Mike Tyson Review

Justifying spending money on a ticket to see Mike Tyson, by himself on a stage for two hours, can't be easy. "Sounds like a train wreck", said one friend to me before the show.  "That has the potential to be awful", said another.

Not only was it not a train wreck or awful, it was amazing.  Compelling.  Hilarious.  Traumatically gut wrenching.  Mike Tyson - yes, that Mike Tyson - hit it out of the park at DPAC on Tuesday night.  

With a video screen behind him taking you on a tour of his life starting with his birth to an alcoholic mother in Brooklyn (where you learn from the get go that his father wasn't who he grew up thinking he was), Tyson paces back and forth across the stage animatedly interacting with the video and the audience.

Tyson's comic timing is stunningly good.  When he gets up close to the screen to stare at Robin Givens while the footage of the infamous Barbara Walters interview is played.  When he dances to Kanye West's "Golddigger" when describing Givens.  When he talks about discovering Givens with Brad Pitt. 

Although you know the headlines, he presents all his stories with incredible self-deprecation, humor, and interesting insight.  Being accosted by fellow boxer Mitch Green in the middle of the night and knocking him out? ("He was like a Weeble.  Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.") Buster Douglas? ("Everyone thought I was going to win that fight but me.  I wasn't ready".) The ear-biting? ("Don't ever bite someone's ear.  It tastes like ___").  Don King? ("I had 440 million dollars in the bank when I got out of jail and went bankrupt.  Don King owned me.  He was charging me $8,000 a week for towels.  Did you hear me?  I said TOWELS.")

The show's conclusion, which features a touching tribute to Tyson's 4-year old daughter that died in a tragic treadmill accident, has got to be impossible for him to relive night after night but he does with beautiful grace and a very believable mea culpa to the world and himself that he wants to be a better person.  

I would have never, ever expected one of my favorite stage shows to be something called "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth".  But as you know, life is full of surprises.

Foster

Radio 96.1

Mike Tyson Preview

Buying tickets for a movie or a concert is easy.  You know, for the most part, what to expect.  But when you hear that Mike Tyson is coming to Durham Performing Arts Center, an understandable response might be..."Huh?"

Mike Tyson doing what?  Fighting?  No.  Talking?? He's hard enough to understand!  And what will he be talking about anyway?  It's exactly that reaction that makes shows like this difficult to market and promote - but it is also the presentation of unique shows like this that have given DPAC a reputation for greatness in the Triangle.

"Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" began as a one-man show with runs on Broadway at at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  Spike Lee directed the stage show in which Tyson takes you on a very personal tour of his life.  With that in mind, here's the rub: you can't be disinterested in Mike Tyson's life.  When was the last time you paid to watch a boxing match?  For me, it was Tyson's first bout with Evander Holyfield (not the "ear" fight).  I skipped out of my San Francisco farewell party to hit a bar so I could watch the second Tyson-Holyfield fight and remember running back in the party screaming, "He bit his ear off!!!"  Upsets happen in sports, but how shocked - I mean truly stunned - were you when you found out Buster Douglas beat the invincible Iron Mike Tyson?

You remember the train wreck interview with Barbara Walters he did with Robin Givens next to him on the couch calling him a "monster".  And telling Lennox Lewis he was going to "eat his children".  And when he went to jail for three years.  And when he got the tattoo on his face.  Or tragically, when his daughter died on the family's treadmill.  

We've always been interested in Mike Tyson, but why  spend your hard earned money on a ticket to see a guy with a checkered past talk about his life?   Maybe because signs point to a changed man who really does want to make a difference.  Maybe because after all the drama - all the things that made Mike Tyson interesting to watch all those years - we still really don't know why he did them.  In this show, the fighter will tell us - bit by bit - even the things that are tough to talk about.  

Incredibly, after all the years of our fascination with Mike Tyson, this may be his most fascinating move yet.  Read the reviews below and maybe I'll see you at DPAC Tuesday night.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130407004&camefrom=EMCL_66802_4167314

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/celebrity/aboutlastnight/ct-ent-0218-luis-20130217,0,3451380.story

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/ct-ent-0218-tyson-review-20130218,0,2031323.column

 

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/10/entertainment/la-et-cm-mike-tyson-review-20130311

 

Foster

Radio 96.1

The Band With a HUGE Heart

96.1 has had a relationship with Trans-Siberian Orchestra for a decade, soon after I moved to Raleigh.  I had heard great things about their show, and they were looking for a radio partner in the Triangle.  Thus, a partnership and friendship began.

I could go on and on about why Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an amazing band.  They come to town every year with what seems to be the goal of outdoing themselves from the prior year.  Just when you thought they couldn't add more lights and explosions, they line more semis outside the arena.  When you're convinced you've seen all their stage techniques, you realize they've built a walkway for the band to play above the crowd.  And when you're sure they couldn't possibly play any longer, they bust out a 3 1/2 hour show to make sure you get your money's worth.  All the while, throughout the past 10 years, keeping ticket prices extremely reasonable.

Despite all that, the thing that puts TSO over the top has nothing to do with the production itself.

They are the most generous band in America.

On every show, on every tour, they donate $1 from every ticket sold to the charity of the local radio station's choosing.  In our case, over $100,000 has been raised for the NC Children's Hospital.  Now consider how much money they've raised over the years across the country.

This week, they donated $2,000 for me to shave my head this Saturday for St. Baldrick's, an annual donation they've been making since I've been raising money for childhood cancer research.

When Trans-Siberian Orchestra comes around again the next holiday season, show them the support they've shown our community and check out the show.  You won't be disappointed.

In fact, that's not even possible.

Foster

Radio 96.1

North Carolina: Still Amazing

I grew up in the third-smallest state in the country.  It was the third smallest, but the most densely populated per square mile.  There were people everywhere, and you could cross the state in an hour or less, or go from the very bottom to the very top in about 3.  When I was a kid, I thought everyone's state was like that, and it blew my mind as I got older to realize how tiny New Jersey really is.  Sometimes, I'm still struck by that.

I moved to North Carolina five years ago this June.  And still, I'm struck by how large and how different our state is.  You have the beach and the Blue Ridge Mountains, all in one state.

This past weekend, my fiance and I drove out to Asheville and stayed at the Grove Park Inn.  He had to work, but I got to relax and take advantage of the scenery and the exceptional service.  In the pic above, taken on Friday just before the sun started to go down, I was again struck by how different parts of our state are.  It sounds silly to say, but I couldn't believe I was nearly 7 hours from the beach.  And it was so beautiful.  Rolling mountains and beautiful vistas.  I can't believe it's the same state--but it is.

Maybe I was just in a dreamland; after all, the Grove Park Inn looks like something a group of Hobbits would stay in:

Welcome to the Shire.

But it was truly amazing.  It's 100 years old this year, and they're doing construction on it to spruce it up.  I felt super fancy there, sitting on a terrace and drinking my Highland Brewing Company Gaelic Ale.  I even practiced my old rich lady voice--because that's how I would imagine you would talk if you had the sort of elegance and excess the Grove Park offers.  ("dahhhhhling, would you have Jeeves come to the dining room?   I'm going to take tea on the terrace.")    I honestly had no interest in leaving the property--if you had that view, would you?

I'm so glad I live in a place that's varied in landscape as it is in people.  It constantly blows my mind, and I'm glad it does.  I wouldn't want it any other way. 


Alli


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