"Early evening, April four, shot rings out in the Memphis sky. Free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride." ~u2

Today is Martin Luther King day, and it is especially meaningful because of what is happening tomorrow. Obama's inauguration feels like a monumental step in the fulfillment of MLK's dream. It's exciting to feel like a part of that. U2 performed at the inaugural concert last night. Of course they did "Pride" (with "City of Blinding Lights"). In an interview Bono and Edge joked about launching into their new single instead, which debuted today ("Get on Your Boots," which is fanfreakintastic by the way), but of course "Pride" was the obvious and appropriate choice. Here's the video:


To any new readers who don't know me that well, I am completely obsessed with U2. I was happy to see a new performance from them (even though I wish they would have done a new song). Bono also participated in the performance on Oprah today, taking part in singing a new song called "America's Song" or something cheesy like that. It was pretty darn awful. I'll spare you and won't post the video of that. Bono didn't write it and he wasn't actually there; he participated through video. He probably realized what utter crap it was.

Kim stayed with me this weekend and it was good to have her, even though it was the worst weekend to be walking around the city because it was so freakin' cold. We bundled up (we felt like we were in Antarctica) and still managed to have a good time. I have some funny stories that I might share later. I needed to get out this weekend and to have a friend around; it was good for me.

Have I posted about Hetta Gabler yet? I don't think so. It's currently on Broadway starring Mary Louise Parker, and I saw it on Wednesday (Nic had comps). I absolutely love MLP, but the show was awful. I saw it with Cate Blanchett at BAM a couple of years ago, and that production was so superb that probably nothing could live up to it, but Roundabout really has turned this one into a disaster. MLP wasn't bad, although she doesn't quite match Cate Blanchett. She used her usual sarcasm and I liked that (she was very funny), but her performance needed more depth. There needed to be more despair hiding behind the sarcasm and boredom, and I didn't really see that. The supporting cast was terrible (it's not necessarily their fault, I'm sure the direction is a large part of the problem). I'm sorry, but the audience should not want to laugh after the last line of the play. Maybe some improvements will be made before it officially opens, but there's no way it can fix everything by then. It's too bad; I was looking forward to this.

This post started out on a positive, uplifting note and look where it ended. I'm sorry. Focus on the first half; that's the more important stuff to think about. Listen to "Pride" and think about MLK's dream.

Oh, and thank you to everyone who sent kind words my way after my last post. I really, really appreciated the support from friends; it meant a lot to me. I'm trying to be happy and positive now and you guys helped a lot, so thanks. :)