Rocky Horror Show, Ordway, St Paul, MN

If you have a free night, go see Rocky Horror Show live at the Ordway. The acting is actually really good for a small performance in the McKnight Theater. Tickets are a little high at 30 and 40 bucks, depending on where you sit, but you can get Student Rush for half that. And, at that price, you can't loose. Audience participation is handled really well in the show. If you have ever been to a theater showing the movie, the Audience Participation really makes the experience, but there is a lot of it. There is so much extra dialog, you can loose track of what is going on, or you hear too many different versions at once, and it all sounds mumbled. They way the actors handled it, was to use "Frank's Mistakes," or extras who played pieced together abominations of Frank's earlier work, as prompts for participation, or shouted out common responses. This was kept really light, with most songs sung more quickly to keep the audience at bay. This was good, and bad at the same time. Jeannette and I remember about half of the words which go along with the movie, and were a little upset when we couldn't chime in. We did buy a kit with a flashlight, rubber glove, noise maker, confetti, party hat, and toilet paper. The actor who played Frank was terrific, harking back to a young Tim Curry very well. To think Kansas popped out such a character is refreshing.

On another note, the Pagoda Restaurant opened up today, with a very rough start during the lunch service, because the wait staff really didn't know how to run the register yet, and ordered multiple dishes from the kitchen. Justin, one of the owners said he lost a lot of money during the day, but night turned around well. It was a really good mix of people, young and old, Chinese and other folks. There is some getting used to the menu, it has over 300 items, but there really is something for everyone. The people we went out with tonight did get a kick from the Chinese karaoke playing on the HDTV's on the wall, and were more impressed with the food. If tomorrow's lunch is like tonight's dinner, I can see another Pagoda opening up in a few years.

Pagoda Restaurant in Dinkytown

I am very excited for this restaurant to open in Dinkytown by the U of MN. Justin Lin, a friend of mine, is opening a new restaurant with a handful of other business partners. The inside looks great! There's track lighting, to make it bright, but cast mood setting shadows. The restaurant features two adjoining party rooms with HDTV's, and a karaoke machine. One of the rooms is set up like a lounge with plush sofa seating. The ceilings are high, and the paint is bold.

The food will be mostly traditional Chinese dishes. There should be plenty of options for those sweet and sour chicken eaters out there as well. One interesting feature will be the noodle bar. You walk up, and order what ever kind of soup base you'd like, the type of noodles, and what toppings you'd like to make your own noodle soup. Just a basic bowl of noodle soup is only $3.50, and I don't think there is an entree over $10.

The main dining area features two HDTV's on the walls. I don't know if the content has been settled yet, but some ideas thrown around is playing a tourism video from China.

I've been working all weekend of setting up their computers and printers, so all of that is ready to go. If the final inspection by the health department goes well today, they'll be set to open on Monday, the 15.