The benefit for Downs Syndrome known as Supersmall at the Steve Allen Theater proved to be an entertaining and educational night. I enjoyed learning about the Nudibranchs a.k.a. Sea Slugs, who are both hermaphroditic and usually very poisonous and beautiful. It was amusing to see all the pictures of their group sex and the narration that went along with the photos. We also learned about the $300 million dollar rovers that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are sending to Mars. It was pretty interesting to use the 3-D glasses they provided to see different pictures of the surface of Mars.
The comedy routines were pretty entertaining too, one had a couple guys running around on stage doing amusing mind tricks. There was a guy called Mr. Extraordinary in a funny diamond pattern suit, who gave out $10 to the first person who claimed it and then went on to explain what that person had that no one else in the audience had. He also had a small hole in his pants, but that was only slightly distracting because it looked like he had orange underwear underneath.
Even the musical acts were amusing. Carina Round is a female British singer who was wearing a polka dot dress and red high heels. She pointed out that she does funny things with her legs while she performs and her songs were pretty good too. Acoustic and folky, but also very distinctive and different. She ended her set with a song that used a pedal to record and loop her vocals, it sounded pretty cool.
The Lampshades were just hilarious from the moment they came on stage. The singer was Kate Flannery (Meredith from the Office) in a red bellbottom jumpsuit and the guy looked like a sleazy lounge singer with a fake skinny mustache drawn over his upper lip. He was also sipping a drink and smoking a cigarette through the whole performance. They started off with their version of “The Facts of Life,” then went on to play “Light My Fire” while the female singer continuously emphasized that they’re not a couple. They did a bit on celebrity obituaries and in between one song, the male singer pretended to fall asleep then woke up. They ended the set with their version of “Mandy,” during which the male singer wandered off stage to refill his drink.
Peter Hayes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played a short, but sweet set of 7 songs which included a couple covers (Cool Water and Long Black Veil) and a new song (which he later told us was called “A Fine Way to Lose”). He also played “Shuffle Your Feet,” “Complicated Situation,” “Fault Line,” and closed with “Am I Only.” I only took pictures during “Complicated Situation” and I was recording video of everything else. It was such a nice intimate acoustic set. The new song was kind of country sounding, and had some sad lyrics about losing someone.
You can see and hear 4 of the songs from the set on my YouTube account. Speaking of which, I was excited to learn that my cell phone can watch YouTube videos on it. If you have a Motorola RAZR V3m, you should see if you can watch YouTube videos on your phone!
