Obsession of the Week: Garfunkel and Oates

Micucci and Lindhome

It is time to name Tableau Your Mind’s 2^nd Official 'Obsession of the Week,' and this time it’s an easy one. Because we are absolutely obsessed with Garfunkel and Oates, the singing comedy duo headed by very funny ladies Rikki Lindhome and Kate Micucci. It’s hard to say when we first fell in love with G&O. Was it when Lindhome played a bulimic dandy lion on Pushing Daisies? Was it when Micucci Scrubbed it up as Gooch, the adorable and ebullient girlfriend of sad sack Ted Buckland, or when she partied internationally with Kristen Bell in When in Rome? Or was it the first time we heard "Pregnant Women are Smug" and it effectively kicked us in the ovaries or the testicles or whatever reproductive organs that we have (we don’t know anymore)?

We’re not really sure where our love began, but we are sure that it was in full effect when we

There's a New 'No Doubt' Video

The band is back together:

And I'm instantly 10 years old again.  I guess I should break out my jorts and drink an Orbitz.

Welcome back, gentlemen (and lady. Hello, Lady).

Obsession of the Week: Ethan Lipton's 'No Place to Go'

We've thought long and hard about what Tableau Your Mind's first official 'Obsession of the Week.' Jennifer Garner and her adorable children? News on the Arrested Development movie? Anything to do with Judy Greer or Michaela Watkins?  But then we landed on it - Ethan Lipton's amazing show 'No Place to Go,' which is playing for six more performances at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater through April 8th. We were lucky enough to see the show in its first incarnation as part of Joe's Pub's New York Voices series in November, and the current version, which is very similar and has been running for almost a month, is even more enjoyable and tightly produced (The most marked difference is that the lighting cues are a bit more dramatic). Lipton has a rare gift of making the personal universal and the universal deeply personal (that sounds really cornball, but it's true). It is in your best interest to see this show - it's fantastic. Here is a reposting of part of that original review:


...Lipton alone has the rare ability to come off curmudgeonly and honest, hilarious and sad, like a Charades-era Walter Matthau. He's dark and thoughtful and whimsical to boot.

The piece, titled No Place To Go, is a thinly-veiled musical satire of America's current political and social situation. Ethan (the character?) is dismayed to learn that his job is being outsourced. He's saddened, not solely because his job is relocating, but because the

Music Review: Ethan Lipton + His Orchestra

Ethan Lipton

Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra had their first of four performances at Joe's Pub as part of the Pub's new initiative to commission works that represent the Joe's Pub audience and the Joe's Pub artists (original, varied, eccentric, amazing). This initiative, sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and appropriately titled the New York Voices series, kicked off with shows by Toshi Reagon and Lady Rizo, continues with Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra.

I'm a little biased in this review, as I un-apologetically love Joe's Pub, its director Shanta Thake, and Ethan Lipton and His

Britney Spears: Unlikely Lover of Terminator, Thriller, and Half Baked

I'm nothing if not an occasional fan of Britney Spears. While my totally normal fan/singer relationship has faded away over the years, it's hard to forget that at one time I owned ...Baby One More Time AND Oops... I Did It Again. I committed to a bunch of ellipses for that woman.

Well, now it's time for Britney to pay me back, and she has with this completely bananas music video for I Wanna Go, a track from a CD I haven't bothered to buy. It takes cues from The Terminator, Half Baked, and even Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video. Completely awesome? Almost completely. She still can't help but look a little dead in the eyes. Still, it's hella ballsy. Check it out after the jump:

Lady Rizo: Channeling Nina Simone on Rapture Eve

There was no better way to spend Rapture Eve than with Lady Rizo, who, in one of her best shows to date, channeled the 'mash-up queen,' Nina Simone. As with all Lady Rizo shows, it was an ever swinging pendulum of emotions, at one point melancholic, the next filled with laughter.

It's an occasion where the pieces of a puzzle don't make the whole. Any of the elements of the performance - from her rose petal sex to her special guests - stand out as unorthodox, but together they make an amazing whole. There's even burlesque, and not the cutesy

Steve Martin: Banjo Playin' Fool

This next song is called "Angry Birds: Level 7"

I just got back from seeing Steve Martin at Joe's Pub, playing Bluegrass Banjo with The Steep Canyon Rangers, and before you can cough "The Return of Bruno" suggestively into your hand, let me just say that it was completely amazeballs. Martin has been playing banjo for a quite a while, and this is not his first CD release, but for some reason I have always blocked that part of his career from entering my conscious thought.  He was Steve Martin: Comedian and Steve Martin: Author, but Steve Martin: Banjoist was not on the docket. Apparently, I was missing out. Rather than go point-by-point through the whole show, let me just point out a few of the best bits: