Notebooks

Thornton Wilder, [Manuscript notebook containing dialogue for Merchant of Yonkers and notes on "other projects"] (YCAL MSS 108)

Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities - Notebooks

Double Bummer

I'm Learning To Share: This week's Double Bummer; Ricardo's gone, McGoohan too.

the in crowd shares a taste of their usual excellence.

Richard Beymer's Twin Peaks Photos

Richard Beymer’s Twin Peaks Photos

Richard Beymer was Benjamin Horne in Twin Peaks and Tony in the 1961 film, West Side Story.

I tried to get at these pictures a couple of months ago, but they were inaccessible. Hopefully, he'll put up more - he's a good photographer.

video: Richard Beymer discusses David Lynch’s directing style

stray bullets

Did Bach’s wife write his music?
The Duke in His Domain (Capote profiles Brando, 1957) (via)
The Atlas of Cyberspace (free pdf, beautifully illustrated) (via)
The Ultimate Camper (via)
Rare recordings of some of the 20th Century's greatest writers
A Ferment of World Jazz Yields a Trove of Tapes
Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (fair bit of it)
The Multicolr Search Lab (search Flickr by color; easy and impressive) (via)

Futility Closet: “The Continental Salamander” In the year 1826, one Monsieur Chabert … performed the following feats at the White Conduit Gardens: Having partaken of a hearty meal of phosphorus, washed down with a copious draught of oxalic acid in a solution of arsenic, he drank... (read more)

viddy:
Making ofs (videos about the making of videos, incl. Gondry, Cunningham)
Ways of seeing (John Berger TV documentary) (via)
A Half Century of Video Games (footage of the first video game)
Jeff Mills: Critical Arrangements Interview
Elliott Smith & Friends (“backstage” video)

Circassian Beauties

Sideshow World:

Moss-Haired Girl — A "made" human oddity from the 19th century, also known as a "Circassian girl" (the Circassians are a Caucasian people living in the Caucasus but not speaking an Indo-European language). A white woman would stiffen and bush her hair, much in the style of the 'Afro' hairdo. The pitch which usually accompanied the act involved kidnapping by 'Arabs' and being forced into harem life, followed by a harrowing escape culminating in refuge there in the show.

a tip of the hat to Could it be Madness-this?

stray bullets

HIV/AIDS Emerged as Early as 1880s Until now it was thought that HIV-1 Group M, the strain of HIV that causes the most infections worldwide, originated in 1930 in Cameroon. Epidemic levels of AIDS and HIV-1 infections started appearing in Leopoldville, Belgian Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo), around 1960. Findings from the new study, however, suggest that the virus most likely started circulating among humans in sub-Saharan Africa sometime between 1884 and 1924.

John Le Carré: The Madness of Spies The gun was indeed part of me: so much so that I had ceased to notice its presence on my hip. Stooping to address the ball, I was startled by the clang of a heavy metal object striking the tiled floor, and looked around to identify the source. Finally, I saw the Browning lying at my feet, but by then the inn had emptied itself of customers and landlord. I retrieved it, returned it to my waistband, and picked up the briefcase. “Abort,” the A.I.O. ordered, pausing only to finish his beer. Le Carré shares some personal history.

The Secret of How the Titanic Sank New evidence has experts rethinking how the luxury passenger liner sank (via)

A mannequin on a toilet and dry porridge – it's the Turner Prize The Turner Prize, the annual award for artists that never ceases to raise furious debate on what constitutes art and what should be dismissed as nonsense, yesterday proved it was not about to change the habit of a lifetime.

also:
Russian rap video soldier sent to Siberia
The Essays of Francis Bacon
The Speech Accent Archive (audio - very useful for actors) (via)

The art of Jonathan Blum

Jonathan Blum is a long lost buddy from my New Orleans days and I'm quite pleased to find him alive and well and in great form.

One of Jonathan's monoprints graced the cover of On the Spot, a magazine I published back in 1990. He was an inspiration and turned out to be one of the few that volunteered help to actually come through.

In 1991, I acted in A Typical Conversation in a Chinese Restaurant, a play that he wrote and directed and one of the most strenuous and memorable productions of my modest theatrical career. The set was designed as a Chinese restaurant and we ate hot food every night served by a waiter. The performance space was an old and rather large warehouse in the same building as Mona Lisa, a Turkish pizza joint in the French Quarter. We filled the house every night, even though it was a pick-up show done on our own impetus, with a minimal budget.

I can't remember the name of my character, but he was a guy about twice my age who at the end of the play has a complete emotional blowout and storms off the set, raging through the audience. It was one of the few roles I played that bled over into my real life. My girlfriend at the time was most relieved when that show was over.

Now that I have found good Jonathan, I hope to establish contact again and I hope you enjoy his wonderful artwork.

Antonin Artaud

Photo of Antonin Artaud (b. Sept. 4, 1896) taken by Man Ray in 1926.

Artaud's The Theatre and Its Double resonated with me and was a big influence on the thespian adventures of my youth.

Some Artaud quotes

via Ordinary finds

Ubu Roi poster (1896)

Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities:

Poster designed by Alfred Jarry for the premiere of Ubu Roi, 1896.

via a journey round my skull

Sick Day

image

I'm a bit under the weather, so just this one post today. I'll be back with you tomorrow. In the meantime, it's lots of bed rest and Monty Python for me, the archives and my splendid blogroll for you, if you need some.

But before I leave you, a few notes and some videos.

First of all, I was shamelessly pleased to discover that Uncertain Times was kindly and thoughtfully introduced by the esteemed Jahsonic. His weblog and Art and Popular Culture Wiki are required reading and reference.

some news:
Sad to say, an American Tourist Is Killed in Beijing
Babies born 8/8/08 at 8:08; 8 pounds, 8 ounces (thx)
Update: Fake-CNN spam mutates as attacks continue

some nugs:
Literary Voyeurism (enough to choke on)
Roald Dahl's “Taste” - Read by John Lithgow for Selected Shorts series on public radio. (don't miss it) (via)
Roadside Architecture is back on the road. (prev)
Darren Aronofsky updated his blog.

some video:

The Chambers Brothers - People Get Ready (via)




From The Last Waltz, The Band performs It Makes No Difference. I forgot how good they were. (via)




August 9th is Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore. Enjoy an excellent live version of Inca Roads.

And finally, Procrastination. (not the one that made the rounds a few months back)



See you tomorrow!

Don S Davis Art

Lily Pond

Apart from pursuing a PhD in theater and an acting career that spanned three decades, Don Davis was an accomplished visual artist. Throughout his life he spent much of his spare time painting, drawing and carving wood. I was particularly impressed with his stage design.

Don S Davis Art
Don S. Davis