Singer/songwriter Aimee Mann, whose soulful piano torch songs dripped with emotion in the 1999 movie Magnolia, will be touring the West Coast this August. Her musical journey will see her playing, of all places, zoos in Seattle and Portland, but the tour will start right here at Orange County's Coach House.
Mann is currently working on her eighth solo record, set for release in 2012, as well as a musical-theater production based on her concept album The Forgotten Arm, which tells the story of a Vietnam vet/drug-addicted boxer.
Indeed, Mann has been quite the busy bee. But don't think just because she has a lofty creative vision, she has no sense of humor. She busied herself with a guest spot in an episode of last season's hilarious IFC comedy Portlandia. Enjoy a clip of Mann playing herself as a housekeeper for show stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. While you're at it, enjoy a couple of other stellar guest appearances on the weekly comedy that so brilliantly flames all things hipster.
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1. Aimee Mann
2. Aubrey Plaza
Okay, so our dear Aubrey may not have hit her stride yet in Hollywood and usually serves as dead-panning eye candy than comedic genius. Though this sketch demonstrates Armisen and Brownstein's talents more prominently, Plaza looks great in frayed jean shorts.
3. Steve Buscemi
The show really went Hollywood with this episode, hiring a real actor to do a cameo. In this sketch, Buscemi makes the mistake of using the bathroom at a feminist bookstore without buying anything. Anyone who has worked in an uptown/downtown promenade storefront knows situations like this happen more often than the absurd hilarity of this sketch would lead one to believe.
4. James Mercer of the Shins
Once again, we get to see Armisen and Brownstein shine, but Mercer manages to demonstrate some acting chops with just a few monosyllabic utterances.
5. Selma Blair and Gus Van Sant
Armisen and Brownstein play a couple of hyper-pretentious filmmakers during a Q&A session led by actual director Gus Van Sant at Portland's Blunderbuss film festival.
