Ben Lee has a special place in my heart. When Something to Remember Me By came out, I was a sappy, emotionally wraught teenager. It hit me hard. Unfortunately, the last time I saw Ben was at Woodstock 99. He was great, but it was much too long ago.

When I arrived I was hoping tonight's show would bring me back to sing-a-longs in my car during junior year of high school, but he played a lot of new stuff. Nonetheless, I had a great time as he's voice and presence comes through much better in person. The highlight was his cover of a Pony Up! song, "Matthew Modine." It's hilarous.

Also of note is that this is the second sold out show I got into for free. When everyone in the world is on the guest list, eventually you run out of friends who can be your plus one. Thank you random stranger for letting me be your plus one!

Before I talk about the play, you should note the performance I saw was a dress rehersal. So, if this website were an accredited news source, I'd be breakin' the rules.

Months ago, my friend at BAM sent me their schedule for the year and this play stuck out immediately. Angels in America had a profound impact on me and I wanted to see if one of Kushner's other works would have the same effect. In a nutshell, it didn't, but the play was still wonderful.

Although most aspects of the play were well done, it was the acting that stood out. Maggie Gyllenhaal had a strong performance, but it was really the supporting actors who made the play (I'd give you their names but I didn't get a program). One thing worth noting, that my lady pointed out, is that Maggie acts like a movie star, not a classically-trained actor. It didn't bother me, but if that bothers you then consider yourself warned.

I guess the true proof of its worth is that I didn't get sleepy once and the play lasted nearly four hours with intermissions. The minus next to the 'A' rating can be attributed to the lack of profound effect and the absence of concessions at the Harvey (you need something to nibble on during a four hour performance, even if this was a dress rehearsal).

In a nutshell, this is play is the retelling of the big stories in the Old and New Testament. So, if you're not interested, don't go. This was my problem, as I really didn't know what I was getting into when I was offered a free ticket for Mysteries. And I'll tell you now that the reason for the relatively low grade likely has something to do with my mindset going into the performance.

Mysteries had potential because it was partially based on the work of Mikhail Bulgakov, a Russian writer who penned my favorite novel, The Master and Margarita. Unfortunately, even that scene was disappointing. Mostly, the interpretations of these stories were not very original. I know these stories and the changes were not significant enough to keep me enthralled.

On the positive side, the set design was fantastic and the acting was very good. Oh, and there is full frontal nudity for at least five minutes, which should count for something.

One day, I broke down and bought the Thrills debut album, So Much For the City, solely because it was $7.99. I didn't know much about them, but it was obvious they were both a "the" band and an "-ills" band, which guaranteed awesomeness.* The record was good, but I wasn't completely blown away. Still, I listened to it two or three times before I went to the show.

When the band took the stage at the Bowery, the members were all teeming with excitement. It was easy to see that it was going to be an evening free of pretentiousness. I can't remember what they opened with, but I knew I was singing along. Then, when they played "Big Sur," I was bouncing around and shouting the words to everyone around me. To make the evening complete, they left the stage without much fanfare and came back for a quick, two-song encore, just the way I like it.

Over the last three days pretty much every song that has been stuck in my head has been by the Thrills. To me, that means it was a damn good show. Check out their record if you can't get to one of their shows.

*Note: Sarcasm.

I've been to dozens of shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theater, and this was the first one that I genuinely despised. There were times when two sketch shows would be grouped together and one of them was just average, but they were never painful. This show was, most definitely, painful.

The premise is simple; actors improvise a live radio program for the audience. Imagine talk radio but the hosts are actual comedians and not two dudes with smooth tenor speaking voices. Unfortunately, these three comedians were not funny this particular night. The jokes, when they told jokes, were stale or drawn out. Without the funny, this left you with a few radio show hosts who were neither entertaining nor easy on the ears.

The oddest part of the performance was when they brought out their guest, Scot Armstrong, who was a co-writer of Old School and Road Trip. He is a regular performer at UCB and is hilarious. Unfortunately, the hosts asked him serious questions, which were followed by serious answers. His commentary would have been great, if I wanted to know about the trials and tribulations of a screenwriter. Instead I came for the funny, as advertised, and I received none of it.

All of this being said, the two male hosts, who were the central performers, were definitely very funny people. It seemed that the structure was to blame as an AM radio with only one station isn't easy to bear for seventy-five minutes. Instead I'll go back and see Asssscat 3000 or Feature Feature to really get a taste of the talent on that stage.

Last night my lady was so kind as to treat me to an evening at the theater. She was able to get first row rush tickets too! As she pointed out, the gods were with us last night. The show we saw was Avenue Q and it was awesome.

Avenue Q is a puppet musical, that is definitely for adults. Puppets are good for kids, but songs like "The Internet is for Porn," and "I Wish I Could Go Back to College" are not. This unusual combination of puppetry and issues that I am facing right now made the play especially poignant (definitely much more the college thing and not so much the porn thing). It is a lot easier to hear difficult things when they're sung by puppets.

The staging and puppetry was great and singing was very good (not excellent, but it didn't have to be), but the play was just fun. It's tough to be there and not have a smile on your face. Definitely recommended for the twenty- and thirty-somethings of the world.

The Hanging Man, put on by Improbable Theatre, was an interesting take on our obsession with death. The story is based on the suicide of Edward Braff, an architect who crumbles under the pressures of building a cathedral. Unfortunately for him, Death refuses to allow him into the afterlife. This leads to a play focused on a man hanging from a noose (almost) the entire time.

Instead of taking a serious, brooding look at death, the company uses humor to defuse the intense topic. At times it made things more uncomfortable, but to a positive effect. Each of the actors were equally capable and made the performance wholly enjoyable. Since no actor was tied down to a specific character, the different perspectives on death and the responses to Edward Braff's opinions were much more diverse and interesting.

The most impressive aspect of the play was the set design. The set consisted of the interior of a half-finished church, but it made us of pulleys, trap doors and rising platforms to really extend the space. I thought it was fantastic.

It should be clear by now that I was very impressed by this play. It also made me realize for the hundredth time that I much prefer British theater and comedy. If you happen to read this in the next two days and live in New York City then I highly recommend you make your way to BAM and check this out.

This show started out ridiculously strong. Maybe too strong. Manitoba came out and wowed everyone with their music and time-synced videos. They were all wearing identical animal masks (Manitoba's lone gunman brought two compatriats to accompany him) and providing a lot energy. The setup consisted of two drumsets and an everyman, who played guitar or keyboards or whatever was needed. The set was fun and the music was amazing. Easily one of the better shows I've seen.

Four Tet, whose album I absolutely adore, was a little disappointing. It's tough to have a good laptop-rock show. The music was interesting and he put together some nice mixes of songs, especially "As Serious As Your Life," from Rounds. Unfortunately, the crowd was not into it and he could have been a lot more audience friendly.

Prefuse 73 brought us home and they put on a good live show. The set got me jonesin' for a copy of the album, which I still haven't had a chance to pick up. Sometime soon hopefully. Their set might have gotten a higher grade if I hadn't left a little early. Everyone was digging the show, but it felt awkward when they'd have a really catchy break, which would cause everyone to wave their arms in the air, and then it'd all go back down. Maybe that's the nature of these things but it made you wish for the amazing breaks during the still very good set around them.

Joe used to be in the band Joe, Marc's Brother, now he is tenatively the fourth member of Guster, but he continues to pursue his solo carrer. I saw Joe play last weekend at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn, which has an amazing concert space. It is totally intimate (holds about 30-40 people) and has great architecture. It definitely bumped up the score.

Joe himself was just amazing. His lyrics are completely human and his demeanor is very welcoming. Seeing him onstage made me very happy. This performance ranks up there as one of my favorite of all time. I won't forget it.

Minus the Bear: Very impressive. I really like their new album a lot and the live show lived up to it. I want to hear older stuff now.

No Knife: Overall, boring. They had a couple exceptional songs, but the rest was very eh.

Cursive: If you've never seen them, you have to see them the next possible time. I liked the show a lot, but it was the worst show of theirs I've seen. Of course, I've only been to two of their shows, but the first one was better.

This may have been one of the last D-Plan shows of all time. They were fine. I really went to see Enon.

Enon's most recent record, High Society, had been in my "record player" for a very long time and I was dying to see them live. They didn't disappoint. There stage presence is good and the songs their energy in a live setting. The only disappointment was that they couldn't replicate the production of the record on stage. Often the mix was not nearly as good as the record, which is most likely the in-house sound guy's fault, but it was noticeable, especially on songs that relied heavily on synth beats. This was only a minor distraction though as the show was a good time.

Too bad about D-Plan as their last record is easily my favorite.

This show was pretty darn good. Here are my reviews of the band, in chronological order.

All Night was surprisingly good. This has a double meaning because I was first surprised when they took the stage. When I read "All Night" in the ad, I thought it was refering to the length of the party, since it was a late show and all. So when they came on, I was a bit embarassed. Thanfully, they were a lot of fun to watch. It was a psychedelic rock kind of thing, and they were rocking completely effortlessly. No ego, no forced humor, just good rock and roll. I bought their album.

The Bad Wizards were a bit of a dissapointment. They were supposed to be bigger and better than All Night, but I didn't think it was true. Everything right about All Night was wrong about these guys. Thankfully they only played for 20 minutes.

Rye Coaltion rocked my fucking socks off. They were just so tight and so energetic and so good. It was just horrible that there were only about 50 people there by the time they got on (12:30am) and 1/50th of them were sleeping. Only 1/5th of the people were making any noise after they finished a song. Very sad. If there had been a really good crowd this could have been the best show of all time. Even without one, they may have been the best live show I've seen all year.

I love seeing Mike Errico. He reminds me that seeing a good folk-rock singer-songwriter dude is usually a really good experience. I like the banter/music combo, so long as both are entertaining. Mike is very entertaining.

The best part about the show was the "holiday show" part. Every year Mike has a holiday show where he gives out "omens." These are little gifts that have a meaning. It will give you insight into the upcoming year. I got a frisbee from Yahoo! and I don't know what to think about that. It's certainly much better than the two guys in my group who got books on how to "mack women" and "women's best-kept secrets." I would hate for that to be a telling gift. The best gift was the doctor set that Jori got. Mike signed it with a very crude message. He he.

After the show I was able to speak to Mike for a bit, which was nice. He remembered me from all our encounters and the few promotional things I've done for him. He's definitely a good person. I'm excited to get a hold of his next studio album, whenever it arrives.

Oh, the music was really good too.

I finally went to a Broadway show. After going, I remembered that Broadway shows are rarely thought provoking. It didn't matter though; the show was tons of fun. Marissa Jaret Winokur played the lead and she was fantastic. I also thought that Kerry Butler, who played Penny Pingleton, was ridiculously cute. The rest of the cast was just fine.

The play was entertaining as a whole, but there were some mildly offensive parts. I wondered if people were laughing because it was funny or because they felt awkward. I'd like to think it's the latter but I'd be kidding myself.

The singing was really nice.

Today, I got to see The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It required standing outside in the cold for an hour, but it was worth it. My Uncle Ted wasn't so happy about it, but he knew it was going pay off. (Thankfully he got in, because the line-nazi almost didn't after he left for just 3 minutes to get some hot chocolate.) The highlight of the wait outside was the consumption of 40s by our line neighbors. I was worried, and with good reason.

Once inside, we got a dumb spiel from our previously discussed line-nazi about what we could and could not do inside. Fifteen minutes later, they let us inside. First was the warm-up guy, who was one of their lead writers. He did a great job. He was funny enough and certainly held my attention. Most of his time was spent talking to the 40 dudes, who couldn't stop talking about pot, ladies and low-slung hats. Next, Jon came out to talk to us and take questions. I got to ask him what he got for Hannukah this year. He said nothing, and asked me. In front of 100 or so people we chatted for a minute or so about Hannukah gifts as he made jokes. It was amazing. Then I got some swag and he sat behind his desk to begin the show.

The show was a good one, as we got to see Steven Colbert and one of the new guys whose name I can't remember. He was funny. So was Steven. Colin Quinn was the guest and he was mildly entertaining. It would have been nice to have seen a big star, but I'm not complaining. Actually, I am. Forget it.

So Jon was funny, the show was really good and it was generally a good experience. I'm glad I did it.

This show was odd for me since these are two bands I really like but are nothing alike. CMJ brings very different bands together.

Imperial Teen was just amazing. Any band that does danceable pop music has great potential in a live forum. Imperial Teen did their job. In fact, my love for this band truly gelled Wednesday, October 30th 2002. Too bad I missed their other New York appearances following this one.

The Push Stars have been a long time favorite of mine, but I think I'm starting to grow out of them. They have perfected their craft and have a fun live show, but they are just bland. It's tough for me to say this since I know the guys personally, but it's the truth. Either way, if you like very polished folk-pop then this is for you. They are great, but no longer my bag.

Sidenote: I found out The Push Stars' drummer is from Highland Park, my high school rival. We grrr-ed at each other a few hundred times after the show.

TW Walsh: An amazing opener. Heartfelt songs with a mediocre voice. The voice didn't matter though, because the songs were really good.

Damien Jurado: Wow, he is an impressive fella. A great singer and his new crop of songs (for an album coming out on Secretly Canadian in February) are fantastic. He's one of my favorite alt-country dudes.

Songs:Ohia: I had never heard much of his stuff, but I really liked it. I'm going to have to check out some of his albums now. He has the sweetest voice of the three tonight, and as a result I didn't pay much attention to his lyrics.

Overall: well worth the $11. I could have easily left after Jurado and it would have been worth of it. Songs:Ohia was all gravy.

Thanks to some brilliant timing, I saw Ben Folds perform live on WFUV at the Museum of TV & Radio. This dumb luck was doubly good, since I missed his show at BAM the weekend before. The show was incredibly intimate and he gave a great performance. I've seen him 4 times as a solo act and each time has been really entertaining. He's definitely one of the best performers today.

I took a bunch of pictures and enjoyed the interview questions that took place (radio show, remember). A great, free show, but the best part was the picture I got of Ben Folds with his arm out (so I could photoshop in my sister). Yes.

So far, the first show in NYC where I enjoyed every band. Quruli is a Japanese band and they were playing their first gig in the States. They were amazing, playing 45 straight minutes without breaks. I was really impressed and bought a CD. That makes 3 japanese pop-punk bands (Husking Bee, Eastern Youth).

Vanderslice was also great. The album is better, but that's only because it is so reliant on the samples and ambient sounds used throughout the album. The drummer was redonkulous. Yelling, high (literally) cymbals, energy and begging the audience for drugs.

The D-Plan was a good time. I must admit that I don't know a lot of their older stuff. I like the new stuff a whole lot better and their old stuff is, at best, fun. Change is a brilliant album. They also played a bunch of new material and it was all really good except for one song. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with that. To be fair, I'm going to check out Emergency & I to be sure I only enjoy their newer material. Despite this moaning and groaning, I had a lot of fun watching the Plan and will see them if they come to town again.

I've been waiting to go to this for a LONG time. Really. I love Mr. Show and I was looking forward to the new stuff they'd been doing. And, it was a lot of fun. "Wait, why aren't you going crazy and raving about how amazing it was?" Well, it was just fun. There were a lot of good sketches and some fun old ones, but I was expecting more from them. My compatriates actually fell asleep at one point. Truthfully, I think none of us are able to admit that we spent $30 on a disappointing performance. It's too bad, really.

The best part was when David gave out the phone number of a man who peed on him (yes, literally) at a stand-up gig. Everyone called and harassed the guy afterwards.

I'd give a recommendation but if you're a fan you're going to go anyway. So enjoy, it is fun to see them live. I laughed a lot.