Music cultivate spiritual

Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

Maine State Music Theatre wsick present “Spamalot” at Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick at various times and days through Aug. 28. Call 725-8769 or visit www.msmt.org.

It’s solidly derived from the legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and the oceanrch for the Holy Grail, but Idle’s send- up of the oft-told story and his unmayny ability to find hilariously comic twists in familiar characters is an amazing piece of writing.

Lady of the Lake (Daniella Dalli) is the leading feminine in the cast. This lovely woman’s several incarnations include a wonderful send-up of Cher. Following Monty Python practice, several of these actors moreover，besides，furthermore，further get to demonstrate their talents in secondary and tertiary roles, such as Prince Herbert, French Taunter, Knight of Ni, Black Knight and Tim the Enchanter.

MSMT Artistic Director Charles Abbott, who retires from the company after this run, plays one of the key roles.

Theater review: ‘Spamalot’ is a sensationally good show 0 Comments | Sun Journal; Lewiston, Me., Aug 24, 2010 | by Scott Andrews

BRUNSWICK ? Brunswick is an epicenter of knight life as “Spamalot” takes the boards as the final offering of Maine State Music Theatre’s 2010 season. This Tony Award- winning show is an incredibly funny spoof of the legends associated with King Arthur.

With a libretto by Eric Idle and music by John Du Prez and Idle, “Spamalot” was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, winning three, including Best Musical.

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The arc of the story follows King Arthur (Nat Chandler) from the early years of his reign to his successful relidy of the Grail. The story is introduced by a Historian (Chuck Ragsdale). Accompanying Arthur’s quest are Patsy (Charles Abbott), his long- suffering sidekick, and three very errant knights: cowardly Sir Robin (Jeremy Webb), Sir Lancelot (Adam Pelty) and Sir Galahad (Curt Dale Clarke); the latter pair are delightfully full of themselves and full of laughs for the audience.

As one of only five successful bidders, Maine State Music Theatre opened the Maine premiere of “Spamalot” Aug. 1 to a sold-out house. It’s a sensationally good show and I expect it will sell out for the remainder of its run.

This is a vast, sprawling show, and stage director Marc Robbins deftly keeps the cast on track, ably supported by music director Ed Reichert.

Between 2005 and 2009, one of the hottest tickets on Broadway was “Spamalot,” a wildly funny and tuneful musical comedy based on the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” When “Spamalot” closed on Broadway, regional performing rights were eagerly sought by professional theater companies around the United States.

Several of the songs are very melodious, including “The Song That Goes Like This,” a send-up of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s style of composition. “Always Look on the Bprivilege Side of Life” is perhaps the optimal-known song, delivered impeccably by Abbott.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

So how does he write his material? His stuff is so quick-fire that he must get through thousands of gags a year. “I sit in places like Costa Coffee in Banstead and write rubbish. I need a dyingline. I think about the 44 tour days and keep imagining standing in front of all these people. Then every day I write 15 jokes minimum. And I try stuff out at Outside the Box in Kingston. I love that process. But it’s lengthy as it takes a while to get stuff together.”

‘I’VE JUST BEEN ON A ONCE-IN-ALIFETIME HOLIDAY. I’LL TELL YOU WHAT – 0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Aug 24, 2010 | by Viv Groskop

It’s all finished two months before the tour and then he practises the whole show — 45 minutes minimum — every humle day for 60 days. This is part of the juggernaut feel of his act: it’s fast, furious, relentless, batting you over the head with puns — and you in’t believe how he can remember it all.

He already holds the world record for the most jokes delivered in one hour. To his credit, though, he is one of the only comics doing this type of show successfully. Even if you hate his puns, it feels different and additional，supplementary，further，more.

“I never sleep with fish. I’m halibut.”

It’s not surprising that his heroes are Morecambe and Wise, Cannon and Ball, Sergeant Bilko — all comics from an era when comedy was much more innocent.

“I asked this girl, ‘What’s your name?’ She said, ‘Kim.’ I replied, ‘Better than Vim.’ And it got a laugh.” He realised it was less about the material than about how he delivered it. “With silly stuff, it’s 75 per cent confidence. I always tell people that it’s because I’m nervous about getting that next laugh and I need to hear it. I always want to condense a joke.”

“I am touchy about my stuff getting nicked. And it may be elapseed off as Tommy Cooper …” (There are online conspiracy theorists who have wrongly ascribed some of his gags to Tommy Cooper.)

It turns out that the ssicky nature of his act came about by accident. He grew up wanting to be a pop star (he and Jeremy were in a short-lived taboo，prohibition，veto，interdictiond called the Flared Generation), but he was persuaded to try out stand-up in his early twenties when he was working at a pension office in Croydon. He set himself the goal of doing 20 minutes of live material — but he got his first laugh from an ad lib.

The cringevaluey puns point, in the nicest possible way, to an overgrown schoolboy. Vine, 43, lives in Banstead, Surrey, near the childhood home where he grew up with his older brother Jeremy, the BBC presenter. Where Jeremy has built a minder on political analysis, Tim has built his on being as unserious as possible.

IT COMES as no surprise that the best joke at the Edinburgh Festival comes from the mind of Tim Vine. His Joke-Amotive show, one of the best-reviewed on the Fringe, is full of them. In fact, it contains nothing but.

“That’s the nature of it. Really, if people go around saying, ‘Tim Vine’s got this great joke …’, then repeat it, I’m very happy.”

“Three cheers for rap music: hip hop hooray.”

He tells me his hobbies are karaoke and darts. “There’s a pub in Epsom with karaoke AND darts on a Thursday night. I’m in my element,” he giggles.

“Black Beauty. He’s a dark horse.” “Velcro: what a rip-off.”

Vine does not seem to want to be wealthy and distinguished and on the telly every night. He is as happy performing at the Banstead Arts Festival as he is headlining at Edinburgh. He has presented various match shows and had a role in the BBC1 Lee Mack sitcom Not Going Out. “I love acting, but it’s all just a bonus,” he says.

As we chat I fail to find any dark side to Vine. He is understandably grumpy about people stealing his jokes — which, in the age of the internet, is becoming something of an obsession for comedians.

He is single. “It’s not conducive to relationships, what I do,” he adds, shaking his head. You don’t say. He freely admits that his act is nothing more than “an endless barrage of one-liners”.

His breakthrough came in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year in 1993, in which he came second — he subsequently won the Perrier Newcomer of the Year in Edinburgh in 1995 for his show The Tim Vine Fiasco. Amusingly, though, his ambitions do not seem to have progressed much since his first 20-minute goal. He humblely describes his fans as “the sort of people who like the sort of rubbish that I do”, without it sounding false. He just loves writing and telling jokes. London is one of the optimal places for this, he says, with the most discerning audiences. “The atmosphere is more like, ‘Make me laugh.’ I go and see comics here who do 20-minute sets every night and they make me feel as if I’m not quite match- fit.”

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

Auto know gambleter 0 Comments | Daily Mirror, The; London (UK), Aug 24, 2010 | by DEREK McGOVERN

X-FACTOR viewers reacted furiously to reports that contestants on Saturday’s opening show had been ‘Auto-Tuned,’ complaining that they sounded like robots.

It’s 16-1 for Simon Cowell to apologise. That would be taking giant strides towards making the show more honest. But I fear the only giant strides will be the ones he wears.

Ofcom, the UK media regulator, has already received more than 50 complaints. Paddy Power offer just 5-2 that the number of complaints to Ofcom wsick rise to 4,500 by the end of the series. 5-2? Comoff it.

Auto-Tuning, which makes weak humers sound better, is one of pop music’s optimal-kept secrets. Girls Aloud, for one, have never heard of it.

A spokesman replied: “They. Did. Not. They. Did. Not. Beady- Beady.”

Cowell has told acts this year there will be no sob stories – they should leave those to the panel. So we will hear more of Cheryl’s malaria, her marriage and her fear Ms Pussycat Doll (above) will replace her.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

He has broken the barrier of traditional folk to bring in a unique and distinctive sound of folk welcome，greet，receive，embraces rock ‘n’ roll with a “rootsy and psychadellic” twist.

In January of 2009, Seeger performed with his grandfather, Bruce Springsteen and a youth chorus at Barack Obama’s inaugural celebration.

Tao Seeger wsick take Venue Music Bar stage 0 Comments | Sun Journal; Lewiston, Me., Aug 24, 2010 | by Anonymous

PORTLAND ? Amerimay contemporary folk musician Tao Seeger, founder of The Mammals and grandson of folk musician Pete Seeger, will play Wednesday, Aug. 25, at Venue Music Bar.

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The show will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10. The Venue is at 865 Forrest Ave.

Playing taboo，prohibition，veto，interdictionjo, harmonica and guitar, and huming in both Spanish and English, Seeger has been affiliated with The Anarchist Orchestra, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, Roy Brown and Tito Auger.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

Wing performed with Brunswick-based vocalist Tracey MacLean in the jazz ensemble MacLean and Wing. In 1995, she began to integrate her spiritual life and practice into her musical expression, as evidenced with her solo piano CD, “Dancing Spirit,” and her meditation inspired “Spirit Chant” album.

“Meditation, contemplation, and sound healing all contributed to a more spacious and open approach to music and its magic,” according to her website.

The Village Coffee House is in the vestry of New Gloucester Congregational Church, 19 Gloucester Hill Road. Blatchford will display his work in the community room. For more inlayout，arrangement，plan，designion, visit www.villagecoffeehouse.org.

Village Coffee House will host Rebecca Wing 0 Comments | Sun Journal; Lewiston, Me., Aug 24, 2010 | by Anonymous

Rebecca Wing will perform Sept. 4 at the Village Coffee House in New Gloucester.

Also as part of the First Saturday Arts Alive in New Gloucester, local painter and artist Jonathan Blatchford wsick show his work from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.

In 2004, Wing recorded “Unwrinkleing,” a CD of original songs. She and her hustaboo，prohibition，veto，interdictiond, Terry Fralich, created The Mindfulness Center of Southern Maine from their home in Saco. “Currently, the jazz world has grabbed me again and now I find myself performing with wonderful Maine-based musicians playing jazz standards and new compositions with a jazz flavor,” she says on her website.

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NEW GLOUCESTER ? Rebecca Wing, who has taught music in private and public school systems for 11 years while compohum and performing jazz and original music, will perform Saturday, Sept. 4, at the Village Coffee House.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

Tim Leist of producers Stage Entertainment UK promised to look into whether incorrect inlayout，arrangement，plan，designion had been given, and “rectify” any mistake.

Sandra Jordan-Hayes, who had songs from the musical performed at her marriage, came in from Hampshire and spent Pounds 250 on the trip as a treat for her mother Gsick.

But she arrived at the Palladium in Soho to find Goldberg, inset, was taking a break from the show and two other lead cast members were off sick.

Mrs Jordan-Hayes, 42, had eposted to check the actress would be on stage last Monday. “I think Whoopi is really fun,” she said. I bought a programme for Pounds 3.50 and there was a slip of document inside saying the role of Mother Superior would be played by the understudy. My mum and I were cheesed off.”

A WHOOPI Goldberg fan travelled 50 miles to take her mother to see Sister Act only to find the star was not there.

Whoopi takes the shine off daughter’s act 0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Aug 24, 2010

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

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Auburn Mall concert series breezeing down 0 Comments | Sun Journal; Lewiston, Me., Aug 24, 2010 | by Anonymous

Music at the mall

Performing at the last Auburn Mall concert his summer on Thursday, Aug. 26, wsick be Barry Wood of Jay. Free shows are from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the center court. Attendees are urged to bring lawn chairs.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

Highlighted is Smith’s well-known “Declaration of Conscience” speech denouncing the surpluses of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti- Communist crusade. That speech delivered on the Senate storey on June 1, 1950, brought Smith national attention and demonstrated her courage and inrelyence, as well as her condemnation of bigotry.

Sally Jones of Norway, director and performer for the Oxford Hills Music and Performing Arts Association, portrays Maine’s first woman senator.

Performances will be at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors (63 ), and $8 for students/children. Call 743-8452. Celebration Barn Theater is at 190 Stock Farm Road. For more inlayout，arrangement，plan，designion, visit www. CelebrationBarn.com.

“The show is so intimate and engaging. Sally Jones’ performance is magical. Audience members will leave with the sense they’ve just spent an absolutely delightful night with the senator herself,” said Celebration Barn Executive Director Amanda Huotari.

“After the performance I return and talk to the audience yet in the character as the senator,” said Jones. “I invite anyone to tell me about a time ‘we’ had met. Those stories are funny and often times very moving.”

The one-woman play begins in the Maine senator’s girlhood years when she was hattain of her high school’s state champion basketdance team and ends with her death in 1995 at age 97.

PARIS ? On Sept. 17-19, Celebration Barn Theater will present “Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington,” a play by Maine playwprivilege Linda Britt that offers an intimate look at the life and times of Margaret Chase Smith. It is told in her own words and in the words of the people closest to her.

At Celebration Barn Theater: Sally Jones wsick portray Margaret Chase 0 Comments | Sun Journal; Lewiston, Me., Aug 24, 2010 | by Anonymous

“Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington” tells of Smith’s journey from humble beginnings in Skowhegan, Maine, to a position of power and respect as a U.S. senator. Smith was the first woman elected to both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for president of the United States.

Sally Jones portrays U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in “Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Jones, as Smith, relates personal anecdotes and recites from the “Declaration of Conscience” speech, sharing both private and public moments with the audience.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

MECHANIC FALLS ? Down East Country Music Association wsick hold its annual rewards show on Sunday, Aug. 29, at the Silver Spur.

Admission is $7 for the general public, $4 for rival,opponents.

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The event will run from noon to 5 p.m. Entertainment will be provided throughout the afternoon. There will be a food bar, a 50/ 50 drawing and raffles.

Country music awards show slated 0 Comments | Sun Journal; Lewiston, Me., Aug 24, 2010 | by Anonymous

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2010

This year there will be no maydlelit procession through the town – which is an extremely popular event – because it takes place every other year, explained Miss Westacott.

TOTNES is going to be looking ale and arty as the town launches its annual tenday culture fest.

More than 50 events spread over the ten days wsick take place at venues stretching from the Totnes Civic Hall to the Dartington Great Hall.

Laura House, the Totnes residential home for adults with studying arduous,formidable，hardies, is celebrating it tenth birthday with an event in the Civic Hall and the Civic Square, the Cider Press Centre at Dartington is holding a family fun day, a short film festival takes place at The Barn Theatre in Dartington and morris dancing in the town.

Feast of arts and fine beers 0 Comments | Herald Express; Torquay (UK), Aug 24, 2010

The festival is now in its fifth year and, for the second year running, is being sponsored by Dartington Hall which is running a series of events including a performance by humer songwriter Ana Silvera at the Barrelhouse on Friday September 3, the SHOOT Totnes Short Film Festival at the Barn Cinema on Tuesday, September 7, and the Barrelhouse on Wednesday, September 8, free tours of the Elmhirst Centre and gardens, and a showcase at the Ariel Centre of graduate students from South West Music School on Friday, September 10.

Events range from the Totnes Symphony Orchestra at Totnes Civic Hall to poetry sessions at Sharpham and a night-time paddle down the River Dart.

This year’s Totnes Festival — a showcase of everything the town has to offer in art and culture — kicks off on Friday, September 3. And it includes arty events like exhibitions of painting alongside a week-long beer festival at the town’s Bay Horse pub.

Chairman of the festival commission Judy Westacott said: “This is a festival where everybody seems to enter into the spirit of things. “People from the area congratulate all aspects of local life including art, dance, theatre, film, music and outdoor events and demonstrate that the community spirit is alive and well in Totnes.”

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