Clap Your Hands Say Blah!

So this past Friday was a busy night out with and our friend Tom - much fun was had by all. Here's a brief recap:
Dinner at Ocha (Japanese food on Restaurant Row) was excellent. I'm not much for Japanese usually, but we had a great time, the food was good, and we got out for less than $80 for the three of us. Not too shabby. (The sushi there is supposed to be alright, but I was a wuss and stuck with tuna rolls and tempura. Hooray wasabi!)

Off to the Lyceum Theatre for the first preview of The Caine Mutiny. Keeping in mind that this is the first preview, I can forgive the minor line flubs and mistakes, and the couple of moments where it seemed somebody went up on their lines (that's always a fun second or two, watching the actors exchange glances, each expecting the other to deliver a line). However, I don't remember this play being so funny. Each witness who took the stand, particularly those testifying for the prosecution in the latter stages of the first act, was some sort of character having some sort of schtick. To me, this seems to completely counter the argument that the play is trying to make. The play seems to be an indictment of those who would write fiction criticizing the war (WWII) and those who fought it, particularly the men in the "regular" military (as opposed to those in the reserves, or those who were drafted). In any event, the lack of tension in the first act negatively impacts what should be an extremely tense second act. I thought David Schwimmer did a good job resisting the urge to be funny, and he's really not a bad choice for the role. Zeljko Ivanek is alright as Queeq, he makes a nice transformation under pressure - a slightly different performance than Bogart's (to say the least).

From the Lyceum, we ventured out to the Bowery Ballroom for Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah. I'm a big fan of their CD (thanks ) and I thought they might be fun to see live. And the tickets were pretty cheap, always a good thing. By the time we got there, the second opening act was winding down, a band featuring a trumpet, a clarinet (both played poorly), a xylophone, and (for their final song) all the members wearing what looked like Mary-Kate (or Ashley) Olsen masks. They kinda sucked. So Clap Your Hands get on stage, and they're alright. The music is oddly similar to the studio recordings. I'm not saying they were using a backing track or anything, but usually a live show sounds a lot different than the CD. It just wasn't there for me. And then there were the other concertgoers. Let's just say that the show wasn't sponsored by Head and Shoulders. Or Right Guard. Young 20 somethings from Williamsburg so desperate to be cool. A good 70% of the men had gone through their closets to find their most ironic t-shirt for the occasion. Women were divided between trying to look like Natalie Merchant (if I see one more white floral print dress on a girl with hips, I'm going to have to say something) or trying to look like boys. But they were having a good time, trying to see who could sing the loudest without actually knowing any of the words. Good times.

So we left there before the end of the show, and I got back to my car in time to get a lower rate on parking. And the three of us had a blast hanging out together all night.

So a good time was had by all!