Major updates coming to you live...from my desk...in Wisconsin.
Wow, there's been a serious shift in subject matter on this blog from art to event planning.
1. SPEAK!
We premiered Speak!, English Club's open mic night. I was the host. There were about half a dozen of us sitting at the table from English Club or English majors. We didn't get a lot of people on stage to read, but the ones who did were great. One person read some slam poetry a couple times, and one person read an original short story. Both readers had the audience holding their sides in laughter. We ended half an hour early, as expected. I was pretty pleased with it as the premier event. I even recited Craig Charles's "George McGee" to fill in some dead space.
2. SONES DE MEXICO
This is the first performing arts event that I planned. At the beginning of the week, we'd sold 7 tickets--I was worried. Then it went to 14, then 27, then 50, then 60, then 110 before the show. By intermission, we'd sold 236 tickets. We were expecting 100 and would have been happy with 150. What a success! And lots of people stayed the whole night through. I counted over 50 people on the dance floor at one time, which is a relief, because not many people danced in the first half, so I felt dumb for having made the decision to put the dance floor out. There was an encore and everything.
And the band--I have to say something about the band!--is very talented. They take all sorts of genres like folk, rock, classical, country, etc. and put a Mexican twist on it. And such nice people to work with too! As soon as they left campus, they drove straight to the airport where they got on a plane to Beijing to represent America in the Folk Festival there.
3. MUSIC MAGAZINE
For my Publication class, I am working in a small group to produce a (real) online magazine. It mostly features music in the area, but also dabbles in comedians and wine tastings and the like. We don't know the name yet, though somehow "Buzz" fell out of my mouth when we were in class because it refers to sound, news, and drinking. I shouldn't be allowed to read anymore Terry Pratchett--I've gotten too good at coming up with puns. Anyway, I will be probably doing interviews with student bands. I'd like to do video to make it interactive, but the only interactive magazine software we've fond is Zmags pro, which is really expensive.
4. NINE DAYS
I'm thrilled that we've contracted Nine Days as our Fall Concert. At Sones de Mexico, I advertized them as the band with the 90's hit "Story of a Girl." Okay, so the Madding Crowd came out in 2000. Close enough.
Anyway, my point is that it seems I will be making a promo video for the CAB website. That's exciting, but I'm not sure when I'll have the time. I've probably got more on my plate than I can chew.
5. Other CAB events
Oh, Ryanhood was really awesome too. I didn't really have anything to do with that event, though. But I bought a t-shirt and CD and got my poster signed and we took a picture with them. I'm waiting to see if they upload a video about us on their
website.
6. THE KOOKS
On John Lennon's birthday, I went to The Kooks concert in Madison with my friend, Sam. Oh, it was glorious. The Whigs opened for them, and they were all right. They were certainly loud. When I lifted my feet from the floor, I could feel them vibrating, so I kept my feet on the ground throughout the night. When it was time to go, my feet were stuck to the floor. I don't know what I was standing in, but it had solidified around my shoes.
I think sometimes I was clapping just to make sure I could still hear things that were under a million decibals.
When The Kooks came on, the audience had a whole new kind of energy. The crowd grew denser as people pushed toward the front. The screaming along with the lyrics I didn't mind. It was during the Whoooooooooooooooo!s that I had to plug my ears.
I'm under the impression that the drummer is subbing for the normal drummer, but he was good, letting his sticks fly in the final song. Luke, Hugh, and Max played a fantastic show, better than I expected. I knew over half of the songs from their first CD. During the half point, Luke did some solo songs, including Seaside, my favorite. He also played a brand new one, testing it out on us. I have to admit, although I'm quite familiar with various UK accents, the Brighton one is not the easiest to understand as an American, especially when projected through distorted amps in a cavernous room. But it was fun nonetheless. Luke even danced during the last song, getting rid of his guitar. It was crazy dancing.
The Kooks played almost an hour and a half, finishing on an extremely energetic number.
7. LIFE ON MARS -- the ABC version
Okay. So I just saw the ABC version of Life on Mars. Being a huge fan of the BBC version, here are some thoughts.
The American remake of BBC's hit, Life on Mars, is much better than the initial pilot that took place in LA. The trailer for that version of the show terrified me. However, after the pilot episode, they fired the producer and all of the cast members except O'Mara, who plays protagonist Sam Tyler. They re-wrote the script to resemble the BBC version, and relocated it to New York. This was an excellent move because the Manchester version was grungy like NY, not bright and shiny Starsky and Hutch like LA.
The casting change was good too. It co-stars Harvey Keitel. It can't go wrong, right? They also added in the original characters. The LA version did not include Chris and Ray, vital members of the cast of characters. The NY version wrote them back in. Ray's witty comebacks aren't quite as good, but the principle is the same. I've only seen the first episode, but I have no beef with the two of them yet.
Let's look at the stars. O'Mara as Sam Tyler and Keitel as Gene Hunt. I can tell O'Mara has studied the original show. He is copying John Simm (the BBC Sam Tyler) spot on. Every facial expression is a mirror of Simm's. This is also assisted by the fact that most of the scenes are shot-for-shot the same. It's hard to tell if he's doing a good job because I just see John Simm in his expression and miss him filling the role. I'm not sure he's drawing the viewer in as much, showing quite as complex of emotions. I'll have to keep watching to see. I definitely missed the scene (which I think they shot in the LA version!) where Sam is in the car crying because Maya's been kidnapped.
Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. Hmmm. Unlike his co-star, he's definitely not copying the original show. I don't see any of Phil Glenister's mannerisms in Keitel. I think it's cool that he's making it his own. He's actually made Gene seem a little too much New York gangster for my taste, but I suppose if Gene Hunt lived in NY, this is who he would become. I'm not sensing too much of the buddy-buddy relationship between Sam and Gene yet, but maybe we didn't get that this soon in the BBC version either. I was glad, though, that there was some unity between them in the fantastic scene where they jump over the desk. I threw my arms in the air (okay, I did that a lot in this episode when they got things spot on) during that scene.
Annie's character is a little more bull-headed than the Liz White version, but not by much. I'm not sure what to think yet. The scenes copied from the original are pretty close, but the ones they've added feel like they're coming from somewhere else. Also, I HATED that they left off the whole thing with Annie's boyfriend. What was that all about? In the original, Annie's boyfriend tricks him into trying to commit suicide to get back at Annie, but when he tries to jump off a tower block, Annie has to convince Sam that he's not dreaming. It's a beautiful moment! In this version, the bad guy convinces him to try to commit suicide, but instead, Sam tries to shoot the kid Colin. Will the roof scene come in a later episode.
Yes, let's talk about Sam with the gun. Was he really going to shoot a kid? I don't know if I can really see the BBC Sam doing that. Maybe considering it and changing his mind. But here, the only reason Sam doesn't shoot him is because he doesn't need to anymore. The scene certainly takes place of the suicide attempt scene as far as drama goes, but it's taking it in a different direction that I'm not sure I like.
Nelson. We only see Nelson a little bit in this episode, but I REALLY liked the old Nelson. I don't know how much I'll like this Nelson in comparisson, but we'll have to see how much they write him in.
MISC NOTES
Colin has a twin brother? Since when?
I'm so glad they put the Life on Mars song in that scene! It wouldn't be the same without it. It makes me wonder if they're going to end the second season the same as the BBC version. I doubt it. I do miss the original theme song, though.
The red dress dream sequence is in here. That's a good sign.
They've got the look down pretty good, including the smoke in the room.
Missing some funny lines, mostly because having to change to American lingo. I prefer Annie saying "You think you're gonna heave up?" instead of "Are you going to vomit?" Speaking of Annie, "No nuts Norris?" really?
How come they left out the Virgin cell phone number part? That was funny.
Loved the Twin Towers aspect, but I hope it doesn't change the show. "There's going to be terrorists in a couple decades!"
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Better than the LA version, not as good as the Manchester version.
Irish Christmas in America was my most recent event. I've enjoyed all of my events, but I think I liked this one best so far. It certainly had the biggest turn-out! Over 400 people packed in on a snowy night to see the Irish band Teada and vocalist Karan Casey. There were a few hiccups to begin with, but I got them smoothed over before the band or Irishfest showed up (we co-sponsored with Irishfest La Crosse).
