She & Him Rock Out on the Tambourine and Triangle
She & Him at the Bowery last March. (www.brooklynvegan.com) Photos weren't allowed at last night's show.
Last night, the folk/indie band She & Him put on a wonderful, sold out show at Terminal 5. The large, barren room was packed with fans, the room swelteringly hot. But, showing dedication to the band, very few left before the end of the encore.
The opening act, strangely enough, was not musical but comedic – comedian Eugene Mirman, a Brooklyn resident and author of The Will To Whatevs, a humorous guide to modern life (HarperCollins, 2009). His topics ranged from the Tea Party and Obama to a twelve-year-old with Asperger’s to those stupid security questions credit card websites ask you. While the question is generally something along the lines of “What is your mother’s maiden name?” Eugene took the liberty of changing the question to “What are you wearing?” so that he can respond, “I don’t think that’s appropriate!” to whomever is asking on the line. He was well received by the fans.
The room only got more packed and the crowd more eager as the night wore on. When She & Him came on, the room erupted. As effortlessly glowing as she was in 500 Days of Summer, Zooey DesChanel nonchalantly asked how the crowd was doing and jumped into “Change is Hard,” a sleepy, soulful ballad, while the crowd loudly sang along. During her more fast-paced songs, she jumped up and down while playing the tambourine, her long brown hair flailing around her. The show, with Zooey’s twangy voice and retro songs, had a 60’s vibe to it. Zooey, very at ease on stage, did not hesitate to stop a song a few seconds in to change the octave. Lead guitarist M. Ward sang along in a few memorable duets. The two back up singers sang and rocked out on their tambourines, while occasionally playing the triangle, a subtle touch to the alt-country songs.
In addition to girls in dark-rimmed glasses and long boho dresses, I was surprised to see a fair amount of male fans singing along merrily. The burly man behind me sang both the guy and girl parts to “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and got really into the chorus, which goes, “Hold me, hold me, hold me….”
The band played three covers for the encore. Certainly one of the highlights of the show, the band closed with Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You,” featuring just M. Ward on a few vocals and guitar and Zooey on vocals. The song featured her impressive range, as she wailed, “No, I ain’t lyin!!” The memorable show left the fans begging for more.
Our Favor!te Things 2009: Alberto
Our latest Favor!te Things installment is courtesy of our publicity head honcho Alberto, who wondered if his faves were “too gay.” To that we say, “Have you been reading YIL, Alberto?” An Adam Lambert guest appearance on a Judy Garland-themed episode of Glee wouldn’t even be too gay for us!
Favor!te Film: We don’t go to movies much, but I heard 500 Days of Summer was good…we’ll rent it. We liked the Hannah Montana movie too!
Favor!te Album: I Dreamed a Dream by Susan Boyle. Super faggy, I know, but How Great Thou Art made me cry, Wild Horses made me smile, and her rendition of You’ll See is so much better that Madonna’s.
Favor!te Book: More is More Tony Duquette by Hutton Wilkinson, a truly superb account of Tony Duquette’s life and work
Favor!te Art Show: Bauhaus at the MoMA is pretty awesome
Favor!te Designer: Thom Browne is a god
Favor!te TV Show: Glee — brilliant, I can watch every episode forever and never get tired. Thinking of this also helps A LOT.
Favor!te Website: www.1stdibs.com
Favor!te Real Housewife: Michelle Obama
Favor!te Twitterer: Twitter is gay
Favor!te You Tube Video: the Fire Island Boys take the prize this year!
Bonus coverage:
What are you most excited about for 2010? RuPaul’s new book!
Who do you most want to smooch on New Year’s Eve? Brent
No uncertainty about Uncertainty
We are all faced with hundreds, maybe thousands, of minuscule decisions each day. Bus or subway? Where and when to go to lunch? Work late or cut out early? The other day during a much-needed day of hookey from the YIL-factory I was walking by the IFC Center and saw a poster for Uncertainty, next showing in twenty minutes. I was sick of walking the streets in the cold and not buying Christmas presents so I ducked into the theatre and am very glad I did.
Manhattan or Brooklyn?
Easy question. Where to spend the 4th of July. Your girlfriend’s family’s party in Brooklyn or your buddy’s party in Manhattan. Flip a coin.
That’s how Uncertainybegins. With the flip of a coin. What follows are two separate movies: one follows Bobby (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his girlfriend Kate (Lynn Collins) to Brooklyn. Intertwined is the second movie – what would have happen had the two chosen to spend the day in Manhattan.
At first glimpse the premise is reminiscent of the less-than-stellar Gwyneth Paltrow 1998 film Sliding Doors (I much prefer her Great Expectations from the same year). To keep both Uncertainy story lines separate the film’s writers/directors used color: Yellow for Manhattan (clothes, taxi that brings them there) and Green for Brooklyn (clothes, minivan that brings them there). A much more clever device than Paltrow’s odd blonde/brunette hair cut and coloring.
What follows are two incredible stories as different as can be. In Manhattan Bobby and Kate find a cellphone in the back of a cab that leads to a fast-paced, gripping espionage story of murder, blackmail and what two people would be willing to do for more money than they could ever fathom having with action scenes of roof jumping that rival the Jason Bourne films. Not an easy feat for an independent film.
In Brooklyn, surrounded by her family, Bobby and Kate come to terms about their feelings for each other, their future, her mother’s disapproval. It is an intense, sometimes stifling, family/relationship drama.
The in-depth, claustrophobic nature of the film and the relationship presented on screen set to a defined period of time of both the Manhattan and Brooklyn films reminded me of a mix of Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy Before Sunrise and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers/Scarlett Johansson Match Point.
While not the perfect movie – a few of the loose ends seem to tie up a bit too easy at the end – Uncertainly certainly is a movie to be seen. Levitt, once again as he did in (500) Days of Summer (which you may or may not have heard I kinda liked), proves his ranking as one of the top actors under thirty today and Lynn Collins shows her dramatic abilities are far superior to her roles in True Blood and X-Men: Wolverine (which is a damn good show and a fine movie themselves).
Its too late to see Uncertainty at the IFC Center in New York (though it does seem to be still playing in LA), but the smart folks over at IFC released the movie On Demandsimul with the theatre release. So look for it there.
Our Favor!te Things 2009: Kevin
Considering he saw (500) Days of Summer eight times (at last count), we’re pretty surprised that our marketing head honcho Kevin Callahan actually had time to enjoy other pop culture delights this year. Apparently he did, and apparently these were his favor!tes.
Favor!te Film: (500) Days of Summer. Because “this is not a love story.” Because in the hands of actors less talented than Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel the movie could have taken an entirely different direction, but what they do in it is remarkable. Because I want to live in Tom Hansen’s apartment. Because of this.
Favor!te Concert: Nirvana, Live at Reading. Because very rarely can you be transported back in time and witness something amazing happen.
Favor!te Album: Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown. Because five years ago Rolling Stone wrote “Tell the truth: did anybody think Green Day would still be around in 2004?” and Green Day not only proved their importance then with American Idiot but far-surpassed it in 2009 with 21st Century Breakdown. Because seeing Billie Joe Armstrong in concert is a religous experience. Because What’s the latest way that a man can die / Screaming hallelujah? Because even though Billie Joe has a son in high school, you still believe him when he tells you how mom and dad will never understand.
Favor!te Book: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, Reif Larsen. Because every now and then you can get completely lost in the mind of a book’s character and forget that he doesn’t actually exist. Because Reif Larsen has created an inventive forms of storytelling. Because the interrior looks like this.
Favor!te Art-type thingy: Hamlet. Because Jude Law made the funny lines actually funny. Because he didn’t over do “To Be or Not to Be.” Because the scene of Polonius’s murder was the best version I’ve ever seen. Because in my opinion Getrude is the toughest role to have and Geraldine James was incredible in it. Because the costumes and set decorations were brilliant in their simplicities. Because it snowed on stage. Because I’m a Hamlet snob so for me to like it as much as I did, it must be good.
Favor!te Fashion: Hoodies. Because a hoodie under a blazer is warmer than a winter coat. Because 2007 was the last time GAP made a decent hoodie. Because 2007′s hoodies are now perfectly worn-in.
Favor!te TV Show: Gossip Girl. Because I lost a little faith after Seaon 2, but Season 3 has more than made up for it.
Favor!te Blog/Website: HTMLGiant. Because it contained the Best Essay of 2009: Blake Butler‘s “James Joyce does not exist.”
Favor!te Real Housewives: Dina Manzo and Caroline Manzo from Real Housewives of New Jersey. Because they are thick as thieves.
Favor!te Twitterer: @God. Because, well, he’s God.
Favor!te You Tube Video: When Pandas Attack. Because this is the video proof that underneath all that fur, pandas are mean fuckers.
Bonus:
What are you most excited about for 2010? Emile Hirsch’s Hamlet may surprise a lot of people. Ed Westwick as Heathcliff and Gemma Arterton as Cathy in a new Wuthering Heights. And I still have high hopes for Shutter Island.
Who do you most want to smooch on New Year’s Eve? Patricia Highsmith. Because “My New Year’s Eve Toast: to all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace.” – Patricia Highsmith, January 1, 1947. 2:30 am.
Our Favor!te Things 2009: RuPaul
The second installment of Our Favor!te Things 2009 comes from RuPaul. Fabulous? We’d say so.
Favor!te Films: UP, Whip It, 500 Days of Summer, Zombieland, District 9, This is It, September Issue, Taking Woodstock, Whatever Works
Favor!te Fashion Item: Aaron Barak/Open Tote
Favor!te Albums: Cheryl Cole “3 Words,” Mariah Carey “Memoirs…” and Whitney Houston “I Look To You”
Favor!te Songs:
1. I’m So Paid… Akon 2. Ball Wit Me… Trina
3. H.A.T.E.U… Mariah 4. Nothin’ But Love… Whitney
5. Hush Hush… Pussycat Dolls 6. 1st & Love… Brandy
7. Knock You Down… Keri Hilson 8. You Only Live Twice… Nancy Sinatra
9. Fight For This Love… Cheryl Cole 10. Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart… Alicia Keys
Favor!te Concert: Kylie Minogue: Hollywood Bowl
Favor!te Book: Malcolm Gladwell “Outliers”
Favor!te TV shows: Judge Judy, Jeopardy & Family Guy
Favor!te Blog: Dlisted.com
Favor!te Real Housewife: “Prostitution Whore”
Favor!te You Tube Video: Charlie Bit Me Auto-Tuned
Bonus Coverage:
What are you most excited about for 2010?
My new book Workin’ It: RuPaul’s Guide To Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Style and the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race
Who do you most want to smooch on New Year’s Eve? Adam Lambert
RuPaul skyrocketed to international fame with the release of the CD, “SUPERMODEL OF THE WORLD,” which was followed by roles in several feature films, hosting a TV talk show and a syndicated radio show, many high profile endorsement deals (including a beauty contract with M.A.C Cosmetics), blockbuster success with THE RUPAUL DOLL™, sold out nightclub appearances worldwide, a best-selling autobiography and fundraising millions of dollars for people living with HIV/AIDS. RuPaul is currently the producer and host of the globally popular TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race and the author of the upcoming book, Workin’ It: RuPaul’s Guide To Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Style
