tig notaro live
input, the creature in your headphones

tig notaro, “live”

I got an email some number of weeks ago, along with no doubt several thousand others, that Louis CK was super excited about this standup set he had just seen Tig Notaro do. At the time I was pretty well slammed, and while I can’t recall the exact circumstances I remember reading the email on my phone in the back of a NYC cab headed up 6th Ave on the way to something, so it doesn’t surprise me much that I didn’t exactly leap to immediate action.

The gist was, she had done a standup set near immediately after finding out that she had cancer. There was a brief followup media flutter, and since then I’d completely forgotten about it until the other day when I was shopping for new releases and happened to come across the live recording on Secretly Canadian.

I am a firm believer that anything can be made funny in the hands of a skilled and talented person, but having just listened I entirely get why Louis CK rattled off however many pages trying to explain that this bit was different, because it is.

The material is dark and her delivery is perfectly dry, but her set connects in a hilarious and beautiful and real way that feels like a pep talk for impossible times. I am instantly a fan for life.

Preview is online, but really the whole album is five bucks. You risk more than that on appetizers. Buy a copy and support something brave and original.

Available at Other Music: Tig Notaro, “Live”

tig notaro live

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the week in awesome

this week in awesome : july 9

As usual, a midsummer week with the Sox out of town has a lot going on. If you’re in the city and looking for the kind of fun with good drinks, great people, and excellent music check out the would-be calendar:

MONDAY JULY 9 : SPIN THE BOTTLE with Garrett Harker

The Master Blaster of Harkertown makes a rare PRC appearance at Brick & Mortar in Central Square as the latest host/DJ in their Monday night “Spin The Bottle” series. From 9:30-closing, the man behind Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar, and The Hawthorne will unearth the treasures of his musical collection – or just play dance music for the enthusiastic and gorgeous. The bar features his personally selected cocktail list. I’m looking forward to it.

Details/RSVP on Facebook: Spin The Bottle welcomes the Sweet Stylings of Garrett Harker

WEDNESDAY JULY 11: THE PEOPLE’S KARAOKE at Highland Kitchen

If you’ve never been before, you should immediately cancel all other commitments. If you’ve been to our nights at Highland before, I don’t need to explain. Join Ed McNamara and I for good times, friendship, and voices raised in song. I’ll say your name and make awkward jokes, he’ll work your mix and make you sound beautiful. We start at 10pm.

THURSDAY JULY 12: TJ PLAYS SONGS JOSH CHILDS WILL LIKE at Trina’s Starlite Lounge

You can look back and check out the earlier events post here, but in short I’ll be spinning tons of near-obscurities and pop eclectica from 9pm to closing at Starlite. Shazam your new favorites all you want, but you’re probably better off saving battery power and just asking what’s on. It’s a fun low-key summer night with friends and cocktails, and occasionally it becomes a full-house dance party if the mood is right.

Details/RSVP (or don’t, whatever) on Facebook: TJ Plays Songs Josh Childs Will Like; You Can Come Too.

FRIDAY + SATURDAY JULY 13-14: HOPE NUMBER NINE

The fun capades make a trip to New York City for the biannual conference of people I talked to very slowly over a computer and a device called a “phone line” in my youth. HOPE is the Hackers On Planet Earth conference, held at the Hotel Pennsylvania and also the terrible Irish bar across the street.

It’s sort of like a reunion for all the people you remember wearing black t-shirts, pogoing around to They Might Be Giants, and rarely playing lacrosse in high school. Except most of us still talk all the time using an ancient internet science called irc.

I think it will be quite fun, though perhaps daunting to outsiders. HOPE Number Nine.

SUNDAY JULY 15: THE BIG PARTY at Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks

Meet and greet with the art elite! Graham Wright’s Opus Affair takes over Boston’s finest record store and rock club turned restaurant and hotel bar Sunday Afternoon for a first-ever event they can only call The Big Party. One $75 ticket gets you into a Gatsby-style 1920′s garden party with food, drinks, games, prizes, entertainment, music, and much more. At this time I will not confirm the rumor of an unofficial People’s Karaoke afterparty at an undisclosed Chinese restaurant to be named later.

Details & tickets: The Big Party

Looks like a great week. The Sox return Monday.

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