Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

The relentless hammering thrum of discussion regarding the ongoing foibles of the American economy continues to bleat its bleary noise all about our newspapers and cable news shows (local news having long since moved on to what cat is stuck in which tree and how wheat germ can kill you in six different ways) and yet it’s hard to get a clear gauge of what’s actually going on anymore. We’ve sort of downshifted to embody once again that old adage that it’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job, etc. There are still far, far too many people out of work, though, and what we’ve got now at Joe’s Pub is actor/singer/songwriter Ethan Lipton laying out his take on the recession, as it pertains, in particular, to him – or to the “Ethan Lipton” he’s playing in the show, rather; the real Mr. Lipton’s employer is probably not actually moving to Mars – in his new No Place to Go, a Joe’s Pub commission that will own their stage through April 8. (Ben Brantley, The New York Times)