Author Archives: Jonathan Williams

Fabio Luis Santos springs into amphibious action in Cirque du Soleil’s “Totem”

Born just three years ago, Totem is one of Cirque du Soleil‘s youngest touring shows. Featuring performers from 18 different countries, Totem focuses on the evolution of mankind, as well as the individual potential each of us holds in the larger framework of the history of humanity. Totem features several acrobatic acts unique to this show, including Chinese unicyclists who catch bowls on their heads, a Blue Man Group-like act featuring a scientist juggling illuminated balls inside a clear cone, and a Native American couple performing a roller skating ceremony atop a giant drum. But bookending the entire spectacle are Totem‘s iconic and acrobatic frogs who hop around on a giant 2600-pound turtle skeleton, criss-crossing each other as they leap through the air. One of those frogs is portrayed by Brazilian gymnast Fabio Luis Santos, who takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about his amphibious transformation.

Photo by Pouya Dianat/Cirque du Soleil.

When you were growing up training to be a gymnast, did you ever imagine that you’d end up portraying a frog?

Not really. I always thought I’d be a gymnast, then a coach. I did my physical education at the university, focusing on the sports side. After the opportunity came to audition for Cirque, which would be more structured and more well payed, I started to look towards the more artistic side.

Each Cirque performer has to do his or her own makeup. Is that something you had to learn specifically for Cirque or had you previously been involved in any sort of theatrical performances?

I never did my own makeup before or even used makeup before. But now it’s such a part of my life to wake up, come here, shave and do my makeup. You get used to it. It’s something new for me, but it’s part of my life.

How long have you been part of this show?

I started with its creation. I think I was the first guy arriving in Montreal in September 2009. The next day a few more frogs arrived and we started the creation. A little later, more people started to come throughout the month. But I’ve been doing it for a little more than three years.

Did you have any creative input on Totem since you were one of the first performers involved with it?

A little, yes. The director, Robert Lepage, is a genius. He was open to new ideas. We know that he’s amazing and we are just learning, so we didn’t try to give him a lot of stupid ideas. But he used to ask and we really participated in the entire evolution of this show as it was growing. Of course we helped with its creation, but it mainly came from his mind and he made the show.

Has the show evolved much since it started touring?

Oh, yes. A lot. Everybody has gotten more experience. I was new in this business and a few other people were, also. The acts have developed a little bit more. We opened with not a lot of problems and it was a great show already. Now we’re even better and I believe within a few years it will only get better and better.

Photo by Pouya Dianat/Cirque du Soleil.

Where all has Totem taken you so far?

We’ve done North America and Europe. Then we’ll move to Australia, back to Europe, Japan, South America. The show has a lifespan of 15 years, but will remain in the U.S. until at least 2014.

How do audiences in different cities and countries react to Totem? Do you tailor each performance to the location you’re in?

The Americans are really crazy. They scream a lot and clap a lot, and that’s pretty cool. In Europe they were a little more reserved, especially in London. They’re great also, but they just clap and keep a little more quiet. Here in the USA it’s amazing. I think USA is a great crowd and I love when people scream and clap and go crazy. It’s a great feeling.

Do you plan on being a frog in this show for the full 15 years?

Not really. It’s a long time and Cirque’s prepared to replace each performer when the artist decides to stop or change shows. I have a few plans for next year ,but for now I am with Totem until the end of my contract.

What are your plans after Totem?

I’m moving to another Cirque show in Brazil. After doing a show for three years, I’m looking for new challenges. I’m doing a show where there’s a lot more acting, so there will be a lot of new challenges. Everybody has their own timing. Some people stay with a show for five years, some people stay 15, some people stay 20. But it’s almost my time to move on, but I’m still with Totem and I will finish my work here before moving on to anything new.

Given your background as a competitive gymnast, what was the transition to this type of performance like for you?

I’m really competitive, so it was really hard for me to become an artist without the competitive side. I like to win, I like to be on a podium, I like people calling, “First place, Fabio Santos.” Now I try to use a similar feeling to being in first place when I am on stage every day with people clapping. It’s kind of a similar feeling, but it was hard for me in the beginning to not compete. But, for me, coming to the best company in the entertainment business, it gives me a new vision of life and work.

How did the opportunity to join Cirque originally arise for you?

Somebody from casting went to Brazil to find new talent. Cirque really likes Brazilian people because we’re really open to new things, we laugh, we have fun and we have something warm inside. So I did the audition at the end of 2008 and the next year they called me to offer me a job.

At this point in your life and career, do you think you’d like to continue doing this type of acrobatic performance or go back to competing at some point?

Photo by Pouya Dianat/Cirque du Soleil.

If I go back to competing someday, it would be just for fun and not really to win. My time has passed. Now I’m an artist and I want to keep doing what I’m doing. One day, when I decide to stop, I can go back to gymnastics just to have fun and enjoy my body and what I’ve learned and done all my life since I was eight years old. Acrobatics is part of my life, so I cannot let it go very easily.

With all the different nationalities, cultures and languages you encounter each day on a Cirque show, what is it like for you as a performer?

We learn a lot about other cultures. It’s great to see people who have grown up in a different way than I did. We have to respect each other. To be an artist in Cirque du Soleil you need to be a little crazy. So at the end, everybody’s a little crazy and we have a good life together. We’re a family even though everybody’s from a different place in the world. We try to understand and be cool with that so we don’t have any problems.

www.cirquedusoleil.com/totem

“Rise of the Guardians” reveals new secrets about the holidays

Leave a reply

If you’re looking to have your illusions about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy shattered, Rise of the Guardians is just the kind of animated adventure you’ve been waiting for. Don’t worry, though. I’m not talking about any of that “Santa’s not real” kind of stuff, because we all know that would just be ridiculous. There are a lot of things you probably didn’t know about Santa, the Sandman (no, not that Sandman) and all the other fantastical beings that have existed on the periphery of your imagination since your childhood, though.

Based on William Joyce‘s The Guardians of Childhood books (and reminiscent of Rankin/Bass‘s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus), Rise of the Guardians reveals that Santa, the Easter Bunny and all the others are very much real. But the roles they play in the lives of children are far more involved than delivering presents or hiding Easter eggs. Collectively, they form the Guardians and they each have their own set of responsibilities towards protecting the world. Santa, a tattooed swordsman with an Alec Baldwin-voiced Eastern European accent, is the Guardian of Wonder and calls a meeting at his North Pole home when he gets a cryptic message from the Man in the Moon a few day before Easter. Like any ragtag group such as this one, there’s plenty of good-humored in-fighting between the Australian adventurer the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the hummingbird-like Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the benevolent Sandman, the oldest and first Guardian chosen by the Man in the Moon. (I’m just glad the Tooth Fairy isn’t The Rock in a hockey uniform.)

The reason the Man in the Moon has summoned all of the Guardians is because The Boogeyman (no, not that Boogeyman) has gathered his strength and is threatening to destroy all that is good in the world. Whether he’s turning the Sandman’s dreams into nightmares, preventing the Tooth Fairy from gathering teeth or keeping the Easter Bunny from hiding his eggs, the scare tactics of this Boogeyman (voiced by Jude Law) are quickly causing children to stop believing in the Guardians. As a result, the Guardians’ power is slipping while the Boogeyman is only getting stronger. But there’s a reluctant new Guardian in Jack Frost (Chris Pine), who’s used to being a prankster, not a protector. But as the Boogeyman grows more powerful – and as Jack learns more about himself and his purpose as a Guardian – it seems that Jack is the only hope for the Guardians to prevent the Boogeyman’s fear from enslaving all of humanity. Thankfully, there’s still one kid out there who believes, but his faith is dwindling as his friends try to convince him there’s no Easter Bunny.

But as long as someone still believes, there’s hope for the Guardians. And though they normally like to be more secretive, the Guaridans realize that by revealing themselves to Jaime (Dakota Goyo) and his friends, they’re able to stand up to the Boogeyman and his legion of black stallions. In the process, Jack is able to figure out who he is and why he has been chosen as a Guardian. Even the Boogeyman learns a few things about himself, which ends up being his ultimate undoing, at least for now. And the greatest thing about Rise of the Guardians is that, much like The Nightmare Before Christmas did almost two decades ago, this film creates a new mythology where all holidays are created equal.

www.riseoftheguardians.com

“Void Vanishing” is a Qurious departure for ambient duo

3 Replies

On its third album Void Vanishing, the duo of Mike Netland and Catherine Quesenberry continues to create uniquely Qurious atmospheric sounds. The dreamlike electronic soundscapes Netland conjures are the perfect backdrop for Quesenberry’s sleepy vocal delivery, which sounds as if it’s being emitted from some distant place only to float in at the perfect moment.

The allure begins with “Gaida,” an enchanting cacophony of organ and ethereal singing that melds right into “Wunderkammer,” with its more distinct beats and lyricism. “Rubies” pulsates out of an atmospheric abyss to gradually become one of the album’s most pop-structured songs before dissipating into an airy breakdown that flows right back into the song’s framework.

Much of Void Vanishing (namely songs like “Gears” and “Rima”) are reminisent of nursery rhymes sung by a fairy while “Gold” and “Termina” have a Devo-meets-Kraftwerk urgency that provides something more upbeat than the rest of the album. But whether it’s the ambient instrumentalism of “Pactolian” or the abstract arrangement of “Rima,” Qurious is adept at aural experimentation always on the verge of evaporating but never completely fluttering away. Much like those lucid moments between sleeping and waking, Void Vanishing‘s electronic pulse is always pumping just enough to keep Quesenberry’s feather-like afloat.

www.qurious.bandcamp.com

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Brian Alexander “The Great” and Geter

Leave a reply

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, Wrestling with Pop Culture has a lot to be thankful for. And with the guests lined up for this week, Georgia Wrestling Now is one of those things. Listen as Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins and I talk to Georgia wrestling veteran Brian Alexander “The Great” about his Thanksgiving night match against Murder 1 for Georgia All-Star Wrestling. We also talk to the mammoth Geter, one half of the reigning Platinum Championship Wrestling Tag Team Season Champions who recently made the biggest impact of his career by aligning himself with the Elite and taking out Mikael Judas at Anarchy Wrestling. We also talk about WWE‘s Survivor Series, Rampage Pro Wrestling, Universal Independent Wrestling, Monstrosity Championship Wrestling and more. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

Brian Alexander "The Great" takes on Murder 1 for Georgia All-Star Wrestling on Thanksgiving night.

Listen to internet radio with PSP on Blog Talk Radio

Gift of Lights illuminates holiday cheer at Atlanta Motor Speedway

3 Replies

Courtesy Atlanta Motor Speedway

Last year Atlanta Motor Speedway joined a growing holiday tradition at racetracks across the country with its inaugural Gift of Lights. With more than a million LED lights, this drive-through display was one of Georgia’s most successful holiday events in 2011. As a result, Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Gift of Lights returns on Nov. 18 and continues through Jan. 6.

Even though the Gift of Lights requires you to drive through its mile-and-a-half of festive scenes (at a time when a gallon of gas typically costs more than $3), it’s actually one of the most eco-friendly holiday displays around thanks to its energy-saving LED lights. The journey begins with a welcoming Christmas tree display as you enter the grandstands. But it’s not all about Christmas as the Gift of Lights’ initial stretch features blue menorahs, dreidels and other traditional Hanukkah icons. From there, things take a whimsical turn as fairy tales and nursery rhymes such as Cinderella, The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe and Humpty Dumpty get lively illuminated treatments.

Photo by Brad Harrison, Atlanta Motor Speedway

After you pass the smiling green dragon (wearing a celebratory Santa hat, of course), you go through an under-the-sea-themed section that features fish, crustaceans, waterfalls and other aquatic life. Then you finally get to a wintery North Pole-like area where penguins and other arctic creatures have fun with elves, candy canes and other Christmasy creations. But it seems that Santa is also a NASCAR fan as brightly-lit race cars (driven by Santa and his reindeer) line an outdoor stretch not normally accessible on race days. Gift of Lights concludes with a visual display of eight maids a-milking, five golden rings and all the other gifts from “The Twelve Days of Christmas” before you drive through a colorful tunnel that takes you to the exit.

The entire display is set to holiday music and NASCAR drivers recounting their favorite Christmas memories on your car radio. New for 2012, you can also get your photo taken with Santa Chris in the Speedway Gift Shop for no additional charge. When I talked to Mr. Cringle, he recounted some of his larger-than-life memories yesteryear’s wrestling greats like Ox Baker and Andre the Giant. And I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better early Christmas gift than talking to Santa about wrestling!

www.giftoflightsatlms.com

“Lincoln” portrays struggles of one of America’s most influential presidents

Leave a reply

Photo by David James, SMPSP

Given that we’re just days away from one of the most heated presidential elections in recent memory, and that our nation’s first black president was just re-elected for a second term, Steven Spielberg’s new docku-drama Lincoln couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. Focusing on the final months of Abraham Lincoln‘s presidency (and life, for that matter), Lincoln‘s focal point is the Emancipation Proclamation and the struggle it created in a country already tearing itself apart at the height of the Civil War.

In hindsight, most of today’s American society would fervently agree that slavery is (no pun intended) one of the darkest periods of this country’s history. But at the time, that institution had become so engrained in the United States’ culture, economy and infrastructure that a sudden emancipation of an entire race of people you had previously oppressed and mistreated had to be a frightening proposition for many reasons. But Lincoln was determined to not only free the slaves, but also to end the war and reunite his country.

Though his intentions are noble, Lincoln’s somewhat manipulative proposition of simultaneously ending the war and freeing the slaves creates quite a dilemma, even for some of his closest allies and supporters. Ending the war is pretty much a given, regardless of one’s political affiliation. But what if the war ends before the proclamation (and the 13th Amendment, freeing all slaves) is passed? What if one is in favor of ending the war, but not necessarily in favor of freeing the slaves? These are the polarizing issues addressed in Lincoln.

Photo by David James, SMPSP.

Daniel Day-Lewis portrays Lincoln with both the heroism of a president whose radical thinking changed the course of this country, and the strategic plotting required of such a monumental task (he was a politician, after all). But aside from the very public battles he faces, Lincoln also shows his personal struggles with his wife (Sally Field), their son (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his even more radical political ally Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), and his own colored servants, who he treats like any other friends. As has been noted in numerous historical texts, Lincoln points out that in the year leading up to the vote to free the slaves, Lincoln appears to age ten years. While times were stressful for the entire country during the Civil War, Lincoln shows us a president unwilling to give in to that stress.

The ongoing death and destruction of the war weighs heavily on Lincoln, and having such a huge responsibility is something most of us will never understand. But Day-Lewis captures the weariness of a president whose ongoing determination to do what he feels in his heart is the right thing for his country, and humanity, means lives will continue to be lost. And Lincoln doesn’t shy away from such issues, giving the viewer reason to believe that maybe Lincoln’s approach is a little too drastic or abrupt. Of course we all know Lincoln’s steadfast resolve allowed him to achieve his goal. But we also know it cost him his life not long thereafter. And even though Lincoln shows this president’s flaws as much as his strengths, it ultimately portrays Lincoln as a man with a good heart more influenced by his own compassion than the logic of those around him.

www.thelincolnmovie.com

The Casket Creatures bring horror rock to Monstrosity Championship Wrestling

Leave a reply

Over the past year, The Casket Creatures have emerged from their crypts with a unique brand of horror-inspired rock ‘n’ roll. Clearly influenced by horror punk acts like the Misfits, Blitzkid and Calabrese, as well as hard rock and heavy metal bands like Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden, The Casket Creatures breathe new life into the horror rock genre with a look and sound that is both fiendishly familiar and rottenly refreshing. Having released its debut album Tales from the Unknown a year ago, the band has rapidly gained a strong following by opening for the likes of Wednesday 13, Static-X and former Misfits singer Michale Graves, and performing at events such as Six Flags over Georgia‘s Fright Fest, the Little 5 Points Halloween Festival & Parade and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Monster Bash, where the Creatures were also introduced to Monstrosity Championship Wrestling. Before the band returns to its tomb to focus on an early 2013 release for its second album Sex, Blood and Rock ‘n’ Roll, it plays what is likely to be its final show of the year as Wrestling with Pop Culture presents Monstrosity Championship Wrestling with The Casket Creatures! Vicious vocalist Eddie Cadaver and grim guitarist Derek Obscura talk about all the ghouls they’ve rocked before, performing with monster wrestling and other atrocities.

First, I’d like to thank you for playing this event with Monstrosity Championship Wrestling. With all the national acts you’ve opened for and the big events you’ve been part of, I was glad you guys were willing to be part of this event as such a successful year comes to a close for you.

Cadaver: We had a really good time at the Monster Bash with Monstrosity Championship Wrestling, so we’re really excited about this one.

Obscura: It’s been a really crazy year, especially during the summer and October. The Little 5 Points Halloween Festival was pretty crazy. It’s been an awesome year.

Cadaver:It all started when we got booked at the Monster Bash. It seems like after that, we cannot keep our schedule clear. It’s constantly full. It’s been really cool and we’re having a good time.

Of all these big shows you’ve played over the past few months, which ones would you say got the best crowd response to what you guys do?

Obscura: I think we got our biggest reaction at the Little 5 Points Halloween Festival. It got insane when we played. It was so cool.

Cadaver: The Six Flags show was really cool for a totally different reason. With the Six Flags crowd it was mostly kids, so we played a family-friendly set. But it was actually really bad ass and we had a lot of fun. After we got done playing, we’d pose for pictures with the kids and sign autographs. It was cool as hell. We played three full-length sets throughout the night and they were all completely different. I got to feel like Bruce Dickinson popping out of side doors and running across the stage with a wireless mic. I loved it. Those two shows were our biggest, but for totally different reasons.

What was it like opening for bigger acts like Wednesday 13, Davey Suicide and Static-X?

Obscura: We were a perfect fit with Wednesday and his crowd embraced us right away. The Static-X show as a little tougher crowd, but by the end of our set we had them cheering for us. One of the coolest ones was the Ghouls Night Out Festival up in Jersey where we played with Mister Monster and Blitzkid for their last U.S. show. That was a super cool experience and the place was sold out. We had an awesome time up there.

Cadaver: We also played with Michale Graves and that was a super cool show. He and his crew were really good guys and were really supportive of what we were doing. We made a lot of new fans that night because it was just the perfect fit. I’d say Michale Graves, the Wednesday show and Ghouls Night Out were where we made a lot of new fans and headway in our genre. It was really cool. Static-X was a little different because the crowd was, like, mean mugging us when we started. But I just got in their faces and did my thing, all of us rocked it out and by the end of it everybody was getting into it. I enjoyed all those shows.

When you last saw MCW at the Monster Bash, you had several other bands and various other activities going on. Tomorrow night’s show will just be The Casket Creatures and MCW. What are your expectations going into this event?

Obscura: We’re stoked that we got the chance to play this and it’s really cool that we’re the only band playing. The Kentucky Wolfman is already my favorite wrestler just with the name.

Cadaver: We’re super excited to see the Kentucky Wolfman. We have an older song called “Bark of the Beast” that’s about werewolves an we’re going to play that one for the Kentucky Wolfman. If he wants us to play it as his entrance music, we’ll be happy to!