Criss Angel Believe: Mind Over Matter

By Chris Carney

For the greatest magicians of any era, the real power in illusions is not how they are accomplished but the nature and depth of the emotional response they generate in the audience.

Wonder and awe, the prickling of hair on necks and forearms, the collective intake of breath and cheers of surprise are all the foods upon which the master illusionists dine.

These are also the emotional endgames that the acrobatic wizards and dance phenoms of Cirque du Soleil seek with every performance of every show. Beginning with Mystère, swimming through "O," baring flesh in Zumanity, lighting the world on fire in KÀ and re-imagining the music of The Beatles in Love, Cirque du Soleil has long reached the very edges of the possible and pushed through to new worlds.

One need not possess the power of foresight to predict that the world of magic and the world of Cirque du Soleil would come together like dark soulmates. Yet the mysteries of both mix in a most unexpected manner in Criss Angel Believe. The show loosely explores the inner workings of a Victorian noble's dark dreams, one populated by an assortment of bizarre and amazing creatures and creations.

Best known for his TV show Mindfreak, the magician has a long-standing love aff air with the ultra-dramatic illusion. Whether he levitates himself through the Luxor's light beam, cuts himself in half before a live audience or blows himself up in a C4-laden crate, only to emerge unscathed and well-primped, Angel never skimps on the theatrics.

Billed as the co-writer, illusions designer and creator, original concept creator and, of course, star, Angel says that the seeds of Believe go back more than 15 years. It can be said that the show is the culmination of an obsession long germinated that has finally emerged as the dark fl ower of Believe.

Why would Cirque du Soleil change its recipe for success by creating a star-fronted show? Conversely, why would Angel agree to enter the realm of choreography and costumes, where the attentive audience's eye may wander to other performers? The answer lies at the very heart of what Cirque du Soleil and Angel are all about.

"Expect the unexpected, because this show is beyond even my wildest fantasy," Angel said.
Believe may not be your typical Cirque du Soleil production, but it encapsulates its philosophy, a philosophy long held by Angel as well: Never be satisfied with what has already been done, search out new directions, new experiences and always challenge expectations. This is the message, the true purpose of both Angel and Cirque du Soleil. Create something unseen, something organic that grows and changes with every performance. Create something vast, panoramic and dazzling. Believe strives with every performance to do just that.

Published in Las Vegas Magazine 10-25-09

U2: New Memories Arise

By Chris Carney

Music has long been an emotional linchpin humans use to define their memories. A long-forgotten song can fling one years, or even decades, into the past, dropping us in a time thought forever gone. While any song can act as time machine, there are those musicians who have mastered – unconsciously, perhaps – the ability to create a mass migration to times and places long thought forgotten. These bands stand the test of time, lasting decades and remaining relevant long after countless one-hit wonders and short-term musical obsessions have faded into obscurity.

Over the last 33 years, few bands have done this more than U2. Perhaps "New Year's Day" takes you to a crowded bus en route to a rain-soaked 5K or "Bullet the Blue Sky" catapults you to the streets of London and a first kiss. Whatever your personal journey may be, U2 has always been, and will continue to be, a band of memories.

Formed in 1976 in Dublin, Ireland, U2 was different from the start. For them, music was more than girls, money and fame. For U2 music is spiritual. Irish Catholics by upbringing, U2 have long been deeply moved by the world beyond the physical. They've entered the world of the soul, world of the mind, world of memory. So perhaps it is no coincidence that they've recently embarked on their 360º Tour. It seems that U2 is coming full circle and dreaming of memories past.

Published in Las Vegas Magazine 10-18-09

Justin Timberlake: Good Rounds, Good Sounds

By Chris Carney

The Shriners have long been known for their dedication to charitable causes, and no cause rises higher in profile and good deed than the Shriners Hospitals for Children, which have provided free medical treatment for children for nearly a century.

Yet the Shriners, despite their roots in antiquity, are no stick-in- the-mud social fraternity. A glance at the snazzy red fezzes proudly donned by their miniature-car-driving members quickly shreds that illusion.

So it is of little surprise that they are teaming up with singer/actor Justin Timberlake, a man well known for both his sense of humor, outgoing personality and dedication to charitable causes.
He brings his considerable celebrity to the 2009 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Championship Pro-Am, a charitable golf tourney running from Oct. 12-18 at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. It's a week of fun, golf and parties dedicated to helping the Shriners Hospitals for Children, often dubbed the World's Greatest Charity.

Joining Timberlake at this year's event are several pro golfers, including 2008 returning champion Marc Turnesa. Kenny Perry, Heath Slocum and Jason Dufner, all ranked in the Top 10 in the FedEx Cup point standings, are also competing. LPGA pro Natalie Gulbis challenges the boys on equal footing and don't be surprised if she gives them a run for the charity's money.

A bevy of celebrity players also joins Timberlake on the links. This year's crop includes metal god, and an avid Merlin of the greens, Alice Cooper, soul legend Smokey Robinson, saxophone maestro Kenny G and poker masters Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.

Timberlake is playing alongside Oklahoma State University sophomore Rickie Fowler, who is making his professional PGA Tour debut. But don't believe for a second that just because this tournament is all about fun and charity, the competition is not fierce. Although players don't gain FedEx Cup points for their performance on the greens, the event is a fully accredited PGA Tour event.

Joining the Shriners are numerous corporate sponsors including Coca-Cola, Rain Cosmetics and Fiji Water. Yet, you do not need to be a celebrity or massive corporation to contribute. Buying tickets to the tourney and volunteering are just two ways to pitch in. Head to jtshrinersopen.com for more information on what you can do to help.

But the charitable largesse does not end there. Not content to tap celebrity power and dollars from the world of golf, Timberlake performs at Mandalay Bay at 8 p.m. on Oct. 17. Like the golf tournament, he won't be alone when he takes the stage. He'll have friends to back him up, including Alicia Keys, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, Taylor Swift and TLC. These stars will help bring much-needed attention to a cause that may not have previously been on their fans' radar.

For the children who benefit from the Pro-Am and concert, Justin Timberlake and the Shriners are a match very much made in an earthly heaven. No word yet on whether Timberlake will sport a red fez or drive the wee little car, but if his and the Shriners previously shown love of pomp, fun and good-natured humor shine through, we may very well be given one more gift to complete a great week.

We Darkly Dream We Were Dexter.

Dexter is one of those truly American television programs that’s central question both illuminates and exposes the psyche of the viewing public. At its core this Showtime drama explores our convoluted, and often contradictory, relationships with violence and justice and in this process it exposes more about the viewer than it does about its fictional protagonist.

Are killers born or bred? Is there something inherently wrong with those that maim kill and rape, or does their psychosis emerge from the cauldron of a young life awash in violence?

Loosely adapted from the novel Dexter Dreaming Darkly by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter has recently begun an acclaimed fourth season. The show follows title character Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Dept. who aims his psychotic and sociopathic need to kill at killers who have managed to beat the system.

A classic antihero archetype, Dexter spends his nights hunting and executing, in a very meticulous and ritualistic fashion, those killers who have evaded justice. Dexter is a cold-blooded murderer. If he were ever caught his actions would condemn him both in a court of law and by the tenets of any reasonable religion. Yet, as an audience we cheer him on. We follow along as he hunts and we wish him well. We want Dexter to be real and truly believe that if he were the world would be a better place.

What makes Dexter unique, both as show and character, is that it does he does not experience moral quandaries.  He does not question what he does? Is it right? Is it wrong? For Dexter it is simply necessary. The orphaned Dexter has always needed to kill. What separates him from the Son of Sam, Ted Bundy and the Hannibal Lecter’s of the world is the “Code of Harry.”

Immersed in the Code by his adopted father Harry, a Miami Metro Detective who discovered then three year old Dexter in two inches of his mother’s blood, Dexter follows this stringent and powerful, if twisted, moral code as fervently as the most devout religious believer.

Sensing that his son would always need to kill, and likely end his days in the harsh, sterile glow of an execution chamber, Harry taught Dexter only to kill other killers. In the years since Dexter has become one of the most successful serial killers in history, fictional or real.

Perhaps it is our love for frontier justice, our respect for the meticulous execution of a task or our own deep rooted desire to possess the will to live our lives by our own code that makes Dexter, man and show, so appealing. He gets the one who got away. He is so good he hasn’t, won’t we hope, be caught. He has the courage to risk his career, reputation, family and very life to fulfill his mission.

Yet he is a killer, a murderer and by all the codes we claim to hold dear this hero, this man we root onward is destined for Hell. It is very telling indeed that each and every viewer wishes to some extent that they were a little like Dexter.