Going Out In A Blues Of Glory

The thing that made the Blues Brothers so special, of course, was their total commitment to their personae and to their music.

Jake and Elwood may have been the brainchild of two comedians in their prime.  They may have been born of a Saturday Night Live sketch that saw John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd dressed up as bees.  And their film may have come as close as we’ll ever see to a Road Runner chase sequence rendered in live action. But they were no joke.  Neither parody nor tribute, the Blues Brothers succeeded as real musicians, with a real band behind them.  (In naming some of those band members – Steve Cropper, Paul Shaffer, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, North Texas alum “Blue” Lou Marini, the late great Alan “Mr. Fabulous” Rubin and Donald “Duck” Dunn – I’m only scratching the surface of their legend.)

So when I learned that the Overtime Theater was trying to recapture their magic, this was something I had to see and hear.

Kickstart Our Art

In the last year, the concept of crowdfunding (most popularly defined as the idea of financing a project through internet donations and pledges) has quickly become a pop-cultural phenomenon. As a case study, I submit to you one Amanda Palmer, a singer/songwriter who launched a Kickstarter page ten days ago to help fund her next album; within about five hours, it had reached its goal of $100,000. As of this moment, with 20 days left, that album’s about 635% funded. I repeat, 635%.

The promise of crowdfunding is that it strengthens the bond between artists and fans/consumers, and allows them to share in the creative act in a way that I hope remains positive. As Palmer’s husband recently said, “I love the way that Kickstarter allows people both to be patrons of the arts and to directly support the creation and manufacture of the thing they want.”

All of which provides a nice teaser for what we’re working on right now…

Two Blondes Walk Into A Theater…

When we were working with The Renaissance Guild on Rumors, there was some discussion on whether to keep its late-80s setting or to update it to the present day.  The decision was ultimately made to make it contemporary to our audience, which meant adapting some lines and references to make sense to a 2010 playgoer.

For one example: In Neil Simon’s original script, there’s a reference to the 1986 film Platoon.  Someone (and it might actually have been me) suggested changing the title to The Hurt Locker, and we went with it.  I thought it worked pretty well; like the movie, the play’s all about characters trying to defuse a bad situation before it blows up in their faces (though I’ll admit there’s a little less… drama attached to our play).  But if I have to be honest about the reasoning behind my suggestion, I really just wanted to hear Danielle King say “The Hurt Locker“.

I bring this up to illustrate that the production of a play is not always a process of exact translation or transcription.  Sometimes we have to make some changes to get the story and characters from page to stage.  Which of course brings us back to the San Antonio Stage Script Study Group.

Give Me Some Light: Luminaria Reignited

They say into each art some rain must fall… or at least they would if I were They.

It was a lesson learned back in March, when organizers of Luminaria: Arts Night in San Antonio found themselves faced with the threat of storms on the very day they had planned to hold the city’s biggest arts gathering.  After considerable discussion, they took the side of safety and postponed the event from March 10 to May 5.

I’d have been there under any circumstances, of course.  But as Nikki was scheduled to MC one of the music stages (having done the job before, two years ago, she was invited back for this year), I wanted to be there to support her and take pictures.  So, I made sure to keep the new day open on my calendar.

Farewell, Paul…

I hadn’t heard the news when Nikki first texted me yesterday, and I wasn’t in a position to get online and find out.  So when she told me what had happened, I was in shock.

It was through Nikki and Chadd that I was introduced to The Renaissance Guild, and to its founder, Paul Riddle, Jr.  They had known him for several years – PrimaDonna‘s earliest work was with TRG, and Nikki (as actor and producer) and Chadd (as director) were both active supporters of the theatre company.  So when I joined PDP, I joined their partnership as well.

The Danville Train Makes Its Last Stop

There are certain films that are not merely great to me.  They’re not merely my favorite films of all time.  They’re so ingrained in the cultural, intellectual, and emotional DNA of “Lee Hurtado” that when you see them, you might actually understand me a little better.

And one of those films is The Last Waltz.

Today We Are All Old…

The thing about the combination of memory and celebrities is that it really messes with our perceptions of aging.  We get so used to seeing our favorite stars as young and in their prime that we’re not prepared for the truth that what time does to us, it does to them as well.  No, we try to tell ourselves, that can’t be the same guy.

It gets even more complicated when you’re talking about Dick Clark.

VOSOT, or: What We Do When No One Is Watching

Watch this industry long enough (and you won’t have to watch for very long) and you’ll realize that a lot of films fall through the cracks of distribution and release.  The reasons vary – sometimes it’s business, sometimes it’s personal, and sometimes it’s somewhere in the middle.  Sometimes they’re good films stuck in limbo through no real fault, and sometimes they star Eddie Murphy.

And sometimes one of those “vanished” films can surprise you.

A Curtain Call

For five years, I’ve been blessed to work with Nikki and Chadd at PDP.  And in that time, as Nikki’s unofficial Boswell, I’ve done my best to chronicle the many chapters of her career as a performer, producer, promoter, and teacher.

With that in mind, today’s post will be rather bittersweet, as I’m writing the close to one of those chapters.

Places To Be

One of the great marvels of films like The Fugitive or The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is their incredible sense of place.  It’s a testament to the talent of the filmmakers involved that Chicago and New York become characters in their own rights; as I’d written of Pelham,

There’s a quality more felt than seen about the film, a sense that what happens in it could only happen in this city, at this time, with these people.  And the film’s so much stronger for it.

This is one of the things I love about the San Antonio Neighborhood Film Project (the brainchild of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs).  It’s a chance for local filmmakers to bring one of their favorite characters to life onscreen.  And it’s a chance for local filmgoers to look at their hometown in whole new lights.  So I was looking forward to being a part of last night’s screenings.