The Filtered Excellence: October 3: 2020
Bob Geldof once asked “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Once a week we take a break from comedy to bring you this week’s picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more.
WATCH THIS
The Comedy Store. Mike Binder wrote and directed this new Showtime docu-series about the legendary L.A. club that has become a standup comedy benchmark. It tells the story of how Mitzi Shore, who following her divorce, took the former home of Ciro’s nightclub and transformed it into a comedic breeding ground for nearly 50 years. Norman Lear, David Letterman, Sam Kinson, Chris Rock, Andrew Dice Clay, Jay Leno, Louie CK, Sandra Bernhardt, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Carrey, and Judd Apatow, are among the many big names that Binder has assembled to talk about how The Comedy Store impacted their careers and how it continues to showcase the next generation of comics. The series is also a personal journey for Binder, who arrived to L.A right out of high school, worked the door, and got regular spots at the height of the club’s ascendency. There’s also moving elegies for Freddie Prinze, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinson and Robin Williams – the Comedy Store legends who left us too soon. But ultimately, it salutes Mitzi Shore, whose vision, tenacity and love for comedy – and the comics – elevated the medium to unprecedented heights. Anchored by amazing stories, insight, and a wealth of archival material, Binder has penned the ultimate love letter to the Mount Olympus of comedy clubs. The Comedy Store premieres Sunday, October 4th at 10pm on Showtime.
Austin City Limits. The 46th season of the acclaimed PBS series premieres with a tribute to the late John Prine. It will celebrate his extraordinary career with 12 classic ACL classic performances including his show debut in 1978, to his final appearance on 2018. It will also include a never-before-aired 1987 performance of the classic, ‘Sam Stone’. With great stories and songs rich in candor, wit, and wisdom, this is a fitting salute to a songwriting iconoclast. Austin City Limits: The Best Of John Prine premieres this weekend on PBS. Check local listings for times.
LISTEN TO THIS
New York by Lou Reed (Deluxe Edition). Released in 1989, Lou Reed’s 14-song cycle about a New York City ravaged by AIDS, gentrification, racism, environmental neglect, and the growing gap between rich and poor, received some of his strongest reviews of his career. Now Reed’s widow Laurie Anderson has co-produced this new box set, that gives a complete overview of the album that marked a creative and commercial rebirth. It features a remastered version of the original album, 26 unreleased live tracks and work tapes, and a hardcover book of photos and essays by Don Fleming and David Fricke. There’s also ‘The New York Album Concert’, a live DVD that was recorded live at the Theatre St. Denis in Montreal as well as an audio-only interview. Songs such as ‘Dirty Blvd’, ‘Halloween Parade’, ‘Busload Of Faith’, and ‘Xmas In February’ have lost none of their lyrical bite, sounding as though they were all written within the last year. To hear the work parts of the material gives us a glimpse of Reed’s creative process, and the live tracks shows an artist and his killer in peak form. It’s a fantastic reissue for an album that ranks among on his best. The deluxe edition of New York by Lou Reed is available now though Amazon and all major streaming services.
BROWSE THIS
The New Yorker Festival. The New Yorker’s annual festival goes virtual this year, but it still has a wealth of fascinating talks and panels on its docket. The 2020 lineup includes Dr. Anthony Fauci with Michael Specter talking about the pandemic; Noah Hawley and Chris Talk discussing the new season of Fargo with Doreen St. Felix; Emily Naussbaum interviewing Fiona Apple (who will also perform); Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph trading stories; Susan Morrison in conversation with Steve Martin and Jerry Seinfeld and much more. Engaging, sometimes controversial and always entertaining, this promises to be another solid out from one of the country’s premier festivals. The New Yorker Festival runs October 5th through the 11th. You can go to festival.newyorker.com for the full lineup and more information.
DO THIS
New York City: The Guggenheim Museum. One of the city’s most beloved institutions reopens its orders after a 7 month absence. The showcase exhibitions include The Fullness Of Color: 1960s Painting, in which avant-garde painters take abstraction in new directions in the 1960s; and Away From The Easel, featuring Jackson Pollack’s Mural, which has not been on view in New York for over 20 years. Tickets must be bought in advance with masks and social distancing mandatory. Go to www.guggenheim.org for more information.
Wear A Mask.
Practice Social Distancing.
Wash your hands.
Be safe.
Earl Douglas is a writer/photographer based in New York City. A frequent contributor to The Interrobang, Earl is also Executive Director for the New York chapter of The Black Rock Coalition. Earl worked in radio for nearly two decades at WNEW-FM and XM Satellite Radio, which included being the on-air producer for Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Ron & Fez, and a contributor to Opie & Anthony. Earl has also independently published a number of books including Black Rock Volume 1, Urban Abyss, Mobile Uploads, and For Shimmy. His latest project is the photojournalism magazine PRAXIS, which is available exclusively through Blurb.com.
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