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Podcast #172

WE ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD
The San Francisco Bay Area has some of the best performers in the world. This is no exaggeration, as, per capita, San Francisco has one of the largest performance communities in the nation. I have personally seen and / or interviewed many of the brilliant personalities that make up our great performance community and let me tell you, they are much more interesting than the people / performers I have met from L.A. and N.Y. And guess what folks?! I have lived in L.A. I have lived in N.Y. and I have lived in S.F. Without a doubt, S.F. produces the most distinctive live performances hands down.

AN INNOVATOR FROM OUR POOL OF BRILLIANCE
Liz Lisle, publisher of Watchword Press and Managing Director of Shotgun Players, melds the literary world with the performance world. How’s that for innovation?! But she doesn’t stop there. She takes a difficult piece of literary text (called NOTECARDS: A LIVING MUSEUM by Britta Austin) and enlists the help of some cream of the crop performers to create dramatic responses to an unconventional text. How unconventional you ask? Damn you ask the best questions. Author Britta Austin decided one day she would discipline herself to do one thing: She would come home from work, sit down to her type writer (in which she is madly and torridly in love with), and write short fiction pieces, on note cards. ON NOTE CARDS, mind you! Is this not strange, weird, intensely personal and magnanimously intriguing?

FLASH FICTION = FAST ACTION
Britta’s note cards are not novels. They are not 100 page pieces. They are not even short fictional pieces. Many of us are fond of short fictional pieces between 5 and 10 pages long. As a matter of fact, Britta’s short fiction isn’t even a page long. They are 1 note card long! That’s why the term Flash Fiction was made up. Super fast fiction happening at the speed of a Japanese mag-lev bullet train. That’s Fast!

A DIZZYING ARRAY OF INPUT MODALITIES TO SATISFY ALL OF YOUR SENSES
I don’t know about you, but I like to have all my senses stimulated when I am seeing a performance. This piece presented by Watchword Press promises to activate more of your senses than you can imagine. Listen to this description of Britta’s work: “A living museum held in a secret place deep under the ocean at night”. With those words, can you imagine the sensations you might feel in that environment? Can you anticipate the sense of wonder you may feel? The terror? Can you imagine being touched by the unknown? Seeing things you have never seen before? Experiencing things the majority of the world will never be able to?

Not only are you going to be immersed in a world that will bring about experiences you may never have thought possible, you are also going to be treated to many, many artists presenting their work. What Liz Lisle is brilliant at is bring together a bunch of different artists and having them put together an evening of work that is sure to satisfy even the harshest of critics. And she does so by brining you installation work (so you can walk around and appreciate some unique art). She does so by including artists who use multimedia in their work. She does so by putting captivating performance artists on stage for your viewing pleasure. You are going to see over 20 different artists on stage, immersing you in their interpretations of the note cards Britta wrote (over 112 of them in a year and a half).

THIS IS A LIMITED TIME RUN. GO BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY!
Because this is so expensive to produce, and because the hired artists have such hectic schedules, the performance piece can only happen on 2 different nights (Thursday, June 19th and Thursday, 26th of June at the intersection for the Arts in SF). This means it is important that you get your tickets before the event sells out. I don’t know if I can stress that enough. And as a bonus, the visual gallery will be open everyday between the 19th and 26th from 12- 5 pm. So what are you waiting for?

SHOW NOTES
Watchpress presents THE NOTECARDS: A Living Museum
Intersection for the Arts: The Website

Playing June 19th and 26th @ Intersection for the Arts: JUST SHOW UP TO GET YOUR TICKETS

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Podcast #171

Dan Wolf is a cool cat. He is a white jewish guy who raps, acts, produces and writes. he invited me to his house to talk about his latest production called ANGRY WHITE BLACK BOY, a play he re-imagined based on the novel of the same title by Adam Mansbach.

I felt compelled to do this interview because there was a certain level of irony flowing thru the cosmos.

#1 A white boy trying to define himself within an art form developed and perfected by blacks in America. And here I am, a black man, in an artform (theatre) that has the hardest time attracting a black audience.

#2 Jews and Blacks aren’t typically seen in the same social circles (unless of course you are that rare species named Sammy Davis Junior).

Ok. All kidding aside.

In this production of ANGRY WHITE BLACK BOY, Dan Wolf presents it as a remix (in the same vein of a DJ remixing your favorite album).

TOPICS EXPLORED include:
-How one white boy persevered in the dangerous world of Hip Hop (by virtue of his skin color) and survived to see the commercialization of rap redefine the continued struggle he faced in being accepted in a black art form.

- The internal / external struggles of being Jewish while secretly wanting to be black

-The search of knowledge of oneself and the self-destructive behaviors that precede the calm

-The reconciliation of ones own being, and learning to appreciate, admire and respect a culture and art form that will never belong to him

This is a cool as hell interview, very insightful and with a penetrating look into the psyche of Dan Wolf. Listen in.

SHOW NOTES
Dan Wolf: The Website
Jewish Community Center East Bay: The Website
The Felonious My Space page

Playing June 14th @ 8pm
Angry Black White Boy: Buy Tickets

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Podcast #170

Ann Randolph presents SQUEEZE BOX at the Marsh Theatre. Ann holds the distinction of having Anne Bancroft and Mel brooks invest over $300,000 of their own money to take her show off-Broadway as well as make it into a movie. Unfortunately Anne Bancroft died before the movie came to fruition. Not one to let set-backs set her back, Ann Randolph plowed ahead with her critically acclaimed production: SQUEEZE BOX, which is an intimate look at her life as a self-performing artist while working in a woman’s homeless shelter with the emotionally disturbed. She has been compared to the late Gilda Radna for her ability to create compelling and funny characters, and has actually worked with individuals who have went on to Saturday Night Live fame as well as the big screen. But you have to listen in to hear who those people are. It is a fun interview where she gives us a glimpse into her own “dementia” and also lets me chat with some of the voices in her head. This show promises to be outrageous!

P.S. This show is rated “L” for Language.
P.S.S. Did I mention that her shows consistently win many awards?!?!?

SHOW NOTES
Ann Randolph: The Website
Marsh Theatre: The Website

Playing May 17th - June 29th
Squeeze Box: Buy Tickets

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Podcast #169

Oakland Opera Theatre presents Queenie Pie, an incomplete play written by Duke Ellington. Oakland Opera has felt the need to mount this production, that was originally written for television (but never made the air). They have put together a restoration team to finish the score and to finish the script. I talk with them about the theme of the play, the author, and the subject of which the play is loosely based on, Madame CJ Walker. An interesting note on contention has to do with the “hot comb”. Oakland Opera says Madame CJ Walker was the inventor of this “hot” selling item. www.MadameCJWalker.com says differently. Listen to the response by Oakland Opera.

SHOW NOTES
Oakland Opera: The Website
Oakland Metro Opera House: The Website

Playing May 9nd - May 25th
QueeniePie: Buy Tickets

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Podcast #168

Sherry Glaser Love presents THE BREAST OF SHERRY GLASER, her comedic look at her activism work for the past 20 years. In this podcast she discusses her work with the peace activist group “Breasts not Bombs” and how it relates to her current production. She reveals one of her most funny moments in dealing with law enforcement in her breast baring days. The play presents multiple characters that have different perspectives on the human condition. I get to talk to her character, Miguel De Cervantes, who believes that the male archetype needs to be restructured and that all men are like dogs, but in the good sense. I get to talk to character Rev. Mutha who has something interesting to say about the Obama / Jeremiah Wright issue. And of course, Sherry, the playwright / performer gets to brag about why we should come see her show playing at the Marsh Theatre in SF, May 2nd - June 14th, 2008.

SHOW NOTES
Sherry Glaser Love: The Website
The Marsh Theatre: The Website

Playing May 2nd - June 14th
The Breasts of Sherry Glaser: Show Info

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