Author: Peter Wentworth

Caught a great performance by Mark Dvorak at a local (coffee house -style venue) Forest Park Nature Center in Peoria, IL.

These video links were passed on to me (Thanks Art Peterson / Hanquan Qiu !) from this year’s Musical Saw Festival in Japan this May.

Some pretty amazing Musical Saw performances plus a smattering of interesting cultural performances:

• Pretty amazing Saw Concert – Check out the harness the soloist uses to brace his saw.
• There’s a pretty long introduction before the start of the Musical Saw Solo (at around 7:00). This will probably be wasted on you unless you are fluent in Mandarin.
  
• And yet another Musical Saw performance

Ever get the urge to build a RainStick? Here is a video teacking you how to build a Rain Stick

Building a Rain Stick

Question by LordSeraph: What is the title of this old movie that has vaudeville in it?
This is an old movie, shown frequently in Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel. I forgot it’s title though. The movie features a character named Stanley who was from the dying industry of vaudeville. The setting is somewhat in a Hawaiian location, and involves romance between a soldier and a movie star. A part of the plot is that the soldier abducts her via plane into an island. In this island, the real life actress accidentally sprains her ankle while shooting a scene wherein her in-movie counterpart fell into a hole.

Best answer:

Answer by HoneyBunny
Could it be “On an Island with You” (1948)?
Esther Williams sprained her ankle during the shoot. Williams also blamed [the director] for an on-set injury. For a scene in which she falls into a hole hidden by jungle foliage, the crew forgot to put padding at the spot where she was to land. As a result, she sprained her ankle and had to finish the movie on crutches. In her memoirs, she asserts that it was his responsibility to check to make sure the stunt, which looked great on the first take, was safe.

The basic plot:
While shooting on location in the South Pacific, a movie star is pursued by a handsome Naval officer who is convinced she is the girl for him.

Give your answer to this question below!

I always like scanning through Yahoo questions to see what people are asking (and answering) – Here’s a Vaudeville related question I stumbled on:

Here is a Question by Missy: She is doing a project on the Vaudeville theater and wants to know: “What types of dances happened at the Vaudeville Theater?” What she is after is what types of dances were danced at the Vaudeville theater.
Here was what was judged the best answer:
Best answer:

Answer by A Yahoo! user
jazz
tap
burlesque acts…

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Question by 46 x 16 !!!: why do you see so many cute indie girls playing musical saw?
Everywhere you go there are so many cute indie girls playing musical saw outside of hip cafe’s, busking in front of public markets, and haunting my dreams with sweet serenades. Why do all cute indie girls play musical saw?

Best answer:

Answer by ??????
they don’t. many of them play ukulele, concertina, theramin, or some other unconventional instrument for western music.

What do you think? Answer below!

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the Musical Saw was a favorite for performances. Although this clip of a pre- WWII vaudeville act is humorous, there is no musical saw music here.

Natalia (Saw Lady) Paruz hosts the annual Musical Saw festival (East Coast). Here is the finale of the festival – a chorus of 53 Musical Saws. A world record!

www.SawLady.com Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Musical saw ensemble’ held July 18th, 2009 at the 7th annual NYC Musical Saw Festival. 53 musical saw players playing ‘Ave Maria’ Organist: Judy Dimino, conductor: James Bassi. Info: www.MusicalSawFestival.org

Musical Saws and Vaudeville have always been intertwined. A favorite Musical Instrument of the Vaudeville performances was the Musical Saw.
Here is a fun clip of a Vaudeville performance.

Music and dance abound in India. Travelers to the country enjoy it for the sake its beauty, never realizing that the music and dance is steeped in history, each movement conveying a message. Often worship rituals involve dances created hundreds of years ago. Each step, gesture and musical note brings with it a meaning, however subtle. The dances or India are an art.

Rajasthan is one of the most richly rewarding regions for folk dances, devotional songs and music. Professional tribal performers in brilliantly colored costumes entertain visitors and residents throughout the area. Their performances include fire dances, dramas on mock horses and cymbal and drum dances. All this is accompanied by haunting ballads and handcrafted instruments.

Originating from the chanted hymns of the sacred Vedas, music evolved to express the seasonal cycles and the rhythm of agricultural work, became interlinked with dance forms to celebrate the harvest, greet a particular season or worship a specific god.

Originally, these dances were performed in Hindu and Jain temples. In time, however, temple leaders began to consider the dances too suggestive and the ritual dancing was banned within the temples. Today, you can only find these traditional dances performed in temples at three events each year. The Khajurako Dance Festival is helfd in March. December sees two festivals, the Konark Dance Festival and the Mamallapuram Dance Festival. Visitors to India at these times will enjoy a rare treat by attending one of these festivals.

Two forms of dance worship bear mentioning, Kathakali and Odissi. Kathakali of Kerala is a male-only dance form. The performers wear colorful costumes and the dances are full of intense drama. Odissi is Orissa’s ancient dance form. The performers act out ancient myths in extravagant costumes, accompanied by musicians and singers. These dances can often be seen during the Konark Dance Festival in November.