Sicko

This week I am going to take an opportunity to write about a genre in the arts which I have not written about in my blog previously and that is film. This past week for biology extra credit I rented the movie Sicko which was nominate for an Academy Award for best documentary last night. The movie was extremely disturbing!!! I always had an idea that the health care situation in this country was dire for people who do not have money, however, this movie truly brought the problem to life for me. The movie made me physically ill right from its inception when I has to watch someone sewing up their own leg. To hear the prices that some of these people who do no have health care would have to pay truly disturbed me. I come from a very comfortable middle class family and I know that if we did not have health care we would not be able to pay for many of these things seen in the movie so there is no way that people who do not have money could pay for them. It was also disturbing to see that so many people in need were being turned away and made me feel like the people working for the insurance companies in a way were playing G-d. If there is a way to help people live it would make sense for others to want to help. The current state of our healthcare therefore is awful. Healthcare should help anyone and everyone not just those who the insurance companies pick. I also had no idea of what Hillary Clinton was trying to do all those years ago. Although I am not a big fan of hers on many issues she truly has won my vote for healthcare. She knows how many people truly need help and she wants to help them. Maybe her ideas are the solution to our problems but to be honest I sadly do not see healthcare for profit going away anytime soon. I just cannot believe all of those painful stories of unnecessary death and pain because healthcare has turned into a game of profit.

The Wedding Singer

OMG OMG you guys as Elle Woods would say in Legally Blonde the musical. After flopping on Broadway I had absolutely no interest what so ever in seeing The Wedding Singer. All I ever heard was how awful it was. This past September I remember Ms. Katharine Gensch telling me how amazing the show was. I was practically laughing at her because of all the awful reviews I have heard. Despite my feelings I decided to give the show a chance this past weekend when it came to the Orpheum. This musical was so incredible I cannot even begin to tell you. It was just like the movie which I loved in the first place. I have been singing the music nonstop all day because the songs were just so much fun and enjoyable. There were no humungous show stoppers per say, however, I still cannot get any of the songs out of my head because they were so fun and exciting and a lot of them came of the actual movie. I am SO SO SO glad that Katharine talked me into giving this amazing show a chance because it made my week, my month, and maybe even my year! Something I also thought was awesome about the show was the price. It only cost $20, $100 less than I usually pay for a very similarly show in terms of quality in New York. However, for that show I would have paid $120. I also was quite amazed with the extreme talent I saw up on that stage considering all of the people were no names. This gives me hope that someday I will be up there entertaining people in such an incredible fashion.

Daytons Dancin it Up

This past Friday the Dayton Dance Company came to Memphis to perform for our wonderful Memphis audeince. I have seen lots of professional dancing before between movies, Broadway shows, and even going to live ballets but this was the first time I had ever done to a modern dance live performance. I have to say without a doubt it was pretty damn cool. I mean to see people able to make those incredible motions with their bodies is something that is very hgihly commendable. I am lucky to get back up whenever I bend over and that is harldy an exaggeration. I also had an epiphany about the story that dance is supposed to tell. It is not that dance is supposed to portray a certain story but more of an emotion. Unless you know the story coming into it or read the synopsis in the program there is no way to know exactly what is going on, however, the dancer's bodies allow for the audience to see and feel what the dancer is feeling and experinecing. Once the synopsis is read or te strory is already know it truly faciliates the audience member's ability to understand exactly what is going on right as it is happening. I also think is a very awesome thing that professional performing arts companies in general go on tour. By going on tour the incredible art that these people make it Dayton, Ohio can be seen all throughout the country and maybe even the world because it would be rather expensive for everyon to have to go to Dayton to see them. I am sos glad I got to experiences the art of these incredible dancers and I am looking forward to more art this week/ weekend.

My Turn to be on Stage

This past Saturday the Rhodes Singers had the opportunity to perform Carl Jenkins's "Armed Man Mass" for the second time. The first time it was performed was this past fall at Idlewild Presbyterian Church here in Midtown. The concert was such a tremendous success that we invited to perform it a second time this past weekend to culminate a conference they were having at Idlewild. This concert like the first one knocked out the audience. It was a combination of the mastery of Perkins' writing, the talent of the Rhodes Singers and the powerful sounds honked out by the professional musicians in the orchestra we had. The work is a full mass dedicated to the ideal of peace for everyone all around the world. The Rhodes Singers were supposed to have the opportunity of a life time this summer and perform this work in Russia but because of Dr. Sharp's incredible promotion (which makes us all very sad) our trip was cancelled. I am truly glad we were able to perform the piece for a second time. It was also quite awesome that hundreds and hundreds of people attended out concert. To see the expression those people had after we were able to show them our incredible art was priceless. The next big performance for the Rhodes Singers will be this coming March when we will be joined by the Master Singers as well as the Women's Chorus to perform the incredibly challenging Bach B minor mass. I am very much looking forward to this performance! And all I have to say is that if you did not get a chance to see our performance this past week you truly missed out on something magical!