TAL Live!

 Last night I went to the Live broadcast of This American Life. I love this show so much- I love the stories, I love how it makes me taught and at times makes me want to cry.

There was this great animated bit at the beginning which broadcasted all involved. I snapped a pic when David Sedaris came up because you know he's my  favorite.

Ira Glass is just adorable. Adorable. He was so excited about this live showing. He was practically giddy. He also admitted to being super nervous about all the cues and about the technological reliability of his i-pad. As he said "Apple and I don't have the greatest relationship right now..."

I didn't get a picture of him but Ryan Knighton came and talked about what it's like to be slowly going blind. It began with this great animation bit that accompanied a conversation that Ira and Ryan had about Ryan getting lost in a hotel room, not realizing that there was an alcove next to the bed and coffee table. Ryan also talked about what it's like to slowly get your child, his now five-year-old daughter, Tess, to understand that Tess can see, Mummy can see but Papa can't see. Hysterical, frightening (can you imagine being lost in a hotel room and finding a solid wall where you think your bed should be?!) and touching all at the same time.

OK Go came out and introduced a musical segment. In the picture below, you can see on the left side, colored symbols and white symbols. Everyone was encouraged before the show to download this special app which made sounds and were different colors. "Rock band" style, you would hit the color and the symbol, making a sound, when the symbol on the screen hit the bottom. If you didn't have the app, you either stomped your foot or snapped. With audiences across the country, Canada and Australia making music, the OK Go lads played along with hand bells. It was insane. I have a video but it's not downloading right now.... But take my word for it, absolutely amazing.

The whole idea for a second live show came after Ira saw the Monica Bill Barnes Dance company perform. He wanted to share them with his radio audience but ... duh... dance.... no words. So Live Show #2 was born. And he was right, these dancers needed to be shared. The choreography was nothing too spectacular but their facial expressions were out of this world. It made the entire piece. Everyone was laughing hysterically at how perfectly the expressions went with the music and with the choreography. I loved it.

Next up was Tig Notaro and I did not stop laughing during her entire set. She recounted the many times that she met Taylor Dane, late 80s and early 90s pop singer, and how their encounters resulted in Tig saying, each time, "Excuse me... I'm sorry to bother you.... I just have to tell you.... I love your voice." No joke, she was hysterical. The way that she drew the story out, asked audience members to guess who she kept running into, her facial and body movements and expressions, I loved her!

And then, because things weren't awkward enough, Taylor Dane SHOWED UP! And sang to Tig, who was so uncomfortable. I still don't know where she knew this was happening ahead of time. She did break into some pretty sweet dance moves though...

Next up was Glynn Washington. His set was slightly different because he had sound effects- his accompanist had sound effcects, a keyboard, percussion instruments and it added a heightened level of exciement and anticipation to Glynn's story about "water-witching" and how that affected his incredibly religious family. This story was a lot more tense but still had moment of levity.

The theme of the show was Invisible and Visible and the next bit was about a guy named John Maloof (pictured below in the glasses) who found a box of over 10,000 negatives at an auction and ended up finding an entire treasure trove of never before seen photographs by a woman named Vivienne Maiers. She had photographed for years, sometimes 2-3 rolls a day, but never showed anybody the photos. This fit in perfectly with the theme, as the discussion focused no only on her invisibility as she snapped photos throughout the day, but also about how Vivienne had tried to remain invisible by not showing any one her photographs and how they were being developed and put into books and exhibits. The photos were absolutely stunning- such talent! John Maloof said something incredibly profound that stuck with me: I feel like she was hoarding memories.

The most difficult story to watch was that of Dave Rackoff, who told about the cancer that essentially took away the use of his left arm (which remained tightly in his pocket) and how life, conversations, relationships, everyday practices, are now changed. Yes, there were certain moments of laughter but such a sad and touching and at the same time, hopeful story about retaining some semblance of your former life. 

Last but not least, Ira introcued David Sedaris in his everyday glory, which apparently means in full clown makeup. I've read/listened to a lot of David Sedaris but this one was new to me, which I was excited about.  The themes were similar to his other work- frustrations at annoying people, hatred at these annoyances, hope for solidarity of hatred of these annoying people. I couldn't stop laughing.

I am so so so glad that I went to this- I would definitely go again. There are some video clips that I have and will attempt to post later but if you're reading this before Tuesday, GO SEE THE REBROADCAST THEN! You will not regret it! You can always listen to the show/podcast later, but you'll miss all the visuals and those are more than half of the fun...