by Klaus Kinski

Unwigged & Unplugged & Elvis Costello @ the Beacon - 5/26/09 (andyg_flickr)

Last night (5/26) I caught the first of two performances of UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer at the gorgeously restored Beacon Theater. As much as I love (and cannot imagine a life without) the music-centric films This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting For Guffman, the thought of an acoustic, out of character, 'greatest hits' set initially struck me as crass commercialism at its worst. And, hell, maybe it was crass commercialism at it's worst; but holy moly if those dudes didn't slap the smug, cross-armed look off my face within the first five chords.

Their re-orchestrations of Tap classics to fit a folk mold were awe-inspiring works of genius. Highlights from the set included Hell Hole, Saucy Jack, The Bulging River, Stonehenge, Start Me Up, A Mighty Wind, Eat At Joes, and Sex Farm. But the major holy shitballs moment of the evening was when the trio backed up ELVIS COSTELLO for an extremely ballsy rendition of Gimme Some Money. The event wasn't without its minor clams though. I felt that the show was about 30 minutes too long and that the stage banter was at times too long winded, self-indulgent, dated, and often unfunny (ie, poking fun at the lack of music played on MTV). That said, these guys can really play and sing and for the most part they had me busting a gut and admiring their very real skills as musicians. Add to that the brief video interludes featuring vintage, rare Tap footage and a couple of fan-made music videos, and I had myself one helluva time.

While looking around for a setlist of the show, I came across this livejournal entry that talks about a different Unwigged show, but nonetheless pretty closely describes the basic format and pacing of the Beacon show I saw. Catch them at the same venue, again tonight (5/27). Some videos from last night below...

Continue reading "Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer (& Elvis Costello) were Unwigged & Unplugged @ Beacon Theater"

Spoof band Spinal Tap have announced a "world tour" consisting of a single June date at London's Wembley Arena.

The tour marks the 25th anniversary of mockumentary film, This is Spinal Tap, which launched the band's career.

The band will be backed by 1960s folk trio The Folksmen, the focus of another spoof film, 2003's A Mighty Wind.

Spinal Tap's lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel commented: "If we're going to do a World tour on only one night, at least it's this world."

Bassist Derek Smalls added: "one night is not enough, and it's way too much". [BB C]

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer, the men wearing the wigs in Spinal Tap, aren't going on a world tour, but they are going on a much larger tour which includes 2 NYC shows at Beacon Theater. One (5/26) has been on sale for over a month. One (5/27), though initially announced by the band, was just announced by the venue.

Tickets for the March May 27th show at Beacon Theater go on pre-sale this morning at 10 am. [ Password = UNWIGGED ]. Regular sale starts 24 hours later.

Video from Spinal Tap's 2007 Live Earth appearance, below...

Continue reading "2nd Unwigged show PRESALE & a Spinal Tap "World Tour""

Christopher Guest had a one-season stint, 1984-85, as a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Recurring characters on SNL played by Guest include: Frankie, of Willie and Frankie (two co-workers who recount in detail physically painful situations in which they've found themselves); Herb Minkman, a shady novelty toymaker with a brother named Al (played by Billy Crystal); Rajeev Vindaloo, an eccentric foreign man in the same vein as Andy Kaufman's Latka character from Taxi; and Senor Cosa, a Spanish ventriloquist often seen on the recurring spoof of The Joe Franklin Show. He also experimented behind the camera with pre-filmed sketches, notably directing a documentary-style short starring Harry Shearer and Martin Short as synchronized swimmers. In another short film from SNL, Guest and Crystal appear as retired Negro-League baseball players, "The Rooster and the King."

He has also appeared as Count Rugen in The Princess Bride, Charley Ford in The Long Riders, Lord Cromer in Mrs Henderson Presents and Dr. Stone in A Few Good Men. He had a cameo role as Dylan, a smarmy pedestrian, in the 1986 remake of The Little Shop of Horrors. As a co-writer and director, Guest made the Hollywood satire The Big Picture.

Guest's biggest role of the first two decades of his career, however, is likely that of Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 "rockumentary" film This Is Spinal Tap. Amplifier manufacturers actually began to produce amps with knobs going up to 11 (rather than the traditional scale of 10), as a result of a popular scene where a benighted Tufnel proudly shows off such an amp, believing it to be louder. "This one goes to 11!" has become something of a mantra among musicians ever since. Guest made his first appearance as Tufnel on the 1978 sketch comedy program The TV Show, and appears as Tufnel most recently in a television ad for Volkswagen. [Wikipedia]

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will be performing songs from Spinal Tap, Break Like The Wind, and A Mighty Wind on the UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED TOUR this spring.

Tickets for the first of two NYC shows at the Beacon Theater go on "Internet presale" today, Thursday, at 10 AM. PASSWORD = UNWIGGED

The trio made two separate videos promoting the tour. Check them out below...

Continue reading "Spinal Tap (Unwigged & Unplugged) - Beacon Theater PRESALE & tour-related videos"

Actors/Directors/Musicians and Comedy Icons Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are doing something they have never done before; performing a six week, 30 city multi-media acoustic tour without wigs and electric instruments.

UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer has the legendary musical and comedic trio performing music from heavy metal's loudest band Spinal Tap along with the folk music from A Mighty Wind, and more.

Tickets for the UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED tour go on sale Friday, March 6th (mostly at Ticketmaster), with the tour starting Friday, April 17th in Vancouver and ending Sunday, May 31st in Milwaukee.

UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED is not about funny costumes and characters, but rather three long time friends and collaborators who make each laugh and love nothing better than to find some excuse to get together and play music. The trio commented, "With this being the 25th Anniversary of the film This is Spinal Tap, we thought this would be a fun and at the same time, a little challenging, as we have never performed as ourselves. Think of the evening as three old friends jamming in your living room. As opposed to OUR living rooms; we won't be home."

The NYC shows (plural) are May 26th and May 27th at the Beacon Theatre. More info, all dates and exact on-sale dates, below....

Continue reading "Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer performing music from SPINAL TAP & more - 2009 DATES"