Coldplay night
S. and I aborted our attempts to see Coldplay last night. Scalper prices were outrageous, and the Coldplay fans seemed to be paying them ($100 dollars for lawn tickets!). We were going to hang around for a bit, but the group of people surrounding the scalpers didn't bode well.
The trip to the city wasn't a complete waste (or so I thought), because I managed to finally get my cds from Sh. back. Of course, once I got home and opened the bag I realized there were a handful missing. He wasn't around when I got there, so I just got the bag from his roommate and left. Not surprisingly, the discs missing were the ones I most wanted back. So I'll have to go back to his place the next time I'm in town.
There Is A Man Holding A Megaphone
Bright Eyes will be performing in the (hopefully) SARS-free studios of Late Night With David Letterman tonight.
I Was Dancing In A Lesbian Bar
Meeting with A. and S. tonight to check out the delightful Jonathan Richman in the big city. There's a brief article on Richman that's worth checking out if you're a fan. Anytime I mention Jonathan Richman to friends, they ask who he is.
"If you ask people if they remember the singer in [There's Something About Mary], they say yes, but if you ask if they remember his name, they say no," he says. "It didn't make a big difference [in terms of my popularity], but it made a nice difference. I'm doing more film scoring, which is good."
If you're not familiar with him, I highly recommend his most recent best of, "Action Packed".
Friday night, M. and J. came over to watch Comedian. J. also brought his co-worker R., which, when seating space is at a premium, was a tricky situation, but I whipped out a lawn chair and things worked out. I'll preface by saying I am a big fan of Seinfeld (although Curb Your Enthusiasm has led me to believe that Larry David was the genius behind the show), so I was fully expecting to enjoy Comedian, and I did.
It follows Jerry Seinfeld, who's retired his act, and is starting a new act in the New York City clubs he began his career in. It's quite interesting to watch the development of a 'bit', and to see the struggles that one of the most successful comedians ever has to go through. Seinfeld runs into various comedians throughout the film, from Chris Rock to Ray Romano, with Colin Quinn taking in the most screentime.
Contrasting this, the camera follows Orny Adams, who is an up and coming comedian in NYC. Orny is young and cocky, and doesn't get portrayed in the greatest of ways - but it's still interesting to see his own struggles too. He's pretty funny, but, as someone in the movie expresses, that's not necessarily a sure sign of success.
The movie also has a commentary track featuring Seinfeld and Colin Quinn, which I watched Saturday morning. It's certainly worth watching if you have the time - as you get to listen to them pick apart Orny Adams, and talk a little more about the reality of being a comedian.
I decided to bike to the store to return the movie, since our predicted rain, never showed up. My friend L. was having a garage sale, so I also decided to go check that out. I bought some s books from her, since my sister's trying to accumulate a collection for when she starts teaching. 20 kilometre's, and a slight tan later, I got home. Probably not the best thing to do when I had a concert to go to, but it was nice to get some fresh air and exercise.
Gord was incredible, as usual. The highlights were, of course, my favourite song on the new album, "Steeplechase", and a fantastic cover of Neil Young's "Tonight's The Night". Gord is apparently releasing all of his shows on his website, about a week after the date - so I'll probably post a link when it surfaces.