If you dig percusion or love music similar to that of STOMP(who by the way get my vote for being one of the most creative and are great!) , then this show by GROOVE is for you!
“GROOVE” is University of Michigan’s very own high energy percussion group that combines use of traditional as well as non-traditional instruments (like garbage cans, poles, toothbrushes (really? )) to bring out their own unique brand of music.
GROOVE in action!
I watched their Polynesian Warriors on youtube. You might say that it is not an entirely original act as this has been done before (oh yeah, they say that are inspired by STOMP and use some ideas from them- especially the act with the poles, trash cans, et al). BUT, I guess the way they meld their different sounds, the rhythmic arrangement and the choreography makes it different and refreshing. They do provide good entertainment!
When I think of percussion groups, the traditional Japanese Kodo (these drummers are just so so fabulous!) and Safri Duo (love their “Samb Adagio”) are my personal favorites . More recently, I watched the unique Keith Terry and the slammin’ all-body band and thought they were pretty good. Alas, I did not get to see ” The Blue Man Group” live when I was in Vegas.
What I luuuuuuuv about percussion groups is that they are always so full of life and their enthusiasm just gets to you. You just can’t escape the rhythm and it leaves you with a feeling similar to a runner’s high! I have huge respect for percussion groups. Nothing like attending one of those shows to get a quick dose of energy.
So getting back to the point, GROOVE will be performing one such great show on Friday, Dec 11th at the Michigan Theater @ 7 pm. Tickets are $5 and it is general admission.
Nothing like the some great drumming to beat away your winter blues, huh? Get your GROOVE ON!
Krithika, for [art]seen
Krithika is not practicing on her drum set only out of pure concern for the well-being of her neighbors’ ears and for the minor fact that she doesn’t own one! 😉
The noted French pianist, Jean-Yves Thibaudet will be playing at the Hill Auditorium on Dec 12th, saturday @ 8 pm. Mr.Thibaudet is very talented and has earned quite a reputation for himself, both as a soloist as well as a performer at a symphony orchestra. He is known for his unique interpretation and his superb mastery of the piano. He studied with Aldo Ciccolini who was an ardent advocate for the piano music of French composers Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie (courtesy Wiki). So we will be getting a taste of Ravel’s music.
The program for the evening includes two solo piano compositions by Ravel and a Brahms sonata.
Now, Ravel, a famous impressionist music composer, is known for his intricate and chiseled compositions that are so precisely arranged. The first of Ravel’s works for the evening is “Pavane pour une infante défunte (“Pavane for a dead princess”). This slow piece is daunting and will test any pianist’s skills. It will be interesting to see how Mr.Thibaudet executes this!
The second Ravel piece is “Miroirs” (Reflections). This is such an interesting ( and apparently very difficult) composition. There are five movements in the suite and each piece is intended to make us visualise a reflection when a certain person looked into the mirror (hence “reflections”). Ravel dedicated each of the movements to five people he knew. What an interesting poetic approach to music! I am looking forward to listening to Mr.Thibaudet’s version.
Then we have Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 in F minor, another challenging work that requires a lot of skill. Brahms often found himself in the shadow of Beethoven and this sonata, celebrates Brahms’ love for Beethoven as we can hear the motif from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (Yipppeeeeeeeee…one of my favorites!) .
Tickets are available at the Michigan League Office or at the Box Office before the performance.
I could do with some end-of-semester stress-busting and listen to some good piano music (even if it means braving howling winds and the treacherous black ice). What about you?
Krithika, [art]seen reviewer
Krithika is now listening to Strauss’s “The Blue Danube Waltz”
‘Macbeth’ is Shakespeare’s most intriguing and bloody tragedies ever. It has all the elements for a perfect thriller. We have sinister witches with their equivocal prophecies, a power- hungry wife who eggs her husband on to get a crown that doesn’t rightfully belong to him, a war-hardened man who kills his way to the throne, visits from ghosts, lots of bloodshed (like in Tarantino’s “Inglorious basterds’- this one’s not for the queasy too!), cunning plots and then of course, the tragic and dramatic climax. Though it was Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, it was one that left the readers/viewers with shudders. No one can forget Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and lamenting thus- “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!”
The U of M production of ‘Macbeth’ by the Department of Theatre & Drama and directed by Philip Kerr, is set in a military hospital during the early 20th century. ‘Macbeth’ is about the erosion of the soul by guilt and how one’s deeds will catch up with them eventually. War also ravages the soul quite a bit, often leaving everybody involved with a question as to its point (if not convinced, see “Saving Private Ryan”, my personal favorite among war movies) . All things are fair in love and war – and in politics and in gaining power! So it will be extremely interesting to see how Philip Kerr’s production is staged and how they portray the story as this play has so much of potential for the actors to really bring out their talents.
They say that Shakespeare had used real witch spells and that “the Bard’s play” brings bad luck to actors and the theatres, so much so that actors and other theatre people often consider it bad luck to mention Macbeth by name while inside a theatre. So people, don’t mention “Macbeth” inside th Power Center and bring a horseshoe for some extra good luck, ok?
Show times:
Dec 10th @ 7.30 pm; Dec 11th & 12th @ 8 pm; Dec 13th @ 2 pm- Power Center
Tickets @ the Michigan League Ticket Office (Students $9)
Yours truly,
Krithika for [art]seen
P.S. Hmmm… did the weather in Ann Arbor get so bad because ‘Macbeth’ is playing and there was “Double, double toil and trouble;fire burn and cauldron bubble”?
I know, I used the same pun, sorry. But this one kind of sucked out my creative juices. I realized before going in that the concert, Handel’s Messiah, was about Jesus, but since it was near the holidays, I thought it would be more like a happy Christmas story. Instead, I spent three hours listening about how Christ died for our sins. Kind of depressing.
Now don’t get me wrong. The performers were absolutely fantastic; the content was boring. Both the orchestra and the choir displayed an incredible amount of talent, passion, and listening. Harmonies were perfect, timing was sharp and precise, and the overall performance was beautiful. But a giant choir dressed all in black singing to you about the downfall of sinners and resurrection of Christ the lord is one of the most oddly terrifying experiences that I’ve ever had. I realize that they’re not Westboro Baptist Church, but certain moments of the night gave me chills.
Another problem with Handel’s “masterpiece” was that lines were repeated over and over and over again. It lacked in content. A full three hours of lyrics would fit in half of a Microsoft Word Page, all of which were different verses from the Bible (something that I thought was a great idea and if it had been executed well than it would be a wonderfully creative piece).
I had never been inside Hill Auditorium before, but I gotta’ say, I’m impressed. It is one of the most incredible concert halls that I’ve ever seen. I just looked up and soaked it all in with my mouth open. And the acoustics are unbelievable. I think that you could probably stand on the stage and clap and people in the balcony would hear it. The sounds were that clear. Which brings me to the best part of the concert. The soloists. More specifically, Mr. Anthony Costanzo.
Anthony Costanzo
Mr. Anthony Costanzo…The most dreamy voice, and the cutest face, Anthony achieves the highest octaves and perfectly delivers each note like a letter in a mail slot, easy and perfect. His dynamics were fantastic and he has obviously been training his vibrato since he was quite young. What makes Costanzo stick out among the other three soloists is his surprisingly high range. I also want to compliment the amazing choir looming behind them and the talented orchestra surrounding them. All of the performers brilliantly follow the Grammy winning conductor Jerry Blackstone.
For those that are like me and are unacquainted with Handel’s Messiah, I’m sure that you would recognize one piece in it. “The Halleluiah Chorus.” The audience was invited to join in the rejoicing, but it was really just nice to hear the song.
So overall, I wouldn’t suggest that you attend the Sunday Matinee performance (Sunday Afternoon, December 6, 2009 at 2:00 PM), unless of course you are a fan of this annual concert. I feel as if I wasted three hours and next time I will go to a 58 Greene or Dicks&Janes concert. It was an interesting experience, but I think that it was the wrong thing for me.
This is my first bad review, and it’s hard to post it, but you gotta’ do what you gotta’ do.
Tonight I’ll be attending UMS Choral Union’s production of Handel’s Messiah. The UMSCU is a Grammy Award-winning ensemble that puts on an annual holiday performance of this concert. This event has loyal guests that attend every year and are always so impressed with the UMS group. I personally had never heard of it before some friends suggested that I attend, and now I am very excited to go tonight at 8:00 PM at Hill Auditorium.
I always forget how interesting the State Theater is, but then I go and am astonished by the antique business that still has incredible artistic integrity. The theater is old, so old even that the bathrooms still have those waiting rooms with benches where the people with perfume used to sit. The advertisements are for classic movies, or maybe some independent films. People that work there seem artistic and very friendly. And the theater itself… it’s old, but it has a certain ambiance that the dollar theater in Briarwood could never muster. I was able to realize these things about the building because I happened to be the only one in the theater on Wednesday night around 9:30. Sad Face Land. There were people seeing “Serious Man” which I’ve heard is very good, but I was the only one watching “Coco Before Chanel.”
If I knew how to type with a French accent I would, but since I can’t, I’ll just ask you to imagine one before I go on. … Got it? This is important because the movie was in French… Ok, I think you’re in the right frame of mind now. “Coco Before Chanel” was an absolutely fantastic story. It composed the tale of Gabrielle Chanel’s life for us to see. Gabrielle, known by most as “Coco,” was placed in an orphanage with her sister at a very young age when her father traveled to America. She grew up an impoverished orphan, raised by nuns, and became a lounge singer/seamstress. Throughout the entire movie, Coco has this blunt confidence in herself and speaks her mind, no matter who it might hurt. As her sister runs away with a Baron, she is left alone to achieve what she hopes will be a fantastic performing career. She fails early on, but finds a “friend” in Etienne Balsan, a man whose money has bought him friends, lovers, and arrogance. Coco sort of pushes herself into his Paris country home and doesn’t leave. By the way, you shouldn’t be reading this with an accent; I just wanted you to feel the setting a little bit. Yeah, I know, I saw you there struggling trying to speak French. Don’t worry about it.
Coco learns to ride horses and starts reading, while also beginning what will become her legacy. Having only brought two dresses to her new home, she begins making new cloths from Balsan’s supply. Now I know that Chanel has one of the most artistic and fabulous clothing lines in the world, but in her meager beginnings her clothing was just awful. So many different plaids and flannels. It’s sad to say, but her clothes were terrible. Not what I expected. But her style was unflawed. A basic philosophy Chanel held about fashion was that one should remove one article of clothing before leaving the house. She disliked ornamental flowers, laces, and jewelry because she felt that they made women like peacocks, or show animals. Throughout the movie she wears a simple straw hat that is the essence of Chanel fashion, and that is the first step to the rest of her fantastic career.
Now That's Chic
Chanel promised that she would never marry, because “A woman in love is helpless. Like a begging dog.” She is so confident in herself, and perhaps one of the first feminists in France, that the idea of being owned by a man was repulsing. That is, up until she met Capel, lovingly nicknamed “Boy.” They fall madly in love and the story takes a turn for the better. But like any true story, it can’t work. He is forced to marry another woman for social status, and Coco never marries, perhaps never falls in love, again.
Finally! Fantastic Clothing
I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone, because it is so wonderful, so that is all I’m going to say about the plot. I will tell you that it ends with a fantastic scene of models showing off Coco’s clothing line. Remember though, that the State Theater, and the Michigan Theater for that matter, are both fantastic old venues that give us an idea of the past. Student tickets are only $7, pretty average, just bring your own concessions, because they are way over priced. It’s always a great experience, especially when other people are in the theater with you (it gets pretty lonely all by yourself, and I’m a talker). So overall, the setting was great, the clothing was mostly terrible, but the movie was amazing. It had a historical value and a pleasing muse. Definitely an 8 in my book.
Once again this is
Danny Fob: Artist and Art Reviewer
