I’m Back, With a Vengeance

Sorry for my absence the last couple of days.  The four of us have been working long and hard on the next issue of our magazine.  The Design Issue will hit free newsstands around WNY in about a week and a half (check back for updates).  For our ninth issue we explore the many different forms of design, from visual design fields to those more conceptual, like organization, urban planning and industrial design.  We are surrounded by design every step of our day; it is all around us, shaping our world from multiple angles.  Western New York also has a multitude of working artists and designers who are helping to weave the thread of our designed world right here in Buffalo.  We spoke to a few local designers about the nature of their work, and what the word design means to them.  It is one of those words whose definition is open to interpretation; depending on who you ask, you’d also get a million different definitions of the word, love.  That’s why we decided to explore design in this issue, with local and global design trends on the same page.

Look for the Design Issue of Block Club in early September.  You’re gonna love it!

Okay, now onto more important matters.  Even the Block Club team, holed up in its office for the last week working long days and late nights, noticed the buzz around town regarding Nicole Kidman’s reported support of Buffalo’s own Studio Arena Theatre.  I was getting coffee Monday morning, checking the headlines on the newsstand, and literally took a step back when I read The Buffalo News’s declaration: “Kidman joins fight to save Studio Arena”.  This was the look on my face:

Okay, so I’m less hairy than that.  But my disbelief was real, my shock supreme.  What would NikkyKid have to do with, or care about, Studio Arena?  True, she has done some theater work before, gracing Broadway’s stage 10 years ago in David Hare’s “The Blue Room.” But that was that, and this is this.  She is hardly known as a stage actress, not even within the stage industry (I would assume; I don’t know, I’m not a choreographer or even an usher....I only wish!).  But the idea that a celebrity—some celebrity, not even this celebrity—would have ties to Studio Arena is not unreasonable, considering the legion of connections executive and artistic director Kathleen Gaffney has via her friend, collaborator and former Buffalo State classmate Tom Fontana (a Hollywood producer).

But I don’t think their web of connections extends to A-list superstars.  Even someone of Kidman’s stature, whose star has been falling ever since “Bewitched” tried to revive the aftermath of “The Stepford Wives,” isn’t known as a philanthropic celebrity on the level of a lady like Oprah Winfrey.  Remember when The O liked her chicken sandwich so much she bought the restaurant?  Yeah, that’s what we need here.  We need someone....someone like George Clooney to eat a chicken wing and think, “Oh my! I shall buy all remaining chicken wings, its cooking apparatus and all of its eaters! And the chicken wing kingdom will be mine!” and he’ll parade around with a flag and banner and drum corp.  Or....I’m just rehashing an odd dream I had last week.  All I know is this:  I didn’t believe a shred of the story when it first appeared on the front page of our newspaper—after the weekend that included the Olympic closing ceremonies and the buildup to the Democratic National Convention—but I did know that something was up.  Call it no, duh! common sense.

I didn’t even like “Far and Away,” and here we were supposedly on the brink of cultural salvation at the hand of the former Mrs. Tom Cruise?  If you can spot how many things were wrong with that sentence, you win a prize.

In the wake of the weird story can updates on The News’s Web site throughout the following days.  One said there was doubt among everyone on the face of the planet industry leaders that the original story which had been reported on a public relations “insider” Web site was false; that Kidman never even gave the quote regarding the need for Studio Arena’s cultural and local impact.  It turns out her quote, which cited the value of regional theaters in Chicago and Houston, was lifted from a News story that ran in July and which quoted Studio Arena employee Iain Campbell.  That’s when the hullabaloo got going all over the interweb.  Papers and Web sites across the country picked it up and ran with the “she said, he said” fodder of who said what, when did they say it, and more importantly, WHY WOULD ANY OF US BELIEVE IT JUST BECAUSE IT’S ON THE INTERNET?

I could go on and on for hours about how embarrassing and stupid this all is.  There have been updates a few times a day on a variety of sites and in today’s Artvoice, all of varying degrees of credibility.  EditorandPublisher.comran a story yesterday that claimed the source of this fake story was acting out in protest to bajillionaire and Buffalo News owner, Warren Buffett.  I don’t know now.  I have a headache from all of this.

I know this:  Studio Arena is a sick horse trying desperately to inch its way across the finish line of this dumb race it was forced compete in—that of mere survival—and got kicked while it was down.  By someone who either wanted to protest a rich man or embarrass our wonderful little theater, no less.  In other words, a (creative, but) dumb schmuck.  I don’t think it matters one way or another how this ends up.  As a city with significant arts organizations and culture, we have been mocked and humiliated on a national and international scale (that PR site on which the story originated is based in Germany) all because we fell prey to the promise of a superstar’s pocketbook.

Nicole Kidman is probably the least likely pawn in this whole charade.  She is just a name with a face that knows no boundaries of power, money and fame.  She also makes horrible movies sometimes.  Did anyone see “Birthday Girl”?  Seriously…

Posted by on 08/28 at 02:14 PM