Watch Pushing Daisies! Do It!

First of all, everyone should do what the title of this post says. It's what I'll be doing tonight, and every Wednesday until PD's inevitable cancellation. :( But I love this show.

So, now some little tidbits from this week.

In the world of this year's Tonys, two orders of business:

Earlier in the week I found in the Playwrights' Files (mostly rejected scripts that I'm converting to digital archives) a very, very early draft of "In The Heights," the most recent winner of the Best New Musical award. The Public was the original off-Broadway venue for an excellent show called "Passing Strange," which my dad's company (Broadway Across America) produced in its Broadway transfer and lost to the much more popular "Heights" for that previously mentioned Tony award. If the Public hadn't passed on "Heights" (even though it rightly did so -- I'm not a huge fan of the show in its current Broadway incarnation, although some of the music is really great and the energy is HIGH. I think the plot is a lame TV melodrama and the non-hip-hop/Latin-infused music and lyrics are nothing special, and this early draft was not as good as what's on Broadway now), they could have been celebrating after the Tonys instead of being bitter about it. But "Passing Strange" was a great, very moving show and I'm sad it closed after a very short run. It was very avant-garde, though, so "In The Heights"'s more "conventional" story line might have made up for some of it more unconventional music (also the music was much more singable and pop-y), and "Passing Strange" was a more mature and intellectual show than something like "Spring Awakening." It was also much more avant-garde, and SA seems the "avant garde" limit on Broadway today. For shows not involving puppets, of course.

But speaking of "Passing Strange," the writer/star of that show, Stew, was at the Public today doing a very, very private reading of his new play. He was working on a laptop all day in the conference room. With a conference going on at the other end of the table. So yeah, that was also really cool. But of course I couldn't go to that reading, which was sad since I would have loved to.

(There was just a question on H.P. Lovecraft on Jeopardy and no one got it... moments like that make me feel good about myself. Of course, the next question will be something I've never heard of in my life and they'll all try to buzz in on it and I'll feel really dumb)

Here are a couple pictures I just loaded off my phone that I've taken in NYC:

This cool little venue at The Public, Joe's Pub, is having its 10th Anniversary this year (the 50th for the Public itself) and there's a little hallway gallery I walk through on my way to the stairs every morning and on my way out every afternoon, and it has photos of performances and ink drawings this guy does during sound checks and performances from the Pub and this one is my favorite. This guy is called "Red Bastard" and he does a comedy act. (the flash is reflection from my phone, not part of the picture)

I love florists, and I passed these awesome blue roses on a corner while walking to the Subway station one morning.

I saw this awesome/crazy/weird electric violinist in the Union Square subway station yesterday. Those pink things are lights on his violin. He was dancing like crazy in his little area. I just read an article about how they audition and schedule artists for playing time in the subways, and I thought that was really cool. I was always under the impression, and I'm sure many others were/are as well, that people just kinda showed up and set up shop. But the system sounds really cool, and I guess that's why I've never really seen people fighting over those really good spots or anything like that.

So, the debate was on last night, and I'm not gonna go off on a rant about it but I just have one thing to say, and it's pretty non-partisan because I think even some conservatives will agree with this point. I don't remember the question, but Barack Obama gave a very vague speech following it that didn't really address the question, and when it came to his turn John McCain tried joking, saying "and I'll actually answer the question." Then he kinda laughed at himself, "heh heh heh," and it was just one of the creepiest things I've seen in a while. And I'm a big "X-Files" fan. But seriously, he just looked (and SOUNDED) like a really creepy old man!

And now, I found this picture in my phone and it got me all nostalgic for LA. I don't know if it's still up, but this billboard was at the intersection of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica:

It's a cell phone add, i.e. stay in touch more w/ a less binding contract w/ less fine print. But every time I read it I don't read it as "contract," I read "contract," as in "contract a disease." And you know what? That would be a GREAT slogan for an ad for ultra-thin condoms. Which is what I thought the ad was for the first time I saw it and wasn't paying much attention. But seriously, it would work.