01.18.10 My Top Ten RIGHT NOW
By Jeremy Kotin
1. CONCERT Alice Smith at Joe’s Pub
How is this woman not a total star of the music world? Her personality and singing style are amazingly at ease considering the huge and powerful sound that escapes from her lips seemingly without even flexing her muscles. On songs from her only album like “Dream” and “Love Endeavor,” she was captivating and able to riff on her own solid songwriting to make the music present and beyond stunning. But it was the new material that proved the star quality, making the unfamiliar feel like it had been spinning on my iPod for years, that’s how instantly contagious her music really is. And there is nothing more satisfying than being able to hear a familiar voice live and in person and find that it’s the same if not better as opposed to a produced nightmare that haunts so many other more popular acts. Alice Smith, where is that new album when we all need it…A+
2. FOOD Bill’s Bar and Burger
This is totally the place to go when you want a down and dirty delicious greasy burger, made all the better by the fact that it’s nestled in the anorexic world of the Meatpacking District. Start with the plate of disco fries, that would be fresh cut fried potatoes drenched in gravy and melted cheese. The Sunset and Vine Burger was my choice from a decent list of fresh ground, hand pressed and griddled burgers. With that little bit of special sauce, tomato and pickles, the burger went down easy and extremely quick. But the real selling point here is the awesome alcoholic shakes. The stout float comprised of vanilla ice cream with Sam Smith’s oatmeal stout was incredible, but I have to say my framboise shake was a touch superior with the surprisingly tasty combination of ice cream and lambic. Tasty and amazingly well priced for a night out in Manhattan… B+
3. CONCERT New York Philharmonic
The centerpiece to Thursday evening’s performance was The Wound-Dresser, a deeply troubling vocal work for baritone by the incomparable composer John Adams. It’s a fascinating slow build matched with harrowing lyrics taken from a Walt Whitman poem, working together to create the heartbreak of taking care of patients but failing to save them all (a particularly poignant notion after the conductor dedicated the entire evening to Haiti). While cerebrally worthy, it felt emotionally removed, lacking the power of Adams’ longer form works in which his large themes can play out to their full influence. The other works were a bit more captivating, Haydn’s 49th Symphony and even more wonderful, Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, both winningly played with the orchestra doing its best to overcome the poor acoustics of Avery Fisher Hall. The night closed with a work by Berg that my ears could honestly have done without. All in all, a lovely night with the Philharmonic… B
4. MUSIC Lady Antebellum Lady Antebellum
Continuing along with my love for country pop, this band offers up a bit more cheese, a little less ingenuity than my beloved Sugarland, but still comes out with fantastically listenable country music. Opening strong with the twangy “Love Don’t Live Here,” the band moves into more rock-tinged territory on “Lookin’ for a Good Time” in which Hillary Scott offers up her awesome Christina-Aguilera-by-way-of-Nashville voice. She brings out the best of the catchy songwriting in songs like “I Run to You,” elevating the corny to pop perfection. Even the high-minded spiritually inclined “One Day You Will” works as a wake up and believe in yourself hit, even if it sounds like it was written in the mid-‘90s. Take a listen to “Slow Down Sister” and try to resist this awesome country band… B
5. TV Project Runway Season 7
I’m always happy when this show returns with a fresh season, no matter at which network it resides, but after last season’s lackluster episodes and dull designers, I watched with trepidation on Thursday night. Now back in NYC where the show belongs, I have hope for a new season of follies, design fiascos and maybe, just maybe something fresh for the fashion world. My eyes are on Ping for her very odd understanding of construction that actually seems more in tune with runway shows than any of the red carpet focused competitors. But of course, it was only the first episode, when you can barely get to know any designer, but at the beginning of the sophomore season on Lifetime, the hopes always run high for the excitement of the Bravo years… B
6. MOVIE The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Disney’s return to standard 2D animation might not be the thrilling return to form that we all had hoped, but it is a welcome return none the less and this film is a worthwhile reminder that good storytelling and artistry can exist outside of the Pixar universe. This particular tale is beautifully steeped in New Orleans lore, to the point where I wish it had actually taken more from its locale. Anika Noni Rose is wonderful in the lead voice, but unfortunately she’s not given much in the way of songs. While Randy Newman should have been the absolute perfect choice, his expertise in New Orleans jazz is unparalleled, he seems hindered by letting other people be his voice, creating songs that are pleasant enough but quickly forgotten. No, this definitely isn’t Beauty and the Beast, not even Pocahontas, but the Disney magic is undeniable… B-
7. MOVIE The Hangover (2009)
I had to see what all the fuss was and now that I’ve seen it, I’m a little baffled. The film is undeniably funny with its absurd plot of men too drunk to remember a bachelor party and where the bachelor disappeared to, but I found the film more bizarre than laugh out loud hysterical. The warped chronology in the storytelling is intriguing but doesn’t do much to push the laughs, the slow evolution of what happened in the course of drunken night doesn’t really lead to any worthwhile revelation or belly laugh. So it all really rests on the incredible performance of Zach Galifianakis as a slow oddball with amazing lackadaisical comic timing. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while watching the film but I cannot believe that they’re planning a sequel or that they won a Golden Globe last night… B
8. PLAY The Understudy
This meta-play left little to be enjoyed despite featuring some excellent actors, a common thread at the Roundabout Theater this season. Julie White, that amazing whirlwind of a character actress does her best with this lame script about a stand-in rehearsal for a Broadway play. The main, and decently insightful, joke here is that the understudy is a potentially much better actor than the over-hyped celebrity that has been cast in the role, so very apropos for both this particular play and the theater industry at large. Justin Kirk, hilarious as Nancy’s brother on Weeds, brings much the same energy to his role but without the writers from that show to give him something to really work with. And Mark-Paul Gosselaar, better known as Zack from Saved By the Bell, holds his own with well-played naiveté. Given more meat from a better playwright than Theresa Rebeck, this cast could have really made something happen… C-
9. BOOK Life of Pi
It’s a pretty lofty claim to start out a book saying that it will make you have faith and a belief in a higher power. By the time I finished this endless narrative about a man marooned on a boat with a tiger, I don’t think I was any closer to God, more that I was just a week older slogging through the narrative. There were certainly elements of this text that were intriguing, especially the twist in the ending, but suspending disbelief for a couple hundred pages only to arrive at plausible truth bearing little resemblance to everything that preceded it felt a bit useless. But right there is the kernel of truth. Isn’t that what the cycles of life are to a great extent? Pushing through, suspending disbelief, waking every day trying to make something happen, often to only look back one day and see a more ultimate truth. Well, clearly the book got me thinking, so that’s worth something, but I stand by that it’s not the saving grace it aimed to be… B-
10. MOVIE Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
I decided I needed to take a little walk down memory lane and give this romantic classic another viewing. First I couldn’t believe that it was released in 1993, that just seems impossible. Second, I couldn’t believe how delightful Meg Ryan really was, which made me really miss the charm of her face before she hacked it apart with plastic surgery. All in all, the film holds up as a wonderful love poem to modern romance being more like it was in old movies. And for all its implausibility, you still find yourself completely swept into the updated version of An Affair to Remember… B+
