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Aw, damn, Roy Scheider passed away.

He was a wonderful actor, without perhaps the widest range, but with a certain set of specific skills that very few can master, and which he used effortlessly. He was one of those "anchor" actors, who could hold a movie together by sheer presence, and allow the other actors to go way out on risky limbs while he did so -- I've often thought of actors like this (Kurt Russell and especially Jeff Bridges are others) as a really tight rhythm section in a jazz combo, keeping everything together while other people get to do showy solos. My favorite kinds of actors.

A few obits are comparing his work as Martin Brody in Jaws with that of his costars Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss - some are knocking Dreyfuss and Shaw's bigger, showier parts to praise Scheider. They're missing the point. The strength of that movie - why it works - is in the dynamic between the three men, the three actors, and their individual styles. They couldn't get the damn mechanical shark to work right, so they spent the time working on character, and writing and shooting new scenes with these characters they had got down, and it shows.

But besides the big ones like Shaw's speech about the USS Indianapolis, the moments I treasure from that film are the little ones with Scheider - the laugh in his voice when he responds "In this town?" to his wife's directive to stay safe as he rushes to work; the knocking over of the paint brushes in the general store; the guilt and sadness in his face and voice when he explains to Hooper why he didn't call the Coast Guard after the first attack; the pouring of an IMMENSE glass of red wine when he really, really needs it, and the way he says, "Now why did you have to say that," a moment later when Dreyfuss tells his wife there's still a shark in Amity; and, at the very end, the flicker across his eyes and face for just a moment before he tells Hooper that Quint didn't make it.

He has only one brief false note in his performance as Brody, and it's because he's been given some horribly trite lines, out of tone with the rest of the film: The scene on Hooper's boat where he drunkenly explains why he left New York City for Amity Island, one of those bad "character explains themselves" speeches that nobody can do well (Mamet calls them "kitten" speeches, as in "When I was a child, I had a kitten . . .") -- this scene was a reshoot done in Hollywood after the main shoot in Martha's Vineyard was over, so there was probably some second-guessing going on.

There's been an amazing outpouring of love for Scheider in blogs and pages all over the net this morning - he seems to have been much beloved by people who didn't even realize it until he was gone. Two of the better, short appreciations are from Glenn Kenny - who wonderfully pins down and gives a visual example of a classic Scheider look, the one that says, "Are you shitting me?" - and from Sheila O'Malley.

The Times obit is HERE, his IMDb bio HERE and credits HERE.

I saw him once in person - actually brushed by him in a crowd on opening night of Dances with Wolves at a movie theatre in Columbus Circle (now gone) - he was leaving a show with his wife, Brenda King, while I was going in to the next one. He was deeply tanned and looked exactly like he did onscreen. Maybe better. And nobody was bugging him, but everyone was staring at him as if they were thinking (as I was), "Hey, wow, that's Roy Scheider, man!"

Besides the big famous roles he was known for (Klute, Jaws, Marathon Man, The French Connection, The Seven-Ups), there were some other great performances of his in films that ranged from "great and underrated" to "deeply flawed, but not without interest," including William Friedkin's Sorcerer - dear GOD he's amazing in that; John Frankenheimer's Elmore Leonard adaptation 52 Pick-Up, a really (appropriately) sleazy film where Scheider gets to hold down the rhythm for crazy soloists John Glover and Clarence Williams III; the beautifully structured thriller The Russia House, script by Tom Stoppard, as scatologically-mouthed CIA agent Russell; as studio head George Schaefer in RKO 281, trying to protect Orson Welles and Citizen Kane while putting up stoically with Welles' hideous ego and temper; as Heywood Floyd in 2010; as a Mafia don in Romeo Is Bleeding; and opposite Meryl Streep in the thriller Still of the Night - where director of photography Nestor Almendros does everything he can to balance the light between the very tan Mr. Scheider and the ghostly pale Ms. Streep (at her most beautiful ever). Oh, and he did a beautiful job reading the words of the author as narration in Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (though some video versions now no longer have the Scheider narration, unfortunately).

And especially as Dr. Benway in Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. He's in just two scenes, two! But after his first scene early on he's made such an impression that his spirit hangs over the film, as everyone keeps talking about Benway, that you feel he's been there all along when he suddenly reappears in the penultimate scene. He completely captures the stage direction from Cronenberg's shooting script . . .

DR. BENWAY seems to be the archetypal American doctor, mid-fifties, silvery gray hair, paternal and condescending, and underneath it all, a hustler.

. . . within about three words and two seconds of screen time.

(also, for those of us late-blooming character actors out here, he's a shining beacon of someone who kept at it and started really working at an older age - he was 39 when he got his first film roles of note)

He was also someone very special to me in a very special film, so ladies and gentlemen, let me lay on you, a so-so entertainer, not much of a humanitarian, and this cat was never nobody's friend, in his final appearance on the great stage of life (uh, you can applaud if you wanna), Mr. Joe Gideon:

When I think of Scheider's filmography, I sometimes actually leave this one out, because I don't think of him at all as Roy Scheider here, in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, but as director/choreographer Joe Gideon - even though his performance is so much his, with all of his wonderful personal mannerisms. But Gideon is something more and different than Scheider had the opportunity to do elsewhere.

They had been shooting for two weeks with Richard Dreyfuss in the role of Gideon, when Dreyfuss was fired and Scheider brought in - Fosse said that while some choreographers sit back and aren't very physical when they work (as Dreyfuss could only play the character), Gideon had to be up and active and physical. Scheider wasn't a dancer, not at all, but the man could move, and had real grace, and in this film, he really got to show it. Maybe for the only time.

This is, of course, also a special film/role for me because seeing it was one of those "I really want to be a DIRECTOR," inspirational moments for me. Which really is kind of odd, considering the rather nasty, badly-ending life of Joe Gideon. But whatever, Joe Gideon was also one of those men I wanted to grow up to be. So was Boris Lermontov, which is just as wrong, if not more.

(and yes, mom, I know very VERY well how much you hate this film -- thanks again for putting up with it so I could enjoy it, at the age of 11, when it first came out)

Oh, also, many of the obits are saying that Scheider's first feature film was Curse of the Living Corpse, a silly little thriller (with, as I recall - it's been 30 years since I've seen it - some effective little creepy moments) made by Stamford, Connecticut's own B-picture maker Del Tenney. However, earlier that year he had actually shown up in Tenney's previous film, the wonderfully awful The Horror of Party Beach.

Yup, he's in there. Here's the excerpt from the film as it played on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (one of my favorite episodes of the show) - Scheider appears at around 1:37 in:

( Now Behind Cut for Easier Loading )

So today, I'll pull out Jaws and All That Jazz and The Russia House and even Mishima (if I have the version with his narration) to watch. Maybe I have Naked Lunch, Sorcerer, and Romeo Is Bleeding somewhere on tape. Won't get through all of those, but maybe a few. If you get a chance, watch and appreciate yourself some Roy.

Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Special AKA - "Free Nelson Mandela"

Let's see, I saved a few things here and there to pass on . . .

1. Ah yes, here's a May, 1935 page courtesy of Modern Mechanix -- look at this face - do you think that Mr. Charles F. "Boss Ket" Kettering here has found the SECRET POWER of some good Grass?

2. Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty is in danger. Maybe. I'm not entirely sure that change wasn't part of Smithson's wishes/desires. Maybe not this way though.

3. Neatorama gives an, indeed, neat overview of the changing of several familiar logos for tech companies over the years.

4. Go to Google. Type in "find Chuck Norris." Then hit "I'm feeling lucky." You cannot escape the power of Chuck Norris.

5. WFMU's Beware of the Blog has an overview of amusement park Dark Rides, including a link to the wonderful Laff in the Dark site, where I spent way too much time one day after first finding it.

6. Music video - Bat for Lashes - "What's a Girl to Do?" - I dig, I dig muchly (h/t: The House Next Door):

7. Essay video: from Goodie Bag, something for the font geeks, "Trajan Is the Movie Font":

8. Instructional video: A rather odd bicycle safety film from 1963, One Got Fat, with monkey faces and narration by Edward Everett Horton. Disturbing (and note, nearly 15 minutes long):

9. Insane video: Someone has mashed up and remixed an anime theme song with bits of Japanese Ronald McDonald commercials. Dear sweet merciful heavens, WHY? (h/t: Matthew Freeman, the fargin' bastidge):

And I'm at home again, trying to find something productive to do on any of my shows. Pretty much at a dead end (except for bits of writing and design) until I get more prospective cast response. No more by Monday and I move on to new people.

And Berit is making props for Untitled Theater Co. #61/Edward Einhorn's upcoming calypso musical production of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle:

So it goes . . .

Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: The Dave Miller Set - "Bread and Butter Day" - Psychedelic Archaeology Vol. 6

So now I wait. Besides the 11 actors already "in" for my four shows this year, I've contacted another 26 for 38 parts, and thus far received back 10 "Yes" answers, 4 "No" answers, and 3 "Maybe, let's talk" answers, from 16 people (one person I asked to be in two shows said yes to one and no to the other). I need more answers before I can move on. I have most of the people for Spell, it seems - I could maybe start work on that, but I'm still short a reply from two people who would be crucial to the show, so . . . no go.

Ambersons, the earliest show coming up (June), is the problem, of course. I did the breakdown and discovered there was no way to do the show with fewer than 20 actors (plus myself narrating). That's 4 more than I'd hoped, but it just won't work out any other way (and I wound up needing more men than I thought, always a pain). I have four people set, as mentioned before, and I've gotten only one "Yes" and two "Maybes" thus far on the positive side. And I've gotten three "No" responses too, in parts where I don't have many good options for casting among the tribe I work with, if any. If I don't get it cast soon and get some first things done before the end of the month, with some of the conflicts coming up on the people already cast, I won't be able to start real work on this until maybe April. I want a cast and first reading by the end of THIS month, dammit (I WANTED it by the end of January, but that didn't happen).

I have plenty to do for other people to fill time, but I want to be working on these shows, now. This week, Berit and I spent some time driving around getting props for the UTC#61 shows, which was alternately fun and annoying (I had to circle several blocks in Midtown for over an hour - the place in the world I like driving least). I have to schlep some video equipment around for a shoot for one of those shows the next two days. There looks to maybe be a cleanup day at The Brick tomorrow, which I should go and help at. Sunday, if the video schlepping doesn't get in the way, I should go and see a runthru of Penny Dreadful episode 4 at The Brick, as it's going to be a pain to light with the current setup and I'm going to have to do a lot more specifically for this one instead of just using the house plot.

Today, I'm interviewing Jon Stancato of Stolen Chair Theatre Company for a 30-minute radio profile on WPS1 Art Radio (taped for later "airing" - I'll let you know when it's up). Jon asked me if I'd do this, as he preferred the idea of the interview being more of a discussion between two theatre artists rather than the normal Q&A, despite my only knowing Stolen Chair's work from Kill Me Like You Mean It (which I loved), and reading the script for The Man Who Laughs (ditto) in one of Martin Denton's collections. This should be an enjoyable time, if a hair nerve-inducing.

So, in the meantime, let's check out the first random 10 from the iPod's 23,414:

1. "Batman Pows The Penguin - or - (Aha, My Fine Feathered Finks!)" - Nelson Riddle - Batman - Exclusive Original Television Soundtrack Album
2. "Sound and Vision" - David Bowie - Low
3. "Speed Car" - Claude Perraudin - Patchwork Library Addendum
4. "Elube" - De Ndirande Pitch Crooners - Culture Shock: Doug Schulkind's 2004 Marathon Premium
5. "Driving Me Crazy" - The Sleepless Knights - Trip in Tyme volume 1
6. "Newspapers" - Stan Ridgway - Mosquitos
7. "I Can't Sleep" - Quik - Psychedalia: Rare Blooms from the English Summer of Love
8. "Scene Pathétique" - Bernard Herrmann - The Magnificent Ambersons: Bernard Herrmann Anthology Volume 1
9. "Rock & Roll" - The Singing Dogs - Las Vegas Grind! - Volume 1
10. "My Heart Gets All the Breaks" - Wanda Jackson - You'll Always Have My Love

Hooker went to the vet twice this week because he was acting odd. Once we'd gone, of course, he started acting fine again. He may have simply been constipated and gassy, we're told. They love him at the vet's, but he was badly behaved this time (which was also suspicious, as he usually doesn't mind going, and he hissed and growled which he NEVER does - he was apparently just uncomfortable). They had to sedate him so they could get a clean x-ray, and he was quite adorable as he was stoned out of his gourd, just a big floppy lump. When we got him home, it hadn't quite worn off, and it was sadly cute to watch him stumble around with his back legs not quite working yet. He's already acting cheerier, and they gave us some kitty laxative.

In any case, here's the little bastard a couple of weeks ago:

And Moni has been preferring to drink from the faucet these days . . .

Maybe more later . . . I have other things to handle during the brief time I have on this computer -- oh, that's right, did I mention that the computer I usually use has died? It was an old nasty PC that could barely do much anyway (it was a gift from someone otherwise throwing it away, and much appreciated), but now the only working computer in the house is B's iMac, which has to be . . . shared. So instead of having a computer always on and ready to answer emails, etc., I'm on for a few hours in the morning, and another hour in the evening. Great.

I have lots of links and videos saved up to share, but . . . later . . .

Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: The Platters - "My Prayer" - The Magic Touch: An Anthology

This isn't how the thought-process, google-process, wikipedia-process actually went, but it makes for better panel this way, so . . .

A stream of thinking:

Damn it all . . . everything but the circus

Wonder who said that?

Somebody told us what we wanted to be
It was candy for the mind
Look behind them — you'll see
It was circusy

It was hi diddle diddle
It was cat and the fiddle
It was safe as can be
It was right down the middle
It was fantasy . . . fantasy galore
It was everything we ever wanted
It was that and so much more

Who was it that said . . .
Damn it all . . .
Damn everything . . .

but the circus.

-- Ken Nordine

from the Stay Awake album of Disney song covers

And I wondered . . . who was it that said that . . ? Assuming Nordine was quoting someone. Oh, right, the last time I thought of that, there wasn't a Google to make it easy to look up . . .

Damn everything but the circus!
. . . damn everything that is grim, dull,
motionless, unrisking, inward turning,
damn everything that won't get into the
circle, that won't enjoy, that won't throw
its heart into the tension, surprise, fear
and delight of the circus, the round
world, the full existence . . .

-- e.e. cummings

And this had started when I found that a book called Damn Everything but the Circus was created by Corita Kent in 1970.

Corita Kent was born Frances Elizabeth Kent in 1918. At eighteen, she entered the order of Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Los Angeles, and became Sister Corita. She earned an MA in Art History from USC, and for years headed the art department at Immaculate Heart College. She left the order in 1968 and moved to Boston, continuing her own work with silkscreen and serigraphy until her death in 1986.

In the 60s, while at Immaculate Heart, she posted these "rules" for the art students, which is how this all started, when I encountered them through various sources and decided they were a pretty good, common-sensical approach to the work to always keep in mind (for "Teacher" I read "Director," for "Students," "Actors"). Apparently, judging from comments, they've wound up on the walls of many, many art school studios since. Several people are sure they are all by John Cage, not just the one indicated. Apparently, they were created by Sister Corita in collaboration with her students (according to the website for the Corita Art Center). In any case, they are common sense, and should be obvious, but good to look at (and I find them most appealing in irregularly-set Presstype):

A moment to think (funny typing Freudian slip - I first typed "A Monet to think," and didn't catch it for several edits). I'm pretty good with most of these rules - I need to work on #8 and #9 and some of the "Helpful Hints."

Now back to getting these damned lines down for tonight (I have one of those parts with a lot of interspersed "Right," "Sure," and "Of course"-type lines, which are always a pain to keep straight).

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: none

Slow day at home -- studying my lines for tomorrow, checking emails, stopping fights between the kitties.

And in the midst of it, discovering a band I'd only heard vaguely of, but didn't know they had some actual recorded output.

The band is The Del-Byzanteens, and they recorded a single, an EP, and an LP in the early 80s. I acquired the EP and LP today (which include the single), and they turned out to be really good. Also, I'd forgotten that the band included a not-yet-known filmmaker that I'm a big fan of.

The members of the band were Phil Kline (guitar, vocals), Philippe Hagen (bass), Dan Braun (percussion, drums), Josh Braun (drums, percussion), and . . . Jim Jarmusch (keyboards, vocals)!

And some of their song lyrics were written by Luc Sante.

Here's a video of them doing "My World Is Empty Without You," which also features John Lurie on saxophone:

Years later, Jim Jarmusch would appear on Lurie's wonderful nature program, Fishing With John. Here's an excerpt from that episode:

And if you haven't seen this next video someplace else yet (which seems unlikely) - here's Sarah Silverman's tribute to her boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of his show. I've never seen his show, and from what I've seen of him, not much a fan of his, but he seems to be a good sport. Which is good.

And I didn't know that there's a running gag on his show where he often ends it by saying, "Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time."

Enjoy.

Current Mood: apathetic
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: George Romanos - "Maria" - Two Small Blue Horses

This was interesting. Or at least an enjoyable waste of time.

Edward Copeland over at his blog does a little Oscar survey every year, asking the online film geek community to rank the five best and worst winners from the past in an Academy Award category. In 2006, he did the Best and Worst of the Best Pictures. In 2007, the Best and Worst of the Best Actress performances. I think I voted in the first, but not the second. It began to feel silly trying to judge one against another. Also, the "worst" always seemed to be about personal feelings toward the people involved, not any kind of actual attempt at judging the work itself (especially with the "Worst" actresses, where the criticism of younger, pretty actresses who have the TEMERITY to try to be RESPECTED as ACTRESSES headed well into misogyny). And it's still a small sample of actual cinema in any case, with what I would consider Best and Worst nowhere near being nominated most of the time.

This year, Edward turns to the Best Actor category. I looked over the list and wasn't bothering thinking about it after that - nothing made me feel like I wanted to try and decide one over the other with the actors. But from a few other posts around his and other blogs, it looks like the voting was really light this year - maybe a few others had the same feeling as me - and as I had nothing to do on a nasty rainy night, what the hell . . . I'll try and rank the Best Actors as seen by AMPAS.

I left off any performances I hadn't seen, or at least hadn't seen enough of to feel qualified to judge, which was a few - 15 or so I think. I was actually pretty interested in how this came out - I guess it says something about some kind of acting that I like. Quite a few performances I liked in movies I didn't, and really few performances I could knock at all, until we get to about the bottom 10 or so. You send in only your top five and bottom five to the survey, but in order to get those I had to cut and paste around a list of all of them, and since I wound up with the whole list for myself, here it is, from my favorite to least-favorite of the Best Actor Oscar performances, top to bottom:

Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront
Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Alec Guinness - Bridge on the River Kwai
George C. Scott - Patton
Marlon Brando - The Godfather
Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend
Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives
Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen
Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird
Gene Hackman - The French Connection
Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas
Ben Kingsley - Gandhi
Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot
Lee Marvin - Cat Ballou
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
Clark Gable - It Happened One Night
Peter Finch - Network
Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the Night
Laurence Olivier - Hamlet
William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman
Jamie Foxx - Ray
Ernest Borgnine - Marty
Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune
Tom Hanks - Philadelphia
Gary Cooper - High Noon
F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus
Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry
James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy
Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady
Victor McLaglen - The Informer
Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men
Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons
Jose Ferrer - Cyrano de Bergerac
John Wayne - True Grit
Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man
Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg
Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies
Yul Brinner - The King and I
William Holden - Stalag 17
Cliff Robertson - Charly
David Niven - Separate Tables
Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field
Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Gary Cooper - Sergeant York
James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story
Michael Douglas - Wall Street
Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump
Ronald Colman - A Double Life
Jon Voight - Coming Home
Dustin Hoffman - Kramer Vs. Kramer
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
Art Carney - Harry and Tonto
Wallace Beery - The Champ
Jack Nicholson - As Good As It Gets
Paul Newman - The Color of Money
Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
Bing Crosby - Going My Way
Russell Crowe - Gladiator
Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur
Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful
Richard Dreyfuss - The Goodbye Girl
Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond
Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman

And if I had to pick my five favorite male/female performances from all of film? Never actually even thought of that before . . . and it's odd what comes up.

For men, Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday, Lee Marvin in The Killers, Brad Dourif in The Exorcist III, Richard Erdman in Cry Danger, and Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris.

For women, Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr., Theresa Russell in Bad Timing, Agnes Moorehead in The Magnificent Ambersons, Julia Ormond in The Baby of Macon, and Sheryl Lee in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

At least, that's what it all looks like tonight. Ask me again tomorrow and it could all be different . . .

Current Mood: restless
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Berit playing The Sims 2

Oh, hey, I forgot I'm making a Special Guest Appearance this weekend in a sitcom for the stage! And it's FREE!

The Welding Club presents

3800 ELIZABETH

by Aaron Baker & Frank Padellaro
directed by Aaron Baker

starring Michael Criscuolo, Peter Handy, and Iracel Rivero
With special guest stars Gyda Arber, Alexis Black, Bryan Enk, Ian W. Hill, Heath Kelts, and others TBA.

A "sitcom for the stage," 3800 ELIZABETH follows the absurd non-adventures of Germanophile bartender AJ, his hypochondriac ex-girlfriend Sonja, and his recently-moved-to-the-big-city-from-a-slightly-smaller-city childhood friend Mike. Week after week, Mike will make impractical life decisions, Sonja will think about Jane Eyre, AJ will offer up witty rejoinders along with Gibsons and Old-Fashioneds, and quite possibly we'll all learn a valuable lesson (or maybe not so valuable).

Will sparks fly when Mike moves in with best friend's ex, or will he hit it off with her younger sister instead? Does Sonja really suffer from bonelessness (or, at least, Mad Cow Disease)? Will AJ's new version of German catch on? Is that girl sitting at the end of the bar really the Devil? Is AJ really being followed by covert government agents? And how will all of this affect Mike's chances of becoming the starting center for the Knicks?

Sundays at 8pm
February 3rd to March 16th
At The Battle Ranch, 111 Conselyea Street - between Leonard Street & Manhattan Avenue - in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(Take the L train to Graham Avenue, or the L/G train to Lorimer Street)

Admission is FREE

The performance schedule is as follows...

February 3rd - Episode 1 - "Knickerbockers"
February 10th - Episode 2 - "I Heart the Devil"
February 17th - Episode 3 - "Sonja the Boneless
February 24th - Episode 1 - "Knickerbockers" (re-run)
March 2nd - Episode 4 - "The Man on the Silver Mountain"
March 9th - Episode 5 - "Writ of Estoppel"
March 16th - Episode 6 - "The Rules"

Hope to see you there!

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: very familiar R&B song I don't know the name or performer of, and can't check

Work proceeds on the four shows. Darius Stone has joined the cast of Harry in Love - waitaminit, Darius has the same name as a character Ice Cube played in some movie? Well, that's a pain for Google searches. I now have lists of the "preferred" casts for each of the four shows - each of which, apart from Harry, with its nice little six characters, has had to expand by two to four actors as I realize I need more performers and different types in the casts.

Emails are out, waiting to hear back for the next step. I have a handful of people to audition as well. Also been working out the calendar for both myself and The Brick for the rest of the year. Looks good. Looks busy, but not crazy.

There are now 22,998 songs in the iPod - let's see what comes up this morning . . .

1. "Besoin de la Lune" - Manu Chao - La Radiolina
2. "Just One Look" - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Beat of the Pops 16
3. "Shadows on the Very Last Row" - The Cleftones - For Sentimental Reasons
4. "Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel" - The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra - Film Musik
5. "There's No Satisfaction" - Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab- Vampyros Lesbos (Sexadelic Dance Party)
6. "Out Out Out" - Ice 9 - Out Out Out 7"
7. "The Third Man Theme" - The Don Baker Trio -Ultra-Lounge 11: Organs in Orbit
8. "Strawberry Letter #23" - Brothers Johnson - Jackie Brown soundtrack
9. "When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy (live 1978)" - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - I'm Going To Do What I Want To
10. "Not Yet Remembered" - Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirrors

I was thinking it was a pretty boring mix this morning - songs I'm glad to have in the iPod, but none that leapt out at me and made me really glad to hear them this morning - and then the Brothers Johnson track showed, and made me quite happy, though it's also a kind of overcast song for an overcast morning, and then the Beefheart just made all good. And the Budd/Eno matches the rain and light on the window.

What for cat photos today? Well, most of my photos are of the cats being hugged or lying around like meatloaves. Are they active? You bet.

As when Berit discovers that a fake flower lying around from old props has caught Hooker's attention, and she dangles it for him . . .

He goes for it, getting the brief attention of Moni, who has the attention span of a goldfish . . .

Causing her to make a leap at it, to his surprise . . .

Getting it briefly in her paws, she sniffs it and finds it uninteresting . . .

And she immediately moves on, forgetting the toy ever existed, and the more determined Hooker continues the assault . . .

Okay, I have a few things to do around here today (mainly descend to the dank prop storage in the basement and find some costumes I'm going to loan to Henry Akona for Hiroshima - some lab coats and a "radiation suit," which is actually Edward Einhorn's anyway, that I borrowed for the midget spaceman avatar in Symphony of Rats and put on The Brick's effigy of Santa Claus).

Go wake Berit now and get on with the day - amazing that the construction in the apartment next door hasn't woken her, it's unnerving me and scaring the cats. Don't know what they're doing, but it's sounded like they've had the bathroom wall out over there for weeks and weeks now. We can hear the conversations they're having in there as if we're in the same room, which makes it unnerving at times to use the john while they're over there yelling at each other about how best to do something - it sounds like someone who lives in the apartment doing the work with a friend or relative who either is a contractor, or has a lot of experience with remodeling, or at least thinks he does. As Berit says, after trips to the bathroom listening to their profane "discussions," "I've never learned so much about grout in all my life!"

Current Mood: restless
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: They Might Be Giants - "The Statue Got Me High" - Apollo 18

Emailing with a friend in the last few days became a back-and-forth conversation primarily about music - what we were listening to now, thoughts on past favorites, etc. etc. In the course of it, I wound up checking out a bunch of videos, and in lieu of anything else new, here's nine videos in one big steaming lump for you and yours. . .

My friend passed on this performance of a song I didn't know from a band I didn't know - and I'm glad I do now. Here's Mud with "Tiger Feet":

One of my favorite bands the last few years has been Electric Six. Go to that Wikipedia link for more info, otherwise, just enjoy this load of E6 videos from their first four albums.

First, the video for "Danger! High Voltage," which was the first I saw/heard of them and sold me on them quickly (this longer version of the video was a surprising find):

Also from their first album, Fire, two more - the pop hit (not in the USA), "Gay Bar":

And "Dance Commander":

From their second album, Senor Smoke, their loving cover of Queen's "Radio Ga Ga":

From Switzerland, here's "I Buy the Drugs":

And "Infected Girls":

And, finally, from their recent album I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master, "It's Showtime!":

And "Down at McDonnelzzz":

And outside of music, here's a cute video of a cat in Germany, Fritz, who carries a camera with him around his neck, and what he shoots:

Finally, courtesy flemco, a story from stuff.co.nz that I couldn't believe wasn't some kind of Onion parody - but looking at the site and the context, it doesn't seem so (though it could still be a load of hooey, as happens on gossip sites). Behold some of the unlikely ones who have Chose Cheese:

Warring bands to unite over cheese

Oasis and Blur are set to make a special cheese together.

The British bands - who were fierce pop rivals in the 90s - are huge fans of the savoury snack and Blur bassist Alex James wants them to team up to create their own brand.

James, who is now a dairy farmer and cheese maker, has invited his band's lead singer Damon Albarn and Oasis stars Noel and Liam Gallagher to his Cotswolds cheese factory so they can start working on a special cheese for next month's BRIT Awards.

A source said: "Damon and Alex have always been enthusiastic about cheese - it was the glue that held Blur together for so long.

"But it wasn't until recently that Alex discovered Liam and Noel shared their obsession. So he had the masterplan of creating something constructive through the medium of cheese, which would mark their maturity."

James believes the prestigious music event, to be held at London's Earl's Court, would be the perfect place to showcase the cheese and is hoping it will be offered as a dessert alternative during the dinner.

James is thoroughly enjoying his life as a farmer, even though it is a far cry from his days as a glamorous pop star.

He said: "From hard drugs to soft cheese! That's me. From boozy, vegetarian vampire of the Groucho Club in London to rural sober family man.

"It's amazing, the friends you can make, just through cheese. People get very emotional about it."

Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: DVD - The Right Stuff

Merry Mount is down and over and now I'm on to the rest of the year's shows: My four for June and August, and directing Bryan Enk and Matt Gray's Penny Dreadful episode for March, which I can't do anything on just yet, until I get the script from the guys.

I will also be the main point-person for The Brick, most likely, in the management/running of the Tiny Theatre Festival in May and the Clown Theatre Festival, which I guess will be in October again. And Berit and I will have plenty to do in our duties as co-TDs of the space for The Film Festival: A Theater Festival in May/June. I don't know if the Baby Jesus Festival will now continue as a yearly thing or remain Biennial, but if it's up this year, that's December taken.

Berit is busy with props and other things for Cat's Cradle and Hiroshima for UTC#61, as well as stage managing Aaron Baker's 3800 Elizabeth. I will be coming in to set up the video system for the UTC shows, and as Berit will be house managing those, I'll be taking over for her on the management of Aaron's show (and the running of Penny Dreadful) when those conflict.

But the primary concerns in the home of Gemini CollisionWorks are our shows for the year. An update on current status, since that's what the blog is supposed to be about:

The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles: A Reconstruction for the Stage

(performing June, in The Film Festival at The Brick, with, I hope, a few more performances in July - because of one performer's schedule, we can't do any shows in June after the 15th, which is fine by me, but better if we get a July extension)

The script is all together, and we're currently casting and discussing design. We need an actual costume designer on this besides Berit & I. I'll ask the two I know, like, and trust. Apart from that, B & I are in a good starting place.

Needs a cast of at least 16, though the more I look at the script, the more I worry I need a couple more to fill out the stage at one point, which is a pain, because then it gives everyone in the "chorus" parts less to do in the double-casting. I need to really look at the ballroom scene and plan it out on paper to see if I can stage it workably with the 16-person plan.

A lot to be done with shadow puppets. Must start playing with that. I have to do some sound editing on the music cues - I have the complete Herrmann score now, but many of the cues on the CD are linked together as mini-"suites" and I need to cut them up into discrete cues. We're going to have to rehearse with the music behind us, so I should have it ready. Powerpoint projections, too. Whee.

Must set up a first reading ASAP as soon as I have a cast. Currently cast: Timothy McCown Reynolds as Eugene Morgan, Stephen Heskett as George Amberson Minifer, Shelley Ray as Lucy Morgan, Walter Brandes as Jack Amberson (and myself as narrator). I've offered the roles of Fanny Minifer and Isabel Amberson Minifer to two actresses, but haven't heard back from them yet. Must email them today. Stephen introduced me to an older actor he takes class with who would seem perfect for Major Amberson, and who found the concept interesting, so I'll email him as well to see about meeting and reading. I have to get the nine "primary" roles set before filling out the rest of the cast, but I have a list of the actors I'd like to round out the cast, if I can get them. Also, while I think I can do it with these people, I need to go over the script and figure out the double-casting exactly to be sure. At the same time, there are issues of the casting kind that are exactly the ones I have a completely unreasonable discomfort in dealing with:

First, there are a couple of actors I know who are great, and would be great in certain roles in this show, but the roles are really good ones that are also really REALLY small, and I'm always unhappy with asking actors I don't know all that well personally, and who generally are cast in big, showy parts (and deservedly), to come in for one or two scenes in a show where they'll be sitting around a lot of the time (or moving scenery).

Second, there are two "small boys" needed for one scene in the show, and the best way to deal with this is to cast two diminutive actresses I've worked with before who could play both small boys and older women quite well. Again, in my unreasonable but quite real shyness, I'm having trouble emailing them to ask about their interest, as though there's something insulting about me asking them to play the boys, though both of them have played a small boy for me before.

Finally, the Ambersons, in an accurate-enough piece of period detail, have a black butler, Sam, who is a presence throughout much of the play, though he's not a huge part either. But he's important, and I can't imagine doing the play without him. At the same time, I am uncomfortable with putting out a casting notice looking for a black man to come in and be a rich white family's butler (over the years 1885-1910), who also can't really double in any other parts in the show (except in a crowd scene at the end), let alone asking the black actors I know to take it on. There is, of course, probably no good reason for my discomfort (as Berit noted, and I paraphrase, "Why are you uncomfortable? He's not written as some shambling offensive stereotype. He's a black servant to a family that in that time and place would have accurately had one.").

And in terms of asking the actors I know, it comes more under the heading of a regular problem I have that I touched on above -- once I've cast an actor in some big showy role in a show, I have trouble casting them in a smaller, supporting role, even if they're perfect for it, as I feel like I'm insulting them or something. I also get uncomfortable with certain actors I keep casting in smaller roles in show after show after show, who I know could give an amazing lead performance if I had the show with the role, but I never do. So I wind up feeling bad about continuing to ask them to come in and be, yet again, another great utility infielder of a performer.

Berit tries to help get me over this by asking me if I feel at all bad about how, having played a number of grand, wonderful, major roles on stage, I still get asked to come in and do a little supporting role here and there for someone (often non-speaking). And, no, I don't. I go and do the work where I'm needed if it's not interfering with my own. So if I'm fine with it, why should I assume it's an insult to other actors? I mean, yes, I've had 2 or 3 actors tell me, "I don't do small roles anymore," but with a simple informative politeness.

{sigh} I'm just paranoid. What else is new? This is why I always used to do real full ensemble productions most of the time, where there weren't any obvious "bigger" or "smaller" roles and it was all about everybody on stage all the time working together. Which, happily, is what two of my August shows will be like.

And . . . hmmn . . . after a little more thought, I've realized that I do know and have worked with an actor who could actually play Sam and multiple other characters in the show, I think . . . oh, yeah, that'd work. Okay, problem solved.

Spell

(performing August at The Brick)

I have fragments of script to start with on this one, but I'm building it around the specific actors I'm casting in it, and will create it through rehearsal, then go and write it and bring it back. Then repeat. Create all the design at the same time, so light, text, sound, costumes, set, props are all one integrated system from the start.

Moira Stone is cast in the "central" role, Ann, which is not so much a "lead" as the nucleus of an atom that everything else is spinning madly around. I know there are three witches who each speak a different, non-English language (I have actresses in mind for these who can do this, who've all expressed interest, but I have to confirm with them); a doctor who keeps switching from male to female (two actors in mind there, too); Ann's male alter-ego, Andy, who keeps switching places with her (several possibilities); and a chorus of figures you could think of either as revolutionaries or terrorists, and their bloodied casualties or victims. It seems to be breaking down naturally into 7 men and 7 women, which seems right for the piece.

So Moira is set - I have to contact the six others who have specifically expressed an interest in this show (and I've begun crafting parts around them). Another two people I'd like in this have expressed a general desire to be in one of this year's shows. And then there's another five I'd like in this I have to ask. This one's getting more and more alive for me, and it's really exciting.

This one is about terrorism, and my ongoing argument with myself about whether or not the use of terrible violence can be a potentially positive weapon for social change (if you're wondering who always wins that argument, well, I'm making theatre and not bombs, so it should be obvious, though I still sometimes wonder . . .).

Dance To That Which One Is Created For (Invisible Republic)

(possibly still a working title, but it'll do for now - performing in August at The Brick)

This one is both exciting and scary. I have a theme, a visual concept, some songs, an idea of mood, and a desired cast in mind, and nothing else. And it has to wind up being an actual play. With dances. This will be interesting, and I hope it won't frustrate the cast too much as we work to get there. I know it's about business and selling.

Gyda Arber (who I imagine tap dancing on a table to "Dry Bones") and Dina Rose Rivera (who, wonderfully, can dance en pointe as I was hoping - this will be an interesting new step in choreography for me) seem to be in on this one. I think this one will have four men and four women, and I have the others in mind already. I'm a little worried about eight people not being enough to displace enough air in the stage space for what I want, but any larger or smaller number seems really wrong.

So, emails to go out here, too.

Harry in Love: A Manic Vaudeville

(performing August at The Brick)

Richard Foreman's script is cut and ready. Mostly cast, 4 out of 6 at least - Josephine Cashman and I are playing Hilda and Harry Rosenfeld, Ken Simon is Karl Wasselman, and Walter Brandes is Paul Toothstein (aka "Hilda's-Brother").

Still to be cast are Doctor Meyers and Max Gelb - I've had an actor in mind for years to play the Doctor, and I just emailed him to see if he might be interested. I was stuck on anyone to play Max, but an actor I like that I didn't have any idea was interested in working with me emailed today out of the blue to say that he indeed was, and he's perfect for Max, so I sent him the script. So we'll see if I get these last two people, and if so, then we'll set up a reading and begin.

And that's it for now. And maybe for a few days until more actual things come up. I am strangely optimistic, an odd feeling for me . . .

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Cockney Rebel - "Sebastian" - The Human Menagerie

An email from me this morning to two good friends of the musician/music geek variety, with an emphasis on Bowie and music from within that early/mid 70s stylistic form of Rock sometimes known as "Glam" or "Glitter":

Hey guys . . .
Pardon me for just throwing this out to you, but I'm in a very curious zone right now and not getting a straight answer from the intarweb.
What do either of you know about Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel? I've just downloaded the 1975 album
The Psychomodo and am currently downloading the 1974 album The Human Menagerie, and I'm trying to find out more about these albums (and trying to understand why I've never heard of them before), but I keep finding incomplete or outright contradictory info online.
You possibly don't know any more than I'm finding - especially as I keep doing searches while I'm writing this and finding more and stranger-but-interesting dead ends, but just in case you do, I'm really curious.
I first heard of Cockney Rebel when their song "Make Me Smile" was used over the end credits of
Velvet Goldmine - I thought it was a new song written and produced for the movie "in the style of glam," and, I thought, though a good song, not all that well-done as a "period pastiche," as it sounded way too modern in its production and instrumentation. Of course, it was an actual UK hit single from 1975, so . . . so much for my usually-good ear for such things.
Now I just got
Psychomodo and discovered that another song from Velvet Goldmine, sung by the faux-Bowie character as his big farewell, "Tumbling Down," originates on this album. I had thought this was a well-done Aladdin Sane-era Bowie pastiche written specifically for the film, with just the "right" kind of occasionally clunky-but-charming lyric ("Hail to the Monkey/We're having a funky/Reunion . . ."), but no, it's from an actual post-Glam album (don't know if anyone has defined that as a genre, but it seems to have the same relation to Glam as "post-Punk" does to Punk, so it seems right). The original, even more than the film version, REALLY tries to out-Rock-n-Roll-Suicide "Rock n Roll Suicide" in the grand pompousoid rock-Camp department.
The source I'm downloading these from lists Roy Thomas Baker as either producer or arranger (mentions his string arrangements but nothing else), and that would make sonic sense (it sounds a bit like RTB, who would have been producing Queen at this point, doing a
Berlin-era Bob Ezrin). But in looking up credits, there's no mention of this in the credits for these albums, or in RTB's credits (though I discovered that RTB was an engineer on Electric Warrior, didn't know that). Alan Parsons seems to be behind the production for these (and Harley is the singer on one of Parsons' projects, I, Robot). Some other familiar names are in the booth (eg; Geoff Emerick). Notes on the '74 album note that one song is about Marc Bolan, and I see that Harley sings backup on the title track of Dandy in the Underworld.
So my main question I guess is Why haven't I ever heard of this guy and band before? I mean, I know there were plenty of faux-Bowies at the time, and most of them weren't all that good (though I enjoy the one Jobriath track I have), but Harley's a bit more individual and better than that. And he's still working.
Okay, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as Scott Walker's never really made it across the Atlantic, but I'd HEARD of HIM.
Ah, just skimmed through the '74 album - and it's not nearly as good as the '75 one. The earlier one is a weird mish-mash of the folkier side of T-Rex, with a bit of early Roxy Music (the longer, jammy stuff from the first two albums), and the string arrangement from "Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud." With a bit of MOR pop. And one song that has an intro that's not quite the intro of "Running Gun Blues" at double speed, but it's close enough. So maybe this is why I haven't heard of him - he wasn't all that good except on one album and a single or two . . .
Do you anything about Harley/Cockney Rebel of any interest? As mine is piqued, and even his own official site is just kind of annoying and seems to assume you know him and his work well if you're visiting.

Just wondering,

IWH

Okay, I need to listen to Harley/Cockney Rebel some more, in full, now. The brief "skimming" I mention above didn't do him justice. I was about to write a paragraph here about how disappointed I was to hear more of his stuff after liking the first things I'd heard, but now I'm listening to the first album again, and it's better than I'd thought. So . . . I'll listen to both of them in full and see what I think then.

At this point, for some reason, what's coming to me now is that he has the same relationship to "Glam" as Arthur Lee's Love did to late-60s L.A. hippie-rock -- a kind of after-the-fact of the BIG WAVE summation of the "dark/destructive side" of the period that is OF the style without being fully IN the style. Interesting . . .

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Cockney Rebel - "Sebastian" - The Human Menagerie

Berit got on one of her up-all-night schedules, and has rehearsal early tomorrow, so she stayed up as long as she could (29 hours or so straight) until crashing - now I have the nice computer so I can do this, while at the same time fixing up some cat photos in Photoshop, printing out out a copy of the cut-down Harry in Love script, and punching holes in the just-printed-out Magnificent Ambersons script.

Yeah, we made a start-of-several-projects run to Staples today for paper, inkjet cartridges, binders, pens, sharpies, notebooks, mechanical pencils and the other supplies we need at this point in great volume. Also got the car's tires rotated and wheels aligned. Good productive stuff.

Oh, and listening to the random ten for Friday on the iPod (22,680 songs):

1. "Be True To Your School" - The Beach Boys - Greatest Hits
2. "Universal" - Blur - The Great Escape
3. "Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator" - Sands - Listen to the Sky: The Complete Recordings 1964-1969
4. "Honest With Me" - Bob Dylan - Love & Theft
5. "Once I Had You" - The Carrie Nations - Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
6. "Are You Happy" - Primitive Radio Gods - Rocket
7. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" - Johnny Dresden - New, Clear Music
8. "Danny Boy" - Johnny Cash - Man In Black 1963-69
9. "Suspiria (Main Title)" - Goblin - The Goblin Collection 1975-1989
10. "A Change Is Gonna Come" - Sam Cooke - Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964

So two other people have joined in (besides Timothy Reynolds) on Ambersons - Walter Brandes as Uncle Jack and Shelley Ray as Lucy, and I'm reading someone for George on Sunday - I have a good feeling about that, too. Still waiting to hear from the Isabel and Aunt Fanny I've asked. Waiting on asking more people as the rest of the group depends on the casting of these first roles. Have to get the rest of the people on Harry In Love, too - currently have Josephine Cashman, Ken Simon, and Walter Brandes (again), need two others. Have good ideas for one person, nothing at all for the other . . .

Last Merry Mount on Sunday - have the understudy for that, which is great. Seeing Bitch Macbeth tomorrow night (finally!). Then things are pretty open for me to get my shows together.

Though I will be directing the Penny Dreadful episode for March. And Berit will be dealing with Aaron Baker's live sitcom at The Battle Ranch, 3800 Elizabeth, and house managing the several weeks of UTC#61 shows at Walkerspace as well as making props for Edward Einhorn's adaptation of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle playing in those weeks.

So we'll be busy, no question.

Oh, right, almost forgot . . . cat pictures . . . Hooker ponders (on Berit's foot) . . .

Moni ponders (on the couch) . . .

Moni continues to ponder (about the window) while Hooker has come to a decision in his pondering: He wants a belly rub . . .

Current Mood: restless
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: The Id - "Boil the Kettle, Mother" - Mayhem & Psychosis Vol. 1

Last night, around 2.30 am (so this morning, really, I guess), I finished the script for The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles: A Reconstruction for the Stage. That felt good. Been imagining this project for years now - always figured it would stay an idea or paper project. Glad I have an excuse now (The Film Festival: A Theater Festival) to jump it up into reality.

When done, I sat back, skimmed it briefly, felt good. Then had a snack and a drink, went over it for editorial niceties and spelling for a half-hour or so.

Then, around 3 am, I sent it out to three of the actors I knew I wanted for the show, who had already expressed a specific interest in doing it.

I have other actors in mind, but I have to write more explanatory cover letters about the project before I send the script to them.

Went to bed, slept well.

Got up, went over the script again, this time listening to Bernard Herrmann's original score in my headphones as I went, timing it out, imagining how the scenes would play with the music. Pretty heartbreaking, actually.

I read out the end credits (as Welles does in the film and as I will in the show) several times with the original music cue (unused in the release cut of the film). So beautiful. I had to finally just force myself to stop or I'd have been doing it over and over again all day long.

I started collecting images from the film from where ever I could find them, as research and just for fun, as I can't watch the film right now, and spent some time cleaning them up in Photoshop.

(I have a bootleg DVD copy of the Criterion laserdisc on loan from Michael Gardner, but while it plays in The Brick's DVD player, it doesn't like playing in our PS2 or iMac - the two ways we have of watching DVDs at home right now)

Got an email from Timothy McCown Reynolds saying yes to playing Eugene Morgan (the Joseph Cotten part) - if the rehearsals can be worked out and there are no conflicts. Huzzah! One down.

Kept at work. Got interrupted by Hooker the Cat having one of his epileptic seizures (first one since July, as far as we know). Calmed him down, held him, cleaned up the mess that happens with this. Made sure he was comfy. Went back to work.

More emails about to go out. This is exciting. I'm actually going to do this damned thing.

OK. Now I need to find that understudy for a Pagan Reveler that I need for Merry Mount on Sunday . . .

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Bernard Herrmann - "End Titles" - The Magnificent Ambersons

Two commenters dropped by recently with a pleasant word or two and I wanted to mention them here rather than just responding in the original comments, where it might get lost - especially as I have quite a bit to say about where these comments led me.

"Richard S.," who posts as "RockRichard" at VetVoice.com thanked me for the plug for his "Open Letter to Bill O'Reilly." I was surprised to get even the very brief thanks from him, as he's serving in Afghanistan now, and I think that between that and creating his excellent posts for VetVoice, he's busy enough without typing a few words to a NYC theatre-related (supposedly) blogger. But I'm honored.

I read several military-related blogs created and written by soldiers and veterans - I feel some kind of duty to do so at this point in time. These are voices not heard from nearly enough right now. My brother returned from Iraq a few months ago - injured, not badly - and I haven't talked with him about his service much, and I'm not sure he wants to. Luckily, he seems to be in fine shape all around and is building a good life for himself here at home now.

Since he was first over there, I've kept AntiWar.com in my blog reader - it's not at all the best site, frankly - most of the info there can be found in better form elsewhere - but it's the only place I found that gives a day-by-day running tally of casualties - injuries and deaths - broken down, soldiers and civilians, U.S.A. and Iraq. A headline with the count comes up in my blogreader every morning, and I make sure to look at it and consider my place in the world, and what I am doing, in the light of those numbers (Yesterday - one U.S. soldier dead and another injured in a vehicular accident/32 Iraqis killed/42 Iraqis wounded). Then, yes, I move on. Because you have to. Right?

VetVoice is a good central place for lots of links to other military blogs and sites. I found it through reading one of my favorites, Army of Dude by Alex Horton, an account of his life in Iraq, and since.

So, I read, and I move on and try to make Art-Things. For while the job of these soldiers is unfortunately sometimes necessary, I like to believe that my job is, too - that even the smallest drop in the bucket of creation is a Good Thing for the species, that the accumulation of these unnecessary things called Artworks actually does Make Us Better. Yes, unnecessary, but ultimately for the good, as sometimes for the good, the soldiers are sometimes necessary.

Sometimes necessary.

And if used (and wasted) when not necessary, it is, of course, a fucking crime.

Which reminds me. I've seen plenty written yesterday and today about the 935 "false statements" (where I'm from, we call those "lies") told by members of the current Administration to get us into war. And it should be noted that this only counts the lies told from 2001-2003 - from 9/11 to Iraq invasion - and none of the others that have come up since then.

Again, a fighting man's opinion of this is worth checking out, and HERE is RockRichard's.

Meanwhile, on the Art-Thing front, Alyssa Simon commented with a pointer to a review of Martin Denton's from nytheatre.com, of the current Broadway production of The 39 Steps, that contains this ego-boosting final paragraph:

For me, there's nothing particularly funny about throwing stones at a work of art, even an admittedly pulpy, pop one such as this film by Hitchcock. There's certainly nothing worth $96.25 (the top ticket price) happening on stage at the American Airlines Theatre. If you'd like to watch too few actors create the illusion of a lot going on, ironically or in all seriousness, check out any number of indie theater offerings available around NYC (works by Ian W. Hill and Frank Cwiklik come immediately to mind). And if you'd like to see The 39 Steps, rent it from Netflix.

And Martin's description of the show does indeed sound like everything wrong with a certain kind of theatre, which matters to me because - as the review alludes - I somewhat specialize at times in that kind of theatre.

What is the point of imitating film on stage? Or if not precisely imitating, in recreating, deconstructing, collaging, ironicizing, etc. films in a theatrical context?

I've done this myself, what, four or five times? Something like that. Maybe more. Which is maybe odd for someone who works in various media and who usually expresses the belief that the best work in most art forms is that work that can be only expressed in that form - theatre should do things that only theatre can do, painting should do things that only painting can do, prose should do things that only prose can do, film should do things that only film can do, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

And as someone working on translating Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons to the stage right now, this could cause some concern. If I hadn't worked most of it out already by this point.

First off, The 39 Steps is a terrible choice for a movie to stage, most immediately for one good reason: It's a good movie (I'll return to my concerns on Ambersons in a bit). What's the point? Nothing is added to it by staging it. Much is reduced. If a film is really good. it's almost certainly cinematic enough that the medium itself is unremovably entwined with its greatness.

On the other hand, just staging bad movies, ironically, deconstructed, musicalized or whatever, is not necessarily a better thing. From all accounts, Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical had nothing going for it besides the concept of the title.

When I was doing my original production of the temperance play Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, I was interested in certain qualities of "bad" acting. The company of my play was supposed to be playing an acting company in a post-civilization future, attempting to recreate What Had Been through the few dramatic texts they had. Unfortunately, they don't have good texts, and they're not good actors. But they're committed. So I showed my cast Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda? as an example of the kind of "bad" acting I was looking for. Tim Cusack put it best when he noted that the actors were giving their all to their roles, as much as any talented actor would, but that they didn't have the actual craft to express themselves properly - "Commitment without talent" is what he called it, and he also noted thoughtfully that Glen or Glenda? was a "rich text."

Yes. And that's the point. Glen or Glenda? is probably a bad movie by most standards (I'm too in love with it to tell anymore), but it is a Rich Text. Debbie Does Dallas is not only a bad movie, it's an uninteresting one, not even a very good porno, with a catchy title that sold it, and it is very definitely Not A Rich Text. I staged Glen or Glenda? eventually as part of the EdFest that Frank Cwiklik, Michele Schlossberg and I put together in 2000, and dammit if the film wasn't somehow illuminated in a new light by being put into three dimensions in a tiny theatre. As did all of the Ed Wood scripts we adapted for that festival.

I always wanted to stage the Patrick Swayze film Road House for fun - another Rich Text - but got beaten to it by Tim Haskell. From many accounts, it worked. Other cheesy films, Not Rich Texts, have fared less well. You see them come and go in the OOB listings.

Most of the time, my filmic explorations in theatre have taken the form of a kind of collage, or as I prefer, collision (hence the name of my company) of two or more seemingly unrelated works.

David LM Mcintyre says he wants a nickel every time I use the word "collision" since he first defined us, jokingly, as the leaders of the movement "New Collisionism" back in '91 or so - after a dinner at the Cedar Tavern and a lot of Guinness, it wasn't a joke anymore. It started when David and I collided Disney's The Jungle Book with Coppola's Apocalypse Now and made Even the Jungle. Since then, I've gone back to the form many times, with variations (collide dialogue from 165 films noir with quotes from the Bush Administration, you get World Gone Wrong). Leaving film out of it, collide H.P. Lovecraft with Winsor McCay you get At the Mountains of Slumberland.

Done right, the collision, like a car accident, twists and turns the original and opens up new surfaces, new textures, that were there all the time but that you couldn't see until they were violently wrenched into new forms.

So, what to do with staging Ambersons which is 1) not only a good movie, even in studio-mangled form, but a great one; 2) a rich text; 3) intensely cinematic in a way that seems inseparable from its greatness? Why do this, and what do I hope to do?

Well . . . okay. It's a problem. The main reason for doing it, really, is because I want to see the story in the way that Welles intended to tell it, with the dialogue, scenes, and music that were supposed to be there (and I want others to see it, too). That I can do. What I can't do is recreate his shots, compositions, and editing - all crucial to Welles. So, I'm just reconstructing the story the way Welles wanted it, not the film itself. So I'm immediately pulling back from the cinematic aspects and finding the elements that will not only work, but may be illuminated through staging. Next, I can't recreate anything like the opulence of Welles' settings, and even token gestures that way would be, at most, a halfway measure. So do what theatre does well - abstract it all. Instead of matte paintings, we have shadow puppets. Instead of period automobiles, we have a pile of boxes. Pull it further back from film, and into what not only works but is best in a small black box theatre.

And gradually, it all comes clear. I'm seeing it more and more, and I think this will be a damned fine piece of theatre. It still might be "doing well what ought not to be done at all," as a lot of film and theatre seems to me, but, well, we'll never have the Welles film the way he wanted, and I want to see this. I wrote out a list of 14 actors I'd like in the cast last night (with two others - I'm going to have to look for a Major Amberson and pick another from the pool of the actors I love). I think I'll be finishing my playscript of it by this evening, and then I'll send it out to the people I'd like in it and see what they think.

Enough. Sorry to prattle on, but that's how it goes on here. Either I have too much to say or nothing. or both at the same time, perhaps.

Finally, for pure WTF? enjoyment stimulus, a couple videos. The first showed up on the WFMU blog this morning, headlined "Lou Reed vs. Pavarotti." It's an excerpt from one of the Pavarotti and Friends charity concerts that I missed posting when the big man died. Want an odd mix of voices? Try this (I'm disappointed that Luciano doesn't join in on the second song here, "Walk on the Wild Side" - that may have made my head explode - in a good way):

And since when did "Perfect Day" become, like, the top Lou Reed song? I mean, it's nice and all, but why this one? (was it used in Trainspotting and some other movie or something?)

It's like going to a Bowie concert in the last few years and realizing that his most popular song is going to wind up being "Changes." I mean, yeah, sure, fine song, but the one DB's going to be remembered for? (the other top Bowie songs, judging from crowd response, are "Ziggy Stardust" and "Fame") In any case, the BBC did an all-star version of this Reed song that winds up being charming through some of the unlikely faces/voices that show up in it:

Enjoy.

Current Mood: restless
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Onyx - "Tamaris Khan" - The Pye Story vol. 4

OK. This meme I got from

queencallipygos was too fun and disturbing for a music geek like me to pass up:

Go to this convenient compilation site right here http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php and find the five years you were in high school. For each year, admit to the song that was your favorite at the time, then decide which one you now generally consider to be the best song on the list. Lastly, pick the year's worst song, snarking optional. (I’m adding a category: A song that’s not necessarily your favorite or you hated; more like a guilty-pleasure, “Oh, that’s so typically [insert year here]!”)

So join me then, as we return to that fine fine superfine time in the history of popular musics and aftershocks that be known as The Early-to-Mid-Eighties. Won't you? Thank you.

1982

I generally was still listening to my parents' "old" Beatles and Stones albums primarily. And comedy records, musical theatre albums, movie soundtracks, and other geeky things. I had also started to listen a bit to Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, and other NYC things that had been going on since the mid-70s. Pop of the time didn't make much of an impression, and from that year's top 100, I can see why. Couldn't talk to girls. Very "in-my-head."

FAVORITE THEN: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - "I Love Rock N' Roll" / J. Geils Band - "Centerfold"
FAVORITE NOW: Willie Nelson - "Always on My Mind / The Go-Gos -"We Got the Beat" / The Cars -"Shake It Up"
WORST (AS SEEN NOW): Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder - "Ebony and Ivory" / Christopher Cross -"Arthur's Theme"
"THAT'S SO 1982:" Buckner & Garcia - "Pac-Man Fever"

1983

Went away to the Northfield Mount Hermon School. Made the immediate conscious decision to be more gregarious. Wanted to meet girls. Went to lots of dances. Was thought a good dancer, enjoyed myself a lot. Looking back, I see this was actually a pretty damned good year to be 15 and hitting the dance floor. Started buying 12" single dance mixes. Spent lots of time with very cute and insecure sci-fi/fantasy/gaming geek girls.

FAVORITE THEN: Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) / David Bowie - "Let's Dance" / Stray Cats - "(She's) Sexy & 17" / Golden Earring - "Twilight Zone"
FAVORITE NOW: Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) / Prince - "Little Red Corvette" / Jackson Browne - "Lawyers in Love" / Toni Basil - "Mickey"
WORST (AS SEEN NOW): Journey - "Faithfully" / Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney - "This Girl Is Mine"
"THAT'S SO 1983:" Men Without Hats - "The Safety Dance" / Greg Kihn Band - "Jeopardy"

1984

Stopped going to dances so much. Started meeting girls through various creative pursuits. I think the music suddenly sucking mightily might have had something to do with it, too. Was also getting more into proto-punk, post-punk, new wave, and hardcore (oddly, actual punk punk would have to wait until college and my education from roommate/best friend/Crash-Course Guitar Hero, Johnny Dresden). Started hanging out with goth and punk girls (oh, I sighed so much over that trenchcoated punk girl with doe eyes like a Jaime Hernandez drawing, who played every kind of saxophone there is and her hair was perfect). Didn't listen to most of what was out there in the "real" world. I seem to have not missed much.

FAVORITE THEN: Prince - "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" / Nena - "99 Luftballons" / Cyndi Lauper - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" / Yes - "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
FAVORITE NOW: Prince - "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" / Eurythmics - "Here Comes the Rain Again" / The Go-Gos - "Head Over Heels"
WORST (AS SEEN NOW): Steve Perry - "Oh Sherrie" / Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - "Say Say Say" / Ray Parker Jr. - "Ghostbusters"
"THAT'S SO 1984:" Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" / Quiet Riot - "Cum On Feel the Noize"

1985

Stopped being very gregarious. Theatre, writing short stories and poetry, and photography took over my life. Spent all my time in Silverthorne Theatre, at my desk, in the darkroom, or hanging with a female friend in one of the dorm smokers (back when a prep school like this had a room in every dorm where the 15-18-year-old students could go smoke whenever they wanted, with parental permission), or wandering the dark woods around campus. Mooned over a number of different girls I didn't think would give me the time of day - years later, discovered to my horror than more than a few of them were doing the same about me (idiot! idiot! IDIOT!). The school year 1984-1985 is an odd blur in my memory, with almost no specifics, unusual for me (and I wasn't doing drugs, though everyone around me was). Started a radio show on WNMH, first called "Transintercontinental Doormat," then, when I briefly teamed with my late friend William Hill McCarter, it was "The Ian W. Hill McCarter Show," then finally "Ugly Radio." Played a wild mix of classic rock, no wave, show tunes, spoken word, minimalism, and lots of Frank Zappa and Firesign Theatre. Nothing you would have heard on the radio otherwise. Got picked for the school's Performing Dance company, one of the coolest cliques (the only really cool one in the creative arts) at the place - and it also counted as a varsity sport, so I didn't have to keep doing things I hated to fulfill a sports requirement. In retrospect, had a lot of friends; wouldn't have thought so at the time.

FAVORITE THEN: Dire Straits - "Money for Nothing" / Prince & The Revolution - "Raspberry Beret"
FAVORITE NOW: Bruce Springsteen - "I'm On Fire" / Don Henley - "The Boys of Summer" / 'Til Tuesday - "Voices Carry"
WORST (AS SEEN NOW): Harold Faltermeyer - "Axel F" / U.S.A. for Africa - "We Are the World" / Starship - "We Built This City"
"THAT'S SO 1985:" Murray Head - "One Night in Bangkok" / a-Ha - "Take On Me"

1986

More theatre. More radio. More writing. More confidence. Got a varsity letter in Dance (yes, really). Slowly discovered that I - who saw myself as the dirty, nasty, ugly, unpopular outsider artist - was actually quite a popular and liked guy. Had no idea how to deal with this, so didn't (still can't - I enter almost every situation assuming everyone dislikes me and I have to find a way to please them). Hung more with hippie girls, discovered what Berit calls my "fetish" for strong, athletic-bodied, plain-speaking, dirty-blonde New England girls. Girlfriends since have had at least three of these qualities, go figure (just realized that). Went away to college in NYC, and everything exploded wonderfully in color, and light, and noise, and movement. A good time to be 18 in NYC.

FAVORITE THEN: Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer" / Prince & The Revolution - "Kiss"
FAVORITE NOW: Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls" / Prince & The Revolution - "Kiss"
WORST (AS SEEN NOW): Paul McCartney - "Spies Like Us" / Dionne & Friends - "That's What Friends Are For"
"THAT'S SO 1986:" Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus" / Eddie Murphy - "Party All the Time"

Hmmmn. More than I intended to share. These lists brought back a whole lot in an odd Proustian rush. Music will do that - at least it does it to me.

Which gives me a link to some silly photos from the Rock Band party B & I went to over at Daniel and Sally McKleinfeld's last night . . .

Berit, as much as she tries to deny it, is the star guitarist/bassist of any fake group she's in . . .

And there was a pretty strong lineup for the fake band "Barbary Coast," with Sally & Daniel McKleinfeld, David Polenberg, and Berit on vocals (she's VERY accurate, but she can sing only either in an operatic soprano or like Grace Slick) - here seen figuring out what song to try next . . .

We all switched out on instruments from song to song, so I was allowed to try the drums when I could play them on "Easy" without negatively effecting game play . . .

But I sometimes wound up having to keep up above my skill level, and there were intense periods of sweat and concentration (here with Jenny Tavis, David, and Sally acting as groupie) . . .

Sometime we gotta see if we can do this on the big BIG screen at The Brick . . .

Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Momus - "Going for a Walk with a Line" - Folktronic

And a joyous MLK Day to you all.

It's being pretty well covered in the blogosphere in any case, but rather than quote or embed any part of the "I Have a Dream" speech (time, familiarity, and the beauty of MLK's voice and cadences have worn off its prickly edges more than they should), I instead recommend reading the transcript of his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, from April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, NYC -- reprinted in full by Jason Grote at his blog - thanks, Jason, I've never read this in full before, only excerpts.

I also dug this photo from If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger . . ., in their continuing "When Legends Gather" series.

I've been saving a few links of interest; time to unload them, I think:

World's Greatest Guitar Amp Name - if I had $5,000 to drop on a guitar amp . . . I probably still wouldn't get this because I just couldn't fathom spending that kind of money on a guitar amp, but I'd be glad to know it exists out there . . . and it's probably pretty damned good, actually, given the company's rep and so forth.

Over at VetVoice, RockRichard, an NCO currently serving in Afghanistan, writes "An Open Letter to Bill O'Reilly" regarding Mr. O'Reilly's statement that there are no homeless vets (and his corollary that if there are, they're all addicts and it's their own damned fault).

A nice bit of irony, courtesy of Neatorama. Also, from the same site, a steampunk laptop!

And finally . . . since it turns out I missed this yesterday . . .

Happy 62nd birthday, David Lynch!

Current Mood: apathetic
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: The Aardvarks - "That's Your Way" - Sixties Rebellion Vol 6: The Biker

And a day off . . .

Crazy last few days. Got Merry Mount up and running just fine in the Hawthornicopia at Metropolitan Playhouse. Berit made up the maypole for it on Thursday and Friday before we opened Friday evening (so we had it mostly finished for Thursday night's final rehearsal). It became far more elaborate than I had anticipated - B got into it with her usual prop-making fervor and did something quite grand with it. But it did take two afternoons to make rather than one. We spent Thursday working on it at The Brick, toted it to The Battle Ranch for rehearsal, then kept it overnight in Petey Plymouth (I tell you, I don't know if I'll ever be able to not have a vehicle that can carry something 10' long inside it - it comes in really handy). Then we schlepped it over to Metropolitan Playhouse early afternoon Friday, and B went back to work finishing it in their lobby . . .

(while wearing my 1988 Devo tour shirt - which has been through a lot by now and still holds up!)

We weren't sure if we would need more flowers for the maypole or not, so we didn't get any that morning at the 99-cent store near us that we knew had them. B figured there were places close to the theatre where we could get them if we needed them.

There weren't.

I spent 90 minutes trudging around looking for the fake flowers B needed to finish the maypole (and an hour before that getting the props I had expected to get), finally taking the L train to Williamsburg and getting them there. I was not in a good mood when I returned, and my feet were blistered up pretty good actually (my current shoes seem to be great except for long walks). I was also nervous, as I had expected to have more time to go over my lines -- I had to understudy one of the speaking parts on opening night. So I did what I could with some help supplied by one of the actors in the show, Liz Toft, who works for a certain beverage company . . .

So, fueled by nerves and Red Bull, I did an acceptable job and the show went well. Went even better last night. Two more to go.

I got home from Friday night's show, sighing, thinking "Thank god I can sleep in tomorrow!" Then I remembered - B & I had to tech the new Penny Dreadful episode the next morning at 9.00 am. Oh, great (B wasn't happy either when I reminded her).

So we got up and did that. I didn't get to see the final performance last night, unfortunately (I was still stuck cleaning up after Merry Mount, but I got to see a semi-runthru at tech, and I got a few nice pictures:

The Magical Mister E (Clive Dobbs) checks the house before performing "The Great Switcheroo" for the first-(and last-) ever time.

Co-writer Matt Gray as Pinkerton detective Leslie Caldwell, Detective of the Supernatural (as seen in Hearst newspapers!).

Jessica Savage as Penny, magician's assistant, argues with her boss and lover, The Magical Mister E.

Harry Houdini (Patrick Pizzolorusso) is consulted by The Amazing Viernik (Fred Backus) and Caldwell in their search for The Magical Mister E (and, tangentially, a vampire).

Jessica Savage as Penny.

Aaron Baker as Bob Ford, Pinkerton agent, apparent time traveler trying to get home, and vampire victim.

Penny and Mister E argue again as director Christiaan Koop takes notes at tech.

I heard it went well last night. I wish I'd been able to light it better - it was okay, but I was really happy with my lighting of the first two episodes, and for this one, as expected, I had to use the lighting plot currently up for Bitch Macbeth, which is great for that show, but not for much else in the radically rearranged Brick at the moment (the seating platforms are gone and a large acting platform is in their place, with the light/sound boards in front of it, and the audience seated in two rows facing each other against the brick walls, with playing area up the middle). I did okay.

If you haven't seen any of the episodes of Penny Dreadful, you can check out the videos and synopses at the link above. It's worth it. I'm looking forward to directing the March episode.

Bitch Macbeth seems to be doing pretty damned well, too - I think the Time Out review helped (as well as nytheatre.com). We were going to see it tonight, but, for various reasons, I think we're going to wait now until next week (hope we can get seats . . .).

I've started doing some research for the graphic design of the postcards for the Gemini CollisionWorks shows coming this year (The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles, Spell, Harry In Love, Invisible Republic) - I want the cards to look like great dust jacket designs from various eras of publishing (Harry should look very 1960s - Catch-22 or Portnoy's Complaint, maybe; Ambersons very 1900s), so I've been reading up on these designs. And as you can see here, Hooker and Moni are helping with the research . . .

**********

I got a call this morning from my mom to tell me that my uncle John, her brother, had died. I hadn't seen or spoken to Johnny in years, for a number of good reasons, but we were close, he, his late brother David, and I, when I was growing up, and I have many fond memories of those times, all of which are seeming to come back today. So, not a cheery day.

I was more unhappy for my grandfather, who has lost both of his sons and a stepson who was very close to him (two in the past year). I talked to him and his wife, Jennie, for a bit earlier, and they're hanging on, but it's not easy, I'm sure.

I haven't thought very well of my uncle for a long time, but, yes, all those memories are coming back today, and I'm glad that those good times seem a lot more vibrant and real to me now than anything that has happened since.

It's much better that way.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: The Modern Lovers - "Roadrunner (live) - Precise Modern Lovers Order

Last night we had some fine fine runthrus of Merry Mount over at The Battle Ranch. We got it down.

Tonight, we open.

So . . .

Four performances only!

Merry Mount

by Trav S.D., based on "The May-Pole of Merry Mount" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

directed by Ian W. Hill

part of Hawthornicopia at Metropolitan Playhouse

with Eric Bailey (except Jan. 18), Irina Belkovskaya, Danny Bowes, Patrick Cann, Michael Criscuolo, Ian W. Hill, Doua Moua, Robert Pinnock, Brandi Robinson, Julia C. Sun, Elizabeth Toft

Friday, Jan. 18 at 7.00 pm; Saturday, Jan. 19 at 10.00 pm; Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7.00 pm; Sunday, Jan. 27 at 1.00 pm.

at Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 East 4th Street, between Avenues A & B

$18 (AEA members free)

(note - Merry Mount is a 15-minute-long opener for the 50-minute Little Edie and The Marble Faun by David Lally, which you should stay for if you're coming to see the first one . . .)

Berit spent quite some time yesterday at The Brick making up the maypole, which is quite impressive (and its 10-foot height will be even more impressive on the Metropolitan's stage) - I completely forgot to take pictures of it, though I brought the camera, but I will today - there's still some work to do on it before opening.

So, as to this Friday morning's random iPod (22,463 songs) listening:

1. "I've Told Every Little Star" - Linda Scott - Mulholland Drive soundtrack
2. "Gamblin' Blues" - John Hammond - You Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover
3. "Hey Joe (live) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child
4. "Lookin' for a Place to Park" - Slim Galliard - Laughing In Rhythm, #2 - Groove Juice Special
5. "All the King's Horses" - Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (deluxe edition)
6. "Seven Colors" - Smilee - Smilee
7. "Handle With Care" - Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1
8. "Kung Fu Girl Versus Robot Man" - The End - The End
9. "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry" - The Caravelles - Best of the Girl Groups
10. "Living in the Past" - ZZ & De Maskers - Nederbeat The B-Sides 4

And as for cat photos, Three Moods of Hooker - goofy . . .

. . . stunned . . .

and at rest (with friend) . . .

Ah, well, soon time to get moving - we're going to the theatre early to finish work on the maypole (which will be a fun parking situation, I'm sure) - or rather, B will finish that while I run around for some last prop pieces I still don't have.

And, as I'm understudying a part with lines tonight (I'm otherwise an extra in this), I have to go over my lines. Again and again.

More tomorrow.

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: Richard & Linda Thompson - "Walking on a Wire" - Watching the Dark

Tech for Merry Mount in a few hours. Still don't know how I'm dealing with most of the costuming issues, and we open in two days. Well, I'll have to figure it out today and tomorrow, however. I'm trying to let it go and not have a over-the-top panic attack about that, which would be my usual reaction, even though I've done all I can about it right now, and there's nothing else I can do until later today. So, I'm trying, with some success, to just sit back and relax until it's time to go to tech. Listened to The Fugs' song "Try to Be Joyful" several times, and that helped, too. If Tuli and Ed can preach it, I can try and follow it.

Rehearsal for the show went extremely well last night. No problem with any of the acting, and now no problem with the dancing. Staged the maypole dance, and it went together quick, easy, and well. Much faster than expected. Good job from the actors - mostly new people I haven't worked with before, but I hope to some more in the next year. I have to understudy a part on opening night, so I worked that scene with Michael Criscuolo, and found what I should be doing (which is very different from the actor playing the part the rest of the time - we're quite different types).

I'm less concerned about some other things as I was - we have the basic maypole materials, and the props can be acquired easily. Just the damned costumes. If worse comes to worse, I can just forgo the actual "period" style in favor of a somewhat stylized black&white for Puritans/bright colors for Pagans that will do, but I'd like to avoid that. We'll see. I will try to be joyful.

Picture of my main workspace these days, that I wanted to include with the last post (taken just after the conversation there and before making the post), but couldn't load it up just then:

And, for no reason than to make me feel better and because we have a surplus of these now, here's a photo of our cats, Still Life with Cats, Basket, Book, and Guitar:

Tech at 2 pm. Wish me luck. I'm going to go spend an hour with the headphones on listening to music that will make me happy. The next song that came up random on iTunes after The Fugs was Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers doing "Dodge Veg-a-matic." Trying to be joyful.

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: Gravesend
Current Music: The Fugs - "Try To Be Joyful" - The Fugs Final CD (Part 1)

Or: Scene from the Life of a Director/Adaptor

IAN and BERIT at home, in the living room. BERIT is at one computer, playing a videogame. IAN is at another, typing in and adapting the transcript of Orson Welles' original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons into playscript form. He reaches a scene description in the book, and is thinking about how to transfer it into a stage direction, when he reads a footnote on the description. He frowns, and looks back and forth from the footnote to the scene description. Thinks a moment, turns around in his chair towards BERIT.

IAN: Hmmn.

BERIT: What?

IAN: Okay, so there’s an anachronism in Ambersons, and I don’t know whether to keep it in the script. I mean, it’s Welles’ anachronism, and somewhat deliberate.

BERIT: Yeah?

IAN: So there’s this scene where George and Lucy are walking down a street, and they pass a movie theatre where you can see several posters for early films playing there. And there’s an in-joke from Welles. One of the posters is for a Jack Holt western. Jack Holt was a silent movie star, and the father of Tim Holt, who’s walking past playing George Amberson Minifer. Thing is, the scene is supposed to take place in 1905, and none of the films you see the posters for would have been made yet. Actually it’s way too early for movies in those style to be advertised that way at all. One of them definitely wasn’t made until 1910 to 1912 – they mention it it the footnotes of the book here, but they don’t point out the anachronism.

(IAN checks later and also discovers that Jack Holt’s first film was made in 1914)

IAN: Oddly enough, I just found out in that Val Lewton documentary last night that Jack Holt was still around in the ‘40s and wound up appearing in a couple of those Lewton films that were made on the Ambersons set pieces the following few years, the ones that put RKO back in the black after Welles nearly bankrupted them, when they put “Showmanship Not Genius” on their corporate stationary as a "Fuck You" to Welles and brought Lewton in to make cheap horror films that would actually make money. Anyway, it’s Welles’ anachronism, and I’ve been sticking to Welles, even when he makes mistakes or does clumsy stuff, and I’ve always liked the touch of those posters in the scene and wanted to put it in the show . . . so . . . you think I should keep it?

BERIT is thinking – she smiles playfully.

BERIT: I don’t suppose anyone in our cast would be related to a silent movie star . . ?

Beat.

IAN: Oh, yeah.

BERIT: ‘Cause then . . .

IAN: Oh god, right.

If you haven’t realized – since IAN and BERIT think the same way and aren’t having to say it out loud – they’ve decided that the perfect thing would be to have someone in the cast with a silent movie connection, and they would find a poster (preferably anachronistic) for a film with that connection.

BERIT: That would be seriously serving up some extra-nerdy with a side helping of geeksauce.

IAN: Yeah, but if there was I’d have to DO it.

BERIT: Well of COURSE! I mean this whole thing is an exercise in geekery.

IAN is amused by the conversation and starts asking BERIT to repeat some of what she said so he can take it down.

BERIT: I just want to point out that the geeky-ass idea of finding out if anyone in the cast was related to a silent movie star was MY geeky idea.

IAN: Yes, well, I had actually THOUGHT of it before you mentioned it, but I had discarded the possibility as too far-fetched, so I wasn’t even going to bring it up. Now of course I HAVE to.

BERIT: Yeah.

IAN turns back to the script, thinks a moment, then types the stage direction: “GEORGE and LUCY, at this point in their walk, pass a movie theatre – NOTE TO CAST: please let us know if you have any familial connection to anyone who acted in or made silent movies, we’ll want to use posters from those, if possible.”

Wish us luck on that idea . . .

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Gravesend

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CollisionWorks

an occasional view of internal craft and external insanity

Recent Entries

Bye Bye Life

Cleaning Out the Digital Bins

Friday Frustration Random Ten and Cats

Damn it All. Damn Everything But the Circus . . .

Unlikely Musical Numbers

Judging What Maybe Shouldn't Be

And Special Guest Star Ian W. Hill as Bob Slebodnick!

Friday Holding Patterns - Random Ten, Cats, Whatever

Thursday Electric Six Video Overload for Those Who Chose Cheese

Four or Five Crazee Shows

Oh Dear, Look What They've Done to the Blues

Friday Standard Cat and Random Ten Post or So

News on the March

Stimulus/Response

When We All Wang Chunged Our Own Bad Selves

The Sleeper Must Awaken

Regroup! Regroup!

Merry Mount and Your Normal Friday Ranch Stash

Try To Be Joyful

There Will Always be a Geekland