I'm equal parts very sorry and very happy that I missed this.

On Tuesday night Jen and I made it to Mo Pitkin's for the return of Lindsay Robertson's Ritalin Readings series; it had a great lineup and was really funny all around (although I wish Lindsay had read something herself!); the series is going to be monthly again and I highly recommend checking it out in April! Tragically, we were lame and left soon after it ended, so we missed the post-show excitement hilariously recounted here by Gabe, Lindsay's co-host.

One kind of gentrification is definitely preferable to another.

I had a drink this evening with my friend Mandy; she's the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Gallery Association, which is the non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the art community centered in Williamsburg. The neighborhood is definitely in a state of transition, as the artspaces and studios are forced out by hipsters with money being forced out by condos, and it's all absorbing the Latino, Polish and Jewish blocks that were there first; the WGA reflects this state of flux. Mandy has the right idea; the WGA needs to be about more then boosting the neighborhood's for-profit galleries, it needs to be a genuine community arts organization, which Williamsburg will need more than ever as the rising condos blot out the waterfront view. Meanwhile, she spearheaded the printing of a really handy large-format, newsprint guide to Williamsburg's art spaces, called RAW 2007, which you should find and pick up; anyone who's tried to find some of the more obscure venues on foot will know how valuable a resource that is.

Appropriately the first day of spring!

After a long transition weekend, I have rejoined the workforce as part of a small, exciting, forward-thinking cultural institution and I couldn't be happier about the change from the previous lumbering behemoth. All else continues as well; much work comes with the changing of the seasons, as many events of the warmer months are on the horizon. Stay tuned.

I consider this a pinnacle moment in my life.

So, today is my last day at my current job, and I SO do not have time to be writing this. But last night's What's My Line? was a complete success, and a real reminder of how, while personal projects like this one can tremendously add to your work/stress level at already-stressful times, the payoff is huge when the show comes off and everybody in the audience and onstage has a great time-it was like releasing the valve on the stress tank. That's a lot of stress imagery.

Anyway, pictured above is the whole crew after the show with our mystery guest Randy Jones, singer, actor, and of course, the original Cowboy with the Village People. This group also includes the inimitable Bastard Keith, burlesque emcee-singer-performer-writer-man about town, who filled in as a panelist with three hours notice when Lindsay was sick and couldn't make it. It was his first time and he handled it like a pro-it helps to have ridiculously talented friends! He and Randy bonded onstage over Keith's high school passion for one of the Village People's lesser known albums (the one with Food Fight and Action Man on it.). Randy also mentioned to Clams after the show that he got a call during the show from Janice Dickinson; according to him, she can sense when he's onstage. You can't make that up, people. And I couldn't be prouder to co-produce a show that was recommended by Next Magazine, and covered by a reporter from the Staten Island Advance, in the same month.

My favorite daily non sequiter.

Natalie Dee, every day.

Misty rumcolored memories...

So on Monday night, I'll be attending the annual gala fundraiser for the the non-profit theater where Jen does the marketing, and it promises the kind of odd mix of celebrities and artists in attendance that can make for an interesting evening. This will require the wearing of formal wear on a Monday night, and this begs the question; what's the most inappropriate place for a guy in a tux and gal in a formal gown to go after the event? At least, it begs that question to us; that's why we're a good couple. So, we're examining our list of go-to dive bars and events but I'm open to suggestions.

This has stirred in me memories of one our favorite places; it's been in my head a lot since our trip to Kowloon in Boston. The late, lamented Kahiki restaurant in Columbus, OH. It was a truly epic tiki restaurant dating virtually unchanged from the 1950's; Where else could you dine under a two-story tall, eyes-glowing Easter Island head, sipping from the giant, smoke-spewing Mystery Drink, which had been brought to your table with appropriate fanfare by the Mystery Girl? It was pretty much the best restaurant on Earth. Frankly there's no better place to be ridiculously overdressed. And in 2000, they knocked it down and replaced it with a fucking Walgreens.

We might have to go to Otto's Shrunken Head in its memory.

This is what happens in March when you have an Irish-themed signature number.

The schedule sometimes wreaks havoc with keeping up on posting in a timely manner here; I'm getting in here now while I have the chance! Blogging while at work is much easier the week after you've given notice, and the week before you start a new job, which I am. And I have more time now then I will next week when the frantic panic sets in here about all of the things that will have to move on without me. That exhausting business will be offset by the kind of marathon I get excited about however: starting tomorrow night, my significant other will begin a run of 8 performances in 9 days. That includes our next installment of What's My Line? right in the middle! Just thinking about it I'm already hung over. Check out her website if you want to check out the schedule-you could follow her, like you're back in college touring with Phish!

I do not like Arcade Fire.

I find them twee. That is all.

Remembering Arthur Schlesinger

While I was writing my earlier post this evening, Jen read the announcement that Arthur Schlesinger Jr. has passed away at the age of 89. Very sad to lose one of the towering figures of historical and political letters for the last half a century. Mr. Schlesinger happened to be Jen's third cousin, and it adds some poignancy to reading the obituary of this great man. He passed away while he was at dinner with friends, and frankly we should all be so lucky to end that way, after living such a life.

Why yes, I'll have a night cap.

Just got home from the latest example of talented performers reaching across the hipster disciplines: The Night Cap! Produced by our friends Anita Cookie and Roja Rouge, the Night Cap is a late-night talk show, with a mix of burlesque performances, sketches, interviews, "surprise" guests in the audience and a performance by a singer or comedian. This was the second installment of this new monthly show, on the very intimate stage at Rose Live Music in Williamsburg, and Clams was their guest performer. It's a lot of fun, and they're creating a new night out that's different from everything else out there. And I hope, hope that their photographer posts very soon pictures of Roja dressed as a giant olive, being chased around the stage by martini-loving Anita with a giant pick in their opening number.