Monthly Archives: August 2005

A Funny Thing: Guy Adkins as Pseudolus

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Last night we went to see the latest offering at the Marriott Lincolnshire’s musical theater season, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.” I’m really glad I didn’t read the rave reviews in the Chicago Tribune or at Chicago Critic before seeing the show, because then I would have known going in just how big a triumph Guy Adkins has in his portrayal of Pseudolus, the wily and wryly funny slave of ancient Rome.

I vaguely knew the story: it’s a pastiche of characters and situations lifted from classical Roman and Greek comedies, mostly from the works of Plautus, and it features the usual complications of long-lost children, mistaken identity, ludicrous situations, bawdy humor, and fast-moving farce. I also vaguely knew Zero Mostel was in the original Broadway cast. If I had known going in that Mostel had played Pseudolus, it might have affected my reaction to Guy Adkins’ performance. As it was, I’m damn glad I didn’t remember a damn about this damn funny Steven Sondheim musical.

Guy Adkins is the classic triple threat: he can sing, he can act, and oh, my GOD can he dance. His Pseudolus isn’t just a fast-talking con man trying to finagle his freedom by hooking his master’s son up with the courtesan next door; he’s beguiling as he mugs, clowns, and cavorts while making it all look sooo easy and natural and unrehearsed. The other actors are all great – it’s a typically strong ensemble – but Adkins is a standout. He’d appeared there a couple of years before my husband David and I started getting season tickets; he didn’t want to be typecast as “the musical comedy guy” and went on to other things for a while (a lot of Shakespeare, apparently). It’s a lucky break for the Marriott that he was available for this production; we were completely blown away, and the entire audience was prepared to eat out of his hand by the end of the opening number (the fabulous “Comedy Tonight!”).

Thank God for the director’s not casting to “type” in the role – Adkin’s Pseudolus is a charming, physical, sexy delight. If you can possibly see this show before it ends September 11, DON’T MISS IT!!! See it twice, in fact: you won’t pick up on all the stray bits of comic business the first time through. You will be exhausted, but happy. And if at all possible, sit in the front row (as Marriott’s theater is in the round, there are technically 4 front rows). There’s a fair amount of interaction between cast and audience, so be prepared to play along (and laugh, laugh, laugh until you cry).

Synergy Brass Quintet August 28th

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Okay, all 5 of you readers, I’m officially starting to panic. The fundraiser concert at Holy Moly is one week from today, and I have no frickin’ idea how many people are going to show up. I’ve dropped off flyers, I’ve posted announcements on craigslist and spammed musicians whose email addresses were available on the web.

Here is the gist: they’re young, they’re talented, they’re bound for musical glory. It’s just a matter of time before they “break out.” And you can see them in an intimate setting, with “bright” acoustics, with a bite of dessert and a chance to chat with them after the concert.

This image is linked to the Holy Moly site, so if you click on it, it’ll take you there.

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Tickets: $12.00 senior/students/advance, $15.00 at the door.

I haven’t nagged very many of my family and friends about coming because the weekend that we’ve picked is a busy one (but of course, I didn’t know that when it was first booked). And frankly, asking some of them to come to a church for a concert is kind of… presumptuous on my part.

This is the third concert by Synergy we’ve hosted, and I thought it was going to get easier to get the word out each time… but it’s harder, for some reason. I’ve sent out emails to musicians, I’ve left fliers at music stores, coffee shops, and any store with a community bulletin board, I’ve mailed comp tickets to music teachers. Now all that remains is to finish calling everyone in the Holy Moly directory to get an RSVP list, get a key to the church, arrange for an extra cleaning of the sanctuary, and hope for a good turnout.

So that’s what’s been on my mind the last few months, trying to get this event publicized and make it a success. It feels weird to say this, but it’s in God’s hands.

Yeesh, what a weird church-ladyish thing to say, but [Edith Ann mode] that’s the truuuuthphphpbbthphttt.[/Edith Ann mode]

Cookware Anguish

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Calphalon Commercial Hard Anodized 9-Piece Set

ARRRGH! Just an hour or so ago I ordered a Calphalon One skillet at Amazon, too!

Oh, well. We don’t currently have the storage space for a whole new set…unless we tossed a bunch of our current motley set of cookware. Anyway, the chef’s pan will be dead useful for making “Clamageddon” and “Whatchagot” pasta sauces.

This is a really good deal, though: there’s a further discount operating in the month of August, as noted on Elise’s Simply Recipes site:

There are a couple promotional offers associated with this sale. First, Amazon.com has a August promotion in which if you spend $125 or more in Kitchen & Housewares or Bed & Bath between August 1 and Augut 31, 2005, they will deduct $25 from your purchase. Use the promotional code AUGQUCKDSCNT. With this deduction, your net price is $174.

A second promotion is a $20 promotional certificate good for future purchases (bringing your net outlay down to $154 if you intend to make future Amazon purchases).

Suburban Silence

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The other night, I was lying awake in the dark, drowsily contemplating something or other, and aaaalmost asleep. Faint cries came from somewhere outside, and suddenly I was listening intently. There’s something about the sound of a human distress call in the night that acts like a cattle prod – I was up and and listening at the window within a second or two. I could hear a woman’s voice, either angry or fearful or both, calling out from somewhere down the street.

We live in a quiet, boring suburb. There’s usually no noise to speak of at night, other than the occasional amped-up stereo in some teen’s muscle car or a low-flying jet. So when there’s a disturbance, we suburbanites tend to notice it.

I stumbled around in the dark and went downstairs. Then went back upstairs, thinking if I needed to call the police, I’d probably better have my glasses on so I could see if anything was happening, and I might need some pants on if I had to talk to the officer at the door. “Otherwise, he might not take me seriously,” I thought muzzily. Oh, I was wide awake, but the brain cells were not yet firing in a coordinated fashion conducive to rational thought.

Suitably attired and equipped with specs and a cordless phone, I disabled the alarm so as to not to unleash hell in the form of an ear-splitting siren, opened the sliding door, and stepped out on the patio.

It was about 2:30. Nothing seemed to be happening. Although I’d distinctly heard a woman hollering “No! Go away!” a few minutes before, now a suburban silence had descended on the neighborhood.

Well, silence of a sort. You know how when a sound editor on a film or TV comedy wants to indicate silence, they’ll add just a couple of crickets chirping? This was like that, except it was more like a chorus. No locusts, thank God – they make a Dog-awful metallic buzzing racket, but we didn’t have any swarms near us.

Barefoot and with phone in hand, I stepped into the grass and walked toward the street to see if I could hear or see anything, then stood and listened intently.

The crickets sang, and then all around me I became aware of the soft hum of air conditioning units – the big, whole-house fans – turning on and off. The air was sweet, a little moist, and the grass was soft and came to my ankles because we’ve had a fair amount of rain in the last week. It was pleasant to just stand there and listen and watch and be part of the night. I heard faint voices coming from down the street, but they were calmer, so there was no need to dial 911.

Just an argument, and it was over. Not like the one night there was a small-scale riot out in front of the house because some high school kid’s party got out of control. Nothing to see, nothing to hear, I could go back to bed. A car door slammed down the street, and the engine revved angrily, getting the last word in before fading away in the direction of some other quiet neighborhood. That’s it.

Thing was, I didn’t really want to go back inside. It was nice to be out there in the night with the crickets and the air conditioners, and all the peacefully sleeping neighbors tucked away in their middle-class beds.

It reminded me of when I was a kid, and the other kids in the neighborhood and I would arrange to “sleep out” when there was a full moon, and we’d meet up and hang out in one guy’s treehouse, reading comic books by flashlight and walking around looking at the moonlight. About four of us, various ages between 9 and 12 or so. We’d talk about doing pranks like egging cars or TPing, but never really did anything about it, other than playing egg toss games and attempting to swipe rolls of toilet paper. It was cooler to be outside than to be inside our older, un-airconditioned houses. It seems bizarre now, in this age of abductions, but I can remember doing this at least 3 times or more, over several summers. Sometimes I’d go out alone and just walk around the neighborhood for an hour or so, long after midnight. It was quiet and there was no one around, and it was quite safe although it felt like an adventure. I can’t imagine any parent in their right mind knowingly letting their kids do that now, of course.

Finally, savoring the cool swish of grass on my feet, I walked back toward the house and went back inside. Slept better than I have in a while – the night air and listening to the silence of the suburb calmed me so that I could finally sleep.

Where You At?

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I was tinkering with the template (while humming the “Blacksmith’s Chorus”) and took out some stuff, may take out some more stuff, added in some stuff. Maybe someday (not soon) I’ll get past the “hey, here’s some cool crap to stick on the sidewall” stage.

Check this out – now visitors get mapped. So where you at? It’ll show on the map. It’s pretty funny to zoom all the way in on satellite view. But funny ha-ha, or funny weird? Not sure yet, but click the new “gVisit Log” link in the right column and you’ll see a Googlemap showing where visitors are located.

All this geographical fun courtesy of gVisit.com – Track visitors to your website using Google Maps

Two Months Later, Durbin Checks In

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Hey! Remember that Downing Street Memo thing? I blogged about it on June 12:

I see via various blogs (BoingBoing and others) that the Downing Street Memo still hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention. The new website on the Memo has a lot of information on the issues surrounding the document, and also under the Take Action link, you can sign on to the letter to the President that asks the questions originally asked by Sen. John Conyers and 88 other members of Congress on May 5, 2005.

There’s a link to a PDF copy of the actual document, with the signatures in various hands and ink-colors. Then there’s a link to an alphabetized list of the signers. On checking this list, I was highly irked and annoyed that my local representative is not a signer, and neither are the two senators of Illinois!

So I used the handy “send your representative an email” forms, I sent all three of them the following missive. I’ve linked their contact forms to their names.

And I went on to send an email to my elected representatives in Congress:

Dear Representative Bean / Senator Durbin / Senator Obama,

…I understand that 89 of your collegues signed a letter to President Bush, asking several questions about the memo.

I was surprised and disappointed to see that your name is not on the list of signers. Could you please have someone get back to me to explain why you are not participating in this very important dialogue with the administration? It may seem to you that it’s not important to the folks back home, but actually, the young men and women serving and dying in Iraq deserve to know whether they are fighting a war for the wrong reasons. And the families welcoming back the returning veterans and the flag-covered coffins need to know, too.

So I received replies from all three. Gee, it’s just like junior high civics! I feel so validated and proud of my representative democracy!

First in was Melissa Bean, on the same day:

Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate you taking the time to share your views. This is an automated response to certify receipt of your email. Your thoughts are important to me, and I will thoroughly review your message before sending you a more detailed response.

I can’t remember if I eventually received an actual reply – if I did it was boilerplate.

Coming in second in the “reply” stakes, but first in the “thoughtful response” race was Senator Barack Obama, whose email arrived June 19th:

Dear Virginia:

Thank you for contacting me regarding our policy in Iraq, particularly in regard to the faulty intelligence that was presented to the United Nations and Congress on the eve of war. I agree the contents of the Downing Street memo are very troubling, and you can rest assured that I will be looking into this matter very closely. I suspect this subject will remain a topic of heated public debate for some time, and I certainly understand your concerns.

I share your general disappointment at the Administration’s handling of the Iraq war, which has put us in a position where leaving that country risks chaos and staying has immeasurable financial and social costs. An immediate priority for Congress must be to ensure that the American people are getting truthful and accurate information about when and how we will bring our troops home, and that our soldiers, guardsmen and reservists receive all the benefits they are entitled to on their return.

In regard to the faulty intelligence we now know existed before the war, I understand why you and many members of Congress feel as though they were duped by the Administration. I cannot fault anyone — members of Congress or the American citizen — for feeling as though this nation was manipulated into war. It is my hope that this experience will serve as a lesson to the intelligence community and future administrations that they will be held accountable for the information they present to the country and should think twice before letting policy bias override hard intelligence. We should hope that the criticism engendered by the Iraq case will prevent similar mistakes in the future.

Thank you again for your message, Virginia. Please do not hesitate to keep in touch on this or any issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

P.S. Our system does not allow direct response to this email. However, if you would like to contact me again, please use the form on the website: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/

So, fine. Some weeks went by, then some more weeks. I forgot about my little experiment in civics. Then yesterday I received my reply from Senator Dick Durbin. Two months late, but at least I’m invited for coffee and donuts if I ever drop by Washington on a Thursday:

Dear Ms. Virginia Gibbs:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the “Downing Street Memo” prepared by British intelligence officials for Prime Minister Tony Blair in July 2002 concerning U.S. preparations for war with Iraq.
The contents of the Downing Street Memo appear to support the claim that President Bush had already decided to invade Iraq at a time when the White House claimed to be seeking a peaceful resolution to the ongoing tension with Iraq. Over the past two years, it has become clear that the main reasons offered for going to war with Iraq – that its possession of weapons of mass destruction and its close ties to global terrorist groups represented an imminent threat to the United States – were gross exaggerations. From the beginning, the Bush Administration discounted any evidence that did not fit with its view that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the United States.

In June 2005, I joined a number of my colleagues in urging the leadership of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to begin “Phase II” of its investigation into pre-war intelligence failures concerning Iraq. The American people deserve a complete, thorough and honest answer to the national security questions that have been raised regarding our pre-war intelligence efforts. When the concerns were first raised, members of the Intelligence Committee reached a bipartisan agreement to conduct a two-part review of the pre-war intelligence on Iraq, with the first phase focusing on the performance of our nation’s intelligence agencies, followed by an investigation into the Bush Administration’s use of this intelligence. But while the first phase of the Intelligence Committee’s inquiry was completed in the summer of 2004, the promised “Phase II” examination as to whether Administration officials misused intelligence in an effort to build support for invading Iraq has been stalled by the President’s allies on the committee.

The revelations in the Downing Street Memo add further urgency to the need for an investigation into these questions. Any inquiry into pre-war intelligence about Iraq that does not also examine the extent to which intelligence may have been manipulated or misrepresented by Executive Branch policymakers will be incomplete. I will continue to call for answers to the questions that have been raised about the claims that were made by officials of this Administration.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Please feel free to stay in touch.
Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

RJD/rp

P.S. If you are ever visiting Washington, please feel free to join Senator Obama and me at our weekly constituent coffee. When the Senate is in session, we provide coffee and donuts every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. as we hear what is on the minds of Illinoisans and respond to your questions. We would welcome your participation. Please call my D.C. office for more details.

Well, okay, there’s a lot of detail and bringing-up-to-date there for my benefit (Durbin is working for ME in our nation’s capital!), but I still think it’s funny that Durbin essentially stoops to name-dropping to make the little Congressional coffeeklatsch more interesting.

Katherine Harris Is Too Smug

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>BRANDON, Fla. – (KRT) – U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris is holding court in a crowded Republican Party headquarters in a strip mall east of Tampa, fielding questions from an enthusiastic crowd, eager to hear her thoughts on abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research.

Then, from the back of the room comes the inevitable: “How do you plan on dealing with people still mad about the 2000 election?”

The immaculately groomed woman in the perfectly tailored suit smiles. ”Do you think anybody will be?” she asks coyly. ”We simply followed the law.” Her audience applauds, delighted at the response from Florida’s former secretary of state.

Would someone please defeat this smug, doorbelling, election-fixing beeyotch? Preferably the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson, but I’m not fussy at this point. However, he’s an Episcopalian and so I give him some props, although he suffers from an slight case of “helmet hair.”

Oh, wait, he’s a former astronaut. I’ll cut him slack on the hair. 😉

Info via Project Vote Smart.

Founder of Taize’ Community Murdered

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Brother Roger, founder of the ecumenical Taize’ community, was murdered Tuesday during a vespers service by a woman who is probably mentally disturbed. There’s not a lot of information, but it was a shocking, tragic end to a life of prayer and meditation and peace.

This is a terrible loss to Christians everywhere, as Brother Roger was working to reconcile different streams of Christianity and lend support to the disenfranchised.

The Taize’ community, founded in 1940 by Brother Roger when he was 25, became a safe haven for political refugees and people of all faiths, among them Jews fleeing the Holocaust. Since the late 1950s, thousands of young adults from many countries have come to Taize’ to take part in weekly meetings of prayer and reflection. More than 100 Taize’ brothers, committed to material and spiritual sharing, celibacy, and simplicity of life, make visits and lead meetings in Africa, North and South America, Asia, and in Europe, as part of what they call “a pilgrimage of trust on earth.” Eight years ago, Brother Roger designated Brother Alois to succeed him as the person in charge of the community.

On the morning after his death, the following prayer was read in the church:

“Christ of compassion, you enable us to be in communion with those who have gone before us, and who can remain so close to us. We confide into your hands our Brother Roger. He already contemplates the invisible. In his footsteps, you are preparing us to welcome a radiance of your brightness.”

We’ve done simple Taize’ services at Holy Moly before – Taize’ chant emphasises the meditative experience of sung prayer, and is an interactive rather than a passive performance.

I’m hoping that our local “cluster” of little Episcopal churches pulls together a Taize’ service in Brother Roger’s honor. Maybe for the joint All Saints’ service we’re doing?

Via AKMA’s Random Thoughts

Announcing: Yahickr!

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Flickr and Yahoo, those two cahootsers, are integrating even more by making it possible to sign in to Flickr using a Yahoo ID. This is supposed to make it easier to use and easier to invite people, and they’ve made the sign-up process even easier.

So hey Timmy! Why don’t you sign up for Flickr and start putting some family photos up? How about everybody else in our far-flung family?

I’ve been having a lot of fun with it lately and still have plenty of photos that I want to highlight there. I’m starting to join more group pools and have a few contacts. It’s fun, and could be a lot more fun.

My stuff is at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginnyred57/

via FlickrBlog