from Bruce
Anecdotes
Mishaps
• Believe it or not, ballet has its intrigues. When Alicia Markova was about to dance the title role of Giselle in New York, someone in a crowd slipped this note into her hand: “DON’T DANCE TOMORROW NIGHT, OR….” In addition, the irate father of a ballerina who wanted to dance the role of Giselle on opening night punched Artistic Director Leonide Massine in the jaw. Despite the threats, Ms. Markova delivered a popularly and critically acclaimed performance that made her name in the United States. By the way, on one occasion, Ms. Markova, while dancing in the role of Giselle, started to pull some lilies from the stage, only to discover that the stagehands had mistakenly nailed them down. With a mighty effort, she wrenched them free, then continued to dance.
• Gertrude Lawrence scored a notable success in Noel Coward’s play Private Lives. After reading it, she definitely wanted to be a part of it, although it meant getting out of a contract to free herself to appear in it. Therefore, she sent Mr. Coward a telegram saying, “PLAY DELIGHTFUL STOP NOTHING WRONG THAT CANT BE FIXED.” Unfortunately, Mr. Coward thought that “nothing wrong that can’t be fixed” referred to his play, not to Ms. Lawrence’s need to get out of a current contract, so he wired back that the only thing that needed to be fixed was Ms. Lawrence’s acting. Fortunately, they got the misunderstanding straightened out, and Private Lives turned to be a major success for both of them.
• Enrico Caruso enjoyed the absurdities that sometimes occur on the operatic stage. For example, in Pagliacci, the donkey that is brought onstage is very likely to upset the performance by misbehaving in some way. Such antics did not bother Mr. Caruso. He even occasionally announced, “I said a special prayer tonight that the donkey would behave bad. Then the people can laugh.” By the way, Lucrezia Bori lost her voice, retired from opera, and returned to her native Spain. She regained her voice in a very unusual way. While she was riding on a mule, the mule became skittish and threw her from its back. After recovering from the fall, she found that her voice had returned in all its former glory, and so she returned to her operatic career.
• People laughed at the opening of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. One problem was that Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, a fat woman, played the part of a courtesan with tuberculosis. Whenever fat Fanny complained of wasting away, the audience roared with laughter. By the way, an 1855 American production of Mr. Verdi’s Ernani was a disaster. In the finale, the tenor was supposed to stab himself with his sword, but when he drew it the blade went flying off, forcing the tenor to stab himself with the hilt. The tenor pretended to die, but he was too far forward on the stage, so that the curtain fell behind him, and the audience saw the “dead” man sit up, look around, then flee offstage.
• When Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) was a young man acting in London, a play he was in was supposed to end spectacularly with a house falling on and killing the villain, while the hero rescued the heroine just in time. Fortunately, the house fell exactly as it was supposed to, the villain was killed exactly as he was supposed to be, and the hero rescued the heroine exactly as he was supposed to. Unfortunately, the curtain had fallen too quickly, and the audience saw none of the spectacle. Afterward, the manager spent considerable time looking for the man who had dropped the curtain too quickly. Perhaps it’s just as well that the miscreant had run away, since the manager had a crowbar in his hands.
• Trinette Singleton was performing with the Joffrey Ballet at the City Center in New York, when strange things started happening. First, she and the other dancers heard exclamations such as “Stop that!” and “Cut it out!” Then the music the orchestra was playing grew softer and softer and finally ceased. After exiting the stage, the dancers discovered what had happened. Some boys in the balcony had been throwing pieces of hard candy at the musicians, who had shouted at them to stop. The boys did not stop, so the musicians one by one had stopped playing and left the orchestra pit. Eventually, there was silence because conductor Allan Lewis had no musicians left to conduct.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "That Girl"
EP: THAT GIRL
Artist: CapGun Heroes
Artist Location: Chicago, Illinois
Record Company: Punk Head Records
Record Company Location: Chicago, Illinois
Info:
“Chicago-based punk band, CapGun Heroes play fast, hooky pop-punk in the vein of the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, and Riverdales.”
“CapGun Heroes are Joe Capgun (vocals), Matt Cappy (guitar), Andy Hero (guitar), Nick Hero (guitar), Jimmy C. (bass), and Scotty (drums). They have opened up for Smoking Popes, The Lillingtons, Nerf Herder, The Copyrights, The Queers, Dan Vapid and The Cheats, and more. “
Includes a cover of the Ramones’ “Commando.”
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for three-track EP
Genre: Pop Punk. Ramonescore.
Links:
THAT GIRL
CapGun Heroes on Bandcamp
Punk Head Records
Punk Head Presents on YouTube
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine
Other Links:
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast - every time the sun popped out the defective rooster took credit.
Gets Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score
'Abbott Elementary'
ABC’s "Abbott Elementary," a mockumentary series following the lives of educators at an underfunded public school in Philadelphia, earned a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.
"'Abbott Elementary' earns top marks for its empathetic yet sidesplitting critique of the U.S. education system, plus some extra credit for a deftly handled will-they-won’t-they dynamic," critics wrote on the website.
"Abbott Elementary" joins the ranks of some of the best series of all time, including AMC's "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men" and Amazon's "Fleabag."
The freshman sitcom, which aired its finale on Tuesday, was created by Quinta Brunson, 32, who also stars as second-grade teacher Janine Teagues.
The show was a breakout success for ABC, with many educators saying they felt seen by the show's depiction of their experiences in a classroom inside an underfunded public school.
'Abbott Elementary'
Russia Media
Rupert
As Western leaders introduced sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, Fox News host Tucker Carlson (R-Cabana Boy) said seizing personal property from Russian oligarchs went too far.
“No American government had ever done anything like that before,” he said lied.
While the segment was aimed at Fox News’ conservative audience, it found another audience in Russia. The argument was parroted beat by beat by RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, which wrote that “the average U.S. citizen is simply horrified by what is happening.”
The narratives advanced by the Kremlin and by parts of conservative U.S. media have converged in recent months, reinforcing and feeding each other. Along the way, Russian media has increasingly seized on Fox News’ prime-time segments, its opinion pieces and even the network’s active online comments section — all of which often find fault with the Biden administration — to paint a critical portrait of the United States and depict its foreign policy as a threat to Russia’s interests. Carlson was a frequent reference for Russian media, but other Fox News personalities — and the occasional news update from the network — were also included.
Mentions of Fox News in Russian-language media grew 217% during the first quarter of this year compared with the final quarter of last year as news coverage of Ukraine increased, according to an analysis by Zignal Labs, a media tracking company that reviewed social media posts, broadcast media and online websites. CNN, which has about three times the global viewership of Fox News, according to tracking company Similarweb, was mentioned more often but grew less, by 71%.
Rupert
The Show Must Go On
‘Macbeth’
“When shall we three meet again?” The answer is: when corona lets us. Earlier this month, Daniel Craig brought preview performances of a new Broadway production of Macbeth to a halt after testing positive for coronavirus. The James Bond star has now returned to the theatre, but the show continues to be challenged by Covid-forced absences.
Thursday evening saw yet another actor testing positive, and with all the show’s understudies already filling in for other roles, the director was forced to come up with a novel solution: take to the stage himself.
The New York Times reports that Sam Gold took on two small roles on the night. This is just the latest challenge for the production which only got through three performances following its April 1 debut before the first actor tested positive for coronavirus, and it had to cancel that day’s performance. When Craig tested positive three days later, the play had to close for a further 11 days.
The production, starring Ruth Negga alongside Craig, is scheduled to open on April 28, making it eligible for this year’s Tony Awards. Gold previously won a Tony in 2015 as the director of the musical Fun Home.
‘Macbeth’
World’s Earliest Account
Auroras
An event described in the Chinese Bamboo Annals is considered by some a description of a bright aurora. If so, at almost 3,000 years old, this would be the earliest account of such an event whose date might be established. Such a discovery could be of scientific, as well as historical value, since the location of the source implies a particularly powerful geomagnetic storm.
The Bamboo Annals tell the story of China's development from early legends to 299 BCE. The Annals were buried in a tomb for almost 600 years, and rediscovered, along with several other classic texts, in the third century CE. One portion refers to an object of great interest in the north sky.
Marinus van der Sluijs, previously of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and Dr Hisashi Hayakawa of Nagoya University have analyzed this text in Advances in Space Research. They conclude that not only is this probably a description of an aurora, but they can identify the place and two possible dates at which it was observed.
Van der Sluijs and Hayakawa claim the aurora occurred in either 977 or 957 BCE, in each case plus or minus one year, based on references to it being seen in either the 19th or final year of the reign of King Zhao. If they're right, this predates the previous oldest accounts of auroral activity by about 300 years.
Auroras
Police Department Investigates
California
A California police department has launched an investigation into its own officers who were filmed blaring copyrighted Disney music in attempts to prevent residents from recording them.
The incident in question occurred during a vehicle search on the night of 4 April, when residents in Santa Ana, a city near Los Angeles, woke up to a series of Disney songs being blasted outside their windows. The songs included Toy Story’s You Got a Friend in Me, Encanto’s We Don’t Talk About Bruno, Mulan’s Reflection and Coco’s Un Poco Loco.
According to a video posted on YouTube, the songs emerged from a police cruiser that belonged to police officers who were investigating a stolen vehicle.
In the video, a woman can be heard asking the officers, “What’s the music for?,” saying that she was unable to sleep.
An unnamed officer told Hernandez that he was playing the music from his phone and on the cruiser’s PA system in an attempt to prevent a resident, who was recording him, from continuing to do so. The officer explained that it had to do with “copyright infringement.”
California
Wrote A Letter
Pope Frankie
Pope Francis wrote that journalists who speculate that he has quietly supported Russian President Vladimir Putin are falling into the "sin" of participating in coprophilia or a sexual fetish for excrement, Fox News reported.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the pontiff has implicitly criticized Putin for "unacceptable armed aggression." He has, however, failed to mention the leader by name explicitly.
Pope Francis reportedly wrote a letter to Argentinian journalist Gustavo Sylvestre, dated April 7, accusing reporters of misrepresenting him and his position.
"Always in that information are some of the sins that journalists tend to fall into; disinformation, slander, defamation, coprophilia," the pontiff wrote, according to a copy of the letter published by Sylvestre.
Coprophilia is the scientific terminology used to describe an abnormal interest, usually sexual, in feces.
Pope Frankie
Anti-Vaxx Rally
L.A.
As a journalist covering QAnon and fascism in Los Angeles, I’ve seen a lot in the past couple years. I’ve seen danger and violence, heard crazy conspiracies and angry confrontations, and tracked a movement as it spirals deeper and deeper into insanity. It has worn on me, and there are things I’ve seen that I’d like to forget, like people yelling “save our children,” a chant that drones on and on like an endless scream inside your mind.
I went to see it all again last Sunday, April 10th, at a mass anti-vaxx rally in downtown L.A., where the movement faithful gathered for a “Defeat the Mandates” rally at Grand Park near City Hall. The rally, at least in its stated purpose, was a protest against city and county requirements that require most public workers to either get vaccinated against a disease that has killed 987,000 Americans.
The rally had a full 6 hours worth of speakers — a mix of local anti-vaxxers with a few national figures — and I thought I was ready for it. But what I witnessed during those hours was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen.
I saw an unholy, dark alliance best described as “festival fascism” — where QAnon, the People’s Convoy, and Dr. Robert Malone can fuse together in ways which make them more powerful than they’ve ever been.
L.A.
Not So Magically Delicious
Lucky Charms
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating Lucky Charms cereal after dozens of customers complained of illness after eating it.
The FDA said Saturday it has received more than 100 complaints related to Lucky Charms so far this year.
Several hundred people have also posted on a food safety website, iwaspoisoned.com, complaining of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting after eating Lucky Charms.
General Mills Inc., the Minneapolis-based company that makes Lucky Charms, Cheerios and other cereals, said it’s aware of those reports and takes them seriously. But the company said its own investigation has not found any evidence of consumer illness linked to Lucky Charms.
Lucky Charms
For Therapy
‘Magic Mushrooms’
Matthew Butler spent 27 years in the Army, but it took a day in jail to convince him his post-traumatic stress disorder was out of control.
The recently retired Green Beret had already tried antidepressants, therapy and a support dog. But his arrest for punching a hole in his father’s wall after his family tried to stage an intervention in Utah made it clear none of it was working.
“I had a nice house, I had a great job, whatever, but I was unable to sleep, had frequent nightmares, crippling anxiety, avoiding crowds,” he said. “My life was a wreck.”
He eventually found psychedelic drugs, and he says they changed his life. “I was able to finally step way back and go, ‘Oh, I see what’s going on here. I get it now,’” said Butler, now 52. Today his run-ins with police have ended, he’s happily married and reconciled with his parents.
Butler, who lives in the Salt Lake City suburbs, is among military veterans in several U.S. states helping to persuade lawmakers to study psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use.
‘Magic Mushrooms’
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