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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2009 > August
August 2009
Country does its best to rock
So, we’re watching this thing on ABC tonite about Country Goes Rock, or some such thing, and I’m mostly left with a few questions… Any and all replies will be appreciated.
— Why is Kenny Chesney actually popular?
— Are Brooks and Dunn married?
— Is Taylor Swift one of the most precociously talented young artists to come along in any musical genre in the last, oh, 20 years or so?
— What does the guy in Sugarland contribute to the whole thing? What she brings to it, I get.
— How did Kellie Pickler turn out so cool with such a crappy upbringing? All that said, how did she get so big with so little singing voice?
— Is there another voice as good as Martina McBride?
— What is up with Jamey Johnson’s stupid beard?
— How much better would rock or jazz be today if Brad Paisley played rock or jazz? It’s kinda a shame, you know?
— How is it that country music today seems to owe more to 1980s metal/pop than to actual old-time, original country? Is that not one of the great mysteries of contemporary music?
Anyway, is was overall a pretty entertaining show. But like I said: I had questions.
Your thoughts?
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Spidey? Meet Mickey and Donald.
And Minnie and Goofy, too.
Yes, fans, here’s your didn’t-see-that-comin’ business headline of the day: Disney is buying Marvel Comics for $4B. Here’s the official press release.
Makes sense, though, once you think about it. The money to be made on getting the superheroes up on the big screen must’ve been a big lure for the suits over at Mousketeer Central.
One wonders, as always, what Walt would think about owning The Hulk?
Does anybody remember, back in the film “Rollerball,” how the world was run by a dozen or so companies, each one in charge of all the world’s business in one area? One power company, one transportation company, one food company, etc.
Oh, yeah — and one entertainment company.
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Pecha Kucha Night in Dayton: Wow!
What if you had the chance to get up in front of a fairly sympathetic audience for 6 minutes and 40 seconds —we’ll get to why that much, in a moment — to talk about anything on your mind?
Would you talk about, say, multi-culturalism in India? The genius of Frank Lloyd Wright? The physiognomy of Marvel comic characters?
Maybe you would. And maybe it would be cool.
It sure was cool Thursday night, Aug. 27, when all those topics and more cropped up at the first meeting of a new kind of get-together in Dayton — something called, oddly, Pecha Kucha.
That’s Japanese for “chit-chat,” and is pronounced “p’chok-cha.” Pecha Kucha gets people together to meet, mingle, share ideas and information and boost the creative atmosphere in their community, and it’s a trademarked idea born in Tokyo in 2003. A couple of architects designed a format in which you get to show 20 slides and talk about each for 20 seconds — 6 minutes, 40 seconds — without going back or running over.
It’s been described as social media come to life, a way to capture the energy and connection of Facebook without having people sit in front of computer screens. The idea caught fire, and now there are Pecha Kucha events in 226 cities around the globe, from Calgary to Kampala. Visit www.pecha-kucha-org.
As usual, Dayton is catching on a bit late (Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis have been at this for a while), but thanks to the efforts of Jill Davis, a copy writer at Design Forum, Dayton Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 1 happened at c{space downtown.
Word spread virally, and about 75 folks paid $20 at the door for beer, sandwiches and the chance to hear nine speakers.
Brian Petro talked about how to treat the depressed economy as the “creative market,” and profit from it.
Chris Rowley talked about technology he’s developing that stems from his work in the defense industry, which can help search and rescue teams find missing accident victims.
Carli Dixon discussed her family’s entertaining adventures in urban gardening.
Jennifer Terry walked about Rebuilding Together Dayton, an agency that matches Americorps workers with local volunteers to fix up low-income homes.
Duante Beddingfield mused, rather graphically, on all the difficulties The Thing from the Fantastic Four must encounter from being made of rock. “Does he have to worry about erosion? This keeps me up at night….”
Bridgette Bogle talked about her paintings, inspired by candy, gum, pajamas and even the designs pressed into toilet paper.
Manasi Kakade explained Indian culture, and how time is perceived differently in Mumbai.
Kameron Hurley explained why sci-fi and fantasy writing have gone from side genres to the mainstream.
Jason Sheets talked about life as an architect, plus tricks of the trade. “There’s a fine line,” he said, “between ‘eclectic’ and a bunch of crap.”
If Pecha Kucha sounds like the latter, it’s truly more of the former — an utterly fascinating, lively evening that left my friend and I reeling with the amount of things we’d learned and contemplated in just a couple of hours.
Jill Davis was giddy the next day. “We hit the jackpot with the speakers,” she said. “They were much better that what I’ve seen in Cincinnati and Indy. Diversity is the key.”
The Dayton chapter of the American Institute of Architects is sponsoring Vol. 2 on Nov. 6 at the Excelsior building in the Oregon District. It’ll have a design focus, but Davis has committed to at least two more Pecha Kucha Nights after that, and can’t wait to involve local college students. “I can see this event really going over well with young people and artists who want to show their portfolios,” she said. The potential future for this very neat event seemed, to me, buried in the speakers’ comments. Said Terry, “A lot of projects seem really small, but their impact is really big.” True enough.
Said Dixon, “Enjoy what’s possible. Enjoy watching things grow.”
We’re watching. I get the sense that we’re also finally starting to see.
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How was Elvis?
I had another gig and missed Elvis Costello at the Fraze last nite… Did you go? How was the show?
Share, please.
This came from a friend on Facebook, btw: “Saw Elvis Costello last night - great show, that is until the Fraze Nazis actually cut the sound before they finished their last encore song because of lightning FAR off in the distance. I couldn’t believe it! Between that and the feeling that the fun police are all around ready to stop anybody from having too much fun, the Fraze can really kill what is otherwise a great show.”
Discuss… ?
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Youth really is for the young, after all…
Lordy, the new managing editor of the New Yorker … is … gasp … drum roll …
26 years old!
Good for her.
I’m going to go re-count my grey hairs now… Seeya!
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Dropping off the grid…
We all joke about it. We might even dream about it.
He says it made him smarter…
Time to re-read Thoreau…
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Hmmm: Got a guilty pleasure?
Fun little feature on NPR.org about folks’ guilty pleasures… the best kind, natch.
This one’s about the novel “Jaws,” vs. the movie version, and I think she makes her case pretty well, though I still hated the book. Come to think of it, though, I read it in high school, which may have been too young. Try again? I’ll wait till next summer, I think.
I’ll admit to a guilty pleasure, while we’re here: Anything by Joan Jett. Especially by the Runaways. Ohhhh, my, yes.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherrrrrrrry bomb!
Got anything you’d like to confess, um, share?
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Will Wikipedia clean up its Wiki-self?
Hmmm, what fun will Wikipedia be once it’s no longer the intellectual Dodge City of the web? I mean, good grief…
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Got an idea to share? Pecha Kucha wants you.
Got an idea to share?
Need a smart, tapped-in audience to hear it and give you feedback?
A first-time event that’s coming to downtown Dayton this week might be just the thing for you.
The quirkily named event, the “Pecha Kucha Dayton 1,” is a localization of a social-networking, idea-swapping session that has caught in lots of other cities around the world — a fast-moving, immediate-feedback meeting in which you get about 6 minutes to put an idea in front of the group and then move on.
Here’s the info from the Facebook invite: “Pecha Kucha, Japanese for chit chat, is a grassroots global movement promoting short, inspiring creative presentations, 20 slides 20 seconds per slide, to a lively audience. It’s social networking come to life.”
Folks in Dayton have been hearing about the Pecha Kucha, and the response I’ve heard from some is, “Cool, are they finally doing that here?” There are sessions in Columbus and Cleveland, apparently, as well as “Ignite” sessions that are similarly structured and also catching on in young-creative circles. You can find out about ‘em online pretty easily. Heck, even Boise has one.
The Dayton Pecha Kucha, according to the Facebook page, is this Thursday, Aug. 27, from 7-10 PM at c{space on Jefferson St. downtown. Cost is $20 at the door, which pays for the program, food and beer, all sponsored by the Dayton PK Team + Jill Davis.
Questions? email Jill at jdavis@designforum.com. Maybe we’ll see you there.
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Do you see what you think you see?
Cool piece from the Times about faked photos, though barely scratches the surface of the topic…
Neat gallery.
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A different take on the Father of Our Country
Worth a read… Interesting book review from the WSJ about a new bio of George Washington…
Makes sense, if you think about it, but also makes you consider the various pedestals we put our national heroes on…
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A new Dayton theater on the way
The folks at the Dayton Theatre Guild know people were talking about them.
They know what they were saying, too: that they would never get their new theater done. That the sign in a vacant lot at Fourth and Patterson downtown announcing the “future home” of the Dayton Theatre Guild wouldn’t amount to much. I admit, I wondered myself.
Turns out, everybody guessed wrong.
The first new production at the Dayton Theatre Guild’s brand new home will be “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” the devilishly complicated 18th-century costume drama made popular as the film “Dangerous Liaisons” in 1988. On Aug. 28, it’ll play out in what was formerly the Dayton Gym Club, a building on Wayne Avenue in the Oregon District that the Guild bought last year.
They’ve been working practically nonstop since. It’s not enough that they decided to open their new season with a huge piece with a cast of 13 and more than 70 period costumes — they had this little matter of finishing their new theater building, too. Last week, painters, drywallers and electricians toiled in the former Gym Club basketball court that is being divided into a 120-seat theater with a thrust stage, and a large storage space/work area for props, costumes and the like.
The stage should feel as intimate as the 80-seat theater at the Guild’s old home on Salem Avenue. “We didn’t want to change who we are,” said Debra Kent, vice president for resources for the all-volunteer organization. On the other hand, the new facility will completely upgrade the profile of the Theatre Guild.
For one thing, it provides the first time their entire operation is under one roof. No more props stored in board members’ garages because of no room at the old 2,700-square-foot place. For another, the big lobby, high ceilings and smart new facade will put a classier face on the quality of the stagework. For another, it places the Theatre Guild in the flourishing Oregon District.
“We’re very excited to be in the Oregon District with all the wonderful business partnerships possible there,” board president Carol Finley said. “Pacchia has already stepped to the plate to help us with wonderful food for our opening night after-party. This is a good fit for us, and it’s exciting to be within walking distance of a dozen restaurants; that offers us new dinner and theater options we’ll be exploring.”
The Guild’s board looked at dozens of buildings before finding the Gym Club, with its open spaces and parking. It had hoped to build at that Fourth Street lot it bought several years ago, until the cost of new construction got too high.
The Gym Club cost $425,000, and they’ve spent $280,000 to get the place up to code and ready to perform in. Finley expects they’ll spend another $100,000 over the next three years, plus spend countless hours of volunteer time, to turn the building into the showplace the Guild envisions — one that includes not just the main theater, but a cabaret space downstairs and practice and rehearsal rooms that other nonprofits could use.
So, how did it all get done?
“We have a very loyal group of patrons,” Finley said of the Guild, which was founded in the 1920s. “And some have been very generous.” In particular, local philanthropists Caryl D. Philips and L. David Mirkin gave significant gifts. “But for the most part, this has been done with $20, $50 and $100 checks,” she said. “We have a small group of determined people who’ve been consistently with us year after year until it happened.” Was she, like many of the rest of us, worried that the new Guild theater would never happen?
“No. I never thought we wouldn’t get done. I never thought we’d give up on it.”
They’re close enough to the realization of this years-long dream, in fact, that now they can afford to joke about it, even as they slouch bleary-eyed toward the finish line. Greg Smith, the longtime board member who’s directing “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and is making many of the costumes himself, took the same question: Did he ever think it wouldn’t get done?
He gave a boisterous laugh: “I’m still there! It’s not done yet!”
It’s done enough. The show will go on, in a great new space that will make our local artscape a bit brighter. Bravo.
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Help me find something to read
OK, I’m kinda sick of what I’ve been reading at home, and am kinda between books.
I’m now taking suggestions….
Thanks in advance!
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Zombies at WSU this weekend…
This is pretty cool… A friend forwarded this message from Wright State’s website about a film being made on campus this weekend. Follow the link to the information about the movie, which is being made by a Columbus-based director named Will Graver, who did film studies at WSU a few years ago.
Soooo… If you happen to be on campus Saturday and see somebody stumbling along who looks a bit hung over, it’s probably just a zombie. Never fear.
And remember: Quiet on the set!
Here’s the notice from Wright State:
A former Wright State student from the Department of Theatre Arts/Motion Pictures has contracted with Wright State University to film portions of his movie, Revelation, on campus Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23.The movie is a 25-minute zombie film that will include actors/actresses in zombie costumes, with running and screaming at some locations. A non-working prop gun will also be used at one location.
Signs will be posted in the areas where filming is being done and the film crew will be accompanied at all times by a staff member from the Office of Event Services. An officer from WSUPD will be on site during the shoot involving the prop gun.
Following is a schedule supplied by the director/producer of where the filming will be done on campus.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 8:00A.M. - 9:30A.M. / MILLETT HALL 1st FLOOR STUDY AREA 9:30A.M. - NOON / MILLETT HALL 2nd FLOOR STUDY AREA NOON - 1:00P.M. / LUNCH BREAK (WSU Staff Break) 1:00P.M. - 4:00P.M. / MED SCI LECTURE HALL 4:00P.M. - 5:00P.M. / OPEN AREA UNDER LIBRARY WSU Staffing Done For the Day / Cast & Crew Leave WSU Campus
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 8:00A.M. - NOON / WSU QUAD (Outdoor Areas) NOON - 1:00P.M. / LUNCH BREAK (WSU Staff Break) 1:00P.M. - 2:30P.M. / RIKE HALL TUNNEL AREA 2:30P.M. - 3:30P.M. / LIBRARY TUNNEL AREA 3:30P.M. - 4:00P.M. / TUNNEL AREA NEXT TO A.M.PHITHEATER 4:00P.M. - 5:00P.M. / VARIOUS TUNNEL SHOTS END PRODUCTION
Details about the film project can be found at www.revelationzombie.com. Please contact the Office of Event Services at (937) 775-5512 if you have further questions.
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Harryness is next to godliness…
Interesting piece from the Boston Globe about how, upon reflection, some Christians who were initially all worked up about the Harry Potter books have finally come around…
And yet, I still have utterly no interest in reading them, myself…
Oh, well. Plenty of other stuff to read.
But I have to wonder at how people manage to get their knickers in such a twist over the strangest, most meaningless things…
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Archie’s getting married?
Um… OK, I guess so…
Here’s the story, such as it is…
Question 1: Why not Betty?
Question 2: Ginger or Mary Anne?
Question 3: Who actually cares about this any more? I mean, who the hell reads Archie comics?
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Have they solved the Mozart mystery?
Oooooh, this is pretty intriguing and fun: The NYTimes has a story about the current thinking on what may have killed Mozart at the even-then-relatively-young age of 35…
And it’ll surprise you.
Remember “Amadeus” and the whole Mozart-was-murdered craze? The truth turns out to be a lot less sexy, sure, but I still love that movie. It’s one of my favorites. I think the deathbed scene in which Mozart is dictating his Requiem Mass to Salieri, who is trying to keep up, while we can hear the music dashing through the dying author’s head, is one of the greatest scenes ever filmed showing the creative process and how it works… As a non-musician, I loved it and felt I learned a lot.
Anyway, have a look at the story.
Live and learn!
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A band I like at the Fraze tomw
This just in from the public-relations desk for the Dayton band Skeptical Cats and bandleader/troubador Nick Mitchell, one of my favorite local musicians…
The announcement reads thusly:
Just a reminder that Skeptical Cats are performing at Fraze Pavilion in Kettering tomorrow night (Wednesday) from 7pm (sharp!)-9:15pm. Admission is free, and there will be full service beer/wine and food during the event. The weather looks good, only a slight chance of R*!!! The band is filming and recording this show for their first ever DVD release, and their first CD release in over 6 years. They will be playing some new original tunes that have never been recorded or performed live before, along with some well selected English Rock classics.
A sincere thanks, as always, for your ongoing support.
All the Fraze info you need, naturally, is at www.fraze.com.
Have you seen a show this summer you really loved? Share it with us!
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Film critics vs. film fans
Here’s a blog posting from today’s Slate that talks about an interesting little dust-up between a movie critic who regularly appears on the Rotten Tomatoes site and has drawn the wrath of sci-fi fans over his bashing of “District 9,” though it seems something more may be at work.
What do you think of the main idea, here, that a film critic has to be liked a certain amount of time in order to be successful?
I wonder about that point, in the context of the gradual disappearance of movie critics from mainstream publications over the years, and the rise of critical voices in blogs and other new-media venues… Seems to me that more and more, the way to get noticed from a greater, broader babble (babel?) of voices would be to be harsh, vicious and contrarian more often than not…
Then again, the reason Ebert is our pre-eminent critic would seem to be that his opinion does indeed square with the masses reasonably often, but that he makes sensible, thoughtful cases for why that’s so, and offers insights and interpretations to mass taste that would otherwise go unsaid…
Anyway, what do you think?
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20 years of the RenFest … really? Already?
Here’s a sure sign that summer’s winding down and fall is in the air: The first press releases from the Ohio Renaissance Festival in Warren County, which starts Labor Day weekend and, according to the information I’m seeing, is marking its 20th anniversary this year.
Twenty years??? Could it be?
Sure enough, they opened the doors to what is now a 30-acre site in the fall of 1990, making this the 20th season of ye olde turkeeyye legges, ale and ye swelling bodices… If you’ll pardon me, it seems like that really flew by fast.
We enjoy the festival at our house, and we make it a point to get down to Harveysburg every year. The food is good, the entertainment is properly bawdy, the costumes are fun, the jousting is cool, and it’s always a good time.
Information for this year’s festival is a www.renfestival.com.
Do you go? Do you have an memories to share?
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A new Dayton gallery focuses on peace
This peace thing seems to be catching on, a little bit at a time.
Since the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the Balkan war in 1995, the idea of promoting peace is becoming more and more part of our local landscape.
Most promimently, there are the Dayton International Peace Museum downtown and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which is approaching its fifth year. The third ScreenPeace Film Festival happens this fall. Wright State and the University of Dayton offer programs in peace studies and human rights.
Add to all this, now, a brand new art gallery that will exist solely to show works that explore the idea of peace. Its creators believe it may be the only one like it anywhere.
The Missing Peace Art Space opens at 234 S. Dutoit St. on Sept. 4 in a 1900 carriage-house building that stood vacant and trashed for years. Near Fifth Street and across from Stivers School for the Arts, the two-story structure has been beautifully renovated by Steve Fryburg and Gabriela Pickett and their friends.
Fryburg, former director of the Peace Museum, and Pickett, an artist, are friends and fellow peace activists who decided that the physical space of the peace museum didn’t necessarily lend itself to showing large artworks of the type they wanted to exhibit to encourage community discussions about peace and art.
“Art is such an important part of peace,” Fryburg said, “all the way back to Goya and Picasso. Art can be a forum for the kind of discussion we should have.” Their non-profit gallery was formed as an alliance with the museum and the Unitarian Fellowship for World Peace. They have an ambitious lineup of artists — New York painter Max Ginsburg from Sept. 4 to Oct. 12, and Italian artist Arrigo Musti from Oct. 22 to Dec. 6. For more, visit www.MissingPeaceArt.org.
Fryburg and Pickett want to conduct meetings and workshops, in addition to displaying work, and make the space available for local artists and children. They hope to use Pickett’s upstairs studio to encourage young artists to work peace themes. “It’s an art space, not just a gallery,” Pickett said. “A place for people to come and create.”
There are several good things going on here. First, there is the always-inspiring fact of seeing active, involved people pouring their time, money and effort into a new community project. Next, there is the possibility of bringing a fresh new perspective to the St. Anne’s Hill district, with the addition of a new art gallery.With Stivers and the High Street gallery nearby, and the Front Street artists’ colony a stone’s throw away, it would be neat to see this neighborhood emerge as a livelier, busier Dayton art spot.
“St. Anne’s Hill wants to become more of a culturally active area with the arts,” Pickett said. “We think we’re part of that.”
But finally, there is the larger, over-riding peace intiative in a city whose largest employer is an air force base. “Can you think of any better place?” Fryburg asks. “You don’t make your point by preaching to the choir. This isn’t all black and white.”
“But peace can be Dayton’s future, part of the Dayton recovery,” he says. “It isn’t going to be manufacturing again. Why couldn’t it be peace?”
He hopes his new art space will become part of the local conversation. “We know we’ll bring in some art work that will be controversial. We wouldn’t be a good gallery if we didn’t.”
Let the conversation begin. .
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And now, a little Van Gogh
Just because I like you guys so much, and because I love to share, here is a little something for you to enjoy.
Found this gallery of “Van Gogh in Summer” on the Daily Beast website, and it really cheered me up, it’s so beautiful. It’s paintings and pastels he did of summertime scenes and landscapes.
I hope you like it, too!
Have a swell rest of day.
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Wall Street Journal covered 10 Living Cities forum
This link was just sent my way by Charlie Campbell, who does his best to promote all good things he can find about downtown Dayton, in his regular email blasts…. Turns out the Wall Street Journal did a story about the “10 Living Cities” forum held last weekend at the Convention Center….
Some interesting insights, and nice to see an out-of-town reporter give us a reasonably fair shake, for a change… As this story points out, so much depends on image, attitude and perception.
So, what can we do to affect those things in our town?
Did you go to the forum?
What do you think of all this? And to the usual haters: Spare us. Let’s try to keep it constructive, hey?
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RIP: The original Guitar God
Well, friends, the great inventor and musician Les Paul has died. Here’s the obit from the Times.
He was 94! Shreddin’ must keep you young after all…
Can you imagine what music would be like today without him?
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What would you do with Moraine Farm?
Story in today’s DDN about NCR putting Moraine Farm up for sale, asking $8 million.
This has been floating around for some time. Now that it’s out, here is the question:
What do you think are some possible uses for the place?
Please don’t leave the usual NCR-bashing or Dayton-is-dying nonsense; I won’t bother to share it. I’m looking for actual, no-kidding suggestions for how this fabulous, amazing structure and property could be reused by somebody to enhance our community.
So … thoughts?
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Google fun!
I know this isn’t a big thing, but I’m always amused and charmed by the quirky special designs the smart folks at Google come up with for their logo on the main search page.
Today it’s in honor of the Perseid Meteor Shower, of all things! It’s well-designed and very cool.
My favorite was a few months ago for Jackson Pollock’s birthday… You can probably figure out how the thing looked…
I appreciate the little day-brightener. I suspect I’m not the only one, since the company has a space on their site where you can prowl back through the years to see the specialized and holiday logos from homepages past. Check ‘em out.
Got a favorite? Let us know!
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Five photos a day for five years
This is one of those cases in which the press announcement just doesn’t do justice to the event.
Here’s what landed in my inbox:
For five years, downtown resident Adam Alonzo has taken photographs on a daily basis and posted five per day on his Web site. The exhibition Five for Five includes pictures of Dayton and its people selected from this ongoing effort. A reception will be held Saturday September 12 at 3:00pm.
On view during regular library hours August 17 through September 30, 2009 University of Dayton Roesch Library gallery 300 College Park, Dayton, 45469 Free admission (937) 229-4221
Now, what that is all well and good, there is much more to Alonzo’s work. He doesn’t just post photos to his site; he tells stories with his camera.
Actually, he shows myriad sides of the city in which we live through his lens, and truth be told he is a very, very fine photographer — with an eye for whimsy, the amusing and the serious. He appreciates humanity and nature, and likes to explore the spaces they inhabit together. He loves shapes, geometry and pattern, and finds them everywhere he goes.
I met Adam a few years ago as he was getting started on his 5x5 photo adventure, and I like bumping into him around town. He usually has his camera in tow, and while I know plenty of photographers, he is the the only one whose work I routinely hunt down and check on. I visit his site, www.adamalonzo.com, a couple of times a week to see what he’s come up with, and I’m only disappointed when I find that he’s running behind…
He shoots the things he sees on his walk to work. He shoots everyday life at the UD campus where he works. He shoots the weather. He shoots birds. He shoots models. He shoots local arts events. He shoots just about everything, and you would do well to wander back through the archives on his site.
Anyway, this should be an exhibition to check out.
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The strangest book review I’ve read in a while…
Here you go… It requires no comment, speaking purely for itself…
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Too busy to read? You’re not alone…
That buzzing distraction of the Internet, email, daily life, other stuff to do… Whatever became of quiet time to settle down with a good book?
If you’ve asked yourself that recently (and I have…) you may find some small comfort in knowing you aren’t the only one… Here is a sad but all-too-relevant essay on the subject from — gasp! — the book editor of the LA Times, and he’s even having a hard time concentrating…
Thoughts? Do you still find time to read? As much as you wish you had? When? And how?
And if so, do you have a good book to recommend?
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A free show at the Little Art!
This just in from our friends at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs… Here’s the press release:
Free Screening of The Diary of Anne Frank at Little Art
The Little Art Theatre will present a free screening of The Diary of Anne Frank on Saturday, August 15. This is the 50th anniversary of the film, which was nominated for several Academy Awards and won two—best supporting actress (Shelley Winters) and cinematography. The story is told from the perspective of Anne (played by Millie Perkins), a young Dutch Jewish girl who, along with her parents, sister, and another family, hides from the invading Nazis in a cramped attic. According to a New York Times review, this was the first major Hollywood movie to present the subject of the Holocaust “front and center.” The film is in black & white and runs 150 minutes. The presentation is part of the Little Art’s “Saturday’s Picture Show” series, which generally presents films for children; this presentation is for teens and adults. The movies begin at 1:30 pm, and the doors open at 1:00 pm. There’s no admission charge, however, a suggested donation of $4 will help the Little Art to continue its quality programming. The Little Art Theatre is located at 247 Xenia Ave. in Yellow Springs. More information is available at www.LittleArt.com.
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Rockin’ with the Rubi Girls…
OK, kids, if you haven’t seen the Rubi Girls, you need to. Plain and simple as that.
The ladies put on a heck of a show Saturday night at Club Masque downtown, and the place was packed with fans of Dayton’s famous troupe of wild, wacky cross-dressing guys who really know how to strut in heels…
Check out the group’s website for background and photos from previous shows if you are unfamiliar with them. I had seen the documentary “Rubi Girls” film previously, but had missed a live show till last night.
I won’t let that happen again… If they’re in town, we’re there.
They are naughty, raucous, adult fun. They’re colorful, clever and absolutely hilarious. The sense of humor at work behind the jokes, satire and choreography are insanely original.
Topical? They had fun compressing “Wicked” into a nutty seven minutes that didn’t necessarily make me want to see the play. And let’s just say the Girls found a way … heck, several ways … to have the last word on Michael Jackson, who must be moonwalking in his grave by now.
Go for the dresses! Go for the wigs! Go for the dancing! Go because they’re gorgeous! Just go, go, go.
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First Friday fun!
Had the chance to get out last night and do some downtown Dayton art-gallery First Friday stuff, and had fun seeing new art, visiting the spots and seeing old friends.
We started out at DVAC, where the members show — a pretty darn good one, btw — runs through Aug. 20, which means you still have time to go see it. This is one of the best, if not the very best, way to see what’s being made in studios around the Miami Valley in a single, lively stop. Good stuff to be seen … and purchased, if you’re of a mind!
After that it was over to the Cannery, where there is a lot of new stuff on the walls, and where some cool after-hours jazz was brewing. We dropped by K12 and then over to Fifth Street, where the sidewalks were hoppin’.
Loretta Puncer, one of my favorite local artists, is up something brand new for her at the 510 Gallery she owns on Fifth… She’s moved away for a while from her realist work and photography and has started taking glued, gessoed rags, strings and strips of fabric and working them onto a canvas, and then using those as the basis for the designs she paints… She is working with subtle new color palettes, a lot of warm colors in particular, and is really accomplishing some neat stuff. I like that Loretta is always trying something different, and never gets locked into one thing.
Anyway, after all that fun we were hungry, and too close to the Oregon Express not to get a pizza up on the balcony … watching Dayton as the trails rolled by and Freakshow bashed out its hardcore rock, very loudly, downstairs.
A perfect nite? Pretty dang close, I’d say.
See you next First Friday…
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Rethinking art and film at the DAI…
What does art mean to you? Tess Cortes has been asking.
“It’s what makes us human,” a man told her.
“It affects your life,” a lady said.
A young man told her about his first visit to the Dayton Art Institute, on a sixth-grade field trip. He recalled visiting the “play room” for children, where the youngsters could make art of their own. It stuck with him to this day. A woman told Cortes her first visit to the DAI was “astounding.”
Cortes has been on a mission lately to capture peoples’ thoughts on art, all as part of an interesting project she’s doing that will soon be put on display at the DAI.
Here’s the story. Cortes is the coordinator of the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries at Wright State, in the university’s Creative Arts Center. She is also a video artist, creating intriguing little films about landscapes, sky and televised imagery under the pseudonym Netta Bitts. A few months ago, she met Will South, the new chief curator for the DAI.
South, as it turned out, needed some help. He was mounting a large exhibition of rarely seen works from the DAI’s collection to mark the museum’s 90th anniversary this year. The show, “Hello World,” opens in October and runs through January.
As part of it, “I knew I wanted to stress that our visitors are really our greatest treasure. It sounds pollyannish, but there it is. And I also wanted something contemporary, video art.” He asked Cortes if she was interested in taking a whack at a film about the DAI’s visitors. She wanted a challenge and agreed.
She and her friend Mary Anne Kirk, who works at ThinkTV, put up their cameras in the galleries on three days this summer and got some 70 visitors to talk about their first visits to the DAI, their favorite works, what art means to them and such.
“What I got in the end is almost like a love story to the DAI, to art and the art community,” Cortes said. “It’s been really affirming.”
“People were overwhelmed by the size, quality and scope of the collection, and that we have it right here in a city our size. We even found some out-of-towners who said they came because they’ve always seen that great building there by the interstate. It’s such a draw.”
The film will run about 20 minutes, she thinks, and be shown in the galleries continuously during the exhibition. The version she’s leaning toward, one of several she’s tried, runs interviews simultaneously, mosaic-like, with several people talking at once. It sounds confusing until you see it; Cortes has managed to edit it in a way where you can neatly follow all the conversations at once.
She’s pleased that this project has pushed her to experiment with sound and storytelling, and has expanded her ideas about what she’s capable of. South can’t wait to see the final product, and looks forward to adding a new local artist to the DAI’s permanent collection.
Cortes hopes her piece reminds people of how valuable the arts are, especially in a time when they’re financially vulnerable; even the budget for this piece was slashed while she was making it.
“I’d like to make people think about the impact not just of the DAI, but of the arts in general,” she said. “I’m worried about the arts. They’re always the first thing to be cut, and that sets a dangerous precedent. I don’t think Dayton should let that happen, because of our history of invention; the artistic innovation and the creativity the arts spur should be something we’re open to and aware of.
“We could lose a lot.”
So, once more: What does art mean to you?
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Our Great Kate Debate continues…
Readers are still weighing in from all directions and viewpoints on the good and bad points of TV mom Kate Gosselin.
The Great Kate Debate rages on…
I don’t think I can remember ever posting any topic that has drawn so many long, thoughtful and heart-felt responses…
What is it with this show? Can somebody explain the appeal and tug it apparently has on so many people? I’m amazed…
Keep on writin’…
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A few more Kate thoughts…
All rightie, we seem have touched a nerve or two here…
My last few posts about Kate Gosselin and a listing of her “worst moments” as gathered on a national news/entertainment site have been getting some really thoughtful, interesting comments… Feel free to keep ‘em coming, too.
Meanwhile — and I hasten to add that I have not watched the show — a few thoughts occur to me from reading through the many comments from readers.
Namely:
— Whether she’s a good parent or not, or whether she’s a nice person or not, I mostly feel sorry for her children.
— I ask myself whether somebody who was a good, caring parent would subject young children to the rigors of a “reality show” anyway…
— Will the therapists and counselors who are some day called upon to help these poor kids have to recuse themselves if they watched the show? I don’t know what the standards are on such a thing…
— What, exactly, is the reality on any “reality show” anymore?
— If you are willing to treat somebody poorly on camera, how might you treat them in private? I mean, don’t most people behave better in public, or try to?
— There is a scientific principle I read about once that says any phenomenon is changed or altered merely by the observation of it; that is, if you watch something, the very watching affects it. I’m not certain I have that exactly right, but it does seem to be the case here. Would the family be happier and better off if they’d never been “discovered”?
— Speaking of which, d’ya think the producers of the show assumed that the Gosselins would end up divorcing, and worked that into their plans for the show? Seems like it, to me…
Just a few random thoughts … What are yours?
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A reader and harried mom weighs in on Kate
My goodness … merely the mention of the words “Kate Gosselin” seems to draw folks out with strong opinions…
In response to my post from yesterday, leading folks to a Daily Beast web gallery of Kate’s “worst moments” from the show, I got this very interesting email from a lady who took exception with me…
She makes some good points worth sharing. Here’s her note. Your thoughts, as always, are welcome:
I’m tired of the Kate bashing. I haven’t ever watched the show so I decided to look at these video clips you posted to see what exactly many people don’t like about her.
First, immediately there is a double standard because where is Jon’s top ten nasty moments? (Oh, I get it - High Expectations for Kate and Low Expectations for Jon). He also seemed rude to me in several of the clips, but he plays the victim well.
Second, to me, she seems to be a chronically stressed mother of eight children who doesn’t ever get respect, including from her (ex)husband.
Third, this society still does not respect motherhood. If you stay at home, then you’re seen as an unintelligent woman who wears sweats all day and eats bon bons. If you’re a working mother, then you’re seen as a woman who puts her career before her children and you’re trying to “have it all”.
Fourth, in many of the video clips, as a mother, I can give people the reasons why she made certain choices that other mothers would understand. For instance, Kate didn’t want the children to get markers on their clothes. I can understand that! If they do, it adds to your workload as a mother. And since she has 8, that would really add to her workload. I’ve had my children refrain from certain activities because it would be exhausting to clean it all up.
Fifth, as in football, it’s a lot easier to comment, nitpick, and complain from the sidelines. But when you are the players and are in the middle of the action where you have to make split-second decisions, it’s much harder to not make any mistakes. Therefore, it’s easy for people to judge her harshly because they haven’t experienced her life, and some haven’t even experienced motherhood!
We, as mothers, are real people. We are not June Cleaver. And the expectations for mothers are very high while the expectations for fathers are very low. So for moms, how many times have you been in a store with your kids and people give you “the look”. “The look” says “I can’t believe you’re here in this store with all of those kids trying to get your shopping done.” And how many times have you seen a Dad in a store with kids and he gets a different look that says, “Wow. Look at that. What a great guy. He has all those kids to take care of and and he’s trying to get the shopping done!”. It’s such a double standard! I can give many more examples of that, but in conclusion, mothers get no respect, including Kate.
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My first Kate Gosselin experience: Good grief…!
OK, I admit that I haven’t watched the show; moreover, I confess that I’m not going to start…
But one of my favorite news/culture sites, The Daily Beast, has compiled their ten top nasty Kate moments, thus providing me with my first taste of this whole, um, affair…
Oh, my goodness.
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The next Dayton-area “Big Read”
Word has come our way that the committee of readers, librarians, teachers and book fans that works so hard to coordinate the annual “Big Read” for the Dayton area have arrived at the three selections that will be put to a community vote to come up with main book.
The voting will be coming soon at DaytonDailyNews.com… Watch the site for details. The 2010 Big Read will happen in the spring.
Stay tuned!
Here are the selections from the committee; please note that the verbiage and descriptions quoted here are theirs, not mine; I haven’t read any of the books yet, but all three sound interesting to me:
This I Believe - the Personal Philosophy of Remarkable Men and Women edited by Jay Allison. Based on the NPR series, this collection of 80 essays explores the personal beliefs of a diverse assortment of contributors, both famous and unknown, includes selections from such notables as Isabel Allende, Colin Powell, John Updike, John McCain, William F. Buckley, Rick Moody, and others who reflect on their faith, the evolution of their beliefs, and how they express them. The title and idea was used by Edward Murrow in the 50’s and some of the original essays from then are reprinted here. (Note: a second book is now out with more essays, includes pieces by Yo-Yo Ma, Sister Helen Prejean, and Robert Fulghum.) Non-fiction, pub. 2006, 281 pages; volume two published 2008, 268 pages
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell - In the wake of the Great War and the devastating influenza pandemic of 1919, 41 year old Ohio schoolteacher Agnes Shanklin decides to use her inheritance to take a trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land, where she meets T. E. Lawrence, and Karl Weilbacher, a charming German spy with an intense interest in Lawrence. Ohio author. Fiction, pub. 2008, 253 pages
The Soloist by Stephen Lopez - A reporter befriends a homeless man who happens to be a gifted violinist. The story traces Nathaniel Ayers, his education at Juilliard, his struggles with schizophrenia and the factors that led to his homelessness in Los Angeles. It’s also a story of the author’s attempt to find ways to help under difficult circumstances and what the two learn from each other. Recently made into a popular movie with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Nonfiction, pub. 2008, 278 pages
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RIP: A cultural pioneer you probably never knew
I confess that I had never heard of Naomi Sims before.
Now I have, and so have you. Better late than never.
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Woe is Hollywood…
Interesting bit about the latest financial follies in Tinseltown, which are starting to get more and more coverage.
This is from the Daily Beast and focuses on the fallout from “G-Force” tanking after a week … which is too bad, since it cost about $170M to make… Ouch! Good thing it didn’t feature bigger critters.
“Hey,” I say to myself, even trying to remember back when I was the parent of young children. “Let’s take the family to see a Jerry Bruckheimer movie about, um, guinea pigs with machine guns!”
“Now, honey,” my wife would have said. “You know you’re allergic to guinea pigs.”
Uh-huh.
