Waiting for My Fool Heart

Here we were last night at the C’ville test screening of My Fool Heart, the film I mentioned a couple-few years ago. Folks were filing into the Paramount Theater on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Jim Waive and Sian Richards were in the lobby when we arrived, but we just said “Hi” quickly to them and then hustled into the house as we wanted to get good seats. This was the view from the second row of the balcony waiting for the series of slides showing coming events to end. Though it looks a bit sparse in this photo, once everyone left the party in the lobby and took seats, there was a good house.

View from the balcony of the scene in Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater at the test screening of My Fool Heart 20121117 [Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
John@johnwillslloyd.com]

Madness on the DT Mall?

Did you know that there’s a mad woman loose on Hookville’s downtown mall? It’s more than an idle rumor. It’s actually The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giradoux, re-imagined by Kay Ferguson and a troupe of veteran players who have been engaged in intense physical training for months as they developed their version of the 1940s play.

The Madwoman of Chaillot is the story of a witty, eccentric woman who rallies a band of artists, workers, and down-and-out characters in a clever plan to disrupt avaricious plans of powerful figures who are bent on sacrificing beauty to obtain profits. As Ms. Ferguson says, the story sounds a lot like “Right Now, USA.”

The first performance is 6:00 PM 6 September 2012, and it’s running all through the month of September. The troupe is using a novel approach to the production, starting with a first act for free on the mall, then parading to The Haven, where they’ll accept donations for the second act, part of which will go to The Haven. Read all about the project, the players, and more.

6 Degrees at Live Arts

I had the good fortune of watching the preview of Six Degrees of Separation at Live Arts Thursday and recommend it highly. Because I had seen them before, I expected that Doug Schneider (as Flan) and Kay Ferguson (as Ouisa) would give strong performances. I was pleasantly surprised to watch Lance Lemon provide a very smooth version of Paul the first time I saw him on stage. There are fun moments with various members of the company, too. It’s a tight production that director Betsy Tucker has running close to 90 minutes, stages on an imaginative set with a nifty and functional design by Jeffrey Kmiec, and orchestrates so that thought-provoking themes about race, class, honesty, homosexuality, and (of course) human connections are evident from the beginning. So, you should get tickets and see it.

Franks’ show tops LA Times

Screen shot of LA Times page

As its lead article this morning, the LA Times Web site carried a story about a ceramics show curated by Frank Gehry and on display at my brother Frank Lloyd’s gallery. Because they’re both named Frank and both involved in the show, I used the plural possessive in the title for this entry.

Links:

• Jori Finkel’s LA Times article about the show.
• My brother Frank’s gallery site.
• My brother Frank’s blog.
• Frank Gehry’s firm’s site: FOGA.com.

Read ‘Hyperbole and a Half’

Over on Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh has some marvelous stuff. She tickles my fancy with irreverent commentaries spiced with quick cartoons. Here’s a brief list of some of my recent faves:

• A report about her not death experience;
• A lampoon of the misspelling of the phrase ‘a lot’;
• Her saga about the death of the Easter Bunny

She’s so ‘ffin’ good she has a store! And, she’s very productive. She’s so ‘ffin’ good she has a store! Bookmark this: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/.

Postcards for art

Here’s a nifty synergy of art, children, and international interaction. Over on Microscopiq, Jason Ellis has a post about a project that is called “Brownstones to Red Dirt Postcard Art Benefit.” It sprang from a documentary about kids corresponding with each other.

Two colleagues at Blue Sky Studios, David LaMattina and Chad Walker, have created a feature-length documentary about a pen pal program between a group of at-risk sixth graders living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and orphans from the war living in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This Postcard Art project is an extension of the their film “Brownstones To Red Dirt” which features children from both schools.

Not only is the idea cool, but the images are really fine. In addition to reading the full original, “Blue Sky, Pixar & More Artists Paint for a Cause,” from Microsopiq, there’s a Web site specific to the project at http://btorpostcards.blogspot.com/.

Put some step in your PEP!

The Performers Exchange Project, that local collective of five theater artists that’s done many wonderful things around town, is planning to take one of those projects, Our American Ann Sisters, on the road. You can help fund the serious frivolity (errr, frivolous seriosity?).

Not only has PEP brought Our American Ann Sisters to life, it’s also created events such as Shentai (one or two of you may have read about it here) and many of the folks were instrumental in the development of the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers (it was here, too). They’re marvelous contributors to the central Virginia community’s arts world. Step right up! Help them share their art.

Here’s part of their pitch:

Contemporary art in a hospital

My brother Frank and I have been spending a lot of time in a hospital with our mother recently (Frank more than I, as I just arrived on the scene a few days ago; he’s been dealing with it for much longer). Many of the hospital walls are decorated, and Frank (the artist and art dealer) noticed, of course. So he has a post, “Hospital Art,” about it.

Lacayo deconstructs Beck’s spins

Richard Lacayo, who writes about art and architecture over at Time, has a blog entry entitled “Glenn Beck: Crack(ed) Symbologist” in which he exposes the faulty thinking that sometimes passes as analysis in popular culture. In his entry, Mr. Lacayo explains how popular commentator Glenn Beck begins (warning: muddled metaphors ahead) spinning at something close to the speed of a very fast hard disk—say, 7200 rpm—and, like a cartoon tornado, simply lifts off from reality.

Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator and self-proclaimed “rodeo clown”, found a new hobby horse the other night — secretly “communist” and “fascist” art buried into the exterior design program of Rockefeller Center. In Beck’s rant he also managed to imply that “Rockefeller”, it’s not clear which Rockefeller he meant, was also somehow a secret communist. Or was it a fascist? Or maybe both.

Sacagawea recognized

Lewis-Clark-Sacagawea statue

A celebration commemorating the unveiling of a historic marker honoring Sacajawea, the Lemhi Shoshone woman who made important contributions to the success of the exploration by M. Lewis and W. Clark (and their “corps of discovery”), will be held 19 June 2009 in Charlottesville. The event, which will be open to the public, is to be begin at 1:00 PM at the site of the Lewis and Clark Statue (McIntire and West Main, Charlottesville). For those who are unfamiliar with the neighborhood, there’s a map appended to this post.

This latest development reflects concern local citizens have expressed about the statue and, more importantly, the portrayal of many people who have made unrecognized contributions to US history and culture. If either of my two current readers can remember something beyond yesterday, she’ll recall that I posted a couple of notes about this statue and others’ responses to it over the years.

The city of Charlottesville has a page about the event. There is also a PDF about the event (download). My earlier posts were “Sacagawea Day” (9 October 2007) and “More on Sacagawea” (7 July 2008)

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