WeatherGirl’s Station

Before this is completely ancient news … last Thursday 5 April at 7pm, in the HFA Recital Hall was D-Day for Unhindered By Talent Productions.

Phi and the young’un hosted a wild night of music, song, improvisation, and dance. A stupendous entertainment performed by UMMers and their friends, all in aid of two cancer-related charities.

Lance Armstrong Foundation
Cancer Kids Fund of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

More than a hundred people made it to the show which raised more than $750 from donations that evening and on-line at the Lance Armstrong Foundation web page.

Our hosts performed many of their own songs as first seen at UMM Open Mic Nights and the ASA Talent Show including: Taco Man, Fat fly, and Crabgrass. Plus several covers including, Looking for my leopard and I’m so lonesome I could cry.

Even yours truly got in on the act, reading a number of short poems throughout the evening.

I’m assuming you can still add some pennies to the pot, here if the fancy moves you.

You can read more on the evening’s festivities here and the final accounting here.

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Saturday we attended the 29th Annual UMM Jazz Fest and, wow, it was a humdinger of a show. Chris Vadala and Allen Vizzutti were the guest artists and they blew the top off the building. The UMM students were no slouches either and we saw some of the best student performances, solos and combos there have been.

The young’un got to participate this year too. His jazz teacher arranged for the junior high students to perform on the Edson stage and take instrument clinics etc.. He had a fabulous time and we appreciate her hard work and dedication to make this possible.

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Went to see a UMM production of this play by Carlo Goldoni this evening. Lots of bawdy humour, modern slapstick, amusing dialogue and great acting. The production was performed in the round, with minimal scenery, which suited the nature of the piece. A very enjoyable evening.

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Yeah, yeah, it’s more detritus from my inbox but this one is my darling son and there’s no way I’m not going to share this little escapade with you.

Taco Man on YouTube.

To quote Phi

Apparently someone in the audience at the ASA Talent Show caught part of Tom’s wondrous “Taco Man” performance on video (probably a video phone?). It’s only the second half, and there’s a fair amount of audience noise, but it still gives you a sense of the thing.

To read the full scoop check out Phi’s post.

Current temperature 25F/-4C It’s still snowing. lol!

First in this season’s performing arts series, The National Players came to town and performed William Shakespeare’s Othello. The National Players are a troupe of young actors who are touring the US with two plays (the other being The Importance of Being Earnest) for the next nine months.

The skill of the actors in handling the text varied markedly but I’m glad I saw the performance as there was much to enjoy about it. Shakespeare can be hard to handle not only for young actors but the audience who really need the actors’ help in understanding what is going on. I think Adriano Gatto as Iago had a good handle on the text and brought this pivotal character to life.

The question and answer session afterwards was most enlightening and great fun.

The set design and staging was very clean and simple and very cleverly done.

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A new UMM school year is well on its way and we are once again broadcasting our version of a college radio show under the Unhindered By Talent banner on KUMM. Please note that we are on two hours later than in past years. We switched because the 2pm-4pm slot sort of hamstringed us for getting stuff done. Hopefully the later start will help us get a few more things done.

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Last night the three of us went to see a possible 2008 US Senate candidate from the state of Minnesota. Al Franken spoke at the Stevens County DFL fundraiser. He was impressive enough that I’d consider putting up a sign for him on our lawn if he decided to run. (The only person we’ve ever had a sign for was Paul Wellstone.)

Enjoyed Al’s speach, he touched on a number of issues that I consider very important and appeared to be talking a lot of sense. Let’s hope the handlers don’t get their hands on him and soften his edges. The edges are important. The Christian Right are cutting a swathe through the US and need to be opposed with steely determination.

A big yay to those who organised the food. Usually when we attend local events with food (welcome picnics, customer appreciation events etc.) there’s nothing I can eat which doesn’t make me feel welcome or appreciated. The DFL had a vegan burger and vegetarian beans on offer for those of us who couldn’t partake in pig.

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This year’s Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre summer camp production was Beauty and the Beast. Tom played one of Belle’s brothers and had a whale of a time.

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Grant Imahara and Kari Byron of Mythbusters fame spoke at UMM last night as part of Welcome Weekend. They began with ‘blooper’ footage from the show, sort of a this is the stuff Discover channel won’t let us air reel. Then they took questions and regaled us with great stories about their adventures on the show. They clearly have a lot of fun making the show.

The crowds really came out for this show. Edson was full to the rafters and sadly quite a few people had to be turned away. Luckily we’d had a heads up there might be a crowd so we arrived a lot earlier than we usually do. (Usually you can stroll up to Edson about 15 minutes before the show and get a good seat but not tonight.)

Tom and his friends, Jackson and Mitchell, decided they wanted to get their foreheads autographed and Kari gamely signed them all.

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… Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was the last event in the current season of the performing arts series.

This production was performed by the Aquila Theatre and was based on the book by
Robert Louis Stevenson and the life of American actor, Richard Mansfield. The production was stunning. The choreography of lighting, music, set design, and skillful acting was superb and it has got to be one of my favourite performing arts events. A great combination of hunour and drama.

If you get a chance to see this production, or the Aquila Theatre company, I highly recommend it.

Sub-evil Boy had the great good fortune to attend the Aquila Theatre company’s masterclass at the U earlier in the day and had a fantastic time. Many thanks to Jay Painter for making it such a great experience for our son!

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