Mike's Bloggity Blog

Tonight the fast moving fancy-free feet of Riverdance came to Calgary for an exclusive one week engagement.  If I’m being honest, I’ve probably never had Riverdance on top of my MUST SEE list, instead the show was probably always on my HAVE TO SEE list.  Ever since the show premiered nearly seventeen years ago, I’ve had memories of sitting around the TV with my mom watching show after show on CBC. Seeing Riverdance is a Canadian rite of passage and tonight was the night.

Because I’m a good audience member, I didn’t tweet during the show but sometimes, I find myself thinking in short 140 character bursts.  Am I saying that I think in tweets?  Yes, Yes I do.

Here are five tweets that came to mind during Riverdance:

-Are they making it look easy, or is it just easy?
Not that the spectacle of the show wasn’t impressive, but really aren’t they just doing the same five moves over and over?  Intro to Irish Dance must be the shortest class in the entire dance school.

-These dancers easily must have the weakest upper bodies (outside of curlers.)
Even  ballet has a few lifts?  In Irish Dance the hands barely get higher than their wastes.  Their arms are probably 1/32nd the size of their thighs.

-This show has remained untouched since it premiered in 1994.
This is great if you’re like me and you’ve never seen the show. But if you’re a repeat viewer, you might be disappointed.  Kinda like the second time I saw Elton John.  It was exactly the same show two years later. If artists know this is the case, they should post a warning: “Show remains the same, check back soon.”

-Why am I such a sucker for large group dance numbers?
Even the most cynical person would have a hard time resisting the excitement that comes from watching Riverdance’s huge dance numbers.  They are stirring, exciting and dizzying.  They get me every.single.time.

-Poor Riverdance, they really felt the wrath of Calgary’s “I’m not clapping unless everyone else is clapping” unspoken rule tonight.
You may or may not have heard that Calgary has one of the worst reputations for being a cold audience.  I’ve seen people sit through an entire Jason Mraz concert, Swell Season essentially told the audience to fuck off at last year’s Folk Fest and at that same festival, another artist left the stage in tears.  Yes, this city can be brutal. Tonight it took an hour and forty five minutes for the audience to finally get behind the dancers, and that’s after they were essentially begging the crowd to clap.  I’d love to be a fly on the dressing room when they are talking about Calgary crowds.  Even the standing ovation was weak, it’s Canada, you know you are going to get one.  But I think most people in the audience were just getting up. Oh well, a standing O is a standing O.

Riverdance is playing in Calgary until Sunday, April 24th.
Edmonton, AB (April 26 – May 1, 2011)
Regina, SK (May 3 – May 5, 2011)
Saskatoon, SK (May 6 – May 8, 2011)
Victoria, BC (May 30 – June 1, 2011)

With the solidified success of Lost Girl comfortably in its back pocket, Showcase is now risking its potential Hot Streak status with its newest show Endgame, which premieres later tonight.

Endgame is the story of Arkady Balagan (Shawn Doyle), an agoraphobic and World Chess Champion who is mourning the loss of his fiancee after she was murdered in front of him.  Unable to leave his hotel, Balagan becomes an accidental detective and uses his strategy-addicted mind to solve crimes. Oh and he’s Russian.  Not really crucial to the story (or is it?!?), I’ve just always enjoyed the accent.

So why should you watch a crime show about a chess player? Well, before you declare checkmate on Endgame, here are five reasons why I think it might just be worth your time:

1. Chess has never seemed so exciting.  No, seriously. Hell if I knew that I could have used it to become a private detective, I would have picked up the game years ago.

2.  The show is much more exciting than the bland title may imply. Part Veronica Mars with a heavy helping of House (and yes, a dash of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,) EndGame uses clever and often funny flashbacks to fill in the story’s missing pieces…or in this case chess pieces.  (Nailed it.)

3. A crime show with real-twists that leaves out the gore?  Yes, please!  Not as scary as Criminal Minds or CSI, Endgame does what crime shows used to do and focuses on an intriguing story and a solid cast, not the blood.

4.  Fans of Glee‘s missing-in-action Mr. Tanaka will be happy to see that his portrayer Patrick Gallagher, shows up as the defiant hotel security manager.  There doesn’t seem to be any chance that he will bust out a broadway number but it might be worth sticking around, just to be sure.

5. Vancouver, Vancouver, Vancouver.  Not since The Olympics, has the city been shot so beautifully.  The Westin Bayshore is cast as the central hotel, only now called The Huxley.  Fans of Fringe will also have fun pointing out similar shooting locations.  Is it too soon to ask for a crossover episode?

Endgame premieres tonight on Showcase!

Today I’ve got something different for you!  Both myself and Bloggity Reviewer Dan Meades went to hear Malcolm Gladwell speak tonight.  Dan is a big fan, and judging from the huge crowd he wasn’t the only one. I, on the other hand, suffer from FOMO–a.k.a. Fear of Missing Out. It’s a crippling disorder that requires me to see something if everyone else is going to be talking about it.

Thus, I present you with a pair of reviews. If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s check out what Dan had to say. If you’re like me and you’ve never heard of him, my review’s for you!

Smartypants: Malcolm Gladwell at the Jack Singer Concert Hall

Malcolm Gladwell sold out the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary. In fact, he sold it out more quickly than anyone else in its history except Sarah McLachlan. I doubt Gladwell has the same sense of pitch as McLachlan, but he was certainly treated like a rock star tonight.

Gladwell is the Canadian-born author of The Tipping Point (2000), Blink (2005), Outliers (2008), and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009). He’s a sort of public intellectual, a thinker and writer on topics of current and historical significance. This evening he spoke about what he calls “miscalibration,” the idea that so-called “experts” can possess overconfidence that leads them to make mistakes, and that because of their roles as leaders these mistake can have tragic consequences. I would attempt to explain this further but frankly would just screw it up: my pants are not nearly as smart as his.

Gladwell illustrated his point by recalling an American Civil War battle, weaving in stories about the 1929 stock market crash and the recent financial crisis. He even threw in the results of a psychology study for the academics in the crowd. I could go on and on about Gladwell’s seemingly endless knowledge, but instead would like to comment on my overriding impression of the evening: Gladwell’s skill as a storyteller. With an almost boyish charm, Gladwell led the audience effortlessly back and forth between the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville and the events leading up to the 2008 financial meltdown. One of the only Canadians who possesses similar storytelling skill is CBC’s Stewart McLean, but Gladwell is neither as wholesome nor as accessible. Frankly, I like that about him.

And now for my thoughts:

For me, Malcolm Gladwell was always a name that made my head start nodding whenever I heard it mentioned. Had I heard of him? No. But I knew enough to know that I should at least pretend that I did.  So when tickets ended up in my hand to see him speak I figured, “I’m taping American Idol anyway…I might has well go.” We got to the theatre rather late, but thanks to general admission ticketing and people’s apparent fear of sitting too close I almost ended up sharing the stage with Malcolm. Having fallen asleep in many a college lecture I knew this was probably a bad idea.

But here’s the thing: I didn’t fall asleep. I didn’t even want to–and I always want to sleep. When Gladwell told us he was going to spend the next forty-five minutes talking about the financial crisis and American history I almost stood up to leave, but my friend insisted that I stay. I’m glad I did: Gladwell is a master of the written word, but it’s extremely rare that someone who spends so much time in front of a computer can also captivate a room. Gladwell uses his mix of intelligence, sense of humor, and, yes, Canadianness to quickly become everyone’s really smart friend. Drama kings and queens might say their lives were changed by the lecture. It wasn’t life-altering–I doubt someone can have that much of an effect on your life in so little time–but it was interesting and fun and that was kinda unexpected.

Okay, so I didn’t always know what he was talking about–but really, how often does someone really understand 100% of a lecture? I think everyone pretends like they do, but when you get a good view of a thousand people all at once it’s pretty easy to see that everyone, at least sometimes, simply nods.

At the end of the night Mayor Nenshi arrived on stage to White Hat our guest. In a moment that was sure to be scrutinized on every hipster blog within a hundred kilometers, Gladwell seemed unsure about the whole process but happily went along with it. Turns out Malcolm and I aren’t that different after all!

Special Review by Dan Meades

So, full discloser: I really like this band. No, I mean I REALLY like this band. Part of the reason I really like this band is because I know some of the members from the St. John’s music scene years ago, not the least of which being Tim Baker, front man and musical force behind Hey Rosetta!

I have liked all of their albums, most notably their latest offering “Seeds” which was released just a couple of weeks ago. When Hey Rosetta! took to the stage on Thursday night in Calgary, in front of a capacity crowd at the Legion everyone erupted in cheers and applause at the mere appearance of the band. As they quickly dove into energetic offerings from “Seeds” the crowd (who had been kept waiting for some time) clapped and sang every word as the band burst into material never before played in front of a Calgary audience.

This is not your average four-piece rock band. Hey Rosetta! comes complete with two violins and a cello to round out the robust seven-piece sound , almost every member of the band is a multi-instrumentalist with Tim Baker effortlessly transitioning between guitar and piano in the same song.

It is not overstating things to say that I would challenge you to find a better band touring in Canada right now. Hey Rosetta! is a tour de force in Canadian music, on CBC’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi Hey Rosetta! were compared to no less than Coldplay and U2 as well as Canadian superstars Arcade Fire, I would argue that they deserve those comparisons as well as audiences as large as those bands regularly draw.

Check out the Video for “Yer Spring” from Seeds here, with special mention to my friend Sarah Mackey who is the lead cat at the 1 minute 55 second mark of this amazing video which showcases my hometown of St. John’s Newfoundland as much as it showcases the spellbinding music of Hey Rosetta!

If you are going to buy one Canadian album this year let it be Seeds by Hey Rosetta!, I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

Dan Meades always gets pop culture trivia questions wrong; he finds himself politely laughing along when others make jokes about TV Celebs and it took him months to realize that Brangelina is actually two separate people. In fact he had to lie through his teeth just to get Bloggity to let him write music reviews. Some of the lies he told were that he was born and raised in St. John’s Newfoundland and made a living as a George St. Musician through University. In fact Dan is almost completely tone deaf which makes it all the more remarkable that he can review concerts at all. You can reach Dan at danmeades@gmail.com

Special Review by Dan Meades

It is no secret that I am a music fan, and I also really enjoy theatrical productions as well, but truth be known I have never had much exposure to musical theatre. In fact, I am quite certain that the only reason I was given this assignment tonight is that Mike (Bloggity as I like to call him) is ill and unable to leave his couch.

This production has run on Broadway in New York as well as in the West End of London so I am certain that it is good. I say that I am certain that it is good because I have actually never seen another musical live so I have no point of comparison. There is no doubt that the cast is talented, and the production value is very high, the entire sold out crowd was engaged in the story and bursting into applause at the end of each musical number, complete with complicated choreography.

What I really liked about Legally Blonde the Musical is that it is musical theatre that is very accessible. There is sometimes a presumption that musical theatre has to be for the snooty and pretentious among us, or maybe it was just me that thought that, either way after seeing this musical I no longer have an archetype about who can enjoy a musical. Go see this production if you want to experience a bright, vivacious night of music that, unlike me, doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Dan Meades always gets pop culture trivia questions wrong; he finds himself politely laughing along when others make jokes about TV Celebs and it took him months to realize that Brangelina is actually two separate people. In fact he had to lie through his teeth just to get Bloggity to let him write music reviews. Some of the lies he told were that he was born and raised in St. John’s Newfoundland and made a living as a George St. Musician through University. In fact Dan is almost completely tone deaf which makes it all the more remarkable that he can review concerts at all. You can reach Dan at danmeades@gmail.com

Well all strange things must come to an end.  I think that’s the expression, isn’t it?

This past weekend, the curtain closed on Calgary’s High Performance Rodeo.  In it’s nearly month-long, countless shows, exhibits, gallery openings and plays stormed the stages of this city to high praise and by people like me, a lot of confusion.  I got the chance to see three shows at this year’s festival: I walked out of Brian Eno‘s talk, was left happily dazed and confused by Smash Cut Freeze and then on Friday night, I finally got to see the much buzzed about Bash’d: A Gay Rap Opera.

I had heard about this show since it’s sold out run at last year’s Olympics in Vancouver and honestly never thought a show that sounded, well…so gay, would ever play in Calgary.  Let’s be honest, we aren’t Vancouver or Toronto. (It was only eight weeks ago that this province officially removed homosexuality as a mental disorder.) More shocking is the fact that this isn’t the show’s first run in Calgary and actually played at the festival three years ago.  (Here’s a great piece on the history of the show)

In it’s all too short run here at HPR, BASH’d brought an issue to the stage that isn’t really talked about in the city as publicly as it probably should be. I went to the show really not knowing what to expect.  Based on the words “gay, rap and opera”, I was probably hoping it would be an Avenue Q-esque satire on the gay community and its stereotypes.

I should have known better.

In the incredibly tight, fast-moving and emotional 60 minute show, BASH’d packs n heavy and immediate message that is not easy to immediately digest.  It’s hard, shocking and raw. You’ll want to laugh, cry and yes, even scream.  I know I did all three of those things, sometimes more than once.

BASH’d has already found success in New York City but for now, I hope that the show’s Canadian creators Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow continue to tour it around this country.  There is value to a show that leaves you aching, we just might not want to admit it.

Special Review by Dan Meades

Hannah Georgas took the stage at The Gateway to a somewhat sparse but excited crowd for her first performance of 2011. The four piece rock band had a traditional set up and presented a very typical rock sound with straight forward drum beats and a thick bass tone to back the delightful and unusual tone of Georgas’ voice. Her vocal sound is hard to describe but falls somewhere between Feist and Sarah Harmer (both of whom I love). She flirts with crossing into cutesy sounding but doesn’t quite get there, instead commanding the stage with great presence and a very tight sound as she worked through radio friendly, catchy songs with strong hooks and singable choruses. The Vancouver born artist is part of the west coast music scene with the likes of Said The Whale and Dan Mangan, fine company to be in for sure and she certainly holds her own.

Most of the songs played tonight were from Georgas’ 2010 offering ‘This is Good’ but she also revisited her previous album entitled ‘The Beat Stuff’. Everybody at the Gateway had a great time tonight including the band who threw t-shirts to the crowd between songs and interacted like old friends on stage. I had not listened to a lot of Georgas’ music before tonight but I certainly will from now on. We are not just talking about another singer songwriter with a decent voice, Georgas is the real deal that deserves, and is ready for, an audience much bigger than she had tonight.

You can check out her blog at www.hannahgeorgas.com where she will give you her top three songs of the week, everything from Sam Roberts to Kanye is on her list and it is pretty fun to read.

Honorable mention tonight goes to Calgary’s own Noel Johnson who opened the show. He is worth a listen so check him out.  If his sound is a little familiar you can credit local favorite Michael Bernard Fitzgerald who co-produced his album ‘Spirit of the Day.

Dan Meades always gets pop culture trivia questions wrong; he finds himself politely laughing along when others make jokes about TV Celebs and it took him months to realize that Brangelina is actually two separate people. In fact he had to lie through his teeth just to get Bloggity to let him write music reviews. Some of the lies he told were that he was born and raised in St. John’s Newfoundland and made a living as a George St. Musician through University. In fact Dan is almost completely tone deaf which makes it all the more remarkable that he can review concerts at all. You can reach Dan at danmeades@gmail.com

Believe it or not, Calgarians are still in the midst of the High Performance Rodeo!  While this city maybe known for the Calgary Stampede, HPR is almost twice as long and yes, twice as confusing.  In case you don’t know, High Performance Rodeo has nothing to do with horses, cows or The Young Canadians.  Don’t feel bad if you actually didn’t know this, it literally took me four years to figure it out.  Now that I know that the festival is all about bringing the best (and weirdest) forms of art, music and theatre to Calgary, I’m starting to understand it a little bit more….but just a little.

When the festival launched a few weeks ago, I went to the opening night talk with Brian Eno. Click here to see how that went.  Here’s a hint:  I’m still confused.

But now that I’ve had a chance to catch a little more of HPR, it’s really is starting to grow on me like a feather on Natalie Portman’s back, meaning: I think I know why it’s there…but do I?

Smash Cut Freeze is one of the productions that is running the entire length of the festival.  Given the already confusing nature of the festival, I had no idea what to expect.  As I walked into the theatre, I mentioned to my friend, “You’re probably going to be super confused and have no idea what is going on.  Enjoy!”  Smash Cut Freeze stars Denise Clarke, Andy Curtis and Christopher Duthie, who, after you squeeze yourself into the intimate Big Secret Theatre, will captivate, confuse and mostly move you in ninety minutes of purely organic-feeling theatre.

Don’t get be mistaken, this isn’t your normal piece of theatre.  During the show’s first five minutes, I remember thinking: “Fuck, is this another confusing piece of ‘art’ that will leave me baffled and feeling lonely?”  But instead of looking for something more mainstream from Smash Cut Freeze, I decided to suck it up and let the weirdness take over.  It sorta felt like a roller coaster.  The first drop is the worst and most terrifying, after that there’s not much you can do about it, so you might as well enjoy the ride, right?

The play definitely has an Inception-y feel to it.  Space out for a moment and it will take you a few minutes to regain your footing but make sure you do, the last ten minutes resonate and they resonate deep.  I’m starting to figure out that it doesn’t always have to make sense, it just means you have to look a little closer.

Smash Cut Freeze runs until January 29th.

The probable Oscar Best Picture winner, The Social Network, is finally available on DVD and BluRay today!

It would be easy to write a million words about the wordy drama and how great it is, but instead I decided to keep it short and sweet.  That way, you have more time to watch the movie before the Oscars as much as you possibly can.  Consider this my 256 word review of The Social Network!
*****************
When I heard about The Social Network and how good it was, I knew I had to watch it under the perfect circumstances. Because of tweens, cellphones and creaky seats, I was way too nervous to watch it in the theatres. So I waited until it came out on DVD. When the screener showed up at my door, I immediately opened it and settled into my overly comfy couch. To ensure that I really appreciated the Aaron Sorkin written drama, I figured out how to turn off my phone and computer (it doesn’t happen often) and enjoyed the movie like we used to be able to.

What happened next was three straight days of viewing The Social Network. It’s not that the movie is confusing, it’s that it is so good I wanted to be sure that I didn’t miss a single thing.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you must know that it is as good as you have heard. It met and exceeded every single one of my expectations. As someone who has  greatly the popularity of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, it was amazing to see quickly it happend and imagine how quickly it could have ended. My only disappointment was from the lack of Farmville references. Would it have killed them to make at least one joke about the most annoying game this side of Duck Hunt?

But let’s be honest, it doesn’t really matter, The Social Network is amazing.

Simply put, I give the movie four Super Pokes out of four.

Every now and then, I get invited to events that I’m not really clear on what they are exactly.  Maybe it’s from my years of never being invited to anything but I usually end up going and can usually find something relatively smart to say about the night.

Tonight was not that night.

To kick off the month long High Performance Rodeo festival, I was invited to attend the opening talk/presentation of Brian Eno.  (Most likely) like you, I had no idea who he was but the ticket price was high, so I assumed it won’t really matter. If everyone else was going, I wanted to be there too.   One of my favourite things to do when I’m going to a mystery show is to do nothing at all.  No research, no prep-work.  It’s a luxury usually stolen from us by movie trailers and tv commercials.

To say I was confused would be the understatement of this seven-day old year. To be honest, the most frustrating part was the chorus of nodding heads around me.  Everyone seemed to be getting what Eno was talking about except for me.  During the entire presentation I began question every aspect of my educational history trying to figure out what went wrong and why my head wasn’t nodding.  Was it because I did French immersion?  Should I have taken more science? Or Art? How could entire room full of people know what Eno was talking about and I not have a clue?

What’s important to remember is that I’m not giving a negative review.  The Calgary Arts community terrifies me and the last thing I need right now is an angsty poem or audio-visual presentation tacked to my door.  I’m taking a 100% blame for the overabundance of confusion that came with Eno’s extremely well spoken two-hour presentation, which featured countless slides filled with graphs, trumpets, diagrams of light years and something to do with a screw driver. Even now, I’m struggling to describe what I witnessed.

It wasn’t a matter of me not enjoying it, instead it was like moving to Russia and being thrown into Parliament.  People ate it up.  Loved it.  Cheered for more.  Me?  Well I was left confused. Maybe I’m too young or maybe my background didn’t allow for the workings of Brian Eno to cross my path but either way, I felt like it was great taste of what was to come at this year’s High Performance Rodeo….whatever that means.