Lincoln Play Festival Announcement!

Okay, now that I've been informed that actors auditioned for roles in my play this week, I am finally confident enough to officially announce about my newest one-act.

Juergen Tossmann of Bunbury Theatre was kind enough to ask me, along with two other local playwrights (Nancy Gall-Clayton and Dirk Griffin), to contribute new works for an upcoming play festival. (Juergen himself has written a fourth play.) I enthusiastically said yes. After all, Juergen produced my first play at Bunbury as part of their tenth anniversary festival way back in 1995, at my wee age of 21. The festival's theme is pretty clever: not only is it celebrating Bunbury's 23rd anniversary (has it really been 13 years since last time??), but it's a tribute for the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln. So, all the plays deal in some way with ol' Abe, and are roughly 23 minutes long.

I don't want to say too much about my play Occasional Poisonings from the Kitchen, except to mention it involves both Mr. Lincoln and the second president to be assassinated, James Garfield . . .

. . . so you'll have to attend the festival to find out the rest.

The Honest Abe 23-Minute Play Festival

Bunbury Theatre

February 5-8, 11-15, and 18-22, 2009

Call 585-5306 for ticket information

I'm incredibly excited to be part of the festival, and can't thank Mr. Tossmann enough for giving me another opportunity to have a play staged at Bunbury.

Quick Reviews: TDK and DMB

Finally saw The Dark Knight at the end of July. It's hard to add anything new to say to all the critics, but in short, I loved it. Ledger is guaranteed an Oscar nod, if not a win, for his incredible performance. However, this may be the first "superhero" movie that has a chance to get nominations across the board, especially for Nolan as director. It's that good.

On August 1, April and I finally saw Slugger Field for the first time when we went to see the Dave Matthews Band, with Willie Nelson (!) opening. The first and only time I've seen either one was, coincidentally, at the same venue -- Live Aid, Cardinal Stadium, 1995. Nelson, as always, is a pleasure to see and hear -- a man who loves music and still has the same genuine, emotive voice all these years later. We missed the first few minutes of his set, but got there in time to hear all the classics. (Tell me, how can "Always On My Mind" not be in your top 10 greatest love songs ever?)

Now, DMB and I have an interesting relationship. When I heard "What Would You Say?" in 1994, grunge was midway through its heydey and I had only graduated a few years prior. I thought it was an okay song, and appreciated their musicianship and the catchy hooks of their subsequent singles, but at the time I never really got why people were such ecstatic fans. I certainly never picked up any of their CDs at the time.

But -- not long after "WWYS," actually -- I met and began dating April. And April has always been a HUGE fan of DMB. So after repeated spins in the player, my appreciation grew into a genuine respect, then a warm fondness.

As I said, I went and saw DMB in 1995, but that was enough for me. While April saw them a few times over the years I was quite content to stay at home while she went with a friend. (Quick shout-out to Doug, photographer of Lollygagged and Flannel Flogged.) But by the time DMB announced their Slugger Field concert, I really was interested in going.

Thank God I did. It was an amazing show, not least because Tim Reynolds sat in on lead guitar (Dave's solo albums Live at Luther College and Live at Radio City are favorites of mine cuz of Tim). Blistering playing by all, energetic band chemistry that you could feel in every note. I was disappointed only that they didn't play "Bartender," "When the World Ends," "Don't Drink the Water," or "Crash." On the other hand, they played fantastic covers of "Burning Down the House" and "Sledgehammer," Willie jammed with the band on "Gravedigger," and the concert was nearly three hours long, so it's hard to complain.

I left converted to the religion of DMB. It just took me 14 years. Oh, and BTW: get better soon, LeRoi.

The set list from the night, courtesy of the band's road crew website:
One Sweet World *
Seek Up *
Everyday *
Grey Street *
Gravedigger *+
Eh Hee *
Corn Bread *
Burning Down The House *
Sleep To Dream Her *
Two Step *
Out Of My Hands ~
#41 *
You Might Die Trying *
Sledgehammer *
Dancing Nancies *
Anyone Seen The Bridge *
Too Much Intro *
Ants Marching *

Encore:
Pantala Naga Pampa *
Rapunzel *
Stay (Wasting Time) *

Show Notes:
* with Jeff Coffin
+ with Willie Nelson
~ No Horns, Dave on piano

An Interstellar Plant and a few quick reviews

I mentioned Yew Dell Gardens in a previous post. We bought a family membership, and on a recent trip, I took a few pictures. Thought I'd share.

Apparently, the plant life also includes a famous spaceship captain.

The hand sculpture is called "Man and Technology" by Don Lawler. It's one of my favorite pieces of art from their recent show.

Quick movie reviews:

WALL-E. Saw this with Ayla and April. Some of the things were a bit above my four year old's head, but she enjoyed it. True, it doesn't hide its "save the planet" parable, but if there's a moral worth smacking us across the face, this one would be it. Have to admit, misted up at the ending. Only Pixar could make a love story about robots so moving.

HELLBOY II. I can't decide on this one. I was aware of the Hellboy comic when I was younger, but never read it, so I saw the first movie from the perspective of a clean slate. I enjoyed it enough to buy the director's cut/set on DVD when it came out. For the sequel, it concentrates more on character relationships (something I always appreciate); Ron Perlman seems to be having a blast again, and Del Toro has the market cornered on fantastical creatures that fill up every portion of the screen. But some of the fight scenes and plot devices (such as the "three piece crown" MacGuffin) felt more perfunctory than the shenanigans of the first film. I'd still recommend it to fans of the first film, and the ending definitely intrigues me for what they might do in a third Hellboy film.

Didn't get to the Caped Crusader this weekend.....next weekend at the latest.

Yew Dell

My wife, daughter, mother-in-law and I recently visited Yew Dell Gardens, and I had to mention it in a post.

Full disclosure: I have to admit, I'm not the biggest outdoorsy kind of guy. I've camped all of once, and that was as a Cub Scout -- in a tent, in a backyard, fifty feet from the nearest indoor plumbing facility. It doesn't help that I'm so fair skinned the reflection off a set of clean teeth would probably sunburn me.

However, I've always loved the beauty of outside -- a beach, a waterfall, a tall tree, the color of leaves in the fall when I visit my grandfather in Columbia, Kentucky. I enjoy a good hike in Bernheim (and their new visitor's center is an amazing example of Green architecture, BTW). I'm certainly fan of all things that slither, creep, lope, or crawl. At some point, however, I need running water and air conditioning. Nature is a great place to visit, but I don't want to live there.

That said, Yell Gardens is one of the few places that feels so unbelievably peaceful, I regretted having to leave. Beautiful landscaping, some interesting buildings (including a "castle" that my daughter emphatically told us belongs to Cinderella), and (at least until the end of July) a display of dozens of intriguing art sculptures. If you've never been, go take a visit. It does cost a few bucks ($7 per adult; they also have membership choices), but it's worth it.

In other bits of interest:

Counting down the days until this movie.

Finished my first draft of my play, and turned it in to the producer. Once it's officially accepted I'll announce the details. (Yep, my name is already on their website, but I want to make sure he's happy before I presume I'm in their festival.)

adamwatson.org Relaunch

Firstly, Jackpot Tiger's website is finished and updated.

As promised (or warned), my internet facelifting continues on my personal site. As before, I have some glitches and typos to check and fix, but otherwise it's good to go. I ended up keeping nearly all of the Showcase writing and Press information (although I had to fix a few broken links), but I did drop the old archive of "News" pages from the server, and deleted most of the previous site's pictures. My blog -- the current way I post news -- is now two years old, so I don't really see a need to keep a news archive older than that. In terms of pictures, I now use this blog to frequently post images. I might need a few more new shots on the site, but I think the older pics were starting to get . . . well, old. And cluttery.

Congrats to producer and artistic director Juergen Tossmann! Louisville Magazine had a new category in their 23rd annual Best of Louisville awards: Best Small Theater Company. According to its readers, Bunbury Theatre was the best place for Kentuckiana adults to see drama and scored third overall (behind Blue Apple Players and Walden Theatre, both for young people). Considering the other well-known groups in the area, that's quite an achievement.

Find the good news on page 57 of the July 2008 issue.

And more official news next week on that play festival . . .

Words to remember...

Politically, I am usually pretty mild in my posts for this blog. That said (and to no surprise to those who know me), I've never hid the fact that I would be considered on the liberal side of the spectrum.

While waiting on a person to measure our living room for new carpet, I was watching Judgment at Nuremberg (1961, directed by Stanley Kramer). It's not the first time I've seen it; I always remember it as a moving film, with some wonderful performances by a slew of legends (Spencer Tracey, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Witmark, Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster). Today, however, Tracey's "decision of the court" speech slammed me into the back of the couch. It's a combination of incredible acting, well-written monologue, and prescient fat to chew for our modern day world. Here's an excerpt:


"Heir Rolfe further asserts that the defendant, Janning, was an extraordinary jurist and acted in what he thought was the best interest of this country. There is truth in this also. Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture . . . by the Government of which he was a part. . . . [T]his trial has shown that under a national crisis, ordinary -- even able and extraordinary -- men can delude themselves into the commission of crimes so vast and heinous that they beggar the imagination. . . .
There are those in our own country too who today speak of the 'protection of country' -- of 'survival.' A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient -- to look the other way.
Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what?' A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult!
Before the people of the world, let it now be noted that here, in our decision, this is what we stand for: justice, truth, and the value of a single human being."


A clip of the speech is here. (AmericanRhetoric.com is a wonderful resource, by the way -- in fact, I've used it for the classroom.)

Everyone better vote in November. Everyone.

Jackpot Tiger 2.0 Launches!

So I'm trying to upload an updated webpages to Jackpot Tiger, reflecting a few things that have happened this year -- including the play festival announcemnt I mentioned in my last blog entry -- when I find out that my internet service provider has a new user-friendly website creator.


I guess it was time for a reboot anyway.


Check out Jackpot Tiger's new look. It's 85% complete -- I still need to upload a few pictures and fix some formatting errors -- but it does look more polished. Eventually, my own site will get an facelift as well. The only problem is deciding what to upload and what to retire, in terms of content (particularly in the Showcase and Press sections).