Jim Breuer
TLA
334 South Street
November 30
8 p.m., $20 advance, $22 day
(215) 922-1011
Now goats are peculiar animals. They don't have the sexual coyness of sheep, nor do they have the grandiose dong of horses. Yet Jim Breuer has made his career out of imitating these grass-munching critters. Of the 27 years that Saturday Night Live has graced our television sets with its consistently flawless comedy, Breuer's goatboy talk show was wit at its finest. And there was also his Joe Pesci talk show. And we believe there was even a stoned college student talk show. A man of mind-blowing innovation, Jim Breuer is sure to revive all of his schticks in his Heavy Metal Comedy tour. That's right, heavy metal comedy. You can't get much better than a longhaired headbanging goat, threatening to beat the crap out of Macaulay Culkin while lighting up a fat doobie. And though we have the sneaking suspicion that heavy metal is dead, and that goats and Joe Pesci aren't exactly in vogue, we know that wacky-backy will always be funny. And make you fat.
Monique holt: Women in Shakespeare
Painted Bride Art Center
230 Vine Street
8 p.m., $18
(215) 925-9914
There's really no way to make this type of event sound all that exciting to someone who doesn't already want to go. For those who do, however, there are a couple things that may make this particular performance somewhat noteworthy. The first, as you may have guessed, is the fact that characters such as Lady Macbeth and Desdemona will take the spotlight in this series of vignettes. Women have certainly played important roles in the interpretations of Shakespeare's works in the past but now, perhaps more than ever, they will command the audience's full attention. In addition, and in some ways most surprisingly, a number of the performers on stage will be deaf. One can only imagine the ways in which this will affect the entire dynamic of the production. At times it can seem that performing Shakespeare has become totally boring and repetitive, but hopefully this performance will prove to be a fresh look at some highly under-appreciated characters.
The Ally
Grape Street Pub
105 Grape Street
Manayunk, Pa.
(215) 483-7084
Whenever anyone tries to think of a good Penn band, just about the only name that comes to mind is the Ally. It's a pretty lame showing, considering the multitudes of students who attend this lovely institution, but we always knew we were all basically just pretending to be talented this whole time anyway. So as the Ally begins down the path to mega-stardom we figured we'd give them some of that highly coveted Street love. They've done us well to provide a welcome relief from the seemingly inescapable flood of horrid a cappellic bile that plagues this campus. We'll take dirty hippies over pre-pubescent sounding 20-somethings any day.
Indie-Rock Does Neo-Bach
Philadelphia Ethical Society
1906 S. Rittenhouse Square
Through December 2
$20/$18 students
(215) 735-3456
Indie-Rock does Neo-Bach. Nice. While the folks at Relache want us to believe that this concept was conceived out of the love of both under-appreciated-and-we're-gonna-bitch-and-moan-about-it musicians and the simply orgasmic Johann Sebastian, we know that the idea for this brand of fusion came out of one too many whippets and the revelation that rock rhymes with Bach. Dude, rock, Bach, that is such a good idea! Where am I?
