WE FOUND WALDO...AND THE NEWS AIN'T GOOD
I'm a big big Fan of
Bukowski
I sit across from her as she
tells me about her life, I give her refills, light her cigarettes, I listen and
the City of the Angels listens… Charles Bukowski, “downtown L.A.”, You Get
So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense
such singing’s going on in the
streets-
the people look like flowers
at last
Charles
Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers At Last
if there is light
it will find
you.
Charles
Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers At Last
The art and joy of cinematography
MISH
MOSH..........................................
Mish
Mash: noun \ˈmish-ˌmash, -ˌmäsh\ A : hodgepodge, jumble “The painting was just a mishmash of colors
and abstract shapes as far as we could tell”. Origin
Middle English & Yiddish; Middle English mysse masche, perhaps
reduplication of mash mash; Yiddish mish-mash, perhaps reduplication of mishn
to mix. First Known Use: 15th century
General George Meade’s headquarters after the Battle of Gettysburg. He commanded the Union Northern Army. Note the dead horses on the road.
MUSIC FOR THE SOUL
Lou Rawls
BOOK ABOUT ORGANIZED CRIME
Chicago Organized Crime
Chicago-Mob-Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Mob-Bosses-Accardo-ebook
The
Mob Files: It Happened Here: Places of Note in Chicago gangland 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-1900-2000-ebook
An
Illustrated Chronological History of the Chicago Mob. Time Line 1837-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Chronological-History-Chicago-1837-2000/
Mob
Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Buster-Peterson-Committee-ebook/
The
Mob Files. Guns and Glamour: The Chicago Mob. A History. 1900-2000
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Guns-Glamour-ebook/
Shooting
the Mob: Organized crime in photos. Crime Boss Tony Accardo
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-photos-Accardo/
Shooting
the Mob: Organized Crime in Photos: The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Valentines-Massacre
The
Life and World of Al Capone in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Life-World-Al-Capone
AL
CAPONE: The Biography of a Self-Made Man.: Revised from the 0riginal 1930
edition.Over 200 new photographs
Paperback: 340 pages
http://www.amazon.com/CAPONE-Biography-Self-Made-Over-photographs
Whacked.
One Hundred Years Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Outfit
Paperback: 172 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Whacked-Hundred-Murder-Mayhem-Chicago/
Las Vegas Organized Crime
The
Mob in Vegas
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Vegas-ebook
Bugsy
& His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://www.amazon.com/Bugsy-His-Flamingo-Testimony-Virginia/
Testimony
by Mobsters Lewis McWillie, Joseph Campisi and Irwin Weiner (The Mob Files
Series)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-ebook
Rattling
the Cup on Chicago Crime.
Paperback 264 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Rattling-Cup-Chicago-Crime-Abridged
The
Life and Times of Terrible Tommy O’Connor.
Paperback 94 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Terrible-Tommy-OConnor
The
Mob, Sam Giancana and the overthrow of the Black Policy Racket in Chicago
Paperback 200 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Giancana-ovethrow-Policy-Rackets-Chicago
When
Capone’s Mob Murdered Roger Touhy. In Photos
Paperback 234 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Capones-Murdered-Roger-Touhy-photos
Organized
Crime in Hollywood
The Mob in Hollywood
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Files-Hollywood-ebook/
The
Bioff Scandal
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Bioff-Scandal-Shakedown-Hollywood-Studios
Organized
Crime in New York
Joe Pistone’s war on the mafia
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Petrosinos-War-Mafia-Files/
Mob
Testimony: Joe Pistone, Michael Scars DiLeonardo, Angelo Lonardo and others
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Testimony-DiLeonardo-testimony-Undercover/
The
New York Mafia: The Origins of the New York Mob
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mafia-Origins
The
New York Mob: The Bosses
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-York-Mob-Bosses/
Organized
Crime 25 Years after Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate
http://www.amazon.com/Organized-Crime-Valachi-Hearings-ebook
Shooting
the mob: Dutch Schultz
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Mob-Organized-Photographs-Schultz
Gangland
Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal. (Illustrated)
http://www.amazon.com/Gangland-Gaslight-Killing-Rosenthal-Illustrated/
Early
Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City
Paperback 382 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Early-Street-Gangs-Gangsters-York
THE RUSSIAN MOBS
The
Russian Mafia in America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Russian-Mafia-America-ebook/
The
Threat of Russian Organzied Crime
Paperback 192 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Russian-Organized-Crime-photographs-ebook
Organized Crime/General
Best
of Mob Stories
http://www.amazon.com/Files-Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-Crime/
Best
of Mob Stories Part 2
http://www.amazon.com/Series-Illustrated-Articles-Organized-ebook/
Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Prohibition-Gangsters-ebook
Mob
Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobsters in Photos
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-For-Meals-Mobsters-Photos
More
Mob Recipes to Die For. Meals and Mobs
http://www.amazon.com/More-Recipes-Meals-Mobsters-Photos
The
New England Mafia
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-England-Mafia-ebook
Shooting
the mob. Organized crime in photos. Dead Mobsters, Gangsters and Hoods.
http://www.amazon.com/Shooting-mob-Organized-photos-Mobsters-Gangsters/
The
Salerno Report: The Mafia and the Murder of President John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Salerno-Report-President-ebook/
The Mob Files: Mob Wars. "We only kill each
other"
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Wars-other/
The
Mob across America
http://www.amazon.com/The-Files-Across-America-ebook/
The
US Government’s Time Line of Organzied Crime 1920-1987
http://www.amazon.com/GOVERNMENTS-ORGANIZED-1920-1987-Illustrated-ebook/
Early
Street Gangs and Gangsters of New York City: 1800-1919. Illustrated
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-1800-1919-Illustrated-Street-ebook/
The
Mob Files: Mob Cops, Lawyers and Informants and Fronts
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mob-Files-Informants-ebook/
Gangster
Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/
The
Book of American-Jewish Gangsters: A Pictorial History.
Paperback: 436 pages
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-American-Jewish-Gangsters-Pictorial/
The
Mob and the Kennedy Assassination
Paperback 414 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Kennedy-Assassination-Ruby-Testimony-Mobsters
DON'T YOU JUST LOVE POP ART?
Wayne Thiebaud
GOOD WORDS TO HAVE…………
GOOD WORDS TO HAVE…………
Onerous (ON-uh-ruhs, OH-nuhr-)
1. Oppressively burdensome.
2. Having obligations or
responsibilities that outweigh the benefits.
From Old French onereus, from
Latin onerosus, from onus (burden). Earliest documented use: 1395.
HERE'S PLEASANT POEM FOR YOU TO ENJOY................
Instrument of Choice
Robert Phillips
She
was a girl
no
one ever chose
for
teams of clubs,
dances
or dates,
so
she chose the instrument
no
one else wanted:
the
tuba. Big as herself,
heavy
as her heart,
its
golden tubes
and
coils encircled her
like
a lover's embrace.
Its
body pressed on hers.
Into
its mouthpiece she blew
life,
its deep-throated
oompahs,
oompahs sounding,
almost,
like mating cries.
I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE
PHOTOS FROM FILM
THE ART OF PULP
Excerpt from my book “On the Waterfront: The Making of a Great
American Film”
Excerpt from my book “On the Waterfront: The Making of a Great
American Film”
HERE IS AN EXCEPT FROM MY BOOK
"THE BOOK OF AMERICAN-JEWISH GANGSTERS"
(Max Zellner is a pen name, it
was my grandfather's born name. During World War 1 he changed it to the less
German sounding Paul Selner)
Excerpt from my book "When
Capone’s Mob Murdered Touhy.”
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
John
William Tuohy is a writer who lives in Washington DC. He holds an MFA in
writing from Lindenwood University.
He is
the author of No Time to Say Goodbye: Memoirs of a Life in Foster Care and
Short Stories from a Small Town. He is also the author of numerous non-fiction
on the history of organized crime including the ground break biography of
bootlegger Roger Tuohy "When Capone's Mob Murdered Touhy" and
"Guns and Glamour: A History of Organized Crime in Chicago."
His
non-fiction crime short stories have appeared in The New Criminologist,
American Mafia and other publications. John won the City of Chicago's Celtic
Playfest for his work The Hannigan's of Beverly, and his short story fiction
work, Karma Finds Franny Glass, appeared in AdmitTwo Magazine in October of
2008.
His
play, Cyberdate.Com, was chosen for a public performance at the Actors Chapel
in Manhattan in February of 2007 as part of the groups Reading Series for New
York project. In June of 2008, the play won the Virginia Theater of The First
Amendment Award for best new play.
Contact
John:
MYWRITERSSITE.BLOGSPOT.COM
JWTUOHY95@GMAIL.COM
HERE'S MY LATEST BOOKS.....
DON'T WORRY, WE'LL PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY
Maligned for decades, MSG comes back
The flavor enhancer was discovered more than a century ago
A letter to the editor in 1968 started the anti-MSG backlash
Some modern chefs have begun to sing its praises
BY BLAIR ANTHONY ROBERTSON
brobertson@sacbee.com
Plenty about monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG, is puzzling and peculiar. Indeed, many would argue that the ongoing assault on this ubiquitous flavor enhancer is just wacky.
MSG has its defenders, including some of Sacramento’s top mainstream chefs, but unless you’re a hardcore foodie or culinary insider, probably everything you’ve heard about MSG is wrong.
Is it possible that many of us have expended far too much time and energy through the years awkwardly asking about it at Chinese restaurants, avoiding it whenever possible and repeating claims about it that have long since been debunked?
To this day, a popular and widely respected restaurant like Chinois City Cafe in the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento notes in small print on its menus that it does not cook with MSG.
“It’s something that goes way back,” said co-owner Terry SooHoo. “We really just assumed also that it was bad, without any scientific facts. But our guests are the ones who perpetuate it. We just have it in fine print on the menu that we don’t use it. We don’t actively promote it as being bad for you.”
When SooHoo ventures out to eat at other Chinese restaurants, “I don’t avoid it. I don’t even ask,” he said. “It’s not us. It’s our guests who are concerned.”
Despite its link to the so-called “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” MSG can be found in nearly every culture and cuisine. MSG is what makes the flavors in your bag of Doritos pop. It’s lurking in all kinds of fast food. It’s found naturally in Parmesan cheese, mushrooms and tomatoes. Canned soup and packages of crackers? More than likely, MSG is the unheralded flavor star in both, sometimes disguised on labels as flavor enhancer E621.
“Working in restaurants for so long, you just keep on looking for other things,” said Michael Thiemann, owner/chef of two acclaimed Sacramento restaurants, Empress Tavern and Mother. “There was a light bulb moment when I was in L.A. at a hipster Mexican restaurant, of all things, had this simple Brussels sprouts dish. I couldn’t figure out why it was so good. Then it hit me – it’s MSG. It couldn’t have been anything else.”
Thiemann began dabbling with MSG and has used it to bring out flavors in certain vegetable dishes, though it’s not something he advertises.
“To me, it’s just another tool, another spice,” he said. “I find nearly all brassicas vegetables – broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages – taste incredible with the smallest dash of MSG. You don’t have to add as much salt and it’s freakishly good.”
Chefs have been using MSG for more than a century and its origins can be traced to Japan, not China. This ubiquitous and much-maligned seasoning salt was discovered by a Japanese chemist, Kidunae Ikeda, who noticed that his wife seasoned her soup with a type of seaweed called kombu.
In 1908, Ikeda named the so-called fifth flavor umami (beyond salty, sweet, sour and bitter) after a chemical analysis showed that the savory note from kombu was from glutamic acid. MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid and one of the building blocks of protein.
For 60 years, MSG flourished throughout the world. Simply put, it elevated the flavors of nearly everything in its path, from grains and vegetables to meats and sauces.
Then something went awry. As renowned chef David Chang has put it, MSG became the most vilified ingredient in America, and wrongly so.
“The purpose of using MSG has always been commercial,” said David SooHoo, Terry’s brother and a longtime restaurateur and chef who stopped using MSG in the 1980s. “You can taste the beef flavor of chow mein or chop suey and it tastes like it has twice as much beef when you use MSG. It tricks the taste buds because of the way the brain is wired. Customers leave feeling very happy even though they didn’t eat as much meat.
“It’s not just in Chinese restaurants. Look closely on the labels, and you’ll find it in almost everything.”
In the 1970s, cooking at the family-owned Ming Tree restaurant, David SooHoo said, the kitchen “pioneered cooking with no MSG. Everybody freaked out. Chinese people said, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’ But I knew that if you used fresh ingredients and more ingredients, you didn’t need MSG.”
Given the food science era in which we live, it is worth noting that the anti-MSG brigade was inspired by an eminently non-scientific letter to the editor in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968. It was penned by a Chinese American doctor, Robert Kwok, who noted he felt numbness in his arms and neck for two hours after dining at a Chinese restaurant.
The anecdotal contents of that letter took on a life of their own. Other letter writers weighed in, concurring with Kwok, and the subsequent letters were published together under the headline, “Chinese restaurant syndrome.”
A year later, two researchers published a study blaming MSG for Chinese restaurant syndrome. But when their methodology was challenged and they did subsequent blind studies to eliminate biases, MSG, it turned out, was off the hook. No adverse health problems could be detected when measured against a placebo.
But it was too late.
The American dining public made it the villain of the food world and began insisting en masse that Chinese restaurants cook without MSG or at least warn them about which dishes included it. Chinese restaurants had little choice if they wanted to attract a non-Chinese clientele.
But there are signs these days that MSG is on the upswing and the message has begun trickling out that it’s no longer something to fear. Scores of progressive chefs outside of Chinese cuisine have embraced it, albeit in a mostly underground, hush-hush way.
Chang, the owner/chef of the acclaimed Momofuku restaurant group, gave a speech at a food symposium in 2012 he dubbed “MSG: Delicious or Evil?” in which he sought to recast the notorious flavor enhancer as an innocent victim of pseudo-science, innuendo and cultural bias.
Justin Lower, the executive chef at Taylor’s Kitchen in Land Park, has been known to cook with MSG for the staff meal, known in the industry as “family meal.” He likes how it makes the flavors really sing in that coveted “umami” way. He likes the positive reactions he gets from hungry restaurant staffers.
“I always use it for family meal, but it will probably never make it onto the menu because of the stigma,” said Lower, who previously worked in such highly regarded kitchens as Hawks and Enotria.
“I’d like to see it kind of rehabilitated. One of the issues is it doesn’t have a catchy name. If they called it ‘umami salt’ it might have a better chance.”
Bill Ngo, the chef/owner of Kru, uses a type of MSG to cure fish and make stocks at his Japanese restaurant and sushi bar.
“My family is Chinese-Vietnamese and my parents had a Chinese restaurant when I was growing up. I remember seeing them use MSG. It was in the kitchen, so it was a normal thing for me. It’s just another flavoring agent, like salt and sugar.”
Ngo often uses a version of MSG derived from kombu for curing fish at Kru.
“It firms up the fish and adds a certain flavor,” he explained.
When he’s not working, Ngo enjoys going out to eat, especially at hole-in-the-wall Chinese and Vietnamese eateries. One of his favorite places, which we won’t name because of the ongoing stigma, has a deep-fried chicken dish “and they serve it with a side of MSG and white pepper mixed together. They just tell you it’s salt and pepper,” Ngo said.
Ngo says MSG’s reputation is ready to be rehabilitated and he suggests home cooks simply try it for themselves. Though it is available by the bucket at restaurant supply stores, the most common grocery version is Accent seasoning.
“You can just add it to anything to make it taste better,” he said.
After all this time and a stigma that won’t go away, MSG – or, better yet, umami salt – may be ready to come out of hiding.
Blair Anthony Robertson: 916-321-1099, @Blarob
GREAT IDEA
....BUT PAY YOUR BILL
STILL, I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO HANG OUT WITH THIS GUY...............
SPACE
The Antennae Galaxies
THE ART AND BEAUTY OF BALLET
Nicolás J. Moreno C.- photo by Rachel Neville
Sculpture this and Sculpture that
Jacqueline Kern Shaman (WIP), 2016
Angelo Bozzola - ,Funzione - sviluppo di forma n. 11 , 1956
Andreas Theurer - Agony, 1995
DON'T YOU WANT TO SEE THE ENTIRE WORLD?
I DO
Damüls, Austria by Marco Stolle
MY DOG, BART THE DOG
MARY AND I TOOK SOME PHOTOS OF EACH OTHER LAST YEAR, I JUST FOUND THEM
AND HERE'S SOME ANIMALS FOR YOU...................
MY BIRTHDAY WAS JANUARY 6TH
HERE'S SOME NICE ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT....ENJOY!
Girl with Peaches, Valentin Serov
Western Motel I Edward Hopper I 1957
Moscow in Winter, View from the Window onto Srednaia Kislovka, Maria Yakunchikova (1889)
IT SNOWED LIKE HELL HERE IN JANUARY, WE GOT THREE FEET IN ONE DAY
SOME ONE'S ON A LIST NOW
BLOGLAPEDIA’S BLOGS
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture
for the blog of it
http://architecturefortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
THE ARTS
Art
for the Blog of It
http://artfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Art
for the Pop of it
http://artforthepopofit.blogspot.com/
Photography
for the blog of it
http://photographyfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Music
for the Blog of it
http://musicfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
Sculpture
this and Sculpture that
http://sculpturethisandsculpturethat.blogspot.com/
The
art of War (Propaganda art through the ages)
http://theartofwarcleverhuh.blogspot.com/
Album
Art (Photographic arts)
http://albumartsocheesyitsgood.blogspot.com/
Pulp
Fiction Trash (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://pulpfictiontrash.blogspot.com/
Admit
it, you want to Read this Book (The art of Pulp Fiction covers)
http://goaheadadmitityouwanttoread.blogspot.com/
FILM
The
Godfather Trilogy BlogSpot
http://thegodfathertrilogyblogspot.blogspot.com/
On
the Waterfront: The Making of a great American Film
http://onthewaterfrontthefilm.blogspot.com/
FOOD
Absolutely
blogalicious
http://absolutelyblogalicious.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
Good
chowda (New England foods)
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/
Old
New England Recipes (Book support site)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com/
And I
Love Clams (New England foods)
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/
In
Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener (New England foods)
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/
Wicked
Cool New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Old
New England Recipes (New England foods)
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
FOSTER CARE
Foster Care new and Updates
Aging out of the system
Murder, Death and Abuse in the
Foster Care system
Angel and Saints in the Foster
Care System
The Foster Children’s Blogs
Foster Care Legislation
The Foster Children’s Bill of
Right
Foster Kids own Story
The Adventures of Foster Kid.
HEALTH
Me
vs. Diabetes (Diabetes education site)
http://mevsdiabetes-bloglapedia.blogspot.com/
HISTORY
The
Quotable Helen Keller
http://thequotablehelenkeller.blogspot.com/
Teddy
Roosevelt's Letters to his children (Book support site)
http://teddyrooseveltsletterstohischildren.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Machiavelli (Book support site)
http://thequotablemachiavelli.blogspot.com/
HUMOR
Whatever
you do, don't laugh
http://whateveryoudodontlaugh.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Grouch Marx
http://thequotablegrouchmarx.blogspot.com/
IRISH-AMERICANA
A Big
Blog of Irish Literature
http://abigblogofirishliterature.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Blog of Irish Jokes (Book support blog)
http://theweeblogofirishjokes.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Blog of Irish Recipes
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
The
Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com
The
Irish in their Own Words
http://theirishintheirownwords.blogspot.com/
When
Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/
The
Wee Book of Irish Recipes (Book support site)
http://theweeblogofirishrecipes.blogspot.com/
LITERATURE
Following
Fitzgerald
http://followingfitzgerald.blogspot.com/
Shakespeare
http://shakespeareinamericanenglish.blogspot.com/
The
Blogable Robert Frost
http://theblogablerobertfrost.blogspot.com/
Charles
Dickens
http://charlesdickensfan.blogspot.com/
The
Beat Poets of the Forever Generation
http://thebeatspoetsoftheforevergenera.blogspot.com/
Holden
Caulfield Blog Spot
http://holdencaulfieldblogspot.blogspot.com/
The
Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://thequotableoscarwilde.blogspot.com/
NEW ENGLAND BLOGS
The
Quotable Thoreau
http://thequotablethenrydavidthoreau.blogspot.com/
Old
New England Recipes
http://oldnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Wicked
Cool New England Recipes
http://whickedcoolnewenglandrecipes.blogspot.com
Emerson
http://emersonsaidit.blogspot.com/
The
New England Mafia
http://thenewenglandmafia.blogspot.com/
And I
Love Clams
http://andiloveclams.blogspot.com/
In
Praise of the Rhode Island Wiener
http://inpraiseoftherhodeislandwiener.blogspot.com/
Watch
Hill
http://watchhillwesterly.blogspot.com/
York
Beach
http://yorkbeachfortheblogofit.blogspot.com/
The
Connecticut History Blog
http://connecticuthistory.blogspot.com/
The
Connecticut Irish
http://theconnecticutirish.blogspot.com/
Good
chowda
http://goodchowda.blogspot.com/
NOSTALGIA
God,
How I hated the 70s
http://godhowihatedthe70s.blogspot.com/
Child
of the Sixties Forever
http://childofthesixtiesforeverandever.blogspot.com/
The
Kennedy’s in the 60’s
http://thekennedysinthe60s.blogspot.com/
Music
of the Sixties Forever
http://musicofthesixtiesforever.blogspot.com/
Elvis
and Nixon at the White House (Book support site)
http://elvisandnixonatthewhitehouse.blogspot.com/
Beatles
Fan Forever
http://beatlesfanforever.blogspot.com/
Year
One, 1955
http://yearone1955.blogspot.com/
Robert
Kennedy in His Own Words
The
1980s were fun
http://the1980swereokayactually.blogspot.com/
The
1990s. The last decade.
http://1990sthelastdecade.blogspot.com/
ORGANIZED CRIME
The
Russian Mafia
http://russianmafiagangster.blogspot.com/
The
American Jewish Gangster
http://theamericanjewishgangster.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Hollywood
http://themobinhollywood.blogspot.com/
We
Only Kill Each Other
http://weonlykilleachother.blogspot.com/
Early
Gangsters of New York City
http://earlygangstersofnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/
Al
Capone: Biography of a self-made Man
http://alcaponethebiographyofaselfmademan.blogspot.com/
The
Life and World of Al Capone
http://thelifeandworldofalcapone.blogspot.com/
The
Salerno Report
http://salernoreportmafiaandurderjohnkennedy.blogspot.com/
Guns
and Glamour
http://gunsandglamourthechicagomobahistory.blogspot.com/
The
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
http://thesaintvalentinesdaymassacre.blogspot.com/
Mob
Testimony
http://mobtestimony.blogspot.com/
Recipes
we would Die For
http://recipeswewoulddiefor.blogspot.com/
The
Prohibition in Pictures
http://theprohibitioninpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Pictures
http://themobinpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Mob in Vegas
http://themobinvegasinpictures.blogspot.com/
The
Irish American Gangster
http://irishamericangangsters.blogspot.com
Roger
Touhy Gangster
http://rogertouhygangsters.blogspot.com/
Chicago’s
Mob Bosses
http://chicagosmobbossesfromaccardoto.blogspot.com/
Chicago
Gang Land: It Happened Here
http://chicagoganglandithappenedhere.blogspot.com/
Whacked:
One Hundred years of Murder in Gangland
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/
The
Mob Across America
http://themobacrossamerica.blogspot.com/
Mob
Cops, Lawyers and Front Men
http://mobcopslawyersandinformantsand.blogspot.com/
Shooting
the Mob: Dutch Schultz
http://shootingthemobdutchschultz.blogspot.com/
Bugsy&
His Flamingo: The Testimony of Virginia Hill
http://bugsyandvirginiahill.blogspot.com/
After
Valachi. Hearings before the US Senate on Organized Crime
http://aftervalachi.blogspot.com/
Mob
Buster: Report of Special Agent Virgil Peterson to the Kefauver Committee (Book
support site)
http://virgilpetersonmobbuster.blogspot.com/
The
US Government’s Timeline of Organized Crime (Book support site)
http://timelineoforganizedcrime.blogspot.com/
The
Kefauver Organized Crime Hearings (Book support site)
http://thekefauverorganizedcrimehearings.blogspot.com/
Joe
Valachi's testimony on the Mafia (Book support site)
http://joevalachistestimonyonthemafia.blogspot.com/
Mobsters
in the News
http://mobstersinthenews.blogspot.com/
Shooting
the Mob: Dead Mobsters (Book support site)
http://deadmobsters.blogspot.com/
The
Stolen Years Full Text (Roger Touhy)
http://thestolenyearsfulltext.blogspot.com/
Mobsters
in Black and White
http://mobstersinblackandwhite.blogspot.com/
Mafia
Gangsters, Wiseguys and Goodfellas
http://mafiagangsterswiseguysandgoodfellas.blogspot.com/
Whacked:
One Hundred Years of Murder and Mayhem in the Chicago Mob (Book support site)
http://whackedonehundredyearsmurderand.blogspot.com/
Gangland
Gaslight: The Killing of Rosy Rosenthal (Book support site)
http://ganglandgaslightrosyrosenthal.blogspot.com/
The
Best of the Mob Files Series (Book support site)
http://thebestofthemobfilesseries.blogspot.com/
PHILOSOPHY
It’s
All Greek Mythology to me
http://itsallgreekmythologytome.blogspot.com/
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychologically
Relevant
http://psychologicallyrelevant.blogspot.com/
SNOBBERY
The
Rarifieid Tribe
http://therarifiedtribe.blogspot.com/
Perfect
Behavior
http://perfectbehavior.blogspot.com/
TRAVEL
The
Upscale Traveler
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/
TRIVIA
The
Mish Mosh Blog
http://theupscaletraveler.blogspot.com/
WASHINGTON DC
DC
Behind the Monuments
http://dcbehindthemonuments.blogspot.com/
Washington
Oddities
http://washingtonoddities.blogspot.com/
When
Washington Was Irish
http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/
AND NOW, A BEATLES BREAK
THE BEATLES FLY TO SHAY STADIUM IN NEW YORK FOR A CONCERT
Greetings
NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE
THEATER IN NYC ***
Uncomfortable Comfortable Spaces
A spoken collection of prose and
plays
Written by Cesi Davidson
Directed by Mary Hodges
Featuring Sandra Mills Scott
& Gha'il Rhodes Benjamin
February 20, 2016
3-4 PM
George Bruce Library
518 West 125th St.
New York, New York 10027
Free Admission
http://www.nypl.org/locations/george-bruce
***
PRIMARY STAGES - SHORT FORMS ***
Is Your Short Play Portfolio
Submission-Ready? Join KARA LEE CORTHRON (Writer, Julius By Design at Fulcrum
Theater, "Kings" on NBC) for SHORT FORMS at Primary Stages Einhorn
School of Performing Arts (ESPA) and build a solid portfolio of
submission-ready short plays. Short plays require an ability to convey
character, effective dialogue, and action without extensive exposition, and in
this 10-week class, you'll learn how not to waste a single word. From this
class, you'll take away the skills to craft surprising pieces of theater,
regardless of length, that reflect something deeper about the world at large.
Payment plans available. Register
at:http://primarystages.org/espa/writing/short-forms
***
PLAYWRIGHTS OPPORTUNITIES ***
New American Voices - We intend
to do a one week production run of 6 to 8 selected short plays in a London West
End theatre in late autumn. The 2016 theme will be Twenty Twenty. Therefore we
are accepting submissions of short plays (maximum 20 minutes) on any topic that
would reflect our theme. That could mean the year 2020, perfect vision or
anything else that comes to mind.
***
The World Sinophone Drama
Competition for Young Playwrights project seeks to encourage production of new
dramatic works that reflect upon global Chinese culture from a variety of
perspectives and enrich our understanding of Sinophone cultures, circulations,
histories, and communities. To this end, we invite young playwrights (aged
18-35) to submit new scripts composed in either English or Chinese for the
inaugural round of this international drama competition. For English-language
submissions, we welcome works of self-reflection from members of Sinophone
communities, as well as those that explore encounters among the Sinophone and
other cultural contexts; for Chinese-language submissions, there are no
specific requirements for content.
***
Theatre503’s Playwriting Award is
an unprecedented opportunity for playwrights at all levels to be recognised for
writing an outstanding, original piece of work for the stage. It will build
upon the foundation of the venue’s reputation for engaging with the next
generation of playwrights, whilst broadening its opportunities to include more
experienced, produced writers.
To be considered for the 503Five
you should have no full-length professional production credits.This is defined
as a run of 3 weeks or more in an established venue for which you have received
coverage from the national press.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION on these
and other opportunities see the web site athttp://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** That’swhatshesaid ***
Erin Pike stands onstage and
apologizes for over a minute. At various moments a disembodied male voice
describes her as mousy, elegant, attractive, a mess, and Pike struggles to
embody each of them in quick succession. She runs up and down the stairs
wearing heels. She stands in the spotlight and takes off most of her clothes.
She immediately puts them back on. She takes them off again. An invisible hand
pushes her to the floor. She picks herself up. She's pushed to the floor again.
These are a handful of actions
Pike performs in That'swhatshesaid, a dramatic collage written by Courtney
Meaker and directed by HATLO. To construct this piece, Meaker compiled lines
from only the female characters in American Theater's list of the 11
most-produced plays of the 2014—2015 season. Only two of these plays were
written by women. According to Meaker's script, these plays contain 74 total
roles, 34 of which were written for women. Of those 34 roles, 28 were written
by men.
More…
http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2016/02/05/23529285/erin-pike-performs-only-the-womens-parts-from-the-most-produced-plays-in-america-and-its-brilliant
***
About 15 minutes ago, Samuel
French, the publisher of Joshua Harmon's play Bad Jews, sent a cease and desist
order to Gay City Arts Executive Director Fred Swanson, demanding that the show
That'swhatshesaid, which opened Thursday night in the tiny theater at the back
of Gay City, not be allowed to go on tonight as planned.
The one-person play, created and
performed by Erin Pike and written by Courtney Meaker consists entirely of
dialogue from the female characters that appear in the 10
most-frequently-produced Amercian plays during the 2014—2015 season (according
to American Theater magazine). Bad Jews is one of them. (So are The Whipping
Man by Matthew Lopez and 4,000 Miles by Amy Herzog, also published by Samuel
French.)
http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2016/02/05/23534251/samuel-french-tries-to-shut-down-thatswhatshesaid-an-hour-before-curtain
***
Erin Pike’s web site
http://www.erinpike.com
***
AMERICAN THEATRE’S TOP 10
MOST-PRODUCED PLAYS OF 2015–16
Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar: 18
Peter and the Starcatcher,
adapted by Rick Elice from Dave Barry
and Ridley Pearson: 16
Outside Mullingar by John Patrick
Shanley: 11
To Kill a Mockingbird, adapted by
Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee: 9
Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan
Tolins: 9
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike by Christopher Durang: 8
Mr. Burns, a post-electric play
by Anne Washburn: 7
Fences by August Wilson: 7
Sex with Strangers by Laura
Eason: 7
Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron
Posner, inspired by Chekhov: 7
https://www.americantheatre.org/2015/09/16/the-top-10-most-produced-plays-of-the-2015-16-season/
***
AMERICAN THEATRE’S TOP 10
MOST-PRODUCED PLAYS OF 2014-15 (Actually 11 Because of Ties)*
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike by Christopher Durang: 27**
Outside Mullingar by John Patrick
Shanley: 10
Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon: 8***
Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin
Baitz: 8****
Around the World in 80 Days
adapted from the novel by Jules Verne: 7(note, 6 for the Mark Brown adaptation
and 1 for the Toby Hulse adaptation)
Peter and the Starcatcher,
adapted by Rick Elice from Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson: 7
The Whipping Man by Matthew
Lopez: 7
Tribes by Nina Raine: 7*****
4000 Miles by Amy Herzog: 6
Into the Woods, book by James
Lapine, music and lyricsby Stephen Sondheim: 6
Venus in Fur by David Ives: 6
https://www.americantheatre.org/2014/09/23/top-10-plays-2014-2015/
The Top 10 Most-Produced Plays:
1994–2014
Want to see what were the most-produced
plays from the 1994-95 season to the 2013-14 season? We’ve got you covered
here!
BY AMERICAN THEATRE EDITORS
Below is American Theatre
magazine’s Top 10 Most-Produced Play list, as printed in AT‘s annual Season
Preview issue in October, from 1994 to 2014. These numbers are as reported to
TCG at press time by its member theatres nationwide.
As of the 2009-10 season the Top
10 List omits holiday themed shows (such as The Santaland Diaries and A
Christmas Carol) as well as works by Shakespeare. OnStage/Theatre Profiles will
reflect more up-to-date data.
2013-14
A tie for the final slot makes this a Top 14.
Venus in Fur (22)
by David Ives
Clybourne Park (16)
by Bruce Norris
Good People (14)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
Other Desert Cities (13)
by Jon Robin Baitz
The Mountaintop (13)
by Katori Hall
4000 Miles (12)
by Amy Herzog
Tribes (12)
by Nina Raine
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (11)
by Christopher Durang
The Cat in the Hat (8)
adapted by Katie Mitchell from Dr. Seuss
Detroit (7)
by Lisa D’Amour
God of Carnage (7)
by Yasmina Reza
Red (7)
by John Logan
The Whipping Man (7)
by Matthew Lopez
Water by the Spoonful (7)
by Quiara Alegria Hudes
2012-13
Good People (17)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
Clybourne Park (15)
by Bruce Norris
The Whipping Man (14)
by Matthew Lopez
Next to Normal (13)
by Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics) and Tom Kitt
(music)
The Mountaintop (12)
by Katori Hall
Red (11)
by John Logan
Time Stands Still (10)
by Donald
Margulies
Other Desert Cities (10)
by Jon Robin Baitz
The Motherfucker with the Hat (9)
by Stephen Adly Guirgis
A Raisin in the Sun (8)
by Lorraine Hansberry
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (8)
by Alex Timbers (book) and Michael Friedman (music
and lyrics)
2011-12
Red (23)
by John Logan
God of Carnage (23)
by Yasmina Reza
In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (13)
by Sarah Ruhl
The 39 Steps (11)
adapted by Patrick Barlow from Buchan and Alfred
Hitchcock
Time Stands Still (11)
by Donald Margulies
Next Fall (11)
by Geoffrey Nauffts
To Kill a Mockingbird (8)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
Spring Awakening (7)
by Steven Sater (book and lyrics) and Duncan Sheik
(music), adapted from Frank Wedekind
Race (7)
by David Mamet
August: Osage County (7)
by Tracy Letts
Clybourne Park (7)
by Bruce Norris
2010-11
The 39 Steps (23)
adapted by Patrick Barlow from Alfred Hitchcock
Circle Mirror Transformation (15)
by Annie Baker
Superior Donuts (10)
by Tracy Letts
Ruined (10)
by Lynn Nottage
August: Osage County (9)
by Tracy Letts
God of Carnage (8)
by Yasmina Reza
In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (8)
by Sarah Ruhl
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (8)
by Rachel Sheinkin (book) and William Finn (music
and lyrics)
To Kill a Mockingbird (7)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (7)
by August Wilson
2009-10
boom (9)
by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
The Seafarer (8)
by Conor McPherson
Speech & Debate (8)
by Stephen Karam
Dead Man’s Cell Phone (8)
by Sarah Ruhl
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (7)
by Rachel Sheinkin (book) and William Finn (music
and lyrics)
Around the World in 8o Days (7)
adapted by Mark Brown from Jules Verne
The Glass Menagerie (7)
by Tennessee Williams
Opus (7)
by Michael Hollinger
Our Town (6)
by Thornton Wilder
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (6)
by Donald Margulies
Souvenir (6)
by Stephen Temperley
Yankee Tavern (6)
by Steven Dietz
Black Pearl Sings! (6)
by Frank Higgins
Boeing-Boeing (6)
translated by Beverly Cross from Marc Camoletti
(6)
2008-09
Doubt (14)
by John Patrick Shanley
The Santaland Diaries (14)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
Rabbit Hole (13)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
The Seafarer (12)
by Conor McPherson
Eurydice (11)
by Sarah Ruhl
To Kill a Mockingbird (10)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
The Glass Menagerie (9)
by Tennessee Williams
Souvenir (9)
Stephen Temperley
Mauritius (9)
by Theresa Rebeck
Noises Off (8)
by Michael Frayn
Radio Golf (8)
by August Wilson
2007-08
Doubt (34)
by John Patrick Shanley
Rabbit Hole (12)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
The Clean House (12)
by Sarah Ruhl
Moonlight and Magnolias (10)
by Ron Hutchison
9 Parts of Desire (8)
by Heather Raffo
A Year with Frog and Toad (8)
book and lyrics by Willie Reale; music by Robert
Reale
The Little Dog Laughed (8)
by Douglas Carter Beane
The Piano Lesson (8)
by August Wilson
The Santaland Diaries (8)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
Gem of the Ocean (7)
by August Wilson
Its a Wonderful Life (7)
adapted from Frank Capra
The Diary of Anne Frank (7)
adapted by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
2006-07
I Am My Own Wife (13)
by Doug Wright
The Pillowman (12)
by Martin McDonagh
The Santaland Diaries (11)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
Gem of the Ocean (9)
by August Wilson
Intimate Apparel (9)
by Lynn Nottage
Moonlight and Magnolias (8)
by Ron Hutchison
Rabbit Hole (8)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
Tartuffe (7)
by Moliere
Tuesdays with Morrie (7)
by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher
The Underpants (7)
adapted by Steve Martin from Carl Sternheim
2005-06
A tie for the final slot makes this a Top 14.
Intimate Apparel (16)
by Lynn Nottage
Crowns (15)
by Regina Taylor
I Am My Own Wife (13)
by Doug Wright
Frozen (12)
by Bryony Lavery
A Number (11)
by Caryl Churchill
Bad Dates (9)
by Theresa Rebeck
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (8)
book by Linda Woolverton; lyrics by Howard Ashman
and Tim Rice; music by Alan Menken
The Importance of Being Earnest (8)
by Oscar Wilde
Bug (7)
by Tracy Letts
The Santaland Diaries (7)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
Seussical (7)
book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; book and music by
Stephen Flaherty
Stones in His Pockets (7)
by Marie Jones
Urinetown (7)
book and lyrics by Greg Kotis; lyrics and music by
Mark Hollman
A Year with Frog and Toad (7)
book and lyrics by Willie Reale; music by Robert
Reale
2004-05
Take Me Out (12)
by Richard Greenberg
Anna in the Tropics (11)
by Nilo Cruz
Crowns (11)
by Regina Taylor
The Drawer Boy (11)
by Michael Healey
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia (10)
by Edward Albee
The Underpants (9)
adapted by Steve Martin from Carl Sternheim
The Exonerated (7)
by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
The Santaland Diaries (7)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
Tuesdays with Morrie (7)
by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher
A Year with Frog and Toad (7)
book and lyrics by Willie Reale; music by Robert
Reale
2003-04
A tie for the final slot makes this a Top 12.
The Drawer Boy (16)
by Michael Healey
Proof (14)
by David Auburn
Topdog/Underdog (13)
by Suzan-Lori Parks
The Santaland Diaries (12)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia (10)
by Edward Albee
Stones in His Pockets (10)
by Marie Jones
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (9)
book by Murray Horowitz and Richard Maltby Jr.;
music by Thomas Fats Waller
Private Lives (9)
by Noël Coward
Yellowman (9)
by Dael Orlandersmith
Blue/Orange (8)
by Joe Penhall
Lobby Hero (8)
by Kenneth Lonergan
Nickel and Dimed (8)
adapted by Joan Holden from Barbara Ehrenreich
2002-03
A tie for the final slot makes this a Top 11.
Proof (29)
by David Auburn
Dirty Blonde (15)
by Claudia Shear
Copenhagen (14)
by Michael Frayn
Fully Committed (12)
by Becky Mode
The Santaland Diaries (10)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
The Laramie Project (9)
by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project
Bat Boy: The Musical (9)
book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming; music
and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe
The Drawer Boy (9)
by Michael Healey
Lobby Hero (8)
by Kenneth Lonergan
My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra (7)
by David Grapes and Todd Olson
The Piano Lesson (7)
by August Wilson
2001-02
A tie for the final slot makes this a Top 14.
Art (15)
by Yasmina Reza
Dinner with Friends (15)
by Donald Margulies
The Laramie Project (14)
by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project
Spinning into Butter (12)
by Rebecca Gilman
Proof (11)
by David Auburn
Fuddy Meers (10)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (9)
book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro; music by Jimmy
Roberts
Fully Committed (8)
by Becky Mode
The Santaland Diaries (8)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
The Glass Menagerie (7)
by Tennessee Williams
Wit (7)
by Margaret Edson
2000-01
Art (30)
by Yasmina Reza
Wit (22)
by Margaret Edson
Side Man (11)
by Warren Leight
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (9)
book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro; music by Jimmy
Roberts
Closer (8)
by Patrick Marber
Fuddy Meers (8)
by David Lindsay-Abaire
The Beauty Queen of Leenane (7)
by Martin McDonagh
Picasso at the Lapin Agile (7)
by Steve Martin
The Santaland Diaries (7)
adapted by Joe Mantello from David Sedaris
A Streetcar Named Desire (7)
by Tennessee Williams
1999-2000
The Beauty Queen of Leenane (16)
by Martin McDonagh
The Last Night of Ballyhoo (12)
by Alfred Uhry
Master Class (12)
by Terrence McNally
Side Man (9)
by Warren Leight
As Bees in Honey Drown (8)
by Douglas Carter Beane
The Cripple of Inishmaan (8)
by Martin McDonagh
The Glass Menagerie (8)
by Tenessee Williams
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
(8)
by Moisés Kaufman
The Old Settler (8)
by John Henry Redwood
Wit (8)
by Margaret Edson
1998-99
How I Learned to Drive (26)
by Paula Vogel
The Last Night of Ballyhoo (20)
by Alfred Uhry
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
(16)
by Moisés Kaufman
Picasso at the Lapin Agile (10)
by Steve Martin
The Glass Menagerie (9)
by Tenessee Williams
Death of a Salesman (8)
by Arthur Miller
Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100
Years (8)
by Emily Mann
The Old Settler (7)
by John Henry Redwood
The Importance of Being Earnest (7)
by Oscar Wilde
Always! Patsy Cline (7)
by Ted Swindley
1997-98
Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100
Years (15)
by Emily Mann
Old Wicked Songs (12)
by John Marans
Skylight (11)
by David Hare
Moon Over Buffalo (10)
by Ken Ludwig
Sylvia (10)
by A.R. Gurney
To Kill a Mockingbird (9)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
Valley Song (9)
by Athol Fugard
Molly Sweeney (7)
by Brian Friel
An Ideal Husband (6)
by Oscar Wilde
Private Eyes (6)
by Steven Dietz
1996-97
Sylvia (28)
by A.R. Gurney
Arcadia (13)
by Tom Stoppard
The Glass Menagerie (12)
by Tennessee Williams
To Kill a Mockingbird (12)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100
Years (10)
by Emily Mann
A Tuna Christmas (8)
by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard
Love! Valour! Compassion! (8)
by Terrence McNally
The Diary of Anne Frank (8)
adapted by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
The Woman in Black (7)
adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill
The Cryptogram (7)
by David Mamet
1995-96
All in the Timing (15)
by David Ives
Three Tall Women (12)
by Edward Albee
The Sisters Rosensweig (11)
by Wendy Wasserstein
Arms and the Man (8)
by George Bernard Shaw
To Kill a Mockingbird (8)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and
Perestroika (7)
by Tony Kushner
Blithe Spirit (7)
by Noël Coward
Private Lives (7)
by Noël Coward
Arcadia (6)
by Tom Stoppard
Later Life (6)
by A.R. Gurney
1994-95
Keely and Du (14)
by Jane Martin
Dancing at Lughnasa (11)
by Brian Friel
To Kill a Mockingbird (10)
adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee
Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (8)
by Frank McGuinness
From the Mississippi Delta (8)
by Endesha Ida Mae Holland
Oleanna (8)
by David Mamet
All in the Timing (7)
by David Ives
A Perfect Ganesh (6)
by Terrence McNally
Forever Plaid (6)
by Stuart Ross and James Raitt
Lost in Yonkers (6)
by Neil Simon
https://www.americantheatre.org/2014/09/23/top-10-most-plays-1994-2014/
Photographs I’ve taken
This is the view from Mt. St. Johns School in Deep River Connecticut where I lived from 1968 through 1970. In those days the school was more or less a storage place for boys in the foster system. It's a whole other place now and those days are over for this grand old lady who has served and protected boys for one hundred years in 2017. That's the Connecticut River down at the bottom of the hill.
I will be running a wellness/ writing seminar from here this summer
This is the back of the school
Excerpt from my book "No Time to Say Goodbye:
Memoirs of a Life in Foster Care.
It
was time for the annual autumn dance that the school sponsored with Mariam Hall
in Hartford, St. John’s counterpart for foster girls. The night
before the dance, we assembled in the gym to hear Father MacDonald pontificate
on social graces, manly behavior, and the importance of cleanliness to young
ladies. At the end of the talk, there was the mandatory reminder about lust in
the heart.
“The
Sisters from Mariam Hall and our prefects will be on the dance floor,” he said,
“and the gym lights will be left on during the dance due to that unfortunate
event several dances ago.” I could only begin to speculate what that was about.
When
he finished speaking, one of the nuns who taught at the school part-time took
the stage and gave a lecture on how to approach a girl for a dance. “A young
gentleman,” she began, “speaks to a young lady with graciousness and decorum.
The young gentleman makes a slight bow and introduces himself, and requests the
next dance. And by this I do not mean,” she said, “that you say, ‘Hey, sister!
You’re a cute number! How’s about a swing around the boards?’”
That
line drew a laugh, and the more she spoke the more we laughed, until finally
she left the stage, defeated, and returned to the world of 1942 USO dances.
The
next speaker was our school nurse, Mrs. Lagasse, a tall, magnificent, shapely,
blue-eyed blonde who did wonders for her nurse’s uniform. When she took the
stage all the men in the room, including Father MacDonald, shifted their
clothing a little bit, mussed with their hair and sat a little taller in their
seats. No one knows what she said. It probably had something to do with health.
Then
Father MacDonald took the stage again and explained that the staff would now
teach the boys how to dance properly. We were broken into groups, one prefect
per group. Amid enormous sighs and moans, the prefects took turns waltzing us
around the gym floor, teaching us where to place our hands and where not to
place our hands during the dance.
“Just
do a circle eight over and again until the music stops,” one prefect said.
Across the gym, another could be heard telling his group, “Just keep dancing in
a square over and again until the music stops,” or “Move your weight from one
foot to the next in time with the music.”
At
dinner on the night of the dance, the mashed potatoes went untouched due to a
rumor that had started and spread years before—perhaps even decades before I
heard it—that on the night of the dance, the cook always spiked the potatoes
with saltpeter, a white powder that kept boys from attaining an erection.
Exactly what we would do with erections on a brightly-lit dance floor,
surrounded by vigilant Catholics sent directly from the Inquisition, never
played into the equation.
We
were standing in the gym when the girls arrived by bus from Hartford, a mist of
Aqua Velva and Old Spice floating just above our heads. Like us, they were
dressed in their best clothes, and like us, they had taken hours to get ready,
primping in the mirrors.
They
walked into the gym, silently, heads down, following a nun who directed them to
wooden chairs lined up on the side of the room opposite from where we were
standing. They hung their long winter coats over the backs of the chairs and
then stood in a long line at the edge of the playing floor. They wore skirts,
short skirts, mostly. Their hair was set in various styles that were lost on
us. They wore earrings and rings and charm bracelets and too much lipstick and
heavy coats of makeup.
I
studied their faces. The poverty and desperation they came from showed on their
faces and in their posture. They looked rough, unhappy and older than their
years.
I
suppose we looked the same way to them but I’m not sure, because they say girls
take this life, the poor people’s life, harder than boys do, that they feel it
more. I don’t know, but it’s what I heard once, someplace.
An
awkward silence fell over the gym. Some of them glared at us defiantly, angry
at having to partake in this ritual. Others stared at the floor and bit their
lips. A few were talking to themselves. They were waiting for us to do
something, but despite all our boasting and ranting down in the dorm about how
we would “bag a couple of chicks” before the night was done, we were too scared
to do anything. So we stood there, watching them watch us, and the staff from
both schools stood at either end of the gym watching all of us.
This
ungodly silence went on for a while until someone had the good sense to put on
“What Does It Take?” by Junior Walker & The All-Stars, a song that starts
with a long melodic riff from a sax.
A
very short Puerto Rican boy named George Maisonette glided out to the center of
the floor and started to sway, alone, slick and graceful, to the music. At
first he was so soulful about it that everyone giggled, and then, realizing
that George was the only one in the gym enjoying himself, the rest of us slid
out to the floor and danced the rest of the night away.
It
was a good night—no, it was better than that: It was a great night. We danced
and flirted and talked, and for a few hours we weren’t poor or scared or
desperate and didn’t have on hand-me-down clothes and cheap shoes. We were just
kids, doing what kids do, and it felt good. It was a great night. Yeah, it was
great night.
WHEN I WAS IN CONNECTICUT, MY HOME STATE , FOR A VISIT I TOOK A TOUR OF OUR STATE HOUSE IN HARTFORD
Hartford
Summer housing in Maine
THE QUOTABLE SERIES
The
Quotable Emerson: Life lessons from the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Over 300
quotes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Emerson-lessons-quotes
The
Quotable John F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-John-F-Kennedy/
The
Quotable Oscar Wilde
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons/
The
Quotable Machiavelli
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-Thayer/
The
Quotable Confucius: Life Lesson from the Chinese Master
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese/
The
Quotable Henry David Thoreau
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Henry-Thoreau-Quotables-ebook
The
Quotable Robert F. Kennedy
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Robert-F-Kennedy-Illustrated/
The
Quotable Writer: Writers on the Writers Life
http://www.amazon.com/The-Quotable-Writer-Quotables-ebook
The
words of Walt Whitman: An American Poet
Paperback: 162 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Words-Walt-Whitman-American-Poet
Gangster
Quotes: Mobsters in their own words. Illustrated
Paperback: 128 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Gangsters-Quotes-Mobsters-words-Illustrated/
The
Quotable Popes
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Popes-Maria-Conasenti
The
Quotable Kahlil Gibran with Artwork from Kahlil Gibran
Paperback 52 pages
Kahlil Gibran, an artist, poet,
and writer was born on January 6, 1883 n the north of modern-day Lebanon and in
what was then part of Ottoman Empire. He had no formal schooling in Lebanon. In
1895, the family immigrated to the United States when Kahlil was a young man
and settled in South Boston. Gibran enrolled in an art school and was soon a
member of the avant-garde community and became especially close to Boston
artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day who encouraged and
supported Gibran’s creative projects. An accomplished artist in drawing and
watercolor, Kahlil attended art school in Paris from 1908 to 1910, pursuing a
symbolist and romantic style. He held his first art exhibition of his drawings
in 1904 in Boston, at Day's studio. It was at this exhibition, that Gibran met
Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who ten years his senior. The two formed an important
friendship and love affair that lasted the rest of Gibran’s short life. Haskell
influenced every aspect of Gibran’s personal life and career. She became his
editor when he began to write and ushered his first book into publication in
1918, The Madman, a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical
cadence somewhere between poetry and prose. Gibran died in New York City on
April 10, 1931, at the age of 48 from cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis.
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Kahlil-Gibran-artwork/
The
Quotable Dorothy Parker
Paperback 86 pages
The
Quotable Machiavelli
Paperback 36 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Machiavelli-Richard-L-Thayer
The
Quotable Greeks
Paperback 230 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Greeks-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotabe Oscar Wilde
Paperback 24 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Oscar-Wilde-lessons-words/
The
Quotable Helen Keller
Paperback 66 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Helen-Keller-Richard-Willoughby
The
Art of War: Sun Tzu
Paperback 60 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Confucius-Lesson-Chinese-Quotables-ebook
The
Quotable Shakespeare
Paperback 54 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Shakespeare-Richard-W-Willoughby
The
Quotable Gorucho Marx
Paperback 46 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Quotable-Groucho-Marx-Devon-Alexander
