'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
The 2007 Minnesota Fringe Festival
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
The I-35W Bridge Collapse
One of the busiest bridges in Minnesota collapsed suddenly about three miles from where I'm writing this. I wasn't hurt, nor was anyone I know, but almost everyone has been affected. I'll have more on this later.
The Fringe was affected. The collapse happened on Wednesday Aug 1, 2007, the day before the 2007 Minnesota Fringe Festival was going to start, and just before the Out of Town Showcase began. If the Ootie Showcase had been where the Fringe-For-All Showcase (for locals) had been, I could easily have been on the bridge at roughly the time it went down. Still unlikely, but no less a chilling thought. Attendance at the first day of the Fringe was down by about 25%, and the bridge collapse is probably a large factor in that. One performance near the incident had to cancel a show, and it's been hard getting to venues across the river.
The Fringe Begins
The 2007 Minnesota Fringe Festival is off and running. Here are the plays I've seen, in the order watched. For the most part, these are the reviews I posted on the site, using their five-star rating system, amplified and linked for the net. I'm writing about them to a large audience because many (if not most) Fringe shows appear in several Fringes around the world. Follow the links to the artist's home page, or check your local Fringe Festival listing.
Day 0: August 1, 2007CE
I walked to the Out of Towner Showcase, which was just as well given the news about the bridge and construction on Lake St. Three of the acts scheduled to perform did not make it, citing traffic problems due to the collapse.
Baron Dave's report for KFAI News 2007 Fringe Festival Out of Towners Showcase (5 min, 4.6M mp3)
Mind Tripping: Magic and Teddy Bears ***
A magic show with smooth patter and excellent slight of hand, but it never rose above the material. Perhaps because it was the first Fringe show, and world premier of the act. The 35W bridge disaster might have kept people on the other side of the river. The show would have gone over better with a larger audience, and it deserves to get it. Lots of audience participation, and lots of teddy bears. A Shockwave Radio Theater review.
The Vinyl Diary: A Modern Musical: The kids have talent ***
Brilliantly acted, sung and choreographed by High School age kids, about high school aged kids. Everything was beautifully done except the sound mixing. I couldn't make out most of the words when the band was playing. The play itself was fun but didn't make a lot of sense: I asked afterward, and got an explanation, and still didn't quite get it. But it was fun to watch and listen to. Short, only 35 minutes.
Dance of Illusion: Magic 101 **
The magic was pretty basic a and the dancing was very nice, but there wasn't much of it. Everything was presented deftly, but the show is only a half hour long and I never felt mystified. A Shockwave Radio Review.
Masks of the Illuminati: Boy meets the girl of his dreams in his dreams *** 1/2
I'm a fan of Robert Anton Wilson and was hoping this would be weird or at least thought provoking, but it never quite made it. The acting was good (though the first show suffered from hesitancy) and the dialog was snappy and in character (or at least the characters as seen through the eyes of RAW). The characters may have learned a great lesson, or perhaps they learned the opposite of a great lesson, but I didn't.
Day 2: Aug 3, 2007CE
Blonde On Blonde: Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey **
Good opening bit about being on the radio followed by a series of of disjointed sketches about unlikable characters. The sordid lives of two optimistic losers are presented in excruciating detail. Decent acting with a few good bits. Nothing to do with Bob Dylan or his music.
William Shakespeare's Hystery Queene Margaret Shakespeare In The Parking Lot ****
15 hours of the Henry VI cycle done outdoors in an hour. I followed the twists and turns of the real-life soap opera (I think) which itself is a recommendation. The venue allows for the actors to wander off and still be on stage. People climb from the basement and shout from the roof. The puppet show opening and closing is well done. Good acting and good swordplay bring The War of the Roses to life. Not everything worked, but this is why I go to the Fringe.
(The name is long and apparently went through many revisions and few copyeditors, since it's listed differently in the playbill as on the site.)
The Most Mysterious Day of the Year: No Feral Child Could Save Her ****
After mulling it over, I think the theme of this play is "keep the lines of communication open". The three cast members create a series of earnestly strange characters during the hour and twenty minutes. Three dimensions and a stage full of moveable props were needed to play two detectives, a lovebird, a raccoon-faced niece, an expository newspaper reader among the inhabitants of a world that looks suspiciously like ours. I got caught up in the absurdist situations and familiar motivations. The first show was a bit rough around the edges and the theater was hot, but this is a true Fringe experience. Recommended if you liked last year's Wonders Of The World: Recite and for anyone who loves someone just a little off kilter.
Day 3: Aug 3, 2007CE
American Folksongs: The Ballad of Ferris Riley: Freedom Enjoyed And Not Endured **** 1/2
The Prince Myshkins give a great concert. Two guys with accordion and guitar deftly rip into modern politics. But they're more than music: they control the sound. The wordplay is excellent and they use their voices and instruments to great effect. Their CDs are great, too. (My review of Shiny Round Object.) While I would have liked to see the play that fell through due to technical problems, I'm very happy that I got a chance to see one of my favorite groups perform.
Blue Collar Diaries: A Complex Series Of Contradictions **** 1/2
Michelle Myers easily slips in and out of sharply defined characters. She grew up in St. Paul in the mid-70s and has a keen ear for detail. With broad strokes, she paints the people around her. The series of engaging vignettes is funny and sad and revealing. I know people like that.
Making Dolls: Six Marvelous Dancers *** 1/2
Dance, video and music illuminate a bloody tale of despair and identity. The modern dancing was excellent, though not as sharp as in their showcase. Probably more affecting for young women than for this curmudgeon.
Flawed Genius: Piano Man *** 1/2
Barnaby King is best when he's clowning with the audience. The main prop is a piano with an unending stream of stuff to be pulled out, more versatile than Felix' bag of tricks. The narrative about the clown's flawed genius has pathos. But the really fun stuff happens during the audience back and forth. Every show is unique. Uneven, but worth seeing, and worth sitting close to the front. A Shockwave Radio Theater review.
For the second day in a row I decided not to go to the late show on my schedule. I really don't want to get burnt out, and the traffic across the river is unpredictable. I did go down to where the police lines kept rubberneckers at bay, and may have seen the wreckage of the 35W bridge, but it's hard to say. I did see a whole bunch of tv newscasters in their vans, wrapping up. I almost interviewed them. I had this mad desire to talk to the Fox "News" people, and slip in the question on everyone's mind: "How will Fox News spin this so that it's the liberal's fault?" But everyone was busy and Fox reporters don't have the guts to admit this in public. I just walked back to my car.
KSTP Channel 5 coverage of the I-35W
bridge collapse
wrapping up about 9:30pm Aug. 4, 2007
along a
row of tv vans a few blocks away from the bridge on the N side.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Will Durst: The Center Left, Right?
What happened to the center? It seems the only thing everyone talks about is the left or the right.
Sean Kennedy: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin on endorsing Clinton (advocate.com)
The Wisconsin representative became one of the highest-profile gay people to date to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, the same day that Episcopal bishop V. Gene Robinson did the same for Clinton's archrival, Sen. Barack Obama. In this exclusive Advocate interview, Baldwin explains why.
Sean Kennedy: The Reverend V. Gene Robinson on endorsing Obama (advocate.com)
The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire became one of the highest-profile gay people to date to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president, the same day Rep. Tammy Baldwin did the same for Obama's archrival, Sen. Hillary Clinton. In this exclusive Advocate interview, Robinson explains why.
Suzanne Corson: Sandra Valls, Latin Diva (afterellen.com)
The out lesbian comedian on breaking into the business.
Op-Ed: Homer away from home (latimes.com)
Why the world loves this particularly Ugly American.
Joel Stein: Beating Joel Stein (latimes.com)
And the winner is: a piece about circumcision. It's hard to compete with that.
Lynn Yaeger: "Watered Down: The truth behind Hairspray" (villagevoice.com)
I was so disappointed by the current movie of Hairspray. Not that I didn't enjoy myself-I'm a total sucker for the story of Tracy Turnblad, the chubby Baltimore girl with a mom who is really a man. I was sad because a lot of what I loved about the very first Hairspray, the one from 1988 on which the subsequent Broadway show and this new film are based, seems to have gone missing in this latest version.
Barry Koltnow: Lights, camera, ACTION: Matt Damon's back as Bourne (The Orange County Register; Posted on popmatters.com)
Lunch at the legendary Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills has to end precisely at 1 p.m. because Matt Damon has a date. His 13-month-old daughter Isabella is asleep in an upstairs hotel suite, and she is expected to wake at that time. Although Damon's wife, Luciana, is with her, of course, Damon doesn't want to miss a single event in his little girl's life, including when she wakes up from a nap. "It's just wonderful," the unashamedly gushing actor says of fatherhood. "I don't even know how to describe how wonderful it is."
Roger Ebert: Hot Rod (PG-13; 3 stars)
Rod Kimble, the hero of "Hot Rod," is Evel Knievel on a moped. He leads a life resembling an episode of "Jackass." Not a day passes without him attempting a harebrained stunt, and failure doesn't discourage him, because he knows in his heart that he is destined to become world famous.
Greg Kot: "Down at the Crossroads: An Interview with Eric Clapton" (Chicago Tribune; The Orange County Register; Posted on popmatters.com)
In the early `60s, Eric Clapton began a passionate, long-distance love affair with Chicago. Upon hearing the blues of Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Hubert Sumlin on vinyl records, Clapton saw his future as a guitarist.
Nicole Hollander: Sylvia (womensenews.org)
Archive: Dykes to Watch Out For (planetout.com)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
FROM SEMICHIS TO SEYCHELLES
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Didn't even hit 80°.
Here's the first draft of the PA Trip Report.
Candidates Line Up To Visit
Jon Stewart
Four presidential candidates are lined up to visit Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" over the next three weeks as Comedy Central's satirical news review ramps up its "Indecision 2008" coverage.
Sen. Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat, is first up this Wednesday. Biden appeared on "The Daily Show" last winter on the day he announced his candidacy.
On Aug. 22, Democratic contender Barack Obama comes back to the show for a second time, his first as a declared candidate.
Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and John Edwards have already appeared on "The Daily Show" this political season. Though her husband was on in 2006, Hillary Clinton has not been on the show. Republican Rudolph Giuliani hasn't been on since 2004.
Jon Stewart
New Orleans
Musicians' Village
Standing outside his new mint-green house, Fredy Omar hears the rumble of construction trucks, the buzz of drills and the thud of hammers. It's all an overture for something far sweeter - the sound of music.
This is a community in the making, a community mostly of musicians - a jambalaya of singers, drummers, and trumpet, piano, guitar, harmonica and even washboard players who'll be living along the same streets, practicing and maybe even performing together a few blocks away.
It's the new Musicians' Village, the inspiration of two New Orleans-born luminaries - singer-pianist Harry Connick Jr. and saxophonist Branford Marsalis - who decided in the post-Katrina ferment that something was needed to help musicians stay and play in the city.
Two years after the hurricane, their vision is quickly turning into a rainbow-colored reality. The village - a tidy cluster of about 80 brightly painted homes - is just a small glimmer of hope in a scarred city, but it already has given Omar and others a roof over their heads and a chance to make music once again.
Musicians' Village
Expensive Licence Plate
Bruce Lee
A Bruce Lee fan has splashed out 40,000 Hong Kong dollars (5,100 US dollars) on a car licence plate bearing the name of the legendary martial arts film star, local media reported Sunday.
The "BRUCELEE" licence plate was sold at an auction by the Hong Kong transport department, the Sunday Morning Post reported.
The bidder said he would have paid up to one million Hong Kong dollars for the plate, but would consult with Lee's widow before deciding what to do with it, according to the report.
Bruce Lee
Adoption Hits Snag
Madonna
U.S. pop star Madonna's adoption of a child from the impoverished nation of Malawi hit a snag after the court-appointed official assigned to the case was denied permission to travel to Britain.
One of Malawi's leading weekly newspapers reported on Sunday that Minister of Women and Child Development Kate Kainja had barred Penstone Kilembe from making his planned trip to assess the suitability of Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, as the boy's adoptive parents.
The High Court of Malawi appointed Kilembe to travel to Britain twice and was to have relied on his testimony in ruling whether Madonna's adoption of the child should be formalized in a hearing next year.
The Malawi News newspaper reported that the minister accused Kilembe of obtaining an air ticket and money from Madonna without government approval.
Madonna
19th-Century Periodicals
'Little Pilgrim'
Antiques collector Stephen Burns discovered that a pile of periodicals intended for the garbage heap turned out to be dozens of issues of "Little Pilgrim," a children's reader published in Philadelphia in the 1850s and '60s. The periodical featured fiction, poetry, riddles and other items for young readers.
Burns was at an auction when a bidder bought a box of books, then offered him the primers in the bottom of the box. They would have just been thrown away, Burns said.
He read and researched the periodicals over time, and discovered he had 64 issues of Little Pilgrim. The children's publication was written and edited by Grace Greenwood, an author, pioneering newspaperwoman, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate.
Grace Greenwood was the pen name of Sara Jane Clarke, a native of Pompey, N.Y., and descendant of the preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards.
'Little Pilgrim'
Paintings Stolen In Brazen Heist
Beaux-Arts Jules Cheret Museum
Hooded and armed men Sunday staged a brazen afternoon heist at a museum in the French Riviera city of Nice, making off with four priceless paintings: two Bruegels, a Sisley and a Monet.
Police said there were only about six visitors in the late 19th century building at the time. The robbers threatened staff members and then took the four paintings, put them in bags, and then escaped.
The stolen oil paintings include "Falaises pres de Dieppe," (Cliffs near Dieppe) painted by Monet in 1897 and Sisley's "Allee de peupliers de Moret" (The lane of poplars at Moret) dating back to 1980.
The two stolen works of Jan Breugel, a Flemish Baroque era painter who lived between 1568 and 1625, were "Allegorie de l'eau" (Allegory of Water) and "Allegorie de la terre" (Allegory of Earth).
Beaux-Arts Jules Cheret Museum
Re-Hiring TV Failure
MSGOP
Don Imus' former radio and television empire is being broken up, with MSGOP very likely hiring Joe 'What Dead Intern' Scarborough for its morning telecast while radio looks elsewhere, according to people close to the negotiations.
WFAN, the New York radio station that was Imus' flagship, is said to be close to naming former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason to the morning time slot. Esiason works now as a football analyst for CBS Sports.
MSGOP used to simulcast Imus' radio show before he was fired in April for making a racial, sexist remark about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. But the radio and TV outlets are now going in different directions, said three people close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity on Saturday because talks were ongoing.
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman who was a nighttime personality for MSGOP, has been trying out his "Morning Joe" program on MSGOP for the past few months. Except for some occasional subs when Scarborough takes some time off, MSGOP isn't trying anyone else out.
MSGOP
Changes Mystify Scientists
Lake Superior
Deep enough to hold the combined water in all the other Great Lakes and with a surface area as large as South Carolina, Lake Superior's size has lent it an aura of invulnerability. But the mighty Superior is losing water and getting warmer, worrying those who live near its shores, scientists and companies that rely on the lake for business.
Superior's level is at its lowest point in eight decades and will set a record this fall if, as expected, it dips three more inches. Meanwhile, the average water temperature has surged 4.5 degrees since 1979, significantly above the 2.7-degree rise in the region's air temperature during the same period.
That's no small deal for a freshwater sea that was created from glacial melt as the Ice Age ended and remains chilly in all seasons.
Water levels also have receded on the other Great Lakes since the late 1990s. But the suddenness and severity of Superior's changes worry many in the region. Shorelines are dozens of yards wider than usual, giving sunbathers wider beaches but also exposing mucky bottomlands and rotting vegetation.
Lake Superior
Dangerous Beach
Surf City
The Army Corps of Engineers, which accidentally dumped sand filled with old military ordnance on Surf City's beach, now wants the town to help pay to remove it.
The town had to close its beach in March after World War I-era ordnance, including fuses and other military hardware, started surfacing in sand pumped ashore during a $71 million beach replenishment project.
More than 1,100 explosives, each about 4 inches in diameter and 8 inches long, were removed from Surf City's beach.
Surf City reopened its beach over Memorial Day weekend with new rules: Don't use metal detectors, don't dig more than a foot into the sand, and report anything suspicious to lifeguards.
Surf City
Sells Library Books
Thomas Pilaar
A library patron suspected of selling hundreds of books, tapes and DVDs he had borrowed has cost Denver-area libraries tens of thousands of dollars, officials said.
Thomas Pilaar, 33, was suspected of using different names to obtain seven library cards from the Denver Public Library, then checking out 300 items per card and selling at least some of the items, KCNC-TV in Denver reported.
Authorities were tipped by a woman who recently bought books through Craigslist and noticed the library identification stamps.
Thomas Pilaar
Weekend Box Office
'The Bourne Ultimatum'
Superspy Jason Bourne delivered more than an ultimatum this weekend as the third in a series of spy thrillers topped box office charts and delivered the biggest August opening of a film ever.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Bourne Ultimatum," $70.2 million.
2. "The Simpsons Movie," $25.6 million.
3. "Underdog," $12 million.
4. "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," $10.5 million.
5. "Hairspray," $9.3 million.
6. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $9.3 million.
7. "No Reservations," $6.6 million.
8. "Transformers," $6 million.
9. "Hot Rod," $5 million.
10. "Bratz," $4.3 million.
'The Bourne Ultimatum'
In Memory
Oliver Hill
Oliver W. Hill, a civil rights lawyer who was at the front of the legal effort that desegregated public schools, has died at age 100, a family friend said.
In 1954, he was part of a series of lawsuits against racially segregated public schools that became the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, which changed America's society by setting the foundation for integrated education.
In 1940, Hill won his first civil rights case in Virginia, one that required equal pay for black and white teachers. Eight years later, he was the first black elected to Richmond's City Council since Reconstruction.
A lawsuit argued by Hill in 1951 on behalf of students protesting deplorable conditions at their high school for blacks in Farmville became one of five cases decided under Brown.
Those battles to end the Jim Crow era were dangerous ones for Hill and other civil rights leaders. Hill once received so many threats that he and his wife, Berensenia, would not allow their son to answer the telephone.
Nor did his battle for civil rights bring him wealth.
Hill was born May 1, 1907, and his father left when Hill was an infant. His mother remarried, and Hill took the name of his stepfather. He moved with his family to Roanoke, where he spent much of his childhood.
His mother was a maid and his stepfather was a bellman at an exclusive resort about 70 miles from Roanoke. While his parents worked, Hill stayed with a family that he says instilled in him pride in his black heritage.
Later, his family moved to Washington, where he graduated from high school and graduated second in his class from Howard University's law school in 1933. The top law graduate that year was his friend Thurgood Marshall.
Marshall and Hill were part of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund team that fought the desegregation case to the Supreme Court. They remained close friends after Marshall became the court's first black justice.
Though blind and in a wheelchair in recent years, Hill remained active in social and civil rights causes. He remained active in the day-to-day operations of his law firm until 1998. The next year, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from President Bill Clinton.
Oliver Hill
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