Just like college

Saturday night Eric and I went out on a date while my mom stayed with Emerson at our place. Eric had planned a sophisticated evening out for us the main event of which was: a magic show.

We went to dinner beforehand and got to the magic show venue (a hotel meeting room with a make-shift curtain backdrop) and noticed a crowd gathered across the street. It turned out to be a performance art piece that, like every theater performance my entire time at Brown, involved a naked woman.

In this case, the art was sort of happening to her: she stood there while the "artists" took objects off of a wall display and used them on her. One person brushed her hair. Someone else painted things on her body. Another fellow wrapped her in saran wrap. Then someone cut the saran wrap off of her. And then someone squeezed a lemon on her. And so on like that.

Hmmm. I wished that one of the things on the wall was an oversized t-shirt. Or a hug. You know - things she could have actually used. But this was art and the point, whatever it was, had to be made.

So we went into the magic show! The audience was us and about 9 other people: a few other couples on dates, a nine year old boy and his parents, and an older couple that may have been German.

We had a wonderful time in spite of the completely amateurish performance. It might have been fun to guess how they were doing the tricks if it hadn't been so obvious. There were two magicians and the first one was so nervous his hands were shaking through all his card tricks. The second magician at least had a big wonderful showman persona so even though his tricks were flimsy he was great fun to watch.

When we emerged from the magic show, the "art project" across the street was continuing: her hair was now covered in vaseline and someone had lit a candle in front of her and was using aerosol deodorant to make little fireballs in front of her (not at her).

We watched for a few minutes because it was impossible not to. Then we wandered over to Union Square where, of course, a small group of guerrilla film-makers was shooting a music video. Six young women in tight black clothes and boots (three identical-looking blondes and three identical-looking brunettes) strutted around with bright red umbrellas. To capture the action smoothly the camera dude was being pushed around in a wheelchair.

Apparently the video is for the upcoming smash hit: "Marco Polo."

Then it was time to ride our bikes home.