This weekend I got to see a production of “A House in Bali” at Zellerbach Hall. This opera is based on the journey of Colin McPhee, a Canadian composer, who traveled to Bali and studied the music there in the 1930s. The opera was weird enough to make it impossible to tell whether or not Director Jay Scheib’s interpretation of it was successful or not. With a claustrophobic set and sometimes-awkward multimedia incorporation, I couldn’t help but wish I were attending a simple concert of Balinese Gamelan music and dance. Take away the long-winded anguish of the Western visitors, (who take a good hour and a half to realize that they will never blend seamlessly into Balinese society,) and we would be left with an incredible display of Indonesian performance sans all the anthropologizing. Thus I give you a sample of what I heard Sunday night, fo free:

And here’s some dance, if your mind isn’t sufficiently blown.

Links: YouTube

The picture will make sense if you read further, trust me.

Who’s up for a little experimental theater? Now, now, don’t get scared off. No, I don’t mean experimental in that it will be really really weird and totally unconventional–like ‘playing’ the piano for 4′33″ of silence weird or anything like that. Ok, so maybe I do mean sort of weird (or awesome–depending on your preferences) a little bit. Actually, I have no idea. I haven’t seen the show.

But what I mostly mean by ‘experimental’ is that the director, cast and crew will actually be ‘experimenting’ with the production while, you, yes you, will be watching it. Such is the format of the latest production from FoolsFURY—at least while it is still a work in progress. “Port Out, Starboard Home,” lovingly acronym-ed “P.O.S.H.” by FoolsFURY, takes place aboard a cruise ship, where “a strange and disturbing ritual unfolds among Mai Tai drenched revelers.” Drunken debauchery, weirdness, and an acronym reminiscent of a Spice Girl? What more do I have to say? Oh, yeah. The show is 100% free.

FoolsFURY was one of the first Bay Area companies I saw as a budding young arts writer. I was intrigued by Director Ben Yalom’s unsettling vision of a distorted uptopia in Doug Dourst’s first play, “Monster in the Dark”. (Note: if you do read my review, feel free to laugh at my even-more-amateurish writing.) That show was so philosophically and emotionally intense and interesting that even my +1 started taking notes during the performance. FoolsFURY is a very physical and dynamic group of artists, and so even though “P.O.S.H.” is billed as a work in progress, it is worth checking out. October 2nd and 3rd at 8.

(Click here to read more…)

I am an optimist. Hence, I frequently try to see the value in everything that has ever been labeled as “art.” Admittedly, this is not always an easy or enjoyable task. Sometimes it’s downright puzzling (try paying vast sums of money to attend a concert where the most talked about piece was played in absolute silence or going to the SF MOMA to observe large blocks of petroleum jelly chilling in the middle of the gallery floor).

With enough information or the ability to pick an artist’s brain, I can at least appreciate the creative value of a work. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it or understand it. Apparently this has been on other people’s minds as the film “(Untitled)“, opening in San Francisco October 23, peers into the often ill-understood forays of the contemporary art world for a comical commentary.

What’s your take on the modern art scene?

Links: www.hulu.com, www.sfgate.com

On Sunday afternoon, filmmaker Joe Berlinger hosted a screening of his excellent new documentary “Crude” at the Shattuck Cinemas. This is an impressive investigative piece: Berlinger shot over 600 hours’ worth of footage over several years, covering the most recent developments in a two-decade, $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron/Texaco for contaminating Ecuador’s rainforests. Berlinger doesn’t have an even-handed approach — he strongly supports the Ecuadorians — but he made his position on the matter readily apparent during his introduction: “I think it’s a disturbing film, and I hope it inspires you to take action.”

The best documentaries constantly attempt to unearth the truth, and “Crude,” in spite of its political bent, remains a surprisingly versatile documentary. The filmmakers travel to Ecuador, record many interviews with members of the Cofán Nation, the people who have been most affected by the contamination, and fluidly track back to their lawyers’ behind-the-scenes efforts in New York. (Click here to read more…)

Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly ponders his options in “The Nightman Cometh Live”.

Last Thursday night at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco, I saw a musical that by any critical measures should be considered terrible. The actors couldn’t sing and frequently broke character on stage. The music was shoddy; the lyrics crude and illogical. The story hung like saggy, unloved skin off a nonsensical skeleton of plot. An unruly crowd shouted drunken sexual propositions at the actors on stage.

Yet this show was absolutely, wonderfully brilliant.

What was it? TV on a stage. Specifically, the gang of FX’a abrasive comedy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia” performing a variation of their season finale live on tour for rowdy revelers. The idiosyncratic, all-around batshit-insane Charlie (played by writer/producer/actor Charlie Day) announces he’s written a musical entitled “The Nightman Cometh”. (Click here to read more…)

Hey!

This past week’s column was the second half of my Digital Photography series, where I talked about how many people have begun converting their cameras into scientific measuring instruments, carefully gathering data on their personal lives and presenting their “findings” to their social communities.

This week’s EE will be extremely short. Odds are, you already have the page I’m about to link to open. If not…

here it is.

Poke around some more and keep what I said in mind. I had a girl Facebook chat me a few days ago, telling me she disagreed with some of the claims I made in my column.

Her argument: Some people use Facebook only as a communications tool; they don’t cultivate any sort of image.
My response: Have you ever untagged a photo someone else tagged because you didn’t like it? If you ever have, then you’re nurturing an image, regardless of degree.

Lay the debate on me.
-Daniel

P.S.: For those of you wondering about that photo…

Image source: Hannah Jewell

“Family Guy” was just the beginning of Seth MacFarlane’s handiwork, as he is set to spin off another show based on the cartoon series.”Family Guy” protagonist Peter Griffin’s African-American friend will have an eponymous show of his own starting Sunday night (8:30 pm) on FOX. “The Cleveland Show” will be set in the American South, and it seems the comedy will lampoon race relations while maintaining the pop-culture-laden mainstay format of all of MacFarlane’s cartoon series.

But honestly, expanding one-dimensional side-characters into their own show seems a bit like shamelessly milking a cash-cow.  We’ll see tomorrow night if the show’s anything more than a substitute fix for “Family Guy” addicts who can’t get enough of the original show. And I’m gonna let this blog post finish, but Kanye’s going to make the best “Cleveland Show” episode of all time, when he guest stars on the show early next year as “Kenny West.”

Here’s a clip of the upcoming show (it breaks the fourth wall. Cool?):

(Click here to read more…)

“See How We Are”: Impact Theater’s stylized re-telling of Antigone

O, what happy times. The theater lull of the summer has come to an end, and though it continues to be much much too hot outside for anything called “autumn,” Bay Area theaters are in the full swing of the fall season. There are simply too many shows going on this week, and well, I couldn’t do it. I am just not that good at tough decisions. So, instead of featuring a single production this week, I offer simply an extended ‘Shows of Note’ listing. So go, be free! Be theatrical! You know, just in case you didn’t get enough drama out on Sproul Plaza this Thursday.

Shows of Note:

“First Day of School”- SF Playhouse. A comedy. Apparently it is about sex. Hmm.

“Un Petite Desmadre (A Pinch of Chaos)”- Climate Theater. Warning: only attend if you think you have the guts to handle solo performance (a medium which may either be extremely powerful or extremely ridiculous). According to Climate, this show is “a character based exploration into the mask play and imagination of Resident Artist Adrian C. Mejia.” What does that mean, exactly? I dare you to find out.

(Click here to read more…)

If you’re like me, attempts to study after school every evening don’t go very well. You get home, someone’s making food, there’s a new fall show premiering on TV, your roommate has some crazy story to tell and all of the sudden it’s 10 o’clock and your ability to absorb textual information has dwindled considerably.

In the name of creative procrastination, I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground for late night activities in the East Bay, and quel surprise! I found cult movies. Galore.

You may have heard about SF’s Clay Theatre and their (Click here to read more…)

Wednesday evening, I had the privilege to attend a Q&A with renowned Colombian painter Fernando Botero, an artist indelibly canonized into the Latin American art tradition. Well known for his farcical, beautiful aerobics of the imagination, Botero recently donated his stark, provocative Abu Ghraib series, comprised of 56 paintings, to the Berkeley Art Museum. He provided insight into the impeccable methods to his wonderful madness and also express humility as he accepted an award from the university Chancellor.

A series of hyperbolic yet deeply humane meditations on the tortures in the eponymous Iraqi prison, the Abu Ghraib paintings are a testament to art’s power as a language and as a vital sociocultural medium of expression. Within each painting are bizarre, highly volumetric brushstrokes that stress the musculature of human flesh as it is subject to pain. Botero’s work reaches emotional planes inaccessible through the written word, or even through photography. The strangeness and the horrifying aesthetic beauty of these paintings defy the canvas. These painted moments, in their stunning tragedy, leap out of their visual confines and somehow manage to implicate us all.

The exhibit will run until February 7, 2010. I will certainly see it a few more times.

Image source: www.pierretristam.com