Crazytown

HINDSIGHT 20/20

Have you ever wished you could go back and slap some sense into your younger self? Yeah, me too.
By Ali Gordon 

From the ages of 11-15, I needed guidance. Since I didn’t have an older sister to simultaneously respect and burn with envy over, no one was there to kick my proverbial ass when I was headed down the wrong path. Teenagerdom is a maze, and one I didn’t do a very good job navigating. Have you ever wanted to find your younger self and shake them, hard? I mean, really hard? Yeah, me too. Here are a few choice words I would have had for younger Ali.

• Your parents raised you well, Ali. They instilled a great deal of self-respect in you, and they taught you that your brain is the best thing about you. (Note: Ali, later in life, call up your parents and specifically thank them for instilling this in you. This information makes you feel better after all of your break-ups.) But also, Ali, it doesn’t hurt to look good, either. No, no, I’m not saying you should become vain, or value looks over personality, but would it really kill you to get a haircut? I mean, it’s down to your butt.

Lucky ladies and gents... this is a real picture of my real hair circa age 14. And it still looked that raggedy after AN HOUR AND A HALF of blowdrying! 

• One day you will be sitting in the car with your father and he will be playing an album by Harry Nilsson. After listening to his warbling for a while, you will angrily exclaim, “Dad, you only listen to music that absolutely sucks.” First off, Ali, don’t talk to your Dad like that. He’s awesome. Secondly, let me tell you now that at the age of 23, Nilsson Schmilsson is one of your very favorite albums. Surprise! Now, go get a haircut.

WHY BOTHER? ALWAYS BOTHER.

What happens when one of the most respected theatre critics of our time steps on some toes? This, I suppose.
By Ali Gordon 

I'm in no position to call myself any sort of expert to weigh in on this situation, but I am a young artist, and a creator, so this matter concerns me. I am highly ambitious, but admittedly green. I try to understand and feel things on a universal level (as all writers must do) but sometimes, I fall short. I'm young, and I'm trying. I'm learning every day, but can't look back on what I created in the past and choose to resent it just because I may know and feel more today than I did yesterday. I want people to love what I make, and what I have to offer. And I invite people to hate it, too. But, I suppose, my greatest fear is for someone to look at what I've done - what I've poured my whole heart and soul into for a certain amount of time - and say "Eh, what's the point of it all?" Or, more simply (and as Times reviewer Ben Brantley said) "Why bother?"

Alec Baldwin has released an article entitled "How Broadway Has Changed" in response to the review Ben Brantley gave the current production of Orphans (which Mr. Baldwin co-stars in). 

The production has been trailed by drama, starting with the quitting/firing/who the hell knows of its original star, Shia LaBeouf. Then, by means of twitter, he released personal emails between himself, Mr. Baldwin, and the director, Dan Sullivan (among others). Gossip sites jumped on this juicy drama in a heartbeat, and even I kept up with all the new tidbits fastidiously (though a bit shamefully). Then, apparently, his "heartfelt apology email" was mostly plagairized??? Oy, vey. It's all too much. So firstly, the drama mostly eclipses any notice of the, well, actual PLAY-drama. Then, Brantley writes a review that is neither praising nor scathing, calling it a "dispiritingly pallid show" and saying, essentially, "why bother?" And, in Baldwin's words,

"In the case of Orphans, Brantley wrote "Why bother?" [...] If it's trash, then call it. But is it good trash or is the bar too low? Then call it. Is the piece ambitious and groundbreaking? Factor that in. But never say "why bother?"

And, as I previously stated, I'm no expert. I'm a wanna-be actress with great aspirations, and not a lot to show for it. Yet. I'm a writer, and I want to do sketch, short fiction, plays, one-person shows, musicals, short films, writing for television... you name it. And once again, I'm working on it. But I'm still green. I won't always be, but right now, I am. 

So yes, when I really dig deep... what is my greatest fear as a young creator?

That someone will look at my work - at my countless sleepless nights, my palms sweaty as I sit in the back of an audience watching people see my work for the first time, my butterflies as I stand in the wings waiting to go on stage - and they'll say, "Meh." They'll say, "fine." They'll say, "I guess it was okay - but not worth the effort."

And I will also admit to admiring the hell out of Ben Brantley, so I certainly don't want to put myself in a position of claiming a loss of respect. I think he's remarkably good at his job, and there's an awful lot I agree with him on. But yes, I do have to back Alec Baldwin here. You can't say "why bother." It's hard enough for people to have to bother in the first place. We live in a culture where now we aspire to be too-cool-to-care, but artists do exactly the opposite. We constantly put ourselves on the line. We scream, we care! we care! into the void, hoping someone - anyone - will care to listen.

So please, hate it. Or love it. But at least pick up the signal. 

I've never been to a show and regretted going. Sure, I may bemoan spending my hard-earned cash on seeing something I didn't enjoy, but the experience is never wasted. No matter the show, everything created is worthwhile. It adds to the education and the long-lasting canon of this very difficult, ever-changing medium of entertainment. Baldwin writes, "Brantley says we were wrong-headed to have even tried. Where would the theatre be if that was the prevalent thinking?"

And you know what?

I couldn't agree more.

(Sorry this time, Brantley.)

ALI GORDON is an actress, writer, comedian, optimist, and waffle enthusiast. Most frequently she can be heard doing funny voices. www.ali-gordon.com
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HATERS GONNA HATE

In defense of new musical theatre composers.
By Michael Kras (Actor/Playwright/Director)

 

I am a huge supporter and advocate of new musical theatre. It is my firm belief that the future is in more than good hands, as long as said future has the support and back-up it needs. How do I support these new composers? I buy their albums, I pimp their work on my Facebook and Twitter to encourage people to check it all out, and I'm always looking for the latest and greatest. It's a win-win... I get to hear great new music, and I make a small but important contribution to said composers for them to continue doing their thing.

That said, I hate reading reviews on these new works by young up-and-comers. Why? Because, in so many cases, I find them just plain unfair.

So many old, jaded critics out there seem to love preying on fresh meat. They're so set in the golden age of musicals and they seem to approach new works with negative prejudice. Of course, I'm generalizing, but it's something I see enough that I think it's worth discussing. A lot of these critics tend to complain about the same basic things. I'll list a few of them, and then explain why each one is total bullshit.

ONE LESS LONELY GIRL

Never Say Never? How about Never Say Anything?
By Alisha Giampola (Actor) 

You guys. Since the news broke that Justin Bieber was getting his WWII history on in Amsterdam and wrote a slightly awkward entry in the guestbook at the Anne Frank House, I'm sure you've all been wondering sleeplessly if Anne Frank would, in fact, have been a 'belieber' as Justin hoped. If you have somehow missed this amazing moment in American pop culture, and have not yet become alarmed that possibly no one under the age of 20 knows anything about Anne Frank, or you know, World War II, please take a moment to catch yourself up.

(And I really cannot even discuss right now that Justin Bieber was born in 1994, because that just makes me feel HORRIFYINGLY OLD. I need to procure a lawn, so I can start yelling at people to stay off of it.)  

To the credit of pretty much everyone on the planet, most people reacted on a spectrum between outrage and irritated disbelief at Bieber's comment, although 50 Cent had the Beib's back. In all fairness, if we ever hoped to discover what was on the mind of a teenage Jewish girl during the Holocaust, 50 Cent's guess is probably as good as anyone's. Also, it's pretty clear that Bieber's comments were made in fairly profound ignorance, as he doesn't even know who the Germans are, let alone the Nazis.

And then, Anne's own posthumous stepsister, Eva Schloss, steps forward and makes the ultimate defense for Bieber's comment. Eva constructs this very scientific logical syllogism for us: all 15 year old girls love Justin Bieber, Anne Frank was (and will eternally be) a 15 year old girl, therefore Anne Frank would have loved Justin Bieber. 

“Tell me what you like girl, tell me what you don’t.
I could be your Buzz Lightyear, fly across the globe.”

TRY AND TRY AGAIN

Two things are needed to ensure success: passion and perseverance.
by Loren A. Roberts (guru of multi-hyphenate media)

It might be obvious to composers, but composers are entrepreneurs too.

Let's talk about entrepreneurs. Like many small business owners, I called myself an entrepreneur for a while. Then, after keeping the same business name for a decade, I decided I wasn't really an entrepreneur -- because I thought entrepreneurs start a bunch of companies, and at some point in time become very rich (at least according to American lore).

My thinking has changed, and that changed thinking has to do with etymology. Let's look at the word entrepreneur:

Look back at the oldest usage of the word entrepreneur: The word entrepreneur was first applied to a theater producer/promoter! The producer was the undertaker (French root word entreprende) of the production. Only later did it become the word for someone who launches businesses...

So, if we broaden the concept of entrepreneur from our simple business-world box, we see that anyone who is undertaking some venture -- a project or creative discipline with an end in mind -- is an entrepreneur.

Why does this matter? Well, story, of course. We base our lives on story, and stories of great entrepreneurs can give insight to our daily travails as creative artists/entrepreneurs:

• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." His first animation company completely failed. MGM rejected his Mickey Mouse sketches because they thought a gigantic mouse on the movie screen would be too scary for women (ha!). And yet he kept going, eventually finding the creative team and funding to create what is now one of the most powerful brands in the world.
• Steven Spielberg was (now-)famously rejected from the USC film school multiple times. Did that stop him? Well, no (at least until Indiana Jone 4...). He attended Cal State Long Beach, is dyslexic, and is considered one of the most successful and influential directors in the history of cinema...
• When Lady Gaga got a DefJam record contract in 2005/2006, she was unceremoniously dropped within 3 months of signing. But, as an entrepreneur, she kept at it, singing, writing, creating her own burlesque show (which got her noticed by Interscope -- eventually leading to her debut album The Fame in 2008) and now is considered one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine.

There are hundreds of stories like this (start here and here and here if you want more), but the point is: every single one of you reading this blog is an entrepreneur. Don't sell yourself short, and don't stop. You are an entrepreneur. There will be successes and failures and more successes and more failures, and that's all good.

LOREN A. ROBERTS produces films, videos and music, designs magazines and logos, plays and sings in a Doobie Brothers tribute band, and is a student of what happens when science and technology and the arts and culture collide. www.hearkencreative.com
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TIMES I (AND YOU) HAVE BEEN LUCKY

A collection of moments that have caused us to step back and appreciate the smaller things. And the bigger things. Just go with the flow, man. Everything is everything.
By Ali Gordon 

Times I Have Been Lucky

I have watched the sun rise a multitude of times. Once, as I woke up in the back of a car, and looked out to see we were just entering Kentucky. The heat of the sun scattered the low-hanging clouds around the hills and valleys, and the stone was red and the trees were green, green, green.  

***

We stopped the car at the top of the hill, just in time to see a meteor crackle and streak through the atmosphere - bright white then blue then yellow, all in the span of a second. I gasp - I've never seen anything like it before. You were too busy in the back seat looking for the right music to plug into the stereo. But Steely Dan was a good choice.

BULLY

A topic very near to me, and a documentary that EVERYBODY needs to see.
By Michael Kras (Actor/Playwright/Director)

Last night, I watched a documentary called Bully. I'd heard about it, and ended up renting it on iTunes on a whim. And for an hour and forty minutes straight, I sat there with tears in my eyes and my heart in my stomach.

As the title suggests, Bully is a documentary focusing on the issue of bullying inside, and outside, of schools and the impact it can have not only on the victim, but the victim's family. I watched this movie and emerged heartbroken, disgusted, saddened, and enraged. In my opinion, this documentary should be required viewing in schools across North America, because the issue of bullying is still ever present and perhaps even growing.

Please indulge me as I get a bit personal.

LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS ADMIT IMPEDIMENTS

On marriage, or whatever you want to call it.
By Alisha Giampola (Actor) 

The other day I was sitting in the usual table in the usual restaurant my best friend Jake and I tend to eat at in our neighborhood (Sunnyside, which is the absolute shit, just for the record) and eating my usual dear-God-I-couldn't-even-imagine-cooking-something-right-now snack and discussing marriage. Specifically, Jake and I were trying to decide who of the people we currently know who have gotten married recently will be the first of our circle of friends to divorce. This seems morbid, but Jake and I love slightly disturbing discussion games (Would You Rather being obviously the best, hands down). This discussion game was fun and I feel, valid, as statistically large numbers of married people (although maybe not quite the dreaded 50% that is so frequently touted) end their marriages some time before death doth part them. 

Marriage equality has been a huge topic in the past few years, and many states (NY included, woot woot!) have recently chosen to extend the right to marry to all people (and so far has turned into being able to marry cats and dogs pretty much the same way extending the vote to women also extended the vote to cats and dogs). According to current statistics, a majority of adults between 18 and 32 now favor marriage equality in the USA. My takeaway from that is: wow, young people still really care about the institution of marriage! And they want to invite all consentual adults in monogamous relationships to participate if they should choose to do so! Sweet! 

But why?

A very interesting opinion piece in the NY Times got me thinking about the reasons that my generation chooses to marry. We are marrying later than our parents and much much later than our grandparents, we are choosing to get educations first, cohabitate first, and then begin stressing that we might have waited too long to have babies. Personally, I am a huge advocate of all of these things (including even the last item on that list...it's called adoption, guys, there are a lot of kids that need parents out there). So ultimately, if we as a generation are already waiting so much longer than any previous generation to tie the knot, why are we bothering at all? 

If we are to believe the previously cited NY Times opinion piece (go ahead and take a few minutes to read it, it's cool) we are marrying because it is "a status symbol — a highly regarded marker of a successful personal life". If that didn't already make you want to punch yourself in the face, the author reiterates this point in an even bigger backhanded compliment later in the article: "People marry to show their family and friends how well their lives are going."

Basically, people are getting married to flip the ultimate finger at their single friends.

As a person with strong feelings about the current civil rights issue of marriage equality, very personal feelings about the entire institution of marriage, and as someone who has a marriage of my own that I happen to care about, this seems like a completely flippant and all-too-easy answer. 

I sure as heck didn't get married to say "screw you" to those in my circle who are not choosing to marry, be they currently single or simply uninterested in the institution. I definitely didn't get married because I was making some kind of civil rights statement. I certainly didn't do it to make anyone jealous of my life (if anyone ever had a jealousy-inducing marriage however, it is these guys). I didn't get married to get presents or have an excuse to throw a party or to have a reason to change my name (actually, I didn't change my name at all, although apparently I'm in a vast minority?!) and I one hundred percent didn't get married because I felt familial or societal pressure to do so. I know many women, particularly those who are well-educated, city-dwelling, and in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties feel exactly these same ways. And even though there are many religions and faiths that pressure young people to marry due to the stigma of sex outside of wedlock, fewer and fewer are choosing to succumb to this pressure. So it stands to reason that we are getting married for some mysterious other reason that thousands of internet opinion articles are not quite able to put their digital digits on. 

Could it be .... nahhhh.....

FOUR TIPS FOR GRADUATES (AND THE REST OF US, TOO)

A few of the things that I wish I had known when I was graduating.
by Loren A. Roberts (guru of multi-hyphenate media)

I have heard a bunch of conversations recently about what to do after graduation.
I was there too.

You think it’s too early for this kind of list? Think again: graduation season is upon us! And here are my top recommendations for you graduating people:

1. YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU WILL BE IN FIVE YEARS. DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT.

I thought that I was ready to go upon graduating. I thought that was the finished product. Oh, how wrong I was. So my goal upon graduation was to work for a nice company, and have a nice salary, and buy a nice house. It took me three more years and three more jobs before I realized that I had grown so much -- creatively and personally -- that I could start my own arts-based company. And I will never stop learning...if I do, I'm dead.

2. FIND FRIENDS (AND COLLEAGUES) THAT KNOW HOW TO TELL THE TRUTH.

In high school, I had a hard time finding friends who were both good friends and good truth-tellers.It didn't get a lot easier in college. Once you are out on your own, it is even more imperative to find people who know how to cut the bullshit. One of the reasons I feel so fortunate to have married Karen is that she doesn't sugar-coat anything, yet she can get just as excited and passionate about things as I do. Professionally, I have a good friend who has become one of my most valuable "peer mentors" -- we can bounce ideas off of each other and make honest critiques. Which brings me to something Michael Dell told some graduates at UT Austin a few years ago:

Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people … or find a different room. In professional circles it’s called networking. In organizations it’s called team building. And in life it’s called family, friends, and community. We are all gifts to each other, and my own growth as a leader has shown me again and again that the most rewarding experiences come from my relationships.

3. FIND THE BALANCE.

Are you a workaholic? Figure out a way to schedule rest and rejuvenation into your life. Are you a slacker? Develop a schedule and a plan, and stick to it. Drink too much in college? Cut back. Fanatic about your workout regimen? Make sure that your body gets rest too.

Do you understand where I am going here? Balance is incredibly difficult in our modern-day life, but absolutely necessary. And for young adults, balance is hard -- to understand, to desire, to work towards. Let me tell you: balance is absolutely necessary.

4. LIFE IS NOT FAIR.

The hardest thing I have had to learn is that the world owes me absolutely nothing. I could be Mother Teresa or a criminal, and some good -- as well as some bad -- is going to come into my life.This world is not fair, and I have learned that truth the hard way over the years. Does that mean I give up? No, but it means that my life cannot be defined by what I am able to accomplish. I could work my fingernails off, and my dreams might not come to pass. Does that mean I'm a failure? Absolutely not.

The key is to find out who I am rather than defining myself by what I do. What I do has changed so many times since graduation it's a joke, but who I am has been a steady progression that is the sum of my experiences, my friends, my life decisions, and my spiritual journey. This is a hard lesson to learn, but the one that will make the most difference, and the one that will bring about gratefulness. I am grateful for my family and friends, grateful for the opportunity to work and be passionate for some truly awesome causes, and grateful simply for life.

Now those are some things I wish I had known when I was graduating.

LOREN A. ROBERTS produces films, videos and music, designs magazines and logos, plays and sings in a Doobie Brothers tribute band, and is a student of what happens when science and technology and the arts and culture collide. www.hearkencreative.com
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ANIMATION CEL BLOCK TANGO

Your favorite toe-tappers from an unlikely source...
By Ali Gordon 

Today's post is dedicated to unexpected and, ahem, unsung musical heroes... great music found in animated TV shows! And no, Disney movies and any sort of full-length film don't count. I'm talking 20 minute, animated, made-for-tv episodes with music that nails it. 

Strangely enough, "adult" cartoons like Family Guy have embraced the big-orchestra, full-chorus, pull-out-all-the-stops musical number as a means of humor and entertainment (think not just the Fat Man Anthem but also Shipoopi) but it's just not cutting it with "kids" cartoons anymore. Even the Arthur theme song is somehow superior to say, anything ever on Dora the Explorer. 

Why is that? Everyone loves music, and it's been proven that children learn better when lists and facts are set to music. Yet, somehow, the 90s were a time for killer music in animated shows. And many of them are underrated, still.

This may not count, because the song isn't found "in" the TV show, but Disney's PepperAnn had one of the best theme songs ever.

 

I'm sorry, but if this song didn't introduce all you soon-to-be musical theatre nerds to the notion of "screlting" I don't know what you were doing in your childhood. (P.S. It's freaking me out that this video was found on "retrojunk.com" because if this is 'retro' I'm offically old and going to jump off a bridge.)

And does this song stand the test of time? Let this cover answer that question for you.

 

(Hint: the answer is "yes.")