Copious Notes

A look back at Lexington Arts 2006

Most years, this column looking back at Lexington’s year in the arts is titled My Favorite Things, because I try to look back at the best of what happened over the last 12 months.
This year, calling it My Favorite Things would feel a little awkward. Am I saying the loss of a major festival and announced retirement of an iconic figure in the local arts scene are things I delighted in?
No. Of course not.
But they were important, and will have reverberations in the coming years for the arts and arts patrons in the Bluegrass.
So, maybe the title should be “That’s the Way It Was,” to steal a phrase from Uncle Walter. Well, regardless of the name, here’s a look back at some of the top arts events and news in 2006.
Lexington Philharmonic music director George Zack announces his retirement. It was an announcement that had been increasingly anticipated over the years. After all, 35 seasons is a sort of mind-blowing tenure, particularly in mercurial world  of orchestra conductors. But outside of that, over those 35 years, Dr. Zack has become Dr. Arts in Lexington, putting a face on the increasingly faceless, unfamiliar world of performing arts.
He chose to wait until a new endowment drive ensured the stability of the Philharmonic for decades to come. But as the Philharmonic sets out to choose a successor, it faces the challenge of finding an attractive new face for one of the iffiest propositions in performing arts. Orchestras across the country are struggling to remain relevant and retain audiences in an increasingly noisy culture, and as the popular Zack has demonstrated, putting an inviting figure on the podium is vital.
Zack’s successor will have a tough act to follow.
The Lexington Shakespeare Festival closes. In nearly nine years covering the performing arts here, this story is the biggest shock. Financially solvent and still fairly popular, the festival board elected to close the event down before a season it felt sure would end in the red.
The move prompted a flurry of activity from the local theater community, though it still remains to be seen what, if anything, will fill the summer outdoor theater void in Lexington.
Lexington-grown talents come home. One problem in the performing arts is that most people performing on a stage in New York, San Francisco or London can’t be seen regularly by people who first watched them here. We can tell you they’re doing great work in the cultural capitols of the world, but you can’t see it. That made the Lexington performances of Gregory Turay and Laura Bell Bundy terrific events here. True, both shows had a rough edge or two. But what came shining through on both engagements — Turay’s performance in the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre’s La Traviata and Bundy’s Christmas concert at Memorial Hall — was their immense talent. It was obvious why we don’t see them around here much, anymore.
Actors Guild bounces back. In 2005, it looked like Lexington’s flagship theater was about to take its final bow. But thanks to some help from the Lexington Arts & Cultural Council, creditors and the AGL front office, the theater put the crisis in full reverse and seems geared toward taking the theater into a much more professional future. (Joseph Rey Au's photo, above, is of Scott Wichmann and Adam Luckey in the Spring production of Rounding Third.)
John Nardolillo. We opened with a conductor and we’ll close with one. Quietly, Nardolillo has been fashioning the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra into a formidable organization in its own right. In the past year, the ensemble has recorded a CD for Keeneland and performed and recorded with folk legend Arlo Guthrie, presented challenging works such as Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and -- oh, by the way -- secured a recording contract with Naxos. Naxos, the biggest classical music label on the planet. The orchestra records its first disc for the adventurous label early in 2007, a disc of ballet music by George Fredrick McKay. Nardolillo has also been in the pits for UK Opera Theatre productions and he was conducting the Lexington Philharmonic for its Nutcracker performances with the Lexington Ballet.
As long as Nardolillo hold UK’s baton, the future of its orchestra looks very bright.

Copious Notes' Top 10 Movies of 2006

A feeling I had when I started compiling this list was affirmed by looking back through the past year: 2006 was not the greatest time for movies.
In a way, we were destined for a little bust after several boom years of engrossing, brave, important and eye-popping cinema that bought us the likes of Good Night, and Good Luck, Hotel Rwanda, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Brokeback Mountain. This year, I often walked out of theaters more disappointed than fulfilled.
Still, sitting down to write the Top 10 list conjured a bunch of great memories. There are numerous movies I’ll gladly see again and one or two I may not want to, though they will haunt me. And, as a big fan of satire, it was a great year for watching filmmakers give our culture a little poke in the eye, even if you count out that one satire everyone’s in love with.
So, even in an off year, here are 10 films that made going to the movies great.
(Criteria note: For a film to be included on this list, it had to be a 2006 release that played in Lexington, Ky., during the 2006 calendar year. Some critically acclaimed films that have not come here yet include The Good German, Notes on a Scandal, Volver, The Last King of Scotland, Little Children and Letters From Iwo Jima.)
1. The Queen: The acting, direction and storytelling were all tremendous. But what really put this tale of Britian’s royal family in the week after Princess Diana’s death over the top is it’s broader look at our changing culture and shifting views of dignity.
2. Little Miss Sunshine: It has been a while since I have seen a moment of satire as brilliant as the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. If you catch up on your movies over the holidays, I won’t ruin it for you, but so many people and things are put in their place by darling Olive’s routine.
3. Thank You for Smoking: This was one of those satires where the writer lets everyone say what they really mean. In Jason Reitman’s film, the results are at their best when Aaron Eckhart’s tobacco spokesman, Nick Naylor, is communing with his fellow “merchants of death” from the alcohol and firearms industries, and when he’s teaching his son how to talk in circles. Funny thing is, tobacco apologists still seriously use some of the arguments Nick presents. But he knows what he’s shoveling.
4. Dreamgirls: Big, bold and brassy, this is what movie musicals are supposed to be. At once, it is an intensely personal story about the trials of a girl group and a look at the evolution of black pop music from the 1950s through the 1970s. But you can forget all that and just be blown away by Jennifer Hudson’s breakout performance as the shunned Dreamgirl, Effie.
5. Casino Royale: Way to save the franchise. Seriously, the James Bond series was well on its way to being an amusement park of irrelevance with a dizzying array of gadgets, babes and blow-ups. But Bond stormed back with a handsome, thoughtful leading man in Daniel Craig and a story that really probed the mind of a person like Bond. And it was still a thrill ride.
6. World Trade Center: A lot of people said this movie came too early, and there is a fair argument to be made there. But when you look how far we’ve regressed into star gazing and garbage journalism since Sept. 11, 2001, it seems the time was right for Oliver Stone’s reminder of the bravery and sacrifice of people who take the oath to protect and to serve.
7. Monster House: This film, aimed at a late elementary school-age audience, had a message about friendship and acceptance, but it knew the best way to get its point across was to tell a good story. And it was a ripping one, with real characters, a fun idea and the best motion-capture animation to date.
8. An Inconvenient Truth: This is quite possibly the most important film on the list, particularly if it’s a catalyst for action, locally and globally. People have been cavalier in writing off Al Gore’s assertions about global warming since he wrote Earth in the Balance in 1992. In this movie, Gore makes his best case ever that we ignore the crisis at our own peril.
9. Apocalypto: I, like many of us, have a lot of problems with Mel Gibson, and the events of this summer only amplified some of them. Even in Apocalypto, I come away disturbed at the level of violence and gore Gibson seems to relish. But I cannot deny that this was an engrossing, exquisitely crafted and thought-provoking picture. I can’t say I want to see it again anytime soon, but it will stay with me a long time.
10. A Prairie Home Companion: Rest in peace Robert Altman. Your final bow was not your best movie, but it was pure Altman, and it put another character many of us adore, Garrison Keillor, in the spotlight.

Copious Notes' Top 10 Christian pop albums of 2006

When I look at this list to see if there's a common theme, the one that
hammers me is salt and light.
Christians are told to be in the mainstream, ministering and demonstrating
God's love. This list of my 10 favorite Christian pop albums includes six
acts with well-established mainstream followings. Two of them, Jonny Lang and Brian Littrell, are certifiable pop stars who came to the Christian
market.
What does this say? The line between faith-based and secular pop is growing fuzzier and fuzzier. And whether they are preaching to the choir or reaching out to the masses, as long as Christian  artists are dropping albums like these, they can be pretty proud of their work.
1. Jars of Clay, Good Monsters: Generally, I don't like joining the choir. I'm the Christian pop critic who has named Alathea and Andy Hunter No. 1s in previous years. With a steady chorus of praise for Good Monsters, I was trying to go in another direction. But the album, Jars of Clay's career best, is an undeniable ideological and artistic triumph. For six months, it's been in heavy rotation in my home and car, and the revelations of the music and lyrics just keep coming.
2. Underoath, Define the Great Line: The moment Spencer Chamberlain howls, "Wake up, wake up, my God!," you know this is going to be a torrential album. But the pleasant surprise is how tight, musical and focused it is. Every track is delivered with force and clarity as Underoath transcends its genre to make hardcore art.
3. Hyper Static Union, Lifegiver: We give you two debuts on this list -- three, if you count Brian Littrell's solo bow. Hyper Static Union's first effort floated to the top because of its buoyant spirit and diverse sound. Listening to it, you sometimes think you've put another disc on, these guys move around so much. It's great for that, and despite several great tunes on Good Monsters, Sunny Days is my song of the year.
4. Jonny Lang, Turn Around: When young Jonny Lang decided to come to the Christian market, you knew he would bring some guitar playing worthy of the genre that gave us Phil Keaggy. But he did so much more, creating a rousing, gospel and blues disc that is also a strong personal statement of faith. If you're down, I strongly recommend a combination of Hyper Static Union and Jonny Lang, and call us when you stop dancing.
5. Mutemath, Mutemath: Earthsuit was interesting, but Paul Meany has something really special with this act. Though this is the band's debut album, through an EP and tireless touring, a lot of people were already
familiar with Mutemath’s ethereal pop rock and energetic live shows. More should listen now.
6. Brian Littrell, Welcome Home: On the outside, this may have looked easy: The pop superstar comes to the modest Christian market. But Christian pop fans can smell insincerity, so coming in, Littrell needed to make a genuine effort. The Lexington native went above and beyond with a disc that reflected his Baptist roots and old-school contemporary Christian music passion. Two of Littrell's originals on the album fit beautifully into the Flight 5191 memorial in September. Clearly, this Backstreet Boy has a future on Christian pop's Main Street.
7. Pillar, The Reckoning: It's been great watching these guys grow. A standard bearer for rap-based hardcore, the quartet (with an added guitarist, now) delivered its best disc to date by not slaving to genre
expectations. The result is Pillar's most stylistic and topically diverse disc ever.
8. Ginny Owens, Bring Us Peace: This is a first, putting a Christmas album on the Top 10. Usually, Christmas discs are fairly perfunctory efforts, but Owens came up with some wonderful stuff, including an entertaining break-up song and stirring arrangements of several classics.
9. Switchfoot, Oh! Gravity: These guys have become the most keen observers of faith in modern culture. The new disc is grittier and reveals the roots of a lot of Switchfoot¹s sound, beyond their San Diego surfer roots.
10. Skillet, Comatose: Christian rock¹s big brothers and sisters, Skillet
once again communicates an innate sense for the concerns of modern teens. Those are thoughts they relay with grandiose arrangements, though it is nice to have a few songs reflecting where the band has come from.

Merry Christmas

As Christmas Day approaches, I am almost literally cutting myself off from my computer for a few days to go to my in-laws' farm where my wife and I will play some tunes, my daughter and I may reenact great moments from SpongeBob SquarePants and my son's assignment is to help me run off all that Southern Christmas Cooking by playing with his new soccer goals.

Look out later this week for some year end posts on the best movies and Christian pop CDs of 2006, as well as highlights of the year in Lexington arts.

And Copious Notes will be back live, shortly after the new year. Have merry and happy holidays.

A chat with two 'Color Purple' people from Louisville

NEW YORK — It’s a small world, and in The Color Purple, actors Eric L. Christian and LaVon Fisher-Wilson found out Broadway is even smaller.
Both attended Louisville’s Youth Performing Arts School, Christian a few years ahead of Fisher-Wilson.
“He was the hot-shot senior,” Fisher-Wilson, who graduated from YPAS in 1991, says of Christian, who was in the class of ’89.
After graduation, they took divergent paths from Louisville to Oprah Winfrey’s big Broadway production. But now, they are together again backstage at the Broadway Theatre.
Both are swings, meaning they understudy several roles in the show.
“It’s the first original production that I have been an original cast member in,” Christian (photo, right, by by Aaron Lee Fineman, backstage at The Color Purple) says of the show, which celebrated its first anniversary Dec. 1. “That’s exciting because you get to work from the bottom up, creating all of these things.
“This show has been a very interesting journey, arriving at what it is. Lots of ups and downs, lots of changes in choreography and music, to the point that sometimes you would get songs, and that night, you were putting them in the show — full songs, trying to figure out what worked best.”
Fisher-Wilson joined the cast in September.
When she got a call to audition for the show, “I was a little pessimistic,” she says, “because I had auditioned for The Color Purple before, and I said, ‘They don’t want me.’”
But they did, and Fisher-Wilson (photo, left, by Aaron Lee Fineman, backstage at The Color Purple), who has taken a long journey to her Broadway debut, says, “It’s my dream I kept deferring and doing other things. I think I was supposed to do other things because I am glad I am the age I am and have the mind-set I’m in because I am very focused and driven about what I am going to do.” Fisher-Wilson continues, “Also, I could have been put in any cast, but I wound up in this one. The love and care of Kentucky keeps drawing me back to my family, and I get that here with this cast.
“I haven’t even met Oprah yet, but to have my dream happen and to be in such a loving environment is a blessing.”
Part of the reason Fisher-Wilson kept deferring the dream was that she always wanted to move back to Kentucky.
After graduation from YPAS, Fisher-Wilson went to Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., for her bachelor’s degree and then to the University of Florida for graduate school. After that, she embarked on a touring and regional theater career. She was frequently tempted to move to New York but was a little timid about making the leap.
One thing she was doing and still wants to pursue is creating youth arts programs in Louisville. For several years, she ran Ujamma, an African dance program for girls. Part of the motivation for heading to New York was that to get grants at the level she needed, she needed to have some Broadway credits on her résumé.
It also helped that she met her husband, who is from New York, though he is now with Fisher-Wilson in her desire to eventually move to Kentucky.
“I am on this journey, and we will see where it takes me, but eventually, the journey will lead back to Kentucky,” she says.
Christian, on the other hand, recalls, “When I first hit New York, when I was 16, I said, ‘This fits my pace. This is where I want to be.’ ”
He’s now been in the city 12 years, performing in the Broadway productions of Hairspray and The Lion King, in which he understudied Simba, as well going on several national tours.
He is actually a Lexington native and attended Meadowthorpe Elementary School before he moved to Louisville in sixth grade. Christian got his first taste of stage work at a Lexington Children’s Theatre’s summer program. His tuition for that and several summer theater programs was supported by the Chittenden family, which he considers the “guardians” of his theatrical development.
“We couldn’t afford the tuition to the Children’s Theatre programs,” Christian said of his family. “But they said, ‘We think this would be good for you, and we really want you to do it.’
“Lexington is where the bug started,” Christian reflects, and though he now calls New York home, he says his Kentucky upbringing “was the foundation of everything that I have arrived at.”

New Switchfoot and a great new band

There might not be another band that has articulated the experience of being a young Christian in the modern world better than Switchfoot, which releases its sixth album, Oh! Gravity, on Dec. 26. While you’ll hear a lot of artists who seem a little detached from the reality that is 21st-century America, Switchfoot is very much here, engaging all the ironies, hypocrisies and craziness with a faith-based perspective in words we all get. Oh, and those words can be quite clever. “When success is equated with excess, the ambition for excess wrecks us,” frontman Jon Foreman sings on American Dream. Amateur Lovers sends up the silliness of bumper-car romance in a style that would seem natural in the hands and voice of Ray Davies and the Kinks. With Tim Palmer producing, Switchfoot travels far from its SoCal roots to explore a variety of classic and current styles. If there’s a drawback, it seems Foreman temporarily lost his grasp of the great hook, which has marked so many of Switchfoot’s hits. There are still a few, such as that Davies-esque, “We don’t know what we’re doing, let’s do it again” on Amateur, and the whole album bodes well for Switchfoot’s continued growth. (By the way, the members of Switchfoot told Amazon.com about their favorite tunes. Read the list by clicking here.)

So there's something to do with some Christmas money, or if three people gave you the same Casting Crowns album.

Now, if you're looking for a great gift idea your beloved Christian rock fan doesn't have, try Mutemath's self-titled debut.
Yes, there are still people, even in churches, who insist Christian pop isn’t as good as mainstream music. You could argue with them, or you could play them Mutemath (photo, right). Playing the disc will be more productive because it is hard to argue with the creativity and artistry here. Sometimes Mutemath just lays a lovely melody over a simple chord progression. In other selections, the band is off on intricate jams. Always, there are thoughtful, abstract observations, such as Stare at the Sun. Let’s hope Mutemath finds an audience, so we can hear more from the band.
Look out next week for our Top 10 Christian pop albums of 2006. The list posts here Dec. 29. (Hint: You now know a fifth of it.)

Brian Littrell tops CCM Magazine poll

If there was any question as to whether contemporary Christian music fans would embrace Backstreet Boy and Lexington native Brian Littrell, it seems to have been answered on the cover of the January issue of CCM Magazine. Readers of the leading Christian pop journal voted Littrell best artist, best vocalist and his solo debut, Welcome Home, best album. The nods put Brian ahead of Christian pop veterans such as Chris Tomlin, Third Day and the David Crowder Band.

In the CCM write up, that does mention his hometown, Littrell says, "I am extremely honored. It's overwhelming to know that there are so many loyal fans that continue to support me -- I am humbled."

The story also mentions that Littrell will be co-hosting the 2007 GMA Awards with Natalie Grant and Donnie McClurkin April 25 in Nashville, and that he is contributing to Glory Revealed, an album and tour of scripturally-based worship songs created by Third Day's Mac Powell and author and minister David Nasser.

Also scoring with CCM readers were Aaron Shust as best new artist, Casting Crowns as best band, Jeremy Camp as best male artist (Brian was No. 3), Rebecca St. James as best female artist, Grits as best duo or group and Chris Tomlin as best worship artist and best songwriter (Brian was No. 2). Brian also topped five "niche" categories: best live performance, best song (Welcome Home, You), best song video (same), best album cover and artist you'd most like to see on the cover for the first time.

Can you feel the love?

The new issue also has what looks to be a good interview with Flyleaf, so I am outta here.

Tuesday (Tuesday?!) morning at the movies

OK, so I have taken two weeks off of the Monday morning armchair box office analysis gig, and they happen to be two of the most interesting weekends at the box office in recent months.

The weekend before last, Dec. 8-10, two major star openers (The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio) were bested by an ultra violent period piece in Mayan with nary a star in sight, except on the directing credits. Watching Apocalyto (Copyrighted photo, below, of Rudy Youngblood and Morris Bird by Andrew Cooper for Icon Distribution), I couldn't help but think that if Mel Gibson were not the director, this movie would have been relegated to a few hundred art houses across the country, and not opened on 2,465 screens nationwide. There definitely had to be a curiosity factor there in light of it being Mel's first movie since The Passion of the Christ (2004) and his drunk-driving arrest and Anti-Semitic tirade in the summer. On The Daily Show last week, Jon Stewart mused that maybe the arrest was part of a brilliant marketing scheme by Gibson.

Last weekend was even more surprising, as a star-studded family film based on a children's classic and a new fantasy film were bested by the inspirational story of a homeless, single dad who battles in a competitive internship to be the top of his class and make a better life for himself and his son. OK, said dad was played by Will Smith (Copyrighted photo, left, of Smith carrying his son, Jaden, courtesy of Sony Pictures) and The Pursuit of Happyness was advertised incessantly on a broad range of media. Somebody at Sony must be doing something right, as Box Office Mojo reported that with Happyness, Sony broke its own record for annual box office revenue by a single studio with $1.6 million. With Happyness, The Holiday and Casino Royale still out there in first run, that record should grow.

Folks at Fox and Paramount have to be kicking themselves though wondering how they let Eragon and Charlotte's Web, respectively, play second and third fiddles to Smith's film. Charlotte's Web, in particular, seemed poised for a victory with its familiar tale, stars Dakota Fanning and Julia Roberts (OK, she's the voice of a spider), and generally good reviews.

I have not seen Charlotte yet -- though with a nine-year-old daughter, it's only a matter of time. But having seen those two box office toppers and several of the others, I'd borrow a line from Jimmy Stewart in The Philadelphia Story and say the moviegoing public showed "unsuspected depth," the past two weekends. I, like many, have issues with Mel Gibson, but even with an excess of violence and gore, Apocalypto was a serious and thought-provoking film. And Happyness told the worthwhile story of Chris Gardner, whose determination has led to a deliriously successful career as a stockbroker.

This week things get really interesting with a wide swath of movies opening over the next five days. You'd think the star-studded family film A Night at the Museum would have a good shot at dominance as school lets out, and Dreamgirls will open Christmas Day, buoyed by rave reviews. But then Rocky is back in a better film than the last three Rocky sequels, and there's the inspirational We Are Marshall. Looks like it could be anyone's game.

BTW, check Kentucky.com tomorrow for our review of Rocky Balboa.

Also, BTW, if you've been wanting to see Ashley Judd's indie film, Come Early Morning, it's opening Friday at Lexington Green. (Copyrighted photo, left, courtesy of Roadside Attractions.)

Laura Bell's Christmas concert

The minute the idea of Laura Bell Bundy coming home for a holiday concert was floated, it sounded impossible, but you sort of knew she'd make it happen. The reason why was in the tears she shed during several numbers on the stage of the University of Kentucky's Memorial Hall this afternoon (Dec. 17). She choked up on sentimental tunes such as I'll Be Home for Christmas, like many of us do when we hear the song away from loved ones at Christmastime. Laura (photo, right, by Aaron Lee Fineman) is on the brink of Broadway stardom, playing the lead in the new musical version of Legally Blonde. It's a dream come true for her, but Laura has always given the impression that she might like Broadway a little more if it was in Lexington.

The concert was her way of giving back, both in adding her highly skilled voice to Lexington's holiday festivities and in raising awareness of a money for the Bluegrass Area Jazz Ambassadors and her own Kreative Kids foundation, which supports arts eduction. Bundy and the Ambassadors (aka BAJA) collaborated on a CD, I'll Be Home for Christmas, in the summertime, before Blonde took over her life.

She squeezed the concert in on a quick trip that brought her into Lexington at 11 p.m. Saturday and had her headed back to New York by dinnertime Sunday.

After a few numbers by BAJA, Laura took the stage wearing a long red dress like the album art (left), but her straight Elle Woods Blonde hair. It was a very traditional set, and with the brassy big band, very urban -- though Laura's twang did occasionally slip in. You got the idea from this show that Laura should have no trouble headlining some cabaret shows if she's between Broadway gigs. She put her big Broadway voice to use on tunes like Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and Winter Wonderland.

The band, which sounded great all afternoon, ably covered for Laura when she got choked up on I'll be Home. Then, she gave herself some comic relief  by channeling Judy Garland when she got misty eyed again on Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Laura's grandfather, former Cincinnati and Lexington broadcaster Wayne Bell, took the stage for his rendition of Robert Frost's poem Stopping by Woods, with music by pianist Harold Sherman. Bell participated in several numbers on the CD.

It was a concert with its rough edges -- a few dropped lyrics, awkward transitions and lighting that would have been dim for a nightclub. But technical perfection really wasn't the point of this show. It was a big bear hug from one of Lexington's brightest stars to her hometown. And it was a very warm embrace.

Humana Festival 2007

While I was away, Actors Theatre of Louisville rolled out the announcement of the Humana Festival of New American Plays, Feb. 25-April 7. Here's the lineup:

~ Strike-Slip: Naomi Iizuka (2004 photo, right, by Joseph Rey Au) has become something of a Humana Festival darling over the years, emerging as a youthful voice with Polaroid Stories in 1997 and maturing in subsequent years, most recently at Humana with the mesmerizing At the Vanishing Point in 2004. This play, about the impact of a shooting on three Los Angeles families, sounds Crash-ish, but knowing Naomi, there will be an intriguing twist.

~ When Something Wonderful Ends: Sherry Kramer makes her Humana debut with a show the fest is billing as, "A touching, funny, deeply personal and daringly global one-woman, one-Barbie play." The play unfolds as a woman packs up her childhood home after her mother dies.

~ dark play or stories for boys: Carlos Murillo, a two-time winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award, comes to Humana with the story of a teen-age boy's Internet relationship that becomes frighteningly real.

~ Batch: An American Bachelor/ette Party: No, Tawny Kitaen isn't coming to ATL. The credit for this is, "conceived by Whit MacLaughlin and Alice Tuan with text by Alice Tuan" and "created by New Paradise Laboratories." Like At the Vanishing Point, this is a site-specific play that will be performed at Louisville's The Connection, a downtown nightclub. New Paradise Laboratories is an experimental theater in Philadelphia.

~ The As If Body Loop: Ken Weitzman's Humana debut is the story of a man trying to save his sister from a mysterious illness and, in turn, save all of mankind.

~ The Unseen: Craig Wright's play deals with three men held prisoner by a totalitarian regime, and how they find hope.

~ The Open Road Anthology: Humana veterans Constance Congdon, Kia Corthron, Michael John Garces and Rolin Jones team up with A. Rey Pamatmat and Kathryn Walat for a show about driving and freedom. New York-based rock band and musical theatre troupe GrooveLily will provide music.

As usual, there will also by a lineup of 10-minute plays. Check ATL's Humana Festival website for more information.

By the way, one of last year's shows, Theresa Rebeck's The Scene, has just started previews for an Off-Broadway run  at Second Stage Theatre. Rebeck has a little star power for her  show with Tony Shalhoub and Patricia Heaton heading up the cast. The play opens Jan. 11.

Broadway, a view from the other 57 percent

New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood had a column in the paper Dec. 10 that piqued my interest, having just returned from New York. Headlined “The Great White-Bread Way,” the piece was something of a lament for the old Broadway experience, before the “Disneyfication” of Times Square and its adjacent blocks to attract more tourists.
Broadway, Isherwood pointed out, used to be a seedier neighborhood where serious theatergoers, the vast majority of whom were New Yorkers, had to trip over colorful characters to see shows. (An aside: Aaron Fineman, the New York photographer with whom I worked on my trip, and I were amused by a line in the Chorus Line revival that refers to the 42nd Street of old, and we guessed that younger folks probably won’t get it.) Now, Isherwood says, Broadway plays to a decidedly different crowd that treats shows as just diversions on sightseeing and shopping trips.
The Broadway audience, he writes, used to be 58 percent New Yorkers. Now, only 43 percent are locals.
In some ways, I’m inclined to be sympathetic to Isherwood’s point of view. Even as an out-of-towner, I share a distaste for the Times Square shopping hub loaded with a lot of stores I can patronize in Lexington — probably for less than I would pay in New York. Why should I eat at the Olive Garden in New York City when I have one at Fayette Mall? I travel to experience different things.
But I also, with a bit of pride for New York, will brag that I can feel perfectly safe walking around Times Square until late in the night. I cannot comment with any authority on the changes Mayor Rudy Giuliani brought to the theater district. But I confess I would be far less enamored of New York if walking out of my 46th Street hotel door felt inordinately risky.
I have to agree that the theater-going experience in New York has its downsides. The product has changed so that you have numerous shows, such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, that feel like pure commodities. And inside the theater, it can feel more as if you’re at a movie than a play.
At my first show on this trip, The Color Purple, I was appalled at the late seating that was allowed. Three or four numbers into the performance, people were showing up. And the ushers were bringing them down the aisle and seating them, even if it meant uprooting half a dozen seated patrons in the middle of a song. Maybe when people have paid $111 a ticket, theaters are afraid to tell them they’ll need to watch from the back or sit in the lobby for half the show. But what about my $111 experience?
And it was sad how easily I was able to grab a really good half-price seat to a Thursday night performance of Grey Gardens, a serious endeavor starring Christine Ebersole, one of Broadway’s most celebrated talents. Then it was sad to talk to some patrons who didn’t know who Ebersole was.
The Broadway experience is still exhilarating, watching levels of talent and production you don’t experience much of anywhere else. It’s well worth a trip. But there’s a lot of ancillary noise you have to put up with now, if you’re there to see some good theater.
Like Isherwood, we all are inclined to long for the old days. The dissolution of the Lexington Shakespeare Festival brought a fresh round of grinching from people who lamented it being moved from Woodland Park. Still, some people have whispered in my ear, “It wasn’t that great at Woodland Park.”
We often are inclined to remember the past more fondly than we experienced it.

Pursuit of Happyness opens Friday

Folks who have been moved hearing Chris Gardner (below) speak at the Ichthus Festival and the Lexington-Bluegrass Minority Business Expo finally have the chance to see his story on the big screen today, as The Pursuit of Happyness is opening. For a quick recap: In the early 1980s, Gardner was homeless on the streets of San Francisco with his toddler son, Christopher. At the time, he was in a highly competitive, unpaid  internship at Dean Witter, where the top intern would be hired as a stock
broker. The movie recounts how he ended up homeless with his son, and how he balanced the demands of the internship with protecting Christopher during their time on the streets. Most folks who have heard Gardner talk will find the story familiar. The movie opens with the words, "inspired by a true story," and "inspired" usually means there's some significant dramatic license, though frankly there is significant dramatic license in most movies that present themselves as the gospel truth. The primary variation is the age of Gardner's son. Will Smith plays Gardner in an arresting performance, and Smith's son, Jaden, who is now 8, plays Christopher. Even allowing that Jaden was probably 7, or maybe 6, when this was filmed, that's still quite a bit older than a toddler. But you have to think this was done to create a stronger onscreen relationship between the father and son. Neither I nor our reporter who covered his business expo talk remember Gardner mentioning the Rubik's cube, which plays a role in the film by showing how quick and sharp Gardner is.

If you have not heard Gardner talk, it might be hard to buy how smooth Smith portrays him, able to chatter through numerous difficult situations. There are some missing or reduced elements from Gardner's talks that seemed cinematic. For instance, he told the Ichthus crowd that prostitutes would frequently give his son money to help them out. Hollywood usually has a soft spot for the hooker with a heart of gold. And it would have been nice to see a bit more of Glide Memorial Church, which Gardner says played a significant role in helping him get back on his feet and accomplish his goal. The Rev. Cecil Williams (left) does appear in a few scenes as himself. For a longer look at Glide, you might want to check the 2004 documentary America's Heart and Soul -- really, check it out, because it got overlooked during the Fahrenheit 9/11 debate, and not nearly enough people saw this beautiful documentary.

But rarely does a reality-based movie tell the entire story, or get everything you want in there. Pursuit of Happyness gives us the essential story of Gardner's journey, and it is a nice companion to Gardner telling the story himself.

Golden Globe nominations: movies

The first big announcements in the film awards season were this morning with the Golden Globe nominations. Babel led the way with seven noms, and several nominees are competing against themselves. Several races also seem wide open at the moment. Here are the noms, with a little chatter about each.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children
The Queen
Logic would dictate that with the most nominations, Babel (photo, right, by Murray Close for Paramount Vantage) would be the frontrunner. But then again, there are a lot of mixed emotions about the Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett drama. The Departed did the best at the box office, and The Queen has the whole prestige-film aura.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Kate Winslet, Little Children
Here’s a reminder of why it sometimes sucks to be a movie lover in a small American city: Only one of these movies has played Lexington, thus far, The Queen. Since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Mirren (photo, right, by Laurie Sparham for Miramax Pictures) has been considered a frontrunner for the best actress Oscar, so this will be the first real test of that status. Gyllenhaal and Cruz would appear to be the strongest contenders for an upset.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Peter O’Toole, Venus 
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Will Leo (photo, right, by Danny Moloshok for the Associated Press) cancel out Leo? Will Will get his due as a serious actor? Has anyone seen Venus or Last King of Scotland? Almost everyone who has seen the latter two say Whitaker and O’Toole are tremendous. This one seems wide open, at the moment, and we’ll see who catches the mo’.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking
Dreamgirls (photo, right, by David James for Paramount Pictures). That’ll be the name in the envelope at end, though Borat and Little Miss Sunshine will have their supporters. It will be nice to see the Globe go to a real musical as opposed to last year when Walk the Line, a drama that happened to have music, won in this category.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Annette Bening, Running with Scissors
Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine
Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Renee Zellweger, Miss Potter
Dreamgirls is a Jennifer Hudson movie. If there’s a genuine desire to honor Little Miss Sunshine, Collette may be the way to go, or will the love for Streep’s (photo, right, by Danny Moloshok for the Associated Press) performance in Prada carry over to awards season.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caibbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Aaron Eckhart, Thank You for Smoking
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kinky Boots
Will Ferrell, Stranger than Fiction
I bet this will be Cohen’s (photo, right, by Alexandra Lambrinidis for Twentieth Century Fox) big award for Borat. The nominations I love here are Ejiofor for his winning turn in the small Kinky Boots and Will Ferrell for a performance that showed a lot of restraint and skill in Fiction.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House
Happy Feet could upset Cars because it's newer, and everyone seems to love it. But Monster House should win for being the smartest and most entertaining kids film in quite a while.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Apocalypto
Letters from Iwo Jima
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth
Volver
This may be the most populist (in American terms) list of foreign language nominees in a while. Iwo Jima is getting a lot of love as the companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, but we’re learning to never count Mel Gibson out.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
We repeat, Dreamgirls is a Jennifer Hudson (photo, right, by Matt Sayles for the Associated Press) movie. But is her stunning debut going to be enough for a Globe? I'm telling you, she will be going up to accept the award.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Ben Affleck, Hollywoodland
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Brad Pitt, Babel
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Personally, I would take Wahlberg’s turn in The Departed over Jack, Matt or Leo. Eddie Murphy (photo, right, by David James for Paramount Pictures) is a big comeback story, as he seemed to be drifting into a netherworld of lame-o family films. Pitt and Affleck, particularly Affleck, are pretty faces reclaiming some credibility this year. Several good stories in this category.

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Deaprted
Once again, a wide open category with a nominee facing himself. If Eastwood (Photo, right, by Lorenzo Bevilaqua for CNN) wins, it will be for Iwo, which is receiving tremendous acclaim. But then Scorsese is getting a lot of love for returning to his gangster form in Departed. Babel, of course, leads the nominees. Frears' film is my favorite, but I fear it may have peaked too soon.

 Click here for the complete list of nominees.

Click here for a nomination slide show.

And click here to read Jamie Gumbrecht’s take on the TV nominees at It’s All About.

Updated: Video of Will Chase in 'High Fidelity'

Broadway.com strikes again, and this time, it's Frankfort's Will Chase we get to see in action. Will, a veteran of Broadway productions such as Rent and Lennon, is now the leading man in High Fidelity, the musical adaptation of Nick Hornby's beloved novel. Opening night was Dec. 7, and Broadway.com has posted some cool video of Will and the cast in action, as well as interviews from the post-show bash at Roseland. Click here to take a look.

Update: Unfortunately, High Fidelity has been experiencing low turnout and will close Sunday, after only 14 performances and 18 previews. The show opened Dec. 7, to mostly negative reviews. The New York Times Ben Brantley put it on his list of five most forgettable musicals, adding, "Now if only I can remember the names of the  others." Ouch.

The night that review ran, I settled into a seat at the Imperial to see the show. It was not completely devoid of entertainment value. In fact, there were one or two quite memorable scenes, including Rob's fantasy about doing away with his rival, Ian, set to several different musical genres. But the show did miss both the appeal of a the High Fidelity story and the flavor of a Broadway musical, dooming it to not making much of anyone happy. It should be noted that when it came time for the curtain call, the audience remained seated until Will Chase burst on stage. His standing O affirms that whatever was wrong with this show, it wasn't him.

Gospel Grammys

Not ballyhooed, but ever present in the Grammy Nominations are gospel recordings. While the Gospel Music Association's annual Dove Awards are the genre's big night out, there is a great prestige in having a Grammy Award. Put it this way: There are a lot of people to whom you'd have to explain the Doves are Christian pop's Grammys. You don't have to explain the Grammys to much of anyone.

Anyway, here's who was nominated in the pop gospel categories last week, with a few comments:

Best Gospel Performance
(For solo, duo, group as collaborative performances. All genres of Gospel music are eligible.)
Victory, Yolanda Adams, from The Gospel - Soundtrack
Not Forgotten, Israel & New Breed, Alive In South Africa
The Blessing Of Abraham, Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers, Finale Act One
Made To Worship, Chris Tomlin, See The Morning
Victory, Tye Tribbett & G.A., Victory Live!

Thoughts: This category has what Christian pop often strives for, but rarely achieves: diversity. Yolanda vs. Chris vs. Israel. Interesting competition.

Best Gospel Song
(A Songwriter(s) Award.)
The Blessing Of Abraham, Donald Lawrence, songwriter (recorded by Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers)
Imagine Me, Kirk Franklin (Kirk Franklin)
Mountain Of God, Brown Bannister & Mac Powell (Third Day)
Not Forgotten, Israel Houghton & Aaron Lindsey (Israel & New Breed)
Victory, Tye Tribbett (Tye Tribbett & G.A.)

Thoughts: Grammy vets Third Day are mixing it up with several strong pure gospel writers  here.

Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album
DecembeRadio, DecembeRadio
Where The Past Meets Today, Sarah Kelly
Turn Around, Jonny Lang
End Of Silence, Red
Bone-A-Fide, T-Bone

Comments: This is the first of two purely Christian pop categories, and there are a few surprises including Red, Sarah Kelly and DecemberRadio. That's not a criticism as much as it is an indication maybe voters are giving the lists thoughtful consideration. You do have to wonder if Jonny Lang will win on name recognition alone. A big quibble from this corner would be leaving our Underoath's amazingly accomplished Define the Great Line.

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
Sound Of Melodies, Leeland
Coming Up To Breathe, MercyMe
Wherever You Are, Third Day
See The Morning, Chris Tomlin
Introducing Ayiesha Woods, Ayiesha Woods

Comments: Notice that Jars of Clay's Good Monsters, almost a consensus pick for album of the year in many Christian rock circles, is shut out. MercyMe and Third Day are usual (though very worthy) suspects, and Tomlin had a bit of a coming out party at this year's Doves. Leeland and Ayiesha Woods earn nominations for much ballyhooed first efforts.

Of course, Christian popsters rarely make it to centerstage Grammy night, but we'll have thoughts here after the awards, Feb. 11.

Monday morning at the movies: Gone Fishin'

Well, I wish I could say I had gone fishin'. But just getting back after a week away, I have some catching up to do, so I'm taking a week off of Monday morning at the movies. If you'd like to read a real sharp analysis of the weekend box office and Mel Gibson's somewhat surprising win, click here for Box Office Mojo.

New York notebook: A critic reads reviews

I read reviews. Specifically, when I am making a hotel reservation, I devour online reviews of potential places to stay. To me, hotel reviews are really important, because you are choosing a place to leave you valuables and sleep at night while you are traveling. You don’t want to be stuck somewhere unpleasant or unsafe.
Making a reservation for the New York trip I just completed reminded me of some of the ins and outs of reading a reviews -- be they of hotels, shows or restaurants -- particularly in this Internet age, where everyone's a critic.
Now, some of my limitations this trip were, I was booking late and into New York City during the busy Holiday season. The Herald-Leader was happy to send me on the trip, to cover stories about several Central Kentuckians on Broadway, but asked me to keep a lid on expenses. That seemed hard to do, as when I logged onto  Orbitz for Business, most everything in New York City a two-star rating or above was running over $300 a night. After a frustrating while searching the mainstream travel searches such as Orbitz and Expedia, I went searching for inns and bed and breakfasts that might be in NYC, a route that had served me well on a trip to Toronto in 2005 for the Toronto Film Festival. There, I ended up in a quiet inn, Victoria’s Mansion, that was a perfect home base for a five night stay.
The best option to emerge from my New York search was a place called The Broadway Inn, at the corner of 46th Street and Eight Avenue. Having stayed on the Upper West Side my last few trips to New York, I really wanted to be in the theater district on this trip. The price and accommodations looked right, so I went looking for reviews. And they were mostly good, even at places like Trip Advisor and Yahoo Travel, which are good for providing unvarnished opinions of a place. But here is the hazard with things like the reader reviews at Travelocity and other places, even movie reviews at imdb or Rotten Tomatoes. You don’t know who the people are, what their standards are, what their personalities are like, none of that. So, I tend to look for a consensus of opinion and what people are saying. For instance, one of the first negative reviewers of the Broadway Inn was upset they pulled back the sheets and there was a hair on the bed. That was sort of the extent of their complaint. OK, it shouldn’t be there, but one hair on a sheet is not going to kill me. Another complained that he was penalized for canceling late, though the cancellation policy is clearly stated on the hotel’s website. A few other people didn’t really seem to understand New York very well, specifically that you will pay twice to three times as much as you’re used to paying for a room elsewhere and probably get half the accommodation. It’s a big city with a lot of dinky hotel rooms, and most of us shrug it off saying you don’t go to NYC to sit in a hotel room. So, anyway, user reviews were mostly positive, and I read deeper to understand what some of the complaints were. Then, I went to a few sources like Frommer’s and Fodor’s, because these are travel experts who know what to expect and what a good value looks like. I may not always agree with them, but they have track records I trust. They and a few other mainstream sources I consulted all seemed say the Broadway Inn was a good option.

So, I e-mailed a reservation request late one night. When I arrived at my desk the next morning, I already had a call from a woman offering me a room, including a discount on the weekend rate Friday night because I was checking in for a five night stay ($215 a night). Still, I was a little nervous because there were some negative comments. Coming into the city, I was a tad concerned my cabbie had no idea where the Broadway Inn was. But, for a budget traveler, it turned out to be a really nice option. My room (photo, right) was a shoebox, which I expected, but not so cramped I couldn’t stand it. The wireless connection was only available in the lobby. But the lobby was so cozy, I kind of enjoyed going down there each night to file blog posts. The last day I was there, the staff was even sharing a box of chocolates a customer had given them. One web reviewer, and a guest I heard while I was there, complained the continental breakfast was just pastries. But I had never stayed in New York hotel that offered any complimentary breakfast before, so I was happy.  Overall, I was happy, particularly considering the money spent and time of year I was there. So I would join the rest of the net in a good review of the hotel, and I was glad I had so much information to help me decide whether or not to go there.

~ Now that I'm home, this seems like a nice post to end the New York series on:
So, I’m going to see Adam Miller Friday afternoon (Dec. 8). He’s a UK grad and Lexington native who has established himself on the management end of things on Broadway, working in the offices of shows such as Urinetown; Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang; Ring of Fire and now A Chorus Line. Adam gave me directions to his office on the Eighth floor of a building at the corner of 51st Street and Broadway. Nice address. But I still wasn’t prepared for the name on the door of his office: Cameron Mackintosh Incorporated. Uh, yeah, Adam has moved up, working for the guys who brought you Cats and Les Miserables.
Anyhoo, it was great to chat with Adam because he is so plugged into the Broadway scene, but also keeps in touch with Lexington Theatre. Nice to talk to a guy who can make really astute third party observations about the fate of the Lexington Shakespeare Festival and also evaluate the likely impact of Ben Brantley’s subtley savage review of High Fidelity in the Times that morning.
But the interesting recurring theme was the preponderance of Central Kentuckians in New York, and even on Broadway, as most recently demonstrated by he and Lyndy Franklin both working on A Chorus Line. He recalled how they commiserated the day of the crash of Flight 5191, when they were both in San Francisco for the out-of-town preview for Chorus Line. They waited for news of whether they knew anyone on the flight and were calling back to New York to check in with other Kentuckians in The City.
“Anytime I need a taste of Kentucky,” Adam says, “I don’t have to look far.”
Broadway, Adam says, is a small community, and it is amazing, he adds, how many Kentuckians are  in it.

New York notebook: Christmastime in the city

I don’t know the origins of Silver Bells' gentle refrain, “It’s Christmastime, in the city.” But it is nearly impossible to walk the streets between Herald Square, Fifth Avenue and Times Square without humming that tune. Yes, every city, including Lexington, has its Christmas traditions. But with so many iconic holiday perennials -- the tree at Rockefeller Center, Macy’s, the shop windows on Fifth Avenue, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, the New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker -- it is no wonder that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the toughest tickets in New York City.

My first  night in town, Monday (Dec. 4), I ventured down to Rockefeller Center to see the iconic Christmas tree and ice skaters. You would have thought it was Saturday with all the families crowded into the plaza, the waiting lines for really good vantage points to photograph the tree. If you are one to avoid crowds and monster markups for hotels, NYC in December is not your scene. But, to be honest and admittedly foolish, watching the eyes of children sparkle in the light of the tree and their jaws drop looking at Macy’s window displays of Miracle on 34th Street and other classic Christmas tales makes me want to take a little weekend jaunt there before my primary school duo grows to cool to have a sense of wonder. Of course, New York at the holidays also has its quirks -- witness sax playing Santa outside Macy’s to the left. There was also a blue Santa outside the Quicksilver shop on 42nd Street that prompted Laura Bell Bundy to exclaim, “It’s a UK Santa!”
And there’s a lot to be said for Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm as well as in my hometown of Virginia Beach, where the municipal version of Southern Lights stretches out along the Boardwalk with pieces like surfing Santa.
But Christmastime in The City has to be experienced at least once.

~ Riding the train down the Lower East Side Friday morning to have Breakfast at the Life Cafe (photo, right) reminded me a bit of the first time I was in Athens, Ga. I went to landmarks such as the 40 Watt Club and Allen’s Bar, highlights of the careers and lyrics of R.E.M. and The B-52’s. The 52’s Cosmic Thing album is a veritable Athens travelogue, from the second you’re heading down the Atlanta Highway.

Life Cafe was made famous as the gathering place for the Bohemians in Rent. Knowing I’m a bit of a Rent-head, Aaron (the New York-based photographer I worked with last week) invited me to breakfast there, and I giddily accepted the offer. Like a lot of these iconic locales, the facility in and of itself is nothing exceptional -- except that it's a place in New York where two people can eat breakfast for under $8. Aaron (pictured, left, outside the cafe), in fact, tells me that the cafe changed locations from the time the musical portrays. Thanks to gentrification, the entire area has transformed from the urban squalor of Rent into a place Mark, Roger, Mimi and the rest probably wouldn’t recognize.

But, at the Life Cafe, you do sense that spirit has endured. The staff is exceptionally nice and the establishment seems to recognize it has a place in the hearts of many people who embraced la vie Boheme. There were a few people I was tempted to call from my booth and say, “Guess where I am,” to make them jealous. I’d like to go again some evening to see what the Cafe is like in at night, though I know it's not like  Angel and Collins would be jumping on the table to sing. But even if I never go back, it’s great to have been able to touch a piece of art that has touched me.

~ So, after I left a taping of  Late Night with Conan O'Brien Friday evening, I needed to go, you know . . . So it seemed like the right time to finally check out those Charmin bathrooms. Apparently Charmin came up with this idea in response to the dearth of restrooms in Times Square.

It was pottying as you only could in Fun City, and easily, one of the most bizarre things I have done since graduating from college. The entrance is right there on Times Square. You go up a long escalator, like you are going up to the second floor at Macy’s or another concourse at the airport. Atop the escalator, a snaking line forms about five rows deep, leading to a crescent platform that, with all the blue, looks a little like the floor at Rupp Arena. The floor is surrounded by 20, small, private bathrooms, with their own toilet, sink, soap and six rolls of Charmin toilet paper, as well as a roll of Charmin paper towels. As you walk to your room, a young attendant bellows, “You can do it!” like he was cheering on the Cats, and a smiling young lady closes the door behind you. Even in the privacy of the small room that couldn’t be much more deep or wide than a couple of feet, you have this weird feeling of being on stage. As you come out, on the back wall, a Charmin cheerleader invites customers to dance c with her to a little ditty about Charmin, and there’s a little seating area. “Are people actually chillin’ in the Charmin place?” one customer asks, observing people lounging on couches. Honey, that isn’t even close to the strangest thing about this operation.

New York notebook: Front row for Conan

If there are bags under my eyes, you can probably blame them on Conan O'Brien -- him, and 5:45 a.m. weekday reveille to take my kids to school. If I'm really using my brain, I tape (no TiVo, yet) Late Night with Conan O'Brien. But either way, I try not to miss it. So, for this trip to NYC, I called ahead to get a ticket to a taping.

Truth be told, knowing I'd only have time to see one show taped, I debated between Conan (NBC photo by Dana Edelson, right, from a Nov. 8 episode with Will Ferrell) and The Daily Show. The selling point for Conan was that the Max Weinberg 7 is hands down the best band on late night TV, and I figured I'd get to hear more of them at a taping. I was right, though I didn't figure on sitting in the front row or having Conan goad me into a man hug with Les, the dentist from Toronto.

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The studio is on the seventh floor of the GE Building in Rockefeller Center. They gathered us together at about 4:20 p.m. yesterday (Nov. 8), where we waited about 15 minutes before being incrementally ushered through a metal detector and up to the seventh floor. The ushers were nice, though you occasionally got the sensation of nursery school teachers -- "We're going to put our bags on the table, open."

I have long maintained that going to an event alone raises your odds of getting a good seat, and it sure paid off here. Being a single, I was ushered to a front-row, aisle seat.

It made me nervous. After all, being on the front row really increases your chances of being on TV. What if my hair was messed up, or there was a booger hanging out of my nose? What if I didn't clap at the right times, or Conan singled me out for some sort of comic ridicule -- there was an incident with Drew Carey at a Virginia Beach comedy club in the late '80s (when Drew was skinny)  I'm sort of scarred by. What if, like the warm-up comic said, you looked up at the monitors when you  thought you were on camera and looked like a (bleep). More on the last one, later.

The studio was actually smaller than I imagined, the curtained area Conan enters through is not terribly wide, and the band takes up a significant amount of the floor space in the monologue area. Conan's desk is snuggled right next to that area. There were numerous monitors for the audience to look at, which was sometimes useful, because depending where you sat, there was probably a camera in your way at some point. I don't think I actually saw any of Seth Meyers during his chat with Conan. I was always told that part of the reason TV taping tickets are free is you'll probably have an obstructed view, and that was true.

But how great to be in the same room with that band.

After the warm-up comic, the Max Weinberg 7 (NBC photo, below, of the band playing in Chicago with John Mayer) played, the only disappointment being regular trombonist Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg was out. But we did get to hear trumpeter Mark Pender sing, and I really dug getting a closeup look at guitarist Jimmy Vivino's rig. If you think they sound amazing on TV, live is something else again. And while folks at home are watching Head On commercials and the like, the audience is hearing the 7 jam.

Conan came out to briefly address the audience before the show, and my good seat earned me a handshake from the pale one. Then, in a very Conan-esque manner, he asked Les from Toronto for a hug. Then, he decided he wanted Les and I to hug. Thank God this was the warm-up, and not national television. There was a tentative moment, then a friendly embrace. Then Conan got Les to embrace Max, who gave him a set of drumsticks. Les gets around.

Around 5:30 or so, the show got started. The biggest obstructed view disappointment was not having a good view of Conan's little tuck and jump when he comes out. It is to Conan fans what Johnny Carson's golf swing was for his followers. If I ended up on TV, it was because I was sitting next to a gorgeous blonde woman in a black dress. Conan commented that usually folks show up for his show in jeans and backward baseball caps, so he repeatedly complimented this woman for dressing up. I caught myself in a no-no during one of those moments, glancing up at the monitor like a dork, while the camera was on us. The saving grace would be that if I am sharing a frame with her, no one was looking at me -- BTW, the cameras probably missed her great red shoes with severe pointed toes and a red bow on the ankle.

Conan's first guest was Chaz Palminteri (photo, left), who told a great story to tie in with my very Broadway week here. Seems Chaz was cast as an understudy in his first Broadway show. When he explained to some of the heavies in his Bronx neighborhood that being an understudy meant he went on when the star couldn't, one of them asked, "You wanna go on?" (Cue Godfather music.)

Whenever the show has a commercial break, Conan pops up and chats with folks during the time, which seems to be the same length as an actual commercial break.

The musical guest was TV on the Radio (photo, right). Initially, it seemed they would play back behind the proscenium arch. But then the whole stage rolled out for them to play in the monologue area. Good band. Conan watched intently, tapping his foot as they played. One thing I love about Conan is he books a lot of bands that remind me of edgy, emerging groups I saw on the old Late Night with David Letterman in the '80s. There's a spirit of that late night classic Conan is keeping alive.

After the closing music for the show, Conan joined the group to wail for a moment on a song that had lyrics like, "Here's the song at the end of the show! The song you never hear on TV."

He seemed to be having fun, and the fun rubs off, whether its on TV, or in the studio. At least last night, I didn't have to stay up until 1:35 to see the whole show. Well, I'm probably going to go and watch it now.

New York notebook: A second look at 'Chorus Line'

After seeing the hit revival of A Chorus Line Wednesday night, I had a unique second look Thursday afternoon. Lexington's Lyndy Franklin is a swing understudy, meaning she is covering several different roles in the show. Each week, there's an understudy rehearsal, which Aaron Lee Fineman (who took the photo of Lyndy and the cast, above) and I got to sit in on. Particularly at this level, it was one of the most interesting ways I have ever seen a production: Twenty-four hours after watching the principal cast, I got to see all but one of the parts (Lyndy's Bebe) played by different people.

It definitely put different spins on numerous characters, though most of the key moments still rang true, such as Paul's story of his previous life in a drag revue and, of course, Diana's rendition of What I Did for Love, a song that has a tremendous impact on anyone who loves his life. Trust me, if you go see the show and Jessica Lea Patty is playing the part of Diana that night, the Chorus Line classic will still bring you to tears.

Watching the understudies seize their roles, it was easy to contemplate how close most of these actors are to the characters they are playing.

An interesting thing was that in the understudy rehearsal, Lyndy played two parts: Bebe and Kristine who can't sing. It was really fascinating watching her constantly switch parts, including going straight from At the Ballet to Sing!

~ Right before Chorus Line rehearsal, I found out the lead in High Fidelity, which opened last night, is Will Chase from Frankfort. I'm hoping to catch the show tonight and catch up with Will soon to chat about it.

~ When I found -- no surprise -- that there were no tickets left for last night's High Fidelity opener, I had this insane notion of packing it in and spending the night in my cozy room. Then I remembered it would be a sin to squander a night in New York holed up in my hotel room, and I went and got a ticket for Grey Gardens.

Glad I shook off the laziness. Grey Gardens doesn't quite convey the spirit of fierce individualism that the program notes attribute to the Edies, a mother and daughter, who were close relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy and tumbled from the pinnacle of New York society in the 1940s to living in squalid conditions in their 28-room mansion. In 1972, the Suffolk County Board of Health condemned the estate, which was in disrepair and overrun with cats. The lives of the ladies were chronicled in a revolutionary 1974 documentary by Albert and David Maysles.

The musical has some great tunes and fantastic sets. Christine Ebersole alone is worth the price of admission to see her play the elder Edie in the first act, set in 1941, and the daughter in the second act, set in 1973. It gives the Tony Award-winner a chance to pull off a theatrical feat and also highlights the similarities between mother and daughter, regardless of how badly the daughter wants to separate herself from her home.

Calls to home yesterday told me that Kentucky got a little snow, and it's really cold. The bottom dropped out here while I was in Grey Gardens, and apparently New York could get a little snow tonight.

Well, off to bed. Tomorrow morning, I'm supposed to have breakfast at a Rent-head landmark.

New York notebook

It has been a busy day here at the New York bureau, starting with a little shopping excursion in the city and ending with a stunningly vibrant production of A Chorus Line. Usually, I like to coalesce posts into a single theme, but I don't think that's going to be doable today, so here are some notebook items:

~ Honestly, we did not tell Lorna Bundy-Jones not to go see her daughter's monster billboard for Legally Blonde in Times Square. But, though she got to town Monday, Lorna dodged seeing the new ad with a giant Laura Bell Bundy until Wednesday, allowing our photographer, Aaron Lee Fineman, to capture mom's initial reaction. Think she's proud? I have to wonder if there's any omen in the Drowsy Chaperone marquee Aarron just happened to catch Laura and Lorna under.

~ Aaron shot the new photo of me up in the left-hand corner while setting up a portrait of Laura for the Dec. 17 Herald-Leader. Funny thing is, when he was shooting Laura, there were people driving by who told her she was beautiful. I'm sure that when Aaron was shooting me, as a stand-in to get the shot ready, people were saying, "Why's he taking a picture of that guy?"

~ I came to town in need of a new flash for my old-school SLR. After a few salesmen in Times Square shops blatantly tried to rip me off, I asked Aaron where I should go, and he directed me to B&H Photo at the corner of Ninth Avenue and 34th Street, calling it the "Wal-Mart of camera stores." Was it ever, except there are Wal-Marts everywhere and one B&H. It was an amazingly huge maze of a store with everything you could want for a camera and, near as I could tell, very honest salespeople. Between two of them, I walked away with a lot more than I ever thought I'd get for the money I spent.

~ After shopping and a little stroll through Herald Square, it was off to Legally Blonde rehearsals. They take place in a spacious seventh-floor studio, with windows overlooking Times Square. Near the end of a rehearsal, Laura and the girls who play her Greek chorus of sorority sisters had just gotten the number they were working on. It looked like they had been going at it for months.

The first sight I caught of Lorna, she was holding book writer Heather Hach's new baby. Seems it's not just Laura -- anyone in Lorna's sphere gets motherly treatment.

~ Just before meeting with Laura yesterday, I got a call from Lyndy Franklin. Lyndy, daughter of Lexington Opera House manager Luanne Franklin, is a swing understudy, covering four roles, for the new production of A Chorus Line. Anyway, it was just our luck that last night, when we had tickets to Chorus Line, Lyndy went on in the role of Bebe. It was a heckuva a show, still seeming quite groundbreaking for a piece that premiered three decades ago.

Anyway, it's time to get to bed so I can be up to catch the No. 7 train out to Queens to visit Lyndy.

A good day for 'The Color Purple'

Well, we caught The Color Purple on a very good day.

Yes, the Broadway Theatre was packed last night (Dec. 5) for a rousing and moving performance. But before that, the show came in a double winner at the 18th Annual Gypsy of the Year competition, the grand finale of a six week fund-raising effort for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The event itself is a lot of fun as the casts of 16 Broadway shows put together skits ranging from the silly to the sublime.

The cast of Beauty and the Beast, for instance, shot inside a little bit with a vision of a new Disney musical: a quite overdone and inappropriate Pocahontas: An Absolutely True Story. The Hairspray cast, including Diana DeGarmo, re-imagined I Can Hear the Bells as a gay love at first sight, with Tracy Turnblad eventually ripping open her blouse in a fruitless attempt to re-attract Link. And two guys from Spamalot did a news segment that skewered Broadway the way Jon Stewart skewers politicians.

But then, there were more thoughtful, moving sketches, including the cast of Rent giving the stage to a teen program the show has developed, and a number by the cast of the now-closed The Times they are A-Changin' that was one of those things I don't think I quite got, but I want to see again and again.

The Color Purple won the fund-raising award for the campaign that raised nearly $3 million overall, between Broadway, off-Broadway and touring productions. The show also won the talent competition among the 16 shows, thanks in no small part to Lebanon native JC Montgomery and Lexington native Eric L. Christian. They were part of the soulful When, Where, Why Will I Go?, which took top honors in the competition, whose judges included Jill Clayburgh and Cynthia Nixon. The presenters included Christine Ebersole and Martin Short (I still don't know whether I want to see Fame Becomes Me, Short's Broadway show).

Then, it was off to the theater for a 7 p.m. curtain. Backstage, Christian was leading a listening party for the just-released Dreamgirls movie soundtrack -- thumbs up for Jennifer Hudson, not so much for Jamie Foxx.

I think I will always think of the Cosmic Diner and The Color Purple together, as both Montgomery, and later Christian and Louisville native LaVon Fisher-Wilson took me to the restaurant around the block from the show. Good omelettes and garden salads. (The photo above of Montgomery, left, Fisher-Wilson and Christian was taken by Aaron Lee Fineman)

And just to prove that you don't have to go too far in this town to find another Kentucky connection, when I opened the program for Purple, I discovered that Linda Twine, right, is the show's music director. Twine has worked with UK Opera Theatre's Grand Night for Singing several times and has roots in Madison County. (BTW, the orchestra at Color Purple sounded really good.)

It was good to start the day opening The New York Times and seeing a big article on Georgetown and the Toyota factory.

Now, despite being in the City That Never Sleeps, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is Blonde day.

Blogging from The Big City

Live, from New York, it’s Copious Notes.

Excuse me for indulging in that one. But we are in The Big City this week, and I mean big.

How big? Well, I walk down the block from my hotel, and there’s an enormous Laura Bell Bundy overlooking Broadway. Interesting thing about this little corner of Times Square is that if you looked to the left of the billboard for the Lexington native’s new show, Legally Blonde, you see the huge ads for two other shows LBB has touched, Hairspray (in which she created the role of Amber von Tussle) and Wicked (in which she was the star replacement for Kristin Cenoweth as Glinda).

And if you notice the Chorus Line billboard (right next to Hairspray, behind a traffic light), that features Lexington native Lyndy Franklin in her Broadway debut. If I had a wider-angle lens, I could have gotten The Color Purple marquee in the shot. That cast boasts three Kentuckians, led by Lebanon’s own JC Montgomery, a Broadway veteran.

That’s why we’re here: to talk about some hometown kids made good. Kander & Ebb told us that if you can make it here in New York, you can make it anywhere. And when you walk the streets and see the sheer number of shows, the sheer number of people in this city, you get an idea of what an accomplishment it is to get a part here, to say nothing about being the lead in the “it” show of the season, which Blonde appears to be.

So, today (Dec. 5) we get started, visiting with our Color Purple stars and seeing the show. In coming posts, we’ll also soak up a little Christmastime in The City, check out the now-famous deluxe Charmin Times Square restrooms and bring you some of the other things that make being in New York such a big deal.

~ Props to Lexington's own Blue Grass Airport for providing free WiFi service for its customers. When I got to Chicago's O'Hare International this afternoon, they wanted $6.95 a day for access.

Turay sings for Spielberg

Gregory Turay had a pretty big gig Sunday night that you will be able to see on television: The University of Kentucky alum and Metropolitan Opera singer performed at the Kennedy Center honors in Washington, D.C.

In a segment for Steven Spielberg, one of this year's honorees, Turay sang Leonard Bernstein's Make Our Garden Grow with soprano Harolyn Blackwell and the United States Army Chorus, conducted by John Williams.

In addition to the performance, Turay got to go to several big events, including a reception at the White House hosted by President and Mrs. Bush, a dinner hosted by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and a brunch with the honorees, including Spielberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton and Smokey Robinson.

The awards gala will be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 26.

Monday morning at the movies: Can't stop the penguins

It's was a third straight victory for flightless water fowl as Happy Feet danced it's way to the top of the weekend box office. The Top 3 films were a duplicate of Thanksgiving weekend, except for returns being slashed in half. Happy Feet led the weekend, followed by Casino Royale (in its third straight weekend at No. 2) and Deja Vu at No. 3. The Nativity Story was the only new release in the Top 5, taking in a modest $8 million, despite roundly positive reviews from film critics and religious leaders.

Well, with not much to say, here's the Top 10, according to Box Office Mojo:

1. Happy Feet, $17 million.

2. Casino Royale, $15.1 million.

3. Deja Vu, $11 million.

4. The Nativity Story, $8 million.

5. Deck the Halls, $6.7 million.

6. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, $5 million.

7. Borat, $4.8 million.

8. Turistas, $3.5 million.

9. Stranger Than Fiction, $3.4 million.

10. National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, $2.3 million.

Let's see if any of these upcoming releases can knock off the penguins, next weekend: The weekend results prompted Mojo to observe the birth of Christ in Nativity Story was far less popular than the death of Christ in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ (2004) . Funny thing is this coming weekend, Gibson's next directoral effort bows: Apocalypto, the story of the fall of the over-indulgent Mayan kingdom. Also opening are The Holiday, a romantic comedy with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black; Blood Diamond, a damning film about the diamond trade starring Leo, and Unaccompanied Minors, a story about kids stranded at an airport at Christmas.

BCTC opens film school

Bluegrass Community and Technical College has a certificate program starting next semester that has some potential students talking about moving here from Texas or quitting their jobs to sign up.
For a certificate program.
Granted, it’s a pretty cool class. The Filmmaking Certificate Program is 15 master classes covering everything from writing a screenplay to getting distribution.
“When students have finished the program, they won’t be experts, but they’ll know something about all aspects of filmmaking and they will have been exposed to professionals in the film industry,” says Arthur Rouse (photo, right, by Pablo Alcala), owner of Video Editing Services and a co-founder of the Kentucky Film Lab, which is sponsoring the program.
Rouse and Tim Davis (photo, below, by Pablo Alcala), who is heading up the film program and BCTC’s new theater program, say the new certificate is in part a response to a call by Gov. Ernie Fletcher and the Kentucky Film Office to create a stronger base of film professionals in Kentucky to attract more major studio productions to the state.
That call came as the releases of Elizabethtown and Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story were shining a bright light on Kentucky in October 2005.
The classes will include visits from film professionals including University of Kentucky graduate Brad Riddell, who has a master’s degree in screenwriting from the University of Southern California and wrote the script for last year’s video release American Pie: Band Camp.
The class titles include “Treatment to Storyboard” and “Editing to Distribution.” Davis says the hope is to turn the film certificate into a full-fledged two-year degree program that could  pair with Asbury College, which has an internationally recognized four-year film program, and other schools.
That part depends on the popularity of the certificate program. So far, it looks good. Davis says that through little more than grass-roots publicity, most of the 20 spots are filled.
The program is a total of 12 hours of credit, meeting 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursdays, starting Jan. 8. For more information on the film program, go to www.bluegrass.kctcs.edu or contact Davis at (859) 246-6672 or tim.davis@kctcs.edu.

Tommy Emmanuel: Inside the music

After several visits to the Bluegrass, guitarist Tommy Emmanuel has become an exceedingly familiar face to Lexington music lovers. Folks who want to know a bit more about Emmanuel and his approach to guitar playing will want to pick up the January issue of Guitar Player magazine (the issue with the 60th anniversary of Fender guitars on the cover), which features a spread on Emmanuel in its Master Class section.
In addition to an interview, there are several guitar tabs of Emmanuel’s compositions for guitarists who want to try playing like Emmanuel.
One of the really cool things was the photo (right) at the top of a short article about Emmanuel’s guitar gear. It was shot in Lexington for the Herald-Leader by staff photographer Mark Cornelison, when Emmanuel was here in 2000 for his first concert with the Lexington Philharmonic.   

(Note: I would link to the article, but Guitar Player does not post its content on the web until well after the print publication comes out.)

Christian pop stars show you how to play their hits

The New Song Cafe always seemed like an interesting feature at Worshiptogether.com. I mean, I don't remember anywhere that, on a regular basis, mainstream pop guitarists I admire like The Edge and Pete Buck ever did TV shows or released videos showing you how to play their hits. But each week, Christian pop artists are showing how to play their tunes at the website -- Michael W. Smith and Leeland Mooring are on there  this week. But -- and it may be because, having just celebrated my first-annual 39th birthday, I am getting old -- setting up at my computer with my guitar just didn't seem like a thing to do. Plus, the videos were so tiny, it was hard to tell where the players' fingers were, and streaming video can sometimes be a bit testy.

But the insight is invaluable, as chord charts often come up woefully short in terms of showing how to play a song. If only the Cafes came in a more user-friendly format.

Worship Together has addressed that with Live: Training for Modern Worship, a DVD of a dozen New Song Cafes, and an accompanying CD of the songs. It is actually the fifth DVD of New Song Cafe episodes, which are available at the Worship Together store. But the new disc is my first go around with it.

Overall, it's pretty good. All of the episodes have a fairly standard script: The hosts, Brenton Brown or Vicky Beeching in most instances, introduce the artists who talk a little bit about the origins of the songs they are playing, they play the tune and then talk through the chords. Some of the episodes are quite interesting or amusing, like Chris Tomlin comforting all of we beginners by saying he looks for the easiest way to play tunes or David Crowder discussing how his mother inspired the word play of Wholly Yours.

The most useful episode was hosted by Peter Furler of Newsboys with Beeching (photo right, courtesy of EMI Christian Music Group) sharing her Yesterday, Today, and Forever. Furler has a very easy manner as a host and makes his questioning valuable with a few words: "How about the rhythm."

The biggest frustration of the episodes is a concentration on chords, almost to the exclusion of rhythms. On Third Day's discussion of Communion, it is easy to pick out Mac Powell's chords, but I needed the sheet music to see what exactly was happening with his strumming hand. (As we've mentioned before on this blog, Worship Together does offer free sheet music to download each week, and often one of the titles is the song on that week's Cafe.)

This DVD also exclusively features guitarists. Granted, guitar is the lead instrument of pop music and modern worship, but it may be nice to give keyboard players, even bassists and drummers, some insight as well. I'm not sure how many Cafes do bring in other instruments. Smith is on there playing a keyboard, this week.

Those things said, the disc is really interesting, and several artists offer a few different ways to play their tunes. I was amused, for instance, that demonstrating Everlasting God, Brown (photo, right) shows a completely different (and harder) way to play the main theme then I had learned. But then, at the end of his chat with Beeching, he swings back and shows the fairly simple G-Gsus sequence I know (once again though, you really need the rhythm to make that work).

Whoever's song you try to play, unless you are a fairly accomplished guitarist, you'll need to watch the DVD with the remote nearby to pause. But if there are selections you really want to learn on this or any of the New Song Cafe discs, you should be able to do that with most of these episodes, even if you're an absolute beginner, like me.

Lexingtonians sing with the Boston Pops

When the Boston Pops take the stage at Danville's Norton Center for the Arts Friday night, there will be a couple of Lexingtonians on stage.

Lexington to Danville, via Greenville S.C.

Ryan Sink and Lesley Williams (photo, left) will be joining in with the Pops as members of the Furman Singers, a choir from Pops conductor Keith Lockhart's alma mater, Furman University. The choir is performing on several dates of the Boston Pops holiday tour.

"My son is over the moon," Ryan's mom, Kathy Sink, said of the performance, noting she had bought three tickets at $90 each to see the show.

Ryan is a 2003 graduate of Tates Creek High School. He played the title role in a production of Pippin at Tates. The tenor is now a senior voice major at Furman.

Lesley graduated from Lafayette High School, where she was a vocal major in the School for Creative and Performing Arts, earlier this year. She portrayed Eliza Doolittle in this year's production of My Fair Lady at SCAPA.
The concert is at 8 p.m. Saturday at Centre College's Norton Center for the arts. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.