REVIEW: Poetry Slam feat. Kevin Kantor

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As this was my first poetry slam, I didn’t know what to expect.  I was really excited to get some inspiration for my own poetry reading coming up next week, and to see the slam’s featured poet: Kevin Kantor.  I definitely wasn’t disappointed!  (Note: I’m sorry for any misspellings that might occur, as I couldn’t find a program!)

First, there was an open mic.  The open mic wasn’t a part of the slam competition, so it was really relaxed.  First, Meg read a piece to her mom for her birthday, which was sweet all on its own.  She used phrases like, “You made staying at home a Ph. D. degree” and “My rose of a mother, you taught me to see.”

Marlin was next, and he surprised me a couple lines into his poem when he slipped into a very Eminem-esque rhythm.  Marlin had beautifully-written phrases such as: “We know that the skyline would be dark without us” and “We are the gravity that makes the snow stick.”  Amazing.

After Marlin was Alyssa, who later ended up winning third place in the poetry slam!  She had an awesome stage persona, and one of my favorite quotes from her piece was, “If you force me to buy my mean plan, you’re not a salesman, you’re a politician.”

League Underground

The entire open mic was really thought-provoking, and it was a great introduction for Kevin Kantor.  He came onstage next, and he was immediately winning the audience over with his easy jokes and unique personality.  He flew all the way from Florida.  He read a few poems from his chapbook (which I bought, and you can look at it here).  He had countless iridescent quotes, and here are some of my favorites:

  • “You taught me how to look at a seed and see a flower.”
  • “I am not a hopeless romantic.  I am a poet, and poets aren’t hopeless anythings.”
  • “12.) I’m sorry I’ve not yet forgotten how to find you beautiful.  13.) I’m trying.”

After Kantor, it was time for the poetry slam to start. Judges were established and Alyssa went first.  Her poem was a powerful reflection on modern feminism.  One of the lines in her poem was: “I am not for decoration.  I have purpose.” That, as you can imagine, won her a lot of appreciative snaps.

Sharon went next, and her poem was inspired by the movie, Inside Out.  It was wonderfully written, and very creative.  Eilene was after Sharon, and her poem about racism in America won first place!

Chris won second place with his poem about perseverance.  “I’m the diamond who mined itself,” was one of his most memorable lines.

The last poet was Meg, who also wrote about gender equality.  “Women are half the nation,” she observed, and “me and my parts deserve more.”  Snaps to that.

The Grand Slam will take place on January 9th.  I definitely recommend checking it out!

PREVIEW: RC Student Juried Art Show

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The opening reception for the RC Student Juried Art Show will take place tomorrow afternoon. The show will run until the end of the semester if you’re unable to make its opening reception. Additionally, the show does not appear to have any kind of theme.

I’m excited to view student work, which might seem less polished than the work of professional artists. Students are learning rather than perfecting their crafts. It’s exciting to witness and I’m interested in acquainting myself with the work of my fellow students.

The Residential College Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday 10am until 5pm.

PREVIEW: Poetry Slam feat. Kevin Kantor

kebishop

As a member of LHSP’s poetry club, I’m really excited to finally attend a poetry slam!  In the first ten minutes of every poetry club meeting, we watch a poem.  One of my favorite performances was Takara’s “Poet Breathe Now.”  My poetry club is also having a recital soon, and I hope to gain some inspiration for my own poetry from attending tomorrow night’s slam.

After doing some research on Kevin Kantor, I’m even more excited!  According to his website, “Kevin Kantor is a director, actor, performance poet, and teaching artist.  Kevin hold a bachelor’s degree in acting from the University of Northern Colorado, where he founded and acted as artistic director of SOAPbox Productions, a student-run theatre company and spoken word poetry venue dedicated to producing projects believed to be socially relevant, culturally conscious, and politically engaged (GO THEATRE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE!).”  I’m really looking forward to hearing the messages in Kantor’s poetry and also learning from the way he delivers them.

Check out the UMich slam poetry team’s tumblr page to see their full schedule and more information about them.  The slam begins tomorrow night at 6pm in the League Underground.

PREVIEW: Flint Eastwood @ The Bling Pig

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This Thursday (Dec. 3rd) at the Blind Pig, Detroit-based indie-electronic-rock band, Flint Eastwood comes to Ann Arbor. Flint Eastwood is the project of Jax Anderson and has just released an EP titled Small Victories, which was written by Jax as she dealt with the death of her mother. They will be joined with Detroit-based Valley Hush and Air is the Arche, along with a local band, The Landmarks.

I had the pleasure of seeing Flint Eastwood about a year and a half ago. They were the first opening act for another band and I wasn’t going to the concert to see them. Before the show I had neither heard of them nor even bothered to look them up, but you can bet that after the concert, I listened to nothing but them for a week. I was amazed by their performance. For starters, they rocked. If you listen to one of their EPs, you might notice that their songs are on the upbeat electronic side of indie rock, but live, they absolutely kill it. There was an insane amount of energy present in them and even though I nor the rest of the audience had come to see them, they were able to get us pumped and ready to rock. It was a very unexpected, but welcome, surprise.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to Small Victories on and off. On my first listen, I decided that their first EP was better and I should just stick with that, but something kept drawing me back to Small Victories over and over again. Although Late Nights In Bolo Ties (their first EP) has an in-your-face style that is  impressive for an indie-pop band, Small Victories tells a story of overcoming grief and setbacks and all the shit life throws at you–and it leaves you with this feeling that life is worth conquering.

For a taste of their music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecSftfmre9k or https://flinteastwoodmusic.bandcamp.com/album/small-victories

For more information and to purchase tickets: http://www.blindpigmusic.com/calendar.html#!/events/557

Where: The Blind Pig

When: Doors open at 9:30, Thurs. Dec. 3rd

Cost: $10 adv./$12 day of

REVIEW: Spring Awakening

Thomas Degroat

While I was always aware of the existence of Spring Awakening, I never really knew what it was about, or that it would quickly become on of my favorite new musicals. My personal awakening to this musical was all thanks to another amazing performance by MUSKET. They have consistently been the best events that I have gone to in the past three years and Spring Awakening might be the best work I’ve seen of theirs to date.

The beginning of the show with “Mother Who Bore Me” and the conversation between Wendla and her mother is a perfect encapsulation of what to expect from this show. It’s a mixture of humor, drama, and angst and helps to set us up for a great show that can perfectly mix these elements in a truly engaging show. I have never gotten more goosebumps from a single show than I have gotten from this performance. The music and vocals were powerful, the choreography was understated yet extremely effective, and the acting was impressive to say the least. I felt more for the minor characters in this show than I have for main characters in other performances I have seen.

I would particularly like to zero in on a few aspects that I found stunning. My favorite performance of Act I had to be “The Dark I Know Well”. This song had me on the verge of tears and covered in goosebumps. It’s a powerful song and I am stunned at the actors performances. You could see the tears and despair in Nkeki Obi-Melekwe (Martha) and Jillian Slade (Ilse). Their acting tore at my heart and it was one of the most compelling scenes I’ve ever seen on the Power Center stage. It’s the one part of the musical that I consistently play over and over in my head.

In addition, in Act II, “Totally Fucked” was incredibly entertaining. It provided a lot of much needed comic relief in the super heavy Act II. The choreography was fun, the lyrics were hilarious, and the singing was perfect. It was a great performance by everyone involved. The surprise of the opening song, mixed with the light atmosphere really helped to break up the intense emotion that was covering all of Act II while still maintaining a serious tone.

Furthermore, I have to commend all the actors. Never before have I wanted to delve into the character as much as I have wanted to for this show and I must thank the actors for that. I would give anything to see a further continuation of the stories of any of the other characters. Does Martha ever escape from her family? Does Ilse survive the artists commune? Do Hanschen and Ernst continue their relationship? I would love to find these answers and find out more about these characters in general.

Of course, there are a few problems with the show as well. In the beginning, the ensemble of the female actors were a much stronger group of singers than the ensemble of the male actors. This seemed to get better throughout the show and I never saw any inconsistencies past the first few scenes. The only other major problem I have is the reprisal of “The Word of Your Body”. While appreciate the company for trying to provide more comic relief, it’s unfortunate that it comes again at the expense of the gay couple. Every other relationship is dealt seriously and with respect in the musical except the homosexual one. While I find great fault with this, I cannot say it is a strong enough negative to outweigh the overwhelming positives of the show.

I fell in love with this show after MUSKET’s performance. It is probably one of my favorite musicals now and I couldn’t think of a better introduction to it (save Broadway, of course). MUSKET knocked another one out of the park and I cannot wait to see what they do with Big Fish in the Spring.

Review: Leif Ove Andsnes → Paul Lewis

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The concert began with an introduction about Paul Lewis’ heroic short-notice fill in for Leif Ove Andsnes.  I knew about his loaded schedule because of the research I had done beforehand, but until after the concert I didn’t even consider the fact that he must’ve been extremely jet lagged while playing.  Lewis was still in another time zone.  By the time he began to play for us, it was about 1am or 2am to him.  Under those circumstances, I was utterly impressed that he was able to stay focused to play for 90 minutes after all of the travel and lack of sleep.  

I had never been to a professional classical piano concert before.  I expected to check my watch every 10 minutes and just want to sleep for the whole entire time, but my experience at Paul Lewis’s concert was soothing and satisfying.  I was surprised at how quickly Paul Lewis began playing once he came onto the stage.  He took a quick bow then began playing almost as soon as he was seated.  This was a much different approach than what I read about Leif Ove Andsnes.  Andsnes apparently thinks that it is important to talk briefly before playing.  I didn’t feel much excitement when the concert started because of the fact that classical piano music is usually what I listen to when I really need to focus while studying.  Since I’m used to listening to that style of music in the background while I am doing something else, it was hard for me to only focus on the music at times.  I found myself closing my eyes and trying to imagine a story to stay engaged during the first song.  Each keystroke seemed so delicate.  Classical music is always relaxing and beautiful but being inside of Hill Auditorium with the dim lights and beautiful background amplified the tranquil feeling.  The audience was startled when the mood changed at first because it was so sudden.  The changes in tone and volume in this piece were not my favorite because I like when classical music flows and this piece seemed a little bit choppy.  Some people might say that they liked this because it kept them on the edge of their seat.  

The second piece, Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110, was my favorite because of its spontaneity.  The piece flowed together beautifully even though the tone of the piece changed frequently and abruptly.  For most of the concert, Paul Lewis was pretty stiff while performing so during this song it was pleasant to see him get more into the music and use more dramatic movements with his arms.  At the end of the concert, I knew that I appreciated the second song the most because they all sounded similar to me and this piece seemed to be the most different.  There was a climax when he played louder and louder, building up tension and giving the piece a different feel than the other two.  This piece seemed to actually have a story behind it because it conveyed specific feelings at times.  I wish the song didn’t drag out for so long because towards the end it started sounding like the end of the first Sonata.  I could tell that the audience enjoyed this Sonata the most as well because the clapping for this song was significantly longer than the other pieces.  

Paul Lewis began to play the third piece immediately after the clapping died down.  This song sounded like background music to a horror movie for the majority of it.  I could imagine something mysterious happening.  He even slammed on the keys a few times which created intensity.   This song was impressive because he was able to assimilate many different variations of speeds and tones into the piece.  At the end, I was getting a bit restless since the third song began to sound identical to the other pieces.  

As I zoned out, I started thinking about how difficult the show must have been to put on.  Not only did I find it amazing that Paul was able to come so last minute, but the fact the UMS was able to have such a highly renowned pianist come to replace Leif Ove Andsnes is incredible.  UMS must have such great connections and Hill Auditorium is such a desirable place for pianists to play.  I can only imagine how hectic it was to deal with transportation for the musician, making new programs, and the upset people who already bought tickets specifically to see Andsnes.  I wanted to make sure I gave a shoutout to UMS for such a successful turnout.  

Overall, the talk at the beginning of the show made me appreciate the concert even more because it showed that Paul Lewis is so passionate about performing that he was willing to make such a last minute adjustment to an incredibly busy schedule.  I thought he was extremely talented and the music was enchanting, but I just wish there was more of a variety.  I think that it would’ve been nice to hear a program similar to what Leif Ove Andsnes was going to perform.