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September 2008
Movie alert - Film tsunami ahead
As if this weekend didn’t have enough things to do or watch - the HOT Fair and Rodeo, the OU-Baylor football game, two plays opening, four or so notable concerts and benefits, a nationally broadcast vice-presidential debate - here comes the list of movies opening this Friday in Waco and I count seven movies opening.
That’s right. Seven movies.
They are: Appaloosa, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Blindness, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Flash of Genius, American Carol and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
Needless to say, some will not be left standing by next Friday, so use the Waco rule of thumb: If there’s an art or indie movie that you really, really want to see, catch it in its first week in Waco; after one week they live on borrowed time …
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KWTX-TV does analog cutoff tests on Tuesday
Those of you who don’t have a digital TV, cable or satellite service, or an analog-to-digital converter can get a chance Tuesday, Sept. 30, to see what happens when analog TV signals go off the air nationally on Feb. 18, 2009.
KWTX-TV, Channel 10, will turn off their analog signal briefly during their newscasts on Tuesday to show viewers with analog sets if and how they’ll be affected. The “Test Your TV” spots Tuesday will help prepare KWTX viewers prepare for occasional signal outages the week of Oct. 6 when the station’s analog transmitter is turned off to allow maintenance work on KWTX’s antenna and tower.
If you’re on cable or satellite, you won’t be affected by the analog signal cutoff; if you have a digital set with tuner, you’re good to go. If you have an analog TV and are watching an over-the-air signal, expect your screen to go dark.
I suspect we’ll get more of these test analog cutoffs from all local broadcasters the closer we get to February and, in fact, Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is arguing for precisely that. The advantage of an early test, incidentally, gives affected viewers time to put converter boxes or new TVs on their Christmas gift lists …
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Violinist Lee shows killer finish with Waco Symphony Orchestra
PHOTOS
Always leave ‘em wanting more, goes the show business adage, and 16-year-old violinist Shannon Lee did precisely that at Thursday night’s Waco Symphony Orchestra concert at Waco Hall.
Lee, having played a remarkable Beethoven Violin Concerto with a rock-solid WSO, then took it up a notch with an encore announced from the stage - help me here, audience members; I couldn’t hear her say the piece - that displayed a virtuosity and personality yet unrevealed in the Beethoven.
The encore, which came after a second curtain call and triggered a standing ovation plus two more curtain calls, showcased the Plano resident’s skill in playing double stops (with a touch of string plucking thrown in for good measure) in its first section, followed by cooly furious runs and arpeggios. Lee played with an emotional restraint through the first two movements of the Beethoven, but began to relax by the third and final movement, her physical ease continuing in the encore.
It was a good night for the WSO as well, playing tightly and with balance under the baton of Music Director Stephen Heyde, the orchestra’s well-performed Beethoven a continuance of the compact, blended sound heard in Schumann’s Fourth Symphony in the concert’s first half.
Dressed in a white satin gown with navy backing, her dark hair pulled back in a pony tail, Lee performed the Beethoven with a command of dynamics and range. The young violinist seemed to relish the work’s more melodic lines, in particular the concerto’s second movement, and cadenzas near the close of the first and third movements seemed to reveal her youth and voice.
The first had a double stop passage with musical lines in different directions, a run requiring exceptional focus and one where her tonal control weakened a bit into a line with a sharp edge rather than rounded tone. The second, flashier cadenza showed Lee’s smarts and musical will as she employed her technique to mold lines into a musical direction rather than simply show off virtuosity. Her encore, incidentally, underlined the best in both cadenzas.
The WSO was in fine form as well Thursday night, opening with a bright and playful “Slalom” by Carter Pann that nimbly captured the exhilaration - and speed - of a downhill ski run. Framed by a familiar phrase that opens Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “Slalom” joyfully combined swirling, scurrying strings, a driving rhythm and scraping, shussing percussion.
The orchestra followed that with a tight, compact performance of the Schumann symphony, which featured a fine balance between sections and a unity normally heard in smaller ensembles.
The evening’s concert was projected on large video screens flanking the orchestra and a closer vantage point for the camera enabled a better view of the players for most of the audience.
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KWBU wins Texas Emmy nom
A tip of the hat to Waco public television station KWBU-TV, Channel 34, which has won its first Lone Star Emmy Awards nomination. The nomination is for the station’s “Central Texas Remembers WWII” program, which aired in conjunction with Ken Burns’ mega-series for PBS, “The War.”
Joani Livingston and Jessica Denk were producers on the project, with Zachary Morris the photographer. Their nomination is in the Documentary - Cultural/Historial category.
Winners will be announced Oct. 18 in Houston.
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Weekend feedback: Fest, bash, Mencia
One of those busy weekends in Waco where choosing one event means turning down several. I went to the Waco Cultural Arts Festival with my daughters, nibbling for an hour or so on Saturday and returning for a few hours more on Sunday.
Maybe the weekend’s great weather influenced my mood, but I really liked the new setting among the trees, greenery and riverbank views of Indian Spring Park. Seemed like more of the festival-goers were congregated around the art-making tents than the vendors or the amphitheater, but that’s usually where I hang out, too.
I’m always envious of how free and uninhibited kids are when making art. I get hung up planning my creations or projects, then even more bothered at the noticeable gap between vision and skill level. Not so with kids, who seem to jump in with both feet (sometimes literally) and go to it. That’s a lesson I continue to need and props to a festival like this that makes it possible.
Once my daughters were finished painting, being painted upon (props to those patient, brush-wielding volunteer face painters, btw) and molding clay, I caught the last half of the South Austin Jug Band’s set - some serious fiddling and mandolin going on there, all to the beat of a turbo-driven drummer. Earlier, MCC’s student jazz band showed some commendable chops as well.
That’s the part of the weekend’s entertainment that I sampled. Anyone want to share theirs? How was Carlos Mencia’s return show at the Hippodrome? Bob Bennett at the Jubilee Theatre? The weekend Biker Bash at Cameron Park East (and was the “Breezy Ride” scheduled for midnight Saturday what I think it was?)?
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“Rocky Horror” tix now on sale; Mencia going fast
I’ve got the time and ticket information for the Waco Hippodrome Theatre’s Oct. 30 screening of the grand -daddy? -tranny? of cult films, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Showtime is 10 p.m. and tickets cost $12, available here or by calling the Hippodrome box office at 752-9797.
Speaking of box office, if you’ve waited until now before buying tickets to Sunday’s 6 p.m. show with comic Carlos Mencia, you’re almost out of luck: as of 1:30 p.m. today, Sept. 19, the Hippodrome box office was down to about 50 tickets left. Mencia, whose “Mind of Mencia” remains one of Comedy Central’s most popular programs, sold out one show and most of a second in his last Waco performance and comes to town the day after performing at Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie. Just one sellout this time, but still - a sellout’s a sellout.
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KWBU-FM adds programming to digital channel
Fans of public radio shows “Talk of the Nation,” “The Diane Rehm Show” “Whad ‘Ya Know” and a lot more can now find those programs on KWBU-FM - with the right equipment.
The station is broadcasting the aforementioned programs and a bunch more on its digital HD2 channel, thanks to a $15,000 Cooper Foundation grant and discounted program costs from NPR and PRI. You’ll need a digital radio to pick up the programming or you can listen to it streamed on KWBU’s Web site.
The new KWBU offerings - and they won’t affect what’s presently carried on the station’s analog signal, which is also available digitally - are the first programming additions to digital radio in this radio market since oldies station KBGO-FM began broadcasting smooth jazz on its side channel last year. KWBU-FM was the first radio station in the market to broadcast a digital signal; the programming added this week shows some of the promise enabled by digital radio technology.
That is, if you have a digital radio or a PC with a fast Internet connection …
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Metropolitan Opera debuts in Waco next Monday, Sept. 22
Well, like the finale to “Rent,” it’ll be in a movie theater with a digital screen, but better to light a musical candle than curse the darkness, to mangle, horribly, a metaphor.
New York’s Metropolitan Opera opens its 2008-9 season Monday night, Sept. 22, with “The Met: Live in HD” with soprano Renee Fleming reprising her roles in Verdi’s “La Traviata,” Massenet’s “Manon” and Richard Strauss’ “Capriccio” (one scene from each). It’ll be shown in high definition video at Waco’s Hollywood Jewel 16 from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets cost $22 for adults, $20 for senior adults, $18 for students with ID and $15 for children. You can buy tickets in advance at the theater or online.
Yes, it’s not in person, but with Waco dependent on collegiate productions following the lingering death of the Lyric Opera of Waco several years ago, even opera projected on a screen would be a welcome addition.
The better news: Hollywood Jewel 16 has three more Met operas on its schedule: Richard Strauss’ “Salome” with soprano Karita Mattila, Oct. 11 with an encore screening on Oct. 22; John Adams’ “Dr. Atomic” with baritone Gerald Finley, Nov. 8 with a Nov. 19 encore; and Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust,” Nov. 22.
Starplex Galaxy 16 had been the first to the market with a digital projector and had simulcast Cirque du Soleil’s “Delirium” with the final Broadway performances of “Rent” coming up at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 and 25 and matinees on Sept. 27 and 28.
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Thoughts on (Hurricane) Ike, 9-11 and the movies
I debated about putting up a 9-11 post yesterday, but decided against it as observations of it seemed sufficiently quiet and low-key. McCain and Obama’s agreement to keep politics (mostly) out of it may have been political theater of a different degree, but a welcome one nonetheless. Seven years after the terrorist attacks on American soil, I find myself a little ambivalent on what we’re supposed to commemorate on this day. Mourn the loss of so many innocent lives? Remember the bravery of firefighters, police and citizens who died trying to rescue others? Honor the sacrifice of those citizens in Flight 93 whose action cost their lives, but saved our nation’s Capitol and likely hundreds of other innocent lives?
It’s all of that, of course, but only the last one fits under Patriot’s Day, the title some politicians have hung on that day. I can’t call it that. To me, “patriot” and “sacrifice” imply a conscious act. You choose to be a patriot; you’re born a citizen. Does dying at the hands of a foreign terrorist rather than a domestic terrorist, as in the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, make anyone more of a patriot?
Our newsroom this Friday morning has been tracking local efforts to help those affected by the incoming Hurricane Ike and it struck me: this is the America that 9-11 should be honoring and holding up as an example. We are a generous people at heart, one willing to make sacrifice to help others in need, one willing to put aside differences to join hands in a common work.
Celebration of this sinew of American strength has been overshadowed in our 9-11 memorials. Rather than build our emergency infrastructure and reinforce the values that hold us together so that we as a people can shrug off any future attacks, we’ve become fixated on preventing all possible attacks - a fool’s errand, given our vast, complicated land and vast, complicated world - that we’ve lost sight of the great gifts of law, freedom and justice that our Constitution has given us.
I’m afraid we’ve let movies and television shape our responses. If ‘24’s’ Jack Bauer can crack terrorists through physical torture and save the day, surely that will work for us. If Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger can turn back evil with firepower and muscle, surely that can work on a national level.
We rarely see alternate responses to crises, ones where solutions are found in cooperation, sacrifice, mercy, toleration and time. They would make boring movies, of course, which is why action and force rule in film and television’s one- and two-hour segments.
Guns won’t stop a hurricane, however. People working together and willing to sacrifice can help others withstand its blows. We have volunteers and government officials in Waco manning evacuation shelters, taking in evacuees or caring for their pets, preparing for destructive weather. I know it would be the same in other countries, but it reflects a part of American character of which I am proud.
It’s also something that our scorched-earth partisan politics never, ever celebrates. Sacrifice is what you demand of the other party; your enemy is the American who votes against you at the ballot box.
I hope Ike doesn’t hit as hard as feared, but I find myself wondering: Will responding to natural disasters like Ike be the only place Americans find non-partisan territory?
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Art film alert - Woody Allen’s ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
Opening Friday at Starplex Galaxy 16: Woody Allen’s comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Of course, also opening this Friday are the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading and Diane English’s take on The Women. I’d say when it rains, it pours, but this weekend that seems a bit flippant …
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Digital TV - the future arrives Monday in North Carolina
In a matter of hours (at 11 a.m. CST), the television stations serving Wilmington, North Carolina, will flip the switch to kill their analog signals and begin broadcasting solely in digital. Waco and the rest of the nation follow this coming February, but the Federal Communications Commission worked hard for a test market to iron out any kinks before the national transition.
Wilmington is a smaller market than Waco, ranking 134th (Waco-Temple-Killeen is 94th), and it’s estimated that about slightly less than 10 percent of the TV viewers there receive only an analog over-the-air signal. Will studio switchboards light up with astonished, angry viewers shocked, shocked that their favorite programs have turned into static? Will big box and electronics stores face a run on converter boxes? Will those viewers decide that maybe television isn’t an essential part of their lives after all? Those answers may come this week in Wilmington.
It’s been interesting to see the high level of congressional concern over the transition in recent months. So much so that you’d think Congressmen/-women’s jobs depend on voters’ access to television or something …
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Waco Civic Theatre’s “Children of Eden” not quite Eden
The Waco Civic Theatre’s production of “Children of Eden” mirrors the musical’s view of humanity: flawed, but with occasional saving graces. In this case, rousing finales in both acts, some nice singing and inventive masks offset its length (2 hours, 30 minutes) and sound problems on opening night, Sept. 5.
“Children of Eden,” with music and lyrics composed by Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked”), comes closer to an operetta than a musical as most of the storyline is contained in the work’s 25 songs than any dialogue or action.
Although the plot is based on four Biblical stories - the Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Noah and the ark - they’re altered significantly to fit the musical’s message of humanity finding its own way in a world where God - Father (Graham Northrup), in “Children of Eden” - chooses not to intervene out of love.
The play has Eve (Sarah Keeven) disobeying and eating the forbidden fruit, but only after Father snubs her repeated and perfectly sensible questions. Cain (Ben Tallcott) fights Adam (Todd Oleson) and kills Abel (Jeremy Davis) accidentally. Father intended the Flood to wipe out those descended from Cain, only to have his plan foiled by love between Noah’s son Japheth (Tallcott again) and family servant - and Cain descendent - Yonah (Kaley Caperton).
Father and Eve play key roles in the first act, but acoustical shortcomings undercut their effectiveness . Outside of annoying periodic microphone feedback, a low pitch resonance in the theater from bass guitar and keyboards made vocals difficult to understand (and lyrics carry much of the play’s wit and humor ): both Northrup and Keeven lacked power in their lower registers, where much of their singing was pitched.
Oleson as Adam, on the other hand, projected well, with a physical presence to match, as did Noah (James Johnson III), Davis, Yonah (Kaley Caperton) and Mamma Noah (Regan Haddock). Haddock, as she did in last May’s “Nunsense,” shows she knows how to bring down the house with a gospel belter while Caperton displayed an appealing, easy confidence on stage.
Director Russ Williams made effective use of a thrust stage, bringing several soloists and a closing scene with the musical’s body of storytellers into the audience.
A giant five-person serpent puppet, whose carriers sang and did a soft-show routine as they persuaded Eve to eat, added a touch of humor and cleverness in “In Pursuit of Excellence,” Creative and clever, too, were Curtis Cannon’s animal masks and costuming, which included a giraffe, peacock, zebra and elephant among the animals boarding the ark.
Costumer Sarah Voss handled the challenge of a large cast, adeptly sidestepping the usual cliche of robes for characters in Bible times by dressing “Children’s” actors in tunics and pants with a varied, but natural palette. Father’s outfit of white satin, cape and silvery stole and sash, however, resembled something Ming the Merciless might wear.
Singing and instrumental accompaniment from an eight-person combo, both directed by Tommy Edds, were effective in spite of the bass-heavy sound whle Flo Fitzpatrick’s simple, dance-move influenced choreography underlined the energy and spirit in “Generations.”
“Children of Eden” doesn’t quite reach theatrical Eden, but, as the musical says, there’s worth and meaning in the continued striving toward it.
“Childen of Eden” continues at the Waco Civic Theatre, 1519 Lake Air Drive, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12-13 and 19-20, 2:30 p.m. Sept. 14 and 21. Tickets cost $12 for adults, $10 for senior adults and students. Call 776-1591 for information and reservations.
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Broadway’s “Rent” says goodbye in Waco - digitally
For those of you who packed the Hippodrome two springs ago for “Rent,” this may be good news: One of the last performances of “Rent’s” Broadway run can be seen locally this month at the Starplex Galaxy 16.
Sony Pictures Releasing’s The Hot Ticket, the same company that brought Cirque du Soleil’s “Delirium” to movie theaters (including the Galaxy 16), will show “Rent” as it was in its last days on Broadway. “Rent” ends its 12-year Broadway run on Sunday, Sept. 7, and the theater screening will combine footage from that performance and an Aug. 20 show.
The Galaxy 16 will screen it, digitally, at 7 p.m. Sept. 24-25 and matinees Sept. 27-28; tickets cost $20.
“Delirium,” incidentally, is coming back to Waco, with repeat screenings at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 and matinees Oct. 17-18. Tickets are a little cheaper this time at $15.
“Rent” on the screen isn’t the same as “Rent” live, of course, but it may be fans’ last chance to see the musical for awhile, locally at least. Scott Baker, executive director of the Waco Performing Arts Company, says the burst of interest in “Rent’s” departure from Broadway led to a revamped - and more expensive - national tour of larger cities. The Hippodrome can’t afford that one, which means it may be more than a year before an affordable tour comes Waco’s way
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Crash at Crush at Dallas theater
Apologies for not getting this up last weekend, which means this is the final weekend for the Dallas Hub Theater’s production “The Crash at Crush.” It’s playwright Jo Morello’s account of the famous/infamous 1896 railroad promotional stunt near West that sent two locomotive engines racing toward each other for a smash-up, with tickets sold to those wanting to witness the spectacular wreck.
A lot wanted to witness the crash, it turned out, with more than 40,000 spectators massing in stands for the event created by Katy railroad ticket agent William G. Crush. It went according to plan - until the engines’ steam boilers exploded after impact, killing three people and seriously injuring six more with flying engine parts.
Morello workshopped her play in Waco more than a year ago, including an open reading of the script directed by Baylor theater professor Marion Castleberry at the Waco Hippodrome Theatre.
The full production - complete with a stage dramatization of the colliding steam engines - continues this weekend with performances at 7:30 tonight and 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5-6. Tickets cost $25, available online here or here.
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New dates for “Tuna Does Vegas!”
New dates for recently postponed “Tuna Does Vegas!” were set today: January 23, 24 and 25, 2009. That’s a Friday through Sunday night with weekend matinees, the same weekday/end performances of the original Sept. 19-21 run at the Waco Hippodrome.
The small town Texas comedy, produced and performed by Tuna creators Jaston Williams and Joe Sears, had its Hippodrome run postponed on Tuesday due to tour cancellations caused by Hurricane Gustav.
Scott Baker, executive director of the Waco Performing Arts Company, which manages the Hippodrome, said the rescheduled dates would fit well with the Hippodrome’s January schedule, which features “Jesus Christ Superstar” on Jan. 17 and a New Horizons children’s production on Jan. 30. Those who wish to transfer their September tickets to the January dates or ask for a refund may call the Hippodrome box office at 752-9797. Baker said most patrons calling today wanted to reschedule.
January weather in Texas can be fickle, but it’s a safe bet there won’t be a threat of hurricanes then.
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Gustav blows Waco’s “Tuna” into January
Hurricane Gustav did collateral damage to the Waco Hippodrome Theatre’s first fall production by causing postponement of the comedy “Tuna Does Vegas!” from Sept. 12-14 to January, 2009.
The tour’s five Waco performances were the only ones unaffected by Gustav’s approach and landfall, which meant the company producing the tour would have only the revenue of Waco to recoup the tour’s cost and lost shows. The Hippodrome could have demanded the company, led by Tuna creators and actors Joe Sears and Jaston Williams, fulfill its contract, said Scott Baker, executive director of the Waco Performing Arts Company. That, however, could have meant a huge financial hit for the Tuna company.
“I think Waco would not want to be known as the town that killed Tuna,” Baker said Tuesday, hours after agreeing to a postponement of “Tuna Does Vegas!” to January 2009.
The Waco Hippodrome Theatre had already sold almost 1,900 tickets with sales accelerating as the shows approached; Hippodrome office staff sold about 40 tickets on Tuesday before official word of the postponement came. Baker and the Tuna company will set the January 2009 performances Wednesday morning and determine the manner of refunding those ticket holders who want their money back.
Since “Vegas” wasn’t a part of the Hippodrome’s regular season, season ticket holders who did not buy “Vegas” tickets separately are not affected by the change in date. Baker, however, had counted heavily on the excitement of “Vegas” to start the fall with positive buzz about the Waco theater and stimulate a late round of season ticket buying. The Hippodrome is approaching 600 season tickets sold and Baker planned on using “Vegas” as “a big slingshot” to reach his goal of 800 for the year.
Baker intends to reschedule “Vegas” with the same performance set-up as originally planned: Friday, Saturday and Sunday night performances with matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Those holding tickets will be able to retain those seats and performance time if they wish, Baker added. For information on rescheduling and refunds, call the box office at (254) 752-9797 or email at boxoffice@wacoperformingarts.org
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