Many Grexers have inclinations towards the performing arts. Announce your performances here so other Grexers can turn out and applaud!95 responses total.
(( Winter Agora #25 <---> Music #186 ))
Leslie Smith (login arabella) will be singing a recital tomorrow with her pianist, Kevin Bylsma. The recital will be at the Michigan State University Music Auditorium, at 6 PM, Tuesday, March 23. Composers on the program include Schubert, Debussy, Puccini, Irving Fine, and Lee Hoiby. Leslie plans to repeat this program in Ann Arbor in April, so this notice is more for the Lansing-area Grexers. ---------- As part of the MSU Chorale, Leslie will also be singing this Saturday, March 27th, as the Lansing Symphony presents Carl Orff's CARMINA BURANA. This concert was originally scheduled for 8 pm. However, as MSU will be playing a Final Four basketball game at that time, all other life in Lansing is expected to cease for two hours. It is HIGHLY likely, but not yet confirmed, that the concert will be moved to 6 pm. Wharton Center Box Office at MSU should have the latest information.
Umm, this is a completely useless piece of information, but a bit freaky. I'm also performing in Carmina Burana on the 27th March, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Kinda wierd or what.
i put in an unexpected appearance recently onstage during the performance of the abbey lincoln (jazz) quartet at the michigan theatre. i was swapping a monitor wedge for a drum throne, since the drum throne appeared to be broken. it wasn't. it just wasn't being properly employed.
Katie Geddes and the Usual Suspects will be performing in a benefit concert at Trinity House in Livonia in May and on the Art Fair Stage in July. Then headlining at Trinity House this summer.
Oh, yeah... I'll be performing in Neil Fest at the Gypsy Cafe on Sat eve, Apr 3. Starts at 9:30 pm. You need to get there early as it's a very small place and many people were turned away at Joni Fest a couple of months ago. Anyway, 20 local artists will each cover one Neil Young song.
Cool, Katie!
I will be performing with Mr. Largebeat on April 24. The is a CD release party for the new Mr. Largebeat CD, "Mystery of the OVNIs: A Tale of UFOs". The music from the CD will be performed in its entirety. If you are interested in UFO lore, theremins, and are tired of the usual bar band rock, check us out.
Let's see... Katie Geddes and the Usual Suspects will be busy this next few months. We play Trinity House in Livonia in a series of cabaret-style benefits on May 14, 15, 20 and 21. Then The Ark on May 26. Then a full-length show at Trinity House on June 26. Then the Art Fair Stage on whatever that Thursday is. Nicola's Books on Aug 7. Green Wood Coffee House in November. We're hoping to get to do an in-studio appearance on Folks Like Us on WDET before the May Ark show. Ya`ll will be sick of us in pert-near no time!
When is your next CD coming out, Katie?
The Mr.Largebeat CD release show will be at the Heidelberg on Main St. in Ann Arbor. There is parking behind the club and entrance is through the back. The opening band will be Spider The Cat. This all takes place on Sat. April 24. Hope to see you there!
It turns out that my friend Juli from work did the painting on Mr. Largebeat's new CD and that one of the songs (Julie's got a Telescope) is about her. I think that's pretty cool. I will have to try to make the release show. (IS there smoking at the Heidelberg?)
I've met Juli! Yes, I believe smoking is permitted at the Heldelberg. Have't seen Juli since I ran into her at TC's Speakeasy several months ago.
Look for my sister, Evil1. She is the one with the claws and fangs. ;)
Ah.... well, I may not be able to go, then. (Allergies. Crap!)
Upstairs at the Heidelberg can get _quite_ smoky. I assume this thing will be upstairs, not down in the restaurant part?
The Mr. Largebeat show will be in the upstairs room of the Heidelberg.
COMING THIS SATURDAY! The Mr.Largebeat CD release party and rock opera, "Mystery of the OVNIs: A Tale of UFOs", will take place this Sat,April 24 at the Heidelberg on 215 N. Main. The CD will be performed in its entirety. If you are interested in Theremins, UFOs and want something different than your usual bar band, check it out. The opening band is Spider the Cat. The music starts around 10:30 pm. Hope to see you there!
I don't know if this qualifies as an "on stage" announcement or not. The annual Frankenmuth Ragtime Festival is this weekend: Thursday, April 22 to Sunday, April 25. I'm not on the official program, but I'm sure I'll be banging out a tune or three at the after-hours open mike (actually, "open piano") sessions in Zehnder's Tap Room on Friday and Saturday nights after the dinner concerts.
A retro on-stage announcement: I sang "The Bramble and the Rose" with Matt Watroba Fri night at his show.
Here's my retro announcement: This past Saturday I was in the band for the 25th annual Asian Martial Arts Studio banquet. I played bass, and this year we had a fantastic drummer. Lots of fun.
I'll probably post this again in about 2 weeks: Tuesday May 4 at 8:00 P.M. (I think) I'll be at the Heidleberg for the poetry slam semi finals, and everyone should come out and throw rottem fruit at me.
Hey, I'll try to be there. Poetry FW makes good!
One more time..... Tomorrow night Mr.Largebeat will be having his CD release party for his new CD at the Heidelbeat 215 N.Main in Ann Arbor. The music from the CD will be performed in its entirety. If UFOs interest you or if you want to see a Theremin in action, come on down! Spider the Cat will be the opening band for the evenings festivities. Hope to see you there. Music starts around 10:30 p.m.
On Sunday evening I will be the soprano soloist for two Bach cantatas with the Bach Chorale, in a performance at 7:30 PM in the Congregational Church at William and State. The two cantatas are #21 and #129. Admission is free, though donations will be solicited for Food Gatherers.
Aggggh. So I missed both of 'em?!~
Unfortunately, grex was down most of Sunday. I should have made the announcement sooner. Sorry about that.
Yippie (and all that) tomorrow is the semifinals for the Ann Arbor poetry slam at the Heidleberg, I called and left a message on the coordinators answering machine to RSVP so, come hell or high water (or starting to hitch hike at one in the morning) I will be there to compete. There will be much appreciation given to anyone who decides they want to come and hear me spew my poetry in hopes of getting to the next round Remember: if you really want you can bring rotten fruit to throw at me :)
oops...forgot to mention the time: Open mic starts at 8:00 pm and the slam starts around 9:00 pm, for anywone who doesn't know, the heidleberg is on main st...somewhere, which doesn't do a whole lot of good, considering there are a lot of things on main st somewhere, but I don't have the address, so I suppose I could have left that bit out
It's on North Main between Ann and Miller. I walk by it frequently, but I've never been inside. Maybe I'll show up this time.
Dang, Joe. I'd like to be there.
Well, I managed to place 5th (with a 49.3 out of 60) so I'll be going back June 1 (Joe walks off pouting about there not being enough rotten fruit this time around)
Here's an early warning announcement for my next recital: Friday, May 21, at 8 PM, in the Northside Community Church, I'll be giving a solo voice recital. My accompanist will be Kevin Bylsma. There will be songs by Schubert, Puccini, Debussy, Irving Fine, and Lee Hoiby. I will be wearing a gorgeous gown. There will be a reception afterward. Fun will be had by all.
Have fun. I've noticed that these recital things are always less nerve-racking if I'm enjoying myself.
Leslie, could you remind us again closer to May 21? Who is Lee Holby?
I'll have more info later, but there will be a recital of shakuhachi students at the UM music blgd on May 24.
...and I'll be one of those performing, natch.
Not quite on-stage, but this huge-ass project I'm working on will be shown four days a week, throughout most of the summer. 8:30 AM, Monday-Thursday, Angell Hall Aud A.
What kind of artist can you roust out of bed to be anywhere at 8:30am?
it's a video. he's creating it. (i contributed a little bit on one of the special effects)
Yeah, I'm only rousting myself to get to Angell for a week or so, until I'm sure that everything there is set, up, and running.
Lee Hoiby (i not l) is an American composer who is still living. I'm performing his setting of "Jabberwocky," which was composed in about 1989. I'll make another recital announcement with directions to the church in a couple of days.
Whoa, I had the date wrong in my thing above. Friday, May 21 I will be in a shakuhachi recital in Brighton Hall in the Bates Music building at UM North Campus. 7:00 pm. I'll be doing one or (at most) two ~7 minute piece[s].
(argh, that's a direct conflict with Leslie's date and time.)
The Ann Arbor national youth poetry slam team (and a few other people) are performing on Wednesday at 7 o'clock at the Neutral Zone (on Main Street, where the Ark used to be). Normally the Netral Zone is a 'teen center', but all ages are welcome to this show.
This Fri and Sat at 8 pm at trinity House in Livonia is "Around The House," a benefit for the Thetare, er, Theatre. There will be poetry, film, storytelling, dance, and comedy, and 2 bands, one of which is mine. It's a good lineup and a neat room. On 6 mile RD bewteen Haggerty and 275, on the N side of the street. (Excuse typos; can't find a backspace key on this borrowed computer)
Ooops! I said "wednesday", didn't I? The poetry thing is Friday, not tonight. Sorry...
Just a reminder that Leslie Smith's recital ( resp:33 ) is today, Friday. I have a crude ascii map of the recital location, Northside Community Church, 929 Barton Drive, near the intersection of Plymouth Rd. and Barton Drive; e-mail krj if you need a copy.
i didn't know ahead of time, so i couldn't post it before, but sunday i was onstage at joe louis arena in front of about 12,000 people at a hip-hop/r&b concert by chicago artist r.kelly, with opening acts foxy brown, nas, deborah cox and others... i was moving stuff around between acts, and placing a big pillow on a huge bed onstage for the final number.
We will try to make it but I have a long translation to finish (due by; 5 pm Hawaiian time).
Is that R&B as in "Rhythm and Blues" or R&B as in "rap and bullshit"?
Yes.
Leslie (arabella) Smith's recital was wonderful. What a beautiful voice she has. The audience was rife with Grexers. I spotted mary, steve, glenda, jiffer, krj, tsty, keesan, jdeigert, anderyn, carla. (Apologies to anybody I missed.)
I thought Leslie sounded wonderful, too. I was also really impressed with her ability to remember all the words of all those songs in German, Italian, and French, and she even sounded like a native speaker.
I'm sorry I missed it.
I was *very* impressed with Leslie's recital. I have seen her on two previous occasions and this one blew both of them away in sheer vocal power and artistry. It was *totally* mind-blowingly awesome.
did she do a vanhalen riff?
I had a wonderful time. Leslie's voice is clear and powerful, the pianist did a great job, the dress was indeed stunning, and I'd never heard Jabberwocky done quite that way. Brava.
Thank you, everyone, for the great reviews, and thanks to everyone who came! I had a wonderful time singing for you all, and a wonderful time at the reception afterward, as well as at Cottage Inn, where eight of us repaired for a late, late dinner. The social event of the month, perhaps? Also, special thanks to Twila and Rhiannon for running my reception, and special thanks to Ken for being a wonderfully supportive husband and fan. Yay! Preparations are already underway for another recital I plan to present in early 2000.
Reminder: Please come to the Ark on Wed night! I promise it'll be a good show!
(Oh, yeah. On Sat I did a live appearance on the Folks Like Us show on WDET and another one on WCM (AM990).
Yes, we heard that on the radio while we were on our way over to see the Phantom Menace. :-) And the Price family will be at your show, Katie. (PS I hope you'll like (and it isn't cut ) the mention of you in my column in the June _Current_.)
Before I forget... Come in view and ridicule me as I play the Judge in Anatomy of a Murder, done by Orpheaus Producutions at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsi. Show starts on June 10th through the 27th, all Sundays start at 2pm, and Thur - Sat shows start at 8p.
Jen... be sure and mention the play again when the 10th rolls around...
I don't know if I mentioned this - I ran across Katie's CD at Schoolkids and bought it because, what the heck, how often do you run across CD's by people you know. But I've been playing this CD quite a lot. It's a collection of nice covers of nice songs. Stuff I enjoy listening to over and over again. It's not blazing an new musical paths, but for a really listenable CD, you can't ask for anything better.
All covers?!?!?!? She must be paying hellacious licensing fees unless they are in the public domain . . . . .
Actually, it doesn't cost that much to get license to cover most songs. (If it did, nobody would sing "Happy Birthday.")
Speaking of Katie, I caught her act - Katie Geddes and the Usual Suspects - at the Ark last night. She and the band were in fine form and played to an enthusiastic audience. Grexers spotted at the event were katie (of course), aruba (with Carol), and - working the refreshment counter - Bruce (bru) and Twyla (anderyn) Price, along with their daughter, whose name I can't spell but which I believe begins with 'R'.
Rhiannon Elizabeth Price. :-) Well, it was a fine show. Enzo Garcia did the first half, then Katie and The Usual Suspects did the second half. I was particularly impressed by their rendition of "The Bramble and The Rose", being a sucker for romantic songs (sigh....) and "From a Distance" was also a really good closer.
Carol said she'd seen people booed at the Ark before, but she'd never seen anyone get "shoed".
Addendum to my Ark attendance list in resp:68 - I also spotted Leeron (lk) Kopelman there.
re: 25 (I know, ages ago) Was that the bach contata singers with George Dentel? My dad, mother, and sister were all in it, but I couldn't do it because I had a conflict on the concert day.
Geez, I wish I knew more faces. I was at the ark Wednesday, sitting behind the sound board, and the only grexer I recognized was Katie!
I will be onstage, probably every night, at Top of the Park this summer, as I will be working as assistant sound engineer/stagehand.
Re #72: That was your dad and sister I sang with, cloud. So you are one of the notorious Leckrones, eh? George calls his group the Bach Chorale, not the bach cantata singers. Did you sing with him in 1997? I sang that year, so maybe I know you.
<sniffle> I'm going to miss TOP.. I'll be in a horrible show on the 18th and 19th of June. It's really quite depressingly bad, I'm relieved you're all in another country really..
<laugh> I hope you're able to cope w/ the horrible show. ;) If it makes you feel any better, I'll miss all but the first couple days of TOP, similar to my missing all of it last year.
I played two half-hour sets at the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival last week in Sedalia, Missouri. (Didn't find out until I got to Sedalia that I was on the program. This constituted my first "official" performance at a ragtime festival.)
Hey, congrats! Nothing like an impromptu performance to get the blood racing.
It wasn't quite "impromptu". I got to the festival on Monday; my sets
were on Friday. So I had time to think about what I was going to play
and to do some practicing.
By the way, photos of the Sedalia festival are on the web at
http://www.iland.net/~johnboy/
In particular, there are shots of the two venues where I played:
Gazebo Park and the Couthouse Tent.
Come to Trinity House Theatre in Livonia on Sat June 26, 8 pm. to hear Katie Geddes and the Usual Suspects. The show will be filmed by MediaOne and a documentary of some sorts made out of it. Thus, the bigger (and more enthusiastic) the audience, the better! Trinity House is located on Six Mile Rd between 275 and Haggerty, on the north side of the street. Also, if you live/work in an area where the Observer/Eccentric newspapers are sold, there will be a feature article about us on Thurs June 24. Maybe you could pick up a couple of extra copies for me. Thanks!
eep, it's too bad my wife and I have to go back home, so we won't hear you, Katie! We're visiting A2 and contemplating a move here to parch our thirsty artistic souls.
(Well, next time you're walking around downtown, stop in a record store and grab one of our CDs. Well, on second thought, you should prob'ly pay for it...) Or stop by Green Wood tomorrow between 5:15 and 7 pm; we'll be rehearsing!
well, it's official. i'll be onstage at top of the park every night from now until july 11. i'll be doing a special performace of my cable- coiling and speaker-shuffling routine, along with the mic stand dance and i might even recite a few lines of jabberwocky periodically.
<ivy giggles at other, commenting that she's seen him do odder things on stage as she recalls _Drop Dead!_ from summer '97>
resp:83 We'll consider it, although we are as poor as church mice right now.
i really need to memorize more poetry for my additional upcoming sound checks. "check one, two. one two. two. two. check one two" gets really dull after ten minutes or so...
I know what you mean. But hey-- what's wrong with improv?
i'm not that easily inspired...
Just use Nixon's Mic-Check speech "We're going to bomb Russia in 5 minutes"
(does anyone know if TOP needs another techie person? That would be kinda cool)
Re #90: THat was Ronald Reagan who said "Congress has just passed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes."
Not for the duration, no. TOP arranges for operating techies well in advance. You might want to contact other if you're interested in taking it down.
yes, TOP is always looking for people to pay to help set up and take down. *technical* staff during the run of summer festival is all either contract (UM Film Projection Services), or union, or me. (My position is the only non-union stagehand/tech position. it is also the only tech position which is a direct hire. the sound engineer is hired by the sound company.)
RE #90 & #92 And thank God he didn't!
You have several choices: