Fun on Ice

Last night I had the good fortune to go see David Sedaris at Avery Fischer Hall in Lincoln Center.

Yesterday afternoon as my mother and I were figuring out what train we were going to take and where we were going to eat dinner I asked her if she had read anything about what exactly David Sedaris would do on stage. She hadn't. Neither had I. Google was of very little help because the best thing I came up with was a link to his agent's site which only gave a basic bio. It hadn't even occurred to me to think about what exactly we'd be seeing until just that moment. I mean, its David Sedaris, of course I want to go see him. Duh!

Mom and I traveled into NYC by train in the afternoon. Upon arrival we headed downtown to West Elm so I could pick out furniture to outfit my new work from home life. I got some great stuff and it is coming next week. Yay! Then for old time's sake we headed to our favorite West Village Chinese food joint, Sammy's Noodle Shop where we indulged. Yum! Many years ago not many weeks went by without us eating there so we try to get back there as often as we can. As we were finishing dinner we both started wondering again about what we were about to see, but we were both at a loss.

After dinner we grabbed a cab and headed uptown to Lincoln Center and can I tell you just how annoying the mini TVs in taxis are? Ugh! We picked up our tickets from Will Call and noticed that there was a display of signed David Sedaris for sale and a notice that he would be signing books at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes and Noble after the show. And then I started to get a little disappointed. Was this just going to be a typical author appearance on a large scale? Quick, but amusing speech, quick reading, and Q&A where a bunch of people ask questions that are so obviously trying too hard. I hoped I didn't pay for a glorified author visit.

I'm not exactly sure what to call what we saw besides a veritable laugh riot. It was part reading, part lecture, and part performance piece. It was all wonderful. I'm not sure how much of David Sedaris in print and now as I have seen him in person is persona and how much is the real David Sedaris, but I have a hard time believing it isn't more true than act. I like him more today than I did before I saw him last night and I was even tempted to go to the signing afterwards. Especially since he said on this last book tour he moved all men under 5'6" and all women in braces to the front of the line. Hah! The only time wearing braces could ever be a benefit.

For all my book loving friends I have to mention that David Sedaris included a book reommendation at the end of his performance. Last night's book was The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders and it sounds hysterical. I've already added it to my Amazon cart. There is a list of book reommendations from David Sedaris here. There is a number of very interesting looking books there.