Copious Notes

Forwarding address

In some ways, I've been putting this off like a guy with a great apartment who doesn't want to move. Typepad has been a wonderful home for Copious Notes for more than two years, and I hate to leave. But, Kentucky.com made the decision that it wants to have all its bloggers under one umbrella, so Copious Notes is moving to our new common address as on today.

Click here to go to new address: http://copiousnotes.bloginky.com/

Please reset any bookmarks or RSS feeds -- I cannot tell you how much people who have this blog on their RSS readers mean to me -- to the new address, as that's where all future posts will be.

It'll look different, and for a few weeks, there may be some features here that I haven't put up, sorta like all the boxes in my basement I haven't unpacked even though I physically moved in March. If you want to, say, cruise the Ichthus photo albums or things like that, this address will remain alive for a while, and I will eventually have everything up at the new address.

I do look forward to the new home, and I look forward to continuing to bring you news and notes on local and national arts and entertainment and other stuff. Thanks for reading.

All the best,
Rich

The Opera House's new look

Go into many towns in the United States and you can find old theaters that were once the hub of activity sadly showing their age with paint peeling, curtains falling and creaky old seats breaking as an era slips into oblivion. That is not the case with Lexington’s 122-year-old Opera House. Even last year, visiting artists such as the Broadway seasoned cast and crew from 12 Angry Men were singing the theater’s praises.

If they could see it now.

Over the summer, the Lexington Opera House underwent a $2 million renovation, updating the seats, soundsystem, dressing rooms and many other accomodations. Patrons get their first look tonight as the UK Opera Theatre opens its production of La Boheme. But Tuesday afternoon, photographer David Perry and I got an advance tour with Opera House General Manager Luanne Franklin. Above, you can see a slide show from our visit.

Click here for a larger version of the slide show.

Click here for the whole story on the renovation.

Click here for more on La Boheme.

And click here for the Opera House’s upcoming schedule from LexGo.

Political theater review: Third presidential debate

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, responds to a question as debate moderator Bob Schieffer, center, and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., listen during a presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Copyrighted AP Photo by Charles Dharapak.

If ever you could bill an hour-and-a-half on a stage as “ripped from today’s headlines,” the third presidential debate was it.

Just five hours after Americans watched the Dow Jones Industrial Average lose more than 700 points, again, and we heard the credit markets remain as frozen as an Alaska winter, Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama took a New York stage to field a script of questions about the issues facing the country, as well as some of the sexier subplots of the campaign.

They completely missed the conflict and drama.

Why should we have expected the third part of this trilogy to be any different than previous two?

Based on its predecessors, if this were a stage show, it wouldn’t have been produced. If it was a film series, the sequel wouldn’t have been greenlighted, because the original flopped. This trio proceeded forward for the same reason we got all three Star Wars prequels: history. We’re talking the Presidential debates, Nixon sweating under the lights, Uncle Ronnie saying “there you go again,” and “I will not exploit my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” These debates have been hits, and they seem important. Obviously we should have three.

Where’s a Ronald Reagan when you need him?

Part of the problem was these two guys stayed in character. Obama was the calm professorial type, while McCain was the agitated elder, annoyed he had to contended with this upstart. As the debate opened, McCain seemed to be nervously searching for something different, stumbling over his lines in search of another voice. But soon he was back in character.

Neither man mustered a passion for the issues the times present.

On stage and screen, great playwrights have found drama in tweedy topics such as advanced mathematics (Arcadia and A Beautiful Mind) nuclear physics (Copenhagen) and medicine (House, and scores of other medical dramas). That’s because they put them in human terms, whether it’s the quest for knowledge, the struggle to save a life or the potential impact of grave decisions.

In the theater of these presidential debates, the candidates have consistently failed to humanize the pressing issues of today, even when they were talking about Joe the Plumber from Ohio.

Joe was this show’s Godot, the guy who wasn’t there, but the candidates were always talking about. Maybe it’s that candidates have used that, “I met so-and-so in this small town and they were really worried about . . . ” device over and over again, so we’ve become immune to it.

There were a number of times it felt like the candidates were reading from old scripts, whether they were party lines like McCain going on about wealth redistribution or Obama reinvoking his change theme like we’d never heard it before.

But more than missing the drama, these guys also missed the conflict, which is strange considering these two guys are in conflict. They both want the most powerful job in the country, they both will have enormous roles in how our current dramas play out. But even when given issues such as the conduct of the campaign, which has led to breathless monologues by pundits, McCain and Obama couldn’t turn the heat up above medium.

Sometimes, trilogies offer three great chapters of an amazing story you want to see over and over. But the 2008 Presidential debtes seemed like that inexplicable series, when the first chapter really wasn’t any good, and why on earth were they making more.

Thank God it’s over.

Facebook reviews: I was just checking out my Facebook friends and have to share some great status lines:

Since I am not going to name anyone, I will give a blanket, My Friend . . .

. . . would like to see the candidates have a debate on the effectiveness and influence of presidential debates.

. . . would like to be known as Jennifer the Plumber, so everyone will suddenly care what I think.

. . . is now awake from his debate-induced nap.

. . . has officially added the word "cockamaney" to the McCain drinking game.

. . . is wondering how long before CNN gets Joe the Plumber on the air . . . 

AP wasted no time getting Joe the Plumber on the record.

Survey says!: Once again, both CBS and CNN insta-polls say Obama won, big.

Interesting: I am watching Charlie Rose now, and they are talking about an Obama presidency as if it is a fait accompli.

Pssst! . . . look over here

I haven't completely moved to the new address yet, but this is sort of like camping out a night before the move. I just posted a set of photos from UK Theatre's production of A Flea in Her Ear at Copious Notes' new address. Click here to check them out.

rctalk: Joy Whitlock's 'God and a Girl' and Eyesuponus' debut disc

Memphis-based Joy Whitlock has released her first album, "God and a Girl." Photo by Krystal Mann | Ardent Records.

Joy Whitlock | God and a Girl

Christian rock presents a lot of artists who simply appear to be part of “mirror culture,” a Christian Avril Lavigne, Christian Maroon 5 or whatever the flavor-of-the-moment-a-few-moments-ago is.

Joy Whitlock is an artist with something to say, as opposed to something to be.

According to her press biography, Whitlock is a fairly new Christian, a preacher’s daughter who went through something of a dark journey before embracing her faith. And one of the first artists to embrace her was Todd Agnew, whose taste for songs of faith that still ask questions is reflected in Whitlock’s full-length debut album, God and a Girl.

There are some moments on the album that soar into full radio-friendly production such as Holding on to Me. But a lot of the disc tracks much closer to the opener, The Cost of Being Free, a bluesy tune with guitars buzzing and twanging straight through the amps while Whitlock sings with the graveliest alto we’ve heard in Christian rock since Jennifer Knapp.

Many of the songs seem to have autobiographical roots, songs about shedding a sketchy past for a life of faith that can sometimes be hard to navigate and stick with. Testify is a particularly striking, plainspoken testimony that really comes in the form of the singer confessing and asking God to testify for her. It ends with a sober perspective on a common childhood prayer:

Now if I should die in my sleep
Something grabs hold of this heartbeat
Whether I struggle or go in peace
All that I ask
Is let it be you that I see
I see

The primary fault in the disc is really length. At 14 tunes and a little over an hour in playing time, it does start to drag a bit. Trimming out a few cuts may have given Whitlock a more succinct and consistent first impression. But then we hear so few voices like Whitlock’s, it seems a tad silly to complain about too much of her. She comes onto the scene as an authentic voice, and you want to wish her success, and wish that success won’t spoil her.

Versailes- and Georgetown- based Eyesuponus is also out with a debut disc. Fishers of Men is the first  bow for the the quartet that got a pretty big gig in the Summer of 2007, when it placed in the money in the Ascenxion Scout competition and was rewarded with a set at the Ichthus Festival.

That boost really gave the group a sense of mission heading out of the festival.

Fishers of Men was another year in the making, but now that it’s done, the guys in the band are using all available venues to market it, putting the CD in most area Christian and mainstream record stores, including CD Central and Joseph-Beth Booksellers. It’s also available on Amazon, iTunes and many other e-tailers and download sites.

Photo, above: Eyesuponus -- L-R, Jonathan Hensley, Christopher Cool, Chris Simpson and Eric Drane -- played the Edge Stage at Ichthus June 16, 2007. The Versailes band's set was their reward for coming in fourth in the Ascenxion Scout Competition. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

10/13: Political Junkie notebook

Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update Thursday premiered last week with a cute take on the Oct. 7 presidential debate that emphasized Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s tendency to wander around the stage and a hilarious question from Bill Murray about the Cubs — McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama agreed the Cubs will never win and fans should be assisted in finding other teams to root for.

But the best moment was the return of Really!?! With Seth and Amy, where the Weekend Update anchors mock some of societey’s biggest dunderheads. Previous victims have included Michael Vick for his Miami drug bust and former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer for his . . . well . . . you know. Thursday’s victims: The AIG execs who went on a $400,000 junket after receiving an $87 billion government bailout. Really, it’s a great cathartic moment for all of us who’ve had to sweep our jaws off the floor every time we read about the sense of entitlement these bozos have. (The Really!?! segment starts about four minutes into the clip above.)

The Thursday show was fun, though for a show produced to capitalize on SNL’s current political cache, the Update segment veered off politics several times. It was also lacking the Fey factor. Maybe next week. The show will have a notably short time to come up with a satire of the final presidential debate, as the faceoff will be at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

In late night news, John McCain is set to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman Thursday to make up for the night he bailed on Dave a few weeks ago. McCain apparently told Letterman he was heading back to Washington to work on the bailout package, but he was caught on camera in another CBS studio being interviewed by Katie Couric.

Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is also rumored to be set for a Saturday Night Live cameo Oct. 25. No word on what the appearance will be like or if Palin personifier Tina Fey will appear with her, a la Hillary Clinton’s personality-warming appearance with Amy Poehler last year.

If you wanted to contrast coverage by the 24-hour news nets, Friday night was a great opportunity. It was a bad day for the McCain-Palin campaign. First, McCain had to talk down several people at his Minnesota rally who made wild accusations about Obama, and got booed by his own supporters in the process. Then, the Alaska Legislature’s investigation of the “Troopergate” situation was released, and while it cleared Gov. Palin of any wrongdoing, it did say she abused her power.

 MSNBC, these two stories completely took over the Countdown with Keith Olbermann, guest hosted by David Shuster, and Rachel Maddow Shows, with numerous analysts and officials opining, where does the McCain-Palin campaign go from here, etc.

Over at FOX News, neither story rated a mention on Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor, though to be fair, the Troopergate story broke near the end of the show. Hannity & Colmes, with Michael Steele sitting in for Sean Hannity, did bring it up at the top of the show with a report, followed by Alan Colmes interviewing Dick Morris who dismissed the report saying, “Clearly, it was political, clearly they’re doing the investigation because she’s running for vice president.” There was nary a mention of the Minnesota incident on H&C, though Morris and others’ did continue to bring up some of the character issues that Democrats contend have been stoking the angry outbursts at some Republican rallies.

Granted, both MSNBC and FOX were in the midst of their partisan shows at the hour these stories broke.

CNN kind of shot down the middle, talking about the Minnesota outbursts in the context of a Campbell Brown show focused on race in the election, and then there was straight coverage and analysis of the Troopergate report.

It will be interesting to see what sort of spin Olbermann and Hannity, the loudest voices from the left and right, respectively, have to say when they return to their shows tonight.

Photo, above: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain takes back the microphone from Gayle Quinnell who said she read about Sen. Barack Obama and "that he was an Arab," during a question and answer time at a town hall meeting Oct. 10 in Lakeville, Minn. Copyrighted AP Photo by Jim Mone.

All the discussion of William Ayers, the former domestic terrorist Republicans are trying to tether to Obama, has inadvertently got Flo Rida’s In the Ayer stuck in my brain. I’m waiting for the satire version: "William Ayers, Ayers, A-A, Ayers, Ayers." Photo, right, of Flo Rida.

He sees the future: Andrew Sullivan, who makes me feel like a lazy blogger, has a hilarious pop culture reference in a post titled “The First Few Moments of a Palin Presidency.”

Forbes Auto has a fun slideshow on the rides of the candidates. Seems the Ford Escape Hybrid is the hip choice among politicians, with a consultant saying in an accompanying article, “Hybrids have become the auto equivalent of wearing a red ribbon to show support for the fight against AIDS.”

Logging into Twitter this morning, I was amazed to see Dean Smith at No. 1 in “hot political topics.” Turns out, the former North Carolina basketball coach is endorsing Obama today. Well color Carolina blue.

Third presidential debate moderator Bob Schieffer apparently plans to press the candidates on specifics and make them address the question at hand on Wednesday night. Good luck with that.

The Debate Drink folks are soliciting drinking game suggestions for the next debate. Here at Copious Notes, we recommend a drink for every time McCain says, “I know how,” which he said at least a half dozen times during last week’s debate.

Fun fact: On Morning Joe today, NBC politcal director Chuck Todd made the mind-bending point that the last time a Republican won the White House without a Nixon or Bush on the ticket was 1928.

The Pavarotti look

Tenor Jeremy Cady rehearses the role of Rudolfo in the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre's production of La Boheme in the Schmidt Vocal Arts Center on Oct. 7., 2008. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo. Below: Luciano Pavarotti.

Tuesday night, I went over to the Scmidt Vocal Arts Center at UK to shoot some photos for a feature we’re running in Sunday morning’s paper about University of Kentucky Opera Theater tenor Jeremy Cady, who is singing the role of Rudolfo in La Boheme the next two weekends — he shares the role with tenor Phumzile Sojola.

As always, it’s fun to shoot artists at work. During this rehearsal, I had this particularly striking moment when I was looking at shots on my camera. There was one of Jeremy in the midst of singing Che gelida manina, eyes closed, mouth wide open, hands clutching at his chest.

“That looks like Pavarotti,” I thought.

Of course, it was Jeremy, a 34-year-old doctoral student at UK, who is racking up and impressive string of leading tenor roles, as well as leads and supporting parts in regional opera companies such as Kentucky Opera in Louisville and Cincinnati Opera. But with that image in mind, it was interesting to sit down with Jeremy the next afternoon and hear him start talking about how one of his early inspirations was a recording of Pavarotti singing Che gelida:

“Pavarotti was the first tenor for me that really sparked my imagination and amazed me with the power of the human voice to just soar over the orchestra.”

During that interview, Jeremy also said that rehearsal was the night that the opera, his favorite, really came together for him. That was the result of lots of listening, lots of work, and maybe he was channeling a little something too.

Here are a few other shots from that rehearsal:

Top to bottom: Director Michael Ehrman; David Baker as Schaunard, Mark Elliot Golson II as Colline and Eric Brown as Marcello; Jeremy Cady, Mark Elliot Golson II, Christopher Baker and Eric Brown; Jeremy Cady as Rudolfo and Amelia Groetsch as Mimi.

A-Twitter over Rick Sanchez's CNN newscast

CNN’s Rick Sanchez, who uses social media outlets such as ­Twitter and ­Facebook, had his laptop at the ready while ­reporting on Hurricane Ike. Image courtesy of CNN.

A little less than two weeks ago, many people in the nation were stunned when the U.S. House of Representatives voted not to approve a $700 billion financial bailout package, with many congressmen saying they were carrying out their constituents’ wishes.

The bailout had to be passed, a lot of observers had said. Wasn’t that obvious?

Well, I knew there were a lot of people who thought that wasn’t so obvious, and it’s not because I’m some sort of genius swami or more in touch with the average Joe than a six-pack of PBR.

No, I’ll honestly say that insight came from watching Rick Sanchez from 3 to 4 p.m. ­weekdays on CNN Newsroom.

Sanchez had caught my eye a few months back when CNN was on at my desk and I noticed that he was heavily ­referencing posts to his Facebook and Twitter pages. The social media ­outlets drive a healthy percentage of Sanchez’s newscast with ­ongoing commentary.

For those who don’t live their lives online, ­Facebook and MySpace, which ­Sanchez also uses, are social media sites that allow members to relay what they are up to and engage in conversations online. Twitter is what is known as micro-blogging, ­allowing users to “tweet,” or share bursts of thought or information in 140 ­characters or fewer.

On Newsroom, there are days when the social media simply provide interesting chats about what’s being covered on the show, sort of like high-tech talking heads at the bottom of the screen as in Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

At other times, though, it gets quite significant, as in the days leading up to that first vote on the bailout.

“I am frankly appalled that, we, (sic) the taxpayers are not able to vote on how our money is being thrown away,” a Twitter poster wrote on the Sept. 23 show.

The day before, a tweet read, “It’s highly ironic that the same people that scare average Americans about evil socialized medicine are now cheering socialized capitalism.”

This week, the drama on Sanchez’s show has been spiked a bit by the fact that he is on the air during the final hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The social media has had other interesting manifestations, including during ­Hurricane Ike, when Sanchez was reading Twitter posts from people at or near the center of the storm.

Met Live HD: Richard Strauss' 'Salome'

Karita Mattila in the title role of the Metropolitan Opera's production of Salome, which shows in movie theaters across America this weekend. Photo by Ken Howard | The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Live HD series gets started this weekend — more than a month and a half earlier than last year — with a live broadcast of Richard Strauss’ Salome at 1 p.m. Saturday. It will show in Lexington at the Lexington Green Movies 8 and the Regal Hamburg Pavilion 16, and repeat at both locations at 7 p.m. Oct. 22.

We’ll be seeing the new modern-dress production by German Jürgen Flimm with set and costume designs by Santo Loquasto.

According to the New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini though, the reason to see the show is Karita Mattila in the title role.

“Given the physical and emotional toll of her portrayal, that she could also sing this daunting role with such gleaming power, eerie expressivity and, most remarkably of all, beguiling lyricism was stunning. When the opera ended and Ms. Mattila appeared alone before a black curtain, looking spent and dazed, she seemed almost frightened by the vehemence of the audience’s applause and shouts of ‘Bravo!”’

Salome, considered a 20th Century masterpiece by many, is the story of King Herod’s beguiling stepdaughter and her infamous role in the execution of John the Baptist. In the already emotionally unbalanced world of opera, Salome does outdo itself in eroticism — including the dance of the seven veils, which ends with Salome naked — and grisliness. It is not to be missed, though you may want to leave the younger kids at home. It is also a one-act opera that clocks in at a tidy 90-or-so minutes.

Met Live HD is getting off to a modern, er, relatively modern start, with John Adams’ Dr. Atomic Nov. 8.

Actors Guild's quick-change act

Scenic designer Nicola Riggs watches as director Eric Seale discusses the set for Actors Guild of Lexington's production of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. Copyrighted LexGo photo by Rich Copley.

If seeing posters around town and the article in tomorrow’s paper about Actors Guild of Lexington’s new show makes you think, “Didn’t they just close a show?” the answer is, yes they did.

Sunday.

Monday afternoon, the lovely, woody newspaper office of Constant Star was already gone, and technical director Scott Sherman and his crew were quickly working to change the stage over into the interrogation room and a rooftop for the new production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, which opens tonight. Help for the quick change came all the way from England, as set designer Nicola Riggs flew in from London over the weekend and was applying green tiles to the stage floor just after lunchtime Monday.

First time AGL director Eric Seale, the company’s associate artistic director, says Pillowman is the first Actors Guild show to be staged with such a quick turnaround. Seale says the fast turnaround was putting a little stress on the staff, but he expected the stage to be good to go for opening night.

Read more about Seale and Pillowman in tomorrow’s Herald-Leader and at LexGo.com.

Political Junkie notebook: Oct. 7 Presidential Debate

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama shake hands before the start of the Presidential debate on Oct. 7, 2008. Copyrighted AP photo by Jim Bourg. Below: The candidates listen to a question from Oliver Clark. Copyrighted AP photo by Charles Dharapak.

Presidential debates are kind of turning into what the Super Bowl was for years: a lot of hype for a strong dose of televised No-Doz.

Last week, we were built up for a gaffe fest between Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden that -- gee whiz -- turned out to be a pretty smooth affair. This week, a new bomb-throwing Republican attack was supposed to be unveiled with fading Republican Presidential candidate John McCain pounding Democratic candidate Barack Obama for his relationship with a former domestic terrorist.

But really, should we have expected that? How would it have really looked if McCain stepped out of the questions in the town hall format at Nashville's Belmont University to levy that sort of accusation with real live voters just feet away? The campaigns have to be aware that every time candidates start attacking each other, that little reaction line on CNN takes a dive.

Not that there weren't some moments of friction, particularly between moderator Tom Brokaw and the candidates. For most of the debate, Brokaw was the headmaster trying to keep the boys on schedule and on the questions at hand, while both candidates asked for follow-ups where they hadn't been scheduled. Brokaw repeatedly said they were playing by rules the campaigns had agreed to.

The funniest moment had to be at the end when, as Brokaw was making final comments, a head bopped into the screen as McCain and Obama stepped to center stage and the moderator said, “You’re in the way of my script there." The candidates had stepped in front of Brokaw's teleprompter, which was that black triangle at the back of the stage.

So, there were some flubs and gaffes, but no bonmbs.

The phrase that will probably endure from this debate is, "that one," which is how McCain referred to Obama at one point in the debate. On Hardball, Politico's Roger Simon and Newsweek's Howard Fineman said they immediately received e-mails from the Obama campaign, which was testing the waters to see how people were taking the reference. Fineman and Simon, as well as most other observers, seemed to think the phrase was simply representative of McCain's disdainful attitude toward Obama.

The line that seemed to get the most kudos was Obama turning McCain's "he doesn't understand," charge around saying, "I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 . . . "

The most fun post debate is the midnight Hardball, with Chris Matthews broadcasting in front of screaming throngs of college kids like it was ESPN's College Gameday or something. Even with rain in Nashville last night, the Belmont University students were out in force.

While the previous two debates -- the veep debate and first Presidential debate -- revealed a disconnect between pundits/journalists and the general populace, there was a consensus that Obama won in Nashville. The polls showed numbers such as Obama winning 54-30 percent according to CNN. At this writing, Kentucky.com's poll has 31 percent of responders saying Obama won by "a knockout," 18 percent "by a little," compared to 19 and 21 saying McCain won by the same standards. 

The folks at DebateDrink.com sure gave some folks hangovers by directing viewers to take a shot each time McCain said, "My Friends," last night. According to the Wall Street Journal, McCain used the phrase 18 times. Maybe they need to move that phrase back to sips of beer the next time. My friends, I recommend Excedrin Migraine and some OJ. 

Check out my fellow bloggers:

• Cheryl Truman on a new book about Michelle Obama.
• Merlene Davis on the increasingly toxic tone of the campaign. 
• Polwatchers for the latest on politics in Kentucky.
  

rctalk: Erlanger's Seabird coming to UK

Seabird frontman Aaron Morgan and guitarist Ryan Morgan during the video shoot for Rescue, their song that is featured in ads for the ABC series Pushing Daises. Photo from Seabird's MySpace page.

Aaron Morgan’s band has a recording contract with an EMI label and a song being used as part of an ad campaign for the Emmy-winning ABC series Pushing Daisies.

But he is still going to work in Downtown Cincinnati as an information technology contractor for Great American Insurance, fixing computers and networks.

“People think I’m crazy,” Morgan says, noting that his brother, guitarist Ryan Morgan, and bassist Chris Kubik have both quit their day jobs to focus on the band, Seabird.

“I’m the only one left who still has a job, and really, that’s because my employer has been so flexible, letting me go when I need to and come back when I need to,” Morgan says.

It also isn’t like they planned to do this whole band-with-recording contract thing. Seabird got its start when the band’s original drummer, Aaron Hunt, heard Morgan’s songs and suggested they start a band.

“He somehow convinced me to record three songs in his bedroom,” the keyboardist and singer says, “and he submitted them to a battle of the bands competition at the Underground,” a Cincinnati Christian music club.

They slipped the tape in just 30-minutes before the submission deadline. It put Seabird toe-to-toe with 22 of Cincinnati’s best bands.

“I thought, this is a terrible way to start a band, competing with all these bands we should be making friends with,” Morgan recalls.

Or maybe the bands should be making friends with Seabird.

Help me migrate

Like the rest of my blogging colleagues here at the H-L, I will be making the move over to our bloginky url here in the next week or so.

We are going to try to make Copious Notes there as much like it has been here for the past two-plus years as possible. That is, unless there are things that should change.

That's where youse guys come in.

I've talked to colleagues, friends and sources in casual conversations about le blog. I've followed my SiteMeter stats, outclicks, etc., to get a handle on what's working for people. And of course, I have always appreciated comments and e-mails about what people have liked and not liked, such as yeas for political media analysis and nays from the not-a-fan clubs of certain celebs.

But before I make the move and as I move forward, I'd love for you, the readers, to tell me what you like about Copious Notes and what you don't like. What would you like to see more of, and what should go away? Did I maybe do something a while back you'd like to see more of -- More cats diving into Christmas trees! I am totally interested in your feedback, so please, comment or send me an e-mail. I can't wait to read them.

And, of course, when I move, I will leave a forwarding address.

Review: '1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die' by Tom Moon

This is a book for those of us who have the Beatles next to Beethoven on our CD shelves, maybe with Sidney Bechet and Beck in between.

Tom Moon made his name as a pop music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rolling Stone, NPR and other outlets. But his new book, 1,000 ­Recordings to Hear Before You Die, reveals the mind of a pure music fan who likes anything, as long as it’s good.

That’s a profile a lot of music fans like to have. But most of us have some holes in our passion, often “I hate country” or “that rap crap.”

With Moon, it is hard to find any holes.

Modern classical music?

There’s Steve Reich’s ­Music for 18 Musicians, along with discs of Elliott Carter, Charles Ives and others.

Bluegrass?

He’s got yer Bill ­Monroe, along with yer Flatt & Scruggs and deeper cuts.

Jazz?

Moon (photo, right, from Workman Publishing) was in Maynard Ferguson’s big band, and he touches all the greats, and many you haven’t heard of.

Maybe the most ­impressive thing about Moon’s selections is his command of a wide swath of world music, pulling in favorites from around the globe.

But what really makes the book indispensable is the writing. Moon is a critic at the top of his game, ­intricately exploring what makes these greats great.

Political Junkie notebook: Vice-presidential debate

Vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin (left) and Joe Biden (right) at the vice-presidential debate Oct. 2, 2008, at Washington University in St. Louis. Copyrighted AP photo by Don Emmert. Below: Biden by Jeff Roberson/AP, Palin by Ron Edmonds/AP.

If I was going to title this post like an episode of Friends, it would be: The One Where Rich Admits his Geekiness.

I was on my junior high and high school debate teams, and in fact continued after as a debate coach and speech competition judge, even scoring some forensic matches here in the Bluegrass.

For a long time, having a debate background meant, like other debaters, I would get my nose out of joint when I heard the quadrennial Presidential exchanges called debates. They didn't have a topic, there was not an affirmative and negative side, no one asserted a single case and was required to present prima facia evidence taped on to little note cards. There was no stream of long opening arguments followed by rebuttals and cross examinations.

Now, more-years-than-I'd-like-to-admit removed from that world, I know that the school debate style I grew up with would not work in a nationally televised Presidential contest. (Frankly though, scholastic debates could be incredibly entertaining, because in an effort to win, competitors can make arguments way off the reservation. Hey, the kids aren't trying to become the leaders of the free world.)

But watching last night's vice-presidential debate, I did find myself in judge mode, because there were two competing styles there, both winning in their own ways. I would have to think that eight or nine-out-of-10 debate judges would have had to have signed their ballots for Democratic candidate Sen. Joe Biden, if for no other reason than he brought the substance.

Republican hopeful Gov. Sarah Palin had a breezy, likable style. But if I was sitting in a judges seat, I'd probably be digging admonishments like, "Address the topic!!!!!" -- and I'm not a exclamation point guy -- through my triplicate ballot and into my desktop when Palin blew off questions so she could say what she wanted to say. Kinda hard to win a debate when you don't address the topic. And Biden's deft navigation of foreign affairs would have closed the deal: You win, you get Prince William County in the next round (In Virginia, the Northern Virginia schools were the princes of darkness in the debating world). In fairness, Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain had a similar, though not as decisive, foreign policy run on Democratic candidate Barack Obama, last Friday.

Of course, the biggest difference in these and scholastic debates is not format. It's that it is about ideas, philosophies, personalities, and who people will ultimately pull a lever for Nov. 4.

~ The non-partisan pundits seemed to be leaning over backwards last night to declare the debate a tie or a victory for Palin. Then, the polls came out this morning showing most viewers scored it for Biden -- 51-to-36 percent in the CNN Poll, 46-to-21 percent in the CBS News poll. The same thing happened over the weekend, after the first Presidential debate. The pundits praise McCain but the polls said Obama, and the popular feeling Obama won seemed to be affirmed by him extending his lead in most polls this week.

Are the talking heads overcompensating, having been beaten over the head with "liberal bias" charges? Or, is there a big presumption on the part of commentators about what registers in the heartland? Media Matters' Jamison Foser had a blog post this morning titled, "Why DC pundits shouldn't presume to speak for 'non-elite' Americans." MSNBC's First Read blog also contemplates the disparity between the pundits and the populace.

It will be interesting to see what Tina Fey does with this week's material.

~ Trying to sort out facts from misstatements, stretches of truth and flat out lies? Two strong fact-checking sources are the St. Petersburg Times' PolitiFact website, the guys who bring you the "pants on fire" rating, and the Washington Post had its Fact-Checker blog running live. Hint: No one had a clean night.

C-SPAN has an interesting debate website I think I'll look at during the next debate, Tuesday night. It's filled with blogs, twitter, mashable video and bunches of other tools.

Natasha's next stage

Ryan Case and Shayne Brakefield on the new stage at Natasha's Cafe, where they will present The Mystery of Irma Vep, Oct. 5-17. Photo by Rich Copley.

Folks who turn out to see Balagula Theatre's production of The Mystery of Irma Vep will also see the debut of the new stage at Natasha's.

For years, the cafe has built an audience for its theater offerings usually performing on a stage the size of a modest walk-in closet. It definitely has its charm.

But, according to Balagula theater director Ryan Case, cafe owners Gene and Natasha Williams decided the audience had grown to the point it was time to expand the seating and the stage.

So, Natasha's boutique has moved up to the corner to Main Street and Esplanade as Props Lifestyle Gallery. In the boutique's space is a stage in the back corner of the additional space that was once the boutique, and seating will fill the floor in front of it. A bar will move in where the small stage used to be.

Case says Vep, a two man, myriad-character play could not have been produced on the old stage. He did not know what will follow Vep playwise, though Natasha's has regular schedule of music in addition the theater.

rctalk: Anberlin's 'New Surrender'

Anberlin are drummer Nate Young, bassist Deon Rexroat, singer Stephen Christian, guitarists Joey Milligan and Christian McAlhaney. Photo by James Minchin, courtesy Universal Republic.

Anberlin | New Surrender

The press kit for Anberlin's Universal Republic debut, New Surrender, identifies the group as, "one of the truly viable indie-to-major success stories ready to blow in 2008." Of course, Christian pop fans know you could replace "indie" with "Christian," and still have an accurate statement.

Anberlin released its first three studio albums and one b-sides package on Tooth & Nail Records, the launching pad for acts such as P.O.D. and Underoath that have easily walked between the Christian and mainstream markets.

Anberlin has done that too, particularly with its 2007 release Cities.

The major label jump finds the Central Florida act as you would expect a band making this transition: sounding as confident, polished and nimble as ever. There is also no dilution of Anberlin's thoughtful meditations on life and faith, that have rarely been overt but always been challenging to those who took time to listen.

Anberlin is a neopolitan package of sounds from some solid post-punk pop to lovely acoustic-based vocal tracks such as The Unwinding Cable Car, one of the most inventive, sublime cuts on Christian radio in the past year.

New Surrender starts out on an aggressive note with The Resistence and rocks through the brainy and intriguing Breaking. The strongest signal these two songs send is that New Surrender will be owned by the guitarists Christian McAlhaney and Joey Milliagan. Considering they have just been together since the release of Cities, these axe men have become quite a pair in a brief time.

Being a major label debut, this disc does resurrect a previous hit, The Feel Good Drag from 2005's Don't Take Friendship Personal. It fits in, but also amplifies Anberlin's growth, seen in songs such as the symphonic Retrace and Breathe, poppy Burn Out Bright (Northern Lights) and Younglife, and apocalyptic Miserable Visu (Ex Malo Bonum).

New Surrender is an album that immediately starts to grow on you, and rewards repeated listenings with deeper insights and surprises, as well as a lot of fun. It's exactly what a band reaching out to a wider audience needs.

Also out today: Amy Grant's Christmas Collection releases today (we're going to do a Christmas disc roundup soon) as is Newsboys' Live in Houston. With Tobymac's live disc, Houston just seems to be the hip place to record in front of a crowd lately.

Speaking of Live, don't forget Seabird is at UK next Wednesday.We have a story about the Erlanger band coming up this weekend. Also, we reviewed Fireflight last week at Lexington Christian.

2008 Governor's Awards in the Arts

Centre College music professor Vince DiMartino, a ubiquitous presence in Central Kentucky jazz circles, is the recipient of the artist award in the Governor's Awards in the Arts. Photo from Centre.edu.

The 2008 Governor's Awards in the Arts will be presented at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the rotunda of the State Capitol Building in Frankfort.

This year's awards mark two big changes: The award presentations have been shifted from the winter to the fall. Also, it will be the first round of Governor's Awards presented by Steve Beshear, who was elected last fall. The recipients this year include a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, one of Lexington's highest profile musicians, and a Lexingtonian who heads up one of theater's most unlikely success stories.

Here are the recipients:

• Retired Brown-Forman chairman and CEO Owsley Brown II wins the Milner Award, given for individual commitment to the arts. Brown was active with numerous Louisville organizations, including Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Kentucky Opera.
• Fort Knox native and playwright Suzan-Lori Parks will receive the National Award for a Kentuckian who has had a nationwide impact in the arts. Among Parks' achievements are the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog and the project 365 Days/365 Plays. She was also a 2001 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. Photo, right, by Stephanie Diani.
• Vince DiMartino is the Artist Award winner. The Centre College music professor and trumpeter is a ubiquitous presence in Central Kentucky jazz circles both as a performer and educator, and he has performed on stages around the world. DiMartino is also co-founder of the Great American Brass Band Festival, each June in Danville.
• Kentucky Repertory Theatre in Horse Cave wins the Community Artist Award. The 23-year-old professional  theater defied convention by opening and thriving in a town of just 2,000. The theater is directed by Robert Brock, a Henry Clay High School and University of Kentucky graduate. Photo from imagesglasgow.com.
• Nicholasville's Charlie Hughes wins the media award for his twice-monthly Kentucky Literary Newsletter which promotes literary arts throughout the state. Photo from Wind Publications.
• Louisville based ear X-tacy and its owner John Timmons get the business award for support of the arts.
• The City of Covington wins the government award for utilizing the arts to revitalize its downtown.
• Owensboro's Julie Ann White will receive the education award for her work in Owensboro Public Schools where she is a fine arts specialist and founded the school system's annual Fine Arts Festival.
• The Cowan Community Action Group wins the folk heritage award for making traditional arts a centerpiece of its educational outreach.

All honorees will receive Upward Glance, a sculpture by Louisville artist William M. Duffy.

9/29: Political Junkie notebook

Campbell Brown's "Free Sarah Palin" rant.

A month ago today, Sarah Palin was introduced as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, and she proceeded to dominate the Republican National Convention like she was at the top of the ticket.

She was the rock star Republicans had seemed to need, even while they mocked Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama's rock star status. For a week after the convention, Palin campaigned alongside Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and was given credit for attracting the campaign's swelling  crowds. Clearly, they were going to put her out in front of the American people as much as possible.

But when Palin showed up MIA in the flurry of spinmeisters after the first Presidential debate Friday night, it was just the latest no-show in a Palin media blackout that has robbed the Republican ticket of its most popular face. Yes, she has been out campaigning. But going to Pennsylvania and giving your stump speech only earns drive-by coverage, at best, on the evening news.

"No vice-presidential nominee in modern history has been this inaccessible to the media," the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz wrote, this morning.

Palin's inavailability to the media has generated some interesting responses, such as CNN's Campbell Brown denouncing the McCain campaign for sexist coddling of Palin. After Palin's painful interview with Katie Couric, Obama supporter Maru Gonzales told CNN's Rick Sanchez that by keeping Palin sequestered, the McCain campaign has shaken her confidence.

Confidence is something Palin sure seemed full of accepting that nomination, both in Dayton and St. Paul. Watching her convention speech, you had to think, "Big Bad Joe Biden isn't going to scare her in the vice-presidential debate."

But now, with that debate set for Thursday, expectations are very low. Some commentators point out that Biden, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has had his share of gaffes recently, too. But those are gaffes, putting together words in a poorly chosen sequence. The questions about Palin are does she know what she's talking about when she gets into big issues about the economy and foreign relations?

Some of those answers may come Thursday in the debate, which could wreck or redeem Palin's candidacy.

But after this debate, it is the McCain campaign's responsibility to Palin and to the American people to make her more widely available for interviews and press conferences so that voters can get to know her better before they go to the polls.

No doubt, the press and even Democrats got off on the wrong foot with Palin, initially focusing on her family, though it is also fair to say that Palin and McCain put her family front and center from the get go. The Herald-Leader's Jackie Carfagno has an excellent column about that in Sunday's paper.

But since then in Palin's two interviews -- no, Sean Hannity's softballs don't count -- the mainstream press has shown it doesn't want to dwell on Bristol and Trigg. They want to ask serious questions that would be asked of any vice-presidential candidate, that have been asked of Biden in the nearly 100 interviews he's given since being named the Democratic veep candidate.

On Morning Edition last week, Steve Inskeep made the salient point, "Whatever you think of the media, they're among the few citizens in position to question a candidate."

Now, it's time for Palin to stop acting like a sequestered rock star and start answering some of those questions.

Photo, above: Alaska Gov. and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin with her daughter Willow campaigning in Center City, Pa., Sunday. Copyrighted AP photo by Joseph Kaczmarek.

One of the best books I've read about political media is Eric Alterman's What Liberal Media?, which dissects the idea that the mainstream national media is left leaning (the link takes you to an article in the Nation that sort of previews the book). One of the theories Alterman advanced that has stayed with me is that in 2000 Al Gore lost the Presidential election to George W. Bush because the Gore campaign failed to forge a good relationship with the press. A surly press corps, Alterman contends, was less inclined to to give Gore the benefit of the doubt and willing to let things like the, "Al Gore says he invented the Internet," story fester.

This had occurred to me looking at the McCain campaign even before last week, when the Palin blackout became completely ridiculous and McCain campaign senior strategist Steve Schmidt was declaring the New York Times was, "150 percent in the tank," for Obama and, "not by any standard a journalistic organization.” Even in August, when the McCain campaign was surging, the McCain spokespeople usually came across as angry and petulant, particularly Schmidt and campaign manager Rick Davis. If that's their public face, I have to wonder what it would be like to call one of them up to get a quote or check a fact. By contrast, folks like Obama communications director Robert Gibbs always appeared upbeat and genial, even while his campaign was being overtaken by McCain is the wave of Palinmania and controversies about bovine cosmetics.

Certainly, in any enterprise where you deal with the press, there will be ups and downs. But the if the press is a big part of telling your public story, why foster a chilly relationship? There are ways to tell people you don't think you're getting a fair shake without open hostility.

It sort of makes me wonder, if this election is as close as it looks like it might be, and Obama wins, if McCain's frosty press relations may be seen as one of the reasons why.

Photo, above: Robert Gibbs and Barack Obama on the tarmac in Memphis on Sunday. Copyrighted AP photo by Alex Brandon.

The financial crisis is sure hard for a lot of us to get our heads around. We know there's a problem, but what exactly? And why could it cause a problem that would effect us here in the heartland. Well, Friday afternoon, an excellent piece from NPR and This American Life on All Things Considered really helped me grasp what was happening by looking at the commercial paper market. What's commercial paper? Well, give this excellent piece a listen.

Another thing that seemed to be missing from a lot of the reporting on the Wall Street bailout negotiations was the public backlash against the bailout and anger at business leaders and lawmakers. But that was not missed on Rick Sanchez's 3 p.m. show on CNN. Sanchez (photo, right, from CNN) makes a lot of his use of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking tools to put together his show. Therefore, his hours usually have a much stronger man-on-the-street feel than a lot of programs. Last week was a real strong example of that as Sanchez's show was telling you a story you weren't getting anywhere else. It is well worth tuning in.

We usually talk about political comedy in this space. There were other fish I wanted to fry this week, but I would be remiss in not mentioning two things:

After an off night Sept. 20, Saturday Night Live killed this week with three great pieces:

• Another Tina Fey as Sarah Palin masterpiece, with Amy Poehler playing a feverishly blinking Katie Couric. The best moment in the scathing parody was when Fey's Palin asked for a "life line," a la Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
• A debate parody, written after Friday night's debate, in which McCain suggested suspending the campaigns to have a pie eating contest and nude or semi-nude town hall meetings.
• The pièce de résistance was Darrell Hammond, who had played McCain in the debate sketch, playing President Bill Clinton on Weekend Update. Seth Meyers grilled him on why he would not give Obama a ringing endorsement, and Hammond's Clinton never gave an inch.

David Letterman ended up in the middle of a controversy when McCain, according to Letterman, called and cancelled his Wednesday night appearance because he had to rush back to Washington to work on the bailout. But McCain, it turned out, was actually in another CBS studio being interviewed by Katie Couric for the Evening News. For the next two nights, Letterman was merciless castigating McCain (the McCain stuff starts 4:40 into the clip, but there's also some great Chris Rock stuff before that) in rants that were amplified by being rerun by numerous news shows.

The UK Symphony's growing discography

UK Symphony Orchestra conductor John Nardolillo conducted the National Symphony Orchestra with Arlo Guthrie earlier this month in the same program the UK Symphony recorded last year. Photo courtesy of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Friday night is the season-opening concert by one of Lexington’s most active recording artists: the University of Kentucky’s student orchestra.

The student designation for the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra seems like a mere technicality as it has made several world premier recordings in the past year that have made it to the desks of influential critics.

“Playing Pasatieri’s skillful orchestrations under the assured leadership of conductor John Nardolillo, they sound more like a professional orchestra than a student one,” Opera News critic Joshua Rosenblum wrote in a review of the UK Opera Theatre and UK Symphony’s recording of Thomas Pasatieri’s Hotel Casablanca.

Recommending the same recording, “with enthusiasm,” FanFare magazine critic Henry Fogel wrote, “It is wonderfully encouraging that this production is from a university’s opera program, and that their student orchestra plays at such a high level as well.”

In 2006, it seemed like a pretty huge deal when the UKSO recorded Music of the Horse for Keeneland.
Since then, the orchestra has recorded three more albums: In Times Like These with folk legend Arlo Guthrie, the world premier recording of Epoch: An American Dance Symphony by George Frederick McKay, and the Hotel Casablanca recording, also a world premier.

Discussing an upcoming project -- a production of George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess to be presented during the World Equestrian Games in 2010 -- UK Opera Theatre director Everett McCorvey called Nardolillo, “My soul mate in big ideas.”

Indeed, the University of Kentucky Symphony director is pursuing the same sorts of projects that helped the opera programs’ star begin to rise in the late 1990s and early 2000s:

■ Bringing in big name talent to work with students.
■ Pursuing high profile projects.
■ Getting the group on stages outside of Central Kentucky.
■ Getting the group recorded, so even if I’m in some far-flung locale with Bill Kurtis, as long as I have a wi-fi connection, I can listen to UK’s musicians.

Watching the first Presidential debate with Twitter

John McCain, left, and Barack Obama, center, shake hands with moderator Jim Lehrer at the finish of a presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., Friday, Sept. 26, 2008. Copyrighted AP photo by Charles Dharapak.

Friday night, I watched the first Presidential debate with a politically, ethnically, generationally and even linguistically diverse group of people. 

No, I wasn't on assignment at Grand Central Station. I was actually sitting in front of my TV with my laptop tuned to Twitter. For the uninitiated, Twitter is what is called microblogging. You can post anything as long as it's no more than 140 characters. You see the Copious Notes Twitter up in right hand corner of this blog. I primarily use it for relaying arts and entertainment news, but lots of people use it to tell their friends what they're doing and what they're thinking. People follow other Twitterers and other Twitterers follow them.

To give credit where it's due, I had not thought of following the debate on Twitter until Thursday morning, when I went to a breakfast given by the Social Media Club of Louisville, and Brendan Jackson of Creative Alliance suggested it was how he had followed the conventions.

To do it, I just went to the Twitter election page and picked from the topics about the debate, designated by people putting a phrase like #debate08 in their posts to be part of specific conversations. At the beginning of the evening two popular ones were #obamashot and #mccainshot suggesting drinking games for the debate, like take a shot each time Obama said, "change," or McCain said, "My Friends." Those threads seemed to tail off a little during the evening -- wonder why?

Anyway as the debate got doing, you got a sense that it was an ideologically diverse group of people in the numerous groups talking about the debate, from hardcore proponents of each candidate who thought the other could do no right to people just watching for entertainment or curiosity.

"Eyes up, Obama," one poster wrote, coaching the candidate from his keyboard.

"McCain is wearing my grandfather's tie," another wrote.

A lot of the early posts were on style points, like heavy makeup on Obama and lines in McCain's granddad tie that looked like they were moving on a lot of TVs, including mine.

As it went on, there were more people weighing in on issues and points mere seconds after they were uttered. Obama supporters were going nuts as he continued to say McCain was right on a number of issues, and viewers were picking up McCain not looking at Obama, though the format was supposed to include direct exchanges between the candidates.

They also picked up on issues such as McCain's declaration that he'd consider freezing the Federal budget. One progressive, who didn't like Obama talking about taking troops into Afghanistan, wrote, "I hate it when Obama tries to be all hawky." Some even tried to spin Twitter, saying it was too pro-Obama, like they were finding the liberal media even in this new media. I thought there were plenty of people speaking up for both candidates.

A number of posters were scoring at home, giving and taking away points for each candidate as the evening progressed, and sharing a final score when it was over.

There was a small presence of spinmeisters from the actual campaigns in the conversations, but it was a really intriguing look at how real people were ingesting and reacting to what they heard and saw, frankly much more interesting than the campaign spokespeople and pundits the networks and cable news nets trotted out after the debate.

There were also conversations you wouldn't hear anywhere else. Like, as I write this, a hot topic is whether McCain uttered a profane phrase describing what horses occasionally leave on the track during the debate. Maybe not terribly substantive, but amusing.

I don't know that I'll watch every debate with a laptop in hand, but it will be tempting to look in and see what the tweets are saying.

Photos above: Top: During a viewing party of the presidential debate, Shelley Young, left, and Kelli May, right, react in Sandy Springs at the Fulton County Republican Party headquarters, in Atlanta. Copyrighted AP photo by Jenni Girtman. Bottom: People watch the presidential debate on a large screen at the Apollo Theater in New York. Copyrighted AP Photo by David Goldman.

Of course, others were also keeping up in real time: The New York Times' The Caucus blog has become one of my favorite running campaign chronicles, and they uncorked this gem in the midst of the debate:

What’s the threat from Iran?

Mr. McCain says: “It’s an existential threat to Israel.” They’ve used this phrase before, meaning that it is a threat to Israel’s existence. But they ought to explain it, otherwise it sounds to voters like we’re trying to protect Jean Paul Sartre.

Most political news outlets -- major papers and cable news networks -- had at least a debate blog going.

One approach I didn't get was a live commentary at CNN.com. It was actual commentators talking about the debate as it happened. I stayed with that for about a minute, but seriously, I'm not going to forgo listening to the debate to listen to a running commentary. Reading tweets is one thing, but that was quite another.

Laura Bell Bundy on 'Legally Blonde -- The Musical' closing

With the annoucement that Legally Blonde -- The Musical is closing Oct. 19, we asked Lexington's Laura Bell Bundy, the original Elle Woods on Broadway, for her thoughts. This was her reply:

"It is a bit sad because it is such a great show and makes so many people happy!

"We made a family at Legally Blonde and we spent a significant part of our lives creating the show and keeping the show (and each other) alive.

"But, we had a good run, we broke ground for Broadway and made people who were never interested in theater before interested!  I think our producers were very bold in putting our show on MTV, and I know from the responses I have gotten and still get) from fans that it really meant something to them and made life better or more inspiring in some way.  That is what it is about!  I feel so proud to be a part of this show and this group of people!  My life was truly blessed and changed.  We, Legally Blonder's,  will always be in each others lives so I am not worried about that.  It's just sad to think that I won't be able to go to the Palace Theater to see them all at once! 

"I stopped by last night and even though people were a bit melancholy I think everyone is very proud of the show and of each other.  They are going to go out with such a BANG!  That is just the spirit of this group! The reality is, there are very few shows that last this long on Broadway!  And even fewer shows that actually ever make it...   Everyone should feel very fortunate and proud.  And, I think we all do."

Laura left the show in July and now resides in Nashville where she is working on her recording career, and a zillion other things.

Review: 'Rent Filmed Live on Broadway'

I should tell you: Frankfort's Will Chase as Roger connects with Renée Elise Goldsberry as Mimi in Rent Filmed Live on Broadway. Below: Adam Kantor as Mark sings for the cameras. Bottom: Tracie Thoms as Joanne and Kantor in The Tango Maureen. Copyrighted photos by Casey Stoufer for Sony Pictures.

This is how Rent should be seen on film.

In 2005, the Rent movie came out with great anticipation, and, to a lot of viewers like me, great disappointment. Chris Columbus' film did have great moments. La Vie Boheme and Jesse L. Martin's reprise of I'll Cover You stand out to me as iconic movie musical scenes.

But the movie picked apart the flow of Jonathan Larson's creation, making it more of a standard issue movie musical than the rock opera that it was, and the film as a whole felt hollow. It left a lot of us telling people who wondered why we are so enraptured with this show, "You have to see the stage version."

Well, the Broadway production is closed now, but this weekend, you can see Rent Filmed Live on Broadway at movie theaters around the country. The film was made during some of Rent's final Broadway performances, earlier this month. As a bonus for we Central Kentuckians, Frankfort native Will Chase plays Roger, the rocker struggling to connect with others while he faces the inevitability of AIDS.

Chase's interpretation is different from the Broadway Cast Recording and film Roger, Adam Pascal. He's a bit more subtle, with less of an angry edge. But the internal struggle is clear, and we can hear why Chase has become a go-to-guy for Broadway rock musicals.

He has a strong counterpart in Renee Elise Goldsberry as Mimi, who enters with a gorgeous, full voice in Light my Candle, and never flags.

For the uninitiated, Rent is a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about residents of the Alphabet City neighborhood in New York in the early 1990s. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme, and these Bohemians struggle with poverty, AIDS and personal travails while trying to pursue their artistic ambitions. Adding to Rent's legend was lyricist and composer Jonathan Larson's tragic death from an aortic aneurysm hours after the final dress rehearsal for Rent's Off-Broadway opening.

All of the film cast is strong, and embodies the energy that made this show go for 12 years on Broadway. Rentheads will have no problem locking in on the story, while people more oriented to the movies may have to work a little bit to wrap their heads around some of the representational theater that takes place. 

Director Michael Warren and his camera crew did seem to have a little trouble capturing some of the full-stage ensemble numbers, particularly the title tune and the Christmas Bells that leads into Over the Moon. But Moon is one of the pieces that is captured exquisitely -- even got some in the crowd mooing on Thursday night at Fayette Mall -- in addition to Tango Maureen; One Song Glory, where we see how beautifully stage director Michael Greif isolated Roger on stage; Contact, filmed to accentuate its ghostly wildness; Will I? and Without You.

The last two, from Larson's music and lyrics to Warren's camera work, really help illustrate the big themes and personal stories that helped Rent pave the way for Broadway to address topics that were once taboo and make people see themselves and their friends in this New York story. That's the theme we also see in Seasons of Love, Rent's signature song that takes those huge topics of love, seasons and a year and breaks them down into 525,600 minutes. The final rendition of Seasons in this film also features the original Broadway cast of Rent.

Hopefully a DVD of Rent Filmed Live on Broadway is coming. If asked, "what is it about Rent?," the best answer still is to tell people to try to see it live. But this film is a solid document of this piece of musical theater history.

~ In addition to Will Chase, read more about Kentuckians in the national spotlight in Lu-Ann's Kentucky News Review.

Brian Regan talks about venues and ideas

Brian Regan talks about the minuscule serving sizes on food labels.

This week, I talked to comedian Brian Regan to preview his Friday night show at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Comedians are always interesting to interview, because you're never quite sure what you'll get. Some go into performance mode, and you feel like you're getting a one-on-one show. For instance, maybe my favorite answer to a question ever came from Chris Rock when I interviewed him years ago. Rock was not too far removed from Saturday Night Live, and we had just seen a bunch of movies based on SNL characters. Rock said he'd like to make a movie about his character, Nat X, the militant who had the only 15-minute talk show on television because, "The Man wouldn't let me have 30 minutes."

What, I asked, would Nat X do for a 90-minute movie?

"He'd be a hell of a lot funnier than Stuart Smalley was for 90 minutes," Rock said, referring to Al Franken's character who believed, "Gosh darn it, people like me" -- Franken hasn't gotten much love at le blog this week.

Anyway, Regan was fun to talk to, but he was also somewhat contemplative of his craft. Here are a few clips from our conversation.

On playing theaters vs. clubs:

How mundane aspects of life become comedy to him:

Review & pics: Fireflight at Lexington Christian Academy

Fireflight lead singer Dawn Richardson performs with the band at Lexington Christian Academy on Sept. 24, 2008. Below: Me in Motion's Seth Mosley. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Wednesday was a school night. But hey, if you had your homework done, there was nothing wrong with rocking out for a couple of hours.

That seemed to be the philosophy behind a concise and energetic show by Fireflight and Me in Motion at Lexington Christian Academy last night. The concert was booked at the last minute by Ichthus Ministries when a date opened on the Orlando band's schedule.

That put one of the hottest bands in Christian rock on the LCA stage to perform a just-over-hour-long set topped by their smash Unbreakable, an interpretation of the adulterous woman story from the Gospels. Led by charismatic frontwoman Dawn Richardson, the band wasted little time getting on stage and getting cranked up -- school night, after all -- showing the harder edges of a group that's been getting a lot of radio play this year.

Stand Up, early in the set, got the crowd going with its descending riff that even sparked a mosh pit for a few minutes. So Help Me God kept the energy going until the band slowed it down for a brief Bible message and its power ballad Forever.

Fireflight is still a relatively young act, enjoying chart topping success while still asking for donations to a tour bus fund. An hour seemed to be the right length for the group, rounded out by guitarists Justin Cox and Glenn Drennen, bassist Wendy Drennen (Glenn's wife) and drummer Phee Shorb. Their energy never flagged as they seemed to feed off the largely teenage crowd in the the theater, and their songs were distinctive, largely thanks to Richardson's theatrical interpretations. She did momentarily go flat, though since that vocal kerfuffle also befell Me in Motion's Seth Mosley, you had to wonder if it was a glitch in the sound system.

Anyway, Me in Motion, based out of Ashville, Ohio, got the evening off to a spirited start. The trio did not appear much older than the kids they were playing for. But they did have a grasp for the basics of post-punk pop rock that should serve them well as they grow.

Here are some more pics from last night, and there are others if you hit the "continue reading" link.

Fireflight bassist Wendy Drennen whips into a number.

Front row fans capture some memories.