pop culture, reviewed

Jake didn’t get to go because of work and I really don’t know that I have ever seen him so disappointed.  I think the word I’m looking for is “crestfallen.”  He was crestfallen.  I still went, with Michael, but I don’t want poor Jake to have to hear any more about it because I think he might cry.  You don’t understand — it was a real coup for us to FINALLY see them because for one reason or another, we’ve missed them the last, like, three times they’ve come nearby.  It was the only show Jake’s been eagerly anticipating for months.

So, I won’t talk about how fun it was, because I don’t want to make him feel worse.

I will say that it was the first time that I have been at a show where there was crowd-surfing in I don’t know how long.  A decade?  Longer?  It had been awhile. 

 P.S. Jake listened to it streaming live on NPR.org and you can go there and listen, too.

… it was because Glen Hansard’s enormous voice was coming from inside the Lincoln Theater and all the cars and passersby had to stop and congregate outside to appreciate it.  I myself was inside so I can’t testify as to whether traffic actually DID stop, but I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised.  I thought July’s Swell Season show at the 9:30 Club was amazing, but last night’s show at the Lincoln Theater topped it.  It was the first time I’d been to the Lincoln Theater and it was a perfect place for the show — the acoustics were great (Marketa’s voice in particular was much louder than at the 9:30 Club) and the audience was rapt.  Glen and Marketa played with three additional musicians on strings and, like last time, Glen out-Vanned Van Morrison and they closed with a rousing “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” (which you can hear for yourself on the I’m Not There soundtrack).  They received two standing ovations, and that’s not counting the one guy in front of me who was so overwhelmed with the show that he reminded me of the town council member/pharmacist who is so enamored with Corky in Waiting for Guffman. 

I’ll leave you with this video of Glen singing “Astral Weeks,” though I can assure you that the performance embedded here was nothing compared to the “Astral Weeks” we heard last night.  The Swell Season’s original music was the highlight, of course, but you can’t argue with a cover this good.

Hi!  I’m alive!  Jake did not take over the blog (though wasn’t it nice to have him finally writing on here?  Of course it was!).

 So.  What have we been doing?  I haven’t written in so long that I forget where to start.  I’ll just go by category.

 What We’ve Been Watching on the Big Screen:  Awards season is gearing up and I already have several picks for Oscar nominations (not that I have a vote, of course).  Since last I wrote, I’ve seen: 

1. The Jane Austen Book Club.  It was delightful and better than the book, which was mediocre and forgettable.  It’s the kind of movie that, if you are a girl, you should probably go see with your mom or your girlfriend.  (Also, Claire Danes, I totally get what you see in Hugh Dancy.  He was actually really good in the movie — somehow he managed to be believable as a dork even though he is crazy handsome.)

 2. Michael Clayton.  Some of the legal bits were quite authentic, especially one scene when George Clooney’s character talks some associates after a disastrous deposition, which was spot-on.  Tom Wilkinson was outstanding as usual, and Tilda Swinton was phenomenal.  She has one of my Best Supporting Actress nominations this year (so far).

3. Martian Child.  I went to see this one by myself because, like every woman of my age bracket, I believe that John Cusack is actually Lloyd Dobler and I will go see just about anything he is in.  Martian Child might as well have been a made-for-TV movie, except that it had the Cusacks in it.  It worked, though.  John is appealing enough that he made it into a worthwhile big screen movie.  I’m not nominating this one for any awards, but if you want to go see a matinee while your husband watches football one Saturday (like I did), you could do a lot worse. 

4. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.  My love for Ethan Hawke is well-documented, I believe, and he was excellent in this, even compared to the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman, who can do just about damn anything.  Perfectly cast and really well-directed.  (You see a lot of Marisa Tomei in this one, too, for better or for worse.  It’s worth mentioning because seriously, you see a LOT of her.)

5. Gone Baby Gone.  We had both read the book and both liked the movie — if possible, the movie streamlined the book in some really effective ways and made it more believable (and certainly easier to follow).  It didn’t dumb it down; it just made it less convoluted.  Good job, Ben Affleck.  (Also, hi, Casey Affleck.  How YOU doin’?)

Next up:  No Country for Old Men.  I read the book this weekend and had to take an emotional breather before I saw the movie right away.  I am pretty stoked to see it soon, though. 

What We’ve Been Watching on the Little Screen:

1.  Gossip Girl.  I sure do love shows where beautiful teenagers talk like grown-up writers and wear pretty clothes.  That’s one of my favorite genres, so I am enjoying this show immensely.

2.  Friday Night Lights.  We finally caught up.  I still cry in pretty much every episode so it’s still good as ever, in my humble opinion. 

3.  30 Rock and The Office.  Obviously, I mean, please.  Unless you hate fun, you watch these, and we love fun in our house, so there you go. 

4.  Grey’s Anatomy.  Yes, we finally started watching it.  We watched them all on DVD until this season, and now we record them and watch Thursday’s episode on Sunday.  I still hate Meredith and stupid McDreamy, but I like the rest of the cast.  Right now I am kind of digging Dr. Hahn, because, let’s face it, we all have a soft spot for her seeing as how we all remember when she had to put the lotion in the basket.  You know?

5.  The Wire.  This is our current TV-on-DVD project, finally.  We’re only, what, four years behind?  Whatever. 

6.  House.  Always and forever.  I love some of the new peeps, but I hard-core miss Cameron and Foreman and especially precious, precious Chase.  We need more of them, Chase especially.  I need more Cuddy and Wilson too, for that matter. 

What We’ve Been Listening To:

1. Josh Ritter.  His show at the 9:30 Club in October was, simply put, incredible.  He is a joy.  The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is currently in the lead for my favorite album of the year so far.  You too can experience how awesome his show was at NPR.org, or you can download that particular All Songs Considered podcast (for free!) off iTunes.

2. The New Pornographers.  Saw them for the third time two weeks ago, and it was really fun.  I really, really like the new record, more than I did upon first listen.  I even like the Dan Bejar songs. 

3. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.  We saw him the day before Halloween at DAR Constitution Hall, which is my least favorite venue in the greater D.C. area.  It was a good show, but as Ryan shows go, it was just… fine.  The highlight for me was “The Sun Also Sets,” which is my favorite song off of Easy Tiger.  I was really hoping to hear the Cardinals’ cover of Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole,” which is so freaking good that it is worth buying his new EP, Follow the Lights, just for that song.  (The other standout on the EP is the song he wrote for Willie last year, “Blue Hotel,” which is gorgeous and sad and perfect like all the best Ryan songs are.) 

4.  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.  Saw the Boss tonight at the Verizon Center and it was everything you think a Bruce show is going to be and he played “Thunder Road” and I cried.  I am such a baby. 

5.  White Rabbits.  We missed them when they were at the Rock and Roll Hotel last week, but their album Fort Nightly is super fun and you should totally get it.

6.  Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.  You guys, 100 Days, 100 Nights is a new record!  You might hear it and think, “Who is this old-fashioned soul singer from the 60’s and why have I never heard of her before?”  But no!  This album came out last month; it’s just so awesome that it sounds like that.

7.  Dan Wilson.  Jake was not kidding, the song “All Kinds” off of his new album Free Life is really good, but my favorite on the record is “Breathless.”  I really like the whole thing, though.  These are just really nice, pretty, sweet pop songs, and they make you feel good.  They make me feel good, anyway, so I think y’all should try them out too, if you are in the market for nice and sweet and pretty.

What else:  Well, although I do not think that I have posted a single entry about books this year (how did it get to be November?), I do still read and I’ll work on a book entry soon.  Oh!  And I turned thirty last month.  How about that?  I’m a thirty-something now.  We celebrated by going to see the Beatles Love show in Las Vegas.  I don’t talk about the Beatles that much on this site, but I was pretty much a total Beatles freak for most of my late childhood/early adolescence, and that is something that will stay with me forever.  Basically, from the time I was about eleven until, I don’t know, I was through with college, I used to get Beatles books for every holiday, I wore (and still wear) black every December 8, the first trip I took when I lived in England was a pilgrimage to Liverpool, and as a result of all those things, I have a longstanding and deep emotional connection to all things Beatle.  Therefore, Jake was not surprised when, on our first day in Vegas, I cried as soon as we walked into the Beatles gift shop.  There was just so much Beatles stuff, I couldn’t handle it!  I also cried through the first half of the Love show, and in the middle, and then again at the end.  Also, I kept going back to the Beatles store every day to buy something else and wound up coming home with the following: two souvenir plastic cups, a mug, two magnets, a pair of Rubber Soul socks, and a Sgt. Pepper’s sweatshirt.  Y’all, I don’t even wear sweatshirts.  I am a total freak. I’m going to stop typing about what a freak I am now before I tell y’all that I was also obsessed with The Brady Bunch, though not in the same way.

Anyway, it was a happy birthday, and now I’m 30 plus one month.  Happy late birthday to me and happy Tuesday to you all!

Last Thursday we went to see Rilo Kiley at the 9:30 Club and heck if Jenny Lewis didn’t break out the cowbell.  As my friend Sarah emailed me after she saw the same show in Asheville, “You mentioned cowbell.  I had no idea she was going to try to bring sexy back using the cowbell.”  But try she did and for all I know, maybe she succeeded.  Jake seemed to think she did.  It was a good show, even though Winona Ryder was apparently in attendance and we did not see her.  Brandi Carlile was also good the following night, although the crowd was a little too chatty at the beginning.  She performed two of the covers that so captivated me when I saw her in April, “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hallelujah,” but also sang “Madman Across the Water” and a better-than-the-original version of “Raining in Baltimore.”  (August and Everything After, by the way, is 14 years old, and if that doesn’t make you feel old, maybe the fact that Automatic for the People is celebrating its 15th birthday will do the trick.)

What else?  We saw Into the Wild this weekend, because I love the book.  I liked the movie pretty well, too.  Some of Sean Penn’s techniques bothered me (namely the excessive voiceovers, distracting writing on screen in weird fonts, superfluous “chapter” headings, and unnecessary family movie flashbacks), but the acting and the story were so strong that they saved the film.  I’m developing quite the crush on Emile Hirsch, and Hal Holbrook gave a magnificent performance as an elderly man befriended by Chris McCandless.  (Holbrook and Ben Foster in “3:10 to Yuma” are my two Best Supporting Actor nominees so far this year.)

 Oh, and not related to pop culture, but the American Planning Association just named  our neighborhood one of the ten best in the country for this year.  They are right — our little corner of Capitol Hill is a great place to live.  I miss South Carolina, but there is plenty to miss about our current location if we ever move away from here, too. 

For me, it’s a tie — (1)  The Ritter at the 9:30 Club in October.  I can already see him laughing while he sings “To the Dogs or Whoever” and it tickles me just imagining it… it will be even more delightful when it actually happens.

(2) The Frames at Webster Hall in New York in September.  Y’all, I really tried to resist this Frames show, because it is Monday, September 10, and I am already going to be in NY from Sept. 5-8*. Not through the 11th.  The 8th.  And sweet Jacob isn’t going to be with me on that trip, so I really shouldn’t stay through the whole weekend.  So, when Molly told me she already had two tickets, I was really responsible and said, “Oh, I can’t.  Too bad they aren’t playing two or three days earlier.  I really need to go home on the 8th like I planned.”

Then I had recurring dreams of being at Glen Hansard shows, probably because I cannot stop listening to Set List** (and also probably because I have vivid dreams almost every night and they often involve celebrities***), and so I  got sweet Jake’s blessing and emailed Molly back and said, “I’m going to go home on Saturday like I said, but then I’m coming back on Monday because I cannot resist, okay? Okay!”

Now, I’m going to predict Jake’s most-anticipated show of the fall.  I haven’t consulted with him, but I am confident that nothing excites him as much as the November Hold Steady show for which we already have tickets.  He is pumped.  He is so pumped that his email this morning to let me know he had ordered our tickets involved capital letters and multiple exclamation points.  He can correct me if I’m wrong, but I know I’m not.  He’s more excited about seeing The Hold Steady than he is about seeing his #2 celebrity girlfriend**** Jenny Lewis when we go see Rilo Kiley in September, and that is saying a lot. 

 *For two nights of fun old-friend-seeing and Broadway-watching and an extra night of Molly-visiting.

**The greatest live album I have discovered since Neil Finn’s Seven Worlds Collide.

***You know what?  Maybe I should start a new blog about my crazy dreams, because they are never dirty and honestly, the one about how I was at a film festival in Dubai with Lindsay Lohan’s entourage and Robert DeNiro wanted me to bring him a can of Diet Cherry Coke was maybe the most awesome dream anyone has ever had.  It was even better than the one where my mom and I ran into Brad Pitt at a seafood restaurant but didn’t get to talk to him because we had to give Henry Winkler and Scott Baio a ride home. 

****From what I can tell, Kristen Bell still holds the #1 spot, for those keeping track at home.