Unlike allegorical characters prevailing in mystery plays before the Renaissance (the most popular example being Everyman), Shakespeare’s characters effectively illustrate the emotions that define individuality in his plays. The result, realistic characterization, makes the fictional figures three dimensional, allowing the audience to better relate to the characters and creating more interest for the story. One intriguing phenomenon that exemplifies this realistic characterization is the platonic homosocial interaction among men that persists in many of Shakespeare’s plays. In Merchant of Venice, the love between Bassanio and Antonio puts Antonio in a “bond,” creating the tense situation which climaxes in Act 4.1. Bassanio had already postponed his and Portia’s wedding, and in this scene, announces that he would sacrifice all for Antonio, who competes with Portia for Bassanio’s love. Another instance occurs in Much Ado About Nothing, when Claudio feels betrayed in Act 2.1. He loves and trusts Pedro too much, allowing Pedro the chance to hurt him even more by taking his Hero. In Henry V, similar relationships occur in Pistol, Nim, and Bardolph and in Henry and his subjects: their love for one another both conflicts with and aggravates the more natural tendencies toward male competitiveness with exceptions and in contrast to the female relationships in the play.

Pistol and Nim begin their relationship as enemies, but by the end of Act 2.1, they have become tolerant of each other. In the scene, Bardolph reveals to the audience that Pistol and Quickly are married even though Quickly was betrothed first to Nim. Pistol and Nim argue over Hostess Quickly, but with Bardolph’s insistence and threats, the two become friends. At this point, the two do not love each other, but they have a mutual understanding, especially in terms of money, the only thing for which they care (Nim repeatedly asks if he will get his money while Pistol assures him every time). By the next act in which they appear, the two, along with Bardolph, share an intimate experience together; they mourn Falstaff’s death and listen solemnly to the eulogy Quickly gives.
Pistol has a line in 2.1 that suggests a deeper yet complicated finance-based relationship among himself, Nim and Bardolph: “And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood. / I’ll live by Nim, and Nim shall live by me” (2.1.99-100). After the 16th century, the word nim was slang for “to appropriate (something not one’s own); to steal, to filch, to pilfer (something)” (OED); in other words, a thief. One can interpret the line, then, as “A pistol will live by a thief, and a thief shall live by a pistol.” The character Boy, whom Pistol, Nim and Bardolph try to pressure into becoming a thief, reports this stealing later in Act 3.2, where all three take advantage of the war by selling off the items they steal (3.2.39-42). These cohorts trust one another since they are all members of the same illegal occupation together, but each of them feels that they are better than the others. Earlier in Act 3.2, the three cause chaos because each of them wants to be in charge. Bardolph hurries them all (3.2.1), because he is anxious to do more stealing. Nim complains about his “humors,” his excuse to convince everyone not to do anything. Pistol speaks up to the principled Captain Fluellen, “Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage…” (3.2.22). Unlike the rest of the play where people try to prove themselves to be honorable, the three trump each other for the title of the best coward. Their relationship encourages a sarcastic bickering among them, which is not only the comic relief to the play but also accurately depicts competitiveness in friendships.

Pistol’s love for Bardolph also causes him to trust Captain Fluellen, whose Machiavellian view of war soon sours Pistol and Fluellen’s respect for each other. Fluellen first compliments Pistol, saying that he is “as valiant a man as Mark Antony, and he is a man of no estimation in the world, but I did see him do as gallant service” (3.6.11-13). But when Pistol asks him to plead with Duke Exeter for mercy on Bardolph, who had stolen a pax, Fluellen renounces him right away. Fluellen says, “For if, look you, he were my brother, I would desire the Duke to use his good pleasure, and put him to executions. For discipline ought to be used” (3.6.47-50). This justification for discipline in the battlefields shows a distinct merciless among loved ones in a specific situation. The soldiers and captains, working in close quarters, must develop a brotherhood together, one that also creates a competitive atmosphere to intensify hatred against the enemy. If they are easily distracted from this cause, this “band of brothers” would disintegrate; thus, Fluellen refuses to help Pistol and Bardolph because of his zeal for disciplined war.
Henry condemns the two because of his mercy and love for the French, and in doing so, shows his dominating side. He makes sure that “none of the French [are] upbraided or abused in disdainful language…” (3.6.101-2). Later, he also says to Catherine in Act 5.2, “…it is not possible you should love the enemy of France, Kate. But in loving me, you should love the friend of France, for I love France so well that I will not part with a village of it, I will have it all mine…” (164-167). Although his love is not directed to another man, his need for domination out of love exemplifies the alpha male attitude, the aggravation of competition within men in Shakespeare’s plays. Henry glorifies gruesome war images in many scenes: the mocking of the tennis balls (1.2.284-286), the pep talk with his soldiers (3.1.5-17), and the parley of Harfleur (3.3.111-118), but then softens the images with mercy, as in Act 3.3 when he tells Exeter to hold the soldiers back. Even though he intimidates France, he does not act on his words. He has no use for a country that becomes a wasteland after a war; he wants only a claim, which is why he wants to reign over it with Catherine – this way, he can also gain from the citizens love and respect not created from fear. This manipulative domination is one of his responsibilities as a king, to keep his subjects safe, but he provides no rest for himself; he has to constantly compete with his subjects for the divine right to rule over them. He also questions how much divine right he has; his father stole the throne, so the throne passed down the wrong line of blood. Henry must, then, hold more control over his subjects unless they question his illegitimacy.
Another reason for the alpha male attitude is pride, which is shown in Pistol and Williams’ interactions with Henry, causing both respect and argument. The exchanges usually begin with a polite greeting but quickly crescendos into disagreement, because Pistol and William, who are unaware they are actually speaking to the king in disguise, are both free to speak their minds. Despite the seeming hostility, the audience sees Pistol and Williams’ respect for Henry because of Henry’s better rhetorical style. Their pride, however, keeps them from expressing this respect, so they show it through aggression, which shows how men in Shakespeare’s plays subconsciously reveal their love for each other . Henry invites both Pistol and Williams to speak ill of himself, guiding the conversation toward bashing the king. Pistol compliments the king instead, “The King’s a…lad of life, an imp of fame…I love the lovely bully” (4.1.45-49). Intriguingly, however, Pistol despises despises Henry without his ceremonial habits of a king mostly, because Henry admits to being a kinsman of Captain Fluellen, whose refusal to help Pistol and Bardolph has left Pistol with a grudge. Pistol, then, upholds his pride, shows his dislike of Henry with the obscene fico, and leaves. Williams, on the other hand, shows his dislike for King Henry right away, because he thinks “the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make” for the deaths in the war (4.1.128-129). Despite Henry’s sound argument of “Every subject’s duty is the King’s, but every subject’s soul is his own,” Williams continues to pick a fight, assuring their meeting again for a physical conclusion to their dispute. Later, he declares it was Henry’s own fault for starting the exchange and refuses to accept any money when he is only being honest. His offended pride complements his honesty; if he acts the truth (“from the heart,” as Williams says), the respected king should also act the truth instead of putting on disguises in order to trick him afterwards, such as making him accuse the wrong person because of the cap exchange. This all leads to Henry’s soliloquy, because after interacting with these two, he feels as though he should not have to be responsible for these people. At the same time, he wants to take even more responsibility by taking over France.This illustrates Henry’s constant acting so that different roles he plays contradict with one another.

Henry shows his brief nontheatrical side in Act 4.6 when two dukes die, the most touching scene in the play. For a moment, he thinks that the Duke of York is still alive despite the wounds he has taken in the battlefield which Duke Exeter proves wrong in his description of York’s death. Most importantly, though, Exeter describes the actions between York and Suffolk preceding their deaths. While Henry provided gruesome images previously in the play, Exeter uses the first gentle words in his touching story that appear in Henry V. He says that York “kisses the gashes / That bloodily did yawn upon [the Duke of Suffolk’s] face” (4.6.14-15), and how York falls on Suffolk, their blood mingling, “sealed / A testament of noble-ending love” (4.6.26-27). This is the quintessence of homosociality, a relationship lasting even in death, because the two men went through so many obstacles together in the war. Exeter himself tears up during York’s display of affection and reveals his own sentimentality; his description of the scene causes Henry to also have “mistful eyes” (4.6.34). Unlike the other relationships previously described, this one has no competition, only brotherhood. This purity creates an atmosphere of love even during a time of chaotic war, and Shakespeare deems this scene important enough to be in its own single short scene. The other relationships in this play, as stated, have been a little unfriendly if not too competitive. For one scene, the audience sees a wholesome bond that contrasts widely to all the other scenes. This scene, thus, stands out, and reveals a true humanity in Henry, allowing him to love and proving his tears to not be an act.

Another distinction in this play is the limited number of women – Catherine, Alice, and Queen Isabel; the three women only appear in two scenes. Catherine and Alice have a humorous English lesson in Act 3.4, which leads Catherine to think that the English are too vulgar. Queen Isabel joins the men’s conference in Act 5.2, because “haply a woman’s voice may do some good / When articles too nicely urged be stood on” (93-4). Then Henry courts Catherine with Alice as an interpreter. The same type of homosocial relationship does not seem to apply to the female characters in the play. First, their social ranks as queen, princess, and maid may cause a rift in their relationships, and the ambitions of men and women are different here. Catherine, Alice, and Queen Isabel are three sensible women who do not need to trump each other in cowardice, have an appetite for war, dominate one another (since the Queen as mother already has authority over the other two), or have pride that gets in the way of their interactions with each other. At the same time, the audience does not see any intense adoration among the three of them, which makes them rather dull in comparison to the relationship between Suffolk and York described in Act 4.6.

The relationships between men in Shakespeare’s plays are intriguing to analyze, but they differ greatly. Although Pistol and Bardolph’s friendship does not appear as beautiful as York and Suffolk’s, they still care for each other, or else Pistol would not go out of his way to ask for his pardon. In this war, the men must learn to trust each other even if they do not understand exactly what they are fighting. So they must interact with one another even if their respect is tinged with animosity and competition. This conflict is what makes human psychology so interesting and why Shakespeare chooses to write his characters as individuals instead of archetypes.

While Alien’s (1979) primary antagonist is the extraterrestrial being, one can argue that the secondary antagonist is Ash, the scientist consultant on the ship Nostromo. As the plot advances to reveal that an alien is on the ship and several of the crew have been killed, the warrant officer Ripley takes the role of commander and requests help from the ship’s computer Mother. Receiving no significant information in terms of protocol after discovering an alien hostile, she is ambushed by Ash, whom Parker destroys and exposes to be an android. Ash says his special order from the ship’s employers is to “bring back life form. Priority one. All other priorities rescinded.” The corporation behind the ship Nostromo had programmed Ash for this specific function, neglecting all ethical responsibilities to preserve the lives of the crew members.

Ash symbolizes the corruption of mankind aided by digital technology. This corruption is based on the original unethical ideologies that men already have. Even though audience members are never told the real reason behind Ash’s function, they still know that the crew’s lives are dependent on the orders the company gives Ash. Thus, a group of humans acting as a corporation has the power to dictate another group of humans’ lives. This becomes an ethical complication, the ability to control another person’s life. The movie uses Ash to portray the fear that with the aid of computers, people can easily control other people. With the computer as a middle man, the company never has to interact with the crew and, as a result, becomes detached to the crew members and their actual identity. Not having the do any of the unpleasant work of facing the crew members themselves, the company can justify their reasons for sacrificing the entire crew without empathy to hold them back.
Besides the company’s detachment toward the crew, the movie also stresses on Ash’s awe of the life form. He says that he admires the alien as “the perfect organism” and its “purity…unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.” Ash, thus, voices the imminent downfall of the humankind by what he thinks is the necessity to advance toward a world like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. This downfall can take place only with the aid of technology, because androids like Ash can admire such an amoral alien because of their own inability to feel or be altruistic to one another. During the scene where Ash attempts to kill Ripley, the audience can see Ash’s bunk area’s walls covered with pornography and the sadistic way of shoving the magazine down Ripley’s throat. The director uses the scene to separate Ash from the other crew members, showing how the android may appreciate the alien because of their similarities. The fear of using technology to transform humans into unfeeling beings like the android and the alien is one of the themes of Alien.

The two ideas connect because the company’s detachment may represent the beginning of men’s downfall toward amorality. Even though actual existing technology has not created an android like Ash, it has decreased the need for real life interaction. Has the downfall of man already begun? This fear is what leads some people to be cautious toward the internet and online relationships. The only thing separating humans from the android and the alien is our ability to be ethically responsible for our actions.

The word zen has been popping up in my head a lot recently. In the OED, “reminiscent or characteristic of Zen; calm, meditative.” Over break, I was mostly alone in 14C, eating quesadillas and munching on cookies, watching TV shows on my laptop. It was so easy to get lost in that comfort, thinking that I needed no one else but myself.

During the walk, Arwen and others frequently asked, “Are you okay?” if a leg sank a little lower in the dirt than it should. Then I started asking it too. It was nice to know, also, that we wouldn’t get lost. If we did, there were four adults.

I don’t know if I am calm. I don’t think I’m zen at all. I often make myself look silly with weird noises or asking awkward questions. There can’t be silence. If there is, I’d hide inside myself and get lost in my own mind. One second I’m with you and the next, a dazed look on my face and I’m thinking about myself.

I am selfish. I think about myself way too much. It’s nice to know there are people to pull me out of there once in a while. This is just a little apology in case I have ever asked you an inappropriate question.

Buttery jellyish toast is not amazing. I don’t know why people would do that. You can either have buttery toast or jellyish toast. Well, actually, you can have whatever the hell you want. But I don’t. It’s gross to have it all greasy, but sweet, at the same time. What else is greasy and sweet? Nothing good. Oh wait, no. Funnel cakes are damn good. But that is beside the point.

But the texture of jelly after it is on butter — and the very color of it all — is just quite … repulsive. I mean, I guess it depends on the original color of the jelly — but think raspberry color + butter. It is = shit.

I really just don’t want to write this fucking paper. And I really just want to write on it “butter + jelly = bad.” Basically “Romeo + Juliet = bad.” Wouldn’t that be scholarly. Actually, I just don’t know what the hell I’m writing about anymore. I have an outline, and it should be helpful, but it is not.

Why the hell does anyone read this shit. And by this shit, I mean this blog, not R & J.

Well, last Thursday, I failed big time. 2 words: pink paint.

3 more words: all over ground.

Let me tell you the sweet story of how I suck at this thing called “not doing something that can be labeled as epic fail.”

It’s not really THAT bad, the words everyone is using to calm me down. It isn’t, now that I look back at it. It’s just, I had a lot of paint cans, and there is no smooth rolling from over the curb near the truck outside of the Paul Green scene shop.

I guess I’ll explain why I was outside in the first place. Well, there wasn’t a really good shopping cart rolling path from the elevator to the paint dump (which is inside the tool lock up in Paul Green), so I had to take the path outside. It involves holding up the cart over the curb.

Well it didn’t work out, to say the least.

There were a lot of empty cans on the shopping cart. But there were also at least 2 cans of paint that were completely solid because stupid people didn’t close the lid right. (And I might speculate myself but I used the hammer and noticed solid paint before I know to throw them out.) And there were also a couple cans that were full of nasty smelly paint due to them being in the paint closet for forever. So, the cart was heavy. And, it fell. And lucky I got myself out of the way or else I would be crushed. But one can of pink paint wasn’t closed properly. AND it is indeed my fault. I didn’t close them up so well because they were going in the paint dump anyway. Why waste effort opening up the paint cans again, right? Wrong. There goes pink paint near the truck outside of the Paul Green Theatre.

Some guy (I think his name is TJ) helped me put sawdust on it. I went ahead to dump out the paint. Eric hosed it down. Everyone was calm except for me. I didn’t say too much but internally, I was screaming and freaking out a lot.

There is a huge pink spot there now. And there is pink on the shopping cart that belongs to the props master.

Yeah, I know someone up there really hates me.

And so I’m going to blog (like everyone else who thinks they have good ideas when they can’t sleep).
Mostly since my life is so interesting and I must blog it as if I don’t tweet like 409402943 times a day already.

I don’t really have anything to blog about — and I haven’t read anything too interesting recently. I mean, I read Romeo and Juliet, but nobody really wants to read a critique on R&J. Okay, yeah, I think everyone who knows the story can agree that they are actually two stupid little brats who are so infatuated that they killed themselves. Their lives would have been a lot better had they not been so retarded. Also, think about it. Mercutio died and he was the only awesome character in the play.

But yeah…um, I won’t go on about R&J. Wait, actually before I stop, Playmakers’ version 2 years ago was awesome. That Mercutio kicked ass. I forgot where the sex scene was though…maybe it was when Romeo stayed over at Juliet’s before he had to go to Mantua.

But I think I mostly want to complain about how shitty of a Thanksgiving Break I’m going to have. It’s going to be pretty shitty.

First of all, I don’t know how interested in Nicholas Nickleby I am. I think I might read it (probably a very good idea). I’ll read both the book and the screenplay I guess.

Second of all, I’m not going to get a Thanksgiving Break. I was going to get to go camping and it’d be my first time. Oh well, hopefully, Alex and I can still go over Spring Break, which would be great because it’d be less cold. But for realz, I bet I could invoke the Muse when I’m so near nature like that. I mean, not to be extremely cheesy and stuff, but you can bet your ass I would write about wild life and shit. I would write about an entire R&J based on grass and beer bottles.

Forget that last part.

Well, I must say I’m really glad I’m no longer doing wardrobe. It would basically suck. Me + sharp objects such as needles = bad bad bad idea. Follow spot doesn’t sound too bad.

I’m just really stressed out about doing something wrong… I always manage to do something wrong in the theatre world.

But I won’t give up, you bet your dollar I won’t! I will make it, I will! (Even if I have to live on campus over Thanksgiving Break)

If you have read Life of Pi by Yann Martel, you might know what I am about to refer to. Pi Patel is stuck on a lifeboat with what he thought was a dying zebra, an orangutan and a hyena. The hyena kills the zebra off, eating it, but the orangutan escapes on floating bananas. Just when Pi thinks that he will be the hyena’s next meal, he realizes that Richard Parker, the tiger that lived in the zoo his family owned, was also on the boat. Pi there reaches rock bottom — his life has gotten to the point of suckiness that he comes up with plans to keep himself surviving. It’s not really hope, perse, but it’s beyond giving up…it’s like you’re waiting for something.

I’m not going to compare my life to Pi’s allegory or whatever really happened to him in that book, but seriously, things have not been…fantastic. My hands are still kind of shaking as I type this and I still can’t fucking stay asleep. You haven’t realized how precious sleep is — I’ve really been taking sleep for granted. Have you woken up night after night so uncomfortable? You can’t for the life of you get back to sleep. You get up and drink a glass of water, then get back in bed, tossing and turning for another 30 minutes. That was my life for the past 2 and a half weeks. Every single night. And that’s not even all of it.

I need to stop being so dumb and overly compensating for the dumbness by talking too much which only somehow enhances my stupidity. I need to find a job for the summer. And for serious, I need wagon wheels with axles.

Here’s to better days and sleepful nights.

February 13, 2009. My first time at Cat’s Cradle. Magnificence. There was a reunion between the Carbon Leaf fans (whether the middle aged women remember us or not — we know what they drink). This time, I was prepared. I knew the songs well.

I think we began with Comfort. I don’t quite remember. At least that was one of the earlier songs. That and Changeless. Toss in with some songs they didn’t sing last time — Paloma, Grey Eyes, and One Prairie Outpost being some of them and One Prairie Outpost quickly became my new fave. That loneliness — that sentiment of being stuck between two places became so tangible in the softness of Barry Privet’s voice — you can’t understand until you’re there.

I’m going to say that I was not very impressed with Barry this time around. Not to mention his new wacko hair (dude, cut it, for realz), but the Cradle was not up with the sound and being at the way front, I couldn’t hear too well, making me not fully experience the brilliance that is Barry’s voice. Also, I’m going to say that Carter was very distracting. He was so hella sexy — you think he was super awesome in his hat in the Raleigh show, well fuck, I almost jumped on stage and smacked that. Okay, I’m exaggerating. But he has this way with his mandolin and guitar. He just handles it so well, with a little worked up side smile that he has. It was magnificent.

Also, quite impressed with Terry the Teddy. He is so cool and nice. Also, Jon Markel (finally realized that’s the new bassist’s name) came out again with his standing bass — huge and awesome (that’s probably what she said lolz pplz). Jason behind everyone, drummin’ it so hard. Yeah, totally drummin’ it.

One last thing: the opener was Tripp and they were really good. Check them out, support local Chapel Hill bands!

Broadway Melodies 2009
Gretyl Kinsey’s The Dark Knight
Leah Thomas’s Lost
Evan Mitchell’s Super Mario Bros
Production Group: Pauper Players
Location: Student Union Carbaret @ UNC
Date: Friday, February 6, 2009
I lost my program…whoops

Well
Playwright: Lisa Kron
Production Group: Playmakers Repertory Company
Location: Paul Green Theatre @ UNC
Date: Saturday, February 7, 2009
Directed by: Joseph Haj
Cast:
Julie Fishell as Lisa Kron
Brenda Wehle as Ann Kron
Prince T. Bowie, Joy Jones, Jeffrey Meanza, and Kim Ostrenko as Ensemble

Alice in Wonderland was creepily cute. As I heard from Alex, it is very, very similar to Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. Production-wise, things seemed a little hectic and unorganized but two things I really liked about this production were the music (played by three gentlemen who seemed to be able to keep track of what they were doing despite a bunny coming around and distracting them) and the enthusiasm of the actors, especially the duck, lory, and dodo. I think I really liked this show mainly because I have only ever read the book and never actually seen a show of it, but oh well. (I thought last winter’s Sweeney Todd was better though, so c’mon Company Carolina, step it up a bit.)

Broadway Melodies = highlarious. I haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet so it was a total spoiler (yay, I know who dies now!). But I knew what I was stepping into (btw, last year’s Broadway Melodies spoiled The Shining for me). In the order of favorite to least favorite — Super Mario Bros, The Dark Knight, then Lost. Man, Lost was pretty much disappointing. I know the actual TV show is confusing and all, but you can’t just make fun of the TV show without creating an actual plot. Alex said that whoever wrote it probably never actually watched Lost, and I might have to agree with that a bit — or at least she didn’t watch it all the time. I mean, Ben just needs to play a bigger role, I’m sorry. The Dark Knight was awesome (I really like that actress — she was in Reefer Madness last year and she is really funny…dunno her name though). Also, I like the homosexuality between Batman and the Joker. In fact, all three shows incorporated homosexuality. I guess they saw that in High School Musical of last years’ Broadway Melodies and decided to expand on that this year since it got a lost of laughs last year? Anyway, my favorite part of the entire show was probably Mario and Luigi’s “I’m Not Crying.” Man, Flight of the Conchords just makes everything a thousand times better.

Lastly, there’s Well, which was … a play within a play. I really don’t know what to say about this play. It was sort of a mindfuck. Also, I really had to pee during the play so all the intense drama (in the emotional sense of the word) sort of flew past me a little while the comedic parts weren’t helping the situation any. Also, two black guys sitting behind me were dozing off. However, the part of Ann Kron as not being Ann Kron was really, really cool, and Pirandello-esque (see, I learned something from 283 last semester). I totally didn’t see that one coming and it was right smack in the middle of a confrontation too.

I don’t really like Jack Sprat as a venue. It was very…bimbo-friendly? They were being very faux-lesbian to get the men excited but really being extra rude and stepping on my feet with their three inch heels. Very, very unhappy about that. Two openers: The Modern Society and The Tell. Modern Society was more um…emo hipster looking and The Tell was a bit more pop-oriented. I don’t really remember much about either band. They were okay but not especially great. The Tell is a local Chapel Hill band. I think Modern Society was touring with Jupiter One (not quite sure about this one).

What surprised me the most was that people seemed to leave after The Tell. I definitely saw a decrease in people for Jupiter One, which is weird because they were definitely very good. First off, I got to high five K, which was pretty much amazing. I really like the song Turn Up the Radio, which they played. I swear that at one point though, the drummer got a bad text message from someone and he stopped playing as well as he did before. Or maybe I was imagining things because of course that was during the time they played some love song and there wasn’t much drum action in that song. All in all, not a bad show, but definitely a turn off venue-wise.

Modern Skirts was pretty kick ass. I actually didn’t show up for the opener before Modern Skirts (if there was one) and I didn’t stay for whoever was after Modern Skirts (since it was a school night and they started pretty late anyway…). Oh man they played all my favorite songs on their new CD, All of Us in Our Night — Motorcade, Soft Pedals, Radio Breaks, etc. They also experimented with this drumming thing where every one of the members played a different drum and they shouted the same thing over and over again and got boo’d. Except it was fucking hilarious and I could see Phillip (bass/guitar) laughing his ass off. They also played a couple of new songs and old songs that were very good so I went and bought their debut album. I must say I like All of Us in Our Night better than Catalogue of Generous Men, and I am excited about their third CD because I think they’re just going to keep getting better and better. Also I met Jay (the lead) afterward and he is an awesome human being (probably because when Russell asked for dap, he said, “Oh you mean a bro punch”). All I have to say is I am still singing, “When the radio breaks, when the static feels right, tear the city up street by street, don’t sleep keep up all night.”