Well I should actually say changed. CBC Radio 2 is known as being a classical music station. Now I can’t say I’ve ever listened to it. I’ll put my hands up in the air and admit that one. But then again I rarely, if ever, listen to the radio except for that year in college when I didn’t have a TV. In the grand wisdom that people who listen to the radio as much as I do but still run them, they have decided to axe all but 5 hours of classical music on CBC Radio 2 (which will only be broadcast in the day when people are working or are in school) and switch to pop, jazz and blues. What??? Isn’t that what hundreds and thousands of other stations do? It’s supposed to be an experiment but as the title of this Vancouver Sun article asks “The new CBC Radio 2: Dumbed down or daring?” I have to vote for dumbed down.
It seems incomprehensible to me that such a specific station will radically change it’s output to something so common. (I don’t mean that kind of music is lesser in any way - just that it has a very wide representation in the current radio market) Yes - maybe they are losing listeners but why lose the ones you have with such a radical move. How about, instead, you add 5 hours of Jazz, Blues and Pop and leave the rest of the time for what the station is known for - CLASSICAL MUSIC! My friend used to go to sleep with CBC Radio 2 on and would wake up happily to the sounds of classical serenades. He now says that after the change of format he wakes up angry at 5 am and has to switch the radio off. Now that has to be an indication that something is not right here. So please can we stop this experiment? Just like the new facebook, no one likes it and would like to go back to the way it was.
Meme-a-rama
A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
Arcade attendant, Historical interpreter (I was from 1885 and wore a long dress and sat in the sun all summer in front of a covered wagon), poet, collections agent for RBC
B) Four films I would watch over and over:
Field of Dreams, Working Girl, The Rookie, Anchorman.
C) Four places I have lived:
Edmonton, AB (1977-1982; 1989 - 1997), Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (1982-1989), Vancover, BC (1999-2001), London, England (2002-now)
D) Four TV shows that I watch:
There’s way more than that but I guess Grand Designs, The Closer, Painting Daisies, Deadwood.
F) Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
I am a bad e-mailer and hear mostly from people on facebook. I get alot from Mark, the Girls, Rachel and the Taylor family. OK I cheated there but groups only count as one right?
G) Four of my favourite foods:
Noodles, Chinese food, Pizza (no cheese), Vegan chocalte cake from Neal’s Yard.
H) Four places I would rather be right now:
Rome, with Sam somewhere nice, the park, on a beach drinking margaritas.
J) Four favourite authors:Again…too many but some are: Dave Eggers, Donald Barthelme, Murakami Haruki, Marian Keyes.
This was courtesy of my lovely friend Alice….
Developed from an idea for a short film, Steven Hevey’s In My Name focuses on the day of the terrorist attacks on the 7th of July. It follows a day in the life of Grim (James Alexandrou) who has bunked off work to feel sorry for himself following a one night stand, his first encounter after being dumped by a recent ex-girlfriend he desperately wants to reconnect with. Thrown in the mix is his new flatmate, Egg (Kevin Watt), who we’re always unsure of what he really does or why he’s there. Eventually it is revealed that he is an ex-marine but this is a fact that Grim seemed to be unaware of until Egg dresses in fatigues and brandishes a knife.
Thrown into the mix is the all-bling, all-talk, British-Asian, Royal (Ray Panthanki), who is Grim’s boss and comes by to have a night of take-aways and Bruce Willis. With Egg’s barely contained rage, Royal’s high-energy verbiage and Grim’s plodding and gormless nature, we get an odd mix of characters to share an evening with.
Played in the intimate space of the Old Red Lion, this production is in your face and the violence peppered throughout feels like it will break the forth wall at any moment. Egg’s weapon of choice escalates from knife to steel pipe and eventually an arsenal of guns as he takes not only a helpless take-away driver hostage but also the two other boys in the flat as he questions their Britishness and their inability to climb out of their own apathetic ways.
Though there are sparkling bits of dialogue, especially Royal’s sexual take on the questions of Guess Who, and fun character choices in the playing of Royal by Panthanki, In My Name felt a bit contrived as it treaded on similar territory to other plays dealing with the terror attacks. As it is now 3 years on, there is an expectation of a new look on how we dealt with and are dealing with our war on terror. With more development on the inconsistencies within the plot and a further challenge of the ideas within the play, this could have gone from being an OK piece of theatre to something challenging and timeless.
With only one line changed and cuts implemented to tighten the script, director David Farr and Lucian Msamati, take Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and places it in the middle of Africa with characters eerily reflecting the dictators we know reside there today. Their adaptation, without actually changing the words, felt at home in that setting. At times the language was unexpected and challenging but still the audience stayed with them throughout and found the humour that was spattered throughout.
Though the set wasn’t that provocative or daring, I have a soft spot for racked stages and sand floors so was excited to see this production had just that. Across that floor, the actors danced to the pre-show music as the audience shuffled in and there we felt part of their joy and community. As soon as the play began however, that harmony was broken and in the midst of the chaos came Arturo Ui played by Lucian Msamati, who relays that he is the main force driving it.
Msamati’s Ui was a jingly, jangly sort with nervous twitches and prancing trying to fight its way out. Even though I cognitively understood that this was his characterization of Ui, it felt forced as if Msamati wasn’t sure what to do with his body. On the other hand, as the seriousness of Ui’s position grew, so did his stillness. It was moments such as the speech from Julius Caesar near the end of act one, that his majesty came through and I was left with those “my god he’s good” shivers.
The rest of the cast mainly did well in matching Msamati’s energy and drive and though sometimes a bit clunky in transition, switched from character to character with relative ease. The first half could have had more depth in the staging as it felt flat which wasn’t helped by it being also heavy in plot and exposition. The second half was far better as the actors settled into the space and stopped chomping at the bit, as it felt like they did in the first half. A particular poignant moment was the betrayal of Roma played by Ariyon Bakare. Not only did he play the scene superbly but the lighting and staging hit the nail on the head. I think if the production was constructed in the same vein of that scene, the Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui would have been irresistible.
