The Happiest Medium

“Kill The Band” Knocks ‘Em Dead (Frigid Festival 2010)

by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 5, 2010

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Killy Dwyer, Joe Yoga, Mike Milazzo and Bamboo Silva

Killy Dwyer, Joe Yoga, Mike Milazzo and Bamboo Silva

I thought it was a very good sign that my latest obsession, Lady Gaga’s pulsating, driving song Teeth, was blaring as I entered Under St. Marks to get ready to see Killer Killy Dwyer’s latest offering “Kill The Band” which is not just the name of her band, but which is also the name of the show that’s part of Frigid Festival 2010.  I saw it as a good omen not just because I haven’t been able to get the song out of my head these last few weeks, but more because the song is the type of song that gets down into you and makes you bop in your seat and I figured a gal who was serving up Gaga as the appetizer must have the all-you-can-eat-buffet to back it up.  Musically speaking, of course.

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22nd Annual Indie And Small Press Book Fair

by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 5, 2010

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Admission is free!

March 6th & 7th from 10:00 – 5:00

General Society Library
20 West 44th Street
(btw. 5th & 6th Aves.)
10:00 am – 5:00 pm both days

Saturday, March 6th:

11:30 – 12:00 PM
Maria Filice of  Food & Fate Publishing will presents Breaking Bread in L’Aquila
Reviewed in Library Journal as a “wonderful book…will appeal to foodies and cooks looking for effortless Italian cooking.”

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And The Winner Is . . .

by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 5, 2010

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soup_show

Congratulations to the winner of our Soup Show Giveaway — Nancy Cohen!

Nancy was randomly chosen from those who correctly answered our trivia question. (Q: Who is the director for The Soup Show? A: Lauren Sharpe)

Nancy won a pair of tickets to The Soup Show playing at HERE Arts Center. (For more information check out the official site.)

Thanks to everyone who participated and check back each month as we give away more tickets to more great shows!

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4 Cents Review: Late Nights With The Boys – A Grown Up Fairy Tale (Frigid Festival 2010)

by 4 Cents Reviews on March 5, 2010

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4 Cents Review – When 2 reviewers each give their 2 cents.

LATE NIGHTS WITH THE BOYS: confessions of a leather bar chanteuse Pictured: Alex Bond in 1977

LATE NIGHTS WITH THE BOYS: confessions of a leather bar chanteuse Pictured: Alex Bond in 1977

Today Diánna Martin and Karen Tortora-Lee give their 4 Cents about Late Nights With The Boys: Confessions Of A Leather Bar Chantuse which is part of this year’s Frigid Festival.

Late Nights With The Boys: Confessions Of A Leather Bar Chantuse was presented as selections read by Alex Bond and David Carson from Ms. Bond’s novel, but aside from that we both didn’t know what to expect.  The Frigid blurb promised that the reading would transport you to Dallas 1977, a magical time before HIV/AIDS, but not before ignorance and prejudice so we were eager to watch this story unfold.

Karen: I really didn’t know what to expect from Late Nights With The Boys, and almost immediately I was charmed.  Didn’t you sense their warmth right away?

Diánna: Absolutely – there was something very natural and calm about Alex Bond and David Carson that affected the audience. I think the fact that they didn’t dim the house lights was interesting toward that end …

Karen: Definitely. I mean, I felt they were having a conversation with us (the audience) as much as with each other, and that sense of immediacy happened automatically.

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“The Ghost Writer” Is A Sleek Homage To Hitchcock

by Anne Jordanova on March 4, 2010

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Brosnan and McGregor

Brosnan and McGregor

“The Ghost Writer” is the latest film by Polish-French genius director Roman Polanski. It is a sleek, stylish, and smart political thriller that has channeled Hitchcock in ways that no one has done, since…well-Hitchcock himself. Like the master, Polanski sets his tone through ominous music, and bases this on a central character-an innocent who struggles to find truth, and gain control of a living nightmare.

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Saying Goodbye To FX’s Nip/Tuck

by Anne Jordanova on March 4, 2010

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Cable’s “Nip/Tuck” ended Wednesday night with its 100th episode, which was filmed in Los Angeles last June.  After a 7 year successful run filled with shocking revelations, sex, drugs, and surgery-it was a well put together episode and a finale that did not disappoint.

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Fishbowl – Swimming Through The Universe (Frigid Festival 2010)

by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 4, 2010

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Mark Shyzer as Esther (Photo credit: Tanja-Tiziana, Double Crossed Photography)

Mark Shyzer as Esther (Photo credit: Tanja-Tiziana, Double Crossed Photography)

Fishbowl starts off deceptively;  writer / performer Mark Shyzer introduces his cast of characters with such blasts of humor, and his transformations are so successful, that you might be fooled into thinking Fishbowl was written to be little more than a vanity piece in order to showcase Mr. Shyzer’s talent of reeling off bitingly funny one-liners while embodying 5 seemingly unrelated but unforgettable characters.

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“The Power Of Birds” – A Family Learning To Fly In Formation

by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 3, 2010

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The Power of Birds (written by Robin Rice Lichtig and directed by Elizabeth Bunnell) begins with migration; but that of a family, not a flock.  For a moment if you just sit still enough, you can see the allegory of it take shape in front of you: Father Philip Fogarty (Jay Potter) has left the family (apparently for good) and without even an emotional downshift Mom Loretta (Annie McGovern) moves into lead position – steering the flock toward new territory and new horizons that she feels will benefit all of them.  Loretta Fogarty takes a job in a new state and brings her two children and her mother-in-law along.  It’s as if nature has taken the place of nurture and the migration must happen according to some unspoken but unmistakable design.  And despite grumblings from 12 year old daughter Zoe (Emma Galvin) who had a strong connection to her father, the family moves because they are compelled to by some inner compass.  Loretta, a gym teacher with very little regard for the world of ornithology which was so important to her husband , uses sports metaphors and cheers to rally her family and take them into the next phase of the game (“Go Team Fogarty!”).  Like a parrot, son Charlie (Noah Galvin) repeats everything his mother says, and even if he’s saying it for the first time you get a sense that it was filtered through his mother’s voice at some point first (In response to where their father might be, Charlie and his mother have this exchange: CHARLIE: Not working in an office like a man, right Mom?  LORETTA: Not taking care of his 12-year-old children. CHARLIE: Not taking us on family trips, right Mom?)  He is like the other half of his mother, like a twin.

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It or Her: Madness Reigns Supreme (Frigid Festival 2010)

by Diánna Martin on March 3, 2010

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Brian McManamon as Andrew

Frigid Festival has really stepped up their game this year, is what I was thinking as I descended down the stairs from the Red Room, still reeling from the one-man show It or Her by Alena Smith. The medium of madness is one that has so many artistic possibilities, and when performed well it can be a goldmine for the audience. Nuances and colors of the human condition can be given a larger leash with which to run. Nothing is as delightful, for me, as a luscious character study set into a well-told tale. This production is all that and more.

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De Profil: Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor Nominee 2010)

by Anne Jordanova on March 3, 2010

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A lot has to be said about the 52-year old Austrian actor who burst onto the Hollywood scene last year in Tarantino’s Oscar nominated Inglourious Basterds. Certainly, Quentin knows how to pluck them out of nowhere, and I am sure glad he found Christoph Waltz.

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