Music Scene Queen

NTB, but I've got three different music-related experiences to relate.

1. Once: As part of my New Year's resolution to use what I have, including my Blockbuster online membership, I recently watched the film Once and completely loved it. Once is set in Dublin and features a Hoover (that's what they say instead of vacuum in the UK) repair guy who also sings, plays the guitar, and writes songs. While playing his music on the sidewalk, he meets a woman from Eastern Europe (I didn't catch which country) who loves his songs and is a piano player herself. The movie is a musical, but doesn't feel like one in the same way that, say, Dreamgirls does. The story is just lovely--people finding, supporting, encouraging, inspiring, and enjoying each other. The ending is not exactly Hollywood but it is right and satisfying in its own way. Most of all, I loved the songs featured in the movie. The lead actor and actress are both musician/songwriters. If you click the links above, you can read more about the film and hear some of the songs. One warning is that, as with many movies set in England and Ireland, it is not always possible (at least for me) to catch every word the characters are saying, even though they are speaking English. Don't worry though, this movie is less about what is said so much about what is sung and what is understood through song.

2. Altar Boyz: One of our friends organized an evening out to see Altar Boyz at the Drury Lane Theater in Water Tower Place. I said "yes" and secured a babysitter without even asking what Altar Boyz was about. I totally enjoyed the show. Altar Boyz tells the story of a Christian boy band on the last night of their "Raise the Praise" tour. The music was great, the boy band dance choreography was hilariously impressive, and the story was really funny without being offensive to organized religion. It was just a lot of fun and if you're going to be in Chicago (or live here), you should check it out. The show is only ninety minutes and unless you are so hard-core religious that you can't laugh at yourself, I think you'd enjoy it. The only moment I didn't get was when one of the boy band members (the band is made up of four Catholics and one Jewish guy) says not to use the word "evolve." Growing up Catholic, I don't remember being taught any sort of anti-evolution agenda. So now I'm curious, did the topic just not get addressed? I know for sure none of my teachers was offering up Creationism as part of science class. All of that is just a tangent though and the evolution comment was not an integral part of the show at all. Back to the main point, Altar Boyz was a lot of fun and you should see it!

3. Girl Talk: I'm so pumped up. I'm heading over to the Metro on Clark Street to see the Girl Talk show. It's going to be awesome. I love DJs who mix and sample a bunch of stuff. Night Ripper is so dope. I can hardly wait until 11:30 p.m. this evening when the show starts.

Gotcha! Obviously, I am not attending this show and would not even know about it if not for the fact that our nephew (half of Summer 2007's Team Basement and an integral player in the carpet debacle of '07) was not currently sitting in our basement with six of his friends from the University of Illinois, waiting to walk over the the show and then crash in our basement man cave afterwards. The hubby and I will look forward to hearing all about it tomorrow, and I have to say that after researching Girl Talk to write this post, I am officially intrigued. But really, an 11:30 start time?! I do admit to being jealous of the cheese fries they are planning to eat at Wrigleyville Dogs after the show. Perhaps I'll set my alarm and meet them.