Last night I went to see a live taping of This American Life on stage at the Paramount in Seattle. The crowd was hugenormous and you would have thought we were at a rock concert (or should I say trendy alternative band concert).The people didn't look like your regular Seattle NPR listener (fleece, sensible shoes, NPR logo vest from pledge week), but a hip crowd of late-twenty to forty-somethings. The group consisted of some possible pseudo-intellectuals, ex-English majors, young democrats, and artists. Women paid enough attention to their appearance so that they were pretty, but not too made up. Men wore dark coats and black-framed glasses (like their hero Ira Glass, but with a shape that is more stylish in Belltown.)
I'm always interested in the anti-fashion statement, which is also is a fashion statement itself-- the women with their literary glasses, the men with their retro hair. A friend told that at AWP there was a look for young female poets in their twenties--straight dark hair, glasses, and black boots. Even when we try to say no to society's shallow ways and their fashion statements, we are saying yes to another group, saying "I fit in here." Every group has its own set of rules for dress, you can be exiled from the stoners for being to preppy, you may not be goth"enough with your LL Bean vest, and for poets? Is there a certain look? If there is, I probably wear too much pink to be a poet. Another poet who writes about comic book hero does this too. ;-)
But enough what we wore, This American Life was about "What I Learned From Television." The show featured stories from David Rakoff, Dan Savage (from The Stranger), Chris Wilcha, and music from a great band whose CD I know own--Mates of State. The show was hilarious and it was interesting to watch a radio show being taped. We noticed when a line or word was said poorly, the speaker just said the word or line again ("I'm Ira Glass and this is....") and later, magically, it would be added in.
They talked about the new TV series that will appear on Showtime this month. They showed clips of it. I'm just new to basic cable, but have considered getting Showtime just to get my visual fix of TAL. I believe I have listened to every TAL show, I have worked way back in time through my computer, listening to a show late at night on my computer as I clean my office. I was hooked the first time I heard it--I believe David Sedaris was reading, but I'm not sure, David Sedaris is always reading, I know it was before 9/11 because I remember all the 9/11, Iraq stories that came after. What I remember is that I was just taken, just as the Swing Years and beyond takes me away, TAL is a sweet retreat from my ordinary life into the ordinary lives of others. It's probably the best storytelling around...storytelling with music. Last night, I got a better idea how it's done. I saw how Ira Glass moves his arms in odd ways while he talks, how he scratches his head, and flips a paper. The whole event went almost two hours and even from our seats which were probably the worst seats in the house--the very top back wall on the 3rd level in the corner, though technically, I was six seats over from the corner in row Z--the show was fantastic. Though I'm just trusting the guy at the desk with the arm movements was Ira Glass on stage because my view, it could have been anyone in a suit.
Afterwards, we left in a sea of hip strangers and paid for our parking in a sea of hip strangers, and got on a ferry with a bunch of people in fleece to return to our world of corduroy and wool sweaters, down vests and breathable shoes. On the ferry we talked different kinds of mixed drinks and Girl Scout cookies. We stayed in our car and the windows steamed up. N said she was getting emails from the universe--I needed clarification (the solar system or the *universe*). The *universe.* We wondered what kind of emails we'd receive if the solar system wrote emails--we decided Pluto would have the most say being kicked out of the top nine. And we argued if Neptune was Uranus' twin (Interplanet Janet said so).
We drove home and I felt better for being there.
