CollisionWorks

Completely lost track of yesterday being Friday, and missed doing the Random Ten. Was at The Brick for a moderately early tech yesterday, then spent the rest of the day there helping other shows and trying to spend time on my lines for Ten Nights, without much success there (lots of distractions come up). Last night we rehearsed on the riverbarge itself, which was quite something, and today we go up at 4.00 pm.

We'll be good, I just have one problem - I really really REALLY hurt my ankle last night, and it's difficult to walk. Actually, for a couple of hours, it was impossible to walk. It felt like I dislocated it (is that even possible? it felt just like dislocating a knee, which I know all too well) - I just took a step to move a set piece, something went "pop" and then felt like it "popped" back into place, but it left me hopping. I spent the rest of rehearsal directing and throwing my lines in from a recumbent position in the first row. As when something like this has happened before, it becomes painful to try and direct while like this - I realize that I'm actually a pretty active director, and I want to be on my feet, moving around, gesturing, demonstrating, pacing. Sitting (or lying) down and trying to direct feels horribly, painfully restrictive. Still got it done, just with annoyance and imprecision.

Cold packs have improved things somewhat - actually, I just stood up to test it after writing that and I can now put weight on the foot without pain, I just can't move it much. I can now walk with a bad limp, which is better than the hopping and Igor-foot-dragging I was reduced to last night.

So, my character, Mr. Romaine, in Ten Nights walks with a cane now. Works just fine for him.

So, here's what's came up this morning on the iPod while checking blogs and icing the ankle:

1. "Rolf Torring" - Gert Wilden & Orchestra - I Told You Not To Cry
2. "Louisiana 1927" - Randy Newman - Good Old Boys
3. "Baby Workout" - Jackie Wilson - Land of 1000 Dances vol. 2
4. "Tar Kissers" - Throwing Muses - Limbo
5. "High Flying Bird" - The Ill Wind - Flashes
6. "Catherine's Wheel" - Denny Laine - Psychedalia: Rare Blooms from the English Summer of Love
7. "Lions After Summer" - Scritti Politi - Early
8. "Please Love Me" - Ike & Tina Turner - Bold Soul Sister
9. "Something Living Under My Bed" - Riot .303 - Crowd Control 7" EP
10. "Fish on the Sand" - George Harrison - Cloud Nine

Berit's still out cold, so I'll hop and cane myself over to Alice & Ben's deli next door for some breakfast and coffee fixins - we're out of everything here, been so busy with the Clown Fest and Ten Nights the home hasn't been maintained too well. It'll be a good test to see if I can pull off this "walking" thing . . .

But she's the beloved lead of two of my very VERY favorite films in the world, so I feel a strange loss in any case, and I'd feel remiss in not at least suggesting that if you haven't seen either of these great films, that you do check them out.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, written, produced, and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, features Kerr in her 6th or 7th film, the one that made her a real star. She plays three roles in three time periods, women close to the main character, Clive Wynne-Candy, a slow but basically well-meaning military man, as the film spans 40 years of his life and army career. Above and below she is Edith Hunter, and English governess in Berlin who seeks Clive Candy's help in combatting anti-English propaganda in Germany during the Boer War.

Powell, as he writes in his two autobiographies, A Life in Movies and Million Dollar Movie, was quite in love with Kerr, and it shows in every frame she's in -- even if, as you can hear in his excellent commentary on the Criterion DVD, he took a perverse pleasure in dressing her in a horrible collection of period hats. I believe he says of this one below that he can imagine her taking off from a Heathrow runway in it:

And then there's another Technicolor masterpiece from Powell & Pressburger ("The Archers"):

Kerr plays Sister Clodagh, it's a story of nuns setting up a mission in the Himalayas, it's amazingly erotic for a 1947 film, it's one of the most beautiful color movies ever shot, and if you haven't seen it, I wouldn't want to say more. See it.

Looking over her filmography again, I see a lot of films I've never seen and probably will never see, but for Edith Hunter, Barbara Wynne, Angela "Johnny" Cannon, and Sister Clodagh (and, maybe, just a little bit, for her turn in the original Casino Royale), she'll always have a place in my heart.

So, we saw Dylan on the latest installment of "The Never-Ending Tour." I was wary, as I'd heard he can vary night-to-night from being great to being awful, and you have a 50/50 chance as to what you get. We got a good Dylan doing a great set, pretty close to the one LISTED HERE at a Dylan page, with a two or three different songs (no "Stuck inside of Mobile..." but we got "Tangled Up in Blue" for example) -- and I kinda wish I hadn't looked at that site, as I saw that back on August 26 he played a concert in New Zealand containing all four of the songs that I really wanted to hear tonight but had resigned myself to probably not getting (and didn't). I wish Dylan had played guitar some more - he just did the first three songs, playing some surprisingly (to me at least) fine leads, then stuck to organ the rest of the show, where he did bop and dance around with some unexpected abandon.

Okay, so I've seen Bob Dylan live. Tick that off the list.

Costello did a nice short (40-minute) opening set with a few "hit" numbers, some lesser-known, but fun ones (a nice singalong medley of "Radio Sweetheart" and "Jackie Wilson Said" just like he did HERE), and a whole bunch of brand new songs that I think frustrated some of the crowd. When he called out, "You seem like a friendly crowd, would you like to hear another new one?" there was a big "YEAH!" from the house followed by several clear, individual statements of "No!" So he premiered a song he hadn't done in public yet, co-written with Loretta Lynn, from the point of view of a first wife to her ex's new wife - and as it goes along you realize that the first wife is The First Wife, Eve. Good one.

Anyway, since I'll be on the road in the morning, and busy all day, a very early Friday Random Ten, from an iPod now to stuffed to add anything else into:


1. "Maria Maria" - Santana & The Project G&B - Supernatural
2. "Some of Your Lovin'" - Dusty Springfield - Dusty Volume 2
3. "Pulled Up" - Talking Heads - Talking Heads 77
4. "My Mistake Was to Love You" - Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross - Diana & Marvin
5. "Ebb Tide" - The Righteous Brothers - Anthology (1962-1974)
6. "Farmer's Daughter" - The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA
7. "The Real Thing" - Betty Everett - Let It Be Me - Best Of Betty Everett
8. "Josie" - Steely Dan - Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story
9. "Let's Talk About Girls" - The Chocolate Watchband - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
10. "We're Outta Here" - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Alligator Records 25th Anniversary Collection

And indeed, Berit and I are outta here early tomorrow morning, heading back to NYC to be there for the start of the Second International Clown Theater Festival at The Brick, which opens tomorrow evening with a parade and pie fight. Then B & I are on design and tech running for a good deal of the Fest. Busy busy busy.

So I got interested in finding live clips of the early Roxy Music and wound up with 8 great-to-okay videos from three TV appearances in 1973, which I've ganged into a 36-minute long mini-concert. Some of it is good, bits of it are amazing. God I've seriously grown to love this band (and while there are many guitarists in the world I love more than Phil Manzanera - Frank Zappa, Richard Thompson, to name two - if there was one guitarist I wish I could play like, it's him).

Here's Roxy Music, 1973:

1. Remake/Remodel

2. Ladytron

3. Editions of You

4. Street Life

5. Virginia Plain

6. Do the Strand

7. In Every Dream Home a Heartache

8. Grey Lagoons

The Band:

Bryan Ferry - vocals, electric piano, guitar, harmonica, music and lyrics

Phil Manzanera - guitar, backing vocals

Andy Mackay - woodwinds, keyboard, backing vocals

Brian Eno - synthesizers, electronics, treatments, tapes, backing vocals (except on "Street Life")

John Gustafson - bass

Paul Thompson - drums

Eddie Jobson - synthesizers, electric violin (on "Street Life")

Enjoy.

So instead of seeing a wonderful show (I saw it in an earlier incarnation - if you see that it comes back, it's great, check it out), I'm sitting around home doing a Random 10 yet again.

Well, I've been trying to cut a lot out of the iPod, and was making headway, but then I wound up adding a whole load, so now the damn thing is as full as its ever been (only 591 MB left of 74 GB), so . . . more cutting is needed.

As for right now, here's what comes up randomly of 20,655 songs:


1. "Mister Ghost Goes to Town" - The John Buzon Trio - Inferno!
2. "Is It True?" - King Dapper Combo - Big Dumb Fun Party Music
3. "A New Career in a New Town" - David Bowie - Low
4. "The One in the Middle" - Manfred Mann - The Best of the EMI Years
5. "Ten O'Clock" - ? & The Mysterians - The Best Of ? & The Mysterians Cameo Parkway 1966-1967
6. "Crazy 'Bout You Baby" - Ike & Tina Turner - Bold Soul Sister
7. "Try a Little Harder" - The Fidels - Northern Soul: Keep the Faith - The Cream of Rare Soul
8. "Puzzlin' Evidence" - Talking Heads - True Stories
9. "A Gift" - Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby
10. "Why" - Yoko Ono - Onobox 1: London Jam

A little . . . familiar, this one. Not enough odd things I don't know all that well to break things up. So it goes.

In the iPod now: 20,560 songs, 72.66 GB. I'm trying to cut down all the fat more and more as I add things. Doing pretty good, eliminating 2 or 3 songs for every one that I add, but at some point I'm going to run out of ones to cut . . . Oh, well, here's ten for the morning:

1. "Sandals in the Sand" - The John Shakespeare Orchestra - Hotel Easy Vol. 4: Saint Tropez—Paco's Poolside Bar

Dopy 60s Brit instrumental. This will go when I get to "S" as I cull out stuff from the iPod (I'm in the middle of "O" currently). If I remember when I get there.
2. "Shut Up" - Eddie Warner - Le Jazzbeat! 2

Non-dopy 60s instrumental, probably English. Now this is the kind I like that I get these compilations for (and end up with a handful of ones like #1 above). Exciting, spy-movie-esque, with a hint of moog. Cool.
3. "Memphis" - The Rolling Stones - Clean Cuts - Vol. 2

Pleasant loping early cover by some cleancut-sounding young men. Mick seems to have almost all the lyrics, with an exception or two ("the phone boy took the message and he wrote it on the wall"?).
4. "Peppermint Twist (Part 1)" - Joey Dee & The Starlighters - Land Of 1000 Dances vol. 1

Hmmmn. Maybe The Brick theatre needs its own dance step and theme song. "The Metropolitan Hop?" "Do the Brick (parts 1 & 2)?" "Lorimer Slide?"
5. "What Is Life" - George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

I miss George. This album can be a mixed bag, with the Spector production doing great by some songs (like this one) and swamping others, but if I had to pick one album by an ex-Beatle for a desert island or something . . . well, this is in the lead, I think.
6. "Empty Heart" - The Mods - So Cold!!! Unearthed 60s Sacramento Garage

A fine slice of spiteful teen-angst trash. Yeah, from the "Mods." From Sacramento, CA.
7. "Monks" - King Missle - Failure

Underscored humorous monologue that gets tiresome quickly then comes back with a twist that makes it all worth it.
8. "Pills" - New York Dolls - New York Dolls

A favorite. If you're going to cover Bo Diddley, you have to be at least this good.
9. "No More Now" - The Smoke - Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond, Vol. 4

More teen trash.
10. "Seattle" - Public Enemy Ltd. - Happy?

(aka "Get Out of My World") Ah, yes. Memories of the 80s. John Lydon remains John Lydon, slick production or not.

God, tempus fugits away when you're wasting time online. I have to get over to The Brick to clean up the place for the weekend and work on my lines there, as there's something more effective about working on lines in a theatre itself than at home (luckily, I still seem to have Hobo down and In Moscow is coming back a lot faster than I was afraid it would - I last performed it in 2001). There's a rehearsal in there from 12 - 3, but even sitting in the dressing room or behind the bar is better for doing line work, I've found, then being at home and easily distracted. So, off I go like a hoid of toitles . . .

I know that some of you may demur, understandably, but at least please try to throw a little "Arrrr" in somewhere in your day, for the hell of it.

Back at boarding school, about 23 years ago, I and a group of friends were into this "pirate voice" thing way before it became the popular craze with the young folks it is today (ah, youth, with their big pants, and their tattoos and their rock and rolls . . .), until we discovered that talking in pirate voices was a sure way to have women avoid us -- as it was put to us (somewhat as an ultimatum) by our female friends who would no longer eat lunch with us if they heard so much as an "Ay, matey" at the table: "Chicks don't dig pirate voices."

This seems to be one of those not-examined-enough lines in the gender wars, a sure line between what men and women appreciate, along with The Three Stooges and the music of Frank Zappa (h/t Tom X. Chao). Luckily for me, Berit is the exception who digs the Stooges, some Zappa music (anything other than "the noodley jazz shit"), and will tolerate the pirate voice, and sometimes even join in.

If you yourself would like to participate, but are inexperienced in this, here is (h/t Language Log) a fine fine superfine instructional video for your dining and dancing pleasure:

And for the advanced student (and I know I've posted this before, but what the hell), you can try singing along with Mr. George 'Arrison:

That is, a free festival from the Williamsburg Performance Alliance, where seven performance spaces/organizations in Williamsburg will open their doors all day and night to host free performances.

The home page is HERE (though it's not entirely updated as I write, and still has a lot of things from last year on there, but I'm told it'll be all set shortly).

The Brick will be participating on the first weekend in the evenings with their week of productions of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays.

And also . . .

Gemini CollisionWorks will be participating on Saturday, September 22, with two free performances. At 3.00 pm, the return of

directed by Ian W. Hill

performed by Ian W. Hill, Rasheed Hinds, Roger Nasser, and Jessica Savage. 70 minutes long, no intermission. Not appropriate for kids. Really.

Returning from August, and (we hope) prior to more shows later this year, you have a chance to see this popular comedy for free now. It's our "loss leader," cause we think you'll wanna come back and pay the sawbuck later, and bring your friends . . .

(more info on this show below)

and at 5.00 pm:

Ian W. Hill performs the monologue In Moscow (A Moscow Hamlet) by Anton Chekhov, translated by Carol Rocamora. 20 minutes long.

Nasty, funny, bittersweet, tragic, satiric - the essence of Chekhov in 20 minutes, as an aging bohemian examines his own boredom, his own flaws, and his talent for appearing talented while knowing nothing in a cultural world that knows even less than he. As appropriate (or more?) to Williamsburg in 2007 as to Moscow in 1891.

Did we mention they're FREE?

Come on by and check us out, and go by some of the other participating spaces before or after and see what they're doing (also participating on both weekends: Vampire Cowboys/The Battleranch and Soundance at The Stable; participating on the second weekend: Triskalion Arts and WAX).

My shows are at

The Brick

575 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

right by the L Train (Lorimer) and G Train (Metropolitan/Grand) stops

WARNING: Both shows feature the brief smoking of (legal in NYC but potentially annoying) herbal cigarettes onstage. It's actually important to both shows and the characters in them and it just looks silly mimed. Hope that's okay with you.

**********

The Hobo Got Too High by Marc Spitz

directed by Ian W. Hill

3.00 pm - Saturday, September 22 -- The Brick

Bug Blowmonkey loves music. Bug Blowmonkey loves a woman. Bug Blowmonkey loves cocaine. Two of these things are good for him, but the other one is messing him up. Bad. Wanna take a guess which one? Bug knows the blow is taking him down a dark path, but can't quit it on his own. Luckily, he has a spirit guide to help him out of his hole, and towards the "light" he seeks: Marvin Gaye. Granted, Marvin is also a drug-addled paranoiac (and dead for 20 years), but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to spirit guides, it seems. Will Bug, with the help of Marvin Gaye and a stuffed buffalo in The Museum of Natural History, be able to overcome his addiction and fight the haunting, taunting spirit of the girlfriend he lost to win the heart of a new woman in his life, who may be able to save him from himself? Will he find his "light?" Will he figure out why every person he sleeps with has a tail? Will this whole story be told in a fast, jumpy, non-linear style, full of hysterical one-liners and astonishing situations?

At least three of these questions will be answered in a viewing of Marc Spitz's play, The Hobo Got Too High, staged by Ian W. Hill. Spitz -- often described, probably to the point of his being tired of it, as "a downtown Oscar Wilde" -- is known for a distanced, ironic, comic sensibility in his plays. Hill -- often described, with deep inaccuracy, as a protege of Richard Foreman -- is known for a stylized, abstracted, presentational directorial style. What do these two share? A deep love and understanding of rock and roll music, and a hidden romantic, sentimental side. Put them together in this play, and you get a production that feels like a great eclectic mix tape, moving from the lugubrious sadness of Leonard Cohen to the jumpiness of The Velvet Underground to the wistfulness of Michael Nesmith to the pure pop of The Lightning Seeds to the deep soul of Marvin Gaye.

The Hobo Got Too High is an hour of sex, drugs, rock and roll, romance, non-sequiturs, vast numbers of curse words, retractable penises, and an appraisal of Diane Lane's breasts. Come see it FOR FREE in the WPA Free Fest!

So, inside the cut (which I hate, but I keep being reminded that cuts are "polite"), the first part of the show.

( 14 fragments of a World Gone Wrong )

Ah, yes . . . and here's Mateo, Art, and Alyssa (hidden behind Mateo) doing their number behind the scrim.


More soon.

And R.I.P. Bobby Byrd and Willie Tee.