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expectations are overrated
Feb. 15th, 2008 09:16 amlet me start with - last night was awesome. all of the things about to be said are the sorts of things where something was really good, but there were parts where you were like oh - well that's not so awesome but the rest rocked hard.
so i rushed home post work in office happy hour, a bit sloshy on the train, got showered, dressed, etc in 20 mins and dashed out so we could make our 630 dinner at park chalet. now park chalet is awesome. the back side of the beach chalet out at ocean beach and it's all glass ceiling and walls and fireplace and surrounded by golden gate park. my favorite part is usually smelling the fresh cut grass as we walk in the door. is it worrysome that my favorite part of the restaurant is the smell just outside of it? maybe. so we sit and order and the menu changed. and before that sounds all super spoiled - it went from the usual appetizer, salad, entrees mix to appetizers, appetizers appetizers, burger. so essentially it was bar food tapas. or gourmet bar food. or whatever you wanna call it but there wasn't really a main course option if you didn't want a burger. we're the sort that tend to save up and splurge for this holiday so it was weird to be struggling to order enough to get full and honestly - it's weird to have cloth napkins and eat buffalo wings. just saying. there is a disconnect there. but the food was tasty and they put the other lesbionic couple next to us. who also (yes we eavesdropped) were noticing the menu changes and struggling with what to order. with the exception of the wine they ordered i think they got the exact same meal as we did trying to have enough to count as actual dinner. given the prices and the whatnot that's was a bit... disappointing. but dinner is more about the company and less about the food. and the company was divine. the parking lot is also dark enough that when we left we got to have a super hot make out session in the car. va va voom. it was good.
so we drive in to the SFMOMA and find the most ridiculous awesome parking. we're early so we get drinks at the museum cafe and it looks like we're the sort of early that a lot of the cast is getting their snack on as well. neat! good fashion abounded. when we sat in our cheap seats we had a view i couldn't argue with and were sharing the table with some nice folks. one of who turned out to be Mel Gordon who wrote Voluptuous Panic. So first off his name is Mel - a name I have a complete weakness for in terms of charm. Then you tell me that you wrote one of my most loved books that I was so so so happy to get for the holidays this year. Wow. Thankfully I wasn't star struck, but was so interested. We had good conversation over intermission later on and he shared dark chocolate truffles with the table. He and his girlfriend were just the perfect table companions and it really enhanced my night. Now as for the show itself. I both loved it and was frustrated by its uneven. It came in at around 3 1/2 hours. If it had been tightened up to about 2 hours it would have been one of the most amazing shows I had ever seen. There was a lot of what felt like Cockettes inspired drag for the sake of being outlandish drag and unfortunately it felt like that actually overpowered the Weimar cabaret feel of it. I expected more cabaret cross pollenation strange erotic and weird character based performance. And while there was that (Taylor Mac I have a crush on your awesome) there was also a good portion of the sort of drag that were it to be happening at the club i was at - that's when I would go get a drink.
It's hard to articulate exactly what the problems of the show were. I say I wish there were more female performers and singers. But I look at the mix and there were. I suppose in the end it just felt unbalanced. Like a drag show with some women thrown in. As opposed to a cabaret that had drag infused with the rest of it. But so in saying that - I was more than glad that I went and I was honestly moved a bunch of times and just WOW a lot. My absolute favorites were Taylor Mac, Justin Bond, Ana Matronic, Harlem Shake, Penny Arcade, Meow Meow and [insert performers name here later when i have the flyer in hand].
So yea. A lot of expections that weren't fulfilled. But an amazing night nonetheless. Teach me to think I know what's up. Seems like a better plan is to just roll with it and see what happens. Which thankfully, is exactly what we did.
so i rushed home post work in office happy hour, a bit sloshy on the train, got showered, dressed, etc in 20 mins and dashed out so we could make our 630 dinner at park chalet. now park chalet is awesome. the back side of the beach chalet out at ocean beach and it's all glass ceiling and walls and fireplace and surrounded by golden gate park. my favorite part is usually smelling the fresh cut grass as we walk in the door. is it worrysome that my favorite part of the restaurant is the smell just outside of it? maybe. so we sit and order and the menu changed. and before that sounds all super spoiled - it went from the usual appetizer, salad, entrees mix to appetizers, appetizers appetizers, burger. so essentially it was bar food tapas. or gourmet bar food. or whatever you wanna call it but there wasn't really a main course option if you didn't want a burger. we're the sort that tend to save up and splurge for this holiday so it was weird to be struggling to order enough to get full and honestly - it's weird to have cloth napkins and eat buffalo wings. just saying. there is a disconnect there. but the food was tasty and they put the other lesbionic couple next to us. who also (yes we eavesdropped) were noticing the menu changes and struggling with what to order. with the exception of the wine they ordered i think they got the exact same meal as we did trying to have enough to count as actual dinner. given the prices and the whatnot that's was a bit... disappointing. but dinner is more about the company and less about the food. and the company was divine. the parking lot is also dark enough that when we left we got to have a super hot make out session in the car. va va voom. it was good.
so we drive in to the SFMOMA and find the most ridiculous awesome parking. we're early so we get drinks at the museum cafe and it looks like we're the sort of early that a lot of the cast is getting their snack on as well. neat! good fashion abounded. when we sat in our cheap seats we had a view i couldn't argue with and were sharing the table with some nice folks. one of who turned out to be Mel Gordon who wrote Voluptuous Panic. So first off his name is Mel - a name I have a complete weakness for in terms of charm. Then you tell me that you wrote one of my most loved books that I was so so so happy to get for the holidays this year. Wow. Thankfully I wasn't star struck, but was so interested. We had good conversation over intermission later on and he shared dark chocolate truffles with the table. He and his girlfriend were just the perfect table companions and it really enhanced my night. Now as for the show itself. I both loved it and was frustrated by its uneven. It came in at around 3 1/2 hours. If it had been tightened up to about 2 hours it would have been one of the most amazing shows I had ever seen. There was a lot of what felt like Cockettes inspired drag for the sake of being outlandish drag and unfortunately it felt like that actually overpowered the Weimar cabaret feel of it. I expected more cabaret cross pollenation strange erotic and weird character based performance. And while there was that (Taylor Mac I have a crush on your awesome) there was also a good portion of the sort of drag that were it to be happening at the club i was at - that's when I would go get a drink.
It's hard to articulate exactly what the problems of the show were. I say I wish there were more female performers and singers. But I look at the mix and there were. I suppose in the end it just felt unbalanced. Like a drag show with some women thrown in. As opposed to a cabaret that had drag infused with the rest of it. But so in saying that - I was more than glad that I went and I was honestly moved a bunch of times and just WOW a lot. My absolute favorites were Taylor Mac, Justin Bond, Ana Matronic, Harlem Shake, Penny Arcade, Meow Meow and [insert performers name here later when i have the flyer in hand].
So yea. A lot of expections that weren't fulfilled. But an amazing night nonetheless. Teach me to think I know what's up. Seems like a better plan is to just roll with it and see what happens. Which thankfully, is exactly what we did.
