PREVIEW: Trace Bundy

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Dubbed “Acoustic Ninja” by fans, Bundy crafts intricate guitar arrangements of popular songs and original compositions using harmonics, looping, and multiple capos. His dazzling techniques have taken him across 28 countries and garnered over 45 million views on Youtube. Back for his mini Midwest tour, the seasoned performer will be playing at The Ark this Saturday!

With a nickname like Acoustic Ninja, I felt compelled to dig deeper into his story. Outside of classical music, I love following fingerstyle guitar and the likes of Sungha Jung, Ichika Nito, Tim Henson, and Yvette Young. To my surprise, I found out that a young Sungha Jung had opened several of Bundy’s shows in Korea and toured with him in the US back in 2009 (check out their Billie Jean arrangement!). 

Fingerstyle guitar is not tied to a single genre of music and is mainly distinguished by plucking the strings with all five fingers rather than with a pick. Bundy has a personal bio on his website describing how he discovered a love for music theory and was shaped by the up-and-coming wave of musicians developing this complex playing style. I could definitely relate to the excitement fingerstyle brings, as there is so much space for innovation and experimentation. It has gained even more popularity in recent years, with younger guitarists like Marcin Patrzalek on America’s Got Talent receiving widespread attention. I look forward to seeing what Bundy brings to the table, especially since he once acted as a mentor figure for one of my guitar inspirations.

Join me to see Trace Bundy live at The Ark this Saturday, October 8th @8PM! 

Event info: https://theark.org/event/trace-bundy-221008/

PREVIEW: MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW

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That’s a lot of “MOSCOW”s in the title! Let’s abbreviate, shall we?

WHAT: A performance of the play “MOSCOW x 6” by UM’s own Department of Theatre & Drama!
WHERE: the Arthur Miller Theater inside the Walgreen Drama Center (that pretty light green building down the road when you get off the bus at Pierpont!)
WHEN: See all showtimes here! I’ll be catching tomorrow night’s 8pm show. This show is on the October 1-15 Passport to the Arts — you can redeem a passport for a FREE ticket at the League Ticket Office!

Besides being intrigued by this play’s unusual title (it sounds like it’s shouting at me!), I was curious about the blurb that states: “It’s Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” for the Fleabag generation. A deftly comedic (and undisputedly raunchy) exploration of unchecked privilege.”

Who is Chekhov? What exactly is the Fleabag generation? I wondered. If you’re wondering too, don’t worry I’ll share my research.

“Three Sisters” is a 1901 play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov that follows the lives of, you guessed it, three sisters. They feel trapped in their rural Russian town and long to move back to the big city of Moscow where they grew up.

“Fleabagging” is a dating phenomenon named after the hit dark comedy television series “Fleabag” created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It’s repeatedly dating the “wrong” person, careening from bad relationship to bad relationship, gravitating toward those who you know will never be “the one.”

Into this mix comes Halley Feiffer, a playwright who decided to reimagine “Three Sisters” for a contemporary audience. Add a splash of black comedy, a sprinkle of feminism, a slab of social critique and class commentary, and you get “MOSCOW x 6” — a play that seems startlingly relevant to our world today.

I am incredibly intrigued to see how our theater students will interpret this nuanced piece, especially given that the ongoing war in Ukraine has colored public perspectives of Russia and its crown jewel: Moscow. There will definitely be no shortage of interesting discussions after the show.

Note the following content warnings for this performance. Take care of yourself!
Contains suicidal ideation/mental illness; physical violence; homophobic language; depicted sexual content; foul language; misogyny; alcohol abuse

REVIEW: Bros (2022)

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On Tuesday, a free advance screening of the film “Bros” was showing at the State Theater! As soon as I saw the trailer for this movie I was intrigued. A tropey gay rom com? Set in NYC? Billy Eichner?? I went in expecting a good time and this movie delivered.

This movie knew what it was trying to be and made it obvious from the start. A movie for the masses, that could portray a romance beween two white cis gay men with levity and humor while acknowledging the history of gay trauma that precedes it. So often, queer cinema centers stories of queer oppression, grief, and crisis. These stories are important, but where is the room for joy and lightheartedness? To me, this film was trying to say: “Despite the weight of this trauma, we have joy, too! We have sweet and ordinary and non-history-making moments too! Let’s revel in it!”

And so it does: this film is laugh-out-loud funny. There were very few moments, sitting in the darkened theater, that I did not have a ridiculous grin on my face. Eichner, who readers may know from his role as Craig Middlebrooks in the television sitcom Parks and Recreation, both wrote and starred in this movie. He nails his role as Bobby, a stubborn and endearing podcaster who is opening the first LGBTQ+ museum in NYC. His comedy is whip-smart, meta, full of delightful irony. His chemistry with Aaron (played by Luke Macfarlane), a “gym bro” lawyer with commitment issues, is electric and real. This film includes some of the most realistic portrayals of romantic intimacy I’ve ever seen. Yes there are charged, steamy moments, but there’s also a healthy amount of awkwardness and silly hijinks. Sometimes you just want to have a pillow fight!

Bros is also a movie that is very self-aware of itself. It celebrates its significance – after all it’s an adult-oriented LGBTQ+ movie produced by a mainstream film studio, and it features an openly queer principal cast. However, it also constantly references its own shortcomings. This movie knows that it is only representing a small slice of queer identity (namely that belonging to cis white men), that it is leaving countless other stories out of the picture. When it celebrates pieces of important queer history, it simultaneously pays homage to the progress that the world still needs to make for the LGBTQ+ community. About being the first openly gay man to write and star in a romantic comedy for a major Hollywood studio, Billy Eichner said:

“I’m honored that it’s me, but it should have been someone else 30 or 40 years ago.”

This kind of movie is definitely late in making its way into the world, but I think it’s better late than never.

TL;DR – I would highly recommend catching Bros while it’s still showing at the State Theater. It is fresh and funny and put a big ol’ smile on my face throughout.

PREVIEW: Journey of Self-Discovery

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From September 19 through 30th, from 12-6pm. come see Richard Moizio’s exhibit, Journey of Self-Discovery at the Duderstadt Center Gallery! 

Moizo seems to really value the audience’s experience of taking in their art, and writes: “To experience an interesting piece of art is to feel ALIVE. It propels one out of reality (for a moment) and transcends the spirit to a special place much like a spiritual awakening or an encounter with God… Mindfulness is the goal.”

Journey of Self-Discovery invites the viewer to take a peek into Moizo’s artistic process, which they describe as therapeutic and one of self-discovery. “It is a chance to play like a child and to allay fears/worries and to lose the confines of the world around you.  It offers you a chance to dream, dance and explore unknown worlds,” just like that of a story, or any other artistic form, such as literature, film, or music. 

It’s interesting that Moizo seems to really emphasize their artistic process, but doesn’t mention what kind of art this is, or what it’s about; we’ll just have to go and see for ourselves. 

Moizo’s words draw a lot of connection to this John Cleese speech about Creativity in Management I watched for my Creative Communities class. It’s always cool to see how art I see in the world connects to things I’m learning in school. I hope to draw more personal connections and exciting comparisons through viewing this exhibition!

Read more about the exhibit here: https://www.dc.umich.edu/2022/08/08/journey-of-self-discovery/

REVIEW: Bodies Bodies Bodies

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Bodies, Bodies, Bodies!

What a film. 

More hysterical thriller than slasher horror flick, Bodies Bodies Bodies encapsulates the essence of a 2022 horror comedy. The characters, drama, and dialogue are all very to the times (Gen Z-ish), but not in a cringey or depthless way, a trap that so many recent Netflix originals fall into the trap of.

A friend and I sat towards the right back of the theater, right next to the exit. No one ever closed the door, so we could hear what was playing in the theater next door. The same trailers we had just watched were gabbing over the beginning of our movie. 

Opening with a visceral, personal, and almost uncomfortably intimate make out sesh between the protagonist Sophie and her girlfriend Bee, the garish green grass made for the backdrop of Sophie telling Bee I love you for the first time. Followed by Bee’s silence and Sophie’s quick assurance and apology, you don’t have to say it back. A highly-saturated color palette. The wheels going screech! after a tender, vulnerable utteration. We’re only two minutes in. 

Everything from the internet-age dance and hyperpop soundtrack, to the dive right in to the meatball-tangled-in-spaghetti, saucy messiness of relationships, to the neighboring theater noise, made you buckle down for the ride, sensing you needed your seatbelt clipped in, since you’re sitting in the backseat, while the driver swerves back and forth, up front.

The I love you scene cuts directly to Bee and Sophie typing away at their own phones, facing each other, but occupied. My friend Debby said she could relate; this really spoke to our generation. 

The following events are the result of a group of friends with a lot of loaded, shoved down history, being “bored in the house, in the house bored.”

The tension of this strange amalgamation of people is felt quite immediately. 

As soon as we enter the house, there’s a lot of toxic energy: friends whispering behind each other’s backs, weird exchanged looks, threats, warnings. 

They start to play Bodies Bodies Bodies, a game that always brings out the worst, bubbles of hidden drama burbling up to the surface. It starts with each person taking a shot and a slap to the face, to commence each new round. The game is a bit like mafia and among us: one person is the killer, and everyone else is trying to figure out who that killer is. All the lights go out each night, and it’s everyone for themselves as the killer lurks for its next victim. Upon stumbling upon a dead body, you scream BODIES BODIES BODIES! and congregate to theorize about the killer’s identity. Who to trust? What are the features that you’re bringing to the table, and how can they be used to your advantage, or leveraged against others?

Immediately, if we couldn’t already tell, the game makes it clear that these friends all seem to hate each other. As soon as the girls find David’s throat slit, his blood-gushing body soaking in a puddle, as the storm pours and pours, the hysterics begin. Everyone is on defense and offense; accusations, alliances, and betrayal all around. In this game (the make believe and real one), feelings are facts. Emotions are running high, and no one will be too afraid to let their own, or someone else’s skeletons out of the closet. And it’s all the more complicated due to “the suffocating weight of their shared history.”

It all starts to get scary when the line between joke and serious, game / real, blurs. Misunderstandings build into tension, then into violence. When the girls go to confront Greg, the only person in the house who wasn’t with David when they found his body, he exclaims “Oh, you guys are fucking with me!” recycling the joke he was just the butt of into his own line. When Bee ends up taking a dumbbell to Greg’s head to protect Sophie, that’s when the bodies really start to fall to the floor. 

I won’t spoil more, but some of the funniest lines / moments: 

  • Jordan hate listening to Alice’s podcast
  • Google calendars
  • Alice defending Greg, the biggest unknown, who she’s known for “long, like long” (2 weeks): “He’s a libra moon, that says a lot!”
  • Greg’s light therapy mask for seasonal depression
  • The gang mistaking Greg’s occupation as “vet,” to mean ex-military personnel, when he’s really a veterinarian
  • Jordan’s poor (upper-middle class) parents who teach at a public university 

Now whenever I use my phone flashlight, I’ll have to hope that my body body body! doesn’t end up in a heap in a mansion during a hurricane.

image credits: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/bodies-bodies-bodies-had-to-end-that-way-says-director-halina-reijn

https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/bodies-bodies-bodies-review-pete-davidson-1235204776/

https://a24films.com/films/bodies-bodies-bodies

REVIEW: Here Nor There

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Kristina Sheufelt’s Here Nor There effortlessly took me from place to place, conjuring up wilderness’ role in my own life, while simultaneously taking me into hers.

 

A Wind from Noplace Prototype I combined light-toned wood, metal, grass, and vials to create a “two-second line of data recording the artist’s heart rate in a meadow”. Although I didn’t understand the piece upon merely looking at it, reading that description produced an image of the artist laying alone in a meadow, grass hiding them from view, tickling the edges of their vision. I’d imagine their heartbeat at rest, slow-breathing. It felt like in a way, I knew her, distantly. I thought it was really creative how the artist combined nature with machinery. And yet, I didn’t really understand the piece itself. Were the blades of grass real, or fake? Was it wrong to take a living piece of the earth for our own creation? And why was one vial spaced out from the others? Perhaps the beat stuttering due to a bug in the grass? A plane whisking by overhead, the split-second alarm of engines and vehicles and being seen again?

I really enjoyed the intimacy of All I Have Left of the Mountains. Made of soil engraved with an excerpt from a journal entry following “a failed attempt to hike 500 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail,” again, I felt like Sheufelt was offering us a little window into her world. The mud was dried up, yet felt so visceral, contradicting the fading, fleeting words carved into the piece, oh so personal. Just hearing the word PCT stirs something in my heart, pumping extra blood and life into my veins. My first time backpacking – learning how to live out of a pack, in bare, desolate wilderness, traversing up and down mountains on my own two feet – crosscut that 2,650 mile trail. And I deeply relate – to the relief of going home, but also the ache of wanting to take the hills with you, of wanting to stay there forever. 

Mask III reminded me of something you’d see in the Upside Down in Stranger Things. The eery, gray lifelessness, the material looking like it could shrivel away at a brush of touch, from half-dead wildlife to ashy dust. Even the dried glue between each milkweed pod looked from the slimy, rotting material of the other Hawkins. 

Six attempts to remember Tinker Creek was probably my favorite. Smooth at certain angles and first look, each sculpture gets more geometric, depthy, and dynamic when you shift perspective, and move your head around the piece. This gives a sense that it’s not just a replica, nor a still scenery. I loved the pinkish-brown range, with all its glitter specked through the clay, reminding me of identifying quartz in countless rocks during my own summer, in the month I spent studying Geology at Camp Davis.

Surrogate is a wooden replica of the artist’s hand, carved in a way that makes you feel like the artist’s hand was just near, whittling away, just moments ago. As it stood suspended in the air, I noticed how it seemed to swing a little from left to right, and couldn’t tell if it was in my head or really doing a back-and-forth, but either way, it made it feel more real.

44 Days in Soil captured a wall full of forty-four soil samples gathered daily during a backcountry hike alone through the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. The way the terrain from each day looks truly unique to each spot, unlike any other baggie taped to its left or right, was pretty amazing. It’s exciting to think that even a day’s worth of walking will get you to different lands of the Appalachians, dirt catching up the sole of your boot, old and new grains mixing and grotting together, holding onto you. There is a sense that the viewer can’t fully capture the weight of all that time laid before them, each really from a different day of her life, like the small, same squares on a calendar on a wall. 

The digital photo prints of Nest told such a story in a few images. A dent in the grass, a nude-hued body curled up in a ball, grass pillowing this person, hugging it in, those lines you only get after a really good nap, the slight give and redness to the skin. Laying in the lap of Mother Earth. 

After taking my time to take in each picture, project, and piece, I slowly made my way out, as if leaving the mountains. Heading out of the peaceful wilderness. There was one take-home card left on the table, and just like the rest of this exhibition, it felt like it had been waiting for me.