Catholic education Part III: We're with the band.

With the future closing of Queen of Peace (QoP), St. Laurence High School (StL) will most likely be making some changes in its extracurricular activities. Activities that weren't offered at the all-male high school will see birth. I'll look at it from an activities director point of view, even a department head. I'm just offering my immediate thoughts of what could be developed.

Concert Band (class)

Recently StL's band director, PJ Henning, retired in the summer of 2015. With that swan song brought in a young band director - one who has done zero in developing both the program and membership enrollment of a once proud organization known on the Southwest Side of Chicago and 'burbs. Top musicians auditioned for All-District*, with a few earning All-State Honors. The past two years? Only a number participated at a local university festival band that I never heard of.

I see this story similar to the now very sad state of Chicagoland All-Catholic Band. All-Catholic Band, before I participated in it, was a festival that was well-run and very classy. You were proud to be part of it. Your parents were proud. College admissions probably knew about it as well. It was practically a mini All-District. The product was quite good once you factor in that only students from Catholic high schools were playing, unlike All-District where it pools from every school, be it public or private, large or small. Then the family that ran it decided to end a great story and handed it over to Vandercook College of Music. As with most changes in leadership the festival changed. When I participated you were practically guaranteed placement as long as you breathed in your audition tape. There were no live auditions this time around. Back in the mid 2000s All-Catholic musicians had to wear black and white. Now, you're just asked to dress your Sunday's best and given a bright blue shirt saying "All-Catholic" which was to be worn during the concert. Tacky. The concert is now held in a grey, depressing rehearsal room - a stark difference from the beautiful non-denominational chapel years before that housed the concert on the DePaul University campus. There's no pride in it. There's very little thought put into it.

Note: All-District has a quota where at least one (two?) student is chosen from each high school that auditioned -- the real talent lies in the middle and upper 2nd chairs and 1st chairs. Sorry back-end 2nd and 3rd chairs. If you play an instrument that doesn't have a hierarchy in sheet music (ex. tuba, bass clarinet), and make All-State, or are second or third in line at All-District, that's how your talent is judged in comparison. This means you're most likely a back-up to the musician who makes All-State. If he can't make the All-State festival for whatever reason expect a call to head down to Peoria. Congrats, you're an All-State musician.

Back to the band. With the "growth" of the school the current band director has some options for development. He can keep and refine the concert bands, keep it concert and symphonic, or add on a third competing ensemble - wind ensemble which would be the top concert band. Adding music theory class is a luxury and isn't necessary, though private lessons should be highly encouraged if not mandatory for every level of ensemble. Find a way to afford the weekly lesson, kids.

Get each ensemble to compete in State of the Art  and Midwest Music Festival. Forget solo & duo/trio contests - those are a waste of time. The real butter is getting the kids ready for clinical practice on their instrument. Life right after competitive marching was mainly focusing on those two festivals - excellence never took a rest until the end of April.

Season of clinical practice is Jan-April. Prepare once marching band season is over.

Competitive Marching Band (not a class but an activity)

Please bring back marching band. Please. If it ever comes back to life it'll be in the rebuilding stage. Have it compete down a class until it finds its legs.

Season is through early August to mid-November.

Jazz Band (not a class, but an activity)

I'm not sure if this is still offered, but if it isn't, offer it in conjunction with Brother Rice and Mother McAuley.  It was never competitive in nature and that's fine with me. Make it into an outlet for those interested in jazz music or those wanting to learn a second instrument.

I don't believe QoP had an orchestra, so unless there's a enough demand I'd say scrap it. Having an orchestra is a luxury; the band is not. Plus most high school orchestras sound like crap, even the top ensembles in each school.

Season is through Nov.-April.

Possible Additions

Winter Guard (activity)

This would be a fine training ground for the color guard, treating it as the "second" season for them. It just depends if a personnel or two can lead and develop it. Personnel should also help out with competitive marching band.

Season is through Jan-April.

Choral (activity)

I know QoP has a choral ensemble. Bring it to StL. Expand and develop it. Beginners Choir to Intermediate. If there are advance singers make it into an audition based ensemble like wind ensemble for concert setting. A more interesting thing is dividing the male and female singers into glee clubs, that is Men's Glee Club and Women's Glee Club.

Musicals and Plays

Have at least a winter musical and a spring, if not fall, play. Encourage those in band to play in the pit.

Regarding the possible additions

Staff are  needed to maintain this expansion. The sole band director at StL cannot do it alone (and I'm pretty sure he isn't even capable given his sorry ass efforts in the past two years). Either fire the bastard or put heavy pressure on him to change his ways. Hire the choral director of QoP. Hire an additional music director to help out the StL band director; make the current band director an associate.

You don't need a massive music/fine arts department to get a great, solid music education at the high school level. Just look at Marian Catholic. StL/QoP music "seasons" mirrored theirs. They focused on being the best at marching band in the fall then transitioned to competitive concert setting come winter/spring time. Two seasons. No winter percussion. No winter guard. No music theory class. They're the best. Oak Lawn? Argo? Reavis? Evergreen Park? Richards? What about them? Marian Catholic owns their music programs combined. StL once did as well. It was the band "that could." Now it's the band that can't.

Concerning parades - don't become a "parade band" like Marist, where all they do is march in parades. They weren't even good at it. There are two parades that are crucial and unique to the StL/QoP band: the first being Chicago's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the second being the infamous South Side Irish Day Parade held in the Beverly neighborhood. These are annual parades (SS Parade was reinstated in 2012 after a couple of years of hiatus) where StL/QoP was a staple.

Everything here are suggestions ...

Show Your True Stripes.

The co-songwriter, Frank Sullivan, is suing Mike Huckabee for using "Eye of the Tiger" when introducing infamous Kim Davis.What's with these songwriters and musicians suing conservatives for using their songs?

According to the Reuters article -

The co-writer of 1980s hit "Eye of the Tiger" has filed a federal lawsuit against Republican Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign for playing the song at a rally for Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign gay marriage licenses.

Frank Sullivan, a guitarist and founding member of the band Survivor, sued Huckabee for President for unauthorized public performance of the song. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, claims the campaign infringed on Sullivan's copyright, which he holds through his publishing company, Rude Music.

Sullivan, who filed the suit in federal court in Illinois, where he lives, asked that Huckabee's campaign be prohibited from unauthorized performances of the song and asked a federal judge to determine damages.

The comment box is one entire gem and I believe Sullivan shares similar views. It's a strange lawsuit (I don't buy the "you didn't ask permission" card) since I can't remember a Democrat getting sued over this sort of thing. According to this CBS list, eight Republicans have been asked to stop using the songs they've played when they're introduced to a crowd. So you're telling me Republicans seem to fail to ask permission to use the original song and Democrats are on top of it? Gimme a break.

Scott Walker was told outright that he was hated by Dropkick Murphys due to his stance on unions.

It's become a staple of politics: a politician walks onstage to a song. Musician gets mad. The latest flare-up came when the punk band Dropkick Murphys instructed Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to "please stop using our music in any way," they tweeted, then added: "We literally hate you !!!"

Barack Obama was also told to stop using "Hold On, I'm Comin'", but the cease & desist was given in a very generous manner.  "Sam Moore of the duo asked the campaign to stop, saying that he hasn't endorsed a candidate although he found it "thrilling" a black man was running."

Who the heck is Charlie Crist? I don't know. Apparently ee's a Republican, who at the time of being sued, was running for the Republican Senate seat for Florida. A Republican? Well, sue him!

The music industry basically hates every Republican - it's a liberal, if not leftist, industry, so it comes to little surprise that they do not want their music to be played, let alone associated to people & a party they loathe for various reasons. Did the musicians who didn't want Rubio to play their song know anything about Rubio? I doubt it. How about Romney, besides that he was white religious man who made millions in business? Probably not. He was a Republican. That's all they needed to know to reject him.

Back in 2012, Fox News also noticed this bizarre bigotry. Yet Attorney Larry Isler states -

"I would say certainly in recent years, there's been a greater unlicensed use of songs by Republican candidates,” Iser, said. “The point that the musician is making is not about the [political] party. The position they're taking is: This is what we do for a living, we are protected by copyright, and if you're running for election, you need to respect the law. It just is a coincidence really, simple as that."

Iser stresses that when it comes to music and campaigns, artists and songwriters only want to protect their intellectual property rights and ensure that they aren’t involuntary endorsers of candidates and campaign messages.

"If you're Jackson Browne or you're David Byrne or if you're Kid Rock, you have the right, just like you and I have, to choose to endorse somebody or not,” he continued. “When the song is used without permission, you've taken away the choice that the songwriter has to say 'yes' or say 'no.' Another reason, which is more fundamental, is that when you take somebody's song and use it without permission, then the songwriter and the singer, the performer, they don't get paid. People often forget that writing songs and performing them and selling records and actually licensing music for use in advertising, that's how these guys make a living. That’s how they put food on the table."

 Hiding behind "property rights," I see. As Joe Scarborough heatedly said that Republican anchors almost never held a major seat on any of the major news networks.

"And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die."

                                         B.B. King (Sept. 16, 1925 - May 14, 2015)

Lost River (2015, dir. by Ryan Gosling)

SPOILERS

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

- "Amazing Grace," John Newton

Somewhat fitting lyrics for this feature.

Ryan's Gosling's debut touches on numerous things. The elusive American Dream, hedonism, family, heart ache from past journeys, friendship and community. As you go down that list the movie touches more solidly the topics nearer to the end. Even then the narrative is a little beefier than a Jewish concentration camp prisoner. You want to give it food, but you can't because you aren't its maker or its savior.

Detroit is known by many, both natives (not Native Americans in this context) of the country and foreigners as a once thriving city gone down the drain by various factors - it took decades to reach its current shape and condition. It may never see an ounce of its glory days for many reasons. Of course, those who know better, not all of Detroit and its metro are like what the media presents. Two films have used Detroit and its dilapidated buildings as backdrops and characters. It Follows is one of them and Gosling's Lost River is the other. The former movie does so more truthfully and more realistically despite both movies implementing the fantastical in the lives of its characters. It's like how Harmony Korine picks the oddest individuals of a backwater town and makes a movie out of them, making their eccentricities more pronounced than what reality is. It's ballsy, but it's also dishonest.

Gosling's Detroit, like his directing, is a mixture of many things. Think of the production like BioShock - the video game - with its steampunk vibe, Korine's depressing-thrift-shop-wearing characters who smell like dried sweat and neon-lit surroundings. Think of Terrence Malick's quiet and smooth camera movements as they walk about their world. You want out already, right? So do I. But trust me, it's not that bad. That's the issue with the Detroit that is portrayed in LR. It's a combination of "patches," none of which are remotely the same color, and none of the patches effectively create a world that slowly sucks in its potential residents. You know it's a created world as you watch, so you never actually are willing to pay the rent or take out a loan. You don't have anything to stay for.

The fantasy in LR is introduced then fades into existence only to be brought up again near the end as a "Oh, yea, there's this supposed monster that happened to put a spell on this city ... " and the interwoven stories of each individual are somehow able to grab a hold. I am not sure if Gosling meant to have this tone, this heavy on atmosphere but light on actual narrative, but I'll take that the story somehow got lost in its own style. This not to say that the characters that embody this particular Detroit are nothing. Oddly enough Gosling is able to add just enough of desperation, loss and hope within his protagonists that the movie doesn't completely crumble by real estate demolition.

Billy (Christina Hendricks), Bones (Iain De Caestecker) and Franky (Landyn Stewart) are a family of three. Billy is need of work in order to pay rent for a house that should be checked on by the city health inspector (in fact, all of the houses that each character lives in should). She isn't bitter and carries herself with a sense of dignity despite her failings as a parent and provider. Bones, given his living situation, is the ideal son. Caring, resourceful, brave and hard working, he has inherited his mother's sense of dignity;  he hides his frustration and sadness by searching for copper in exchange for money (instead of cans and bottles, like most cash-strapped people do). Franky is adorable - innocent in every way; a bit chubby like his mother (no offense Hendricks, that was meant as a compliment). They love each other and they get by with what they have. The company each spends with each other is lovely. Next door (more like half a football field away) lives Rat (Saoirse Ronan), a quiet young girl who calls her self "Rat" because "I have a pet rat," who is named Nick. Rats aren't nearly as popular as, say, dogs or cats when it comes to house pets, but those who do have them show immense affection and recommendation to future owners. You can say they are misunderstood. Like pet rats, Rat is a hidden gem of a friend. As you get to know Rat she is charming, a hidden beauty, and shares similar qualities as Bones. Her isolation - no parents, no friends besides her pet rat - seems to enhance her ability to observe the world she lives in. You wish she thought more of herself because she is, indeed, more (names herself Rat). She is the wisest of the neighbors. These two, Rat and Bones, are the parents to their guardians (Rat a 'parent' to her grandmother). They do it without complaint, they do it with a sense of duty.

In contrast to these families are Bully (Matt Smith) and Face (Torrey Wigfield). This is a different type of family. Bully, when he sees his partner-in-crime fail, abuses him to a point of horrific consequences. When you insult Bully you insult his inner demon. Sociopathic, greedy and "all-knowing" Bully is one of the unofficial mayors of the city - as he says "This is my city." Bully, by name alone, can metaphorically represent all the crooked politicians keeping the good residents from upholding a stable, happy life in Gosling's Detroit. Either you comply to his demands and warnings or face the consequences, that is if you don't move out of the city. Dave (Ben Mendelsohn) is another unofficial mayor. Unlike Bully, Dave is less violent in his advances to get what he wants. By day he's a loan officer (represents the world of banking) and by night he runs a club that "caters to every human desire." Of course, this club is on the other side of town nowhere near his bank or where said characters walk and sleep. In someway he's the MC from Cabaret, where his club shows off the grotesque (Gosling's commentary on the indifference of violence as a form of entertainment).

Probably the one character that represents the "American Dream," at least according to Gosling, in this Detroit is the Cab Driver (Reda Kateb). He goes about his job - taking Billy to her job, offering her kindness and expecting nothing in return for his small-talk (in contrast to Dave). Cab Driver talks about people who think America is filled with riches, and that when you arrive the money is at your feet (there is a perception by foreigners that most Americans are all monetarily rich, driving a Mercedes-Benz, living in gated communities). Now contrast that with many poverty stricken areas in America and, no doubt Gosling picked the city for this very reason, Detroit. Now contrast that with being monetarily rich with being rich on a more deeper plain -- family & friends. There is a point in the movie where Billy finds her own ride to various points in the city without Cab Driver - public transportation with Franky where she meets a strange man, and by Bones in their once broken down car. It then cuts to Cab Driver, his cab in front of a deli, eating a sandwich alone as he smiles at a low-income class family whom he later makes small-talk. Like Billy, Bones, Franky and Rat, he is trying his best with what he has -- no complaints. A part of you feels for him. There is no romantic hints between Cab Driver and Billy, in a way that is refreshing, but a part of me thought "You deserve Billy and Billy deserves you."  Out of all the metaphors in this feature, Rat holds a conversation with Bones asking him why he stays in this town, after all he does have a car (at that time broken) to which Bones replies his family. Cab Driver, the most mobile out of all the character besides Bully & Face, stays in Detroit. Why? As he and Billy talk for the first time, he mentions the American Dream and the possibility of eventually "catching" it -- that's what's makes it worth it. Maybe Billy, Bones and Franky are his "American Dream" whom he can drive away when the situation arises.

The similarities between Cab Driver and Rat I cannot help but recognize. The sense of duty (Cab Driver to his job and Rat to her grandmother - taking direction from someone else) are both isolated individuals. This is not out of their inability or refusal to form relationships, but because of their situations in life. This isolation is a blessing where it gives them a safe distance from the sadness that is right outside their door - they see what is happening and they asses it. What Rat is to Bones, Cab Driver is to Billy. The house that Billy wants to preserve is part of her past that should be left behind, remodeled or demolished. Rat's grandmother is literally the past who has no motivation to share love to her lineage - she neither talks to her granddaughter, her missing parents nor about her deceased husband that has her fixation. There is no love or concern from her. These are anchors, and of the wrong kind. Dear grandmother is neither living nor dead (hording, watching re-runs of her wedding). Both Billy and Rat deserve much better anchors.

There is also a competition between Dave and Cab Driver. Though the two never meet, they are rivals. Dave appears to have everything that would make a modern woman lean towards him as a sugar daddy, if not a "partner." In this Detroit he is a celebrity, a somebody. His daytime job as a loan officer can intimidate people to make poor financial choices in order to help make the "American Dream" a reality; this job needs cleverness and charm. By night he's the head honcho at a macabre club - he alone has the power to fire & hire. He sets the rules, he has the power. Then there's Cab Driver. His job is taking requests by other people; he may be in the driver's seat but he isn't in charge and the passenger can bolt without paying. Being a cabbie isn't seen the same way as Dave's jobs - it's much lower on the "attractive" job hierarchy with no authority. He is equal to a burger flipper/cashier when standing next to Dave. Add to the fact Cab Driver is never given a name in the movie, he is a 'nobody'; he was never formally addressed as a character once I think about it - he appears because his service is needed. Socially and materially the cabbie is several steps behind Dave, but yet he has his dignity (like Billy). Dave straight out tells Billy that he finds her attractive and then later that he is sexually turned on by her. Whatever attraction Cab Driver has for her it is kept silently away; he does not let her know nor hints to any possible attraction. Dave sees people as items to "fuck," to control and to seduce. The opposite is true for Cab Driver. Both are fully aware of their status in this fictionalized city - one is pumping it to the max for his benefit (one can take this as crony capitalism since Dave is a financial loan officer by day), and the other treats his job as a job - it does not define him and shows content with it. Unlike Dave, cabbie - as a foreigner - does  not know the city as well, but he does know enough. His job lends him to "get to know" the streets of this godforsaken city, and in return he gets to know its people. A king verses a carpenter. A celebrity verses a burger flipper. Who has the better hand? Who has the better heart? Who has "made it"? Who really is the 'somebody'? Who deserves Billy?

I'd be willing to pay & watch Gosling's second feature, that is if he found a voice of his own.

This directorial debut is a mixture of several directors: Terrence Malick, Harmony Korine, David Lynch and  Nicolas Refn. Malick for the sweeping vertical camera movements; Korine for his VHS, gritty, desperate and tinge of dried sweat  individuals; Lynch for is camera angles & quick violence and Refn for his visual flair. It's a soup that has many different spices from an apprentice soup maker. As you sit down and taste the liquid you can't help but say silently to your self "I recognize this, is it .... ?" You nod your head as your mind affirms and you continue on eating. The soup isn't necessarily bad nor is it anyway near original as the maker wants it to be. It can be, but he needs time on his own away from his inspirations to find his own mixes - not really his own spices. Gosling is trying on too many trendy pieces of men's wear; less is more.

It is ambitious in its style, but in the end it's really not a "style" - more so fashion. It is not really brave as it is timid to really "just be." Fashion is disposable and only out of luck do some trends hold some ground. Lost River is style over substance (though there is substance), promising, but no more promising (or exciting) than any Terrence Malick-esque hopeful director who premieres his shorts on vimeo/youtube than film festivals like Cannes or Sundance.

The only thing missing was a random, naked bed mattress with one of its characters standing on it with a look of absence.

** Interesting character names. Billy is a diametric name for a female; Bones actually has meat (courage); Rat is more than she seems; Bully is a bully; Face because "Look at his face!"; Cat because she's friendly, if not insidious in nature. The only people that don't have odd names are Franky (innocence - not corrupted/jaded enough to have one), Nick the rat (not even human) and Dave (the pervert who lives two lives). The cabbie was never given a name (he's listed as "Cab Driver" in the credits). He is below Franky - not really 'belonging' to the city to have an ill-fitting or strange name, but not 'something' to even have a title in Gosling's Detroit.

Lost River - C

Gosling's perception of the American Dream with purple saturated effect, and how family - both biological and not - can act as a saving grace.

The soundtrack, done by Johnny Jewel, mostly turns to synth. I have grown to like synth soundtracks (see: Maniac, Hanna, Drive) and just the music genre in general; this ones just 'alright.' As individual tracks, at least half don't stand alone upon repeated listens - "Tell Me," "Carousel," and "Yes" are memorable, and when you don't remember most of the soundtrack while pondering the movie that's a sign that it may be weak. 

Enjoy the sounds until you pay attention to the lyrics (and the music video).

I heard "Take Me to Church" by Hozier on the radio for the first time today. I didn't catch all the lyrics but I liked the melody, that is until I went on youtube and saw all of the lyrics, made sense of them and later viewed the music video.

My lover's got humour
She's the giggle at a funeral (1)
Knows everybody's disapproval
 
I should've worshiped her sooner
If the heavens ever did speak (2)
She's the last true mouthpiece
 
Every Sunday's getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week
'We were born sick,' you heard them say it

My Church offers no absolutes. (3)
She tells me, 'Worship in the bedroom.'
The only heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you—
 
I was born sick, (4)
But I love it
Command me to be well
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[Chorus 2x:]
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies (5)
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife (6)
Offer me that deathless death (7)
Good God, let me give you my life


My break-down:
1. The glorification and hero-worship of the "rebel."
2. Sunday's homilies are poison and shouldn't be trusted. Only the rebel should.
3. Bodily/sexual desires are the only absolutes that we know of; obey them.
4. Relish the "sickness" in the faces of the "prudes" for this shows courage
5. People who attend mass are like Pavlov's dog.
6. Who killed the confessor? Was the confessor killed with the candle stick? Was it with the sharpened knife? (Hozier, that's Islam, you Irish git.)
7. The talk of hell does not scare me. Your death doesn't pertain to me.
 
The music video mostly shows a fictional story about two men supposedly in the closet to their town besides to each other - they are 'together.' They're caught walking alongside each other by a man who's in a gang. One day the man who saw them brings his gang to the boyfriend's house, kidnaps him and drags him into the forest where they threaten him. The other homosexual finds out about this and desperately tracks his boyfriend down, but it's too late. The captured man is seen being kicked and beaten in the distance; his lover covering his eyes in horror.

Like such a scenario for the music video wasn't predictable, especially for a song & video meant to speak out for LGBT "rights."

It reminds me greatly of "Sacrilege" with model/actress Lilly Cole, but this time instead of focusing on homosexuals it was about Cole's character sleeping around with most of the townspeople, later getting married to a man who's oblivious to her "bad girl" nature; every man in the pews she has slept with.

The parallels between the two narratives are alike, so I suggest to watch both and draw comparisons. 

Here's a couple of comments; the brilliance astounds me.

Will I keep listening to the song? I'm not sure. I do like the melody and I suppose this is one of those songs that I can "listen to" without paying attention to the lyrics.

It's the same thing when I heard Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" in that I really liked the melody and the lyrics. You're probably saying to yourself "Er, Smith is a homosexual as well." I know. But I didn't know that until after I learned about the singer/writer. The entire time I thought the song was about a guy singing about a girl (as did others).

What's interesting about "Stay With Me" is that, in some way, it's kinda respectful to religion. Smith is wearing earrings that are in a shape of crosses at the 2:20 mark where it seems he's in some kind of church, dressed in white, background white with organ pipes, as the melody transitions into a gospel-esque atmosphere. This tone in melody makes it is the best of the video for me since I enjoy some melodies from gospel music.

Now, every time the song is played on the radio I can't help think of two guys instead of a guy and a girl, which, sadly, diminishes my enjoyment of the song (once I heard it was about one-night stands it was a turn off; it was a second turn off when I learned it was about two guys).

It also doesn't really help that the Top 40 station in my city is playing his new songs -- and every time I hear one of Smith's songs I think "two guys."

Wait, what was that, Mr. Lee?

Honestly, every time. It came to a point where I'd listen to the lyrics if I haven't heard of the song before, then once it's played again some time later I'd switch it. People will probably say that I should be open-minded and get over it. I did listen to the lyrics and see how they relate to my own feelings of my love life and what not, but then reality hits me and remind me it's about homosexuals.

*reaches for radio knob and switches channels*  

Then there's "She Keeps Me Warm" by Mary Lambert who went to an evangelical church during her teenage years (they tend come from evangelical churches ... ). When I head that I felt kinda sick.

*reaches for radio knob and switches channels*

I can't forget about "Same Love" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert (surprise surprise), probably the piece that paved the way for airing the above mentioned songs.

Also, bing.com is a gift that keeps on giving. Besides acting as a decent search engine, it also has its own news feed at the bottom. Since this post is about same-sex relationships, bing recently let me know that actress Rachel Evan Wood has entered a relationship with a woman. Such wonderful timing. Thank you, bing.com. According to wiki, Wood was married to fellow actor Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) no less than two years - divorcing in 2013, bearing his child. I wonder how the kid turns out.