To many observers, the current 3-D craze began with the release of James Cameron’s “Avatar” this past December. The sci-fi epic grossed more than $2.7 billion worldwide, more than 70 percent of that take from its 3-D showings.
A new, “special” version of the film was released on Aug. 27, to many of the same 3-D houses that showed the original, as well as many more that were updated with 3-D capabilities in the interim. But as theaters embrace the world of Pandora once more, the long-term success of 3-D cinema remains unclear.
The year has seen an explosion in the number of films that feature the highly touted (and higher priced) process. More than 20 movies have been or will be released in 3-D in 2010, almost double the number available in 2009. The last few months of the year will see an average of three movies in 3-D each month, an unheard of number. More than 30 new 3-D films will be released in 2011.
On the surface, box office numbers seem to support the craze. The highest-grossing movie of the year, “Toy Story 3,” was widely available in 3-D. Six of the top 10 movies of the year were shown in the format. Clearly, the audience is crazy for 3-D, so the more movies shown with the process, the more money there is to be made, right? Not exactly. In fact, several rather telling statistics have come out in the past few weeks, which can lead one to the conclusion that the 3-D craze is already dying — or maybe it was finished before we even knew it had begun.
First, there’s the matter of percentages. Many websites have reported on a decline in how much of each film’s gross is from 3-D houses, as opposed to standard 2-D showings. As noted, “Avatar” made more than 70 percent of its box office take from 3-D theaters, whereas the last major 3-D hit, “Despicable Me,” has made only about 45 percent of its money from 3-D houses. A steady decline between the two points is easily seen on a widely distributed graph.
Defenders of the format point out that films like “Despicable” came out in a much more crowded marketplace than “Avatar” did — many other 3-D films competed for box office space, so there were actually fewer 3-D theaters showing each movie. As more theaters convert to the process, these issues will evaporate, they say.
Recently, however, a fascinating article on Slate.com, “Is 3-D Dead in the Water?” by Daniel Engber, was published. In it, Engber argues that a much more telling statistic comes from how much 3-D films are making on a per-screen basis, compared to 2-D films, leading him to the surprising conclusion that the format’s glory days have already long passed.
Engber points out that back in 2004, when “The Polar Express” was released, a mere 59 houses showed the film in 3-D in the whole country. But those houses could expect much more business than average — per screen, the 3-D shows made nearly six times what the 2-D shows did, an increase of 575 percent.
Five years later, when “Avatar” was released, there were far more theaters prepared for 3-D — nearly 2,000 of the 3,400 were showing the film in the format. And yet, the 3-D houses were only making 70 percent more than the traditional 2-D ones. “Toy Story 3” came out in June, and this time the numbers showed that the 2-D houses actually made more per screen than the 3-D ones — a net loss of 5 percent for the premium showings.
So what does it mean? I think that as time passes, moviegoers are growing wise. Hollywood, in a desperate attempt to draw back viewers, saw something that was a success and jumped on it with both feet. They made hasty conversions of 2-D films in an effort to squeeze more money out of consumers. They assumed the cash would just come rolling in on anything they shipped out with “in 3-D” attached to it.
But the public is growing weary of shelling out an extra four dollars every few weeks, especially when so many of the last-second conversions turn out bad-looking effects, and even the best ones result in a much darker picture. The question from movie customers used to be, “This is in 3-D, right?” Now it’s, “that’s not in 3-D, is it?”
Everyone in Tinseltown crowded onto a life raft that wasn’t ready for so many passengers, and now it’s quickly taking on water. If they hadn’t been so greedy, and used it sparingly — say once a year or so — the process might have boosted profits on big-name pictures for a long time to come. But right now, the future of 3-D looks exceedingly dim.
The original Slate article is available at www.slate.com/id/2264927/.

E-mail Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.

The sign out front reads “Seann’s Anime and Comics.” In more ways than one, the store’s name is the absolute truth.
Seann Eschrich is the owner, operator and, as of right now, lone employee of his new business, which opened Aug. 22. His sister lends a hand on occasion, giving her brother a lunch break during the day, but for right now, if you go the store, Seann will almost certainly be the man you’ll be talking to and buying from.
And the store’s inventory really is Seann’s. A few items here and there were bought specifically for retail, but the lion’s share of what is available at Seann’s Anime and Comics comes from the owner’s own personal collection, gathered before he ever considered starting the store.
“A lot of the comics are personal items, a lot of the figures I have, a lot of them were purchased in Japan,” Eschrich said. “Most of the movies are movies that I had. I purchased in the last month and a half a lot of the plushies back there, the little scrolls and key chains, things like that.”

Seann Eschrich

For Eschrich, who has lived in Toledo most of his life, the opening was a culmination of two longstanding passions — a love of comic books and Japanese animation, and a dream of owning his own business.
“I just picked up my first comic book in a grocery store when I was younger, Batman or something like that, just read it and enjoyed it,” Eschrich said. “I started watching anime on TV and friends had DVDs.”
Eschrich’s personal collection grew, but he had never really thought of opening a store of his own, even as he went to the University of Toledo majoring in business administration. The store stands at 5442 Monroe St. Eschrich said he hopes to offer unique services for his customers, like his extensive personal anime collection, which is largely available for rental.
“I got the idea from Wizzywig  Collectibles in Ann Arbor. Anime rentals really worked for them. I know a lot of kids don’t have $30 to buy a DVD, watch it once and throw it away, and you really can’t go to Family Video and find those.”
Eschrich is frank about the small number of customers his store has seen in its first week — something to be expected when you’re starting with a somewhat niche product.
“A lot of customers [who come in] just see the outside sign. I also have a Facebook page. I don’t have a high marketing budget right now to place ads or commercials. Basically, I’m just hoping things will spread by word of mouth.”
The store has a website, seannsanimeandcomics.com, and Eschrich has also made efforts to connect with local anime and comic fans.
“I’ve talked to a couple of kids at high schools that have anime clubs. Right now, I’m setting something up with the University of Toledo anime club, and I’ve been trying to talk to somebody with the BGSU anime club. So I’m trying to establish myself with kids at the universities, the high schools, becoming a vendor for them, and hopefully word spreads that way.”
And if Seann’s can gain a foothold in the community as a popular retailer among fans, the man behind it all could see both his professional and private passions satisfied at the same time.
“Realistically, I’d like the store to be doing well, and I’d like to be attending almost every anime convention or comic convention in the U.S. That would be my ultimate goal.”

His “Community” character, Jeff Winger, bristles when called a “hipster,” but Joel McHale’s biography damn near defines the term.
McHale, 39, was born in Rome, Italy, so he has a classic European pedigree. He played football as a walk-on for the University of Washington, so he has athletic cred. His acting roles include “Spider-Man 2,” “The Onion Movie” and “The Informant!” so his choice of material marks him as a savvy collaborator. His TV appearances include “CSI: Miami,” “Will & Grace,” “Pushing Daises” and voicing skits on “Robot Chicken” but are topped by his 7-year stint as pop culture commentator on E!’s “The Soup” and the NBC college-based comedy “Community,” which co-stars such hipster icons as Chevy Chase and “The Hangover” breakout star Ken Jeong.

McHale

On the show, he gets the girl(s), dominates the paintball showdowns and plays billiards naked, which he can do as he has a physique more like the statues of his native Rome than the majority of stand-up comedians (he was one of People’s “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2009).
Oh, and he lives with a gorgeous wife and two kids in the Hollywood Hills.
In short, McHale has parlayed his smirking, pop culture-referencing personality into a Hollywood dream life. During the Aug. 29 opening skit at the Emmys, McHale danced and sang “Born to Run” alongside Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Betty White, Jon Hamm and the “Glee” cast, the latest sign of his rise to the upper tier of Hollywood’s It List.
During a recent telephone interview to promote his Sept. 4 appearance at Caesars Windsor, McHale talked about gearing up for the fall premiere of “Community,” in which he plays a lawyer sent to a lackluster community college to finish his degree.
“We started shooting three weeks ago; we just completed everything for the first episode. Betty White guest stars,” he said.
McHale said White was “terrific” to work with and he also shot an episode with an “80 pounds lighter” Drew Carey. He said he remains “blown away” by the level of writing “Community” offers him as an actor.
“After reading the pilot, I was so excited to try to get the role,” McHale said. “Creator Dan Harmon is a genius; he wrote the pilot and is highly involved in the process. Episodes like the ‘Modern Warfare,’ with the paintball tournament, or the one where Abed runs the campus by controlling the supply of chicken fingers, I am just always amazed at what they come up with.”
McHale said one of the new season’s early highlights is an “Apollo 13” episode.
The script read-throughs are “like a Christmas gift,” McHale said.
“You don’t know what you are going to get, but you know you are going to be happy,” he said. “Working with Chevy Chase, who has the greatest stories in the world and is someone I grew up with, is like, ‘Hey, you don’t know me, but I’ve known you for a long time. I can quote almost the entire script of ‘Fletch’ to him, so I’m sure it becomes a little creepy after awhile.”
While McHale’s Winger is on the surface callow and self-absorbed, he is also the not-quite-heart-of-gold leader his group of misfit friends depends on. That creates some specific acting challenges, McHale said.
“I have never done anything like this,” he said. “I have been in plays and a lot of leading roles, but this is different. You can’t play Jeff as a straight jerk, or people won’t watch. The guy could be a complete jerk, but the reason he has done so well in his life is that he was a successful lawyer; he could convince and charm people, and I keep that in mind. He can get people to agree with him, but at the same time he has a lot of base motivations, which Britta [a classmate and love interest played by Gillian Jacobs] points out to him every day.
“I liken it to that Sam and Diane thing from ‘Cheers’ where they are constantly telling each other what is wrong with each other. It’s the most fun I’ve had in my life, and I attribute it all to the writing. They cram so many jokes into those 22 minutes, it’s like a lasagna.”
Despite the tight writing, McHale said there is a bit of wiggle room for improvising.
“Dan is very good to us; he’ll say, ‘If you can come up with something better, great.’ And people like Danny Pudi, who plays Abed, and Don Glover, who plays Troy, and Ken Jeong, who plays Señior Chang, are masters of improv,” McHale said. “So they can really come up with some amazing stuff.”
Despite a 25-episode first season, a no-brainer pickup for a second season and positive reviews, the recent Emmy nominations overlooked the show.

The cast of "Community."

“I did get to announce the Emmy nominations and I will be a presenter, so the Academy has been very good to us,” McHale said. “If you get recognized, it’s great, but if you don’t, you still go to work and thank God you have such an incredible job. Plus, the shows they nominated are terrific, so I don’t think they got anything wrong.”
McHale said unlike his “Community” character, his persona on “The Soup,” on which he summarizes and comments on the more bizarre and foolish television moments of the week, is closer to his real personality.
“It’s definitely a heightened version of myself,” he said. “If I was as casual and smart as Charlie Rose, I don’t think it would be as interesting. It’s performance-mode Joel. It’s me, but once again I owe it to the writers of the show.”
Have there been any awkward moments as McHale has run into his targets while promoting “Community” on other shows?
“No one has come up to me on the streets and punched me yet; we only make fun of people who are asking for it,” he said. “If you are doing something that calls attention to yourself to get more press than the average din of Hollywood, we’re going to make fun of you. A couple of reality TV people have come up to me and said, ‘Hey, you made fun of me,’ and I can usually say, ‘Yeah, you were drunk and topless in the pool, and then you vomited on your friend, so what do you want us to do?
“I made fun of Martha Stewart and Regis [Philbin] and then gone on those shows, but Regis says some pretty awesome, crazy stuff.”
McHale’s “Soup” contract is up in December; he said he is in talks with the network.
“I want to do it, I love doing it and I love the staff. We’ve made the schedules work, but I would like to do more movies and keep touring,” he said.
McHale’s next major movie is “Big Year.”
“All of my scenes are with Steve Martin,” he said. “It has Jack Black and Owen Wilson. Kevin Pollack and I play business partners; Steve Martin is our boss. He is one of the coolest people I have ever met and I could not believe they cast me.”
Asked if working with Martin and Chase presents opportunities for story sharing, McHale said, “I talk to both of them about ‘Three Amigos.’ It becomes like the Chris Farley Show; ‘Remember when you did that thing?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘That was awesome!’”
The multi-tasking of movies, TV and touring often requires his family to travel, McHale said.
“If I am in a city my wife wants to visit or I am going to be spending multiple days in, we bring them along,” he said. “If it’s just one night, I’ll fly in and out.”
How do McHale’s two sons, Eddie, 5, and Isaac, 2, react to seeing their father on television?
“They couldn’t care less,” he said. “They see me and say, ‘Thank you, I would now like to see Thomas the Tank Engine.’”
McHale has some upcoming highlights that might even impress his kids, including an appearance at Carnegie Hall.
“Yeah, that was bribery,” he said of the austere date. “That was a horrible scheduling mistake. It’s one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me and I can’t believe it. I still expect them to tell me it’s a typo.”
McHale said his stand-up act covers a mix of “Soup”-like pop culture references and family topics.
“There will be Kardashian jokes,” he said. “So Khloé, get ready.”

September arrives and our thoughts are filled with visions of … war? That’s what DC Comics is hoping, as it unveils an entire month of reactivated war title one-shots. Why, you ask? Who knows for sure; although a good bet might be a bit of DC copyright renewal.
This week sees “Our Army at War” No. 1 hit the beach. It is an ode to not only the “combat-happy Joes of Easy Co.” but also to our troops in Afghanistan. The original “Our Army at War” first saluted in 1952, back when World War II was still a recent memory and combat overseas still seemed romantic and full of adventure.
DC’s legendary soldier Sgt. Rock premiered in the book and as is proper he holds the lead spot in this new No. 1. Rock’s a soldier’s soldier, the classic non-comm with mud on his boots and a heart of gold. DC couldn’t have picked a better character to kick off this event; Rock typifies war fiction. Those who’re familiar with the character may want to also take a peek at the recent “DC Universe: Legacies” No. 4, which features the tale of Rock’s final mission, a tragic story that DC has kept classified for decades.
Next week digs up “Weird War Tales” No. 1, a resurrected title originally launched in 1971. The one-shot features not only the earth-borne horrors of war but the supernatural ones, too.
The early 1970s brought about a revived interest in horror comics and “Weird War Tales” mashed them up with war tales for an often strange, sometimes goofy book. You want battles with dinosaurs, the undead and robots? Then this is your poison, soldier.
The rest of September is rounded out with “Our Fighting Forces” No. 1 (Sept. 15), “G.I. Combat” No. 1 (Sept. 22) and “Star-Spangled War Stories” No. 1 (Sept. 29). Featured characters include Captain Storm, the Losers, the Haunted Tank and that lovely French resistance fighter in fishnets, Mademoiselle Marie.
We just report ’em, folks — we don’t explain ’em.

Mankind is fascinated with its most mysterious and amazing trait: imagination. We’ve sent probes beyond the outer limits of our solar system, but still know more about outer space than the space between our ears. Sept. 8 through Jan. 12, the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) will offer the Midwest a rare glimpse into the minds of some of history’s most creative individuals with their new exhibit “500 Years of Imaginary Prints.”
Nancy Sojka, DIA curator of prints, drawings and photographs, said the exhibit is “a celebration of the life of the mind. The prints are ideas that pop out of someone’s subconscious.”

Four Horsemen

Some prints are abstract flights of fancy, some are dreams and some are legends. Many of the artists themselves are now legends: Pablo Picasso, Francisco de Goya, Salvador Dalí and M.C. Escher. Even if visitors don’t know the names of all these pieces, they will be familiar because these images have been re-interpreted many times — the work of M.C. Escher, for example, inspired parts of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.” Sojka herself was inspired to make the exhibit in part by the work of Canaletto, who mixed gothic ruins with roman arches in his prints. Caneletto’s willingness to mix architectural elements birthed the exhibit’s tagline: “if you can think it, if you can dream it, then you can draw it.”
However, inspiration isn’t always pretty; it can be a frightening thing. The exhibit will be a scary experience at times — one of Sojka’s other inspirations was Fuseli’s “The Nightmare,” and the first piece in the exhibit will be Albrecht Dürer’s “The Four Horsemen.” Another standout, Odilon Redon’s “Temptation of St. Anthony,” is notable for its flying eyeballs.
“The exhibit is full of monsters,” Sojka says. “There is a chaotic, dark, swirling quality, a compositional characteristic, which is interesting given that the show is about fantasy and imagination.” “500 Years … ” sounds like a great date idea for October when the leaves turn orange and Halloween is in the air.
The exhibit will feature 136 prints, some by artists closer to us in time and space than the museum’s elder European statesmen. Susan Campbell printed the most recent work in the exhibit, the eerie and abstract “Aerial #3,” in 1999.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re Picasso,” Sojka says. “All kinds of art can mix with other art.”
Sojka said the exhibit will be relevant to everyone who sees it today, even if many of the pieces are hundreds of years old.
“Something subliminal is going on with the uncertainties of these times — the world’s been shaken up this whole decade. We live in an uncertain time, so it’s time to look at our imaginations. Why imaginary prints? Interpretation.  Thoughts can be manipulated in very different ways, be it on canvas or pieces of paper. This is relevant and has been relevant since the creation of paper.”
Hopefully at least one visitor will walk out of the exhibit with enough inspiration and fascination to explore their own imaginary landscape and produce new art to rival the masters on display.

Even before you reach the hostess stand, the enticing aroma of smoked meat greets you as you walk through the doors of Shorty’s True American Roadhouse.
That’s probably because at Shorty’s, they don’t just slap some tangy sauce on some meat and call it barbecue. They do it right, slow cooking their meats in-house. The beef brisket and the pulled pork really get the slow and low treatment — cooking for 15 to 18 hours, depending on the girth of the particular meat being smoked that day. The meat is smoked with locally grown wild cherry wood, which gives it a nice, sweet flavor.
Our waitress greeted us with a smile and cheerfully informed us that we were at a locally owned business run by the Mancy family. This one is run by Nick Mancy, whose family has been running fine restaurants in the Toledo area since 1921.
I’m not sure why they decided to try their hand at BBQ with Shorty’s … I figure they probably said to themselves, “Hey, we’ve already mastered steaks, Italian and seafood, what else could we conquer?” Of course, I am glad they picked barbecue, which I personally consider one of the four major food groups.
The menu boasted a bevy of tasty sounding appetizers.  I was drawn to the smokehouse chili: ground sirloin and smoked brisket, topped off with cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  It was as good as it sounds.
I’ve got to admit, we didn’t even look at the steaks or burgers — we were there for barbecue. Pulled pork, beef brisket, ribs … My wife and I couldn’t decide, so we figured we’d try it all and ordered the Feast for Two. The name is kind of a misnomer. It is really only a “feast for two” if the two people are NFL offensive linemen or Joey “the Jaws” Chestnut and his clone.
The feast consisted of a half rack of ribs, a half chicken, piles of pulled pork and beef brisket, stacked on Texas toast, coleslaw, barbecue beans, French fries and a couple of moist cornbread muffins. We substituted the fries with some macaroni and cheese, which our waitress said was her favorite.
Shorty’s has two main sauces, their own private recipes. The original sauce has a smoky, sweet flavor, heightened by the hint of pineapple. The other sauce is quite a bit livelier, but the heat doesn’t stay with you for too long.
Since many of the meats are constantly being slow cooked, your order arrives very quickly.  Our food came in less than 10 minutes. The only downside to this process is that the meat can sometimes get a little dried out. We didn’t have that problem, with the exception of a few small pieces of the brisket.
Shorty’s pork ribs have racked up quite a few awards and eating pulled pork and beef brisket are two of my favorite passtimes, but I was surprised to find that the real superstar of my barbecue feast was the barbeque glazed chicken. Meat so tender it took no effort to tear it from the bone, encased in some of the best-tasting skin I’ve had in eons.  I suppose for health reasons, it’s probably good that you can’t just order a plate full of chicken skin, because I probably would have.
The mac and cheese was solid, but paled in comparison to the robust taste of the pulled pork infused barbecue beans.  They were incredible, even reheated the next day.
Shorty’s dessert menu offers 15 different kinds of after dinner treats. Floats, milkshakes, puddings, cheesecake, sweet potato pie … sweet potato pie?! You don’t see that every day above the Mason-Dixon Line, so I felt compelled to try it and I was not disappointed.
As good as the food was, the service was even better. The prices were pretty reasonable for a barbecue place, and we took home two containers of leftovers, so the PPM (price per meal) averages out to be pretty inexpensive.
And if you can’t drag yourself off the couch to make it to Shorty’s True American Roadhouse, they will come to your house.  Maybe that sounds too imposing. What I meant was, if you aren’t a certified grill master or simply don’t have the time, Shorty’s can bring their smoker to you and cater your party or special event. This leaves you more time to enjoy the barbecue, which is nice.

5111 Monroe St.
(419) 841-9505
www.mancys.com/shorty’s
Open: Sun. – Thurs. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Fri. -Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Don Zellers is co-producer of “Fred Lefebvre and the Morning News” and co-host of “The Benchwarmers” on News Talk 1370 WSPD. He is also the station’s Good Swill Ambassador. Don has enjoyed an unrelenting love affair with food for pretty much his whole life and has been known to put on “eating displays” for friends and co-workers.

Visual artist Yusuf Lateef said his latest show, “The Gathering,” is designed to be a hub for artistic networking in Toledo. Bozarts Fine Art and Music Gallery, 151 S. St. Clair St., will host “The Gathering” from Sept. 3 to 23.

Yusuf Lateef (photo by Martini Rox)

“When I was a kid, the thing was to get coloring books,” Lateef said. “Blank paper was our toy; there was nothing there and we had to create it. Painting and music are similar in creation, in that there’s a build and take away process.”
Lateef has exhibited work locally at venues such as the Truth Gallery, the Art Tatum African American Resource Center, the Ford Gallery, the Collingwood Arts Center and the 20 North Gallery. He has also shown his work at the 555 Studio Gallery in Detroit and the Chop Chop Gallery in Columbus. A native of Columbus, he received formal arts training at the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD).
“After I dropped out of CCAD in my senior year, I took a hiatus where I didn’t make art for a number of years. It was really my time as a resident artist at the Collingwood Arts Center that got me painting and drawing again,” Lateef said. “The artists I met there were so instrumental in my work as an artist. That’s one of the reasons I’m so happy to open this exhibit at Bozarts, because of the working relationship and the friendship that I’ve always had with Jerry Gray. I gathered up everything I’ve learned over the years and put it all into this show; that’s how the show got its name. The work is new and universal, it offers a conversation that we haven’t had yet.”
Lateef, who expresses artistic vision through visual and audio mediums, said the free show will be a multimedia event featuring a collection of his deep and colorful work, with a performance by a collective of Toledo Hip-Hop artists known as the Great Lakes Crew.
Great Lakes Crew has been a local music staple since 2000 and performs regionally 25-30 times per year. According to Great Lakes Crew MC Ron Jero, “Our shows are high energy. If we had it our way, we’d have explosives as part of the show! We know you’re comin’ out to be entertained, not watch a group of boring guys standing around. We don’t have a band so we have to give off all of the energy.”
Jero expressed similar views of creating within the artistic realm and said Great Lakes Crew vigorously supports the local art scene.
“We want to be the Hip-Hop group for the city,” Jero said. “The important thing for us is being very creative.”
Lateef said Hip-Hop was “the first form of music that basically spoke to me. That was it, no questions asked. It was inclusive of all other things. It had roots in jazz, blues and it had a consistent vibe that naturally speaks to me and especially to the kids coming out of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Hip-Hop had a definite beat, vibe, rhythm and it said, ‘Hey, do what you do. You are you.’”
Lateef said he has been musically inspired by Erykah Badu and “the more conscious MCs, those who have a lyrical finesse to themselves.”
The opening will also feature DJs Sid Delux and Liquid Accent. The show is free and open to the public. For more information about “The Gathering,” e-mail bozartstoledo@gmail.com.

John Dorsey and Martini Rox contributed to this report.

After almost 20 years, one Toledo-based figure drawing group is so obscure it doesn’t have a name … yet. Nationally known artist Paul Geiger and his figure drawing group will be featured in an exhibit at wine bar and lounge Vino 100 in Maumee from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 8.

“Tammy, lifeguard” — Prismacolor pencils. 31” x 40” on watercolor paper. ARTWORK BY PAUL GEIGER

Geiger is known in Toledo for his giant mural in the Valentine Theatre and also has work on display in Columbus. He has hosted the life drawing group at the Downtown Toledo Paul Geiger Studios since 1990.
The exhibit, with 35 pieces on display, will begin with an opening ceremony dedicated to the group. Members include local artists, teachers, professionals and Bedford High School students. Group members Jane Williams, Jim Brower, Jan Curlis, Shelly Fank, Steve Mockensturm, Cynthia Taylor, Peg Whiting and Jason Sanderson will have work on display, along with Sanderson’s art students and Geiger.
“This being our first [exhibit] I’m very excited about it because it’s a chance to get it out there and a lot of people don’t know we exist,” Geiger said.
For the first time the group will be shown collectively, he said, and he is proud of its accomplishment: “I’ve always hoped this group would get a better light shone on them … it’s a chance to achieve [something for] those kids, to have maybe their first show,” Geiger said.
Each month, a different local artist’s work graces the walls of the tiny wine bar. George Burk, co-owner of Vino 100, said Geiger’s group’s nude figure drawings immediately struck him as something he’d like to host.
“I thought, ‘Wow, that would be something neat that would bring people in,’” Burk said. “I won’t put anything on my walls that’s going to offend in any way but I think it’ll spark people’s interest.”
Burk said he finds a connection between art and wine, making the lounge a great place for art exhibits, with only seven tables and four employees serving wine, craft beers and a small menu of hors d’oeuvres and entrees.
Vino 100, 3355 Briarfield Blvd. in Maumee, has a cozy atmosphere where sometimes customers come in just to gaze at the different artwork on the walls.
“The music’s turned down and when it gets loud when the place is hopping you just hear people talking,” Burk said. “It’s a great place for people to reconnect.”
It is recommended attendees be aware the art exhibited “celebrates the beauty of the undraped human form.” Younger audiences are asked to attend in the earlier hours of the exhibit. The art will be for sale through silent auction during the exhibit, and will hang in Vino 100 through the end of September. Burk expects works to sell for anywhere from $50-$500. Drink and hors d’oeuvres specials will be offered.

As the Season Nine top 10 “American Idol” contestants took the stage at Huntington Center on Aug. 29, there was no question who Toledo’s Idol is — Crystal Bowersox.
The Elliston native came on stage wearing a huge smile, a T-shirt that read “Peace” and a sunflower patch pinned to her guitar strap. Bowersox was greeted by a crowd of more than 7,000 fans that gave its first and only standing ovation of the evening during her four-song performance.
Bowersox started her set with “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes and played along with the crowd as an oversized beach ball bounced onto stage.
Interacting with the audience, Bowersox took a panoramic picture of the arena before playing “Come to my Window,” a song by her “good friend” Melissa Etheridge.
Bowersox dedicated “Holy Toledo” to a friend, Mark Brink, who died earlier in the week. Bowersox got into the song and by its end was holding back tears. For her last song, Bowersox picked up the pace and played Janis Joplin’s “Piece of my Heart.”

Bowersox at Huntington Center (TFP photo by Charlie Longton)

Throughout the evening, Bowersox gave shout-outs to area venues The Village Idiot and Papa’s Tavern and told her bass guitarist Frankie May “I love you.”
During a press conference earlier in the day, Bowersox shared her feelings about the tour coming to an end.
“It is bittersweet,” she said. “The whole week has been rough. We have seven shows in a row … it’s been physically grueling and emotionally grueling. We’ve been together since January. It’s so crazy it’s all a blur. It went by so fast, and here it is wrapping up.”
Although she’ll be busy with recording, the single mother said she is looking forward to more time with her son, Tony.
“I’m still going to be very busy, but it’ll be mommy wakes up, goes to work and I get to come home to him,” she said. “He hasn’t been on tour … I went a whole month without him and it killed me.”
Bowersox will perform at the 12th annual Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco, in September before heading to the studio to record, she said. Following that performance, she will spend most of the fall on the East Coast recording.
Bowersox plans to have her bassist, May, perform with her at everything.
“Hopefully every gig from here on out, Frankie will be with me,” she said. “I love Frankie. There’s no one else like him. He’s like ‘Are you sure? Sure you want me to play?’ He’s always waiting for something to fall through. ‘I can’t even believe you think I’m good enough.’ I keep telling him he’s crazy and there’s no one else I’d rather play with.”
The biggest “American Idol” surprise for Bowersox has been the fans.
“The amount of support and love coming from fans, the level of devotion … I don’t even like myself that much,” Bowersox said laughing. “There’s somebody else that likes me that much, is just incredible. It’s a lot of love.”
Two groups of Bowersox’s fans, MamaSox Nation and MamaSox Village Idiots, hosted a pre-show party Aug. 28, the night before the concert. The gathering, sponsored by Toledo Free Press,  served as the final night of the Sunflower Project, an online fundraiser to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) in Bowersox’s name.  More than $1,700 was raised for JDRF, with more than $500 raised during the pre-show event.
“It could not have gone any better. If I had to say just one word it would be ‘epic,’” said Michelle Reed, one individual in charge of the project.
Many members of the Village Idiots traveled from across the country, including Arizona, Florida and North Carolina to attend the concert and help with the event.
“I had made a joke, they asked if they could use that name for their fan club and I said only if you make a pilgrimage to the actual Village Idiot where I played every Monday night in Maumee, Ohio, and they took it to heart,” Bowersox said. “They showed up and were doing it for a good cause.”

The previous Kiss studio CD, “Psycho Circus,” did little to prove that the band still had creative life in it.

The CD was billed as the return of the original Kiss, since it came in the midst of the reunion of guitarist/singer Paul Stanley and bassist/singer Gene Simmons with the two other original members, guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss.

“Psycho Circus,” though, ended up being a lackluster effort on a musical level, and far less than advertised when it came to being called a triumphant return of the classic Kiss lineup.

Instead, Frehley and Criss hardly played on that 1998 CD, with studio musicians stepping in to handle what ostensibly were their parts. The band also had several outside writers contribute to roughly half of the songs.

So Kiss had something to prove when the band decided it wanted to make a new studio CD, “Sonic Boom.” For one thing, this was a new lineup for Kiss, with guitarist Tommy Thayer making his full-fledged debut and drummer Eric Singer, who since 1996 has been the band’s drummer whenever Criss wasn’t in the lineup, back on board.

Now a little more than a year later, the verdict on “Sonic Boom” is in, and it’s been positive, with some critics even saying it’s the best CD from the band since early career albums like “Dressed To Kill” and “Destroyer.”

Thayer is pleased to have seen “Sonic Boom” win such support.

Kiss

“I think on a lot of different levels, it has had impact,” Thayer said in a recent phone interview. “First of all, just as far as the music and being a great Kiss record, check that off the list. In terms of the band, the lineup, this incarnation of the band, a lot of people from a critical standpoint would say they’re just kind of re-creating what’s happened in the past. They’re just out there playing the songs of the ‘70s and early ‘80s and things like that. And I think what has happened here is put that to rest, too, because suddenly it’s a viable, creative unit that can put together a great record and go out on tour with a fresh new approach to songs and writing and things.

“That was the good thing about doing it,” he said. “It does open a lot of peoples’ eyes and changes some peoples’ opinions on what’s going on with Kiss, but it’s all good.

Interestingly, the band decided if Kiss was going to fail on “Sonic Boom,” there would be no one to blame but the band members themselves, as Stanley took the reins on the project.

“We were lucky to have Paul kind of spearheading the project, taking charge and being the leader,” Thayer said. “It’s really important to have somebody doing that in the producer’s role. In this case it was just important in laying a groundwork for what direction we’re going in and it worked very well to have him doing that. Of course, nobody knows Kiss better than Paul does.

“We wrote some songs very organically, sitting down in hotel rooms and each other’s houses, just us, no outside writers, no agendas with record labels to write a hit song or anything like that or a commercial radio song. We just wrote tunes,” he said. “(We approached “Sonic Boom”) very naturally and from the gut, no over-thinking anything. That’s the truth.”

The success of “Sonic Boom” represents a welcome turn of fortunes for Kiss, whose future looked cloudy only a few years ago.

The reunion tour of 1996/97 with the four original members was a major success as a live venture, but by the end of the decade, it appeared the band’s days were numbered. In early 2000, the band announced it would do a farewell tour that would run from that summer into 2001. Before the tour was over, Criss split with the group, and Singer, who had joined the group following the death from cancer of drummer Eric Carr, rejoined Kiss to finish the farewell tour — which of course, turned out to be far from a final jaunt.

By 2002, Frehley had also played his final gig, with Thayer filling that slot. When the band returned to the road in 2003 to co-headline a tour with Aerosmith, Criss had been brought back, prompting Singer to say he would never play with Kiss again. This time, Criss lasted only for about a year, and as shows became sporadic over the next four years, it truly looked as if Kiss might actually fade from scene.

But in 2008, with the 35th anniversary of the band’s formation in New York City looming, Kiss announced it would begin is “Kiss Alive/35 World Tour,” with Singer and Thayer joining Stanley and Simmons.

Singer admits he was angry at the band after it brought back Criss in 2003, although he had no complaints about the group cashing in by reuniting the original lineup in the first place. Before rejoining Kiss this time, Singer said he cleared the air with Simmons and Stanley over the band’s handling of firing, re-hiring and firing again.

“I told Gene how I feel about like how they dealt with me in certain things,” Singer said in a summer 2009 phone interview with this writer. “I always understand the business side of things. It’s not called music friends. It’s called music business. I’m fully aware of that. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I get it. But I said, the only thing I ever said was there is a way to do it, you know. I’m a big boy and you should just tell people your intentions when you want to do something, just be above board. That’s the best way to deal with it. That way you keep the door always open.

“But you know something, the relationship I have now with Gene and Paul and the band is the best it’s ever been for me,” the drummer said.

For Thayer, stepping in to replace Frehley has also gone well. While early on there were fans that had a hard time accepting that Frehley was gone, he said he feels like he’s come to be embraced by the Kiss faithful.

“Over the years I’ve had to build what I’m doing and make more out of it, and people have needed to see what I can do live or on ‘Sonic Boom’ and things like that. And after awhile people don’t question it anymore,” Thayer said. “A lot of new fans, they don’t know the difference.”

Thayer and Singer – as well as Stanley and Simmons — get to continue building their relationship with fans new and old this summer and fall as Kiss tours the United States. Thayer said the show is notably different from the one the band took on the road last fall.

“I know this sounds like a typical answer, but it is bigger than ever,” he said. “It’s a bigger stage. We’ve got more effects, bigger pyro and added songs. We have a new opening as well. So there are a lot of new bells and whistles. You try and take a Kiss show and take it to a new level, and that’s really what we try to do each time because it has to be bigger than the time before.”