The Convoluted Complexities Of Comedy

The Bob And Tom All Stars Is Rolling Through

The Bob and Tom Show (created by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold) began as a small morning show at an Indianapolis radio station (WFBQ) in 1983 and has ridden the radio waves to become a nationally syndicated radio empire as well as an international phenomenon. Through their use of musically driven parodies, skits, charismatic characters and comedic guests, The Bob and Tom Show has broken into other realms of entertainment, spawning a slew of comedy CDs, DVDs, a television show on WGN and a full on comedy tour featuring not only the comedians that are featured guests on the radio program, but also the day to day on-air talent from the show.
On November 21st, the Victoria Theatre will host the Bob and Tom Canadian Mist Comedy All Stars Tour for two shows. The line up includes Caroline Rhea, Costaki Economopoulos, Tammy Pescatelli, Greg Morton and Donnie Baker, with Kristi Lee acting as emcee. The really unique thing about the Bob and Tom tours is that every performer is a headliner, making this not only an incredible bounty for the fans, but it also acts as an almost rolling reunion for the comedians. Speaking with Costaki Economopoulos recently, we touched on this topic briefly.

“The other bonus to it is getting to hang out with a bunch of good comics who are all headliners, you know, guys you don't see much anymore, so it's actually really fun.” Economopoulos said that being a headliner posed a problem with his girlfriend (and baby's mama) Caroline Rhea as well. “Same problem: we're both headliners, so in order to work together, we've kind of got to arrange something special. But she's totally in love with motherhood, so she doesn't want to leave very often right now.


Economopoulos is a topical comedian whose Economonologues, which are a featured segment on the Bob and Tom Show, would make him a household name...if anybody could actually pronounce his name. Economopoulos and Caroline Rhea (who should be referred to by their couple's uni-name Costakiline or Carolaki from now on) have a thirteen month old baby girl together named Ava. I asked him if, when they were actually able to co-headline together, if they bounced ideas off of each other or stole each others material.

“For the most part, we have very different styles. She's very, sort of improv and in the moment and she talks about herself and her world, where as I'm a little more of a writer guy and observational. We're kind of different styles, so we don't have that much crossover.” Showing that this is a healthy relationship, Economopoulos related how well they work together as a couple. “As she says, I give the man's perspective and she tells the truth. Recently, we did my old home club, the Atalanta Punchline, and I did about a half an hour and she did about fifty/fifty-five (minutes), so I try to get in as much of my story as I can before she gets on and starts talking about me. A friend of mine came to the show and afterward, he was like, ' That was like couple's therapy!'”

Kristi Lee, the Bob and Tom Show's news director since 1989, will be acting as the comedy tour's emcee. During a recent phone conversation, she related her personal perceptions of Carolaki.


“He's very topical. He's very politically motivated and a thinking man's comic. I like that a lot.” Referring to Rhea, Lee said, “I've never had the pleasure of witnessing her work live and I am very excited about seeing Caroline. She is so talented and so funny.”

Donnie Baker, a long time call-in contributor to the Bob and Tom Show also had some thoughts concerning Economopoulos.

“Yeah! He's a nerd.” Donnie succinctly stated. “He's one of them guys that, you know, worries about his hair being combed or whatever.” Bringing the conversation back to himself, a trait he excels at, Baker went on to say that, “I don't worry about that. I've got bangs and wear my cap backwards...I have to wear my cap backwards. If I move my cap forward, I tip over. I'm already front heavy below the belt.”

The mullet maned malcontent known only as Donnie Baker is a boisterous braggart, a trailer park paladin who is an expert on everything, especially things of which he knows nothing about. His past times include regaling strangers with his tales of back seat conquests with tattooed strippers, studying the laws of the state and trying in vain to sell his boat. Speaking briefly about his imminent trip to our fair city, Baker said:

“I might just have to get into town early to post as many boat fliers as possible, because we're only in the city for twenty-four hours and by the time I get the fliers posted, we're going to leave town and my pager only gets forty-three miles of coverage.”

Baker, a resident of Indianapolis, detailed one of the other tasks he must attend to when he hits town...

“Normally, a lot of times, I have to check in with local law enforcement to make sure that I don't violate any probation. I've only got three misdemeanors, but two of them are felonies.” He also has to inform law officials about his presence for other reasons. “My hands are registered downtown as lethal weapons. I can't even flip people off without going to jail because, technically, the state says that it's a threat. So, basically, I have to make sure that what I do with my hands, given the fact that I've been trained at the School of the Dragon through Discount Karate for four years. I mean, I probably know more about the pressure points than anybody I know of. I can put one finger on their neck and bruise their corroded artery, pump 'em back to life and then sue their ass for basically getting in my face.”

Another comedienne on the bill is the vivaciously beautiful Tammy Pescatelli, a native of an Italian neighborhood in Cleveland who is newly married and recently became a mother as well.

“I've worked with her quite a bit. She's a good friend and very funny.” said Kristi Lee, describing Pescatelli. “Her whole act has changed since she became a mom. She has a whole different perspective on life now that she's a wife and mother, rather than the single gal who was never going to get married...which I find very funny. Tammy's always been very pretty, very funny and you won't be disappointed in seeing Tammy onstage.”

Baker, unable to censor himself, also had some thoughts concerning Pescatelli or, more to the point, specific parts of Pescatelli.

“She's going to have back pain when she get's older.” said Baker before going on to eloquently describe Pescatelli's assets. “She's got more cleavage than a butt crack on a midget plumber.”

Another comedian on the roster is Greg Morton, a veteran of stand-up with a uniquely animated stage presence who is probably best know for his two minute rendition of Star Wars, replete with lasers, light sabers and Chewbacca's wookie wail.

“Greg Morton has...talk about visual! There's a guy you don't get unless you see him live. He is amazing! His act is very visual and his closer is a must see. You don't want to miss it.” Lee ends by teasingly alluding that, “Let me just say that there are costumes involved.”

The interviews then took an unexpected National Enquirer-esque turn when Donnie Baker dropped a little personal bombshell pertaining to he and Kristi Lee's long nights on the road.

“Well, you knew that was bound to happen. I mean, basically Kristi...she's a sucker for anyone who's in a band and I've been in more bands than anyone I know. She's moved up from bass players to lead singers, though. She knew I was a lead singer because I had sweat bands on.” Baker then intimated that there might be a bouncing baby Baker on the way. “The fact remains that we may have an announcement soon, but let's just say that I can't prove it because I never peed on a stick, but there should be a pregnancy test soon.”

When I related to Kristi Lee that I had interviewed Donnie Baker just a few hours before, she seemed nonplussed, with just a touch of disgust creeping into her voice.

“Ugh! How did that go?” Her temperament changed instantly the moment I recounted to her Baker's potential illusionary allusions. “Oh! He is such a lair! I wouldn't go near him with a ten foot pole and he knows it. Yuck! Traveling with him is bad enough. I can't imagine doing more than that. First of all, that 'pork-a-saurus' is a bunch of crap. He's probably more like a cocktail weenie...I would guess.”

Doth the lady protest too much? After she calmed down a little, Lee did have to concede that;

“If you haven't seen Donnie Baker, tell your readers that they've got to come out because you can't appreciate Donnie for what he does...well...I don't know exactly what it is that he does.”

Donnie Baker's debauched demeanor seemingly knows no bounds as he casts a roving eye on sweet Caroline Rhea. Could this be a wedge that would separate the Costakiline?

“Oh, I probably think that if she took a glance at my pants, that's probably a likelihood anyway.” Baker boastfully prognosticated.

I felt that Costaki should be informed immediately, but my warning fell on deaf ears.
“(Laughing) That's funny!” Economopoulos blithely dismissed. “Now, I'd be more worried about the Pork Pistols (Donnie's band). They are really live, hard core, drinking, nutty characters. But Donnie...nah.”

I was supposed to interview Caroline, but Economopoulos informed me that she was unavailable.

“She's not home. I'm actually waiting for a call from her.” Economopoulos said, a note of concern creeping into his voice. “I'm not exactly sure what she's doing. She was supposed to come back tonight.”

Well, let's hope that Caroline Rhea was in fact visiting her mother in Canada, as she said, and not checking out a boat in Indianapolis. Let's hope, for the sake of poor, naïve Economopoulos' well being, let's hope.

The Canadian Mist Bob & Tom Comedy All-Stars will be pulling into the Victoria Theatre, 138 North Main St., on November 21st for two shows, one at 7:00pm and the other at 10:00pm. Tickets are $36.50 for all seats and all times. To order tickets, you can go online at http://www.ticketcenterstage.com/ or by calling (937) 228-3630.

(This article appeared in the Dayton City Paper on November 18th, 2009. This is the article as I originally wrote it.)

The Compulsory Comedian

Howie Mandel: On The Air, In Print and Live Onstage

Howie Mandel's career in comedy probably began at the exact same moment his educational career came to an abrupt end. Mandel was expelled from his Kingston, Ontario high school because he impersonated a faculty member and contracted a full addition to his school to be constructed. After a stint as a carpet salesman, in which he ended up owning his own carpet store, Mandel took to the stage at Yuk-Yuks in Toronto where, by 1978, he was a featured act. One of his first schticks was to place a latex glove on top of his head and blow it up through with his nose. This image became became symbolically synonymous with eighties comedy as Steve Martin's arrow through the head bit was for the seventies. Mandel eventually had to give that bit up after he perforated his sinus from the exertive exhalations.

Mandel's career exploded. It seemed like there wasn't anywhere you could turn without seeing his frenetically kinetic image attached to an incessant stream of stand-up comedy tours, movies, commercials and even cartoons. With characters like Dr. Wayne Fiscus from St. Elsewhere, the fuzzy gremlin Gizmo from Gremlins 1 & 2 to the overly imaginative, squeaky voiced Bobby from the animated series, Bobby's World (a perfection of one of Howie's early stand-up characters), Mandel ingratiated himself into almost every form of media.

Then, by subtle degrees, you didn't see Mandel nearly as much anymore. He could still be heard voicing his alter-ego, Bobby Generic, or even Bunsen Honeydew for the Muppet Babies, but he didn't seem to be nearly as visible. As has been revealed in recent years, Mandel suffers from Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD), mysophobia (a fear of germs) and Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as well as being color blind thrown in for good measure. I was able to speak with Mandel by phone as he stood behind the MGM Grand in Las Vegas where he was scheduled to appear for the week. One of the first questions I asked was whether or not his conditions were the impetus for his slow dissolve from the public eye.

“It helped!” Mandel said, laughing, then turning somewhat serious, he said, “No, I was doing less and less...you know. I mean, I had a talk show in the nineties...but it was a little tough for me to be out in public. I had a little bit of a rough time...mentally.”

Mandel went on to detail that, while his personal issues remained, for the most part, hidden, his ambitious work ethic kept him always moving forward.

“I've always been working, though. I've never stopped. I was always doing something...I just wasn't as prevalent.” Mandel reflected that, “I've always had something on the air. All through the eighties I was on St. Elsewhere and on HBO all the way until 1988 and then in 1989, I did a couple of pilots and then starting in 1990, I was doing Bobby's World all the way until 1999.”

Since seeking help for his OCS and ADHD, Mandel has once again become a prolific entertainer, subjecting himself to a grueling schedule that would be daunting for someone without all of these encumbrances.

“In the last twenty days, I shot one hundred and twenty episodes.” Mandel addressed a special portion of Deal or No Deal where they took the show on the road. “We went around the world in seven days on a whirlwind tour. There's that and now there's a syndicated version and I'm on the road and now I'm calling you!” As if that wasn't enough, Mandel detailed his schedule after shooting the television episodes. “Even at the end of those days, I was flying out and John (Mendoza - Mandel's opening act for the past five years) and I would be doing concerts at night. We do around two hundred and fifty live dates a year.”

The question arises that, after recognizing that these issues exist and seeking extensive treatment for them, is it still as difficult for Mandel to appear in public?

“The answer's yes! It's hard, each and every day.” Mandel said, emphatically. “I have to work through my issues, but I have an amazing support system. I have really good therapy and a psychiatrist and a loving family and good friends who help me get by each and every day. I mean, I joke about it and talk about the (mysophobia), but it is a serious issue that I think a lot of people suffer with.”

Having heard people make the statement that they have OCD I wondered if it was something that everyone suffered from to varying degrees.

“No. I think that OCD is a definite physiological issue. People come up and go, 'I've got a little bit of it.' Well, I'm like, I hope you don't.” Mandel said, with more than a little sympathy. “I don't know if people really understand that, but if you read the book, maybe you will a little bit more. I do think that that being said, everybody has issues and there isn't anybody that couldn't use a little bit of therapy and coping skills, whether it be from the pressures at work, relationships or some sort of physical illness. We can all use that and we don't do that.”

Mandel went further with this train of thought, saying, “There's a stigma attached to mental health issues. But, specifically OCD? No, you don't have a little bit of OCD. You either have OCD or you don't. People listen to me and they go, 'Oh yeah, I'm a bit of a germaphobe. I think I have a bit of OCD.' That's not OCD. Maybe you're concerned about getting sick or about germs, but OCD is going to inhibit your life. You can't get past certain thoughts and you can't function and at certain points, you can't get to work and you can't go on with your life. That's the difference between being a little bit neurotic about something and really having OCD.”

Some of the rituals and obsessions have become well known through the media, and some, even though in plain sight, slide by the casual observer. One of these is Mandel's signature shaven head. It is not, as one would think, a macho way to cheat baldness, but it is, in fact a way for Mandel to feel cleaner. With all of his obsessive rituals, it is truly amazing that Mandel can keep up such a hectic schedule.

“The fact that I'm able to function and am talking to you is a great memorial to all the people that are helping me out.” Addressing some of his own specific rituals, Mandel said, “The one that people are aware of is that I can't step on the carpets in my hotel room, so I make paths with towels and I won't touch things. I grab things with various instruments. I have a whole toolkit that I travel with...black lights, everything. I'm a regular CSI.”

Howie Mandel has a new book coming out dealing with his life, career and his subsequent battles with OCD, ADHD and mysophobia titled, Here's The Deal...Don't Touch Me (Random House) which fist bumps the shelves November 24th. Mandel can be seen on television on just about any given moment either on his syndicated series Deal or No Deal or his hidden camera show, Howie Do It (NBC – Fridays at 8pm). Howie Mandel will also be appearing with his road-dog partner, John Mendoza, at the Kuss Auditorium in Springfield, OH on November 14th at 8:00pm. Tickets for the show are $40 to $75 for adults, $30 to $65 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to springfieldartscouncil.com or call (937) 328-3874.

(This article appeared in the November 11, 2009 in the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

The Imagery Of Liberty

The Ohio Liberty Film Festival To Begin On Veteran's Day

“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”
~John Adams

The very definition of liberty is quite intangible, resting within every individual's interpretation of this almost undefinable concept. As Abraham Lincoln succinctly pointed out, “The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator. The wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.”

To this end, Jay Tiber, owner of the Dublin Pub, has selected a series of films that deal with different aspects of freedom and liberty, so that the viewer may reflect on their own personal definitions and maybe become aware of these intangibles that they might have taken for granted. Tieber's keynote film, The Birth of Freedom, utilizes documents like The Code of Hammurabi, the Magna Carta and John Locke's A Letter Concerning Toleration to paint a picture about how the concepts and applications of freedom and liberty took form and evolved over the ages. The documentary also points to the Judeo-Christian concept of human dignity, exemplified by the belief that man was created in God's image and therefore had the inalienable right to be free.

“There is a awareness of the importance of religion in this movie in the sense that they talk about how the people began to believe that the king and the royalty were not the ultimate authority: that there was a higher authority than the king.” Tieber related that, “The king derived his powers from God, therefore God was the ultimate authority. So, there's a sense of religion that played a role in the decision that man was inherently free and it was not a proper thing for government to make him not free.”

“With this movie, there's more than a little bit of depth there and you have to see it multiple times to get more out of it. They intersperse pictures and commentaries by university professors and historians and they say things that cause you to reflect on some deeper issues.”
The Ultimate Resource is another documentary depicting how economic prosperity goes hand in hand with liberty and freedom by giving ordinary people the tools necessary to improve their lives and, in turn, the lives of those around them.

“It's made by a group of people up in Erie, Pennsylvania called Free To Choose. It's a nice movie.” Tiber said. “They deal with the conditions in five countries: China, Bangladesh, Ghana, Peru and Estonia. They talk about how people exercise their freedom in those countries and their initiative to better their lives.”

The Mission follows the story of am 18th century Spanish missionary played by Jeremy Irons and a soldier seeking penance played by Robert De Niro as they try to convert, then protect the Guarani Indians living above the Iguazu Falls in South America.. With the threat of the natives being enslaved, the two main characters react in diametrically opposed ways to protect their freedom.

“So, how did they express this? Robert DeNiro's role was an ex-soldier who responded to the threat by taking up the sword and Jeremy Irons responded to the threat by leading his people in religious observation.” Tiber explained. “So that represented two different approaches to being taken by these Portuguese soldiers and turned into slaves.”

Papillon shows how the human spirit will always seek freedom, regardless of how much pain the body has to endure. The movie follows the incarceration of Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) and Henri “Papillon” Charrière (Steve McQueen) on French Guiana's most notorious penal colony, Devil's Island. Through years of brutal treatment, the pair never give up on attempts at escape until, when old and infirmed, Dustin Hoffman's character acquiesces to his imprisonment, yet Papillon tries yet one last effort, perhaps attaining an eternity of freedom.

Steven Spielberg's Academy Award winning movie Saving Private Ryan kicks off the Ohio Liberty Film Festival on Veteran's Day. This movie, with an all star cast led by Tom Hanks, shows not only the mind boggling sacrifices made within the first few hours of the D-Day invasion, but also the personal sacrifices and realizations made during a mission of compassion.

“Saving Private Ryan is a very compelling movie. What I like about that movie is when the guy goes to the cemetery in Normandy, and he looks at the tombstones and he reviews in his mind the events that took place when they came to rescue him, to take him out of battle, and he says to his wife, 'Tell me I was a good man...'. The fact that these other people made these sacrifices to save him...that to me is so powerful.” Tieber went on, quite passionately, saying, “I think that that is a question that all of us could ask, those of us that have benefited from what we have in this country: have we done what we could have done with our lives to justify the sacrifices that have been made for us.”

(This article appeared in the November 4th, 2009 issue of the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Reel In The Valley

A New Vision Of Step Dancing With The Stepcrew

The Stepcrew brings to the stage a blending of traditional dance genres, displaying a unique comparative progression of how some seemingly divergent styles actually compliment each other and share much of the same history with one another. During a recent phone interview, Jon Pilatzke (co-founder of The Stepcrew) brought the production's details and goals more into focus.

“It's to really compare and contrast the three styles in the show, which is the Ottawa Valley Step, the Irish Step and Modern Tap Dancing. There's a couple of numbers where we really kind of focus on showing each style back to back, in their traditional form, so you can really get a sense of, first of all, the differences of what the feet are doing; the rhythms.” Pilatzke went on to explain that, “With tap, you've got the upper body as well, with its arm movements on more of a theatrical kind of plane. Then you have the Irish, which traditionally has very little movement in the upper body and then the Ottawa Valley...which is crazy all together.”

The Stepcrew members, while fairly new to the scene, have individually distinguished themselves as veteran stage performers by sharing the stage with such world class acts such as Bowfire, Seven Nations, Cherish the Ladies and the Chieftains. Pilatzke explained how he and his brother Nathan brought the Ottawa Valley Step to the world stage.

“We did some stuff here in Toronto. We were in a musical that featured our style of dance mixed with swing dancing. As far as being on an international level, the Chieftains were definitely the first project that exposed us to that arena...and Cara (Butler) as well.” Pilatzke quickly added. “She was with the Chieftains when we joined, so she was with them a hell of a lot longer than we have been. She's also been involved with a dance production called Dancing on Dangerous Ground with her sister, Jean Butler (of Riverdance fame). Dan (Stacey) started out with a band called Seven Nations.”

Joining the Pilatzke brothers, Cara Butler and Dan Stacey on stage are three other dancers, Stephanie Cadman (Bowfire), Sarah Uddin and Joe Dwyer (both from Riverdance), who round out the ranks of The Stepcrew. Pilatzke went on to talk about how touring with the Chieftains brought international attention to their regional style of dancing.

“It was quite something when Nathan and I started touring with the Chieftains, just to see how our little, remote style of dance could generate such a reaction from an international audiences, like in Japan and all of these exotic places that you would never really think would be receptive to what we do. It's just one of those things that never really fails, and now to have a whole show of that stuff.” Pilatzke said, almost overwhelmed. He then went on to describe the new show, comparing it to as opposed to being a part of another groups production. “The new show is such a high energy show. It's like ninety minutes of the most intense workout for us. We're so used to getting up for like three or four minutes, then sitting out for three or four numbers to catch your breath. This is like a marathon.”

Along with the dancers, the show features some of the top musicians and vocalists, which adds a deeply textured layer to the performance. I was curious whether or not the musicians played in a strictly Celtic tradition or whether they followed the cues from the dancers, taking up a more jazzier sound.

“I would say the music, overall, tends to be Celtic in nature. We definitely go towards more of a jazzier sound on a couple of numbers when the tappers take the limelight.” Pilatzke added that, “Three of us are Irish fiddlers, so we can definitely handle the Irish side for the Irish stepping. All the Ottawa Valley dancing has always been traditionally done to...it's not that far of from Irish music, it just sounds a little more...country-ish. Unfortunately there's no better word.”
The Stepcrew's style seems to be a natural progression from what we here in America have been inundated with in previous years, namely: Riverdance.

“It's funny to hear how people seem to like the more expressive, free-form style that we have. I think that, as you said, they were inundated with what people call Riverdancing...it's become the name of the style.” Pilatzke then said, “Audiences are like, 'Oh! It's so great to see people moving their arms and having so much fun with smiles on their faces.'”

The Stepcrew will take the stage at Victoria Theatre as part of Cityfolk's Celtic Series on November 7th at 8:00pm. Tickets range from $21 to $36. A pre-show whiskey tasting event will be held at the Dublin Pub as well as a post party with music by Mothergrove. Just show your tickets for admission to these pre and post events. To purchase tickets, you can call the Cityfolk Box Office at 937-496-3863 or visit them at 126 N. Main St., Suite. 220. You can also go to cityfolk.tix.com and purchase your tickets online.

(This article appeared in the November 4th, 209 issue of the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Breast Cancer Benefit At Wiley's

Linda Gambino, Joanne Viskup Raymond Jackson, Jack Wilson and Rob Haney

When Rob Haney, owner of Wiley's Comedy Niteclub, sent me an email recently that began with “Go Pink,” I truly believed that a horribly offensive joke was soon to follow. Lo and behold, Wiley's is hosting a Go Pink fund raising show with a slew of comedians set to take the stage. Among those slated is Linda Gambino, a nine year breast cancer survivor. While you may not have heard of her before, insofar as comedy goes, you have definitely heard her elsewhere. You may have heard her friendly voice emanating from your GPS, telling you to make a right turn, when clearly the only thing to the right is a cornfield. She may also ask you if you have any coupons or if you will be paying with cash, credit or debit card at your local grocery store's self checkout lane.

Her approach to comedy is drawn from real life, detailing her battle with breast cancer as well as throwing a glaring spotlight on her three daughter's most embarrassing moments. On stage, she addresses the topic of cancer with humor and frankness, even going so far as to thank cancer for the new breasts she is now sporting, which she says are “fake and fabulous.”

Joining Linda Gambino on the stage is Raymond Jackson, who has opened for Dave Chappelle, Jack Wilson, Joanne Viskup, that Brooklyn girl lost in Dayton, and Rob Haney, whose breasts are real, but not all that fabulous. The show is on Thursday, October 28th at 8:00pm at Wiley's Comedy Niteclub, 101 Pine St.. Admission is only $5 with %100 of all proceeds going towards breast cancer awareness. For more information or to make reservations, call the club at (937) 224-5653 or visit them on the web at wileyscomedyclub.com.

(This article appeared in the October 28th, 2009 issue of the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Never Fear...Hauntfest Is Here!

The Oregon District Once Again Hosts A Haunting Halloween

It is once again that time of year when the moon eerily shines through the gnarled branches and the air turns colder, chilling your bones, and the fallen leaves skitter and dance along the cobblestone streets. It is a time for fear and magic, where the frightful and the fantastic share the night. It is time...for Hauntfest. This perennial party is what has regionally defined Halloween, and this year will be no different...well, except for some changes.

While in years past, revelers had to wait through a seemingly arduous admission process that would leave them standing in long lines as they paid the entrance fee and had their ID checked. This year, however, you will not be forced to shuffle and curse, waiting impatiently as you hear the cacophonous roar of other party goers from within the District.

Well, here's what we've done.” explained Joe Waizmann, coordinator for this year's Hauntfest, during a recent phone interview. “The two principle entrance areas are at Fifth and Wayne and just beyond Fifth and Patterson and then a small entrance area on Jackson, just down from Wayne. So, what we've done there is those are admission points only. So, we're streamlining that. Also, all of the local Oregon District taverns are offering pre-sale tickets for the same price ($5) and we'll have a streamlined admission process for those who have advance tickets in hand. We're instituting that to try and get some of the people in as quickly as possible.”

One of the things that has streamlined this process is that, instead of going through the ID process during admission, the ID stations are positioned at each of the six beer stations, where patrons can also purchase tickets for beer. Another innovation is something that will surely become a staple of the Hauntfest for years to come.

“A new feature this year is that we're actually doing a craft beer and wine garden.” Waizmann went on to say that, “We're doing some higher end beers with six drafts and six bottled and then we'll probably do upwards of six wines as well. The beer and wine garden will be located at Pine and Fifth in that big parking lot in front of Clear Channel.”

Beside the incredibly costumes and the raucous revelry, the Hauntfest has also become know for its eclectic entertainment, and this year is no exception. A stage will be set up at one end of Fifth St. while WTUE's Kegger will take up a position on the opposite end of the district. Skilless Villians, with their self described sense of Free Style Rock and Roll will share the stage with power pop/post punk band The Story Changes.

Another innovation in entertainment is that EGO Pro Wrestling Team will be hosting wrestling matches...in full costume. Who hasn't wanted to see Grandma hitting the Big Bad Wolf with an arm bar or having Frankenstein Powerbomb the Wolfman?

Hauntfest screams into the Oregon District October 31st from 7:00pm until 1:00am. Admission is only $5 and, as stated before, presale tickets are available at various Oregon District establishments and all proceeds from the event benefit the Oregon District's infrastructure improvements on Fifth St. As an added bonus, you won't have to stay in the dungeon at the end of the night as Crowne Plaza will be offering rooms for the frighteningly low rate of $69.

(This article appeared in the Dayton City Paper on October 28th, 2009. This is the article as it was originally written.)

The Mythic Realities Of Paint

Mythic Paint Delivers Legendary Performance With No VOCs

In an age when eco-friendly is the watchword and environmental issues are in the fore of our day to day media coverage, it's a breath of fresh air (literally) to come across a product that does not “greenwash” its true ecological impact. Mythic Paint contains no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and no toxins, making it not only environmentally friendly and a godsend for those who are chemically sensitive, but a fantastic latex paint for those of us who demand performance and color selection, yet don't want our homes smelling like a EPA cleanup site for days while we stand in a forming vaporous cloud of noxious, off gassing solvents.

While it is understandable how Vic Barnhill, Customer Service Manager for Southern Diversified Products, LLC. (owners and developers of the Mythic Paint line), is somewhat reluctant to recount the story of how the product came into existence. It is not that he is ashamed of the product's history. Quite the contrary: he is justifiably proud of what the group has developed. The reluctance comes from the feeling that some may perceive the story as yet another corporation playing on the heart strings of the public to hawk their product. I feel that the story warrants retelling, not only as a way to see how Mythic Paint came to be, but as an example of how a tragedy can spawn minds to think around the roadblocks that plague the traditional corporate mindset.

After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Pentagon approached the University of Southern Mississippi and the Polymer Science Group to develop a paint that could be used for the remodeling of the damaged offices in the Pentagon. It had to be low odor with zero toxicity so that the workers in other offices did not have to be moved.

“The University handed us, as a group, an empty paint can. Very seldom in life do you get the chance to do it your way.” Barnhill elaborated by saying that, “We were literally given an empty paint can with nothing but the criteria to make it a good, high performance paint and make it zero VOC...and then they stepped away. There were several of us from the paint industry that came and joined this company (Southern Diversified Products, LLC) simply because they gave us a chance to do it our way. This is what we made and we're very proud of it.”

When I asked Barnhill what the biggest hindrance the company had to overcome, insofar as the marketing and distribution of the Mythic Paint went, I was actually slightly surprised by the answer.

“I'll be honest with you...the one thing that we try to overcome is being 'environmentally friendly.' People have a tendency to group us into that green movement..and we're proud to be there, but we are really trying to sell the paint based on it's performance. If you were to touch it, feel it, work with it, it's as good if not better than any conventional product out there. It's a whole package and, by the way, it's also not going to harm you or the environment. It's not going to contribute to ozone depletion and smog and those sort of things.” It became clear what Barnhill was trying to say. He went on to explain that, “That is the hardest thing so far is being looked at as a good paint that happens to be environmentally friendly. So, that's the one thing we have to struggle with. We keep getting grouped into that category and listed as a 'niche' product. We want to be a great paint company, not just an environmental paint company.”

When you check out the performance stats and testimonials from professional painters to satisfied customers (the Minnesota Mayo Clinic and Habitat for Humanity being among them), you will see that the paint achieves high marks on all counts, rivaling the standard brands that usually take up the shelves of your local paint and hardware store. It also has the added benefit of being an environmental and health conscience product as well.

Barnhill said that Mythic Paint has found a wide distribution throughout the country, particularly on the East and West coasts, but I was curious if the paint was making inroads into the Midwest, specifically the Ohio market.

“Ohio is the cradle of paint.” Barnhill said, somewhat exasperated. “Historically, Ohio has been the paint capitol of the world. It's just been a tough nut to crack.”

One of the two Ohio distributors is located in Cincinnati, at a green general store called Park+Vine. The owner, Dan Korman, became aware of the Mythic paint brand through a magazine advertisement in 2008. I asked whether his store utilized Mythic for their interior painting.

“Well, we didn't know about the paint when we first opened, but have since had the whole store painted in Mythic Paint.” Korman confided that, “You know how they say it is low odor? I didn't notice an odor at all while it was being painted.”

Korman has been looking at the brisk sale of Mythic paint as an indicator that his shop, which carries a wide array of eco-friendly merchandise, might expand their line of home improvement products. Kroman said that people were willing to travel a more than just a small distance to purchase “green” products, specifically the Mythic Paints.

“It's been doing really well. We've had people come from Dayton to buy the paint and we even had one guy from Yellow Springs paint his whole house with it.” Korman continued by saying, “We've had a lot of repeat customers with the paint. Maybe they just started with painting a nursery, and then later on began using the paint in other rooms of the house.”

It's impossible to detail all of the benefits of the paint line in such a small article. Suffice to say that, even if you don't align yourself with the green or the environmental movements, we all know that every single thing that we do impacts our immediate surroundings, our own immediate and long term health as well as eventually having an impact on a much, much larger scale. For more information about Mythic Paint, you can visit them on the web at http://www.mythicpaint.com/. For more information on the products carried by Park+Vine, you can visit their website at http://www.parkandvine.com/ or call them at (513) 721-7275.

(This article appeared in the October 28, 2009 issue of the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

A SMAGmare of 6th St.

The SMAG Dance Collective Brings Fear To Its Feet

It is hard for one perceive how a haunting should come to be, especially when one sees, through the rippling glass of time, a vignette of the happiness that once resided in a structure that now only brings forth feelings of trepidation and terror. Yet this is how it all begins on October 23rd and 24th when the SMAG Dance Collective takes us into the maelstrom of musical mayhem, drawing us back to the beginning, to a time before fear enveloped this once happy home.
The Artistic Director for and founder of the SMAG Dance Collective spoke with me recently, giving me the feel of the production, but not wanting to give away any of the secret scares that await the unsuspecting audiences.

“It's all dance based and it's telling the story basically of a haunted house in a nightmare. The house becomes haunted because a painter (Michael Elsass) is painting a picture of his lover, which is this belly dancer named Deniz.” Groomes goes on to describe the scene; “So, Michael is painting her and her jealous husband comes in and catches them and he kills both of them, then kills himself and that leads to the house being abandoned.”

Years pass and the house which was once filled with light and love falls into disuse, becoming, with each passing day, a relic of its former self. It became an affected place, exuding an air of gloom and despair as the Victorian gingerbread rots taking on the appearance of ragged cobwebs and the cracked and dusky windows looked out onto the world with a coldly foreboding and menacing stare. A young group of artists happen along and one young man is struck by the structure, feeling that it is a most suitable subject for the macabre rendering he has in mind. He faithfully depicts the house, adding in the likenesses of those who inhabit our nightmares: zombies, vampires and werewolves. The painting becomes a visual embodiment of our fears, but it is only a still life...until it takes on a life of it's own.

With a cast of tragically broken characters to draw from, many stories will be told. From the bittersweet scenes of unrequited love to the gloom filled despair spawned by an unsympathetic world, SMAGmare takes an unconventional approach to the genre of horror. Even the venue that is being used, The Excelsior Building, is a fanciful facade that lends itself well to the shuddering scenes that the dancers portray. The musical selections are eclectic as well, ranging from classical to jazz to rap, with a little smattering of everything in between, yet always appropriate for the scene portrayed.

I recently spoke with Deniz (Denise Miller), Artistic Director for Sandstorm Productions, whose dancers play a large role in the SMAGmare. I wanted to know what her abstract perceptions and impressions of the production were.

“I would say that it is very different, almost avant garde. I think it is very dramatic and very Halloween-ish. It's a lot of fun, actually. I guess it could be scary...it depends on the feel of the evening.” Deniz went on to say that, “As you know, energy plays a big role in dance. Opening night it might feel this way and the second night, it might feel completely different. I think that that is partly the beauty of art is that you can never capture it.”

SMAGmare, which is sponsored by Wright and VanNoy LPA, Inc., will be performed October 23rd and 24th at The Excelsior Lofts, 207 E. 6th St., with the doors opening at 7:00pm and the performance beginning at 8:00pm. Tickets are $10 at the door with a wine tasting included with the price of admission. Special guests include the Middle Eastern dance company of Sandstorm as well as Mike Elsass of The Color of Energy Art Gallery.

(This story was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 10/21/09. This is the story as it was originally written.)

Lethal Injection Gets To The Point

A Short History Of Violence

To put into context the phrase “cruel and unusual punishment,” one has to have a point of reference to illustrate how we have “evolved” with our collective methods of killing each other. Although undocumented, I'm sure that when Grog stole Bam-Bam's horde of Mammoth Jerky, justice probably came sure and swift, probably in the form of a large igneous rock being bashed repeatedly against Grog's noggin until the spark of life fled, leaving the carcass of Grog lying in the dust of ages, only to be dug up and unceremoniously displayed in some crusty museum. Since then, humanity has endured being bludgeoned, hung, dismembered, lit on fire and thrown out of windows as forms of capital punishment. Even the Tibetan monks, abiding by their own code to not spill the blood of another human, took pains to figure out a method with which to dispatch the criminal element to anther plane of existence. They simply sew them up in a wet animal skin and, as it dries, the victim is crushed and/or asphyxiated. If you really look at the methods of capital punishment throughout the ages, a lethal injection is a virtual trip to the day spa compared to being rolled down a hill in a barrel with spikes nailed through it.

Which brings us to today's debate: is lethal injection to be viewed as cruel and unusual punishment? As you reflect on all the other barbaric methods of execution alluded to above, you will see a trend towards “civilizing” the death penalty with every encroaching age. By way of example, the guillotine was named after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French professor of anatomy, who was opposed to the death penalty, but saw that there needed to be a more humane way to dispatch those who had been deemed a menace to society. If we were debating the use of the guillotine now, not only would people decry the barbarity of the instrument as well as the practice, they would bemoan the fact that the victim would probably feel some form of separation anxiety when their head and their body parted ways. If the current trend of sterilizing the act of capital punishment continues, a prisoner will be laid out on a fluffy white bed of clouds and Julie Andrews will sing them lullabies until their head explodes into candy. I mean, we wouldn't want to treat a criminal as if he had done something wrong or anything.

Lethal injection was actually proposed way back in 1888 by New York doctor, Julius Mount Bleyer, as a more humane method of execution. The introduction of lethal injection as a method of accepted execution did not make it's formal appearance until 1977 when it was introduced and adopted by the Oklahoma legislature and was first used by Texas (go figure) on December 7th, 1982 to execute Charles Brooks, Jr., a convicted murderer. Since that time, it has been adopted by every state in the country as an almost exclusive method of execution.

Recently, however, the ACLU has come forward to block the use of lethal injection by citing that it was a form of “cruel and unusual punishment,” which has forced Governor Strickland to call for a moratorium on the State's slated executions until further investigations can be made. The investigation stems from the attempted execution of Rommel Broom in which the State failed to find a usable vein in which to introduce the lethal dose of thiopental sodium, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The damage to Broom's veins most probably was caused by his previous history of intravenous drug use. After the execution was halted, Broom's attorney, Adele Shank, visited Broom, stating that he was traumatized. "It really hurt him, I mean physically hurt him," she woefully told reporters.

The fact of why Broom has arrived at this moment in his life seems to be lost in the preordained agendas and righteous rhetoric of those who oppose the death penalty outright. On September 21st, 1984, fourteen year old Tryna Middleton was kidnapped, brutally raped, stabbed and her lifeless body left in an abandoned parking lot. Broom, who had been previously convicted of raping a twelve year old, was linked to the crime through eyewitness testimony of Tryna's two friends, who claim that Broom also tried to abduct them as well, and by the DNA evidence from Broom's semen found on Tryna's body. Broom's lawyers filed appeals on Broom's behalf, stating that East Cleveland police repressed evidence that could have changed the outcome of the trial, namely that Tryna and her friends had been drinking beer and smoking marijuana and had allegedly been promiscuous. Of course, had that evidence surfaced, we would have all unanimously concurred to turn Broom loose immediately, giving him the keys to the local Kinder Kare, warmly fuzzy in the knowledge that justice had been served.

While the lawyers wrangle with writs and appeals and the anti-death penalty protesters hold up signs lamenting the fact that Broom has suffered irreparable psychological harm, not to mention some rather nasty pin pricks, we all have to step back and place all the pieces into a complete contextual visualization. Is lethal injection cruel and unusual? As opposed to what? Being ripped away from your life, a life that was just beginning, and thrown into the abject fear of pain, facing your own mortality. The last moments of your life being held in the hands of a monster as he violates you in a frenzy of self-serving desire before letting the knife slip into your flesh as you beg for deliverance. If it was a choice between this and the “cruel and unusual” lethal injection, I'd gladly roll up my sleeve.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 10/14/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Cirque d'espoir

The ARC-Ohio Masquerage Creates A Circus Of Hope

The circus is coming to town, but, alas, for only one night. The wooden big top of the Roundhouse at Montgomery County fairgrounds will be filled with the decadently bass laden beats of the kaleidoscopic calliope, bringing the crowd to their feet and into the three rings to share in the hedonistic performance. Spotlights and laser will shine down from the creaking wooden rafters and across the well worn floorboards, playing through the fog and mist, making the air itself to appear as an indulgently swirling mass of cotton candy.

Masquerage is once again upon us. Created as a benefit for ARC Ohio (AIDS Resource Center Ohio), this year's big topped theme promises to be the penultimate party event on the Dayton scene. As it has been in years past, Masquerage will be a celebration of life, not only for the revelers in attendance, but for those who benefit from the generosity of the party goers. So, step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and be whisked away in wild wonderment as something wicked this way has come!

Those arriving early to the event will be greeted by the magic of Caleb Kenyon before entering the bewitching “big top.” Once inside, the floor will be a mix of other revelers in exotic costumes ranging from the garish to the grotesque. The Rev. Tommy Gunn will hold sway over the crowd with his darkly inspired Freakshow Deluxe, replete with Drea, the tattooed bearded lady and The Professor, the demonically diminutive articulator of the troupe.

Gunshot whip-cracks and the flash of soaring steel will draw your attention to the knife dance artistry of Jack Dagger as his sharpened blades come within scant centimeters of his beautiful assistant delicate flesh. Another glint of gleaming metal will catch the spotlight and you will find yourself being a witness to the death defying feats of Otto the Sword Swallower as he deftly avoids making a shish kabob out of his own spleen. There are other forms of sorcery at work here, as demonstrated by Zack Roybal with his melange of magical mayhem.

A sorcery of a more salacious nature will also be on display as the fringe of flesh filled fantasies bumps and grinds her way through the crowd in the form of La Cholita, the blonde bombshell of burlesque. In a starkly dark contrast to La Cholita, the Gothically garbed Morbid Sisters bring a bit of contortion and acrobatics into their performance, allowing the mind to wander down the dark rabbit hole of this acid-tinged Alice In Wonderland. The Rubi Girls fill out the vaudevillian ticket with their own unique conceptualization of the feminine mystique and what a drag it can be.

The midway abounds with games of chance, fortune tellers and sideshow sights. Eschewing kewpie dolls, one may choose to bid on one of the many gift baskets or gift certificates during the silent auction.The food is one other major draw, although it is not your normal midway fair. Delicacies are provided by some of the area's most notable eateries, such as The Barnsider, The Chimneys and Chef Matt Hayden, to name just a few. Masquerage will truly transform the Roundhouse into a three-ring feast for all your senses as well as being a Cirque d'espoir: a Circus of Hope.

There are far more allegories and allusions between the circus and ARC Ohio than there appears to be on the surface, although few may see the similarities between the two. It's not because it's a stretch of the imagination, it's just the simple fact that many are not privy to the inner workings of the circus. After the spectators have filed out, left with the warm memories of what they have witnessed, that's when the real work begins for those who are in the circus. After the sawdust has been swept up and the big top has been taken down, the circus folk tend to the most important function of their lives; taking care of each other. The circus tends to draw those who are, in one way or another, in need. The circus acts as a surrogate family and, in many cases, becomes the only family some of the workers have. The circus acts as a protector and provider, sheltering each other with the communal strength of the whole.

ARC-Ohio serves those in need as well. ARC-Ohio reaches out to those that may feel like their encumbrance may not be understood by others. Those that may not be psychologically, physically or financially capable of dealing with their position or the disease with which they've been stricken. There are also those that simply need to know that someone out there understands. ARC Ohio, in some instances, becomes a surrogate family, defending their clients from the misinformation and the myths that still plague this debilitating disease as well as acting as an advocate for AIDS awareness. ARC Ohio seeks to educate those in our community, not only about AIDS itself, but also the preventive measures needed to avoid contracting and/or transmitting this infectious affliction. With the recent budget cuts on a local, state and even national level, the money generated by the Masquerage is desperately needed now more than ever.

Masquerage will be held October 17th at The Roundhouse at the Montgomery Co. Fairgrounds. Doors open at 8:00pm and the event runs until 1:00am. General admission tickets run $50 and include a complimentary cocktail, food, dancing and entertainment. You can upgrade your experience to the Red Ribbon Lounge for $140 and share in the unique VIP treatment, complete with table service, the Biltmore Champagne Bar, hors d'oeuvres as well as the coveted swag bags that include chocolates, cosmetics, CDs and much more. Mask are required and can be purchased at the door with prices ranging from a few dollars to more expensive, one of a kind works of art. For more information or to purchase tickets online, go to http://www.masquerage.org/ or http://www.arcohio.org/.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 10/14/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Spirits And Spirituality

Theology On Tap To Host Coadjutor Archbishop Schnurr

During a recent conversation with the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Cincinnati Archdiocese, Dennis Schnurr, he made a rather apropos allusion that seemed to explain the possible purpose and intention of the theological discussion group, Theology on Tap. The Coadjutor Archbishop stated, “Christ commissioned his Apostles to be 'fisher's of men.'” Many would cast their nets in the wide open waters, hoping, through statistical probability, to catch a large number of fish at once. Still others may choose to angle in the rushing waters of a stream, knowing that the current will bring their quarry to them eventually. Still others may choose to seek those already seeking within the passive pools of the local watering hole.

Theology on Tap is a national organization that began in 1981 by Father John Cusick and Father Jack Wall in June 1981 in Arlington Heights, Illinois as an informal way to create a discussion group for young adults in a more relaxed setting: the neighborhood pub or sports bar. Since then, the idea has spread around the country and has succeed in bringing spiritual leaders and religious academics to those who thirst for spiritual knowledge and guidance. The Dayton chapter of Theology on Tap have found a home in the heart of the Oregon District at the Oregon Express. This years scheduled discussions began in September and run through the end of October, with discussions which have ranged from Fr. John Strode conversing about the life of a military chaplain and The Theology of the Body and You presented by Rachael Sacksteder. An evening of questions and answers with Coadjutor Archbishop Schnurr is slated for October 15th at 7:00pm.
During our conversation, I asked the Coadjutor Archbishop if he felt that creating a discussion group outside of the Church will open up dialogues that people may feel uncomfortable with in a more pious setting?

“They may be concerned that the priest isn't going to have time for them or that the priest isn't all that approachable, whereas it's all a matter of who's turf you're on.” He went on to say that, “If you have to go to the rectory and so on, that can be a little more intimidating, but if the priest is on your turf, in an area where you're familiar and you're comfortable, that creates a whole new dynamic.”

Did this also allow the Church to see the people in their everyday surroundings and be more in tune with their day to day needs?

“If I were just to stay inside the Church's walls, yes, but that's not my approach...”Archbishop Schnurr said, allowing that he did not live the cloistered and insular existence that some do. “I want to get to know the people and I want the people to get to know me. So, if I go out to the people and I meet them on their turf, I want them to be relaxed and then we can talk.”

If one were to look at recent polls concerning religion and spirituality, one would find that a large percentage of people describe themselves as being spiritually, while not aligning themselves with any one church or traditional dogma. Some of it may be explained by a disillusionment with formal religions or possibly the sheer number of religions available, merely overwhelming the seeker with a profound sense of indecision.

“People are looking for spirituality. The United States, despite what you hear about the United States becoming a very secular society, polls still show that it is probably the most religious country in the world, but I do think that there are a lot of people that know the importance of religion in their life, but they really don't know why and that's the difference between professing a religion and developing a spirituality.” Archbishop Schnurr went on to patiently explain that, “A spirituality is something far more personal rather than simply going through the motions of what a particular religion requires. Spirituality is something that goes deeper. It's a personal relationship between the individual and God and we all have that at the core of our being because we're created in the image and the likeness of God and that means at the very core of our being, there is that image and likeness of God and we're not totally aware of that, but it's there. St. Augustine said, 'My soul is restless until it rests in thee,' and that truly is where all of us are at and so people, consciously and subconsciously, are seeking what's there.”

Theology on Tap is held every Thursday evening at 7:00pm at the Oregon Express, 336 E. Fifth St. For more information about upcoming speakers or to get a feel for the group, check out their website at http://totdayton.wordpress.com.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 10/8/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Polishing The Gems

The Dayton Gems Bring AA+ Hockey To Hara Arena

Hara Arena seemed alive with an energy and a purpose that the building hadn't seen in quite some time. Maintenance workers were placing a fresh coat of white paint on all the railings as I walked into the frigid interior of the arena and between the arena's workers and the hockey playing, the building was a welter of noise and movement. The sound of steel blades cutting across the ice, punctuated by the quick and decisive strike of the stick meeting the puck, sending it caroming off the boards with a splintering thud. A large contingent of jerseyed men made their way around the floor in seemingly effortless circuits, running an endless array of practice drills. I watched as one player worked the puck along the ice, aiming for the longside of the goal with a quick slapshot. This split second event ended with the goaltender, butterflied and splayed...with the puck magically appearing in his gloved hand. As I walked between the rows, wending my way towards where the Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel, John Marks was seated, I was mesmerized by the brutal artistry displayed by the newly formed Dayton Gems as they practiced.

Marks' own on ice career spanned 657 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he distinguished himself with 117 goals and 172 assists (not to mention 1,291 penalty minutes) before he went into coaching. His coaching career has been just as impressive, taking several teams to the playoffs on fifteen separate occasions, winning three of them. As we spoke, Marks was idly aware of every movement on the ice, innately mindful of what he was witnessing, silently filing away various players strengths and weaknesses for later reference. Sitting next to him, I could just tell by following his eyes that he is still enthralled by the game.

“It's amazing to watch these guys, doing what they're doing; skating up to twenty-eight miles an hour, shooting a puck at ninety-five miles and hour and catching a pass.” Marks said, unprompted. “Hockey players are extremely skilled and gifted and they've got to be in unbelievable shape. They're unique athletes.”

One of the owners, Ryan Yerrick, sat in front of us, rapt within the movements of the practice. I asked him how he and his partner, Rich Bruner, came to own the Dayton Gems.

“Well, my partner (Rich Bruner) and I were season ticket holders at the Fort Wayne Komets. At a game in February, he leaned over to me during the second period and he said, 'What do you think about having our own hockey team?' We were a couple of beers in at that point, so I was like, 'Yeah, right!'” Most conversational musings like this would have ended there, but this turned into a quest, as Yerrick went on to describe the events that followed. “Rich spent the next two days calling all the different leagues, from the IHL to the ECHL to the AHL and even the Central Hockey Leagues, trying to figure out what it takes to get a team. Two days later I had an IHL handbook sitting on my desk and when Rich came into work that morning, I was like, 'Are you serious?' and he was like, 'Yeah!' so I said, 'Alright...let's do this!'”

“So, we called around, trying to find a couple of different markets that were without a team. Initially we wanted to go to Indianapolis to try and revive the Indianapolis Ice, but that market was tied up.” Yerrick then related that, “The next choice was to go out to Quad City because they had their American League hockey team that was leaving, so they were in need of a team.”

With the partners owning a small chain of restaurants in the Fort Wayne area, the six to seven hour drive to Quad City, which straddles the borders of Iowa and Illinois, would have been quite an arduous commute. Eventually, the answer as to where they could locate a team fell into their lap...literally.

“We were at the Komets game (and) we got a care package during the second intermission. It was a pizza box and on the front it said, 'Hara Arena' and we opened it up and on the inside, it had a picture of the arena from a 1994 Dayton Bomber game, a couple of ticket stubs and some T-shirts from Hara. There was a little card there from Karen Wampler, head of marketing and PR for Hara, and it said, 'It's always good to have options. Come on down to Dayton and see us.'”

Yerrick wrapped up his story by saying, “The next weekend, we loaded up the truck and came down here and we felt that it was a good fit and we let the folks know here at Hara that we felt that it was a great match between the two of us.”

The differences between league regulations and rules can be somewhat confusing and, to some, might not even be easily discernible.

“This league is a little different than what Daytonians are used to. They've been used to more of an East coast style of hockey for the last eighteen years. This league is kind of a developmental league. It's got some seasoned veterans out there and some local guys from their communities. It's a little bit of a rougher league. They let a few extra things go...there will probably be a few more fights (laughs). I think it's a lot more entertaining to watch.”Yerrick added that, “We're also in kind of a transition too because we are in the process of mimicking the NHL rules, so that way we'll be able to get some more developmental players into the league, so it should be a good mix of the veteran players and the developmental players.”

One of the players slated for the Gems roster is former Bombers defenseman, Joe Van Culin. He and his fiance had just purchased a house in Franklin when the news of the Bomber's demise was announced.

“Once the Bombers folded last year, Greg (Labenski) and I really weren't sure what we were doing.” Van Culin said, describing, with a sense of relief, what happened when the Gems approached him about playing, “We sat down and talked to them and it sounded like they were putting together a good thing here and I just wanted to be a part of it. I think that from the ownership down, they're doing the right thing here and they want to win, which is obviously a plus because we all want to win. I mean, we've got a bunch of guys here trying to make a team and hopefully we can put together something good.”

Labenski, Van Culin's former teammate with the Bombers and current teammate and tems captain with the Gems, echoed Van Culin's story about how he came to be signed by the Gems, adding that Hara Arena suited hockey far better than the Nutter Center did.

“It seems like it's a little more hockey friendly. There's a few little unique things like there being seats in the end zones, which you don't see very often.” Labenski explained that, “The seating is a little smaller so the fans can appreciate the game a little better and get involved a little more and it will be a lot louder when you get a few thousand people in here.”

Coach Marks elaborated on some of the advantages that Hara Arena possessed and how it created the close environment that brings the fans together with each other, as well as with the action on the ice.

“The building itself is capable of holding a tremendous atmosphere for hockey, where you're right on top of the game. I mean, the furthest rows are like seventeen rows back from the ice surface, so when we get three thousand people in here, it should be fun.” Marks added that, “The owners have a few things planned to keep the people entertained besides the hockey between periods. There's going to be four television screens attached to the scoreboards, you know, HD screens that will show replays and the game as it's going on so the fans won't miss anything.”

Before leaving the rink, there was one burning question that I had to ask Coach Marks: does anybody actually choose to be a goalie, or is it the position given to the person who drew the shortest straw?

“No, they choose...but you wonder what they were thinking.” Marks said, laughingly, but then quickly adds, “It's funny...the forward or defenseman can make a mistake and a lot of people don't notice it, unless you're a coach or you really, really understand the game...but if the goalie makes a mistake, they turn a red light on just to show everybody he made a mistake.”

Opening night is October 16th at Hara Arena, 1001 Shiloh Springs Rd., with the Gems vs the Fort Wayne Komets. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and the Hara Arena box office. To get the latest Gems news, to read the team's roster, to view photos of the team in action or about attending the Dayton Gems open practices, log on to their website at http://www.daytongems.com/.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 10/7/09. This si the article as it was originally written.)

Unity In Diversity

The nation of Indonesia, comprised of more than 17,000 islands, sprawls itself across the Indian Ocean like a bejeweled necklace. Some facets are elegant and refined, while others are more breathtakingly unpolished. With over five hundred ethnic groups and seven hundred and thirty-one languages spoken there, it is virtually impossible to completely capture the true essence of Indonesia in one singular event...but Middfest International Festival will give you more than just a taste of what life is like on this vast archipelago. Since 1981, Middfest International has been the premier festival in the area, bringing cultures from a different country to Middletown each year. From the food, history, customs, music and dance of the featured country (as well as other spotlighted foods, arts and music from other countries), Middfest is more than just a County fair...it is convergence of communities from around the globe.

The festival begins Friday, October 2nd, from 5:30 pm until 10 pm, then continues on Saturday, October 3rd, from 10am until 10pm, and then ends on Sunday, October 4th, from 12 noon until 8pm. The Indonesian finale and exhibits close at 6pm on Sunday. Admission is $5 for the whole weekend and children under twelve are free. For more information or for driving and parking directions, visit their website at http://www.middfestinternational.org/.

(This article originally published in The Dayton City Paper on 9/30/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

The Conjurations Of Copperfield

Whether he is floating through a solid piece of steel or transporting an audience member to the place of their dreams, Copperfield never fails to astound and overwhelm. His Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion is filled with the eclectic, jaw dropping and sometimes disconcerting conjurations that have made Copperfield's name synonymous with the art of illusion. Audiences hold their collective breath as Copperfield performs his brand of close up magic with a lethal black African scorpion and then they release it in a massive sigh of relief as thirteen audience members who were made to vanish earlier in the performance suddenly reappear to rejoin their families. If you missed it last year, make sure to attend this year's performance. Unlike most magicians, when one witnesses Copperfield in action, you give up all pretenses of trying to figure out how it's done. You just sit back and let the magic wash over you.

David Copperfield's Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion comes to the Schuster Center for two shows on October 4th at 5:30pm and 8:30pm. Tickets are available now at Ticket Center Stage (www.ticketcenterstage.com), or by calling (937) 228-3630. For more information, go online at www.victoriatheatre.com.

(This article originally appeared in the Dayton City Paper on 9/30/09. This is the articel as it was originally written.)

Challaback Girls

Gilly's Welcomes Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad

I knew that this interview was going to be different when I recently spoke with comedian Susannah Perlman about the new tour she was involved in. One of the first questions I asked pertained to one of their schticks involving Barbara Streisand.

“I mean, we have different send-ups of Barbara Streisand.” Perlman said, quickly outlining a portion of the act. “We now have this interesting thing that we do that only happens if we have unruly people in the audience. Like, when we were in Youngstown, we had a gentleman that talked all the way through the show, which was delightful, and we had this piece that we used to do and it's Barbara Streisand freaking out on someone in the audience...” Perlman's answer was interrupted by a flushing sound. “I'm sorry, I'm in a restroom. (laughing) You know, we're traveling.”

Usually I have to pay $1.99 a minute for this kind of phone action and that is the moment I realized that I wasn't dealing with just any old comedy troupe. This was not a group of bleach blonde, suburbanite Shiksa Chicks droning on and on about the horrors of taking their children to the Gymboree or regaling the audience with the soul wrenching details of their laughable sex lives. No, this was not the average grouping of gently gentile girls : these were Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad.

So as Perlman returned to the van and resumed with the rest of the group, wending their way through the wild hinterlands of the Hoosier State on their indirect route to Dayton, I asked her Perlman whether the show would go over the heads of those who are not Jewish.

“You do not have to be Jewish to enjoy the show.” Perlman said definitively. “We played Kentucky last night...well...Cincinnati...Cincitucky. I don't know what you would call that area, but there were people in the front row who were not Jewish, but definitely enjoyed the show. I think I would describe it more as an edgy, New York-esque thing, and anything that is not explained everyone will get eventually. You don't have to be Jewish to like the show and to take that thought even further, you don't even have to like Jews to like the show.”

To satiate my interest in other diverse cultures and backgrounds, I needed to know more about the burlesque portion of the show, specifically the Hasidic striptease I had read about in other reviews of the show.

“No, I would say that the burlesque is a very small part of the show.” Perlman stated simply, dashing my fantasies. She went on to explain that, “I come from more of a stand-up comedy background, so a lot of the show has a basis in stand-up comedy and it has this sort of variety aspect to it. We do have a burlesque number, but most of our dance numbers are full on dance numbers.”

Towards the end of our interview, I asked how they had decided on Dayton as a stop on their national tour.

“I was like, 'You know what? I'm just going to cast a net and see where the love is and we're going to go there.'” Perlman recalled, “So, Dayton, Ohio won!”

Take in the music, comedy and the heady burlesque of Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad at Gilly's, 132 S. Jefferson St., on September 11th at 8:00pm. Tickets are $12 in advance and can be purchased online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ or you can buy them at the door the day of the show for $15. For more information on the Nice Jewish Girls gone bad, visit their website at http://www.nicejewishgirlsgonebad.com/ .

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 9/9/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Come Out For The Queer Queens Of Qomedy

Three Headliners To Take the Stage At Wiley's

Coming off of a packed show at the legendary Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, VA, the Queer Queens of Qomedy Tour will roll on into Dayton on September 10th and run through until the 13th. There are three headlining comedians set to take the stage, all of which are veteran stand-up comics and all three have recent television specials under their belts. There has even been talk about making the Queer Queens of Qomedy itself into a network series, but it is still too early in the game to predict if and when such a comedy show will appear.

“We are creating a sizzle reel currently to pitch to networks.” Poppy said during a recent interview. “Hopefully I will have word by early 2010.”

While some people may be scared off by the moniker of “queer” being utilized so prominently in the title of the tour, Poppy wants to assure everyone that it is not strictly focused on gay or lesbian issues. In previous conversations that we have had, she told me how a lot of the comedians on the tour are mothers and/or have been “traditionally” married at one or another and speak on those experiences as well. As she put it in a message sent to the Dayton City Paper:

“It really isn't about being gay...it's about being human and laughing at the human condition unconditionally.”

When I asked her if having a show dedicated to a specific orientation is needed for those of that orientation to express themselves or if she thought that it could be viewed as perpetuating a division in of itself, she replied,

“It could be viewed as that, but we need it to be that way at first to be accepted as a viable show that is good enough that the straight world wants to enjoy it too.”

Joining Poppy on the Dayton stop on the tour are Mimi Gonzalez and Karen Williams, both seasoned comedians and both possessing their own clinically quirky sense of humor.

“I have performed with them individually and I love them and their comedy.” Poppy added that, “...this will be the first time we are all on one bill.”

Reflecting on last year's show at Wiley's, which was extremely well attended, Poppy said that, “They came from Cincinnati and Columbus and some traveled even further. Everybody loved the show last year and if Wiley's and Dayton is anything like the Birchmere...” Poppy trailed off, adding, “It grows bigger and bigger every year.”

The Queer Queens of Qomedy will be at Wiley's Comedy Niteclub, 101 Pine St., on Thursday, September 10th at 8:00pm for $10, Friday, September 11th at 9:00pm for $15, Saturday, September 12th at 8:00pm and 10:30pm for $20 and then Sunday, September 13th at 8:00pm for $10. For more information or to reserve a seat, call Wiley's at (937) 224-5653 or visit them online at wileyscomedyclub.com.

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 9/2/09. This is the artical as it was originally written.)

Where's The Music Mon?

Slated for August 30th, The 22nd Annual Michelob Dayton Reggae Festival will be held at the David Hall Plaza on Fourth and Jefferson St. in Downtown Dayton. There will be a diverse group of food and crafts vendors, but the real draw, as always, is the music. Local groups as well as regionally popular reggae bands will be featured, including the rock blend of the Andy Shaw Band, the ska and reggae beats of the Demolition Crew, the sonic sound of Rob Dread & KMA as well as the crowd favorite, Seefari.

Jamaica will be embodied in sound by Kentucky’s Dem Reggae Bon while the root style dance hall reggae will be represented by Groovemaster. The whole proceeding will be witnessed and testified to by WYSO’s Rev. Cool who will act as the event’s emcee for the day. The 22nd Annual Michelob Reggae Festival is part of the annual Downtown Summer Music Series presented by the City of Dayton Department of Recreation and Youth Services. Admission is free to this event.

The Original Napoleon Dynamite

Elvis Costello To Take The Stage At Fraze

“I will say it loud and plain

Welcome to the ‘Secret, Profane and Sugarcane’

And when the band begins to play

We hope you will be there”
Elvis Costello

During his vaudevillian-esque tour supporting the release of his album Blood and Chocolate in 1986, Elvis Costello adopted the persona of an emcee that he dubbed Napoleon Dynamite. The name had shown up before on the 1982 B-side single, Imperial Boredom, crediting the song to Napoleon Dynamite & The Royal Guard, but during the 1986 tour, Costello imbued the name with life: he became the character. Then again, it could be argued that the whole of Elvis Costello’s career is facets of his divergent personality being given a free reign, allowing them to spend themselves with a maniacally creative fervor.

Elvis Costello, the man, was born Declan Patrick MacManus on August of 1954, coinciding with the burgeoning birth of rock and roll itself. It almost seems from the outset of Costello’s career that he was purposefully creating a caricature from which to shield himself. At the behest of his first manager at Stiff Records, Jake Riviera, he changed his name, utilizing the first name of Elvis Presley, and then tacking on his paternal grandmother's maiden name of Costello to the end. His early gigs were enveloped in London pub rock landscape, which eschewed the corporate polish of the album oriented rock that dominated the mainstream scene at the time. This movement gave rise to the punk and New Wave crusade with Elvis Costello in the forefront, belting out his eclectic and sometimes incongruous lyrics, poised like a seemingly revolutionary version of Buddy Holly.

It cannot be said that Costello is hiding from the public eye, defending his fragile id and ego from the slings and arrows of a fickle public and an even more fickle publicity. He puts himself out there, time and time again, changing course in mid-stream, against the howls of preconceived criticisms that spill out from the mouths of those in the know…and yet, in the end, Costello succeeds in dashing those preconceptions. Perhaps that is why he hides. To allow himself...the real man...to run interference as his impish impulses create an hour of magic or as they symphonize a snippet of a universal truth.

His genre blurring albums are a testament to his ability to trust in himself rather than what is in vogue. From being associated with the punk and New Wave movement in it’s formative years, Costello pursued his own inner purposes, finding an unintended popularity while the “music of the future” fell by the wayside. Since that time, Costello has tested the boundaries of his music, creating country compilations before quickly coupling with the Brodsky Quartet to produce a critically acclaimed collaboration of classical music for The Juliet Letters and then returning to his rock roots with his band, The Attractions. His music runs the gamut, never allowing itself to become pigeonholed into one classification or another.

Album after album succeed even when they are not immediately understood. Like Bob Dylan, Costello is a wordsmith first and foremost, dubbing himself, ‘rock and roll’s Scrabble champion.’ His words run the gamut, from close, autobiographical concepts, such as Veronica, to light hearted journeys as seen through the eyes of another, like the character portrayed in Sulphur to Sugarcane from Costello’s most recent effort, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane.

It is obvious from the long enduring career and the wildly calculated forays into the unexpected that Elvis Costello is a patiently impulsive man, acting on a sense of what is right within him and for him rather than what would be the path of least resistance for mainstream acceptance. With his new album, Costello and producer T Bone Burnett delve into the slower moving waters of bluegrass and acoustic folk. Although Costello has waded through these waters before, it is not the complete immersion into the genre like we have seen before with his collaboration with Allen Toussaint on The River in Reverse. Instead, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane is more of an acceptance of individual songs on their own merits. I Dreamed of My Old Lover plays out under the more flowing structure of the rock ballad while the cadence of the waltz can be heard within I Felt the Chill, a composition co-written with Lorretta Lynn.

Elvis Costello will be appearing at the Fraze with the Sugarcanes, who are phenomenal musicians in their own right. The concert takes place on August 27th at 8:00pm and tickets range from $50 for orchestra seating and $30 for lawn and terrace. To order tickets, visit the Fraze’s website at www.fraze.com or call (937) 296-3300 for more information.

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/26/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Lay Your Burden Down, Pick Your Spirits Up

Buckwheat Zydeco Brings The Heat To Gilly's

In 1957, the darkened wings of the Jazz Room in Lafayette, Louisiana provided ample cover for a young nine year old boy named Joe Dural, Jr. to quietly savour his dream of music. The spotlit reflection of his idol, Fats Domino, shone within the youth's eyes as the music and the crowds applause cascaded over his ears. This was the kind of music that young Joe yearned for, not the thick Creole tongued, old-time zydeco music that his father played. Time and fate would light the path that would lead young Joe right back to his own roots.

Born Stanley Joseph Dural Jr., he quickly picked up the nickname of Buckwheat from his friend, Eddie Taylor, because of the way Joe's hair resembled that of the Little Rascals character. He grew up in the Truman Addition of Lafayette, Louisiana with his eleven siblings, his mother and his father. His father, Stanley, Sr., played accordion in the style of the black, French speaking Creoles of Southwestern Louisiana. Back then, it didn't even have an “official” name...it was just music. Music sung in Creole French and hung on melodies created with the accordion and rhythms produced by running riffs over a washboard with beer bottle openers or spoons. It was a simple type of music on the face of it, but it was a complex jambalaya of influences, drawing from the Afro-Caribbean beats, rock, soul, country and the French-rooted, white Cajun sound. It was a form of music intended for family entertainment or maybe a social gathering, but it wasn't anything to be played in the clubs and juke joints that were the popular musical stops of the era. Against his father's wishes (and even demands), Buckwheat wanted no part of it.

His father's abhorrence of the the contemporary music that Buckwheat so loved did little to deter the youth from pursuing the popular music at every turn. Even when his father forbade him from playing music for a whole year, Buckwheat, aided by friends, still sneaked into the local clubs to play on stage with the popular R&B acts of the day.

Eventually, Buckwheat began playing keyboard in local bands, such as Sammy and the Untouchables and Little Buck and The Top Cats and, as a result, he played behind some of the most notable R&B and soul acts that ran up and down the Gulf Coast, such as Barbara Lynn, Joe Tex, and Bobby Bland. In 1971, Buckwheat formed his own band: Buckwheat and the Hitchhikers. Three female singers, two male singers, a five piece horn section and Buckwheat's thumping B-3 Hammond organ comprised this powerful ensemble...as well as incorporating way too many egos that wished to share a fairly finite amount of the spotlight.

Even after Buckwheat's more than moderate success within the music industry, his father still looked down upon popular music and urged Buckwheat to at least go and see his friend, the master and creator of modern zydeco, Clifton Chenier perform live. Buckwheat did, but with reservations. The night was an eye opening experience for Buckwheat as he was amazed at the sound and styles that Chenier coaxed from the accordion, even drawing out blues riffs from the thirty-seven pound instrument. By the end of the night. Buckwheat was a convert, wrapping up Chenier's set up on stage playing keyboards behind the zydeco master. The rest, as they say, is history.

After disbanding the Hitchhikers in 1976, Buckwheat went into a year long crash course in accordion playing, mastering the instrument quite adeptly. At the same time, he taught himself how to sing, which was no small feat when you take into account his considerable problem with stuttering. His rapid fire speech patterns had long become Buckwheat's signature on stage, but he was amazed to find that the more he sang, the less he stuttered, almost curing the impediment completely.

In 1979, twenty years ago, Buckwheat felt that he was ready. He formed a band whose name is derived from the French phrase used at the beginning of each horse race at Lafayette’s Evangeline Downs that translates into “they're off”: Ils Sont Partis. Buckwheat Zydeco and the Ils Sont Partis Band were well received immediately and in 1984, after recording their aptly titled record, Turning Point, the band's career began it's steady climb. Since that time, Buckwheat Zydeco has opened for such acts as Eric Clapton, U2, Robert Cray and Los Lobos, has had his music featured on films like The Waterboy, Little Buddha, Fletch Lives and The Big Easy. His music has been performed for a president and had his music heard during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Not too bad for someone who spent a goodly portion of his life running from his destiny.

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/19/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

You Can't Tame Her Animal Style

Patty Smyth And Scandal Take The Stage At Fraze

Rock and roll seems to be etched into the genes of Patty Smyth during what she describes as a “completely bohemian upbringing.” Her mother ran away to join the circus, hanging from her teeth as a trapeze artist. Later, she managed or owned a string of infamous rock and roll venues in the Greenwich Village area of New York. Clubs like The Gaslight, Café Wha? and the Zig Zag became the familiar haunts of the youthful Smyth, always with the burgeoning sounds of feedback laden rock and rol playing in the background.

At the age of fifteen, Smyth was honing her musical chops at Catch A Rising Star, playing musical interludes in between the sets of barely known comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, Larry David and Chris Rock. The money she made from these gigs barely paid for her transportation to and from the club, so she picked up a job at a steakhouse to bring in a little more cash. It was there that serendipity, luck and fate fell together and she met Zack Smith who asked Smyth if she would join a band he was forming called Scandal.

1982 saw the release of Scandal's self titled debut EP which spawned the hits Goodbye To You, Love's Got A Line On You and Win Some, Lose Some. The album went on to become Columbia's most successful EP and the video for Goodbye To You was one of MTV's most featured videos, creating a legion of fans as well as several headaches and some nausea due to its wildly chromatic 80's style “special effects.” It might also be argued that Goodbye To You was one of the most requested songs by teenage girls breaking up with their boyfriends, although any data that might be garnered on this subject would have to be viewed with some amount of trepidation as being wildly inaccurate.

After many missed phone calls on both our parts and a flurry of emails trying to nail down the ambiguities of the North American Time Zones, I was finally able to interview Smyth as she was taking care of business out in L.A. She informed me that she looked like a pirate due to the fact that she was wearing an eye patch because her eye had been scratched by a “shitty brand of contacts” and this reminded me of one of my favorite aspects of Petty Smyth: her down to Earth, florid use of profanity. Being married to John McEnroe and having six children, this might almost be considered a self-preservation skill.

We began our conversation on one of Smyth's favorite topics: the music industry. More specifically, the music industry today as compared to that of the eighties, with the focus on the current use of the studio tools to enhance the quality of the songs being produced.

“In the beginning, everyone was really down on Pro Tools because you kind of really enable people who really didn't have any talent, like, you didn't have to sing in tune, you didn't have to sing in time...you didn't have to do anything.” Smyth went on to say, “I mean, you could have a hit record and sound really good, so that did a lot of good because you didn't have to play guitar...they could mix anything up. It was kind of considered to be the demise of the musician.”

“What it spawned, interestingly enough, are all these kids who basically never actually have practiced singing or played instruments, because no one has any attention span nowadays and they're all into their computers.” “What it's enabled these kids to do is to make music on the computer and really kind of interesting music like it may be a little bit more funky or a backwards beat or they're recording sounds and then using those as an instrument. It kind of got wild and quirky. So, there's some good and bad. I just feel like there's those people that slip by and it's like pure tenacity and it has nothing to do with talent. There's not a fricking ounce of talent in the person. It's just sheer force of will that they're going to make it and they're going to have hit records. There's something about that that you have to respect too. It's a force of nature. They're forcing you to know their name, even though you don't want to know their songs.”

So as not to give the reader the impression that Smyth is anti-technology or lost in the eighties, she admits her fondness for certain aspects of the web, but also cautions against the abuses that can arise from it.

“Yeah! It's fun!It's kind of cool that people have a forum but the other thing is that you can download those things for free, so these people don't make any money, so on and on this thing goes in a circle, but you know, that circle started at least fifteen years ago and the record companies just completely ignored it. They thought that they were going to be able to...” after a long pause, Smyth had to admit, “I don't know what they thought.”

Self promotion, contacts and networking have always been a rabidly competitive feature of the music industry. In abit of subtle irony, it was an emerging technology that brought Patty Smyth and Scandal to the attention of the nation; MTV. But even this has radically changed over the years, becoming unrecognizable from its earliest incarnation, its former self, non-existent.

“Not only does it not exist, it's become a hideous thing that I don't want my children to watch. It's gotten so bad that, in my mind, it's worse than Jerry Springer.” Smyth then conceded, “But, if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't have played me on the radio.”

I brought up another current promotional tool of the music industry: American Idol. I asked Smyth what would happen if to an unknown Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan or Janis Joplin appeared on American Idol. What would happen when they did not sing according to the predetermined cookie cutter brand of popular music?

“They'd be screwed. They'd be screwed in that aspect.” Then the topic turned to what would happen if she was coming up the ranks in the American Idol era. “If I were who I was back then, I wouldn't have gone on American Idol. It goes against everything I thought what music was about. Then again, if this was the music industry back then, maybe I would have. I could have been kicked off really early. You just don't know.”

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/19/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Hang Ten At Twelve

Surf Ohio And The Fraternal Order Of Maoi Throw A Festski

Surf Ohio is co-sponsoring an event with The Fraternal Order of Moai on Saturday, August 15th at the Carillon Park from noon until 11:00pm. The tiki themed festival will include Polynesian inspired food and drinks, tiki carvers, music, activities as well as a cruise in. One of the “not to miss” features of this festival is the 8 ton sand sculpture created by the Sand Sculpture Company of Chicago. Children can participate by creating their own sand castles and other festival goers may want to give the surfboard simulator a try.

The acts slated include the surf rock and exotica band from Chicago, the Cocktail Preachers, the Nick Kizirnis Band from Dayton and Go! Tsunami from Springfield, IL. Soul Fire Tribe will ignite the night with the traditional lighting of the tiki torches and then perform their awe inspiring signature fire dancing. Hula dancing and Hawiiaan music will be provided by the Harmony Islanders with Leilani while Pan Harmony brings the sound of the islands with their steel drum ensemble.

“The Festiki experience was created to offer everyone a much needed ‘staycation alternative’ – an escape to the tropical life, right here in Ohio,” said Ron Kaplan, founder of Surf Ohio. “For over thirty years, people of all ages have enjoyed the fun-in-the-sun state of mind symbolized by Surf Ohio, and Festiki will bring that attitude to life.”

Admission will be $10 per adult, $5 per student (ages 10-17) and children 9 and under free. Free parking will also be made available. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit organization whose efforts go towards the environmental protection and enhancement of the world's beaches.

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/12/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Silver Screen Dreams Against A Twilit Sky

Memories Of The Drive-Ins

The seemingly amplified sound of gravel crunching under slowly rolling car tires as moths and gnats flit through the shimmering, flickering stream of light issuing from the projector from the cinderblock building in the middle of the drive-in. Every once in a while, some brilliant child would run past that flickering light, reaching up into it to make some random shadow on the screen or, if they were especially precocious, an obscene gesture. Having the dancing popcorn and candy appear on screen and knowing that this was that magical time to go into the light, to retrieve a soft drink and a tub of hot buttered popcorn from the snack bar, making it back to your car just in time for the second feature to begin. The heat from the popcorn steaming up your window, wishing that you were old enough to have your windows steamed up from the same thing that was causing the windows of that Mustang next to you to steam up. Bleary eyed, you barely make it through the second feature, Godzilla vs. Mothra, as your parents start up the car and the other patrons honk their applause. Everyone who has ever been to a drive-in has their own special memories. As I spoke to Phillip Chakeres, owner of Chakeres' Theatres, Inc., I found that the memories of the drive-in are very pervasive indeed.

“You probably remember that Smithfield Barbecue commercial with the kid with the crew haircut and the father yells, 'Yahoo!'", Chakeres said suddenly. “Do you remember that?”
I didn't remember it until the moment that he mentioned it. The father yells 'Yahoo!' and everyone in the drive-in leans out their window and yells back at the screen, 'Yahoo!' This kind of epitomizes my feelings about drive-ins. With indoor theaters, even though your sitting right next to someone, there is an anonymous distance to it. With the drive-in, there was a sense of shared community. You could get into a conversation with someone sitting in their lawn chairs next to you during the movie and you weren't pelted with a barrage of ju-ju bees like you would be in an indoor theater.

My mom and I were drive-in aficionados for quite some time, taking in all of the horrible horror movies and sci-fi monster mashes that Hollywood moshed together. We would go to the dusk to dawn showings of Don't Look In The Basement, Don't Look In The Attic, For God's Sake, Just Don't Look Anywhere...it was a good childhood and goes a long way in explaining my current neurosis.

“We used to do that stuff and we would give away Dracula Cocktail, which was just Cream Soda and then when the movie was over, during the dusk to dawn shows, we'd give out coffee and donuts at dawn. There were some times when we ran dusk to dawn shows where the sun would start rising and the credits were still on the screen.” Chakeres ended wistfully, “Those were the good old days.”

The thing about drive-ins is that they provide a dual escapism. You find yourself enmeshed in a sub-culture of Americana all the while being taken on a journey by whatever film you're watching.

“Right! Exactly!” Chakeres emphatically agreed. “The drive-in is that perfect escape...you're absolutely correct. Well, to me, you go back in time just by being there and at the same time, you're there watching a movie and that's taking you away to somewhere else.”

Being a topic that I find endlessly fascinating, I would like to here from our readers concerning their own memories about the drive-ins. You can email me at TheStorm1966@hotmail.com with your comments and recollections and before drive-ins become only a memory for all of us, by all means go out this weekend and see a movie under the stars.

(This article was published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/12/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

The Right Place, The Wright Stop

RTA To Unveil The Wright Stop Plaza Transit Center

Standing within the steel arched center of the newly constructed Wright Stop Plaza transit center, my memory recalled what once stood there as my eyes took in the revitalized scene of what has now been constructed. The Admiral Benbow Hotel had once stood at the eastern end of the plaza where landscapers were now planting begonias and coleus into giant planters, adding a final organic touch. The demolition of the vacant thirteen story shell of the hotel opened up the old Market St., which now will allow the buses to be routed through from Main St. onto Jefferson. Walking along the pavers, I stepped over the granite curb as another maintenance worker sprayed down a section of the plaza, sluicing away the last dusty remnants of an arduous construction project. I looked up, tracing the labyrinthine wires that wended their way along the terminal, intersecting every now and again with European designed switching devices.

I walked past the empty, glass faced kiosks, which would soon have state of the art, integrated screens which would display all the current schedule information, as well as a scrolling LED display located below it. There were large, easily accessible panels here and there with information in Braille to aid those with visual impairments, enabling them to navigate the terminal safely and identify their bus stop. As I entered the newly constructed indoor waiting room, I wondered what the most exciting thing was, for the people involved, in seeing the finished project.

“For me,” said John Thomas, Chief Maintenance Officer for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (GDRTA), “The most exciting thing for me happened at ten o'clock this morning when we had the buses go through. We had a test run with both diesels and trolleys, and to see them all go through and that trolleys go through and do what we wanted it to do and say, 'Yeah! We were right! We got the design right and it's going to work.' That was probably the most exciting thing.”
Sharon Balderson, Communications Coordinator for GDRTA said, “I'm actually surprised, after hearing, 'It's going to be this. It's going to be that' and then actually seeing it. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. I think it's going to be really good for customers.”

“The most exciting part?” Mark Donaghy Executive Director of GDRTA asked. “It's tough to me to narrow it down to one thing. For me personally, and I'm a bus rider, it's the improvement in the amenities for the customer. It's so much better from the customer's perspective. For public transportation, as a part of the Dayton infrastructure, it now has a permanent home in the heart of the central business district, so we can service the needs of the businesses downtown. For me, this is a great, great project for the community and for us, certainly and we're thrilled about it.”

Was the biggest impetus for the project to enable RTA to bring everything in house?

“Absolutely! There were a couple of things. First and foremost to me is to improve service to our customers, and that's not something that you will always hear from others in the public, but for me, that was critical.” said Mark Donaghy. “My primary objective was to create a transit center that improves service for my customers so if they get off a bus and they happen to have to transfer, they're never outside of a roof. They're always covered from the elements. When you get down there, you'll see it. There's even heat in some areas for the winter. There's a very nice, new, larger indoor waiting area for people who have a time to wait for the buses.”

“Second, improving operationally by getting the buses off the street and onto the private property. It's going to improve traffic flow in the area for both our buses and the automobiles. You'll see a much improved situation at this intersection once the center's open and once Main Street's open again. If you go back a few years, there were times that we had up to thirty buses in that intersection. Very difficult for the motorist that needs to get around those buses.” Donaghy even acknowledged being delayed by his own buses, “It even happened to me. When you come up and try to make that turn...that's when the bus leaves. So, all those conflicts will be gone.”

Probably one of the biggest concerns of the public, as well as the most visible depreciation of RTA's image, is the large throngs of people congregated at the corner of Third and Main, some of them waiting for the buses, others preying on those waiting for the buses. Would the new terminal address some of the safety concerns associated with the stops at Third and Main?

“All of it.” stated Donaghy emphatically. “That's my position and we will address any remaining concerns. The issues at Third and Main that the public generally thinks of, or the perceptions of problems with safety and unruly crowds. I refer to the transit center as kind of the final piece of the puzzle quite often. The final investment is the transit center, to actually take our customers who use our service and move them off the street and off of the sidewalk and move them into a safe and protected environment that's all on property that we own.”

With such an extravagant outlay of funds to construct the plaza, there are customers and citizens who question whether or not it was such a wise investment considering that RTA has recently cut some stops and even whole routes from their schedule. I asked Mr. Donaghy if the money was earmarked specifically for structural improvements or construction.

“Most of it was.” Donaghy stated. “In fact, almost all of it was...primarily by Senator Voinovich and some also by Congressman Turner. So, yes, the money was earmarked a long time ago and they are funds that can only be used for capital purposes. The decision to move forward with the transit center was made in 2006 and then capital funds were set aside for that then. We've had some comments about 'shiny green buses and a new transit center and they're cutting services,' but we're taking advantage of capital funds that are available that can't be used for anything else. There is nothing that we could have done in terms of the transit center construction that would have altered the service routes any different.”

Addressing the reduction in some stops, Donaghy explained that, “We did a bus stop spacing analysis and we're trying to get to the point where there's about two blocks between bus stops, so what you'll see, with the new set up with the materials you have there, there's about two blocks spacing and that helps as well. It helps us move a little faster as a business and maybe some choice riders in the past thought that it takes too long to ride the bus, they'll see that it's a much more efficient trip as well.”

Donaghy did add that the new plaza has enabled RTA to bring back something that was done away with some years ago...

“We're going to bring back something that the customers really liked that we did away with in 2007. We call them 'line-ups.' We're going to have a six-thirty line up again in the transit center. We haven't had that since 2007, so people are really going to be happy. We made some adjustments in the timing of the routes, for the line-ups basically, so the schedules are hopefully going to be better in terms of the 'on time' performance.”

With an average day bringing fifteen-hundred buses through the plaza, RTA seems to have been able to bring together two rather elusive elements: elegance and efficiency. While the Wright Stop Plaza is a rather large terminal, the design elements gives one the perception of a smaller, less congested area. While standing on one end of the plaza, the staggered layout breaks up the linear flow of the whole area, creating a more comfortable, less intimidating experience.

While the Wright Stop Plaza transit center officially opens on August the 16th, the 'official' ribbon cutting ceremony inexplicably occurs on August 24th. During the official opening day, RTA employees will be out in force to help customers familiarize themselves with the layout of the new terminal and its many amenities. For more information, you can visit them on the web at http://www.greaterdaytonrta.org/.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/12/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Peace, Love, Music...No Mud

Trolleystock Provides Ten Hours Of Peace And Music

In much the same way that its inspirational namesake originated forty years ago,Trolleystock began as a thought blowing in the wind. What is now a event touted as “ten hours of peace and music” set to begin at noon on August 9th began with connection spawned by words which sparked a simple idea. Robin Sassenberg, owner of the Trolley Stop, described the scene to me during a recent phone interview.

“My husband, Chris, was out on the patio and he started talking to one of the customers out there. It turns out the customer works for the Peace Museum and they started talking about different ways to raise money for and so this benefit came about.”

I was able to catch up with the customer in question, Wayne Wlodarski, secretary of the Board for the Peace Museum, and he filled in the details of that first conversation.

“A mutual friend and I met up at the Trolley Stop and he introduced me to Chris and we started talking about the Peace Museum. Chris' eyes kind of lit up and he said, 'You know what? We could do a benefit for that!' I said, 'What?' and he said, 'Sure! We could raise money for the Peace Museum!' and from that point on...” Wayne let the sentence drift off, indicating how the project had attained a life of its own. “It's been instituted and the energy has been provided by a small group of people, but mainly Chris and Robin have just caught fire with this. I've just been so impressed and indebted to their work.”

I asked Robin how the line up was developed. I wondered if the bands were associated with the Trolley Stop, the Peace Museum or if they volunteered independently due to the nature of the project.

“I asked Joe Anderl and the Elderly Brothers to perform because they've always been good to us and we count on them a lot and we know that they are really good draws. Then Four Nice Guys are associated with the Peace Museum and the woman that's performing with them...Oh gosh...” Robin said, trying to keep track of all the bands, events and guests slated for the day. “Oh! We'll have a cornhole game, a 60's costume contest and the place will be decorated in a '60s style. We'll have a few beer specials and I've got a piñata just in case any kids show up. The Peace Museum volunteers are going to be cooking up some cook-out food and that will be another way to help them raise money.”

The roster of entertainment is very eclectic, yet tied together through a common purpose. Along with Joe Anderl, the Elderly Brothers and Four Nice Guys, the day will include performances by Jesse Stern-Enzi, Eric Loy, Rev Dave and the Low Down Rounders. Additional entertainment will be provided, including a belly dancer named Bronwen, whom Wldoarski commented (in a manner almost insuring his position on the couch for at least several days), “I haven't seen the belly dancer before...looking forward to that!” Though not as limber as Bronwen, but almost as sexy, Rob Haney, owner of Wiley's Comedy Niteclub, will take the stage for a little comic relief.

The Trolley Stop is celebrating August as Peace month and will contribute all proceeds from the door to the Peace Museum for the entire month. Trolleystock will be held on August 9th from noon until 10:00pm. Tickets are $10 per person with all proceeds going to the Peace Museum.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 8/5/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Don't Fear The Emotions In Motion

Billy Squire And Blue Öyster Cult To Play The Fraze

When the strange symbols began to appear across the land, scrawled onto teenager's notebooks, inked into their jeans and found spray painted on various walls, there were probably more than a few parents, authorities and other upstanding citizens that viewed them with some trepidation and perhaps a little fear. From the almost occult looking hook and cross design to the cryptic acronym B.O.C., there was little that those unfamiliar to the heavy metal culture could do but scratch their heads and look on in consternation. Even when the proper name was spelled out for them, it did little to allay their fears: Blue Öyster Cult.

The phenomenon of Blue Öyster Cult is steeped in a layered mythology that can be found in the inspirational depths of their songs as well as the associative art depicted on their album covers. When the group originally formed in 1967 as Soft White Underbelly (a phrase taken from Winston Churchill as a description of WWII era Italy), it was an inauspicious beginning. Signed to Elektra, the band recorded an album's worth of music that was shelved by the studio in 1969. Changing their name to Oaxaca, they recorded yet another album that was met with tepid reviews, revealing only one single, What Is Quicksand?, that was only released in the form of three-hundred promotional singles.

In 1971, after going through several more monikers, the band settled on the name Blue Öyster Cult. Evoking a symbolic association with the occult itself, the explanation of the name went further in building a more mysterious background for the band. The name came from a line of poetry written by their manager, Sandy Perlman. The poems themselves went on to form the basis for Blue Öyster Cult's 1988 album, Imaginos. Pearlman's poetry, as a whole, describes a race of aliens, called the Blue Öyster Cult, that secretly run the world.

The group picked up momentum, releasing the album Secret Treaties and Agents Of Fortune in 1975, which contained the archetypal opus (Don't Fear) The Reaper. In 1981, the tribal drums and keening guitar of their song Veteran Of The Psychic War open up one of the vignettes in the animated movie Heavy Metal and the song (Don't Fear) The Reaper has been heard on a myriad of soundtracks, including Halloween and The Executioner's Song as well as many television shows.

While Blue Öyster Cult's lyrics have been influenced by some very unlikely sources (Patti Smith and Jim Carroll being among them), one can easily see the way in which they have influenced other heavy metal groups as well as those outside of the heavy metal genre, like the Goo Goo Dolls, Wilco and Belladonna. We also have to give them credit for utilizing the umlaut, thereby making it du rigeur for all heavy metal groups to use it liberally in their logos.

Billy Squire, eighties arena rock royalty, began his career with a series of different groups and name changes before finding success, not unlike Blue Öyster Cult. Squire made his debut performance at the Psychedelic Supermarket in 1968 with a band called Magic Terry and the Universe. He then went on to play with The Sidewinders before leaving to form his own group: Piper. Piper was managed by the same management as KISS, so the inevitable tour together gave Squire the right amount of publicity, making Piper's two albums very successful within certain circles.

Squire soon disbanded the group, bent on working up his solo career and was quickly signed to Capitol Records. His first solo album, Tale Of The Tape, received good reviews and the single You Should Be High Love managed to get quite a bit of airplay due to its fusion of rock and pop. Squire had hit upon the right fusion of sounds whose crossover appeal would quickly catapult him into stardom. Squire approached Brian May of Queen fame to produce his second album. Unable to oblige due to scheduling conflicts, May referred Squire to Reinhold Mack, who had produced Queen's The Game album. What was created was the Don't Say No album, which held onto the Billboard album charts for two years and sold over 4 Million copies in the US alone and whose single, The Stroke, still receives airplay to this very day.

Squire followed up this success with an almost equally successful third album entitled Emotions In Motion, which held the singles Everybody Wants You as well as the title track, Emotions In Motion, which featured Freddie Mercury of Queen on backing vocals. Two years later, Squire released the follow up album, Signs Of Life. The first single off the new album, Rock Me Tonight, reached #15 on Billboard's Hot 100 as well as #1 on the Album Rock Track chart...but there was a problem.

The problem wasn't with the song itself. The problem was with the video was directed by Kenny Ortega, who directed Xanadu and High School Musical, and has frequently been trotted out over the years as an example of one of the worst music videos ever made. The video depicts Squire prancing and dancing about a bedroom in a pink tank top, which, in of itself, is not horrific, but, to the fans, seemed a bit of a mixed message. Squire himself has often commented that the release of the Rock Me Tonight video was the death knell of his career and that he was “derided” by the fans who felt disillusioned by the image portrayed in the video, which went against everything that they believed he was: a guitar God. Two good lessons can be learned from this video, one of which is that if you can't dance, don't propagate the stereotype that white men can't dance by filming yourself doing the Carlton. Secondly, if you a want a manly-man, heavy metal video, for God's sake, don't hire the guy who directed Xanadu to shoot it!

In recent years, Squire has performed an acoustic set at New York's BB King's as well as joining various artists to tour with Ringo Starr and his All Starr Bands in 2006 and 2008, on stop of which was at the Fraze Pavilion last year. While one of Squire's hobbies is rock climbing, he is still showing that he has the ability to scale the ever changing landscape of rock music. He has recently embarked on a solo tour with Nir Z (drums), Marc Copely (guitar), Mark Clarke (bass) and Alan St. Jon (keyboards) and will be appearing at the Fraze to bring us a show that we won't say no to.

Billy Squire and Blue Öyster Cult will be appearing at the Fraze Pavilion Friday July 31st at 8:00pm. Tickets are $25 for the lawn and terrace and $40 for the orchestra area. For more information or to order your tickets, call (937) 296-3300 or go online at http://www.fraze.com/ .

(This article was originally published on 7/29/09 in the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Swift As A Shadow, Short As Any Dream

Zoot Theatre Company To Perform A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Zoot Theatre Company began as an idea within the mind of the troupe's current artistic director, Tristan Cupp, and was to be used as a vehicle for a large group of local artists. Their first performance was at Middletown's Art Attack in 2007 and the subject was the haunting story of Edgar Allen Poe's last days entitled Nevermore. Cupp utilized masks within the performance, which became characters in their own right, ably conveying the dark mood of the story. For the group's second outing, they were asked to perform alongside the local band Sleepybird at the Goloka Gallery's benefit for Stivers School for the Arts. Cupp, noting that no one seemed to be applying masks and puppetry within the theater on a local level, amped up the costumes and the artistic creations for this performance, imbuing it with a texture and feel that fell somewhere in between The Dark Crystal and some of Tim Burton's less nightmarish dreams.

“From there projects and groups have just appeared at the perfect time. Very creative people have stepped in to help us out and organizing into a company seemed like the right thing to do. No one else is doing anything like this in the area.” said Aaron Vega, a member of the Zoot Theatre Company said during a recent interview. “It’s been a fun time working with different groups in different areas of art. It helps keep us fresh and interesting.”

One of the things I wondered was whether the stories were chosen first and the costumes adapted from the written word or whether they made their selections from a purely visual aspect.

“Both… the history of puppetry includes a lot of political and historical significance. It seems like lately puppets and masks have been delegated to merely children's entertainment, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, we wanted to expand the audiences and our horizons a bit.”
The Zoot Theatre Company's latest effort, A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was adapted and will be directed by Vega, will be performed at an incredibly appropriate venue: The Dayton Circus Collective's Garden Station, an outdoor setting that will lend itself quite well to the bard's comical classic. I was curious as to what the overall visual texture and feel they were going for in their adaptation.

“We’re starting from a place of realism and then just blowing it out of proportion. A Midsummer Night's Dream has been done so many different ways we just want to make our audience see it with fresh eyes.” Referencing the Garden Station, Vega said, “The venue helps and the masks and puppets will definitely allow us to speak to the Dayton audience in a way that they may not be used to.”

You can be a part of the Dream on August 1st at 7:30pm at the Dayton Circus Collective's Garden Station, which is situated at the corner of Wayne Ave. and E. Fourth St., just beyond the Oregon District. Tickets are $10 at the gate. For more information or to see what future performances are in store, visit the Zoot Theatre Company online at www.zoottheatrecompany.org.

(This article was originally published on 7/29/09 in the Dayton City Paper. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Thou Shalt Not Gamble!*

(*unless it makes the State a buck...)

With the hurried and somewhat vague manner in which Governor Strickland has pushed for allowing video slot machines to be placed at Ohio racetracks in an effort to bolster Ohio's economic woes, the whole proposal seems like a desperate gamble. While I do not oppose gambling on the premise that it will erode the Christian values of our Great State, turning it into a cesspool of drugs and prostitution (have you been down N. Main St. lately?) nor do I believe that the existence of a gambling venue will cause a heretofore upstanding pillar of the community to become a slavering slave to the Satanic slot machine. An addictive personality will find an outlet, and for a compulsive gambler, the choices are widely varied and readily available already.

The issue that I have with the implementation of video slot machines lie within the fact that it is being done without the voter's consent and, while the mouthpieces speak otherwise, has very little to do with plugging the gaping hole in Ohio's budget. It is an expansionist's doorway, an innocuous step, a means to an end. It is nothing more than a quick money grab with the intention and hope that the acceptance of gambling in it's minor form will throw the door wide open for the glamorous, neon lit world of the big time casino. It is yet another sham presenting itself as a last ditch effort to stem the tide of budget cuts, to help the ailing school system and promising a world where any down-on-their-luck schmoe can throw down some change down and have their fortune changed in an instant.

In a perfect world, gambling would be of little consequence as we would all be relatively stable adults, imbued with a sense of self control, enabling us to enjoy the various “sins” of life, yet knowing when to say when. In a realistic contrast, we are, by and large, a society out of control. Whether through alcoholism, drug abuse, uncontrollable rage or simply the need to have instantaneous gratification, we have lost the last vestiges of self control. We compulsively stab at the elevator button, hoping to kick in the elevator's turbo boost. We fidget impatiently at red lights, hand at the ready over the horn, as if this was final Jeopardy!, laying on it the instant the light turns green, wishing fervently that the horn was actually a Death Star laser beam that would vaporize the slow moving Mazda 626, thereby allowing us to get home several seconds quicker so that we could yell at the television for the rest of the evening. We sit in our Laz-E-Boy recliners, the grease from the five dollar foot long we just consumed dappling our collective chin while we swill back our third beer and light up a smoke. We watch six non-stop hours of television, viewing programs dealing with drug interventions and morbidly obese people, thankful in the knowledge that we don't have a problem with overindulgence.

I worked security for many years and two of the places I worked, for a short time, sold Instant Bingo Tickets (or as I called them, Rip Offs). While I was working at the one that used to be located in Eastown Shopping Center, I watched an elderly gentleman beg his wife to quit buying the tickets, saying that they had little money with their fixed income and that they were falling behind with their bills. She completely ignored him, peeling off the little boxes in rapid succession, filling a Rubbermaid trashcan with losing tickets. At another Instant Bingo booth on Salem, a Harrison Twp. Sheriff arrived with another man in tow. The man was serving divorce papers on his wife who was sitting at the counter behind a mound of losing tickets. She signed the papers, barely missing a beat as she peeled the next ticket. When I worked security at a chain of bingo halls, I witnessed this behavior over and over again. People of mostly modest means (and generally the same people night after night at different halls) would take up their respective places, setting up various good luck charms until the tables resembled a Haitian voodoo convention. People would spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars a night as evidenced by the $15,000 and $20,000 bank drops I would make. Some would spend $200 to $300, then win a $100...and they would actually rationalize that they were, in fact, ahead.

The operators of this particular bingo hall were eventually indicted by a Montgomery Co. grand jury after a lengthily investigation by the Moraine Police in corroboration with the Ohio Organized Crimes Investigations Commission and under the watchful eye of then Ohio Attorney General, Jim Petro. As an aside, it seems rather odd that the investigations into Ohio's bingo halls seemed to come about when the authority of bingo licensing was transferred to the Ohio Lottery Commission. Well, no one likes competition, I guess. Which could also be why you hear so much vocal support from various church groups. Could it be that they are hiding under a welter of Christian rhetoric when the real cause of their discomfort is not the loss of Christian ideals, but the loss of potential revenue?

Well, what about the revenue that the slot machines would provide? We hear over and over how the Ohio Lottery gives such a huge percentage of its earnings to Ohio schools, yet, if you follow the money trail, you will find that much of the State's budgetary allotment to Ohio schools has been cut and transferred to the Lottery's budget, thereby leaving the schools in a deficit situation. It seems to be a trend of governmental agencies to proposal iffy propositions as they hide behind the banner of “Our Children,” while at the same time making brutal cuts to the schools and libraries.

Will the video slot machines, or large scale casinos for that matter, turn our counties into seething Sodoms and Gomorrahs? No. Will it miraculously fix the State's lagging economy, flush the schools with money and get rid of gingivitis once and for all? No. The money will be sluiced into some other failing venture through a slight of hand and a bevy of paperwork, as it always is. Will it give those with an opportunistic gleam in their eyes a chance to take even more money from the woeful, hopeful and hopeless? You can bet on it.

(This article was originally published in the Dayton City Paper on 7/22/09. This is the article as it was originally written.)

Elephant Talk

The Life And Music Of Adrian Belew...In A Nutshell

It's somewhat ironic that a small case of mono could well have been the impetus for the stereophonic experimentation which has influenced and changed the face of music forever. Born in Covington, Kentucky in 1949, Adrian Belew began playing drums in his teenage years. While convalescing from a bout of mononucleosis, he picked up the guitar and began what would be one of the most far reaching careers in the music industry. In later years, while performing in a Nashville cover band called the Sweethearts, Belew was noticed by rock icon Frank Zappa and was immediately signed, eventually performing Frank's upcoming album, Sheik Yerbouti, which led to his appearance in Zappa's concert movie, Baby Snakes. During a recent interview with Adrian Belew, his experiences with Zappa were one of the first topics we touched upon.

“It was, for me, like going to the School of Zappa for an intense year crash course on everything to do with being a professional recording artist to a live performer. Of course there was a lot of incredible music to learn, but I think what affected me most was just learning from Frank how to run your business, how to be a recording artist and travel around the world and do those kinds of things.” Belew then added, “It was the only true education I've ever had. Everything else I've done I taught myself.”

After seeing one of Zappa's concerts, a suitably impressed David Bowie contracted Belew to tour with him on his Heroes Tour, which led to Belew staying on, appearing on Bowie's Lodger album and subsequently becoming the musical director, guitarist and singer on Bowie's Sound+Vison Tour. The relationship with Bowie placed Belew's talents in the fore, and made him accessible to such bands as the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club. It also acted as a key, opening up Belew's career to musical forms and textures that he seemed to have been created for, namely, by his introduction to Robert Fripp, founder of King Crimson.

“It happened one night when I went with David Bowie to a club called The Bottom Line to see an artist named Steve Reich” Belew reflected, “At the end of the show, when the lights came up, David said, 'Oh! There's Robert Fripp over there.'So, I walked over and introduced myself...”
With influences ranging from Béla Bartók to the Beatles, King Crimson's turbulent existence pushed the boundaries of progressive rock and musical experimentation and was a perfect vehicle for Belew's eclectic lyrical vision. The only problem was, no one at that time had any intention of reforming King Crimson.

“What I think got the wheels turning in Robert's mind was, a few months later, I had a band of my own called Gaga and we toured as the opening act for Robert's band, which was called The League of Gentlemen.” Belew explained. “We did five shows as their opener and I think that's when Robert realized, 'Oh! This guy is more than just a stunt guitar player! He's also as singer, a songwriter, a front man and all that stuff.' I think that's when he go the idea for including me in the new lineup of something he was doing...but it wasn't called King Crimson at first.”

The original line up was simply called Discipline. The metamorphoses into the fourth incarnation of King Crimson was one that was organic and seemingly destined. After realizing that they were, in fact, King Crimson, the band did not choose to follow any of the same trails that had been blazed before. The new music was nothing like any of the previous King Crimson catalog.

“Oh absolutely! It was nothing like it, although I was a big fan of all the early Crimson stuff and knew it very well.” We didn't even attempt to go that way.” Belew said. “We completely reinvented ourselves with the idea that here's these four pretty headstrong players and all of us have the latest technology, you know, Bill Bruford with the electronic drums, Tony Levin (Chapman) Stick*, me and Robert playing guitar synthesizers, which no one had done up till then. So, you put four monkeys in a room and long enough...(laughs)”

The influence of King Crimson and Adrian Belew can be felt and heard throughout the music industry, even among the groups that may not immediately leap to mind, such as the progressive rock band Tool and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, with whom Adrian contributed guitar tracks for The Downward Spiral, The Fragile and Ghost I-IV.

“Well, as it turns out, Trent (Reznor) is a big fan of David Bowie and especially of the time that I was playing with David as his guitarist, so Trent's management contacted my management and just said, 'Trent's a big fan of Adrian's and he'd like to know if he (Adrian) would like to come to L.A. and play on a Nine Inch Nails record.'” Belew went to say that, “Well, it just so happened that I was already in L.A. with all my gear, so it was a no-brainer. Since then, the relationship that I have with Trent has just broadened more and more.”

Never idle, Belew revealed some of the projects he is currently working on. One of the longer running projects is the Adrian Belew Power Trio which features Belew on guitar, Eric Slick on drums and Eric's sister, Julie Slick on bass.

“First of all, we have a new record that will be coming out almost simultaneously with the new tour and the record is called e and it is a forty-three minute piece of music in five sections, so it's quite an endeavor...very complex, demanding, very hard to play. We'll play at least three of those sections, so there'll be at least a half an hour's worth of brand new music from the new record.” Belew added that, “I've tried to write into some of the arrangements places where the band goes away from the initial song and just spreads it's wings and flies off in various directions every night. Yeah, it's just a perfect arrangement of the right players at the right time.”

Before we ended our conversation, Belew added some of his memories of playing Canal Street Tavern, including a cranial contusion caused by a low hanging monitor. Belew reflected that:
“Canal Street has a special place in our hearts because of the fact that our last record was recorded there live. That was the record called Side Four Live, which is the only other record that the Power Trio has made and, since that's a live record, that's all material that's been previously recorded. Now e will be the first record that is all brand new material recorded by the Power Trio.”

The Adrian Belew Power Trio will be performing at Canal Street Tavern, 308 E. First St., July 17th at 9:30pm (doors open at 8:00pm). Tickets for the performance are $22 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. For more information, you can call (937) 461-9343 or visit them online at http://www.canalstreettavern.com/.

Tumbleweed Reconnection

Tumbleweed Connection Slated to Reopen In July

In its hundred year history, the building at 454 E. Fifth St. has been a silent witness to a rapid succession of changes in its surroundings. It has seen the rutted dirt road cobbled with bricks, then paved, then uncovered once again to reveal the bricks that had lain hidden below. It has watched as the skyline to the west expanded and grew until it all but blotted out the setting sun. It has seen changes within itself, as owners and patrons traced through its continually renovated interior. It has seen its fair share of tragedy and catastrophe as well, feeling the encroaching floodwaters of 1913 lap at the brick exterior before inviting itself inside. More recently, a fire tore through the layers of roofing in the rear, causing flames to shoot out into the frigid February night.

For the past thirty years, the building has been the home of the Tumbleweed Connection, a local fixture within the Oregon District and one inhabited by a slew of regular patrons. It has remained within the Atkinson family, first with Larry Atkinson, and then onto James Atkinson when Larry passed away. On the night of February 19th, 2009 at around 7:00pm, patrons smelled smoke and suddenly, the lights went out immediately after which, the bartender hurried the bar patrons out into the frozen night. The fire department was dispatched and battled the two alarm fire for hours, hampered by the layered roof, which was built one on top of the other. Approximately 35,000 gallons of water was pumped into the structure before the fire was extinguished.

As I walked into the bar earlier this week, remnant of the fire could still be seen. The tongue in groove wooden floors were buckled in some spots, rising like a frozen wooden wave at the end of the bar. There were a couple of patches of soot still visible, but, after I spoke with Jeff Atkinson, owner of J T Construction and nephew of the bar's owner, I found out that this was an intentional homage to the history of the building.

“This building has been around for over a hundred years, I think. It's survived the 1913 flood and now it has survived a fire.” “Jeff said, standing under the scaffolding that reached up into the loft of the stage area. “We have not cleaned all the fire damage off and that was on purpose. If you come in here with a lot of lighting, you can actually see the watermark line of the 1913 flood. So, I figured I'd leave some of the fire damage as well, just for the history of the building. I mean, we'll seal it, but you'll still be able to see the soot through it.”

Looking at the mountain of tools and walking amongst the construction debris, it would be hard for most to imagine that the bar would be ready to open any time soon. Having worked with contractors and remodelers, I knew that things usually look a lot worse than they are and that a day of clean-up can make a world of difference. With a subcontractor coming in to replace the damaged flooring and a slew of other workers tightening up the final details, I could envision that it would be a short time before the bottles are dusted off and customers would soon be enjoying a cold beer pulled from the tap. I was able to speak with James Atkinson, current owner of the Tumbleweed Connection while he was working on getting the bar ready for a reopening.

“I'm just trying to get the place opened up. Just the reopening and then special events at a future date.” James said, That's all I can really say right now and I can't even give you an opening day.”

James said that he had been staying in contact with the local bands and that, after the bar reopened, he would finally be able to sit down and figure out what the next step would be. He said that he was considering having some sort of special events at a later time, not only to celebrate the reopening, but also to celebrate the bar's thirtieth anniversary. With the final details of remodeling still needing to be completed as well as passing the final city inspection, it was difficult for James to give out a firm date for a reopening, so he advised the patrons to keep their eyes open in the coming weeks.

“I just basically am going to open up quietly and then go from there.” James said. “That's my main objective.”

The Resonating Gem Of The City

Cityfolk Festival To Run Through July 3rd, 4th and 5th

First and foremost, the Cityfolk Festival is about community. It is a gathering of people within our area and a chance to share our unique interests within the framework of a diversified culture. It is an assemblage of individuals brought together as one to experience the music, the flavors and the traditions of others and at the same time, it is a moment to be able to reach out and share with others your own extraordinary heritage. From the artisans to the performers to the volunteers behind the scenes, it is people who create it, it is the people who drive it and it is the people who reap the benefits of a weekend of discovery. Speaking with Dave Barber, the Director of Programs, our conversation touched upon how important the individual is to the very existence of this festival.

“I think that that is something that makes our event pretty unique in that we have approximately eight-hundred volunteers that really make this festival run. We just simply could not do this festival unless we had that kind of commitment from the community.” In revealing that the number of volunteers was down somewhat this year, Dave said, “We're kind of closing the volunteer gap, but we can still sign people up for volunteer positions either on site, the day of the event, or we can do it off the web site. We're not quite where we need to be with volunteers, but I think we're getting close. This festival builds a lot of momentum the closer to the date we get.”

Barber went on to detail one of the exhibits that is of a particular interest to the area: quilting. Quilting is representative of the various cultures in which they are created, not only providing a bond with those that create them and those that are later covered by them, but also the stories intricately woven into the fabric itself.

“I think that the Threads of Evidence quilting exhibition will be spectacular. The quilts just looks so great. Sara Cogswell, who has been curating the Material Culture area has just done a tremendous job.” Barber went on to say that, “There are all kinds of quilters from different traditions represented. I mean, there's African influences, Japanese quilts, Appalachian quilts and African-American traditions in quilting. The whole project is headed up by Carolyn Mazloomi, who is one of the finest quilters in the region.”

With all of the other exhibits, displays and food that will be present at the festival, Cityfolk will always be synonymous with music. Barber gave me a run down of just a few of the bands set to perform at the event with an emphasis on the ones that he feels are going to bring a lot of heat to the stage.

“The Afromotive, who are sort of an Afrobeat/funk mix...I think that they're going to be a lot of fun. Chicago Samba is going to give us some Brazilian flavor in that venue. Then we have Feufollet (a Cajun band), who has played the festival before and now they are more seasoned. We have the Celtic genre represented with a wonderful band from California called 9/8ths Irish and they'll be performing over the course of the weekend. Celtic, bluegrass, Cajun...those are mainstays in terms of our line up and people will get to come to the festival and experience that music, but they also may get opened up to some other styles that they may not be familiar with, like Frecuencia Calentana, a Mexican band who will be playing Sunday.” Barber brought it all together by saying, “It gives us a chance to program acts that speak to specific communities, but I think that's always what the festival's been about, by offering a sampling of the kind of things we do year round by presenting a different style of music to a larger audience and let them discover something that may not be part of their own heritage.”

Another must see group will take the stage on July 3rd at 9:00pm, right before the fireworks display, is Diunna Greenleaf and Blue Mercy. Blue Mercy is a high energy blues band, driven by Diunna's astounding voice, which is a mix of soulful R&B, juke joint blues and straight Sunday morning, old school gospel. Diunna spoke with me at length from her Houston home, explaining to me the purpose of Blue Mercy, over and above the pure, evocative entertainment element.

“See, a lot of people always think that the blues is sad. When you hear our music, it's for the entire family and we have danceable, lighthearted, funny music that does deliver a truthful story. We continue to follow the unwritten rule of blues that you need to tell a story and have it make sense. I mean, we'll do some sad songs, because that's a part of life. We try to cover all of the fabrics of life. All of your emotional needs and concerns.” Diunna went on to explain that, “You know that in life, you're not always happy and you're not always sad and things are not always good and they're not always bad. We try to cover all of that and let you laugh a little bit and bring out those deep seated emotions that you want to ignore, but that you need to bring to the surface so that you can heal, so that you can think and so that you can cry, but then put you in action to be able to rejoice. We try to do all of that with our music. We're not forcing it down your throat, but just doing it and allowing you to either accept it or reject it on your own.”

Probably the one act that is creating the most buzz is Béla Fleck with his new African Project. Béla, who is know for his virtuosity with the banjo and has taken the instrument through folk, bluegrass, New Grass, jazz, Latin and other genres, has now set his sites of the polyrhythmic sounds of African music. I asked Barber how Cityfolk came to be in a position to be able to book Béla on his tour in support of the project.

“We became familiar with Béla's Throw Down Your Heart project and we had a chance to listen to the record. Then we found out that we had a chance of being part of a very select few number of dates that paired Béla with Oumou Sangare's band, and that is a rare opportunity indeed.” Barber then said, “We have a pretty deep tradition of presenting Appalachian music as well as African music, but to be able to present musicians who are collaborating on a couple of different fronts is...it's what this whole festival's about.”

I was able to briefly interview Béla Fleck recently, and the first question I had was whether his own personal deviations with complex rhythms, emphases and time signatures help him adapt to the differences in musical structures that he encountered in Africa.

“I think that all of my musical experiences from my past helped me a lot when I got to Africa. I could lean on my improvisational abilities when I was unable to play things verbatim due to time constraints, but I could also use my ability to transcribe and read tablature when I had time to learn the fast melodies.” Béla said. “Also the time I have spent with musicians that have a strong groove element in their playing came in handy there.”

One of Béla's fondest memories from the whole project was much more close to home rather than something that he would have had to travel to Africa to encounter.

“It was a time of bonding for my brother Sascha, who directed the film, and myself.” Béla explained that, “Sascha is 17 years younger than I, so when I was hitting the road to become a musician, he was one year old! So aside from the joy of the music, there was this personal aspect of getting to know my brother.”

As a veteran of music festivals all over the world, Béla still enjoys the energy and the sense of community that the music festivals invoke.

“I love city festivals because people get exposed to so much that they never would normally hear. Plus it is a pretty informal situation and it is fun to be on stage and see the scene, so different from a theater.”As for how the African Project is being received live, Béla said, “The shows I have done with visiting African artists have been a musical high point for me, and the audiences have completely loved them. I have been coming to Dayton for many years, all the way back to the Canal Street Tavern with New Grass Revival in the early 80's. I look forward to being there!”

Fun, Fun, Fun At The Fraze

An Interview With Mike Love From The Beach Boys

As soon as you hear the shuffling rhythm and the strident harmonies of the Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe, you can close your eyes and feel the air rushing through the windows as you pound down the Pacific Coast Highway in your '32 Ford, the modified V8 thrumming like a caged beast while the intake emits a low whistle as it sucks in the salty sea breeze. With the Beach Boys, the season is always summer, filled with the sea, surfing and suicide doors.

During the Beach Boys extensive career, there have been peaks and valleys, marred by mismanagement, mental illness, drug use, lawsuits and even the death of some of the members, but this has never tarnished the image of the music and the influence that it has had over musicians throughout the years. I recently interviewed Mike Love, one of the founders, singers and songwriters for the Beach Boys, and he downplayed some of their influence, crediting instead the ability of music to build upon itself, generation by generation.

“Brian and I and my sister Maureen used to sing Everly Brother's songs walking home from Wednesday night youth night at Angela Mesa Presbyterian Church in the Baldwin Hills of Los Angeles, so, just like that, every successive generation has their inspiration from what came before them. Some of the more recent acts do draw their inspiration from the Beatles or the Beach Boys or the Rolling Stones, kind of like the progenitors of rock and roll, but we didn't invent it. It was more invented by Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino and the doo-wop groups.” Love went on to say that, “I think Chuck Berry is probably the most original, creative guy of the rock genre. In fact, McCartney agrees with me, because he said Chuck Berry was probably the greatest writer of that era. I know he influenced the way I wrote words and came up with little vignettes.”

Love did concede that the Beach Boys influenced one specific musician, a musician that would not immediately leap into your mind as being a huge fan of the Beach Boys sound.

“Well, Steven Tyler once said that before he was in Aerosmith, he was in a group that played a place in New York, a college somewhere in New Rochelle or Ionia, and he was an opening act for us. He said it was like a religious experience to sing along to California Girls at the concert.” Love said, somewhat awestruck. “Now there's a guy who you wouldn't think would be influenced by the Beach Boys, but he said it was a religious experience, which is pretty cool, you know?”

I asked whether or not the Beach Boys foresaw their place, and with the esteem in which they are held, within the cultures and subcultures of the hot rodders, the car enthusiasts and the surfers, among others.

“No, I don't think we foresee anything. When you're doing the music, you're caught up in the moment and you're dealing with whatever the subject matter is that you're dealing with. In the early days, we were talking about surfing or some of our favorite automobiles and maybe fun, fun, fun...” Love finished his thought with a lyric. “...you're having fun, fun, fun until your daddy takes the T-Bird away.”

With the passing of time, I wondered how the feel and texture of the Beach Boys was still so relevant, especially with a new fan base developing that really has never been exposed to some of the aspects and perceptions put forth in the Beach Boys lyrics.

“There's a song called The Ballad of Old Betsy, which is from an early album (Little Deuce Coupe - 1963), and it's a beautiful, beautiful ballad and it's a love song about a car. I explain it to the younger people in the audience these days, to just put this in perspective. This song was created before there were leasing programs (laughs). It used to be that you'd save up all your money and you'd buy the best car you could for that amount of money. Then you'd save up more money and fix the darned thing up: seat covers, white side-wall tires and maybe a new muffler system, a carburetor...but then they came along with leasing and that went out the window.” Love went on to say, with a tinge of nostalgia, “Nobody fixes up anything anymore. They just run it until the lease is up and trade it in or whatever. So, I put that in perspective and people kind of chuckle and the older people know exactly what I'm talking about. People did buy a car and they used to be really attached to their car...some people would be obsessed with them.”

Towards the end of our conversation, Love described how the influence of the Beach Boys and the subsequent cultural ties grew together, symbiotically building off of each other.

“It's not that the culture followed us. We kind of drew our inspiration, if you will, from what was going on in that subculture of cars and automobiles and racing and cruising and all that that entails. Same thing with beach life...surfing. Same thing with catching waves. Same thing with Surf City, Surfing USA, Surfing Safari...all those songs, they were little vignettes about what went on in Southern California, or around the world.” Love went on to explain that, “We just extrapolated or took from our environment in Southern California and sang about it, including our school life. Like Be True To Your School was all about Friday night and the energy of the Friday night football game and the cheerleaders and the whole macho thing of, 'We're going to kick your ass!' We just tapped right in to what was going on and we just happened to have the ability, between my cousin Brian (Wilson) with his arrangement and production ability and my lyrical and conceptual abilities...it was a chemistry that gave birth to a heck of a lot of stuff that still goes on today. The environment may have changed a little bit, but if you cruise down the coast in California, or if you're in Hawaii or Florida, you'll see that still goes on, all that stuff that we sang about the beach life.”

The Beach Boys will appear at the Fraze Pavilion, Wednesday July 8th at 7:30pm with special guest, Ball In The House. Tickets are $35 for lawn and terrace seating and $45 for the orchestra section. For more information or to order tickets, call (937) 296-3300 or go online at http://www.fraze.com/.

Up Where He Belongs

Sir Joe Cocker To Perform At The Fraze

Born on May 20th, 1944, John “Joe” Cocker has become the gravelly voiced emissary of soul, recording chart topping cover songs from the likes of the Beatles, Billy Preston and his mentor, Ray Charles. With a string of hits like You Can Leave Your Hat On, Unchain My Heart, Up Where We Belong and Feelin' Alright, Cocker has survived his successes as well as his excesses. With his idiosyncratic and sometimes spasmodic stage presence, his past tours were as infamous for their overindulgences as they were for they famous representation of musical excellence. Cocker has been able to create some of the most memorable music of their respective genres, many times overshadowing the original composer's versions. This Sheffield steel has not rusted, but has become sharper and stronger with the passing of the years.

Joe Cocker will be performing on Tuesday, June 30 at 8:00 PM at the Fraze Pavilion, 695 Lincoln Park Blvd. in Kettering. The opening act will be Kelly Richey. Tickets for the show are are $30 for lawn and terrace seating. For more information or to purchase tickets, you can contact the Fraze at (937) 296-3300 or go online and visit their website at http://www.fraze.com/.

The Reconciliation Of Two Worlds

Jazz Guitarist Chuck Loeb To Perform at Gilly's

While Chuck Loeb's name may not be a household word, his body of work, including role as a producer, his compositions of several very familiar commercial scores, his collaborations with some of the more notable luminaries within the jazz world as well as his own solo projects, it is a fair guess that you have heard more than a little of his music.

Loeb began his career at a very young age, eleven to be specific, when he fell in love with music. He eventually began playing publicly at the local youth center's dances by the time he was thirteen before quickly performing at other venues in his hometown of Nyack, New York. Loeb's early years were all about performing and honing his skills under the tutelage of some of the most well known jazz guitarists around, like Dennis Sandole, Pat Metheny and Jim Hall. After two years at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Loeb found himself doing stints as a sideman for several jazz greats, like Chico Hamilton and Ray Barretto. Then, in 1979, Loeb caught the ear of jazz's legendary saxophonist, Stan Getz.

I was able to talk to Chuck Loeb as he ran around New York, readying himself for a concert that night which featured him and his daughter, Lizzy Loeb, in a serendipitously rare concert appearance together. One of the first questions I asked was how his first meeting with Stan Getz came about.

“The music business is pretty much a 'word of mouth' business and when I was just sort of making my rounds around New York, Stan was looking for a guitar player. A couple of different people recommended me to him.” Loeb went on to say that, “I went down there and did and audition and, apparently, one of the factors that convinced him to have me join the group was my writing. He asked me if I wrote any songs and I happened to have some sheet music with me and I said, 'Yeah, I do write' and I played it and he liked it. Stan told me later that kind of played a key role along with liking my guitar playing as well.”

Throughout his career, Loeb has been recognized as a versatile artist, not only with his own performances and compositions, but also by his innovations behind the board and being the producer of such notable artists as Donald Harrison, Spyro Gyra and Larry Coryell. With his background, I was curious as to whether Loeb utilized the studio as if it was one massive instrument.

“I absolutely do. That's a good analogy. I believe that's a great concept and I think it's something that people don't always think about, but I do do that. I think that it is an instrument. I'm a huge fan of pop production and I love the way Hendrix and the Beatles and people like that used the studio to create all these kinds of effects. Loeb reflected that, “It happens in the jazz world as well. You know, Rudy Van Gelder recorded a lot of the early jazz records. He was almost like another member of the band, with his sound and the way he created the ambiance with a lot of the music back then.”

With an eye on production, presentation and mood, I wondered what differences Loeb saw between his last project, Presence (2007) and his latest effort, Between 2 Worlds.

“A very glaring difference is that there are no keyboards whatsoever on Between 2 Worlds. I decided to have the basis of the project be a guitar trio base. I mean, it's been a guitar trio the whole time, but the basis is a non-keyboard guitar base sound and that changes the game quite a bit right away.” Loeb elaborated by saying, “Well, also the mood. There's a couple of things that I think that sort of opened up the music in a way and it sort of pushed me in the direction of going a little bit back towards my straight ahead roots. Now, that doesn't mean it's a straight ahead jazz album, but there's a more straight ahead kind of thing on there than there was on Presence or on any of my CDs, except the very first one that I did way back in 1988.”

The new release, Between 2 Worlds, is an amalgam of influences, incorporating the stripped down harmonics, textures and ambiance which focuses on the essential guitar, bass and drums structure. The album ranges from quick fingered guitar licks accompanied by trumpet on the opening track Let's Go, to the Latin infused Sò Tinha De Que Ser Com Vocè, whose vocals are sensually set in by Loeb's wife, Cuesta. Does Between 2 Worlds just refer to the geocentric areas of it's influences, or was there more to it?

“Yes, without a doubt. I think that there's two aspects to the title. One is geographic, because half of it was recorded in Europe and half of it was recorded in America. I think it also straddles the worlds of music in terms of more spontaneous, straight ahead jazz playing that's featured on the second half of the CD and the more funky, contemporary stuff that's on the first half of the CD.” Loeb ended by saying, “I think that's fair to say and it's disingenuous of me not to acknowledge that I think that's where I am as a person.”

You can witness Chuck Loeb's worlds as they melodiously whirl through Gilly's, 132 S. Jefferson St., on Friday, June 12th at 9:00pm. Tickets are are $20 and are available by calling (937) 228-8414.

Up In Smoke

The Debate Over The Legalization Of Medicinal Marijuana

Let me be clear at the outset of this argument: This is not a debate over whether marijuana should be unilaterally legalized. This is a discussion as to whether Ohio should legalize medical marijuana as proposed in a measure (S.B. 343 – Ohio Medical Compassion Act) introduced by Sen. Tom Roberts (D-Dayton). That being said, you would be hard pressed to find someone who would deny anyone suffering from a terminal or a devastatingly painful disease, anything that may alleviate their anguish and pain, allowing them to live the remainder of their lives as comfortably as possible...well, except for maybe Rush Limbaugh, if he's coherent enough between doses of his Hillbilly Heroin, OxyContin.

My contention with the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes is simply that it is a sham. A bit of semantic chicanery covered in a cloak of benevolence. There is a lot of talk about the end result, of “patients” finally able to ease their pain by possessing 200 grams of marijuana and to have twelve mature plants, but little is discussed as to the bureaucratic nightmare of creating advisory boards and agencies to oversee the processing of “patients” and the licensing of marijuana “dispensaries.” Advocates speak of the untapped wealth that could be recognized from the taxation and licensing fees of such dispensaries, but there is, in actuality, little control over businesses that are readily open for abuse. Proponents for the passing of such legislation are also very vocal in their adherence to the inherent medicinal qualities attributed to marijuana, as if medical marijuana is the safest and most viable alternative to other medicines and practices already on the market.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a study (Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base) where it determined that “there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication.” The key word here is smoked. Cultivated marijuana has 421 chemicals in it's natural state, 61 of which are unique to the Cannabis plant, and greater than 2,000 chemical combinations when smoked, 81 of which are known carcinogens. In several research studies, smoked marijuana was shown to actually compromise the autoimmune system, thereby allowing an increased risk for infections, which would not bode well for someone afflicted with HIV, AIDS, cancer or any other number of diseases.

So what about orally ingesting marijuana? The medical marijuana dispensaries also offer a wide range of baked goods and recipes for oral consumption of the the therapeutic weed. The most pharmacologically active ingredient in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which, in 1964, was isolated and synthesized and eventually manufactured into a pill form of THC call Marinol, which has been since 1985. In comparative studies, the only difference between ingesting marijuana and taking Marinol has been the cost. Marinol, at the time of the 2002 study, was about double that of marijuana. That cost difference will probably even out, if it hasn't already, when all of the marketing, legislation and taxation on medical marijuana finally reaches its apex.

Surely this is a purely benevolent act, a selfless expression to relieve the pain of one's fellow brethren in their time of sickness and could not be financially motivated...could it? Take, for example, Modesto, California dispensary owner and hip hop artist, Luke Scarmazzo, who made $4.5 million dollars in two years...well, until the DEA raided his stores. Also, do not make the mistake of thinking that marijuana is a creamy cash cow exclusively for Americans only. A large portion of the medical marijuana being sold today is still bought on the black market to meet demand, with most of the dope coming out of Mexico as well as hashish from the Becca Valley of Lebanon.

So what kind of terminally debilitating medical condition does one have to have to be deemed eligible to receive medical marijuana? In an undercover investigative report, KCBS in San Fransisco sent four individuals to a local doctor to try and become a “cardholder,” which would allow them to purchase medical marijuana. Three of the four were granted the coveted note, while the fourth was turned away because he was a minor. The ailments that were deemed to be severe enough to obtain medical marijuana? Itchy skin, hair loss and one woman complained of the pain caused by her high heel shoes.

With branded names of medicinal marijuana like Pancake Throatjam, New York Diesel and Fuzzy Ballsack, how can someone actually confuse this “compassionate industry” for anything other than what it is: a sham? I mean, there's a strain of marijuana called Nazi Deathcamp and, from my limited knowledge of medical history, nothing really healthy ever came from a Nazi Deathcamp. I don't think I would ever have a conversation with my doctor like, “You know, my sciatic nerve is really bothering me...do you think Nuclear Holocaust Brain Baker is right for me?”
The state law is vague enough that almost anyone claiming to be in pain can get a card allowing a patient to possess 200 grams (7oz) of marijuana and to have twelve mature marijuana plants for personal use (Sec. 3728.01), but thankfully, we will have a bureaucratic agency in place (the Cannabis Cultivation Advisory Council Sec. 3728.38) so that the qualified patient can be advised as to the proper methods needed to grow the best buds around.

This initiative, which is based on flawed assumptions, is not what it is purported to be. It will not even alleviate the issue of the illegal sale of marijuana, as demonstrated by other states that currently have medicinal marijuana who have actually reported an increase in illicit sales due to the higher demand for the product. This proposed law, which has been designed to play upon our compassion, is nothing more than creating a means for people to adhere (very tenuously) to the letter of the law, while the spirit of the law goes up in smoke. It is the same methodology that allows people to purchase fireworks in Ohio as long as they pinky swear to go set them off in Indiana. With most of the support coming from the advocates for the total legalization of marijuana, I cannot see this bill as being a stepping stone, a means to an end, for legalizing marijuana completely. If you're going to make marijuana legal, make it legal, but don't use the suffering of others as a Trojan horse to further your agenda. I feel that it is unconscionable to foist some fabricated monstrosity upon the public by conjuring up the image of someone tormented and in pain so that no one would dare speak out against it.

Catch Fraze's Summer Line Up

Fraze's Season Set To Scorch

Memories of sun drenched summer days spent reliving the decadent eighties with ten of that era's most iconic bands or the remembrance of the cool evening breeze playing over the grass as Bonamassa's blistering blues licks echoed into the night. While recollections of last summer's masterful montage of concerts that rolled through the Fraze Pavilion are still fresh within our minds, the new season is upon us. While last season's line up was the hottest game in the area, the Fraze is proving that with the recently announced slate of performances, this summer will be another scorcher.

I was able to talk to Karen Durham recently, to preview the impressive schedule for the 2009 concert season. We went over the three scheduled festivals that the Fraze hosts, which begins with the Blues, Brews and Barbecue Blues Festival on June 28th, beginning at 2:00pm and running until 11:00pm and featuring entertainment by Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Dr. John & The Lower 911 with free entertainment on the commons provided by Austin “Walkin' Cane” and the Kelly Bell Band. After describing the barbecue and beverages that would be available tot he patrons, Durham became extremely animated when describing what to expect from Robert Randolph & The Family Band.

“Oh my goodness! It's a must see show. They are so energetic. They opened our Blues Festival two years ago and I'll tell you, when they opened for Robert Cray, they came out and really kicked it up a notch and gave everybody who was in the audience a great, great show. I don't know how else to say it, but they just rock!” Durham went on to describe that, “The show is energetic and they get the crowd going with people dancing. I mean, they were just superb. Ever since then, we've been hoping to get them back, and so this year, they will headline the Blues Festival.”

One of the other two festivals that take place is the Swamp Romp, taking place on July 18th from 2:00pm until 11:00pm, which is a bayou bash featuring Cajun cooking and music provided by Terrance Simien, Zydeco Fire, Zydeco-A-Go-Go and Squeezebox. The final celebration is the Festival of the Vine, which showcases diverse array of wine from various locales, both near and far. Durham described it as a low pressure education in wine tasting and selection. The Festival of the Vine is on August 15th, from 2:00pm until 11:00pm, with headliners Boney James and Norman Brown's Summer Storm with Wayman Tisdale and Eric Darius and free music on the commons provided by Hot Club of Detroit and David Wells.

On August 2nd, The Heroes of Woodstock bring the sound and the memories of Woodstock to the Fraze, with Jefferson Starship, Canned Heat, John Sebastian, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten, and hosted by Country Joe McDonald.

“Oh yeah! Since it's the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock, the groups will be playing what they played there, so you'll hear exactly what they performed forty years ago.” Durham said. “Their set will replicate what they did at Woodstock.”

The sixties and seventies are well represented this year as evidence by the scheduled performances by Joe Cocker, Steppenwolf, Foghat, the Beach Boys, the Steve Miller Band, Loggins and Messina and the indomitable Joan Baez, who will take the stage on August 4th.

“Yeah, I think that, you know, she's been someone who's been on my radar for a while.” Durham says of Baez. “That's an evening with her and it's a trio, so it will be a nice, laid back evening”

One of the novel concepts that was introduced into last year's Fraze schedule was four tribute bands. While I wondered, at the time, if the tribute bands would be enough of a draw to be a successful feature, the tribute bands proved to be a gambit that paid off for the Fraze as well as the fans.

“Part of the reason that I went to the tribute bands is one, the cost. Last year was the first year that we offered a Tribute Thursday series and we had four events where the tickets were just ten dollars because I think ten dollars won't break the bank.” Durham went on to say that, “Secondly, it's going to be highly unlikely that Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel or U2 is going to ever make a stop in Kettering. With the Billy Joel Tribute, the guy sounds just like him. Billy Joel has seen him, so that's usually a good indicator that they're well worth seeing.”

Almost all genres of music are represented in this year's eclectic line up; from blues with Robert Randolph & The Family Band, classic rock with the Steve Miller Band, George Thorogood, Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult, the eighties with Loverboy, Patti Smyth & Scandal, country music with Merle Haggard, John Schneider and Josh Turner, to jazz with David Sanborn, Dave Koz and Brian Culberson, the latter musicians garnering a little special reference when Durham said, “...Dave Koz and Brian Culberson are not only two great musicians, but they are also just two great guys. They love the facility and they love being here and we love having them.”

I asked Durham whether or not there were any groups that had been booked that had were different or stood out from the acts that had performed in previous years.

“I'm kind of interested in the Gov't Mule show to see what that is like.” Durham added that, “When you talk about something being totally different this year, I would say Gov't Mule and that has already sold very well out of the gate initially. I know the Gov't Mule folks are happy and it's just something that's really different for us.”

Gov't Mule was formed as a side project for three members of the Allman Brother's Band that reformed back in the late eighties. Playing an selective set list ranging from classic rock standards to jamming Southern rock. With the death of one of the founders, Allen Woody in 2000, the group went through a slew of bassists and keyboardists, including Greg Rzab and Andy Hess, both bassists who were formerly members of The Black Crows.

Which brings us to one of the Fraze's most sought after group's on their wish list, The Black Crows, whom Durham counts as , “...a personal favorite.” The band that began back in 1984 as Mr. Crow's Garden has went through many permutations throughout their career, but the brother's Robinson will bring their still enduring heavy blues-rock influence to the Fraze July 15th for a 7:00pm concert.

One of the other iconic groups to tread the stage at Fraze this years, as they have several times in years past, is The Beach Boys. I was able to catch up with Mike Love, founding member and singer/songwriter for the band, to see what his thoughts on the Fraze Pavilion were.

“The Fraze: I like so much because it's the right size. It's not too big and it's not too small. It's a good size crowd, but it's not enormous like some of the larger amphitheaters are.” Love went on to clarify, “I like the Fraze because it's quite a bit more intimate, but it's still a nice big crowd.”
When I suggested that perhaps the Beach Boys had such a huge fan base in Ohio because there were no oceans and that the Beach Boys brought a bit of the West coast with them, Love paused for a moment and said;

“I don't know...maybe.” Love said with a chuckle. “Maybe we're importing some good vibrations...yeah...with the idea of having fun, fun, fun.”

Shelter From The Storm

St. Vinent de Paul Offers Help, Hope and a Home

“I mean, I don't think I'm alone when I look at the homeless person or the bum or the psychotic or the drunk or the drug addict or the criminal and see their baby pictures in my mind's eye. You don't think they were cute like every other baby?”
~Dustin Hoffman

In an ideal world, all of us would begin life with the equal opportunity to succeed, to create and sustain the happiness that, at least on paper, is the birthright bestowed upon us all. The reality, however, is far different. There are those born under the pall of poverty. Those that learn to walk on the well worn floors of motel rooms or in the unknown homes of strangers whose faces quickly fade, disappearing in a long succession of rapidly acquired acquaintances. They learn to talk, their sing-song voices briefly bringing a ray of color that is in stark contrast to the fading hues that pervade their everyday world. They may even lie down to sleep on the ground, the concrete leaching the warmth from their body as they dream, and as they awake, their bones filled with an painful aching, their dreams fade away.

There are many ways in which people become homeless. A person may have grown up never knowing the responsibilities of what a real home was, thereby crippling them with the potential inability to maintain a home of their own. Others may have fallen on hard times, either through happenstance or through their own choices, spiraling down to the point where 'pulling themselves up by their bootstraps' is not even an option. Others suffer from either mental or physical disabilities where maintaining a home is difficult and responsibilities that seem commonplace to most of us are monumental to them. People have a conception of what a homeless person is and how they got there, but, and especially in these economic times, the face of homelessness could very easily be our own.

St. Vincent de Paul was founded in 1833 by Frederic Ozanam in honor of St. Vincent de Paul, a French priest and the patron saint of charitable societies. While many people associate the name with the homeless shelter and their various thrift stores, the organization is much more than just that. I was recently able to sit down with Ann Goebel, the Director of Shelter and Volunteer Programs, and Andrea Skrlac, the Director of Communications for the organization, to discuss the numbers of people effected by homelessness, what programs were in place as well as to paint a more complete picture of homelessness so that others may relate to the problem.

“It's interesting because when I give a talk to groups, especially younger students, I ask them to close their eyes and picture a homeless person. I know exactly, in my head, the picture they get because the same picture pops into my head, even though I know better.” Skrlac went on to explain that, “Homelessness is not a drug issue. It's not a laziness issue. It's a poverty issue. The fundamental thing that is common across the board here is people who are living in poverty, whether it is long term or something that has happened situationally where suddenly, for whatever reason, someone finds themselves with no money. I think the people in the current economy are starting to finally gain the ability to comprehend that this could happen to them.”
And who does this happen too? What are the numbers?

“So far this year, there have been nine hundred and thirty-eight men, three hundred and sixteen women, ninety-seven families with a hundred and eighty-seven kids, so those children are connected to those families.” Goebel said, reading off the numbers from January 1st, 2009 up to the end of March.

On the topic of families and children, I asked Goebel whether or not someone coming in with a child might be deemed a 'bad parent' and therefore subject to having their children placed in foster care.

“That's one of the biggest fears and so frequently you'll get phone calls first and they want to know, 'How does it work?' or, 'How does it operate?' and, 'Are you going to call Children's Services? Will I lose my kids?' and the answer is no, certainly not.” Goebel emphatically stated, adding the caveat, “Unless they're abusive, but we've never had a case where we've seen any abuse in the shelter.”

While it may seem that St. Vincent's is only providing a temporary solution by supplying a homeless shelter, nothing could be farther from the truth. In conjunction with The Other Place, who takes on the role of case management for individuals seeking help, St. Vincent de Paul is taking a very proactive stance in stemming the tide of homelessness by providing various programs to help those in need to either maintain the homes that they are in jeopardy of losing. They also provide assistance for individuals and families to gain employment skills to become gainfully employed as well as the skills to maintain a home after they get one.

From the moment an individual or a family enters St. Vincent's doors, they are evaluated by The Other Place's team of case managers in what they term a 'triage assessment' to ascertain their individual needs. St. Vincent's and The Other Place work closely with other area organizations, like the Job Center and Veteran Affairs for example, to insure that the applicant has the ability to apply for benefits, receive job training or receive treatment for a mental or physical disability. St. Vincent's also has a Safe Haven program which it runs with its partner, YWCA Dayton, to provide those with a diagnosed mental illness who have been chronically homeless with a home and a strong support network. There is also a two year program in place for people to get back on their feet, become gainfully employed and eventually move into a house of their own. All the while, St. Vincent's runs various other programs, a food pantry and a dispensary for emergency items such as clothing or other daily essentials.

“She was working sixty-six hours a week, no drug issues, no mental health issues, but she developed a heart problem as a relatively young woman and they ended up doing heart surgery. She was out of work for six weeks and was being paid at twenty-five percent of her norm and could not keep up with the bills.” Goebel went on to describe the woman's plight. “She ended up here, then she ended up in our supportive housing program and she is now an employee of St. Vincent de Paul, and an excellent one at that. She is about to finish her degree and will go on to bigger and better things.”

To donate food, clothing or other essentials, contact Rosalie Sturtevant at (937) 222-7349, ext. 425 for the best method and the closest drop off point in your area. For monetary doantions, you can either go online at http://www.stvincentdayton.org/ and click on the 'donate' tab or send a check to St. Vincent de Paul, Dayton District Council 1133 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd. Suite 300 Dayton, OH 45408. You can also check out all of the volunteer opportunities by going to www.stvincentdayton.org/volunteer and clicking on the positions that most interests you.

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”
~Mother Theresa

Twenty Year Tempest Still Going Strong

Celtic Rock Band Tempest To Play Canal Street

For twenty years, Tempest's sound has been evolving, incorporating an eclectic melange of Celtic phrasing, Norwegian influences, culturally diverse rhythms and the steely back beat and electric daring of American metal. All of these elements have been honed and polished over two decades, enduring various changes in the line up of the band and the ever evolving conception of this high energy folk fusion sound, to become one of the most influential forces in the realm of Celtic rock.
Tempest's founder, Lief Sorbye, who handles vocals and mandolin, and another original member, Adolfo Lazo on drums, have taken the band, in its many incarnations, through twelve critically acclaimed recordings and thousands of live performances throughout their two decade career. With the bands current line up being Lief, Adolfo, Micahel Mullen on fiddle, Ronan Carroll on guitar and Ariane Cap on bass, this concert promises to be an example of the band at the top of their game.

Tempest will be performing at Canal Street Tavern on May 1st, 2009 at 9:30pm. Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the door. For more information, go to http://www.canalstreettavern.com/ or call them at (937) 461-9343.

Fishnets And Follies

The Monsters of Burlesque And Their Titillating Tease

The Monsters of Burlesque are set to bring New York style burlesque to stage at Gilly's, bringing with it titillating kitsch and more than just a touch of ribald humor. The award winning erotic ensemble is comprised of Nasty Canasta, Jonny Porkpie, Creamy Stevens, Neil O'Fortune and Clams Casino and features a raw mixture of laughter, pleasure and fishnets all mixed together with a tongue in cheek tinge of comedy.

I recently spoke with Columbus area native, Miss Clams, to get her perspective on what the show is about and why it would be such a hit. “The quick answer to that is 'hot chicks with a sense of humor taking their clothes off.' It's sex and comedy, together, which is something that I feel is really unique in burlesque.” Miss Clams stated that, “I don't feel like you really see that a lot in other places.”

The Monsters of Burlesque Tour will be at 8pm on Wednesday, April 29 at Gilly's is located at 132 S. Jefferson St. For more information, go to The Monsters of Burlesque's website at http://www.monstersofburlesque.com/.

Everyone Gather Together

The Magic Of The Cityfolk Festival Returns July 3rd, 4th and 5th

As the streams and creeks flow and merge, emptying into the great rivers that cut through Dayton, the subtle reflections of the sun dance and play off of the rippling water's surface as it courses through the communities, connecting them with the all the other surrounding neighborhoods and well beyond our borders. The Cityfolk Festival has much in common with the sinuous waters that run through our region. They both invoke beauty while still possessing a powerful depth. They also represent different things to different people, reflecting the images within ourselves and reverberating with the sounds of our city. Most importantly, they are a constant connection between our communities and our neighbors. How apropos that the Cityfolk Festival is once again being held at one of the main confluences of these historical waterways: RiverScape Metropark.

While the festival itself is only three days long, the planning and logistics are virtually a year round process. One of the other year round programs that Cityfolk has created is called Culture Builds Community, some of the results of which will come to fruition and will be on display at the Cityfolk Festival. I spoke with Kelsa McClellan, the Culture Builds Community Program Manager, to find out a little about the program and what their involvement in the festival would be.

“Through our Culture Builds Community program, we've been working in three Dayton neighborhoods, doing residencies throughout the year that are very interactive and participatory.” McClellan went on to describe what the communities are creating for the festival. “For the festival, we have this community quilting project, called Threads of Connection, so community members in each of those three neighborhoods that we are working in are creating a quilt to reflect their local community and the cultures there.”

In the spirit of community involvement, McClellan made an open request for volunteers to assist with the creation of this communal quilt.

“We really need more people to participate in making the quilt. We've got workshops going in those three communities and they are open to the public to come and make a square and be a part of the quilt. If people are interested in volunteering to help with the quilt, they can contact me at (937) 223-3655 ext. 3008. There's actually a Culture Builds Community website at www.cityfolk.org/cbc and we'll have info on there about the specifics about the project, like the locations and the times and dates of the workshops.”

Along with the community quilting project, Threads of Connection, there is a professional quilting display in the Material Culture area of the festival entitled Threads of Evidence. Headed up by 2004 Ohio Heritage Fellowship Award recipient and renowned quilter, Carolyn Mazloomi, the exhibit shows not only the artistic aspects of quilting, but the personal and even political statements that these cloth legacies imbue.

Along with the artistic endeavors, the educational events for the kids, the bobmastic fireworks display, the twenty-two food vendors and the International Beer Garden, the real attraction at this three day event is the music. With the current state of the economy, some may be concerned that the festival may have been pared back, downsized or otherwise altered from expectations of excellence created from the previous years festivals. Speaking with Todd Boak, the Marketing Manager for Cityfolk, he quickly set those fears to rest.

“We've cut back on other things, obviously, like every organization has and we're looking into the future and being very careful.” Todd went on to say that, “The economy is definitely effecting us, but the outcome of the festival has not been downgraded whatsoever. Not talent wise or in our mission to bring artists and musicians from around the world and locally: it didn't take a hit at all.”

Another fear that some might have is that construction of a permanent stage on the blacktopped area at Patterson and Monument might cause some congestion, with vehicles as well as foot traffic, as the construction would make that particular area unusable for the duration of the festival. Again, Boak allayed those fears.

“Basically, we had to go and rework the layout of the site. The site is still at the RiverScape Metropark, but the main stage was on the blacktopped area in previous years, so we had to move it somewhere else and that pushed another stage to another location, but we're still using the same general area. It's just moved around a little bit.”

With a stellar line up including Béla Fleck in a masterful collaborative effort with African singer Oumou Sangare, Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys, The Duhks, Chicago Samba and a host of other diverse acts, this years festival promises to meet or exceed the talent displayed in years past. I asked Boak if he had a favorite among this year's line up.

“I can tell you the one's that I'm excited about getting. For me, Béla Fleck was a big one because I've been listening to him for years and that new African project of his is really cool. It's very different, but it's really good.” He then mentioned a group who will be appearing for the first time in the Dayton area. “Then there's The Afromotive, which I had just found out about as we booked them and they're amazing. I mean with the sound and the energy...I think that one's going to be a fantastic show.”

The Afromotive's sound is a blending of polyrhythmic West African beats melded with the horn laden, bass fueled essence of funk, held together with a vocalized call and response. Led by Adama Dembele, a thirty-third generation djembe (a skin covered drum) player from Cote d‘Ivoire, this group has successfully blended these traditional African rhythms with their natural American progeny of funk and heavy dance beats to create a sound that is as eclectic as it is energetic. I was able to interview Ryan Reardon, the bass player for the Asheville, North Carolina group, to ask him what the group will bring to the festival's audience.

“I think we are pretty energetic with the crowd and we're energetic on stage and we show that we're there to have a good time and to come out and dance and have fun. Some of the songs have the shout chorus kind of thing and we get the crowd singing.” Reardon went on to describe the audience's role in the show. “Like the call and response kind of thing. That's definitely one of those song forms that came from West Africa and we definitely use it in our music. It just makes everyone a part of the performance.”

Another aspect of the festival that Reardon was looking forward to was the ability to see the other bands perform.

“It's great to see bands that you haven't heard and that play something that's really refreshing.” Reardon added that, “That's what festivals are great for because you get to see some new music, with new people and new surroundings and there's a fresh energy in it.”

In an attempt to depict The Afromotive's unique sound, Reardon related the way in which his band mate, sax player Ryan Knowles described it, stating that the sound could broken down into colors, with yellow representing the bright energy of it while the many shades of red would be descriptive of it's depth.

“Well, the music is a really intangible thing, more than any other art form, and so to describe it with another art form makes sense.” Reardon said.

Another group slated to appear at the festival, Cincinnati's Son del Caribe, is also an embodiment of creative and musical energy. Led by one of Puerto Rico's top Salsa trumpeters, as well as a professor of music at Maimi University, Jaime Morales struck me as a man of good humor who is more than just a little passionate about his music.

“Oh definitely! Music is a language in itself. For example, you don't need to know Spanish to appreciate our music because we sing mostly in Spanish.” Morales then related that, “When I was a kid, I used to hear American music and I couldn't understand the words, but I could understand the rhythms, I could understand the melodies and the nuance would take you to another level. It was interesting later to learn what they were saying.”

When I asked Morales whether the lyrics matched what he thought the song was about, he said, “Sometimes they don't, but at least you imagine something! For example, a song that I thought was so happy because it was so lively, I then learned about the lyrics and it was about this lost love, and I was like, 'Wow!'”

I then asked, as I did The Afromotive's bassist, what audiences could expect from witnessing Son del Caribe's show. Would the audience be drawn into the performance?

“Yes, yes! When we dance, we try to teach the audience some of the steps and sometimes we have some background salsa and we have them sing along.” Morales went on to say that, “We like to be very interactive and we want the audience to be a part of music, part of the show. They have to be there to really enjoy it and there has to be some participation, because if you just sit there, it's only a show. This is more interactive! Get up and dance!”

To get more information about the upcoming Cityfolk Festival, to view the performer's bios, to see what other events are taking place or to volunteer for some of the many opportunities available to be a part of the festival, go to http://www.cityfolk.org/.

The Dichotomy Of Comedy

Mark Fradl Brings Clever Comedy To Wiley's

Throughout the history of mankind, smiling, laughter and humor have become noted as an integral part of our genetic makeup, as evidenced in the rudimentary, usually obscene, hieroglyphs of the Egyptians, the crudely drawn doggerel of the Greeks and Romans and on through to the laborious treatises written by philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists and medical doctors over the ages. Although the impetus for laughter varies wildly from individual to individual, the reaction itself is one of the most universally accepted, yet least understood in the lexicon of human responses.

Plato examined the negative aspects of humor in his exposition entitled The Republic, and concluded that the inherent “psychopathic laughter” was indicative of one's envy and malice against his fellow man or an egocentric method to secure one's superiority through the brutal ridiculing of another's shortcomings, circumstances or lower social status. Arthur Schopenhauer later developed his “theory of the absurd,” which, simply stated, says that laughter is the reaction to the realization that a person's expectations have been been misdirected by an incongruous element that, in the final analysis, is absolutely ridiculous. Theorists and scholars have postulated wildly divergent theories as to the origin of laughter and humor, yet have been shown to be debatable at best.

The reason I am expounding on the theories of humor in this rather long winded intro is that it reminded me of a series of correspondences I began with comedian Mark Fradl sometime back in late 2007, a dialogue that has been maintained into the present. When I first corresponded with Fradle, a Dayton native who splits his time between here and Austin, TX, he was just getting back into the comedy scene after taking a six year hiatus after becoming somewhat disillusioned with the world of comedy. Even after reemerging on stage around 2005, Fradl still remained somewhat nihilistic with regards to the direction mainstream comedy was heading in as well as the broad cross section of audiences who are less interested in clever comedy as they are in being entertained. One of the reoccurring themes of lie within the definition and decisive nature of a certain type of comedian.

“There's the dark breed that want to connect with the audience...but only on their terms. As I write that, I'm realizing that this is really where the difference lies between the good comics and the hacks; Are you trying to put yourself where they are or are you trying to bring them over to where you are?” Fradl went on, referencing some previous discussions that we had had on the topic. “So that goes back to something we ended on yesterday; The difference between trying to bring the crowd onto your way of thinking, or pandering down to meet their way of thinking. Are you making them say, 'Yeah, that’s what I always say too!' or are you making them say 'Hey, I never looked at it that way – he’s right!'”

The universal appeal of comedy is almost as illusive as it is accepted. While on the one hand, almost everyone needs the release that laughter offers, while at the same time, what one person may find as patently offensive another may find absolutely hilarious.

“Again it comes back to the unique nature of comedy. It has to have more universality than almost any other art form I can think of. Gore Vidal is a legend, yet most people have never read one of his books. Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits are never played on the radio and yet they've had immensely influential careers; but you really can't be in a niche in comedy. The comic equivalent of Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen or Elvis Costello would die a miserable death in the average club. Even legends like Bill Hicks, Mitch Hedburg and Doug Stanhope were banned by more clubs than they worked, and only through years of persistence did they build their followings and move from clubs to theaters.”

As an example of the seemingly incongruous separation between brilliance and mass acceptance, Fradl related a personal experience he had.

“Bill Hicks is a legend of comedy, right up there with Lenny Bruce or young Woody Allen, but I don't think most people know that when he was alive, his career was struggling. Even with numerous Letterman appearances and several HBO solo specials, he was having a hard time getting work because he wasn't for everyone. I saw him live in 1992 in Cleveland and he ate it.” Fradl recollects that, “We were sitting in the second row in a room filled with 500 people just dying at his dark rantings, and I remember turning around at one point and seeing 495 faces staring at us, trying to figure out what the hell we thought was so funny.”

Comedy is the act of walking a thin tightrope in the dark, always at the mercy of the prevailing winds of public opinion and never really sure how far the fall might be, especially for a comedian who is just starting out or struggling to get ahead. Even road veterans are sometimes tripped up by the seemingly arbitrary change in social mores or the pressure of honing their material to appeal to the largest swath of the populace.

“But that argument misses an important point, one I’m only just now realizing as I think about this. Comedians are not weakened by this limitation, this need to create within a box. It is, in fact, our greatest asset, because it forces us to communicate our ideas with people who might not otherwise entertain such thoughts. This is our advantage over avant-garde performance artists, or fringe theater, or the protest singer touring the Unitarian Church basement circuit. The problem with deeply controversial art is that it never gets outside its own bubble.”

Fradl's comedic appeal is one that is fast and intelligent while still being accessible to virtually every audience. It's a hard course to chart, but one that Fradl has navigated through many times over. While Fradl has no problem with the the comedic form being used as simple, straightforward entertainment, it is just not the type of comedy that he is striving for. While mainstream comedy definitely has its place within the pantheon of comic legends, some of the clubs across the nation actually contribute to the dilution of the color of comedy, sometimes to the point where it becomes translucent. Clubs whose main audiences are drawn from a rather large, arbitrary swath of folks who may just be looking for some mild entertainment in between dinner and dancing at the club, people who may or may not even care about the actually artistic nature of comedy. In one of Fradl's most recent missives to me, he compared some of the clubs he has performed at to our very own Wiley's Comedy Nite Club.

“One of the things I love about Wiley’s is that it has such a great history – it’s the oldest club in Ohio and they’ve survived this long by nurturing the kind of comedy that keeps people coming back. It’s comedy that feeds deeper than just quick knee-jerk reactions or shock value or the faux celebrities who are famous for a TV show but aren’t talented as comedians. The audiences at Wiley's want to see comedy.” Fradl then detailed some of the bad behavior he has encountered in other venues. “At so many other clubs, you’re dealing with people talking or texting on their phones and it’s because they view comedy as just this distracting little entertainment, like having the TV on in the background. In a lot of clubs, you have people even in the front row texting or even talking on the phone. Usually I simply say 'Hey, when you’re done interrupting the show can I borrow your phone for a sec? I’d like to call your mom and tell her what a shitty job she did with you.'”

Over the course of years, I was easily able to discern a marked difference in the tone of Fradl's recent emails and I wondered if current world events had changed people's acceptance of comedy and, if so, were these changes good or bad.

“I'll tell you one thing that has changed very much for me in the last five months is that my bit of cynicism about comedy has evaporated. In all the years of doing comedy, I've never seen people so appreciative and receptive to comedy.” Fradl went on to say, “Not to sound trite, but there's this almost tangible need for relief. People have always come up after a show and told me they had a great time or they thought I was funny, but lately it's been more about them expressing how much they needed to have this good time and how grateful they are to hear something that connects with them.”

You can check out some of Fradl's clips and commentaries on his website, http://www.markcomedy.com/, or better yet, catch Mark Fradl at Wiley's Comedy Nite Club, 101 Pine St., on Thursday, April 9th at 8:30pm, April 10th at 9:00pm, April 11th at 8:00pm and 10:30pm and April 12th at 8:00pm. Sunday is an open mic night with Mark Fradl closing the show. Tickets range from $5 to $12. For more information or to make reservations call (937) 224-5653 or visit them online at wileyscomedyclub.com.

One Of The Usual Suspects

Kevin Pollack To Appear At The Funnybone

As one of the most versatile talents in comedy today, it is not surprising to find that Kevin Pollack began his comedic career at the age of ten and was touring professionally by the time he was twenty. Pollack landed his first big screen acting role in Ron Howard's Willow in 1988 as one of a pair of wisecracking brownies, who lent comic relief to the film. Since that time, he has been featured in almost sixty films and has appeared in several television series, such as the SciFi Channel's The Lost Room as well as a recurring role as a District Attorney alongside James Woods on CBS's Shark. Probably the most memorable roles in Pollack's extensive movie career is his turn as LTJG Sam Weinberg, part of the defense council led by Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, and his character is The Usual Suspects, hijacker Todd Hockney.

In the realm of comedy, Kevin Pollack's humor is one of subdued observations and spot on impersonations. His impression of Christopher Walken is one of the most hysterical routines I have ever seen, and one which led to Pollack being invited to introduce Walken when he received his Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Pollack will be appearing at the Dayton Funnybone, 88 Plum St. at The Greene, April 3rd and 4th at 7:30pm and 10:00pm. As this is a special limited engagement, no coupons or passes will be accepted. Dinner packages are also available. For more information or to make reservations, you can call (937) 429-5233 or visit their website at http://www.daytonfunnybone.com/.