GUYS & DAMES

JTC's Gunmetal Blues a sharp, funny musical homage to film noir

Say, pal, you got a yen for film noir? (And I mean everything from The Maltese Falcon to Detour, to Chinatown.) Then you should beat it over to Gunmetal Blues, the Jewel Theatre Company's fast, frisky, and funny musical homage to the genre, playing for two more weeks at the Center Stage in downtown Santa Cruz.

It's a simple story about a world-weary gumshoe, a mysterious dame, and, um, a guy in a tux playing piano throughout, a one-man Greek chorus commenting on the action. The private eye investigates a murder case involving a veritable sea of blondes, in a milieu bursting with deliciously crisp tough-guy dialogue and dynamic songs—jazzy, blues, anthems—that keep the story percolating along.

It's a three-person show, and the performers are terrific. Christopher Reber anchors the story as detective Sam Galahad, a rumpled knight in a trenchcoat with a pesky addiction to ferreting out the truth. Reber's Sam is a soulful Everyman who  can sell a song as persuasively as he bites off a line like, "Suddenly the room smelled of stale perfume and shattered dreams."

Lee Ann Payne is excellent as the story's four blondes—an ingenue, a classy femme fatale, a nightclub floozy in a spangled red dress, and a bag lady. With her powerhouse singing voice, Payne makes the most of each incarnation, from the chanteuse's wry and clever "The Blonde Song," to the bag lady's poignant ballad.

But Brent Schindele is the real scene-stealer. As piano-playing lounge act, Buddy Toupee, not only does he provide onstage accompaniment for the show's entire song cycle, along with various incidental music cues throughout, he also springs off the piano bench to double for whatever other male characters the story requires—a half-bright doorman, an Irish cop, a gangster, a chauffeur—all with appropriate accents.

Did I mention that he also sings? Schindele has a big, confident voice, whether jauntily hawking his "Buddy Toupee—Live!" CD between acts, or harmonizing with the others in various intricate duets. The two big numbers where all three players sing together, "Don't Know What I Expected," and especially  "Childhood Days," are show-stoppers.

Gunmetal Blues was written by Scott Wentworth (acclaimed for his recent work with Shakespeare Santa Cruz), with music by Craig Bohmler, and lyrics by Marion Adler; they put the project together back when all three were working with Stratford Shakespeare Company in Ontario, Canada, as a vehicle for themselves. It must be as much fun to perform as it is to watch. My favorite lines of hard-boiled dialogue (scribbled in the dark) are, "(She had) a mouth that would have sent Shakespeare thumbing through a Thesaurus," and the instant classic, "I checked into a hotel where the desk clerk is blind and you sign your name in invisible ink."

The JTC production, crisply paced by director Tom Gough, makes fluid use of Ron Gasparinetti's spare set—a grand piano in one corner, defining the Red Eye Lounge, and a table and a couple of chairs opposite, for Sam's office and every other interior space. And kudos to Mark Hopkins' lighting design, especially the kaleidoscope of pulsating colors when Sam gets sapped from behind, or someone slips him a mickey.

Gunmetal Blues only plays eight more performances, Thursdays—Sundays through November 18, so don't miss out! Click here for tickets and info.

HOOK-WINKED

Okay, I love Captain Hook so much I wrote a novel about him. (Alias Hook, coming soon to a bookstore near you.) But tossing the character into the chaotic mosh pit that the TV series Once Upon A Time has become hasn't done nearly enough to improve the gene pool in terms of story.

The Irish actor playing him, Colin O'Donoghue, is sexy enough. (Although if you've read your Barrie, you know that Mr. Smee, the bosun, is the Irishman; Hook is pure Etonian-bred English.) O'Donoghue would likely rise to the occasion if the writers gave him anything interesting to do.

But, no. After one brief episode that took place at least partially aboard ship, now Hook is landlocked on the Island of Lost Toys, or wherever it is where half the cast is segregated this season, wandering around with the rest of the superfluous characters—Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Snow White, Lancelot (Lancelot? I thought these were fairy tale characters)—in search of a plot.

And—most egregiously of all—last week they introduced the Frankenstein monster, in the person (at least, the cadaver) of Regina's lost, reanimated stableboy lover. It must have been some kind of Halloween thing; the reanimation sequence was even in black-and-white, performed by a doctor called "Whale." (But if you want a truly clever homage to the classic James Whale movie, go see Frankenweenie).

The weirdest thing about the Hook subplot (and I use the term "plot" in the loosest possible sense) was the backstory establishing his enmity with Robert Carlyle's Mr. Gold. Each is responsible for depriving the other of the woman he loved, which suggests a tedious and prolonged grudge match of vengeance between the two of them if Hook ever gets out of Purgatory. And just so we get the point, Mr. Gold, in his sorcerous Dark Lord persona, is the one who cuts off Hook's hand, equating him in the storyline with—yes—the Crocodile.  (They even call him "Crocodile" in the episode.)

Carlyle remains the best (possibly only) reason to watch the show. But, seriously, give a guy a break! They've already got him playing Rumplestiltskin, the Dark Lord, Beast (in the Beauty and the Beast subplot), and now the Crocodile. How long can he be expected to carry the show all by himself? Talk about the hardest-working man in showbiz!

INSISTENT KARMA

Who will win the Best Makeup award at next year's Oscar festivities? You can bet on the talented team from Cloud Atlas, the ambitious, visionary saga of love, loss, greed, slavery, and redemption through the ages, co-written and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer.

Not only does this intrepid crew remake recognizable actors into various characters in various timelines, it often radically alters an actors' age, ethnicity and gender into the bargain.

The ease with which Asian and Caucasian, male and female, black and white switch roles throughout the film puts Cloud Atlas at risk of becoming a stunt movie, an elaborate game of spot-the-actor. OMG, it's Tom Hanks as that foul-mouthed skinhead British author. There's Halle Berry as a futuristic (male) lab tech with a gearshift for an eye. And isn't that Hugh Grant in tribal war paint? But the movie is rich (some might say dense) enough in ideas, plot, characters, and themes to keep us engaged.

Adapted from the 2004 novel by David Mitchell, the film presents six interwoven stories in different styles and settings (Victorian-era seafaring adventure, neo-noir thriller, industrialized future, post-apocalyptic tribalism, etc). Some civil rights groups are blasting the film for putting non-Asian actors in "yellowface" in a segment set in futuristic Korea (although Asian actresses Doona Bae,  Xun Zhou, and Zhu Zhu also turn up in non-Asian roles in other segments).

But having the same actors play diverse roles across five centuries of civilization also enhances the central motif of humanity facing the same moral, romantic and political issues, over and over again, in every era, where, as one character says, "the smallest crime or kindness" can have unknowable repercussions throughout the ages.

Transitions back and forth between the stories are often ingenious, and overall, the filmmaking is dynamic, despite a few too many vehicle chases and shootouts. And I would have liked more genuine emotional resonance amid all the flash and dazzle.

But here's the, er, bottom line for me: at nearly three hours in length, does the movie pass the butt test? It did for me. No squirming, no checking my watch, I was interested in the stories throughout. And how often do you see a movie any more that you can talk about for hours later? (Read more)

SOUNDS of SILENTS

New Music Works launched its 34th Season last week with another live music program built around vintage silent films. This is a great idea pioneered last year with the NMW presentation of the beautifully restored 1926 Art Deco classic, Metropolis, accompanied by a terrific new score written for the film and conducted by NMW Artistic Director Phil Collins

This year, the film of choice was the weirdly haunting 1919 German Expressionist masterpiece, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's a wildly inventive piece of filmmaking for its day, with its surreal, hand-painted sets, and cadaverous, yet sympathetic "somnambulist" forced to do the bidding of the evil "Herr Doktor," who belatedly discovers a will and conscience of his own. And it's always a treat to see it on a big screen.

It was also a treat to have composer Richard Marriott in the house, whose original 1987 score for Caligari was performed live by NMW at this screening. Maestro Collins introduced Marriott from the stage, who spoke about his work with The Club Foot Orchestra (a Bay Area ensemble highly esteemed for composing and performing live scores to accompany vintage silent films), and how he came to write the Caligari score, after channel-hopping upon the movie one night on Channel 9.

Also on the program was the surreal 1927 short film Ghosts Before Breakfast, by DaDaist Hans Richter, accompanied by the largely percussive and playful 1982 piece, "Revenge Before Breakfast," by Henry Bryant.

The experimental 1944 silent short, At Land, directed by and featuring Maya Deren, rounded out the bill, an evocative piece in which a female (nymph? spirit?) appears to crawl out of the sea and slither into a swanky dinner party. Despite the composer credit for John Cage in the program, the 15-minute film was accompanied by dead  silence. Lucky for me, Art Boy knows something about 20th Century music and explained it was an homage to a famous Cage composition, "4:33," which consists of four-and-a-half minutes of silence. But I wonder how many other audience members didn't get the joke, which was never alluded to from the stage.

In fact, there could be more acknowledgement of the audience in general from the stage. It would be nice if Collins or someone else from NMW came out to welcome the audience and thank them for their support at the start of the program. It could even be an amplified voice from offstage, just a little touch of showmanship to let people know the show is about to begin.

Pairing up avant garde film and music is a productive idea I hope NMW continues to explore in the future. With a little tightening up in the presentation department, consider the possibilities!

NUTRAGEOUS

Funny script, extreme blood, in genre satire 'Seven Psychopaths'


Irish playwright Martin McDonagh made quite a splash—albeit a bloody one—with his first feature, the brilliant, brutal, scathingly funny, fiercely moral In Bruges.

The good news is he's back with more boys behaving badly in Seven Psychopths. The bad news is, it's no In Bruges.

Still, even almost-there McDonagh is better, smarter, and funnier than your average bear. This time, the story concerns an Irish filmmaker named Martin in Hollywood, trying to write a new screenplay. It's not exactly McDonagh's 8 1/2; it's more like his Alex In Wonderland, a well-intentioned and often entertaining sophomore effort that doesn't always hit all its marks.

As self-referential to its genre as a Scream movie, its film-within-a-film format allows McDonagh to deconstruct the crime/buddy/gangster thriller, and point out all its clichés and weaknesses, while trading on them shamelessly. The degree of bloodletting is utterly absurdist, but the character comedy is still funny, even if it lacks the cohesion and moral force of its predecessor.

Colin Farrell plays the blocked screenwriter as a wary, wide-eyed Everyman. (His eyebrows alone deserve their own Oscar.) His job is to play straight man to a looney-tunes cast that includes Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, and Christopher Walken, who is extra terrific as the movie's weary, tattered soul. (Read more)

CREEP SHOW

Silent movie fans, unite!

One of the most spellbinding, eeriest, and earliest proto-horror films ever, The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, is coming to town this week. Here's your chance to see it on a big, big screen at the Rio, Friday night, at the kickoff event for New Music Works' 34th season, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: A Live Soundtrack Experience.

Robert Weine's 1919 German Expressionistic masterpiece concerns a demented carnival fortune-teller who keeps a sleepwalking somnambulist in a permanent trance-like state to do his evil bidding. Breathtakingly bizarre visuals include moody chiaroscuro lighting, and menacing forced-perspective interiors and exteriors, which add to the sense of haunting weirdness. 

Conrad Veidt (later to play suave Nazi villains in American films like Casablanca) is strangely poignant as the fragile, reed-thin, hollow-eyed somnambulist, Cesare. Not a monster himself, he's manipulated in monstrous ways by his keeper, sinister Dr. Caligari (the scenery-chewing Werner Krauss).

Still, the shots of Cesare, all in black, creeping like a shadowy spider along the walls of Walter Reimann's surreal dreamscape of a set are among the most indelible images in all of horror cinema. I get chills just thinking about it!

At Friday's event, the 51-minute film is accompanied by an original music score by contemporary Bay Area composer Richard Marriot, performed live by the NMW Ensemble under the baton of Artistic Director Phil Collins.

Also on the bill is Ghosts Before Breakfast, a surreal 1927 short by Dadaist filmmaker/artist Hans Richter, accompanied by the composition "Revenge Before Breakfast" (1982) by Henry Brant, and At Land (1944), an experimental short by Maya Deren, featuring Deren and John Cage, accompanied by the composition "John Cage, 4:33" (1952). The NMW ensemble will also perform Erik Satie's 1920 composition, "Furniture Music." Complete program begins at 8 pm.

If you remember last year's NMW presentation of another silent, classic, Metropolis, as fondly as I do, you know you're in for a treat! Yes, there will be a costume contest Friday night, so dress up as a character from Caligari, or your favorite piece of furniture, to compete for the Best Costume prizes. Click here for ticket info, or visit the NMW website.

DISENCHANTED

I don't know about you, but it seems to me they can't bring on the Captain Hook character soon enough in the second season of TV's Once Upon A Time.

The curse was broken at the end of last season, and the suddenly un-enchanted denizens of Storybrook remember their fairy tale lives, although for some reason that escapes me at the moment, they can't go home to their fairy tale realm. But now, the scriptwriters have no idea what to do next; like the proverbial spaghetti noodle test, they're throwing everything at the wall to see if something, anything sticks.

Evil queen Regina (Lana Parrilla) is under some kind of house arrest in her mayor's mansion, out of the action. There are early indications that the writers are trying to soften her character up this season by re-introducing an even more dastardly wicked queen, the mother who made her what she is, previously seen only in flashback. This would be fatal to the show; Regina's ruthlessness is one of the series' few constant pleasures.

The other one is the great Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold. You never know from one week to the next if he'll prove to be a good guy or a bad guy, but he always has a private agenda, some angle of self-interest, and that's what makes him so interesting. (Along with Carlyle's deliciously acrobatic and insinuating voice.) But we haven't seen enough of Mr. Gold this season, either.

Instead, the bulk of the narrative action so far falls to the designated "heroes" in the cast, and you've never seen so many shades of vanilla. At the moment, storylines are unfolding on three fronts, none of them interesting: the folks in Storybrook are trying to figure out how to get home, under the dubious leadership of Prince (yawn) Charming; angsty Emma and virtuous Snow (as in White) have tumbled though a mystic portal into some other enchanted plane, where they team up with another couple of personality-challenged females—Sleeping Beauty, and the so-far-underwhelming warrior Mulan—to battle ogres and elude Regina's poisonous mommie dearest; meanwhile, everyone's backstories continue to play out in flashbacks to the original fairy tale kingdom.

The mystery of how these stories fit together may be more trouble than it's worth solving for an increasingly disenchanted audience. (Okay, for me.) The writers must know it; the end of last week's episode teased a shot of a sailing ship, with a promise to introduce "one of the most despicable villains of all time." Hmmm...that's a bit harsh, especially if you've read my History of Captain Hook on stage, page, and screen.

Even if this Hook is still a villain, if he can hold his own against Gold and Regina, he'll be worth his weight in bullion in a show that desperately needs a breath of fresh sea air. It's promising that they have a sexy young Irishman playing the part, although the fatality rate for sexy young males on this show is pretty, er, grim.

Remember the hunky Huntsman/Sheriff? The queen squashed his heart like a bug. Mysterious stranger August/Pinocchio was last seen turning into wood (and I don't mean in a good way). And didn't Ruby/Riding Hood devour her own sweetheart during a werewolf interlude in her backstory?

If Hook is a hit on the show, I'll be waiting to see what kind of backstory they invent for him, and how it differs for the one I wrote for him in my upcoming novel, Alias Hook.  That's the great thing about a character who's been around as long as Captain Hook (107 years and counting)—he's always ripe for a new interpretation.

REEL CONNECTION

Pacific Rim Film Festival promotes cross-cultural understanding

The aloha spirit returns to Santa Cruz when the 24th Annual Pacific Rim Film Festival unspools this week. Originally inspired by the Hawaii International Film Festival, and dedicated to cross-cultural understanding around the theme, "When Strangers Meet," the six-day event runs October 19-24, offering twenty films from countries all around the Pacific Rim at five venues countywide. In addition to the Del Mar and the Rio, festival films will also screen at the Riverfront Twin, Watsonville Center, Cabrillo College, and the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College. As always, all films are screened free of charge to the public, with the exception of the closing night benefit.

The biggest crowd-pleaser of the Festival may be the opening night offering, THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS (New Zealand, 2009, 100 minutes) Leanne Pooley's delightful documentary introduces us to two of New Zealand's most beloved cultural icons: Jools and Lynda Topp. Farm-bred twin sisters who started out as street-corner buskers, singing, yodeling, and playing guitar, they are also cheerfully upbeat lesbians, and tireless anti-nuke, pro-civil rights activists.

As comediennes, the twins are like a two-woman Monty Python troupe with a rotating cast of comic characters of all ages, genders, and classes. As musicians, their songs are infectious, witty, and heartfelt, and as personalities, they are irresistible. So is the film. I guarantee you'll come out humming the tunes. (Plays at the Del Mar, Friday, 8:30 p.m., and at the Rio, Monday, 12 noon.)

Speaking of tunes, one of the most democratizing things about the humble ukulele is that everyone can play it. But not everyone can play the uke like Jake Shimabukuro. Takashi Nakamura's terrific documentary, JAKE SHIMABUKURO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS (USA, 2012, 60 minutes), explores the life and sudden, meteoric career of the awesomely gifted young Hawaiian-born uke virtuoso, who's carved out an international career as a solo concert artist playing everything from The Beatles, to classical, to jazz. If you can't even imagine Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the uke, wait till you hear Jake's full-blooded rendition! (Plays at the Del Mar, Saturday only, 8 p.m. O&A to follow with director Nakamura.) (Read more)

For more details, check out the PRFF website or visit their Facebook page.

WESTSIDE STORIES

Here's what we did on our Open Studios "vacation" (meaning—the one weekend that Art Boy & I have off from his own OS). These Westside artists will all be open for "Encore," this weekend, as well.

It's always fun to visit ceramic sculptor Peggy Snider, on Meder Street (on the way to UCSC). The rustic shelves of her workspace are loaded with lively clay creatures ready for a good home—winged angels, muses, sun-haloed wisewomen, human figures just about to take flight, and fanciful critters of indeterminate species. Don't miss the column of animated little faces made from bits of leftover clay that decorate her door jamb ("Nothing goes to waste around here!" Peggy laughed.)

More winsome pieces decorate the railing of her side deck; stroll along until you get to the steps leading down to her enchanting sculpture garden. This is a meditative space perfect for gazing at her larger, more formidable and hypnotic pieces.

Over on National Street, painter and mixed-media artist Glenn Carter is showing a range of work. Some are monumental works in progress destined for a gallery show early next year, but he also has walls full of small, intriguing framed pieces with an interesting history: they were created from large mixed-media on paper pieces that  Carter felt were no longer working. So he cut them up into smaller bits, then ripped, repurposed and recombined the various elements into a completely new series with an energy and mystery all its own.

Carter works with all kinds of materials, from large steel monoliths and a giant, dried agave root, to wire, string, cheesecloth and wax. His wide-open two-room studio is a terrific display space for his work. And while you're there, take a moment to wander the brick pathways that wind through the fantastic succulent gardens he and his wife, Denise, have put in over the years. Who wouldn't feel creative in such a beautiful space?

The oil paintings of Westside artist and art teacher Isabell Fearnsby are moody and mysterious, especially her renderings of iconic local places like Shopper's Corner, the Boardwalk, and the Rio Theatre. I like how she imbues this image of the Del Mar with a haunting, otherworldly feel.


The plain pegboard display of unframed pieces on the lawn of her Sacramento Street home could use an upgrade, and her painting studio inside is tiny. But we enjoyed watching her at work at her easel.

While we were there, she was working on the underpainting of a new piece, and it was interesting to see how she gridded out the canvas and mapped out where the most compelling focal points would be. The chance to view the artistic process in action is a big part of the appeal of OS.

It's too bad paperwork artist Will Marino doesn't show more of his process for us conceptually-challenged types. The simple explanation is posted in his San Juan Avenue studio that his raw materials are used, vintage dartboards whose coiled paper interiors are deconstructed, refolded and rewound. But I still can't even imagine how he gets such extraordinary effects.

The color, texture and detail of his wall pieces are simply amazing.  This one is called "Big Sur #2: After the Fire," combining wound paper with pieces of charred wood. He makes vivid use of greens in some landscape-themed pieces, but his monochromatic pieces are just as visually intense. 

So are his sculptural pieces. A forest of proud, majestic cones dominate one area, while a variety of sinuously arching, leap-frogging, slinky shapes pop up on shelves and other surfaces. And don't miss the Steampunk-style, hand-cranked paper cone extruder in one corner. It's hands-on all the way with Marino's exceptional, one-of-a-kind work. Don't miss it!

Studios will be open for this final, Encore weekend from 11 am to 5 pm. Let's hope this gorgeous weather holds out!

PASSPORT TO PARIS

Hundreds of participating artists throw open their doors to the public during the Open Studios Art Tour. Beth Allison Gripenstraw throws a party—and you're invited!

This copiously creative ceramicist, watercolor painter and jewelry-maker doesn't just spruce up her workspace for OS; she creates an entire alternative universe that visitors are happy to get lost in.  Every year at OS, her Westside house on Towne Terrace (off Mission) gets a makeover into some fantastic new environment.  Two years ago, it was Alice's Wonderland. Last year, Beth staged an African safari, a trip she never took in real life, but imagined and recreated in a series of bold, fanciful paintings and animal print ceramic vessels and tableware.

 This year, we're off to Paris to commune with the Bohemian art scene, ca 1920. I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview this week, and if you loved Midnight In Paris, you'll want to put Beth at the top of your OS to-do list this weekend.

The centerpiece is the transformation of her dining room into the Lapin Agile, the Montmartre cabaret where Picasso and his buddies hung out to smoke, drink, and argue about the meaning of art. And guess what—they're all still here!

Enlarging black-and-white photos on the computer, and with incredible attention to the details of vintage clothing and accessories, Beth recreates a dinner party for eight renowned artists. You'll see Frida Kahlo in her embroidered Mexican blouse, beads, and coronet of flowers, and Picasso peering out dubiously from beneath his beret.

Paul Gauguin arrives straight from the islands, in tropical whites, and sporting a lei, while Diego Rivera unbuttons his tailored waistcoat over his impressive girth.

Vincent Van Gogh wears his straw painting hat and a faraway look in his eyes. And I love Salvador Dali's dashing white silk aviator's scarf and old school tie.

Modigliani and Claude Monet are also in attendance, along with famed artist's model Kiki lounging on the banquette in back. Sure, not all these artists were alive at the same time in real life, but that's what artistic license is all about!

In addition to the period glassware, vintage cigarette packs, ashtrays, and cutlery with which Beth festoons the table, she's created plates, bowls, and saucers inspired by each artist's work. (Here's a dinner plate featuring her take on a Frida self-portrait.) I also love Beth's version of Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

To get you more in the mood, old black-and-white silent films will play on a nearby screen while an old record player will spin Edith Piaf and other French cabaret music. Oh, and did I mention there will be an absinthe bar in the corner?

And this is just one room. Beth promises a French bistro with wine and cheese on the balcony, a French farm market in the driveway, and an artist's atelier adjoining the dining room, complete with easel and model's couch, where various ceramic wares and jewelry will be on sale.

Meanwhile, her living room gallery space will display Beth's big, fun, colorful paintings of travels real and imagined: to Mexico, Hawaii, France, and Africa.

Beth is # 228 in your OS Guide. She'll only be open this weekend, so don't you dare miss her! Check out her website to see what she's been up to lately, and I'll see you there.

DOG STAR

If you love dogs, you'll love Frankenweenie, Tim Burton's sweetly subversive story of a boy and his (recently deceased) dog. When loyal little Sparky gets hit by a car, heartbroken young Victor sews him up and reanimates him, Frankenstein-style, in his home-made attic lab.

Reinventing a short film he made almost 30 years ago, Burton crafts a black-and-white, 3D, stop-motion animated feature in loving homage to James Whale's horror classic, full of monster movie in-jokes and hilarious sight gags. The lab scene is deliriously fun, as Victor generates electricity  using a spectacular lightning storm outside to drive every household appliance in the attic capable of rotation—electric fan, bike wheels, the reels of a film projector, a record-player turntable.

Victor's grade school science teacher is a Vincent Price lookalike with an unpronounceable Slavic name; his classmates are junior ghouls in the making, from eager young hunchback E(dgar) Gore to a pint-sized Karloff clone, to a budding mad Japanese scientist. The tombstones in the pet cemetery are shaped like crossed dog biscuits, a fishbowl, or a fire hydrant, with inscriptions like "Goodbye, Kitty."

Heroic little Sparky (an adorable little pooch of indeterminate breed—to say the least) gets to save the day when a herd of grotesquely reanimated pets invades the town, led by a giant Turtle-zilla (named "Shelley," natch).

Everyone should recognize the burning windmill finale from Whale's original Frankenstein, but only connoisseurs (like Art Boy) may get Burton's reference to vintage '50s sci-fi B-movie, Invasion of the Saucer Men, at the very end, when all the townsfolk gather their cars in a circle and turn on the headlights for one last energy burst.

Frankenweenie is loads of silly fun, but best of all, it offers plenty of genuine resonance about the bond between people and their beloved pets.  You'll want to hug your own little guy the minute you get home!

LONDON CALLING

What? You say you can't get to London for the fall theater season this year?

Here's the next best thing: why not enjoy London theater in the comfort and privacy of our own Del Mar Theatre, right here in downtown Santa Cruz.

Through the miracle of modern technology, Britain's acclaimed National Theatre of London is providing a live feed of each of the plays in its Fall 2012/Winter 2013 season to movie theaters worldwide. Productions in the National Theatre Live program are presented digitally, in HD, one Thursday evening a month, with an encore matinee the following Sunday, in the Grand Auditorium of the Del Mar Theatre.

The offering for this month, The Last of the Haussmans, debuts this Thursday (October 11), 7:30 pm, with an encore performance Sunday (October 14) at 11 am. The irrepressible Julie Walters (left) stars in this new dysfunctional family comedy by playwright Stephen Beresford. She plays an aging, ex-hippie matriarch retired to a seaside town in Devon, where she's visited by her two wayward grown children (Helen McCrory and Rory Kinnear), a granddaughter, and a couple of locals, for a summer of drinking, nostalgia, recrimination, inappropriate romances, and broken dreams.

This is the second season that these broadcasts have been available locally, but it's still the best-kept secret in Santa Cruz. In a theatrical town like ours, that supports so many stage companies, large and small, the NT Live program deserves to be better known.

NT Live productions have ranged from updated classics like A Comedy of Errors and She Stoops to Conquer,  to the blistering political satire of Collaborators, to challenging new plays like the recent adaptation of Mark Haddon's bestselling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. 

In the recent production of Frankenstein, playwright Nick Dear's new take on Mary Shelley's classic novel, directed by Danny Boyle, lead actors Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes in the modernist PBS reboot) and Jonny Lee Miller alternated in the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature.

The program's very first offering, the Commedia del'Arte-inspired romp, One Man, Two Guvnors, was praised by many smitten critics as the single funniest theatrical performance, ever.

So don't miss out. Here's what's in store for the rest of the season. Admission to the Del Mar is $15, with discount tickets of $13 for seniors, students, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz subscribers. Come see what you've been missing!

OPEN (STUDIOS) SEASON

Time to get your arts on! The Open Studios Art Tour starts this weekend. 

I'll be reporting from the field in two weeks, after Art Boy and I get to go out and visit other studios. In the meantime, say hello to some new favorites and returning veterans who will be opening their doors this weekend (October 6 and 7) in South County.

Here's looking at you, kids! James Aschbacher (aka Art Boy) will be showing  some new  painted art mirrors, along with his whimsical mixed-media acrylic and oil on wood paintings.

People who only know James' public murals around town are often surprised that he makes paintings that fit inside the house as well. Indeed, he does, and an Aschbacher on the wall is like a mystic portal into an enchanted realm of playful cats and dogs, flying fish, dancing eggs, and floating lovers.

James is #110 in the OS Calendar/Guide, here in beautiful midtown Live Oak. Stop in and see what's new!

Aptos ceramicist Jacquie Walton (#43 in the OS Guide) has been potting up a storm. Her beautiful vases, vessels and lamps pay homage to vintage Arts and Crafts design houses like Rookwood and Grueby.

This year, she has lots of new work inspired by classic Redlands, Tiffany, and Teco pottery. All Jacquie's work is hand-thrown (she doesn't use molds) and her glazes are exquisite!

Check out the preview portfolio on her Facebook page:

Fanne Fernow took a break from OS last year, but this year she's back at 17th Avenue, Live Oak, with plenty of strong new work.  Many of her new pieces combine the figurative elements (animals, women, madonnas) so beloved by her early collectors with the meditative encaustic techniques she's been perfecting over the last couple of years.

 The results are vibrant, complex, graphic AND fun! Take a look for yourselves!

Every picture tells a story at Fanne's studio this year. "Long Time No See" (her happy dog painting at the OS Preview Show at the Art League) is a sally to her early fans.  A pair of her cheeky cat paintings, "What Took Her So Long?" and "She Was Blue," continue the saga, accompanied by an entire wall of bright, buoyant paintings in the "Flowerhead Sisters" and "Black Madonna" series. 

And don't miss yet another new series of intricate, triangle-pattern abstracts like the hypnotic "In the Gloaming."

Also welcome back assemblage artist Faye Augustine. (Another Live Oakie, she's # 125 in the OS Guide.) MIA from OS for the last few years, she's back, showing new paintings on wood, a few vintage assemblage pieces, and lots of the 3-D work that is just so Faye—small altar pieces, voodoo dolls, and her "Creepy Doll" line of painted and embellished fabric critters with attitude!

I took a good pic of the dolls too, but the digital camera ate my photo. Must have been voodoo at work! Better stop in and see them in person.

This is just a teeny tiny fraction of the artists throwing open their studio doors this weekend. Pick up a copy of the OS Guide, get the OS App, or visit the OS website to see them all. Studios are open to the public 11 am to 5 pm Saturday and Sunday, so get out there and get inspired!

COVER ME

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Well, this is exciting. Check out the cover for my new novel, Alias Hook!

My designer (who is also my editor; talk about multi-tasking) just sent this over from Snowbooks. She tells me the yellow bits will be in shiny gold foil, and the lettering will be embossed. Pretty cool for a trade paperback!

 I just love the script for the title, perfect for an 18th Century gentleman privateer penning his memoirs. And I like the tilt of that ship at sea, a visual metaphor for the shipwreck Hook's life has become.

(I had nothing to do with this cover, btw, as much as I'd love to take credit fo it. All I asked was that the designer steer clear of anything involving a large, shiny hook—too literal and way too Spielberg. Happily, she was way ahead of me!)

My publication date has been moved up to March, 2013. At first, the book will only be available in bookstores in the UK (and online, of course), but, as Hook himself might say, tomorrow the world!

In the meantime, take a look at my recent post on one hundred years of Captain Hook in the popular media, and why I think he's ripe for redemption.

ART CAN BE MURDER

Artists countywide will be throwing open their studio doors to the public next weekend for the 2012 edition of the Open Studios Art Tour.

What better time for local mystery writer, Vinnie Hansen, to launch her new detective novel, Art, Wine & Bullets, which concerns murder most heinous during the Open Studios event?

She'll be reading and signing copies of Art, Wine & Bullets at the Capitola Book Cafe, this Thursday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m.

This is Hansen's sixth mystery set in Santa Cruz, featuring baker-turned-amateur sleuth Carol Sabala. Hansen's series heroine, first glimpsed baking tarts in the kitchen of a swanky restaurant in the first book, Murder, Honey,  has solved crimes from Watsonville High (where Hansen taught English for 27 years), to Mexico. In the new book, she's trying to solidify her reputation as a private eye.

There's always a lot of local color in Hansen's books, which make them fun reading for Cruzans. And she's sure to bring an insider's view to the OS milieu, since she's married to a longtime OS participant, abstract artist Daniel S. Friedman.

So, is Art, Wine & Bullets a roman a clef? We're not telling! Better read the book and find out!

(Art, Wine & Bullets is available as we speak at Capitola Book Cafe, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and Inklings & Things (Capitola Mall). If you miss the book launch this week,  Vinnie will be signing books at Inklings & Things 2-4 p.m., Saturday, October 13.)

ARTISTS at WORK

Don't turn around, but the 2012 Open Studios Art Tour is just around the corner. Santa Cruz's premiere art event takes place during the first three weekends in October, when more than 300 artists countywide will open their studio doors to the public for the annual self-guided art tour.

You know the drill: South County artists (from Watsonville to the lower Yacht Harbor) will be open October 6 and 7. North County artists (upper Yacht Harbor to Davenport) will be open October 13 and 14. Anything goes on the third, Encore weekend, October 20 and 21, where participating artists countywide can choose to open for one last hurrah. Studios will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Remember, this is not a race (or an endurance test); you don't win a prize for visiting the most studios—but you might make yourself so crazy you no longer even know what you're looking at. The idea is to breathe, Grasshopper, focus on what you really want to see, and open yourself up for the task at hand—the optimum stress-free pleasure of mingling with art and artists in their native habitat.


Start with the OS Artist Guide, a 15-month calendar with a color photo of the work of every OS artist, along with their addresses, websites, emails, phone numbers, shoe sizes, mothers' maiden names—well, you get the idea—all for only $20. Detailed maps and supplemental indexes list artists alphabetically, and according to medium.The Guide also tells you which artists are open which weekends, and whether their premises are wheelchair-accessible.

Go here to buy a calendar online or find a location near you to purchase one in person. All proceeds go to the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County to support OS and fund arts programs throughout the county.

New this year is the OS App, which puts all the info in the Guide on your phone. It's available now for just $4.99 via iTunes or Google Play; click here for details.

And don't forget to visit the Open Studios Preview Exhibit at the Art League (526 Broadway in Santa Cruz), to see a sample of each artist's work. Believe me, seeing the work in real life will save you hours of aimless driving around later. You can also pick up free color postcards of many of the artist's work, or purchase the OS Guide at the Art League.


The OS show opens this Saturday (September 29) and continues through October 21. Meet the artists at the opening reception this Sunday, September 30, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Exhibit hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

And that's all there is to it.  So do your homework, grab an art buddy or two, and maybe I'll see you on the road!

SOUL FOOD

'Chicken With Plums' a luscious, imaginative love story

First there was Persepolis, a gorgeously rendered black-and-white animated film about growing up female in Iran based on the graphic novel memoir by Marjane Satrapi. 

Now, Satrapi and her filmmaking partner Vincent Paronnaud are back with a splendid sophomore effort, Chicken With Plums. Although based on another Satrapi graphic novel, the new film is a stylistic departure from Persepolis in many interesting ways: it's live-action, it tells a soulful, romantic fictional drama, and its shot in delirious color.

In Chicken With Plums, the filmmakers take a fanciful approach to a story supposedly inspired by Satrapi's uncle, a concert musician, turning it into a wistful, allegorical, fairy tale-like drama. 

Although shot in French with an international cast, the film story is set in Tehran in 1958, during the last eight days of its protagonist's life. The narrative pirouettes back and forth between past, present, and future, a device that allows the filmmakers to observe several decades of Iranian culture while gradually revealing the love story at its core. (Read more)

The ART of STUFF

Usually, you go to a museum to view capital-A Art. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History democratizes the whole process in its current exhibit, Santa Cruz Collects, wherein ordinary local folk like you and me are invited to show off their personal collections of stuff.

Got a thing for shoes? Check out the vintage footwear from all eras collected by Judy Steen, research librarian and aficionado of historical costume.  The variety of shoes in so small a space is amazing! These are downstairs in the Atrium, fetchingly displayed in this wonderful cabinet painted by Watsonville artist Carol Bowie.

Other collected objects include the humble—Lance Linares' bottle caps, Bruce Bratton's international toothpaste boxes and tubes, and Stacy Grant's (I kid you not) dryer lint. Some are formed around domestic objects, like Nita Gizdich's garden gnomes, or Dusty and Craig Miller's fantastic display of vintage toasters.

Others qualify as found art, like Daymel Shklar's aquarium tank full of sea glass, or the crushed metal forms  culled, again, by Grant. (She has seven different oddball, yet strangely compelling collections on display, including a wall full of multicolored beach sand in tiny vials, as varied as seeds or spices.)

And some collections are plain weird. (My favorite category!)  Assemblage artist Jack Howe shows a vast array of the found junk he uses in his work, ingeniously  displayed in three twin bed-sized boxsprings, their rusting coils a perfect network of cubbyholes. Local veterinarian Dr. David Shuman displays his collection of bleached animal skulls, gorgeously mounted in the corner of the Solari Gallery, under the skylight. Dr. Bruce Damer presents a tower of quaintly clunky vintage computers that seem to date from the Flintstone era.

Here's one of my favorite collections in the show. These are electric drills from all eras collected by woodworker Sandor Nagyszalanczy, a craftsman who has published many books on woodworking, tools and home projects.

Normally, I would never look twice at a drill, but look how strikingly these are displayed, like so many Buck Rogers ray guns!

Some are sleek, chrome Art Deco models, others more of the Rube Goldberg variety, but all are endlessly fascinating. (I'm sure Nagyszalanczy must have built this giant wooden mandala of a display board, too.)

Be sure to click on the image and see them in more detail!

I was also drawn to this grouping of Native American "baby baskets." The collector is Dean Silvers, a longtime Santa Cruz  elementary school teacher and self-taught historian. He is also an avid collector of California Indian baskets, Latin American crafts, and Native North American art.

I did a lot of research on Native American baby-carrying devices for my first novel, The Witch From the Sea. In the northeast, among the Iroquois (the heritage of my fictional heroine), they were carved out of wood and called "cradleboards." Most of my tribal research for The Witch ended up on the cutting room floor, but if you're interested, I've posted more info on cradleboards on my Witch website.

I assume these are all California Indian basket cradles, and possibly reproductions of vintage designs. (Maybe the tiniest ones are for dolls?) Look at the intricate workmanship on these pieces. There is nothing like seeing  such beautiful artifacts in person to make history come alive!

Santa Cruz Collects is up and running at the MAH through November 25.

A HISTORY of HOOK

Evidently I'm not the only one who thinks James M. Barrie's immortal pirate captain is ripe for revival.

 Last year's hit TV series, the fairy tale mash-up Once Upon A Time, is adding a new character to its roster of villains for its second season; none other than (wait for it)—Captain Hook.

Here's a teaser trailer, oozing sinister portent.

For most of us, the "original" Captain Hook is this cartoon version from Disney's 1953 Peter Pan.

First produced for the London stage in 1904, Barrie's play about a tribe of boys who refuse to grow up in a childhood dream world called the Neverland might have gone the way of the Dodo if not for the presence of this flamboyant, crowd-pleasing pirate chief, the lovable, hissable villain who's kept generations of audiences coming back for more.

This overdressed, supercilious, cowardly comic-opera villain that we know as Captain Hook is almost—er—single-handedly responsible for the ongoing popularity of Barrie's sentimental domestic comedy.

Disney's animated Hook wrings every possible laugh out of his swordplay, pratfalls and surreal flights of fancy, along with an exaggerated cartoon visage worthy of his every scheme— hawk's beak, chin jutting like the prow of a ship, quivering Salvador Dali moustachios, wiggling eyebrows with a life of their own.

Not to mention the juicy, overripe trilling of Hans Conried's vocal performance (he was also the voice of Snidely Whiplash on the old Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show).

Another famed onscreen Hook was stage actor and music hall veteran Cyril Ritchard (right) in the Broadway musical Peter Pan, which was filmed for TV in the mid-'1950s and rebroadcast sporadically after that. This is the famous version with Mary Martin as Peter, but, it was the delightful Ritchard, dripping dry wit and fussbudgety sarcasm, who made the show so much fun.

It's been a longstanding tradition for mature women to play Peter onstage. But ever since Barrie published his novelized version of the play, Peter and Wendy, in 1911,  allowing readers to imagine Peter as a real boy, it's believed that all little girls swoon for Peter. Current discussion boards on Goodreads reveal that young female readers still can't understand why Wendy doesn't choose to stay forever young with Peter in the Neverland.

But not me. Stay in the Neverland forever with a bunch of mangy boys? No thanks. Even as a child, I thought Peter was too much like the boys I went to school with—bratty and full of himself.

I liked Hook! He had the funniest lines, and by far the coolest clothes!

Book representations tend toward a more menacing Hook. Look at this F. D. Bedford illustration from a 1912 edition of Peter and Wendy.

This Hook as more of a Medusa-headed ogre than mere villainous human.

The image of Captain Hook as mincing fop was re-established by Dustin Hoffman in the 1991 Steven Spielberg movie, Hook. Hoffman brings plenty of comic brio to the role, but this is an aging, defanged Hook fading into the sunset.

By far the darkest and sexiest screen Hook is Jason Isaacs in the 2003 live-action Peter Pan. Isaacs (below) is all menace laced with a shot of wry; he suffers children and childish pirates with elaborate, if short-fused patience. ("Silence, puling spawn!" he roars when the kids start whining, a sentiment any babysitter or parent will understand.)

It was Isaacs' Hook, cracking jokes to himself, sotto voce, that nobody else gets, who set off the spark in my imagination about how awful it must be for a functioning adult to be trapped in a world invented and run by children.


 And the more I started thinking about it in those terms, the more real and complicated and tragic the character started to feel to me. I started to think of James Hook as a character worthy of redemption. I wanted to get him out of there!

They've got a handsome young Irsishman, Colin McDonoghe, coming in to play the character in Once Upon A Time, which suggests another reinterpretation of the Classic Hook. (Not surprising in a series in which Red Riding Hood is also, herself, a shapeshifting Wolf, and the hobgoblin, Rumplestiltskin—played by the delghtful Robert Carlyle—also gets his own Beauty and the Beast love story.)

The series' second season begins September 30, and Hook is scheduled to make his first appearance in Episode Four.

But as long as Captain Hook remains a designated villain, that's not the story I'm telling in Alias Hook.

DUELING DIVAS

Julie James (L) and Diana Torres Koss (R)

Queens struggle for power in JTC's ambitious Mary Stuart


Two great divas from the local theater scene play two of the greatest divas in history in Mary Stuart, the inaugural offering of the Jewel Theatre Company's 2012-2013 season. This historical play dramatizes the conflict between Queen Elizabeth Tudor of England and her cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, a volatile pair of queens brought to life con brio at Center Stage by JTC veterans Diana Torres Koss and Julie James.

When director Susan Myer Silton went looking for a property with strong female roles, it's easy to see why she pounced on this one. Based on an 1800 German play by Friedrich Schiller and given a spiffy new translation by English playwright Peter Oswald in 2005, Mary Stuart distills the complex power struggle between the two queens into a subtle war of wills and words as both women navigate the often conflicting demands of honor, politics, religion, the obligations of queenship, and the vagaries of the human heart. (Read more)

Btw, exciting plans are afoot for JTC next spring when the intrepid home-grown company partners with Shakespeare Santa Cruz. The fruit of this intriguing collaboration will be an evening of two one-act plays by Harold Pinter. One For the Road, directed by SSC Artistic Director Marco Barricelli, will feature Paul Whitworth, Mike Ryan, and Julie James. The Lover, will be directed by James and feature Ryan in the cast.

Play dates are April 25 - May 12, 2013, so mark your calendars now!

BAG THIS BOOK

Davenport's own Heather McDougal is a woman of many talents. She's an educator,  sculptor, beekeeper, designer, creator of the excellent blog, Cabinet of Wonders (which counts Neil Gaiman among its many fans), book reviewer, and short story writer. And, any minute now, she'll also be a published novelist.

Songs For a Machine Age, Heather's first book-length adventure in a clockwork world of mystery and magic of her own devising, will be available in bookstores and on Amazon in November, 2012. (Is this not a cool cover, or what?)

Heather's small, but intrepid publisher is Hadley Rille Books, which specializes in titles of fantasy, sci-fi, and archaeology. But the days are long gone when an author could just write the book, send it off, then sit back and be fabulous. Writing the book is just the beginning these days, and that's why Heather is personally taking her book to the prestigious World Fantasy Convention in Toronto in November.

But she has an even craftier plan to really jump-start the book, besides merely being there. Many of the genre's biggest writers, editors, reviewers, fans, and buzz-generators will be in attendance, and Heather's dream is to get copies of her new book into the free book bags handed out to every single attendee.  The only hitch is, Hadley Rille lacks the budgetary resources to finance this master plan.

So Heather has launched a fundraising campaign on the website Indiegogo. If she can raise the $1000 necessary to buy 100 copies of her book and get them distributed in conventioneers' book bags, she will reach a full one-eighth of  the event's 800+ attendees. (And of course, the more books she can buy to distribute, the merrier!)

If she raises the funds by October 15, she'll be able to get the books ordered and shipped in time. Meanwhile, YOU get an ebook or signed paperback of Songs For a Machine Age for your generous donation. Here's Heather to tell you all about it!

COMING SOON: ALIAS HOOK

Speaking of books, here's something I've wanted to post for a long time. I have a new novel coming out!

I've just signed a contract with Snowbooks,  a small, award-winning independent publisher in the UK,  to publish my fantasy novel, Alias Hook.

Not your father's Peter Pan, my book views the children's paradise of the Neverland from the caustic perspective of Captain James Benjamin Hook, its prisoner, a grown man stranded in a world run by a capricious 11-year-old boy. (I don't know about you, but that would be my vision of Hell!) Once an embittered warrior with a grudge against the world, now Hook is trapped forever in a pointless war he can never win nor end against the boy tyrant, Pan, and his magical allies.

There's no Wendy or Tinker Bell in my book, but I do make pretty free use of the Neverland as created by James M. Barrie in Peter and Wendy, his 1911 novelization of his famous play. Except I go where Barrie feared to tread, deep into the society of merwives who live beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the Sisterhood of fairies who guard the island, and the Indian tribes who have learned to make peace with the boys.

In my story, a grown woman dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of all the boy's rules. She may be the key to Hook's redemption—maybe even his release—if they can unravel the curse that binds him there before Pan can capture her and drag Hook back into their neverending game.

Eight years in the making, Alias Hook is a story of love and war, male and female, and the delicate art of growing up. Tentative publication date is June, 2013, so watch this space for further details!

(Sketch of Hook at his glass © Lisa Jensen, 2012)