have you seen it?
I went to Delaware last weekend for a concert. Some -- the snooty concierge at the Hotel DuPont, Wilmington's poshest accommodations, for example -- would say it was a long way to go for a concert.
I, however, would say it was well worth it.
For one thing, it was a Rufus Wainwright concert, and Rufus is one of my personal heroes. And he didn't disappoint, even if he didn't play "Go or Go Ahead," my all-time favorite song. Or "Want," my all-time second-favorite. There were plenty of other favorites, and his music is so brilliant and inspiring that, really, just being in the audience was a thrill. Also, he did play "Hallelujah," which was the song that really hooked me on him.
For another thing, I got to visit my Aunt Sher, whom I hadn't seen in years but who was responsible for introducing me not only to Rufus' music but to many of my other favorite artists growing up -- she helped shape my musical tastes, really, because while other kids were listening to Pearl Jam in the '90s, I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, for better or worse. I like to think it was for better.
Anyway, while we were there this weekend, Aunt Sher played two episodes of a new-to-us show ... and totally hooked us. It's an HBO "musical" sitcom, "Flight of the Conchords." Have you seen it? It's about a novelty folk band from New Zealand trying to make it in New York, these two goofs who are totally sweet and clueless, and I love them.
On the basis of those two episodes, we had to stop and buy the first season on DVD on our way back to Massachusetts. And we had to watch the whole thing in one sitting. It's that good.
And for one final thing: I've always said that before I die I'd like to stay in a really ritzy hotel, someplace that doesn't have ugly reddish-brownish floral-patterned scratchy coverlets on the beds, someplace like you see in the movies, in a suite with room service and lots of pillows and a bathroom the size of my study. Well, I've stayed at the Hotel DuPont. I can cross that one off my list.