Rocky Horror

This week I went to see Rocky Horror Picture show at Timothy’s Bar on Brown Street. It was definitely an interesting experience. I have seen bits of the movie before so I had a general idea what to expect but it was still strange. There were a lot of people dressed up in lingerie that weren’t even in the show. It was basically a preview of what these people will look like on Halloween.
Anyways, we walked in and were greeted by two girls in lingerie (duh). They asked if we were a “Rocky Virgin” I said no, but if you were you got a big V put on your forehead in red lipstick. The venue was fine, only because I like Timothy’s. I didn’t enjoy how it was standing room only though; it made it quite hard to see especially because I’m short.
The show started out semi-cultish which was the idea I assume. All people with a V on their head had to say a pledge while everyone cheered. The way they started out the play was especially strange. Basically they played the movie on 3 different projectors and acted it out simultaneously and danced on stripper poles. The problem was, that a lot of the cast was tipsy if not belligerent which made the play part hard to understand as well as impossible to see. In a way it could be compared to watching a movie with a ton of people screaming at the movie telling the actors what to do and other vulgar sayings and gestures.
I understand how they intended the show to be and I have to say I don’t think they accomplished their goal very successfully. For the most part I couldn’t see anything and was extremely uncomfortable standing for that long while people were screaming at the movie. It was a lot of yelling which made it uncomfortable. I could have left after the first 15 minutes but I didn’t want to be rude. Maybe if everyone in the audience were as sloppy as some of the performers it would have been more enjoyable. It was a good show until it got to the point where one of the actresses almost fell, spilt ice all over part of the audience and hit 2 lamps.
I get that Rocky Horror Picture Show is a creepy crazy movie but I don’t think it was given its proper justice.

Adventure

This week I went on an adventure to the 7th floor of Rosch Library. I had always heard of the view from the notorious 7th floor bathroom and decided I should take a look for myself.
It was a beautiful sunny day, the perfect temperature (not too hot but not too cold). After the UD soccer game, Liz Paris and I walked to Rosch Library to explore and look at the artwork they show. I enjoyed the huge statue about the story of Jesus. I couldn’t stop looking at it. I mean, the piece is huge, and there is a new story each way you look at it. The statue has everything from caveman, to Jesus. It is kind of a dreary statue for the most part, with the exception of the gates of heaven, which are very bright and pretty.
Once Liz and Paris pulled me away from the sculpture we went on the creepiest of elevators to the 7th floor. Once we got up there we quickly started looking for the bathroom. It wasn’t very hard to find so we all crammed into one stall to see the nice view of UD and Dayton. Then, all the sudden, we hear a toilet flush and bolt. To our surprise an old lady walked out and asked us if we would like to see a better view. She took us into the staff lounge and showed us these huge windows with an even better view than the bathroom. You could see all of UD and into Oakwood. The trees were bursting with reds and oranges. It was beautiful. Fall in a nutshell.
After the library, we went back to the lady’s office, which was full of pictures of pregnant women and children. There were a few statues of Russian dolls and dolls from other countries. I wasn’t too impressed by the pictures of the people. They were all under saturated which looks nice at times but not for a family portrait. To me it created a dreary affect to what should be a happy moment. Maybe the photographer intended the dullness of her photo to represent the thought or a moment between mother and child. I just didn’t find it that convincing. The dolls were cute but just looked like your typical doll. After looking at a plethora of art and views we said thank you to the nice old lady and walked back to the dorm.

So Percussion/Matthew Daylor

Oh wow what a week for artsy things. On Wednesday I went to the So Percussion workshop pizza party on Art Street to see what this was all about. For the most part Liz and I sat outside in the chilly weather while So jammed and improvised their new music. 3 dancers from the DCDC also came to improvise what they heard into some sort of dance. The dancers really added to the music in my opinion. My personal favorite was the girl in the turtleneck and big jeans. She looked as if she should be in an old school hip-hop video and she always had a smile on her face while dancing. When So Percussion played their music here, they described a floor plan of a house so I tried to in vision what music could be in what room. I got a bedroom and a kitchen (the kitchen was easier because the dancers looked like they were cooking). That is how I perceived what they were messing around with. If it weren’t freezing cold, I would have stayed for longer.
Thursday was extreme art day. I woke up, went to English, listened to 2 guys from So Percussion talk about who they are and what they do. One of them started talking about the phenomenon when you’re driving and your turn signal is on as well as the car in front of you and the 2 blinkers are opposite then slowly matches up then get off from each other again. I think and look for things like this ALL THE TIME so I was extremely pleased when he brought it up. He also brought up a few good points about what we perceive as art and why aren’t the little things in life considered an art (i.e. trash).
After So Percussion I went to listen to local Cincinnati artist Matthew Daylor talk about his new art exhibit Into the Village. He was born in Hamilton Ontario and later moved to Toronto. You can see his background in underground club life and graffiti in his current works. I really like his art. It is a mixture of screen-printing paint and graffiti. If you want to see his current work it is in the Rike Gallery.
To end a day of art after classes I went to see So Percussion again play at KU. This was much different than what I saw on Wednesday and honestly I preferred it. Although some of the bells were hurting my ears they did some really cool things (i.e. play on a cactus and they had these tubes to blow which would play long notes). Some of their songs got a little long but I really enjoyed the Mallet Quartet. I’ve always loved the sound of xylophones and they created the coolest of sounds with the instruments they played and their music led you on a journey.