From the Director's Chair
Alisa Baker reports from behind the scenes. . .
SPECIAL NEWS: ON MAY 12 WE'LL BE STARTING THE SHOW A HALF AN HOUR EARLIER, AT 7:30. More time to hang out with us after the show!
April 2008
We learned quite a bit about good manners at the April 14 show. Naturally, from on-line etiquette queen Helena Echlin, who discussed not only the fine distinctions between the two kinds of French kisses (the peck on both cheeks and. . . the other, more friendly kind) but the proper way to address one's phone sex clients. Of course, any type of greeting would be proper when enhanced by Helena's sly wit and posh British accent. And color expert Susan Hershman had her own etiquette tips: good manners are absolutely essential when convincing people to let you photograph (and make comments on!) the color palettes they used for their houses. Judging from the compelling images Susan showed us (both on-screen and in her encyclopedic new book, House Colors), there's a lot more to selecting a building's exterior look than meets the eye. As to Jim Cranna -- well, maybe good manners aren't everything. When you get a chance, as our audience did, to hear a pro like Jim reminisce about the behind-the-scenes behavior of San Francisco's legendary improv pioneers since the 1960s, you're really not all that interested in having it be tasteful! And if this weren't enough for one evening, we were treated to the incredible boogie-woogie keyboard -- and singing! -- of jazz pianist Eric Shifrin, who played solo and with our fabulous house band, Cafe Americain.March 2008
March 10 was another night of wonderful surprises. As one of audience member said, "who knew wallpaper could be so interesting?" When it's being discussed by artist Sondra Alexander, it's astonshingly interesting -- especially viewed in the context of the environmental and architectural influences that make their way into her unique, handpainted work. We got to look at (and hear about) both slides and samples. Plus, her entire family was in the house -- all wearing Sondra Alexander original designs. Beautiful and amazing. Equally fascinating was dancer/choreographer Jess Curtis' startling photos and descriptions of his groundbreaking pieces, including his new show, The Symmetry Project, which has been performed -- completely naked! -- by himself and his partner Maria (also in the house!) in both mainstream and eccentric venues around the world. It will be having it's US premiere here in San Francisco at the end of the month and we were fortunate to get a glimpse of it, both in Jess' thought process and in spectacular pix by Sven Hagolani now on display at the CounterPULSE Gallery (and also in our on-line album). And it's quite impossible to describe the impact of even five short minutes of Dan Hoyle's solo show, 'Tings Dey Happen. We got both performance and backstory from one of the Bay Area's fastest rising performance artists. Plus, Jules Broussard absolutely wailing on the sax with our boys in Cafe' Americain.
I have to admit that this night was an especially happy one for me -- not only was my entire bookclub (of 20 years!) in the audience, but my sister Eve from Vermont was also at the show. That's me and Sondra (yes, she's in the bookclub!) after the show.
February 2008
Well, it seemed like everyone took us up on our invitation to be our "not exactly Valentines" on February 11. I can't begin to say what a great show this was. We started out with something new: a hysterical video of Kurt's performance in "Love:Iraqi Style," taped in LA at the Groundlings Theater. The laughter only died down when the bewitching Vicki Burns took the stage with her rendition of "I'm Old Fashioned." Next, the audience hung onto every word as Beth Lisick regaled us with tales from her stint as a Lollapalooza slam poetry star, her recent book tour for Helping Me Help Myself, and life in general. Beth even performed one of her greatest hits (?) with the band, a rare treat. By the time Chuck Siegel took the stage to rhapsodize about chocolate -- while passing out Charles Chocolates truffles to the audience -- we all thought we'd died and gone to heaven. And as if this wasn't all enough, we had fabulous music before, during and after the show by our own Cafe Americain (and Vicki!), plus a surprise drop-in guest, our favorite dixieland jazz master, Mal Sharpe. We couldn't even get people out of the house after the after-party-- the band, Kurt and I were all on our way out the door before the last audience members gave up their tables.Such a cool evening. Each time, I think the show is as good as it can get! But so far, I'm always wrong. And there's no reason to think that our March 10 show will be anything but equally terrific.
January 2008
Happy New Year!
We opened our 2008 Spring Season with a show that turned out to be all about inspiration. First, actor/director/producer/writer (!) Jeffrey Hartgraves gave us insight into his most recent show, Shark Bites (running at Theater Rhino through February 9), even performing a short monologue from it. Jeffrey's struggle with bone cancer inspired him to write a script asking why fear seems to be our major motivator, and his exploration of this question is courageous (and not incidentally, very funny). Next, environmental sculptor Gyöngy Laky fascinated us with a guided tour (complete with slideshow) through her most recent works. When one escapes war as a child, it can result in a life of fear -- or in an amazing artistic journey, as we learned from Gyöngy's story. And what could be more inspiring to our audience than a dotcommer turned bootlegger? Brian Backus shared not only his entrepreneurial adventure -- but to our great delight -- samples of his product! The after-party continued into the night as audience members savored the unique taste of Qi Spirits. Plus, the debut of Cafe Americain as our house band. A wonderful start to 2008.And I'm not the only one who thought our first show of the new year was great! Audience member Leah Garchik had the same good time, and reported on it in her January 16 San Francisco Chronicle "Public Eavesdropping" column. Thanks, Leah!
Next month: Our Not Exactly Valentine's Day Show Bah humbug. But my Valentine's Day week will be much improved by having all of you guys as my (not exactly) Valentine's Day dates. See you at the show!
December 2007
The December 10 show was both our first ever holiday bash and the wrap-up for our 2007 "pilot season." We had a bunch of cool ways to celebrate. Caffe Macaroni is now serving dinner, snacks and drinks in the club starting at 7 pm, so they showed up early to hear gypsy jazz by our special musical guests, Le Jazz Hot, who joined us for an encore performance. We had not one but two wonderful performances: comedian James P. Connolly opened with a hysterical short stand-up set, followed by a (somewhat) more sober interview about his recent trip to entertain the troops in Afghanistan ("you don't want to disappoint") and his own earlier experiences as a Marine in Desert Storm. We closed with Barbara Scott (and J. Raoul Brody) performing her unique form of musical improv comedy ("anything too stupid to be said is sung"), including a spontaneous duet with Kurt! And in between, writer Po Bronson explained his theories on dealing with writer's block ("every writer gets stuck twice a sentence"). After the show we had a surprise visit from premiere show guest Rob Rodgers, who brought a naughty gift to give away in the drawing, in addition to the usual booty from the guests. The after-party didn't break up till long after 10 again. Looks like a trend!As we close out this season, Kurt and I want to thank the wonderful team of talented folks who've pitched in to help us make TSL happen : sound/lights: Neerav Mehta, Bruce Koball and Ian Hadley; photos: Andy Berry/Ryan Sullivan/Clay Robeson; doors: Ann Feehan, Bruce Yelaska, Grace Sargent; website: Nick Rabinowitz; video: Ian Slattery. And of course, our music director Ned Boynton and his gang of North Beach Irregulars.
Last month we asked our "First Nighter" audience (our regulars!) to respond to an online survey and let us know if we were on the right track. Happily, everyone seems to like what we're doing at the Purple Onion with Talk Show Live . . . so we'll be heading into our first "official" season, with a great lineup for opening night on January 14, 2008. We hope you'll join us in the new year!