SOUNDTRACK: GABY MORENO-Tiny Desk Concert #149 (August 15, 2011).
Gaby Moreno surprised me in this set. Her first song “No Regrets,” begins like a gentle bossa nova sung in Spanish. The song switches to English about midway through, but it retains that lovely bossa nova feel. Morena’s voice is lovely and clear. She plays guitar and sings and is accompanied by Adam Levy, also on guitar.
So far, so good.
The second song, “Ave Que Emigra” begins as a gentle ballad, but quickly morphs into a kind of upbeat folk song also sung in Spanish (Moreno is from Guatemala). It is a lovely song with some beautiful oooohs.
It’s the third song the surprised me.
“Sing Me Life” opens in a much darker vein–rough strummed guitars and a blues solo from Levy. Even Moreno’s voice has gotten deeper and bluesier. The song is sung in English and although she sounds like herself, she also sounds really different–not exactly angrier, but less sweet, more intense. The “Hey hey hey’s” are a far cry from the sweet “ooooohs” of the previous song. Levy plays a nice bluesy solo on this song as well.
Moreno has a great deal of diversity in her set and she handles it all really well.
[READ: October 20, 2015] The Spoils
I have enjoyed Eisenberg’s writing in the past. But this was the first full play I had read by him (he has two others). It is very funny (and surprisingly vulgar).
There are five characters. Ben (played by Eisenberg when it was performed) owns the apartment where the action is set. He is the son of a wealthy man, going to college for “film” and basically enjoying himself as much as he can. He drinks, he smokes pot and he picks on his roommate (who might just be his only friend). His language is shockingly vulgar, dropping curses left and right.
His roommate is Kalyan (who in the performance was played by Kunal Nayyar (from The Big Bang Theory). Kalyan is from Nepal. He has come to NYU to study business and has even written book about economic conditions in Nepal. Kalyan is a bit dorky (he loves PowerPoint, which is used to great comic effect throughout the story). And he is trying to win over Reshma.
Reshma is Indian, but she has lived in the States all of her life, so she is really American. She has high hopes for Kalyan, but it seems she fears he might not live up to his potential.
In the opening scene Kalyan is showing her a PowerPoint and being incredibly sweet to her. When Ben walks in he is all crass and vulgar—funny but very unlikable. He essentially makes Reshma leave (although as soon as he shows up we know she wants to leave anyhow) and then begins his tale. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 