Seattle Gay News
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Issue 27, Volume 37, July 3, 2009
Bethanie Hines
Nonstop musical action in the break/s: a mixtape for stage Remembering
by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer the break/s: a mixtape for stage ACT Theatre Through July 12 the break/s is a tour de force of energy and dance and story, performed in a virtuoso way by Marc Bamuthi Joseph (known as Bam-
uthi – Bah-moo-tee). Technically, he has a beat boxer, Tommy Shepherd (aka Soulati) and a turntablist, DJ Excess, on stage with him for the whole time, and a technician for lights and video that is crucial to the program. But fundamentally, this is just him on stage for 80 intense minutes of nonstop action. That said, there is an incredibly beautiful musical interlude with
the King of Pop by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer
When I left the Seattle airport on June 25, the dim news of Farrah Fawcett’s death was the headline story on major news channels and websites – having crowded around a TV with my family to watch Charlie’s Angels, usually with a pizza or bucket of chicken, I boarded my flight on a saddened note. When I arrived at the St. Louis airport 90 minutes later, word of Michael Jackson’s death surfaced just as I was awaiting my bags to whip around the carousel – shock is an understatement. At the Pin-Up Bowl in St. Louis’ very hopping Delmar Loop neighborhood, the overhead music was a full catalog of the superstar’s work, from “I’ll Be There” to “Beat It” to “Shake Your Body see break/s page 25 (Down to the Ground).” Across
courtesy shannonalbert.com
Marc Bamuthi Joseph in the break/s
Soulati near the end. Joseph is a hip-hop artist. His performance piece is about hiphop, and he does explain it a bit. But hip-hop is only the way “in” to what he has to say. He is a slam champion, and much of what he says is poetic. He explores the cracks between the black and white of black and white; if hiphop is for blacks, or is it selling out if it’s for whites; if he loses “authenticity” or credibility among hip-hop fans if they knew that he has a part Asian child and a white woman lover. It’s in the “breaks” between that we all really live. There are no answers, but we often want our art to explain things to us, help us categorize, help us understand. Joseph’s piece doesn’t help you answer anything. It describes his journey, the one he is clearly still on, the one he is on with the audience. “This story begins in the middle,” he intones, over and over again, as he details different locations in the world he has visited, often alluding to waking up disoriented to where he is. Each story begins in the middle, and never gets to the end. None of that description is a criticism. One should embrace
Michael Jackson
the street, a small cafe played his songs at loud volume as passersby snapped their fingers and danced. Like so many fans around the world, I owned a vinyl copy of Thriller, “borrowed” my big broth-
see music lounge page 28
Amos rocking in July
by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer
warner bros.
Orange Flower Water New Century Theatre Company (at ACT) Through July 20 New Century Theatre Company announced its arrival last year with a stunning performance of The Adding Machine, a crisp and absorbing production. Their second production took a while to accumulate donations to produce, but is now at ACT Theatre. Orange Flower Water, by Craig Wright, is essentially about adultery and its consequences. NCTC’s production is again crisp and absorbing. The audience is led through a plain wooden doorway to an enclosed seating area within about 20 feet from a bed, in the center. The set by Matthew Smucker immediately creates an almost “in-yourface” intimacy. The only other Green Day adornment is a few tree branches by Albert Rodriguez that reach inside the enclosure, and outdoors this month, here’s though the branches’ lack of leaves SGN A&E Writer what I recommend putting on your might also signify a kind of inabilNow that Pride is behind us, it’s calendar: ity to breathe. Lighting from Geoff time to focus our attention to other Korf hones the focus down to exact things deep in the middle of sumframes of light, so that it’s almost mer. Of the many concerts indoors see where it's at page 23 impossible to reflect on anything
peter dylan o'connor and m. j. sieber
New Century’s Orange Green Day, Lambert, Flower Water is a hit
but that frame. Once the play begins, the inexorable dance keeps going until it’s over, not letting the audience free until the very end. Within this area, four people create a complex set of relationships. David and Cathy Calhoun (Hans Altwies and Jennifer Lee Taylor) are casual friends with Brad and Beth Yo u n g q u i s t (Ray Gonzalez and Betsy Orange Flower Water Schwartz). Their kids play soccer together. had already figured out that someDavid and Beth consummate a thing was on between them, and budding affair in front of us. We when Beth decides to leave, Brad witness their tortured reasoning puts the final set of actions in moand difficult decisions, even as they declare their (real) love for each other. It turns out that Brad see new century page 25