Who’d knew it would be hard to say goodbye to a town where I bruised my eye to the color purple in kindergarten after falling on the concrete at recess time; where I had my first car wreck that totaled my car and left me with a knee I still have problems with today; where I lost my beloved high school (Go Stephen Decatur!!), of which I’m still bitter about; and where I had my horrible trampoline incident that nearly knocked out my front teeth? I’m still reeling over that last one.

But despite all of the bad moments, I have had a person in my life who counteracts the bad, like all of my teachers from preschool through high school who always refers to me as “the quiet one”; my dentist, Dr. Jerry Harrison, who, in my opinion, is the greatest dentist ever; my doctor who knows how to make me feel comfortable; my past and present co-workers; my boss, Tim Cain, who showed so much faith in me; my close friends; my church family and last but not least, my extended-extended family.

Decatur will always be my hometown, and even though I’ve taken another position with a publication in Downers Grove, it doesn’t mean I’ll forget where I came from, or will never visit again, or will talk down about the town, or that I’ll walk away with nothing but bad memories of growing up here.

I’ve loved my time here, and I’ll always remember the people who’ve made it so pleasant. The people are what make this town special.

That’s something I’ve learned while on the job at Herald & Review. And it’s a lesson I won’t soon forget.

Anywho, thank you, thank you, thank you to all, and I bid you farewell.

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Have you ever watched a play, or even attended a concert or comedy show, and thought maybe the heckler in the audience who continued to interrupt the performance was actually part of the show?

That was the case for Little Theatre-On The Square’s Friday matinee performance of “Red: A Tribute by Tom Mullica.” The production runs until March 15 at the Sullivan theater.

Mullica portrayed the fun-loving comedian Red Skelton, who entertained audiences starting in the 1930s and going well into the 70s.

The show was an unexpected one to the audience, and I believe to Mullica as well. There was a person in the audience who made comments aloud during the production, but were these comments intentional?

It’s a thought you go back and forth with in your mind — why does this person keep interjecting? And why isn’t anything being done? Or rather, could this all be part of the act?

It turns out the woman was not part of the act, but Mullica sure made it seem as if she was. He spoke with her and joked with her throughout the whole show sending the audience into chuckles and sometimes snorts. And when she did make a comment out loud, Mullica was quick to improvise and convert it into a laugh.

The woman wasn’t angry or offended at all and neither was Mullica, which comes to show how comfortable and relaxed the production was. Mullica even gave the woman a signed poster during the show.

This incident reminded me of a recent comedy show I attended where the comedian was continuously being interrupted by a woman who was sitting four rows from the stage.

And she was loud too. My boyfriend was convinced that she was part of the show and had a microphone on her because she was fairly clear to hear, and we were sitting way in the balcony of the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Ind.

After several interjections that were disrupting the comedian, the ushers were just about to escort the woman out, when the comedian cut her some slack and told the ushers to leave her alone. “She won’t talk anymore. She’s ok,” he said.

People in the crowd began yelling, “Get her out of here” (only unfortunately not as nice), because it was killing the show for us.

She finally got the point and stopped interrupting the show, but really?!?

I can understand her excitement for the show, or even the possibility that she was drunk, but what would make her think she could say what she wanted, when she wanted and as loud as she wanted without it disturbing others around her?

The only place hecklers should be allowed is the Avon Theatre for “The Rock Horror Picture Show” during Halloween. They can heckle all they want there and not be judged.

TO GO TO LITTLE THEATRE-ON THE SQUARE’S SHOW:

WHAT: “Red: A Tribute by Tom Mullica”
WHEN: 2 and 8 p.m., Friday, March 13; 4 and 8 p.m., March 14; and 2 p.m., March 15
WHERE: Little Theatre-On The Square, Sullivan
TICKETS: $28 for adults, $26 for seniors and children; call 728-7375 or 1-888-261-9675
ON THE WEB: www.thelittletheatre.org

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Sorry I missed blogging about “America’s Best Dance Crew” last week, but the only thing I had to talk about was how Strikers All-Stars was robbed.

Let me explain myself.

Every crew last week got a song AND an artist they were familiar with (Rihanna, Chris Brown and Katy Perry were the artists). Anyone who listens to the radio frequently or watches any music awards show would know these songs or these artists.

But Strikers All-Stars didn’t get no such thing. While individuals may be aware of the artist they received (and thats an iffy “may”), the song and music video was unrecognizable. Even they were like, “Who is this?”, when they saw the video. I know and they probably know who Daddy Yankee is, but I have never in my life heard the song they played that night by Daddy Yankee.

Plus, JabbaWockeez was in the music video and imitating their moves is not an easy task.

It was an unfair challenge for the crew. They deserved a better song. Strikers All-Stars were robbed — even if the one guy in the front looked lost in translation.

But enough with my ranting, this week was the hip hop decathlon battle. This is a new challenge and was definitely that. The task was to incorporate, I believe it was, six different dance moves into their routine, i.e. threading, krumping, tutting etc.

Beat Freaks and Quest Crew have each demonstrated a majority of these dances in their routines. Fly Khicks, not so much. I knew this would be a struggle for them, and I knew it would be there time to go. I think they did too.

My mom and I noticed they were oddly glad to leave. They cried a little, but they were still chipper. In their goodbye speech, they mentioned they were a bit homesick, but I also think they knew deep down the competition was getting to be too much and they weren’t cut out for it.

And last week, they were more astonished than confident of their acceptance to stay on another week. Their reaction spoke volumes.

So, its down to my top two — Quest Crew and Beat Freaks — for the finals.

I’ve been rooting for Beat Freaks because it would be nice to see an all-female dance group win, but after last night’s battle between the two remaining teams, Quest Crew had the best show with “OrQUESTra” hands down.

It’s going to be a heavy final show, but hopefully, after the smoke clears, the best crew will be left dancing.

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Dynamic Edition was an all too rare crew on “America’s Best Dance Crew.”

And not to discredit their dancing or personal style, I think that helped them along.

Their dancing, which was a mix of clogging and hip hop moves, I believe, was difficult to process for the audience for a while. I know I had a hard time accepting it: “Am I really seeing this? Cloggers dancing to hip hop?”

And then after their performances, I was blank. I didn’t have a reaction, or I didn’t know how to react.

It was some kind of mind-blowing phenomenon. Not because they were the greatest dancers, but you would never think to match the two very dissimilar dance types.

This went on for at least three episodes.

They began to grow on me with their dance rendition to “Achy-Breaky Heart” during the Wack-Track Challenge. (Again, I think they particularly got that track because it fits with their style.)

The most recent challenge of illusion for the crews was, to me, Dynamic Edition’s best performance yet. I was expecting them to stay on another episode to see if they would improve even more. Only, unfortunately, they got cut this week.

Dynamic Edition did a lot of things right. Not only did they keep fighting/dancing despite the adversity they may have been sensing, they listened to the judges’ comments week to week and improved gravely. Each week I noticed more dance movements beyond their fancy footwork. They already were precise and clean in their formations, transitions and choreography.

The group was the underdog of the show. I’m glad they made it as far as they did.

Like judge J.C. said it’s “America’s Best Dance Crew”; it isn’t “America’s Best Hip-Hop Dance Crew.” Keep the variety coming.

Up next week is the battle of the sexes. And it suspiciously evens out to two all-female groups and two all-male groups. Uncanny, huh?

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So far, the “Wack Track” Challenge on America’s Best Dance Crew last night was the most difficult challenge I’ve seen on the show.

It’s hard to make something horrible and out-of-date look good today.

The crews were trying to revolutinize the Macarena and moves from New Kids On The Block and M.C. Hammer, when the moves were wack to begin with. I never liked the Macarena.

And I think part of the problem was the dance crews were concentrating so hard on making the old dances look cool, it became difficult to tell if their new moves were even similar to the old. They might as well freestyle the whole performance — no one would have been able to tell the difference.

Strikers All-Stars did nothing but Hammer’s moves throughout their performance, and the Beat Freaks were practically doing their own thing to “Pretty Fly for a White Guy.”

The only crew that pulled it off for me was Quest Crew. (I’ve now narrowed down my list to Quest Crew and Beat Freaks.) They were comical and fairly on with their New Kids on the Block routine, but still brought something new, something of theirs to the stage. They worked in both elements.

The other team that incorporated both was Fly Khicks, which is probably why they were saved to stay on another week.

I’m starting to doubt whether the challenges can get any more challenging.

***

They are already casting for a movie on Obama’s life, and he hasn’t even been in office for a full month.

The link gives a rundown as to who they are considering for the parts of Obama, Michelle, Biden and his wife, Hillary and more individuals on the Obama administration team.

I went through the list based on who looked like who. I couldn’t comment on each person’s acting skills of the 44th U.S. President and company because I wasn’t aware of every actor.

Aside from the big ears thing, could Will Smith play the regalness and seriousness of Obama? Should Susan Sarandon get a crack at playing Hillary Clinton? Could action man Harrison Ford do the calmer role of Biden?

You be the judge. And no, Sarah Palin is not on the cast list.

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Every season America’s Best Dance Crew challenges each team to dance to songs by one music artist. They’ve used Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson in the past and even Missy Elliott with her sitting right there judging their performances of her videos.

Britney Spears was the challenge for this week.

Usually, when they give the teams the task of the “music artist challenge,” they tell them to try and duplicate the moves from the video. That’s it. It’s nice to see they changed it up this season.

This time, instead of duplicating the moves, the teams each had a challenge within the challenge. For instance, one team had to do some of their moves blindfolded (Quest Crew), another had to incorporate mirror images into their routine (Strikers All-Stars) and another had to dance with props (Team Millennia), all while dancing to a different Britney hit.

(And is it just me, but do the challenges seem to fit with the team they are given to? Like, if the challenges were switched around, the other teams couldn’t pull it off? Does that even make it a challenge?)

The showdown at the end of Thursday night’s performance was a disappointment to me. Team Millennia was cut and their group is a strong contender for choreography, especially in comparison to the Ringmasters. The judges, since first season, have emphasized the importance of choreography, and Team Millennia gave them that every week. They told the Ringmasters last week they needed more choreography. And that 5-second hand routine they did was enough? Get outta here.

I’m not a huge fan of Team Millennia, but for me, they meet the standards of a “dance” crew more than the Ringmasters do.

My top faves are still my top faves. When it gets closer to the end, I’ll probably narrow it down, but for now, I don’t think I could choose any less than three teams.

It was difficult just choosing my favorite routine of the night, but I chose Quest Crew. They had the Britney choreography and the fun tricks. Very entertaining! The Beat Freaks were a close second for me.

I’ll be honest. I never voted for ABDC in the past, but I am this season. ABDC is mostly generated by fan votes, and I’ve seen too many great teams who deserved to stay on get booted off because they didn’t get the votes from fans to stay.

Don’t do the texting vote. That costs. But you can go online to vote for your favorite team for free.

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If you know what the letters above stand for, you know exaclty what this blog entry is about.

America’s Best Dance Crew is easily my favorite show on TV at the moment. I can’t get enough of the show. (Literally, I watch the repeat of the show that follows the new episode every Thursday night. I try to catch things I maybe didn’t see before in the previous showing.)

I’ve been hooked to the show since its first season when the infamous JabbawockeeZ won, so I’m highly familiar with the judges, the show structure, the dance crews, Mario Lopez as host and the tremendous amount of puns he uses. (My goodness. I thought I was bad with puns.)

Out of the two seasons I have seen, this season is a bit wack.

You’ve got one team that was eliminated last year and decided to come back with a new rock persona. You’ve got another team of former dancers for the Miami Heat. You’ve got a team of cloggers who came up with the idea to mix hip hop dancing with their award-winning clogging. And there’s one team, my stomach has a hard time watching.

I get queasy when I watch the Ringmasters and their bone-breaking dancing. No offense, but I hope they get kicked off soon. I don’t know how much more I can take. And you can hear the audience in the background making moans and groans during their performances. So it’s not just me.

My top three right now are Strikers All-Stars, Quest Crew and the all-girl group Beat Freaks because those girls go hard. They don’t play.

The most recent episode I called it. I knew the Boxcuttuhz would get cut. They reminded me of last season’s Fanny Pak. They have a quirky style about them, but they weren’t as creative and dynamic with the dancing as Fanny Pak was.

Anyways, if you’re an ABDC fan and can’t help but sit down in front of your TV every Thursday night after the show, blog with me. I’m going to try to keep up with a blog about it every week because I do not miss a show, unless work is involved.

Best performance of the night:

Ringmasters, if you’re curious:

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The board of the Lincoln Square Theatre had a sponsorship party Thursday evening, with the hopes of finding sponsors to offset the costs of some of their upcoming shows.

At the party, there was a rundown of what’s to come at the theater, which can also be found on their Web site.

And along the walls of the hallway, there were promotional pieces of the type of shows the theater has already brought in — stage productions of “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Altar Boyz,” Elvis tribute artist Al Hull, Patsy Cline tribute artist Sherrill Douglas, comedy troupe Second City and countless others.

I recall covering quite a few of the acts posted on the wall, but there was one I was simply clueless about and it happened to pique my interest. It’s a violin duo called Nuttin’ But Stringz.

The duo is two African-American brothers who incorporates their classical playing with hip hop beats, similar to what Miri Ben-Ari, “The Hip-Hop Violinist,” does.

Going through the Herald & Review archives, it doesn’t look like they’ve performed at the theater before, and they’re not listed on the upcoming schedule of 2009. So I’m really not sure why their information was posted Thursday night unless the board was trying to say, “We can possibly bring this duo here, if we find a sponsor for the show.”

I believe it would be innovative to bring the group to Decatur. I’m more so thinking about the disadvantaged youth in the community who may not have the means of going to concerts or art exhibits around town.

Ideas have been shot out on ways to get youth, especially minority youth, more involved in the arts, and I understand how difficult that task can be when money and transportation issues arise. And let’s not forget the attitude issue from youth who believe they can’t possibly benefit from attending a concert that may not be their style or looking at paintings that may not look like anything to them.

But, its been said, in the long run that concert or that exhibit might stay on their minds well into adulthood. I agree.

The short-term goal is that its opening them up to something new. Maybe by seeing the two men — who are probably moreso like them not necessairly in skin color, but their growing up experiences — perform on violins will encourage them to try a musical instrument or just pique their interest in art, in general.

A sponsor would really be needed to bring the show to Decatur because there’s no telling if it will have a draw. Opening the show up for a discount to the school district and/or after-school organizations may help, but again, there’s no way to tell. It’s just the same with any show brought to the theater nowadays.

Here’s hoping the Lincoln Square Theatre can get back to what everyone seems to call the good old days.

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Are you ready for some football … commercials?

It’s that time of year again to begin collecting names for Herald & Review’s annual Super Bowl Commercial Panel.

Now, I can’t promise you that your favorite team will win the Super Bowl Champ title this year. And I can’t promise you the E*Trade Talking Baby will puke up again. But I can promise you this — good or bad commercials, it’s a fun time being a critic.

And you know what they say: “Everybody’s a critic.” So why not take a chance of having your critique printed in the newspaper for all to see?

For those who are unfamiliar with the panel, all you would need to do is watch all of the Super Bowl commercials from the comfort of your own home or bar, and determine your three favorite AND three worst commercials of the bunch. We will be making calls following the Super Bowl — quick calls, mind you — to get your results and possibly ask a few simple questions about your picks. See! Simple, huh?

If you’re interested in joining the panel this year, send along a phone number that you can be reached at immediately following the Super Bowl to aspates@herald-review.com. More details will follow when it gets closer to the date.

Become the Roger Ebert of commercials Super Bowl night. Join the panel.

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I’ve learned to give credit where credit is due, and I’ll say rapper T-Pain has revolutionized the use of the Auto-Tune, a voice-changing device, in today’s music industry.

But I will NOT go so far as to say T-Pain deserves royalties for the Auto-Tune. Apparently, the Florida R&B singer feels otherwise.

The sound the Auto-Tune gives off is a vibration of a person’s voice. Sometimes you don’t even hear its there.

The uniqueness of the device has caught on. Rappers, as well as other singers, have begun incorporating the device like mad into their music since T-Pain brought it back in his first single “I’m Sprung,” which hit radio airwaves several years back — P. Diddy, R. Kelly, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake (on T-Pain’s “I Can’t Believe It” Remix), Kanye West (more than once), newcomers Ron Browz (”Pop Champagne”) and Jeremiah (”Birthday Sex”).

And yes, I meant to say “brought it back.”

While discussing the Auto-Tune phenomenon with my boyfriend, he reminded me of the Zapp & Roger hits “I Want to Be Your Man” and “Computer Love” (1985). Those songs do sound like the use of Auto-Tune, if not that, then certainly something similar. We’re not totally sure, but we believe Zapp & Roger were the ones who started using Auto-Tune in their music, even though it may not have been called that then. They originally made it popular.

In continuing with my argument, sure, fashion designers get paid simply for bringing an old fad back and modernizing it. But T-Pain hasn’t modernized anything. It’s the same Auto-Tune from years past. What’s changed is music.

T-Pain is more of that person who shows up at school one day in this century wearing bell bottoms and everyone is loving his style so much that they try to mimic it.

T-Pain brought it back. He made it popular again. He did not invent or change the device. He deserves no royalties or the privilege of calling the Auto-Tune “his.”

If anything, Zapp and Roger should be getting praised for thinking ahead of the future.

And honestly, would T-Pain really be a hit maker, or sought after for albums if he wasn’t on the Auto-Tune? I doubt it. The Auto-Tune makes for his success.

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