And We Shall March

Here's A Picture of Me & H.R. Until I Get Back

Busy Bee.

Buzz Buzz Buzz

Housekeeping Notice

I don't know how much longer the other site is going to last, which is fine since being over there is experimental for me, my entries there are mostly random fun puff, and if it's taken away, no big deal. But there's some stuff there I don't want to lose if that space is spiked, so I'm going to cut/paste them here over the next week for safety. Despite all my bitching about Typepad changes over the years, I trust it. Stuff I post here stays here, without any interference from the overlords.

I'm doing this because I absolutely do not trust the experimental (for me) site's whole Ooo We Killed Your Site Without Advance Notice But You Can Still Get Your Data Because Dude We're Totally About Not Being Evil Despite The Fact That We're Part Of The NSTIC Team, Okay?

Riiiight.

Which means those of you who read both spaces are going to see repeats. The Management apologiezes for any inconvenience this may cause. One day there will be lemon-soaked paper napkins. Until then, there will be a slight delay.

But once all that's done, I'll tell you about The Mixtape!

Also: The four of you patiently waiting for Significant replies to your Significant emails, it's in the works. I can't answer that level of meaty smart with off-the-cuff piffery, and that takes time which, at this moment, doesn't exist in abundance this month. Arg.

Please Help Abie Philbin Bowman Get To DVD

I met Abie Philbin Bowman two years ago when I went to see his show, Jesus: The Guantanamo Years, at the first Hollywood Fringe Festival. I was very eager to see it because had learned of him well before then via the internet(s), when the link to an interview he conducted with the head of a KKK outfit on the night of Obama's election landed in my inbox. That interview was astonishing. Abie, it turned out, even more so!

Abie is not only hilarious and wicked politically astute, he's also extremely generous with his time and insight; when I asked him for a few notes on a thing I did? He dropped a giant analysis that was critically useful, and he did this even though he was in the middle of a tour in Europe. I was all !!!

He's using the European version of Kickstarter to raise funds to turn three of his shows into DVDs. Here's the pitch. Please support him!

"I Sing Because I'm Happy. I Sing Because I'm Free. His Eye Is On The Sparrow. That's The Reason That I Sing."

This is a backstage moment from a production of The Scottsboro Boys, a play using the format of the traditional minstrel show, complete with blackface at the end, to comment on modern day events.

During the play, the two guys in the tails take on the Office of Tambo & Bones, and the white guy seen at the end takes on the Office of Interlocutor. These are very important Offices in the structure of a traditional minstrel play. I'm mentioning this in a helpful guide sort of way.

Last year it killed me that I not yet the sort of person who can afford to get on a plane and fly to NYC to see a Broadway show at the drop of a hat. The show is now on tour, rumors are that it will hit the west coast, and I'm already scheming Broke People Figure Out How To Do Things All The Time ways to be in an audience if this comes anywhere near LA.

I must to see this play. I must to see this play. OMG I must figure out a way to see this play if it comes anywhere near me. I want to see it even though I'm afraid I'll end up sobbing wildly in the theater, unable to get out of my seat and thus blocking the exit for other people in my row, as happened when I went to see The Ballad of Emmet Till at the Fountain and ended up being comforted in the arms of what turned out to be that play's director which was so so very embarassing because that is a woman creator I revere and the first time I manage to meet her is in a moment of weakness curled in her arms as she told me It Will Be Okay? OMG. Once I got my shit together, I basically fled from the theater, past the cast assembled on the sidewalk to talk to folks, past her standing there to do the same, and to the car I had at the time for the sanctuary that is Home.

Which you probably don't care about, but I Know Myself, and I have a pretty good idea of what will happen if I manage to see see this play about the Scottsboro Boys which uses minstrelsy to tell the story.

Anyhoo.

I like this backstage moment for a bunch of reasons, the biggest one being that you hear stories of what actors in an ensemble play do to bring themselves into the same emotional space before they throw down live in front of us, but you rarely get to see it. Watch the video - that's what's happening in the clip. These men are about to go onstage to do something enormously difficult at many levels due to the content of this play, its historical landscape, and its format, and they are checking in with each other first. They are creating the Group Mind, and they are feeling it. That's what you're seeing hapen. It is amazing. Normally we don't get to see this.

(If you don't know what the Scottboro Boys case is about, or understand why using that particular case as base for a traditional minstrel show is an issue of Stratospheric Controversy, please don't ever talk to me again because at this moment of typing my tolerance for America 101-level discussions is lacking. I might get back to my normally Mostly Tolerant self next week though, so check in then!)

Bill Cosby Gives A Keynote Speech - Watch The Whole Thing

Life Is The Flower For Which Love Is The Honey

Beach! Movies! Picnic! Horsies! Mojitos! Fireworks!

Which was not how yesterday was supposed to be, but that's how it turned out through a series of ridiculously hilarious events. We couldn't have had more fun if we tried!

Also, once it hit me that TDoTM is pretty much an expanded, tweaked version of that G1 episode that pretty much had the same plot? It was even better!

 

 

Penguins In Existential Crisis Will *Always* Be Funny

I forgot to share this here. An excellent outline of my life right now!

How I Know It's Easter Is Based On 1: When Passover Happens; and 2: When The Local Church People Show Up At Your Door With Easter Services Flyers

Still recovering from Seder food coma, actually. As for the rest, I'll take Chocolate Jesus, thank you. This live version is also good; reminds me of seeing him at the Wiltern.

OMGWTF Are You EVER Going To Post Something Besides Videos Or Pictures Of Your Cat EVER?!

Yeah, I know. Substance has been lacking around this place for quite a while, now. We apologize for the inconvenience. Know that there is stuff in the hopper, and The Management will get to rolling that stuff out as soon as possible ... but that might not be until after Fringe.

I know! I'll cheat by sending you to other people's substantial stuff!

The Cannibal Priests of New England.***

You're welcome.

*** Background: Every single entry in that serial is a first draft. I hate that guy.

Here, Enjoy Some Fancy Show Puppies Until I Get Back