By Marcia E. Gawecki

During Spring Break this year, honor students from Idyllwild Arts won’t be basking on the beaches, but building houses for migrant farm workers.

This co-ed group of about 10 students who attend this high school arts boarding school are giving up their coveted one week spring break (from March 20 to March 27) to build houses for Habitat for Humanity in Oxnard, California, where there is a large population of migrant farm workers.

Habitat for Humanity was chosen because it is unrivaled in its organizational structure and specializes in dealing with students who are new to volunteerism.

“In a culture of Facebook and fast food, it is far too easy to loose touch with those in need in world around us,” said Chris Wegemer, a Physics teacher at Idyllwild Arts and one of the three chaperones. “We will experience California from a perspective that we have never seen before, exposing us to poverty and injustice right on our doorstep.”

He added that it is a great way for the students to address controversial immigrant and migrant worker issues. This is not the first time that Idyllwild Arts and migrant farm workers have crossed paths.

For years, the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program, along with the Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE), have been providing scholarships to migrant worker’s kids from California. Idyllwild Arts picks up the classes, room and board, while MCOE picks up the students’ flights and guardianship, said Diane Dennis, the registrar at Idyllwild Arts.

“In working together, we can cause change here and now, with our own two hands,” Chris added.

Over the past two weeks, the students hosted a bake sale on campus. There were cookies, brownies, pound cake and trail mixes made by students and faculty alike. Nothing was priced, but all donations went into a cardboard box in the shape of a house.

So far, they’ve raised $600, which is only a fraction of their $3,300 goal. However, other fundraising events are  planned, including a “coffee house” style concert on campus to raise awareness for Habitat for Humanity.

The high goal comes from the need for each of the 10 students to bring a $145 donation fee. The fee goes to supplies for the houses, which covers everything from drywall to electrical sockets to plumbing.

Chris said that the students do not need practical carpentry experience, only a willingness to help.

“They are an amazing group of kids,” said Chris. “All of them have done some kind of service work in the past, and they’re eager to use their hands and get dirty to help others.”

The students and other two chaperones, including Daniel Grey and Phil Dunbridge, will live at a community center where they will sleep in sleeping bags.

Chris has told the students how such volunteer experiences can be life changing, how it builds character, forms lasting bonds, and creates a deeper sense of empathy for all those in need.

For more information on the Habitat for Humanity honors project, call Chris at (951) 659-2171.

Copyright 2011 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

Throughout history, people have been fascinated by mythical beasts,  including the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, unicorns, fairies, dragons, griffins, and the like. Hollywood has joined on the bandwagon recently, with “Iron Man,” “Avatar” and “Tron.” And all of the creatures from the bar scene of “Star Wars” would fit into this definition.

Idyllwild has its own mythical creature, called the Idyllbeast, who is hairy and looks like Bigfoot, but not as scary. Maybe more like Chewbacca. Only that the Idyllbeast hosts his own web site, and his own storefront, The Idyllbeast Research Center, on North Circle Drive in Idyllwild.

With all of these mythical beasts in mind, the Idyllwild Arts Visual Arts Department presented its student theme show, “Cryptozoology,” with a Jan. 14 opening at the Parks Exhibition Center on campus. The show ends today, Jan. 28.

“Cryptozoology” is a made up word that refers to animals which are legendary or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology.  For their pieces, the students needed to rely on their imagination because these beasts couldn’t be drawn from observation.

The 35 pieces in the “Cryptozoology” student art show, includes paintings, sculptures, drawings and mixed media pieces. Their young, fertile imaginations didn’t disappoint the viewers. Some stuck to the traditional lions, tigers and bears hybrids, while others made up their own combinations. One artist even debunked the Santa Claus myth.

Some standout pieces include a sculpture by Chloe, a senior from Korea. The four foot sculpture, laid upon a white pedestal, looks like broken angels wings. The feathers are longer than any birds with a purple and blue glaze.

“Very nice,” said Rob Rutherford, head of the Art Department at Idyllwild Arts. He was inspecting the pieces for the first time before a Master Class on Comics.

At closer inspection, Chloe’s wings also showcased an extension, that looked like a crab leg. What does that mean? Was there a metamorphesis going on from aviary to crustration or visa versa?

Across the way, was another Cryptozoology piece by Chloe. The bright painting featured what looked like a dying alien in a pool of yellow. What happened? There are no title cards as indications, but one can only guess that the image reflects the artist’s feelings at the time. As a senior, Chloe may be feeling separate, or alien, from her classmates as she faces final exams, college applications and finalizing her portfolio. It could be any number of things, but the benefit is that these art students have an outlet in visual art.

Another standout piece is a ceramic unicorn by Alake, another senior. Instead of showing the unicorn upright and proud, as shown throughout history, Alake has hit sitting down, much like a human would. The general look to the unicorn is not distant  or scary at all, but one you might see on a merry-go-round.

Hidden in the corner of the Parks gallery was a murky watercolor that might’ve been passed over at first glance. But this one, by Li-An, a senior, was worth contemplating over. It depicted an extremely thin, bald man sitting at a vanity, looking into the mirror.

In the mirror’s reflection, you don’t see a bald man, but a full-sized, furry reindeer with antlers (no, it wasn’t Rudolph). And draped around his waist is a red Santa’s suit–with an attached mask!

So, Li-An is debunking the myth of Santa! Not only is Santa not fat and jolly or even real, but he’s not even human!

Another student delved into the murky waters of mythical creatures by documenting the moment before the beast transformation. In Delaney’s painting of a surprised young man looking into the mirror. Instead of happiness at his first chest hair, this teen was appalled to see a growth inside his chest cavity. The growth looked like the concentric rings of a tree stump. The colors she chose were not garish, but more patriotic, red, white, blue and and gray. And there were many layers of them, which begged to be touched.

Other students in the “Cryptozoology” show showcased hybrids that were made up of animals and machine parts.

Ho Jin, a 9th grader from Korea, featured a triptych of three pen-and-ink drawings that he drew freehand (without any preliminary sketches). The first was a dragon/griffin, which used images of an urban landscape, including a city bus and cars at its feet.

The second drawing featured the Statue of Liberty in the space between the large cat’s eyes, and its ears were comprised of rockets and fighter planes.

In the last one, Ho-Jin inserted himself into the picture. He is taking a picture of a bird on a limb, while the top of his head is split to show a large egg.

The painting that caused the most controversy was one done by Dean, which depicted a nude man with a tree limb for an arm. Resting on his limb is an oversized eagle/plane hybrid. In the deep background is a carefree kid surfing a fine wave.

“He’s an awesome artist,” exclaimed Ignacio, who lives near Dean. “He pays close attention to detail.”

Ignacio said that Dean debated whether or not to put in the genitals, but did so at the end.

“He thought it was important,” Ignacio said.

As far as most people know, it’s OK for students to paint nude paintings. After all, they offer nude models as part of their regular drawing classes. When asked about Dean’s nude painting, Rob Rutherford didn’t answer, but said he was rushed for time. Biology teacher Will Waddell said that nudity in student artwork goes in cycles.

“The art students will do a lot of nude paintings, and then the school will crack down for awhile, and then they slowly crop up again,” Will said.

Helen, a mother and artist, said that she wasn’t opposed to nude paintings in a student show.

Nudes are the best way to study human anatomy, she said.

Copyright 2011 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

At the final bow, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Some of the audience members were loudly blowing their noses. One woman clasped her had over her mouth to keep from sobbing.

“Really? People were crying? I couldn’t tell,” said Juwan, who played Orpheus, after the show.

However, you could tell that he was impressed. Any time a high school theater cast brings an audience to tears is an accomplishment.

The final show of “Eurydice,” a modern take on the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl, was held on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m at Idyllwild Arts Academy.

“I think it was our best show,” said Juwan, after striking the set. “Everything seemed to gel together.”

You didn’t have to know anything about Greek mythology to appreciate and understand the play. It’s been done hundreds, if not thousands, of times. But Sarah Ruhl made it more interesting and palatable.

“I’m glad that it was set in the 21st century,” said one student.

Brooke, a senior who played “Eurydice,” brought Nelms, a piano teacher at Idyllwild Arts, to tears. He stood out in the courtyard with huge tears rolling down his face. Everyone around him smiled. It was rare to see such open emotion from a middle-aged man.

“Brooke just broke my heart,” Nelms said.

Brooke was the happy-go-lucky pretty thing that was in love with Juwan. As a musician, he listened to the “beat of a different drummer.” She loved words, and he loved music. Somewhere in between, they connected.

“There was a lot of kissing going on at the beginning,” exclaimed Juwan’s mom, who came all the way from Kansas, to surprise him.

“I’m glad that Juwan finally got a lead role,” another student said.

Juwan played Orpheus, the heartbroken bride groom, to the hilt. He sent music, and wrote letters, to the Underworld, and delivered them via worms. He told his bride of his dreams, in which her hair was made out of faucets. It only made everyone cry harder.

“Please come back!” he begged.

In one of his scenes, he’s talking to a telephone operator. He’s trying to connect to Eurydice in the Underworld. The operator on the other end is confused and exasperated.

“This is a special case,” Juwan tells her. “She’s dead.”

How can he connect to a dead woman? The audience cries harder. Somehow they’ve been there before. Asking an operator for help beyond reason.

When Juwan first saw Sarah Ruhl’s play, he thought it was a kind of dumb. Then he listened to Howard, and drew from his own experiences of heartache, to play a believable role.

Brooke (as Eurydice) might have broken Nelms’ heart with her letters home.

“Don’t try and find me again,” Brooke wrote after they flubbed up the voyage back. She called out his name and he looked back, so that was it.

“I’m sorry,” she wrote to Orpheus. “I was afraid. But don’t come looking for me again.”

In her open letter to her husband’s next wife, Brooke demonstrated her emotional range.

“Be sure and feed him often, because he forgets to eat,” she recited out loud. “And be sure and notice that he blushes pink when you kiss him. If you kiss his forehead, I will thank you for it.”

What woman would want her husband to be happy with another woman? Eurydice had matured while underground.

Everyone expected Joe Spano to steal the show. After all, how can high school theater students measure up to a professional actor with an Emmy nod and many successful shows under his belt?

“He was great, but he didn’t steal the show,” said some theater students.

It wasn’t a slight. What Joe Spano did was elevate “Eurydice” to the next level. Everyone stepped up their game. Because they already had it in them.

Brooke, Juwan, Jake, and the Stones were just as good as Joe. And that’s the way it should be.

He was fun to watch, no doubt. Especially when his daughter was adjusting to being dead. He built her a makeshift room out of string that he tied to umbrella handles hanging from the ceiling.

“That was the saddest part,” said Chris, a music major who saw the show on Friday night.

For others, Joe’s saddest moment was when Eurydice left to follow Orpheus home and said, “With her gone, it’ll be like a second death to me.”

Jake, who played an “Interesting Man,” (who must’ve said “interesting 100 times) was really just a letch, who lured Eurydice to her death.

By the way, Brooke’s slow-motion fall was eerie, but effective. Kudos to Howard Shangraw, the director, and the set designers for making it happen with lights and poles.

I’m not sure why Ruhl created the Lord of the Underworld (also played by Jake) as a pre-teen, but it took away some of his bite. Running around on a trike with oversized shoes and a lit-up umbrella hat was entertaining, but typically, I like my demons older. His youth made it hard to take him seriously.

But, in the end, little Lord Fontleroy on the trike, had the final say.

“I just got chills all over,” said Chris Pennock, an Idyllwild actor best known for his “Dark Shadows” days.

His wife was the one who covered her mouth to keep from sobbing.

“It was so amazing,” she said, wiping away her tears.

Outside, Idyllwild residents took pictures Joe Spano and the other actors. It was nice having a celebrity amongst them.

“We grew up watching Joe Spano on ‘Hill Street Blues,”” one resident said. “It was nice to see him live on stage today.”

Spano, who played Eurydice’s father, and his real-life daughter, Liana, played a stone that guarded the Underworld.

“This was the best experience,” said Milan, who was Spano’s understudy. “He improved my acting performance by a mile.”

“Eurydice” played to packed houses on Friday and Saturday nights, Jan. 21 and 22. The Sunday, Jan. 23rd audience stood on their feet to show their appreciation. On Apella Drive, the road out, past the parking lot, a few women were walking home. What a testament to the show! Without a car, they arrived on foot rather than miss the show.

Copyright 2011 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

Joe Spano will appear in a high school play this weekend.

This Emmy-nominated actor, best known for his role as Lt. Henry Goldblume in the popular TV series, “Hill Street Blues,” is not playing a detective, an agent, or even an astronaut this time, but something closer to home.

He’s playing a father.

“Having daughters of his own must’ve effected the way that he created his character,” said Milan, an Idyllwild Arts theater student, who plays Spano’s understudy in “Eurydice.”

Sarah Ruhl has taken the classic Greek myth about Eurydice and Orpheus of the Underworld, and changed it to emphasize the circle of life. Ruhl’s take is both entertaining and provocative.

Wait a minute! Eurydice had a father?

According to Milan, the father is the second, if not the most important role in the play.

“Without him, it would not be the same story,” Milan explained. “He goes through many obstacles, such as memory lapses and seperation from his daughter. And has the courage to let her go knowing that it’s the right thing to do.”

With Joe Spano playing the father, you get a better image of a ‘father’ than if a student were playing the role, Milan adds. However, Milan will have a chance to perform, along with the other understudies, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.

For the past several weeks, Milan has watched Joe Spano rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

“He has a great, positive attitude and a strong presence onstage,” Milan said. “Him being here has absolutely effected the quality and professionalism of the show.”

Brooke, as Eurydice, admitted to being pretty timid at first.

“I had never worked with a professional actor before, let alone a famous one like Joe Spano,” Brooke said. “But he has treated me like an equal.”

One thing that Milan learned from Spano is patience.

“He has taught me to take my time!” Milan exclaimed. “Lots of actors think they need to rush scenes or moments of the show. Joe has taught me the importance of taking my time and not rush anything.”

Another actor who has likely learned a lot from Spano is his daughter, Liana, who plays one of the three talking stones.

“Joe and Liana have a great relationship,” Milan said. “It’s very clear to see.”

However, onstage the two are all business.

“During rehearsal, you rarely ever see them talk,” Milan said. “Both are focused and ready to work.”

So why is Joe Spano acting in a high school play this weekend? Because his daughter asked him to? Or because Howard Shangraw, his old reperatory acting buddy, who heads up the IA Theater Department, begged? No one really knows for sure, but its likely, after a successful TV and movie career, Joe Spano is doing what he wants.

But for Milan, Brooke and the other teenage actors, the experience has been priceless.

“Eurydice” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 21 & 22, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 23. The understudy performance will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan.22. All shows are free and open to the public. They’re held at the IAF Theater (inside the Bowman building) on the Idyllwild Arts Campus (at the end of Tollgate Road) in Idyllwild. For more information, call (951) 659-2171, or visit www.idyllwildarts.org.

Copyright 2011 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

The students are coming back to Idyllwild Arts now, full of stories about what they did during their summer break. However, one student’s story stood out from the rest.

“I learned how to eat fire this summer,” said Morgan.

It happened at “Burning Man,” a weeklong arts event held Aug. 20 to Sept. 6 in the Black Rock Desert, 120 miles north of Reno, Nevada. The event has a strong emphasis on pyrotechnics. Attendees bring all of their own food, drink and lodging, and must leave nothing behind. It’s considered a “commerce free event,” meaning you can only buy coffee and ice there. Everything else must be traded. According to the Burning Man web site, the event attracted 48,000 people this year.

“There’s young people and old people, kids, naked people, some strung out on drugs or alcohol,” Morgan explained. “But if you don’t drink or do drugs, that’s OK with everyone too.”

It was the fourth Burning Man event that Morgan, now a senior, has attended. This time, he went with his father.

“It’s hard to explain what Burning Man really is all about,” Morgan said, after he arrived at Ontario Airport with dusty luggage. “You really just have to experience it firsthand.”

He said that the dirt will likely last about a week. It’s coated his skin. He also burned his tongue and the hair off of his arms.

“We also played fire baseball,” Morgan added. “The ball and bat are on fire. We don’t really keep score or anything, but it was fun trying to catch a burning fly ball.”

He said that eating fire wasn’t really hard, but afterwards, he couldn’t taste anything for about a week. His tongue blistered, he said, but didn’t have any lasting effects. When he stuck it out, it looked pink and normal.

“The trick of fire eating is to make sure that it stays mysterious,” Morgan said. “If everyone in the audience knows how to do it, then no one is going to pay to watch someone do it, right?”

He said that he also learned how to breathe out fire, much like a fire-breathing dragon.

“But you have to be careful not to breathe in because the fire could go down into your lungs, and you know what a disaster that would be,” Morgan said.

Morgan approached Burning Man like a student going for an internship. You see, Morgan wants to be a clown when he graduates from Idyllwild Arts. He hopes to go to a special clown school in Australia, that he visited before coming to Burning Man.

At Burning Man, he also learned to juggle with fire, something that he cannot practice on a heavily-wooded campus within a national forest.

“At school, they frown upon anything having to do with fire,” he said.

He admitted that Burning Man, has an emphasis on fire, and attracts many pyromaniacs.

“One year, I saw them blow up a fuel tank, which sent a mushroom cloud into the air for about 200 feet,” he said. “Only people crazy about fire would want to do something like that.”

On the Saturday night before Labor Day this year, they burned a 100-foot image of a man that can be seen for miles. Check out some spectacular photos on the Burning Man web site, www.burningman.com.

For his senior year, Morgan took a big step and switched majors from theater to dance.

“I still love the theater,” Morgan said. “But, if I want to go to clown school, I have to work on my strength, and switching to dance was the way to do it. In theater, you just don’t move around a lot.”

Part of his college clown auditions include holding up other performers, much like cheerleaders do. He practiced a little bit of his strength training at Burning Man. At 6 foot something, he says he is not too tall to be a clown, but prefers being the one on the bottom holding everyone up.

Clowning comes naturally for Morgan who “grew up in the Renaiessance Fair.”  His father played a pirate, and his mother played a witch. In fact, he was named after the famous pirate, Captain Morgan, one of the most dangerous pirates who worked in the Spanish Main.

All in all, the Burning Man event turned out to be a good experience for this would-be professional clown. After college, he wants to join Circus de Soleil, or another one in Europe.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

The trailers for the five student films are already up on You Tube. The entire student body at Idyllwild Arts got to see them last week.  Now, everyone in Idyllwild can see all the films in their entirety at the “Moving Pictures Screenings” on campus this weekend. Like the Academy Awards, black tie is optional.

The five student films, all ranging from eight to 18 minutes in length, showcase the writing, directing, producing, editing, lighting, and camera work of the students in the Moving Pictures Department. Moreover, some of them even scored and acted in the films.

According to Malcom, a film student, the five short films include: “Prima Ballerina Assoluta,” about high school dancers; “Shortcomings,” a comedy about a teen with a small whatchamacallit; “Practice Room Nine,” a horror movie; “The Other Side,” an art film that no one can really explain; and “On the Bright Side,” a comedy about an optomistic teen unwilling to break-up.

Besides the five films, there will also be trailers for some documentaries that didn’t get finished this year, added Malcom.

Marietta, who wrote and is producing a documentary about fashion designers, said that sometimes it takes three to five years to complete one. Her documentary started out featuring her mother, a Russian fashion designer. However, as a senior, Marietta wasn’t concerned about someone else finishing her work next year.

“Two students from our crew will still be working on the documentary,” Marietta said. “And I’ll come back to help them edit it.”

“Because you’re the only one who speaks Russian,” said her friend, Sofia.

“No, the  last part of the documentary will be in English,” she added.

“The films are better this year,” said Scarlett, who worked on nearly all five of them.

She said that “Shortcomings” and “The Other Side” were the most difficult to get out of the can. Mostly because of the weather changes.

Carter, a theater student who was one of the leads in “The Other Side,” said that it was freezing when they shot some of the scenes.

The students had built a “rain machine” and they were scheduled to shoot on one of the coldest nights of the year. Any delays in shooting “The Other Side” would put other films behind, so they had to push ahead with it.

“I was shivering a lot,” Carter said. “But it looks like I was just emotional on film.”

She said that it was harder to “play dead,” and not shiver.

“Prima Ballerina Assoluta,” Dhaivat’s 18-minute short film about ballet dancers, started out as a Kung Fu ninja fighters movie, with lots of death and fight scenes.

“But then Isaac (Webb, chair of the Moving Pictures Department) and I realized that the only ones on campus athletic enough to carry off a fight scene were the dancers, so we had to change it a bit,” he said. (See “Kung Fu Ballerina” post from April 20).

Most of the actors in the films are theater, film and dance students from Idyllwild Arts, including Dakota, Miracle, Ellen, Carter, Mykal, Kia, Juwan, Luke, Lea, Oscar, Jamie, Dylan and Laura, among others. Ana Lia Lenchantin, an Idyllwild resident, plays the ballet teacher in “Prima Ballerina Assoluta.”

Many Idyllwild landmarks will appear in the student films, including Fairway Market, the dance studio and dorms on the Idyllwild Arts campus, and homes in Idyllwild.

“We’re going to put out the red carpet,” said Laura, who wrote, directed and scored “On the Bright Side,” a short about a ridiculously optomistic guy who won’t allow his girlfriend to break up with him. Laura also played the female lead in another film, “Shortcomings.”

The Moving Pictures Screenings will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 28 and 29 at the IAF Theater (in the Bowman Building) on campus. All screenings are free and open to the public. Both evenings will show the same five films. For more information, visit www.idyllwildarts.org or call (951) 659-2171. Check out the “IAA Trailers 2010” on You Tube.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

For one fun-filled evening, audience members were treated to a hefty dose of jazz and then classical music. Monday, May 10, was the senior recitals for Kathryn, a jazz vocalist, and Rich, a classical pianist, in Stephens Recital Hall at the Idyllwild Arts Academy.

Kathryn’s roster of 10 songs included jazz standards, classical rock and some blues.

Dressed in a slinky over-the-shoulder short, black dress and a red flower in her hair, Kathryn looked like the ultimate showman. But looks were disceiving.

“She was really nervous before the recital,” said Marshall Hawkins, head of the Jazz Department at Idyllwild Arts. “But I wouldn’t hear none of it. I knew she was going to be fine.”

Kathryn’s first song was “Stepping Out” by Irving Berlin. She sang a duet with Everett, a classical vocals major.  They had fun and chemistry onstage, and the loud applause afterwards gave Schmidt the confidence that kept building until her last song.

For her next tune, “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” by Cole Porter , Kathryn was by herself onstage. Just a guitar and microphone.

“I like doing acustical work,” Kathryn had said earlier in the day. “Sometimes, it’s just nice being out there by yourself.”

When she started “Use Somebody,” a popular rock song by Kings of Leon, Won Bin, shouted out, “I love this song!”

Kathryn played it slower than the popular version, but with just her guitar, and for the first time, we understood all of the lyrics.

By her fourth song, “Maybe,” Kathryn brought on her fellow jazz mates, including Hallie on vocals and piano; Mint on electric guitar; Alejandro on bass guitar and Nate on drums.

“‘Private Lawns,’ by independent artists A & J Stone, is one of my favorites,” Kathryn said as an introduction. And by the time she was done, it was one of ours too. She introduced two musical soloists, Jacob on flute and Caleb on trumpet.

“I just blew in from Chicago, where they have private lawns and public parks,” were the jazzy lyrics.

Grant Park, one of Chicago’s more famous public parks, features a free, four-day jazz concert each Labor Day Weekend. Residents pile in from the neighborhoods and suburbs all dying to hear the jazz greats. Some famous performers include Miles Davis, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Anthony Broxton, Lionel Hampton,  Betty Carter and Jimmy Dawkins, among others.

For her next song, Kathryn switched to rock n’ roll with the Rolling Stones’ classic, “Wild Horses.” You have to give her credit for taking on such a popular song for the Baby Boomer generation. At first when I heard the lyrics, all I could hear was Mick Jagger’s low voice, and Keith Richards’ electric guitar. But then I settled in and accepted Schmidt’s soprano voice and standard guitar.

For the next few songs, Kathryn went out of sequence from the playbill. For “Oreo Cookie Blues,” she sang a duet with Mint and her electric guitar. It was a fun, little song that made the favorite cream-filled sandwich cookie a bit sexy.

“I’ve got the chocolate cream-filled cookie blues,” Kathryn wailed. “It gets me higher than I get on booze. I couldn’t quit if I wanted to!”

The next tune, “Lift Me Up,” Kathryn said it was a Christine Aguilera song that she sang at a “Hope for Haiti” benefit. She played it with Hallie, and it was a slow, love ballad. “Just get me through the night,” she pleaded to an unseen lover.

For “Orange Colored Sky,” Kathryn brought on the entire jazz band, including Mint on electric guitar; Alejandro on bass; Nate on drums; Jacob on alto sax; Anthony on tenor sax, Hallie on piano and Caleb on trumpet.

With that many jazzmen on stage, one would think that they’d easily drown Schmidt out, but she held her own.

“I talked to them (the musicians) about it,” Hawkins said after the show. “You never want to drown out your singer.”

For her final number, Schmidt sang Aretha Franklin’s anthem, “Respect,” and brought the house down. She added backup vocalists Amenta and Allison, who “wooped” and danced and made everything fun. The interesting part is that Amenta is a theater major and Allison is a visual artist. Who knew that they could sing?

“It wasn’t happening for me at rehearsal,” Anthony confessed later. “But when Amenta and Allison showed up during the show, they really brought a lot of energy that we played into.”

By this time, Kathryn was in her groove. She grabbed the microphone from the stand and started walking around, and “talked” to the drummer Nate with her “doo, doo, doo’s.” She looked like the ultimate jazz showman.

When the Aretha anthem was over, everyone was on their feet, clapping and cheering. And Kathryn walked away with an armload of five bouquets.

For Rich’s review, look to the separate article, “Classical Piano Recital.”

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

Student Dance Choreography is happening again this Thursday through Saturday, May 12-14, at the Dance Studio on the Idyllwild Arts campus.

It’s a forum for the junior and senior dance majors to showcase their talents for three to 10 minutes onstage.

“Most of the pieces are modern, but there’s some ballet pieces as well,” said leva, a senior dance major. “Cyndi tried to choreogrpah a Chinese piece, but it didn’t work out, so she made it more modern.”

For weeks, the students have been getting ready by choreographing, practicing with their fellow dancers, making costumes and selecting their music.

“Each of the juniors and seniors have to choreograph their own piece, then they also have to dance in two or three other pieces,” leva explained. “It’s really fun to create one and dance in others.”

Her piece was modern, she said, and centered on dancing around three black boxes.

Anna, another senior dance major, said that her piece was modern too. Neither wanted to give too many details away before the performance.

“You’ll just have to come,” Anna said.

Everyone helps with the performances, even non-dancers. Jacobl, a junior theater major with a focus on costuming, is helping out with Ariann’s costumes.

“I saw her struggling with shedding the costumes, and I offered to help,” he said. “She was grateful because she needed to get back to the choreography.”

Jacob simply cut the short dresses in strips and pulled and worked with the material. “It’s all about the material. The cuts needed to move freely when the girls were dancing,” he said.

The juniors and seniors that will be showcasing their choreography include: Adrianna, Sofia, Dakota, Cyndi, Ellen, Ariann, leva, Justin, Tramayne, Anna, DJ, Kayla, Ella and Geneva.

The underclassmen who will be performing include: Marianna, Gina, Giovanna, Macarena, Kira, Allie, Paulina and Hailey.

All shows are open to the public and start at 7:30 p.m. in the Dance Studio on the Idyllwild Arts campus. For more information, visit www.idyllwildarts.org or call (951) 659-2171.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

Internationally-acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer will play with the Idyllwild Arts student orchestra at the REDCAT Theater at Disney Hall on Mother’s Day this Sunday, May 9 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $25, and proceeds go to Idyllwild Arts.

Iyer, who is an old college friend of Peter Askim, the music director and composer-in-residence at Idyllwild Arts, performed one of his compositions at the concert last night at the IAF Theater.

His piece, entitled “Interventions for Improvised Piano, Electronics & Orchestra,” was met with some skepticism at first.

“It’s really hard to play,” said Conner, a trombone player. “It’s not the kind of music that we’re used to.”

During an interview on You Tube, Iyer discussed that same concern with his “Interventions” piece.

“Classical performers are trained in interpreting musical notes on a page,” Iyer said. “They have lots of ideas on how to do that, and it’s what they’re good at. With this piece, I hope to draw from that expertise.”

But this piece called for certain instruments to improvise, something that jazz musicians are used to, but not classical musicians who play in an orchestra.

To be ready for their performances, each of the sections had extra rehearsals–in addition to their regular orchestra rehearsals. The list was posted on the cafeteria door, and other students knew they wouldn’t be seeing much of the music students during “orchestra week.”

Well, their hard work paid off. Last night’s concert was a success, according to James Duval, a classical flute player and the former head of the Music Department at Idyllwild Arts.

At 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, the concert was over, and Duval was overseeing several students as they loaded up the truck with all of the instruments, including the bass drum. The truck is set to head down the hill Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in plenty of time for the 5 p.m. show at the REDCAT.

“There were a lot of people there tonight,” Duval said. “And they really liked Vijay Iyer’s piece.”

Charles Schlacks, Jr., a former Russian History professor at Berkeley, was among those who attended Saturday’s performance on campus. He has amassed a classical record collection in excess of 40,000, but continues to enjoy live performances.

“The student orchestra always does a nice job,” Schlacks said. “The new music was different than what I’m used to, but it was very nice.”

In another interview on You Tube, Iyer said that he’s used to comments like that about his music. As background, Iyer earned a bachelors degree in math and physics at Yale. Although he studied jazz piano in high school, it wasn’t until after he graduated from college that he became a full-time performer and composer.

“In America, they don’t always support certain arts,” he told an Indian reporter shown on You Tube. “Even if music not commercially popular, it gets out there somehow because it needs to. In the end, music is the healing force, the force of change.”

Iyer mentioned that other musicians, even popular ones, do improvisations too.

“I saw a video of the guy from the Black Eyed Peas who took a speech by (President Barak) Obama and turned it into a piece of music,” he said. “It was his concession speech in New Hampshire. And it had all the rhythms and candances associated with music.”

Not surprisingly, much of Iyer’s compositions are based on math principles. In fact, he gave a lecture on “Math and Music” to about 75 Idyllwild Arts students and faculty on Friday, May 7. There, he explained how math is integrated into music.

“Usually, I don’t like music to be too hard, contrary to what you might believe,” Iyer said, amongst laughter from the music students.

He outlined rhythm phrases that crossed over the beat in rhythmic progression, and gave the “A, B, A, B, A” pattern variables.

“As you can see, it is taken on a linear shape,” Iyer said. ‘But this is not music.”

He said that the challenge of being a composer today is to remain fresh, and always learning something new.

“But it helps me to start with something artificial,” Iyer said. “That way, you’re not always starting from the same place each time.”

Then he played some of his improvisations from an amplifier attached to his laptop.

However, Iyer wasn’t the only one with an orchestra piece that was performed Saturday night. Askim, too, featured one of his pieces, a trombone concerto.

“His piece was hard to play too,” said Connor.

Senior pianists Ieseul, Linda and Daphne “Kitty,” each got to play different pieces with the orchestra.

Ieseul said that she’s looking forward to playing at the REDCAT.

“Any chance we get to go down the hill and perform before a live audience, is a good thing,” she said.

Another good thing for the Idyllwild Arts student orchestra also happened this weekend.

“Our recording of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony came out Friday, May 7 (Tchaikovsky’s birthday),” Askim said. “It is a CD/DVD set, and I think it will be good.”

To hear that recording, visit iTunes at www.itunes.com.

For tickets and more information about the RedCat performance on Sunday, May 9, at 5 p.m., visit www.redcat.org, or call (213) 237-2800. Tickets are $25 for the general public and $10 for students with I.D.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

Just two weeks before Spring Break at Idyllwild Arts, a “Cadaver Trip” to Loma Linda University Medical Center was planned. Some admitted to signing up just to get off the hill for the day, while others wanted to get extra science credit. No one really wanted to see a dead body.

Well, maybe two of them did. Caleigh and Fion, two Interdisciplinary Arts majors, were the most calm and interested of the 18 students who attended that day. They weren’t nervous beforehand, walked right up close to the cadaver when it was unveiled and asked the doctor a lot of questions. After graduating next year, Fion is thinking of studying medicine instead of the arts.

“I was really impressed with Loma Linda,” Fion said. “It looked like an excellent school that I might want to go to.”

On the other hand, Caleigh plans to study painting at New York University in the fall, but also wants to study embalming and makeup for the dead.

“I’ve got four more years of art school, and my career may not take off right away,” Caleigh explained. “So I’ll need something that I can rely on for awhile.”

In fact, she had seen a dead body before. “I toured a mortuary once and saw how they get people ready for the funeral,” Caleigh said. “It’s really fascinating.”

She said that she went along on the trip because she was thinking of including art diagrams of internal organs for her senior art show in April.

William Waddell, a faculty science teacher at Idyllwild Arts, hosted the trip. It was his first time to Loma Linda University Medical Center, and he was excited about seeing the new facility.

“Loma Linda Medical Center probably has the largest anatomy facility in the United States,” Waddell said.

Al Newman, who teaches math at Idyllwild Arts, went along for support.

Dr. Benjamin Nava, director of Anatomy, lead the hour-long tour. The campus was busy that week hosting a medical convention, in which Dr. Campbell, one of President Obama’s physicians, was a keynote speaker.

Before entering the three anatomy labs, there were large signs posted: “No photographs please.” One van driver and several students admitted to having cameras with them. They were hoping to get a few pictures to show their friends who were too “chicken” to come.

“For security purposes and the dignity of our patients, we ask that you refrain from taking pictures of the cadavers and the facility,” Dr. Nava said.

The first room they entered was one of the anatomy labs. Just like on medical shows, there were several gurneys lined up in rows, in the cold, sterile-looking operating room. Overhead, large screen TVs could beam the dissection to as many as 200 students. While sheets were draped over the bodies, and there was a strong smell of embalming fluid in the air.

The students huddled together in a large group, eyes wide open, and no one spoke. Several students were holding each other’s hands for support. They were just staring at the bodies, waiting for “the moment” when one would be uncovered.

Dr. Nava must’ve lead many student tours before. Because he showed the Idyllwild Arts students three operating rooms of cadavers, a model storage room, and a plastination room before he uncovered the dead body.

“Plastination is the newest thing in anatomy,” Dr. Nava said, as he handed a plasticized human brain to the students when they were touring the storage room. Because it was made of plastic, some took it readily, while others refused.

“That’s still someone’s brain,” one said. “I’m not going to touch that!”

According to web sites, plastination is a technique used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most of the properties of the original specimen.

“We can check these parts out, right Dr. Nava?” Waddell asked as he was inspecting a plasticized chest cavity.

Dr. Nava said that Loma Linda Medical Center is setting up a library in which teachers like Waddell can check out an organ or body part. However, when Caleigh asked if she could check some out to study them for her senior show, she was refused.

It’s only for medical research and teaching purposes, the doctor said.

Along the shelves, there were plasticized arms, feet and ankles, brains and other body parts.

“There’s a great sample of a heart here somewhere,” Dr. Nava said, as he searched the back of the shelves.

“I really want to see a foot,” admitted Kayla, a dance major.

On the table in the narrow room were brains encased in glass and floating in embalming solution.

“When I went to medical school,” Dr. Nava said. “These are all we had to study. Now plastination has made it better for today’s medical students.”

The final stop was a small operating room with a single body draped over it. By that time, the students were relaxed and talking. Some, like Caleigh, came up to the body to get a closer look.

“Can anyone donate their body, or are there certain restrictions?” Caleigh asked. Dr. Nava said that the person couldn’t be too tall because they’d have to fit on the table, and into bins in the storage facility. And for the same reason, they couldn’t be heavier than 300 pounds.

“If a person dies a certain way, can you still accept them?” Caleigh asked.

“If a patient has a certain type of Hepatitis, we cannot accept them,” Dr. Nava said. “We have to protect our students and faculty.”

He added that if certain kinds of cancer have mastesized too far, it’s impossible to dissect the organs in the body, and they’d have to refuse it.

He said that the body that he was about to show the students was dissected for tours such as these.

“We didn’t show you the bodies in the other room because our medical students are working on them,” Dr. Nava said. “And the work they do can be destructive.”

For privacy, he put a smaller drape over the face of the cadaver, but not before a few students saw it. It was an older man with a moustache.

His mouth was open!” exclaimed Sorrelle, a dance major. “Did he die that way?”

“Some medical students were working on dissecting the jaw,” Dr. Nava calmly explained.

He uncovered the body to expose the head, neck, chest and one arm. The skin had turned brown, and the nails were yellow. The left arm had been dissected to show the veins and main arteries.

Like the hood of a car, he opened up the chest cavity to show the heart, lungs, stomach and other organs.

“Like most people living in the Inland Empire, the exhaust has affected his lungs,” Dr. Nava said, revealing some dark spots.

Dr. Nava reached back and checked to see if the cadaver had a gall bladder, and also showed the small and large intestines, the appendix and colon.

Each time that he showed a new part, he asked the students what it was. One stumped them, however. It was a small organ in the upper left quadrant of the abdomen.

“It has to do with red blood cells and the immune system,” Dr. Nava said. “I’ll treat anyone to dinner at the Gastrognome, if you can figure out what this is.”

“His kidney?” Newman guessed. No one seemed to know.

“It’s the spleen,” Dr. Nava said.

He concluded his tour by talking briefly about the benefits of body donation to Loma Linda Medical Center.

“You know funerals can cost thousands of dollars,” he said. “But donating your body to Loma Linda only costs $300, and Social Security will pay for it.”

The cost covers the transportation of 100-mile radius, embalming, storage, and final burial.

Conner liked the cadaver trip

When the tour was over, the students, unfazed, talked about where they were going to eat lunch.

“I think I’m going to donate my body to science,” said Conner, a music major. “It just makes sense.”

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.