Myth Busted

One great thing about being single is that when you find out at the last minute that a fun show is going to be in town, you don’t have to worry about whether your sweetie has different plans.  And so when I found out last Thursday that the Mythbusters were going to be in town, I didn’t even think twice about buying a ticket and making my own little date night.

                My evening started at a restaurant near the theater called Jazz at theBistro.  It was a bit pricy for a regular spot, but the flourless chocolate cake was delicious.  Next time I’m looking for a place for dessert and a cup of coffee, it will definitely be on my list.  Additionally, they have live jazz concerts every week; I was a bit too early to hear the music, but I imagine it is wonderful.

                After dinner, I walked to the theater, the Fabulous Fox.  The exterior façade is really cool, but it doesn’t prepare you for the fabulous interior.  The word that comes to mind is arabesque, but even that doesn’t capture the incredible woodwork, soaring columns, fanciful statuary and stained glass that adorns every square foot of the theater.  I gawked at the decor from the time I walked in the door until the show started.

                As for the show, “Behind the Myths” was part physics horse and pony show, part behind the scenes look at their show, part bloopers reel, and plenty of classic Adam and Jamie.  For the physics parts, they talked a lot about how forces work (including a demonstration of Jamie breaking a brick on Adam’s stomach with a sledge hammer while Adam laid on a bed of nails) and some about fluid dynamics (Adam is probably the only person who can compare the bang made by an exploding hot water tank to falling in love and make it convincing).   The coolest trick in the show was when they took two phonebooks where the pages had been shuffled together like a deck of cards and used it as a carabiner of sorts to hoist Adam off the ground.

They had a couple of audience Q&A sessions where they took questions about everything from Jamie’s mustache to the recent historic jump by Felix Baumgartner.  They shared with us technical and legal aspects of putting together the show, including some of their dealings with their insurance company, a fiasco involving a cannon ball, and their commitment to and actions with respect to safety.  According to Adam, the worst injuries that they have had on the show have totaled three broken fingers. 

Throughout the show, their humor and love for the kind of work they do flowed through.  From their stories about their experiments, to their goofs with the audience (who were invited to participate in many of their tricks), they were engaging and fun to watch.  It was a fabulous was to spend a Sunday evening.

Resources:

Jazz at the Bistro: http://jazzstl.org/jazz-at-the-bistro/

The Fabulous Fox Theater: http://www.fabulousfox.com/

Mythbusters Tour: http://www.mythbusterstour.com/