Stories about seeing and being seen. Taped before a live audience in Town Hall in New York City in December 1998, this was a co-production with WNYC New York, featuring live music by the pop band They Might Be Giants and the This American Life Orchestra.
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American Goth
There are the people who take two hours to get dressed every day, who dress primarily to be seen, and then there are most of the rest of us. Writer Sarah Vowell decides to make the leap into the two-hours group. As part of her lifelong quest to look meaner, she takes lessons in Goth. Goth is the subculture of people who dress in lacy black clothes and dark eye makeup. (15 minutes)
Lifesavers
Ira tells the story of Lucia Lopez, a former gang member who would beat you up if she caught you looking at her...and how her life changed when she put herself in a position where hundreds of people were looking at her. (18 minutes)
Climb Every Mountain
Writer David Rakoff travels to a place where everyone seems to be looking at him, a place where no one follows the customs people follow back home in New York City, a place called...New Hampshire. (17 minutes)
Note that many of the They Might Be Giants songs featured in this show are also on their live CD Severe Tire Damage.
Related
Act Two: Kodak Moments Of The Dead
Act One: Teenage Embed, Part One
Act Two: The Heels On The Bus
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