Maybe it was just dumb luck, but my first night attending the 2010 San Francisco Fringe Festival  had the unexpected delight of watching three plays in a row, with each one being better than the last. How many times can something like that happen, especially when the first was pretty damn good and the last one of the night had the potential to be a real stinker but ended up being fantastic? I won't keep my fingers crossed that everything else is going to be this good but what I saw tonight set the bar pretty high for the remaining plays I plan on attending.

The Burroughs and Kookie Show: Late Night in the Interzone is a one-hour visit with William S. Burroughs (performed by Christopher Kuckenbaker), as he hosts his own talk show in the Interzone. Starting with a gaze into the Dreamachine, Kuckenbaker does a pretty amazing job as Burroughs- to the extent one can mimic such an inimitable voice, he has the cadences and rasp down. He also has the body language and this makes it more than a simple impersonation, rather it's a tribute in dark sepia. Kuckenbaker also performs Burroughs' guest on on the program, Mr. Baker, an actor who comes to shill his movie, ends up outing himself and being assaulted by Burroughs.

Sound weird? It's not really, but Kuckenbaker gives a simply amazing performance and he's riveting. It becomes very intimate by the end- you're brought into Burroughs' world, not simply watching it. The program says "written and performed" by Kuckenbaker, but hefty sections of the script are Burroughs' own words, as anyone who's ever heard " Words of Advice " on Material's  Hallucination Engine album will recognize that rap, avuncularly delivered by Kuckenbaker toward the show's end.

Don't miss this- it's brilliantly done. Penelope thought so too and I half-expected her to hate it. So there you are- suck on Steely Dan, mugwumps.

This one sold out, and there are only three more performances on 

Mon Sept 13th, 8:30 PM