I Wish I Was At the MAC: Stringing You Along

Hey Readers!

I apologize for last week's silence. I spent my interning hours making a map for a cool brochure we're making for the public art in Worthington. I plan on writing a blog post about it when we get an idea of what it'll look like.

I heard 70+ people made it out to the Get Reel Film Series @ the MAC Presents: Beasts of the Southern Wild. I watched it for the first time last week and loved it. I'm going to have to watch it again to get the symbolism between the aurochs and Hushpuppy's adventure/journey or just to emerse myself in the collage of colors, lights, and kooky drunks that make up the whimsical island called The Bathtub.

This Friday at 7:30pm, a couple of musicians, the wildly talented guitarist Richard Smith and his wife, classically trained cellist, Julie Adams will perform at the MAC. Before I go into their musical endeavors and lists of accomplishments, let me tell you how sickeningly sweet this couple is. (Think eating an entire Easter basket of Cadbury Creme Eggs sweet.)

Richard Smith is a British, child prodigy guitarist who's avoided taking lessons or reading sheet music.

Julie Adams is an Ohio native, classically trained cellist who doesn't feel comfortable off the page.

He got started in country music via Chet Atkins.

She was classically trained at Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Cincinnati Conservatory.

Together their musical stylings span folksy genres to classical and pop.

They're "musical bad boy" meets "classical girl next door." Is it just me or are there hundreds of movies made around this concept every day?

I imagine their first meeting was the musical equivalent of "You've got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" "No you've got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" Hahaha, instantly in love and now traveling the world playing music together.

And the music is why you should come to the MAC Friday.

Richard Smith is the real deal when it comes to child prodigy. It took him less than a day, as a left-handed five year old he learned how to finger pick the chords and & melody to a Chet Atkins song on his dad's right handed guitar. Within six years he played ON STAGE with Chet in front of a thousand people. He was eleven and playing complex songs from memory!

11 year old Smith Playing with Chet Atkins 

Smith appears to have a natural talent for playing by ear. For most songs after one listen he can play it on his guitar. Many of the musicians he grew up loving and playing consider him their hero. I'll say that again: the people who wrote the songs he plays look up to him!

He's that good.

Smith's primary style is finger picking and he's won awards for his skill and was even inducted into the National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame in 2009. However, since his childhood he has branched out to flat picking and excelled in that music styling as well.

"Pickin' In The Park" Dortmund, Germany

In playing with his wife, Smith raves about the diversity she exhibits. Not only does Adams play her cello traditionally, but also as a bass. Sometimes she can lead the music, but also play counter melodies and harmonies for Smith's guitar. This diversity enables them to play all of the genres they love: country, blue grass, jazz, pop, and classical.

From what people who have seen them perform before tell me, it's the kind of music you fall in love with.

I Wish I Was At The MAC: World's Longest Mousetrap

No, the MAC has not thrown away the arts in favor of becoming the next Ripely's Believe It Or Not! This week it's hosting the Worthington Community Theater's production of The Mousetrap, a murder mystery play that is the Godfather of ALL murder mystery shows.

Written by Agatha Christie, this play is the longest running show (of any kind) in the history of British Theater. (and probably entertainment in general, although I can't fact check that claim) As someone who likes symmetry, I think it's fitting that a show with a historically long run is being put on by one of the oldest Community Theater's in Central Ohio.

The show will run from Thursday through Sunday (March 14-17), playing at 7:30pm Thursday-Saturday and 2:00pm on Sunday. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students (That's so reasonable!) and can be bought at the MAC or through a link on the event's page.

Without giving too much away, here's the story:

There is a murder in London. Four strangers check into the same hotel run by a young couple. They are snowed in. A stranded, strange man arrives. Then a detective on skis. The London murderer may be on his way to the hotel. Someone dies. Maybe the murderer is already here...

My reasoning for wishing I could see this play (and hooray! Maybe FOR THE FIRST TIME I can actually go to an event I write about! Wonders of Wonders!) is simple: I spent two weeks straight playing the Simpson Clue boardgame as a kid.

Murder mysteries are just fun. Why do you think this show is over sixty years old and still going strong? Or why there are so many other variations on the same whodunit? theme? Agatha Christie made a career off of writing them.

Instead of giving you a list of why I'd like to go, I'll give you a list of interesting facts about this play because there are a lot of them.

The Mousetrap Fun Facts:

1. Has a "Twist Ending"
I'm not going to say Christie invented it, but the play has done great PR for the concept. Although there's a small section dedicated to the ending on the Wikipedia page (why try and ruin it for us Wiki!?), I did my best not to read it. Audiences are traditionally asked to not reveal the ending/murder's identity after leaving the show and I would hate to blurt it out on here before you've even gone to the play.

2. It's a Play, Based on a Short Story, Based on a Radio Play, Based...

No really. Agatha Christie wrote a radio play titled "Three Blind Mice" (in honor of Queen Mary's 80th birthday.) That radio play inspired Christie to write a short story of the same name, which laid the groundwork for her to create a longer stage production.

2.5 Extra Fun Fact
Christie requested that the short story, "Three Blind Mice" that inspired the play, not be published as long as the play ran in London. In 1950, it was published in the US in Three Blind Mice and Other Stories, but to this day, it has not been published in the UK.

3. Transforming Three Blind Mice into The Mousetrap
When Christie created the stage production of "Three Blind Mice", a stage play of the same name had already run, prior to World War Two. It's said, Christie's son-in-law, Anthony Hicks suggested she title it "The Mousetrap" after Act III scene II in Hamlet, which is what Hamlet tells another character the name of his play is (it's really The Murder of Gonzago) because it's meant to trap the conscious of the King.

4. It's The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Agatha Christie gave the rights to the play to her grandson, Matthew Pritchard for his 9th birthday. His birthday was about a year after the performance's premiere, Oct. 6, 1952. He's had sole rights to this play (and it's royalties) for sixty years. Best. Birthday. Ever.

5. They Can't Make Everything into A Movie
In the mid fifties a producer, John Woolf, bought the rights to make a film based on "The Mousetrap," under the condition that he wouldn't start production until six months after the show was no longer performed in London. Sixty years later and it doesn't look like we'll be seeing the film version for a while.


6. It's Based on a True Story
Albeit, loosely based, in my opinion. In 1945 a young boy, Dennis O'Neill died while in the foster care of a farming couple. His foster father called a doctor saying Dennis was having a fit. When the doctor arrived he found Dennis in terrible condition and already dead. Dennis was malnourished and badly bruised. It's believed he died of cardiac failure caused by his weakened body not withstanding his foster father's abuse. His foster parents were found guilty of manslaughter through willful ill-treatment, neglect, and exposure likely to cause suffering and injury. This case caused an overhaul in the foster care system in the UK. I'm not sure what aspects of The Mousetrap it inspired, but I admire that Christie made sure it's a story not easily forgotten.

Come out and watch this entertaining play with an incredibly rich history. Maybe, I'll see you there.

Last Snow Day

If you're at work, I'm sorry. I won't talk about how I haven't left my couch all morning. What I will talk about is a video I found that has a great, creative idea for what to do with our last big snow (Hopefully).



I love how simple this idea is, especially because you can do anything you want with it. It literally turns the snow into one huge, temporary, canvas!

Think of the possibilities. Hippy Snowman, Police Officer Snowman, Anybody Snowman! Or the fun designs we'll be drawing with chalk this weekend, after the weather gets in the fifties. The idea behind this video is a great way to interact with your family and friends in the snow.

If you don't have a bunch of empty spray bottles laying around, think of what you could do with a water bottle with the cap off, or a hole cut into it.

Here are a few other common household items you can turn into your snow-brush:

1. Old dish sponges
Instead of putting the water-dye mixture in a spray bottle, put it in some bowls, or buckets. Then soak the sponge in a color and do something funky with it on the snow.

2. Loofas
This item could work in the same way the sponge would, just a different texture/design element to try out, if you've realized you've had your loofa for to long.

3. Watering Can
Like the spray bottles it could both hold and dispense the paint, albeit in a less controlled fashion.

4. Fruit & Vegetables
You could cut an apple in half, cut out chunks of it to make a design. That could also be down with a potato, or onion. Take a stick of corn, dip it in a bowl or glass of dyed water, then roll it across the snow.

Also try: artichokes, carrots, radishes, beets, bananas, or orange peels.

5. Q-tips
For the little details, or pointillism snow art.

6. A stick
Just break off  a piece, dip it in your dye water and start sketching the next Snowa Lisa.

7. Paint brush
I bet it would work just as well, if not better than a stick.

Mix the water and dye to whatever ratio you like best or have enough dye for grab some craft "tools" and get out in the snow and play today!