Performance art @ Marygrove

It not often that we detroiters get to experience performance art...so I jumped at the chance last night and went to Marygrove College to see "Short and Sweet" - an evening of short performance works by local artists. I didn't really know what to expect seeing I didn't know who would even be performing. Do I know any performance artists in the area...humm...no, I couldn't say I did. But once there, I spotted melanie manos and knew that I would be in for an entertaining evening. I enjoyed the night so much that it would be nice to see more venues hold performance art based works...come on let's get hip to the scene here! Below are a few short segment clips of the acts...but I warn you, you really have to see the full performance to understand and enjoy the works. Each artist brought something completely different to the stage!

In "Getting Layered", Manos puts on layer after layer of clothing. Normally you might associate getting on stage with taking off clothing but Manos creates a humorous act of putting on ridiculous amounts of layers to prepare for the cold. It becomes a compulsive routine where in the end she has every possible form of winter accessory on plus a wind up radio that flashes, chapstick, sunglasses, sunblock...and the list goes on.



You might have heard of Jawbone - the one man blues band and if you haven't you should definitely try and catch one of his performances. He does it all...sings while playing the harmonica, plays guitar, uses on foot to bang on a "cardboard box base drum" and the other on a cymbal. It is kind of like if Jack White got even more manic and kicked Meg out and decided to make all his music by himself...and at the same time. Jawbone has some crazy rhythm to keep all that going at the same time!


Nick Tobier's "hmm hmm boom" took a few moments for the audience to catch on to. Nick, dressed in business attire - a suit with a brief case, started by having some "technical difficulty" with his computer connection and video projection. The confusion and frustration of video technology then stretched on with Nick only saying "hmmm" and other short nonsensical words and reacting to his computer noises. It was apparent that the "problems" were not problems at all but the whole piece was a silent spoof, almost Charlie Chaplin style, of a business presentation gone array.
(sorry about the sideways movie format...I couldn't figure out how to rotate the videos)

In "Desperate Times Call for Desperate Pleasures" Jim Leija reinacts past memories in a theatrical, humorous way. First off the clip is not the best in describing the performance as a whole but he told two stories, one more humorous about his time in chicago and another about visiting a cathedral in europe. Jim also has an amazing voice...the second act he broke out with singing parts that related to the story telling. Nick describes his work..."as situational. If there's a situation, I'll try and interrupt it with something that is gently out of place - an aberrant gesture, a curious movement, a mis-used object."