WOSU Arts Blog

Take the film’s description of itself with a grain of salt (no film web site will ever talk bad about itself), but I’m intrigued by this project called Strongman, a true Indy film, self-distributed by a NY filmmaker named Zachary Levy.

It will be showing at the Arena Grand Theater, March 5-7. There will be four shows daily 1:30, 4:30, 7:15 and 10:10. Zach will be doing Q & A’s after the 7:15 Friday, all the Saturday shows, and the matinees on Sunday.

I met him last night at the Arena Grand, and I was impressed with his attitude, marketing savvy, and knowledge of film. His budget was undoubtedly tiny, which makes it even more essential that he is traveling with his film, spreading word-of-mouth. I’m intrigued enough to watch it this weekend, and happy that I can give a young, passionate artist a chance to be heard.

And the trailer is extremely well done.

Strongman Trailer from Zachary Levy on Vimeo.

From the film’s web site:

STRONGMAN is a cinema verité documentary about Stanless Steel, The Strongest Man in the World at Bending Steel and Metal.

Told with the kind of intimacy that can only be achieved with years of filming, STRONGMAN follows the dreams and heartbreaking humanity of Stanless Steel—the only man alive who can bend a penny with his fingers—as he struggles to gain control of a world that seems constantly out of his grasp.

STRONGMAN is a film about faith, about believing in yourself and a film about never giving up. It is a film about weakness and a film about strength.

– Scott

Part of what we’re doing with www.columbusneighborhoods.org is trying to tell the little morsels of history that get lost. What’s in the trunk or dusty scrapbook? Is there a story behind it? Please tell it to your children, to your grandchildren, to your friends, so that it doesn’t get lost.

And then, sometimes, we find photos like this one that are worth several thousand words.

It’s part of the collect of King-Lincoln photos provided by the Ohio Historical Society. It’s probably been seen elsewhere, but, holy cow… Just look at the thing.

How would you like to deconstruct it? As part of the legacy of the King-Lincoln area, which has a robust tie with great musical acts of the past? As part of a sociological lesson, what performers had to look and act like to gain attention? (And what would Spike Lee have to say about it?) How about a blast from music history, when syncopated jazz was blasting our of dance halls?

I could stare at this image for hours.
– Scott Gowans

Wexner will be live-streaming the panel discussion on the Hard Targets exhibition tomorrow night (Tues) at 7 PM.

From the event page: Tonight, three special guests talk with exhibition curator Christopher Bedford about their ideas and experiences related to both athletics and culture. Kori Newkirk is one of the artists in the show, and viewers here may also remember seeing his work in our Landscape Confection exhibition a few years back. Jennifer Doyle is both a visual studies scholar who teaches at the University of California, Riverside, and an avid amateur athlete who blogs about soccer (From a Left Wing <http://fromaleftwing.blogspot.com/> ). Tyler Green is a widely read cultural commentator on the web (Modern Art Notes <http://www.artsjournal.com/man/> ).

The live stream of the event can be viewed here: http://www.wexarts.org/about/live/

Also more information on the panel is available here: http://www.wexarts.org/ed/index.php?eventid=4413

My picks for the month are in bold.

The wonderfully quirky Joanna Newsom is coming to the Southern Theatre

2/25 Ani DiFranco (LC Pavilion, $30/$32) – The Grammy-winning feminist songwriter has released 19 LPs since 1990.

2/27 New Found Glory (Newport Music Hall, $20/$23) – If you’re currently in college, there’s a good chance you pretend you never liked this pop-punk band.

3/3 Alkaline Trio (Newport Music Hall, $17) – If you’re currently in college, there’s a good chance you tell people you were listening to Alkaline Trio while they were listening to New Found Glory.

3/4 Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears (Newport Music Hall $12/$14) – This band’s amplified take on the blues and soul masters will inevitably draw listeners of local radio, who give “Sugarfoot” quite a lot of airplay.

3/4 Flogging Molly (LC Pavilion, $25) – The Celtic punk band (but no, not the one that did “Shipping up to Boston” – that’s Dropkick Murphy’s) is another local favorite.

3/5 Umphrey’s McGee (Newport Music Hall, $20/$25) – If Phish started covering Yes, it might sound like this.

3/11 Vetiver (Circus, $10) – I doubt freak folk icon Devendra Banhart will be touring with them, but this indie folk act is well worth checking out, especially for the price.

3/12 John Mayer (Nationwide Arena, $46/$66) – The steep price doesn’t seem too ridiculous when remembering that his shows often turn into blue guitar jam sessions.

3/12 Ekoostik Hookah (Newport Music Hall, $15) – The Columbus jam band plays at the Newport so often, its members might as well be the venue’s patron saints.

3/14 Cage the Elephant (Newport Music Hall, $15/$17) – “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and “Back Against the Wall” have been getting a ton of local airplay.

3/14 They Might Be Giants (Capitol Theatre, $21) – TMBG have been performing since 1982; if anyone can play a rock show at 3:00 PM on a Sunday, it’s them. (It should be noted that this show is a kids show, not their regular rock fare.)

3/27 David Gray (Ohio Theatre, $37.50/$47.50) – Though less popular in the United States than his home nation (he’s had three albums peak at #1 on the UK charts), the English singer songwriter still ought to fill out the Ohio Theatre.

3/27 Dillinger Escape Plan (The Basement, $18) – The “mathcore” band will be here four days after the release of their fourth album, Option Paralysis.

3/29 Vampire Weekend (LV Pavilion, $25) *SOLD OUT* - Contra is great (read my review here); its predecessor is excellent.

3/29 Joanna Newsom (Southern Theatre, $32.50) - Bummed that you forgot to buy your Vampire Weekend ticket? You won’t be missing the night’s best show if you see this eccentric and captivating harpist instead. She just released a critically acclaimed triple album.

3/30 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Newport Music Hall, $16) – The neo-psychadelic rockers are touring in support of their new album, Beat The Devil’s Tattoo.

3/30 Tegan & Sara (LC Pavilion, $23/$25) – The Canadian identical twins have done quite well in their homeland; they’ve been steadily building momentum in the States as well.

3/31 Deerhunter (Black Box @ Wexner Center, $15) – These guys are critical darlings for good reason: Cryptograms and Microcastle were both excellent albums, and lead singer Bradford Cox is superb live. The band will be perfect on the black box stage.

3/31 Passion Pit (LC Pavilion, $17/$20) – They were just here last autumn, but their increased popularity will mean many more attendees.

-Bryan Gordon (WOSU Intern)

On Saturday, March 13, the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus will be hosting Happy Birthday, OHS!, a special day of fun activities. Admission and parking will be free for all.

A display highlighting Ohio Historical Society milestones from 1885 to 2010 will greet visitors entering the building. Uncommon Ohio tours will feature Ohio’s Garden Path at noon and 2 p.m. and Echoes in Time Theatre will present “Saints Preserve Us! The Irish in America” at 1 and 3 p.m.

In the galleries with the permanent exhibitions, Nature of Ohio and Ohio: Centuries of Change, visitors will encounter people from the society’s past played by costumed interpreters. Among them will be archaeologist William C. Mills, who discovered the Adena pipe in 1901, and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt J. Morton Howell, who donated the mummy known as Nasi-Khonsou-Pa-Khrodou, familiarly known as Nibit-Pi, meaning “the Mistress of the House,” and her sarcophagus to the Ohio Historical Society collections.

What’s a celebration without cake? Stop by for a piece in honor of Ohio’s history starting at 1:30 p.m.

Keep an eye out for future 125th celebrations by visiting the www.ohiohistory.org/calendar

The Ohio Historical Center, located at I-71 and 17th Avenue in Columbus, is one of 58 sites and museums administered by the Ohio Historical Society, a nonprofit organization that serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, natural history, archaeology and historic places.

When WOSU’s Darrin McDonald isn’t hanging out at our studios at WOSU@COSI, he has been found wandering the shores of Lake Erie. Filming surfers. Really.

He’s the director and cinematographer of “Out of Place”, described as a “portrait of surfing in Cleveland, Ohio.” It’s got some major buzz to it, including a mention in the NY Times. I haven’t seen it, but the grittiness of the trailer gets my attention.

Check it out, esp. if you’re in the Cleveland area in late March.

“Out of Place” has three showings at the Cleveland International Film Festival: Fri. March 19-9:35pm; Sun., March 1-9:20am; Mon., March 22-5:00pm.

– Scott

Join WOSU for a Short North Share-Your-Story Event
Sat., March 6, 2010 during the Gallery Hop, 4pm to 6pm
Sherrie Gallerie
694 North High Street

To reserve a time to share your Short North story, please call 614-292- 9678. We hope to see you there!

WOSU Public Media is working on a series of television documentaries about historic neighborhoods in Columbus called “Columbus Neighborhoods.”

Individuals with historical videos, photos, or stories about these neighborhoods can reserve a time to share their information with WOSU. All videotaped interviews will be posted to www.columbusneighborhoods.org and some will be included in the documentary series.

The fortieth anniversary of the death of Ohio artist Emerson Burkhart was marked in December with the publication of a new book about the painter, Emerson Burkhart: An Ohio Painter’s Song of Himself, by Columbus Museum of Art adjunct curator of American folk art Michael Hall. Hall’s book places Burkhart’s life and work in the broader context of twentieth-century American art and may even help reshape how art history is written.

What may be even more important about Emerson Burkhart to us here in Columbus than how his artwork ranks among that by other artists of his day, is the personal legacy he left this city. He got to know many people in town, one of whom was “The Grumpy Gourmet” Doral Chenoweth, who followed him around with a tape recorder for a while back in the 1950s and ’60s capturing the artist’s unbridled opinions. When Burkhart died of an aneurysm in November 1969, Chenoweth set to work transcribing those tapes and from his transcripts created the script for his one-man play I, Emerson Burkhart. I had a chance to record Chenoweth’s own recollections about Burkhart, which you can hear with snippets from Chenoweth’s play in this audio feature.

I know there are many others out there who knew Burkhart personally. Maybe you knew him well, or maybe you just took the opportunity to attend one of the famous open houses at his home on Woodland Avenue. Please write in with your recollections of the painter who called Columbus home.

– Jennifer Hambrick, WOSU Radio

Kathryn Grayson, whose beauty and lilting soprano brightened MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s including Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat and Kiss Me Kate, has died. She was 88. Keep reading…

– Scott Gowans

Wexner Center for the Arts
In one of the cultural highlights of the season, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company embarks on a final two-year international tour, kicking off in Mershon Auditorium today (2/12). Celebrating Cunningham (who passed away last year) and his legacy, the program features two works spanning different stages of his career. Other events include a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. featuring Ohio State dance professors who worked with Cunningham, and a post-performance Q&A session with company members.

Read more: http://www.wexarts.org/pa/index.php?eventid=4319