Entertainment

As I approach this weekend I can't help but feel that something is amiss. Last weekend I felt the same thing. Like there was something I missed, forgot to do..... ah, that's it. I didn't work last weekend, and I don't have to this weekend either.

But really, was it work? It occupied my time much like a job does, taking 3 hours out of four nights a week. Plus, I did get paid to do it. However, a part of me can't justify going on stage, acting like a moron, and singing a few songs a real job. But part of me thinks, "it is a talent." It really boils down to quality. 

Entertainment, specifically music and theatre, is a touchy subject when it comes to quality. It's all in the eye, and ear, of the beholder. Personally, I'm a critic. Not that everything has to be perfect, but for me to be entertained a performance needs to encompass real talent, skill and noticeable effort. Though, not every entertainer strives for either of those. 

Not every sloppy strumming, slack jawed "singer/songwriter" you hear in a coffee shop considers themselves a professional player. They are just doing it to do it. I respect that in the highest regard. I, on the other hand, want to be something more.

I'm rambling so let's get down to it. The long and short of it is this: Entertainment is a Release. An audience member pays good money to be taken out of their life for a while. Forget about everything but the show that's in front of them. If a performance doesn't take the audience member on a ride, if it doesn't move them in some way, then the performer did not do his/her job and I believe they have no business calling themselves a quality performer. 

Harsh? Maybe, but I've struggled a lot with this topic recently. Whether or not performing is a viable career path, or whether I should just stick to a community theatre performance every so often. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm perfecting my chops. I just finished two runs with Daddy D productions. The completion of the 80's Show also completes my time with Daddy D's as I begin to look east. But here's a taste for what we did there. I'll let your ears determine the quality:

Here's Looking at Trivia

This time last weekend, over 13,000 people were starting to feel intense fatigue. Instead of sleeping Friday night, they locked their ears to the nearest radio attempting to answer the seemingly impossible trivia questions that came out of it. For the past 40 years, the college town of Stevens Point, WI gets swamped one April weekend, as thousands of people gather into basements, hotels, and dorm rooms to play in the world's largest trivia contest. Known simply as Trivia.

90FM is unlike any other college station in the mid-west, dare I say even the nation. Not only do they play the best music you've never been given the chance to hear. They also are responsible for one of the most widespread media events in the world.

The DJ reads a question twice, plays a song, reads the question again, plays another song, and then the answer is given. The moment the question is read you start scrambling, searching every corner of Google, Yahoo, or Goodsearch. The first song nears it's end and the question is read once more. Pressure's on. Only one song to go before you have to call in an answer to one of 18 phone operators. Time is running out. You don't know if your answer is right, but is the best chance you have. You call it in just before the DJ tells everyone to put their phones down. After reading the question a final time, the answer is read. Most likely, you got it wrong. Now, imagine 54 hours of that.

As a staff member at UWSP's radio station, WWSP 90FM, I had the privilege of helping organize this monster of a contest. Every January the staff starts getting ready. From recruiting volunteers, to creating promotional announcements, to organizing a parade, I put more time and preparation into this contest than I did a lot of my studies. During the weekend itself, all of us at the station eat, sleep, and breath Trivia. The best part is interviewing teams and creating a two minute audio package we call a "trivia focus."

Here's a bit of the audio I've produced from Trivia's past:

As you can hear, these teams are just plain fun. Most of them use some amazing creativity in choosing their team name as well. Since the name is read over the air, they can't be too vulgar. But innuendos are almost encouraged. Such as "The Worst Acronym Team" or last year's "Obama's poll has Hillary on Top." Then there are the random names like "Never Trust a Baby with a Mustache" and "Lactation Nation" . The majority of players are just out there to have a good time.

I never really had the opportunity to see what this contest is like to a player since I was always a facilitator. This past weekend was my chance. I joined up with "Staff Infection," a team made up of past 90FM staff members.

Arriving in Stevens Point around 1am on Sunday, I could tell everyone on the team I was joining had been playing nonstop since Friday. They were running on fumes. But before long, we all got our second (or fourth) wind. We perked up and began pounding out correct answer after correct answer.

Personally though, I could not handle those questions. They are just too hard. You have to play to understand. They questions are written in such a way that you first have to figure out what exactly the question is about, what the question is referencing, then you can go about trying to answer it.

My favorite part is the scavenger hunt. Clues are read over the air every few hours and your goal is to drive around town and attempt to find a person handing out stamps. It's bizarre driving around at 4am and seeing a line of 40 cars all headed in the same direction.

In the end "90FM Staff Infection" took 219th place out of 415 teams. In honesty, we did more drinking than playing. It's a wild and crazy weekend that I will strive to never miss. Many in point use this weekend as an unofficial homecoming. For me and my friends, it's become the official coming home.

Emeril Lagasse meets Daniel Boone

Being relatively unemployed has its downsides. Mostly consisting of not having money for things like bills, health insurance, gas. It's bad enough not having money for the essentials like drinking, going out, and partying. But being the optimist that I am, being unemployed also has its benefits. Mostly consisting of having way too much free time. Which truthfully can be a blessing or a curse. 

In the case of me and my other good buddies, who also happen to not have jobs, we've taken the time that we'd otherwise flitter away and the beautiful weather that we'd otherwise waste in front of an Xbox, and turned ourselves into regular Emeril Lagasses. 

It all started when my friend, Mike, got himself a dutch oven, which for those who don't know is a large cast iron pot for cooking over a fire. We had a cook book. It served well as a start for our recipes, but we decided to take things a little further. 

For example, the Good Old-Fashioned Family Stew. The recipe called for:

• 1 pound of stew meat, cut to 1" cubes
• 2 large diced onions
• 4  cubed potatoes
• 1 cup of baby carrots
• 1/2 cup of diced celery
• 1/2 cup of diced other choice veggies (mushrooms in our case)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 cans of mushroom soup 
• Seasonings of choice

That's all great and grand. But we added:

• 2 can of Miller High Life
• An extra pound of meat
• 2 more potatoes
• Brown Sugar
• 2 Apples
• A garlic clove
• lots of Love

Take that mixture of mouthwatering flavors, let it sit on some hot coals for 3 hours, stir every 20 minutes or so, and you'll be hosting the best party your mouth has ever seen. The meat dissolved before your teeth could do the work. The apple and brown sugar combined with the beer to give a sweet, cider lager flavor. Plus, the garlic and onion added an extra bite that made the love ridiculously palpable. 

The following week consisted of another delicious dish: a dutch oven pot roast. Alex found this one, and I'm quite pleased he did. One huge slab of meat simmers with apple cider and barbecue sauce for about an hour. Then add in preferred veggies and simmer for another hour. Finally, to finish the whole thing off,  15 minutes of simmering with 1/2 pound of okra. Delectable. 

A cast iron pot isn't the only thing we can cook in either. We took a three day journey up to Mike's cabin in Iron Mountain. There we concocted a fantastic Last Supper consisting of Alaskan Pollock, perfectly seasoned potatoes and onions, beans, and of course, a box of Franzia to wash it all down. It made for a great Holy Thursday. 

Our tag-team cooking has us considering a future in the restaurant business. However, then we'd miss out on the best part of all this cooking, having fun. Once the prep work is done and the pot is on the fire, it's all about having a few beers, playing with the dogs, shooting guns, singing along with ukulele strums, and enjoying the life of the unemployed. 

I don't mind this lifestyle. That is, till I run out of money. 

Tap that Ash

During the middle weeks of March there was definitely still snow on the ground, yet it warmed up enough to get the sap flowing in Mountain, WI.

In a successful attempt to promote more winter activities, Bear Paw Scout Camp, a summer camp with which I have quite a history, held it's first ever Bear Paw Maple Days: a day camp in which kids come up to camp and learn everything there is to know about maple syrup, from tap to bottle.

I worked on the staff, teaching all the little ones about the history of maple syrup making, how it was made by Native Americans and early European settlers. Trust me, I'm no syrup expert but after this weekend of maple magic, I feel I'm many steps closer.

For example, did you know that the sap that come out of a tree is basically sugar water? That's

right! The sugar content of the sap is only about 2-3%. However, after a lengthy boiling process, in a "sugar shack" like the one at right, the water is boiled off and you are left with the deliciousness we call maple syrup. The contents of which is about 67% sugar.

Here are some other fun facts:

• Tapping does no permanent damage to the tree
• It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup
  
• 1 tree produces 10 gallons of sap
• Maple syrup won't actually freeze
• Maple syrup is the first farm crop to be harvested in Wisconsin each year
• and in 1905 the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act made alteration of maple syrup with glucose illegal (bet you didn't know that one)

Oh and we showed the kiddies how a gravity taping scheme works. Instead of hanging baskets from taps, a series of tubing is used to filter the sap to a collection at the lowest point in the area. Believe me, after walking around for hours collecting 5 gallon buckets of half frozen sap, a system like this is really sweet (pun intended). But you do have to have the luxury of many maple trees in a valley-like area.

The final product at the end of the day was a delicious little bottle of homemade, fresh, delectable, maple syrup that everyone got to take home and enjoy on their pancakes, waffles, spaghetti, whatever.

Ohh and P.S. We were tapping sugar maple trees as they yield the most sap. Tapping an ash tree is just absurd. I simply couldn't resist the innuendo.

And I was Doing so Good

Since being back from Europe my life has been on the less interesting side. However, I still thought I was doing pretty good on the whole blogging thing throughout January and February. Then these past two months sorta fell to the wayside. 

I have lots of excuses stored up to explain my absence from this digital community, but I think the most plausible one is the fact that the past two cold rainy/sleety days have been the worst weather we've had around here in a while. 

See when you're from Wisconsin, or anywhere in the midwest I guess, you don't take good weather for granted. The majority of the year brings icy road conditions and nipple-hardening temperatures that lend to months of indoor hobbies. Therefore, give any Wisconsinite a little bit of sunshine and temps above 35 degrees Fahrenheit and we'll have cook-outs and start tanning our pasty whiteness.  

That's my biggest excuse. I've actually been doing stuff. Such as back in March, I went to the zoo. Hence that lovely picture of the deer like creatures. It was a splendid day, but I think I enjoyed the zoo more as a kid, when I didn't understand how endangered many of these creatures are and how human beings are the cause of it. But that's a whole other topic for a different post. 

That same day a friend and I visited the bay of Green Bay. Despite the warmth and the pockets of thin ice, I decided it'd be worth walking on. Only feared for my life a couple times.

Anything else I did over the past two months that was exciting you can read about in the following posts!

Project Pink

Ranging from people in their 60's who saw Pink Floyd when their music was just beginning to warp young minds, to high school stoners who wanted something else to do with their Thursday night besides play X-box, the Meyer Theatre in downtown Green Bay, WI was packed for the inaugural performance of the world's newest Pink Floyd tribute band: Project Pink. 

No, they are not a breast cancer benefit band as the clueless woman at the Ticketstar outlet thought. Rather, this tribute band took the audience on a detailed re-living of a Pink Floyd experience. From the helicopter search light scanning the crowd and the general screaming, "Stand Still Laddie!" to the encore of "Run Like Hell," Project Pink nails ever aspect of the show.

 The freakishly accurate solos displayed the incredible musicianship of the performers on stage, such as the guitar in "Brick in the Wall," the toms solo in "Time," and the soulful wailing of the three ladies on "Great Gig in the Sky." The emotion they all poured into numbers such as "Comfortably Numb"demonstrated the song's beautiful simplicity. As if the musicians didn't put on enough of a show on their own, the special effects made for an even grander display. 

A sixteen-foot projection screen showcasing classic Pink Floyd imagery made for entertaining transitions between songs and added the extra tripped-out flare expected of a Floyd show. The light show was quite a display, especially for Green Bay. Most often we don't get light shows like that unless they are from national touring acts. 

With the first set encompassing mostly songs from The Dark Side of the Moon and the second set running into The Wall, this fine production will make Green Bay proud once they get in on the road to show off to the rest of the nation, and maybe even the world. 

An 80's Show Review

Sometimes even the jobs you love feel like work. Here's a review from the latest performance I've been doing with Daddy D productions:

Parts of Daddy D Productions' latest original show — songs and stuff from the 1980s — are a whole lot of fun:

A nerd and a gonzo guy get in a rapture about heading out on spring break, and out comes the Beach Boys' wonderful "Kokomo." The nerd (Shawn Connelly) "dances" in a hilarious rhythm, while the frizzy-haired gonzo guy (troupe leader Darren Johnson) grooves on his own.

The Sweeney Sisters return to their alma mater to entertain 10 years later (lying by 10 years) and do loopy, giddy send-ups of "We Are the World," "Maneater" and more. Anna Snyder and Shelley Emmer romp, with Emmer soaring as a comedienne.

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" flashes extra talents as Connelly sings and Laura Asma lets fly on the fiddle.

Because people want him to, Johnson tosses in a song with meat for his remarkable voice, and he digs into "If I Could Just Hold You Again."

The band — Jeff Hinnendael, drums; Ryan Sette, guitar; Adam Bunn, bass; and Dr. Stephen Asma, keyboards — spans the pop tunes nicely and is featured in such instrumentals as the creamy theme from the movie "Chariots of Fire."

It must be said that a lot of the '80s hits that are in this show, while catchy on the surface, are paper-thin and repetitive, not giving the performer much to do theatrically. It's not that the songs aren't likable, but they leave you wanting something more.

Multimedia bits include flashes of MTV, the full "Thriller" at intermission and a look at the cast in the '80s ranging from a photo of Johnson in a tux for a prom to nothing for Connelly, who says he probably was being nursed.

Pick an era, and Daddy D is entertaining.

-Warren Gerds, Green Bay Press Gazette

Simple Words, Bad Hips

My hip flexors will be my undoing. They are the reason my senior year of high school cross country was cut short, and they are the reason why my training for the Green Bay Marathon has become more difficult with each passing day.

According to the schedule I'm following, today was supposed to be a 16 miler. I started this schedule about a month late, so I compromised and decided 10 would suffice. Six miles in, I was feeling it. I hate to say it, but getting old sucks. With that said, I know everyone over 23 is saying, "Ha, you should talk kid." But I can seriously feel a difference in my running from now and when I was running this much five years ago. As a friend my age and I were talking the other day, there's a different kind of pain that comes with running today as opposed to when I was 18. Then it was a soreness, an inconvenience, a badge of courage discomfort. Now it's a, "damn I gotta get home and ice this" kinda pain. 

So six miles in my hips and knees were saying, "head home." I was on a back country road. Not many out on this gorgeous day except a woman walking her dog. We exchanged a nod and a hello. Then up ahead was an older man in his yard. I feel a little awkward coming across people at their homes' on less populated roads. Almost like I'm intruding. Plus, when I run I must look like a skinny bandit. With my black thermal spandex leggings, grey hoodie, gloves, and my black hat and black turtle fur covering everything but my eyes, I must look like an hip, evil ninja. But I always try to give a friendly hello.

However, this kind old man beat me to the punch. Seeing me all bundled up he said in his jolly way, "Not too long and we'll be in short-sleeve weather!" In between breaths I muttered, "Yup, getting there."

It was a short, banal interaction. But it was enough to take my mind off my body for a few seconds. After those seconds, when my mind was back on my run, I felt incredibly uplifted. Although my knees still ached and I felt like I had the Tinman's hips (pre-lubrication that is), I felt like I could run another eight miles. 

I like friendly people. 

Until Now...

As if I wasn't enough of a sucker for UFOs, Loch Ness, ghosts, and all that other paranormal crap, now the History Channel has succumbed to creating series after series to study them and supposedly hunt these things down. Good move by them. I really enjoy their actual historical documentaries, but I could see how these "out of the ordinary" specials would boost the ratings. Plus, the History Channel's factual reputation gives these phenomena some sort of validity. 

If you watch these shows expecting to get definitive proof of these things' existence, as the episodes' previews imply, you'll soon find that every show is a complete let down. They all start off the same way:

"For centuries, there have been myths, legends, and folklore about (insert paranormal here). 

But none of the important questions could be answered, none of the vital clues discovered...

Until Now."

That phrase, Until Now. It makes me perk up like a puppy who has just figured out what the word "walk" means. It congers up thoughts in my head. "Oo oo Oo, they've finally discovered something for real this time. All the mystery is over!" An hour later, I'm left feeling disheartened and bamboozled. 

They spend 55 minutes telling the stories, showing the skeptics' views, then showing the barely significant details to debunk the skeptics, followed by their display of high tech devices they will use to study the phenomena in question, and finally actually diving in to some footage of them attempting to solve the mystery in question. 

The last five minutes of any episode ends up relatively the same:

"While we found no sign of (insert paranormal here) today, the evidence begs the question, 'what did farmer Dan and his wife Fran see on that warm summer evening?' As the technology becomes more advanced and the sightings become more frequent, we become more intrigued." 

Or something like that. And while the audience listens to that let down of a conclusion, the credits are rapidly flashing by the bottom of the screen. Before you can blink, your being sucked into another episode of UFO hunters. Only this time, they are investigating a site at which, legend has it, a metallic vessel crash landed in 1897 and an alien body was buried in the local  cemetery and the ship's debris tossed into the depths of the local well. This particular episode ended with them going down the well and finding nothing, and them x-raying the cemetery (since they weren't given permission to dig) to discover something very well could be buried there. I'm sure there is. After all, it's a bloody cemetery. 

The worst part of it all, it gets me every time. Right now, I'm going on my third hour of these shows. I just struggled to turn off an episode of MonsterQuest in which Bigfoot was apparently on the loose. I know their little tricks. Every time they're about to go to commercial they tease at the really cool evidence that looks like it's coming up after the break. But in actuality won't come till the end of the episode, and once it comes, it's disappointingly not conclusive.

I guess I like to see people argue for the paranormal. I enjoy watching those smarter than I use science in order to prove science fiction, or attempt to at least. Deep down, I think I'm still a wondrous kid who, like Agents Mulder and Scully, wants to believe that the truth is out there.

A Blues Legend

Sporting a track suit and a laid back attitude to match, blues guitar legend Buddy Guy played to a packed hall at the Oneida Casino tonight. Although I don't consider myself the biggest fan, there are certain musicians that any guitarist just can't pass up seeing live if the opportunity comes along.

The blues is a music genre that is quite unique, as it's label, "the blues," is also a chord progression which 80% of blues songs follow. One would assume then, that it would be repetitive and monotonous to listen to...which it can be unless you're listening to a blues master like Buddy. 

Through simple yet well-executed manipulations, the same formats that have been used since the birth of blues can still be as exciting and entertaining as ever. 

Buddy showed that tonight. At 72-years-old, his voice sounded strong and embodied that raspy blues quality, his guitar playing was solid yet wildly brash, and his stage presence was  just as energetic as that of a much younger musician. He even walked up and down the aisles playing and singing a 10-minute-song, coming within arms length distance of my seat. 

All around a great show, watching masterful bluesmen practicing their craft. Matching one another in both skill and creativity, Buddy's keyboard player is also worthy of note, as those two fed of each other the entire night. They gave the audience a blues night to remember. 

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Queensland Tourism failed to see my unmatched potential. But after going through the top 50 shortlisted candidates, it's easy to see why. Many on this list are media professionals, seasoned travelers, and show incredible abilities with a lifetime of experience to match. 

Others not so much. It definitely seems Queensland Tourism tried to gather a pool from all over the world. Even if that meant sacrificing a couple of positions for some candidates that aren't quite up to par, at least in my opinion. Especially when they are put right next to some of the quality videos that are shortlisted, it's easy to see the difference. 

I'm not going to pout or come up with excuses as to why I am not in this top 50. These people deserve to be there. But I will say this, if I had known it was perfectly cool throw copyrighted music into my video like everyone else's in this shortlist, or steal a concept from a popular television commercial, I could have at least made mine a touch more interesting. I guess Queensland Tourism just isn't interested in legality or originality. But seriously, not bitter. Don't care. 

Nonetheless, here's the video I submitted. Not a winner, but I had fun with it.

If I were a betting man, which get me to a craps table and I am, here's my top two:    

Male: Mark, from California                                                                                                   

Female: Julia, from the Russian Federation 

Falling Slowly

Remember that last video blog which was disappointingly unentertaining? Well, I felt extremely compelled to redeem myself, so I made this:

I wanted to include some footage of the backup instrumentation (piano, strings, vocal harmonies), but conflicting video formats made that impossible. This was my first attempt at using Garageband's video feature. The next one of these will be better, promise. I'm just pumped I got the youtube wide-screen to work. 

And no, I am not wearing lipstick. My lips were just rather chapped. 

Choo Choo: A Moue Review

Another review by yours truly. This time for a Swiss, 60's pop-rock band called Choo Choo. Worth a listen or two, even though the music isn't necessarily my favorite. 

At Least the Skiers are Happy

Up until December 25th, everyone in Wisconsin wishes for a White Christmas. However, once the gifts are unwrapped and the get-togethers are done, most say, "enough already with the white stuff." But the snow continues to fall well into March, sometimes even April.

This past Tuesday forecasted heavy snowfall overnight which would result in school closings Wednesday morning. But children woke up disappointed to find a light dusting that just made things look pretty again. Then early this morning the snow piled up slowly but surely, and has continued all day.

As many despondently trudge down their driveway's, shovels and snow blowers in hand, for about the hundredth time this winter, other folks are loving this day more than any other of the year.

North America's largest cross-country ski race, The American Birkebeiner, is being held today in Hayward, Wisconsin. Now in it's 36th year, this race tests a skier in just about every way possible, physically and mentally. Since I haven't put on cross-country skies since I was five, I don't have personal experience on the trails. But this lady does.

I had the pleasure of being one of the thousands of spectators watching skiers brave this incredible journey last year. At the time, I was in a journalism class and for a final project my group decided to cover the Birkie (as it is affectionately called by it's participants). The class had a twist though. It was a topic specific writing course, on food of all things. So we covered the Birkie from the perspective of what fuels these skiers on the trails.

Once I have a full winter in Wisconsin to train, I intend on tackling this 52 kilometer trail. Last year as I was filming this little documentary, I was having a blast. The overall good feelings everyone has and the help-eachother-out nature of the Birkie is contagious. Which is why every winter skiers from across the world experience a Birkie Fever relapse.

An Update

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