Thoughts on Gen Con Indy
No, I’m not going to mock the costumed hoards that are converging on the Convention Center over the next few days for Gen Con. Instead, I’m just going to share some observations on the event, its people, and its…
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When the art hits the fan
At Switzerland’s Zentrum Paul Klee, an inflatable pile of dog feces the size of a modest ranch home came loose from the museum grounds, knocked down a power line, and broke a window in a nearby children’s home. See the BBC report…
Mayor: budget cannot eliminate arts
And so the Indianapolis arts community exhales. There’s still $1 million in the budget and there’s less chance of our town being seen as culturally regressive.
But what’s the underlying message from Mayor Ballard’s budget speech?
Is it simply that cuts have…
You-review-it Monday
For me, the weekend was bookended with a Friday trip to Bloomington to see singer Maureen McGovern backed by IU musicians and a Sunday run to Beef & Boards for the opening of The “Producers.”
What did you see, hear, read…
Arts budget: Scales comments
Earlier today, City County Councillor Christine Scales e-mailed me regarding the city arts budget and the rumored threats against it. I’m reprinting the letter here (and posting it with the earlier blog) with her permission. Your thoughts are, of…
Latest B’way cast recordings
With a new season starting on Broadway, I thought it a good time to give a listen to a stack of cast recordings of 2007/2008 shows. More than the original production, I believe, the cast recording is what encourages future…
Emptying the A&E notebook
Some thoughts on recent arts encounters that didn’t make it into my weekly IBJ A&E review column:
— With a trio of young, out-of-town sports nuts in tow, I recently paid my first visit in years to the National Art…
Cut to: The city’s arts budget
The buzz is growing around the arts community about anticipated budget cuts from the Ballard administration to be announced on Monday. See, for example, Justin Ohlemiller’s commentary at the Hetrick Communications site here and Gracie Communications’ Lisa Sirkin’s “Save the Arts” page…
IBJ Movie Night: ‘American Teen’
“American Teen” won the Best Director/Documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Shot in Warsaw, Indiana, it follows a group of teens through senior year of high school. Rolling Stone’s critic said, “If ‘The Hills’ went back to high school and developed…
You-review-it Monday
This weekend, family commitments kept me out of the arts loop–although I did find time to take some sports-crazy out-of-towners through the National Art Museum of Sport and my in-laws to the “To Live Forever” show at the Indianapolis Museum…
State Fair brings in bounty of corporate sponsorships
An economic dry spell may have corporate America praying for rain, but tough times have led to a bountiful year at the
Indiana State Fair. Two weeks before the fair’s Aug. 6 start date, corporate sponsorships were running 22 percent ahead of
2007, surpassing $1.5 million for the first time.
‘Bodies’ raises questions
“Premier cannot independenty verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons…”
So say the presenters of “Bodies…the Exhibition,” the controversial show–featuring cadavers, body parts, and organs–being presented here at Claypool…
IMA Great Hall to get greater
Max Anderson at the Indianapolis Museum of Art has finally gotten his wish–a dominant piece of art in the IMA’s Pulliam Great Hall (that’s the open area you enter as soon as you go through the sliding doors at the…
Illegal smiles: Pot comedy returns
Variety reports today that “Up in Smoke” comedy legends Cheech and Chong will be hitting the road for the first time in 25 years. Their national tour, titled “Hey, What’s that Smell?” will be announced tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the latest comedy from…
You-review-it Monday
You have to love an Indianapolis weekend when it’s impossible to get to everything you want to see.
While I caught Allalike Productions’ “bare,” Theatre on the Square’s remarkable “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant,” ShadowApe’s “Transformations” and ACT’s young…
Pike/Warren add to touring choices
In the previous blog, I listed the upcoming schedule for the Clowes Presents series. Well, Clowes Hall isn’t our town’s only presenter of across-the-arts-spectrum one-night-only touring talent.
Here are the 2008-2009 shows coming to town courtesy of the Pike Performing…
Clowes announces schedule
Some arts organizations create. Others present.
As to the latter, what Clowes Hall brings to town helps define the Indy arts season. So what do you think of this year’s “Clowes Presents” lineup?
Loudon Wainwright III and Leo Kottke (Sept. 27)
Hubbard Street Dance…
Ads infiltrate fringe fest
One of the core ideas behind most fringe theater festivals is that anyone can sign up to perform. If you get your application in early enough–and pay the nominal sign-up fee–your show is part of the event.
As demonstrated by the…
Confess: books you haven’t read
At England’s Ways with Words literary festival, authors were asked to name books that they are ashamed to admit they haven’t read. See story here.
For me, that would be a long list, including “Catch-22,” “Moby Dick,” “Remembrance of Things…
Vote casting: ‘Legally Blonde,’ etc.
Broadway has a new lead actress for “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” thanks to an MTV talent competition (see story here). London and Broadway have also cast talent for revivals of “Grease,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “The…