Buzz Bin

by Inlander Staff


Easy on the Edge -- While the audience for Symphony on the Edge at the Big Easy on Friday night was varied in terms of age if not of musical temperament -- only a few responded when conductor Eckart Preu asked for a show of hands from first-time symphony attendees -- they were certainly the most enthusiastic Classics listeners in a long while. (Must've been the beer.) Preu spoofed conductors, modern music, percussionists and Germans. And somehow our local musicians took on rock-star status by being projected, intent and sweatily at work, up on the big screens.


Allegro's King Arthur, a more demure affair, was right across the street offering its own 17th-century multimedia delights (music, song, acting, dance) in close proximity. On the one hand, it was great to witness two classical events downtown on a Friday night. On the other, was the proximity too close for Allegro, which had reserved the Met for Oct. 15 months before the Symphony added the Big Easy date to its schedule? Or is this area developing more than just a monolithic, one-dimensional audience for the classics?





I Bark and I Vote! -- Rumor has it that the Urban Canine (3103 S. Grand Blvd.) has ordered some new squeak toys just in time for Woofles to weigh in on the upcoming election. Let him exercise his freedom of speech with enthusiastic bitings, growlings and lots and lots of squeaking! We know they're getting a shipment of both Kerry and Bush squeak toys; no word yet on whether there are squeaky Libertarian, Independent or Green Party candidates available. Spot might really love to tear into Ralph Nader.





Headless in Pleasance -- What's that? You never made it to the Northwest Renaissance Festival this summer and now you do naught but sup on your grief and regret? Have no fear, milords and ladies. The merry town of Pleasance welcomes thee to their Haunted Village Oct. 22-23 (6 -10 pm) and Oct. 29-31 (6 pm-midnight). Journey with care, fair friends, for there have been troubling reports of a headless man on horseback and spirits that wander the King's land. For more info, visit www.nwrf.com.





Reading Room -- Did you know that CenterStage has a cozy little "Library Lounge" on its second floor? Better yet, every Wednesday night beginning at 7:30, the Library Lounge is where you'll find an open mike for poets, prose-ists and other architects of the written word. Bring your own work or simply come and absorb the writings of others. Hell, maybe you'll even run into a drunken Buzz Bin staffer or two (we'll be the ones composing silly haiku on cocktail napkins). For more information, call Michael Steele at 863-6291.





Publication date: 10/21/04