Copious Notes

Chris Gardner here

Forgive our boundless enthusiasm for Chris Gardner, the millionaire stock broker who was once homeless on the streets of San Francisco with his young son, but he was such a cool speaker at Ichthus, we like keeping up with his story. Anyway, the Herald-Leader's own Karla Ward had an outstanding story about Gardner in today's paper that I thought you'd like to read, if you haven't already. I also thought you'd dig the image from the forthcoming Will Smith movie based on Gardner's book, The Pursuit of Happyness. Gardner speaks in Lexington Thursday and the movie is out in December.

The Louisville Orchestra meets the new boss . . .

. . . who, as The Who song says, is the same as the old boss. Well, four bosses ago.

Here's what's up: The Louisville Orchestra somewhat concluded its search for a new music director  Monday by appointing Jorge Mester to the post. If that name sounds familiar to local longhairs, that's because Mester was the orchestra's director from 1967 to 1979. So the Orchestra's second music director is now its seventh.

But that does not mean the search is over. They're still looking for a new music director in L'ville.

That process started in 2004, when Uriel Segal left after the orchestra declined to renew his contract, saying it needed a conductor more involved in the Louisville community. Since then, the search has been on for a new music director, culminating with performances led by seven finalists for the job this past season. That apparently made today's announcement, "startling," according to Courier-Journal classical music writer Andrew Adler in a story posted on the paper's website tonight.

According to the Orchestra's press release, while the orchestra needs more time searching for Segal's replacement, the search committee felt a new artistic leader was needed now -- it has been two seasons. A dialog between Mester and the orchestra about the possibility of him conducting a benefit concert grew into a conversation about him taking the post on an open-ended contract. Mester is also music director of the Pasadena Symphony in California and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. While with the orchestra, the press release says he will also serve as an ex-officio member of the search committee.

"So, he's an interim?" some may ask. That seems open to interpretation, but the orchestra says Mester will have full charge of the ensemble while the search goes on. And he is considered the orchestra's seventh music director, as well as its second.

Christian music spotted on . . .

. . . network TV. You can listen for Superchic[k]'s We Live in commercials for the new ABC series Brothers & Sisters. The show is the new 10 p.m. Sunday drama for the alphabet network, and marks the primetime return of Ally McBeal, properly known a Calista Flockhart.

Maybe even more fun for this old school CCM fan was Randy Stonehill's classic American Fast Food playing in the introduction for a Today show segment about staying healthy while eating fast food. Songs like Fast Food were one pole of his range, the opposite being classics such as Your Love Broke Through, which has been recorded by everyone from Keith Green to Rebecca St. James. A nugget of Sonehill's lyrical brilliance from American Fast Food, which opened with the lyric, "American Fast Food, what a stupid way to die":

You won't have to embalm me/When my life is through/There're so many preservatives in what I eat/The job's being done right now for you

Phil's gone!

A few weeks ago in the Herald-Leader, I wrote about my unfortunate fixation with RockStar: Supernova. So, if you have a blog and you're fixated on a reality show, I believe the rules state, "Thou must blog about it." I will note here that I also follow Project Runway, but Jamie Gumbrecht's It's All About is the essential Runway rundown.

So, about tonight's elimination episode: After Patrice Pike killed with Radiohead's My Iron Lung, my dream duo of potential losers was on the chopping block: Phil Ritchie, who can't sing, and Zayra Alvarez, whose attitude far outstrips her talent. She's the one who told Tommy Lee and his Supernova cohorts she was in diapers when they were on the charts. Zayra did survive one more week, though it's the only time I think Phil got a raw deal. His Failure cover actually masked his annoying slur and warble, while Zayra's simpering effort on I'm Not an Addict didn't merit any further consideration.

Really, it is all somewhat meaningless because the finale will be Storm Large (pictured to the left) vs. Magni. The band is clearly loving their work, and they are virtually the only ones that really look like they could front Supernova. Given the guys' taste for the ladies thus far -- Jenny Galt was the only female booted out of four now -- you'd think Storm enjoys the advantage, even if her name sounds like something Yoda would say: "Hmph. Storm large this way comes."

The Pursuit of Happyness update

If you caught one of Chris Gardner's talks at Ichthus and can't wait to see The Pursuit of Happyness, Sony Pictures now has a website up with a trailer and piece with with Will Smith talking about the movie. Check it out here. If you're saying, "Wha?," Gardner is a multi-millionaire stock broker who at one time was homeless on the streets of San Francisco with his 1-year-old son. He's written a book about the experience and gives an engaging talk. The film comes out in December.

August Opera News

I just got the August issue of Opera News, and there are two things of interest, I'd recommend:

~ A piece on Dona D. Vaughn, stage director and acting coach for the Metropolitan Opera's young artist program, has some interesting insight for folks who follow the struggle between singing and acting in opera today. There are also some observations about auditioning that may be of particular interest to folks who like to take in the Met National Council Auditions here each fall.

~ There are a bunch of Cincinnati opera connections in a piece about the 25 most powerful names in U.S. Opera. James Conlon makes the cut as the director of the Cincinnati May Festival, as well as music director of the Los Angeles Opera and Chicago's Ravinia Festival. The Cincinnati Opera's new artistic director Evans Mirageas is in, hailed for his high standards and reputation as a "Mr. Fix-It" for performing arts groups. And, of course, Cincinnati native James Levine, music director of the Met and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is in the group.

Currently, the Opera News website still has the July issue up, but I will try to post links to these stories, when they become available.

Initial reaction to 'Miami Vice'

Our review of Miami Vice in the Herald-Leader won't run until Friday, in Weekender. But here's an initial reaction after seeing a screening in Springdale, Ohio, tonight: Miami Vice, the TV series, was a pretty good cop show. But what set it apart was its style, in the music and the clothing, specifically. In revisiting Crockett and Tubbs for the movie, Michael Mann seems to almost purposefully be avoiding the style that made the show distinct. Maybe that's because he wanted to avoid looking like a retread of the TV show; maybe it's because his style has been duplicated so often since 1985. The new film is a far gritter and, we could guess, more realistic view of the lives of vice cops in the drug port of Miami. And overall, it was a good movie but, without that pizazz, it wasn't special.

Miami Vice fashion

Mentioning the fashions of Miami Vice can invite snickers about pastel linen jackets and men in espadrilles. In fact, that's what I thought I was getting into when I started reading a New York Times piece on the Miami Vice look. But the story actually makes a very good case for the enduring influence of the show's costuming department saying, "one can pick up their radioactive signals 17 years after the series shut down." The point is that anytime you see a man wearing a T-shirt under a suit coat, not wearing socks away from the pool or beachside, or sporting a subtle stubble on his chin, you're seeing echoes of the Vice look (anyone remember the 'Miami Device' razor that left you with a few day's growth, a la Don Johnson). OK, espadrilles for men never caught on.

Anyway, while the title and Michael Mann in the director's chair for the Vice movie bring back memories of the late 1980s, it appears the flick is going to be more about the "vice" than the Miami looks. I'll post some impressions of the movie tonight after I see a screening of it up in Cincinnati. I nearly left a few days growth on my chin for the occasion, but the Sonny Crockett look never worked for me.

Under construction

Well, fancy meeting you here. I can say that because this blog has purposefully dropped below the radar for a spell while we retool it. It will be transitioning from a blog about the Ichthus Festival to a blog covering the entirety of my beat for the Lexington Herald-Leader, including film, theater, classical music, Christian pop culture and other odds and ends. Some of the retooling we're doing will be to help readers with specific interests go to the items that they want to read. For example, if you found this blog through it's Christian music content, it will be set up so you can easily navigate to new postings about Christian pop. Same for movies, theater, etc.

So please, excuse our mess or lack of activity, and if you've found us, thanks for dropping by.

Wanted: Cowbell player

So, maybe I was going down the wrong path trying to learn the guitar part on Dare You to Move.

Driving into the office this morning, I heard Mike and Jeannie on Air 1 talking about Switchfoot's search for a cowbell player on their forthcoming CD. The deal is you go to Switchfoot's website and fill out a contest form. If you are the lucky winner, you will be flown to L.A. for a day in the studio with the surfer boys, and you will play the cowbell for the new disc. Now, I know there have to be some solid cowbell players here in the Bluegrass. It just wouldn't be right if Switchfoot's cowbell player came from New York City or something. (All, in unison, Pace Picante style: NEW YORK CITY!!!!!)

Speaking of instruments we love here in CKY, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com, dropped a story while I was on vacation about David Crowder's new CD, B Collision: The Eschatology of Bluegrass. Crowder (that guy over there, on the right) starts off the piece talking about coming to terms with the banjo. In case you missed it, here's the link, and look out for a review of the disc in Saturday's paper and at the .com.

So, that's where the rain went

Still catching up on news since I returned from vacation -- I take a long time to recover, kids -- I discovered that Creation East in Mount Union, Pa., was rained out this year.

We knew that Ichthus rain went somewhere.

Seriously, we don't want to make too light of this, seeing as our home Fest nearly suffered the same  fate in 2004. Creation was apparently caught in those rains that plagued the East Coast and caused far greater problems than the cancellation of a music festival during the last week in June. According to the notice on the Creation Festival website, rains leading up to and expected during the June 28-July 1 fest made the grounds unsafe, so the festival was postponed until June 27-June 30 next year. Creation organizers say tickets purchased for this year's festival will be honored then or at this year's Creation Northwest (pictured to the right), July 26-29 at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash. The lineup includes Third Day, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline and Kutless.

It's Tuesday, and that means . . .

New releases!

Full disclosure, I have not heard any of today's new CD's, but Pivitplex's sophomore effort, The King in a Rookery, got an A from CCM mag's Dr. Tony Shore. Also out is Circleslide's Uncommon Days and Chapters' Forever Changed.

Speaking of rook, or getting rooked, we here in Central KY, and in a lot of areas across the country were deprived of the chance to see the film directorial debut of Christian rock legend Steve   Taylor and acting debut of the equally legendary Michael W. Smith. The Second Chance played in some big markets across the country in the winter, but now it is out on DVD, and it's well worth a look. The film is about a suburban mega church music minister (Smith) who has his eyes opened when is dispatched to work at a inner-city church  with its righteously indignant pastor (newcomer Jeff Obafemi Carr). Working together, the fire and water duo come to some understandings. It is a thought provoking film you should see, particularly if you want to see major studios back more faith-based flicks like this.

I'm back

Didn't we all need a little R&R after Ichthus? I know I did, and I enjoyed it.

Now I'm back, with a few updates: Before my last post there was much chatter regarding the Ascenxion Band and it's future prospects. Here's the official word from Fest director Jeff James about their potential future:

  We recorded the set they did with both Scott Underwood and by themselves.  We have to work through the hard drives and do all the legal stuff, but our hope is to have product.  We could come up with a really good DVD of the evening.  We’ll know in a couple of weeks.

            We are exploring the possibility of a studio piece before next year if the market demand seems to be there at moderate rates—this is primarily ministry so the threshold of success isn’t quite what the music industry would require.

            We’re talking with the core group of musicians about a long-term commitment and the response has been gratifying.  The band will be back next year, Lord willing, and we already have a couple of amazing additions to plug-in.  We may have to carve out a couple of sets for them because of the interest this year.

So there you have it, and we will try to update you on what develops in the Herald-Leader.

Opening day performer Superchic[k] just lensed a new video in L.A. for We Live.  You can also catch their hit, It's On, as the theme song for Fox Sports Net's coverage of women's beach volleyball. That song was meant for a sports event.

Speaking of salt and light, a little Switchfoot popped up in the elimination episode of Rockstar: Supernova last night. On-the-bubble singer Phil Ritchie picked Stars as the tune to sing to try and save his skin. It worked, though judging by Phil's rendition, Jon Foreman doesn't have much to worry about, and neither do the other contestants on Rockstar. It was nice to hear Tommy Lee give a shout out to Switchfoot when he heard Phil's song choice.