In case you haven't heard, the Packers won the Super Bowl! In their honor, I've decided to devote this column to discovering some green and gold in the arts here on campus.
First, the green. Gaelic Storm, the rocking Irish music band, is coming to the Wisconsin Union Theater Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. The best way to describe Gaelic Storm's show is just plain fun. You might have caught a glimpse of this if you've seen James Cameron's ""Titanic;"" the ensemble provided the festive music for the steerage level party that Leonardo DiCaprio's and Kate Winslet's respective characters attend. This feisty party music leads to dance, drink and drunk.
The band's appearances in this century are just as much fun. Unlike other ensembles (cough, cough, The Black Eyed Peas), this ensemble is just as good, if not better, live. While onstage, their humor shines through.
""We've got merchandise for sale over here. If you guys want to get an autograph after the show, or a photograph, or just give us money, that'd be great,"" frontman Patrick Murphy said in a typical quip. Not only are the members of the ensemble funny, but they also seem to truly enjoy themselves onstage. They bop and dance along with their own music and interact with the audience, often
encouraging the crowd to sing along.
As a band that tours roughly 200 days a year, it's important to the members of Gaelic Storm that they continue to enjoy performing.
""We made a promise to each other that the day we stop having fun, we stop,"" Murphy said. ""And at the end of every year we look back and go, 'Wow, that was a great year.' We just keep looking forward to the next year because each year it gets better and better.""
This fun, rocking band is well worth the $10 student ticket.
If you're looking for a little gold, and I do mean a little, come see University Theatre's ""Rocky Horror Show,"" which opens with a preview show Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater. In addition to the 7:30 p.m. times, the cast is also performing midnight shows March 4 and 5. Student tickets are $10 for both midnight shows as well as for the preview performance on March 3.
If you haven't seen the show, Rocky often makes an extended appearance in an extremely small gold Speedo. I couldn't get the word as to whether UT's rendition of this science fiction classic will also feature such golden attire. Costume designer and MFA student Katie Gray was coy when describing the costume design.
""I know that people have certain expectations when they come to see the show,"" she said. ""It's been a fantastic challenge figuring out how I could meet those expectations while still putting my own unique spin on the costumes.""
While we don't know exactly what Rocky's costume will entail, University Theatre general manager Michele Traband assured me that whatever Rocky shows up in, it will be ""attention-getting""!
To hear more about the Pack's win, visit the second-year Master of Fine Arts review show, CAPUT MORTUUM, in the 7th Floor Gallery of Humanities. The exhibit's namesake piece, Caput Mortuum I & II (The Persistence of Radical Mediocrity) by Anthony Bruce Roark and Douglas Bosley, features a radio-playing sousaphone. Today, reviews of the game flowed through the sousaphone's tubes from the disc jockeys of 101.5 FM.
This highly ironic art piece certainly makes the viewer chuckle. The modern sounds of classic rock station 101.5 FM come through an old, dented sousaphone. Tangles of wires criss-cross and spew out of the back of the main structure, but the result of this seemingly complex set of electronics is a rather simple radio and a few lights. While you're at the gallery, be sure to also check out the rest of the floor of Humanities, an arts treasure trove itself, or go see the other half of this exhibit at the Art Lofts Building at 111 N. Frances St. Both exhibits close tonight at 5:00 p.m.
Continue to celebrate the green and gold for as long as possible with the green and gold arts here on campus. Go Pack Go!
