Maybe Theaters Should Copy Disney

I participated in a World Theatre conference at La Mama ETC last Friday. There, I listened to artists from around the world talk about their struggle to get audience members into the theatre. It seemed that even great artists couldn't get an audience member to sit through a play. Only companies with clear brands, like La Mama, could create a huge following. One called theatre a dying art. It's a problem that worried me. Could theatre die or already be dead? Am I hear for the last gasp?

I'm not. Audiences go to Gaga, Broadway, and Cirque every day. Teens flock to rock musicals. People go to theatre but won't see cutting edge material because the fun has either been sucked out of the play or out of the marketing. At the end of the day, the Greeks made theatre to entertain. We need to return to that core ideal and brand every production.

Look at Disney. They brilliantly make their DVDS out of print and then rerelease them on the new viewing medium with bonus features and people like me buy them every time because we associate Disney with commercial art, entertainment, and quality. Most theatre companies just make art. Art should break boundaries and have philosophy while respecting the audience's demands. That's what Shakespeare did! He wrote for the intellectuals and the groundlings.

Like record companies who want to sell albums and production companies that want to pretend DVD doesn't exist, theatre needs to live now. The 60's ended... a while ago. Each century has it's movement (neoclassical, realism, ext.). In the post modern world, it's everything blended with fun and intellectuality. Let's get on with the show and honor the past while moving forward!

Ten Reasons Obama's Just Another Politician

1.) He loves to name drop God.

2.) Instead of a productive stimulus package from day one, he waits two years to start using infrastructure to get the money going.

3.) How many compromises does this man plan on having?

4.) He supports gays without actually supporting them right out of the gate.

5.) Are we STILL IN IRAQ?

6.) Knows the blame game.

7.) He's greying!

8.) Doesn't get rough and ready until mid term elections.

9.) He loves to please everyone. What happened to change?

10.) Promises chromises!

A Cover For Tuesday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL1iFxqEZ-0

Um, Who Do You Think You Are?

I love our generation, the Echo generation. We're tech savy, contradictory, and have great safety in numbers. (Scarred, boomers?) Yet, people my age tick me off. I hear so many people complaining about how they won't make six figures straight out of college. They bitch about having to live in a tiny room. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? We have food. We have shelter. We have cloths. We live in America. Sure, America's fucked up but it could be worse. At least we don't have a dictator, war on our land, famine, poor health care (our's isn't free but we can at least go to decent hospitals), and air to breathe. The worst thing is that the privileged complain. Our parents send us to college. We're blessed. Why would anyone want to rocket to the top? I think it's amazing to do the bitch work and struggle your way to the top. It makes everything more worthwhile. After all, I've seen showgirls. I know what happens to the girl who rockets to the top: a younger bitch pushes her down the stairs.

Two Very Different Shows At Terminal 5 or How To Rock Out Experimental Style

Note: Photo from http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/09/of_montreal_jan_1.html

I spent my last two saturdays at Terminal 5 seeing two shows with nearly nothing in common. Both Dirty Projectors and Of Montreal play experimental pop that mixes a variety of genres, but the former took themselves too seriously, sucking the fun and excitement out of their lengthy set.

I love the way the band takes risks, but if an artist plays in a party club atmosphere they should make a set list with a flowing tempo and have a little bit of fun. They lacked any visuals and just played for themselves. Only the background singers looked like they were enjoying themselves. They sounded great but great acoustics are for the Metropolitan Opera House chamber, not Terminal 5. To their credit, they make great music and have a great creative spark, unlike opener Owen Pallet, who played a violin and wore no shoes, but the audience and the players seemed bored to death. I've never seen anything more pretentious... and I write intellectual blogs about Britney Spears.

In contrast, Janelle Monae and Of Montreal not only made bigger statements, they had a blast. Monae, the only opening I've ever seen outshine the headliner besides Britney Spears at a carnival in '98, told the story of Metropolis through a genre hopping journey that included grunge rock, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel, and electro. She improved dance with nuns and soul suckers. Her concept album explored themes of imprisonment and power. She showed off vicious vocal skills and emotions. Sometimes, she focused more on hitting the notes, but when singing "Smile," dancing to "Tightrope" and "Cold War," and dancing through the crowd with full body suit white dancers, she broke free, showing that she's possibly the most talented performing artist of her generation. If Gaga's our MJ, she might be our Prince.

After her thrilling act, Of Montreal lived up to the hype, but failed to match Monae's flow or artistic brilliance. Sometimes, the giant fish background dancers distracted from Kevin Barne's natural showman ship, but the massive TV and pig masked orgy matched brilliantly with False Priest's commentary on religious hypocrisy.

Barnes shined best on his duet with Monae and the fifteen minute Michael Jackson medley. He broke free of the planned dances and the performers literally had a party with the audience as they bounced and danced to the flow. This was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Last night, Barnes and Monae ruled the world. As Barnes said, "Whatever happened to the boy who got everything he wanted? He lived happily ever after!"

Pop Ramblings

On a side note, everyone read this article and buy this book: http://beta.shopping.aol.com/articles/2010/09/16/feed-a-friend-helps-fight-hunger-in-america/

NOW ON WITH MY BLOG POST!

So much for her comeback. LiLo's heading back to jail for failing a drug test. This creates many questions. Will Larry Rudolph still manage her? Is her career over? He's still with her for now. It's odd for her to go to twitter to ADMIT, not deny her actions. Kind of odd how she told Vanity Fair she had no drug problem and now she says she's a work in progress. At the end of the day, that's not what really matters. She could have been a huge star (and still can) but home girl needs to get out of LaLa land, disappear for a year and then return healthy and new. She should forget her career for awhile and focus on herself... that might be the only way she could get better. Poor girl.

In other news, JANELLE MONAE AND OF MONTREAL TONIGHT!!! YAY YAY YAY! Spin said Janelle beats the old indie kids by a mile. I'd love to say I could see her taking over radio, but I think she might be too artistic too make it. Gaga makes consumer art (don't even deny it, people) and Monae takes huge songwriting risk. She's actually a much more complicated writer than Gaga but I think she's headed for cult domination. Gaga's pretty much just a huge cult though and I said the same thing about her (I had The Fame the day it came out and "Just Dance" 6 MONTHS before it blew up, suck it) so who the heck knows.

As far as fashion week goes, Yellow Fever's new collection was STUNNING! I wish it was Forever 21 prices because it is SO SO SO SO SO SO fun!

SHUT UP IT'S 2010 GET WITH IT

Not to be a pretentious prick but I love reading The New York Times every morning. Lately, the editorials have been pissing me off. I understand that it's sad that the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble has closed down but that doesn't mean people don't read novels or cultural studies anymore. We now read them on screens instead of pages. Nook and Barnes N Noble are the same thing. Since Plato, older generations have lamented the death of intellectualism in the younger generations. Just because it's not on a page doesn't mean no one cares about anything. Also, Kindles will make indie bookstores the new record stores. Libraries won't die. They'll just evolve into online databases. Calm down! The times are just a'changin! It's those who try to live in the past who are going to end up archaic or bankrupt. Just go ask the recording industry.

VMAS WHAT THEY MEAN

Sorry for being a bad blogger and not religiously obsessing over pop culture. I've been a busy boy! But I will be blogging daily from now on every morning. This was the first year I had to watch the award show as clips since I was seven. SEVEN. In my family, it's the equivalent to the super bowl. WAH WAH WAH! I wanted to cry. Here's what I thought of the clips:

1.) Step two of Lindsay Lohan's comeback? Complete. By spoofing her jailtime, she admitted she fucked up. This skit was carefully crafted for her return. Chandler telling Lindsay she got her life together was OBVIOUSLY a move on Larry Rudolph's part.

2.) Is Bieber a pop phase or here to stay? He's performing like a phase but he has a glint of true showmanship.

3.) Welcome to American glory, Florence! Her performance brought her a new audience and tons of itunes buys. Good for her.

4.) Oh, Gaga. She didn't even perform and she stole the show. It's great to see a pop star not care about Peta and her album title, Born this Way, sounds like the title of what could be one of the greatest ROCK, not pop, records of all time. IT's BAD ASS AS FUCK!

Better Than The Original. A Cover For Every Wednesday.

Three Bits of News For Robyn Fans

1.) ROBYN HAS ANNOUNCED A SECOND U.S. TOUR!!! She's even coming to Miami. No one ever tours in SoBe unless they've truly become a "dancehall queen."

2.) Body Talk Talk Pt. 2 isn't a perfect body of work like its predecessors, but if it's like some trilogies, we may be headed toward Revenge of the Sith greatness.

3.) If "Indestructible" follows the path of "Hang With Me," Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 3 single may rank along side "Stronger" as one of the most uplifting empowerment songs in pop history.

Let's face it. Sweedes do it better!

Lindsay Lohan. The Time Has Come.

Go Back to Article

Lindsay Lohan is finally at a crossroads. Like Britney Spear's trip to a mental ward, LiLo seems to, for at least this week, seems at a crossroads. She's quit clubbing, hired Britney's comeback mastermind Larry Rudolph, and graces intellectuals' gossip rag Vanity Fair instead of US. While reading the article, I realized how stunning Lilo looks. Unlike Kristin Stewart or the other Twilight gals, Lindsay looks like a classic movie star. She's the last of a kind of star. Sure, she's now more known for her antics and has joined the ranks of the Kardashians, but Hollywood has yet to find a young starlet with her appeal who isn't a trash bag since The Parent Trap. What young actress now brings audiences to a theatre in non franchise films? None! In the article, she discusses how new media confused her. She forgot that she's more Gene Kelly than Tilah Tequila. People give her a hard time and say she's close to death, but she's only twenty-four. She's not nearly as bad as some sorority girls. Shiolah Buff is allowed to go to jail for drunk antics and no one cares? She stumbles and her career's over? That's fucking bullshit. The worse part is, it's not men who criticize her. It's young girls who do the same bullshit. LOOK IN THE MIRROR. People need to stop using LiLo as a pole to beat out their own issues. She's a person. Imagine having the world hate you? That sucks a lot. Have some sympathy for the girl, America! Don't support the behavior, but don't judge unless you're perfect. And you're not, perfect. At this point, her career's going to go two ways. She'll either have a Robert Downey Jr. style return or make one last film and tragically die right before a comeback. She's got too big of a presence to live as a has been. She's had her career falterings, but she's never lost her fame. It's her fate to be unforgotten. Now, if she's remembered for messiness or brilliance is a totally other blog post. But if things continue on this path, a new great Lindsay Lohan movie could be on the way. I will take bets on that now!

Ten Reasons I Love My Kindle More Than Printed Books

1.) I'm saving the environment.

2.) I'm helping printed books become the equivalent to old records. Us Kindle users are making books cool.

3.) 40,000 books weighing a few ounces or carrying one twenty pound edition of Infinite Jest? Which one would you choose? Get real!

4.) It's white and puuuuuuurty.

5.) It looks like a page, not a screen like the iPad.

6.) I can say I had it before everyone else, which is always super fun.

7.) It makes me feel like less of a hoarder.

8.) It comes in a black case. Unlike the ugly Girl With the Dragon Tattoo cover, a Kindle goes with every outfit.

9.) Books. Are. So. Much. Fucking. Cheaper.

10.) I think Oprah has one.

Off to go read my Kindle on the lawn! Peace, bitches!

Happiness Shock

I've never had a week so drama free, puppy free, or where I just felt mother fucking happy. I am so happy IT SCARES THE MOTHER FUCKING SHIT OUT OF ME. Last night, I took the train into the City. Trains amaze me so much more than airports. SLC is practically a snow globe. Same with NYC. It's a different world surrounded by some peculiar ass shit. I don't know why I'm cursing like a sailor, but whatever. I'm getting it out. It was like Harry Potter! In the train and then suddenly GRAND CENTRAL STATION. It. Was. Incredible. I've only visited NYC on vakay, but I live here now. I was in a magical place. Dog shit problems couldn't hurt me anymore. While sitting in the fountain (yes, in the fountain) with Dhara, I felt like I was dreaming. How could this be real? How could I, someone who has been miserable for so effing long be in place they not only love, but personal happiness? The hard work and nights in Oakwood Plaza Barnes & Noble were worth it. The Dog Days Are Over. Literally.

Five Concerts For September

1.) Of Montreal with Janelle Monae. September 17th and 18th at Terminal 5. They've kept their new music with Jon Brion and Beyonce's sister top secret, but it's Of Montreal. This is an event where knowledge of every single lyric means nada. Go for the fishnets, nudity, bubbles, dance, and lace. Plus, there's no one on earth who combines Gagaesque pop with James Brown soul like opener Janelle Monae.

2.) Dirty Projectors. September 11th at Terminal 5. Although some critics have disliked their shows for their denseness and odd pace, the Projectors promise of songs from Mountwittenburg Orca, Bitte Orca, older tracks, and the new Bitte Orca disk make it worth it. Sometimes they sound like whales, but any band that producers tracks like "Stillness is the Move" and "Two Doves" makes the bullshit well worth the thirty dollars.

3.)Best Coast. September 30th at Music Hall of Williamsburg. She's going to explode. See her now so you can say you saw before she was a star.

4.) Billy Idol. September 15th at Hammerstein Ballroom. He's old. He's a has been. But hell, no one else dances by them self like Billy.

5.) Stars. September 24th at Terminal 5. Stars only gets together every few years. Personally, I don't like the new tracks, but see them now because this might be your last chance. This is real, not Cher's farewell tour.

Note: Check Last.fm and Ticketmaster for ticket info.