Fortinbras

The event of my weekend was to see the play "Fortinbras" preformed at Mesa State. Fortinbras is the name of the Norwegian prince who arrives at the end of Hamlet to find everyone dead. This play starts with that scene. However, while Hamlet is a dark drama about a man who is all thought and no action, this play is a comedy about Fotinbras a man of action and little thought. Where Hamlet frets about the ghost of his father, Fortinbras has an affair with the ghost of Ophelia. Where Hamlet spends the whole play trying to decided wether to take action to avenge his father, Fortinbras sends his army out to rattle their sabers at the Poles in a move to distract public attention, only to have his army conquer most of the world without a fight.

The story arch of Fortinbras mirrors that of Hamlet. So you know that everyone ends up dead, but for the opposite reasons.

Very Funny. My favorite bit is the way Hamlet's ghost shows up on a TV screen that is carted around the stage.

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A link

I was exploring this cool web site for independent music called CD Baby, when I found this.

Playmates through the Decades

Being the 50th Anniversary of Playboy, an interesting rendering of the Playmates by decade. Yes, this is safe to view. The artist Jason Salavon created the images by averaging every Playmate photo of the decade together. The resulting images are blurred to the point of being almost beyond recognition as human form. However, you can still learn some interesting trends from the images.

Be sure to check out other work by the artist. I particularly like The Top Grossing Film of All Time, 1 x 1

Her Own Show

My good friend Shari Daly-Miller's art show formally opened at Planet Earth. A large number of people turned out.

Charles Hardy / Joseph Gonzales

The Charles Hardy and Joseph Gonzales show was amazing. Hardy is an amazing artist whose prints, etchings and drawings I had already seen in a variety of settings. It was truly amazing to see a large number of his works collected together into two gallery halls. There really was too much on display to properly appreciate, especially in the context of an opening. I will be heading back to the Art Center for another look.

Hardy is known as a great teacher, and this could be most clearly seen in the works of his student Joseph Gonzales with whom he shared the show. They held a brief talk prior to the show, to describe their art. I really enjoy hearing professional craftsmen openly discuss their work. Often artists put up lame excuses by saying that their art stands on its own merits without comment. I think this is pretty bogus. An understanding of the technique used, emotional and spiritual passion expressed and evolution of an artists body of work is critical to have an appreciation of the artist and the ideas they are expressing. A specific work of art may not have a clearly defined message, but it does have meaning beyond its raw physical components.

Much of Joseph Gonzales' work uses a technique called encaustic of which I had not been aware. Encaustic is the layering of colored resin beeswax in a painting. The translucent layers can be applied like paint, reworked, carved and impregnated with foils, paper, glitter, etc to amazing effect. Jospeh combines these encaustic elements with his beautiful drawing skills to create images with a abstract mystical depth.

Before the show, my friend Christella Lans told me that the large abstract painting in her living room was done by Joseph. At the show, Christella introduced me to Joseph. Without prompting, Joseph profusely thanked her for the purchase of the painting. He said that the creation of that work and Christella's purchase of it was a major turning point in his art. Prior to that work, he had been an first rate drawer of the human form. With that painting he found a connection to abstract expression that submerged the human form. Now his work leverages both concrete drawings and abstraction.

Grand Junction's Art Center

The Art Center is the mainline art orgainization in Grand Junction. It may not be the gritiest or edgiest, but it is the back bone of the visual arts in our community. And for every mundane pastel show, there is a show that does push the limits. Friday night's opening Charles Hardy: A Retrospective, 1966-2003 should be very interesting show. Charles is a Art Professor at Mesa State College.

Grand Junction Arts

The Grand Junction Commission on Arts and Culture has an excellent online resource: gjArts.org. The site features lists of local artists, art orgainzations and businesses. The calendar of events is one of the most complete cultural calendars I have found. A photo gallery shows some of Grand Junction's public art. but this page should be expanded as it only shows a small fraction of the art on our streets and public spaces. Finally, the web site has information on how to apply for a grants that support the Art Commission's Mission Statement:

The mission of the Grand Junction Commission on Arts and Culture shall be to help create and nurture a climate and conditions in Grand Junction in which the arts and culture can thrive and grow. The Commission is dedicated to developing and improving the quality, quantity, accessibility, and affordability of arts and culture to the citizens of the Grand Junction area.

Kiss Me Kate

I took my parents (Floyd and Tamara Joramo) and Rachael to see the The Cabaret Dinner Theater's production of Kiss Me Kate. It was an excellent production. The inclussion of headliner actors from Broadway as really improved the quality of all of the actors.

The Theater scene in Grand Junction has really improved since I moved here in 1995 when the only theater was produced by Mesa State College or the Art Center. Those two programs are still going, but now with The Cabaret Dinner Theater, The Green Shoe Theater, and the Empire Theater there are often three stage productions going on at the same time. Then there are several spin off groups that provide actors a chance to work on material that is not as commercial such as the Atomic Theater.

About the Play

Last Thursday, I attended the Atomic Theatre's productions of two Christopher Durang plays: the short one act play An Actor's Nightmare and the dating farce beyond therapy.

The main play beyond therapy told the story of the difficulties of a couple who meet via personal ads, their respective wacked therapists and the guys live-in jealous boyfriend. The play was bitingly funny and -- in view of my current relationship -- stabbingly painful.

The Atomic Theatre is a spin off of the Cabaret Dinner Theatre to provide the Cabaret's actors with additional forums to perform. The performance space was located at KAFM. I find it amazing how Grand Junction's cultural community is growing itself in a very strong and self sustaining manner.

Gifts for the Goddess

Rachael and I attended the annual Gifts for the Goddess last Friday evening.

Rachael was the beautiful Egyptian goddess Iris - the Rainbow Goddess - and I was her escort. I think that Rachael is very lovely. I am obviously biased in such matters; but if you don't agree, your blind.

Behind us is a self portrait of Caole Lowry - the owner of the gallery - as Isis in formal wear.

This art show at Planet Earth and the Four Directions is perhaps the biggest social event on the Grand Junction art calendar. I thought that the art was not as interesting as last year's show, but it was a better people watching event. Of course, this maybe because it has only I have only recently started to acquire a few people watching skills. When I first attended an event at Planet Earth a few years ago, I was a bit freaked out. I don't deal well with groups of strangers. This time I was amazed at the number of people I knew by name.

I think that the coolest work of art was worn by copper artist Jamie Viada girlfriend. Jamie had created a work of copper tubing that formed cones to covered her breasts, and a second piece of tubing to cover her lower regions. It was very sexy. Sort of an unchaste chastity belt.

Toby Electronica

My friend and computer geek Toby Farley has but together some electronica. Check out 01 - Supersymmetry - Engulfed Cathedral - Debbusy .

Note: From the direction that I am hitting Toby's web site across the internet, the music file is very slow to download. (2.7k per second).

Later: When I got home, I was able to download Toby's music at nearly 20k. I actually like his work!

Spirited Away

I saw Miyazaki's Spirited Away with my Folks, Christella and a bunch of kids at the monthly art film Saturday Cinema at the Avalon. Wow! I loved the epic Princess Mononoke, but Spirited Away is a film of the most beautiful and minute detail. Swarms of cut paper birds, walking lanterns, beautifully crafted scenes, and the overwelming feeling that Myth is universal.

I do have a strong desire to learn about Japanese mythology.

Lunar Soundscapes

Last night I attended a concert of wind music all composed and conducted by my friend Walter Cummings. Walter mostly composes music for grade school and high school bands. This concert was an opportunity for all of the local professional talent to preform Walter's works. I really Love live music. I think that it is amazing that so many people only listen to CDs and big name artists. Such music at best is like a quality take home deli meal. At worse, it is canned green beans. And normally, you just get Campbell's Chicken Soup.

Real live music, created by real people who you personally know, is what music is really about.

Three works from last night stood out.

Skeletons Dance Under Full Moon evoked the sense of dried desert bones coming to life.

Red Canyon Echoes gave you a sense of hiking our desert washes. I particularly enjoyed the antiphonal placement of the trumpets behind the audience.

Six Plus Farm March This was the highlight of the show. Walter Cummings had been commissioned by another mutual friend Tad Hutchins to write a march for Tad's farm. This was the world premiere.

It was a great evening. I even got to sit next to Don Bell and catch up on what is going on with him and Sandra Lee.

Simply Divine

The Grand Junction Symphony had a very fine concert.

I took Martha House to see the program, and she enjoyed it very much.

The center piece of the concert

was two choral works that included the Grand Junction Symphony Chorus. The

interesting thing about these choral works was that they were both set to the

same Latin text, but with very differnt styles. The Verdi version was a

roller coaster, which examined the text with many different emotional angles.

Whereas the Haydn was very formal and straight forward.

Frida and George

Another great night at the monthly Avalon Saturday Cinema art films. This month the "UUUS" sponsored short film was George Lucas in Love and the feature was Frida.

There is something striking

about the way that A Day in the Life ends The Beatles' Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band. The sworling discoherent lyrics, the closing crashing chord. The complete closure that resolves nothing. A sound track for my mind.

Vanilla Sky

I watched Vanilla Sky staring Tom Cruise. It is a very interesting self identity film. Strangely it is not categorized as Science Fiction when it is very much in the tradition of Phillip K Dick.

Don't trust what you know about your self, because you don't know who you are.

When I was a kid . . .

Cheerleaders always ended up murdered by some psyco one third of the way into the moive. Now they wind up with the girl.

But I am a Cheerleader