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Making the music happen: Profile listens to Houston Symphony GM Steven Brosvik

Anyone who has attempted to travel with four or more people (or at least one child) understands the importance of Steve Brosvik's job. As the general manager of the Houston Symphony, he executes the day-to-day operations — including the Herculean task of getting the hundred or so musicians, conductors and instruments to New York this January for a performance at Carnegie Hall.

"Steve has got an important balance between the business and the creative," says Greg Scheinman, whose interview with Brosvik is the subject of this week's Profile (which airs tonight at 10:30 on Channel 8, Houston PBS). "His job is to make life as easy for musicians as possible so they can do their job, to put out the best musical show they can. Steve handles the operations, the staff, anything needed to put the symphony on track for success.

"Doing something like the New York trip, something they call a company move, if you think about the size and scope of the symphony, the people and all kinds of instruments and youve got to coordinate, it's an unbelievable task," Scheinman continues. "Plus you're dealing with climate changes and humidity that these delicate and expensive instruments react to. They have to be very well taken care of ... and so do musicians! It's a big, big undertaking."

Scheinman notes that despite the logistical difficulties, the New York performances had no room for error.

"The symphony can do hundreds of shows over a year, and if you see them all you notice the difference between a stellar show, and, you know ... you can't be on your game every day," Schienman says. "But if you aren' t putting on your very best show in New York, that's the impression you're going to leave about the Houston Symphony. And maybe someone's flight was delayed or your instruments were late and you didn't have enough time to practice, but nobody knows that.

"All people care about is what they see on stage, and you have to show them that the Houston Symphony is one of best in the world."

For the Profile interview, Scheinman followed Brosvik through his day at Jones Hall.

"We toured Jones Hall, and it was just fascinating. Steve is there all day — he's one of the first people to arrive and the last to leave," Schienman says. "They have business hours, but they also have rehearsal hours and shows in the evenings. It's a long day dealing with business stuff during the day and staff and other issues at night.

"One of the coolest things was standing on the stage at Jones Hall and looking out. That's a pretty amazing feeling. If you need to be recharged a little bit, he can get up from his desk and walk out on the stage — that'll recharge your batteries pretty quick."

But it's not all business as usual — Brosvik's years as a musician play a crucial role in his job.

"Steve was a musician at first, and we talked about the opportunity to bring his background into operations," Scheinman says." He can appreciate what musicians are going through, because he is a musician himself. He went from playing to being a music business major in college, with the idea of, 'I know what I love, and if I can combine that with business acumen ....' You see it in sports, if there's a coach theres never played the game, they get a little slack. If you'd never played music there might be some understanding issues. He can speak the language of the conductors."

With the interview having taken place before the hiring of new Houston Symphony CEO Mark Hanson, Brosvik talked about what a new CEO meant for him and the symphony.

"What he said was that they were looking for full-time CEO , but his job is to execute overall vision," Schienman says. "From the CEO perspective there's planning, but his job is to implement that plan, be fiscally responsible and get it done day to day so that plan is executed. He seemed excited for the change and a more permanent person to dictate the direction the symphony was to go in."

CultureMap is the official online home of Profile — and you can watch exclusive clips of all the episodes in the series (season one and the current season two) on our special Profile page.

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Movie Review

Comedic horror movie Y2K takes nostalgic trip with mayhem twist

Photo courtesy of A24

Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, and Julian Dennison in Y2K.

Movies that rely on nostalgia can be successful if they’re timed right. Generally, 25-30 years seems about the right amount of time to try to take advantage of people’s fond feelings for a certain era, which is why movies/TV shows about the ‘80s have been prevalent for much of the 21st century, and ‘90s-set films started to pop up in the last 10 years.

Y2K, a horror comedy that plays on the fears of technological mayhem many people thought would happen at the turn of the century, is right on the cusp of that rule, taking place 24 years after its timeline. It centers on two teenage boys, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), who are opposite in demeanor but have an unshakeable bond. Eli likes a popular girl, Laura (Rachel Zegler), and Danny convinces him to crash a New Year’s Eve party where she’ll be.

As the clock strikes midnight and the year moves from 1999 to 2000, everything that uses an electrical current goes haywire, with many of them combining forces to attack the humans around them. Eli and Danny find themselves on the run with Laura, as well as two stoners, Ash (Lachlan Watson) and CJ (Daniel Zolghadri), with each of them trying to use their unique skillset to help defeat a growing robot army.

Directed by Kyle Mooney and written by Mooney and Evan Winter, the film lands some solid jokes about the era in its opening 20 minutes or so, whether it’s the extreme slowness of dial-up internet, the goofy user names from AOL Messenger, or the various high school cliques of the time. However, many of them seem to echo ones told in 1999’s American Pie, a weird kind of art-imitating-art moment instead of commenting on real life.

The jolt of the machines attacking partygoers seems to promise a fun — if bloody — romp, but Mooney and Winter don’t seem to know where to take the story. They establish the computer bona fides of Eli and Laura early on, but when it comes time for them to put their talents in action, it feels like two actors going through the motions instead of real people who know what they’re doing. Almost none of the characters are believable or entertaining, and the few that rise above are dispatched way too early.

And because the filmmakers don’t make you care about the main group, nothing they face is that interesting, either. The villainous robots are made up of a bunch of disparate parts, which would seem to offer the opportunity for funny sight gags. Mooney and his team fumble most of their chances, though, leaving that side of the story stuck in limbo where it’s not absurd enough to be hilarious or scary enough to really count as horror.

Martell, Dennison, and Zegler are each rising stars who have their individual charms, but only Dennison is able to make much of an impact. Zegler, who starred in West Side Story and will soon be Snow White, is especially misused. They try to shoehorn in a cameo by Limp Biskit lead singer Fred Durst, but his appearance makes little sense and adds almost nothing to the story.

Filmmakers who want to mine nostalgia, especially in a comedy, need to really commit to the bit instead of throwing in a few references and needle drops. Mooney, who’s making his directorial debut, demonstrates little feel for timing, and so most of the film is like a car spinning its wheels, going nowhere.

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Y2K opens in theaters on December 6.

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