Events will run from 10 am  to 6 pm on Friday 18th and will feature performances and discounts at local businesses for certified KEXP donors. The live broadcast is geared for audiences of all ages and is free to attend. The “Hood to Hood” event helps highlight the winning neighborhood and generates some revenue for local businesses. As a contribution to the neighborhood, KEXP also accepts donations to the Ballard Food Bank at the KEXP Tent, located at Bergen Place (5420 22nd Ave NW), which serves as the center of the event. For a list of acceptable donation items, see KEXP’s Ballard Day page.

This year, “Hood to Hood” coincides with Bike to Work Day; the first event of the morning is a 6 am broadcast sponsored in conjunction with Cascade Bicycle Club that will feature live performances and a conversation with the Mayor. The morning will continue with live performances and DJ sets. The evening features live performances at many nearby bars and a benefit to encourage donations to the Ballard Food Bank. As part of Bike to Work Day in conjunction with Summer Streets, 22nd Ave will also feature activities and services related to biking and the local community from 4 to 7 pm. The schedule for the day is listed below; for a list of vendors featuring specials in honor of “Ballard Day,” see KEXP’s Ballard Day page and remember to bring a KEXP Donor Card. Donations to KEXP are accepted during the event and online.

BERGEN PLACE PARK 10:00am – 6:00pm
with live DJ sets from Cheryl Waters and Kevin Cole
10:00am – Ramona Falls
12:00pm – Deep Sea Diver
2:00pm – My Goodness
4:00pm – The Maldives
5:30pm – Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

Featured Evening Showcases

A Benefit for the Ballard Food Bank 8:00pm – 10:00pm
Live music hosted by KEXP DJ John Richards
River Giant [Acoustic]
All-Ages
Cover: Suggested Donation of $5

THE SUNSET 9:00pm – close
Live music hosted by KEXP DJ Shannon
The Redwood Plan
Grayskul
Wow & Flutter
21+
Cover: $8 Public/$6 for KEXP Donors

TRACTOR TAVERN 8:30pm – close
Hosted by DJ El Toro
Lindsay Fuller
The Horde and the Harem
Legendary Oaks
21+
Cover: $10 Public/ $8 for KEXP Donors

CONOR BYRNE 9pm – close
Hosted by Hans
Tiny Messengers
Ghosts I’ve Met
Joy Mills
21+
Cover: $8 Public/$6 KEXP Donors

Hazlewood 8pm – 10pm
Variety
Johnny Horn
21+
FREE

BalMar – Bike to Work Day After Party! 5pm – 8pm
Wo’ Pop & El Sonido
Darek Mazzone
DJ Rhythma
DJ Chilly
21+
FREE

The Sexton 8pm – 10pm
Variety
Larry Rose
21+
FREE

Hattie’s Hat 8pm – 11pm
Swingin’ Doors
Don Slack
21+
FREE

Courtesy of the good folks at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, CultureMob is offering a special giveaway for This Means War on DVD.  For more on director McG’s action-packed romantic-comedy, I’ll turn to Fox’s official synopsis.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy portray the world’s deadliest CIA operatives, as well as inseparable partners and best friends….until they fall for the same woman (Reese Witherspoon).  Having once helped bring down entire enemy nations, they are now employing their incomparable skills and an endless array of high-tech gadgetry against their greatest nemesis ever – each other.

And I have two DVD copies to giveaway.  It’s very simple.  To qualify for the discs, email me at moviegeek123@hotmail.com, put “This Means War DVD Giveaway” in the email subject line, provide your first and last name, and correctly answer the following question.

• Lead Tom Hardy is appearing this summer as a villain in which of the following Hollywood blockbusters?
  a) Prometheus b) The Dark Knight Rises c) Savages d) The Bourne Legacy
  

I’m going to stop taking entries at 8 PM EST on Wednesday, May 23rd, so get your answers in before then.  Only contestants within the United States and Canada are eligible, and entering the same name under multiple email addresses will get you disqualified.  P.O. box addresses will not be accepted.  If you win the giveaway and send me a P.O. box, you will be disqualified.

The winner will be informed privately on Thursday, May 24th.  For anyone who doesn’t win, This Means War will debut on Blu-ray Combo packs, DVD, and digital download on May 22nd and will be available at Amazon.com.

–Note: Talk about the film on Twitter beginning April 16th with the hashtag #ThisMeansWar or visit the film’s Facebook page.

Give it a try: The Philly Folk Fest will get under your skin.

Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and John Hiatt will take the main stage at the 51^st Annual Philadelphia Folk Fest, which kicks off August 17-19 in Upper Salford Township. Of the three respected songwriters, only Earle has graced the stage in recent years…and that was solo.

That’s not the only big surprise: Saturday will be so full of music that instead of the traditional afternoon concert, the music will continue straight to midnight. That’s thirteen hours of tunes in one day, not counting times when two or even three performances will take place simultaneously.

“We’ve been calling this the First Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival, presenting 50 years of Folk“, said Lisa Schwartz, Marketing Chair and President of presenting organization, Philadelphia Folksong Society. “We felt that last year’s 50th celebration was so special, we didn’t want to even try to top it.  Point Entertainment has done a stellar job putting together our lineup. There really is something for everyone this year!”

The straight-through concept allows the ticketing to be streamlined, so this year, there will be one ticket for each day, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, as well as the All-Festival ticket, providing admission for all three days at a discounted price. Aside from deleting the Afternoon Concert, other changes include booking significantly less acts that in previous years, giving the artists more stage time and more room for the potential for collaboration.

Of the other acts, make plans to check out Mary Gauthier, Lori McKenna, and Tracy Grammer. They are up-and-coming songwriters who will dazzle you with poignant, earnest music that doesn’t feel overwrought. You’d be glad you did.

For complete information about the Philadelphia Folk Festival and tickets, visit the website at www.folkfest.org

As they took the stage and started playing ‘The Phone’s Off The Hook But You’re Not’ it was apparent this was not going to be some simple nostalgia show. The band played loud and with all the energy you might have expected from them in 1977. While they may have been a bit more gray-haired and prone to wrinkles there seemed to be no lost step from their younger versions. Those in the back of the packed room might have wondered if they traveled back in time for the night.

John Doe wore an old cowboy shirt and banged away on a bass guitar that looked like it was a thousand years old. He was into the show, interacting with fans between verses and leaning into his microphone so much that you weren’t sure how it didn’t tumble into the crowd. His voice sounded just as desperate, and great, as it did in the good old days. He seemed to be enjoying himself, smiling often and rocking out with his band mates.

Exene Cervenka prowled the stage between songs and then bounced around the stage during them. She glared at the audience the whole time as she meshed her voice with Doe’s in their signature X style. She did not say much to the crowd but the constant glare told you that she was on that stage to take care of business and that she was not going to be messed with. After all, if you’re going to see X don’t you want to be glared at by Exene?

To the right of her guitarist Billy Zoom played his customary glittery Gretsch guitar, ripping out solos and rockabilly riffs all night long. His hair looked the same as it did in 1980, albeit with a bit more gray in it, proving that some styles never go out. He stood still most of the night, smiling now and then in a black leather jacket. He was confident and the only words to describe him Saturday night are ‘bad ass’.

X ripped through most of their classic songs which delighted the mixed crowd. It was quite the spectacle to see gray hair dudes belting out the songs next to women in their twenties. All of them just as enthusiastic as the next one. This is a rare show that featured an old band, and a crowd made up of people who were there at the beginning and some that were young enough to be their children.

All of that speaks to the music X has produced over the years. Even 35 years later it still sounds important, desperate and needed.

We then see Osha, Hordor and the boys running through the forest. They come to a small encampment where they hear kids playing. They think about stopping and decide not to as they are sure that Theon will torture the kids to find out where they had gone.

Osha urges them to keep moving as they won’t be able to outrun the wolves forever.

North of the wall we find Jon Snow and Ygritte where we found them-spooning. Ygritte wakes up and notices that Jon’s hand is around her and that he is awful close. She asks him if he pulled a knife on her back in the middle of the night which both startles and embarrasses Jon.

Jon gets her moving again and she begins to give him the business about being a virgin and asking him how hard that must be. She grills him over and over about how stupid his oath was and how she and her people are free while he is forced to obey silly rules. He puts up with her as best he can but she is clearly either annoying him or attracting him. It’s hard to say with Jon as he is pretty emotionless.

She manages to get him so flustered that she pulls the rope free and escapes him again. He goes after her only to find out that her people have surrounded them and Jon is captured. That’s what he gets for straying off with strange red-haired wildings.

In Harrenhall it appears that Tywin Lannister seems to be enjoying having Arya Stark as his servant. He gets into conversations with her about the Targaryen family, which she displays a detailed knowledge of. Even more detail than Tywin has.  As he stares out the window, waxing poetically about the history of Harrenhall, she grabs a knife and eyes his exposed throat. Before she can act on her impulse he turns and she puts the knife down.

He then lets on that he realizes she is highborn and trying to pass as a commoner as she keeps saying ‘my lord’ to him instead of ‘m’lord’. So many rules in Westros that you wonder how they keep them all straight.

In Qarth Daeny is still trying to make sense of her missing dragons. Jorah comes back and apologizes for being gone while they were taken. She forgives him and says she knows he was just trying to help her find a ship. He vows to go find them and visits the creepy metal-masked woman again. This time she is giving some guy a huge back tattoo and tells him that she does not have the dragons but that the person who does was with her that very moment.

We then see Daeny in a council room before Qarth’s thirteen, the ruling council. She accuses them of stealing her dragon, which The Spice King is not happy to hear. Pyat Pree, the creepy magic man from last episode, says that he has the dragons and that he took them in an agreement he made with the king of Qarth, and that if she would just visit the House of the Undying she could have them back. This makes the thirteen laugh as there is no king of Qarth. Xaro stands up and says that he is now the king of Qarth and soon armed men appear behind the remaining eleven and slit their throats. Daeny turns to run but Pyat Pree appears in front of her to stop her. Jorah appears and runs a sword through him but he just disappears.

Doesn’t Jorah know that you can’t run a sword through a wizard?

In King’s Landing Sansa is moping around the castle when she runs across the Hound. She tries to thank him for saving her but he doesn’t want to hear any of it, saying that he enjoys killing – it’s fun for him. Sansa can’t understand how he can be full of so much hate. He reminds her that she will be glad he is like that when there is nobody else to stand between her and the King.

The next morning Sansa awakes from a terrible dream to bloody sheets. She freaks out knowing that now she is of age and the Queen will expect her to have Joffrey’s babies. With Joffrey as creepy as he is, it is understandable how that would upset her. She is trying to hide the evidence when Shae comes in and promises to help her. One of the other handmaids sees it and runs out of the room. Shae goes after and threatens her not to tell the Queen. However, when Shae returns to the room the Hound is standing over the bed, and Sansa.

The jig is up.

Later the Queen talks to Sansa and lets on that she is aware Sansa is not madly in love with her son. She gives her some Queenly advice that it doesn’t matter if she loves him, she’ll love their children and that was what she should remember.

Look for that sage advice in Cersei’s soon to be released book on parenting in Westeros.

Back at Robb’s camp he is listening to Ser Alton Lannister, who he had sent to the Queen with a peace offering. Alton tells him that the Queen tore up his offer and Robb thanks him and then sends him off to share a cell with Jamie Lannister. As Robb is getting ready to leave Talisa Maegar, the nurse he has the hots for comes to his tent and says that she needs medical supplies for the wounded. She knows Robb is off to the Crag to negotiate a peace and asks him to pick up some stuff. He urges her to come with them, and then she can get what she needs for herself.

Robb keeps forgetting he is spoken for.

In their cell Alton and Jamie reminisce about tournaments past and how Alton once squired for Jamie. At first Jamie says he doesn’t remember him, but then later says he does and how he did a good job as a squire. Alton moans about his side of the Lannister family not being as ambitious as Jamie’s. He’d love to help out more. Jamie says he has a plan for escape if Alton wanted to help. Alton seems interested until Jamie says that all he has to do is die and then beats him to death with his fists.

One of the guards sees this and enters the pen to check on the fallen Alton only to have Jamie kill him too, break free from his chains and leave the pen.

Later that night Lady Stark is interrupted in her tent as a messenger tells her that they have captured Jamie – it turns out he did not make it far.

One of Robb’s men, Lord Karstark, is furious, as it was his son that Jamie killed in the pen. He wants to exact his revenge and take Jamie’s head. Lady Stark intervenes and says that they should wait until her son, the King, returns. That pacifies Karstark for a bit, but later that night the camp is still split and rumbling about Jamie still being alive.

Lady Stark realizes that Jamie won’t survive the night so she and Brienne go to see him in his pen. Once there he lays into her about how her husband had cheated on her and then brought the bastard home for her to raise. He also insults Brienne asking Lady Stark where she found ‘such a beast’. Lady Stark does not say one word in return until she calmly asks Brienne for her sword. She raises it and swings it down just as the scene cuts away.

Could she have killed Jamie?

The episode ends with Theon addressing his new subjects at Winterfell. He is blathering on and on about how he had told them not to mess with him. And to show them how serious he was he has his men pull on some ropes which are attached to two burned bodies of boys. The gathering gasps. Theon has killed Bran and Rickon Stark.

This cannot be good.

In Memorium:

This week we lost eleven of the Qarth Thirteen who had their throats slit by Xaro in an old school power grab.

Alton Lannister also went down at the hands of his cousin Jamie. It makes you wonder how dangerous a Lannister Thanksgiving would be. After that we lost Lord Karstark’s son as he too found out how sneaky Jamie could be, poor kid never saw it coming.

The West End Cinema’s top selections come in two flavors: contemporary and vintage.  The new movie is Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America, which has already courted controversy from critics and audiences alike.  I can’t see why: a high-school girl and a middle-aged, terminally ill schlub go on a cross-country rampage, hunting down any and all faux-celebrities (think Kim Kardashian or anyone “American Idol” related) who hog the media spotlight.  Others might see a dark thriller in this material, but Goldthwait turns the bloodbath into a big, broad comedy.

The vintage choice: a newly restored print of Mike Nichols’ landmark film, The Graduate.  Full disclosure: I’m not as keen on The Graduate as most are.  I think it drags more than its supporters like to admit, and Nichols’ meticulous composed widescreen images sometimes leech the air out of the comedy.  Nevertheless, The Graduate deserves proper respect because of its impact on cinema, and it features Dustin Hoffman’s first brilliant screen performance.  See it, even if you don’t love it.

Read up on the West End HERE.

At the AFI Silver, the Jack Nicholson retrospective is highlighting one of Jack’s best vehicles, the 1975 thriller The Passenger.  Actually, “thriller” may be too strong a word.  While the setup recalls the suspenseful leanings of a Talented Mr. Ripley – Nicholson’s amoral photojournalist trades identities with a dead man and finds himself running afoul of the deceased’s nasty associates – director Michelangelo Antonioni trades in pure thrills for creeping, opaque dread.  He’s more concerned with visually mapping the internal landscape of a man so underwhelmed with his own existence that he feels the need to steal another’s, and that ambiguity gives Nicholson one of his most challenging roles.

Less artistically difficult but way more fun is Ronald Neame’s 1966 caper Gambit, which is playing as part of a Shirley MacLaine retrospective.  MacLaine plays a dancer who plans a daring art heist with Cockney rogue Michael Caine (very young and very cheeky).  That’s the easy part.  Everything else…well, let’s just say they run into some difficulties.  Gambit is effortlessly charming, and it has a great plot twist, one that was just parodied in ABC’s “Cougar Town,” of all places.

For more on either flick, click HERE.

And if you can’t get enough Shirley MacLaine (and I know I can’t), then go to either the Bethesda Row or E Street Cinemas this Friday to catch Bernie.  Richard Linklater (he of School of Rock and Dazed and Confused fame) helms this docudrama, which focuses on the relationship between Bernie Tiede (Jack Black), a gentle funeral home director, and Marjorie Nugent (MacLaine), the rich widow he cared for.  Here’s the hook: after Marjorie’s foul temperment caused Bernie to put four bullets into her (the hard way), no one in their small East Texas town got all that upset about the crime. Marjorie had it coming, you see, and Bernie was just so nice…

Learn more about Bernie HERE.

To quote the Bard: “You know how I know this is a s—t idea?  Because this is really obviously a s—t idea.”

Chemistry can count for a lot in romantic comedies, especially these barren days. Chemistry isn’t really the problem here, but rather the material at hand. “Inspired by” a popular 1984 pregnancy guidebook of the same name, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” is “He’s Just Not That Into You” if those characters wound up preggers. Directed by Kirk Jones (2009′s “Everybody’s Fine”), this is another star-topped comedy that intertwines various relationships faced with the joys and fears of impending parenthood. It’s not unpleasant or unentertaining to watch, but has nothing new to say and simply goes through the motions.

Live on the fifteenth season of a “Dancing with the Stars”-type show, TV fitness guru Jules (Cameron Diaz) realizes she’s pregnant with dance partner Evan (Matthew Morrison). The rest of the characters, residing in Atlanta, are connected by watching Jules on “Celebrity Dance Factor.” Wendy (Elizabeth Banks), an author and owner of The Breast Choice boutique, has been trying to have a baby for two years with her dentist husband Gary (Ben Falcone), until they finally get a plus sign. Freelance photographer Holly (Jennifer Lopez) is ready to adopt an Ethiopian baby with music-business husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) who’s getting cold feet over fatherhood. College-aged Rosie (Anna Kendrick), a food-truck chef, reunities with old high school flame Marco (Chace Crawford), who also runs a food truck, and a casual hookup leads to pregnancy. When Gary and Wendy share their happy news with Gary’s alpha-male NASCAR-driving father Ramsey (Dennis Quaid), he one-ups his son once again: his perky trophy wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker) also happens to be expecting…twins! Of course, everything comes to a head (or, out comes a head) at the same Atlanta hospital on the very same night.

Using the non-fiction books by Heidi Murkoff as a springboard, screenwriters Shauna Cross (2009′s “Whip It”) and Heather Hach’s (2003′s “Freaky Friday”) script only finds a few real truths in this material without digging too deep. The rest is a frothy, commercially viable sitcom that wants to please the masses, but it’s only occasionally funny on the comedy front. Fortunately, Jones fleetly hops from expectant couple to couple and competently manages some of the tonal shifts.

The impossibly good-looking cast does fine, unchallenging work with what they have, but none of their characters are developed as more than likable, bland types. As the type-A Wendy, Banks nails all of the hormonal, vulnerable changes that a woman experiences when carrying a fetus. She becomes so overwhelmed that she can’t control her shrieky tantrums and flatulence. Falcone (Melissa McCarthy’s husband from “Bridesmaids”) is also quite funny. Diaz and Morrison play off of each other well as the celebrity couple, and both get to dabble in some “Biggest Loser”/”Dancing with the Stars” parody. Lopez and Santoro make a nice couple, and the adorable Kendrick and hunky Crawford share chemistry as the youngest couple. Quaid (not an actor prone to comedy) and Decker (showing what else she can do besides playing a swimsuit-with-legs in “Just Go with It”) also seem to be having fun.

As Wendy’s store employee Janice, Rebel Wilson (who, as Kristen Wiig’s strange roommate, memorably poured peas on her bleeding Mexican Drinking Worm tattoo in “Bridesmaids”) steals the show every time she’s on screen. Her presence is unfettered and her delivery acerbic. She’s so out there that somebody better give Wilson a one-woman show. And when she’s not in a scene, the “dude group” (Rob Huebel, Chris Rock, Amir Talai, and Thomas Lennon) bring the funny. When Holly senses her hubby’s reluctance to be a father, she sends Alex to the “dudes,” a gang of dads who parade through the park with their kids in tricked-out strollers and share their fatherhood truths. “Last week, my kid ate a cigarette,” one says, but they tell Alex not to judge in their dad circle. One almost wishes the film revolved more around these guys, especially Rock (a real daddy who knows a thing or two), since that’s where most of the energy goes.

The buff Joe Manganiello (HBO’s “True Blood”) also appears with these dudes on occasion, playing their bachelor idol Davis that jogs around the Atlanta park, but mostly stands around with his shirt off or does pull-ups with one arm. Also turning up in small roles are Wendi McLendon-Covey (the third “Bridesmaids” co-star to turn up here) as Holly’s friend, who only gets a few amusing quips, and the invaluable Megan Mullally, playing herself as Evan’s next TV dance partner, gets in a circumcision joke.

With the promising line-up of attractive, appealing stars, you’d expect “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” to fire on all cylinders. Had the script been polished and punched-up, the film might have been more than formulaic and merely adequate. Cute at best and shallow at worst, it gets points for not being just another bubble-headed Garry Marshall-helmed vanity show, though. Expect the bare minimum of a glossy studio comedy and that’s all you’ll get.

Grade: C
110 min., rated PG-13.

On May 27th, “The Soundtrack Series” (a live storytelling event), will be coming to Philadelphia for the first time! Created and hosted by Dana Rossi, this Philadelphia event will feature area writers and performers, who have been asked to pick a song, and then tell the “hilarious or heartbreaking memory that they always revisit whenever they hear that song–proving how often music underscores the biggest, most exciting, or most humiliating moments of our lives”.

The event is being held at L’Etage, located at 624 S. 6th Street in Philadelphia. Doors open at 7:30 pm, and the stories begin at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $10. Below is a list of the Philadelphia-area performers and the songs they have chosen:

Maria Raha
(Cinderella’s Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground)
I’m Still Standing/Elton John

R. Eric Thomas
(First Person Arts)
New Attitude/Patti LaBelle

Hillary Rea
(Crush Comedy, Tell Me a Story)
Turning Japanese/The Vapors

Reuben Mitchell
(Theatre Exile)
Hot Music/Soho

Tyler Melchior
(1812 Productions)
Proud Mary/Ike & Tina Turner

Bridget O’Neill
(The Moth)
Who Let the Dogs Out/Baha Men

Visit www.soundtrackseries.com for more information.

The additions of K Dot and Kid Ink add some depth to the otherwise fairly mainstream lineup. Although both these artists, particularly Kendrick Lamar, have recently experienced huge boosts in popularity, neither of them have broken Billboard’s Top 40 charts or received much radio airtime. However, the rising popularity of both Kendrick Lamar and Kid Ink and their additions to the Summer Jam lineup are evidence of the resurgence of Los Angeles hip-hop in the last few years. With the exception of Tyga and a few other artists, there have been few popular Los Angeles area artists since the death of Tupac. The Odd Future movement and the Black Hippy collective, which includes Kendrick Lamar, have recently brought the spotlight back to Southern California in the hip-hop community.

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar’s presence on the Summer Jam lineup adds a dimension of critical legitimacy to the popular concert. Kendrick Lamar has had a wild increase in popularity since the release of his O(verly) D(edicated) mixtape in 2010. The Compton rapper has been accredited as an honest rapper and a critically acclaimed lyricist. Following the release of this critically acclaimed mixtape, “K Dot” earned the attention of Dr Dre and Snoop Dog, ultimately signing to Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment label. Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80 tape in 2011 solidified his position in the hip-hop scene and was wildly commercially successful despite a lack of radio play or mainstream exposure. Lamar was even selected for XXL Magazine’s 2011 Freshman Class feature. He has been featured on countless tracks in the last two years, a testament to the rap community’s respect for K Dot. Kendrick Lamar is notably part of the Black Hippy collective, which includes Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q, who have brought Compton back to relevance in the rap community. The rapper has suggested that he’s working on an independent album and possibly even a project with newly popular rapper J. Cole. Lamar headlined last weekend at the University of Washington’s Spring Show.

Kid Ink

Kid Ink is probably the least well known of the rappers on the Summer Jam lineup. Kid Ink has recently gained some popularity after the release of ‘Stank in My Blunt‘ and his Meek Mill collaboration on ‘360‘. The producer-turned-rapper brings a distinctively pop sensibility to rap that is characteristic of LA hip-hop; his origins in production mean his tracks feature heavy production and a techno-pop influence. Kid Ink is also known for his full body tattoos which provide a unique look. Although Kid Ink produced beats for years, he has only recently gained notoriety as a rapper and was featured in XXL’s 2012 Freshman Class feature. Kid Ink is slated to release his album Up, Up & Away in June. The rapper will return to Seattle on June 28th for a concert at Neumos. (You can buy tickets here).

The Cabinet of Curiosities is running through June 17th, and tickets (which include a five course meal) are $60 ($80 with a flight of wines.) Tickets are going fast.

The show takes place in Washington Hall in the Central District. It’s hard to imagine them pulling off this shell game of a show at the Theo factory in Fremont. Washington Hall is as much a character in the Cabinet as any of the performers. It’s an old building, with mystery baked into the bricks, and lots of rooms to squirrel away guests.

The conceit of this show is that you’re entering into the Cabinet of Curiosities. It’s a place that exists outside of time and reality. It’s part Twilight Zone, part restaurant- everything holds mystery, and hints at a greater story. Some of the characters are from 1930’s Paris, some are from far, far earlier. The land of imagination perhaps. It’s all about mood, the feeling of the reveal; the Cabinet borrows as much from great haunted houses as it does from fringe theater.

When guests arrive they are split into four different groups and taken from room to room. Once the lot of you are ensconced in the room, you’re sat at tables and the actors start their scene. Fennel salads with rabbit confit await in the Invasive Species Lounge along with trumpets and competitive puns. The soup course is in the Crone Parlor, where the gastronomy is most molecular. They build your soup while the actors bicker and you sip your vermouth, surrounded by crochet mystery plants. Each as different from the last as the one before, and each offering tasty wine along with the beautiful dishes.

These rooms tell a cohesive story, along with your guide (in my case Demetrious, played by Devin Bannon). The logistical nightmare that it must be to have the four different groups going through the space is mitigated a tad through the use of telephones. The guides call ahead to assure that the next room on our journey is ready. It works. The guides also connect the rooms with stories. They explain the history of restaurants and why the pecking order in kitchens is so militaristic, they introduce you to the Cabinet, and they keep you from ever feeling like you’re in a queue at a theme park.

The highlight of the show for me was the French Salon room, where American ex-pats in 1930s Paris speak of mushrooms, regret, and love. There’s piano, singing, earthy red wine, and a Morel Camembert tart. It’s fun, and dark, and delicious. Actors Mark Siano and Opal Peachy have great chemistry, and you can’t take your eyes off them.

As they’ve proven several times already, the foodie-theater wizards at Cafe Nordo really know how to surprise and delight. Whereas the previous shows have had you and the actors together for the entirety of the performance, this time it’s more like peering into different worlds that exist in the same universe. The final course is served banquet style. Now the whole cast comes together, along with the different groups. Everyone’s had a slightly different trip through the Cabinet. The overall impression isn’t understood until you’re on your way home with a sense of wonder to accompany your happy belly and a mind still halfway in a dream.