The Darth of a Disco Dancer (Image Source)
While I did very much enjoy Carrie Fisher’s one-woman Broadway show, Wishful Drinking – I’d never stoop to call myself a Star Wars fan. The thing is, the whole Darth Vader mystique is iconic enough that it bleeds over into the mainstream, not obsessed-with-Star Wars culture. Anyway, I saw this item over on the Geekologie blog and, due to my passion for all things big, shiny and geeky, I had to snag it. Thank you, please drive through.
“I Got Yer Top Ten Right Here”
Everybody with a tongue in their mouth keeps asking me when I am going to post my list of Top Ten Favorite CDs of 2009. I am telling you now that this will not be happening; mostly because I only liked 3 or 4 new CDs released in all of 2009, so that is too few to make a list of ten. Obviously. What I will do however is make a list of my Top Ten Favorite Media Related Things of 2009, which will include not only CD(s) but also TV Shows, Art Exhibits, Movies, Books and other stuff. OK, here we go.
Favorite Documentary: Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Anvil: The Story of Anvil was really my favorite movie of 2009. Sue got it for me on DVD for Christmas, because she rules. Anvil!
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Movie: District 9
District 9 was my favorite movie of the year that was not a documentary. It was really, really good. You should see it.
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Favorite Art Exhibit: Tim Burton Art Retrospective at MOMA I just blogged about this show a week or so ago, because it was so mind-blowing. If you live in the tri-State area and miss this exhibit you are an idiot.
Related Worleygig.com Blog Post Here
Favorite Live Show: Fiction Plane at the Mercury Lounge
Fiction Plane is a band I saw perform at the Mercury Lounge sometime last summer. Sting’s son Joe is the lead singer/bass player of this band, but don’t hold that against them, because they are a fucking awesome band. I also interviewed their drummer, Pete Wilhoit, for an upcoming feature in Modern Drummer, and he was really cool.
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Favorite Biographical Book: Fall to Pieces By Mary Forsberg Weiland
I generally remain unmoved when drug addicts write books whining about how their lives turned to shit because of drugs. I did not feel that way about this book.
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Favorite Coffee Table Book: Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock
This terrific scrapbook on Queen, my favorite band of my teenage years, makes me wish I actually owned a coffee table so I could proudly display it in my home for all to see.
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Favorite Non-Reality TV Show: Mad Men
Mad Men is the best TV show ever in the Universe of all time. Period.
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Favorite Reality TV Show: Top Chef
There should be no breaks between seasons of Top Chef, ever.
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Favorite CD: Adam Lambert, For Your Pleasure
Too gay sounding for even Geoffrey – my go-to barometer for all things in the gay spectrum – to handle, it is a testament to how shitty modern music is that this ends up being my favorite CD of the year. Nevertheless, it is a fantastic CD! Adam Lambert! Runners-up for this category include Call from Restricted from ex-Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillard, and Smithereen’s drummer Dennis Diken’s Late Music.
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Favorite Broadway Show: Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking
Even better than the book!
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OK, I’m Signing Off on These Lists Until 2011!
Even though I live right in the heart of hustling, bustling Manhattan, I do not tend to see a lot of Broadway shows, particularly since being made to suffer the tortures of the damned that is Spring Awakening. But when Geoffrey came back from having seen Carrie Fisher’s one woman show, Wishful Drinking, with non-stop rave reviews, I knew I had to check it out. Because Geoffrey knows his funny. Knowing that my BFF Sue would be in town visiting me from LA this past weekend, I purchased a couple of tickets for us to see Wishful Drinking on Saturday evening. (BTW Goldstar Events has tickets for selected show dates on sale for half price, so I recommend checking that site first before going to the box office/Ticketmaster). Needless to say, we were not disappointed.
In Wishful Drinking, Ms. Fisher, the actress best known to everyone as the iconic Princess Leia from Star Wars, candidly enthralls the audience with various excerpts from her recent autobiography of the same title. From the flow-chart-style examination of her convoluted “celebrity” family tree (her parents are actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher) to her “behind the scenes” tidbits about working with director George Lucas on Star Wars, to her marriages, bouts with drug rehab and ongoing treatment for Bipolar Disorder, Carrie takes a brutally frank approach to peeling back the layers of her darkly comic and extremely fascinating life. Mental illness was never so hilarious! Sue and I completely fell in love with Carrie while laughing our asses off. Immediately after the show ended, we ran around to the back of the theater and hovered briefly by the stage door, from which Carrie soon exited and cheerfully signed our Playbills! Yay for souvenirs! Trust me, even if you think Star Wars blows, this is one Broadway show you will not want to miss if at all humanly possible, because Carrie Fisher is awesome.
Wishful Drinking runs through January 3, 2010 at the Roundabout Theater (formerly Studio 54), 254 West 54th Street; (212) 719-1300. Running time: 2 hours & 20 minutes (including a 15 minute intermission).
Continue reading Must See Broadway Show: Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking!