UGFest 2013 Bonus thoughts

Last night it came to my attention that I left one of the writers Jessica Burton, off of the list of performers/writers.

I added her to the list, but then also realized I somehow failed to write anything about her great scene she wrote.

I did have some thoughts about her piece, though, so here they are. :-)

Leyetta and Mackenzie Way play a librarian (Leyetta) and a girl looking for a book for a book report (Mackenzie).

Mackenzie walks on stage and tells Leyetta that she needs to find a book, which causes the librarian to go into all of the different types of books and genres. She's way more enthusiastic about the books than this teenager is, who tells her at one point that she doesn't dislike reading, just that she doesn't have enough time to read much.

I liked Leyetta's portrayal of a librarian. It was believable, her enthusiasm seemed sincere, and the fact that neither her nor Mackenzie read from a script added an extra bit of realism to the parts.

If I were to add a critique, I'd say that the moral or message about reading came across a little strong.

At one point while I was watching it, I thought to myself "This seems a bit like an after-school special."

I think it's great to promote reading. I also really liked both performances and Jessica's script. I guess, like Tianta's Shriners scene, I would have liked to see more from the characters and less moral conclusions.

For instance you'd never see a sketch on Saturday Night Live that promoted reading. It's meant to be funny and that's all you need.

Again, I think showing how reading is awesome is a just cause. I guess to me it felt a bit heavy handed.

Anyhow, again I feel bad for leaving Jessica out of my first critique. She's a great actress and a big part of the program there at UGF. For the most part this was a well-written scene. It might be fun to see what happens to these characters after they leave the library. I think it'd be especially fun to find out what kind of person the overly enthusiastic librarian is.

The Steepwater Band's "Clava" album review

So in an effort to keep this site more current, I'm including album reviews from area artists and/or groups coming to the area.

I thought I'd start with The Steepwater Band, who you can see at Machinery Row on Feb. 23.

The Steepwater Band

Today I'll take a dive into the group's latest album "Clava," which came out in 2011.

The album opens with the gritty, hard-as-nails track "Remember the Taker," which starts with your basic verse-chorus-verse setup, but toward the end dives into a cool instrumental jam. I suspect that's even more pronounced in their live shows.

From the songs I've heard, the band has that "rock stars with an attitude" feel to them. The heavy guitars, distinct vocals and loud sound will likely offer people a good chance to scratch that itch for hard rock.

They strike me as that group you hear on the radio late at night after one too many drinks at a bar. You notice them playing and the melody sticks with you in the morning.

On "Bury My Burden Deep," lead singer Jeff Massey almost sounds like he's singing his version of a Foo Fighters song. I think it's the way he pronounces "Forever" that reminds me of Dave Grohl.
He sings,
"Bury my burden deep in the ground, away from the light and away sound forever," he sings, "Deep in the rust of the godless steel. Side of the road by the spinning wheels forever."

Their sound is distinct as much as it is heavy. The best songs I feel are the ones with easily identifiable blues influences.

Another great track is the bluesy "High and Humble," that features a sexy guitar riff and a dance-floor ready beat. "Come on Down," also, is a similar type song. You get the feeling these guys know how to get the floor hopping when they want.

I must admit, this album started to grow on me the longer I listened to it.
Upon my first listen, I kind of thought it was a bit sloppy and bar-bandish, but the longer I listen to it, the more I notice it's actually a pretty tight sound. These guys know how to play their instruments and rock out hard. You have to appreciate that.

The band not only has played a lot of shows, more than 125 per year for the past 10 years according to its website, their music has been featured in some interesting places, such as the movie "One for the Money" with Kathryn Heigl, and several episodes of the NBC show "My Name is Earl."

The biggest thing, I think, is how I want to listen to several of the songs more than once. Some albums I hear all of the songs once and I could go my whole life without hearing them again.

Not every song demands multiple listens, though.
Songs like "Out on Love," Off the Rails," and "Won't be Long Now," which is probably the strongest of the most-forgettable three, but isn't nearly as good as the other songs on the album.

I think the problem with these songs is that they stray a bit from the up-tempo rock and boogie formula. It's cool that they're trying different types of songs, I just don't think they work as well.

All and all I think these guys will put on a good show for the Root Boys next month. If you like up-tempo, heavy rock, this show should be for you!

UGFest 2013, Jan. 26

Aisha McManus and Kelsey McNeil in Turning Point at UGF

I attended last night's UGFest 2013 and I thought the students explored some interesting themes, including the mental divide between audiences and theater writers, what a real-life Facebook would look like, and what would happen if a child had an imaginary friend who told her to do evil things.

Having watched the nine scenes, I thought some of the samples worked as 10-minute plays, some didn't work so well, and some I'd love to see developed into full length features.

 I'm willing to accept that because the actors and writers only had a limited time to work on the material, the performances might have seemed a little unpolished. There is a difference, I feel, however, between being rough around the edges and just bad. I'll go into the difference more later in my critique.

The scenes were, in order in which they were given,

1. A Dinner to Die For, written by Sawyer Edmister featuring Mark Lawhon, Rachel Altman and Allison Semenza;

2. Ick written by Keern Haslem featuring Morgan Anderson, Trish Loeffler and Zachary Jarvis;

3. The Lost Theatre written by Saif Alsaegh featuring Ken Taylor and Matt Twedt;

4. A Really Bad Intern written by Mariah Hodge featuring Sterling Moss, Kerri Anderson and Joanna Kauffman;

5. Turning Point written by Matthew Hundley featuring Aisha McManus and Kelsey McNeil;

6. For Real Book written by Jessica Burton and featuring Leyetta Way and MacKenzie Way;

7. Mind Freak written by Cheyenne Murano featuring Matt Way;

8. Kidnapped written by Amie Steffes featuring Allen Way, Talyna Conley and Amanda Cetnarowski

9. The Shriners written by Tianta Stevens featuring Brendon Winston, Mary Wilmore, Brittani Huchstein and Janette Conley.

I'll list what I liked first.

Turning Point, I felt, had believable, personal dialogue delivered by both Aisha and Kelsey and written by Matt.

The scene involved a couple at a dinner table in what starts as a discussion that turns into a heated argument.
In the middle, Aisha gives a monologue about Kelsey's character, and the fact that after the argument, she dies from a disease that's implied she's been dealing with for a while. It could be implied, as well, that possibly the disease is the reason behind the argument, although that connection is never implicitly made.

The pain in Aisha's voice seems all too real, just as real as the anger in both actors voices and stage presence during the argument. It felt as if the audience was watching a lively discussion/argument between a real couple.

Matt, or Irish, has a talent for writing dialogue. Also, Kelsey showed me a side in her acting that I've never seen before. I think, that many people might not have seen before. She's growing as an actress and it's fun to see. Aisha, too, always when I've seen her on stage, gives a strong performance. She played a great Mama in Chicago, and she has a knack for demanding attention when she's on stage. That's not easy to do.

Moving on, I really liked Jarvis's interpretation of his character in Keern's Ick.
Ick is an imaginary friend of a small girl, played by Anderson, who can't be older than 8 or 9.

As I was sitting near Keern in the theater, afterward I told him I thought Jarvis's character was expressive and believable. I still do after playing it through my head again.
In the scene, his character encourages Anderson to kill her mother.
With such chilling material, he plays it both nonchalant and playfully. His use of a striped cane made it, to me, feel very Dr. Seuss like at times, also.

Saif's scene with Ken and Matt Twedt was perhaps the most powerful of the evening. I loved the use of props  to help convey the message. The skit showed the gap between audiences and theater writers, and how one man struggled to connect with audience members as a writer, even though he felt a stronger connection when he simply designed the sets. I'm sure I'm missing some of the message, but it was quite a treat to see. Matt as the main character and Ken as the narrator made the script come alive, and it was really something to see considering this was Saif's first dramatic piece he's written.

During intermission, I heard several people comment about how impressed they were with Saif's writing, including one Michael Gilboe. I say I have to agree. I look forward to seeing more from him.

My only critique of the piece is that the lighting could have been a bit tighter, but I'm willing to accept that because they only had a short time to work on it they didn't have time to perfect the lighting. Given more time they could have figured it out.

To wrap up things I liked, I thought the last play of the evening was the funniest, as it had the whole theater cracking up.

Tianta's Shriners showed what it might look like if people were physical interpretations of their Facebook profiles. It was a neat idea executed wonderfully by Brendon Winston, Mary Wilmore, Brittani Huchstein and Janette Conley.

My favorite moment came when Brendon slapped a picture of his ex girlfriend on his "wall" which was a cardboard box he wore on his chest. The picture hung near his crotch. It made sense because when a guy posts a picture of a good looking woman on his own wall, you can imagine that's what he'd do if it were an actual thing he wore.

My only critique would be I felt it got a little preachy at the end when the characters remove their shrines and become friends again.

I understand the message, but to me it would have been funner to just leave it as a fun interpretation of Facebook and leave out the take-home message that people need to step away from Facebook in order to have regular relationships. That might be true in a lot of cases, but I can point to situations where the opposite is true, too.

With that I'll get into a few more things I thought needed improvement.

Firstly, I would advise several of the writers and actors to think of different, unique ways to kill someone on stage, as gruesome as that might sound.

In A Really Bad Intern and Kidnapped, characters were all strangled.

I think part of the problem was in how it was enacted and that it was a technique repeated in three different scenes.

Character A would come from behind at Character B and put a rope around his neck and pull on it. The character would fall silently to his death.

I didn't find it believable because if you were to actually do that to someone, they would have at least screamed and put up more of a fight. Unless a person's mouth was covered, I don't think they'd silently fall to the floor.

I'd encourage the writers and actors to think of different, unique ways to do it that seem interesting on stage. You can find a prop knife, a prop gun, you can push your character off a cliff of some sort.

That would be my main critique although I have a few specific ones, also.

One thing I noticed in A Dinner to Die For was that although Mark had some great lines courtesy of Sawyer, it felt like he was merely reading them from the page. When you're on stage you need to emote, emote and emote some more. There's a balance between overacting believable acting, but just reading from the page is neither of those.

Some of that could be that he had only a limited time with the script, but other actors had just as much time and some of them didn't need the script in front of them at all. It would have been nice to see the lines, which like I said were central to the scene, delivered better.

In Kidnapped, the scene involved a creepy-looking man who captures two sisters.
The reason is never explicitly stated why he wanted to kidnap them. Or if it was, I missed it.

Also, one of the characters said the creepy-looking guy was a paparazzi photographer, although I didn't see how he could be without a camera. Paparazzi are paid to take photos, they wouldn't be using a cell phone to take them.

He didn't need a fancy camera prop, but anything other than a cell phone would have made it more believable for me.

There were moments where I felt the panic of being the girls in the second act. I just couldn't connect the dots very well as to why they were there in the first place, or why one sister killed the other one after they escaped.

In Mind Freak, while I enjoyed Matt Way's performance, I had an issue with the reveal at the end.

In the scene, Matt plays a character who plays two to three different characters talking to each other about publishing a book. In a way it represented the two voices nearly every author have in their heads. One that wants to see a book published, and another that doesn't want anyone else to read their work because it's too personal. Any writer, I feel, can relate to those ways of thinking.

 Matt has a good amount of acting experience and it shows whenever he's on stage. Although it was just him on stage, it did feel like he was playing two or more people talking to each other. He did a good job and he's always interesting to watch.

The end, however, came with a bit of a "no duh" moment.

Matt looks into a mirror and realizes he's been talking to himself and not the multiple characters in his head. He says, "I've, I've been talking to.....myself?"

I'm not saying it's bad to show a character make a somewhat obvious realization, but as a viewer watching this scene, I was thinking, "well of course he is. We've seen him talking to himself this whole time."

It's kind of like if you're watching a movie and a character walks with a limp, although he or she might not notice it. Then, at the very end the character turns to the screen and states, "Wait, you mean I have a limp? I had no idea"

It's pretty obvious to the viewer. Maybe instead he could have been overtaken by one of the voices, or he could have gone crazy from the voices, or he could have talked to another person who also started hearing the voices.

My point is that there could have been different ways to end the scene that didn't seem as painfully obvious.

Finally, I think many of the scenes worked really well and show off the skills of both the writers and the actors. You couldn't beat it as far as free entertainment goes. They could have easily charged $5 or $6 a head and I doubt people would have felt like they weren't getting their money's worth.

I applaud UGF and Gilboe for keeping it free, however, as it made it even easier for people to come check out what some of our own creative people are doing.

Poetry from my grandma. :-)

This blog will continue to mainly be one featuring reviews/critiques from events happening in the area.

I do, however, own creative control of the content, and I'd like to make it a hub for cool and interesting poetry and/or short stories...because why not?

So here is a poem written not by me, but by my 80-something year old grandmother, Patricia Sorich.

My grandmother is quite possibly the coolest person on the planet. She lives in Butte and has been a huge influence on who I am.

Here's a poem she wrote some 20 years ago but has never been read by anyone other than her, my aunt and myself. Until now:

Sounds of Life
by Patricia Sorich

A robust wail announcing baby’s birth

Gleeful giggles defining a childhood fun and mirth

Shy adolescent twitters masking braces, acne and teen age fears

Pubescent cries of silence “I am too old for tears”!

Tender whispers declaring the love of man and wife

Gentle words of wisdom guiding a child’s life

Happy chuckles holding a grandchild’s hand

Rhythm of the rocker, contentment has found this man

Sounds to soon muted, it’s time to say “goodbye”

Life began so lustily now ends with a simple sigh

Great Falls Symphony "Great Winter Getaway," Jan. 19

Before I start into Saturday night's show, I first must say that my critiques come from a place of respect. 

The Great Falls Symphony is perhaps one of the most talented group of performers in the area. They're like a well-oiled machine, but not one that is incapable of making missteps.

The Great Falls Symphony Orchestra

Saturday's performance was good. If I were being critical, I would say it was passable.


The show opened with Gioacchino Rossini's "The Siege of Corinth Overture." It's a wonderful little piece of music filled with chilling moments and joyous ones. The capable hands of the symphony made the most of it. 

They then played "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," by Ralph Vaughn Williams. It was the highlight of the night for me.

There were moments that moved me, moments that delighted me, and others that made me forget where I was, even for a brief moment, as I got lost in the music -- just as advertised.


Before intermission they played two more pieces with the Cascade Quartet featured in front of the rest of the orchestra. One piece was a Mozart, the other was by a composer whose name I've forgotten. The piece was performed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and was written by an African composer. If someone knows the composer's name and the name of the piece I will update this post.
 
The symphony closed out with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, Opus 90 in A Major, perhaps his most well-known piece.


I think they hit the right notes and ended the night with a joyous mood.


All said, Saturdays performance struck me as a vanilla one, if we're comparing it to some of their other shows.

Harpist Deborah Henson-Conent

The music they played, while beautiful, might be heard in any symphony orchestra across the country. Maybe that's not so bad, but part of me wanted more.

The Great Falls Symphony is at its best, I feel, when they are taking calculated risks. Presenting music in intriguing ways, sometimes with unconventional guest artists such as Chris Thile, Deborah Henson-Conant or the Ahn Trio. 

I would not expect the symphony to feature a guest artist for every show. It's not feasible. Plus, I do enjoy hearing what the symphony can do on its own from time to time. 

Maybe Saturday's show was meant to be a bit more traditional, and maybe that's what more season ticket holders want. 

Some of my favorite concerts, however, have come from the times they weren't playing it by the book. It's a minor quibble, perhaps as I still expect the symphony to take calculated risks in their upcoming shows.   

Finally, I think part of me was disappointed in that it seemed like there was a portion of the symphony players missing from the show. At times I told myself, "this feels like a super sized Cascade Quartet performance." 

The Cascade Quartet

I say at times because they did perform several pieces that could not be performed by a quartet. This was a full symphony performance. 

Also, it seemed a bit on the short side. 

The music started around 7:30 and it was over around 9:10, 9:15. That's still an hour and 40 minutes. 

Maybe it's just me, but when it ended a part of me wished they would have played a few more numbers, even though they did include two pieces before intermission that weren't on the program. 

I expect most people left Saturday evening feeling entertained. I did, I just wished they could have reached for that upper level a bit more than they did. 

It's not easy to do, so perhaps my expectations are a little high. I think, though, when you've proven you're more than capable of hitting that mark, it's natural to expect it more often than not. 

Paris Gibson Square Art Auction reception, Jan. 18

Last night I attended the Paris Gibson Square's opening reception for their annual art auction.
This year's reception had a new wrinkle with the inclusion of a quick finish by four prominent local artists: Brenda Wolf, Ron Ukrainetz, Brian Morger and David Powers.

Painting by Ron Ukrainetz

The Square also displayed its selection of art it will auction off in February.

The collection was impressively diverse, both in types of art, subject matter and influences which the artists drew from.

Perhaps they could have included more artwork that you don't hang on a wall. That's true for almost any art show, however, I think. Still, anytime you can include more pottery or any kind of three-dimensional art, it's good to see.

I will say, I heard people comment several times throughout the night that they were amazed at the range of artists and pieces. All told, the Square did a nice job in that regard.

My critiques of the show start with the flow of where things were happening.

Upon walking into the building, I was not sure where I should go or where I wasn't allowed to go. As the night wore on, I started getting more familiar with the surroundings. A map, or signs showing what was where, would have been useful.

Similarly, I was most excited about the show because of the quick finish artists. It's not often you get to see an artist work on his or her craft in front of you.

My issue was that they seemed to be a bit isolated from the rest of the show. Two or three of the artists were upstairs painting in separate rooms. The rooms did have signs on them, but as I have not attended many art receptions, I was never quite sure how close I could get to the artists.

I later discovered they're all pretty approachable. I dropped in on three of the four artists, but unfortunately couldn't find the fourth. Better signage might have helped solve that.

I did end up visiting with several of the artists as I've spoken with them before and felt comfortable saying hi.
People new to the area, or to the Square, might not have been as forthcoming, though.

Artwork by Monte Yellow Bird

Perhaps the artists chose to be spread across the museum for personal reasons, but I would have much rather seen them all in the same large room. That may have changed the dynamic of their pieces, but I feel the quick finishes where the artists are together make for a more dynamic display.

As for the pieces they were working on, I feel the Square could not have found better artists to participate in the quick finish.

Each of the painters are outgoing and friendly, insanely talented, and well-respected in our community.

The theme of the night for the artists seemed to be painting animals.
Ukrainetz was painting a fantastic looking bison in his colorful style and Morger was finishing a painting of a fish leaping from the water that almost seemed as if it were flying off the canvas.
Wolf was putting the finishing touches on a deer or elk that, as is her style, is surrounded by a sense of warmth. Many of Wolf's paintings feature animals and seem to be soaked in an aura of something that's hard to define but unique to her.

I did not get to see Powers' piece, but I'm sure it was amazing. If I had been able to stay longer and knew where he was stationed, I would have loved to drop in.

The second main critique I offer is how the appetizers were presented.

The food itself was as tasty as it was varied. A part of me wished, though, that there were cards telling guests what they were eating.

There was one plate with a card marking a "glutton free" selection for people who cannot eat glutton.
As a person who needs to watch how much sugars I eat, however, I would have liked to know what I was choosing from.

Also, while most of the selections were finger foods, I did find the need to use a fork. Some plastic forks set out for people would have been nice, also.

 I will say that many of the issues were resolved by finding a person with a Paris Gibson Square badge. Each volunteer was more than willing to help find whatever I needed to find. In that sense it was a relief that even if I seemed a bit lost at first, there were people there willing to help me find what I was looking for.

Painting by David Powers

Seeing as this was an art show, I do have a few critiques on the art, as well.

One of the pieces that stuck out for me were LA Hoffman's silk-screen, wooden chest piece.
One panel showed an empty chest outlined on what I believe was mahogany wood. The panel to its left was the same chest, now open, outlined on the same wood, but with a gold-type material of some sort, which was meant to represent the shine from whatever was inside the chest.

Another was Monte Yellow Bird's piece. One of Yellow Bird's predominant styles is to draw colored penciled horses and natives on old official pieces of paper, be it a land deed or store ledger or official invoice.

The piece at the Square also included what looked to be an animal's teeth stylized to match the drawings. Yellow Bird's paintings are much beloved, so it's fantastic to see one at the Square.

Like many art shows, not all of the pieces reach you as much as others. The beauty of art is that 20 people can look at the same painting and can feel 20 different emotions. While I might not have enjoyed some pieces, other people may have thought of them as their favorites.

One of the pieces that stumped me was "Winter Writings" which featured nine separate pieces all with bright silver frame matting around them.
To me, it felt like the frames were more impressive than the art itself, which included nothing more than some squiggly lines. I tried finding some deeper meaning behind the lines, but for the life of me I could not. Maybe that was the point, or maybe if I had a chance to talk to the artist, I would have understood it more.

As a viewer, however, it made me feel like I was looking at someone's scribbles put in beautiful-looking frames.

Another questionable piece was the one titled "Heart Attack."
I'm a bit torn on this piece. On one hand, it's unique and amazing. It features what appears to be a human heart with random items sticking out of it like forks and broken light bulbs.

It catches your eye. I like the boldness of it. At the same time, however, I can't help but wonder where one would hang that if you were looking to purchase it.
It's a conversation starter, no doubt, but if I'm sitting in my living room, I really would not want to be staring at a human heart with forks sticking out of it every day. Perhaps there are such people, and if so I guess that piece is for them.

Again, I applaud the Square for experimenting with different types of art you might not see anywhere else. One could not fault them for playing it safe and featuring many pieces that one would "expect" to see in a Montana gallery.

And, indeed, there were several what you could call "safe" paintings, but there were many, like the heart attack photo, that were not. It's a bold step and one I'm happy they chose to take.

As I was getting ready to leave, I heard Laura Cotton, chief curator of the Square, tell someone that it was one of the larger turnouts they've had for an art reception.
I'm happy that the number of people chose to show up for the reception. It's a great indicator that people here do care about art and culture. People here do take notice of what's happening in our creative community.

As I was not able to stay for the quick finish auction, I cannot comment on that portion of the night. I do hope, although, that all of the pieces were sold. Part of me thinks they almost certainly were. If I find out I will update this post.

Finally, most of my critiques of the evening, I feel, have simple solutions. If for the next reception they have more signs showing what's happening where, that would be useful for visitors. That, I feel, would be a big improvement, and make the evening more accessible for people who have never visited before.

The take-home message of the night, I feel, is that the arts are alive in Great Falls. The momentum continues to build and there's about to be an explosion, even more than what's already come. I anticipate it's arrival.

If you'd like to read more about the show, check out my Great Falls Tribune article here

Reggie Watts "A Man Behind Time," Jan. 5 at UGF

Having watched Reggie Watts perform in his home town tonight, several things jumped out at me.

One is that he still very much loves his hometown. This is apparent from the moment he started his act. That's something we as residents should take pride in. There's many famous people who, once they get a taste of it, seem to forget where they come from. Not Reggie, though.

Also, and this is quite genius -- He's developed a show where he's essentially taking you aboard his ship of experimentation and almost daring you to tumble off.

By that I mean he grabs you, the audience member, with a relatable story -- in this case it was his high school experience playing football and his complete lack of knowledge or care for the game.

Once he had us all aboard, he moved in some fun places, some awkward places, and some just plain strange places.

Lana, my girlfriend, and I both felt as if we were securely aboard at some points more than others.

My first criticism was that at one point I thought he was trying to be a little too hometown with the crowd.

It felt like he mention local places, people or things almost for the sake of mentioning them.

Granted, he could maybe get away with it because of the way he did it and the audience he was performing for, but I did think to myself at one point during the show "well, that didn't quite fit in."

I can't help but feel for the people not from Great Falls watching the show tonight. They might not have been privy to the humor going on as much as those who've lived here their whole lives.


Looking at it from another point of view, though, and I can ALMOST forgive him for overusing Great Falls references.

Mostly, because this can be a double edged sword.

Don't mention Great Falls enough and you seem to seem distant from your home. Mention Great Falls too much and you run the risk of appearing to pander to the audience. It's a delicate balance no matter what way you take it.


The times it DID work, though, were laugh-out-loud incredible. I'll have more about that in a minute.

The real beef I had tonight, though, that really yanked my chain....was that he TOTALLY slammed my home town of Butte!!!!

How dare he do that. It's totally the greatest, most awesome place on the planet. I almost walked out of the theater right then and there.

OK, not really. Butte's an awesome place, though. C'mon Reggie. You gotta get up there for St. Patrick's Day or the Montana Folk Festival. :-p

Getting back to business, I think Reggie's strengths lie in his musical ability and his way of creating something from nothing. Rinse and repeat and it's a certain kind of unique magic you don't see anywhere else right now.

I would have loved to have heard more of his fantastic accents. He's got several great ones as evidenced by his live album, "A Live at Central Park," and several of his YouTube clips.

Couple that with his ability to turn an awkward situation into something funny and it's pretty easy to see why his shows work as well as they do.

He's always a little weird, but at times, like I said earlier, it seems as if he's tempting you to follow him down his rabbit hole. And, damn, what a hole that must be!

When he was in storyteller mode, personally I would have loved to have heard more from his experiences across the globe. But, I guess that would have made it a different type of show. It was cool hearing a bit about his childhood. It all seemed very sincere.

With that, I think the highlight of the night, for me, was the way he joked about how dangerous Great Falls and Montana really are. In particular, I cracked up hard at the five (or four, as he never did mention No. 4) ways people die in Great Falls. To sum it up: Reason No. 1 - Bears. No. 2 -- Just Because. No. 3 -- getting eaten by  pterodactyls. And No. 5: Disappearing down into a vast labyrinth of subterranean caverns which crisscrosses the city, and possibly turned into Eloi.

One more note: After the show, Lana mentioned that she felt because his act is all improvised, there was no natural arc to it.

There was no beginning, middle or end. I suppose that's the risk you run when you improv from start to finish. It also gives you a sense of mystery as you're never quite sure where he's going next.

Before Reggie took the stage, four opening acts, three students and one staff member, performed. Two were musicians and two were comedians.

The openers each had unique personalities and their own unique problems. Without sounding too harsh, opening for a nationally recognized comedian is very intimidating and the fact that they pulled it off the way they did is to be commended.

Clay's (Clayton Vermulm) act is coming along nicely, and it's cool to see him start to get more comfortable on stage.

If he can start to refine his material a little -- it seemed like he jumped around a bit -- he will only continue to get better.

I liked his use of physical humor in which he imitated a turkey drowning in the rain. That was a new wrinkle since the last time I saw him perform. (Which admittedly was a while ago.) It was brief, but it seemed to get a strong reaction.

Clay, to me, feels like he's at a point where he's experimenting with different things and finding out what works best for him. I think he's starting to turn the corner and discover those strengths, but it takes some bumps and bruises along the way. He's getting there and it's fun to watch.

Kenneth Taylor showed me a new side I have never seen before tonight. Granted, we only worked together in "Chicago," and I had never seen much of his original material. But, wow.

 If there was an award given to the most offensive material of the night, he would have won easily. And, I say that with all sincerity. It was hilarious. And, incredibly offensive. Funny how that works.
He sang a song about a meth junkie in Cut Bank and about his sister and her PS blues. (PS stands for words that rhyme with horn car.)
He's very comfortable on stage, and while I didn't mind the offensive material, he might run the risk of turning off people who do. I think it worked tonight. Others might disagree, but there was quite a large applause after he finished.

Sawyer Edmister might have been the least-polished of the openers.
I'm not saying he bombed, because he didn't. I see his act and see the amazing potential it has to really become a force to be reckoned with. I laughed several times, it just didn't entirely work yet.

However, I felt that his use of repeating several key, funny phrases really held his whole story together. He's choosing his words carefully, which is crucial. I've been told by several big-time comedians I've interviewed that you must get rid of every word in your act that doesn't need to be there.
He flubbed a few small lines, but I felt he hit the notes he reached for in terms of language just fine.

For his act, he took us through his horrible experience staying at a hotel. We've all been there at least once, so I think it's prime for some great observations.
I, too, have had a nightmare hotel experience that I've told in front of a crowd.

I can't help but root for the guy as he refines his craft. He has a presence on stage that works for him. I think it comes down to more stage time doing stand-up. Something we all could use, myself included!

Jessie Knorr showed me a lot of soul in her performance tonight. I saw her play once before at the Montana Actors' Theater's First Friday Art Walk four months ago or so, and she's gotten much more confident since then.

Her guitar playing needs a little work in my opinion, but I say that in a very nit-picky way. Her voice is her strength and the guitar is there to keep things together. Her playing was not distracting, but it was pretty vanilla, also. Sometimes that's just fine when you have other stronger parts of your performance. I think her voice has the potential to take her as far as she wants to go with it.

 It's amazing how when she's NOT singing, she comes across as a quiet, shy girl. Then, when the music starts, she belts out these amazingly emotional phrases and you're almost blindsided. It's quite a combination.

She could still use a little more polish, but again, I think that comes down to more stage time in front of an audience.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the awesomely cheesy sport jacket worn by one Michael Gilboe. It was a red and yellow flannel number and I think it worked for him tonight. Now, It might not have worked for anyone else, but it worked for Michael. It made him hip and very host-like.

All and all it was a fine show and by the end the sold-out crowd was on their feet applauding. All the money raised tonight will go toward helping the 22 to 30 UGF students head to New York City for the NYC Musical Festival in July.

And seeing as it's now 2:01 a.m., I must be off to bed.

Good night!

MAT "Step 2 the Mic" poetry slam, Jan. 3

I attended the first "Step 2 the Mic" poetry slam of 2013 on Thursday at the Montana Actors' Theater-Great Falls.
Jeff Scolley, the host, performed a new poem, which I thought worked well. It's always nice to hear more about Jeff, and this poem did just that.

The MAT shifted the stage back to the side, which has its strong and weak points. In one way it's a little more open and there's room for more people. On the other hand, it feels less like a theater and more like a conference hall. The space is small no matter how you slice it, so you take the good with the bad.

Last year when the theater had the side set-up, it had several comfy couches for people to sit on. Those were gone. It would've been nice to have the couches back.

The main criticism I'd like to express here, however, comes in the commercial that was aired before the poetry began.

For those of you who weren't at the slam, I'll give a brief description of what happened.

Before the slam started, Jeff mentioned that Gerald Bickel would be here to shoot a short commercial featuring four or five of the improv actors. The commercial's main message was that the MAT could use some more donations. Understandable enough, seeing as everyone who works there are volunteers and it takes money to keep the building functional.

The commercial was mostly entertaining, with the imrov actors doing several warm-up bits that are humorous by nature. I wish, however, that it didn't take as long as it did. We all showed up at 7 ready to read and listen to poetry.

I think most of us can agree that it's difficult in the arts community when it comes to finances. From the MAT to Paris Gibson Square, the Mansfield Center, even the C.M. Russell Museum of Art. They all need financing, some more than others.

The heart of the commercial was asking people to donate to the theater. An idea I can get behind, as I think a lot of people reading this can.

However, when you attract people into the theater for the popular poetry slam, and then put the brakes on to air an unannounced commercial, it feels a little cheap.

I know many people at the theater and have great respect for each one of them. Our community theater is a wonderful place, and I hope they get the funds they need.

I wish, however, that they could have announced plans for a commercial before springing one on unsuspecting audience members. Who knows, maybe they would have even had MORE people show up to help show their support.

Plus, the fact that the creating of said commercial took an hour from doing poetry created some problems for people who budgeted a certain amount of time to be at the slam. Most people stayed the whole time, but several could not.

Once the poetry started, it was just as good as the previous slams have been. There were many more teens than before, perhaps more than the adults even. Quite an accomplishment from the first few slams when there were one or two teens participating.

Finally, if I had one more minor quibble, and it is minor, it would be with the judging.
Judging poetry is an imprecise art. In a small town like Great Falls, it's extremely difficult to find judges who don't appear to have any major biases toward the poets. The slam has done a great job of finding unbiased judges whole heartedly.

And while I don't think the judging on Thursday was "rigged" or that any of the three were biased, from an outsider's perspective it could have looked a bit strange that the final two adult poets were MAT actors and that one of the judges was sitting next to one of the MAT organizers. I can't say if he was related to her or not, but if so, it could look fishy if someone wanted to view it that way.

I do not, however.

 I think the judges did a fine job for the most part, and it never felt like any of them were playing favorites. If I didn't watch the judges make their scores throughout the night, however, I might start to ask questions about why the two actors who were on stage during the pro-MAT commercial they shot that most of the crowd was asking to cheer for, ended up in the final round.

I will say that both Krystine and Casey, two of the final three adult poets, presented strong poems. You could make a valid argument that they both deserved to be in the final round of the adult presentation. Having heard their poems, I would mostly agree.

I hope that in the future, though, that Jeff can continue to make it painfully clear that each judge has no large bias toward anyone in particular. Because if he loses grip of that, the whole legitimacy of the slam could be in jeopardy.

As a supporter of the Great Falls poetry scene and the MAT, I would hate to see that happen.

I, like always, anticipate going to the next slam at the MAT later this month. This, I feel, is a minor blip in an otherwise successful run Jeff and company have had hosting this event.

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my new blog.

As an entertainment writer, part of my job, I feel, is to write fair critiques of things going on in our creative community.

Great Falls already has several people who review plays, movies and musical performances. What we're lacking, I feel, however, is someone who critiques them.

Before you explain to me why a reviewer and a critic are the same thing, let me stop you and explain why they're not.

A reviewer's job is to explain what he or she saw, what he or she liked, didn't like, and overall thoughts of the experience.

A critic's job, however, is to watch a performance with a critical eye and point out things that could have been done better.
A critic can write about things he or she enjoyed, but the main goal is to offer constructive criticism into what some of the fine creative people in our community can do to improve.

In an attempt to broaden the scope of what I critique, I also will from time to time offer critiques on big movies that come through town, as well, and any relevant music albums that drop from area artists.

My goal is to provide my insight into the art and entertainment scene and offer thoughts on how the standard of excellence can be pushed higher.
Because, I feel that bar CAN be pushed higher. I believe it rightfully should be. This is my attempt in making that a reality.

Also, a word of advice for those of you whom I might critique: When I write about something I don't like about what you're doing -- PLEASE don't take it as a personal attack. Take it as a compliment.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Why, on God's green earth, would you take a critique as a compliment?"

Simple.

The fact that I'm offering constructive criticisms means I care about what you're doing. I want to see you succeed and I am offering my thoughts as to how you can do so. If I didn't care I would give a rubber-stamp "Wonderful" without anything substantial behind my words.

No. The days of everything being rated as "wonderful" in Great Falls are over.
We're on the cusp of a creative breakthrough, and the only way to do that is to actively reach for the stars. If we're forever happy with decent or mediocre artistic productions, we will forever be decent and/or mediocre when compared to other cultural hubs.

Finally, I'll conclude with a brief rundown of my credentials.

My day job is working as the arts and entertainment reporter for the Great Falls Tribune. I attend events and I talk to people involved in the events in our community and region on a daily basis. I write between 10 to 15 articles a week on cultural events happening in Northcentral Montana.

Also, in November I performed in my first play, playing a reporter in the University of Great Falls' production of "Chicago."
It was a unique experience that allowed me the chance to see on the other side of the stage. In my role I was able to experience the difficulties, the successes, and feel the unfiltered rush of performing in front of a packed audience.
I do not consider myself a professional, far from it. I am, however, a professional observer. I get paid to write what I see, what I hear and what I experience in regards to the cultural events in my community.

I also participate in the monthly "Step 2 the Mic" poetry slam at the Montana Actors' Theatre-Great Falls. I'm working on getting my first poem published someday soon. I perform a little stand-up comedy from time to time, also.

I'm excited to start this little blog and see where it takes us.
In closing, thank you for reading, and I'd be more than honored if you'd come join me on this ride.