Category: Performing Arts

An extraordinary video – and I think that the song could grow on me as well.

 

 

(hat tip to Obscene Desserts)

I’ve mentioned Pilobolus and Momix before. Their dance performances always take me to another place of wonderment. Their movements flit between human and alien in the whick of an eyelid. If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience one of their performances, I see that TED Blogs has an example of a dance performed by a duo from the Pilobolus company. Go and see them.

 

http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/loader.swf 

The Cornell Mushroom Blog draws our attention to a short film made in 1971 that attempts to visualise the actions of ribosomal RNA in a cell. Bizarre, truly bizarre, but such a product of the time. These days, we use computer animation, and forego the funky music… Perhaps we’ve lost our innocence as well…

Er, this has to be a joke, right? This person cannot be serious, surely? If it is straight up (as it were), then there are some seriously deluded people out there… There’s a web site, which has left me scratching my head. Is this a parody, or what?

 

Update: The video has been pulled from YouTube, but interestingly it has also gone from the LoveGodsWay web site, leaving a "Removed Due To Abuse" message in its place. Ironic, really, the video itself was the abuse… Oh, but you can still read the lyrics over at Blast Off!

 

Update 2: I’m told the video has now appeared on MySpace… Let’s see if we can get linked to it…

 

Now this is a modern version of a nativity play that I’d really like to see: A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant. Described as:

Reminds me of the old joke: Q: what’s the difference between a cult and a religion? A: usually about 2,000 years. 

 

(hat tip to David Byrne for the link)

To anyone who doesn’t hail from Britain, pantomime must seem as a peculiar artform. A stage show where the leading man is always played by a woman with legs up to her armpits, who is much given to slapping her thighs, to the pantomime dame – always played by a man who at some point in the show simply has to reveal that s/he is wearing about twenty set of undergarments.

 

I simply loved going to pantos as a small child, and even now adore the atmosphere of a good traditional panto. Simon Callow writes a great piece in today’s Guardian that celebrates the artform. Long may it continue.

Well, it’s in the nature of experiments that they sometimes go wrong… Today’s performance of Cosi fan Tutte has been cancelled because the computer-controlled stage set has failed… Bloody computers again…

 

It reminds me of the time we saw Peter Pan at the National Theatre in London. The same thing happened to the huge stage set of Peter’s island – it refused to revolve, and the performance was stopped for an hour while the technicians sweated blood trying to get it moving again…

Interesting experiment today in The Netherlands. The Dutch National Opera are performing Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte in the Stopera in Amsterdam. The performance is also being transmitted live on Dutch TV, to a number of cinemas throughout the Netherlands, and over the Internet. The other two operas in the Da Ponte trilogy will be performed in the same way over the coming weeks.

The history of oil – as told by Robert Newman. A blackly humorous polemic.

 

(hat tip to Improbable Research)

There’s a lovely little article in today’s Guardian that illustrates the phenomenon of colliding worlds perfectly. The worlds are that of rock stardom and astronomy, and the epicentre of the collision is in the totally unexpected figure of Brian May, guitarist of Queen. He has just co-authored a book on astronomy with Patrick Moore, renowned astronomer and eccentric, and Moore’s co-presenter on the BBC’s astronomy programme, Chris Lintott.

 

The article is a delight, with some wonderful images, like the occasion when May was visiting an observatory on the Canary Islands, and a bunch of world-class astronomers shuffled up to him, produced their guitars and asked him to sign them…

A sad coincidence. Martin Sherman’s play Bent opened in London in a revival last night, the day after Tom Bell, who played Horst in the original production, died at the age of 73.

 

I saw the original production of Bent at the Royal Court theatre in 1979, with Tom Bell and Ian McKellan in the main roles. It was an extraordinarily powerful production and their performances were electrifying – quite literally so for one of the protagonists. The play has also been made into a film, which has its moments. McKellan appears in it, but this time in the role of Uncle Freddie, rather than as Max. There’s also an interesting turn by Mick Jagger playing a drag queen. If you can’t get to see the play’s revival, then the film is worth tracking down. Just don’t expect a jolly evening – this isn’t Cabaret. It’s much darker – a descent into Hell.

This is bizarrely beautiful. OK, the video resolution is crap (shrink down your browser window to make it better), the kitsch factor is astronomical, but the result is strangely wonderful. Supposedly performed by 21 deaf dancers (boys and girls) from China (where else?).

I’ve always liked Weird Al Yankovic ever since "Eat It" and "Like A Surgeon", which to my horror, were released over twenty years ago. But he’s still going strong, his latest is White and Nerdy. Listen to the words and watch the video. Both are a tour de force… I love the M.C. Escher reference…

I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone thought of updating the old Busby Berkeley moving belt routines, but this is pretty good all the same. As Amanda says, sit through the introduction to the main event.

I’m sorry, but modern jazz leaves me absolutely cold. When I listen to it, I just hear noise, and when I see film or video of modern jazz musicians, my overriding impression is how smug they like to appear – all those not-so-quiet smiles as they toss off yet another (to my ears) totally tuneless riff.

 

I’m sure that this is my problem.

 

I’m sure, for example,  that I should roll over in ecstasy over Codebook from saxophonist Rudresh Mananthappa. After all, he’s using cryptography and number theory as his inspiration. And this gushing review in Wired clearly has Alexander Gelfand practically coming over the keyboard. Well, sorry, but give me Bach any day. Still, since someone out there probably thinks this sort of stuff is wonderful, here’s the link… 

We live quite close to the village of Bredevoort. As well as being a village stuffed to the gills with bookshops, it also organises a "Gondelvaart" several times in the year. The Slinge river, which flows through the region, feeds an ox-bow lake on the outskirts of the village, and on summer nights that is where the Gondelvaart takes place. It’s a parade of boats, illuminated only by thousands of tiny lights, usually creating an image. The parade is rounded off with a firework display.

 

We went there last night with two friends, and it was really charming to see it. The floats are built by enthusiastic amateurs, some as young as 10 years old, and were very good. More photos can be seen here.

 

 

 

 

 

And having acknowledged Neatorama for bringing the Peel Trident back to my attention, I don’t know whether to congratulate them or damn them for the link to the Fast Food Song. Warning: click Play at your own risk.

 

No, on second thoughts I think I damn them.

 

Oh, and I notice that the "Ads by Google" part of the web page has an entry for "Alex Prior – 11 year old singer and composer nicknamed Little Pavarotti". Do I dare to click that as well? – Oh gawd, I did – take away the memory, please…

Pavlov’s Cat looks sidewise at the world and comes up with this somewhat uncomfortable thought.

Now that’s something I would like to have seen…

 

Update: Lots of photos on Flickr…

Coming to the stage soon: Thatcher – the Musical. Sounds as though it’s going to be another "Springtime for Hitler" – so awful in concept that it works against all the odds… I look forward to the staging of the Poll Tax riots.