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
Sundays boring! Well the first person who sends me an email to doramu13@yahoo.com will win tickets to see the modern rock band New Found Glory who is touring with their new album, ‘Not Without a Fight’. You might remember their hits "My Friends Over You" & “Hit Or Miss”. They are touring with Bayside and Set Your Goals and will be in town on April 26th @ Royal Oak Music Theatre.
I hope everyone had a good weekend. I started off with going to Rochester and checking out their Earth day events. I tried out some new organic foods and the new hybrid cars which look like something out of a sci-fi movie. I was most pleased to catch the band Valkyrie which boasts WXOU’s own Maggie Ferguson (she does our wonderful folk show) and was esp fond of their rendition of Loudon Wainwright III’s “Dead Skunk”. Of course, you all know Earth Day is celebrated officially on April 22. The day is designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment so look for something you can do be it something as simple as turning off lights or making sure you recycle. For those interested, Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated worldwide. The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a tradition which was founded by peace activist
John McConnell in 1969.
One event going on this Earth Day is that the Indigo Girls will be in concert at the Michigan Theatre but you can see them earlier in the day at Borders Bookstore in Downtown Ann Arbor. They will be performing and signing copies of their new CD “Poseidon and the Bitter Bug” @ 12:30PM on Wednesday, April 22nd. Make sure to get their early so you can get a good seat.
You can also get in the Earth Day mode by checking out getting advance tickets for the new Disney documentary, “Earth”. “Earth” is an award-winning 2007 British natural history film from the BBC Natural History Unit (the same one you did “Deep Blue”. It is going to be released on Earth Day and you can find a theatre near you and to purchase tickets, go to www.disney.com/earth. The documentary is beautiful to look at with a few nature scenes which I found unique but more often that not, it goes into familiar territory. The movie is bookended by the changing of the seasons and focuses on 3 species - the polar bear, African elephant and humpback whale. Over the course of a calendar year, “Earth” takes the viewer on a journey from the North Pole to the South, making reference to environmental changes and uses the three featured species to illustrate particular threats to the planet’s wildlife, such as the melting of the polar ice caps
or changing rainfall patterns. Of course, the film ends on a positive note but I wonder if this film would be better off as an IMAX only release due to the nature of the film. Most of the kids seem to like certain parts but its length found a few kids restless in their seats. The one big positive is that Disneynature has committed to plant a tree for everyone who sees the motion picture between April 22-28 which means that with presales at this point, over 500,000 trees will be planted so that is a good cause to support the film on opening day. My grade is a B-.
After attending the Earth Day events on Sat, I went to the fights at the Palace and must admit that it was very entertaining seeing 15 fights with 3 decisions, 7 1st round submissions/TKO and 4 in the 2nd round. The title fight was the best of the night going into the third round as Sean Baker got Ben Harris to tap out in the 3rd round of a hard fought match. My second favorite was Jennifer Kelly’s first round TKO of Allibeth Rall who managed to keep smiling even after defeat. I admit that the women are just as fierce as the guys and they seem even more appreciative of the opportunity to compete. Donofrio Entertainment put on a nice event and I look forward to the next match which will be this summer at Meadowbrook.
One of my favorite authors is Michael Chabon who won the Pulitzer Prize for comic book industry influenced “The Adventures Of Cavalier & Clay” and the wonderful “Wonder Boys” (which is also a great movie). Not so great is the 2nd Chabon novel-to-movie translation “The Mysteries of Pittsburg”. “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” is a coming-of-age tale set in early 1980s Pittsburgh. Here we have a young man, Art, who is the son of a mobster (played by Nick Nolte) who falls into a love triangle with a young, uninhibited woman named Phlox and her highly literate biker boyfriend Cleveland. While Nolte plays a strong gangster, he doesn’t appear anywhere near enough to elevate the story as the young cast seems unable to really fully capture the range of emotions needed to portray these highly complex characters. That is not to say the movie isn’t worth watching, but it doesn’t come close to the emotion of the highly superior “Wonder
Boys”. My grade is a C. It has been announced that Chabon is currently working on a screenplay for the new John Carter of Mars movie.
Speaking of people on the edge of the comic book community, it looks like the new Amanda Palmer book is out. When I had Amanda on my radio show (wxou.org from 8-10AM Sat mornings) we talked about a coffee table book of pictures of her getting killed a la ‘Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer which accompanying poems by Neil Gaiman (best known for his Sandman series). The book is full color, red-cloth-bound, hardback with dust jacket, coffee-table sized and very beautiful. There are only printed 10,000 copies of the first edition and 1,500 of those are already spoken for so if this sounds like something of interest, the preorder will launch at noon EST on Monday April 20th. You can order from JSR's webstore HERE.
Metal fans can get excited by the return (well they actually never stopped touring) of Anvil (“Metal On Metal”) who will be playing at the Crofoot on April 21st. Before the performance of this speed metal legend, that inspired such bands as Metallica and Motorhead, you can see the documentary “Anvil! The Story the Anvil” which looks at their recent history as they try to capture the glory that seemed to pass them by 30 years ago. We see the band, mainly Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner, during a failed European tour (sometimes playing in clubs with about 10 fans) and trying to shop around their 13th album. Screenwriter Sacha Gervasi (best known for the screenplay for the tom Hanks movie “The Terminal” and as a founding member of Bush) was a roadie for the band in ’82, ’84 and ’85 and wanted to put down the history of his favorite band for the world to see. Sacha really captures “Lips” optimism as he constantly keeps the
band together and focused on achieving the success they feel they deserved. The movie will also be paying at the Main Art Theatre and is more than just a movie for people of heavy metal, but a movie of inspiration of someone trying to make his dreams come true and not allowing people to tell him no. I would say going to the Crofoot on Tuesday will be the best way to experience this film as the band plays afterwards.
I also managed to get to Ann Arbor this weekend to see the newly renovated U of M Art Museum renovations of their 53,000-square-foot expansion which almost doubles the size of the museum. Designed by principal architect Brad Cloepfil and his team at Allied Works Architecture, the $41.9 million transformation really adds to the beauty of the museum and allows for some nice viewing opportunities. There is an exhibit entitled “Museums in the 21st Century: Concepts, Projects, Buildings through May 3, 2009 Organized and circulated by Art Centre Basel” which highlights the trends in international museum architecture across four continents including the UMMA expansion and 26 of the world's leading museum building projects planned, in progress, or finished between the years 2000 and 2010. Besides this exhibit, the new building has many well lit galleries dedicated to the art works of Africa, Korea, Japan, China, India and pop art (including 2 Picasso’s
and a painting by the poet e.e. cummings). The renovation really improves the status of the gallery and puts it in the same class as the DIA and Toledo Museum of Art so make sure you get out this spring to check it out. You won’t be sorry!
David Sedaris is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian and bestselling author and radio contributor who was first publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries". Recently, “SantaLand Diaries” was performed by the Ringwald Theatre, so if you want to meet the mind behind that and other popular works, he will be at the Detroit Opera House on April 21st.
On the upcoming concert calendar, there is the Bamboozle Road Show featuring We Are Kings and Forever The Sickest Kids @ Clutch Cargos on Apr 23rd. When I was in high school, I bowled every Sat morning and our theme song was “Freeze Frame” by the J Geils Band (also the theme for the Rochester Amerks) and they will be bringing their music to the Fillmore for 2 nights (April 24th and 25th). The 25th will also showcase the folkish band Girlyman @ the Ark or hard rockers Silverstein @ the Majestic. British indie band Noah & The Whale has their rescheduled Detroit date and they will be at the Magic Bag on Apr 26th.
Lastly, the group Stomp will be performing at the Fisher Theatre from 4/21-4/26 and they put on a must-see show that is full of energy and excitement. The way they incorporate dance moves with the music of common everyday objects is very engaging. I had a member on my show last week and he said there is a number with swinging paint cans that is something to see. He also mentioned in their rehearsals, it wasn’t uncommon for a member to get a glancing blow which hopefully won’t happen onstage but adds to the thrill.
Also, tune into Wild At Heart on WXOU 88.3FM or online at www.wxou.org this Sat between 8-10AM for your chance to win tickets for Sonic Youth a week before they officially go on sale for the Royal Oak Music Theatre.
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