Quick clarification about this blog

I'm sure that most people who read this can connect the dots here, but if not I'm taking this chance to make it explicitly clear if it ever becomes fuzzy in the future.

This blog is 100 percent mine and mine alone. I speak for myself here, that's it.

If anyone has a problem with anything written in this blog, which no one has yet but it's certainly possible it could happen, the views expressed here come from me, Jake Sorich. I do not speak for any other party either implicitly or explicitly stated.

When you visit this site, you're doing so understanding it's a place where I state my personal opinions about cultural events and releases I find interesting enough to write about.

I'm also not trying to compete with anyone else's opinions about the same types of things happening around town.

 I'm of the opinion that the more opinions we can bring to the table about any given subject, especially as subjective as art and culture, which very much leans more subjective than objective, the better.

Finally, I'm not profiting from this blog at all, either. I write these views as a way of promoting arts in our community with the attempt to help raise awareness, and create an honest dialogue about what we're creating. The more we can be honest with each other about our creative undertakings, the better. We can never grow until we learn where we must improve, first.

Hydr8 (Gabriel Vasichek)'s album "Empower Now" (with video)

Gabe Vasichek's new album "Empower Now," offers a collection of dense, unique and worldly songs.

The first thing to hit me was the diversity from track to track.

It's almost as if each song is a room decorated differently but with enough similar items that you know it belongs to the same person.

 Some tracks, such as the first one, even feels as if it's two songs in one. If we're using the house analogy, the intro to the first track is the porch that leads directly into the rest of the home.  

The intro starts with Didgeri-Dan's didgeridoo playing. Brothers Dan and Gabe have been known to jam out at a few open mic nights bringing something that's unlike anything else, maybe anywhere.

After about a minute, the song switches gears and gets into the main riff that Gabe sings over. It's memorable and funky.

Michael Gilboe, who produced the album at his Copperhead Production Studio, has created multiple layers in each of the songs that all seem to fit together.

Gabriel Vasichek

The didgeridoo returns for several more of the tracks, as does vocals from Nikki Brown, who easily has been one of my favorite performers to hear sing at open mic.

Even if you're not into the rest of the songs, hearing Nikki sing is worth getting the album alone. Like Gabe told me during our chat last week about the album, "It's sweet like honey."

She sings alone on "Moving Forward," and with Gabe on "Blue Skies and a Rainy Day."

Another highlights for me was on "Send Me Back Home," during the chorus where the backing music changes dramatically to an almost march-like beat. It's chillingly effective. The bridge gives the track a nice touch, also.

Finally, everything about "So Many Ripples" makes me giddy inside. It might be my favorite track aside from "Moving Forward."

While there's a lot to like here, every album has it's flaws -- this one included.

Gabe and I talked about this in my Tribune article, which you can read here, about how the album doesn't shy away from it's weaknesses. We talked a lot about how if you never do something out of fear of missing perfection, you'll never achieve anything.

With that in mind, Gabe's vocal range is rather small. He's a great songwriter and performer, but he's never going to hit the high notes that stretch a voice's range. He's also a little off key in a few tracks.  I think the most pronounced instance is on his duet with Nikki mostly because she's singing in one key and while Gabe is almost in that key, it's a LITTLE off. It's still a good track but that pitch difference is noticeable.

Dan and Gabe Vaishcek at a recent open mic. 

One also could argue that the album's density is too dense.

I happen to like it, though. I think it gives the album a real meaty sound that offers listeners some exotic flavors.

If you're looking for an album that has one concept or one sound with variations of that sound, this might not be the one for you, though.

 I think that diversity speaks to the type of performer Gabe is, though, so I have no problems with it.

 If anything I would say it makes trying to explain what kind of music it is difficult. That's not a bad thing, though, as you just really have to listen to it to understand.

At the end of the day, the album has many tracks that seep into your consciousness. Upon listening to them I can still hear them in my head. Plus, given that Gabe is such a literary songwriter, I'm sure each song has layers of meaning I might not get unless I listen to it again and again.

I would have loved to hear more of Gabe's insanely amazing throat singing. He gives us tastes of it on a few songs, but I would have loved to hear him just rip into it for a full track or two.

If you enjoy big sounds with thoughtful lyrics, this album is for you. Gabe's an intelligent performer who takes his songwriting/singing and playing seriously. He and Gilboe assembled a strong cast of local talent around him.

This album's rooms all come alive and are well worth visiting.

To order the album, visit www.hydr8music.com.

"I Hate Hamlet" at UGF, Feb. 14

Lana and I went to the opening of "I Hate Hamlet," last night, and I can say with confidence that the show is as funny and entertaining as advertised.

If I were to sum up the plot in one line, I'd call it a love letter to theater, which I find ironic in that the name proclaims a hatred for the most famous theatre writer's most well-known work.

For anyone unfamiliar with the show,  it's the story of the character named Andrew Rally, a recently unemployed TV actor.

Clay Vermulm and Wally Bossie in a scene from "I Hate Hamlet" 

Rally and his girlfriend Diedre move to New York after his TV series where he plays a young doctor is cancelled.

The story starts with Rally being led into a retro-looking apartment by his real estate agent. The apartment formerly belonged to John Barrymore, a well-known Shakespeare actor with a colorful history. The story is centered around Rally's decision to play Hamlet or to go back to Hollywood and take a cheesy part on another TV show. Barrymore comes back from the dead in an attempt to guide Rally to take the Shakespeare part.

For the UGF production, Barrymore is played by Wally Bossie, Rally is played by Clay Vermulm, Diedre is played by Kristi Doll, . Tianna Harland plays Rally's real estate agent Felicia, Tim Stoddard plays Gary, Rally's Hollywood producer friend who presents him with a unique opportunity I'll explain more later, and Joanna Kauffman plays Lillian, Rally's agent. As Joanna was sick on Thursday, her understudy Krystine Wendt stepped in to play Lillian.

The show is directed by Ed Moran.

The best part, to me, was the onstage relationship between Wally and Clay. The way they worked together as a teacher showing the world of theater to his student seemed real, mostly because you could say it was real. This is Clay's first foray into acting while Wally has been an actor/director in many stage performances over the years.

Wally made the role his and his timing on his lines, his positioning on stage and his ability to ham it up like an actor such as Barrymore would, is worth the price of admission alone. 

When I say "ham it up" like a Barrymore actor would, that means being a person who's lovable but also totally controlled by his impulses. Barrymore drinks, he flirts with multiple women, he over acts, and yet you end up loving him almost BECAUSE of his impulses. It's a unique role and Wally pulled it off nicely. 

Then, when I talked to Clay last week for an interview in my Tribune article, which you can read here, he told me that the role was a great one for him because in it he plays a person who's learning to act, much like himself. Also, Wally's character Barrymore helps teach Clay the finer points of acting, which again mirrors the student/teacher role between Wally and Clay as people and not just their characters.  

The story, however, isn't just about a man learning to act, however. That'd be dull and I really doubt anyone would care to watch that. 

Clay Vermulm and Tianna Harland in a scene from "I Hate Hamlet"

The conflict comes from Barrymore and Diedre pushing Rally to take the Hamlet role and Gary's urging that he take the Hollywood gig, a role in which he plays a teacher with superpowers, for fame and fortune.  

It raises questions about what it means to be an actor, what it means to pursue art vs. fame and how actors deal with this conflict regularly. It's a fascinating dynamic. 

I also credit Ed for working with the actors and the tech designers to pull the show together. He's been doing theater for a long while and he knows how to make it work on stage. This show is more proof of that and he really gets the most out of everyone. 

Finally, I credit Clay for pulling this off and making it seem like he's acted in plays before. His dialogue with all of the characters, his internal monologues, the way he comes across as a hot-shot TV actor who knows how to go through the motions but fails to understand the craft of acting, all were presented with grace and ease. 

When I heard Clay was cast in the production, as he was new to acting I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Having seen it now, though, I feel he played the role the way it was intended to be played. I look forward to seeing him in more roles in the future. 

Now, though, that I've got all that gushing out of my system,  seeing as this blog is called "Good, Bad, Great (Falls)," though, I can't simply go on with praise without pointing out a few weaknesses. 

Here they are. 

Firstly, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed Kristi's portrayal of Diedre. She was sassy, came across as a believable character, and projected her lines wonderfully. She's a talented actress and I'm willing to say she will make any role given to her interesting. 

Kristi Doll plays Diedre in a scene from "I Hate Hamlet"

My critique is of the character she plays. Diedre is in love with innocence and the pageantry of the theater. Her ideal man is one who is strong and sensitive, bold and reserved and willing to put up with her craziness.

And is she crazy. 

Part of me wished Diedre had more redeeming qualities. By the end of the play, I was asking myself why Andrew stayed with her as long as he supposedly had. 

She's a 29-year-old virgin, she lives off her parents money, she urges Andrew to do something he doesn't want to necessarily at first, (even though it turns out he does,) and this part is worth repeating -- she won't have sex with Andrew, even though he's been the best kind of boyfriend a girl could hope for. It's fine to want to keep your abstinence, I'm not trying to make a political statement here, I'm simply commenting on how that seems to be the center of Andrew's frustrations with Diedre. It does help drive the plot, so I can appreciate that.  

I think the fact that Diedre's role works in the scenes she's in without making it grating speaks to how well Kristi plays the part. She brings a certain kind of glee to Diedre. She's a happy girl, even if she's slowly driving Andrew bonkers. If she complained about things or brought any kind of negativity with her character, she would be totally unwatchable. 

Before I start on my second point, I will say that knowing the situation behind how this happened, I'm willing to look past this.

 At the same time, a typical audience member who doesn't know what happened isn't going to know that Krystine was playing Lillian because Joanna was sick. 

Last night, I felt that the scene between Barrymore and Lillian lacked chemistry. Lillian was Barrymore's old flame and the scene sees them reuniting and revisiting those past memories and, perhaps, past physical connection. 

If the chemistry works, in situations like that you, as an audience member, want to urge the characters to get together. You hope they get closer and closer until they finally embrace and kiss or what have you. 

With Barrymore and Lillian, I was left expecting that Lillian would leave and we as an audience would be OK with that. 

Tim Stoddard as Gary and Clay Vermulm as Andrew in "I Hate Hamlet"

Also, I wish Krystine would have either gone with the accent in full, making it either as over the top as possible, or simply not have used one. Her slipping in and out of the accent made me feel like I was taken out of the play for a moment. 

I like Krystine as an actress. She's a versatile performer who has plenty of energy and personality. She's also a great improv performer. 

This wasn't her best performance last night, but like I said, I'm not sure how much prior preparation she had with the role. 

When I received the cast list last week, her name wasn't on it. I was a little surprised to see her there because I didn't even know she was involved. 

It will be interesting to see where Joanna takes the role when she feels better. 

Another misstep, to me, was after the scene with Lillian and Barrymore. We're subjected to a little TOO long a period in darkness. I don't know, I started to wonder if maybe there was a problem or if the lights were broke or what.  Maybe that was done on purpose, but like I said, it started getting near the point of "um, what's taking so long?" territory. 

Then the scene after the lights came back on confused me a bit. 

Before the lights cut out, we watch a scene where Gary explains a commercial offer to Rally where he plays a guy who's selling nuts along with a hand puppet. It's a funny bit because of the absurdity of the commercial and how silly commercials can be and how low actors stoop to find work. 

Then after the break, Barrymore is sitting on the couch watching the TV and that ad comes on with what sounds like Andrew's voice. 

That made me wonder if the darkness was supposed to indicate a leap forward in time and Andrew had gone back to Hollywood to do the TV show and commercial, or what. It was never explained, so I'm not sure what that scene was supposed to mean. Rally soon comes back into the apartment  and I realized where the setting was supposed to be and that we were still in present day. 

In conclusion, I recommend seeing "I Hate Hamlet." 

The humor is sharp, the costumes all looked great on the performers, the set designers made it LOOK like a place where a John Barrymore type would live, and all of the actors projected their lines well. There was never a moment where I stopped following because I could not hear them. 

It's markedly different from "Chicago" but in a good way. There is more than one way to pull off a great show. When I think back to last year's shows, the improvement has been stark. 

This show at times surprised me, at times made me laugh and made me ask philosophical questions about what it means to be a performer. 

Thanks to Katie Pipinich for the photos! :-) 

Magnificent Seven, Montana Actors Theatre-Great Falls, Feb. 2

I'm finally on the mend after nearly two days of being sick but if you've been wondering where my critique of the Magnificent Seven show has been, it's been stuck in my flu-stricken fingers.

But, anyhow, onto my thoughts of the show. 

Saturday's Magnificent Seven show at MAT-Great Falls featured six acts in front of a large collection of artwork on a small stage surrounded by people on three sides. 

I like the format mostly. I think the more popular this thing gets, the more creative the folks there at the theater are going to have fitting everyone in. 

It worked on Saturday, but part of me kept wondering what they'd do if an influx of people came later. 

I wouldn't say that was a problem for Saturday, but in the future it may be.

But, onto this night's entertainment. 

The performers were as follows -- Dan Dubuque of Polson, Jeff Scolley with Joe Ryan on guitar, Ryan Johnson, Melanie Pool Hauer and Joe Ryan, Risa Alvarez fire eating/fire dancing and the Coexistence Band minus their lead singer from Helena.

Each of the performers, at least the ones I've watched before, gave some of their best shows I've seen from them. That doesn't mean they were without problems, except for the performance by one Melanie, which was perfect in every way from a singer who most definitely did not bribe me to write that. Kidding. 

The show started with a bang with Mr. Dubuque performing his slide guitar.

 You really had to sit in amazement at the talent he has with his instruments. He also played a South American ukulele of some kind for a few songs, but the real point of wonder was his work on the slide. 

Ryan Johnson at MAT-Great Falls' Magnificent Seven

I particularly enjoyed his rendition of Tool's "46&2" and Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name." Both pieces put me in a trance of amazement. 

My critique of Dan's performance is a bit strange even to me, but I thought it went on a bit too long. 

I kept waiting for Tyson (Habein) or Joe (Ryan) to come bring the next performer on stage. 

It's strange because one, the guy was an incredible performer and two, he was playing an instrument I really enjoy hearing. 

I think his problem came in the fact that he was just playing his instrument. It got a bit stagnant to me. I would have loved to hear him performing with someone singing along with him or perhaps if someone had a drum, or some other element to mix it up. 

I think if anything Mr. Dubuque shows how hard it is to keep the audience's attention with just one person playing an instrument. It can be done when you have insane talent like he does, but even then, for me, at least, I started to feel a bit complacent. 

After Dan's set, Jeff Scolley took the stage with Joe Ryan and read some of his favorite recent poems. He and Joe have this cool symbiotic thing going where whatever Jeff is reading, Joe can somehow make it sound better with his guitar playing in the background. Even the fourth poem, which Jeff read without preparing beforehand, Joe seemed to find the right groove for. 

Jeff is a natural performer, plain and simple. He loves reading his poetry and expressing his thoughts on stage. The words he uses, the phrases he delivers, all leave a bit of a lasting impression on you. 

Art from Rachel Kaiser at Saturday's Magnificent Seven

Jeff also mentioned his new spoken-word album he's working on at Michael Gilboe's recording studio. I look forward to hearing how the progress is coming on that. 

 Perhaps my only critique of Jeff's performance was that I've heard at least one of the poems before delivered in a similar way. 

I didn't tire of hearing it, though. I think mostly because you believe what Jeff is saying when he's speaking it, particularly in the poem about his sister. He talks about raising her and how she means the world to him. That's an admirable sentiment and even if I've heard him recite those words at least two or three times before, the feeling still seems fresh. 

Perhaps it might be nice to see Jeff take some more risks in his poetry and try things he's never done before. I say "perhaps" because he knows what works for him. The saying goes if it ain't broke don't fix it. 

At the same time, though, I'd kind of like to see how he'd do at something out of his comfort zone. Because he's such a strong performer, I think it'd be interesting to see how he'd react to something out of left field.

I didn't expect him to do something unproven on Saturday, though, as it wasn't that kind of show. He reached his goal for the night and there's really not much bad you can say about what he did. 

After Jeff came Ryan Johnson who did a mix of covers and original songs on his guitar. 

Listening to Ryan and I'm always impressed with his range of vocals. I always tell him how I enjoy his songs when I see him, so I must really enjoy hearing him play. His original songs were great on Saturday, and his rendition of "Bennie and the Jets" really brought the house down. It was fun and upbeat. Elton John would've been proud. 

My main critique with Ryan's set was that several songs didn't appear to have endings. The songs would go on just fine until the end and then they would just stop. 

Several times people weren't sure if the song was over or if they were supposed to applaud yet. 

It's just a small thing and a simple one to solve. Ryan's got one of the stronger musical packages both in his performing and writing and it was nice to see him in the mix. 

Risa Alvarez at MAT-Great Falls' Magnificent Seven

Ryan's performance was followed by Melanie Pool Hauer and Joe Ryan. Since Melanie bribed me to just say nice things, I guess I'll have to or I might have to give her money back.

Honestly, I thought she did a great job. Like Lana, my girlfriend, said afterward, she and Joe are reaching an intriguing point in their musical development. They're either getting to the point where they just explode, or it fizzles and dies. Their potential for great things seems to be within grasp. That's really exciting to see. 

If I could find one fault with their performance was that the hip hop song didn't really do it for me. Melanie can rap, something I did not know beforehand, but to me I kept thinking about the time Madonna tried to rap. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you always should.

You could say it was a fun distraction, but it seemed to stick out from the rest of the set. Guess I'll be giving Melanie her money back that she never gave me, after all. Oh well. 

After a brief excursion outside to watch the fire-dancer/fire eater, which I didn't get to see because it was too cold for me to stand out there very long, the reggae band Coexistence from Helena capped off the night. 

It would have been nice if their lead singer, Carli Karlson, could have made it to the show, but I felt the guys did a stellar job in her absence. 

The group played some reggae covers and some original tunes and it was fun to hear how the saxophone meshed in with the rest of the more-traditional instruments. Like I told Lana while we were listening to them, it's not every day you hear a band around here play with a saxophone. 

The group played mostly some upbeat songs and really played well with the atmosphere of the evening.

Because they are a five piece, or four piece on Saturday, band, they had to squeeze onto the stage on the very back of the theater. 

Not an ideal setup, maybe, but they made it work. Even if you were seated in the very front of the room you could hear them just fine. 

Jeff Scolley reads poetry at the Magnificent Seven

Overall, I think my main critiques are things that can be ironed out in future shows. Like I said at the top, each of the acts gave great performances and you never felt like you weren't seeing the performers give it their all. 

Also, it would be nice if they could find a way to accept credit for drinks. I would have loved to have gotten a few drinks but didn't have any cash. Hopefully they'll get a way to make that happen in the future. 

Finally, I liked the way Joe and Tyson used the door prizes to keep the action on stage moving and let for some small break between acts. 

I will be interested in seeing next month's lineup and if there are more out-of-town artists who try out to perform. It's a great way to discover some new performers and to see ones you might have seen before raise the bar to new levels. 

Both Lana and I enjoyed ourselves and it sounded like  many others who attended did too. I recommend checking out the next one on March 2.

Photos courtesy of Tyson and Sara Habein. Video courtesy of Gabriel Vasichek.