VOL. 30 ISSUE 5 ISSUE #1456
VOICES / 3 NEWS / 4 THE BIG STORY / 6 ARTS / 11 FOOD / 13 MUSIC / 15 // SOCIAL
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What is the best movie series of all time?
Paige Sharp
Matt Ellis
Nick Gass
Star Trek
Bond. James Bond.
Austin Powers
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg
IN THIS ISSUE
Cover Indy Film Festival // Illustration courtesy of Magnolia Pictures SOUNDCHECK ....................................... 20 BARFLY ..................................................... 20 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY.................... 23
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Laura McPhee
Dan Grossman
Cavan McGinsie
Brian Weiss
Seth Johnson
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Sex and the City
Before trilogy, directed by Richard Linklater
The Lord of the Rings... no, not The Hobbitses
Jason Bourne
Air Bud
Caitlin Bartnik
Haley Ward
Charlie Clark™
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GADFLY
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The X-Men
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The Twilight Saga... they sparkle
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Three Ninjas. I love Rocky, Colt & Tum Tum.
FILM EDITOR: Ed Johnson-Ott, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: David Hoppe, CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Wayne Bertsch, Mark Sheldon, Mark A. Lee, CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rita Kohn, Kyle Long, Dan Savage, Renee Sweany, Mark A. Lee, Alan Sculley DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT: Mel Baird, Bob Covert, Mike Floyd, Zach Miles, Steve Reyes, Harold Smith, Bob Soots, Ron Whitsit, Dick Powell and Terry Whitthorne WANT A PRINT SUBSCRIPTION IN YOUR MAILBOX EVERY WEEK? Mailed subscriptions are available at $129/year or $70/6 months and may be obtained by emailing kfahavin@nuvo.net. // The current issue of NUVO is free and available every Wednesday. Past issues are at the NUVO office for $3 if you come in, $4.50 mailed. MAILING ADDRESS: 3951 N. Meridian St., Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN 46208 TELEPHONE: (317) 254-2400 FAX: (317)254-2405 WEB: nuvo.net
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PORTRAIT OF A VANISHED AMERICA BY JOHN KRULL // NEWS@NUVO.NET
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he photograph might as well have been called “Portrait of a Vanished America.” There were four presidents—George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama–smiling warmly at the camera. Standing with them, also smiling, were first ladies Hillary Rodham Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump. Gathered for an occasion both somber and celebratory, the memorial service and funeral of Barbara Bush, wife of one president, mother of another, they all belong to the same club. They all know what it is like to live and work within the crucible that is the White House—what it is like to be the objects of the hopes and fury of this nation’s people. They all know what it’s like to surrender themselves and their families to this country, to perform the service that is leadership of a vast and fractious country. Most important, they are all Americans. As I looked at that photo of the former presidents and the first ladies, I thought of a couple of other remarkable political friendships. The late Bill Hudnut, a Republican, and the late Andy Jacobs Jr., a Democrat, ran against each other twice for the U.S. House of Representatives. Hudnut won in 1972. Jacobs won the rematch in 1974. They vied for office during contentious times. The Vietnam War and Watergate had split the country. Then, as now, Americans often snarled at each other. Trust was hard to come by. Each man acknowledged that he had differences. They didn’t shy away from expressing those differences. But I never heard either talk about the other with anything less than respect, consideration, and, yes, love.
The things they shared mattered more than the things that divided them. I, along with a superb team, am in the final stages of working on a documentary about former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana. One of the most important chapters in Lugar’s story involves his partnership with former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Georgia. Together, Lugar and Nunn worked to reduce the number of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. They made the world a safer place. Along the way, they became more than allies. They became partners, even close friends. Each told me that, should he have been elected president, he would have asked the other to serve in the Cabinet. And each said he would have been honored to serve the other. Like Bill and Andy, Lugar and Nunn had their differences. They disagreed on taxation and other domestic policy issues. But what united them mattered far more than any difference of opinion. We’re now in the middle of another ugly election year. Loud and well-funded voices screech many “reasons” we Americans should distrust and hate each other. Bill Hudnut and Andy Jacobs showed us there is another way. So did Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn. And so does that photo of the smiling presidents and the first ladies at a celebration of a life well-lived. N John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
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LEGISLATORS RETURN MAY 14 Governor Calls for One-Day Session BY QUINN FITZGERALD // NEWS@NUVO.NET
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ov. Eric Holcomb is giving lawmakers straight to final passage.” one day to address four key bills they The four bills, which died when the clock failed to act on before the end of the struck midnight on March 14, are two tax General Assembly’s 2018 session in bills, a school-safety bill, and one that would March. give Ball State University control over Mun“With sharp focus, I’m confident they can cie schools. finish in a single day,” Holcomb said Friday House Bill 1316 would have waived state in a proclamation, setting May 14 for the sales taxes for software delivered over the special session. internet. Long said the bill has two small House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapadditional items requested by the Indiana olis, and Senate President Pro Tem David Department of Revenue to square things up Long, R-Fort Wayne, insist that they, in fact, with the 2017 tax returns that Hoosiers have can take care of all business in one day. had to file. “We’re going to come in at One change would nine o’clock in the morning allow the state’s tax code in the House, and we won’t “We have a to conform to federal tax leave until the work is done,” by updating the procedure that’s changes Bosma said. “There should state’s conformity date so be no reason why we’re here going to be open, that it aligns with IRS code. for a second day unless change would make it transparent, and The someone just wants to throw so that taxpayers don’t have a wrench in the works.” cost effective for to calculate their taxes twice “We have a procedure to file. the taxpayer.” that’s going to be open, transThe other item ensures parent, and cost effective for —HOUSE SPEAKER Indiana is compliant with BRIAN BOSMA IRS rules to protect federal the taxpayer,” Bosma said. On April 30, there will be taxpayer information and drafts and fiscal notes of each bill available to assure access to federal tax data. the public. The legislative council will meet House Bill 1315 would have allowed the in a special session on May 7, during which state to appoint emergency managers and time the council will recommend to each replace elected school boards with apchamber the procedures that will be followed pointed advisory committees in districts in and the content of the bills to be heard. financial distress. It was designed to make “It’s really not been done this way bean example out of the Muncie and Gary fore,” Bosma said. “Our proposal will be as schools, which fell into financial difficulty. consistent with prior sessions to waive all Long said he expects the Democrats to applicable rules in the House for commitmake some noise about HB 1315, especially tee time, amendments, [and then going] those from the Muncie and Gary districts, 4 // NEWS // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET
HOUSE SPEAKER BRIAN BOSMA, R-INDIANAPOLIS, AND SENATE PRESIDENT PRO TEM DAVID LONG, R-FORT WAYNE, ANNOUNCE DETAILS FOR THE SPECIAL SESSION. //
but said they are ready to deal with it. “We do feel that we’re doing the right thing for the schoolchildren there,” Long said. “These are two school entities that year after year ignore all the requests from the Legislature to get their fiscal house in order.” House Bill 1230 would have included $5 million for school safety that Holcomb had requested. The state was planning to give the Indiana Department $1 million to conduct school-safety audits that lawmakers proposed to increase for every school. The other tax legislation is Senate Bill 242––now House Bill 1242 because it will start in the House––is a property revenue tax bill that would have exempted trucks, pavers, vehicle parts, and fuel purchased by a hot-mix asphalt company from Indiana’s 7 percent sales tax. House Minority Leader Terry Goodin, D-Austin, said the tax bills include breaks for a number of large corporations in Indiana. “Some of these bills were changed greatly during the final hours of the regular session, and we were being asked to pass them with little or no time to debate the contents,” Goodin said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said the proposed bills being heard in the special session did not pass in the regular session for specific reasons, including not being properly vetted. “Additional provisions were thrown into legislation at the last minute without going through the public debate process, and now we’re going to decide on those same bills that have not, and will not, be vetted, in just one day,” Lanane said in a statement. Goodin added that the only reason there is a special session is because Republicans couldn’t get their work done on time in March. He said none of the bills is urgent enough for a special session. “People should be concerned when they are told it will only take a day to complete what the Republicans couldn’t accomplish over two and a half months,” Goodin said. “As Democrats, our role will be to make sure that things are done correctly and the people of Indiana are protected.” Quinn Fitzgerald is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. N
SUPREME CHOICES Our Top Picks for the 2018 Indy Film Fest BY NUVO EDITORS // EDITORS@NUVO.NET
INDIANAPOLIS FILM FESTIVAL April 26–May 5 Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields Indyfilmfest.org Individual films $10–$25 10-ticket bundle $80 All-access pass $125
DON’T MISS: Tully + Opening Night Party Thursday, April 26 7:30 p.m. RBG + Awards Ceremony and Party Saturday, April 28 8 p.m.
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he 15th annual Indianapolis Film Festival begins tomorrow, April 26, with a selection of more than 100 films screening over its 10-day run. Though the festival has been held in the summer in recent years, organizers have returned to their original spring schedule this year and plan to keep it there for the foreseeable future. The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields will continue to host at its Toby Theater. “It’s really about having better access to films,” says the festival’s artistic director Craig Mince. “The festival season peaks between Sundance in January and Cannes in May. That’s the time when audiences are more engaged and aware of independent films; and it’s the time when the filmmakers are most engaged and available.” Release dates play a big part of the process as well. Most of the films showing at festivals before Cannes have yet to be released theatrically or made available online. By the summer, many have come and gone, and the demand for tickets to see these films decreases. As for the filmmakers, they’ve typically moved on to the next project.
The Long Dumb Road + Closing Night Party Saturday, May 5 8 p.m.
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If the films selected for this year’s festival are any indication, that strategy is paying off. The festival’s three tent-pole films were huge hits at Sundance and have yet to see wide distribution. Indianapolis festival-goers are getting the sneak peek. Tully, for example, starring Charlize Theron, arrives in theaters on May 4, the week after IFF. The same is true of RBG, the documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The closing night film, The Long Dumb Road, also did well at Sundance. It is scheduled for release in November. “Holding the festival in April gives us the opportunity to garner fresher films,” says Mince. “And it gives Indianapolis a chance to see the films before most of the country.” Tully kicks off the festival tomorrow night. Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman, the team behind Juno, the film stars Theron as a mother of three in desperate need of some type of relief. Enter the Mary Poppins-esque Tully, a babysitter who brings some much-needed magic into the house. Ruth Bader Ginsberg will take center stage at Saturday’s awards night ceremony. While the
notorious Supreme Court justice will not be here in person, the much-anticipated documentary, RBG, about her will be. If you only see one movie at this year’s festival (which we don’t recommend), make it this one. Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, it is a marvelous portrait of one of America’s most important and influencial women. The third marquee film worth coming out for is The Long Dumb Road. Directed by Indiana University graduate Hannah Fidell, it’s a fresh take on the mismatched strangers on a road trip formula that stretches the genre beautifully. This is a return trip to IFF for Fidell, whose short We’re Glad You’re Here about a rudderless 20-something who moves back to her native Bloomington from New York City, was featured at the festival in 2011. NUVO editors Laura McPhee, Cavan McGinsie, and Dan Grossman were lucky enough to get access to advance screeners to many of this year’s films. We’ve divided them up and present our recommendations for best documentary and feature choices here. For the full schedule and ticket information, visit indyfilmfest.org.
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‘RBG’: HERO, ICON, DISSENTER A Documentary Worthy of Its Subject BY LAURA McPHEE // LMCPHEE@NUVO.NET
arly in the documentary about her, Ruth Bader Ginsberg reads a quote by Sarah Grimké, an early American attorney, abolishinist, and feminist who wrote in 1837, “I ask no favors for my sex. I surrender not our claim to equality. All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright.” Ginsberg’s smile as she finishes the passage indicates that she’s revealed an essential truth about herself and told you all you really need to know about what has driven her to achieve her historic place in American history. Fortunately, the makers of the documentary spend the next 90-plus minutes illuminating exactly why those words ring so true. It’s a fairly traditional telling of an untraditional woman, beginning with her upbringing by immigrant parents, Russian Jews who settled in Brooklyn. Ginsberg credits them for instilling in her a passion for justice. “They taught me to love learning, to care about people, and to work hard,” she recalls. An excellent student, Ginsberg was admitted to Harvard Law in 1957. The school had only begun admitting women a few years earlier, and Ginsberg was one of nine female students alongside 500 males in her class. “I became a lawyer in the days when women were not wanted in the legal profession,” she explains and illustrates the point by telling a story about her time at Harvard. Among the “many indignities,” as she calls them, the nine female students were invited to dinner at the dean’s house. During the course of the meal, he asked each to explain why it was OK for her to take a seat away from a male student. Ginsberg was married to a fellow law student while at Harvard, and when he graduated the year before her and landed a job in New York, the couple and their infant daughter relocated, and Ginsberg finished her studies at Columbia. When she graduated in 1959, however, “No law firm in New York would employ me.” While teaching law at Rutgers, Ginsberg developed one of the first Gender and Law courses in the nation, and soon after, she began handling sex-discrimination cases as a litigator. Not long after that, the ACLU hired her as part of their Women’s Rights Project. For the next several decades, Ginsberg
WHEN // Saturday, April 28, 8 p.m. WHERE // The Toby at Newfields TICKETS // $15
worked to change laws that branded women as inferior to men. “At that time,” she explains, “being a woman was an impediment. We did not have equal rights under the law.” Starting with her first case arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court, where she defended a female Air Force officer’s right to receive the same housing allowance for her family that her male peers were given for theirs, “I knew I was speaking to men who didn’t think there was any such thing as gender-based discrimination,” she recalls. “My job was to tell them it did exist.” Ginsberg won that case and many others that followed. In one of her more genius moves, she took the case of a young father who was receiving less in Social Security spousal benefits than his wife would have received if he had died. Arguing in front of the Supreme Court that gender bias affects both men and women, Ginsberg won the case in a unanimous vote, and federal laws were changed. These history lessons about Ginsberg’s time as a litigator are the most inspiring, and the personal footage and stories about her love of opera and late husband Marty are the most endearing. Sprinkled in between are interviews with her supporters and detractors, all of whom acknowledge her importance and well-earned notorious stature. “She is the closest thing to a superhero I know,” says Gloria Steinem. “She quite literally changed the way the world works for American women.” The RBG documentary recognizes the meme-laden consequence of Ginsberg’s popularity in the age of social media, but it also delves deep to show that any adoration of her is well-deserved. Hero, icon, and dissenter, there is no question that Ruth Bader Ginsberg has persisted and emerged victorious.
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The Big Story Continued...
HOOSIER LENS
Indiana Writers and Filmmakers Highlighted at Indy Film Fest BY CAVAN McGINSIE // CMCGINSIE@NUVO.NET
WHEN WE GROW UP There are endless films, novels, and short stories that deal with families coming back together during a time of grief. This is the overarching setup for When We Grow Up, but unlike most stories that focus on this trope, this film’s cause of grief—the death of the family’s dog—is much lower on the totem pole than most. And in all honesty, this is one of the film’s strongest features because it allows for it to fall into the background—for every character except the mother, Holly, who can’t come to terms with the loss of her beloved David. As we get further into the lives of Holly, her husband Brian, and their adopted children, Elijah, Maris, and Louise, we see that they all are facing their own obstacles and exciting prospects. Elijah and his wife are unable to have a baby and have decided to adopt. But while that is a joyous occasion, Elijah has his doubts as a Black man raised by two white parents. Should they get a Black child, or does that not matter? Is he capable of raising a Black child? The couple is dealing with endless amounts of important questions and trying to console Elijah’s grieving mother at the same time. On the other hand, Maris, the middle
SCREENING // When We Grow Up WHEN // Friday, April 27, 7:15 p.m. Sunday, April 29, 10:45 a.m. TICKETS // $10 SCREENING // Regionrat WHEN // Friday, April 27, 5 p.m. Thursday, May 3, 9:00 p.m. TICKETS // $10
REGIONRAT
child, has decided to use a sperm donor in order to have a child as a single mother. While she is over the moon about her positive pregnancy test, Elijah feels it is a slight to him and his wife because they can’t have kids. And Brian is unsure about it, though he knows Maris will be a wonderful mother. Louise, the youngest, who is played by writer/producer and Hoosier Grace Hannoy, is at ends with her mother. Holly wants her to be a doctor, but during her time at college, Louise has found no joy in the pursuit of that job and seems to have a more wayward spirit. Louise and Holly have a cold relationship, which is exacerbated by Louise’s lack of empathy toward her mom’s
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feelings over losing David. The loss of a family pet is undoubtedly a hard experience. But Holly insists on having a full-on funeral with dog balloons, a release of butterflies, and much more. It is this over-the-top grief for David that makes up the backdrop for most of the film and the film’s conclusion. All in all, it is a lighthearted, easy-towatch movie with good performances across the board. Catherine Curtin’s turn as Holly is the standout. She wonderfully overplays her sadness just enough to add a sense of comedy to the performance. Plenty of thoughtful societal discourse is poignant without feeling out of place. At its core, When We Grow Up is about finding yourself without losing the bonds to the ones you love and knowing that we’re always growing, always learning, and we can always make a change.
Regionrat is all about Northwestern Indiana, aka The Region. Our main character, Ray, is a teenager who, after a short stint in Seattle, moves back home. The majority of the film revolves around Ray going to school, smoking weed by himself, smoking weed with acquaintances, riding around in cars, stealing, getting hit on by other guys’ girlfriends, and so on. Much of the film takes place in Ray’s head with stream-of-conscious inner monologue that feels accurate to the thoughts of an adolescent teen, with f-bombs and n-bombs thrown in for full effect. Toward the end of the film, through a series of accidents and inopportune occurrences, Ray’s life spirals pretty rapidly out of whack, leading to mayhem and, consequently, an untimely death. Despite being slightly disjointed and relying a bit much on saying instead of showing, the film gives a rather honest look into lower-class life in The Region. Connor Williams gives a solid performance as Ray, and he is backed by some quality work from supporting actors, including Shon Evans as The Brain and Natassia Halabi as Erin. The cinematography is pretty stellar, as is much of the direction from Javier Reyna. Much like its characters, and The Region, Regionrat is flawed, but you should give it a chance.
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SELECT AMERICAN FILMS A Rundown of Four Film Features and One Short BY DAN GROSSMAN // DGROSSMAN@NUVO.NET
CAPTAIN BLACK This film starts off as a day in the life of a restaurant manager and the employees that he supervises. This particular restaurant is the kind of run-of-the-mill place where the servers will sing you “Happy Birthday” on your B-day with an enthusiasm that you might find disconcerting, considering that the employees probably don’t even know you. Mike, the manager, lives alone. In his off time, he discovers, by accident, the Captain Black series of comic books. In the series, Captain Black has a female accomplice by the name of Kitt Vixen, but it seems they spend as much time exchanging bodily fluids as fighting crime. On Halloween, Mike goes to a costume party dressed as Captain Black, and he falls for a young woman dressed as Kitt Vixen. And per the comic books, Mike/ Captain Black and his partner get it on like cats during mating season. Both are clearly attracted by the fantasy and anonymity that their masked costumes provide. “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person,” goes the quote by Oscar Wilde. “Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” And given the way this movie turns out, you might wonder if this is really true. You might also develop the expectation early in this film that nothing much is going to happen given the deliberate pacing, the bare-bones production values, and the geeky comic book subject matter. But the film’s laser-like sense of focus pays off big time in an excruciatingly uncomfortable scene involving one of the aforementioned restaurant birthday celebrations. Afterward, the film spins off in a direction that’s nearly impossible to predict. Jeffrey Johnson gives a fine, many-layered performance as Mike in this uncompromising film that he both wrote and directed. I don’t want to give away any more about
SCREENING // Captain Black WHEN // Friday, April 27, 5:15 p.m. TICKETS // $10 SCREENING // In the Wake of Ire WHEN // Friday, April 27, 3 p.m. TICKETS // $10 SCREENING // Virginia Minnesota WHEN // Tuesday, May 1, 9 p.m. TICKETS // $10 SCREENING // Diminuendo WHEN // Saturday, April 28, 5:45 p.m. TICKETS // $10 SCREENING // Bullies WHEN // Saturday, April 28, 1 p.m. TICKETS // $10
Visit IndyFilmFest.org for full listings and schedule
Captain Black. Suffice to say, it might make you think about the unwieldy nature of the justice system and the dangers—as well as the heroic possibilities—of getting caught up in a secret fantasy life.
meanders, just like the journey the main characters take in this film. Asking for a neat conclusion might be too much to ask for from this convincingly acted film. But there’s some great scenery and we meet some interesting characters along the way.
DIMINUENDO This film stars the late Richard Hatch— Commander Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica —as Haskell Edwards. He’s a washed-up director, haunted by the memory of his starlet girlfriend Cello who committed suicide nine years earlier. Enter an artificial intelligence firm with an attitude. The firm pitches a new movie based on the relationship of Haskell and Cello, with Haskell directing, as a way to market their new “Life Doll,” an exact replica of Cello. Diminuendo manages to cross the uncanny valley by employing a real actor (Chloe Dykstra) as both Cello and the AI unit that is a dead ringer for her. But this movie nonetheless rates in Battlestar Galactica territory in terms of believability.
BULLIES (SHORT) IN THE WAKE OF IRE This is a story of hard-earned redemption centering on the relationship between Benjamin and his estranged daughter Rosemary. They meet again 20 years after a violent incident that led to their separation. Due in part to a brain injury, she cannot remember him. The naturalistic performances by the leads, Whitney Morgan Cox and Gregory Sporleder—as well as the nearly seamless interweaving of past and present in the form of flashbacks—bring this story to life.
What if a bunch of boys who were bullied in middle school found an escape hatch from the world and lived their lives in a bully refuge, playing Monopoly and eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? That’s the premise of this surprisingly touching short film and the world that a young comic book lover, Eugene, stumbles into. N
VIRGINIA MINNESOTA Addison and Lyle have disturbing memories of the girls’ home along the Lake Superior shore where they grew up. In terms of subject matter, this film kind of NUVO.NET // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // THE BIG STORY // 9
THRU APR.
GO SEE THIS
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EVENT // Andrew Davis: Time of the Mouse WHERE // Gallery 924 TICKETS // FREE
THRU JUNE
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EVENT // Sculptor Gino Miles WHERE // Long-Sharp Gallery TICKETS // FREE
STUTZ’S SILVER ANNIVERSARY
The Annual Open House Supports Central Indiana Artists with the Stutz Residency BY DAN GROSSMAN // DGROSSMAN@NUVO.NET
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oing to the Stutz Open House, which reaches 25 years old this year, is more than just a good way to encounter Stutz-based artists showing off their studio work. Since 1997, the artists of the former Stutz Bearcat factory have been using the admission fee as a vehicle to support the Stutz Artist Residency. The residency stipend, which provides artists with a year of rent-free studio space, has helped many well-known artists in Indianapolis—Joseph Crone, Emily Kennerk, Patrick Flaherty, and Kyle Ragsdale among them—to establish themselves as professional, working artists. One of the two 2017–2018 residency artists is Shelby Alexander, who combines her fashion-design talents with her passion for drawing and painting to arrive at an intriguing amalgam of the two. Her work explores the impact of the fast fashion industry on the environment, a subject she grew interested in after attending a summer session at Pratt Institute in New York. She graduated from Notre Dame in 2014 with a BA in studio art. “Next to big oil, the fashion industry is the second-largest polluter in the world, and I think a lot of people don’t really realize that,” says Alexander. “In fast fashion, everyone’s sort of getting rid of their clothes and buying new ones constantly. And so because I have past experience in fashion, that really piqued my interest when I learned that fact, so I feel kind of bad for contributing to this environmental issue. My new work is really to explore the impact that fast fashion has on the environment while also appreciating fashion as an art form.” When Alexander applied to the program, she was living with her parents and using her bedroom as a studio.
SHELBY ALEXANDER // PHOTO BY DAN GROSSMAN
“Before I got this residency, I didn’t really think that I would be able to pursue art as a career,” says Alexander. “I just thought it would need to be more of a side project, side hobby. So after getting this residency, I’ve essentially been working as a professional artist for the past six months, and I’ve gotten a taste of what my future could be like as a working artist, so now I see that it is a possibility for this to be a lifelong career.” One part of the residency that Alexander values in particular is the mentorship program, which involves one artist giving another advice about all aspects of creating and marketing one’s own work. Alexander’s mentor is Stutz artist Constance Scopelitis, who was one of 20 artists at the Stutz during 1993, the year she first moved into her studio. Scopelitis grew up in Irvington and graduated with a degree in fine arts from Indiana University in 1977. “By 1994 we were just having a really great time,” she says about the Stutz. “The
WHAT // Stutz Artists Open House Silver Anniversary WHEN // Friday, April 27, 5:30–10:30 p.m., Saturday, April 28, 1–5 p.m. WHERE // Stutz Business and Art Center TICKETS // Discounted tickets available through April 26, $16 at door MORE INFO // Stutzartists.com/openhouse
vibe was good. We decided to try and just invite the general public to see what our art studios looked like. We didn’t really have a big agenda about [what] should it be…We looked at it more as just an introduction to this city because Turner Woodard had bought that building. It’s almost half a million square feet, and people didn’t really know it was alive with people inside. You know this was prior to social media. It was mostly word of mouth. Turner Woodard probably invited some of his friends because he’s connected to all sorts of people, and we kept it real lowbrow, cans of beer thrown into
a blown-up kiddie pool from the drug store with bags of ice in it. And 400 people showed up, and we were just shocked, absolutely shocked.” After that, the Stutz Open House just grew and grew until the point where it annually attracts 6,000 visitors. “For the entirety of the ’90s we had no Stutz Association or any kind of formal board or anything,” says Scopelitis. “We truly had beginners’ high energy and luck...It seems like after the third year we realized that so many people were coming and they were willing to pay $5 to come in. That’s the only reason we ever charged entrance fees; we came up as a group with the concept of ‘let’s try to help artists who are working out of their bedrooms or their basements or their garages and see if we can’t come up with enough rent.’” The inaugural Stutz Residency artist was Greg Hull in 1997, who currently is associate professor of sculpture at Herron School of Art and Design. In 2006, the Stutz Artists Association started to offer the residency to two artists per year instead of one. Applications for the 2018– 2019 residencies are due June 15. This year the Stutz will have a special silver anniversary event on Thursday, April 26 especially for collectors (tickets are $100 each). For the silver anniversary, this year the artists will have works inspired by silver, and there will be silver decor galore during the preview and the Open House weekend that follows. But for Scopelitis, the motherlode, as it were, is the human connections made in the studio between artist and patron. “I really think that’s what we’re doing for the community is keeping artists up front and center, available and accessible so people can be introduced to art,” says Scopelitis. N NUVO.NET // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // VISUAL // 11
NUVO.NET/VISUAL
LIZ WIERZBICKI: I’M FINE An Exhibition at Storage Space, Indy’s House Gallery BY JENNIFER DELGADILLO // ARTS@NUVO.NET
“S
WHAT // I‘m Fine by Liz Wierzbicki WHEN // By appointment only WHERE // Storage Space, 121 E. 34th St. CONTACT // storagespaceindy@gmail.com, 317-441-3437
inside of the mouth and on the undergarment being adjusted. Another video piece is on the east wall, where a projection resembling the landscape from “de attached” has a billboard that’s had a landscape carved out of it propped in front. The billboard reads, “You’re fine.” Wierzbicki grew up with four male siblings and became aware from a very young age of the different treatment she and her brothers received. Specifically academically: She was the only female in an AP physics class. On paper, Wierzbicki has a background in mathematics, but she says this is a misconception about her. “It’s not that I’m not interested,” she says. “What drew me to that was its relationship to reason and philosophy,” she says. Not feeling supported in her field led Wierzbicki to explore these ideas in other ways. Storage Space is a very small gallery. It’s about the same size as a shipping container. Its four walls are adjacent to a garage-type space where guests can mingle and sit comfortably. So far, the gallery has seen the works of multimedia artist Nick Witten, photographer Twon Schroeder, and installation artist John McCormick. The advantage of showing work at a place like Storage Space is that artists have to edit themselves significantly and to the point where—so far—the exhibitions have been succinct and very worth the visit. “There’s multiple things going on,” says Brent Lehker, who is the co-creator of Stor-
12 // VISUAL // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET
age Space along with his partner Michelle Steele McGuire. “One part of it is conceptual work; I’m really drawn to that. There’s not a whole lot of spaces accessible to local artists, and here they can come do an installation and do whatever they want.” Not wanting to compete with other exhibition openings, Storage Space has been scheduling its exhibition openings as an alternative to busy First Fridays, which it calls “Mid-Month in the Mid-City.” However, Friday, April 20 did end up being a busy night for art lovers, with additional art openings taking place at Sugar Space,
“DE ATTACH ED 2” BY LIZ WIE RZB ICK I //
o I think I’ve always been interested in the body vs. mind,” says artist Liz Wierzbicki. “Especially being a female, I’ve always felt like I can’t escape my own body.” Body issues are just one topic Wierzbicki explores in her exhibition I’m Fine, a group of print and video works that opened Friday, April 20 at Storage Space. Wierzbicki is the program director and co-founder of Cat Head Press: Printshop and Artist Cooperative. The show’s title is a fitting double entendre for a body of work that ambiguously ambles between a Midwestern-polite answer to the existential question of “How are you?” It is also a statement of sexual confidence and a parody of sexual objectification. In the works shaping “de attached,” Wierzbicki poetically explores these themes by collocating representational female neck and shoulders onto horizontal gradients where a landscape has been cut out. The result is a seemingly shallow, pleasant façade that if taken at face value, spectators need not worry or consider the more sinister ideas at play. Such as comparing mind and body to landscape and whatever else serves as a disruption of the physical self. It also serves to disrupt information that generally shapes the way we perceive what is outside, beyond our reach, in space. “The body has a relationship to the landscape. I am taking the head off of the body—the physical space where our minds exist—taking it away and wrapping something immaterial around it,” says Wierzbicki. The north wall of the gallery contains small graphite drawings of clouds with thought bubbles indicating that the clouds think they are fine, as well as a juxtaposition of two videos: one of a woman adjusting her panties and the other of a woman’s mouth. Within both videos, another video of clouds is collaged or imposed respectively on the
The Oilwick, and even the Indianapolis Art Center—although the Art Center schedules its openings seasonally and not on a month-by-month basis. Next month, sculpture artist Steve Moore will build an installation inside Storage Space. They will be opening May 18, 6–10 p.m. I’m curious to see how Moore transforms and edits his work, but I’m also curious to see how Storage Space continues transforming the way artists configure their art in the upcoming middle-of-the-month of our middle city. N
NOW GO HERE
RESTAURANT // Sugarfire Smoke House WHAT // New BBQ spot near Monument Circle COST // $$
EVENT // Greenhouse Opening and Plant Sale WHEN // April 28, 9 a.m. WHERE // Silverthorn Farm
BE AGGRESSIVE
Local Ag Tech Startup Aims to End Food Insecurity BY CAVAN MCGINSIE CMCGINSIE@NUVO.NET
“W
e can make such an impact on food that we could truly— not just pie in the sky—create a world of abundance 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.” To say that Jonathan Partlow has big and aggressive plans for his ag tech startup, Aggressively Organic, would be an understatement. Partlow is attempting to change the way our food systems work in a way that he hopes will bring about a world of abundant nutritional food, and as he unabashedly puts it, “The end goal is to end food insecurity. It just is, because it’s possible for me to do so.” He’s looking to save the world one square foot at a time. And while it may seem like quite a tall order, he recently got a little wind beneath his wings at South by Southwest when Aggressively Organic won two massive awards. Aggressively Organic was the first company to ever win both the Challenge Prize Session and People’s Choice at the Food+City Challenge Prize competition. Out of nearly 100 applicants from 14 countries, the Indianapolis-based company won top recognition and $10,000. The idea for Aggressively Organic stemmed from a speech Partlow heard from a Milwaukee urban farmer. “He talked about how he was able to feed 3,000 people off of this vacant asphalt lot in urban Milwaukee,” Partlow says. “He said, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘I don’t grow plants; I grow soil, and the plants are just a consequence of having an environment in which they can grow.’” From there Partlow started looking into the way our food systems work, and he recognized quickly just how broken they are. Not only are the systems broken, but the measures we are taking to fix them are faulty as well. “We had to create a system that anyone could afford and use,” he says. And that is what Aggressively Organic aims to do.
They just opened up beta coconut coir for soil. two, and when people sign up, “The end goal “Coconut coir is actually they get one of the systems a waste byproduct of the is to end food that Partlow crafted, which coconut water and coconut at its core is a hydroponics insecurity. It milk industries,” he says. system. But unlike most “It happens to be naturally just is because hydroponics systems, which antimicrobial and antibaccost thousands of dollars and it’s possible for terial and a much better have endless moving parts, an growth media than [peat me to do so.” Aggressively Organic system soil pellets].” He then points costs $139. The kits consist — JONATHAN PARTLOW out that peat bogs take a of nine growth systems, 72 substantially long time refills with seeds of your choosing, nutrient to regrow. By using coconut byproduct, solution, coconut coir pods for soil, and an Aggressively Organic is fighting against that LED grow light that covers 1 square foot. unnecessary destruction of our planet. They also have videos on their website with Partlow says most plants take nine to step-by-step instructions of running the 14 days to germinate once they are in the whole process. coir, and then you move them into the Partlow reminds that, “There are no systems, leave them alone, and let them pumps, no electricity, and very minimal grow. He then says a key to longevity with plastic.” The entirety of the kits is focused your plants is “only harvest when you’re on being as sustainable as possible, which hungry. As long as you leave 20 percent of is why Partlow says they decided to use the main stem, the plant keeps growing
and keeps giving back.” He also says that when the system runs out of water, “You fill it up halfway, and it just keeps giving. It is working with nature instead of trying to fight against it.” Another aspect of the system that stands out is its simplicity. “We say it’s so simple that a kindergartener can do it,” he says. “We have proof because we have kindergarteners all over Fishers that have grown plants in their school classrooms.” Once the kindergartners have grown their plants, Aggressively Organic picks them up and takes them to the food bank. Partlow is excited by this because he says, “This allows them to see real-world applications of what they learned.” And while the initial plan with Aggressively Organic is to feed you and your family, Partlow says, “Anyone who has a garden knows that you never can eat everything that’s in your garden; you always have an abundance. And if I have an abundance and you have an abundance, it costs us nothing to give that to somebody who is less fortunate. But if everybody has them, then we just have an abundance to share.” He also mentions that it allows “a system to barter or to exchange or to trade. So you can grow, and you know that you’re not stuck with 36 lettuces…If your neighbor has tomatoes, you say, ‘Hey, I’ll give you some lettuce for some tomatoes. Or some arugula for some spinach. It really harkens back to the time before the supermarkets.” While the result of ending food insecurity is a far way off, Partlow is enthused by the progress they have made so far. “Ultimately, we want to educate consumers about where their food is coming from and encourage them to explore how they might be able to produce their own food in a sustainable and affordable way.” N
NUVO.NET // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // FOOD // 13
The Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) will soon release a Concessions Refresh Request for Information (RFI). A number of pre and post-security food, beverage and retail leases will expire at the end of 2018, which presents an opportunity for the IAA to take concessions and retail in a fresh direction, one that shouts “We are Indianapolis.� This is your opportunity to serve the 24,000 visitors a day that pass through IND. For information on the Concessions Refresh Program, visit www.ind.com/business/concessions-refresh-program
APRIL
COMING UP
27
EVENT // Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer Tour WHERE // Murat Theater at Old National Centre ON SALE // Friday, April 27, 10 a.m.
APRIL
27
THE BAND ELIOT BIGGER RECORDING AT BALL STATE UNIVERSITY STUDIO FOR THE BENEFICENCE RECORDS RELEASE // PHOTO BY MAX DENARI
‘RECORDS FOR A REASON’ Beneficence Records to Release Tunes from Tonic Ball BY SETH JOHNSON // SJOHNSON@NUVO.NET
E
very November, thousands flock to Fountain Square for Tonic Ball, an event supporting hunger relief in Central Indiana that also provides audiences a night of locally inspired cover songs. But now, for the first time ever, the magic of this much-loved evening in Indy will live on throughout the year via a record label that’s also helping students at Ball State University gain music-industry chops. The brainchild of Ball State instructor Daniel Porter, Beneficence Records is a student-run, not-for-profit record label that promotes Indiana music while also supporting statewide causes through its distribution. For the label’s first release, Records for a Reason: Vol. 1, Second Helpings will receive 90 percent of net profits from digital/physical sales and streaming. For the album, Beneficence Records teamed up with Tonic Ball, asking artists from last year’s lineup to record covers of Dolly Parton, James Brown, Simon and Garfunkel, Wilco, and The Cure. This Saturday, April 28, the label will hold a free album-release party at
the Grove Haus in Fountain Square, complete with live music, free food, and much more. At the party, attendees will be able to preorder vinyl copies of the album, which they can then pick up later on in the year at the 2018 Tonic Ball. Also on the Tonic Ball committee, Porter acted as the A&R rep of sorts for Beneficence Records, scouting out performers at last year’s Tonic Ball to invite to be a part of the album. After narrowing down his list and working through logistics, Porter then handed off the artists to his team of students, who work as the staff of Beneficence Records. “The students were all recruited from different areas,” Porter says of his team. “Some are music students. Some are recording engineers. Some are video students. Some are sales students. Some are public relations. Some are magazine editorial staff. They are all receiving credit for their actual degree programs based on the job they’re assigned.” Several notable Indiana acts will be
featured on this first installment of Records for a Reason, including Birdmen of Alcatraz, Caleb McCoach, Flatland Harmony Experiment, and Sarah Grain & the Billions of Stars. Artists that participated in the project recorded their own unique cover song for the album. As an added bonus, the Beneficence Records team also recorded audio and video of the band playing one of their own original tunes, giving them complete ownership of the recordings as a thank you for their contribution to Records for a Reason. “We’re helping out the local scene, [and] the local scene is helping us out; and we’re helping feed people. I don’t know how it gets much cooler than that,” Porter says. “We’re just fully throwing it at a cause. The benefits are great for Second Helpings and for all the artists, who are happy to be a part of it because it helps their career in the long run.” Local clarinet extraordinaire Eric Salazar is one of these elated artists. A member of the Indianapolis chamber music group
EVENT // STS9 WHERE // Egyptian Room at Old National Centre ON SALE // Friday, April 27, 10 a.m.
WHAT // Records for a Reason release party WHEN // Saturday, April 28, 7 p.m. WHERE // Grove Haus
Forward Motion, Salazar recorded his own version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for Records for a Reason: Vol. 1. “I was instantly drawn to this project because the strategy is to have art be the catalyst that brings in resources that are invested in a nonprofit that fights to end hunger in our community,” Salazar says. “I take so much pride in how much work went into this album from the artists, engineers, technicians, producers, and everyone else. Thanks to Beneficence Records, I’ve found myself saying to people, ‘My art has changed peoples’ lives, and literally fed the hungry. What do you do for a living again?’” Kara Tucker, lead vocalist of local progressive-rock four-piece Eliot Bigger, also echoes this sentiment. Tucker’s band put their own spin on “Play for Today,” a track from The Cure’s 1980 album Seventeen Seconds. “We as a band were able to explore and get creative with a new sound, while most importantly supporting an amazing event and project that impacts the Indianapolis community in a very positive way,” Tucker says. When he was approached by Porter to team up with Beneficence Records, Tonic Ball founder Ken Honeywell says the partnership was a no-brainer. “It’s a logical extension of everything we were trying to do when we started Tonic Ball: bring more exposure to local bands, encourage musical collaboration, and support a great cause,” Honeywell says. Ultimately, he looks forward to the label’s future, even if they move on to work with other causes. “Obviously, Tonic Ball was a great starting place for Beneficence because Tonic Ball is a music event,” Honeywell concludes. “But it’s equally exciting that Beneficence Records is going to support other causes too. I hope it just continues to grow.” N
NUVO.NET // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // MUSIC // 15
NUVO.NET/MUSIC // PHOTO BY TED SOMERVILLE
MEET THE DOORJAMS Band of Indy Legends Rocks as Hard as Ever BY KYLE LONG // MUSIC@NUVO.NET
I
t was a good crowd for a weekday night in early February, all the more impressive considering it was the first show the band had ever played. Anticipation was running high as the group took the stage at State Street Pub. New bands typically don’t get a shot at headlining gigs, but The DoorJams are not your average new band. The quartet’s songwriter and vocalist, Ron Matelic, is responsible for creating some of the most revered underground music of the classic-rock era. But it’s been nearly 40 years since Matelic has taken his original compositions onto the live stage. During an interview at the band’s rehearsal space, I asked Matelic if he and the group were feeling nervous before their debut gig. He laughed my question off. “We don’t get nervous anymore.” That’s understandable; Matelic and his bandmates represent a huge chunk of Hoosier rock history. Matelic was barely out of his teens in the mid-1960s when he and DoorJams drummer John Medvescek were playing bills with rock icons such as The Beach Boys and The Byrds. Medvescek and Matelic have been playing together for well over 50 years. The
two musicians began their careers performing surf rock as The Illusions for teen dance parties around their Westside Haughville neighborhood. The Illusions soon morphed into the legendary garage-rock band Sir Winston and The Commons, releasing the classic fuzz-drenched single “We’re Gonna Love” on Soma Records in 1965. Medvescek and Matelic continued their work together into the ’70s with the bands Anonymous and J Rider. That’s where DoorJams bassist Greg Reynolds entered. “I started playing with them in 1977 right after the Anonymous album,” Reynolds told me. Reynolds can be heard playing bass on J Rider’s cult classic disc No Longer Anonymous. Guitarist Bill Kossmann is the crew’s newest arrival. Kossmann’s credits include a stint with Indiana garage-rock greats The Boys Next Door, and he told me he first played with his future DoorJams bandmates during the late 1980s. “We played together for about a year. We just did covers then; I don’t even know if that band had a name,” Kossmann remembered. With such a rich history, The DoorJams could easily coast on the interest in their
16 // MUSIC // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET
past achievements. But Matelic has no inter// PHOTO BY TED SOMERVILLE est in looking back. He and The DoorJams view their work today as a progression of their artistic ideas— not a rehash. “We’re not totally the same people we were when we made that music, so it wouldn’t be the same. I’m always interested in moving forward and trying new things,” Matelic told me. Medvescek agreed. “I believe we should keep moving forward regardless of our age or how long we’ve been playing. If you haven’t heard this group, you can’t judge us by anything we’ve done before. Each time we practice and each time we play, something new comes out.” After decades of seeing cover bands saturate Indy’s live music scene, Matelic is inspired by the strong scene for original rock music in Fountain Square. That sentiment was evident when I asked Matelic why he decided to return to the stage after such a long hiatus. “It’s the availability of places that allow us to play our original music,” he said. “That’s probably the main reason.” Audience response to The DoorJams debut gig at State Street was unanimously
positive. As a longtime fan of Matelic’s music, I was mesmerized by the band’s performance that night and sincerely grateful for the opportunity to see these Hoosier rock heroes back on stage. Many of us left State Street that night feeling as if we’d experienced something special. But Matelic was characteristically objective when I asked for his thoughts on the show. “It was a little rough,” he told me. “But I think we’ll improve vastly the more we play; that’s why we’re going to keep going.” Medvescek echoed Matelic’s desire to forge ahead, while also acknowledging the joy the band gets from playing the music that they love. “To feel what we’re doing nowadays, it makes me really feel good to play with these guys and continue on; I hope we can go on playing together into our 80s and 90s,” he said, laughing. N
WHAT // The DoorJams WHEN & WHERE // May 4 at Square Cat Vinyl, May 11 at State Street Pub, both at 8 p.m.
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NUVO.NET/MUSIC
ELECTRO DUO ODESZA KICK OFF LAWN SEASON BY BRIAN WEISS // BWEISS@NUVO.NET
// PHOTO BY JULIAN BAJSEL
C
layton Knight and Harrison Mills have come a long way since meeting in 2012 during their first year of college. Together, Knight and Mills make up ODESZA, an electronic dance-music duo hailing from Washington state. A duo that was nominated for two Grammys at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards this year. “It definitely caught us off guard. We were just kids making music in a basement not too long ago. And you go from doing that to two Grammy nominations, it’s pretty outrageous,” Knight said during a phone interview earlier this month. “It took us a while to even digest what had really happened.” The duo released their third studio album A Moment Apart in September 2017. The album quickly rose to the top of the U.S. dance charts while peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. A Moment Apart was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album alongside a nomination for Best
Dance Recording for “Line of Sight.” Knight said the success of the album has a lot to do with how they approached making it. “I think we’re kind of at the point in our career where we’re really comfortable with what we’re doing, and we’re very certain on how we’re attacking it. “The album took quite a bit of time, but it came together the way we wanted it to, and we’re very happy with how it all turned out,” he added. That success can be heard firsthand on the A Moment Apart Tour. Fresh off back-to-back weekends performing on Coachella’s Main Stage, ODESZA will kick off the outdoor concert season in Indianapolis with a show at the Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at the White River State Park on Saturday, April 28. The performance will be unlike any fans might have previously experienced. “We’ll have the full drum line, singers; we’ll have all this other instrumentation
18 // MUSIC // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET
// PHOTO BY AVI LOUD
WHAT // ODESZA WHEN // Saturday, April 28, 7 p.m. WHERE // Lawn at White River State Park TICKETS // $39.50+, thelawnatwhiteriver.com
going on as well as full production,” Knight said. “You’ve got to have a pretty clear idea of what you want to get out of it before taking on something like that.” The duo played smaller venues—including a stop at The Bluebird in Bloomington—on their last tour for their second studio album In Return, but they’re pulling out all the stops this go around. Preparation for a tour of that magnitude takes time, a lot of effort, and a good team. “We spent three to four months designing the music for the show from the ground up as well as the production from the ground up,” Knight said. “It’s been really
nice to have a group of people around us that we’ve grown up with all on the same page and moving forward in the direction that we’re all really happy with and have a clear direction and voice.” Knight wasn’t shy about expressing his feelings toward the tour, saying the whole team is excited for it after spending so much time and energy into prepping it. But despite the success of A Moment Apart and an upcoming summer filled with sets at the world’s top musical festivals, don’t expect ODESZA to disappear from the spotlight and the charts anytime soon. “I think we’re just reaching our stride here, and I think there’s a lot more to do and a lot more great stuff to come,” Knight said. “We want to keep working, keep making music, and I think we have even better music to make.” Fans are in for quite the treat if that final statement comes to fruition. N
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WEDNESDAY // 4.25
THURSDAY // 4.26
FRIDAY // 4.27
FRIDAY // 4.27
SATURDAY // 4.28
SATURDAY // 4.28
SUNDAY // 4.29
Sound Lab with Oreo Jones Listen Hear, 6 p.m.
Bloomington Battle of the Bands Final Round The Bluebird, 7 p.m.
Kevin Morby w/ Hand Habits HI-FI, 7:30 p.m.
Tell All Your Friends— Emo Night HI-FI, 11 p.m.
The Coke Dares LUNA Music, 1 p.m.
Papadosio w/ Aqueous & Dizgo The Vogue, 8 p.m.
Skating Polly, Robots & Magic Powers The Melody Inn, 8 p.m.
Sound Lab is a monthly
The 2018 Bloomington
Kevin Morby stops by HI-FI
Chicago is so two years ago
ter a triple-dog, decade-long
Time to get weird, ya’ll.
Skating Polly is touring in sup-
workshop hosted by Oreo
Battle of the Bands has
on Friday night to perform
and dance parties are so last
silence, and they’re making
Normally, a Papadosio set
port of their fifth full-length
Jones at 99.1 FM WQRT’s
reached the final round.
songs from his 2017 release
summer, but Tell All Your
up for lost time. They’re
comes after a long week of
LP The Make It All Show, and
headquarters, Listen Hear,
The competition features
City Music, an album he
Friends is where you want to
still loud, the songs are still
drug-fueled summer music
they are all under 21 years old.
in Garfield Park. Attendees
a $2,500 cash prize plus
describes as “a mix-tape, a
be this Friday. Don’t bother
short, and they just made a
festival attendance, but you
They’ve played with the likes
are encouraged to bring
recording time at Primary
fever dream, a love letter.”
trying to explain the quiet
music video with a freakin’
can catch them at the Vogue
of X, Band of Horses, Babes
instruments and ideas.
Sound Studios. Finalists
Morby’s guitarist Meg Duffy
things that no one ever knows.
DRONE, dude. Stop by LUNA
on Saturday for a night of
In Toyland, and Kate Nash
Entries are then chosen
include Grace Minnick, The
will open the show with her
You’re not OK, I promise. The
for an in-store before their
face-trippin,’ electro space-
and are going to be on this
at random and paired as
Lean and the Plenty, The
band Hand Habits, who ha-
worst is over, now get busy
show later at the Melody
jazz. Opening up is Aqueous
year’s Riot Fest lineup. Their
each duo collaborates in
Stone Parachutes, Julia
ven’t played Indy since 2013
living or get busy crying (do
Inn. Come see how many
and Dizgo. Bring all your
grunge-y goodness just reeks
the name of sonic experi-
Kahn and the New 45s, and
at a house show in Fountain
your part to save the scene
songs they can squeeze into
chakras, ’cause they’re gettin’
of “the next big thing.” See
mentation.
Pushing Daisy’s.
Square (R.I.P. Mediumship).
and go to this show).
an hour.
aligned as heck.
them before they’re cool.
WEDNESDAY // 4.25
FRIDAY // 4.27
Sound Lab With Oreo Jones Listen Hear 6 p.m. FREE, all-ages Thirsty Cures, Tangled Headphones The Melody Inn 7 p.m. $5, 21+
5 Year Mission w/ City Mouse, Heart & Lung, The Beautiful Ones The Melody Inn 9 p.m. $6, 21+ Antennaman w/ Black Market Vinyl Black Circle Brewing Company 7 p.m. $5, 21+ Buckethead The Vogue Theatre 9 p.m. $22, 21+ Cari Ray & The Shaky Legs Square Cat Vinyl 8 p.m. FREE, all-ages Hillbilly Casino, The Elixers Radio Radio 8 p.m. $7, 21+ Kevin Morby w/ Hand Habits HI-FI 7:30 p.m. $15, 21+ Reverend Raven & The Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys The Slippery Noodle 8 p.m. $5–$10, 21+ Tell All Your Friends Emo Night w/ DJ Txtbook & DJ Ghost Mutant HI-FI 11 p.m. FREE, 21+
Greg Ashley (Oakland) w/ Peter King Cat Head Press 9 p.m. $3–$5 donation, all-ages Lil Wyte Emerson Theater 6:30 p.m. $15–$20, all-ages Lucy Furr, Dr. Boldylocks, Zap Black, Doktra, Redijedi State Street Pub 7 p.m. $7, 21+
Micheal Lington The Jazz Kitchen 7:30 p.m. $40–$50, 21+ Odesza Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn 7 p.m. $39, all-ages Papadosio w/ Aqueous The Vogue Theatre 8 p.m. $18, 21+
Soul’d Out Vintage Dance Party Square Cat Vinyl 9 p.m. FREE, all-ages Spellbound DJ Dance Night: April Edition Pioneer 10:30 p.m. $5, 21+ The Cactus Blossoms w/ Frankie Lee White Rabbit
Cabaret 8 p.m. $13–$15, 21+ The Coke Dares LUNA Music 1 p.m. FREE, all-ages
J Roddy Walston and The Business w/ Dan Luke and The Raid HI-FI 7 p.m. $18–$20, 21+ Jazz 101 w/ Steve Allee and Steven Jones The Jazz Kitchen 6 p.m. FREE, 21+ Jazz Happy Hour Indianapolis City Market FREE, all-ages Remo Drive Hoosier Dome 7 p.m. $12–$15, all-ages The Coke Dares, The Shack Ups, Evening Standards The Bishop (Bloomington) 7 p.m. $10–$11, 18+
The Coke Dares are back af-
THURSDAY // 4.26 Bloomington Battle of The Bands Final Round The Bluebird 7 p.m., 21+ Blues Jam w/ Jon Strahl The Slippery Noodle 8:30 p.m. FREE, 21+ Major Murphy w/ Volunteer Department & Touch Ki State Street Pub 8 p.m. $5, 21+ MC Chris w/ Bitforce HI-FI 8 p.m. $17, 21+ Rock ‘n Roll Suicides w/ Mr. Clit & The Pink Cigarettes The Melody Inn 8 p.m. $5, 21+ Weaves The Bishop (Bloomington) 8:30 p.m. $10, 18+ Wild Ones w/ Heaven Honey White Rabbit Cabaret 8 p.m. $10, 21+
BARFLY
BY WAYNE BERTSCH
SUNDAY // 4.29 3rd Annual Tom Waits Tribute w/ Special Guests HI-FI 7 p.m. $8, 21+ Davina & The Vagabonds The Jazz Kitchen 6:30 p.m. $20–$30, 21+ Forever Strong, Shiver And The Shakes, Mariahill, 5TMY Hoosier Dome 6:30 p.m. $8–$10, all-ages Lefty Bates Memorial Jam The Slippery Noodle 6:30 p.m. FREE, 21+ The Happy Fits Pioneer 7:30 p.m. $5, 21+ Skating Polly, Robots & Magic Powers The Melody Inn 8 p.m. $8–$10, 21+
SATURDAY // 4.28
MONDAY // 4.30
Alvvays, Big Thief, Frankie Rose The Bluebird (Bloomington) 7 p.m. $17, 21+
Acoustic Open Mic Irving Theater 6 p.m. FREE all-ages
20 // SOUNDCHECK // 04.25.18 - 05.02.18 // 100% SUSTAINABLE / RECYCLED PAPER // NUVO.NET
TUESDAY // 5.1 The Lilingtons, Make War, The Jasons The Melody Inn 7 p.m. $13, 21+ The Wizard King & Adams/ Bucko/Cunningham & HeardHealth State Street Pub 9 p.m. $5, 21+
WEDNESDAY // 5.2 Nouveaurees, Jeff Ruby, Kranks The Melody Inn 7 p.m. $5, 21+
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© 2018 BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES (March 21-April 19): Imagine you’re one of four porcupines caught in frigid weather. To keep warm, you all have the urge to huddle together and pool your body heat. But whenever you try to get close, you prick each other with your quills. The only solution to that problem is to move away from each other, even though it means you can’t quell your chill as well. This scenario was used by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud as a parable for the human dilemma. We want to be intimate with each other, Freud said, but we hurt each other when we try. The oft-chosen solution is to be partially intimate: not as close as we would like to be, but only as much as we can bear. Now everything I just said, Aries, is a preface for better news: In the coming weeks, neither your own quills nor those of the people you care about will be as sharp or as long as usual. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The Simpsons is the longest-running American TV sitcom and animated series. But it had a rough start. In the fall of 1989, when producers staged a private pre-release screening of the first episode, they realized the animation was mediocre. They worked hard to redo it, replacing 70 percent of the original content. After that slow start, the process got easier and the results got better. When the program completes its thirtieth season in 2019, it will have aired 669 episodes. I don’t know if your own burgeoning project will ultimately have as enduring a presence, Taurus, but I’m pretty sure that, like The Simpsons, it will eventually become better than it is in the early going. Stick with it. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The coming weeks might be an interesting time to resurrect a frustrated dream you abandoned in a wasteland; or rescue and restore a moldering treasure you stopped taking care of a while back; or revive a faltering commitment you’ve been ignoring for reasons that aren’t very high-minded. Is there a secret joy you’ve been denying yourself without good cause? Renew your relationship with it. Is there a rough prize you received before you were ready to make smart use of it? Maybe you’re finally ready. Are you brave enough to dismantle a bad habit that hampers your selfmastery? I suspect you are. CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Hollywood film industry relies heavily on recycled ideas. In 2014, for example, only one of the ten top-grossing movies —Interstellar—was not a sequel, remake, reboot, or episode in a franchise. In the coming weeks and months, Cancerian, you’ll generate maximum health and wisdom for yourself by being more like Interstellar than like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Transformers: Age of Extinction, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the six other top-ten rehashes of 2014. Be original! LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Long ago, in the land we now call Italy, humans regarded Mars as the divine protector of fields. He was the fertility god who ripened the food crops. Farmers said prayers to him before planting seeds, asking for his blessings. But as the Roman Empire arose, and warriors began to outnumber farmers, the deity who once served as a kind benefactor evolved into a militant champion, even a fierce and belligerent conqueror. In accordance with current astrological omens, Leo, I encourage you to evolve in the opposite direction. Now is an excellent time to transmute aggressiveness and combativeness into fecundity and tenderness. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You sometimes get superstitious when life is going well. You worry about growing overconfident. You’re afraid that if you enjoy yourself too much, you will anger the gods and jinx your good fortune. Is any of that noise clouding your mood these days? I hope not; it shouldn’t be. The truth, as I see it, is that your intuition is extrastrong and your decision-making is especially adroit. More luck than usual is flowing in your vicinity, and you have an enhanced knack for capitalizing on it. In
my estimation, therefore, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to build up your hunger for vivid adventures and bring your fantasies at least one step closer to becoming concrete realities. Whisper the following to yourself as you drop off to sleep each night: “I will allow myself to think bigger and bolder than usual.”
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The bad news is that 60 percent of Nevada’s Lake Mead has dried up. The good news—at least for historians, tourists, and hikers—is that the Old West town of St. Thomas has re-emerged. It had sunk beneath the water in 1936, when the government built the dam that created the lake. But as the lake has shrunk in recent years, old buildings and roads have reappeared. I foresee a comparable resurfacing in your life, Libra: the return of a lost resource or vanished possibility or departed influence.
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I hope the next seven weeks will be a time of renaissance for your most engaging alliances. The astrological omens suggest it can be. Would you like to take advantage of this cosmic invitation? If so, try the following strategies. 1. Arrange for you and each of your close companions to relive the time when you first met. Recall and revitalize the dispensation that originally brought you together. 2. Talk about the influences you’ve had on each other and the ways your relationship has evolved. 3. Fantasize about the inspirations and help you’d like to offer each other in the future. 4. Brainstorm about the benefits your connection has provided and will provide for the rest of the world.
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Now is one of the rare times when you should be alert for the potential downsides of blessings that usually sustain you. Even the best things in life could require adjustments. Even your most enlightened attitudes and mature beliefs may have pockets of ignorance. So don’t be a prisoner of your own success or a slave of good habits. Your ability to adjust and make corrections will be key to the most interesting kind of progress you can achieve in the coming weeks.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn author Simone de Beauvoir was a French feminist and activist. In her book A Transatlantic Love Affair, she made a surprising confession: Thanks to the assistance of a new lover, Nelson Algren, she finally had her first orgasm at age 39. Better late than never, right? I suspect that you, too, are currently a good candidate to be transported to a higher octave of pleasure. Even if you’re an old pro at sexual climax, there may be a new level of bliss awaiting you in some other way. Ask for it! Seek it out! Solicit it! AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Can you afford to hire someone to do your busy work for a while? If so, do it. If not, see if you can avoid the busy work for a while. In my astrological opinion, you need to deepen and refine your skills at lounging around and doing nothing. The cosmic omens strongly and loudly and energetically suggest that you should be soft and quiet and placid. It’s time for you to recharge your psychospiritual batteries as you dream up new approaches to making love, making money, and making sweet nonsense. Please say a demure “no, thanks” to the strident demands of the status quo, my dear. Trust the stars in your own eyes. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I believe it’s a favorable time for you to add a new mentor to your entourage. If you don’t have a mentor, go exploring until you find one. In the next five weeks, you might even consider mustering a host of fresh teachers, guides, trainers, coaches, and initiators. My reading of the astrological omens suggests that you’re primed to learn twice as much and twice as fast about every subject that will be important for you during the next two years. Your future educational needs require your full attention.
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