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(03/12/14 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>W. Kamau Bell will perform at 7 tonight at the Comedy Attic as part of his national tour, “Oh, Everything!”Bell is a socio-political comedian who started out as a stand-up comedian and had a comedy series on FX titled “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.” “I’ve been a stand-up comic for a long time, and this is the stuff I’ve been working on for a long time,” Bell said.The show will contain pop culture and political references. Bell’s inspiration comes from things he sees on the Internet, frustration and his daughter, he said. If what he sees evokes emotion, such as frustration, then it will become material for his performance.Bell said he started to develop a show when he lived in San Francisco. But even as a child, he wanted to be a comedian.“When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a stand-up comic once I realized I couldn’t be a superhero,” he said. “I’m an only child and think I’m interesting.”As he developed his voice, Bell said he encountered a tough time in the places he performed.“Ultimately, when you’re a comedian, you need to figure out how to be funny, and that is an internal obstacle,” he said. “It’s all about finding your voice. In the comedy clubs, I got frustrated because I wanted to focus on race and current events, but the people in the clubs got tired of that after 10 minutes.” Eventually, Bell said he knew he had to move on to a venue where his show would encounter an audience that enjoyed his material. He stopped performing at comedy clubs and was later discovered by Chris Rock.“Chris Rock is how I became a prominent person in comedy,” Bell said.Nonetheless, he said he characterizes himself as only a semi-prominent man in comedy.Race is a popular topic in Bell’s performances, and he has overcome obstacles associated with race.“Because I’m in America, I have the obstacle of being black,” Bell said. “In America, if you’re not a straight white guy over six feet tall, then you have obstacles to overcome. I am over six feet tall and straight, but I am black.”He said his audience is what he loves most about being a stand-up comedian.“I like getting to meet people and perform for people who are excited to see me,” Bell said. “I like being able to connect with people. I like people who like me. I’m weird like that.” After every show, he said he enjoys talking to the audience.“The intimacy of live performance is the best part,” he said.Bell said he is happy to be in Bloomington performing for the audience that was a fan of his TV show.He said in order to make it as a comedian, you have to continue to perform and persevere.“If you don’t quit, you stand a better chance of success.” Bell said. “So don’t quit.”
(03/11/14 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Though the walls were covered with paintings and the shelves filled with ceramics, audio art was featured in the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center Monday.As part of the “Chamber Music Mondays” series, three different groups performed at 7 p.m. in the Miller Gallery. The event was free to attend.All performers were students studying with the Pacifica Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at the Jacobs School of Music. One year ago, the Pacifica Quartet initiated a series of off-campus chamber music concerts to offer more performance opportunities for the student chamber ensembles they coach.Later in the semester, the students will play at Rachael’s Café as a part of Classical Revolution, a Bloomington organization that presents classical chamber music performances and readings in informal settings. They will also perform at the Wylie House Museum and perform privately for residents of Bloomington’s Meadowood Retirement Community. Different ensembles will play at each event.The first group to take the stage was the Zorá String Quartet, comprised of Dechopol Kowintaweewat on the violin, Pablo Salido Munoz on the violin, Yang Guo on the viola and Zizai Ning on the cello. The group began with the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “String Quartet No. 16.”“Beethoven’s pieces are usually dark,” Munoz said. “But this one is very bright and playful.”The quartet then proceeded to play all three movements of Bela Bartok’s “String Quartet No. 2.”During spring break, the Zorá Quartet will travel to the Beethoven Haus in Beethoven’s birthplace of Bonn, Germany, as part of IU’s Advanced Quartet Studies Fellowship. The group won the week-long residence in a competition through the music school.The second group to perform consisted of sophomore Kuan-yi Lee and freshman Katherine Kobylarz, the only duet of the evening. The two students played the first two movements of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Sonata for Two Violins.” According to Kobylarz, the composer’s inspiration was unorthodox.“Prokofiev wrote in his autobiography that he heard an absolutely horrible two-violin sonata by an unnamed composer,” she said. “After that, he made it his goal to redeem the genre.”After the violin duet came the final group, consisting of Jenna Barghouti and Joy Vucekovich playing the violin, Ben Wagner on the viola and Graham Cullen on the cello. They began with the second movement of Mozart’s “String Quartet No. 19,” also known as “Dissonance.” “A lot of the dissonance is in the first movement,” Barghouti said. “But there are small patches in the second movement as well.”They proceeded to play the first two movements of Bartok’s “String Quartet No. 4.”Pacifica Quartet students will begin performing regularly starting March 30 at Rachael’s Café and continue until May 5 when they return to perform at Ivy Tech.
(02/28/14 5:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Actor Henry Woronicz, the king, spoke from a throne imprinted with the inscription “Ex Nihilo,” or “out of nothing,” as the attention of the onstage cast moved to him. In the first minutes of the IU theater department’s Monday night dress rehearsal of Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” nothing was everywhere. “Nothing will come of nothing,” the king says in the first act, in a scene that prompts his future tragedy.The concept of nothing is one of the central themes in the theater department’s production of “King Lear, ” which premieres at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Ruth N. Halls Theatre.The word inspired director Fontaine Syer’s adaptation of the play.“It’s a really important theme for Fontaine,” said senior Sasha Belle Neufeld, who is majoring in theater and drama and plays Cordelia in the production. “You have to look at life in this existentialist manner — life is here, and then it’s gone. It’s nothing.” Neufeld’s character, one of the king’s three daughters, makes an appearance in the text only when she is banished in the first act and killed in the fourth.“I get to relax in the middle,” Neufeld said. “But it is really difficult. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do backstage to keep me focused and to keep me in the show.”“King Lear” was written during the time of Shakespeare’s quartet of tragedies, which includes “Hamlet,” “Othello” and “Macbeth.” It tells the story of an aging despot who splits his kingdom among his daughters, provided they declare how much they love him first. Cordelia, Lear’s most beloved daughter, answers his question with the word “nothing.” “Actions speak louder than words,” Neufeld said. “That’s how Cordelia represents nothing in this play. She believes the love that she showed him should be enough for him to understand.” The furious king deposes his daughter and sets in motion the tragic events leading up to his overthrow, insanity and death. Nevertheless, Neufeld views the king as more pitiable than detestable. “Lear is senile,” she said. “When Lear chooses to banish her ... it’s not him. It’s this illness that’s taken over him. But I think Cordelia fights that because she wants to hope that he’ll come back to her, that he’ll overcome this terrible thing.”The idea of redemption also figures heavily into Shakespeare’s play. “We can find no other word than renewal,” wrote the Shakespearean scholar Lionel Knights. Even so, early critics of “King Lear” thought the writer was too harsh with the tragic death of Lear and Cordelia, agreeing with the late historical Shakespeare critic Samuel Johnson, who remarked he was so shocked by Cordelia’s death he avoided rereading the play for years. Complaints such as these resulted in a radically altered version of the play by Nahum Tate that kept Lear and Cordelia alive. This adaptation was performed for nearly two centuries. However, Syer’s production would suggest nothing of this optimistic rendition. The play features costumes in the drab, gothic colors of a party of mourners and a massive set piece that looks like different sheets of driftwood. A member of the design team described it as epic and crumbling. “But to the characters, that’s just their world,” cast member and IU doctoral student Eric Heaps said. “There is this falling apart. It’s coming apart. Nothing is coming from nothing.” Heaps plays the Earl of Gloucester, who banishes his loyal son Edgar in an act of rage, trusting to the support of characters who later overthrow Gloucester and gouge out his eyes. “It’s apparent that I go from a lot to nothing,” Heaps said. “The set design itself becomes nothing as it goes along. Pieces keep flying out.” The downward spiral of events that the men endure, such as Lear’s madness and Gloucester’s eye gouging, have been taken to graphic extremes in other productions. In 2007, “Lord of the Rings” actor Ian McKellen stripped nude during an 18 month-long production of the play to better illustrate Lear’s madness. Heaps, recounting Syer’s many experiences of seeing “Lear” performed, said a realistic and extreme eye-gouging scene would not convey the effect she wanted for her own production. “She thought of this idea of focusing on the emotional experience,” Heaps said. “You’re getting the emotion because you know what’s happening.” Emotional effect is something the cast said they take very personally.“Lear breaks my heart every time I see him,” Heaps said. “I want the audience to experience his journey — to be dragged through the mud with him. I just hope they feel something.” The last words of the play are Edgar’s, and they are used to illustrate the passing of age as well as the attempt to reconcile the future by enduring hardship. “You have to bear these woes in order to come back up,” Heaps said. “We that are young shall never see so much nor live so old,” Edgar’s lines finish the play. In one of the upper left-hand theater seats, Syer looked down with approval. The theme of the play had revolved around nothing and negativity, but her tone of voice was approving. “I think we’re in great shape,” she said.
(02/27/14 3:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Thirty plays, 60 minutes. Thirty plays will be performed at Bloomington Playwrights Project at breakneck pace as six actors rush to finish before the timer hits zero. “The Blizzard: Game Show Edition” is a fast-paced comedic routine that is impossible to predict, BPP director Jessica Reed said.“It’s a different play every night — they will always be in a different order,” Reed said.Reed said the audience chooses the order the plays are performed in each night.She said the order is determined by whoever yells the loudest in the audience, and the unpredictable nature keeps the actors on their toes.Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 and 28 and March 1 at Bloomington Playwrights Project.Tickets are $15 each and all proceeds will support the BPP.“Blizzard” playwright Hank Greene said the show is designed for maximum audience participation.“‘The Blizzard’ is very much a living and breathing piece,” Greene said. “So much is visual and about the audience experiencing it.”The plays are all organized into different categories centering on the game theme, Greene said.Some of the categories are “Game of Thrones,” “The Hunger Games” and video games.Chad Rabinovitz, the producing artistic director, said the idea for “The Blizzard’ was originally adapted from a different theater in Chicago.This year, the actors will not know what to expect on opening night because they will not complete a full run-through.“They started rehearsal a little late because everyone has been sick,” Reed said. She said “Blizzard” seeks to interact with the audience by combining interactive games with the plays. “Out of 30 options on the board, nine are games that require audience participation,” she said.The games are mixed in with the plays to keep the audience invested, Reed said. The developed the ideas for the games, one of which involves an audience member shooting a Nerf gun. Audience members can also win prizes, including the nightly grand prize of $100. “The prizes are all from local businesses,” Reed said. “We have a lot of community investment.”Reed said the BPP is very connected to the community because they try to nurture new talent and help new play ideas at the local level.“We are the only theater in the state of Indiana dedicated to new plays,” she said. “We help people get new works out there so there is always something new.”With “the Blizzard,” they are trying to capture the interest of people who wouldn’t necessarily watch plays, Reed said.They want the show to be easy to digest and leave a lasting impression on the audience.“I want every play to be a new experience for the audience,” Greene said.
(02/26/14 4:46am)
Jacobs School of Music and the Musical Arts Center will premiere “H.M.S.
Pinafore,” an opera set on a British cruise liner, 8 p.m. Friday and
Saturday.
(02/25/14 2:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Back Door will present the two-act play “A Mimicry of Natural Order” at 9 p.m. tonight.This will be the establishment’s first theatrical presentation with a musical-staged show.The play is a theatrical satire that focuses on modern culture and will feature original music, dance and acting done by Bloomington community members.“‘A Mimicry of Natural Order’ is a fairy tale-themed play that focuses on a tower and the main character, the Lord of Reason, who lives in it,” director and creator Travis Puntarelli said. “Things take a turn for the worse when goblins that live underground rise up and attempt to overthrow and tear the tower down.”Puntarelli said the play is a replication of the restrictions that are put on people’s rights in relation to the LGBT community.“The whole piece is a commentary on social culture,” Puntarelli said. “It is a look at the way we have laws, rules, and reasons that are illogical and destructive, forcing us to accept change in culture.”“Mimicry” features acoustic-style performances, painted masks, customized artwork and set design from IU art students and others. The whole play was written by Puntarelli and his committee.Crew members came from all over the Bloomington community, he said, and include Back Door employees, IU students and residents.“Mimicry” was previously presented at the Rhino’s All Ages Music Club in Bloomington. The show at the Back Door is set to be more adult-oriented while still portraying the same message.“Basically, I wanted to tell a simple story about the lead character who is the Lord of Reason with his zealot nature and super backhanded morals,” Puntarelli said. “Audiences will learn of his fall and what he needs to do in order to regain his power.”Doors will open at 8 p.m. tonight. Attendees must be 21 years of age or older.There is a $10 suggested contribution for each audience member, and all proceeds will be used to support community theater. Follow reporter Anthony Broderick on Twitter @aebrodakirck.
(02/20/14 5:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Comedy Attic owner Jared Thompson said comedian John Roy is severely underrated.On Feb. 20 through Feb. 22, Roy will be performing his record-breaking 10th show at the Comedy Attic. Depending on the day, ticket prices range from $6 to $12.“I honestly believe that John Roy is not only one of the funniest comedians I know, but also one of the most criminally underrated ones,” Thompson said. “I truly believe he should have been recognized more than he already is right now. Our audiences and everyone else at the Comedy Attic love him and we strongly believe in his career.”Currently living in West Hollywood, Roy has had many key appearances throughout his years. He has appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, the Tonight Show and Conan.He also performed duringBloomington’s Limestone Festival last year, and has a podcast called “Don’t Ever Change” that discusses teenage life and high school stories.John Roy is one of the few acts who performs at the Comedy Attic twice a year. Thompson said Roy is distinct in because his standup act consists of his old material mixed with his newer material.“All the material I perform is based off of my own life,” Roy said. “Every joke comes from my reality of living in L.A., and the relationships I have encountered throughout the years.” Thompson said it is rare that comedians come to the Comedy Attic twice a year based on their ability to create new jokes and routines. “John is one of those guys who writes new jokes and understands what is relevant in current comedy and not a lot of other comedians know how to do that,” Thompson said.Roy grew up in Chicago, where he started in a band after graduating college. His friends then encouraged him to do standup comedy where he performed at open mics in city bars until he gained fans and a reputation.“What keeps me doing comedy is the way you need a reason to put on a show to entertain others, and that motivates me to be at my finest,” Roy said.He said he has enjoyed performing at the Comedy Attic in the past.Each new standup performance is an opportunity to gain new fans, Roy added.He said a quality comedy club helps bring in customers.“The Comedy Attic is a very well-run club that gives a sense of business by doing everything right for their customers and workers,” Roy said. “I hope Bloomington residents are able to recognize that they have one of the best comedy bars in the country.”
(02/20/14 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Before Nashville-based band the Apache Relay goes on stage, they form into a group huddle and scream “nice” in Australian accents. “It’s how we get our willies out and shake ’em off,” lead vocalist Michael Ford Jr. said.“We can’t remember where it came from. There’s no explanation why.” The Apache Relay will perform at 9:30 tonight, along with the Lonely Wild and Promised Land Sound, at the Bishop. Tickets are $12 and anyone 18 or older can attend with an ID.Tonight’s performance is in celebration of the band’s upcoming self-titled album, set to be released on April 22. The album took the band about three months to complete, working on and off from Oct. 2012 to May 2013. “It’s a pretty long-winded record,” Ford said. “It was one of those things that needed time to get all of the songs right.” This album will be the third released for the indie-roots band. Its first, “1988,” came out in 2009. The band released its sophomore album, “American Nomad,” in 2011. Ford met fellow Apache Relay members Mike Harris, Brett Moore and Kellen Wenrich in a dorm room at Belmont University in 2006. He later dropped out of college to pursue his passion for music. Moore plays keyboard, guitar and mandolin. Wenrich plays the fiddle, and Harris plays the guitar and provides vocals. The group also now includes Ford’s brother, Ben, who joined after the release of “American Nomad.” The band has performed across the country and opened for bands Mumford & Sons and Young the Giant. Being on the road has some disadvantages — mainly being stuck in a van with five guys, Ford said — but also brings new opportunities. “I am most looking forward to meeting people after the show,” he said. “That’s one of the most fun things about doing shows. Everyone’s so loosey-goosey.” Follow reporter Alison Graham on Twitter @AlisonGraham218.
(02/14/14 3:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pablo Picasso is notably famous for his contributions to the artistic movement cubism. But he has also been known to have many different women in his life, including wives and mistresses who are often featured in his artwork. After being painted by Picasso, art historians analyzed these women repeatedly, and they were given an identity that was not their own, said Juliet Barrett, senior theater major and director of the play “Picasso’s Women.” Irish playwright Brian McAvera wrote the play in 1998 after he conducted immense research on the women behind Picasso’s artwork. Barrett has taken the play and made it the focus of her honors thesis production by directing an entirely student-run performance, which premiered Thursday and continues 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.All performances are in the Studio Theatre in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center.Barrett’s honors thesis focuses on feminism and culminates with this performance, which melds together fine arts and theater. “I really wanted a meeting space so that artists could work on something and really understand the other person’s craft,” she said. Barrett is an artist herself. Creating an ensemble that includes different art forms fueled her passion.To include these art forms, Barrett interviewed a sculptor and a photographer, and together, they created a set that could function not only as a theater production, but also as an installation in a fine arts museum. “One time we had to go dumpster-diving for wood, so we really tried to make it minimalistic. We wanted it to be about the story,” she said. “Picasso’s Women” follows four different women, two wives and two mistresses of Picasso. When the women are on stage, they are frozen and simulating different paintings that Picasso painted them in, fitting into their original molds, Barrett said. As the show progresses, they break out of their original molds, redefine themselves and create their own identities. One woman featured in the show is Picasso’s wife for the last 20 years of his life, Jacqueline, who was featured in a large number of his paintings. “Through his art, he represented (the women) in ways that they weren’t necessarily ‘okay’ with,” said Emily Scott, the actress who plays Jacqueline.“They’ve never gotten their own chance to tell their stories or refute something that was said about them.”Because of the cast of characters in the play, it is performed by an all-female cast. Barrett said every person involved in the play is there because of the passion they feel for the show. “People are doing it because they are passionate about it, and not doing it is simply not an option,” she said. Follow reporter Alison Graham on Twitter @AlisonGraham218.
(02/13/14 5:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Actress, writer and “Last Comic Standing” finalist Rebecca Corry will perform at the Comedy Attic Thursday night through Saturday night.Corry will perform at 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday, with additional shows at 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets range from $8.00 to $17.50 and can be purchased at comedyattic.com. The comedian grew up in Kent, Wash., or the “El Camino driving, hot dog water loving, one-toothed pregnant teen capital of the world,” as she called it on her website. She has guest starred on programs such as “The Bernie Mac Show,” “The King of Queens” and “Rules of Engagement.” Corry released her debut album, “My Story,” in 2012. It includes sections entitled “Tickling,” “Barfing” and “Balls.”Corry, who doesn’t like defining her comedic style, simply calls it storytelling. “If you think it’s funny, then it’s funny,” Corry said. “Some of it’s personal, some of it’s observational — just good, old-fashioned storytelling.” Corry describes her introduction to comedy as the moment “when I came out of my mother’s womb thinking ... what is this? Some kind of joke?” After moving to Los Angeles to host her own HBO one-woman show, “Have you Ever Been Called a Dwarf?” Corry began performing at a number of different comedy clubs. “The ‘good’ decisions I’ve made are simply creating,” she told the website First Order Historians last year. “Creating shows and content. When you think you’re ‘good,’ you stop getting better and learning.”Although she is less than 5 feet tall, Corry said she doesn’t let her height affect her craft.“My height doesn’t write my jokes,” she said. When asked by First Order Historians about her status as a female comedian, her response was similarly straightforward. “I hate the term ‘female comedian,’” she said. “Funny is funny. Doesn’t matter what you use to pee out of.” Recently, Corry has divided her attention between her career and animal rights activism. In May 2013, she began organizing the One Million PIBBLE March on Washington in support of pit bulls.“The goal is to end abuse and discrimination of pit bull terriers and to educate our communities, inside and outside of the animal community — that this is all of our problem,” Corry said. Corry, who performed at the Comedy Attic last year, advised any lonely singles in Friday’s crowd to “wear protection.”
(02/13/14 5:06am)
Rachael's Cafe will host an open mic night and slam poetry competition tonight at 9 p.m.
(02/10/14 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Commonly regarded as one of the most influential German tragedies ever written, Georg Büchner’s “Woyzeck” was performed Friday night at the Wells-Metz Theater. Though the play was left unfinished at the time of the writer’s death in 1837, it is said to resonate with performers and audience members alike as the first “modern tragedy” and as a forward-thinking critique of socio-economic class divide. “There are many themes coursing through ‘Woyzeck’ that are eerily applicable to our modern society,” performer Joe Cadiff said.“The first is the glaring class disparity.” Cadiff, who plays the drum major with whom Woyzeck’s lover has an affair, described the role as larger than life.“The primary distinction between modern tragedy and those before it is ... the socio-economic status of the protagonist,” Cadiff said. “‘Woyzeck’ is obviously a modern tragedy as it is centered around the struggles of a poor soldier, his ‘whore’ and their ‘bastard’ child.”Cadiff said his character takes what he wants.“It is this ruthless fulfillment of his desires that provides a catalyst for the central action of the play,” he said. In order to highlight the superiority of the officers in the play, the drum major and three other characters wore stilts and extended trousers. They towered over the other characters.Costume designer Barbara Abbott said the whole experience challenged her in ways she could never have foreseen. “I became the person responsible for maintaining the stilts; troubleshooting and fixing problems as they arose,” she said in an email. “I had to learn as I went along.”Woyzeck, described by Abbott as an otherwise thoughtful and kind man, is forced into a violent conclusion by the stresses and demands of his divided world. The tragedy of his downfall and the murder he commits have been immortalized in various genres, from the opera “Wozzeck” composed between 1914 and 1922 by the noted atonalist Alban Berg to a 1978 film by Werner Herzog. Playing the sadistic and psychologically abusive doctor, another character in stilts, Jacob Halbleib said he encountered complexities in his role. The abuse of the doctor, as well as the trauma engendered by the drum major, are ultimately responsible for the play’s tragic end. “He loves to watch pain, his experiments more often than not harm others,” Halbleib said. “Money has never been his problem, but he is still greedy.”
(02/07/14 5:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The orchestra laced together a soft melody that reverberated up to the stage, where Mang Ong, alone, called for his daughter.He turned his body and awaited Thi Kinh’s emergence through two panels of bamboo. The composer, various directors and photographers waited, too, at the first full dress rehearsal for “The Tale of Lady Thi Kinh,” the world’s first opera transcribed from a Vietnamese story.When Sarah Ballman, one of two IU doctoral students cast as title role Thi Kinh, weaved through the bamboo panels with her magenta, yellow and olive green dress flowing behind her and an opened fan to her face, composer P.Q. Phan said he saw magic.“When you have the right song, movement and light, it’s almost like you’re putting the two dimensions to the third dimension,” Phan said after her first appearance.But the opera won’t materialize completely for him until its world premiere tonight.With David Effron conducting, students from the Jacobs School of Music will condense hundreds of hours of work into a 115 minute-long piece tonight at the Musical Arts Center. Everyone from opera magazine editors to troupes will be there to see how “The Tale of Lady Thi Kinh” will add to IU Opera Theater’s 66-year-long history. Among the attendees will be Phan, sitting with his wife as he anticipates what he’s bringing into the world.“The moment I see people walk in and the curtain open, I’ll think, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is happening.’ Like when a baby is being born,” Phan said. “At the end, I’ll know if it’s a boy or a girl.”The OvertureWhen Wilfred C. Bain left Denton, Tex., for Bloomington in 1947, his main goal as the new dean of the IU School of Music — now the Jacobs School of Music — was to push opera to the school’s forefront. Bringing in conservatories, orchestras and opera houses from Europe and the United States, Bain spent 26 years garnering international acclaim to the opera program. With the installation of the MAC in 1972, IU Opera Theater served as the only fully-functional company within a 200-mile radius from Bloomington, attracting attention from around the region. Since the program’s inauguration in 1948, it has presented more than 20 world premieres, the last being Bernard Rands’s “Vincent” in 2011. Tonight, Phan’s “The Tale of Lady Thi Kinh” will claim that esteem.A pursuer of folktales and fantasy stories since the age of 5, Phan didn’t know he’d one day spend six years of his life bringing one of his favorite stories to life in America. Phan, 52, was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, where he grew up around hat chèo, a style of satirical musical theater that families perform during the off-season of farming to make extra money. One of the performances he loved was of the folktale “Quan Am Thi Kinh.” It tells the story of The Tale of Lady Thi Kinh, a young woman who endures multiple struggles before making an extreme decision that leads her to Nirvana. It wasn’t until he came to the U.S. in 1982 and started studying Western opera that he truly appreciated hat chèo. “The farther you go away, the more you want to look back where you originally came from,” Phan said. He had hesitated to translate “Quan Am The Tale of Lady Thi Kinh” for almost 30 years since the idea came to him, but in April 2008, he finally felt ready.Because of his emotional attachment to and knowledge of the folktale, Phan served as the librettist, even though composers often hire someone else to write the script. Waking up at 3 a.m., 15 days in a row, Phan translated the folktale and added original material to help it better suit an American audience.“When you love something so much in the original form, you have tremendous respect for it,” Phan said of “Quan Am Thi Kinh.” “I waited until I knew I wouldn’t put shame to the original version.”The end result was a 49-page libretto, a more than 300-page music score and a 115 minute-long opera, featuring five minutes of Vietnamese singing.He worked to preserve Vietnam’s hat chèo culture, but also adapt the piece to Western opera traditions, wanting the piece to be appreciated for its universal messages of love, compassion and selfishness—not because of its exoticism. “The story has a universal meaning,” Phan said. “The Vietnamese essence is only a bonus.”The ActsAfter IU approved the production in December 2011 and Phan made his final changes, he could relinquish the lead. But just as he was able to relax, the stage, costume, light and various other directors got to work.Both stage director Vince Liotta and conductor Effron had been to Vietnam before, and because of their admiration for the country’s culture, they were both enthusiastic about the opera from the start.But more than the opera’s story line, Effron said he was excited to work with something new. He has conducted more than 100 operas around the world, including a majority of the classic operas, and to him, the most exciting operas are those that have never before been done.“Conducting something new brings a sense of excitement because it’s a whole different experience,” Effron said. “There’s no tradition behind it.” Just as Effron will be the first conductor to lead the opera, Ballman will become the Western world’s first Thi Kinh.When Ballman emerged through the bamboo panels for the first time at the dress rehearsal, where Phan saw magic, Liotta saw a small error.“Let’s do that again,” Liotta called out in the middle of Ballman’s aria. “Let’s not get lost back there.”She turned around and passed back through the panels to redo the scene, familiar with the drill.Ballman, a mezzo-soprano, received her bachelor of music in voice from South Dakota State University, completed her masters in music and voice at IU and is currently working toward a Ph.D. She has played parts in more than 10 operas and performed a small part in a small-scale world premiere of a children’s opera, but tonight will be her first major premiere.When she got the role in September 2013, she said she was excited at first. But once she started looking into the music, she realized it was very different from that in Western operas. She said she realized the score would be “the most difficult music to learn in her entire life,” especially because the opera has never been done before.“Its daunting to be the first because I don’t have anything from the past to go on,” Ballman said. “You don’t have something solid to grasp on — it’s kinda your own baby. With nine other cast members, four “friends,” 37 choral members and 60 students in IU’s Philharmonic Orchestra, Ballman is among a large group of music students working together on what will be many of their first world premieres.Though IU opera directors today have many talented students from whom to choose, it hasn’t always been this way.When Bain found himself lacking musicians for his first opera production, Jacques Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffman,” in 1948, he commissioned his wife to seek orchestra members and choristers from the local A&P supermarket. During the first few years of the program, it wasn’t uncommon for faculty to play roles.Much has changed in the past 66 years. Ballman is one of 190 students pursuing a degree in voice in the Jacobs School of Music, a school that has sent 35 alumni to the roster of what is considered the most prestigious opera house, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.The most any other institution around the world has sent is about 25.Though Ballman has been singing since her dad started giving her voice lessons at a young age, she said she still gets the jitters before performances. But when the curtain rises tonight, she said she knows she’ll be ready.“I’m not going to lie — I’m freaking out about it,” Ballman said a week before the performance. “I’m not ready right now for the curtain to go up, but I know by Friday, I’ll be fine.”The FinaleAt the end of the dress rehearsal, after all 51 cast members laced together a gentle harmony of “Nam Mo A Di Da Phat,” a Vietnamese phrase that roughly translates to “Halleluljah,” Phan stood up.The performers hesitated with uncertainty as to what to do, some bowing and others exiting the stage, but Phan stood still, the only one in a room full of about 50 people, giving his cast a standing ovation.He didn’t sit down until well into the encore.When students, locals and opera critics funnel into the MAC tonight, Phan said he’ll be watching them through the doors — he doesn’t think anything about the experience will feel real to him until then. But he said he feels ecstatic now, and because of his love of the music and story, he thinks he’ll feel equally incredible on opening night.As for what he hopes audience members feel after the event, he said he isn’t asking for a lot — he thinks expecting the audience to admire his work is too much.“I don’t think it’s my job to write an opera to impress people,” Phan said. “I want people to find one character they can root for and to remember one tune. That’s what makes a piece live forever.”Follow reporter Amanda Arnold on Twitter @aMandolinz.
(02/06/14 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Matt Myers, vocalist and guitarist for band Houndmouth, said the band’s philosophy is to always focus on their craft. “We don’t have a lot of spectacle to distract from the music,” Myers said.The band will perform 9 p.m. today at the Bluebird Nightclub to kick off their winter tour. With a style that combines components of folk and rock, Myers said the band tells stories through their songs.“We have a lot of influences from a lot of different areas of music,” Myers said.The band will play original songs as well as covers, Myers said. He said he thinks the performance will be fun for both the band and the audience because of the music and the environment.Myers, Katie Toupin, Zak Appleby and Shane Cody formed Houndmouth in November 2011. Myers said the band members knew each other from New Albany, Ind.Although they went to different high schools, the four were close and bonded because of their musical interests. “We’re all friends from high school,” Myers said. Houndmouth also knows about the Bluebird because of their Indiana roots.“The Bluebird is special to us,” he said. Myers and Appleby played in cover bands together for years prior to the formation of Houndmouth, according to the band’s biography. Toupin and Myers worked together for three years as an acoustic duo. Cody and Toupin went to high school together before Cody moved away to study audio engineering. When Cody returned from New York, Myers said they started the group. Appleby joined to play bass, and Cody became the drummer. At this point, Myers said they were still looking for another strong vocalist which led them to Toupin. As the band came together, each member became equally a part of the creative process, Myers said. Each of them will sing lead at times because they do not have a specific lead singer. “Usually whoever sings the song wrote it,” Myers said. “We try to keep it as far from a dictatorship as we can.”Each member helps keep the others in check and provides constructive criticism. The band doesn’t invest any time in reading reviews because no good comes from it, he said. Myers said the band is looking forward to performing at the Bluebird because it is a good performance space. The intimate setting is far better to the band than any impersonal stadium full of people, he said.
(02/05/14 5:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Facing possibilities of snowfall and miles of highway, dedicated fans travelled from states away to see Patty Griffin perform Tuesday night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.Audience members Kelly Rains and Monet Bramblette made the journey to Bloomington from Louisville, Ky.Bramblette said they arrived just before the snowstorm hit. “We were ready and willing to see Patty,” Bramblette said. “She’s such a good show.”Folk singer Anais Mitchell opened for the Grammy-award winning artist with a solo acoustic guitar set at 8 p.m.Both Mitchell and Griffin acknowledged the audience for coming out despite the snow.“You guys made it out in the snow. I’m so proud of you,” Griffin said. “You’re the brave ones, so thank you.” Rains said she has been a fan of Griffin’s for several years and has seen her in concert multiple times.“Your soul connects to every word that she has,” Rains said. “She wants her audience to give her their soul.” Travelling with Rains, Bramblette said she has also seen Griffin perform multiple times.“Her lyrics are well written,” Bramblette said. “I’ve never been to a concert where she didn’t disappoint. She seems like a genuinely good person.” Griffin performed on both the acoustic guitar and the piano. She was accompanied by bass player Craig Ross, who produced Griffin’s 2013 album, “American Kid.” Among the songs she played on the guitar was “Little God,” a track from “Silver Bell.” Also released in 2013, “Silver Bell” was originally planned for release in 2000. Other audience members matched Bramblette and Rains’ willingness to see Griffin. Illinois resident Rita Calvert drove five-and-a-half hours to the show from a western suburb of Chicago. Calvert said she knew about the incoming snow, so she made the trip a day early to see Griffin. “She was on my wish list of people to see in this venue because it is so beautiful and quiet and polite,” Calvert said. “The vibe here is beautiful.”Calvert said she enjoys Griffin’s music, particularly her gospel-inspired songs.“They bring me back to my childhood,” Calvert said. “It’s honest. She really sings from her heart.” Bloomington resident Chuck Hanners said he enjoys Griffin’s songs because they’re relatable and allow him to make emotional connections.“She’s probably the best female singer-songwriter out there,” Hanners said. “Her songs are very poignant and heartfelt.”Joe Valentino and his friend Susan Lowry drove in the snow from Indianapolis. “When you get a chance to see Patty, you go and see her,” Valentino said. He said Griffin is a talented songwriter and musician with quality artistry.“She is a songsmith, a craftsman,” Valentino said. “I just appreciate what she has to offer, and a little snow’s not going to stand in our way.”
(02/04/14 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Folk singer Anais Mitchell will play a few well-known stories to contemporary folk music at 8 tonight at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.Mitchell will open for singer-songwriter Patty Griffin. General tickets are $20 and student tickets are available for $15 with a valid student ID. Mitchell’s latest album, “Child Ballads,” was named one of the best folk albums of 2013 by NPR and nominated for best folk album and best traditional song by the BBC Radio 2. Mitchell said being recognized by NPR was a surprise. “I didn’t expect a (traditional) record to get that kind of recognition, the songs coming as they do from another time and another place,” she said. “Proof that these weird, beautiful, ancient stories still have the power to move people.”The album features seven covers of 19th century scholar Francis James Child’s English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Mitchell collaborated with singer-songwriter Jefferson Hamer to create the album. Many folk singers have covered the “Child Ballads” in the past, which Mitchell said influenced which songs they chose to record. For instance, Mitchell said the first songs they arranged were previously-covered pieces that they admired, such as Martin Carthy’s version of “Willie’s Lady” and Nic Jones’s “Penguin Eggs.”Mitchell said she and Hamer did not initially intend to cover only Child’s works on this album, but the more they looked at the stories, the more they wanted to arrange his works.“A lot of these stories are love stories, stories about lovers who have to overcome great odds to be together,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but there’s always that passion. It’s fun to sing that kind of passion.”In order to feel that passion, Mitchell said she and Hamer recorded the album without wearing headphones in the recording studio. “It was such a lovely way to record,” she said. “Just two guitars, two voices in a room as close to each other as we could get without too much microphone bleed.”She said while the process seemed simple, it took the two artists a long time to be able to sit down and record that way.Hamer will not be performing or touring with her, Mitchell said. Her performance tonight will be followed by a performance from Grammy-winning folk artist Patty Griffin.Griffin’s album “American Kid” was also one of NPR’s best folk albums of 2013. “She is an angel and her music is so consistent and so inspiring,” Mitchell said. “There’s no one like her.”Mitchell last performed in Bloomington in April 2012 with the Young Man Band.Mitchell said she has also been spending time with her daughter and husband, who are accompanying her on the tour.“It’s a family tour,” she said. “Child Ballads” is Mitchell’s fifth studio album. The Vermont-native started her own recording label called Wilderland Records in 2012. This is her second album with her own label. Mitchell said she is currently working on new music for an extended release version of her 2010 folk opera-based album “Hadestown,” which she said will likely be released in August.
(01/30/14 8:22pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>John Schmersal, Rick Lee and Joey Galvan, members of Los Angeles trio Crooks on Tape, couldn’t predict their band’s future when they first started playing music together in 2010. “We just started playing and recording,” Schmersal said. “The process was pretty natural.”Crooks on Tape will perform at 9 p.m. Sunday at the Bishop. Admission to the show is free but restricted to those who are 21 and over.The best part of rehearsals were improvised, Schmersal said. Crooks on Tape began to log hundreds of hours of recordings because of this. Schmersal said he and Lee would bring in instruments like guitars, basses, synthesizers and mixers. Galvan worked to hold the improvised sessions together with drums and other forms of percussion. “We all have our roles,” Schmersal said. “I tend to be the organizer.”Sometimes the group had an obvious rhythm to draw from within the session, and other times it did not, he said. Schmersal said the improvised sound can be looped and sampled. Outside of that, anything can happen. When the band got together to record, they would enter a room filled with equipment that was set up.The room constantly changing as new machines and instruments were moved in and out during recording sessions. “Whatever happens, happens,” Schmersal said. “We started getting pretty good at what we’re doing.”Schmersal said that in the beginning, they weren’t really expecting to create anything cohesive. As they got better, they found that there were longer sections of recordings that they liked. “It’s more a spontaneous journey,” Schmersal said. “There isn’t really a code for what you’re doing.” Sometimes things turn out great, and if not, they can be edited later on, Schmersal said.“We didn’t really make any limitations for ourselves,” he said. After about two years of recordings, Lee moved to New York, temporarily ending the regular sessions. Although no new work was being created, their album “Fingerprint” was gaining popularity.Between the three members, Crooks on Tape listens to music from the sixties to the eighties and beyond.“We’re really big lovers of music, and I feel like that really comes through,” Schmersal said. Though the band takes music very seriously, he said the band has a lot of fun. “We enjoy what we do,” he said. “To us, it’s just music.”Dave Obenour, the tour publicist for Crooks on Tape, said it’s interesting to see how the audience is responding to the band’s first tour. Obenour said what excites him about getting to see them perform is that they take some of the elements of a jam band and combine them with an indie rock sound. “A lot of people have been very receptive,” Obenour said.Crooks on Tape tries to stay spontaneous in their live performances to keep things interesting, Schmersal said. Both Schmersal and Obenour anticipate an exciting show to debut what Crooks on Tape call their first pop record. Schmersal said the audience will be assaulted, insulted, laughing and crying. It’s like a wedding invitation with a funeral announcement on the back, musically speaking, he said. “So far it’s been a lot of fun,” Schmersal said. Crooks on Tape will head to Europe at the end of the month.Schmersal said the band doesn’t look at reviews or previews of their performances so they don’t get too wrapped up in what is said about them. “We’re gonna put on the show we put on regardless of any of that stuff,” he said. Follow reporter Amanda Marino on Twitter @amandanmarino.
(01/30/14 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Whether it’s emerging naked and thrusting himself against the walls of his set, lighting himself on fire or tasering his own groin, comedian Eric Andre is best known for his outrageous entrances on Adult Swim’s “the Eric Andre Show.” The star and host of what Spin magazine has called “the weirdest show on TV” will return to Bloomington’s Comedy Attic for several performances this weekend.Andre will perform at the Comedy Attic at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with additional shows at 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for students, and are available at comedyattic.com.“He could just as easily eat a live animal on stage or he could just do stand-up jokes,” Comedy Attic Owner Jared Thompson said. “No one will know until it happens. He’s a weird dude and we have a forgiving crowd that is going to allow him to be odd.”Andre co-starred in the ABC comedy series “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23” and was cast in “the Internship” and “the Invention of Lying.” He created “the Eric Andre Show” as a television series produced by Abso Lutely Productions in 2012 with comedian and co-host Hannibal Buress.The live-action “Eric Andre Show” challenges the traditional talk show format with his manic performance style, stunts, mockery and improvisational humor. As a parody of a low-budget public access talk show, the program is known for taunting and tormenting an unpredictable mix of celebrities and imposters. Though the episodes are only 15 minutes long, the show is segmented with street pranks, hidden camera bits, flashes of inexplicable studio chaos and the general deconstruction of late night tropes.“If you ask a comedy club owner, ‘How do you feel about not knowing what’s going to happen?,’ most would be scared to death,” Thompson said. “But that’s exactly why I booked him. A one-of-a-kind experience is so much more than just a fun night out.”Andre’s previous visit to the Comedy Attic in October of last year was the night before the debut of his show’s second season. Now on the heels of season two, the show has been renewed for a third season expected to air this year, according to Adult Swim.A visit to Andre’s official website, ericandre.com, may give the viewer an indication of his comedic persona.The website features a penis cursor, raining buckets of chicken, animated sidebar .gifs and an ’80s style pong game.Thompson said it’s hard to predict just how comedian Andre will take the stage.“I want the audience to walk away thinking, ‘That is something I will never see again,’” he said. Follow reporter Jillian Ranegar on Twitter @JillRanegar.
(01/30/14 4:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Monroe county native Austin Lucas is scheduled to perform at 9:30 tonight at the Bishop with opening act Jeremy Burton Gragg.Tickets are $10 in advance at thebishopbar.com or $12 at the door.Lucas was born into a family that celebrated bluegrass and folk music. His father, Bob Lucas, is a fairly accredited musician who wrote songs on two of singer-songwriter Alison Krauss’ albums.Lucas learned to harmonize before he learned to read, according to a press release, and he was part of the IU Children’s Choir.After touring the country with various bands and a stint with punk music, Lucas’ music style has landed on bluegrass.His music focuses on themes of sin with salvation and lessons from his youth.Lucas has released four albums. His debut, “The Common Cold,” was released in 2006, followed by “Putting The Hammer Down” the following year. His third album, released in 2009, was ranked seventh on the Billboard Bluegrass chart.His most recent effort, “New Home In The Old World,” was released in 2011.Loyal to his roots, Lucas has appeared at a myriad of festivals, including the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Canada’s Sled Island Festival, Florida’s Harvest of Hope and a 2011 European tour.— Sarah Zinn
(01/22/14 8:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Comedian Todd Glass will perform at 8 tonight at the Comedy Attic, with additional performances both Friday and Saturday nights. Glass, who grew up in Philadelphia, Pa., started his stand-up career while in high school. He has appeared on a variety of television shows including “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and two seasons of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.”He accumulated a fan base through his opening acts for famous comedians such as Sarah Silverman and through his podcast, “The Todd Glass Show,” which is available on his website, toddglass.com.Glass released his first stand-up album, “Vintage Todd Glass and Other Crap,” in 2001. His most recent album, “Thin Pig,” was released on Comedy Central Records in 2009.Glass came out as gay in January 2012 after performing comedy for 31 years. “All the comedians I respect are usually truthful in their act, even if it’s silliness,” Glass told New York Magazine of the experience. “Whatever it is, it’s all about being honest. Obviously that makes a good comedian, and now I can be more honest.”Glass has previously performed at the Comedy Attic where, according to its website, he once signed a poster that said “The Most Fun I’ve Had in 25 Years.”— Sarah Zinn