MiamiArtZine.com

Florida Grand Opera's Rigoletto - the shooting stars of today’s opera cosmos

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:08:42 GMT

Victor Hugo must have had a thing for hunchbacks. We all know about the fellow swinging from the bell tower of Notre Dame Cathedral. Lesser known is the character Triboulet, the hunchback from Hugo’s play Le roi s'amuse ("The King Amuses Himself") on which Verdi based his character of Rigoletto.

In his late 30’s with over a dozen operas under his belt, Verdi, now the doyen of Italian Opera, had the freedom to choose his subject matter carefully and deliberately. He sought librettos that were lacking unnecessary detail and negligible accomplices, pursuing instead stories packed with “characters brimming with passion and scenes rich in drama.” Verdi soon happened upon Victor Hugo's Le roi s'amuse which, after its first performance in France in 1832, was censored. Verdi himself wrote, "It contains extremely powerful positions ... The subject is great, immense, and has a character that is one of the most important creations of the theatre of all countries and all Ages". Hugo's play depicted a king (Francis I of France) as an immoral and cynical womanizer; highly flammable subject matter that was not accepted in Europe during the Restoration period. So Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave made the king a duke, made the hunchback the central character and moved the whole shebang from France to Italy. The Austrian Board of Censors bought it, and in 1851 Venice one of Verdi’s greatest masterpieces, Rigoletto, premiered, the opening a complete triumph.

The Act I Prelude launches “the curse” leitmotif (musical theme retaining its identity on subsequent appearances) as a spotlight discovers a lone figure in front of the curtain, struggling to get dressed. He accidently drops his cloak, his bare back revealing a hump. He finds his jester’s hat and places it on his head, a menacing smile swells on his face as the spotlight releases him exiting, the music ascending to its conclusion. Rigoletto is off to mock and mayhem in the court of the duke. (Kudos to Lighting Designer, Donald Thomas, for his effective and excellent lighting here and throughout the opera.) Rigoletto lampoons the wrong guy who curses him. This curse plagues Rigoletto who is unable to prevent his daughter, Gilda, from falling in love with the lascivious duke. (More likely, she suffers from Stockholm syndrome--having positive feelings towards your captors--or victim to the disorienting effects of first love, fatal in either case).

Rigoletto is a complex cocktail using comedy and tragedy to mine the social, cultural and psychological fabric of nineteenth century Europe. This FGO orchestra under the baton of Andrew Bisantz and this slate of singers under the strong direction of Jeff Buchman took full command of Verdi’s score. The harmonies soar, the solos penetrate, caress and sting, and the audience remains continuously heightened by love and dread through the three Acts of this remarkable opera.

These singers are not your grandma’s opera stars. They are not corpulent, but fit, young and sexy players with pipes galore. They are the shooting stars of today’s opera cosmos.

Baritone Mark Walters returns to FGO to play the scampering Rigoletto, his big lyric voice providing every vocal shade to fill the entire stage with generous arias, blending so beautifully in his sweet duets with Gilda, and going to the darker shadows created with the assassin Sparafucile (Kevin Langan, a tall, thin, black-cloaked, malevolent looking rascal with a substantial bass voice, trailing a low F offstage as he offers his grim services). We believe Walters is tormented within one inch of his sanity at the close of Act I when he unknowingly helps deliver his daughter to the Duke. In Act II, his impassioned request for Gilda, Cortigiani vil razza dannata ("Accursed race of courtiers"), and his subsequent duet with her, demanding vengeance against the Duke while she pleads for him in Sì! Vendetta, tremenda vendetta! brings vocal richness and perfectly blended chords.

The young soprano Nadine Sierra, a South Florida native, makes her FGO debut as Gilda. This small, graceful and delicate lady unfolds into her notes with no apparent effort, caressing the arpeggios as her defenses crumble in Caro nome ("Dearest name"), as if the notes were part of her being. Sierra is a natural actress, an attribute uncommonly found on the operatic stage.

When tenor Michael Fabiano, the dashing, dark haired, thin and classically looking smarmy Duke, rips off his shirt in hot pursuit of Gilda, revealing a finely tuned six-pack, we believe that his mighty love is mighty. After all, he convinced us he just might be in love when he so tenderly delivers Parmi veder le lagrime ("I seem to see tears"). Fabiano, following a debut at the Metropolitan Opera last season, pays off in full the money notes with Sierra after exchanging love vows in Addio, addio, and nails La donna è mobile, and pursues every aria and duet with powerful detail.

The famous quartet "Bella figlia dell'amore", between Rigoletto, Gilda, the Duke and Maddalena (a seductive Dana Beth Miller) showcases the impeccable harmonic blend of these superbly matched talents.

FGO Associate Conductor Andrew Bisantz leads this most supportive and adept orchestra which offers up this treasure trove of lush music, arias and duets. Violas and contrabasses supply a constant bed of sound over which the action steadily moves through the dark plan and the darker outcome. “The chorus humming six closely grouped notes backstage in Act III underscores, very effectively, the brief ominous wails of the approaching doom” when Gilda is fatally wounded. (Verdi will use this device 21 years later in “Aida” when Aida must decide her loyalty to her father or her lover.) Buchman’s choice to have a ghostly vision appear rather than having Gilda rise up one last time before dying, was brought to chilling effect.

Set Designer Allen Charles Klein and Costume Coordinator Camila Haith did this production proud, bringing the Renaissance environs and garb to great detail on this stage.

Rigoletto has become a staple of the standard operatic repertoire and it appears as number ten on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.

If you missed the performances at the Arsht Center, you have two chances to catch it (playing Feb 16 and 18) at the Broward Center’s Au-Rene Theatre, sung in Italian with English and Spanish projected translations. Worth the drive, worth the time, worth the price of the ticket.

The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Avenue, Ft Lauderdale. 954-522-5334 www.browardcenter.org

Valentine's Day Love Stories

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:30:27 GMT

Oh, yes, it's that time of the year. If you’re single, you cringe when you walk past those aisles at the pharmacy and the supermarket and the mall and the---well everywhere---with the hearts popping out, the flowers poking you, the cards singing loudly, the balloons, the this, the that---all gigantic reminders that you are alone this year. And if you’re not single then, good for you, you get to be obligated to spend this week’s paycheck on all that useless regalia.

But, you know, of course that’s not at all what this, erm, I squirm to call it this “holiday” should be about. It should be about remembering and honoring that beautiful thing every single one of us has: love. Yes, every single one of us. Think harder if you can’t remember at least one person you love or loves you, Now go celebrate. And, well, you think you’re over all the predictable ways in which you can do that, but this year, you have a new option and you should try it. How about going to the theatre? Yes, one of the only places left in the modern world where we can actually sit still and feel.

The theatre I have in mind is the Sandbox, part of the Playground Theatre venue in Miami Shores, and the event is called Love Stories and it features six plays about love from playwrights all over the country.

The mastermind of the idea is Marjorie O’Neill - Butler, who also serves as producer, playwright and director. She received over three-hundred new play submissions from all over the world and picked a lucky six to be featured in the event. The program will involve these six short plays about love, three directors, four actors, a cello player and a vocalist. Seems like it will be diverse, funny, heart-felt and different way to treat your heart on this dreaded or much-awaited Valentine’s day. You can go alone (no one will look at you funny) or you can go with your honey - oh, I really didn’t mean to make a rhyme there - but check it out. Support what promises to be a sweet collaboration between some of our community’s best theatrical artists.

Plays featured:

Afterthought by Scott Herman and Hard To Get by Abigail Taylor, directed by Stephen Elliot Kaiser
Missed Connections by Marj O'Neill - Butler and La Vie en Rose by Allan Provost, directed by David Sirois
P My Valentine by Colette Freedman and Mellow Yellow by Denis Meadows, directed by Marj O’Neill – Butler

Actors:

Jeremiah Musgrove, Nikki Lowe, Troy Davidson and Diana Garle.
Musicians: Joseph Valbrun on cello and Jeremy Greenbaum, vocalist. They will provide pre-show and intermission music, as well as interlude music between the plays.

Love Stories runs February 12 - 14 at the Sandbox Theatre, 9806 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores. 305-751-9550 http://www.theplaygroundtheatre.com

ART WYNWOOD INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR - puts a fine point on a neighborhood's rise to fame and world wide respect

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:33:53 GMT

Ah! Wynwood! From JuVe to having it’s own highbrow art fair in one small decade. The area continues to honor its growing pains and spicy past with a stunning aerosol art community building a wildly successful homage to its roots as inner-city mecca. Urban Street Artists from over the world are well versed in Miami’s status as a graffiti destination to plant one’s visual personality. Starting out as a neighborhood pox by disenfranchised urban young’uns in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, graffiti has been honed to an art respected by both peers and well-placed art critics with impeccable pedigree. Who’da thunk it.

While Art Basel’s satellite fairs have had full run of the place for many years now, the upcoming inaugural exhibition of Art Wynwood International Art Fair (Feb 16th -20th) will further test the waters for a new paradigm in Wynwood’s history. Tony Goldman, a tour de force in carving out Wynwood Art District as sensation destination all along, continues the quest by commissioning “the Flying Murals of Wynwood” for Art Wynwoods VIP Lounge.

I caught up with Art Miami Director and Art Wynwood Director and Founder Nick Korniloff to discuss the trajectory of the first annual AWIAF.

“Tony (Goldman) and I met briefly in the past with others regarding the development of the (Art Wynwood) district. He has always attended Art Miami and was very complimentary of how I changed the direction of the (Art Miami) fair and the positive philanthropic work that the fair was doing in the community. I really wanted him involved!”
“Tony Goldman is someone that I have admired for a long time inside the art world as a collector and outside the art world as a businessman. The way he has fused both worlds together is really admirable.”

Mr. Korniloff told Goldman he believed “it would be important to have the (Art Wynwood) fair become a microcosm of what the overall Wynwood Arts District had to offer”.

Goldman and his Goldman Properties have invested much interest and ingenuity in this section of the community by investing and creating popular, stylish restaurants; not to mention ideating the eye-grabbing concept to commission notable street artists to adorn copious and dreary Wynwood warehouse walls (starting Art Basel ’09)), conceived along with now Director of MOCA, L.A., Jeffrey Deitch. It may be important to touch on the fact that Goldman was in SOHO (NYC) and South Beach long before trendoids twigged…..I believe the word is “visionary”. The man can spot and nurture a happening ‘hood long before it happens.

Director Korniloff explains Goldman’s “Flying Murals of Wynwood” commissioned for the fair:   “Under his (Goldman’s) aegis six 8' x 24' murals by international artists, whose works have been lauded at Wynwood Walls will be installed; including a Retna work from the Collection of Janet and Tony Goldman, an existing piece from How & Nosm, as well as new murals from DAZE, Aiko, and Futura. The large-scaleworks will be suspended above the lounge. Additionally, artist Ron English will create an installation on-site.”
Ron English is the artist behind the Cameo Deer piece in the outdoor Wynwood Walls courtyard behind Goldman’s popular urban art encrusted restaurant, Wynwood Kitchen & Bar. English and his “agit-pop” art is an integral part of the genre’s royalty along with fellow Wynwood Wall artists of historic merit, Coco 144, Kenny Scharf and P.H.A.S.E 2, who invented the “bubble letters”. Inside the fair tent, Art Wynwood will also highlight Urban Street artists like Sophia Maldonado, whose work is being represented by the Magnan Metz gallery.

The Art Wynwood Founder/Director was successful in modernizing  Art Miami, our original and longest-running contemporary art fair; allowing Art Miami to flourish even though it moved from a solo January show to compete at the same time with the Art Basel December fairs.

Koniloff expects Art Wynwood will allow us to make “new contacts, reinforce old relationships and cultivate new collectors into the art market and the Wynwood Arts District.” “There are some very creative and dedicated individuals in the community working together to continue the amazing evolution of the area. Our organization is thankful for having the opportunity to play a positive role in what continues to develop.”
“The fair will be more urban in its feel and represent a high energy reflective of the district.”

What we can expect from AWIAF will be an overview of contemporary work from emerging, mid-career, cutting edge artists and a modern master or two.   A quarter of the galleries will be from Miami’s menu of the art-building community, ie, Bernice Steinbaun, Pan American, Dot 51, NOW, Cernuda, Durban Segnini.
Lest you worry that it will be a re-run of December’s fare; galleries have been asked to change it up and showcase some of the superior but younger, innovative and off-beat artists. Trust us....it will be a fresh experience for those of you who simply cannot bear to go back the same way you came. High quality and lack of redundancy has been assured by the Director.

Expect the unexpected:
Great installations expertly curated by the galleries, private collectors and institutions.
Art Video New Media Lounge
Curated indoor and outdoor sculpture
Performance artists
“Bollydoll” - Indian artist Amitra Sen (opening night) creates fantasy visuals
Paintings, photography, sculpture, art video and new media, conceptual art and urb    an street art by 500 artists from 13 countries
VIP events every evening

A philanthropic event aligned with the Bakehouse Art Complex on Saturday, February 18th. Art Wynwood has donated $2500 so all of the VIP cardholders will be admitted free to tour the thirty artist's studios and buy works of art. Complimentary drinks and music will waft over the senses til late into the night. Non VIP Art Wynwood guests will be asked to make a small donation at the door to gain admission.

All of you culturally savvy or those still clutching their learners permit should give this President’s Day Weekend fair a whirl. It is located in the same tent that harbored Art Miami during Art Basel, in the Midtown Miami complex.

“This is a fair that will have a tremendous positive impact on the continued economic growth and international recognition for the Wynwood Arts District and the City of Miami.” Nick Korniloff, Director

Information links:

Art Wynwood
http://www.art-wynwood.com/

Wynwood Walls
http://thewynwoodwalls.com/
Wynwood Kitchen & Bar Restaurant
http://wynwoodkitchenandbar.com/home.html
Bakehouse Art Complex
http://bacfl.org
VIP Preview: Thursday, Feb 16th:. 6-10PM

General Admission: Fe

The Miami Sax Quartet

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:30:11 GMT

Imagine hearing an instrumental choir blending the voice of a soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax. I was among a very appreciative audience that enjoyed such a choral group at the University of Miami’s Gusman Hall. Those in the packed hall were treated to music that was different and beautiful.

They call themselves the Miami Sax Quartet and the distinctive voices of their saxes combined to created a balanced harmony. The high sounds of Gary Keller’s soprano sax sailed above the choir. He occasionally switched to the tenor sax to blend with the driving tenor of saxophonist Ed Calle. The voice of Gary Lindsay’s alto sax and Mike Brignola’s baritone added the right overtones.

Lindsay composed three of the numbers performed this evening, “Don’t Look Back”, “Lost and Found” and Sweet Bread”. Ed Calle composed “The Iberia Suite”. (See video at end of this column). Both Garys did all the arrangements.

These are all highly trained musicians. Keller is Professor of Jazz Writing and Arranging at U of M Frost School of Music. Saxophone Journal wrote: “Gary Keller is admired and respected as a virtuoso performer and world class educator.”

Gary Lindsay is also a Professor of Saxophone at the Frost School of Music. Gary is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Award and received a Grammy nomination in arranging for "Cherokee" from Arturo Sandoval's "I Remember Clifford" CD.

Two time Latin Grammy Nominee Dr. Ed Calle is chairman of the Arts and Philosophy Department at Miami Dade Community College, North Campus, and Mike Brignola played baritone sax and clarinet with the Woody Herman Orchestra for twenty three years.

With their unique sound, Miami Sax Quartet seeks to stand out in a field that has so many great players, composers and arrangers. By doing something different, they hope their music creates the magic that will capture a mass following.

Artie Shaw achieved such a longed for goal by introducing a string section to a jazz orchestra. He went on to sell millions of records. Guitarist John McLaughlin blended western rhythms with the exotic Indian tempos of the sitar, and Gene Krupa brought his drums up front to dominate his arrangements. History shows us that their innovations were well rewarded with fame and fortune.

Prior to their concert at Gusman, the Miami Guitar Quartet was featured on television WNBC Channel 6. Gary mused - “we hope this will be our big break”.

Click on link to video “Iberia Suite”.

Miami Sax Quartet - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBrPkPJB3hg
Dec 11, 2009 - 4 min - Uploaded by UnivMiamiJazz
Pamplona from The Iberia Suite Composed by Ed Calle Gary Keller - Soprano Sax (Professor of Saxophone ...

CLASSICS BACK TO BACK - the tchaikovsky st. petersburg state orchestra performs at the broward and arsht centers

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:00:03 GMT

I’m not sure if I was feeling like a groupie of the Tchaikovsky St. Petersburg State Orchestra, or a surfer riding the crest of a wave of a sound tsunami as I followed this vintage group (organized shortly after WW II) for two back to back melodically charged nights.

The Broward and Arsht Centers were swept up with a program last Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, cresting with Mahler’s Fifth wedged between Beethoven and Liszt piano concertos.

At the Broward Center on Tuesday evening, musical director and conductor Roman Leontiev (a fit, wide smiling fellow whose eyes sparkle through gold rimmed glasses) led the orchestra as it warmed the ears with Richard Strauss’s excerpt from Der Rosenkavalier Suite. This first sequence of waltzes from arguably one of the finest German comedic operas was delightfully rendered, conditioning the audience to the remarkable evening ahead.

Up next was guest artist pianist Alexander Pirozhenko for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19. Pirozhenko’s flawless interpretation of this early work (Beethoven was 25 when it premiered) reminds us that Beethoven’s stamp was already clearly evident on the classical period sound which Mozart had launched several years earlier. Pirozhenko (who has garnered multiple first prizes at 32 years) gave every note its due through his unblemished runs in the acrobatic cadenza of the first movement (Allegro con brio). Reaching a quiet depth in the second movement (Adagio), he creates an atmosphere where single notes have a soft conversation with each other at the closing moments of the movement into the final Rondo-Molto allegro bringing it with lively ease to its sunny conclusion. Throughout the piece, Pirozhenko’s hands were luminous under the white light against the white keys.

The Romantic period of music sparked by Beethoven and marked by the likes of Wagner, Liszt, and Rimsky-Korsakov moved the boundaries of Classical music from form and structure into a more emotional universe. “New melodic styles, rich harmonies, and ever more dissonance” were sailing audiences beyond the discipline of Classical practices. In this pantheon of composers stands Gustav Mahler, a force of nature of the Romantic period morphing music into a bold new arrangement of notes which sparked the Contemporary period. If there were more colors than found in a rainbow, they would be found in Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. From the first sound of the trumpet fanfare to the ocean of sound in the final movement, Mahler has created a prism of music that sheds so many dynamic nuances and melodic themes that 70 minutes pass in seconds while having the quality of a lifetime.

This massive work is a musical narrative beginning with a Funeral March (not sure whose) and moves into the second movement which is bold and on fire, at times sounding like an epic movie score, and a permission slip to Stravinsky to do what he did several short years later. (Kicking out the four corners of an established musical style can make audiences uneasy. Mahler’s Fifth confused audiences at its premier in 1904 as did Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in 1913.) Mahler notes the second movement as “moving stormily, with the greatest vehemence.” Tonight’s orchestra did just that. Mahler then changes gear and hands a permission slip to Copland in the third (Scherzo), a lone horn at its center clearing the dark tone with an idyllic light, a reverie that softened the broader melodic themes surrounding it. And if you ice skate, love or dream, it doesn’t get any better than the fourth movement (Adagietto). This sublime music rendered by harp and strings is Mahler at his pleasing best; the ten minute meditation gives the audience a chance to breathe after being showered with so many sumptuous and savory notes from the previous movements. Film buffs will recognize this Adagietto underscoring Visconti's 1971 film, Death in Venice. Mahler pays homage to Bach in the final movement (Rondo-Finale. Allegro giocoso) masterfully weaving a counterpoint with both a Baroque and Contemporary stitch. As the program notes state, “The excitement builds to a huge climax, culminating jubilantly with the brief chorale from the second movement, now fully developed into a stately hymn in affirmation of joy in life.”

Getting gravely ill and falling in love at the same time during the summers of 1901 and 1902 no doubt filled Mahler with the requisite emotion to produce this stand alone, magnificently crafted symphony.

Leontiev, who has conducted the leading orchestras of Russia including the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, and USSR State Symphony, navigated Mahler’s score with the adept and nimble TSPSO, delivering the precision, skill and emotion required of this peerless work. The audience’s enthusiastic standing O confirmed this.

Moving from the Broward Center’s Au-Rene Theater to the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center on Wednesday night, the big sound continued with Wagner’s Prelude and "Liebestod" from Tristan and Isolde. Though this is no doubt some of the finest music ever composed, the TSPSO was uneven from the opening four notes right up to the rolling waves of monumental sound that close the piece. I even wondered if this was the same orchestra which galvanized me the night before. The sizzle and emotional build was lacking, and though unseamed, they delivered the final signature swell which made possible the impossible love. This piece stiches together the beginning and end of one of the greatest of all operatic love stories, requiring the players of this concert piece to be heightened themselves to deliver the sensual teasing that “reaches an ecstasy beyond grief and an exquisite climax” – a high bar indeed.

Things improved with the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125. Liszt (Wagner’s father-in-law) took ten years to supply the published version of his second piano concerto which soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet served up in a tidy 20 minutes. This is an intense piece, all at once sensitive, raw and aggressive, almost as if the piano and orchestra were in the throes of passionate love making, the piano being dominant. Thibaudet was so much at ease with his instrument that launching into the large dissonant passages requiring the physical strength and dexterity of an athlete appeared natural and effortless to him. He seemed to imbue the piano with a life of its own, all at once strong and delicate, leaving the orchestra only one option—to surrender.

Thibaudet, a child prodigy, is an exclusive recording artist for Decca. He has had Grammy nods, contributed to major motion picture scores and appears equally at home playing Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Bill Evans. His uncommon command of the piano was further evidenced in his encore performance of the Liszt Consolation No. 3, altogether simply sublime.

Like a football team down at half-time, Leontiev brought TSPSO back in the second half to win the ball game, serving up Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in fine fettle.

It’s fitting that this final program is rooted in the sea, giving closure to my tsunami analogy and that Rimsky’s music premiered in Saint Petersburg (in 1888) from whence our orchestra hails.

Scheherazade is a symphonic suite with four related movements that form a single theme based on The Arabian Nights. This orchestral work does not fit into any conventional symphonic form; the dazzling, colorful orchestration was created so that as Rimsky himself stated: "All I desired was that the hearer, if he liked my piece as symphonic music, should carry away the impression that it is beyond a doubt an Oriental narrative of some numerous and varied fairy-tale wonders and not merely fo

Activist Gone Wild

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:39:51 GMT

The witness sits in a room at a Madrid courthouse. Now in his late thirties, Quiché Indian Antonio Caba Caba is being asked to testify about that morning almost three decades ago, when army soldiers came to his village in Guatemala, burned the houses and killed his friends and relatives. He breaks down in tears and asks the question that has haunted him all these years: why?

He is what genocide looks like. It's not just about the senseless bloodshed and rotting corpses, but about the psychological scars that those who live through atrocities like the Illom Massacre in 1982 carry with them for the rest of their lives. The new documentary Granito: How to Nail a Dictator aims to bring the man responsible for the deaths and “disappearances” of approximately 200,000 Maya people to justice, but with the exception of a handful of heart-rending moments like the one mentioned above, it's actually more successful as a mouthpiece for its socially conscious director. Activist/filmmaker Pamela Yates wants to give the victims of the Guatemalan genocide an opportunity to break their silence, but their testimonies are drowned out by her own indignation. The film is less about their human rights struggles than about her steadfast determination to Make a Difference.

Yates is actually revisiting the subject matter she explored back in 1982, when she and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel went to Guatemala with a 16mm camera to make a movie about those colorful Native Americans way south of the border. The result was Where the Mountains Tremble, and it gave eventual Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú an ideal showcase for her plight on the world stage. That film is a vivid portrait of the Maya people, who at the time were stuck in the middle of a civil war between the country's military dictatorship and the guerrillas who rose up against it. Menchú does make an appearance in Granito, but it amounts to a glorified cameo. Yates makes sure to place herself up front and center, and her running commentary, in which she reveals that she had little idea of the full extent of the Guatemalan government's actions, quickly grows tiresome. It's an intrusive, ill-conceived storytelling device that dilutes the effect of some very powerful images that should – and occasionally do – speak for themselves.

In this 60 Minutes context, Yates reduces the evocative When the Mountains Tremble to Exhibit A in her quest for accountability. She actually goes back to the vault for what she refers to as an “archeological dig” of her outtakes from 1982, and discovers interview footage in which General Efraín Ríos Montt indirectly admits to be responsible for his entire army's actions even as he's denying any wrongdoing. Is it enough to bring him to trial? What follows should unfold like an absorbing political thriller, but as Yates returns to the indigenous highlands she filmed as an up-and-coming documentarian, Granito devolves into a trip down memory lane. Indeed, editor Peter Kinow never misses a chance to juxtapose the old 16mm footage with present-day video images like Yates meeting the guerrilla sniper who shot down the army helicopter in which she was filming the government forces. Granito is full of such gripping anecdotes, but its disjointed parts fail to coalesce into a satisfying whole. It also doesn't help matters that Ríos Montt is a far more engaging figure than Yates and her posse of justice crusaders.

Much like Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line exonerated a death-row inmate from a crime he did not commit, Granito finally had its desired effect. One week ago, Ríos Montt was arrested and taken to court, where a public prosecutor read thousands of charges against him. Evildoers like that third-rate dictator can't be allowed to get away with his crimes against humanity, Yates forcefully proclaims. Now enough about him. Granito wraps things up with the self-serving sight of Yates showing footage from her earlier work to Guatemalan students who live in the same area where the massacres took place. Her film's title is a reference to the “grain of sand” collective philosophy, the belief that if we all contribute a small portion of ourselves, we can achieve anything. It's far from a subtle irony that the most prominent element in Granito is the director's boulder-sized ego.

Pamela Yates and producer Paco de Onís are scheduled to attend Thursday night's screening of Granito at the Bill Cosford Cinema (cosfordcinema.com) and Friday night's screening at the Miami Beach Cinematheque (mbcinema.com). For more information go to the theaters' websites. (Yes, Miami, the ego has landed.)

http://www.cosfordcinema.com/ http://mbcinema.com/

Segway to Absurdity

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:08:33 GMT

If you’re not familiar, the Segway PT is described as “A two wheeled self-balancing personal transport.” Or as I like to call it – the Ultimate Douchemobile.

The Segway is a sort of mutant vehicle that you drive standing up, whilst wearing a helmet and looking like the incarnation of the grade-school “kick me” sign. It would not be humanly possible to look like a bigger dork on this thing. And, may I add, its name is not even the correct spelling of “segue”, which pisses me off. It’s like people that say “shake” for “sheik” because they can’t figure out how to pronounce it. Just like “chic” meaning stylish, (pronounced “sheek”) is pronounced by the masses as “chick”. Ugh. These are the things that keep me up at night.

But I can see why they spell it “Segway.” Because in truth, if your mentality is of the opinion that riding one of these things is cool – it segues – or perhaps catapults – you from being an ordinary dork to achieving the status of full-blown Douchemeister. And were it called a “Segue”, those same people would probably say “segooey” anyway.

I don’t get it

What is this thing? What does it hope to accomplish? And is it legal to throw tomatoes at people driving one? The Segway seems absolutely useless and irrelevant. It’s a vehicle that falls short. It can’t be ridden in the street, although it’s motorized – and it’s beyond annoying on the sidewalk, because it’s motorized. It’s like that bothersome relative on holidays that everyone politely puts up with, but secretly wishes would disappear - forever. We got along just fine without you – let’s keep it that way.

And the people that ride these Segways – like they don’t look dumb enough –actually wear helmets. Helmets! What’re you going 4, 5 miles an hour? Are you that inept you think you’re going to fall off this thing? And even if you DO – what’re you maybe 8 inches from the ground? Grow a pair, for chrissakes. I once saw a toddler on a Big Wheel pass one of these nimrods and give them the finger. Call me elitist, but my dignity prevents me from riding anything where I run the risk of getting flipped off by a four-year-old. I think the only reason to wear a helmet on a Segway is to protect yourself from someone trying to beat the shit out of you for riding one in the first place.

They’re everywhere…

Where I live in Fort Lauderdale, there’s beautiful state park where I exercise. In the park, there’s a company that rents these idiotic Segways. And what a hit they are with the tourists! (Another reason to be annoyed with French Canadians, besides seeing their imposing motor homes taking up eighteen parking spaces at a time.) This same place rents bikes. Rent a bike lardass, and get some exercise! These people ride the Segway through the park, four abreast, fucking up the road for the rest of us. I rollerblade next to them, scare them, and then yell “Stupid!’ as I speed off. I don’t care if they hear me. I’m a comedian. Besides, I’m right.

Gee, I kinda miss Rational Thought

We’re at a place in the world now, where no one questions anything anymore for fear of being politically incorrect or offending someone. Well, as one of my mentors, George Carlin, would have said to people who blindly follow trends – Wake the fuck up! We seem to accept every asinine, preposterous concept that’s thrown our way: Vacuous reality shows, shoes with toes, and the overtly ridiculous Segway. If Jesus were to come back, he’d never stop puking.

I’m not done. There’s an online video that shows you how to “Safely operate a Segway.” (You can also see it on YouTube. What can’t you see on YouTube?)The narrator, over a bunch of dweebs riding the Segways on a long country-ish looking sidewalk, warns the viewer that although, “the Segway technology is breakthrough – it’s not magic!” Not magic? What kinds of bereft life are you living that you would look at one of these and after rubbing your eyes in disbelief, say: “WOW! – am I really seeing this? People cruising around upright, not really being able to go anywhere except on the sidewalk or the odd parking lot? I think I just wet my pants.” The voice goes on to say, “Always leave a gap between yourself and the handlebar.” Just as you would the gap between rational thinking and the desire to ride one of these, I’m assuming.

And cops ride these, too. I thought cops on bicycles were intimidating – but a cop on a Segway? Oh, I’m shaking now! Boy, if I was a criminal running from the cops and they were chasing me on one of these, I don’t know what I’d do! Maybe get a cup of coffee until they caught up with me.

And That’s The View from This Segway Spurning Broad.

Anna Collins will be opening up for Louie Anderson this Friday night, Jan. 3 at the Coconut Creek Casino in Coconut Creek. Showtime 8 PM.

DECISION

bill yule

You crave a love and think that it be mine

This troubadour who comes and strums your strings

Transforming tears to taste like vintage wine

Forgetting that the pendulum still swings

Indeed your touch ignites tinder-dry dreams

In cruel paradox which mocks at me

Who’s run these races on the winning teams

On nights when he could pay the entry fee

Too late to make an Eden on these sands

Where harvest’s done before the planting’s through

But there are seeds which sprout in aged hands

So doubtless there is something we can do

I could be kind and move myself from view

If I were one of those who are well bred

But I’ll be cruel and light this night for you

And play, once more the leading role instead

With paraphrase and fakery at play

Wise habit’s gifts pulls rabbits from the hat

Then go, get gone and stay too far away

This once exceeds the need and more than that.

Bill Yule is no kid. He is a long-time actor and an even longer-time poet, with some of his early verse actually preserved, they say, on papyrus. He has published one book of poems, INSIDE OUT, in Poland in English and another book as yet un-published, apparently languishing while it awaits travel documents.

Born and raised in Canada he has since lived briefly in the UK, lengthily in Australia and even longer in the USA where he recently became a citizen.

He is especially fond of the poems of John Donne, Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare and the current poet laureate of the USA, Philip Levine.

Most recently read “Call Me By Your Name”, “The Ode Less Traveled” and his own checkbook.

He has had several plays produced and has a one-man play he plans to perform posthumously.

LATE TWILIGHT

Clear Night – Wolves, Robert Bateman

joan mazza

Four gray wolves face me in a bluish light

that drains all color from this frozen landscape.

Ears forward, their paws break the crust

of the day’s flurries. Across the snowfall,

We look into each other’s eyes,

our bodies tense and watchful.

Four more wolves behind them fade like ghosts

into a darker background of dusk and mist,

each one still. I feel their presence,

watch smoky clouds of their breath and mine,

ache from the bite of cold on my nose and toes.

BAD AS I WANNA BE - an exploration of excess, wealth and addiction

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:52:29 GMT

On February 11^th Primary Projects will open the doors for a solo show by Jessy Nite entitled “Bad As I Wanna Be,” and the artist is ready to share her artistic interpretation of Miami, obscenely wealthy housewives, and dessert.

“Bad As I Wanna Be,” is Nite’s exploration of excess, wealth and addiction. She examines these darker sides to Miami’s opulence with an almost childlike innocence, and even though she is clearly linking the concepts of wealth and addiction, her work never comes across as cynical or judgmental. Most pieces are composed of a 1980’s Miami Vice inspired palette, all vibrant pastels that stop just short of exploding off the canvas.

One series of paintings entitled “Money Hungry,” is a clever juxtaposition of the figuratively sweet, wealth symbolized by colorful jewelry, and the literally sweet, pies, cookies, and lollipops. Jessy explains her inspiration for “Money Hungry,” as “super rich, really delusional housewife deciding to make something one day. They don’t cook so she would be like ‘oh this is going to be the best pie ever, let’s use the Cartier!’”

Crystal encrusted desserts and candy hearts are just one aspect of “Bad As I Wanna Be.” The sweetness has a dark side inspired by addiction and “how over the top rich people are,” as Jessy says. “I have always been really interested in that super-over the top-wealth cause they are so f**ked up. They have so much money. Most of them are like pill-popping housewives. They just marry some rich dude.”

Jessy Nite has been working tirelessly towards this solo show and has broadened the scope of her art, now including sculptures and installations in addition to her paintings. Encouraged by Typoe and Chris Oh of Primary Projects, Jessy has used her potential to create a show that will get the art world and the streets talking.

She has a longstanding relationship with Primary Projects. She remembers “I met Typoe when I was working on the ‘Friends & Lovers’ building during Art Basel 2010. The boys started by giving me opportunities in group shows and community projects. They are constantly teaching me how to do better and keep pulling the good work out of me.”

Her last appearance at Primary Projects was for the group show “His Wife, Her Lover,” which featured “Hell Here,” an experiential piece involving a live stripper combined with an intense music and light experience. Representing at the Wynwood Art Fair 2011 Jessy painted a banana split which now hangs in the Margulies Warehouse.

Focused, outspoken and funny with a naughty edge, Jessy lets her uninhibited persona roam freely, never letting boundaries constrain her. “Bad As I Wanna Be,” is about more than just partying and “being badass.” As Jessy says “I pretty much do whatever I want in life and I think that’s always the goal. Not even in a f**king punk rock way. ‘Bad As I Wanna Be,’ is also about getting to finally do the projects I always wanted to do. I always knew that I can do it but I have been waiting for the opportunity to show people. This is my own personal side of it. It’s about the whole attitude of just doing it.”

Primary Projects is known for being on the forefront of what’s next in art and Jessy surely has some surprises in store. Be ready, be prepared, and be as bad as you wanna be…

“Bad As I Wanna Be” opens on February 11, 2012 at Primary Projects, 4141 NE 2^nd Avenue, Suite 104, Miami, FL 33137

What's New in Town

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:10:29 GMT

FEBRUARY 2012

THEATRE

February 9 – March 4

Top Gun The Musical

Watch out! He's on your six! Empire Stage, 1140 N.Flagler Drive, Ft Lauderdale

954-678-1496 www.empirestage.com/

Through February 12

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

Recently nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, this is a comedic look at the world of professional wrestling playing at The Caldwell Theatre 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, FL 561.241.7432 cald welltheatre.com

Through February 12

Next To Normal

A musical about a family trying to take care of themselves. Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables. 305-444-9293 www.actorsplayhouse.org/

Through February 12

Brooklyn Boy

A man without a home. The Studio at Mizener Park, Boca Raton. 561-291-9678 http://www.paradeproductions.org

Through February 19

Winter

Mother died in England. New Theatre, 1645 SW 107th Ave, Miami. 305-443-5909 www.new-theatre.org

February 12, 13, 14

Love Stories

An Evening of Short Plays About Flirtation, Romance and Love. The Sandbox at 9808 NE 2nd Avenue (adjacent to The Playground Theatre) Miami Shores, FL. 305-751-9550

February 17 – March 18

The Pitman Painters

Palm Beach Dramaworks 201 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach 561-514-4042 www.palmbeachdramaworks.org/

February 26

One Minute Play Festival

Deering Estate, 16701 SW 72 Ave., Miami 305-235-1668 www.deeringestate.org

March 3 – April 1

A Steady Rain

Chicago Cops and their lifelong friendship. GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave, Coral Gables. 305-445-1119 gablestage.org

Through March 4

Last of the Red Hot Lovers

No job, lots of women. Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W. Sample Rd, Coral Springs. 954-344-7765 www.stagedoortheatre.com

March 8 – April 1

Death and the Maiden

The play explores the after-effects of repression on

hearts and souls. Mosaic Theatre, 12200 West Boward Blvd. Plantation 954-473-4713