Other Americans: Do Tell

Don’t ask, don’t tell: here’s a rubric that’s been stuck in our craw for quite awhile now, ever since our national teach-in on oral sex — the Clinton administration. So much of the past two decades has been spent with this phrase buzzing about in the background, apparently hopeless of any reconciliation — until the logjam burst after the last election, and victory was declared by its opponents. All of this might make the new show at KC Rep seem passé. That’s why you need to see it.

Marc Wolf speaks as a lesbian soldier in "Another American."

Showing us how the overturning of this policy is not an end, but a beginning, is part of the enormous power of Another American: Asking and Telling, playing through February 6th at KC Rep’s Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus. Marc Wolf’s one-man show introduces us to a parade of colorful characters whose stories bring the whole issue to life. Based on scores of interviews with service people and their families, reaching back to World War II, the show won an Obie for its Off Broadway production in 2000, then was revived last summer in New York.

Kansas City is blessed with its first run since the December 18th decision to end this policy. Along with stories of enlisted men and women, their families and officers, Wolf has harvested from his interviews some of the most amusing renditions of the arguments, for and against, that I’ve heard. Flattened journalistic statements and pundit-speak are replaced with personal insights dripping with irony, and exhortations from the the pulpit with the simpler stuff of the locker room. Laughter once again proves to be good political medicine, though tears are sometimes not far behind.

Wolf ably conveys the personalities of his interviewees not only with impressive theatrical skill, but also with obvious respect, affection and humor. For all the attention this issues has gotten, Another American‘s simple eloquence demonstrates how little of the human story has come through. Wolf’s characters are not people most of us know, because of the atmosphere of fear that the policy itself and its advocates have created. His excellent, economical portrayals bring us a vibrant picture of gays and lesbians who have really wanted to serve, have done so, and have triumphed and suffered because of it. He also conveys military people’s concerns about what might go wrong, without the overheated rhetoric that’s predominated in mass media.

Having organized against the Vietnam war in my youth, and each other one since, I was not expecting to find this show so affecting. Wolf captures the vital essences of each of the characters for whom he speaks, and they cover the full range of experience, politics and feeling involved in the issue. Their stories establish that gay people and straight have been serving in the military all along, and that diversity of emotional responses to war can be understood as a strength. They leave us with the sobering insight that repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” will not solve the problems on anti-gay feeling — plenty of it is expressed here — nor end episodes of violence such as those some of Wolf’s characters (but not all) have survived.

Simply but elegantly staged, this fast-paced show is a theatrical gem. Humane, humanizing, funny, touching, illuminating, KC Rep should be applauded for bringing it to Kansas City, and you should really not miss it.

Year-End Specials!

You may have read my excuses elsewhere on the Web: school has crowded out other forms of cultural life for me since August. But I — and you! — have a chance to make up for it this week, as we say goodbye to a trying 2010, and get ready to welcome a great new year.

Starting tonight, then on through the week:

• Mark Lowrey, Brandon Draper, Shay Estes, Hermon Mehari, Katie Gilchrist, Reach and more at the recordBar, starting at 9:00 pm
• Playing the music of Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, Mark Turner and Matt Otto, CrossCurrents at Jardine’s Monday the 27th, from 6-10 pm: Sam Wisman on drums; Matt Otto on tenor sax; Steve Lambert on tenor sax and flute; TJ Martley on piano; and Ben Leifer (back from New York) on bass; THEN Sir Threadius Mongus,
• Tuesday night, also at Jardine’s, Shay Estes and Mark Lowrey’s Unholiday Holiday Show, with Mark Southerland, from 7-10 pm;
• Makusa, free at The Blue Room from 7-11 pm on Thursday the 30th;
• Many New Year’s Eve events, yet I’m choosing my Musical Rabbis, the Hearts of Darkness at Crosstown Station from 9 pm-2 am
• Then, to start 2011 on the right foot, the Andrew McGhie Quintet, 7:30-9:30 pm, once again at Jardine’s, featuring Harold O’Neal on piano; Hermon Mehari on trumpet; Dominique Sanders, bass; Ryan J. Lee – drums; and of course Andrew McGhie on tenor saxophone and underlying it all with composition; THEN Sir Threadius Mongus from 10 pm-Midnight, featuring Matt Otto again on tenor sax; Steve Lambert with his woodwinds; Andrew McGhie on reeds; Russell Thorpe on bass clarinet; Bryan Hicks on bass; Pat Adams on drums; and, by definition, Jeff Davis on guitar, with composition already under his belt and into our ears and other organs. (cover: $5)

If you can get to Kansas City, and don’t come out for all of these: well, better luck next year! We could all use it.

Kansas City in Song (and elsewhere)

Thanks to Mike Harrington, Kansas City Pop Culture Examiner, we have easy access to a compendium of songs about our (more or less) fair city: check it out — and let us know what’s missing.

But you reall shouldn’t miss this amazing pre-post-modern media product, number 4 on Harrington’s list. Be sure to put on your Pre-Feminist Historical Contextualizer, and bring your sense of humor:

Imagine what artists of today could do with this! While we’re on the subject, here’s one: enjoy!

Magic Moments: Seeing SEE SAW

I saw it: YOU should see it. Unfortunately, the run is over, but the beauty of the evening is suggested by this photo gallery from Brooke Vandever Photography. And much more detail about the performance itself and its back-story is recounted in Scott Easterday’s interesting “Seven stories of ‘SEE SAW'” review at the KCMETROPOLIS site.

What you’d have seen is a fine example of a kind of serious, yet playful interdisciplinary collaboration at which Kansas City’s currently burgeoning performing-arts community excels. The element of slowly-unfolding surprise was one of its finest features: the appearance of a flock of a half-dozen gorgeous baby-goats was most surprising to me. (And though they were mesmerizing, the humans were not upstaged!) Making your own kind of sense of how it moves you was one of See Saw‘s greatest pleasures.

And a garden of pleasures it was, albeit one where each of its personnel spent a majority of their time as frankly deadpan stage technicians, garbed in groundskeepers’ overalls and ostentatiously weary of their tasks: tending an island of bright green sod, sprouting a bumper crop of trophies; dressing and undressing set and performers alike, sometimes in the background and sometimes quite intrusively — all beneath the shadow of a giant eponymous see-saw that comes into play later on.

Our creative stage-managers were musician Mark Southerland and choreographer Jane Gotch, who blossomed into episodic performance throughout. Their stagehands did the same, with three numbers featuring the always remarkable Shay Estes in song, dancers Tuesday Faust and Shawn Hansen, and musicians Mike Stover and Matt Tady. In the background, visual artist (and sometime dancer) Peregrine Honig rounded out our creative crew.

The rest of the work, though our tasks were both pleasant and surprisingly rewarded, was done by the audience. What creates magic moments? How — and how swiftly! — are they undone? And here I have to say you had to be there to make your own sense of the See Saw experience. You’d have seen, smelled, heard and felt what I mean, though it’s hard to say what might have resonated most with you. If you attended, please feel to weight with with your own comments, below.

You’ll have another chance to join the flock and see some of the See Saw collaborators — and more —for yourself this spring (though I can’t guarantee the goats will be there). Mark, Jane and other musicians and designers wil create an even more elaborate installation/performance: make sure you hear about it by checking this pace. Or better yet, “friend” Jane Gotch on Facebook, and she’ll keep you in the loop. She’s one worth following!

An Installation-based performance by Mark Southerland and Jane Gotch
Friday-Monday, October 22-25 at La Esquina — www.charlottestreet.org

Snuff Jazz Hosts Sait Arat

One of Kansas City’s most creative musicians I try not to miss, Mark Southerland often produces performances under the rubric Snuff Jazz. Last time I caught him — he performs so often, I fail in my ambition — was at Kansas City’s new and fashionable R Bar, in the West Bottoms, where so many cattle once became beef.

Mark is an artist of many gifts, but here I’ll focus on two that sprang out on Thursday, October 14th. First, he’s a fabulous host. This night, he and two of his regular collaborators in Snuff Jazz welcomed Sait Arat, Kansas City’s most amazing hand-drummer. Hailing from Istanbul, Arat has been a regular in Alaturka, KC’s unique Turkish jazz ensemble. Playing with Snuff cut him loose from even the loose strictures of Alaturka, releasing the most amazing hand-drumming I’ve ever witnessed. I say witnessed because it was as amazing to see Sait’s hands practically disappear, like hummingbird’s wings, as it is to hear and feel the exciting result. Catch him whenever you can!

Second, Mark is a very fine and technically accomplished sax player. This really stood on this evening, because at least by his high standards, he was playing it straight. So often, there’s so much else going on in Mark’s performances — especially when he’s producing sounds with some bizarre sculptural creation — that it’s easy to miss the fact that he’s one of Kansas City’s finest and most interesting jazz players. (And that, of course, is saying something.)

Not knowing precisely what to expect is one of the joys of Snuff Jazz. But expecgting some kind of joy, I’ve never been disappointed: Catch them (they’re always plural) when you can, too!

The Unicorn Returns with [title of show]

Not much time to write here, so check out my review here. Then contact the Unicorn Theatre to book your seat(s) for the opening show of their 37th season. Better yet — subscribe!

Do you hear The Sound?

Was it the heat? The fact that I was dashing to get into grad school — then reading my first 1,000 pages? (Gulp!) Hitting the bottom of my personal recession? (One hopes…) Getting put back into a cast for last winter’s slow-healing broken leg?

Whatever it was, late August had me flagging. From 12-20 performances a week, I dropped to two at my nadir. But this morning, I find myself all charged up about The Sound. It comprises a number of the players I’ve been following ever since I came to K.C., and it’s sure to grow.

Check them out! “Like” them on Facebook! Then show up at the Mutual Musicians’ Foundation for their early-morning sessions. (And the regular ones upstairs, too: the MMF has been in renewal over the past year or two, and deserves our support.)

See you there!

Wee Small Hours: Sinatra on Acid

I’ve made my way in the Kansas City music scene largely through a process of association. I find an interesting artist, then track what else they’re doing, which usually turns out to be doing much more than one would expect,

Such is the case with Nathan Granner. An operatic tenor by training, he is truly a creative artist by temperament: a crosser of boundaries that hold other people back.

I was confused by his early “Wee Small Hours” announcements. Only when I showed up at the recordBar did I learn that the first “concept album” produced, by Frank Sinatra in 1955, in the wake of his mutually devastating breakup with Eva Gardner. Sixteen songs, including such favorites as “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and and several renditions of such Rogers & Hart hits as “Glad to Be Unhappy,” Sinatra was in this recording apparently performing a kind of public purging of his own feelings around love lost.

Backed up by four fine musicians (Gerald Spaits, bass; Scotty McBee, drums; Greg Singleton, guitar; and P. Alonzo Conway, percussion, sax and others) and working with arrangements by a fifth — composer/arranger and keyboardist Jeffrey Rukaman — Granner presented us a radical 21st Century reinterpretation of Sinatra’s concept. But we’re not talking some musical museum-piece: this is Sinatra, just back from Venus and dropping acid. You’ve got to hear and see this to believe it.

Fortunately, you have two more chances this month: Granner and his company of musicians will present Wee Small Hours twice again, at Jardine’s on Friday, August 27, at 8 pm and Sunday, August 29th ($12 cover, with some discount for all 3 shows those nights). Show up, fasten your seat belt and take it all in.

P.S. It wouldn’t hurt to revisit Sinatra’s recording and/or lyrics in advance: despite the enormous power of Granner’s voice, the pure power of his backup group and of the recordBar’s outstanding sound system (not to mention my hearing loss) made it hard sometimes to make out the lyrics — and yet, the overall effect is dazzling.

Ahmad Alaadeen R.I.P.

This just announced by the Mutual Musicians Foundation:

Memorial Services for Ahmad Alaadeen
Tuesday, August 17, 2010, at 10 A.M.
Watkins Brothers Memorial Chapel
4000 Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard
816-861-3030

12:30 P.M. Graveside and Internment at the National Cemetery in Leavenworth

A jam session and will be held at the Mutual Musicians Foundation tomorrow evening. The jam session will begin at 7 pm, and food will be served at 8:30 pm, due to Ramadan. There will not be a jam session at the services.

Mrs. Fanny Alaadeen has indicated that Dennis Winslett will host an additional Jam Session, probably on Monday, August 23 at 6p.m. at the Gem or the Blue Room.

“Thrill Me” Kills at The Fishtank

I actually caught Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story at The Fringe Festival, but the circumstances were less than congenial: due to a house that was absolutely packed — all of Thrill Me‘s Fringe performances drew packed houses and many had to be turned away — my hearing aids were parked barely 5 feet from the piano; so while I was impressed by musical director Daniel Doss‘s outstanding accompaniment, the piano largely overbalanced the rest of the show for me personally. It seemed interesting, but who could tell? Certainly not I!

How lucky for me, then, that the show enjoyed an extended run at The Fishtank over these last two weeks since The Fringe. I’m sorry if you missed it. It was interesting and beautifully performed. And the piano-playing was just right.

The show, just over an hour, confirmed my trust of HYBRID, the production wing of local theatrical angel Heidi Van. And also of the direction of Jeff Church, associate artistic director of the Coterie Theatre. And also of the two talented actors involved, Bryan LaFave and Shea Coffman, who had everyone rolling in the aisles in quite a different show the prior Monday: their voices were more than ample vehicles for a demanding score by playwright Stephen Dolginoff, whose work received its Kansas City premiere with this production.

Leopold and Loeb are well-known in the annals of crime, but not so their relationship, which takes the foreground here. Their attraction was fueled by a hunger for thrill, consummated finally in a crime botched, perhaps purposely, in a a form of ultimate entrapment.

I’ll let you know if and when another one like this comes along. On the stormy Friday of the closing weekend, there weren’t many empty seats, but there were some. Watch this space and fill those seats next time: you’ll be glad you did.