Post by crowschmo on Feb 22, 2009 19:09:15 GMT -5
Thought I'd write up on the Boston shows that I attended (I went both nights), to give some folks that didn't get the chance to go some feel for what it was like, and those that did go can elaborate if they want on the nights they had, maybe post some pics on here, too. (If I can figure out that photobucket thing, maybe I'll put some of mine here as well).
Dragged my mom along. She's always up for a road trip.
Nice little theater in Somerville. Pretty. A little tight, as it was built in, if I remember correctly, 1914 - a tidbit from Gruber who opened the show. Everyone was short and thin then, I guess.
The audience waited in anticipation to the strains of Talking Heads (how appropriate).
Gruber came out periodically to do sound checks on the mics, put some bottled water out for the Titans, adjust the stands, etc. He'd do a little dance to the music, wave to the crowd, say there was about ten minutes til the show, then go off stage only to come back a few more times - it was always ten minutes til the show.
Then finally, around 8:15 he came out with Mary Jo, both doing a little cool walking up to the mic. He introduced MJ, then went off stage to make an official entrance.
After applause died down for Mary Jo, she thanked the crowd for coming and did a funny intro for Gruber who came back out to do his schtick. Every once in a while he'd say, "What do I have, ten minutes? Okay, I got ten minutes." (Something along that vein). After a while he introduced J. Elvis who came out and did some stuff with him. ("Ten minutes? Okay, we have ten minutes.")
Josh played his bass and the two of them did poetry haikus. Funny. Laughs from audience...ten minutes.
Josh was complaining about the lack of attention spans in our culture these days and...(speaking of, I wonder if I should divide this into segments, it's getting long, and it's not over yet -still with me?) And, what was I saying? Attention spans, lack of, yes..
Ten minutes.
Josh was making fun of radio stations with no format, and said what's next, how 'bout a station that doesn't just play your favorite songs, they just play your favorite PARTS to your favorite songs, then he started singing different parts to songs, with Gruber interrupting every so often as the announcer of station KADD. A short commercial - PART of one, more station identification, more parts of songs. Good stuff.
Ten minutes.
Then Josh introduced Frank. Frank said he had an idea for an action cartoon he was pitching where the theme song told the premise of the show - "Convoluted Man". He sang it for everyone, backed by Josh and Gruber. It was a very long, very elaborate theme song - you knew everything about this poor sap.
Time for the show. They re-introduced Mary Jo. They introduced Trace. They introduced Joel.
Joel: "It's great to be in Boston." (applause) "Not the city, I actually joined the group Boston. I'm their new lead singer."
Joel spoke to the crowd, did an invention exchange. I won't say what, 'cause he probably will do it for other shows (though I think it was already mentioned on this site somewhere).
Let Cinematic Titanic begin.
"Blood of the Vampires." Ugghhh! What a crap-fest of a movie!
I won't go too much longer with this, folks, don't worry.
Ten minutes, I promise.
Well, you get the gist. These movies will be available soon and you can look on their website to see what they're about and everything.
Meet and Greet. Fun. They emptied the lobby, and had everyone line up outside around the building while the Titans took their places; they brought everyone back in and had them line up in the theater around the seats, and back again out to the lobby and started the line going.
All the Titans were great, very friendly with everyone, took their time with each fan, talking, signing autographs, getting their pictures taken. They were very patient with everyone, no rush, a very fan-friendly group.
It was a thrill to meet all of them in person. I bought an 8x10 cast photo and had them all sign it, got some pictures. (I actually have an 8x10 signed by them already that I got from their site, but it's not the same as actually being there and being part of the history of them signing it in person, if you know what I mean).
Bought "Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks". (Haven't watched it yet, I will tonight, though).
I'm definitely buying the two movies I saw live this weekend.
Shook Joel's hand. Handed him a birthday card. He said, "Oh, thanks, that was nice of you." (I think a few other people gave him stuff, too).
When meet and greet was over, saw my mom talking to some guy, who just happened to turn out to be RAD. Cool. Talked to him for a while, very nice guy (and quite tall, too). He knew me from my name on this site, pretty neat. He said, "Oh, yeah, you said on the site you were coming, I was wondering which person you were." (something to that effect). We wondered who else from here was at the show. Talked to Gruber, and he signed my photo, too, on the back, made a little drawing to go with it.
Too long? Ten minutes.
A great night overall. Riffing was very funny. If you get the opportunity, you definitely must see them live. Delivery is everything, and though the DVD's are funny, they're even a lot better when the Titans have an audience to play off of.
Next night-
"Dynamite Brothers". Uggghhh! again! Crap all around. (Note to Titans: What, no "Hikeeba??!!! Come on! You gotta do at least one!!! I know it's old, but I think it would have gotten quite a bit of nostalgic applause).
There was a Torgo reference, though. (I forget which movie, it had to do with the style of hats they were wearing).
The opening bits on the second night were basically the same, with a bit of new stuff thrown in (the haikus were different, there were some more ad libs here and there, an addition here, a deletion there - still all good).
Didn't stay for the meet and greet the second night. (should have on retrospect - what if I MISSED something!!!) Didn't see RAD as we left. Then we saw him in the theater as a cab was pulling up to take us back to the hotel. D'OH!!!
Sorry, RAD. Didn't stick around and say hi the second night. So, here's a belated, hi! It was great meeting you.
In conclusion - Had a great time both shows, very funny. A+ for all. ;D
Highlight: Shadow puppets, by Gruber.
Sorry this took so long. It should take you, oh, ten minutes to read this.
Any one else have a good Titan story from Bean Town?
Dragged my mom along. She's always up for a road trip.
Nice little theater in Somerville. Pretty. A little tight, as it was built in, if I remember correctly, 1914 - a tidbit from Gruber who opened the show. Everyone was short and thin then, I guess.
The audience waited in anticipation to the strains of Talking Heads (how appropriate).
Gruber came out periodically to do sound checks on the mics, put some bottled water out for the Titans, adjust the stands, etc. He'd do a little dance to the music, wave to the crowd, say there was about ten minutes til the show, then go off stage only to come back a few more times - it was always ten minutes til the show.
Then finally, around 8:15 he came out with Mary Jo, both doing a little cool walking up to the mic. He introduced MJ, then went off stage to make an official entrance.
After applause died down for Mary Jo, she thanked the crowd for coming and did a funny intro for Gruber who came back out to do his schtick. Every once in a while he'd say, "What do I have, ten minutes? Okay, I got ten minutes." (Something along that vein). After a while he introduced J. Elvis who came out and did some stuff with him. ("Ten minutes? Okay, we have ten minutes.")
Josh played his bass and the two of them did poetry haikus. Funny. Laughs from audience...ten minutes.
Josh was complaining about the lack of attention spans in our culture these days and...(speaking of, I wonder if I should divide this into segments, it's getting long, and it's not over yet -still with me?) And, what was I saying? Attention spans, lack of, yes..
Ten minutes.
Josh was making fun of radio stations with no format, and said what's next, how 'bout a station that doesn't just play your favorite songs, they just play your favorite PARTS to your favorite songs, then he started singing different parts to songs, with Gruber interrupting every so often as the announcer of station KADD. A short commercial - PART of one, more station identification, more parts of songs. Good stuff.
Ten minutes.
Then Josh introduced Frank. Frank said he had an idea for an action cartoon he was pitching where the theme song told the premise of the show - "Convoluted Man". He sang it for everyone, backed by Josh and Gruber. It was a very long, very elaborate theme song - you knew everything about this poor sap.
Time for the show. They re-introduced Mary Jo. They introduced Trace. They introduced Joel.
Joel: "It's great to be in Boston." (applause) "Not the city, I actually joined the group Boston. I'm their new lead singer."
Joel spoke to the crowd, did an invention exchange. I won't say what, 'cause he probably will do it for other shows (though I think it was already mentioned on this site somewhere).
Let Cinematic Titanic begin.
"Blood of the Vampires." Ugghhh! What a crap-fest of a movie!
I won't go too much longer with this, folks, don't worry.
Ten minutes, I promise.
Well, you get the gist. These movies will be available soon and you can look on their website to see what they're about and everything.
Meet and Greet. Fun. They emptied the lobby, and had everyone line up outside around the building while the Titans took their places; they brought everyone back in and had them line up in the theater around the seats, and back again out to the lobby and started the line going.
All the Titans were great, very friendly with everyone, took their time with each fan, talking, signing autographs, getting their pictures taken. They were very patient with everyone, no rush, a very fan-friendly group.
It was a thrill to meet all of them in person. I bought an 8x10 cast photo and had them all sign it, got some pictures. (I actually have an 8x10 signed by them already that I got from their site, but it's not the same as actually being there and being part of the history of them signing it in person, if you know what I mean).
Bought "Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks". (Haven't watched it yet, I will tonight, though).
I'm definitely buying the two movies I saw live this weekend.
Shook Joel's hand. Handed him a birthday card. He said, "Oh, thanks, that was nice of you." (I think a few other people gave him stuff, too).
When meet and greet was over, saw my mom talking to some guy, who just happened to turn out to be RAD. Cool. Talked to him for a while, very nice guy (and quite tall, too). He knew me from my name on this site, pretty neat. He said, "Oh, yeah, you said on the site you were coming, I was wondering which person you were." (something to that effect). We wondered who else from here was at the show. Talked to Gruber, and he signed my photo, too, on the back, made a little drawing to go with it.
Too long? Ten minutes.
A great night overall. Riffing was very funny. If you get the opportunity, you definitely must see them live. Delivery is everything, and though the DVD's are funny, they're even a lot better when the Titans have an audience to play off of.
Next night-
"Dynamite Brothers". Uggghhh! again! Crap all around. (Note to Titans: What, no "Hikeeba??!!! Come on! You gotta do at least one!!! I know it's old, but I think it would have gotten quite a bit of nostalgic applause).
There was a Torgo reference, though. (I forget which movie, it had to do with the style of hats they were wearing).
The opening bits on the second night were basically the same, with a bit of new stuff thrown in (the haikus were different, there were some more ad libs here and there, an addition here, a deletion there - still all good).
Didn't stay for the meet and greet the second night. (should have on retrospect - what if I MISSED something!!!) Didn't see RAD as we left. Then we saw him in the theater as a cab was pulling up to take us back to the hotel. D'OH!!!
Sorry, RAD. Didn't stick around and say hi the second night. So, here's a belated, hi! It was great meeting you.
In conclusion - Had a great time both shows, very funny. A+ for all. ;D
Highlight: Shadow puppets, by Gruber.
Sorry this took so long. It should take you, oh, ten minutes to read this.
Any one else have a good Titan story from Bean Town?