Green Day Doing a Punk Musical?

I was just informed that Green Day will be going musical. As in the genre. Green Day's superb album American Idiot, now a musical, will run in the 2009-10 season from Sept. 4 through Oct. 11.

I approve of Green Day. Let's face it. The Killers and a plethora of other indie bands in the US and on the other side of the pond, would not be the bands they are without the very solid Green Day influence. And I enjoy the kind of androgyny that Billie Joe Armstrong sports.

Now, I don't do musicals. It's a genre that says nothing to me. Generally, if I don't like or approve of something, I show my lack of interest and dislike by not discussing it or not including it in any way in my own discourse. Ignoring something is kinder than verbally addressing it negatively, I find. Ergo, the extreme economy of speech on this genre.

Let me explain why I don't do musicals. My musical diet since basically childhood consisted of the opera and rock. As a teenager, I fell in love with punk and, well, c'est tout. With this kind of conditioning and acquisition, there is no room for musicals. To me, musicals ooze a kind of affectation I can't tolerate. They actually vex me.

Having said that, I would see the Green Day musical. Why? Because it's Green Day. And because it's in California. And those who know me, know that the latter is reason enough!

So, if the musical goes punk, and it seems to be going punk with this particular project, I will have to definitely support it.

"The punks are invading the theater. A new musical production adapted from “American Idiot,” the best-selling album by the punk band Green Day, is scheduled to make its debut in September at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California.

Berkeley Rep is to announce Monday that the new work, also titled “American Idiot,” will have its premiere as the first production of the theater’s 2009-10 season, and run from Sept. 4 through Oct. 11.

The musical is a collaboration between Green Day — the Bay Area rock trio consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool — and Michael Mayer, the Tony Award-winning director of “Spring Awakening.”

The project is also causing some shock to the band members, who acknowledge that they had grand aspirations for “American Idiot” but perhaps not quite this grand."

Read more here.

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Jenny Lewis

I was very happy to find out that Jenny Lewis is performing solo. The frontwoman of the very good West-based band Rilo Kiley is covering a lot of territory this year. If she's performing anywhere near your neck of the woods, do check her out. She has impeccable stage presence.
Read more about her tour dates here.

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The Nr. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency: A Review

I have developed an interest in Botswana as of late. My knowledge of the country of Botswana is very limited as I have never had an opportunity to be exposed to it. I am trying to rectify this now.

Botswana's economy is growing rapidly and it is currently classified as a middle-income country with a standard of living comparable to Turkey. But not all is hunky d'ory as Botswana has also been greatly hit by the AIDS pandemic and one in six Batswana has HIV. This land-locked country, which has one of the strongest democracies in Africa and a thriving culture, does not seem to have the kind of visibility in the West that it could have. And that's where Hollywood comes in.

And film is rarely irrelevant.

The late Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella worked on a Botswana-related project together in 2007 and after hearing about it I was instantanously intrigued. I respect both artists' work mostly because of their savvy of multiculturalism.

Anthony Minghella's work has always struck me as one that reflects the sensitivities of a multicultural person. Think, The English Patient or even the little-known 2006 title Breaking & Entering, which, by the way, is another excellent film.

I think of Minghella's work as a reflection of the global mega-culture. He manages to keep macrocontext in mind while telling the beautifully idiosyncratic micro stories of the little people. 'Where the normal people are, that's where true storytelling resides,' seems to be a permeating theme in his work.

I do believe that a a lack of linguistic and cultural diversity in film irrevocably translates to bad film. That was never Minghella's problem. Not Pollack's. One of Minghella and Pollack's last works of love was a Botswana-located story adapted for HBO called The Nr. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The show played on BBC first and it is currently being broadcast on HBO.



The premise of the show is the following:
After her father's death, a Motswana woman, Mma Precious Ramotswe, sells the 180 cows her father left her and opens up her own business: a detective agency located in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. Precious is a full-bodied, voluptious woman whose confidence stems from the love her father gave her. She is also smart and endowed with a healthy intuition. The episodic novels focus not only on her detective-oriented pursuits but also the finer details that make human beings messy and interesting.

When asked to take good care of herself when dealing with hard cases, Mma Ramotswe convincingly says, 'I'm made of hard stuff.' Mma Ramotswe is portrayed by the sultry American musician/actress Jill Scott. She lights up the screen and moves with a kind of rhythmic ease that one can't help but follow.

In sum, I give The Nr. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency my thumbs up. It kept my interest and made me want to ask questions about Botswana and the nature of the economic and overall development the country is undergoing. The show also depicts the ramifications of a faster paced economy and overall progress. And yet, the pace of the storytelling is laced with a kind of slowness that's actually appealing, poetic even.

Some of the themes the show concerns itself with are:

* Women in traditional vs. nontraditional occupations
* Rural way of life in Southern Africa
* Social relations in traditional African society
* Christianity and traditional belief systems in contemporary Africa
* Clinical depression
* AIDS and AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa

HBO will be showing 13 episodes and the program should be available for general viewing shortly after.

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