Well, no upside-down bat action from Peter Murphy - they didn't even play Bela Lugosi - but no matter: the show was fantastic. I think Murphy's vocal cords have been in a cryogenic freeze-tank since 1979 - he sounds utterly amazing. Daniel Ash - total hottie, and he even sang a song (don't know the name, and I can't find any set lists anywhere). He glammed it up for "Ziggy Stardust" in a giant, brown, fuzzy, wide-brimmed hat, which kind of looked like he had a big teddy bear on his head.

As for the Nokia Theatre, I liked it. It actually had SEATS up in back, like a real theatre, so if you got there early enough you could have staked your claim. This is good to know - if I ever go there again I'll be sure to snag one, as I'm well past my prime for standing squashed up next to hundreds of people for three hours, craining my neck to see past the inevitable 6ft tall man who always stands in front of me. Good lighting, good sound, good people-flow (no log-jams), it was really clean, and the bathrooms were circular instead of a giant hallway with toilets on one side and sinks on the other. The sinks were in a big circle in the middle surrounded by a ring of toilets. I don't recall ever see a bathroom arrangement like this before, and I really liked it - this also made for good people flow in and out of the bathroom. And it was clean!

The only slightly unnerving feature of the venue were the Nokia cell phones in the walls. I noticed two walls that were just embedded with cell phones - like giant display walls. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to see another show here.

Now for something truly unnerving: New York Magazine has an apocolypse guide in this week's issue, in which I have discovered that I live within a stone's throw of "the most dangerous 2 miles in America," a/k/a "chemical alley." Good grief. The benefits of living in JC just never end. I stopped at the hardware store today and bought some duct tape and dust masks. I've been meaning to make a ready kit for a while, and finding out I have a highly vulnerable chlorine manufacturing plant in my backyard was exactly the motivation I needed! I'm hoping Santa brings me plastic sheeting, canned goods, and an LL Bean Shortwave Radio this year. In case Santa is reading, I like green!