Counting and Recounting

So much has been going on, I haven't had time to process it, much less blog about it. Last week was a frenzy of performances and rehearsals, thanks in large part to gifts and/or knowing people involved with the shows But here's some kind of stab at catching up.

Monday I was treated to a benefit for Elevator Repair Service, an amazing theater company that does really creative work. Looking forward to seeing Gatz, their production of The Great Gatsby which involves reading the entire novel live and on stage. The benefit was great - actors reading from Great American Books. Frankie Faison was fab reading from Moby Dick, and Frances McDormand was brilliant reading from The Age of Innocence. Rad sound design too.

Wednesday I went to Sondheim on Sondheim at Studio 54. Very much fun - I actually didn't know much about the show before I went. If you have an interest in Stephen Sondheim (and I'm guessing you do) it's worth paying a visit.

Thursday... well, Thursday was omigod omiGOD territory. That was the night of the Chris Knox Benefit at Le Poisson Rouge. Now it's true that not too many people know about Chris Knox, who had a stroke about a year ago, and I actually only know a little of his stuff myself (though I now am on a mission to dive much deeper into his work) but I know a good lineup when I see one: Yo La Tengo, Jeff Mangum, Kyp Malone, Claudia Gonson, Portastatic, The Clean (and various solo projects attendant thereto) Dimmer, and a bunch of others joined up to put together a marathon set of awesomeness, with the proceeds going straight to Chris in New Zealand.

"Wait a minute," some of you are saying. "Who was that between YLT and Kyp Malone? Jeff Mangum was playing that show???"

But then again, most of the people who would know to do that double take would also have known that he was there last week.

And while I'm tempted to wax rhapsodic about Neutral Milk Hotel and other earth-shaking events from the history of music, suffice it for now to say that Mangum's set was unlike anything I've ever seen or heard. (More heard than seen, since he sat down to perform, which meant that unless you were right up front, or very tall, you didn't get to see very much.) 700 people bursting into an earsplitting ovation followed by pindrop silence followed by reverential humming and sprinkled with tears born from some mixture of joy, awe and reverence.

Remember what you learned in high school? How music and theater began as part of religious ceremonies in ancient civilizations? This was a religious experience.

And then about half the audience left when Jeff finished his set. Whatever. More room for the rest of us.

Ira pre-emptively made fun of bloggers from the stage that night, and I guess I'm worthy of his scorn today (though it may bear mentioning that his band's website is a little bloggy itself, and they have a myspace page too.) The show as a whole was outstanding. Yo La Tengo lent itself (as a whole or in parts) to various projects, and their own set was brilliant, of course; the Clean was FANTASTIC; and we left spent but better for it.

More to come, but for now I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos of the beautiful Lena Horne, who is singing with angels.