Category Archives: Shows

Theater-packed weekend

Friday night I went to Fullerton College’s Playwrights Festival to see my brother’s play. His was third, last, so I’ll mention the other two first. Sala de Amor y Guerra by Elvia Rubalcava was family, a broken home, and repeating the same mistakes as your parents. It was entertaining, but it didn’t quite hit home with me. Some lines were in Spanish, and while I can understand the immersion aspect of seeing another culture, it ended up making me feel a bit frustrating. I also don’t fully grok being upset about the “broken home” scenario. My parents divorced, but I’ve never thought to say I come from a broken home. My life was fine.

The second play was Caught in the Middle by Iris Jimenez, which told a story of a love triangle, cheating, getting caught, rebounds, and more. It was extremely entertaining and very funny. As I watched it, I felt a little sad that it wasn’t something I could capture to watch again. That’s it. There’s no book, and there’s no DVD. Stupid theater!

His Story, by my brother, James Anargirou, was last. He actually never made it to a rehearsal, so he wasn’t sure how it was going to be performed. His Story was entirely dialogue driven set in a single scene. A woman is trying to talk a young man out of killing himself after catching him about to commit suicide. While he didn’t know her, it’s revealed that she not only knew him but was sort of stalking him. She convinces him to admit his reasoning: he was in love with a woman who died three years previously, and now he feels guilty for beginning to have feelings for other women. It was very interesting. When some people discussed it, they mentioned how at first you think he’s crazy and she’s trying to help, but then you learn they’re both crazy. It’s fascinating to me that someone would call him crazy, but I wouldn’t use that term. Yes, it’s extreme, but it isn’t exactly crazy in my opinion. It’s such an odd situation that I never previously considered either – being so devoted to someone that feelings for someone else after his or her death would leave you feeling as if you cheated. The play was performed as a dark comedy, but I think James wrote it as a drama. It was very entertaining to me, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it much. I can say that I’m very proud to have a talented brother though.

There was a bit more to my weekend, however. On Saturday I watched You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown! My coworker Mike was in it, so a group of us from work went to watch. It was very fun! I wasn’t very familiar with Peanuts, but I’m a bit more familiar with it now. The show consisted of mostly children, and they all did an excellent job.

Christian Dasilva has a Posse Benefit Show

The Chain Reaction in Anaheim

Last night was the “Christian Dasilva has a posse” benefit show. The Aquabats’ former tour manager, Christian Dasilva, passed away recently, and all proceeds from the show went to his family. While the Aquabats posted about it n the Super Show Facebook page, I probably wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for a bit of a coincidence. On Friday, Toshiba had two food trucks at its Chili Cook-off. For the first time ever, I wore a t-shirt to work because I knew it was going to be hot and we were outside. It happened to be an Aquabats t-shirt, and the guy working the Longboard Ice Cream truck knew the Aquabats. Not only was he a friend of the band, he was a former roadie and has been in the Aquabats! Super Show! He told me about the show.

The Aquabats Battle Tram

Shortly after we arrived at the Chain Reaction in Anaheim, we saw the Battle Tram pull into the parking lot! It’s a bit smaller than it is in the show…

aquabats

That didn’t stop gem and me from posing with it though! How awesome is that?

The Makeup Sex

First up was a grunge band from San Diego called The Makeup Sex. I hadn’t heard of them before, and they weren’t mentioned on any of the announcements about the show, so I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily they were pretty entertaining. Strangely, the OC Register’s slideshow featured a handful of photos of the singer and drummer, both, well, fat, sweaty guys (photo 18, for example), yet only included one picture of the attractive bass player (photo 19).

Scotty Professional took the stage while Starpool set up, performing an acoustic version of the Aquabat’s Martian Girl. I really enjoyed it. While I’m not familiar with him, nor had I been to the Chain Reaction before, I could tell that he really cared about Christian Dasilva. I’m glad I recorded his performance; I’ve already ripped the audio so I could listen to the song.

Starpool

Next up was Starpool. I hadn’t heard of them before I looked them up in preparation of this show. As it turns out, Starpool consists of the former members of Save Ferris and one former member of No Doubt. They were incredibly awesome! Their music was sweet, wonderful ska, and their stage presence was superb. The singer definitely took control of the stage. I especially enjoyed their rendition of “Shout” with the singer jumping into the audience and leading us as we crouched low to the ground, a little bit softer now. More bands need sax, trumpet, and trombone!
I later sent Starpool a Facebook message, letting them know how much I enjoyed the show. I also had to let them know that I bought their album and EP after the show. Great stuff!

The Aquabats!

Then it was time for the Aquabats to take the stage! In this picture, you can see the M.C. Bat Commander on the left, Eagle “Bones” Falconhawk on guitar next to him further back, Crash McLarson next on bass, and, on the very edge, Ricky Fitness on drums. I don’t think I got any good pictures of Ricky Fitness or Bones really. Oh well.

The M.C. Bat Commander and Crash McLarson of the Aquabats!

Can you tell the Commander and Crash are good buddies? It sure looks like it to me! Of course, Crash is also gem’s big friend. He said yes at Comic-Con, you know.

Jimmy the Robot with Crash McLarson of the Aquabats

Finally, here’s Jimmy the Robot, who plays the keyboard and sax, in front his keyboard. To his left is Crash. Jimmy grabbed by hand twice in the show! Swoon! The M.C. Bat Commander did once as well! Okay, I’ve seen them before and shaken all their hands, but it’s still fun!
When the show ended, the audience chanted “Where was the Captain,” and the Aquabats came back out to play Captain Hampton. Sadly, this took the place of Fashion Zombies and Burger Rain, which were written on the setlist. I really wanted to hear Burger Rain too!
When they played Pool Party, they threw pool toys in the audience like they’ve done previously. They also called all the young kids onto the stage. The Commander told them that the concession area in the back was the candy zone, and that they’d get free candy if they went over. He said that if the Chain Reaction didn’t want to pay for it, the Aquabats would. And how would the kids get there? Well, the Commander would throw them into the audience to crowd-surf to the back of course! They were all adorable. One very young boy, Jacob, even had a little mustache drawn on his lip like the M.C. Bat Commander!
It was a terrific show, and I had so much fun. I was pretty much soaking wet when I got home, and most of it was likely not my sweat. Those Aquabats fans with rashguards get pretty sweaty. I finally made it to sleep by 1:30, and I can definitely say I was sleepy today!
Christian Dasilva’s Benefit Show Featuring Starpool and The Aquabats! – Chain Reaction – 7/23/12, Priscella Vega, Heard Mentality, OC Weekly Blogs
The Aquabats perform at the Christian Dasilva Benefit Concert at Chain Reaction in Anaheim on Monday, OrangeCounty.com

IRIS by Cirque du Soleil

The Chinese Theatre
For Mother’s Day, gem and I took her mom and aunt to see IRIS by Cirque du Soleil in LA. It was a lot of fun, and I took a few photos throughout the day.
We spent a few minutes talking at her parents’ house before heading up to Los Angeles. We got there around 5:30, and the show started at 7:00, giving us some time to walk around. We spent a little time just wandering (and taking photos). I also had a super delicious hot dog with bacon and lots of toppings, including whole grilled jalepeño. Why wasn’t I always putting whole grilled jalepeños on my hot dogs?
IRIS itself was fantastic. It’s about the history of cinema. It uses a lot of the “basics” (contortionists, jugglers, trapezists), but it’s very inspired by cinema. It plays a lot with light, shadow, and recording in very cool ways. Of course, there’s an overall story to it as well that involves the film industry. They even threw an awards show in the middle! Some acts were less obviously about cinema. The Kiriki act involved a group of performers in different colored costumes flipping, climbing, and balancing on each other. gem whispered to me “I think this is about the introduction of color.” I hadn’t realized it on my own, but it seems very likely. It was one of the best acts in my opinion, but it wasn’t my favorite. That honor goes to a noir scene that’s set a wonderful mood and segues nicely into a noir, rooftop fight scene heavily using trampolines. Very cool.
Anyways, it’s an excellent show. And the music’s on Spotify.

Powderpuff Pilots Dress Rehearsal

I went to the Powderpuff Pilots dress rehearsal last night with gem, and we met up with Jenkins and Margaret. It was a lot of fun! Melissa had an awesome role, and she did a great job. It was about the first Women’s Air Derby in 1929. Besides being a fun performance full of good songs, it was also an interesting bit of history about which I knew little to nothing previously. Of course, I have since read about it on Wikipedia more.
Besides Melissa, I recognized a couple other people in the show. There were former Live Nudes performing, including Tony McConville! Woo hoo fun! You know what I wonder? Where do the performers look while on stage? Do different people do different things, or do they all usually use the same trick? It seems so strange to be staring at people who are staring off into the back of the room.
After the show we talked with Melissa and met Brandon before heading to Yogurtland. It was tasty. And Alex and I were wrong. Trader Joe’s is open until 10.
It was a great night!

Awesome Day Off



Awesome Day Off, originally uploaded by theuser.

Today was such an awesome day! First, I slept until 10:30 or so. It was glorious. Then I finished up my Joystiq stuff, which took a while, before taking a shower. I had a lunch consisting of my leftover turkey sub and broccoli and cheese soup while watching Batman Beyond.
After lunch I got my review of Hoard posted and then went to play video games. As it turns out, I was already on the last level of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. I finished that up, picking the light-side (and non-canon, I think) ending.
Then it was beach time! We picked up Jessica and went to Huntington Beach. We ate at Sancho’s Tacos, which had an awesome biker/beach kinda vibe. We tried their OG (steak), Flounder Pounder (mahi mahi), Yard Bird (chicken), Federale (carnitas), and Flaco (vegie) tacos. All of them were so good. I especially recommend the OG and Flounder Pounder. We took our food to the beach to eat and watch the sunset. Very delicious and very fun.
Then as we walked past a clothing store with super loud music, I noticed it was loud because there was a live band. They sounded ska/reggae, so I knew we had to stop. We got there in time to listen to The Originalites‘ last two songs. They were very entertaining, especially the sax. They were selling merchandise to raise money for a signing deal, so I bought one. Then we headed to Zimzala, the restaurant at which Andrew works, for dessert. It was amazing! We had the chocolate ganache, apple crisp, strawberry shortcake, s’mores, and peanut butter and jelly truffles. It was all so good. I especially liked the s’mores! Gorgeous and tasty! We also got to chat with Andrew, which was very cool. A terrific dinner!
And then we had to find the car. We didn’t think to check where we parked. It didn’t take too long though. Jessica’s magic or something.

Aging Out



Aging Out, originally uploaded by theuser.

I saw Aging Out, a musical about kids in foster care who "age out" of
the system, at UCI the day before yesterday. It was a lot of fun! I
hadn’t seen a play or musical since Fiddler on the Roof in the summer
of 2009, so it had definitely been a while. It felt odd walking up a
path that was so familiar but that I hadn’t taken in so long. We also
sat in the same seats in which we always tried to sit at Live Nudes.
My friend Melissa was in the show, and she was really great. It’s too
bad her character had to be abused though. I ran into someone I knew
who also watching the show, too! There were a lot of good
performances, and I had a great time.

The Aquabats!

I saw The Aquabats play at the Henry Fonda in Hollywood on Friday, and it was so much fun! The five regulars, MC Bat Commander, Crash McLarson, Jimmy The Robot, Ricky Fitness, and Eagle “Bones” Falconhawk, were all there, but two previous members, Chainsaw and Catboy, were there too! They played a bunch of songs I knew and loved including Red Sweater, Pool Party, Pizza Day, and a cover of Holiday Road.

 
When they played Attacked By Snakes a guy in a large snake costume came out and danced on stage. Later, between songs, Tortilla Man attacked! He knocked MC Bat Commander down and even pushed him off stage into the audience! MC Bat Commander considered calling the LAPD, the marines, or even Oprah, but in the end, Santa came on stage to hit Tortilla Man with his belly, defeating him.
When the show was done, they left the stage and a video played of them leaving. This was live, of course, and not prerecorded elsewhere… anyways they had trouble getting their car going, so they all got out to push. As the driver got out, he took off the emergency break. Guess what happened!? They pushed it easily but right into another car… and then their car caught fire! The Aquabats did what any responsible people would do – they ran back on stage to play more! They ended their show by playing a cover of Holiday Road with clips of Christmas Vacation playing on the screen. Multiple times it seemed like it was all over and they’d break into another chorus. They even brought a bunch of kids on stage to sing with them, letting them use the mics. It was really, really cool.
I should mention the opening bands – Supernova and Buck-O-Nine. Both bands were really entertaining. Supernova had metallic looking costumes, weird astronaut-like helmets, and foil covering their instruments. They passed out foil to the audience beforehand, but I’m not really sure why! We wore it on our heads.
The night was amazingly fun, but I was really sore from all the jumping and getting bumped. My throat hurt too a little from yelling and singing. Totally worth it though of course. On the way out, they passed out Aquabats CDs with two Christmas songs, including the Holiday Road cover. Very cool =D

Ace Attorney Opera

Griffin McElroy just posted on Joystiq that Takarazuka Revue, a theater troupe in Japan, is performing an Ace Attorney Opera! They’re currently rehearsing, and the show will open at the end of February! Normally I would just share items in Google Reader, but I think this deserves a little more attention!