Tag Archives: bonnie torti

Whitley County Historical Bulletin covers Blue Bell Lofts opening

6 June 2017

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Thanks to Dani Tippman from the Whitley County Historical Society for this coverage of the Blue Bell Lofts Grand Opening! Dani was unable to attend the ribbon-cutting, but watched and enjoyed my mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s speech on video. Dani wanted to include this story in the Whitley County Historial Bulletin. That is really a special treat, as my mom wrote a piece in 1987 on the history of the facility that also appeared in The Bulletin and was used extensively in Commonwealth’s research for this transformative project – you can read that piece here.

My mom did want to note that in the excitement of the day there were a couple of items she misstated and would like to correct: “The corrections would be 50 layers of denim which I had mis-stated….and that the plant was called Blue Bell in 1943 after several name changes. When in another building behind the bowling alley, it was called Globe-Superior…becoming Blue Bell-Globe when Globe-Superior was bought out. From 1936, it was called Blue Bell-Globe until just the Blue Bell name in ’43. At one point down south after Big Ben and Blue Bell merged the company was called Blue Bell Overall Company from 1930 until 1936, when it became Blue Bell-Globe and, finally – as I wrote – in 1943, BLUE BELL, INC. Thus, Blue Bell affiliation provided the final lasting name change to simply Blue Bell one year after my dad Roy Duncan arrived. First big acquisition after the name change was CASEY JONES!” Enjoy!

 

BONUS: From 1987, The Post and Mail’s coverage of Susie’s original Blue Bell article in The Bulletin

So closes #Drood. A helluva week!

4 June 2017

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And so closes #Drood. What a week! So grateful to this show and its exceptional cast and crew and our dynamite director Ron Baumanis … you helped me reclaim my theatre mojo. Thank you!

 

 

Thanks to those friends and family who showed their support and attended a performance through the run: John Mola, Don and Susie Sexton, Benjamin and Jane Kang, Aaron Latham, Rob Zannini, Nikki Bagdady Horn, Jackie Jenkins, Kim Elizabeth Johnson, Penny Yohn, Sharon Karaboyas, Diana Zentz Hegedus, Michele Woolems Gale, Julia Spanja Hoffert, Sue Booth, Brian Cox, Kelly Little, Edmond Reynolds, Ann Little, Jeff Steinhauer, Michele Walters Szczypka, Mary Philips Letters, Rich and Susan Geary and co., Bonnie Torti, Melynee Weber-Lynch and Jim Lynch, Bridget and Don and friends, Kristy Smith and Chris, Laurie Rorrer Armstrong, Eric and Rebecca Dale Winder, Heather LaDuke and Sienna and Ariel, Dan Morrison, Steve DeBruyne, Matthew G Tomich, Anne Bauman, Christine Dotson Blossom, Sue Nelson, Josh and Sarah Maday and darling Olivia, Evelyn and Kevin DiCola, Mitch Holdwick and Anya Dale, Rachel Green and co., Bridget and Nondus Carr, Jaclyn Klein, Samantha Fletcher-Garbutt, Donna Kallio Wolbers and Jason Wolbers, Jason Karas and Claire Elizabeth, Samantha Gordon, Linda Pawlowski Hemphill, Lisa Harrell, Jon Woods and Brian Goins, Eric Walkuski and Jasmine, Beth Kennedy, Kevin Kaminski, Jeff Weisserman, Breeda Kelly Miller, Michelle MacDonald McAllister, Tom McAllister, Rebecca Biber, Matthew Pecek, Amy Sundback, Henry Kiley, David Francis Kiley, Sheri Chisholm, Scott Chisholm, Don Blumenthal, Brent Stansfield and Evelyn, Michelle Clark and Alex, Laura Sagolla.

 

Enjoy these photos by my loving parents and other friends from the past week, including a special message we received from Rupert Holmes, the musical’s creator!

 

Clive Paget/John Jasper out.

 

Guitar heroes and heartaches: Howie Day at Ann Arbor’s The Ark

18 April 2014

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Howie Day

Howie Day

I’m not much for folk music (see my review of Inside Llewyn Davis) or, for that matter, guitar-driven singer/songwriters. So, when our friend Bonnie offered an extra ticket to see Howie Day at Ann Arbor’s The Ark, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I had vague memories of Day as an early aughts pop/rock folkie with the following attributes: an inescapable (and kinda bland) radio hit “Collide,” a reputation as having been Britney Spears’ rehab rebound boy toy, some TMZ-style controversies that involved berating flight attendants and throwing cell phones, and a Russell Crowe-esque fiery temper (that last point being the most intriguing to me).

It’s a shame that this is his legacy to ignorant lay-people like yours truly, because he is phenomenal.

The joy of seeing a musician live when you know pretty much none of their songs is that every tune is a new discovery. (My apologies to those Howie Day fans looking for a set-list or some other detail from tonight’s show. I have no idea what the songs were titled.)

Bonnie and Roy

Bonnie and Roy

Day was such a compelling presence, with just his honey-husky voice, his Liev Schreiber-ish look, a guitar and a microphone, and (his secret weapon) some astonishing gizmo that let him record, dub, layer, and re-layer his own voice and instrumentation in real time. I don’t know how else to describe it.

I’m sure someone out there knows the name for this, but he had a device on the floor that he would tap with his foot and record a snippet of guitar or voice or some other noise that would then loop and repeat and become the accompaniment for any given song. This technique – which was part dusty troubadour, part Ibiza-bound DJ – was transfixing and transporting.

This beat-infused folktronica (lord, I always hated that term, yet here I am using it) offered a surreal soundscape for the heartache dripping from every lyric. While Day gave sparkling between-song  patter (he kept returning to the notion that he really should have seen the film Noah today if he was going to perform at a venue called “The Ark”), every song he played related the tale of someone abandoned by love, by friends, by life. Haunting doesn’t even begin to describe the musical stories he wove.

Shane Piasecki

Shane Piasecki

Opening act Shane Piasecki was a sunny counterpoint to Day’s melodic solemnity. Piasecki – resembling some mashed up hybrid of Ed Norton, Bob Dylan, and James Franco – captivated the audience with his shaggy dog charm, playing guitar and harmonica and vocalizing, with studied casual aplomb. His numbers all had a loping frat boy charm but with a musical sophistication that belied his youthful demeanor. He had the audience in the palm of his hand … and that was prior to him telling us he had to rush back to his mischievous dog at the hotel where he’s staying before the establishment lost every last pillow to the canine’s canines.

If these two wandering minstrels find their way to your town (or somewhere nearby), do not hesitate to check them out. You won’t be disappointed. I, for one, bought all of Piasecki’s musical output (four CDs – $35 in total) at the merchandise table, and Day’s are now added to my Amazon cart for ordering posthaste!

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Reel Roy Reviews is now a book! Please check out this coverage from BroadwayWorld of upcoming book launch events. In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the book currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan; by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan; and by Memory Lane Gift Shop in Columbia City, Indiana. Bookbound, Common Language, and Memory Lane also have copies of Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series.