Another year, another strange line-up for Revenge of the Bookeaters :o)
It’s become a bit of a tradition for me by now, to each year go to this quirky benefit for
826nyc - for those who live near Brooklyn and are even remotely talented with words, do yourself a favor and volunteer to help the kiddies, would’ya? (public service announcement over). I’ve also continued the tradition of having to find myself a date at the last minute. I always think everyone’s going to fall over themselves to want to come along…and then I hear crickets after sending out feelers. But my trusty friend a.k.a. Feisty Lady, came through in the end and graciously accepted to come along with moi.
If anyone who’s reading this post bothers to read last year’s thoughts on the show, they’ll quickly surmise that it wasn’t exactly an ideal situation. Lots of aggravation and well, not a very good time was had.
But that was all to change with this year… hopefully.
It started a little late, no doubt to accommodate some last minute stragglers. At one point Feisty Lady and I concurred that it seemed a bit empty up in the balcony – where us cheapskates were - hey, tixs were expensive! I didn’t see you donate any money to the cause. ;o). But it pretty much filled out by the time the lights dimmed (for the gazillionth time. It’s like they were trying to give us all seizures really, really slowly) and stayed dimmed. Well, maybe not downstairs in the orchestra section, but at least our area was nicely full.
I’m not sure if I’d have chosen the particular order of the lineup that was employed. It would’ve made more sense to me to open it up with either Dave Eggers talking about the organization, or with John Oliver (the brilliant host – I heart you John!), but instead we had Ira Glass (from NPR’s This American Life) walk unto the stage, no introduction, nothing. I mean, I knew who he was, but my friend didn’t, and I’m guessing maybe a few other people didn’t either – he is on the radio after all (and yes, I know he’s also done a tv show based on the radio series, but my logic still holds – we shouldn’t necessarily recognize him immediately on sight, seeing as he’s from (and stay with me now) radio).
But I digress.
It was regardless of introductions or no introductions, a very touching opening. He related how the best piece of theater he’d ever seen was performed by a group of young girls in Juvie. He had a recording of a song they’d done during a musical they’d put together for their families. And in case some of us hadn’t understood every word, he read it out. How all these girls who’d basically fucked up somewhere along their young lives, sang in unison to their mothers that they were sorry and how they were ready to come back home. Very touching and only slightly marred by the fact that someone up in the balcony decided to chuckle at one of the verses that Ira read. I think they sort of missed the point ;o)
He then read to us some more lighthearted fare, but I can’t remember…wait, it’s coming back to me…He read a great little story that a student at 826nyc had written about the world’s greatest food fight. The timing was impeccable, it was altogether silly, it was brilliant :o)
And then Mr. John Oliver, a.k.a. the father of my children should anything ever happen to my boy ;o) came on and did a bang up job. I do actually remember a few of his jokes which I might attempt to not mangle later in this post. He was a hit from the beginning though and had us all enthralled – he definitely killed last night :o)
(John Oliver starting the evening out)
A young performer called Thao Nguyen (at least she looked young), was next and she was all feisty and cool with her cowboy boot stomping and guitar drumming ways. After she finished the first song, she said she’d been stuck in writing new songs and that she was just going to have the kids at 826nyc do it ;o) And then she started on her second one and had the crowd clapping along enthusiastically to her acoustic guitar – all in all, very good.
(Thao Nguyen and her kick ass boots :))
Dept. of Eagles were next and they announced that it was only their second ever show, so we’d have to excuse them if they sounded a bit like a high school talent show. First song was a bit slow going, but the second one picked up the pace – liked it quite a bit – and then they did one more song, albeit without Fred. Daniel Rossen, the lead singer, said he was going to perform a song that his partner, the hereto mentioned Fred, had written, but oddly enough, he’d do it without Fred on stage…at which point Fred walks off with his head down looking very dejected :o)
(Second only performance ever by Department of Eagles)
At this point I lost track a little about who came next. So I’m going to guess and say that it was Dave Eggers and Sarah Vowell in a great bit explaining what the benefit was about and what 826nyc does - with Dave relating it in English and then Sarah translating it into Sarah Palin-ese. Not quite as funny as John, but very amusing.
Next up was Kip Malone from TV on the radio reading a story written by a visiting school – classes from local schools visit 826nyc on field trips and while there write a story cooperatively and then have their story printed up and bound, with the last chapter left up for each individual child to write in themselves – fucking brilliant :o)
He read a charming little story about Potato and her husband Sandy the monkey who if I can remember correctly, was bananas…about bananas.
Paul Simon, the biggest name of the evening (and surprisingly placed in the middle of the festivities) was next and was lovely. I’m not a huge fan, but I got a little sentimental during his performance. I could well remember being a young kid and watching the silly and very entertaining video for ‘You can call me Al’ on Mtv, and being so naïve that I thought Chevy Chase was the performer since he was the one lipsynching. And here I was 20 years or so later seeing this great performer (Simon, not Chase) live on stage. I sort of forget once in a while how bloody impressive my concert experiences would be to my 13-year-old self. How truly excited and over the moon my 13-year-old self would have been to know that I’d eventually get to see all of the people I enjoyed as a young kid :o) But back to Paul…
He came on stage with an accompanying musician who was great, but alas, I didn’t note his name. He had a great look though – amazing long locks tied back – and was a great player.
(Paul Simon and great-maned accompanist)
First song I think was a classic of his since the crowd clapped in recognition, but unfortunately my Simon knowledge is poor at best. But then he did Mrs. Robinson which was just as lovely as I’d remembered – he made sure to accentuate the bit about the debates, tweaking it a bit to reflect that Tuesday night were the second presidential debates.
He then performed a new song, only about 6 months old, that he said he’d never performed on stage. Started off a bit iffy like, with talk of god and his son coming down to earth and telling everyone they had to move on, there were more galaxies to go to, more creations to create, but then turned oddly sweeter with ‘I fell in love with her at first sight, I know that’s a songwriting cliché’ :o)
He performed a fourth song (the most of any of the performers) and I know that it’s one of his classics, but again, no clue as to what it’s called. I could hum it for you though if anyone’s interested – so if you know me, just ask me the next time I see you ;o)
(Paul Simon, who not very surprisingly is teeny in person :))
John comes back (he had been coming back in between most of the acts) and introduces Angelique Kidjo who’d come all the way from South Africa. I’ve wanted to see her for quite a few years now, so it was a lovely surprise to find out she’d be performing – I don’t remember having seen her name in the various announcements.
She comes out and does one song – amazing voice – and then speaks a little about why she’s there. B/c her family instilled in her a love for education and she wanted to show her support for 826nyc’s efforts. And then she asks us all to sing along a South African blessing song with her. As she put it, if she could sing in her language and speak in English, then we could all sing two words in hers. She has all of Town Hall singing ‘Ache mama Afrika’ – loads and loads of fun :o)
(Angelique Kidjo and her heavenly voice)
The last bit, which I thought was a bit odd to end on, was the reading of a play…which wasn’t really a play by Jonathan Safran Foer, part of a collection of stories, essays, comics, etc included in
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, which was available for purchase at the lobby. Small side note: By the time Feisty Lady and myself made our way downstairs, there was a huge line to buy the book…but there was a volunteer hawking the book in the middle of the lobby. I just asked her if I could buy the copy she was holding up – which after hesitating for a bit, she agreed to :o)
So back to the play… Out came Parker Posey and Patricia Clarkson and Sarah Vowell and the author, as well as a few other people that I can’t really remember at the moment. It was quite fun, a cold reading apparently, and Sarah Vowell’s bit as ‘Jeremy’ the state historian, was particularly funny.
(From left to right: NY state, State Geologist, State historian, literary author, State Publicist, and State, er, interview question vetter?)
And that was it – the ending to a great, varied evening. John did an amazing job as host – he hit just the right notes and thankfully this year there were no yahoos around to ruin the fun for everyone (again: see my post for last year’s event).
(Everyone out for a final bow...except Simon who was m.i.a.)
But to end this post, I have to include at least one of his jokes, although I’m sure I won’t do it full justice. On why the British do not have firearms available to them as Americans do: Last time the Brits had full access to arms, they managed to conquer 2/3 of the world’s land mass and enslaved its’ people, so perhaps it’s best they don’t now :o)
dig me the great young River Phoenix tee - brought back some teenage memories :o)
But they eventually managed to jerryrig something together and continued playing. Their energy was fucking amazing. To compare them to the Sex Pistols and the Clash is a bit trite, but they've certainly got that early punk sensibility. Songs were incredibly catchy, they were very passionate, and unlike other bands I could think of (but won't name), they didn't just pussy out when something went wrong. They did the best they could with what was available and kept on going, not wanting to disappoint their fans.
