AUG. 11-17, 2016 whatzup.com New & improved website at FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFORTWAYNE WWW.WHATZUP.COM FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFORTWAYNE 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.whatzup.com -------------------------------------------------------------August 11, 2016 whatzup Live Auctions Volume 21, Number 2 ere at World Headquarters we were short-handed over the past week, Every Friday struggling with a complete overhaul of whatzup.com and mired in what Night we like to call “computer hell.” That didn’t stop us, however, from bring- ingH to you one of the most action-packed issues of this, our 22nd year. True, there have been but two issues in this, our 22nd year of bringing you what there is to do Check Our in and around Fort Wayne, Indiana, but still, take a glance down the page – that’s a whole lotta stuff. Website for When you’ve done something for 22 years, you tend to get kind of efficient at it. At Online Auctions the same time, however, it’s easy to get stuck in a certain routine over time that at some point begins to turn into a rut. We fight against that. We really do. Which is why we’re investing so much time and energy into whatzup.com. If you haven’t looked at 123 E. Van Buren St., Downtown Columbia City the site lately, please go check it out. And if you spot any problems or recommenda- 260-580-3184 || belltowerauctions.com tions for enhancing it, please don’t hesitate to let us know. It’s a work in progress, and it’s likely to be a bit glitchy from time to time, but we’re determined to make it the internet’s best source for northeast Indiana’s cultural information, and your input can only help. Meanwhile, please check out this print version of the area’s only arts and entertain- ment publication, make some plans to have some fun, go have it and tell everyone you meet and greet along the way that whatzup sent you. Have a good one! inside the issue • features PICKS ............................................. 13 Jeff Dunham ROAD NOTEZ .................................. 14 GANGSTAGRASS ......................................4 Cooking Up a Musical Stew ON BOOKS ...................................... 20 Hamilton: The Revolution HAPPY TOGETHER TOUR ..........................5 Still Out There After All These Years SCREENTIME ................................. 20 Critics Can’t Slow Suicide Squad AMERICA ......................................................6 Just Plain Hit Songs CURTAIN CALL ................................ 22 They Came from Mars and Landed Outside the Farndale FLATLAND HARMONY EXPERIMENT ......7 Avenue Church Hall in Time for the Townswomen’s Guild’s Mad Scientists of Bluegrass Coffee Morning STAYING ALIVE ...........................................8 A Rare Tribute • calendars BLACK DOOR ...............................................8 Help from His Friends LIVE MUSIC & COMEDY ................. 10 • columns & reviews MUSIC/ON THE ROAD .................... 14 ROAD TRIPZ ................................... 17 SPINS ................................................9 ART & ARTIFACTS .......................... 21 Avalanches, Cliff Martinez STAGE & DANCE ............................ 22 BACKTRACKS ...................................9 THINGS TO DO ............................... 23 Faces, A Nod Is As Good As a Wink ... to a Blind Horse (1971) Cover by Brandon Jordan and Greg Locke OUT AND ABOUT ............................ 10 Cover photo of Gangstagrass by Sean Aikins of Kallizm An Evening with a Fort Wayne Icon Reaktor Photograph August 11, 2016 --------------------------------------------------------------- www.whatzup.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ----------------------------- Feature • Gangstagrass ----------------------------- Allen County Public Library/Rock the Plaza ..................11 all for One Productions ........................................................3 Arena Dinner Theatre/They Came from Mars ..................21 Arts United/Taste of the Arts ..........................................7 Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival ......................................6 Cooking Up a Musical Stew Beamer’s Sports Grill .......................................................11 By D.M. Jones one another and listeners gravitate toward career as a result of being a producer in Bell Tower Auctions ..............................................................3 individual songs rather than whole albums. Brooklyn, where musical cross-pollination C2G Music Hall...................................................................17 When you think of bluegrass music, But this wasn’t always so — and Rench har- isn’t an uncommon occurrence. By the time Calhoun Street Soups, Salads, Spirits .........................10 “Brooklyn” and “rap” don’t immediately nessed his disparate influences the old-fash- he put the pieces together and shared “Rench spring to mind. But the more you think about ioned way: by soaking them in all his life and Presents: Gangstagrass” for free on the In- Columbia Street West ......................................................12 what drives the venerable acoustic-based possessing the chops and open-mindedness ternet, it became obvious that his outlook on Cute by Nature Jewelry ....................................................12 music form musical integra- (most notably its tion was shared Embassy Theatre ...............................................................17 driving rhythms by far more lis- Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory ..................5 and impactful teners and artists style), the more than the industry Fort Wayne Civic Theatre/Rocky Horror Picture Show ..21 you realize how or hardcore ad- Fort Wayne Dance Collective ...........................................21 it might be pos- herents might Fort Wayne Musicians Association ................................12 sible that hip- want to concede. hop and blue- It helped that Fort Wayne Parks Dept./Staying Alive .............................5 grass could not his particular Fort Wayne Parks Dept./The Stranger .............................5 only comple- approach made ment each other, the blend feel Hamilton House Bar & Grill ..............................................10 but actually meld seamless; it’s not Honeywell Center/Three Dog Night .................................12 together. simply hip-hop Latch String Bar & Grill ....................................................10 Brooklyn- vocals layered based guitarist/ over rustic in- Lucky Turtle Grill/Lucky Moose Lounge ..........................19 producer/writer/ struments. The Middle Waves ......................................................................23 performer Rench music meshes could be called a beats with blue- Mix Room Red .....................................................................11 visionary in that grass cadences, NIGHTLIFE ....................................................................10-13 regard. He grew MCs in sync up in a house- with whole com- Northside Galleries ..............................................................3 hold brimming positions. The Pacific Coast Concerts ........................................................2 with country and initial Gangsta- PERFORMERS DIRECTORY .............................................13 bluegrass music, grass offering but developed a garnered instant Sweetwater Sound .................................................... 11, 24 GANGSTAGRASS penchant for the cutting-edge hip-hop that to synthesize w/THE SNYDERS attention, including a call Wagon Wheel/Bluegrass Out Back 4 ..............................19 would eventually find its way into every them. from the FX network. corner of the culture. He also be- 8:30 p.m. Friday, August 19 Based on an Elmore WLYV 1450 ........................................................................22 The fully realized Gangstagrass repre- came enough Foellinger-Freimann Leonard story, FX’s Wooden Nickel Music Stores ..............................................9 sent the culmination of Rench’s efforts to of a student of Justified presented a Botanical Conservatory WXKE 96.3 .........................................................................22 meld his influences into one project, and the music that gritty crime drama set in the results are nothing short of revelatory. he recognized 1100 S. Calhoun St., Fort Wayne Kentucky. The network Turns out these two musical forms make the true roots. found that Rench’s Gang- one fine stew. And chances are that you’ve He pointed Tix: $6 d.o.s., children under 12 stagrass vibe dovetailed heard Gangstagrass, even if you don’t know out that early free with adult, 260-427-6440 with that of the show, whatzup it; their blend of beats, banjos, fiddles, do- country artists and they commissioned Published weekly and distributed on Wednesdays and bros and MCs is front and center in the song such as Jimmie Rodgers were heavily in- Rench to write the theme song. He enlisted Thursdays by AD Media, Incorporated. 2305 E. Esterline Rd., Columbia City, IN 46725 “Long Hard Times to Come,” which just so fluenced by black gospel and blues singers a team of expert bluegrass players as well as Phone: (260) 691-3188 • Fax: (260) 691-3191 happens to be the opening theme to the FX as well as by the folk music traditions the T.O.N.E-z, younger brother of hip-hop leg- E-Mail: [email protected] network’s hit show Justified. You can expe- European settlers brought to the South and ends Special K and T-LaRoc.