Word: mona
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...happen in Anywhere but Here. If you follow the form charts, it should have been otherwise. The latter film has the big stars (Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman), the name creators (director Wayne Wang of The Joy Luck Club; writer Alvin Sargent, adapting the best-selling novel by Mona Simpson), a capacious budget. What it doesn't have is a central figure you can give a hoot about...
...openly throughout much of his winding journey. He had gone from his Greenwich, Conn., mansion, where police found smoldering file cabinets and incriminating documents (item No. 1 on his to-do list: launder money), to a White Plains, N.Y., airfield, where a private jet flew him and two women, Mona Kim and Jackie Ju, to Rome, along with 25 suitcases and that stash of diamonds. Then he jaunted through Italy and Germany in chauffeured limousines, steadfastly maintaining to whoever would listen that his case was a misunderstanding that would blow over...
...join them on stage. When the clock struck "midnight" at 11:00 real time, the band celebrated the "New Millennium" complete with falling balloons and a "power outage" courtesy of Y2K. But it would take far more than that to stop Guster. In a daring move, they played "Mona Lisa" completely unplugged in the hushed theater and even got half the audience to sing along with them. Guster ended the performance appropriately with the sad, uplifting "Rocket Ship" as they blasted off to their home planet in their rocket-chairs...
...Jimmy: "Playing the acoustic Mona Lisa in the large sold-out Orpheum, Miller and Adam Gardner sang softly, almost imperceptible to the ear from our seats in the back right. Yet, when previously balloons were loudly struck and yells exchanged, the hall turned to silence, pure silence. When recognition dawned on the song, a background chorus more perfect than even some professional backup vocals rose from the crowd in harmony to the band. For that stark moment, I wished that I had broken into this cult, and sang along for one clear voice along with everyone else...
...pile of cameramen shooting footage of most of the concert in hopes of filming a new video for Barrel of a Gun, a few instances of ear-splitting feedback, problems with the mixing, and a restless crowd that punctuated the acoustic (read: no amplification) encore version of "Mona Lisa" with irreverent shouts, and you have a generally disappointing Guster show. This was my fifth live Guster concert, and I can easily say that it was the least enjoyable. The performance itself had its highs and lows. The setlist consisted of a solid mix of old and new tunes...