fauxklore

Celebrity Death Watch: Charles Evers was the mayor of Fayette, Mississippi and brother of Medgar. Joan Feynman was an astrophysicist who did a lot of work re: space weather, including auroras. Bo Black directed Summerfest, a major music festival in Milwaukee. Rene Carpenter was the ex-wife of astronaut Scott Carpenter who became a columnist and television personality. Zheng Shouren was the chief designer of the Three Rivers Dam. Peter Green founded Fleetwood Mac and wrote songs, including “Black Magic Woman.” John Saxon appeared in a number of Westerns and horror movies. Bill English was a co-developer of the computer mouse. Bent Fabric wrote the song “Alley Cat,” which we used to dance to when I was a child. Irene Pollin co-owned the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards. Reese Sconfeld was the president of CNN in the early 1980’s and founded the Food Network. Andre Ptaszynski was a British theatre producer. Lou Schwechheimer was an executive for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Balla Sidibe founded Orchestra Baobab, an influential Senegalese band. Karen Berg co-founded the Kabbalah Centre. Herman Cain was the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and a tea party politician. Sir Alan Parker was an English film director, known for such movies as Midnight Express. Ruth Weiss was a beat poet.

Wilford Brimley was a character actor, best known as the spokesman for Quaker Oats. Leon Fleisher was a pianist, best known for playing one-handed for many years, due to a neurological injury. Michael Peter Smith wrote the song “The Dutchman,” best known for Steve Goodman’s cover of it. Doris Buffett was a philanthropist (and the sister of Warren). Frances Allen was the first woman to become an IBM Fellow and to win the Turing Award. Elmer Petersen sculpted the World’s Largest Buffalo. Pete Hamill was a journalist, who wrote numerous pieces about New York City. Horace Clark played for The Source of All Evil in the Universe. James “Kamala” Harris was a wrestler. Carroll Hardy was the only person ever to pinch hit for Ted Williams. Trini Lopez was a singer, best known for his performances of “If I Had a Hammer” and “Lemon Tree.” Russell Kirsch was a developer of the scanner. Belle du Berry was the lead singer of Paris Combo. James R. Thompson was the longest serving governor of Illinois. Howell Binkley was a Tony-winning lighting designer. Robert Trump was the younger brother of His Orangeness. Claire Shulman was the first woman to serve as Queens borough president. Ben Cross was an actor, best known for playing Harold Abrahams in the movie Chariots of Fire. Marvin Creamer was the first person to sail around the world without aid from navigational instruments.

Regis Philbin was a talk show host and game show host. He held the record for most hours on U.S. television.

Olivia de Haviland was an actress, most famous for playing Melanie in Gone With the Wind. She earned me 17 ghoul pool points.

John McNamara managed the Red Sox from 1985 through 1988. That includes 1986, when he made a few dubious decisions in the World Series, resulting in Bill Buckner’s fielding error in Game 6 and the disaster of Calvin Schiraldi ‘s relief pitching in Game 7.

Brent Carver was a musical theatre actor. He originated the role of Leo Frank in Parade and won a Tony for his performance as Molina in The Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Eric Bentley was a theatre critic. He was primarily an advocate for European plays and his reviews of, say, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, were generally negative. He earned me 16 ghoul pool points.

Brent Scowcroft was the National Security Advisor under Presidents Ford and Bush 43. While I may not have agreed with his actual recommendations, I thought he was well-qualified and thoughtful. Comparisons to recent incumbents in the position are too depressing to write about.

Adin Steinsaltz translated the Talmud into modern Hebrew and English. His edition is almost certainly the most widely used one and is widely praised for its accessibility.

Quick Political Note: She wasn’t my first choice, but I am comfortable with Kamala Harris as Biden’s running mate.

Placeholders: Among the things I still need to write about are the storytelling conference I went to in early June and the genealogy conference I went to last week. Also, Saturday was Lollapuzzoola , my favorite crossword tournament.

Virtual Visit to Armenia: I have been to Armenia (back in 2003). Last night, my alumni association had an on-line event with the Armenian ambassador. It would have been nicer to have been able to actually go to the embassy and enjoy Armenian food and wine (and, especially, cognac). But it was still a good event. He started with three things people should know about Armenia. Those were unsurprisingly: 1) Christianity, 2) Mount Ararat, and 3) the Velvet Revolution. He talked a lot about wine, economic improvements, and relations with other countries. Over all, he was a good speaker and it was worth zooming into.

I am busy at work and busy at home since I am going on vacation soon and in the usual pre-vacation mad rush. I have a few other things to write about due to the three unexpected things meme, but that will be a separate entry (or maybe more than one).

Celebrity Death Watch: Roger Hirson was a writer, primarily for television, but also of the book for the musical Pippin. Claus von Bulow was accused of murdering his wealthy wife. Anthony Price wrote spy novels. Frank Lucas was a drug trafficker. Thad Cochran was a Republican Senator from Mississippi. He was relatively moderate, e.g. voting to allow stem cell research, but still pro-gun and anti-health care. Paddy Fahey was an Irish composer and fiddler, whose works have been performed by a number of other traditional musicians. Leah Chase was the chef behind the well-known New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase’s.. Le Anne Schreiber was the first woman to run the sports section of a major U.S. daily newspaper. Robert Earle was the second host of College Bowl. Maida Heatter wrote cookbooks, focused on desserts. Sylvia Miles was a film actress.

Leon Redbone was a singer and guitarist, who earned attention for his unique voice and his revivals of Tin Pan Alley classics. Until reading his obituary, I hadn’t known that he was born in Cyprus. I particularly recommend his album Champagne Charlie. Since that includes the song "Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone," I won’t say more.

Dr. John was a New Orleans singer-songwriter. His shows incorporated Mardi Gras beads and elaborate costumes and voodoo elements. He was pretty much the last of his kind left since Professor Longhair died in 1980 and Allen Toussaint in 2015.

Velvel Pasternak was a musicologist, specializing in Jewish music. He is credited with preserving Hasidic music, as well as Holocaust songs. But his work, especially as a publisher of 150 some odd books, was much broader and included Israeli folk dances and Ladino songs, too.


Embassy of Belize: I went to a reception at the Embassy of Belize last Thursday night. The weather held up, so the event was out on the back deck. They started with drinks – a mixture of pineapple juice and coconut rum that is apparently called a “panty ripper.” Then the ambassador gave a speech, emphasizing the diversity of Belizeans and their ties to both the rest of Central America and to the Caribbean region. Dinner included guacamole tacos, plantains, potato salad, rice and beans, and chicken. There was some sort of pudding with fruit for dessert. They also had music playing, which created a lively atmosphere. All in all, it was a nice event.

Addictive game: The New York Times puzzle page has a new game called Tiles. I recommend ignoring it if you plan to be productive any time in the next few days. Or weeks. Or months. Okay, it just showed up Sunday. So maybe I will get tired of it someday. But, in the meantime, it is definitely not helping me review a list of compliance documents.

Sticker shock: I need to go to the Bay Area for a few days. Unfortunately, the timing is not flexible. The price is not quite high enough to justify using miles, but it is getting close. Oy. I’m almost afraid to check Amtrak prices for a trip to NY this summer.

Since it is pride month: I am hopelessly heterosexual and past child-bearing age, so this has no direct impact on me. But I am increasingly angry about the struggles LGBT adoptive parents face with respect to having their parental rights recognized. This is particularly dramatic when it comes to citizenship issues. I believe that recognition of same sex marriage should imply that the adoption of a child by the non-biological parent should be treated the same way for same-sex partners as for mixed-sex partners. And this should be the case when assisted reproductive technology is involved. The State Department needs to update the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to fix this.

I have political rants to inflict on people, but let me first speak of what I have been up to.

Celebrity Death Watch: Sachio Kinugasa was a Japanese baseball player who played in 2215 consecutive games. Alice Provensen illustrated (and later wrote) children’s books. Larry Harvey founded Burning Man. Judith Leiber designed handbags (and died the same day as her husband, Gerson, a painter.) Abi Ofarim was an Israeli musician and dancer, best known for "Cinderella Rockeflla" with his wife Esther. Rabbi Aaron Panken was the President of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. Charles Steger was a former president of Virginia Tech. Paolo Ferrari played Archie Goodwin in the Italian television adaptation of the Nero Wolfe books. George Deukmejian was the governor of California through much of the 1980’s.

Conference Going: I spent three days last week at a work-related forum that may or may not prove useful in the future. Parts of it were like having somebody read a dictionary to me, parts had me metaphorically throwing up my hands in despair on how little progress we’ve made in too many years, and only a couple of speakers seemed to have anything concrete to say. I suspect it is just that I am old and have been through a few too many fads on how to engineer systems better. Also, I am tired of people who are speaking at space-related events starting out by admitting they don’t know anything about space systems. Or I could just have been cranky because I had to drive and, while Route 28 is almost tolerable in the morning, it is inevitably a slow-moving hellstream in the afternoon.

Canadian Embassy: On Wednesday evening, I went to an MIT Club event at the Embassy of Canada. The talk was on renewable energy (hydropower on the part of the Canadians; wind and solar on the part of the Americans) and how our grids play together. The interesting part was the relative dearth of east-west transmission lines in both countries, while there is good north-south connectivity. Admittedly, it’s not like anybody actually lives in the Dakotas or Saskatchewan … (Er, yes, I am joking. Sort of.) The reception was pretty much the wine and cheese and crackers sort (plus charcuterie and excellent dried fruit and mixed nuts). One of the embassy people was from Saskatchewan and I extracted some tourist tips from her, e.g. the existence of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum. (I have been trying to find a reason to go to that province, without much success. This sounds like a plausible weekend trip.) Aside from that, I talked with fellow alumni.

Around the World Embassy Tour: I did more embassy going on Saturday, which featured the annual Around the World Embassy Open House. (There is a separate event for EU embassies, which is this coming weekend, but I have prior commitments.) We started at the Embassy of Nepal, which had some photos, a short film, and food that it was too early in the day for. The Embassy of Guinea was just steps away, so we walked through, looked at the building and some photos, and listened to some music. Then we cabbed over to the Embassy of Angola, which was high on my list, largely because Paul Theroux hated it so much that it piqued my interest in going there. They had excellent snacks – some sort of peanut brittle like thing, chocolate cake, coconut rolls, what looked and tasted like malasadas (though I don’t know the Angolan name for them). There was also good coffee and some weird but not unpleasant drink made from corn. They also had a fair amount of swag, including paperweights and brochures and an issue of National Geographic.

We took the bus down 16th Street to the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (roughly affiliated with the Embassy of Oman) where we dressed up in Omani clothing for selfies, drank coffee heavily scented with cardamom and rosewater, and ate dates. Then we cabbed over to the Embassy of Qatar, where we had more selfies in costume, more coffee, more dates, and some fairly substantial food (they had meat pies, chicken sandwiches, and cheese pies). They had advertised falconry but were unable to get permission for it.

That was as far as we had planned, so we looked at the map and settled on going to the northwest end of Embassy Row and the Embassy of South Africa. There was a long line, with free bottles of Nando’s lemon-herb sauce at the end of it, along with biltong samples. There was also a marketplace, mostly selling jewelry. (They had a food court, with food for sale, outside.) The Embassy of Bolivia was just across the street, so we went there and got some sort of alcoholic drinks. Inside, there was an art exhibit and a look at a fancy dining room. Back outside, there were costumed dancers. I was fading quickly and decided that I was better off going home at that point, but my friend wanted to stay to the bitter end. I abandoned her in line for the Embassy of Brazil (where, coincidentally, she was standing just a couple of people in front of a woman from my book club). I walked down to Dupont Circle and metroed home for a nap.

Paperwork: Our "improved" foreign travel reporting system at work (and, yes, that applies to embassy visits, unless you go to the embassy to get a visa for a real trip) is annoying. This is no surprise. I am especially peeved that they ignored all of my comments in the pre-rollout test session we had. Peeved but not, alas, surprised.

Team Israel: On Sunday, I satisfied my obsession with Jewish baseball players by seeing the documentary Heading Home: The Story of Team Israel as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival. It was worth the schlep to Bethesda.

Crumbs and Whiskers: A few weeks ago, a friend had been talking about her struggles with depression and I asked what I could do to help. One of my suggestions was a visit to a cat café. (I have learned over the years that it is best to offer a few suggestions, because depressed people tend to be unable to think of what might help. And what helps me may not be right for you.) So we made that excursion Monday evening. Petting cats is good therapy and they’ve adopted out hundreds of cats, who get to live better in the café than they did in cages in shelters.

I mentioned that my mother sucked at naming cats. She had one named Mamacat and had named one of the ferals who hung out on her lawn Rita. So I was challenged on what makes a good name for a cat. I believe that the name of a god or goddess (ideally Egyptian, but others will do) is a good starting point. Beyond that, one should consider the cat’s physical characteristics. I’d love to have a pair of Siamese cats named Mocha and Java, for example. But avoid trite names like Tiger. Names of authors can work well. Royalty is always good. (My brother and his ex-wife had a cat named Empress Josefina, for example.) My former boss always named his cats after serial killers. Note: no matter how much I think you have misnamed your cat, I will never tell you this, because I am not a monster.

Other good therapy is walking and the weather was lovely for a stroll back to Foggy Bottom. M Street still annoys me, with large herds of slow-moving tourists, but the weather mostly made up for it.

I've been busy for most of the past week.

Celebrity Death Watch: Ara Parseghian coached football for Notre Dame and appears in crosswords fairly often. Judith Jones edited cookbooks. Ernst Zundel was a Holocaust denier. Darren Daulton played baseball, largely for the Phillies. Don Baylor also played baseball, including a stint with the Red Sox in 1986, during which he set a record for being hit by pitches. Haruo Nakajima was the first actor to portray Godzilla. Glen Campbell was a countryish pop singer, notable for songs such as "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Rhinestone Cowboy."

I want to particularly highlight Barbara Cook, who was one of the greatest Broadway stars of all time. Some of her more famous roles included Marian in The Music Man, Cunegonde in Candide (in which she achieved a tour de force with "Glitter and Be Gay"), and Amalia in She Loves Me. She had a fabulous voice and, unlike many great singers, she could also act.

Non-celebrity Death Watch: Michael Cotter was a Minnesota farmer turned storyteller, who told stories of his farm life. He was a quiet and skilled teller, who I was privileged to hear a few times.

I am way behind on reading magazines, so I only just caught the news (via the MIT section of Technology Review) that Kathy Porter-Jordan, a friend from my undergraduate days died nearly a year ago. I particularly remember one year on Shavuout when she and I delved into the subject of leprosy in the Tanach.

Trip to Oregon: I made a quick trip last week to Portland, Oregon for the memorial service for my friend, Mary Joan. The travel was a bit stressful, as a thunderstorm struck just after we had been boarded (but before the plane was fully fueled). In the end, we got delayed about two hours. My decision to take a non-stop was vindicated as I figured I was fine as long as I got there some time on Thursday night. The delay was extended a little on arrival as a guy in the row behind mine had a medical emergency (significant enough for the flight attendant to be bringing him oxygen) and we had to wait for paramedics to take him off before we could disembark. But, I got there, so everything was okay.

My friend, Suzanne, was at the same hotel and, fortunately, has a compatible attitude towards timing. (Google maps says it’s a 22 minute drive, so let’s figure 45 minutes and then let’s add an extra half hour just in case we get lost ….) The ceremony was brief, with a few people (each of the two of us included) speaking, with a longer speech by Mary Joan’s husband. Then everybody went out to lunch, at which we learned that the day had been chosen since it would have been their 44th wedding anniversary.

The trip home went smoother, despite it involving a redeye too short for more than a nap. I also had a longish wait for the moon buggy from the D-gates to the main terminal at IAD, so it took longer to get to my car than to drive home. At least I had time to nap for a few hours before my next commitment.

Ben’s Bar Mitzvah: A friend’s son’s bar mitzvah was Saturday. The service was your standard Chabad service, which I won’t comment on. Ben did fine on the Torah reading and his haftorah and his mother did the expected job of bursting into tears during her brief speech afterwards. There was pretty good food at the Kiddush lunch. The big reception was in the evening at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. I only had time for a quick look through the museum, but it would be worth going back and spending half a day to see it all. There was reasonably good food and slightly odd entertainment, mostly oriented towards the kids, e.g. a sword swallower. Overall, it was a pretty nice event.

Embassy of Haiti: I went to an MIT Club of Washington event at the Embassy of Haiti last night. Actually, it was a joint event with the Harvard Club and they far outnumbered us. The embassy is beautiful, with a large art collection – practically a gallery. The ambassador was personable and gave a brief and entertaining speech. The food was okay – rice, chicken, fish, pork – and they had tasty rum punch and cake for dessert. The only problem was that it was very crowded and the food line was quite chaotic. Still, it is always worth going to these sorts of things.

I have thoughtful brilliance to write, but this ain't it. However, I have done a few things lately...

Celebrity Death Watch: William Peter Blatty wrote The Exorcist. Alan Jabbour was a fiddler and founded the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Dick Gautier is best known for having played Hymie the Robot on Get Smart, but I want to note he was also Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway (and, in fact, won a Tony for that role.) Anthony Armstrong-Jones was better known as Lord Snowden, a photographer and the one-time husband of Princess Margaret. He was, by all accounts, better as a photographer than as a husband. Vicki Lansky wrote the cookbook, Feed Me I’m Yours. Brenda C. Barnes was the CEO of Sara Lee for several years. Loalwa Braz was a Brazilian singer-songwriter. Maggie Roche was a folk-rock singer, who performed primarily with her sisters. Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte were both baseball players from the Dominican Republic, who died in car accidents on the same day. Eugene Cernan was an astronaut and, notably, the last man to walk on the moon. Mike Connors was an actor, best known for playing Mannix. Bob Holiday was an actor and played Superman more than any other actor, including starring in the musical, It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. John Hurt was an actor, most famous for starring in The Elephant Man. Mary Tyler Moore was an actress, most famous for her television roles (especially as Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) but also on Broadway and in film. In Minneapolis, there is a statue of her tossing her hat in the air. Harold Rosen led the team that built the first geosynchronous communications satellite. Etienne Tshisekedi was the head of the opposition party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for many years, including a couple of brief stints as Prime Minister. David Axelrod was a jazz / fusion musician, composer, and producer.

Professor Irwin Corey was an interesting comedian, parodizing a certain sort of intellectual and billing himself as "the world’s foremost authority." More importantly, he was on my ghoul pool list, so his death earned me 15 points in the game.

Non-celebrity Death Watch: John Shipman, known to many as Groot, passed away on January 31st after a short battle with an aggressive cancer. He was a kind and generous man, a lover of good music and good food, and proud of his influence on students at New Mexico Tech. I don’t get to Albuquerque often, but will miss having dinner and conversation with him when I do.

Storytelling: I told Border Crossings, a story about travel and weddings and the like last Saturday night as part of the Better Said Than Done show at The Auld Shebeen. It went well. You can watch the video and see for yourself.

A Visit to Lebanon: The most recent embassy event I went to (via my alumni association) was last Monday night at the residence of the Ambassador of Lebanon. The food was tasty, with a wide mix of dishes, including particularly notable fattoush. There were also good Lebanese wines. The talks were by the charge d’affaires and by the president of the MIT Alumni Association and were quite positive about the future of Lebanon. Good food, an interesting setting, and intelligent conversation always makes a nice evening out.

Business Trip: I went out to California last week for a meeting in San Diego. I took advantage of the trip to spend part of a day at the corporate mothership in Los Angeles, which was fairly productive, as were the discussions I actually took the trip for. The travel was rather annoying since it got set up a bit last minute, meaning I ended up with window seats, instead of my preferred aisles. (On short flights, I like windows, but not disturbing people in order to get up is a higher priority.) The flight to LAX was particularly cramped. And the wifi wasn’t working, so there was no entertainment. The drive to San Diego was not as bad as it might be, but there were some rough spots, especially since I left later than I’d planned to. Mostly, I got held up by an accident around San Clemente and then things just crawled through La Jolla getting to my hotel. The main result was that I concluded that the same person who designs United’s economy class seats designed the seat in the Kia Forte I had. That is, poor padding and no lumbar support. I flew back from SAN, with a connection at LAX. Actually, I didn’t fly back – I flew to EWR, since I had pre-existing plans in New York. About which more in a minute.

I was also able to get together on Thursday night with an old friend for dinner and a nice, far-reaching conversation.

Jewish Soul Food: Since I got to New York after midnight, I slept in on Saturday morning. That meant skipping breakfast and having an early lunch. The matzoh ball soup at the Second Avenue Deli is fairly good, though since when does chicken soup have dill in it? The half a tongue sandwich I also had was sheer perfection. Add in a full sour pickle and this addict got her fix for the next several months.

Milk and Honey: The purpose of the trip was seeing York Theatre’s mufti (i.e. semi-staged, street clothes) production of Jerry Herman’s first musical, Milk and Honey. I was familiar with only a couple of the songs from this show and concluded the score really needs to be known much better. It’s lively, very clearly Jewish music (since the object was to make a sort of Israeli equivalent to Oklahoma), and simply a delight. The performances were wonderful too, especially Alix Korey as Sylvia Weiss, the role originated by Molly Picon. I also really liked how they handled the parts of the staging that involved animals. The show is probably unrevivable for a number of reasons, but I still enjoyed it immensely. I’ve seen several shows at York and I continue to be impressed.

Not That Jewish: This is Monica Piper’s one-woman show at New World Stages. It is billed as comedy, but it’s really storytelling. I was expecting something of a comic rant about Judaism, but this was a more serious and deeper exploration of what being Jewish means if someone is not particularly religious. There are dark areas – failed relationships, parents dying, single parenthood, breast cancer. But there is a lot of humor along the way. And the piece got pulled together well at the end. Overall, I’m glad I saw it.

Trains: Amtrak was surprisingly efficient going home. The Washington Metro, not so much, as they had scheduled track work that shut down the Orange Line from Eastern Market to Foggy Bottom. Normally, I’d get off Amtrak at New Carrolton and just ride the entire length of the Orange Line, which is slow, but means I don’t have to shlep luggage. This time, I took the Red Line from Union Station to Gallery Place, Yellow Line from Gallery Place to Pentagon, Blue Line from Pentagon to Rosslyn, and then the Orange Line home. I’m exhausted just typing that. And the next Safe Track surge approacheth, sigh.

Last week was pretty busy because I can’t resist going to interesting things even if I’m exhausted. Genealogy catch-up to follow sooner or later.

The Grapevine: This month’s featured storytellers were Jo Radner from Maine and Regi Carpenter from upstate New York. I’ve heard Jo tell several times before and she had a fun, eclectic set. She started with a riff on Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater’s wife, followed that with a Nepali folktale about a pumpkin who marries a princess, and then told her pie story, which is one I’ve heard before and was happy to hear again. Regi told pieces about her childhood, including one about a favorite teacher, which made me nostalgic for Mrs. Meyers, my elementary school music teacher. All in all, a lovely evening.

Saudi Embassy: Thursday night was an MIT Club of DC event at the Saudi embassy. There was time when I first arrived to check out the public areas of the building, which had walls lined with photos of impressive modern skyscrapers, scale models of significant buildings (presumably mosques and palaces, though they weren’t labeled) and two display cases of traditional clothing. Then we were ushered into the auditorium, where the presentation started with a 20 or so minute film about the history of Saudi Arabia and its more recent attempts at modernizing. Aside from the propaganda that painted things as more modern than we would normally believe, one thing I gathered was that it did not really exist as a country until the 1932. I suppose I should have known that, but I didn’t. Anyway the film was followed by a Q&A with the ambassador. Since he spoke off the record, I won’t comment on specific things he said, but I thought he was long-winded and slightly evasive. Eventually we got to go into dinner, which was good, but not spectacular. (In particular, I thought some of the dishes had excessive sweet spices, e.g. stuff like cinnamon.) At least they had tables and chairs. Too often these events mean balancing a plate and a wine glass while standing. Of course, they didn’t serve alcohol, so there weren’t wine glasses involved, though there were other beverages.

The Flick:This Pulitzer winning play by Annie Baker has to do with three people who work at a movie theatre in Massachusetts in the last days of film (versus digital) projection. Sam and Avery clean the theatre, work the box office, and sell refreshments, while Rose is the projectionist. The point is the relationships between the three, of course, with the setting and background helping with explication. The scenes are divided with movie clips, but you would have to be a real movie geek to recognize more than a few of them, especially since the tiny projection is impossible to see. And the connections of specific movies to the actions of the play were not especially obvious to me. Frankly, I felt that the film clips mostly made this very long play (nearly 3 ½ hours) longer for no really good reason. There were some interesting moments, but I was not surprised that at least a quarter of the audience didn’t return after the intermission (which was two hours in). Since it was Signature, the acting was excellent and I want to particularly commend Thaddeus McCants as Avery. But, overall, the whole thing would have worked better for me if it were half the length.

Story Swap:The Voices in the Glen story swap was Saturday night. There were a lot of listeners, including a few who had never been to a storytelling event before. There was a good mix of stories and everyone seemed to enjoy it. My contribution was my father’s version of the Crossing of the Red Sea, complete with environmental impact statement.

Speaking of Storytelling:Remember the story contest I was shilling just a bit ago? Well, I made the top 10! Anybody in or around DC who wants to come, the final show is Saturday May 28th at 6:30 p.m. at Jammin' Java in Vienna. Of course, I need to come up with a shiny new story for it, but I already have two ideas. (Well, actually, three ideas, no, make that four, but I have narrowed it down to the top two.)

Celebrity Death Watch: Maximillian Schell was an Oscar-winning actor. As was Philip Seymour Hoffman. The latter was certainly one of the great character actors of our time, but fell prey to drug addiction.

The celebrity death I want to highlight, however, is that of Pete Seeger. He was 91, so it wasn’t unexpected, but somehow it seemed like he had always been there and always would. His music was the voice of my parents’ generation and my own. And that music survives him.

Food Pornography,Part 1: Some restaurants extend Restaurant Week, which allows for another dinner out with friends. In this case, it was the last Saturday in January and we went to Co Co Sala. I had been there before, but none of the other people I was with had. The deal was a hot chocolate shooter, salad, two small plates, and dessert for $35.14. In my quest to not be so dull about cocktails, I had something called Allure, which involved lychee and Prosecco. It was pretty and tasty, but a bit too sweet. The beet salad was disappointing as the golden beets had little flavor and there were a lot more of them than the red beets. Mac and cheese was excellent and sliders with mole were good, though not exciting. Dessert is the expected high point of a chocolate-themed restaurant and I was especially impressed with the chocolate sorbet that was part of mine. I should note that, unlike my past visit here, we were seated in the back room, which proved to be far more serene. It’s a minor service note, but I do appreciate it when restaurants have black napkins which won’t shed white lint on your clothes.

My Workplace Is Not Like Yours, Part 1: There are often protesters outside the Pentagon. I have no idea what this particular group was protesting, but I have to admit to some admiration for protesters who are still out there when it is 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peter and the Starcatcher: I am not particularly fond of Peter Pan, but the children’s book this play is based on (which involves an origin story for him) was co-written by Dave Barry, who I am a fan of. I’d have to say that neither of those influences is what dominates the play, however. Rather, it is reminiscent of a cross between Monty Python and a fringe show. That’s actually good. Instead of glitzy special effects, there are actors standing in line and manipulating ropes to create walls and doors. There is lively music. There are a father and daughter who can speak Dodo, the language of the extinct bird. There are points where I thought it was overdone, but those were fairly few. I should note that the song which starts the second act is alone worth the price of admission. I also want to commend Megan Stern as Molly, who has a role of varied challenges (including speaking Dodo).

Ballet – The Jazz / Blues Project: I haven’t been particularly interested in most of the shows The Washington Ballet had on this season’s schedule, but this one seemed promising. The first piece, Bird’s Nest featured music by Charlie "Bird" Parker with a live performance by the Howard University Jazz Ensemble. The music was excellent, but the choreographry was average. I preferred the choreography (by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa) for the second piece,PRISM. to Keith Jarrett’s improvisational Koln Concert. However, I found the costume and lighting choices for this rather questionable. The final piece was Blue Until June with Etta James’s blues songs and choreography by Trey McIntyre. I thought much of the choreography did not match the music well. And I continue to be annoyed when dancing continues for several measures after the music ends. So, overall, I preferred the music to the dance in this program. I think that, in the future, I should stick to narrative ballets, as those generally suit my tastes better.

My Workplace Is Not Like Yours, Part 2: My government grand-boss apparently keeps a selection of ties in his office. The part I find amusing is that he apparently selected one for someone else in our organization to wear to a meeting.

Food Pornography, Part 2: I went to an alumni association event last night at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. The building, designed by I.M. Pei, is interesting and the talks were mercifully short. There was a particularly wide variety of food, including items familiar (fried rice, steamed vegetables, chicken in soy sauce, dumplings, spring rolls) and items less so (jellyfish with turnips). The food highlight for me was definitely the sesame balls. That’s something I have had at dim sum places from time to time, but these had particularly strong sesame flavor.

It occurs to me that I have no idea what a sesame plant looks like.

I am, of course, remarkably busy and, hence, behind on writing. This should get me more or less caught up on things I am willing to write about publicly.

Celebrity death watch: There are several interesting celebrity deaths to note. Muriel Siebert was the first woman to have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. I have to admit I had not realized that newsman David Frost, who is probably most famous for his interviews with Richard Nixon, was still alive until he wasn't. Another "end of an era" death to note is that of science fiction writer, Frederik Pohl. In my opinion, he was more significant as an editor than as a writer, but I'm also not a big science fiction person, so my opinion is only semi-educated. Cal Worthington was a car dealer whose commercials in California featured his "dog" Spot (various animals, most memorably a lion and a hippo) and a catchy "Go see Cal" jingle. And Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet who translated Beowulf.

Reno Mileage Run: In late August, I did a quick trip to Reno. This was pretty much a mileage run, but Reno is a good place to do that to since you can arrive late at night and depart early in the morning without bothering with a hotel room. In this case, I took a shuttle from the airport to the Peppermill and gambled all night, coming out about 20 bucks ahead. The travel also went fairly smoothly, despite a delay in the first leg that made the connection a bit tighter than I'd have preferred. All in all, with a good price on the ticket, it was a fairly painless way to rack up some miles.

Baseball: Goldstar often has discount tickets for baseball games, so provided a cheap way to see the Nationals play the Mets. It was a bit of a pain picking up the ticket, since the third party ticket office is all the way around the ballpark from the main box office with confusing signage. But cheap is cheap and I even got a free t-shirt. This game was a case of divided loyalties for me. The Mets won and I was pleased that their victory was largely due to a 2-run homer by Ike Davis, who is more or less the Art Shamsky of our times. (So, sue me. When in doubt, I always root for Jewish baseball players.)

Zaytinya and Men's Collars Over the Years: The Smithsonian American Art Museum / National Portrait Gallery was presenting the movie Wings, the first ever best picture Oscar winner. I made plans to go with a couple of friends. One of them joined me for lunch at Zaytinya beforehand. This is the Mediterranean outpost of the Jose Andres empire and is every bit as good as his other places. They were continuing Restaurant Week, so it was also excellent value. All of the food was good, but particularly notable dishes included the baba ghannouge and adana kebab.

We had time before the movie to look at a little of the museum. I've been to that museum a lot, so imposed my favorite exhibit there (David Beck's MVSEVM) on my friend. We also looked at the patent models and the portraits of the Presidents. I usually speculate on men's facial hair, but she focused on the collars, which don't lie flat until the late 19th century. There may be some correlation with beards. There are also changes in neckwear, but there is something of a chicken and egg problem here.

I'll write about the movie separately, since I seem to still be seeing enough movies to make them worth their own quarterly wrap-up.

Dinner in Singapore: The MIT Club of Washington provided a slightly early birthday dinner for me, in the form of an event at the Embassy of Singapore. The talks included a short one by the ambassador on the history of Singapore, followed by a marine biologist discussing sustainability. The food was reasonably varied, with meat, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes. Plus galub jamum for dessert. Good food and intelligent conversation always make for my sort of evening.

Speaking of Birthdays: I'm 55. As a few people pointed out, I'm eligible for the over-55 menus at various chain restaurants I don't normally eat at.

Culpeper Volksmarch: I am trying to get caught up on the baseball walks program, so did a year round event in Culpeper. The route was quite hilly and, therefore, kicked my butt. I also need new walking shoes as my feet were killing me for the last kilometer or so (of 10). But the walk served its purpose as (among other things) it passed the childhood home (with historical sign) of Eppa Rixley, who pitched for the Phillies.


Story Swap: We had our regular story swap on Saturday night, which is always fun. I need to find some time to work on some new things. In lieu of that, I told "Why I'm Not a Millionaire." Jane had an excellent Norwegian story.

Miss Saigon: This was the first show of the season at Signature Theatre. They did a reasonably good job, given the limitations of the score. Diana Huey was impressive as Kim, as was Tom Semsa as The Engineer. I also want to note Chris Sizemore as John. I think the score is pretty weak and some of Richard Maltby, Jr.'s lyrics are remarkably amateurish, e.g. rhyming "moon" and "fortune." I can also quibble with the orchestration in a few places, as I firmly believe that a song lyric referring to "a song played by a single saxophone" should not be accompanied by keyboards and percussion (in addition to the saxophone). Still, I thought Karma Camp's choreography for "Enter the Dragon" was impressive and I got all teary-eyed during "Bui Doi," a song about the plight of street children. My bottom line is that Signature did as well as possible, given the limitations of the material.

I have, again, been extraordinarily busy. This entry will, alas, only get me halfway caught up on all the stuff I've been doing.

World Baseball Classic: It's hard to say how significant the World Baseball Classic, which is envisioned as a sort of equivalent to soccer's World Cup, is. But, as a person who has made the effort to go to baseball games in a couple of foreign countries (Japan and Dominican Republic so far), I couldn't resist a quick trip down to Miami to watch the Pool 2 finals.

I am not sure if the event was why prices were high, but I decided it was best to use miles one way on American and pay for a flight on United coming back. It turned out that there was low mileage availability in first, though not in coach. Hmm, 25000 miles for either class? What a tough decision! That gave me a chance to check out American's domestic first class which is, let's just say, unimpressive. The only plus over United is that you can order your choice of meal in advance. But there was no predeparture drink, the food was bland (and the salad dressing was awful), there were no free headphones for the (overhead, not personal) video. This was a mainline plane, not "express" service, so really quite shabby.

Because of high prices closer in, I booked a room at the Miami Marriott Dadeland. This is quite a ways south of the airport (and the ballpark) but is actually quite convenient since it is adjacent to the Dadeland South Metrorail station. A two buck ride is well worth it for a room that is half the price of something closer and it saved me the cost of a rental car, too. The hotel was quite nice. Unusually, there was an internet terminal (like the ones in the business center) in the room. I would stay there again. It is also a short walk to the Dadeland Mall, which is not exciting, and to a local supermarket.

The ballpark is a bit of a hike from the Civic Center station (and not well sign posted), but there is also shuttle service available. The weather was lovely, so I didn't mind the walk. The game itself was between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. I didn't have any particularly strong feelings either way, so I could enjoy the play, which was of a reasonably high standard. And the fans on both sides were lively and knowledgeable. All in all, it was worth the trip.

A Behanding in Spokane: Browsing the listings on Goldstar, I saw the Keegan Theatre's production of A Behanding in Spokane. It caught my eye because it was written by Matt McDonagh, who wrote the movie In Bruges. The play had a similar, macabre humor. The story involves a one-handed man, a couple who claim to have found his hand and are trying to sell it to him, and a motel clerk who has always wanted to be a hero. It was very twisted and very dark - and very funny. The highlight was Bradley Foster Smith's portrayal of Mervyn (the motel clerk). This is definitely not mainstream fare, but well worth seeing for those who can handle the rough language and grotesque absurdity.

Swiss Embassy Residence: Then came an MIT Club of Washington dinner at the Swiss Embassy Residence. I'd actually been there before, but the weather was nicer this time, making it easier to appreciate the view from the living room. Before the talk, there were drinks and hors d'oeuvres (quiche and some sort of pinwheels with dried beef.) The program itself was very short. They showed two amusing Swiss tourism videos and followed that with a 10 or so slide presentation on innovation. Then came a buffet, the highlight of which was raclette (toasted cheese, served with potatoes and cornichons). Throw in intelligent conversation and this was definitely my type of evening.

Cinderella: Cinderella is not a ballet I would normally go out of my way for, but I had no real objections to it as part of my season subscription to The Washington Ballet. I thought they did a good job with it, especially with the portrayal of the stepsisters (played by Luis Torres and Zachary Hackstock - and, yes, it is traditional for men to play them. The really mysterious thing about this ballet has to do with the prince's search for the woman whose foot fits the shoe. There are bits danced by a Spanish woman, a Tunisian woman, and an Asian woman. Obviously, this is symbolic of how he is searching the ends of the earth to find her. But why does he go off to all those far-flung places before searching in what is practically his own backyard? And why can't he recognize the stepsisters as the two horrible creatures who were throwing themselves at him all through the ball? Just how dim is he?

And, on that note, I will shut up and dance away.

Between Pesach and tax season I am behind on everything. So this is another of those catch-all bits of rambling.

First, there are several celebrity deaths to note. Earl Scruggs was a bluegrass musician. Thomas Kinkade was a commercial artist. Mike Wallace had a huge influence on the nature of television journalism. Adrienne Rich was a feminist poet. And Reed Whittemore was one of my favorite modern poets, whose work was filled with grace and wit. If you are not familiar with his work, let me offer this short example.

I also want to note that my first boss at the Circle-A Ranch passed away recently. Wayne retired and moved to Oregon back in the 1990’s and I had a few years in line management as his replacement. That gave me the opportunity to try out management in a safe environment and was a good way to find out it was not really what I wanted to do.

While I am on death and news, Bingu wa Mutharika, the president of Malawi died recently. The interesting thing there is that the Vice President, Joyce Banda, is now the second woman to become a head of state in Africa, after Ellen Johnson SIrleaf of Liberia. In other African news, the coup in Mali looks to be heating up, so it looks like having gone to the Festival Au Desert last year was good timing on my part.

Among the things I never got around to writing about were several receptions, three of them MIT related. A dinner at the Embassy of New Zealand provided an opportunity to see some interesting architecture, with a roof shaped to resemble the hull of a ship. That was enhanced by my conversation over dinner with an architecture professor and critic. A few nights after that, I was at an event with departing MIT President Susan Hockfield. The most interesting part of her remarks had to do with the cost of an education. My alma mater has made real strides in financial aid and she said the average debt of graduating seniors is just $14,000, which I find quite remarkable. The final MIT related reception I went to was the annual one for summer interns. I brought along a friend who works at NASA and has potential openings. It is always good to see the enthusiasm of students and to reconnect with fellow alumni. The non-MIT event I went to was a friend’s promotion ceremony. Aside from the usual military ceremony, which I always enjoy, the setting was particularly interesting. Roosevelt Hall, the site of the National War College, is a spectacular Beaux Arts building overlooking the Potomac, with a particularly dramatic rotunda. We got there early so had time to look around at the display cases, which included several having to do with General Colin Powell, including his diplomas. And the honoree was someone who particularly deserved his promotion, making the whole thing a lovely occasion.

The only other significant thing I did recently without having written about it was go to the most recent Pro Musica Hebraica concert, which involved Marc-Andre Hamelin playing works by Chopin and Alkan. Chopin was not, of course, Jewish, but Alkan was and the link was their friendship, based on both of them being outsiders in Paris. It was an excellent evening of solo piano. The highlight was definitely Alkan’s four-movement "Symphony for Solo Piano." However, I will note that, if one had not been told that the composer was an Orthodox Jew, there is nothing in the music itself that would suggest that.

The other main thing I failed to write about was doing the Month of Letters project, which involved writing a letter every day in February (except Sundays and postal holidays, i.e. President’s Day). That let me get a few things I’d been meaning to send to people on their way, as well as using some of my vast supply of note cards. I am, alas, now behind in answering letters (and emails) that I got in return.

Finally, the clippings file offered up a couple of amusing advertisements. One is for a razor that "hydrates your skin like no other razor." Personally, I’ve always found that drinking water and using lotion were more effective ways to hydrate my skin than shaving my legs is ever likely to be. The other is for a cheese and breadcrumb mix. Because, you know, it is just too hard to sprinkle cheese and breadcrumbs separately on the top of a casserole.