Monthly Archives: January 2022

How to Tell A Story In One Sentence

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Have you ever had this experience, as I have had many times? I’m at a friend’s house and inevitably someone asks what’s new, and what have you been working on, and though I may have a project that I’ve been working on, I suddenly become all muckle-mouthed and it just becomes a trail of, “Well, it’s kinda hard to explain…”

To the rescue: a book that I thought I would hate, but turned out to be a really interesting and useful book…

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the rest of the story as broadcast today on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

Tom Joad: Woody Guthrie

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Woody Guthrie’s song version of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath as sung by Brooklyn’s favorite cowboy, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Phil Ochs fans might recognize the melody as the same that Phil used for his own song “Joe Hill,” but Phil was just following tradition since Woody had already stolen the tune from an even earlier song called “John Hardy.”

Thanks to YouTuber mrgildons

Physically Impossible

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Sixteen-year old magician Stanley Zhou, originally from China, has audience members, including Penn & Teller, scratching their heads. He does a card effect, the plotline of which is well-known, but which contains elements–especially the finale–which will have even well-posted magic fans “fasten-ated.”

More at Stanley Zhou

The Great Postal Heist

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If you’re not totally glued to your computer email 24/7 you may have noticed that the US Postal Service mail delivery has been getting more and more chaotic and sporadic over the last few decades. Filmmaker Jay Galione has come out with a documentary film that helps to unravel the labor battleground that is the US Postal Service in a deeply personal film, The Great Postal Heist. I was happy to interview Jay for Arts Express radio.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the interview as broadcast today on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

Shakespeare Gets A Vaccine

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Illustration by Paul Gonzales/Los Angeles Times based on 1623 engraving by Martin Droeshout.

Nurse: Which arm?
Shakespeare: As you like it

Nurse: Was that painful?
Shakespeare: Much ado about nothing.

Nurse: Did any of your family or friends have the virus?
Shakespeare: Oh, lots: Two noble kinsmen, Antony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida

Nurse: You will have to have a second jab.
Shakespeare: Measure for measure?

Nurse: So, how was the experience?
Shakespeare: A midsummer night’s dream!

Nurse: So what do you think of the govt handling of Covid?
Shakespeare: it’s a Comedy of errors.

Shakespeare: There’s been a recent surge in the virus?
Nurse: Alas, The winter’s tale

Shakespeare: When will my quarantine end?
Nurse: On the Twelfth night.

Shakespeare: Who will foot my quarantine bill?
Nurse: The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare: Where will I be put up for my quarantine?
Nurse: In a Hamlet.

Shakespeare: Thank you for helping me!
Nurse: All’s well that ends well.

Thanks to Pearl Shifer for sending me these (with a few of my own additions)

O Superman

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Monday morning, Laurie Anderson, trying to comprehend the horror, gets a phone call in 1982’s “O Superman.” See the wiki link at the end of the post for the background behind the song.

Words:

O Superman O judge O Mom and Dad Mom and Dad O Superman O judge O Mom and Dad Mom and Dad

Hi. I’m not home right now. But if you want to leave a Message, just start talking at the sound of the tone.

Hello? This is your Mother Are you there? Are you coming home? Hello? Is anybody home?

Well, you don’t know me, but I know you And I’ve got a message to give to you Here come the planes So you better get ready Ready to go. You can come as you are, but pay as you go. Pay as you go.

And I said: OK. Who is this really?

And the voice said: This is the hand, the hand that takes This is the hand, the hand that takes This is the hand, the hand that takes Here come the planes.

They’re American planes Made in America Smoking or non-smoking?

And the voice said: Neither snow nor rain nor gloom Of night shall stay these couriers from the swift Completion of their appointed rounds.

‘Cause when love is gone There’s always justice And when justice is gone There’s always force And when force is gone, There’s always Mom. Hi Mom!

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms So hold me, Mom, in your long arms In your automatic arms. Your electronic arms. In your arms.

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms Your petrochemical arms Your military arms In your electronic arms

Here’s the backstory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Superman

Thanks to YouTuber Nonesuch Records

Border Crossings

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A while ago we brought you an excerpt from Manuel Tiago’s The 3rd Floor, stories of the Portuguese Communist resistance under fascism. Now Eric Gordon has translated into English another book of Tiago’s called Border Crossings, a collection of short stories about the everyday lives of those who worked for the party resistance and had to flee from town to town and country to country as they carried out their assignments.

Tiago, whose real name was Álvaro Cunhal, based these stories on his longtime experiences in the Portuguese Communist Party. As Eric Gordon writes in his introduction, “One theme that pops up in story after story here is that of communication, cooperation and collaboration. No one makes these journeys alone. They are aided by a global support system that recognized the critical importance of these crossings.”

I would add that these stories taken as a whole add up to a three dimensional portrait of ordinary people doing heroic things in extraordinary times.

Here’s one story from Border Crossings called “Women over the Soajo.”

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the story as broadcast today on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

“We Are Plain People”: Sidney Poitier

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The great Sidney Poitier died this month.

Here he is in one of his most masterful performances as Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.

The play was originally directed on Broadway by Lloyd Richards, the first Black director on the Broadway stage. In their lean days as struggling actors, Richards and Poitier would pool their money to buy and split a hot dog. They promised each other that if one got an opportunity, they’d bring the other along. When Poitier got Hansberry’s script, he insisted that Lloyd direct the play. Lloyd worked intensely with Hansberry to shape the play and then cast and directed the play perfectly. The stage cast, many of whom were also in the film– and who you can see in this clip from the film–included Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Claudia McNeil, and John Fiedler.

Thanks to YouTuber The aesthetic of the Image: [world] cinema clips

All The Things You Are: Scott Hamilton

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Monday morning, you wake up with that tune drifting in your head.

Scott Hamilton’s tenor sax about as smooth as they come.

Scott Hamilton – tenor saxophone
Brian Lemon – piano
Dave Green – bass
Allan Ganley – drums

Thanks to YouTuber yoichiro tani

Would You Light My Candle?

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As snow and cold invades these parts, Renée Elise Goldsberry seeks some warmth from Will Chase in Rent.

Thanks to BroadwayInHD

Mario The Maker Magician!

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I saw Mario the Maker Magician by accident some years ago; he was giving a full outdoor performance in Madison Square Park in Manhattan, and it became apparent to me that he was the best children’s magician I had ever seen. His inventiveness, love of children, and inspirational aura put him into a class by himself. Watch this clip to see how he gets the children’s attention and then switches over into a wonderful positive message about artistic experimentation.

BTW, he makes all of his own robots and teaches children how to do the same.

See the rest of the act at oldchurchpdx and more of Mario at Mario the Maker Magician