Watching Charlotte Gainsbourg perform was sort of like watching a talented, aspiring high school drama student break out of her shell for the first time. At least that’s what it’s like for now, anyway.

As she began the grand finale at Webster Hall for her first ever tour, I couldn’t help but feel that she lacked a bit of stage confidence and also seemed to be overly focused — perhaps in her attempts to avoid failing the same New York audience with which she kicked off her inaugural tour. But all of that is exactly what made the show so wonderfully special.

Her awkward diffidence and timid, smiling head drops during the applause between the first few songs were in one word: adorable. Through the course of the night, though, the cheerful crowd managed to help Charlotte overcome any doubts and deliver her Gallic lyrics with ferocious swagger. By mid-set she was in full swing and her connection with the audience and with her band was brilliantly achieved as if she’d been touring her whole life. By the way, the fact that she’d be self conscious in the first place was a bit surprising to me considering she’s the daughter of French music icon Serge Gainsbourg and famed actress Jane Birkin.

If there was one thing missing it was Beck, who wrote all the music and co-wrote the lyrics from Charlotte’s latest and greatest album, IRM. Seeing them perform even one of the mood-bending tunes from IRM would have been magical. IRM is French for MRI, in reference to the poor lass spending countless hours being examined in these loud, magnetic tubes after a water skiing accident.

Obviously, the show was great, the New York crowd was lively and my concert homie Robin seemed to have a wonderful time as she danced through most of the set. Awesome Jon was also in the audience with us that evening but, sadly, we didn’t get a chance to hang pre or post showtime.

Charlotte’s role as Stéphanie in the 2006 film Science of Sleep sold me on her stellar abilities as an actress but I hope she remains this grounded as she matures into an accomplished musician.

One of the best books I read in 2009 was Miggy’s copy (presumably from his MIT days) of Edward R. Tufte’s Envisioning Information. The book is a plethora of infographics — both gorgeous and terrible — spanning the history of modern man. In as little as the 2 months I’ve spent with this treasure, I learned many of the principles that have helped me understand what makes a great representation of data shine and how to avoid the pitfalls of those that leave users confused or misinformed.

So today, when Awesome Jon told me about this one day course with Edward Tufte, I couldn’t help but start planning my trip to the Big Apple for a day of cartography, statistics, art, complexity, symbolism and cognitive science explained by a master Information Designer.

New York, here I come.