News of a couple of intriguing events is making the rounds… one features hitmakers from the 1990s; the other features the same from the 1970s and 80s.
On THIS side of the spectrum: Improv-Ice, currently being promoted at IceNetwork.com by way of this press release, which, as often happens, is a trifle confusing:
The Good: An interesting premise that I think has been done at least once before—skaters are selected pieces of music unknown to them prior to the competition, and they are voted on (by the audience at the rink) for their creativity with their improvised routine.
Also Good: The roster of skaters, which is said to include everyone from Kurt Browning to Evan Lysacek (for the men), and everyone from Nancy Kerrigan to Sasha Cohen (for the women).
The “Bad”: The featured band of this show—the one said to be playing live, and whose music will contribute to one routine for each skater—is the Goo Goo Dolls. Ummmm… let’s just say they wouldn’t be my first choice. I could see someone whipping up a dandy program for their hit “Iris”, but beyond that…
What a sweet show this could be if the featured band was, say, cuts from Radiohead’s In Rainbows. Oh well… guess they were busy.
The “Ugly”: In this case, the ugly equates with the unknown: the release tells when tickets go on sale (TODAY), but doesn’t tell when or where the show will take place… and while a “television special” is alluded to, no network, date, etc. follows yet. Big Hmmmm…
Then, on THAT side of the spectrum: This article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer tells of Scott Hamilton’s return to professional skating after a five year hiatus that was brought on by a little thing they call a BRAIN TUMOR.
Tumor, schmoomer. He’ll be skating November 7th (accompanied by Cheap Trick and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra) in “An Evening with Scott Hamilton and Friends”, a fundraiser for the Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.
Not a whole lot more to report on the details of the show itself, but… Scotty’s going to skate. Do you really need to know more?
For the Clip of the Day I put “Skating” and “Goo Goo Dolls” into the YouTube browser to see what happened, and lo and behold, it appears Katia Gordeeva already skated to “Iris” back in 1999. Again I say... hmmmm.
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3 comments:
Improv-Ice has been done at least twice before, in 1999 and 2000. It was run on the USA network, and produced by Robin Cousins' company. This edition will air on NBC on Christmas Day from 3-5PM ET, and evidently the viewing audience will also get to vote.
http://www.dissonskating.com/mcdonalds home.htm
and
http://www.kurtfiles.com/events/improv09.php
NBC loves to run skating against big holiday/football events... hence Boitano's annual special running every New Year's Day. Ah, counterprogramming... gotta love it!
Tina, wasn't one of the earlier Improv-Ices featuring Todd Eldredge with "Who Let the Dogs Out"? I did recall that, but since the improv idea hadn't been put to use in so long I wasn't sure it was the same show. Thanks for the info!
Sorry, don't have any notification when you reply to my comment so I didn't know you asked me anything!
Yeah, one of the previous Improv-Ice's did feature Todd skating to "Who Let the Dogs Out".
Honestly it's not precisely the same show, since this one is produced by Disson Skating, and I think they bought the name. They're doing the improv format of having the skaters only have an hour to prepare their programs, but they're incorporating the typical Disson format of having the musical guest play half the songs (improvising to live music has got to be harder than pre-recorded, I would think!) and they're not airing it live. But it's about as close as you'll get to the original Improv-Ice these days!
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