Monday, November 12, 2007
August Rush Premier Screening
August Rush
By Kirk Honeycutt
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Magical realism meets a modern-day Oliver Twist in "August Rush," an often charming urban fantasy that teeters perilously on the brink of preciousness but never quite topples over.
It's a tightrope act from the first frame, but Kirsten Sheridan in her second outing as a director -- 2001's "Disco Pigs" was her first -- infuses her film with rapturous music and imagery. The story is about musicians and how music connects people, so the movie's score and songs, created by composers Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer, give poetic whimsy to an implausible tale.
Warner Bros. will rely on the cast to help sell this movie. Freddie Highmore again demonstrates he is one of the industry's top child actors, while Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers continue to climb to stardom in roles that demand the utmost sensitivity. The film should attract a loyal following, but critics will be mixed.
"August" adopts the structure of "Oliver Twist" whereby an orphan runs away to New York and falls in with a Fagin-like character. Instead of a gang of young thieves, the "Wizard" (Robin Williams, doing his best with a poorly written role) operates a team of young musicians who live in an abandoned theater and play for money on street corners. Evan (Highmore), whom he renames August Rush, is a child prodigy whose skills reward him with a prime spot in Washington Square.
It is in Washington Square 11 years ago where Evan was conceived. In flashback, a young Irish guitarist-singer, Louis (Rhys Meyers), encounters a shy, young cellist, Lyla (Russell), on a rooftop overlooking the square. The two spend the night only to be torn apart by circumstances. When the pregnant Lyla is hit by a car and gives birth prematurely, her father (William Sadler), mindful of her career, gives the infant up for adoption but tells his daughter that her baby died. Shattered, she loses interest in playing and relocates to Chicago, where she teaches music. Louis, too, gives up music, opting for a business career in San Francisco.
A kind social worker (Terrence Howard) urges Evan into family placement, but the boy never gives up hope of finding his parents. He believes he can reach out to them through music, that they can "hear" each other. His musical gifts explode when he comes to New York. Its sounds resonate in his head: In the whoosh of subway trains, noise from cars, thumps of a basketball and the clatter, hum and buzz of everyday life, he feels music flow through him.
When August wanders into a church, the pastor (Mykelti Williamson) is so impressed with the boy's organ composition that he brings the youngster to the Juilliard School of Music. In no time, he has composed a symphony. It will be played in Central Park, where Lyla is a featured cellist and Louis is nearby, reunited with his old band
Clearly, the film does not work on any realistic level. "August" is driven by its music. From gospel and rock to classical and symphonic, music carries its characters and story ever forward to their destiny. John Mathieson's inspired cinematography turn contemporary Manhattan into a Dickensian world where an orphan might triumph and people feel the sound of healing music. And nearly stealing the film is young Jamia Simone Nash with her sassy line readings and astonishing voice.
Cast:
August Rush: Freddie Highmore
Lyla Novacek: Keri Russell
Louis Connelly: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Richard Jeffries: Terrence Howard
Maxwell "Wizard" Wallace: Robin Williams
Thomas: William Sadler
Arthur: Leon Thomas III
By Kirk Honeycutt
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Magical realism meets a modern-day Oliver Twist in "August Rush," an often charming urban fantasy that teeters perilously on the brink of preciousness but never quite topples over.
It's a tightrope act from the first frame, but Kirsten Sheridan in her second outing as a director -- 2001's "Disco Pigs" was her first -- infuses her film with rapturous music and imagery. The story is about musicians and how music connects people, so the movie's score and songs, created by composers Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer, give poetic whimsy to an implausible tale.
Warner Bros. will rely on the cast to help sell this movie. Freddie Highmore again demonstrates he is one of the industry's top child actors, while Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers continue to climb to stardom in roles that demand the utmost sensitivity. The film should attract a loyal following, but critics will be mixed.
"August" adopts the structure of "Oliver Twist" whereby an orphan runs away to New York and falls in with a Fagin-like character. Instead of a gang of young thieves, the "Wizard" (Robin Williams, doing his best with a poorly written role) operates a team of young musicians who live in an abandoned theater and play for money on street corners. Evan (Highmore), whom he renames August Rush, is a child prodigy whose skills reward him with a prime spot in Washington Square.
It is in Washington Square 11 years ago where Evan was conceived. In flashback, a young Irish guitarist-singer, Louis (Rhys Meyers), encounters a shy, young cellist, Lyla (Russell), on a rooftop overlooking the square. The two spend the night only to be torn apart by circumstances. When the pregnant Lyla is hit by a car and gives birth prematurely, her father (William Sadler), mindful of her career, gives the infant up for adoption but tells his daughter that her baby died. Shattered, she loses interest in playing and relocates to Chicago, where she teaches music. Louis, too, gives up music, opting for a business career in San Francisco.
A kind social worker (Terrence Howard) urges Evan into family placement, but the boy never gives up hope of finding his parents. He believes he can reach out to them through music, that they can "hear" each other. His musical gifts explode when he comes to New York. Its sounds resonate in his head: In the whoosh of subway trains, noise from cars, thumps of a basketball and the clatter, hum and buzz of everyday life, he feels music flow through him.
When August wanders into a church, the pastor (Mykelti Williamson) is so impressed with the boy's organ composition that he brings the youngster to the Juilliard School of Music. In no time, he has composed a symphony. It will be played in Central Park, where Lyla is a featured cellist and Louis is nearby, reunited with his old band
Clearly, the film does not work on any realistic level. "August" is driven by its music. From gospel and rock to classical and symphonic, music carries its characters and story ever forward to their destiny. John Mathieson's inspired cinematography turn contemporary Manhattan into a Dickensian world where an orphan might triumph and people feel the sound of healing music. And nearly stealing the film is young Jamia Simone Nash with her sassy line readings and astonishing voice.
Cast:
August Rush: Freddie Highmore
Lyla Novacek: Keri Russell
Louis Connelly: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Richard Jeffries: Terrence Howard
Maxwell "Wizard" Wallace: Robin Williams
Thomas: William Sadler
Arthur: Leon Thomas III
Capricorn Horoscope for week of November 8, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of November 8, 2007
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
An atheist won't be elected President of the United States anytime soon. Polls show that every other minority is viewed more favorably than the God-is-a-fraud crowd. I think that's a shame. Even though I myself am a big fan of the Creator, I'm sure She loves cynics who don't believe in her just as much as She loves the most pious worshipers. Furthermore, I suspect that Her good will is sorely tested by the "religious" fanatics who spread hatred in Her name. So what does this have to do with your current horoscope? This: My analysis of the astrological omens suggests that you'd be wise to do as I just did, which is to declare your support for people whose ideas you disagree with.
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
An atheist won't be elected President of the United States anytime soon. Polls show that every other minority is viewed more favorably than the God-is-a-fraud crowd. I think that's a shame. Even though I myself am a big fan of the Creator, I'm sure She loves cynics who don't believe in her just as much as She loves the most pious worshipers. Furthermore, I suspect that Her good will is sorely tested by the "religious" fanatics who spread hatred in Her name. So what does this have to do with your current horoscope? This: My analysis of the astrological omens suggests that you'd be wise to do as I just did, which is to declare your support for people whose ideas you disagree with.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
the wild and weird things that you see in NYC.
Neysa Malone
Neysa Malone hangs out in the train platform at 14th street- she is a Madonna wanna be singer who dresses in 1980s Reeboks and does Jane Fonda aeorbiccs to bad Karaoke. She entertained me this week while i waited for the train.
I also saw a homeless man, with his belongings and empty bottles and cans reading a beat up copy of Jack Kerouac...
I also saw a man with a jazz band blowing two trumpets at one time....at the 14th street platform
Neysa Malone hangs out in the train platform at 14th street- she is a Madonna wanna be singer who dresses in 1980s Reeboks and does Jane Fonda aeorbiccs to bad Karaoke. She entertained me this week while i waited for the train.
I also saw a homeless man, with his belongings and empty bottles and cans reading a beat up copy of Jack Kerouac...
I also saw a man with a jazz band blowing two trumpets at one time....at the 14th street platform
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Candy has a Hierarchy says scientists
The data presented below were first published after Halloween in 2006, here at The World's Fair. We were fortunate after that publication to receive further (non-anonymous) peer review and thus we re-present below the hierarchy with amendments and adjustments, but no retractions, this time just ahead of Halloween and Ghost season.
For example, one reviewer, Prof. Turcano, rightly observed that Smarties "are clearly an index candy for the Middle Crunchy Tart Layer," and that addition was made. Another reviewer, Dr. Maywa, noted that "anonymous brown globs that come in black and orange wrappers" were most definitely indicative of the "how dare they call this a candy" layer. I think some of Charles Lyell's earlier work indicated much the same, but then the Royal Society got all up in the mix and it fell out again. (There's a uniformitarian for you, right?)
To repeat our earlier claims to the report: Although there were some intra-family disputes about what belongs where, we did derive a basic candy hierarchy, and I do think it is more or less sound. This taxonomy is based on years of research and debate, on thorough testing and re-testing, on statistical comparison and quality measurement, on focus group testing, and on a series of FTIR scans that reveal various hydrocarbon peaks and whatnot.
It's sound science.
And so to you the 2007 Candy Hierarchy, with uncertainties acknowledged:
TOP TIER
(not surprisingly, exclusively chocolate-based)
Milky Way --- Snickers --- Hershey's Kissables --- Peanut M&M's --- Regular M&Ms --- Junior Mints --- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups --- Three Musketeers --- regular old Hershey Bars* --- Twix
SECOND TIER
(also exclusively chocolate, after fending off a few intruders)
Kit-Kat* --- Nestle Crunch --- Mounds --- Tootsie Rolls* --- Whoppers**** --- Dark Chocolate Hershey Bars --- Fair Trade Chocolate --- Butterfinger --- Pay Day
THIRD TIER
(also referred to as the chewy range or, in some circles, the Upper Chewy or Upper Devonian)
Milk Duds --- Benzedrine -- Jolly Ranchers (if a good flavor)** --- 100 Grand Bar --- Almond Joy --- Candy Corn --- Starburst
BOTTOM TIER
(the Lower Chewy and Gummy-Based, also the Middle Crunchy Tart Layer)
Dots --- Lollipops --- Nerds --- Runts --- Trail Mix ---Swedish Fish --- Mary Janes --- Gummy Bears straight up --- White Bread --- Licorice -- Anything from Brach's --- Hard Candy --- Bubble Gum --- Including the Chiclets (but not the erasers) --- Black Jacks --- LemonHeads --- LaffyTaffy --- Good N' Plenty --- Jolly Ranchers (if a bad flavor) --- Bottle Caps --- Smarties --- "those odd marshmallow circus peanut things"***
Tier so low it does not register on our equipment
Healthy Fruit --- Pencils --- Lapel Pins --- Extra Strength Tylenol --- "anonymous brown globs that come in black and orange wrappers" --- Now'n'Laters --- Hugs (actual physical hugs) --- Whole Wheat anything
*These indicate the intra-family disputes. For example, I would keep Kit-Kat where it is, while other unnamed members of the family demand that it be given Top Tier Classification. That same other unnamed member of the family would not put Tootsie Rolls as a top-tier get, though I would've. Shockingly, there was no unanimous decision on the placement of Candy Corn, which as of 2006 remained unclassified, but as of 2007 has been tentatively placed in the Upper Chewy/Upper Devonian.
**Remains an outlier, since it is in no way "chewy." Further studies have not resolved this inconsistency.
***The literature shows that these are perhaps "an abomination too evil to distribute to the young nowadays."
**** Prior studies show that "the whoppers that never properly whopped and are chewy, however, should always be a top tier item."
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Outstanding work. However, I must object to this:
**** Prior studies show that "the whoppers that never properly whopped and are chewy, however, should always be a top tier item."
Anonymous comments received during peer review do not constitute "studies." Plus, un-whopped whoppers are nasty.
Posted by: qetzal | October 29, 2007 9:37 AM
I would point out that Payday bars are definitely not chocolate. However, IMHO, they definitely belong in the second tier. Perhaps their presence there also points to the reason for the Jolly Ranchers (if a good flavor) in the third tier. Yes, they are outliers, but plainly demonstrate the survival of the fittest.
I'm also somewhat disturbed by the total absence of Baby Ruth, which would appear to be the earliest surviving example of the evolutionary transition from the crunchy/chewy to the the dominant chocolate realm.
Posted by: chezjake | October 29, 2007 10:49 AM
What about Super Piratos? A salted licorice candy from the Danes. What is the salt you may ask? Ammonium Chloride. Drop one of these and your mouth, and it feels like an instant nose-bleed.
http://www.nordichouse.com/detail.aspx?ID=210 - The candy if you really want to buy it.
http://thequietfights.blogspot.com/2007/02/once-you-go-black.html A Dane reminiscing about a stronger version of Super Piratos.
Posted by: Grieve | October 29, 2007 11:16 AM
Is further analysis possible to indicate at what point further exposure to a Top Tier candy reduces that candy to a lower tier? Likewise, at what point does exposure (over-exposure, really) to a candy at one tier elevate a lower tier example to a higher tier, and does such an elevation require a marked difference between texture, consistency, etc., of the example candies?
I certainly hope that the data supports such further analysis!
Posted by: Snigglefritz | October 29, 2007 12:52 PM
I note that you completely ignored the odd items like snack-sized bags of chips. Salty might be a catagory of it's own.
Also, theoretically, where would choclate-covered pretzels rank in the heirarchy? Being both chocolate and salty would they be ranked separately in two catagories?
Posted by: Rob Jase | October 29, 2007 1:39 PM
We always make sure to have one bag of candy with no chocolate and one bag of candy with no nuts. There's nothing worse than being a little kid at Halloween and not being able to eat the candy you collect because it could literally kill you.
Perhaps this means there is a separate ecosystem of candy, one in which the tiers are radically changed due to a different environment. In this case, candy like Starburst or Jolly Ranchers would be top tier.
Other rankings would be dependent on local cultural whims. As a kid, Black Jack gum was the cool gum.
Posted by: Bob | October 29, 2007 3:47 PM
As a child, one of my main criteria for candy was its time value, i.e. how many minutes of happiness per mass or volume of candy. Milk duds and those cow things (black cows? chocolate carmel on a stick?) were the big winners.
Tootsie roll pops would represent a transitional form between tiers 2 and 3, being essentially a tootsie roll wrapped in a good-flavored Jolly Rancher. Although now that I think about it, technically they are an example of endosymbiosis.
Posted by: Diane | October 29, 2007 6:12 PM
I'm not sure I understand the whole heirarchy system. What criteria are used to determine the tier to which a particular candy belongs? The top two tiers are both listed as being exlusively chocolate, but outside of that, what differentiates the two?
Also, do the tiers represent an inherent value in the candy or is it strictly categorical? If the top tiers are supposed to be "better" candy than the bottom tiers I am going to have to disagree and point out that they are different types of candy altogether.
Comparing chocolate candies to the friuty-flavored/sour candies is comparing apples to oranges. Both have their own qualities that make them good (or bad) candies and should be treated accordingly.
All that aside, where do dark chocolate m&ms fit in? Are they first-tier with the other m&ms or second-tier with dark chocolate?
For example, one reviewer, Prof. Turcano, rightly observed that Smarties "are clearly an index candy for the Middle Crunchy Tart Layer," and that addition was made. Another reviewer, Dr. Maywa, noted that "anonymous brown globs that come in black and orange wrappers" were most definitely indicative of the "how dare they call this a candy" layer. I think some of Charles Lyell's earlier work indicated much the same, but then the Royal Society got all up in the mix and it fell out again. (There's a uniformitarian for you, right?)
To repeat our earlier claims to the report: Although there were some intra-family disputes about what belongs where, we did derive a basic candy hierarchy, and I do think it is more or less sound. This taxonomy is based on years of research and debate, on thorough testing and re-testing, on statistical comparison and quality measurement, on focus group testing, and on a series of FTIR scans that reveal various hydrocarbon peaks and whatnot.
It's sound science.
And so to you the 2007 Candy Hierarchy, with uncertainties acknowledged:
TOP TIER
(not surprisingly, exclusively chocolate-based)
Milky Way --- Snickers --- Hershey's Kissables --- Peanut M&M's --- Regular M&Ms --- Junior Mints --- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups --- Three Musketeers --- regular old Hershey Bars* --- Twix
SECOND TIER
(also exclusively chocolate, after fending off a few intruders)
Kit-Kat* --- Nestle Crunch --- Mounds --- Tootsie Rolls* --- Whoppers**** --- Dark Chocolate Hershey Bars --- Fair Trade Chocolate --- Butterfinger --- Pay Day
THIRD TIER
(also referred to as the chewy range or, in some circles, the Upper Chewy or Upper Devonian)
Milk Duds --- Benzedrine -- Jolly Ranchers (if a good flavor)** --- 100 Grand Bar --- Almond Joy --- Candy Corn --- Starburst
BOTTOM TIER
(the Lower Chewy and Gummy-Based, also the Middle Crunchy Tart Layer)
Dots --- Lollipops --- Nerds --- Runts --- Trail Mix ---Swedish Fish --- Mary Janes --- Gummy Bears straight up --- White Bread --- Licorice -- Anything from Brach's --- Hard Candy --- Bubble Gum --- Including the Chiclets (but not the erasers) --- Black Jacks --- LemonHeads --- LaffyTaffy --- Good N' Plenty --- Jolly Ranchers (if a bad flavor) --- Bottle Caps --- Smarties --- "those odd marshmallow circus peanut things"***
Tier so low it does not register on our equipment
Healthy Fruit --- Pencils --- Lapel Pins --- Extra Strength Tylenol --- "anonymous brown globs that come in black and orange wrappers" --- Now'n'Laters --- Hugs (actual physical hugs) --- Whole Wheat anything
*These indicate the intra-family disputes. For example, I would keep Kit-Kat where it is, while other unnamed members of the family demand that it be given Top Tier Classification. That same other unnamed member of the family would not put Tootsie Rolls as a top-tier get, though I would've. Shockingly, there was no unanimous decision on the placement of Candy Corn, which as of 2006 remained unclassified, but as of 2007 has been tentatively placed in the Upper Chewy/Upper Devonian.
**Remains an outlier, since it is in no way "chewy." Further studies have not resolved this inconsistency.
***The literature shows that these are perhaps "an abomination too evil to distribute to the young nowadays."
**** Prior studies show that "the whoppers that never properly whopped and are chewy, however, should always be a top tier item."
Send this entry to: del.icio.us icon StumbleUpon Toolbar Slashdot Digg icon Reddit icon Newsvine icon Searchles icon
email icon Email this entry to a friend technorati icon View the Technorati Link Cosmos for this entry
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/54194
Comments
Outstanding work. However, I must object to this:
**** Prior studies show that "the whoppers that never properly whopped and are chewy, however, should always be a top tier item."
Anonymous comments received during peer review do not constitute "studies." Plus, un-whopped whoppers are nasty.
Posted by: qetzal | October 29, 2007 9:37 AM
I would point out that Payday bars are definitely not chocolate. However, IMHO, they definitely belong in the second tier. Perhaps their presence there also points to the reason for the Jolly Ranchers (if a good flavor) in the third tier. Yes, they are outliers, but plainly demonstrate the survival of the fittest.
I'm also somewhat disturbed by the total absence of Baby Ruth, which would appear to be the earliest surviving example of the evolutionary transition from the crunchy/chewy to the the dominant chocolate realm.
Posted by: chezjake | October 29, 2007 10:49 AM
What about Super Piratos? A salted licorice candy from the Danes. What is the salt you may ask? Ammonium Chloride. Drop one of these and your mouth, and it feels like an instant nose-bleed.
http://www.nordichouse.com/detail.aspx?ID=210 - The candy if you really want to buy it.
http://thequietfights.blogspot.com/2007/02/once-you-go-black.html A Dane reminiscing about a stronger version of Super Piratos.
Posted by: Grieve | October 29, 2007 11:16 AM
Is further analysis possible to indicate at what point further exposure to a Top Tier candy reduces that candy to a lower tier? Likewise, at what point does exposure (over-exposure, really) to a candy at one tier elevate a lower tier example to a higher tier, and does such an elevation require a marked difference between texture, consistency, etc., of the example candies?
I certainly hope that the data supports such further analysis!
Posted by: Snigglefritz | October 29, 2007 12:52 PM
I note that you completely ignored the odd items like snack-sized bags of chips. Salty might be a catagory of it's own.
Also, theoretically, where would choclate-covered pretzels rank in the heirarchy? Being both chocolate and salty would they be ranked separately in two catagories?
Posted by: Rob Jase | October 29, 2007 1:39 PM
We always make sure to have one bag of candy with no chocolate and one bag of candy with no nuts. There's nothing worse than being a little kid at Halloween and not being able to eat the candy you collect because it could literally kill you.
Perhaps this means there is a separate ecosystem of candy, one in which the tiers are radically changed due to a different environment. In this case, candy like Starburst or Jolly Ranchers would be top tier.
Other rankings would be dependent on local cultural whims. As a kid, Black Jack gum was the cool gum.
Posted by: Bob | October 29, 2007 3:47 PM
As a child, one of my main criteria for candy was its time value, i.e. how many minutes of happiness per mass or volume of candy. Milk duds and those cow things (black cows? chocolate carmel on a stick?) were the big winners.
Tootsie roll pops would represent a transitional form between tiers 2 and 3, being essentially a tootsie roll wrapped in a good-flavored Jolly Rancher. Although now that I think about it, technically they are an example of endosymbiosis.
Posted by: Diane | October 29, 2007 6:12 PM
I'm not sure I understand the whole heirarchy system. What criteria are used to determine the tier to which a particular candy belongs? The top two tiers are both listed as being exlusively chocolate, but outside of that, what differentiates the two?
Also, do the tiers represent an inherent value in the candy or is it strictly categorical? If the top tiers are supposed to be "better" candy than the bottom tiers I am going to have to disagree and point out that they are different types of candy altogether.
Comparing chocolate candies to the friuty-flavored/sour candies is comparing apples to oranges. Both have their own qualities that make them good (or bad) candies and should be treated accordingly.
All that aside, where do dark chocolate m&ms fit in? Are they first-tier with the other m&ms or second-tier with dark chocolate?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
my new friend Irma
Last night i went to Carnegie hall after work to try to get a ticket to see John Prine. the traffic was horrible and i knew the box office would be open if there was a performance. I took a chance and there was so i go on line. Behind me was a 4 foot african american woman who i started to talk about her favorite musical performances at carnegie hall. I told her a story about seeing Nina SImone and the staff at carnegie hall knew where Nina would set up the piano so i could see her hands. She went off to the reservation line and i got my PRINE ticket. I got back on the line to see if by chance there were any DAR Tickets and the the line was long. the woman told me she got comp tickets to many performances and then offered me a ticket to see the one that evening. I refused politely and waiting in line. THere was a 6th row center ticket for Dar and i started to head down broadway.
while on line, i thought maybe there was a reason that i met that lady, maybe a reason she offered me a ticket. Opportunities are presented for reasons, what was the karmic interchange, why was i there on line again for a sold out Dar show, why did i run into this woman. So after i bought my ticket and headed down broadway. there she was again, with her ticket in her hand talking to a handsome young man...i approached her and told her she founds a handsome suitable person for her ticket. She told me he was the usher and she had not. They coaxed me to join her at least for hte first act.
i went with this woman. She is a retired NY STATE enviromental judge and assistant DA in manhattan. we talked about service of the LORD....my work and hers. She is a deeply spiritual woman who nursed boarder babies, was a foster parent. Raised her own children and her husband was deceased. She told me she prayed for a person to go to a concert with and i came into her life. She helped me reframed My statements around
"tall men always sit in front of me" at the movies and told me i didnt have to accept those Always statements.
i saw a john cage piece and a Tin Din piece that were experimental and i bolted. I didnt stay for mozart. I gave my new friend my card and thanked her and when i left, i saw the usher again. I told him that i made a new friend tonight and he remarked...
I made two new friends.
Irma is well known by the staff at carnegie hall.. it seems her senior center gives out vouchers for tickets at lincoln center and carnegie hall...ill see if i hear from her to go again...
while on line, i thought maybe there was a reason that i met that lady, maybe a reason she offered me a ticket. Opportunities are presented for reasons, what was the karmic interchange, why was i there on line again for a sold out Dar show, why did i run into this woman. So after i bought my ticket and headed down broadway. there she was again, with her ticket in her hand talking to a handsome young man...i approached her and told her she founds a handsome suitable person for her ticket. She told me he was the usher and she had not. They coaxed me to join her at least for hte first act.
i went with this woman. She is a retired NY STATE enviromental judge and assistant DA in manhattan. we talked about service of the LORD....my work and hers. She is a deeply spiritual woman who nursed boarder babies, was a foster parent. Raised her own children and her husband was deceased. She told me she prayed for a person to go to a concert with and i came into her life. She helped me reframed My statements around
"tall men always sit in front of me" at the movies and told me i didnt have to accept those Always statements.
i saw a john cage piece and a Tin Din piece that were experimental and i bolted. I didnt stay for mozart. I gave my new friend my card and thanked her and when i left, i saw the usher again. I told him that i made a new friend tonight and he remarked...
I made two new friends.
Irma is well known by the staff at carnegie hall.. it seems her senior center gives out vouchers for tickets at lincoln center and carnegie hall...ill see if i hear from her to go again...
Capricorn Horoscope for week of November 1, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of November 1, 2007
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
The number of TV channels we have to choose from is growing steadily. Where I live, for example, there were a mere 61 options in 2000. Now I can choose from 104. And yet surveys show that most of us watch no more than 15 percent of what's available. If you'd like to be in alignment with cosmic rhythms in the coming week, Capricorn, you will make a concerted effort to sample a much larger selection than you usually do -- of TV channels and everything else. I suggest you expose yourself to an exuberant variety of foods, personalities, landscapes, styles, and cultures. Take in sights and sounds you don't normally even think of tuning in to.
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
The number of TV channels we have to choose from is growing steadily. Where I live, for example, there were a mere 61 options in 2000. Now I can choose from 104. And yet surveys show that most of us watch no more than 15 percent of what's available. If you'd like to be in alignment with cosmic rhythms in the coming week, Capricorn, you will make a concerted effort to sample a much larger selection than you usually do -- of TV channels and everything else. I suggest you expose yourself to an exuberant variety of foods, personalities, landscapes, styles, and cultures. Take in sights and sounds you don't normally even think of tuning in to.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Artists pay tribute to Elton John, Bernie Taupin
b
GEORGE McNISH/THE STAR-LEDGER
Shawn Colvin performs "Harmony" during the Carnegie Hall tribute to the music of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
NEW YORK -- "It was hard to choose one," said Shawn Colvin, before performing "Sacrifice" at a tribute to the songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall.
No kidding. John and lyricist Taupin have one of the biggest and most varied catalogs in the business, and it's almost impossible for a tribute concert -- even a generous one like Wednesday's, which featured 20 artists doing one song apiece -- to do it justice.
There was no "Daniel" in this tribute, a benefit for the UJA-Federation of New York's Music For Youth initiative. There was no "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." No "Candle in the Wind." No "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me." No "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." There just wasn't enough time.
Also, artists didn't restrict themselves to monster hits. So Page McConnell of Phish, for instance, tackled "Amoreena," adding a touch of cocktail-lounge suavity, and Aimee Mann sang a graceful, slightly melancholy "My Father's Gun." Folk-rock visionary Roger McGuinn turned in a loose, upbeat "Friends," and jazz singer-vibraphonist Roy Ayers funked up "Bad Side of the Moon."
John didn't attend, but Taupin did; he was introduced, from his balcony seat, at the start of the show, and waved. One imagines it was quite a night for him, listening to such an eclectic batch of artists bring new shades of meaning to his words.
GEORGE McNISH/THE STAR-LEDGERRoger McGuinn plays "Friends" during the salute to the songwriting team.
David Broza opted for one of the best-known John-Taupin compositions, "Your Song," and put an odd twist on it, turning this humble love letter into a bold, flamenco-tinged declaration. The singer-songwriter known only as Buddy offered an equally adventurous, and more satisfying, overhaul of a John-Taupin classic. Singing "I'm Still Standing," he sounded fragile and wounded at first, but ended with a cathartic raveup; it really seemed like he had triumphed over something. Colvin interpreted "Sacrifice" in a gentle, coffeehouse-folk manner, and the group Fools For April treated "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" in much the same way. But most artists tried for something more dramatic. Phoebe Snow turned "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" -- a John Lennon tribute written shortly after his death -- into an explosive soul-gospel epic, and Lizz Wright smoldered in torch-song fashion, on "Come Down In Time." Raul Malo brought a near-operatic sense of intensity to "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word," while Ryan Shaw added some dazzling vocal runs to "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues." Jill Sobule, sumptuously backed by the Ethel string quartet and keyboardist Steve Gaboury, sang "Levon" with an irresistibly uplifting sense of joy. The evening's biggest trouper turned out to be new-wave survivor Howard Jones, who didn't get upset when his electric keyboard issued blasts of static as he tried to sing "Tiny Dancer." He just shrugged, exchanged smiles with his guitarist, walked over to the grand piano at the side of the stage, and started over. His version was straightforward, but still magical, with the crowd helping to sing the song's soaring chorus. The show-closing slot went to British Invasion stars Peter & Gordon -- Peter Asher and Gordon Waller, who recently started performing together again after a 38-year break. They reinvented a relatively new John-Taupin song, the stately "I Want Love," with their lush harmonies, making it sound like one of their own hits. This was the fourth Music For Youth benefit that has taken place since early 2006; the previous ones saluted Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell. No date has been set for the next in the series.
Jay Lustig may be reached at jlustig@starledger.com or (973) 392-5850.
elton John Tribute
Elton John Misses His Own Tribute
Elton John was in Philadelphia Wednesday night with Billie Jean King, but he missed his own tribute at Carnegie Hall — and it was a spectacular one at that.
Elton’s collaborator Bernie Taupin was on hand, however, at Carnegie Hall for the second Music for Youth concert put upon by UJA Federation this year. The last one, held in April, saluted Bruce Springsteen, and he showed up.
Sadly, Elton didn’t get to hear a super selection of his and Bernie’s songs performed by an eclectic and very talented group of musicians including Aimee Mann, Phoebe Snow, Shawn Colvin, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, new hot R&B sensation Ryan Shaw, Jill Sobule, Howard Jones, jazz great Roy Ayers and '60s pop duo Peter & Gordon.
Related
*
Column Archive
I don’t know if Bernie liked the show, because he wasn’t doing press and didn’t come backstage to meet the performers. Elton, sources insist, now only attends functions if a big check is drawn to his AIDS Foundation. (That’s what Billie Jean was doing with him and various tennis stars.)
I guess that’s a legitimate request if it’s a corporate function, but Music for Youth has now raised millions to help put music programs in public schools. They are collecting money, not disbursing it to other charities.
So Elton missed hearing Phoebe Snow’s phenomenal rendition of “Empty Garden,” the song he wrote after John Lennon was murdered. Phoebe was so powerful that she brought the crowd to its feet — and she was only the fourth performer.
He also didn’t get to see Howard Jones, the '80s balladeer whose own hit was “No One Is to Blame.” Jones started playing “Tiny Dancer” on an electronic keyboard. But when a cable kept causing static, he stopped, retreated to the grand piano on stage right, and played the song the old-fashioned way. It was beautiful, and he got a standing ovation, too.
I’d like to see some of today’s pop performers react with such aplomb. Of course, they’d have to know how to play a real instrument!
Some other highlights included a breathtaking version of “Levon” by Jill Sobule with the Ethel ensemble; McGuinn resurrecting “Friends,” an Elton rarity; Aimee Mann — who apparently, like this reporter, loves John’s “Tumbleweed Connection” album — on “My Father’s Gun”; and newcomer Joshua Radin on “Border Song (Holy Moses).”
We were impressed with a bunch of lesser-known acts, in fact. Raul Malo, of the Mavericks, was so good singing “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” that his beautiful baritone should be selling CDs as fast as Josh Groban. Someone get the guy a manager.
And Ryan Shaw proved once again he is the real thing in R&B, a soul man for the 2000s. He nailed “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.”
What Elton really missed was hearing how resilient his and Taupin’s songbook is, and how the songs hold up. Many of them were from the mid-'70s, but Peter & Gordon found gold in a more recent track, “I Want Love,” which Peter Asher reworked from a dirge into an Everly Brothers-type harmonic that literally soared through Carnegie Hall. Reunited after 38 years, the singing duo really has become a cult hit.Here’s the set list:
Naked Eyes-Rocket Man
Shawn Colvin-Sacrifice
Fools for April-Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters
Phoebe Snow-Empty Garden
Page McConnell-Amoreena
Pernice Brothers-Country Comfort
Kristina Train-Ballad of a Well Known Gun
Aimee Mann-My Father’s Gun
School of Rock Allstars-Love Lies Bleeding
Roger McGuinn-Friends
Buddy-I’m Still Standing
Howard Jones-Tiny Dancer
Joshua Radin-The Border Song
Jill Sobule with Ethel-Levon
Roy Ayers-Bad Side of the Moon
Lizz Wright-Come Down in Time
David Broza-Your Song
Raul Malo-Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Ryan Shaw-Guess That’s Why They Call it The Blues
Peter and Gordon-I Want Love
Elton John was in Philadelphia Wednesday night with Billie Jean King, but he missed his own tribute at Carnegie Hall — and it was a spectacular one at that.
Elton’s collaborator Bernie Taupin was on hand, however, at Carnegie Hall for the second Music for Youth concert put upon by UJA Federation this year. The last one, held in April, saluted Bruce Springsteen, and he showed up.
Sadly, Elton didn’t get to hear a super selection of his and Bernie’s songs performed by an eclectic and very talented group of musicians including Aimee Mann, Phoebe Snow, Shawn Colvin, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, new hot R&B sensation Ryan Shaw, Jill Sobule, Howard Jones, jazz great Roy Ayers and '60s pop duo Peter & Gordon.
Related
*
Column Archive
I don’t know if Bernie liked the show, because he wasn’t doing press and didn’t come backstage to meet the performers. Elton, sources insist, now only attends functions if a big check is drawn to his AIDS Foundation. (That’s what Billie Jean was doing with him and various tennis stars.)
I guess that’s a legitimate request if it’s a corporate function, but Music for Youth has now raised millions to help put music programs in public schools. They are collecting money, not disbursing it to other charities.
So Elton missed hearing Phoebe Snow’s phenomenal rendition of “Empty Garden,” the song he wrote after John Lennon was murdered. Phoebe was so powerful that she brought the crowd to its feet — and she was only the fourth performer.
He also didn’t get to see Howard Jones, the '80s balladeer whose own hit was “No One Is to Blame.” Jones started playing “Tiny Dancer” on an electronic keyboard. But when a cable kept causing static, he stopped, retreated to the grand piano on stage right, and played the song the old-fashioned way. It was beautiful, and he got a standing ovation, too.
I’d like to see some of today’s pop performers react with such aplomb. Of course, they’d have to know how to play a real instrument!
Some other highlights included a breathtaking version of “Levon” by Jill Sobule with the Ethel ensemble; McGuinn resurrecting “Friends,” an Elton rarity; Aimee Mann — who apparently, like this reporter, loves John’s “Tumbleweed Connection” album — on “My Father’s Gun”; and newcomer Joshua Radin on “Border Song (Holy Moses).”
We were impressed with a bunch of lesser-known acts, in fact. Raul Malo, of the Mavericks, was so good singing “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” that his beautiful baritone should be selling CDs as fast as Josh Groban. Someone get the guy a manager.
And Ryan Shaw proved once again he is the real thing in R&B, a soul man for the 2000s. He nailed “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.”
What Elton really missed was hearing how resilient his and Taupin’s songbook is, and how the songs hold up. Many of them were from the mid-'70s, but Peter & Gordon found gold in a more recent track, “I Want Love,” which Peter Asher reworked from a dirge into an Everly Brothers-type harmonic that literally soared through Carnegie Hall. Reunited after 38 years, the singing duo really has become a cult hit.Here’s the set list:
Naked Eyes-Rocket Man
Shawn Colvin-Sacrifice
Fools for April-Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters
Phoebe Snow-Empty Garden
Page McConnell-Amoreena
Pernice Brothers-Country Comfort
Kristina Train-Ballad of a Well Known Gun
Aimee Mann-My Father’s Gun
School of Rock Allstars-Love Lies Bleeding
Roger McGuinn-Friends
Buddy-I’m Still Standing
Howard Jones-Tiny Dancer
Joshua Radin-The Border Song
Jill Sobule with Ethel-Levon
Roy Ayers-Bad Side of the Moon
Lizz Wright-Come Down in Time
David Broza-Your Song
Raul Malo-Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Ryan Shaw-Guess That’s Why They Call it The Blues
Peter and Gordon-I Want Love
rock N roll sucks
Rock 'N' Roll
**** Royal Court, London
Michael Billington
Thursday June 15, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Rock 'N' Roll, Royal Court, London
Brian Cox as the Marxist don Max and Sinead Cusack as Eleanor in Rock 'N' Roll. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Tom Stoppard's astonishing new play is, amongst many other things, a hymn to Pan. It starts in a Cambridge garden in 1968 with a piper playing the Syd Barrett song, Golden Hair. It ends in Prague in 1990 with film of a Rolling Stones concert led by Mick Jagger, who was in the Royal Court first-night audience.
And, although Stoppard's play deals with Marxism, materialism and Sapphic poetry, it is above all a celebration of the pagan spirit embodied by rock'n'roll.
Article continues
In plot terms, Stoppard deals with the contrasting fortunes of two worlds: that of Czech freedom-fighters and Cambridge Marxists. The former are represented by Jan: an exiled Czech who returns to Prague in '68, at the time of the Soviet takeover, and who, although primarily a rock-loving non-combatant, finds himself inexorably drawn into dissidence and Charter 77. Meanwhile the Cambridge left is powerfully embodied by Max: an unrepentant Marxist don, as old as the October Revolution, who is still drawn to "this beautiful idea".
What is fascinating about the play is that there are no easy victories. Jan is no heroic martyr, but an observer more drawn to the subversive band, the Plastic People of the Universe, than to protest-movements: it is only the steady erosion of Czech freedom that turns him into a dissident. Stoppard treats Max's convictions seriously and allows him to score strong debating-points: he is, in fact, the first sympathetic Marxist I can recall in all Stoppard's work.
In presenting two worlds, Stoppard also suggests that, while the Czechs have fought strenuously for their freedoms, we are allowing ours to slip from our grasp. In a crucial second-act dinner-party scene, Stoppard brings together Max, Jan and various representatives of two different cultures. But it is Lenka, an expatriate Czech don who seems to voice his sentiments when she urges Jan not to return, saying "This place has lost its nerve. They put something in the water since you were here. It's a democracy of obedience."
But although Stoppard takes a pessimistic view of an England that seems to have lost any sustaining faith or principles, his play paradoxically finds hope in the liberating spirit of rock'n'roll. Each scene is punctuated by the sounds of legendary groups including the Stones, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. Even though he acknowledges that they have given way to the blander effusions of today, he constantly uses music as a symbol of pagan ecstasy.
All this is clearly articulated in Trevor Nunn's excellent production, in which the scenes are spliced with exultant rock. And the other great virtue of the production is that allows ample scope for each intellectual viewpoint. Brian Cox exudes massive power as the Marxist Max who goes on fighting to the end even after the loss of his wife and his political faith. Rufus Sewell as Jan charts immaculately the character's gradations from passive observer to disgraced dissident and shows him emerging on the other side. And Sinead Cusack, doubling as Max's cancer-stricken wife and grown-up daughter, and Peter Sullivan as a Havel-like Czech protester turn in equally strong performances.
But the remarkable thing about the play is that it touches on so many themes, registers its lament at the erosion of freedom in our society and yet leaves you cheered by its wit, buoyancy and belief in the human spirit.
· Until July 15. Box Office: 020 7565 5000
**** Royal Court, London
Michael Billington
Thursday June 15, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Rock 'N' Roll, Royal Court, London
Brian Cox as the Marxist don Max and Sinead Cusack as Eleanor in Rock 'N' Roll. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Tom Stoppard's astonishing new play is, amongst many other things, a hymn to Pan. It starts in a Cambridge garden in 1968 with a piper playing the Syd Barrett song, Golden Hair. It ends in Prague in 1990 with film of a Rolling Stones concert led by Mick Jagger, who was in the Royal Court first-night audience.
And, although Stoppard's play deals with Marxism, materialism and Sapphic poetry, it is above all a celebration of the pagan spirit embodied by rock'n'roll.
Article continues
In plot terms, Stoppard deals with the contrasting fortunes of two worlds: that of Czech freedom-fighters and Cambridge Marxists. The former are represented by Jan: an exiled Czech who returns to Prague in '68, at the time of the Soviet takeover, and who, although primarily a rock-loving non-combatant, finds himself inexorably drawn into dissidence and Charter 77. Meanwhile the Cambridge left is powerfully embodied by Max: an unrepentant Marxist don, as old as the October Revolution, who is still drawn to "this beautiful idea".
What is fascinating about the play is that there are no easy victories. Jan is no heroic martyr, but an observer more drawn to the subversive band, the Plastic People of the Universe, than to protest-movements: it is only the steady erosion of Czech freedom that turns him into a dissident. Stoppard treats Max's convictions seriously and allows him to score strong debating-points: he is, in fact, the first sympathetic Marxist I can recall in all Stoppard's work.
In presenting two worlds, Stoppard also suggests that, while the Czechs have fought strenuously for their freedoms, we are allowing ours to slip from our grasp. In a crucial second-act dinner-party scene, Stoppard brings together Max, Jan and various representatives of two different cultures. But it is Lenka, an expatriate Czech don who seems to voice his sentiments when she urges Jan not to return, saying "This place has lost its nerve. They put something in the water since you were here. It's a democracy of obedience."
But although Stoppard takes a pessimistic view of an England that seems to have lost any sustaining faith or principles, his play paradoxically finds hope in the liberating spirit of rock'n'roll. Each scene is punctuated by the sounds of legendary groups including the Stones, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. Even though he acknowledges that they have given way to the blander effusions of today, he constantly uses music as a symbol of pagan ecstasy.
All this is clearly articulated in Trevor Nunn's excellent production, in which the scenes are spliced with exultant rock. And the other great virtue of the production is that allows ample scope for each intellectual viewpoint. Brian Cox exudes massive power as the Marxist Max who goes on fighting to the end even after the loss of his wife and his political faith. Rufus Sewell as Jan charts immaculately the character's gradations from passive observer to disgraced dissident and shows him emerging on the other side. And Sinead Cusack, doubling as Max's cancer-stricken wife and grown-up daughter, and Peter Sullivan as a Havel-like Czech protester turn in equally strong performances.
But the remarkable thing about the play is that it touches on so many themes, registers its lament at the erosion of freedom in our society and yet leaves you cheered by its wit, buoyancy and belief in the human spirit.
· Until July 15. Box Office: 020 7565 5000
October is almost over
I knew October was to an active month but i didnt think it would be overwhelming. October began with classes on Wednesday and Saturday. The beginning of the month began as September ended. Then the weather continued to be warm. While my airconditioner broke in late September, i thought not to replace it til spring or summer. Sleeping with a fan in October just isnt right. The Jewish Holidays fell in September and i knew if i could get through the month, id be fine.
Mid October means a three week training, which is like running a marathon. Two weeks of Preparation or 10 days of prep work and on October 15th, i met the Common Core class. A race to get through the material. Days begin at 500am and end at 930pm except for getting up at 11pm, 1am and 5am due to those continual hot flashes. the marathon of training takes it toll... group dynamics, team dynamics and learning the material. The material to be delivered is prescribed by the curriculum and i get to embellish and deliver it....
While i have been training, i am still holding two graduate school classes. Midterms were do and have been read. I spilled a mug of coffee on 5 midterms and then last saturday, spilled my bottle of water on the rest of them. Accidents happen, but the students didnt take it too kindly. Mercury in retrograde says our support supervisor Rodney.... all electronics are on the blitz....Jump drives dont work. Ipods, computers, phones....everything is off center this month....
Week two of Common Core.... acting out participants, the closeness of the training team makes us tired of one another. I say what is on my mind and get it off my chest.
This team hears me and responds based on their needs.
I get up at 5am Saturday and go to school... errands then i can go to have some fun..
I have tickets for THE GLORIOUS ONES at Lincoln Center, a new american musical that should be off off broadway..... Sunday, i notice blood in my cats urine and take her in. 400.00 later and a meeting with the vet proves she has mild hypothryoidism and kidney disease..... the infection needs to be treated. I did some research and decide to treat the kidney disease not the hypothryroidism. THe medication will change her temperament and activity level. She is youthful and active, i dont want a lethargic and depressed kiity...
the kidney disease will progress and she will get worse. either kidney failure or heart attack will kill her. I take the medication for the UT infection and i consider changing food. I will give her SUB Q fluids or extreme kidney treatment. I will let her fade off....
I see Suzi who comes to NY on Friday for dinner and she goes off to Carnegie Hall and i got off to a long long long ass boring play by Tom Stoppard. I swear i have seen my LAST TOM STOPPARD.... Rock and roll was boring by not pointless just not pertinent to me.. 3 hours on Friday night is way too long too.
I then go to school beat up and go see Susan Werner in Westfield NJ. I see her Sunday in Peekskill after i have breakfast with Suzi and meet with the vet about treatment.
Another week starts.... i get a call on Wednesday from Bucks County that an employee at my bank released my signature card and someone who stole my identity went to withdraw MY MONEY from MY ACCOUNT in Philly and Bucks COunty. SHe is in custody and I am asked to file police reports, affidavits and try to get my money back. My security and identity have been compromised by employees inside the bank. I am the last person in a long line of thefts that this woman pulled off.. there are many others also whose information she assumed. All of my security issues are trigger off and i am furious at my bank and at the personnel who released this information. I am angry at this woman for taking what is not hers. i am faced with a counter situation of another theft and i am forgiving and advocate.... all within hours of one another.. One is impersonal and i know the person.... the second is personal and i dont know the person...
OCtober has been a stressful month and i will glad that it is over. MY Training will be over, i will not be able to go to Virginia to see Dar but i will go to bucks county to testify against the woman who portrayed herself as me and i will only be working on my classes......
Halloween is this week.... the weather turned cool.... i saw Susan Werner again this weekend... Maybe its all looking up....
Mid October means a three week training, which is like running a marathon. Two weeks of Preparation or 10 days of prep work and on October 15th, i met the Common Core class. A race to get through the material. Days begin at 500am and end at 930pm except for getting up at 11pm, 1am and 5am due to those continual hot flashes. the marathon of training takes it toll... group dynamics, team dynamics and learning the material. The material to be delivered is prescribed by the curriculum and i get to embellish and deliver it....
While i have been training, i am still holding two graduate school classes. Midterms were do and have been read. I spilled a mug of coffee on 5 midterms and then last saturday, spilled my bottle of water on the rest of them. Accidents happen, but the students didnt take it too kindly. Mercury in retrograde says our support supervisor Rodney.... all electronics are on the blitz....Jump drives dont work. Ipods, computers, phones....everything is off center this month....
Week two of Common Core.... acting out participants, the closeness of the training team makes us tired of one another. I say what is on my mind and get it off my chest.
This team hears me and responds based on their needs.
I get up at 5am Saturday and go to school... errands then i can go to have some fun..
I have tickets for THE GLORIOUS ONES at Lincoln Center, a new american musical that should be off off broadway..... Sunday, i notice blood in my cats urine and take her in. 400.00 later and a meeting with the vet proves she has mild hypothryoidism and kidney disease..... the infection needs to be treated. I did some research and decide to treat the kidney disease not the hypothryroidism. THe medication will change her temperament and activity level. She is youthful and active, i dont want a lethargic and depressed kiity...
the kidney disease will progress and she will get worse. either kidney failure or heart attack will kill her. I take the medication for the UT infection and i consider changing food. I will give her SUB Q fluids or extreme kidney treatment. I will let her fade off....
I see Suzi who comes to NY on Friday for dinner and she goes off to Carnegie Hall and i got off to a long long long ass boring play by Tom Stoppard. I swear i have seen my LAST TOM STOPPARD.... Rock and roll was boring by not pointless just not pertinent to me.. 3 hours on Friday night is way too long too.
I then go to school beat up and go see Susan Werner in Westfield NJ. I see her Sunday in Peekskill after i have breakfast with Suzi and meet with the vet about treatment.
Another week starts.... i get a call on Wednesday from Bucks County that an employee at my bank released my signature card and someone who stole my identity went to withdraw MY MONEY from MY ACCOUNT in Philly and Bucks COunty. SHe is in custody and I am asked to file police reports, affidavits and try to get my money back. My security and identity have been compromised by employees inside the bank. I am the last person in a long line of thefts that this woman pulled off.. there are many others also whose information she assumed. All of my security issues are trigger off and i am furious at my bank and at the personnel who released this information. I am angry at this woman for taking what is not hers. i am faced with a counter situation of another theft and i am forgiving and advocate.... all within hours of one another.. One is impersonal and i know the person.... the second is personal and i dont know the person...
OCtober has been a stressful month and i will glad that it is over. MY Training will be over, i will not be able to go to Virginia to see Dar but i will go to bucks county to testify against the woman who portrayed herself as me and i will only be working on my classes......
Halloween is this week.... the weather turned cool.... i saw Susan Werner again this weekend... Maybe its all looking up....
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 25, 2007
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
A 12-year-old sea lion at the Pittsburgh zoo has taken up painting. Maggie's trainer had to coax her at first, but now she truly enjoys swabbing canvases with paint-soaked brushes. Let's make her your inspirational role model, Capricorn. It's an excellent time to cultivate and refine your instinctual nature . . . to teach your inner animal new tricks . . . to bring more conscious intention to things that come second-nature. Halloween costume suggestion: the creature you'd be if you weren't human.
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
A 12-year-old sea lion at the Pittsburgh zoo has taken up painting. Maggie's trainer had to coax her at first, but now she truly enjoys swabbing canvases with paint-soaked brushes. Let's make her your inspirational role model, Capricorn. It's an excellent time to cultivate and refine your instinctual nature . . . to teach your inner animal new tricks . . . to bring more conscious intention to things that come second-nature. Halloween costume suggestion: the creature you'd be if you weren't human.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 18, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 18, 2007
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Your symbol of power in the coming week is a book by businessman Robert Rodin entitled Free, Perfect, and Now: Connecting to the Three Insatiable Customer Demands. He talks about how important it is for a company to provide cheap prices, excellent quality, and quick responses. That's a good formula for you to remember as you brainstorm about how to generate greater interest in the products and services and experiences you create. But I also encourage you to meditate on the theme of free, perfect, and now in its widest sense. How can you bring more of the exuberant spirit of that mantra into everything you do?
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Your symbol of power in the coming week is a book by businessman Robert Rodin entitled Free, Perfect, and Now: Connecting to the Three Insatiable Customer Demands. He talks about how important it is for a company to provide cheap prices, excellent quality, and quick responses. That's a good formula for you to remember as you brainstorm about how to generate greater interest in the products and services and experiences you create. But I also encourage you to meditate on the theme of free, perfect, and now in its widest sense. How can you bring more of the exuberant spirit of that mantra into everything you do?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
the Glorious Ones comes to Lincoln Center
"The Glorious Ones" features Paul Schoeffler as Flaminio Scala and Natalie Venetia Belcon as Columbina
By Christopher Rawson
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It is indeed glorious to have the world premiere of a new musical comedy lighting up the Cultural District from the stage of the Public Theater -- sort of like fireworks across the river at PNC Park, but more delicious because it is far more rare.
That "The Glorious Ones" is also the creation of a native son (composer Stephen Flaherty, with his lyricist/librettist partner, Lynn Ahrens) adds the sentimental sparkle of homecoming. And as with the fireworks, glory and sparkle are certainly enhanced when the home team wins, as they do at the Public with this sweetly comic parable of the mixed melancholy and joy of creation.
In Pittsburgh, it's Flaherty and Ahrens, premiering their latest.
Graciela Daniele directs, a labor of love.
But it isn't an easy victory, because it gathers steam slowly, starting with the braggadocio of that title, and there are oddities which might be addressed in further development.
We understand the title is a theatrical flourish, the sort of boast that compensates for insecurity, but it also seems to promise slam-bang pizzazz. The opening number functions like that in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." But that tells us it's a comedy and also shows us, by being funny itself. Here, the opening announces a story about 17th- century Italian commedia dell'arte street performers, but without the overt comedy, we still don't know what kind of a story it will be.
The central performer/impresario, Flaminio Scala, is a foundling raised in a monastery. There's a funny bit where he does the voices for the monks discovering the baby, but the musical really begins a couple of numbers later, when he begins to assemble his troupe, starting with the diminutive Armanda Ragusa, funny in a dog routine, and voluptuous Columbina warding off his lascivious advances. Only then do the performers emerge from generic and become the focus of our interest and caring.
Next he finds a tailor who becomes the perfect Pantalone, the comic old man, and Dottore, the comic quack doctor. It is quite wonderful to watch as puppets turn into people. The greatest joys of "Glorious Ones" are these individual personalities, such that the show's brisk 90 minutes don't give some of them as much focal time as we'd like.
Ultimately, the sweet feeling isn't about Flaherty's homecoming at all: it's right there in the music and story, which, while it is about the invention of stage comedy, isn't a comedy so much as a journey in search of artistic identity. The real opening number, "The Comedy of Love," comes several songs in, because it is between the poles of comedy and love that the show moves.
Succesful enough in Italy, Flaminio hopes for the big time, so they head off to France to play the palace. There, they're sneered at as unsophisticates. Historically, it was just such troupes which inspired the great Moliere, who deepened commedia toward comedy of character and reinvented the playwright. . . and the next step is Chekhov. Returned to Italy, the troupe seems to develop in this way themselves. But this story line goes awry in an abrupt climactic turn, which I can't even discuss without giving too much away. (If you've seen the show, stop me on the street and we'll debate.)
The theme of generational rivalry is established early when Francesco sings of the Biblical story of David and Absalom. For most, I expect that's a pretty obscure reference, and I'm not sure how well it fits in detail. But the rivalry does give rise to some of the best material about the adjustments that age must bring.
At the play's end, we return to the comedy of love . . . or is it really the love of comedy? Paul Schoeffler plays Flaminio with plenty of swagger, a well-rounded voice and the passion necessary to fuel his disappointment as his career isn't all he expects. Natalie Venetia Belcon is more than his match as the earthy Columbina with a velvety voice.
The younger couple is Jeremy Webb as Francesco Andreini, who plays the Arlecchino (witty servant) roles, and Jenny Powers as Isabella, the ingenue who becomes his wife and also turns playwright. Both are good looking, capable of supple physical comedy and with lovely voices, especially her clarion tone.
But much of the fun is in the others, Julyana Soelistyo's feisty Armanda, the fool with the heart of gold; John Kassir's pompous, inventive Dottore; and David Patrick Kelly, an elderly comic wizard as Pantalone.
All seven play with stage Italian accents, increasing the comic atmosphere.
Meanwhile they are matched by seven musicians on the balcony, led by Thomas Murray. The score they play is full of rich melody, the kind that steals over you, rather than taking you by storm. The flashier numbers that make an immediate impact include "Aranda's Tarantella," a wonderful comic song which Ahrens has packed with many a discreet double entendre -- blow on a piccolo, ride a pony -- OK, I guess they're not so discreet, especially when staged with comic zest by Graciela Daniele, who has obviously had an important creative role throughout.
"The World She Writes" is a witty song about creation. (Was it about here I began thinking of "The Fantasticks"?) And "The Moon Woman" has a lovely motif reminiscent of Tateh's "Silhouettes" from Ahrens and Flaherty's "Ragtime."
Dan Ostling's set counterpoints rough boards with a lovely sky, and Mara Blumenfeld's costumes and Stephen Strawbridge's lights are as good as it gets. Producer Ted Pappas has taken great care.
I wonder why some characters' names are just those of their commedia roles while others are personal. I'm sure there's a reason: "Glorious Ones" is too in love with the theater not to consider billing and all its implications. Thankfully, that love is not just fulsome, but, in Ahrens' hands, also wry, as when one declares, "I'm an actor," to be met with the dry rejoinder, "Your secret is safe with me."
Actors really are glorious, aren't they?
Shawn Colvin at Elton John Tribute
Shawn Colvin performs "Harmony" during the Carnegie Hall tribute to the music of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
Artists pay tribute to Elton John, Bernie Taupin
by Jay Lustig, Star-Ledger Staff
Friday October 12, 2007, 4:33 PM
NEW YORK -- "It was hard to choose one," said Shawn Colvin, before performing "Sacrifice" at a tribute to the songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall.
No kidding. John and lyricist Taupin have one of the biggest and most varied catalogs in the business, and it's almost impossible for a tribute concert -- even a generous one like Wednesday's, which featured 20 artists doing one song apiece -- to do it justice.
There was no "Daniel" in this tribute, a benefit for the UJA-Federation of New York's Music For Youth initiative. There was no "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." No "Candle in the Wind." No "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me." No "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." There just wasn't enough time.
Also, artists didn't restrict themselves to monster hits. So Page McConnell of Phish, for instance, tackled "Amoreena," adding a touch of cocktail-lounge suavity, and Aimee Mann sang a graceful, slightly melancholy "My Father's Gun." Folk-rock visionary Roger McGuinn turned in a loose, upbeat "Friends," and jazz singer-vibraphonist Roy Ayers funked up "Bad Side of the Moon."
John didn't attend, but Taupin did; he was introduced, from his balcony seat, at the start of the show, and waved. One imagines it was quite a night for him, listening to such an eclectic batch of artists bring new shades of meaning to his words.
GEORGE McNISH/THE STAR-LEDGERRoger McGuinn plays "Friends" during the salute to the songwriting team.
David Broza opted for one of the best-known John-Taupin compositions, "Your Song," and put an odd twist on it, turning this humble love letter into a bold, flamenco-tinged declaration. The singer-songwriter known only as Buddy offered an equally adventurous, and more satisfying, overhaul of a John-Taupin classic. Singing "I'm Still Standing," he sounded fragile and wounded at first, but ended with a cathartic raveup; it really seemed like he had triumphed over something. Colvin interpreted "Sacrifice" in a gentle, coffeehouse-folk manner, and the group Fools For April treated "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" in much the same way. But most artists tried for something more dramatic. Phoebe Snow turned "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" -- a John Lennon tribute written shortly after his death -- into an explosive soul-gospel epic, and Lizz Wright smoldered in torch-song fashion, on "Come Down In Time." Raul Malo brought a near-operatic sense of intensity to "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word," while Ryan Shaw added some dazzling vocal runs to "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues." Jill Sobule, sumptuously backed by the Ethel string quartet and keyboardist Steve Gaboury, sang "Levon" with an irresistibly uplifting sense of joy. The evening's biggest trouper turned out to be new-wave survivor Howard Jones, who didn't get upset when his electric keyboard issued blasts of static as he tried to sing "Tiny Dancer." He just shrugged, exchanged smiles with his guitarist, walked over to the grand piano at the side of the stage, and started over. His version was straightforward, but still magical, with the crowd helping to sing the song's soaring chorus. The show-closing slot went to British Invasion stars Peter & Gordon -- Peter Asher and Gordon Waller, who recently started performing together again after a 38-year break. They reinvented a relatively new John-Taupin song, the stately "I Want Love," with their lush harmonies, making it sound like one of their own hits. This was the fourth Music For Youth benefit that has taken place since early 2006; the previous ones saluted Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell. No date has been set for the next in the series.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 11, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 11, 2007
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
The coming week won't be a favorable time to seek revenge against the thunder for making such loud noises. Nor would it be a good idea for you to curse the sea for being so restless or to angrily punch the sky for being so high or to spread nasty gossip about the wind for refusing to heed your commands. On the other hand, cosmic fortune will bless you if you yourself are like an elemental force that unapologetically obeys the laws of your own nature.
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
The coming week won't be a favorable time to seek revenge against the thunder for making such loud noises. Nor would it be a good idea for you to curse the sea for being so restless or to angrily punch the sky for being so high or to spread nasty gossip about the wind for refusing to heed your commands. On the other hand, cosmic fortune will bless you if you yourself are like an elemental force that unapologetically obeys the laws of your own nature.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Columbus day weekend
this was an awesome weekend. Friday, i met my friend and mentor Barbara at Grand Central Station where we chatted and ate at Zoccolo. I had a killer seafood salad, made with shrimp, calamari and snapper in a line cilantro sauce. it was cold and cooked in the juice.
On saturday, i went to school and then home to do errands. I headed to manhattan and saw Anthony da Costa with Abbie Gardner in Madison SQ Park.
I then went to an Open House event where the architectural structures of NY are open for pubic viewing. I went on a tour of the Grand Mason Lodge on 23rd street. The Masonic Hall was magnificent with each meeting room with a different design and architectural era. The structure was restored by 1000 men and women in 1980s...
Masonic Lodge of NYC
Virtual tour of Masonic Hall
i then went to the New Yorker festival event at Highline Ballroom. Rosanne Cash was interviewed by Henrik Hertzberg. THey talked mostly about Johnny Cash but Rosanne played a full set.
Sunday i drove out to Stonybrook to see Devon Sproule a singer songwriter from Charlottesville VA. Opening for her was Hope Nunnery, a old timey style singer songwriter from NY by way of SC.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 4, 2007
Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 4, 2007
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Jackson Pollack (1912-1956) was a pioneer painter. Instead of using an easel, he laid his canvases on the floor. Rather than manually applying paint with a brush, he poured the liquid colors out and then used his whole body to shape his creation, crawling and walking on it. Sometimes he'd employ trowels, sticks, pieces of glass, and other objects to further manipulate the paint. He's your role model for the coming week, Capricorn. I hope he will inspire you to expand the way you carry out your specialties. Try new techniques. Involve more of yourself in the process. Be willing to get messier than you've been before.
Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Jackson Pollack (1912-1956) was a pioneer painter. Instead of using an easel, he laid his canvases on the floor. Rather than manually applying paint with a brush, he poured the liquid colors out and then used his whole body to shape his creation, crawling and walking on it. Sometimes he'd employ trowels, sticks, pieces of glass, and other objects to further manipulate the paint. He's your role model for the coming week, Capricorn. I hope he will inspire you to expand the way you carry out your specialties. Try new techniques. Involve more of yourself in the process. Be willing to get messier than you've been before.
Monday, October 01, 2007
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