Whoa, I've not written about a lot of things.

Here's a list of things unwritten about which I've observed within the past thirty days.

Theater:

9 to 5

Elevator Repair Service (The Sound and the Fury)

This Beautiful City

Spring Awakening

Cirque Du Soleil Ka

The Druid Theater @ UCLA live

Rock/Music:

She & Him

The Secret Machines/The Dears

Spring Awakening: Having seen it on Broadway with the original cast, and sitting on stage no less, this performance left much to be desired.  First, by sitting on stage you're taken in by the kinetic energy of the cast, and for half of the numbers you have a rear perspective.  This is usually a benefit, as from the front, everything felt far more conventional, also, you don't have as far of a sense of the choreography in the onstage seats, and frankly, most of the movement just seemed like a sloppy overlay to me.

She & Him: Zooey Daschniel writes some beautiful songs, and M. Ward is a fantastic muse and realizer of music.  There's not much more to say, other than if you have a chance, check them out.  Oh yeah, when they decide to take a cover song on, they usually make it completely their own.

Secret Machines/The Dears @ the Key Club: Murray Lightburn has one of the most interesting voices in indie rock (what's it about montreal?), and the Dears usually come out relatively on fire, tonight was no exception, but I'm not hearing much of a progression in their new material as opposed to their older songs.

The Secret Machines on the other hand while at times awesome, encapsulate all of the negatives of both Death Metal and Jambands in one at times infuriating concoction,  sonic grandiosity (seriously D112's on all tom drums), and songs which seem self indulgent and never ending, they're fully capable of writing something with some punch to it, but a 12 minute song, where the final 4 minutes are an ending?  Yeah, you lost me 6 minutes ago!

This Beautiful City @ The Kirk Douglas Theater: The Civilian's documentary theater shtick often produces what for traditional theatrical audiences is a massive letdown.  There is no journey or point to what you have spent the past couple of hours watching other than knowing a lot more about one thing, in this case the Evangelical Christian scene in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Personally, I love what they do, and the clever use of video and music [especially when the music took us into the heart of a youth service (it was so disturbing)] informs and draws you into the action.  That being said, an old woman behind me walked out at intermission, "I'm too Jewish to understand this." She said, but that's kind of the point, if these people have so much influence over national policy, isn't it important for us to know who they are and how they operate?

Not fully caught up yet... but we'll get there by Thanksgiving, I hope!