid beef when I'm in England because the hamburgers have no flavor (and a weird texture) and the steaks are usually over-cooked, my first dinner back in the States is, inevitably, a hamburger. A good, American hamburger is a thing of beauty, and I forget how great it is until I don't have access to it for four to ten days. While I still adore Bill's Bar & Burger in the Meatpacking, Umami Burger has become my new favorite because you just can't get those umami flavors anywhere else. Not only do I want a hamburger, I want all those melty, savory flavors. I also want truffle fries. And it's conveniently located. And I can go there on my own and eat at the bar. As much as I want to work my way through all the burgers on the menu, I keep going back to The Original.  As the namesake burger, this thing isn't messing around, and it does indeed have a perfect balance of flavor. Even though Umami's roots are in Cali, I think that it has unequivocally climbed to the top of my New York burger hierarchy.

Whiplash: This is one of those films that lived up to all the hype it's been receiving since it hit the festival circuit earlier in the year. Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons both give extremely powerful performances. It always blows my mind that Simmons is such an amazing actor, and yet he is probably best known for insurance ads. We live in a messed up world. While Simmons' character is clearly twisted and evil, Teller's character is a bit more ambiguous and left me with quite a bit to chew over after I saw the film. Of course, the jazz music is great too, even if there wasn't any Herbie Hancock (several Hancock pieces were the staples of my high school's competitive jazz bands). However, be warned that this movie gets pretty graphic -- apparently drumming can be bloody business -- but the rawness only adds to the claustrophobic and punishing atmosphere of the film.

Fury: Right after I saw this movie it hit me that it's pretty much a World War II version of Lone Survivor. While Fury isn't quite as hard-core as its modern-day counterpart, both films are extremely intense and do their best to show that war really is hell.  The body count is high, and the conditions are dismal and grim. Somehow, I wasn't expecting Fury to be nearly as heavy as it is. Many films romanticize WW II to some extent, but the characters in Fury don't have time to look through rose-colored glasses. Additionally, several of the main characters aren't particularly likable at the beginning of the film, but as you live with them and follow their journey, you come to realize that their abrasive personalities and harsh actions are a result of -- and their way of coping with -- their bleak circumstances. By the end of the film, every loss weighs equally as heavy.

Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me: This film is powerful, triumphant, and heartbreaking all at once.  It focuses on Glen Campbell's last tour, undertaken after he and his family announced that he has Alzheimer's. On the one hand, it is amazing to watch Glen perform as well as he did for so long after his diagnosis. Once doctor posits that this is because the musical part of Glen's brain is so well developed, and by continuing to keep that part of his brain active, he is helping to prolong its ability to function. Even though he had to use a teleprompter for the lyrics during the final tour, Glen still knows all his guitar parts, and can still play them with great skill. The human brain functions in such mysterious ways. On the other hand, watching Glen's decline and his family's struggle to cope with it is truly heartbreaking -- I teared up on several occasions. As difficult as this documentary was to watch, it also contains some wonderful footage from the farewell tour and some touching commentary from Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Bruce Springsteen, The Edge, and Bill Clinton, among others. I have such respect for not only Glen Campbell, but also his family. Going on his final tour was a very brave act, and I count myself as incredibly lucky to have been able to attend his New York show at Town Hall in January 2012. I remember that even then, I was deeply touched by the love radiating from the three of his children that shared the stage with him that night.

The Last Ship: I had to include this on my list because I want other people to go see it. Sting's music for this show is just fantastic, and it is worth seeing for that alone.  However, I didn't love this production as much as I had hoped to. After seeing Sting perform most of the songs live at one of his Public Theater benefit shows last year, and owning his concept album The Last Ship for the same amount of time, I had developed my own version of how the story surrounding these songs should go and what the set should look like. Needless to say, what I saw on stage didn't line up with what I had developed in my head. It was a bit like reading a novel, and then going to see the movie version of that book. Even if it's a really good movie, it won't match up exactly with how the novel unspooled in my head. I also thought it was a misstep to use Sting songs that pre-dated the Last Ship concept, especially "When We Dance." Nobody can sing that particular song like Sting can (it literally moved me to tears at his show last year), and hearing it done by a trio didn't really work for me. Also, it took me right out of the story, because that song already has so much personal meaning for me. The other pre-concept Sting songs fit in a little better, but I still think it would have been more powerful to use all new songs created expressly for the musical. On the other hand, this might just be a problem for Sting superfans like me, which I why I still heartily recommend seeing The Last Ship on Broadway if you get the chance.

John Wick: I only saw the trailer for this movie once, and that was enough to make me say to myself, "No matter what kind of reviews this John Wick movie gets, I am going to go see it!" Of course, it turns out that it got great reviews across the board, and those reviews are well deserved. This film is so much fun to watch! It has a ton of solid, high quality action sequences and just enough of a story to hold them all together. One of the action sequences is set in a nightclub, and it is both gorgeously filmed and well choreographed. Plus, it has the perfect music carrying the whole thing along. In fact, the soundtrack for the whole movie is really well put together (even if it did sort of seem like it could have been from a movie that came out in 2002). The whole film has a level of sophistication to it that is missing from most Action movies these days, in part due to the fact that it has its own neat little mythology going for it, including an exclusive hotel/club for hit men. To top it off, there are a bunch of great actors scattered throughout the film in bit parts. Part of the fun is seeing who is going to pop up next. John Wick is a classy joint, and makes for a thoroughly enjoyable trip to the cinema.

Mötley Crüe The Final Tour at Madison Square Garden: This is the fourth time I've seen the Crüe, and the second time at MSG. Even though I also saw them on tour with Aerosmith, and saw a show during one of their residencies at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, this Final Tour show lives up to expectations. Vince even learned most of the words to the songs!! Huge step, guys! Of course, the real reason I love Mötley -- aside from their roster of kick-ass songs ("Live Wire," "Dr. Feelgood," "Kickstart My Heart," "On With the Show," "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)," and "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" are just some of my faves -- and they played all of them) -- is Mr. Nikki Sixx.

I've been in love with Nikki's whole look (best hair ever!) since I first got into the band, and his memoir, The Heroin Diaries, totally blew me away. I also own a few items from his clothing line, Royal Underground, and of course am head-over-heels for his other band, Sixx:A.M. Nikki was in top form at this show, and even had a fire-shooting attachment on his bass for "Shout at the Devil." He also regaled the audience with the long story of how he moved to LA and pulled the band together. Even though I already knew the story from reading The Dirt, it was still great to hear Nikki tell it live, in his own words.

 
While that little interlude brought the energy level down a bit, it did a nice job of bringing the night full circle and truly encapsulating all 33 years of the band's life. Tommy Lee's drum coaster was totally insane, and must have cost *so* much money. Mick seemed to be a bit more spry than I've seen him in the past, though during one confetti-heavy number, he sort of looked like he was a tiny figure being overwhelmed by a blizzard.

 
The guys played a solid two hour set and definitely went out with a bang (literally - there was a ton of pyro during closing number "Kickstart My Heart"). The best testament to this show is that the next day I had to go online to check the rest of their tour dates to find out if I could possibly see another show on the tour (sadly, no other convenient cities remain), and a full 24 hours later I was still buzzing with energy. However, to paraphrase Nikki, this show/tour isn't "goodbye" because the Crüe's music is going to be around to haunt us until the day that we die.

The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell: 63 pages into this book I was hooked because it reminded me of His Dark Materials trilogy. Then, when things started picking up around page 400, the parallels between Bone Clocks and His Dark Materials got even stronger. Both books have some really interesting things to say, albeit often indirectly, about religion and the role of the soul, to both individuals and society. Bone Clocks is divided into six large chapters, each set in a different year or years. The first and fifth chapters are the strongest and most interesting, since they deal most directly with the fantasy aspect of the story (that's the part with all the soul stuff). After the 5th chapter, I was all ready to love this book forever despite the lulls in chapters two through four. However, chapter six put me off a bit. It tries too hard to strive for closure that isn't needed, and the post-apocalyptic setting comes off as too trendy (*cough* Hunger Games *cough*) rather than a natural fit with the rest of the book. At least Bone Clocks is much less dense than the other Mitchell books I've read, so I found it worth my time for the reward I got out of chapters one and five.

If you haven't read any David Mitchell before, I would suggest at least reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet before jumping into Bone Clocks, because there's some nifty foreshadowing that goes on that will make the newer book even more rewarding. However, as this handy chart from New York Magazine shows, all of Mitchell's books are connected. Since Cloud Atlas and Thousand Autumns are the only other ones I've read, I can't speak to how important it may be to read any of the others, but I was very glad to have Thousand Autumns under my belt as I made my way through Bone Clocks.