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Preview for the 2011 Sidewalk Film Festival

Friday, August 5th, 2011

The Sidewalk Film Festival is coming up soon.  August 26-28 to be exact.  When it comes to “cool things to do in Birmingham that I’m surprised more people don’t attend”, this event ranks near the very top of my list.  If you like stuff that is somehow still under the radar, get yourself a ticket and come watch some brand new movies.  Not much feels better than movie theater air conditioning in August Alabama.  The full, interactive 2011 Sidewalk program is available at this link.

I wrote four pieces for the 2010 Film Festival (Preview, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).  I expect that the staff and screeners at Sidewalk will have wrangled another good group of forward-looking, envelope-pushing, and entertaining cinema in 2011.  At the very least, it’ll be more interesting than Conan the Barbarian.  Here are some preview trailers from this year’s films.  They’re in roughly the order that the trailer itself makes me want to see the movie, but part of the fun is getting to make your own mind up.

  • Page One
  • Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians
  • Sahkanaga
  • The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History
  • The Agony and the Ecstacy of Phil Spector
  • Louisiana Fairytale
  • Mary Marie
  • A Bag of Hammers
  • Prairie Love
  • Dragonslayer

Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Altamont Alumni Theater

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

“Go take a flying fuck at the moon.”

I’m a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut, so I couldn’t resist going to see one of his few plays – Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1960?  1970?) – as produced by the Altamont Alumni Theater.  I wouldn’t have even known about it, except for Facebook - so I guess the social network is good for at least one thing.  I’m not a marketing expert, but I wish stuff like this could reach a wider audience.  Whatever happened to things like leafletting?

“You know what gets me?  How all the magazines show tits nowadays. . . . How everybody says fuck and shit all the time. . . . How short skirts are. . . . Something very important happened with sex while we were gone.”

I wish more people could’ve seen it, because this play was largely cool, fun, and entertaining.  It wasn’t perfect.  As always, Vonnegut is at his best when he gives you a spoonful of sugar with the medicine.  And I think any live production might should triple-think any use of a strobe light.  But some of the ideas were wonderful, there were lots of funny lines, and the actors were warm and genuine.  Any play with a swing onstage gets extra points.  I especially enjoyed the underplaying but scene-stealing Mike McCraney (Colonel Looseleaf Harper), the peppy, infectious, and expressive Heather Burgess (Wanda June), and the virtually perfect Edward Miller (Major Siegfried von Konigswald).

“One time, we killed a guy with orange juice.”

One reason I’d love if more people went to this kind of show is because theatre is essentially a social activity.  I went with a friend, but I ended up talking to the two women beside me (both related to a cast member), and eavesdropping on the people behind me.  That’s okay – in fact, that’s the point.

“Anybody who’d drop an atom bomb on a city has to be pretty dumb.”

The people in theater are a tight-knit community.  And something like the Altamont Alumni Theater – by its very nature – is essentially a production by and for a particular community.  Community theater.  I even Dodger-ed an early 80s Altamont yearbook during the first intermission and spent some time looking through it for cast members (and found the Dungeons & Dragons club).

“You don’t know what you want.  That’s the way God built you.”

And when you go to a performance – any performance – you become a part of a community.  I, for one, really enjoy listening for the spots where other audience members are inclined to (or not to) laugh.  I like hearing what tickles who.  For those of us who believe that our animals essentially communicate with us through dance, even being a part of a laughing audience can be a valid and meaningful form of intercourse.

“Educating a beautiful woman is like pouring honey into a fine Swiss watch; everything stops. . . . Ideally, the body of a woman should feel like a hot water bottle filled with warm Devonshire cream.”

I know I’m a talker – I’ve been told more than a few times that people could not imagine me staying quiet – so it should come as no surprise that I like to discuss a show afterwards.  Without a steady, I’m often scrambling to find someone to go with.  But I’ve always been surprised how most of my companions seem so eager to move their brains directly onto the next thing as soon as the final curtain goes down.

“The sound of human footsteps is a terrifying sound.”

Okay, that was great.  Guess what happened to me today!  So what are we doing for dinner?  My boss is such a scrogger.  I need to make a call.  Can we go by the drugstore?  Did you see So You Think You Can Dance the other night?

“Never fight a guy when you’re on roller skates.”

I read a poem once about a guy who would walk with his dog.  He would think about the past and the future the whole time, but all the dog worried about was what was happening right now.  I think I’m the dog.  I can’t imagine going to even a half-interesting play or show and not talking about it during and afterwards.  I mean, they’re stimulating and entertaining you on purpose.  They put charismatic and interesting people on stage, trying to give you new ideas, new funny stories to use, and to make you think.  How could someone not talk about it?

“The thrill of smashing something isn’t in the smashing – it’s in the owner’s reaction.”

For what it’s worth, I appreciate the Altamont Alumni Theater picking a Vonnegut piece.  For me, he’s in the top class of influential writers over the past half-century.  I’d love to know if most people just use theater (and dance and TV and movies and the like) just to kill off a couple of hours and space out.  I don’t have great insight into this.  Do most couples go see a play and then immediately start talking about refinancing the mortgage and Uncle Alvarez?  Or am I hanging out with the wrong people?  It doesn’t have to be intellectual or brilliant – I just want to know what you liked and what it made you think, ya know?  If anyone vibrant and talky wants to go see a show with me, let me know.

“We adjust to what there is to adjust to.”

Thanks so much to Hube Dodd, The Altamont School, and the Altamont Alumni Theater for letting me come see their show.

“Welcome to manhood, you little sparrowfart!”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Park Players

Friday, July 15th, 2011

“Are you sure that we are awake?”

The Park Players scheduled Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream this year.  From the moment it came up on the schedule, I knew I’d want to go see it.

Why?  Because of the value of the organization’s reputation.  I’ve seen several other shows by the Park Players and always have a good time.  (Complete Works, Abridged; Taming of the Shrew; Much Ado About Nothing; and Noises Off.)  There’s no reason to think they wouldn’t do an equally good job of entertaining me or my friends this time around.  And they did.

“I have had a most rare vision.”

Especially fun was the (possibly practical) choice to cast Puck as a girl and the Rude Mechanicals an all-female troupe.  Gina Gioiello (as Puck), Laura Coulter (as Bottom), and Jessica Walston (as Quince) all worked beautifully.  The others in this fine group included Maggie Ballard, Noelle Gunn (and her notably marvelous red shoes), Melissa Halbert, and Sarah Tompkins.

“Well roared, lion!”

I wonder if producers, directors, actors, and others involved in the arts may get so neck-deep in their own community that they might forget what ordinary, uninvolved people are thinking when we’re deciding whether to come out to a show.  For example, the next performance by the Park Players was a play I’d never heard of: A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing.  I wasn’t able to make it to that show, but I might should’ve.  The play was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony award.  When it comes to shows (theatre or dance), here’s sorta my thought process in deciding whether to go:

I see an announcement that Group X is doing Show Y.  First, how do I feel about Group X?  Do I know them?  Have I heard of them?  Have I heard good things?  Do they get good PR (on sites like Birmingham Verse)?  If I’ve seen shows by this group in the past, were they fun?  Every show – every date – creates your reputation in the community.

How about Show Y?  Have I heard of it?  Do people say good things?  Does it look lame or cool?  Is it someone’s local pet project?  Have I seen other things by the playwright or creator?  Has it been recognized as good or the best?    Have I seen it before?  Have I seen it produced too many times?

“It is nothing but roaring.”

What’s the content of the show?  Does it look fun?  I would almost always refuse to go see a bleak, four-hour show about how the American government performed unethical radiation experiments on its own disabled and poor.  That is, unless it’s a singalong or done entirely in South Park-ironic blackface or something.  If your materials can’t convince me the show is fun, I won’t be there.  Include some of the jokes or the approximate running time, perhaps?

Where is it?  I pretty much refuse to see anything at the BJCC.  I find it a poor place to see most any show.  On the flip side, at least half the charm of the Park Players is when they perform in Homewood Park.  Do I have to go all the way across town to see it?  For completeness, I know some potential ticket-buyers are terrified to go anywhere near downtown Birmingham at night.  Those people are irrational scaredycats, but it’s a real and noteworthy phenomenon.  Ease some fears; tout CAP or other safety or security.

“Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

How much does it cost?  I can watch a two hour movie virtually for free in the comfort of my own air-conditioning.  I can play two hours of Rock Band for free.  I know that arts organizations need to make money just to break even, but high ticket prices aren’t the way to do it.  Think Walmart: Sell more, for cheaper.  One subtle criteria that I think most organizations overlook is that I’m much more likely to see a show if I think the audience will be full or that everyone else is going to see it.  Everything is more exciting – for the performers, too – with a full house.  Even if it’s the “riff raff” – I absolutely hate to see families in Homewood Park turned away from an introduction to Shakespeare or theatre because they can’t pay the ticket price.  Don’t price to sell 1/2 or 2/3 of your seats.  Price to sell out and turn people away – it creates future demand.

“Tis almost fairy time.”

Will there be babes there?  If it wasn’t for women, men wouldn’t do hardly anything.  Any performance by the Alabama Ballet, for example, has this factor in droves.  Not only are there amazing legs anywhere you look, but they’re rarely shy about some shirtless beefcake fanservice for the ladies.  They know what they’re doing.  Meanwhile, if a show’s only cast is two or three mature, fully-clothed men talking to one another – I’ll be frank – there might be a problem.  Everybody likes looking at pretty girls.  People like to get out and look around.

“I’m as ugly as a bear.”

So ideally, I’d probably get the most excited about seeing a show if:

  • I have a favorable impression of the presenting group
  • I have a favorable impression of the show itself
  • It looks cool and fun
  • The venue is cool, not uncomfortable or inconvenient
  • The price isn’t too high
  • Lots of other people might be there…
  • …including some babes, onstage or in the audience

The hardest part, really, might just be hearing about it at all.  I don’t know the best ways for theatre to market to potential theatre-goers, but I know that even I usually have to go seek it out, even though I’m trying my best to keep up with it.  Find ways to get it out there!

“Thou art translated.”

Cheers to Clay Boyce and the rest of the Park Players for keeping up this cool, fun, annual tradition.

Lucia di Lammermoor by Opera Birmingham

Monday, June 20th, 2011

It’s all patterns.  People behavior: you and me.  Animal behavior: dogs and cats.  Tornadoes: first them, then us, then them again.

And since the arts are inseparable from everything – you know, ’cause it’s everything – there are an awful lot of patterns in there, too.  Part of it is just baked into the cake, I suppose.  But a larger part is because we intentionally use creativity to reflect what’s going on around us.  To pass a feeling forwards to someone else.

John Lennon had a feeling about his Mother and wrote it into a song.  Forty years later, I still “get” it, don’t you?  Most of us have had these conflicting feelings.  Goodbye, goodbye: Mama don’t go, Daddy come home.  Roger Waters had some thoughts about his Mother.  Even Glenn Danzig and Carrie Underwood.  If it’s good, it’ll seek out the same part of you that it touched in them.

So there’s really no good reason to think that we’re more modern or much different than long-dead guys like Gaetano Donizetti, Salvadore Cammarano, or Sir Walter Scott – the guys responsible for the opera, Lucia di Lammermoor.  Our own Opera Birmingham recently did a version and it was thoroughly terrific.  The story is like Romeo and Juliet: forbidden love between two families in opposition.  Lucia is the fragile sister, tragically caught in the middle.  Bad things happen.  Like other narratives, the lesson is to be careful with your heart.  Still good advice, almost two centuries later.

“The unhappy girl has lost her reason.”

I like thinking that I have a lot in common with those dead guys.  And I like believing we may still have a lot in common with the people who’ll be around in 2186.  Who knows, maybe they’ll like my poems?

We’ve had even more in common.  Writers seem to have a soft spot for the opera.  In particular, writers may be prone to crushes on actresses and singers.  Charles Foster Kane had his fondness for Susan Alexander and I’m probably not the only one with a crush on Susanna Phillips.  I’m not embarrassed to admit it.  If you’re a professional artist or entertainer who doesn’t cause some degree of swooning and attraction, you’re probably not doing it right.

“Whoever is not deeply moved by her has no heart.”

It’s a natural fantasy, really.  Writers need long blocks of completely focused and uninterrupted time.  That’s good, because singers are almost always on the go.  Being a traveller, a singer needs a companion who’s got a way with words.  That’s most of what you get – emails and telephone – and doncha know that love letters are a writer’s best trick?  Writers appreciate expressiveness, but especially in a different medium, because it doesn’t compete with or jostle an ego that’s unbuoyed by applause or direct adoration.  Actresses can’t help but have a natural appreciation for composition.  There’s already a bond, because everything she’s sung, acted, or appreciated was probably written by some solitary guy banging away on a keyboard.  God frequently works through pale, homely men.  Writers can appreciate someone who is looked at or listened to in a way that he isn’t.  Finally, both the singer and the writer need someone with a deep understanding of artifice (AKA bullshit).  An acute awareness of the gauzy line between earnestness and performance.  A knowledge of that self-defining space between the parts of yourself devoured by an audience and who you actually are.  When to tell the truth and when to lie.

“If she is overcome by sadness, do not be surprised.”

[Enter Lucia: bloody]  Susanna Phillips is always the best part of the opera.  There’s no need to find a variety of frilly ways to say it.  She sings beautifully.  She acts – and interacts – beautifully.  Her characters are passionate and sexy.  She’s beautiful on and off stage.  She’s responsible for the two most spontaneous, lengthy, and heartfelt ovations I’ve ever been a part of.  What else is there to say?

One thing I’ve noticed in covering the arts is that space is a tricky thing.  It’s  true in writing and the visual arts, but it’s emphasized in music or theatre.  The issue is, when things hesitate, will your audience stay with it?  What if I start to color outside the lines – will you stick around?  Let’s say I’m up on stage and acting my heart out.  If there’s a tiny pause, you’ll probably wonder if I’ve messed up.  It can feel like a million awkward years.  Am I faltering?  Your mind may wander.  Or think about some guitar solos, where the musician gets way off track.  But great artists will hold you.  That might be the best test of how good they are.  She could stop in the middle and you’d be right there with her.  She’s one of those.

From The Shawshank Redemption: “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about.  Truth is, I don’t wanna know.  Some things are better left unsaid.  I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it.  I tell you those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream.  It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.”

From all of us at Shawshank, thank you to John D. Jones and everyone associated with Opera Birmingham.

Preview for Laughter On The 23rd Floor

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

I’ve been on a bit of a spring hiatus, but I’ll get back to regular writing soon.

Meanwhile, I wrote an earlier post suggesting it would be a good idea for local arts groups to put actual arts on their websites.  It seems like everyone’s got a video camera – why not use it to create some quality preview or post-view video of your art, dance, or performance?

Many kudos to South City Theatre for crafting this preview trailer.  A great idea, well executed!  It looks like fun – which is the point, right?  I wish there was more media around – other than me (do I count as media?) – for distribution.  Here’s information about the show:

Could you use a few laughs? Join us at South City Theatre for Neil Simon’s LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR!  Performances June 3-12, 2011.  Make your reservations by calling 621-2128 or visit the website: www.southcitytheatre.com.

This laugh-a-minute comedy takes place in a writer’s room for a 1950′s television variety show, and is loosely based on Neil Simon’s early days on the staff of Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows.  The characters are inspired by that writing team, which included the likes of Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, Selma Diamond, and Sid Caesar.  The story focuses on Max Prince, the star of the show and his staff, including Simon’s alter-ego Lucas Brickman, who maintains a running commentary on the antics in the writers’ room and Max’s ongoing battles with television executives who fear his humor is too sophisticated for 1950s middle America.  With a nod to McCarthyism and its impact on the entertainment industry, and a healthy dose of snappy one-liners, Laughter on the 23rd Floor makes for a great escape.

Directed by Dianne Daniels and featuring Tony Sanders, Todd Ponder, Scott Nesmith, Kevin Van Hyning, Gregory Scott, Hannah Wilkerson-Francis, Clifton Keen, Jr, Holly Dikeman, and B.J. Underwood.