here is this week's blog post - Bill
Wild Bill Ketelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blog
He has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
It has been a busy Monday which is why this might appear until Tuesday but I am counting on my readers being a forgiving sort. Now that it is officially December, I am working towards the Christmas spirit. This weekend I ended up in 2 places to try and find that certain vibe. Theatrically, I should mention that Meadowbrook Theatre is putting on its annual production of “A Christmas Carol”. I went last year and had a wonderful time.
Nothing says ‘The Spirit of Christmas’ like the story of Scrooge. It runs until Dec 21st.
For a little something less traditional, you might want to go down to the Ringwald Theatre in Ferndale and check out their holiday double feature. Born in Binghamton, New York, David Sedaris got his big breakthrough when his NPR debut, “The Santaland Diaries”, made it big at the station. The story recounts his experience working as an elf at Macy's department store during Christmas time in New York. Joe Plambeck brings this story to life which has moments of holiday horror and pathos. And yes, Joe looks adorable in his little Elf costume he wears throughout most of the piece. While Joe has never done this type of work, he can appreciate the things that holiday workers can go through from annoying coworkers to angry parents and whiny children. This alone is worth the price of admission and shows us that while the holiday is about cheer, we are also attached to the hidden underside of the holiday also. This is more evident in the second piece “Season's Greetings” which brings an even darker side to the holiday. Joe Bailey plays Mrs Dunbar, a suburban housewife, who is composing her annual Christmas newsletter, detailing the important events of her year ... not least of which is the arrival of her husband's sexually precocious Vietnamese love child. Bailey is one of those rare birds that actually likes getting the annual Christmas encyclopedia from relatives but admits he never got any as crazy as this. I don’t want to give anything away but be prepared for the worse.
For prices and showtimes, go to www.whowantscaketheatre.com.
To also get me in the mood for Christmas, I went to the 36th Annual Noel Night which takes place in the museum district. Now, I was only down there for a bit since I was going to the Black Crowes, but I was disappointed that I kept missing the various carolers and holiday music. However, I did take advantage of some of the new exhibits in the area. I started at the College For Creative Studies to look at the student galleries. I mainly enjoy the photography and some of the more technical and graphic design work the students put together, ranging from car design to product ads for new shoes, etc.
Speaking of car designs, The Elaine L Jacobs Gallery at Wayne State University has an exhibit entitled “Designing an Icon: Creativity and the American Automobile” which includes over 100 design drawings from the studios of American car manufactures representing the 1960's. You can take a look at various concept drawings which represent the ideas that go into creating that perfect car design that will influence buyers. This has a number of full concept car drawings to those of certain aspects of the car (like steering wheels and headlight design). It is a nice exhibit for car enthusiasts.
Upstairs in the Museum of Archeology, is an exhibit “Constructing Identities”. Here we see three specific brand identities highlighted: Starbucks, Harley-Davidson and Adidas. Normally, when we think of anthropology, we think of Indiana Jones type digs, but this exhibit is putting those same concepts we look at ancient society and use them to make observations about modern brands. While people choose particular products to make statements about themselves, these products are also designed to choose particular kinds of people. This makes a nice little exercise.
Good news for photography fans. The DIA has finally opened up their photography room with the exhibit “In the Company of Artists” which includes photos of famous artists (such as Picasso & Dali), including their family, friends and surroundings. Not my favorite subject matter, but there are some wonderful pictures in the exhibit. The last exhibit I went to was at the Detroit Historical Museum entitled “Hero or Villain?: Metro Detroit's Legacy of Leadership”. The exhibit takes a balanced looks at 12 leaders of Detroit ranging from Indian leader Chief Pontiac to Detroit’s first black mayor, Coleman A Young. Also included are Henry Ford, Ty Cobb, and Jimmy Hoffa among others. Each section contains a short biography of each man (or woman), some artifacts from their era or life, a description of what was going on in Detroit at that time and then a brief pro and con section for each person. While most people are in reality shades of grey, this exhibit is good for looking closely at some of the vibrant people of this area and gives a starting off place to look into what makes a person good or bad. Recommended!!
While I would like to see a Texas/Alabama championship, I will just mention briefly my problem with the bowl games this year. I always grew up that a perfect record should mean something in sports so in my reality; Utah should be playing Boise State for the championship since they are the only 2 undefeated teams in Division I. Secondly, I don’t think any team which can finish the year under .500 by loosing their bowl game should be eligible to play in the postseason. Sorry to any fans of Northern Illinois, Florida Atlantic, Colorado State, Memphis, Southern Miss, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and NC State but 6-6 shouldn’t get you in.
I also went to the Birmingham Historical Museum this week and checked out the new “Frame by Frame: Comic Books Story Telling Art” which is based on the collection of Ed Keahey. The exhibit contains various comic books, artwork and collectibles related to comic books. There is some local talent represented though for me, I would like to see rarer pieces. There are a few nice pieces of artwork from Martin (Golden Age Green Lantern) Nodell and some others that might be of interest to check out. Young kids can also enjoy the model train exhibit including joining model train enthusiasts Stuart Shuster and Dan Machesky as they share tips on maintenance, repair, restoration and storage of model trains and accessories on Dec 13th between 1-3PM).
If you are looking for movies, the Main Art Theatre will be showing the Czech comedy-drama, “Beauty In Trouble” starting Dec 12th. This is a love story about a woman called Marcela and the two men in her life. Set in the flooded area of town, her husband Jarda takes to dealing with stolen cars to help fix up the moldy and broken down house and to put food on the table. After he is brought the stolen car of the rich Evzen Benes, he becomes the second man in her life. With Jarda in jail, Marcela and her two children move into her mother’s place to some dissent with the mom’s boyfriend. Evzen offers to help Marcela and she starts to fall in love with him and his money. She gets a divorce but despite now living with Evzen, she still loves Jarda in her own way. Can she cope with the love of two men in her life? The film is slow at times but has some really fascinating characters and looks at how relationships can be very complex. I particularly enjoyed Uncle Richie who at times seems really mean (threatening the kids for eating his diabetic cookies) but then shows a more forgiving side (supporting Marcela in her decision to have her first child). This is a film that you need to be ready to immerse yourself in but it is worth the effort. Grade: B+.
If you heard my interview with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, you know how great it was. She put on a wonderful show at the Magic Bag last week which had her accompanied by an Australian dance troupe called the Danger Ensemble which added an extra flair to the show. She played a number of solo and Dresden Doll favorites and is out promoting her new album (the Twin Peak’s inspired “Who Killed Amanda Palmer?”). Despite the dissatisfaction with the lack support for promoting the new album, she is enjoying being on tour and connecting with the fans. After the show, she held a signing at the bar next door since the Magic Bag is always in a hurry to get people to leave. I don’t know why that is because it does distract from the concert experience and they bring in some of the most unique talent into Detroit. She was excited to work with Ben Folds on the new album who she met while thinking of just doing an EP’s worth of material until Ben offered to produce and help her put it together. If every song is like “Astronaut” (her favorite song on the album), it should make her fans happy. I am looking forward to her new story-and-photography book called “THE BIG BOOK OF WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER” which she is working on with legendary Neil Gaiman (who was going to be at the Chicago show). The book contains pictures of Amanda Palmer killed accompanied by stories by Neil. It sounds like it should be wonderful. Amanda is also doing an intro for a new Death collection of Gaiman’s work.
Speaking of Neil, he is also a big fan of Tori Amos and he did an introduction for the Image Comics release of “Comic Book Tattoo”, a 480-page book containing 51 graphic stories of which each is based on or inspired by an Amos song. 80 different artists worked on the book including Pia Guerra, David Mack and Leah Moore.
Upcoming shows of note include the Suicidal Tendencies @ the Majestic on Dec 9th. Dec 10th has 2 good shows including King’s X @ the Emerald (I saw them with Extreme earlier this year and they rocked) and if the lead singer of Staind is healthy, the will be at the Fillmore (they cancelled their show on the 8th in Toronto). Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will perform @ The Magic Bag on the 11th. And don’t forget Oasis with Ryan Adams @ the Palace this Sat 13th. See you all next week. Enjoy and drive safely.
Don't forget to listen to my show on www.wxou.org on Monday and Thursdays 8-10AM.
And once again Congrats to MCB for a fine 4 years!!
"WILD AT HEART IS DETROIT"
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