On a dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets...

It's time to come clean: I'm an NPR junkie. I download "This American Life" podcasts and sing the Be-Bop-A-Re-Bop Rhubarb Pie song whenever I'm feeling out of sorts. My mornings begin with "The Writer's Almanac," and my work days often end with "All Things Considered." I own a tote bag. Okay, I own several.

So this past Saturday, when "A Prairie Home Companion" was broadcast live from the Bangor Auditorium, I was in heaven indeed. And yes, I was there. Allow me to geek out for a moment. There was Garrison Keillor. Sound Effects Man. David Mallett. Maxine Kumin. Garrison Keillor. Four talented fiddlers from around the state. A bunch of great jokes at Stephen King's expense. Also, did I mention Garrison Keillor was there?

Some observations:
-I consider GK to be America's greatest living storyteller. He's a joy to listen to on the radio. In person, with no script, he's even more so. My favorite part of the performance was before the show went on the air, when he meandered through the audience and greeted latecomers with handshakes and kisses on the cheeks as they found their seats. It actually kind of makes you want to be a little late for the next local broadcast, doesn't it?
-According to my insiders at the Maine Center for the Arts, the APHC people arrived in Bangor on Wednesday, spent some time getting to know the area, and wrote the show in three days before Friday night's rehearsal. And they even got the Maine accents right! Very impressive.
-Maine alums: I promise, you've never heard the Stein Song played this way before. It took me a moment to even realize what I was listening to. Squee!
-Random discovery of the week: David Mallett and my dad were fraternity brothers. I'm sitting there completely engrossed in his beautiful songs, and Dad turns to Mom and says, "remember in college when Dave used to try to get us drive up to Big Squaw Mountain with him every Friday to play? No matter what the weather. He was pretty crazy back then." So my dad is friends with a folk music legend. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as my dad is friends with pretty much everyone in the state of Maine.
-If you ever find yourself faced with a choice between a career in investment banking and a career as a voice actor, do what Sound Effects Man Fred Newman did and choose the latter. Clearly, he made the correct decision.

The archived show in its entirety can be found here. Photo of the performance by Bridget Brown for the Bangor Daily News.

Hip-Hop + Baseball ÷ Fat Guys = Awesome

As far as I can tell, Kanye has blogged about this just yet, so here goes:

Something very exciting is happening in the world of dance. No, it's not Big Boi's collaboration with the Atlanta Ballet (though it definitely deserves an honorable mention). The Florida Marlins, whose stripped-down lineup (besides Hanley Ramirez) surely needs some cheerleading this year, have assembled a troupe of all-male, all-plus-sized dancers to perform at weekend home games. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Florida Marlins Manatees. Count me excited.

My official review: it's good for baseball, and good for dance. The Marlins have been struggling with attendance since they gave up Beckett (who am I kidding, since forever), and they had to do something soon. Truly, they're not half bad for a bunch of guys who have never danced before. But I don't think the choreographed routines show off their skills enough; they're actually at their best when they freestyle. Check it out:



My only complaint: where are the female plus-sized dancers? From the words of John McGraw and the Sistahs: "One percent of ballplayers are leaders of men. The other 99 percent are followers of women."

Excuses, excuses

I've been trying to think of a good explanation for letting my blog lapse for the entire month of April. I was going to go with the requisite, "I'm a grad student. Blerrghh." But I use that excuse for everything. And the real reason (which I'll refer to simply as "personal issues") is too confessional for a blog about art. I could conveniently claim that I've been doing a bunch of academic work and just haven't thought about blogging, but, well, that just wouldn't be true.

But lo and behold, I've found the perfect reason to let myself off the hook: Kanye West has rendered me irrelevant.

For serious. Stop reading this blog right now (well, after this post) and head on over to Kanye's blog instead. Dude's got everything covered: contemporary art and design, architecture, music, and a smattering of liberal politics every now and then. New York Magazine has already beat me to it and dubbed him the World's Greatest Blogger, so obviously you're wasting your time here. The posts are delightfully to-the-point (if a bit consumerist) and written by Kanye himself, who attended art school briefly and actually knows what he's talking about. And if that's not enough, you can even e-mail Kanye some photos of yourself in Stronger glasses, Kanye's own contribution to avant-garde fashion design:

You're out of excuses. Now git.