Old Stephanie good. New Stephanie very, very bad.
In *Cambridge*?
Who wants to see some theatre?
Daniel MacIvor posted tonight about a bizarre happening at a performance of Mike Daisey’s critically-acclaimed monologue Invincible Summer. But it wasn’t till I read the story that I remembered they guy was performing in town at the American Repertory Theatre!
According to the performer himself:
Last night’s performance of INVINCIBLE SUMMER was disrupted when eighty seven members of a Christian group walked out of the show en masse, and chose to physically attack my work by pouring water on and destroying the original of the show outline.
Daisey had just finished a joke about hypothetically having sex with Paris Hilton when the exodus occurred. Apparently, the collective objection was to the language Daisey used. Note that Daisey performs his extemporaneous monologues from hand written notes, so this was not merely a non-violent (if disruptive) gesture. It was an aggressive, destructive act.
I am just flummoxed. What kind of an impact is this meant to make in Cambridge, of all places? And is it just me, or is all the strange Patriot Act, media-is-destroying-our-children, Janet-Jackson-has-breasts stuff turning the more judgmental of our society into self-righteous vigilantes?
Read more about this crazy event on the ART blog and Mike Daisey’s own blog. (Same text in both places.) Or just watch the insanity unfold before your eyes here…
I intend to secure tickets to, if not this show which runs through next weekend, Mike Daisey’s Monopoly, which runs the following week. Let me know if you want to go too.
Musical FAME to be remade by MGM
I know it happens all the time, but when films that I saw as an adult (okay, 18 years old) that are now being remade make me feel old. Of course the film will be updated to reflect the youth of today, with rap, hip-hop and other newer sounds. Will the kids be texting each other and into social networking too? Why not just make a brand new film about New York School of Performing Arts? Read the article.
New Hampshire Governor to Support Civil Unions
In a surprising piece of news, Seacoastonline reports that New Hampshire Governor John Lynch will support civil unions to prevent and end discrimination against gays in New Hampshire. New Hampshire thus will become the fourth state to adopt civil unions and the first to do so without first having a court fight over denying gays the right to marry. Read the entire article.
Searching for music? It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this before. Check out midomi.com. It’s an online music retail site that lets you search for tracks by singing them! You just hook up your microphone and sing or hum a few bars of a song and bam. There’s your song. And it actually works! After you find your song, you can listen to a 30-second sample of the original recording and buy a digital copy of the song in either mp3 (unprotected?!) or Windows Media format (presumably with Microsoft DRM). Hey, as long as it’s not iTunes- or Zune-related, I’m happy.
There is one catch. Your vocal input isn’t matched against the original recording. To find the correct match, another user out in the world must have already recorded a vocal sample. But that’s even cooler in my mind. It’s a social networking site for compulsive singers! Your recordings can be “favorited” and rated by other users and you can send private messages to them.
Great. Now my weekend is shot. If you need me, I’ll be sitting on the couch in my underwear singing showtunes into my USB microphone.