Philosophy in everyday life

Posted on October 13, 2010 by

The Institute for Philosophy in Public Life at UND will sponsor a lecture and discussion Wednesday called “When is a Pile a Heap? How to deal with moral vagueness” with Richard Gilmore, a professor of philosophy at Concordia College, Moorhead.

The presentation will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the UND Bookstore and is free and open to the public.

The lecture and discussion will look at the issues of right and wrong. Although some situations are morally clear — the right or wrong thing to do is obvious — most are ethically ambiguous. How can we act properly when what the right thing to do is so vague?

Gilmore will discuss the search for moral clarity by focusing on a classic philosophical problem: the paradox of the heap, a news release from IPPL said. How many grains of sand make a pile? When does the pile become a heap? Gilmore hopes to show that, in many ways, ethics is like this; there are no moments of absolute precision. But, he will argue, through trying to define the heap, we can also clarify what it means to accurately define the right thing to do.

You can RSVP for the lecture via Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid142017969177973. The lecture and discussion also will be broadcast live on the IPPL website.

Gilmore is author of “Philosophical Health: Wittgenstein’s Method in Philosophical Investigations” and “Doing Philosophy at the Movies.”

Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chris Dewey R.I.P.

Posted on August 9, 2010 by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this photo provided by Emily Dewey, Emily is seen with husband Chris Dewey at the Merit Care Hospital in Fargo, N.D., after he emerged from a medically induced coma.

Today there’s word that Manhnomen County (Minn.) Deputy Chris Dewey died this morning. He was 27 years old.

Dewey was shot in February 2009 as he confronted two men after a report of shots fired in Mahnomen. He underwent surgeries and physical therapy, and for a time had recovered enough to sit up in bed, kiss his wife and crack jokes. Then his health recently began to deteriorate. His doctors said it was just a matter of time.

Like many in this area, I have followed Dewey’s story and thought of him so often in the past year and a half. Today, my heart goes out to him and his family and colleagues.

The man accused of shooting him is in custody and has been awaiting trial on attempted murder and other charges. Now, no doubt, the charges will be upgraded.

I understand the Second Amendment and I support the Constitution. I have no problems with responsible hunting or the responsible use of firearms. However, I will never understand the gun culture that is so deeply ingrained in this country and the ideas, feelings and emotions that lead to guns being readily available to every violent, jacked-up, pissed-off, moronic sociopath in the country. I don’t believe in banning guns, even if there was a ghost of a prayer of getting any sort of gun ban passed in this country, and we all know there’s not.

So how do we prevent tragedies like what happened to Deputy Dewey and his family? I don’t know. That’s another reason why I feel so sad today. The life and dreams of a young man have been snuffed out in the most senseless way possible. Not only that, but what’s to prevent it from happening again tomorrow or next week?

Every day, law enforcement officers put their lives on the line in hundreds of different ways. We are grateful for their courage and their service. But today that doesn’t really feel like quite enough.

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.

Tagged | 2 Comments

Poetry and Poetry Slam

Posted on August 5, 2010 by

After I read about the 21st annual National Poetry Slam under way in St. Paul, I checked out the website for the event (which ends Saturday) and found this amazing video clip. I loved poetry as a moony high school girl and spent hours copying my favorite poems and song lyrics and famous quotes into a looseleaf notebook I bought at the Dime Store. I came across the notebook the other day and got a glimpse of myself at 17 again.

After college, I stopped reading poetry for many years, but have taken it up again. With any luck, this is all there will be to my mid-life crisis. And lest the word "poetry" should conjure in your head a recital of: "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree" — please check out the performance below, "Taylor Mali on What Teachers Make." A poetry slam is part poetry, part performance art, and this one is 100 percent provacative and entertaining.

 

Tagged , | 1 Comment

When EGF Heritage Days collide with Crookston Ox Cart Days

Posted on August 5, 2010 by

Many towns have an annual festival connected with their community’s history and roots. In East Grand Forks it’s Heritage Days. In Crookston, it’s the Ox Cart Days Festival.

This year, the two festivals fall on the same weekend.

The 21st annual Ox Cart Days Festival will be Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 19-22, in Crookston.

East Grand Forks Heritage Days will be Saturday and Sunday Aug. 21-22.

These towns are just a few miles down the road from each other. I know there’s only so much summer — and perhaps it doesn’t affect attendance at each event too much — but I wonder why planners don’t try a little harder to schedule them so they’re not the same weekend?

To find out more about Heritage Days, go to http://www.egfheritage.com/.

For more on Ox Cart Days, go to http://www.visitcrookston.com/home.php?pg=oxcartdays/

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks N.D.

Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Review: Goosestepping fun works for ‘The Producers’

Posted on August 4, 2010 by

“The Producers” is a show that has it all: A pair of charming schemers to carry the plot, a dizzy, sexy blonde in eight-inch heels, beautiful showgirls in skimpy costumes, great music, funny lines and goose-stepping Nazis. And you’re not going to find many musicals that can feature the Third Reich as a comedy.

But that’s the premise of “The Producers,” now on stage at 7:30 tonight through Friday and Aug. 10-14 at Empire Arts Center, presented by Crimson Creek Players.

Max Bialystock (Paul Vonasek), the former King of Broadway producers, teams with his anxiety-ridden accountant, Leo (Matt Berdahl), on what they believe is the perfect get-rich-quick scheme. They’ll raise $2 million to finance an intentionally terrible show, it will close after one night, and they’ll pocket all the money they didn’t spend.

As the show that can’t possibly succeed, they pick “Springtime for Hitler,” written by a former FOA ("Friend Of Adolph’s") (Daniel Dutot) who’s more than a little nutty and way too trigger happy.

Honestly, when you think about it, there’s a lot that could go wrong with “The Producers.” Nazis are not inherently funny. Not until they’re played by Dutot and Daniel Walstad as Roger DuBris, the worst director on Broadway, whose byword for the theater is, “Keep it sassy, keep it classy, keep it gay,” and who ends up playing Hitler in Max and Leo’s show.

Also, “The Producers” is a Mel Brooks show, the man who gave us “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” We know going in that it’s going to be outrageous, so we just relax and go with the craziness, because — really, how could you not? — when Die Fuehrer in “Springtime for Hitler” is singing: “Heil myself, Heil to me, I’m the kraut who’s out to change our history."

Vonasek and Berdahl as Max and Leo are the perfect pair, both visually and musically. They can do physical comedy, they can do schtick and, boy, can they sing. This show is performed to canned music but there is no faulting any of the voices of this young cast. They sounded terrific.

Haley Ann Boyd was excellent as the Swedish bombshell Ulla and should get an acting award just for being able to walk in those 8-inch white platform heels she wore for much of the show. Her turn in “If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It,” inspires one of the best lines in the show, delivered after Max and Leo are on the couch, transfixed, as Ulla auditions for them.

“We may be sitting down,” Max says, “but we’re giving you a standing ovation!"

Walstad as DuBris and Justin Heim as his “common-law assistant” Carmen Ghia were wonderful as the show’s other comic duo. They played Flamboyant with a capital “F,” and everything about them, including their costumes, were delicious.

So, how does a show that makes fun of libidinous old ladies, saucy showgirls, gay people, one of history’s most odious villains and the culture of Broadway manage to keep from being offensive as hell?

It’s hard to be mad when you’re laughing really hard at a show that’s presented with so much joy and craziness. Go see it and you may, like me, find yourself humming “Springtime for Hitler” with a smile on your face.

If you go:

“The Producers,” a musical presented by Crimson Creek Players. is playing at 7:30 p.m. tonight through Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 10-14 at Empire Arts Center.

Tickets: Adults, $18; students, senior citizens and military, $15; available in advance at Chester Fritz Box Office; (701) 777-4090.

The cast features Matt Berdahl, Haley Anne Boyd, Daniel Dutot, Justin Heim, Paul Vonasek and Daniel Walstad. The ensemble includes Lori Boucher, Emily Burkland, Amy Driscoll, Tomas Grande, Michelle McCauley, Ken McGurran, Sue Moe, Cody Oss, Tyler Rood, Casey Smith, Daniel Wiebusch and Emily Wirkus. Katia Bryleva and Kathryne Kitchen are dancers; Jenny Morris and Amanda Zimmerman are showgirls. Chris Berg is director.

Rating: PG-13 for ribald humor, sensuality and some language.

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.

Leave a comment

Help, I’ve fallen into a book and I can’t get out

Posted on August 3, 2010 by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above: A promotion for the movie "The Pillars of the Earth," now showing on Starz, based on Ken Follett’s best-selling blockbuster book.)

At the present time I am captive to the pleasure and pain of a book that’s hard to put down. To those of us who love to read, there’s almost no pleasure as satisfying as discovering a big, juicy, storyspinning book. The pain comes when we have to put it down to make dinner, go to work or answer nature’s call. 

The book is "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, about the building of a medieval cathedral in a village in England. It was published in 1989 but has been so popular that it’s never been out of print.

I bought the book last week because I’d seen an advertisement in Entertainment Weekly magazine for the "The Pillars of the Earth," an eight-part movie on Starz starring Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Mcfadyen, Natalia Worner and Hayley Atwell. It premiered on July 23.

"Pillars" is a HUGE book, and I’ve been reading at night until I can’t keep my eyes open and then reaching for it to read some more each morning as I eat my Honey Nut Crunch. Back in my late teens and early 20s, I used to read Michener and other epic authors. About 15 years ago, I began reading Diana Gabaldon’s huge time-bending, continent-jumping Outlander Series but gave her up after her fifth book, "The Fiery Cross," which was such a hot mess, it was embarassing. Otherwise, it’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a book of this size, scope and ambition.

At its heart, "The Pillars of the Earth" is a soap opera, that is to say, a story about people and their relationships and how their lives are shaped and formed not only by their own actions but by happenstance and fate, luck and accident, even by the anger of a jilted groom. There’s Tom the Builder (Sewell), whose wandering, homeless family is often inches from starvation but who dreams of building a cathedral. There’s Aliena (Atwell), the smart, beautiful and beloved daughter of a nobleman (Sutherland) whose father’s political troubles cause her disgrace and rape and who has to figure out a new way to survive. There’s Prior Philip, who wants his monastery and the cathedral he intends to build to reflect the glory of God.

Martha Jewett, a literary agent and editorial consultant specializing in business books, blogs for "Psychology Today." Here’s what she wrote about "Pillars" as part of an article entitled, "The Resurgence of the Doorstopper."

"(‘The Pillars of the Earth) developed a cult following and sold through word of mouth. Ken Follett did an incredible amount of research in order to write the book. He says people tell him it’s the best book they’ve ever read, the only book of his they say that about. Being an Oprah’s Pick didn’t hurt, and the Oprah’s Book Club Deluxe Edition (2007) has sold over a million copies. It’s unusual for a book this old to still sell, but the paperback ‘still sells about 100,000 copies a year,’ says Follett."

"Pillars" has a sequel, called "World Without End." If you’re interested, Google Ken Follett and or "The Pillars of the Earth" Starz website for more info about the book and movie.

Follett’s next "doorstopper," Jewett says, will be "Fall of Giants," the first novel in his trilogy "Century" series, for which he got a reported $50 million advance. "Fall of Giants" will be 1,008 pages and is scheduled for release in September. Jewett says it starts in 1911 and is about the destinies of five interrelated families — one American, one Russian, one German, one English, and one Welsh — and the earth-shattering events of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter for the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.

Tagged , | Leave a comment

Get ready for “The Producers”

Posted on August 2, 2010 by

 

Paul Vonasek as Max and Matt Berdahl as Leo in "The Producers," set to open Tuesday (8/3) at the Empire in Grand Forks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crimson Creek Players is about to launch its second and final show of the summer, the musical "The Producers." Directed by Chris Berg, the show will open at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (8/3) at Empire Arts Center and run through Saturday, with a second week of shows from Aug. 10-14.

I have never seen "The Producers" on stage. But I did see Crimson’s first summer show, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," as well Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre’s version of "Forever Plaid" earlier this summer — and based on those performances, my expectations for "The Producers" are pretty high.

In some ways, this has seemed like kind of a funny summer theater season for Grand Forks. A couple of actors that I’ve enjoyed watching on stage for years are doing other things and haven’t been around this season. I miss Misti Koop, Darin Kerr, Jared Kinney and Debra Berger, to name a few. I know they’re all busy with other projects and I wish them well.

However, there are some "new" faces on the scene, as well as returning local actors, who have been filling the gap quite nicely. For instance: Paul Vonasek and Matt Berdahl play Max and Leo, two of the main characters in "The Producers," and they both were part of the wonderful and very entertaining cast of "Spelling Bee." Paul isn’t exactly new. He grew up in East Grand Forks, where he acted in many productions at Senior High School, including "The Nerd" and "You Can’t Take It With You."

Berdahl was raised in Moorhead and has been active in theater and music all of his life, according to his website. He graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a B.A. in theatre arts, and has performed with the The Straw Hat Players, The National Theatre for Children, Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre and more.

"The Producers" also will introduce to Grand Forks theater-goers Justin Heim, who graduated from high school in Bismarck and attends North Dakota State University. Earlier this year, my daughter, son-in-law and our friend Ainsley went to see NDSU’s production of the musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" in Fargo. Justin was funny and gorgeous in this show in his role (played in drag) as one of the courtesons of the house of Lycus. In "The Producers," Heim will play Carmen Ghia, the "common-law assistant" to Daniel Walstad’s character, the flamboyant director Max and Leo hire for their terrible play, "Springtime for Hitler."

Grand Forks native Daniel Dutot also is part of the "The Producers" cast, starring as the author of the show "Springtime for Hitler." He’s been acting in shows and musicals since he was a boy, for Red River High School and Summer Performing Arts, and for Frost Fire Theatre at Walhalla, N.D., ("Les Miserables"), Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre and Crimson Creek ("Dracula," "I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change" and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee").

Dutot also had a leading role in the NDSU production "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." He was outstanding as Miles Gloriosus, the captain coming to get a wife from the house of Lycus. He’s a man with no problems whatever in the self-esteem department.

Tickets to "The Producers" are $18 and $15 and are available at the Chester Fritz box office, call (701) 777-4090.

And, in case you missed it when I blogged about it last week, Tuesday night (8/3), opening night, will feature (beginning at 7 p.m.) a special "Boas and Bowties" event. Wear cocktail attire or black tie dress and enjoy refreshments and a cash bar. People wearing their "boas" and/or "bowties" who walk up Tuesday night to purchase tickets will get a discount.

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D. 

Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Five things on TV I don’t care about

Posted on August 1, 2010 by

Five things on TV I don’t care about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Heidi Montag files for divorce from Spencer Pratt. Montag began dating Pratt while filming MTV’s reality show “The Hills” and the couple’s April 2009 wedding was featured on the show. If there is any more egregious example on television of the true hideousness of the reality show subculture, it is this worthless pair of fame whores.

2. Who will be the new judge (or judges) on “American Idol” now that Simon Cowell AND Ellen DeGeneres have both called it quits? This show remains a huge starmaker, even though its ratings have slipped a bit. Strangely, I still don’t care.

3. MTV’s "Jersey Shore" season 2 premiere was the top cable telecast of 2010 with viewers aged 12 to 34 with about 5.3 million viewers tuning in. On a related note, Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was arrested in Seaside Heights, N.J. and is expected to be charged with disorderly conduct for being drunk in public. Isn’t the whole premise of the show that everyone on it is constantly drunk in public? I remember attending college in the 1970s – "Jersey Shore" is pretty much like that, except for more fake tans, fake boobs and fake muscles.

4. Former Roseanne star Sara Gilbert — currently working on the drama "Hawthorne" — comes out as a lesbian. Yawn.

5. More "Kardashian" sisters about to cash in on the family brand. Kendall Jenner, 14, does a racy bikini shoot at the beach, and Kylie Jenner, 12, makes her modeling debut with Sears. They are the youngest of Kris Kardashian Jenner’s offspring and younger half-sisters of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian. First, why are we calling Kendall and Kylie "Kardashians"? They are Jenners. Second, isn’t this family already generating enough revenue by exploiting itself on TV and tabloids in every way possible? And I thought it was gross when Kourtney gave Khloe a bikini wax live on "Khloe and Kourtney Take Miami."

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.

Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tom Brosseau’s latest musical endeavors

Posted on July 31, 2010 by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Forks native and internationally touring singer/songwriter Tom Brosseau has a new album set to be released Sept. 6. "Les Shelleys" is the project of Brosseau and Angela Correa, who have been singing together since 2002.

Les Shelleys will be releasing a full-length record on Fat Cat in the U.S. and United Kingdom, a news release said. The self-titled record is comprised of 12 songs, "each track being plucked right from the baskets of yester year and -century."

The first single "Rum & Coca Cola/ Green Door" is available now. All you have to do is click

http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=326/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brosseau graduated from Grand Forks Red River High School in 1995 and from UND in 1999. During his UND years, he was a regular performer in the now-defunct Westward Ho. He’s performed in Grand Forks a couple of times in recent years. My favorite performance remains the January 2007 show he did with violinist Hilary Hahn and Adam Levy of the Honeydogs at the Empire.

According to its website, Les Shelleys are an acoustic guitar/vocal duo. Correa, Brosseau’s singing partner, is better known as the indie-pop singer/songwriter Correatown.

Their self-titled album, a collection of tracks taken from a vast body of recorded works — beautiful, harmony-heavy voice and guitar arrangements of American standards and folk traditionals from various points of the last century.

Introduced and encouraged in 2002 by California-based songwriter/film-maker Gregory Page, Brosseau and Correa began with a repertoire of Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Sister Tharpe, and gave themselves a few months to explore vocal ranges, harmonic combinations and how best to tread a path taken by several decades of musicians before them.

The “Americanised calypso” popularised by the Andrews Sisters "Rum and Coca Cola" here is dulcet like a lullaby, but swaying like its tropical origins, a news release says. "Tom begins, acoustic guitar and his flooring singing voice wrapped around the gorgeous melody, before Angela joins for the chorus and the pair tap gently together as their two voices harmonize sweetly."

"Green Door," originally written by Bob Davie and Marvin Moore in 1956, and covered by (among others) Shakin’ Stevens and The Cramps, is entirely a capella under Les Shelleys’ direction. Tom and Angela allow a focus on the purity and sweetness of their intermixed voices. "Tapping into those inherently romantic and tender qualities of vocal harmonies that serve pop and folk music so well, an instantly likeable, charming personality is given to a time-tested composition," a news release says.

Incredibly, these tracks (along with the rest of the album) were recorded by Tom and Angela in the former’s Los Angles villa using a minidisc recorder and a battery-powered microphone set up on the kitchen table. The results are a close, intimate set of recordings that bring the listener into that kitchen – as, Tom writes, standing “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Les Shelleys, “breathing the same air of the room”.

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.

Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Folky guitarist Charlie Parr

Posted on July 30, 2010 by

 

Charlie Parr

 

 

 

Folk, Americana and roots musician Charlie Parr of Duluth will bring his guitar and his traditional style to Grand Forks at 6 p.m. Tuesday for the next show in the North Dakota Museum of Art Concert in the Garden series.

This will be a return engagement for Parr, who also played for the concert series last year. Matt Wallace, one of the NDMOA employees who plans and organizes the concert series, said Parr has a big and eclectic following.

I’ve been listing to his music online and its intriguing to say the least. It’s music from the backwoods, with the smell of the whiskey still, and the stench of the hogkill, wrapped in old-time religion and stories of hobos and others at the bottom of the social echelon. Take a look and listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPUz9tPZboI&feature=related/

Parr plays original and traditional folk and Piedmont-style blues, accompanying himself on National resonator guitars, 12-string guitar and sometimes a banjo. He’s released six cd’s, 3 of which are still available, the latest of which is called “Roustabout” and contains something like 14 tracks of original and traditional folk music recorded in true monophonic sound.

If you come to see Parr, bring a lawn chair or blanket and take a place in the Museum’s sculpture garden. There will be hamburgers and bratwurst on the grill, plus root beer floats, beer and wine for purchase. Tickets will be $7. My Two Toms, a duo from the UK, will open the show.

 

The scene at one of the Concerts in the Garden at North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks.

 

The 2010 season of Concerts in the Garden is underwritten by Summit Brewing Company. Sponsors are Canad Inns Destination Center and HB Sound and Light. Supporters are El Roco Bottleshop, Bar and Grill;
Rite Spot Liquor Store, Inc.; and Sanders 1907 Restaurant.

Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter for the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.

Tagged , | Leave a comment