Daily Loaf

So I have been mad crazy busy these past few weeks with the final touches to The Agreeable Husband. I say final touches, but this is just the beginning.  We are polishing up for our premiere performance tonight at the 7th Annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image It’s a one-night-only deal, we are one of the mainstage performances (And, btw, none of this would have been possible without the incredible support that David Audet has extended to us through the Festival). It will be our first full performance in front of an audience.  Following the premiere, we workshop the piece for a few weeks – sort of a back to the drawing board treatment based on how the audience received it as well as filling in the new elements that were too complicated to add to try for right out the door.  After that we will be appearing during the summer and fall at various stages in the Bay Area and around Florida.  Each for probably a weekend run, then more working it then more performances in another space – you get the idea.  I have never worked on a project of this size quite like this, to have the opportunity to toss a piece in front of an audience and then have the opportunity to adapt before it gets seen again. Read the rest of this entry »

In this edition, I interview with web designer Gary Burge, who’s personal story includes a 7 a.m. heart attack on the day after Christmas — while Burge was at his desk at work! And stay tuned to the end for details on a Watchmen Tales of the Black Freighter DVD giveaway.

NYC-by-way-of-Tampa choreographer Claire Porter (pictured at right) returns to town to perform PORTABLES, an hour long work made up of a handful of 12-minute-long solo comedic movement monologues presented individually and in concert in conjunction with the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image. 7 p.m., HCC-Ybor Performing Arts Building, Palm Avenue and 14th Street, Tampa, $10.

Comedian Jim Breuer performs a four-night run of stand-up beginning tonight at the Tampa Improv. April 2-5, 8 p.m. Thurs., 8 and 10:30 p.m. Fri., 7:30 and 10 p.m. Sat., 7 p.m. Sun., Centro Ybor, Ybor City, $22 and $25, 813-864-4000.

Florida-centric suspense writer Tom Corcoran appears for a signing event in honor of the release of his sixth novel, Hawk Channel Chase. 7 p.m., Inkwood Books, Tampa, 813-253-2638.

Today marks the kick-off of the seventh annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image. Tonight’s event schedule includes the opening of Sideshow with Postage Due, a two-person show featuring mixed-media circus banners by Tampa artist Lori Ballard and postal art by Gulfport graphic designer Steve Smith, and a screening of the Buster Keaton classic, The Playhouse, with live accompaniment by Ray Villadonga and Rick Olson. (Pictured below: “Amazing Insecticycles,” by Steve Smith.) April 1-5, with a free opening party tonight from 6 to 9 p.m., Performing Arts Building, HCC-Ybor City Campus, Tampa.

Sunscreen Film Festival hosts a “Film and Guest Lineup” launch party in honor of its fourth annual event, which is set to occur April 29-May 3. Locals are invited to come and find out more about the 2009 program — which films have made it in, the schedule of parties, and the roster of special guests, judges and celebrities expected to attend and take part. Attendees can also snag advance passes to the fest, meet filmmakers, and win various prizes throughout the night. 6-10 p.m., Nova 535 Art Lounge, St. Petersburg, free admission. Read the rest of this entry »

Lori Ballard and her circus banners.

Sideshow with Postage Due. Held in conjunction with the seventh annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image, Sideshow with Postage Due is a two-person show featuring mixed-media circus banners by Tampa artist Lori Ballard and postal art by Gulfport graphic designer Steve Smith. Ballard’s surreal, black-and-white photographic images are inspired by childhood memories of the circus as well as by her recent gig as the Florida State Fair’s official photographer. Smith’s tongue-in-cheek “anti-stamp” prints combine fine art techniques, computer graphics technology and an antique pinhole perforator. On display March 26-April 9, with an opening reception on the opening night of the filmfest, from 6 to 9 p.m. Wed., April 1. Regular hours 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon. and Wed.-Fri., noon-7 p.m. Tues., HCC-Ybor Art Gallery Ybor Performing Arts Building, Palm Ave and 15th Street, Ybor City, free admission, 813-253-7674. (Leilani Polk)

Sustainable Living This monthly class explores sustainable alternatives like organic gardening, alternative transportation and local living economies. Registration is required; sign up in the Whole Foods lobby or by contacting sherell.white@wholefoods.com. Thurs., March 26, 6:30 p.m., Whole Foods, Tampa, $5 voluntary donation to Sweetwater Organic Farm.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg joins the chamber ensemble for a program that includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 6, “Le Matin”, Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for Violin & Orchestra,” Melinda Wagner’s New Brandenburg Concerto (an Orpheus commission) and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Thurs., March 26, 8 p.m. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, $35-$40, 727-791-7400.

Marion Baldeon and Casey Hicks in The Agreeable Husband (Photo: Alex Catalano)

One of my goals when I took the leap last February and became a freelance artist was not only to have more time to commit to Jobsite, but also to collaborate with the artists I’ve met in the Tampa Bay area on original projects.  This not only ensures more work for artists in our community, but it raises a consciousness for Tampa-grown art.  The first to come to a fully realized production is The Agreeable Husband, a dance-theater piece based on Amy Vanderbilt’s “Complete Book of Etiquette”, a how-to book for husbands and wives published in 1952.  We need the community to help us with the next layer of the project, set to open this April.

I am conducting interviews with mothers, fathers and children who grew up with this book and its ideals.  If you or someone you know fits this description, we’d love to have your perspective in this project.  Please e-mail AgreeableHusband@gmail.com.

Read the rest of this entry »