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hawks-gender · 2 years

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here's the original 2009 article where DOS comes out as gay! source link and full article under the cut, interview with DOS is the second half of the article

GOSSIP BOY EXCLUSIVE! TELEVISION ICON DAVID OGDEN STIERS OFFICIALLY COMES OUT

By Wayne Fuller March 11, 2009

BACKSTORY: DAVID OGDEN STIERS

Few would believe that the stodgy appearing actor David Ogden Stiers (DOS to many friends) is a flower child at heart. From his work and general appearance most would describe him as uptight, humorless, conservative, religious, cold, and judgmental.

Now replace those adjectives with their opposite and you have the real DOS – fun loving, witty, liberal, atheistic, warm and accepting.

Abandoning a harsh Illinois farm boy life, Stiers migrated to Oregon where he flunked out of the University of Oregon and then headed to San Francisco. There he entered the world 1960’s world of Bay Area hippies and began acting with local improv group The Committee with Rob Reiner and Howard Hesseman.

Eventually he became intimate with an Academy-award winning director, who saw Stiers’ budding talent and after a few strings were pulled the Midwesterner found himself on another coast; this time in New York City as a student at Juilliard where he began to be mentored by the prestigious actor John Houseman. Soon after, he started making appearances on shows like Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, and the pilot for Charlie’s Angels. Yet in 1977 it was the fortuitous departure of leading character Major Frank Burns in the top program M*A*S*H that would make DOS a star and television legend, as he was brought in to play antagonist to the show’s stars.

For his role as Major Charles Emerson Winchester THE III, a pompous Bostonian aristocratic surgeon, Stiers obtained two best supporting actor Emmy nominations in one of television’s most critically acclaimed and honored shows. He continued with M*A*S*H for seven seasons and brought new dimensions to his character, who had been written strictly as a foil for Alan Alda’s Hawkeye, but grew into a beloved television icon himself.

In addition to his acting DOS is a professional conductor and magician. He has been a guest conductor for over 75 orchestras nationwide; often donating his services for a charitable event. If you see him on stage with longtime friend Patty Duke doing the play Love Letters or Together Again for the First Time it will be for the benefit of a local theater needing operational funds or just because they can’t wait to work together again.

Gal pal Patty is most famous for her TV stint playing identical cousins in The Patty Duke Show of the 1960s and her Oscar-winning role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. Duke, the mother of actor Sean Astin, now does a lot of stage work after a prolonged battle with bipolar disorder. In 2002 she did the part of Aunt Eller in a Broadway revival of Oklahoma!. Starting this month she will be seen as Madame Morrible in the San Francisco production of Wicked.

The esteemed actor, who is known as much for his voice as his face, has never been married, which has led many in Hollywood to assume he is gay. Stiers is now ready to lay those rumors to rest.

Due to professional fears, mostly relating to a substantial body of voice work for a less-gay-friendly-environment-than-you-thought Walt Disney and various children’s programs, DOS has spent his entire life residing in the closet. He’s never been to a gay bar, participated in a Pride event, or any thing that would raise questions about his sexuality. That’s about to change.

INTERVIEW

GB: First thing David we need to let the readers know why you chose Gossip Boy to come out.

DOS: Gossip Boy? I thought you were with the Advocate!

GB: Now.

DOS: Well, you certainly are aware of my lengthy friendship with your associate James. We’ve had a long time conversation over my sexuality and how I’ve kept it close to my chest. There have been questions over the years and I now feel a tad more comfortable in discussing my personal life.

GB: You are gay. Right, David?

DOS: Yes, I am. Very proud to be so.

GB: You are over 66 years old, so why have you waited so long to confirm what many in Hollywood��always knew about you?

DOS: There are two reasons really. One is that I enjoy working and even though many have this idealistic belief that the entertainment industry and studios like Walt Disney are gay friendly. For the most part they are, but that doesn’t mean for them that business does not come first. It’s a matter of economics. Most of my more notable work in the last two decades has been as a voice actor. Certainly, I’ve done television appearances, be they recurring or guest roles, and numerous motion picture and documentary stints, but a lot of my income has been derived from voicing Disney and family programming. What they might allow in a more known actor, they prefer not having to deal with in minor players.

GB: Could you name some of the studios and execs who made you fear coming out?

DOS: I won’t. There is no animosity between us and I don’t wish to create any. Simply, they were protecting their business interests. I should say in regards to this that many of my fears were in modern times self-invented. I’ve been working internally on whether they were the problem or if I just continued using them as an excuse long after the call for conservative private lives passed. In that, I mean from the late 1980’s until about seven or eight years ago, you would find certain individuals coming up to you, me, and advocating the position that since we were doing family fare that it would be best were the actors to maintain a certain palatability to parents. These parties likely had heard rumors or harbored suspicions about me and wanted to make sure no embarrassing incidents were forthcoming. Cogsworth, the character I did on Beauty and the Beast could be a bit flamboyant on screen, because basically he is a cartoon, but they didn’t want Cogsworth to become Disney’s gay character, because it got around a gay man was playing him. I haven’t witnessed such things occurring in a long, long time.

GB: Is this why you’re now willing to come out?

DOS: In part. Likely, the biggest part. Yet I wish to spend my life’s twilight being just who I am. I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons. Now is the time I wish to find someone and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion with me.

GB: Do you feel that even with things better for gays that you could lose work for coming out? There’s been a recent controversy about Australian Olympian Matthew Mitcham not getting product endorsement spots, because of the gay perception. Might this happen to you?

DOS: Admittedly, I do have those nagging worries, but when I set back with a glass of rich cuvée and reason with my fears, I conclude that the work I do now no longer comes attached to once popular discriminations. Too, I don’t do commercials as a habit, so that concern is never prominent in my decision making.

GB: So you’re looking for a potential partner. Any one in mind or do you have a general description?

DOS: Someone both mature and youthful. Who has a good sense of who they are and where they are heading. They need to appreciate the finer things in life, as over the years I’ve developed certain tastes. The more lusty side of me seeks a man with developed arms, as that has always appealed to me.

GB: While you were in the closet, you avoided most things associated with a wilder gay lifestyle. Any plans to change that?

DOS: I have a very fulfilling and established life and rarely do I find time to add something new to the mix. This doesn’t mean that I am against gay-related activities, but that I am of an age where everything fits comfortably, be it intimate conversations, wine tasting with my many dear friends, driving adventures into the beautiful Oregon countryside, composing, or working on a narrative. I would not be against some of the more serene gatherings of course, but doing a club circuit at my age and with these feet is a tad beyond my means. Most certainly, clubs aren’t always the only indicator of one’s being gay and I don’t wish to convey that idea, I just have the life I live and the cherished friends, both gay and not, and that’s enough.

#david ogden stiers #mash #i'm sure this is already on mashblr somewhere but tumblr search failed me -_-#pictures taken randomly from google bc the wayback machine didnt load whatever the original pictures were

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raggedyannrevivaleffort · 3 years

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Calling All Raggedy Ann Fans!!!

Hello! We are the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort, the group responsible for the (in development) revival of the the Raggedy Ann Broadway musical!

Haven't heard about it? Check out these sources!

Our website: https://raggedy-ann-revival-effort.neocities.org/

Wiki page (Best source for history, + it has us!!): https://raggedyann.fandom.com/wiki/Raggedy_Ann/Rag_Dolly_(1984_Musical)

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raggedy_Ann_(musical)

Lost Media Article: https://lostmediawiki.com/Raggedy_Ann_(partially_found_script_and_footage_of_Broadway_musical;_1985-1986)

Informational Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wq7fEYQez0

Informational Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNwT8HTOnOk

USSR Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp9thGwbmiI

Full Review: https://archive.org/details/raggedyannjeffreylyonsreview_202004

YouTube Channel (with songs and demos uploaded): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8N6-m4Q7jCGVcefex2pjBw

Full Show audio bootleg (Broadway): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaJnayp3buo&feature=youtu.be

Playbill: https://www.playbill.com/production/raggedy-ann-nederlander-theatre-vault-0000002714

Article: https://www.nysarchivestrust.org/application/files/5615/8507/2604/Archives_Magazine_2020_Spring_featurearticle_w_cover.pdf

Full Show (ESIPA - Early Version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKPIhcrHb9Q&t=5024s

The Raggedy Ann musical, or Rag Dolly, is partially lost media; it only ran on Broadway for five shows, although it was a hit in the USSR and ran for many previews and performances in Albany and DC. With a script by William Gibson of “The Miracle Worker” and score by the legendary Joe Raposo of “Sesame Street,” Raggedy Ann is an exciting and heartfelt dark fantasy adventure that’s sadly been nearly forgotten in Broadway history. Though we do act as a fandom space, we are very serious about our efforts, and have made extremely monumental steps in our journey so far. Our ultimate goal is to restore and revive any previously lost materials from the Raggedy Ann musical, by recovering and cleaning up the script, creating new orchestrations for the music, and recovering any lost Rag Dolly content that we can find, so that hopefully we may one day bring Rag Dolly back to the stage-- not just for us, but for community theaters and schools around the world!

Sign up for our email to receive updates on our progress!: http://eepurl.com/h4Cvmf Below is a link to our Discord server, where we are active. We hope you’ll join us!

#raggedy ann #raggedy ann and andy #raggedy andy #raggedy ann musical #rag dolly #broadway #musical #musical theatre #musical theater #theater #lost media #raggedy ann doll #raggedy ann fanart

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amusedmuralist · 4 years

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🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

OKAY HI TIME FOR 5 RAMBLES I GUESS

it took my sister stealing my wool and then me buying wool I was more interested in to get me to learn how to knit properly, but even when I was dropping and adding stitches like a thing possessed I found tension reasonably easy to maintain

i really dislike the way literature is taught at a bunch of institutions I know of. Liek? British Literature, American Literature, World Literature????? ACTUALLY FUCK YOU.

NERVOUS CONDITIONS by Tsitsi Dangarembga has a lot to say to a great deal of English Language literature written by British Authors, and that’s part of the point, the exclusion from the canon while feeling its lingering affects of cultural malaise and distrust, and the doubling of self!

At some point I need to write my article abotu Hurricane from Miranda’s Hamilton simply because it has a lot to say about the same issue, the concept of writing back from a position of being made external, and a source of data and not a source of academic knowledge and skill, and how the metaphor of the Hurricane specifically informs Neruda and other Caribbean writers, especially Olive Senior’s engagement with and direct critique of canon

You got me started I’m sorry, I’m attaching some of the essay I wrote now

From “I Picked Up a Pen, I Wrote My Own Deliverance” Wolfe, (2015):

Neruda’s poetry mimics the thread he speaks of, making a long, winding spool down the page. Senior speaks of problems, of threads “too knotted to decipher, too clotted with blood” to be what she wants of it. She engages not only with Neruda’s demands, but admires his life and expands on his work while acknowledging her own, Jamaican context. Her thread, her link to the past, is described in the stanza 4 as “a chain-link of miles strung out across oceans/ a creole spider-work of many hands.” Senior’s country’s history is inextricably tangled in a history of slavery and the crossing, and so is her work. She expresses this in stanza 5, saying “I’ve been seeking a thread to tie up the bundle which has been growing unwieldy with the cries and the whispers of the ones I can’t name”. She ends the stanza with the proclamation that though she has forgotten some parts of her ‘thread’ that has caused her to “Let loose the hurricane”. She says of the hurricane that it “cleanses, it unburdens and purifies.” It is not an unmixed blessing, breaking the thread, though she says she will “mend it and restring with fresh beads.”

I found [the hurricane] an apt metaphor for what Senior was doing, something that I had also seen done in Hamilton. Hamilton caused a stir on Broadway due to almost all aspects of its construction. It is a hip-hop production, and has won a Pulitzer Prize and eleven Tonys; it has earnt one billion American dollars (Brokes, 2016). It draws on the story of the Founding Fathers of America, but shows it to be an immigrant story, one that almost all of America can draw on. To say it was “reimagined” thus does not ring true: the Founding Fathers were immigrants, and this is especially true of Alexander Hamilton, the protagonist of the musical, historical figure, and Caribbean born orphan. The song Hurricane happens midway through the musical, and describes his anguish about his legacy. It ends in his remembrance that he “picked up a pen/ [he] wrote his own deliverance” (emphasis mine) before leading into the chorus, a description of the hurricane that enabled Alexander Hamilton to leave the Caribbean and gain the acclaim he craved. The Hurricane is both destructive in that it destroyed the life he knew, and reconstructive, in that it was his writing about his troubles that allowed him to leave and make his own way, shaping the United States. This insistence that Hamilton be able to write his way out of trouble is larger than this. Hamilton opens the historical canon to interpretation, and “by telling the story of the founding of the country through the eyes of a bastard, immigrant orphan, told entirely by people of color, [Miranda] is saying, ‘This is our country. We get to lay claim to it.’ ” (Mead, 2015).

#hamilton #i fucken guess #Anonymous

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carversourcebe · 4 years

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Charlie’s interview for Schön! Magazine

This has been a challenging year for most people. What is a challenge you have faced recently and how did you overcome it? Or, how are you working towards overcoming it?

“I’ve been too addicted to the news. I don’t know if that’s what you were going for, but really, it’s been a challenge. On the one hand, I think it’s especially important right now to stay informed, to understand sources, look at a subject from multiple angles, and then study how it’s being parsed to different intended audiences. But the constant refreshing, the phone time became… Immobilising. This year has been a teacher. I’ve had to learn (relearn?) how to anchor to things in the present, things actually in front of me. Enjoying each bite of a meal by myself. Spending an afternoon on a blanket underneath a tree. Cultivating an appreciation for things at that human scale. I’ve found it’s easy to get overwhelmed otherwise.”

On the bright side, has there been anything that has particularly inspired you this year that you want to share?

“Nature. It’s medicine, every time.”

To all of us that watched you since your Teen Wolf days to now, we know the diverse roles you’ve played over the years. If you had to choose, who has been your favourite character until now, and why?

“Oh gosh! I’ve been so lucky. What’s been so fun is that all of these incredible characters I’ve gotten to play have ended up inhabiting completely different worlds – different genres. Action, drama, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, comedy. That doesn’t necessarily change the underlying humanity of each character in the story, but each genre has presented new challenges and experiences. I don’t know if I have a favourite character, but I’ve loved working on period pieces. Diving into the social history of a particular time period is my kind of fun.”

Let’s talk Ratched. This Netflix psychological thriller series looks haunting in the best way! Being part of it, how would you describe it in your own words?

“I remember walking onto the sound stages on my first day and being blown away. The creative team did such a phenomenal job making the world of Ratched come to life – the sets, the costumes, the props, the makeup. When you’re given such a detailed reality to play in, so much flows from that. It was a blast. Hard work but a blast. And the loveliest group of people all pretending to do some pretty horrible things to one another. For all of the horror and heartbreak you see on the show – well, just know that we had so much fun going there. Also, Sarah Paulson is a goddess.”

Your character in the show Ratched is Huck. What do we need to know about Huck before watching the series?

“I think it’s important to know where Huck has just come from. He’s a war veteran. A veteran of World War Two, specifically. Young men entered that war with a somewhat different attitude and set of expectations. War was advertised primarily as an adventure. An initiation rite. But any notion of the explicit violence of war was mostly precluded by a heavily advertised heroic narrative. I think Huck somewhat innocently signed up to be hero, largely unaware of the horrors of the battlefield. And he returns with that trauma on his face, something he cannot hide. Wounded veterans of the First and Second World Wars were not at all met with the same welcome as the boys that came back “whole”. They were often slowly pushed out into lives of solitude due to overwhelming feelings of shame in a country that did not want to be reminded of the nature of their sacrifice. And veterans rights and services did not then exist as they do now, limited as they unfortunately still are.”

How did you land the role?

“I had just worked with Ryan on The Boys In The Band on Broadway. One of my castmates, Andrew Rannells, needed to be in Los Angeles to film a television show and we found ourselves doing a house swap – he at mine Los Angeles and me with the keys to his place in New York for a few months (We still call it The Holiday). Ryan was in New York and invited me for dinner one night, and at one point the conversation turned to the show he was developing – Ratched. I was completely taken with the world he was describing and before I knew it, he offered me a part. I was speechless. Of course, I said yes.”

Do you think that playing Huck was similar to any other roles you’ve played in the past? If not, what sets him apart?

“Hmmm. I think I’ve always been drawn to finding the sweetness, the goodness of my characters. But no, this was very new for me and a challenge. I really wanted to live up to the backstory of this character and knew early on that makeup and prosthetics would play a big part in telling his story.”

The show is loosely based on the popular novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Interestingly enough, that book is one of the most controversial and banned given some of its themes. Have you read it? What are your general thoughts on this comparison, and would you say the show is likely to be controversial?

“I have! I read it in high school. I loved the book and was very into Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as well. It’s a beautiful book. And a beautiful film. I don’t know if a comparison can be made other than that they both probe at and challenge the institutions central to them. I really love that Ratched puts women at the centre.”

How has it been working with Ryan Murphy again?

“Ryan is one of the few people in the world who makes me laugh to the point of tears. Truly. Tears. I love that man! I have so much fun watching his work. I had been a big fan for a long time. His leadership in pushes for more inclusive storytelling were a large part of the affirmation I needed from the world that I could come out. That the business was changing and would continue to change. He takes such good care of his actors and has given me chances I’m not sure I would have been given otherwise.”

Are there any particular messages you hope people find and take from watching the show, Ratched?

“First of all, I hope people enjoy it. It’s been a really challenging year. Ratched is deliciously fun and twisted. I hope it’s a welcome escape. That is so important. But I do think the show invites questions about authority and morality. So many of the horrific moments in the show come from very real psychiatric practices of the last century. Just because something is legal or ordained, does that make it right? On whose authority? And I think we as a society are only beginning to understand and appreciate how destiny is inscribed by trauma. Can I recommend a book? The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk came into my hands while filming this show. It changed my life.”

What’s the biggest lesson you learned from working on the show?

“Trust. To trust myself, yes, but really to trust the team. Making a show is a group effort. Forgetting that is the fastest way to find yourself in an unnecessary pressure cooker of your own making. Nothing can ever go “perfectly” until you trust that nobody fully expects it to. In that, there is so much more room for fun.”

Aside from Ratched, you’ve also landed a role in Batman! This highly anticipated movie is on everyone’s radar, especially with the recently released teaser trailer. How did it feel landing that? Are you a fan of the comics?

“I don’t think it’s even fully registered. I went through a big comic book period as a kid. I would buy volumes and read through each in one sitting. It’s a bit of a childhood dream come true, really, getting to act in one.”

Can you give us any details to hold us over until summer 2021?

“I can’t! But how about that trailer?”

Fair enough! You seem to have taken quite a few off your bucket list already, but what type of role would you like to pursue next?

“I’ve always had a thing for the spy genre. Something like that would be really fun. But honestly, if I’m moved by the writing and can get the job, I’ll take it. That’s the fun of this job. Jumping in.”

Link of the article here

#Charlie Carver #Carver Twins #ratched #ryan murphy #the batman #the boys in the band #netflix #interview

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musicgoonmail · 4 years

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Non-Stop

In This Edition

In this week’s edition, I share resources on adoption, the value of church email, and content strategy tips for church communication.

I took a break from my book reviews and put some time into writing proper articles for my blog. Thanks for spending your weekend with me here!

Adoption Starter Kit

Church Emails Are Worth The Effort

Tony Reinke’s 5 Content Strategy Tips for the Coronavirus Crisis

Free eBooks

Extended Play

Lightning Links

Playlists

Coming Soon

Weekly Review

Adoption Starter Kit

Our first son, Linus, was adopted. Jess and I have been through the ups and downs of adoption and we are always open to share about our experience. Feel free to ask us your questions, and this week I shared an Adoption Starter Kit with several resources to help you plan your journey. Seeking the Lord’s will in Bible reading and prayer is always a great place to begin. Ephesians 1:3-14 has been foundational for us. May God grant you an open heart and a wise mind as well as faith in His plan for your family!

Jess and I are the first in the younger generation of families at our church to adopt. When I stop to think about it, I remember God's goodness in helping us wait patiently for him to provide. And the waiting was difficult. We had several meetings with different birthparents, and it was sometimes hard for us to see others starting their families. God has been so kind to us with Linus as well as our second son, Ark. Their presence in our lives is a constant reminder that God answers the prayers of his people.

Church Emails Are Worth The Effort

Emails have been a primary means of communication for me ever since I started serving in the music ministry when I was in junior high school. It was still a new technology, and we still used phone calls to talk, but there was obviously much potential and power behind the medium. I shared 3 reasons why I believe Church Emails Are Worth The Effort, as well as 3 more tips to help increase your reach.

I serve as the Social Media Officer at my church, FCBC Walnut. We are an Asian American church with three different congregations: English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. I'm working with our web team and Jess to redesign our church website to better fit our online needs due to the Coronavirus. This week in LA County, our churches have been told to close our doors again. We need to pivot with prayer and planning.

Tony Reinke’s 5 Content Strategy Tips for the Coronavirus Crisis

On Twitter, @PhilAuxier asked @TonyReinke this question at the beginning of the quarantine process during the Coronavirus crisis: “I realize you live and breathe this, but do you have thoughts/recommendations on content strategies for local churches in these days? How can we best use available media to help our people stay connected, “feel” shepherded and cared for, or helped?” I wanted to share his answer with you on my blog, so you can now read Tony Reinke’s 5 Content Strategy Tips for the Coronavirus Crisis.

I recently had my title changed from "Assistant Digital Marketer" to "Social Media Manager" at the SOLA Network. My job responsibilities stay the same, but I'm excited to see what opportunities come with this more publicly defined role. We've been pushing out non-stop resources on Asian American issues, race relations, and how our churches have responded to the Coronavirus. Check out our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to us on YouTube.

Free eBooks

Throughout the month of July, the Good Book Company is offering Albert Mohler's Acts 1-12 For You as a free eBook. You can read my review here.

9Marks just released a huge edition of their 9Marks Journal, and this one is on Shepherding: The Work & Character of a Pastor. Read it for free and forward it along to your pastors!

Extended Play

I've been thinking deeply about what it means to have "virtual worship." Maybe even more so, I've been thinking about what it means for worship leaders to record, broadcast, and publish their worship sets. Maybe I'll give it a more detailed analysis, but for now you can read my throwback article: How To Listen To Music Performed At Church.

The article that impacted me the most this week was Respectable Sins of the Reformed World by Tim Challies. Suspicion, gossip, slander, meddling, idleness, and Impugning make the list. From the comfort of our homes and the impersonal nature of online church, it's easy for me to sin in these ways. For related reading, check out 3 Questions to Ask Before Critiquing Your Pastor.

Throwback: How To Listen To Music Performed At Church

Article: Respectable Sins of the Reformed World by Tim Challies

Movie: Hamilton on Disney+

TV: The Suite Life of Zack & Cody

Book: Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity by Tim Challies

Music: Non-Stop from Hamilton

Lightning Links

These quick hits are exclusive to my newsletter readers. Some struck immediately before writing this newsletter. I don’t necessarily endorse the positions or lives of these authors. Some may contain adult language.

Asian American girls saw pivotal icon in ‘Baby-Sitters Club'

An Ode to Claudia Kishi, the Coolest Kid in 'The Baby-Sitters Club'

Linkin Park T-Shirts Are All the Rage in China

Are These Viral TikToks Of Extremely Fashionable People In China The Answer To Pandemic Fashion Week?

How does ‘Hamilton,’ the non stop, hip-hop Broadway sensation tap rap's master rhymes to blur musical lines?

Playlists

MUSICGOON: 7 songs I enjoyed this week.

SVRGNLA: Jess and I love these songs.

ETJ: Music that inspires my band.

DIDD: A crowd-sourced worship playlist.

TGIF: SOLA Network friends and faves.

This is FCBC Walnut: The songs we sing at church.

Coming Soon

I'm focusing on some social content for our church Instagram @fcbcwalnut this weekend. I plan to interview brothers Aaron and Alvin in regards to recording and editing our Sunday services. And I've asked my friend Angie to takeover our church Instagram and go LIVE to perform some songs.

New book reviews from DesiringGod, Cruciform Press, and Alabaster are on the way. And InterVarsity Press just sent me a huge stack of books this week. I have a lot of reading to do!

Weekly Review

SOLA: The Long Obedience of Racial Justice / Churches in the Graveyard: 10 Plants in 10 Years in Tokyo / Will Membership Make a Difference? The Vital Joys of Joining a Church

Thank God it’s Friday: To God Be the Glory / The JEMS Mount Hermon Blessing / How to Care for Families Who Have Gone Through Miscarriage / Set Your Church Up Well for the Future / The Danger of Sending Unqualified Missionaries

Article: Tony Reinke’s 5 Content Strategy Tips for the Coronavirus Crisis

Article: Church Emails Are Worth The Effort

Article: Adoption Starter Kit

Recommended Reading: Are Churches “A Major Source of Coronavirus Cases?” / Post-Christianity Is an Opportunity for Real Christianity / ‘No One Understands!’ Lessons for Lonely Sufferers

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magpiedminx · 4 years

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From above : PSA on Britney Spears and the #FreeBritney movement for anyone that needs or wants more information on what is going on with her. It’s a fucking rabbit hole, so buckle up. A little backstory first. Britney was a child star starting at the age of 4 years old on Broadway, and then worked her way to the Mickey Mouse Club, and eventually the solo career we know today. Her career has been on autopilot her entire life. If you look back at her music, she’s been telling everyone for years she’s too controlled and treated as a product if you listen to the lyrics of most of her hits. Examples include: Lucky, Overprotected, My Perogative, Circus, Piece of Me and Gimme More. Her music videos, social media posts, tour props and photoshoots regularly show her in a cage or in chains. If anyone has ever seen videos of her when she was younger, you’d know her REAL singing voice is very similar to Christina Aguilera’s. Her record label didn’t like it, as they were both on the Mickey Mouse Club and about to release their debut albums at the same time. So they had her voice retrained to sing in the baby voice we all know today because they believed it to be more iconic and would create a brand and career for her instead of her real voice. It’s unhealthy, and it’s been destroying her voice over the years, thus why she is known for lip syncing. She wanted to make an acoustic type pop album in 2006 titled Original Doll and reinvent herself using her real voice. The album was shelved and cancelled once her label realized she would be singing in her real voice. She isn’t allowed to sing live because she will either fail terribly, or she’ll have to sing in her deep voice that she isn’t known for. Her entire career she has been treated like a product meant to sell. Now, for the real tea. Everyone remembers the 2007 meltdown. Everyone. Leading up the meltdown Britney was going thru a public divorce, had two children under the age of 2 at the time and was VERY much the focus of the public. We all saw her on every magazine cover. We all also saw the photo of her with one of her kids on her lap while driving. Go on YouTube once and look up ‘Britney Spears paparazzi’. You’ll watch her be chased and followed by hundreds of them, even trying to get into a public restroom to photograph her, videotaping her in tears asking them to leave her alone, and even filming her thru the windows of an ambulance while she was naked being taken away for her final mental health hold. After the public meltdown, shaving her head, locking herself in her home with her children, speaking in a british accent on regular basis, wearing the imfamous pink wig everywhere, and shopping naked, she was hospitalized twice. After the hospitalization, her father petitioned the courts to be a TEMPORARY conservator to her until she was mentally stable and for only one years time. 2 months after her hospitalization she did a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother. 6 months after her hospitalization, she drops the Womanizer video and starts to promote her new album Circus with its worldwide tour that grossed $131.8 million. If she’s so unwell, why did she start working right away? Her father after one year petitioned the courts for the conservatorship to become permanent due to her ALLEGEDLY having EARLY ONSET DEMENTIA in her TWENTIES. It passed and has been that way ever since. For 12 years to be exact. Now for everyone that doesn’t understand what that means let me break it down for you. Britney Spears is a now 38 year old woman who is not allowed to do the following without her fathers permission or he can legally lock her up in a mental health facility: • drive a car • vote • get married • have children • spend HER OWN MONEY • see how her money is being spent • see her children (she has 30% custody of both of her boys due to her dad assaulting one of her sons) • leave her home • hire her own lawyer • have any control over her career • speak about the conservatorship publicly • do interviews that aren’t scripted and all final cuts are approved by her father as well • use a cell phone without being monitored • use social media unmonitored • contact ANYONE without being monitored or having them extremely vetted. (Iggy Azalea allegedly had her house searched for drugs top to bottom when they collaborated on a song together) • go shopping • go for a walk • get Starbucks A conservatorship is meant for people with mental health issues or decaying health. Most likely grandparents or people with actual dementia etc. They are meant for people who literally cannot take care of themselves. If she is so unwell that she isn’t mentally capable of doing anything for herself, why is she still working? Since the conservatorship began 12 years ago she has: • released 4 albums • done 3 worldwide tours • did a FOUR-year Vegas residency • was a full time judge on X-Factor • released multiple perfumes and a lingerie line • made $138 MILLION DOLLARS or so A YEAR In January of last year, Britney was placed in a mental health facility for 3 months after being seen driving her car to In-N-Out with her boyfriend without permission and for refusing to take the sedating medications her father has doctors prescribing her to keep her under control. She testified to a judge in documents that she was held there against her will by her father. After it was leaked to the press that she was there against her will, the Free Britney movement picked up speed causing a judge to open an investigation into the impact and legality her conservatorship has on her life. Britney’s mother Lynn was also liking and commenting on Free Britney posts saying she agrees that Britney is trapped by her father. Britney’s team had Twitter disable the Free Britney hashtag, and regularly threatens any celebrity that speaks out using the hashtag with a lawsuit if they don’t remove their support for the movement. She was seen shortly after leaving a hotel thru the front door (99% of celebrities park underground to avoid paparazzi unless they WANT to be photographed) stumbling while carrying her shoes, and out of it. Her team used that moment to justify to the public that she needs this conservatorship. She is not allowed to have any say in the hiring or firing of anyone on her team. Every year she pays $1.1 million dollars in fees for the conservatorship to continue, including paying her father a solid $100k+ salary and paying a lawyer she isn’t allowed to choose. She is allowed an allowance of around $1,500 a week for bills, shopping and essentials. Her net worth is $250 million. So, when everyone sees her on Instagram walking up and down her hallways like it’s a fashion show. That’s all she is allowed to do. She has NEVER had control over her life. I don’t care if you personally like her or her music, NO ONE DESERVES THIS. All this woman wants is to see her children, make the music she wants to make, and go get a frappuccino in her car. She is a light of sunshine in this world, and we must protect her at all costs. So please, do not make fun of her, support the Free Britney movement, and send good vibes her way. She has a court date this month to review the conservatorship and decide if it is abusive or will continue to be in place. There are so many details to this that i left out that would make this post entirely much longer than it is, but a simple search will show you what else is out there. Spread this far and wide. ❤️ Free Britney Edited to add some important links! Here’s a google doc of info https://docs.google.com/document/d/17jeZV78SCwgQGsOkad0H0PA8jqjgRsxgSqD9f_f1yAk/edit Petition by Danny H: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/conservatorship-and-civil-liberties-britney-spears Screenshots of leaked emails, voicemails, and other helpful links: https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-britney-spears-conservatorship-freebritney-movement-2020-2 https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-17/britney-spears-conservatorship-free-britney https://www.forbes.com/sites/trialandheirs/2019/05/15/making-sense-of-the-britney-spears-conservatorship-and-freebritney/#5ce808c94b74 Jayden going on Instagram live reporting they were being abused by his grandfather: https://theblast.com/c/britney-spears-son-jayden-james-instagram-live-video-free-britney This is a news article from USA Today about her father’s child abuse allegations filed by Kevin Federline. He reportedly had an altercation with Sean in September 2019: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/2362531001 Source from the opposing view pointing to the success of her conservatorship and that fans are wrong, I think it's weird she has made no formal appearances to contest the conservatorship in court but she said (link above) we were not being told the truth and the media is being manipulated: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/10/24/britney-spears-why-does-she-still-need-conservator/2288009001/ There's a lot of money at stake to keep her in this situation. Just seems too convenient that she can't care for herself considering her net worth, and considering the fact her male counterparts of equal stardom with public mental health battles have never been under this much control. This is an issue and question of abuse in conservatorships at large. Unfortunately, the princess of Pop has somehow become the poster child of this type of crisis. While conservatorships can be beneficial when the best interest is at heart, we can't ignore the fact there are companies that profit enormously from people with disabilities by keeping them under extensive legal control. Are they providing the best care? If Britney has been too unwell to care for herself these past 12 years, why would she be made to work tirelessly? World tours? Vegas? X-factor? Her perfume line? Why not let her rest? Here's a good excerpt from Forbes, it's just not clear what is going on, but my initial gut thinks there is something that is not right. "In this case, Jamie Spears did not have legal authority to force Britney into treatment or to take psychiatric medications. But that doesn't mean that Britney's reported claim that she was held against her will is wrong. Rather, because Jamie has so much control over Britney's life through the conservatorship - including decisions like whether to get married, to perform or live in Las Vegas, or even if she can drive a car - he easily could have refused to grant consent for Britney to do any number of things unless she agreed to his request to enter the mental health treatment facility. In other words, Jamie could have indirectly forced her into treatment even if he could not explicitly sign her in against her will. But, even if Jamie Spears did so, he may have done it out of an earnest believe that Britney needed the treatment. TMZ previously reported that Britney was not doing well and her old course of medications stopped working, necessitating heightened treatment." Take what you will from this, but here are a few petitions to reinstate her rights in August is here - http://chng.it/CMfngqyMBj https://www.change.org/p/team-britney-freebritney

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lailelizabeth · 4 years

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Not too long after we shot actress Elizabeth Lail for a fashion story and on location in very very cold New York City, we got cozy at our HQ to record this podcast.

Eloquent + fully present...talented, beautiful, and smart Elizabeth embodies all the qualities of a big star. She’s an actors actor, and, well, just a wonderful person. She’s rapidly built a loyal fan base, due to the cult following of Netflix series You and her character on the series, Beck.

And so we decided on this podcast to include some truly terrific questions from those very fans. We discuss her reverence for her craft, what to expect from You Season 2, her character, Leah, in beautiful indie film Unintended, and what it’s like to work on the set of a horror film. We talk her commitment to sustainability, her footwear of choice, her favorite books on acting, recommendations for what to catch on broadway, how she preps her skin before shooting, her idea of a perfect date night, and more. Listen in to hear the answers to all of your fan questions!

Podcast link

Tamara Rappa: So you studied acting in North Carolina. What's it like being in school for acting, and were there ever plans to come to New York for school?

Elizabeth Lail: I went to University of North Carolina School of the Arts for high school my senior year, and that molded my whole trajectory because, all of a sudden, I was surrounded by fellow artists. I was surrounded by my people. I didn't really know what the possibilities were in my small town. There aren't very many actors coming out of it. I fell in love with the school, so I wanted to go to college there. I drank all the Kool-Aid. I think I applied to maybe one school in New York, but the dream was to continue at the School of the Arts, and then move to New York or LA---I wasn't sure which.

TR: What do your friends do? Are they other actors? Other creatives?

EL: I would say it's split down the middle. You know, some people are really anti-actor…

TR: They are? Like friends from home, from a long time ago?

EL: I know people who are like, "Oh, I try to be around normal people."

TR: You're very normal.

EL: Oh, thank you. I love actors and I love artists. And then I love dentists and business people....

TR: You have a mixed group of friends.

EL: Totally.

TR: How does acting feed your soul?

EL: It's probably my number one source of food. It demands the truth from me, and so it's this really intense bullshit meter for me as a person, and as an instrument. It provides intense catharsis, I'm always questioning and challenging myself. It also demands that I be fully present.

TR: That's beautiful. Have you always wanted to act? I mean, were you a small child dreaming of this? What's your first memory of "I want to be a performer?"

EL: I didn't, again, know what the possibilities were at such a young age, but my sister and I were making home movies, and I would play every character in the movie. We had the board game Clue, and we loved that movie. So I played every character in Clue along with the board game. I'd be the Professor, and then Miss Scarlet. I wore a big sheet. So I guess I've been doing it forever, and I didn't realize until maybe I was 14 that that it could be a career path.

TR: What other things do you do to exercise your creativity, or is all your focus on acting these days? You've got a lot going on.

EL: Well I do take acting class, and I love it. It depends on the class, but if you find a teacher that you really love, it feels like going to church for your artistic spirit. But I feel like everything feeds my acting. Even just riding the subway. The more present I am in my real life, the more inspiration I'm taking in. I like to see theater. I like to be inspired by watching other things. I journal a lot, and also any kind of emotional response or anything I'm inspired by---I write down. I find later that it will tend to tie in with something I need for a character, or you just never know. So the world is so inspirational to me. Travel…everything feeds the actor's spirit, I think.

TR: How do you journal? Do you literally write things down? It's not in a Notes app on your phone? It's a book that you keep by your bedside?

EL: It's a book. I've got one in my bag. I have a light one for walking around, but I have a big, big, heavy one at home. Usually I journal first thing in the morning. It's usually stream of consciousness.

TR: Morning pages?

EL:Yeah. It's a little bit like The Artist's Way, morning pages, but I don't necessarily follow any strict kind of order. And sometimes, it's gratitude. Sometimes it's stream of consciousness, and then sometimes I feel like something is trying to speak to me.

TR: Ideas.

EL: Ideas, yeah. That's why it's always kind of worth going back to the page because you never really know what's going to reveal itself to you. And even sometimes if I'm working on a scene in the morning during that writing time, it just comes.

TR: Wow. That's powerful.

EL: It's what is wanting to be worked on, in my unconscious brain.

TR: A powerful tool. What does the book look like? Where do you get this book? This big, beautiful, heavy book?

EL: You know what's interesting about that one, it was a gift from Ferragamo, so it actually is really beautiful. But normally, journals find you. They're given to you or you buy one and you forget to use it, and then you're like, ‘oh, I have this great journal.’ They are untapped potential.

TR: Describe how your fame came on. What was it like hitting a million followers and acquiring a fan base? What is it like? Do you detach from it in some way?

EL: Oh boy, you know. I'm a little detached from it.

TR: You have to just keep being you, and doing the work.

EL: Yes. I think I was more excited when I got like 500,000 followers. That was a big milestone. And then after that you're like, ‘I'm still figuring this out, how am I going to use Instagram? What does it mean to me? How is this going to be a part of my work?’ I’m a little conflicted, because there's a school of thought where the more people know about you, the more exposure you have, the less believable you are as a character. All of a sudden your mystique goes away.

TR: Right. There are some actors that could never do certain roles, because they're so known for ...

EL: ...for something. And they certainly can do those roles. But it might take the audience a minute to readjust their brains.

EL: But obviously I have Instagram, and mostly I'm just really grateful. I think kind of hitting the million mark, in a way, could be really wonderful for my career. But I don't know that yet. You know, the hope is that people cast you based off of your work. And if you can serve the project with any kind of like following ...

TR: 100%. And, visibility.

EL: Visibility. Yes. Then it’s a great thing. That's always a great thing. Especially if you're making something smaller that really means something to you, that maybe needs a platform to get the word out. So it's exciting.

TR: Well, I will say, you have some lovely fans. And they've got some wonderful questions for you that we’re going to get to.

EL: I do. Oh, exciting!

TR: How are we seeing Beck in season two of You? And how is the series different this season?

EL: I mean, she’s back-ish. Right? Beck is back-ish. What was really cool about shooting season two though, is that we were in LA, which is very different than New York. And I would be in full Beck gear.

TR: Let’s talk about that. What is full Beck gear? What is Beck's look?

EL: Excellent question. Beck has curled hair that's meant to be kind of like undone, yet done. It's a little shorter than mine at the moment, and she always wears lots of jewelry. She has a staple necklace that's beautiful.

TR: What is the staple necklace exactly?

EL: It is a half moon with a diamond in it. It's made by Melissa Joy Manning.

TR: I love Melissa Joy Manning. She's a friend of mine. I love her jewelry.

EL: She's amazing. No way. I’ve become such a fan.

TR: We should go meet her. I could use a new piece from her!

EL: Yes we should go to her shop in Brooklyn. I've never been and I've been wanting to go, and I have really beautiful pieces from her. And obviously Beck would not be able to have a Melissa Joy Manning necklace, but in the world of television, she does! Beck is very much jeans. She likes a French tuck, and some kind of jacket. She's a little bit more small-town-dresser, I think, for someone who lives in New York. Keeping it pretty simple and as affordable as possible is Beck's look. And then boots, she's a boot girl. I would be in LA in the Beck getup, and people would recognize me as her and they would get so excited. That's something that's really different. Obviously when we were shooting season one, people were, you know, ‘what are you making? What's happening here?’

TR: In which parts of LA would you shoot?

EL: We were in Los Feliz, when we would go out in the world. And then in the Atwater village area.

TR: So that's a main difference between season one and season two, location.

EL: Yeah. And those are pretty defining. New York and LA are very defining cities, experience-wise. Have you spent a lot of time in LA? I have. I feel like I've lived there.

TR: I'm a native New Yorker and I lived in LA for years.

EL: My thoughts are that in LA, they have great food. Because I'm a vegan, and it's lovely to eat there.

TR: You can find fantastic food in LA.

EL: Healthy food everywhere. But I prefer New York. I'm much more inspired by New York.

TR: Everyone can watch you in the wonderful indie film, Unintended. It's currently on cable, Direct TV, Prime Video, iTunes, Google play.[Everyone] should see this film. It's terrific. Was it draining playing someone so mentally tormented and well, drug addicted? She was sort of addicted to her medication.

EL: Yes. It is draining, but I think acting is draining in general because you are giving so much of yourself. And that aspect, yes, because she is kind of always in this state of distress.

TR: That's what it is. It's more than being mentally tortured. Your character Leah is in a state of distress.

EL: She’s kind of figuring out her life. I would really have to go home and just do absolutely nothing every day.

TR: Is that right?

EL: That's the key. You just go home, you shower, you eat a little dinner and then you read, you do something else. Something nice for yourself.

TR: The production itself is beautiful, and I love how it contrasts with some of the difficult subject matter like physical abuse, alcoholism, painful divorce. Where did you shoot? It was beautiful.

EL: We were in Kingston, in and around Kingston, in upstate New York, in Minnewaska State Park. I love it up there. Since we've shot there, I go visit that area twice a year.

TR: It's a magical location.

EL: It's beautiful and all those little towns, you know, Woodstock, and Kingston---they all have cute restaurants. And then there's nature. I think when you live in New York you forget that.

TR: All of it is...

EL: ...so close by.

TR: In Unintended, Leah travels upstate with her father at one point in the film, but ends up spending her days there with longtime friend, Sam. How did she explain that to her father? We see her traveling upstate with her father, and he's going off to do a conference of some sort, and then she ends up spending a few days with Sam. Does she just decide that that's how she's going to spend her time upstate, because she needs some questions answered?

EL: Exactly. I think that her relationship with Sam is maybe closer to an actual father than her relationship with her dad. Sam was a little bit older. He was always kind of around, almost like a babysitter at times for her when she was young.

TR: And he was nurturing to her in some ways. He would feed her.

EL: He nurtured that wild and uninhibited spirit. And not that her parents weren't there. I just think that once the divorce happened, that was her breaking point, and she kind of shut down. That's the beginning of the shut-down, as early as their divorce when she's 11, or I guess she's 13. She's young. I think her relationship with her dad is strained. With her mom there's not a whole lot of communication going on, especially from her side, reasoning-wise.

TR: Did Leah shoot Bill? I wasn't sure.

EL: She didn’t. She did shoot the gun. I think it's meant to be unclear, but my understanding is that she didn't actually shoot him. It was just the fall that was so harsh for him, and so was being stuck down there. He basically was scared by the sound of the gun, and fell back into this cavern.

TR: What became of Leah's mother? Do we know?

EL: No she doesn't come up.

TR: I found that to be intriguing.

EL: I think it speaks to her current state. Her mother is somewhat villainized in the beginning, because she's the one having the affair. So she is essentially the one who breaks the family. And so I think that from Leah's perspective, her mom is not someone she wants to be close with. It’s such a painful break, especially if you felt like things were so stable for most of your life. So, yeah. We don't really know.

TR: What happens to Leah, do you think, after she finally understands this devastating time in her past and makes peace with Bill, what does she become? What does she go off and do in life?

EL: My hope is that she becomes an author of a novel. My hope is that she goes to therapy and moves back to nature, moves out of New York, becomes an author, and writes this story.

TR: Do she and Bill become a couple?

EL: I don't know. That's wishful movie magic thinking. Because he's got some issues. If they do become a couple, there are some struggles coming their way.

TR: And does she reconcile with her father?

EL: I hope so, I hope so. Sometimes I feel like the people we love the most are the last ones to get our grace and forgiveness and patience, so who knows?

TR: You also star in Countdown, recently in theaters. The horror film genre is hugely popular with people. What's the set of a horror film like?

EL: It's so fun. This one was so fun. It was exciting for me, because horror isn't necessarily my genre---I get really easily scared. And so if I'm going to watch a horror movie, it's got to be at home, where I can turn the sound off and block my eyes. But making one is really exciting because you get to do a lot of stunts, and there's all this incredible hair and makeup. Everyone was just so happy and grateful to be there. That's always the best set to be on, in any genre. To be with people who just love making movies.

TR: You were also a series regular on Video Syncrasy from David Fincher, based on the music industry and music videos in the eighties. Your character is a stylist’s assistant.

EL: But my character wanted to be a singer. She wanted to be Stevie Nicks.

TR: How did that project with David Fincher, a genius, come about?

EL: The show never saw the light of day. Sorry guys! You can't watch this.

TR: I watched a scene where you were unpacking garment bags and there's a garment rack behind you. I was like, ‘look at Elizabeth, living the story of my life’.

EL: I was so sore that day.

TR: The schlep of the fashion editor and the stylist...

EL: My shoulders were in pain. I think I got a massage therapist on that show, because it was so painful, carrying all the garment bags. And now when I see that in New York, I have a newfound respect.

TR: How did you first get interested in sustainability, and what do you do in your day to day life to create change?

EL: I became a vegan first and foremost almost four years ago, and that was really when I realized the environmental impact of animal agriculture. I was already vegetarian, because I love animals, and I thought, ‘I can do this, this can be my contribution’.

TR: Is there something specific that made you go from vegetarian to vegan?

EL: I saw Cowspiracy. It's a documentary.

TR: That's on my list. I haven't seen it yet.

EL: And of course everyone who watches says, ‘I'm going to become vegan.’ And maybe they do it for a week. It can be very difficult to do. And everyone I watched it with were like, ‘we're all going to do it’. I think I'm still the only one doing it. That was my beginning of living a more mindful life. It immediately requires you to be more mindful about what you're eating, which before, was a pretty mindless practice for me.

TR: For a lot of people I think.

EL: All of a sudden you become a little more mindful about, ‘What am I buying? How much waste am I creating? What am I only using once? What am I doing with my clothes?’ The whole world opens up, and all these questions come at you.

EL: On my Obsixed list, is the Package Free store. It opened in my neighborhood and I walked in, I was like, ‘this is amazing’. You start picking things up and you're like, ‘I didn't realize there was another option for cotton swabs, for taking off my makeup’. I didn't realize how much waste I was creating in my beauty routine. That's a huge thing. I'm definitely a victim of the skincare obsession. The good news is, like anything, you just do little things at a time. I think the first thing I got was a reusable mug and I love it. I have a KeepCup. Aesthetically, it's very pretty. And I have a S’well water bottle. Those are the easiest changes to make because, especially in New York, you just put them in your tote bag and the coffee shop remembers you. They know your order, they're like, ‘here's the girl with her own cup’. You'd be surprised, everyone is very down to make those kinds of changes. You just start saying no to moments of single use plastic or straws. I'm at the beginning of that journey and that's why I'm obsessed with it right now, because I'm exploring. I'm becoming very aware, and hoping to do so much more.

TR: We have your Obsixed list of current obsessions [listed below], but let’s also do a lighting round of favorites. Favorite food?

EL: Enchiladas.

TR: Favorite way to spend date night?

EL: Reading on the couch by a fireplace.

TR: Favorite way to prepare for a first day of shooting on set?

EL: Eye masks. I use a lot of Skyn Iceland

TR: Favorite movie? Can you even pick?

EL: In Bruges or The Road to El Dorado.

TR: Favorite skincare item?

EL: I love Dr. Hauschka's Rose Day Cream. I love the way that it smells. It makes me happy. You have to press it into your skin, so you have to go slow, and you're like, 'oh, this is a moment for me'.

TR: Favorite type of shoe to wear?

EL: Flat. My initial instinct is flat, but really comfortable. Comfort boots probably, that you can just slide on.

TR: Go-to dress up look?

EL: High waisted pants and some black pretty shirt and boots.

EL: Favorite holiday tradition?

EL: I make cookies with my grandmother. We make sugar cookies with decorative icing. It's actually really hard, because we make hundreds of cookies.

TR: Now we're onto some fan questions. From @kpaoletti19: “What's something you're proud of, that's happened this past year?”

EL:Those questions are so hard for me. Someone recently asked me what I was proud of and I didn't have an answer, but I realized they were asking me specifically about work, and it's because I can be my worst critic. But I will say, what I'm realizing is there are moments in every job where I have real moments of truth; where lightning strikes. I'm always proudest of those, because I think ‘you were there, and you were available to be worked through’.

TR: Also from @kpaoletti19, “Do you have advice when it comes to relationships? “

EL: I would say the best thing you can do is be super true to yourself and advocate for yourself really early on, so they know what they're working with. As opposed to, you know, when we first start dating someone, we want to be really pleasing and the perfect girlfriend. We just want to be easy. Maybe you are easy, but you're not always going to be easy.

TR: Be who you are.

EL: Have your opinions, have your likes, have your dislikes, and have them without shame.

TR: @elizabethlailfans asks: “Which of the characters that you've played, do you think most closely relates to you, and why?” I mean you've played some pretty intense characters. Maybe the answer is, none of them? Are there any who have a personality trait that you feel is like one of your own?

EL: They're all pretty different from me. I want to say Beck from You is the closest, but she's not really. Her choices are not really my choices. The things we have in common are age, that we’re artists, New York--- the really basic things. But when my mom was watching it, she was like, this isn't the woman I raised. She was like, ‘get some self esteem!’

TR: Another one, “What's your favorite memory from any set you've worked on?”

EL: Oh, I have so many. It's always the people. I create such joyful moments with all these incredible people and then they become your close friends. So I don't know if I can name a single one. There was a moment on Countdown where we came onto the set, this is kind of funny and gross, and it smelled like fish and we were like, what is going on here? Why does it smell like fish? Someone had used a set toilet, a fake toilet.

TR: That’s a really funny story. @elizabethlailfans also says “take care of yourself. We love you, and are proud of you always”.

EL: Aw right back at you, right back.

TR: @elizabethlailbr had a ton of great questions for you, including "Any new projects you can hint at?”

EL: Yeah, she's great. I don't know if I'm allowed to hint at them yet. But yes, don't worry, they're coming.

TR: One from me now: why did you change your Instagram handle?

EL: Everyone's upset! So my team was afraid that people weren't able to find me, because I had a random handle. [@elizaboon] And I will say, sometimes when someone contacts me on Instagram, they end up calling me Eliza, which is totally fine. That's like a nickname. They’d assume my name is Eliza, which was kind of fun. That's fine, I'm open. As long as it's not Beth, I'll respond to it.

TR: Do you have any nicknames?

EL: Some people call me Lizzy, Liz. Most people call me Lail, especially on a set; they go to sporting last name vibes. And then my best friend calls me Bell. It started out as Liz Bell and now it's just Bell. And then E Lib is the new one that's catching on.

TR: @elizabethlailbr asks: “How was it shooting with Story + Rain?”

EL: So fun.

TR: Fun and cold.

EL: Very cold, but it's much colder today, so I'm grateful for the day we had. It was cold but it was sunny.

TR: "Can you recommend theater to see or books on acting?” Also from @elizabethlailbr.

EL: Yes. Books on acting. I would read Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting. I would read Larry Moss, The Intent to Live, those are two incredible ones. They’re kind of old school and new school. Theater to see: I would see Jagged Little Pill on Broadway if you can. And then The Sound Inside, with Mary Louise Parker and Will Hochman. That's a wonderful play. And Sing Street, at New York Theater Workshop. I haven't seen it yet, but I really want to see it, and a friend of mine is in it. So that's on my list.

TR: One more: “Are you working with any new organizations within sustainability, or otherwise?”

EL: I’m working with the New York City Department of Sanitation. It’s cool because these are the real deal people. They want to make sure everyone knows how to get rid of waste, how to dispose of compost and garbage correctly, what is actually recyclable--- and all those sorts of things. And they're doing a Refashion week in February. They do upcycling fashion shows and have designers create sustainable looks.

TR: How do you feel about fashion in general?

EL: I am a fashion appreciator. I’m not necessarily that knowledgeable about the inside of the world of fashion, but every time I go to a fashion show I'm always blown away.

TR: Which shows have you seen?

EL: Self-Portrait. That one was so good. And then last year I got to go to Vogue CFDA. That was incredible. I just love being at the shows. I like the performance. It’s not surprising that, of course what I respond to is the performance of fashion.

TR: How do you feel about your costumes, how important are they?

EL: Very important.

TR: When you put on a costume as a character, even as Beck, in jeans and a sweater, or like Leah, do you transform instantly?

EL: 100% yeah. What your character decides to wear is, I think, very informative. So I think fashion in that sense is extremely important.

TR: Last question, still from @eilzabethlailbr: “What do you still feel like you need to accomplish in your career?” You have a huge career ahead of you, but is there something on your immediate list that you're thinking about these days?

EL: I've been thinking about these things because it's almost the new year, and it's time to write out a manifestation list.

TR: Do you put it in that big notebook, or is there a separate manifestation bible?

EL: I used to just rip it out of the notebook and put it away in my little box. And this year, I read that you should burn it. You should trust that your desires have been heard and are being met in the best way. So that's my plan this year. We'll see how it goes. There are a thousand things that I still want to do in my career, so I'm hoping this is just the beginning. I want to be an actor until I'm 89.

TR: How do you feel about film versus television? Things have changed so much in terms of TV.

EL: I really love both of them. I will say there's nothing like being in a movie theater; it changes the experience. It demands a little bit more of your attention, for better or for worse.

TR: There's ceremony attached to it, ritual.

EL: I like ritual, so I like that. But I love being a part of all of it: film, television, and theater. They're all worthwhile.

#elizabeth lail #elizabeth dean lail #article #interview #podcast #you netflix #unintended #mp

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theculturedmarxist · 5 years

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By Barry Grey

26 September 2019

On Monday night, the New York Metropolitan Opera opened its 2019-2020 season with a new production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. This production has a particular distinction in that it is the first ever based on a critically researched and authoritative performance edition of Gershwin’s score, the product of 20 years of work led by musicologist Wayne Shirley, who is currently at the University of Michigan’s Gershwin Initiative.

There is no doubt that the poignant love story of the crippled beggar Porgy and the beautiful but abused and addicted Bess, and the suffering and struggle of the African American working class community of Charleston’s Catfish Row, is among the world’s most beloved operas and Gershwin’s masterpiece.

Yet the fact that the current production is the first in 29 years to be staged by the country’s most prestigious opera house is indicative of the trials and tribulations that have confronted the work since it premiered on Broadway in October 1935. These have come not from the broad public, which has embraced the opera (and many of its numbers) since its inception, thrilled by its glorious and complex music and moved by its deeply democratic ethos, but from within certain more privileged constituencies—the American classical music establishment, academia, sections of the black professional upper-middle class, including certain African American artists, composers, writers and actors.

Gershwin, the prolific composer—along with his lyricist brother Ira—of hit Broadway musicals and dozens of memorable songs that have become part of the Great American Songbook, rejected the artificial separation of popular music from “serious” or “classical” music. He wrote concert classics that incorporated elements of jazz such as Rhapsody in Blue, the Concerto in F and An American in Paris, which have become part of the symphonic repertoire the world over. He called his Porgy a “folk opera” and deliberately had it debut on Broadway in order to appeal to a broader audience. But what he wrote was a musically dense and dramatically powerful opera in the full sense of the word.

One example of the dismissal of Porgy by much of the American music establishment was a savage review of a production at the New York City Opera written in March of 1965 by the then-music critic of the New York Times Harold C. Schonberg. He wrote:

“Porgy and Bess”—Gershwin, you know—seems to have taken root as an American classic, and everybody accepts it as a kind of masterpiece. It turned up last night as given by the New York City Opera Company. All I can say is that it is a wonder that anybody can take it seriously.

It is not a good opera, it is not a good anything, though it has a half-dozen or so pretty tunes in it: and in light of recent developments it is embarrassing. “Porgy and Bess” contains as many stereotypes in its way as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

In more recent decades, with the domination of racial and identity politics on the campuses and within what passes for the American intelligentsia, its promotion by the Democratic Party and elevation as an ideological bulwark of bourgeois rule, the opera has been repeatedly accused of denigrating and exploiting black people. It is, according to the terminology of African American Studies departments and a well-funded industry that—with the aid of pseudo-left organizations—churns out racialist propaganda, a prime example of “cultural appropriation.”

We will deal with the retrograde concept of “cultural appropriation” further on. First let us examine how this racialist approach to Porgy and Bess is reflected in the media reception to the new Met production.

The table was set, so to speak, by the New York Times, which led its Sunday arts section with a full-page photo of the two leads, Eric Owens and Angel Blue, and the headline “The Complex History and Uneasy Present of ‘Porgy and Bess.’”

Taking pains to raise the standard racialist arguments against the opera and its composer, while simultaneously acknowledging the greatness of the work, the author, Michael Cooper, wrote:

More urgently, is “Porgy” a sensitive portrayal of the lives and struggles of a segregated African-American community in Charleston, SC? (Maya Angelou, who as a young dancer performed in a touring production that brought it to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1955, later praised it as “great art” and “a human truth.”)

Or does it perpetuate degrading stereotypes about black people, told in wince-inducing dialect? (Harry Belafonte turned down an offer to star in the film version because he found it “racially demeaning.”)

Is it a triumph of melting-pot American art, teaming up George and Ira Gershwin (the sons of Russian Jewish immigrants) with DuBose Heyward (the scion of a prominent white South Carolina family) and his Ohio-born wife, Dorothy, to tell a uniquely African-American story? Or is it cultural appropriation?...

Or is the answer to all these questions yes?

The first wave of reviews published Tuesday (the WSWS will publish its own review of the Met production at a later date) have generally been highly favorable. All of the reviewers, however, feel obliged to qualify their enthusiasm for the performance by cataloging the opera’s supposed “baggage,” viewed from the standpoint of race. It seems they allow themselves to be moved by the piece only reluctantly, and sense its humanity and truth despite themselves.

George Grella, for example, writes in New York Classical Review:

Since its debut, Porgy and Bess has been consistently hectored by two questions: is it an opera and is it some combination of condescension and racial exploitation (lately termed cultural appropriation)?

The debut of a new production of Porgy and Bess, which opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera Monday night, could leave no objective listener with any doubt as to the answer to the first question. And based on the excited responses from the audience during the performance, and the rapturous applause and shouts at the end—from the kind of patron mix one sees in everyday life in New York City but rarely in a classical music venue—the work has gone quite a ways toward settling the latter in a heartening and beneficent way.

There are charges of stereotyping and caricature of the inhabitants of Catfish Row, but the real problem of the opera, the irredeemable original sin of Porgy and Bess that every reviewer is duty-bound to raise, is the fact that its creators were white. (Even worse, three of the four—George and Ira Gershwin and Dubose Heyward—were men.)

Thus, the Washington Post ’s Anne Midgette writes: “Like so many operas, ‘Porgy’ is dated: written by white men and rife with stereotypes of its time.”

Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times writes: “But ever since its premiere in 1935, the work has divided opinion, and the debate lingers. … ‘Porgy’ was created, after all, by white people. … That ‘Porgy and Bess’ is a portrait of a black community by white artists may limit the work.”

Justin Davidson of Vulture.com notes: “True, the only depiction of African-American life that makes it to the opera stage with any regularity was written by three white guys.”

The very fact that the race, gender or nationality of the artist is today uncritically presented as a central issue in evaluating a work testifies to the degeneration of bourgeois thought in general and the terrible damage inflicted over many years by identity and racial politics. The use of such criteria in past periods was associated with the political right, which employed them to promote anti-democratic and racist agendas.

While today the attack on Porgy and Bess on grounds of the “whiteness” of its creators is cloaked in the supposedly “left” trappings of Democratic Party politics and post-modernist (that is, anti-Marxist) criticism, the earlier practitioners of such an approach were more frank in giving vent to its ugly sources and implications.

Reviewing the premiere of Porgy and Bess in 1935, the prominent American composer and music critic Virgil Thomson wrote:

The material is straight from the melting pot. At best it is a piquant but highly unsavory stirring-up together of Israel, Africa and the Gaelic Isles. … [Gershwin’s] lack of understanding of all the major problems of form, of continuity, and of serious or direct musical expression is not surprising in view of the impurity of his musical sources. … I do not like fake folklore, nor fidgety accompaniments, nor bittersweet harmony, nor six-part choruses, nor gefilte fish orchestration.

Most critics and professors who attack the opera for the “whiteness” of its authors are not anti-Semites, but, whether they like it or not, there is an objective link between their approach and that of Richard Wagner, one of the pioneers of anti-Semitism in the field of music. In 1850, he authored the infamous tract “Das Judentum in der Musik” (“Jewishness and Music”), in which he denounced Jewish composers in general and Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer in particular.

A racial approach to art has a definite logic. It leads in the end to abominations such as the Nazis' Aryan art, with its book burning and banning of Jewish- and black-infected “degenerate art.”

It is a historical fact that the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants who fled tsarist persecution composed an opera that expressed in a powerful and beautiful way both the poverty and oppression of blacks in the segregated South and their nobility of spirit and burning desire for genuine freedom and equality. What is so strange or problematic about that?

George Gershwin was a genius and without doubt the greatest American composer of his time. That is an important factor to reckon with. There were and are many talented black composers—Duke Ellington and William Grant Still, to name just two—who produced great music, but none has to date produced a musical piece about the black experience in America that compares to Porgy. Unfortunately, in the attacks on the opera by some black artists—initially including Ellington, although the great jazz composer later changed his opinion—there was an element of jealousy. The same applies to composers of the academy who dismissed Gershwin’s work as technically deficient and low-brow.

How many jazz greats have performed and improvised on Gershwin tunes, including his opera? Miles Davis produced an entire album based on it. The list includes Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday and many more. It also includes country and pop artists such as Willie Nelson and Brian Wilson.

More than 80 years after its premiere, history itself has demonstrated the universality of Porgy and Bess. It is about black people, but, more fundamentally, it is about the human condition. Its basic themes are universal. It is a love story. It is a story about oppression, community, struggle, loss and the will to fight.

Do not songs such as “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty of Nothing” and the exquisite love duet “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” express the most profound and universal of human aspirations and emotions? Those who attack the opera for its “whiteness” generally avoid discussing the music.

Nor can there be any doubt that Gershwin’s own background, in the context of the convulsive social and political conditions of the Depression 1930s—the spread of fascism in Europe, revolutionary upheavals internationally and mass struggles of the American working class, and the approach of the Second World War—played a significant role in inspiring him to write Porgy.

During the summer of 1934, Gershwin stayed on Folly Beach, located on a barrier island near Charleston, South Carolina, collecting material and ideas for his opera and visiting revival meetings of the Gullah blacks who lived on adjacent James Island. He wrote to a friend: “We sit out at night gazing at the stars, smoking our pipes. The three of us, Harry [Botkin], Paul [Mueller] and myself discuss our two favorite subjects, Hitler’s Germany and God’s women.”

Dubose Heyward, who spent part of the summer with Gershwin on Folly Beach, published an article in 1935 in Stage magazine in which he described Gershwin’s interaction with the people who became the prototypes for the characters of his opera. “To George it was more like a homecoming than an exploration,” he wrote. “The quality in him which had produced the Rhapsody in Blue in the most sophisticated city in America, found its counterpart in the impulse behind the music and bodily rhythms of the simple Negro peasant of the South.

“The Gullah Negro prides himself on what he calls ‘shouting.’ This is a complicated rhythmic pattern beaten out by feet and hands as an accompaniment to the spirituals, and is indubitably an African survival. I shall never forget the night when at a Negro meeting on a remote sea-island, George started ‘shouting’ with them. And eventually, to their huge delight stole the show from their champion ‘shouter.’ I think that he is probably the only white man in America who could have done it.”

Gershwin himself was not overtly political, at least in his public life, but his sympathies and associations were with the liberal and socialist left. He penned Broadway shows of a broadly anti-war and socially dissident character, such as Strike Up the Band, Of Thee I Sing and Let ’Em Eat Cake. The impact of the Russian Revolution, only 18 years prior to the debut of Porgy, contributed to the generally optimistic and democratic impulse behind his music. The sister of Ira Gershwin’s wife Leonore, Rose Strunsky, translated Leon Trotsky’s Literature and Revolution into English.

The singers who worked closely with Gershwin on Porgy, including the original Porgy and Bess, Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, spoke with affection of their interactions with the composer, insisting he never evinced the slightest prejudice or condescension. They were always among the most ardent defenders of the opera.

The Gershwins insisted that the singing roles go only to black performers, in part because they wanted to break down the exclusion of African American artists from the concert hall and because they did not want the opera to be performed in blackface.

As for the element of caricature in Porgy and Bess, what opera does not have caricatures? The vengeful dwarf in Rigoletto, the seductive gypsy in Carmen, the tubercular seamstress in La Boheme, the rascally but clever servant in The Marriage of Figaro. One could go on and on. The issue is: Do the inhabitants of Catfish Row transcend their “types” and express genuine humanity? The opera’s audiences all over the world have answered in the affirmative.

And what of the charge of “cultural appropriation?” Could there be a more banal, reactionary and anti-artistic concept? What is art, if not the interaction of multiple influences of many origins, conditioned by social and historical development and distilled in the creative imagination of the artist to produce works that have universal significance?

Should we denounce Shakespeare, a male, for inventing Ophelia? Should we reject Verdi for writing operas about Egyptians? Should we ban blacks from playing white characters? What about that racist Mark Twain who had the impertinence to create the escaped slave Jim?

The balkanization of art is the end of art.

Here is how Gershwin, who aspired to create a genuine American idiom, described his own development. In an article titled “Jazz is the Voice of the American Soul,” published in 1926, he wrote:

Old music and new music, forgotten melodies and the craze of the moment, bits of opera, Russian folk songs, Spanish ballads, chansons, ragtime ditties combined in a mighty chorus in my inner ear. And through and over it all I heard, faint at first, loud at last, the soul of this great America of ours.

And what is the voice of the American soul? It is jazz developed out of ragtime, jazz that is the plantation song improved and transformed into finer, bigger harmonies. …

I do not assert that the American soul is Negroid. But it is a combination that includes the wail, the whine, and the exultant note of the old “mammy” songs of the South. It is black and white. It is all colors and all souls unified in the great melting pot of the world. …

But to be true music it must repeat the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans. My time is today.

#wsws #porgy and bess #opera #american opera #gershwin #george gershwin #wagner #broadway #broadway musicals #identity politics #racism #racialism #cultural appropriation #gullah

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tomhiddleslove · 5 years

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Chances are you know Tom Hiddleston from his sinister performance as Loki in Marvel’s series of Avengers movies. Or perhaps you know him as the Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe–winning star of The Night Manager. But Tom Hiddleston has long been a star of the stage—an Olivier Award–winning one at that.

Born in London, Hiddleston’s theatrical roles have been exclusive to his native U.K.—until now. He will make his Broadway debut this season with the transfer of Betrayal from the West End. Beginning performances August 14 with an official opening September 5, the Harold Pinter classic tells the story (in reverse chronological order) of spouses Robert (Hiddleston) and Emma (Zawe Ashton) during Emma’s affair with Robert’s friend Jerry (Charlie Cox).

Here are 11 other roles casual fans might not know the gifted actor has played:

1. A Streetcar Named Desire

During his second term at Cambridge, Hiddleston played Mitch in the Tennessee Williams play. After an agent witnessed his performance, Hiddleston applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he graduated in 2005.

2. Yorgjin Oxo: The Man

Shortly after graduating, Hiddleston played Yorgjin Oxo in this play by Thomas Crowe at Theatre 503 in London. Called “willfully bizarre” by The Stage’s Alistair Smith, the play follows the story of an innocent boy of the marshlands forced into slavery who eventually grows up to seek revenge.

3. The Changeling

In 2006, Hiddleston played leading role Alsemero in this play from Declan Donnellan’s theatre company, Cheek by Jowl. Beatrice is betrothed to Alonzo but loves Alsemero (naturally, Hiddleston played the dreamy lover), but tragedy ensues when she hires her servant to kill Alonzo.

4. Cymbeline

The following year, Hiddleston earned the Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his work in Cymbeline—also a Cheek by Jowl production. The actor took on the roles of Posthumus and Cloten at the Barbican Theatre.

5. Othello

Hiddleston first began working at the Donmar Warehouse in Michael Grandage’s production of the Shakespeare classic. The actor played Cassio opposite Chiwotel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor. Hiddleston was nominated against himself for Best Newcomer in a Play for his work in this drama, as well.

6. Ivanov

Hiddleston teamed up with Grandage again for this West End revival of Tom Stoppard’s Chekhov adaptation. Part of the Donmar Warehouse season, the play ran at Wyndham’s Theatre with Hiddleston as Eugene Lvov alongside Kenneth Branagh’s titular character. It was this collaboration with Branagh that led to Hiddleston’s audition for the Marvel film Thor, directed by Branagh. Though Hiddleston auditioned for the titular superhero, he was eventually cast as the villainous Loki.

7. The Children’s Monologues

While he was busy working on screen, Hiddleston made time to exercise his stage chops for worthy causes. In 2010, he performed as part of Dramatic Needs’ The Children’s Monologues. The organization adapts real stories by South African children into monologues that are then interpreted by world-class actors in order to raise funds and awareness.

8. Coriolanus

Though Hiddleston spent years playing Loki, he still made time for the stage. He played the title character in the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus, directed by Josie Rourke. The play ran for a limited engagement, but was broadcast internationally January 30, 2014. The role won Hiddleston the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor.

9. Hamlet

After playing Loki in The Avengers series, filming Kong: Skull Island, and starring in the mini-series The Night Manager, in 2017 Hiddleston reunited with Branagh to play Shakespeare’s Danish prince.

[ Link to the complete article in source below. ]

#tom hiddleston #betrayal Broadway #playbill article #tom hiddleston stage performance #hiddles #twhiddleston #Theatre tom #july 09 #2019

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keepingupwithlinmanuel · 5 years

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Lin’s Mary Poppins apprenticeship

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jack the cheery lamplighter in Mary Poppins Returns, paid careful attention to his surroundings on set.

He watched how director Rob Marshall set up intimate moments and the sumptuous musical numbers.

Miranda’s probably better known as the creator of the multiple prize-winning theatre phenomenon Hamilton — he wrote the score and lyrics and played the founding father Alexander Hamilton both off and on Broadway.

The actor, producer, composer and cultural visionary was observing Marshall with interest because, ‘I’m equipping myself to direct my own movie musical’.

Sometime in 2020 Miranda will direct a film version of an early work by Jonathan Larson, who wrote Rent.

Miranda will make a picture based on Larson’s Tick, Tick . . . Boom!, an autobiographical piece about an artist who wants to create something of worth before he hits the age of 30.

Larson died aged 35, days before Rent opened in downtown New York. It went on to win a Tony for best musical . . . and a Pulitzer prize.

Mary Poppins Returns is set in the Thirties during ‘the Great Slump’. Miranda said it’s no accident ‘given the state of the world’ that movie musicals are coming back (he mentioned La La Land, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and A Star Is Born).

Screen musicals were prevalent in the Thirties and Forties, when folk needed cheering up, same as now. ‘They perform a cathartic function for us,’ he said.

Miranda opens the new Poppins film with a number called Underneath The Lovely London Sky which cleverly embraces the audience.

He said it’s the equivalent of Oklahoma! opening with Oh, What A Beautiful Morning, which was revolutionary for 1943.

‘It didn’t start with a big bang and a line of chorus girls. It lets the audience breathe and relax,’ he said, adding that the secret of the number is that Jack’s singing about being under the lovely London sky ‘but that sky is grey . . . rainy’.

That tells us we’re with a character who will guide us to the light.

Miranda moved his family — wife Vanessa Nadal and son Sebastian, now four — to England for ten months while he worked on Poppins.

By the time they left, ‘we knew we were having our second child’. Francisco was born in February — on the same day the couple watched an early cut of the film in Rob Marshall’s office — and is now ten months.

‘Francisco is my Mary Poppins baby,’ Miranda told me proudly.

In The Heights, an early Miranda work, will film next year with Jon Chu, who made Crazy Rich Asians, directing and Miranda producing.

A film version of Hamilton is a long way off, Miranda told me, although a movie of the original Hamilton cast was filmed over three days in 2016 and fully edited by the show’s director Thomas Kail. But, ‘it’s locked away in a vault’. It will eventually get a cinema release, he said; but no time soon.

‘Our goal is to let as many people see Hamilton as a stage show in theatres, in as many cities around the world, as we can find. And when we feel the time is right, the idea is to get the film out of the vault and put it in cinemas.’

Even further off is the possibility of a proper film treatment of Hamilton. Miranda stressed that there are ‘no plans for an adaptation any time soon’.

Meanwhile, he can be found lighting lamps and kicking up his heels with Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins from next Friday.

[Image source: LinMiranda.com]

This article is by Baz Bamigboye. I do not link to the Daily Mail.

#lin manuel miranda #mary poppins #tick tick boom #hamilton #interviews

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loadcali890 · 3 years

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Ventura Guitar Serial Number Lookup

Beautiful old vintage Ventura Bruno V14 guitar. Looking at other similar models on e-bay, I GEUSS it to be 60's-70's but I do not know. Serial number is 74725, could be made in Japan but I do not know! This guitar includes chipboard case, has warm aged tone, the vibe of old guitar. Ventura was a brand of stringed instruments imported from Japan by C. Bruno and Company during the 1960s and 1970s. Bruno was bought by Kaman in the early 1980s, after which the brand disappeared. Some of the Ventura guitars were knock-offs of the Martin line, such as the Ventura V-35 appearing similar to the Martin D-35, and the Ventura V. Good luck and happy Ventura hunting! Re: Ventura Guitar 14:51 on Saturday, June 5, 2004. (David Woodson) Posted by Archived posts. I have a 'Bruno' Ventura Classic gut string that I bought from C&S Music in Fort Worth,Texas in 1965-66. It has a nice classic tone but that is all I know about it.

GENERAL VINTAGE GUITAR RESOURCES:

Vintage Guitar Magazine - this is Vintage Guitar 101 and all neophytes are advised to start here. Of course, my favorite part is Michael Wright's 'Different Strummer' column, which covers the history of all those wild, wacky off-brand instruments in elaborate detail. VG has also published several of my own articles over the years, some of which can be found on this site.

The Blue Book - if you're serious about buying and selling used guitars, the Blue Book provides the most detailed pricing, dating and identification info. Much of it is available online for free.

GuitarHQ - a nice all-around mainstream vintage guitar site. All the standard Gibson and Fender type stuff, plus some other interesting odds and ends.

ProjectGuitar.com- where the Internet goes to work on guitars! All about guitar maintenance and repair.

MIMF - the Musical Instrument Makers Forum is a goldmine of information about materials, construction and repair techniques, including a gallery of unique custom built guitars that range from inept to incredible. If you need professional advice about repairing your old guitar, this is the place to ask.

Stewart-McDonald - a good source for replacement guitar parts and repair tools to keep your junker running. Also check out WD and Allparts. I'm not sponsored by or affiliated with these or any other manufacturer or retailer, but I'm often asked to recommend good parts sources.Well, here you go.

Ampage - a nice info source for amp schematics and other guitar electronics.

GuitarElectronics.com - lots of wiring diagrams.

Dr. Duck's Dating Service - an excellent resource, lots of serial numbers for many brands of guitars.

OTHER 'JUNK GUITAR' SITES:

Cheesy Guitars - a true kindred spirit, Meatex Z has created a wonderful site dedicated to all those unplayable Russian and Eastern European guitars. He was also nice enough to give me credit for naming his site and helping him out with information initially. We were originally going to do this project together, but decided that two sites are better than one. Go visit Meatex and tell him Big Beat says 'hi'.

SovietGuitars.com - this cool Russian language page for fans of Soviet era instruments is rapidly becoming an important resource.

Vintaxe.com - an excellent site about some of the lesser known vintage guitars produced in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Lots of pictures and vintage catalog scans, including some of mine that I have shared with them.

My Rare Guitars - a nice collection of cheesy offbeat axes by a very hip collector and dealer. Vintage Normas, Ekos and Dominos galore, plus some great modern reissues.

Fetish Guitars - a fabulous site about Eko, Wandre, Galanti and other Italian guitars of the 60's. Both visually stunning and very informative, it is an absolute marvel.

Lordbizarre's Electric Guitar & Amp Museum - The name says it all. This collector from Belgium has put some seriously weird axes on display for your viewing pleasure.

Cheap Trashy Weird Old Guitars - cool name, and certainly the right spirit! A small but impressive collection of Egmonds, Wilsons, Musimas and even something called a Horugel.

21 Frets - I just love it when somebody takes totally trashed Hagstroms and Melody Makers and restores them from trash to flash. This site chronicles some really cool restoration projects.

Gudok - a Russian site that showcases 'the weapons of the proletariat', old Soviet guitars such as the Tonika, the Formanta and the Solo-II.

Hendrix Room - a Japanese site with a neat collection of totally off-the-wall 60's guitars with names like Youngtone and Melodier.

Animal Charme - dedicated to all those pointy headstock axes of the 80's, this is the home of the shred and heavy metal guitar!

Pointy Guitars - more 80's pointy guitar madness!

Guitare Collection - A wacky French site that showcases some totally bizarre Euro junk guitars, even including a couple from Russia.

Rockin' Hollowbody Guitars - a great forum for people of the thinline and archtop persuasion. If it's got F-holes, you'll find all about it right here.

Vintage Guitars - this Swedish dealer has a photo gallery with lots of Goyas, Hagstroms, Levins and other oddball Scandinavian beauties.

Vermona - here's a German page about those amps and synths, so familiar to professional Russian musicians of the 70's and 80's. Never mind Fender, Vox and Marshall, everyone behind the Iron curtain knew that the best amps were made by Vermona. This factory also produced the famous Weltmeister accordions and the Ionika electric organ. To many older Russians, 'Ionika' is still synonymous with 'keyboard'. See the old Vermona amps HERE and the original Ionika HERE.

VINTAGE GUITAR INFO BY BRAND:

Ampeg - Vintage Ampeg Scroll Basses Aria - Guitar Gallery Burns - Burns Guitar Museum Carvin - Carvin Museum Danelectro - Danoguitars Egmond - Egmond Guitars Eko - Fetish Guitars, My Rare Guitars Framus - Vintage Framus Futurama - Futurama Story Grazioso - Palka.com Galanti - Fetish Guitars Goya - Goya Guitars Hagstrom - Hagstrom USA, Hagstrom Canada, Hagstrom UK Official Hagstrom Site Harmony - Broadway Music Co., Unofficial Harmony Page, Harmony Thumbs, Hillman Guitars Heartfield - Heartfield Central Hofner - Guitar HQ, Hofner Club Guitars, Vintage Hofner, Hofner Hounds Hopf - Hopf Guitars Hoyer - Hoyer Guitars Ibanez - Ibanez Vintage Page, Vintage Ibanez Museum, Ibanez Vintage, Ibanez Collector's World Jolana - Jolana Info, My Jolana Kramer - Kramer Krazy, Kramermaniaxe, Vintage Kramer Music Man - Unofficial Music Man Guitar Page Ovation - Ovation Fan Club, Ovation Tribute Page Shergold - Shergold Guitars Silvertone - Vintage Silvertone Starfield - Unofficial Starfield Guitar Site Teisco - Teisco Twangers Tel-Ray - Unofficial Tel-Ray Page Tokai - Tokai Registry Univox - Univox Page Vantage - Guitar Gallery Ventura - Unofficial Ventura Guitar Page Vermona - Vermona Vox - Vox Showroom Watkins - Watkins Guitars Westbury - Westbury Guitars Westone - Westone Guitars

Ventura Guitar Serial Number Lookup Serial

MISCELLANEOUS OTHER LINKS:

Guitars.RU - Russia's top guitar community. The place to go for information about Tonikas, Aelitas and other Eastern Bloc guitars. If you speak Russian, you can also hang out on their popular forum and socialize with other Russian guitarists. Even if you don't, many of the regulars do speak English.

Russian Rock Club of America - not really vintage guitar oriented, but these folks are my friends and associates. We keep the flame of the classic Russian rock tradition alive in our new homeland, promote independent Russian rock bands in America, stage concerts, music festivals and other cultural events. If you're a Russian rock musician or fan living in America, you're not alone!

: I bought this Ventura in 1980 at H & H music in Houston and I was just wondering what it is worth. It has a classical body style, not the dreadnought. The action is low and has an adjustable truss rod. The serial number is 60505 and the model # is V-200B. Does anyone out there have an accurate answer? Thank you for your time and effort in responding to this e-mail inquiry.

Have a great day.I ALSO HAVE A MATCHING PAIR OF V-11 BRUNO & V-15 12 STRING FROM MEMORIAL MUSIC JUST PRIOR TO H & H. THEY TOURED WITH BUFFETT IN 74-78 THROUGH CARIB/PROVO SOUTH & NORTH FLORIDA. NO ONE WILL VALUE THEM @ MORE THAN PURCHASE PRICE. : I bought this Ventura in 1980 at H & H music in Houston and I was just wondering what it is worth.

It has a classical body style, not the dreadnought. The action is low and has an adjustable truss rod. The serial number is 60505 and the model # is V-200B. Does anyone out there have an accurate answer? Thank you for your time and effort in responding to this e-mail inquiry.

Have a great day.I have a Ventura Bruno V-12 I paid $110 for in 1972 at Hauschild's music in Victoria, TX. Don't know if they are still around as the owner was up in years then. I have heard they were made in Japan but I dont know this for sure.

Guitar ID and AppraisalThere are many reasons for determining the precise age of your used guitar. The most important one is probably pricing the instrument appropriately when you’re looking to sell it. Prices for certain vintage models vary by thousands of dollars depending on whether it’s a 1963, for example, or a 1964.

You’ll also need to know exactly what your guitar is worth for insurance purposes.One of the most valuable and often overlooked resources to help you identify and appraise guitars is your local used instrument dealer. It’s so important to establish a working relationship with these folks. While it may be tempting to call every store in the area in order to save a few dollars when you’re shopping for something, developing a loyalty to one or two shops pays off when you need service that goes beyond a simple purchase.

While most shops charge a fee for an official appraisal, it may take an experienced retailer only a second to realize that your old Epiphone is actually a Nova 390, produced from 1976 to 1980 in the company’s short-lived Japanese factory. The shop employee may be glad to look up the approximate value of your ax in a book and give you an opinion about what it’s worth. But if you randomly drop by a store that you’ve never been to before and ask for this kind of help, they might not take the time to look carefully at what you’ve got.LEARNING THE HISTORYIf you want to educate yourself to identify guitars, the first step is to become familiar with the histories of some of the larger companies.

In recent years, more and more books providing information on the major guitar manufacturers have become available, and they’re a great place to start. There are some basic questions to ask.

When did the company start building guitars? Where were the guitars manufactured? Did the company move in the course of its existence, and did it move its production overseas? Did the model in question change drastically during the years of production?

For example, Gibson’s J-200 started out with rosewood back and sides and fairly standard X-bracing in the late 1930s. It was changed to maple back and sides (except for a few rosewood examples) and a double-X bracing pattern in the ’50s. Yet another double-X bracing pattern was used during the ’70s, and then a more Martin-like scalloped X-bracing was adopted when the model was reintroduced in the late ’80s. These are all differences that would be difficult for the uneducated eye to notice, yet they drastically affect the guitar’s sound and value.At the very least, these books will identify the time period during which the guitar in question was produced, basic information that will, for example, keep you from paying a premium for a '1960s Martin HD-28' (you’ll know that this model wasn’t introduced until 1976). Sometimes you can narrow down even further the time period in which your guitar was built because of a certain distinguishing feature. For example, a volute or scroll at the back of a Gibson headstock usually indicates that the instrument was built between 1974 and 1981 (although some appeared as early as 1969).Another thing that the trained eye will immediately be able to pick up on is whether an instrument was built in the U.S.

Or imported from one of the many low-end Asian manufacturers. When I worked in retail, a customer once walked in with a Ventura archtop for sale.

Convinced that he had a guitar that was built in the U.S. In the ’50s, he stormed out after I told him what I’d be able to offer him for it. Even if I hadn’t known that Venturas were made in Japan during the ’70s (which was confirmed by a quick look in the Vintage Guitar Price Guide), I knew as soon as he opened the case. It was mostly the guitar’s thick finish that gave it away, complete with lacquered neck-to-body joints and drips through the f-holes. The wimpy hardware was another dead giveaway that this guitar was neither domestically made, as he thought, nor a high-quality import. The best place to gain this kind of familiarity is at your local music store’s used-and-cheap section; the more guitars you inspect, the more experienced you’ll be.One of the biggest roadblocks in identifying a guitar can often be the serial number.

These numbers are frequently inconsistent or missing from reference books. In many cases, a serial number by itself is about as useful as a phone number with a missing digit. Few companies have consistently used the same system of numbering during their entire existence (Martin is among those that have). For example, Gibson began using an eight-digit number in 1977.

The first and fifth digits indicated the year of production (8XXX2XXX meant it was built in 1982). If you tried to apply this formula to a serial number on an older Gibson, or even a newer vintage reissue (which sometimes use 'vintage' serial numbers) you’d be making a big mistake.REFERENCE BOOKSSo, how does one go about accurately identifying a used instrument? Probably the publication most often referred to is Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars. Written by George Gruhn (of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville) and Walter Carter, the guide is a must-have for identifying older American-made guitars. Organized into brands, general information, serial numbers, specific features, and model designations, the book identifies most major-brand guitars of the past and offers meticulous descriptions and a wealth of helpful photos. It offers little or no information on smaller makers, budget instrument makers, and recent entries into the guitar market.Although designed to give approximate values for vintage instruments, the Vintage Guitar Price Guide is also quite useful in identifying instruments. While it doesn’t describe each model’s features in detail, it does provide a company history for most of the makers included.

The book’s many photos can be very helpful, and the general listings, which include many off-brands, are among the most complete available. As with all price guides, the dollar amounts shown are to be taken with a grain of salt, but having even a vague idea of an instrument’s value will make you a more savvy buyer or seller.Another excellent resource is the Blue Book of Guitars. This hefty book probably represents the most complete compilation of information on guitars that have not yet reached vintage status.

Ventura Guitar Serial Number Lookup

Ventura Guitars Models

It’s one of the few books that lists instruments made by companies such as Kay and J.B. Player and by individual luthiers such as Dave Maize and Steve Klein. Besides retail price information, the book includes brief descriptions of most companies and models listed, as well as a unique section on grading the condition of an instrument. In a color section, a variety of guitars are pictured front and back, showing a range of possible conditions-from 20 percent (poor) to 100 percent (new).You can also join guitar-related newsgroups on the Internet, but beware of advice from uneducated participants posing as guitar experts. Of particular interest to acoustic guitarists are rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic, rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz, and rec.music.classical.guitar.

Find Guitar By Serial Number

You might also check out rec.music.makers.guitar and alt.guitar.These resources and the others in the Acoustic Guitar Owner's Manual should help you on your way to becoming a guitar expert. All you need is hours and hours of paging through every available book on the subject, countless weekends spent at guitar shops and vintage instrument shows, a careful examination of all of your picking buddies’ axes, and (let’s face it) the purchase of a lemon or two.Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, October 1998, No. 70.Toll Free 877-712-4747.

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Taking Art to the Streets, Just Look Down This article is part of our latest special report on Museums, which focuses on reopening, reinvention and resilience. When Brad Carney sketched the plan for a 15,000-square-foot ground mural in downtown Reno, Nev., he wove in design elements from the area’s railroading heritage, and pulled hues and motifs from nearby buildings and landscapes, including the state flower and the famed Reno Arch. “I wanted to make it specific and unique to its place, so that this mural couldn’t exist anywhere else,” said Mr. Carney, an artist based in Philadelphia known for his playful, large scale and brightly colored public works. “When I design murals,’’ he added, “I like to become a vessel for a community and a neighborhood, and not bring too much of myself until I find out what they’re looking for. The point of public art, to me, is the process of involving the community.” Locals have weighed in with ideas and feedback. Volunteers from nearby art schools and organizations will be on site in early June to assist with drawing the outline, and 300 local volunteers — about 60 a day — have signed up to help paint during the week-long installation. “If this wasn’t Covid” Mr. Carney said, “I would ask anyone who was walking by, ‘Hey, you want to paint with me?’” Reno is one of 16 small and midsize cities across the country where artists and local residents are taking to the streets — from crosswalks to underpasses — to add new color to old blacktop and pavement with eye-catching urban art as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative. Grants of up to $25,000 are helping cities create and implement relatively low-cost public art projects to revitalize their streets and public spaces by making them more beautiful, more inviting and safer. “Locomotion: A City in Motion,” the Reno mural, will be painted in ReTRAC Plaza, a little used concrete and dirt space once covered in train tracks being developed as a hub for local events, Mr. Carney said, from music festivals and farmers’ markets to movie nights. “We want to try and help cities do wonderful things to their public realm,” said Kate D. Levin, who oversees arts programs for Bloomberg Philanthropies and was commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. And especially now, as cities reopen, “there’s a social cohesion goal that I think has only gotten more urgent,” she said. “Why not use projects like this to actually let people be involved, create a sense that public space belongs to everyone?” The goals are to support local working artists, community groups, businesses and government on collaborative infrastructure projects to make streets safer; to activate public space in ways that are “as robust and reflective of local identity and aspirations as possible,” Ms. Levin said; and to promote community engagement, “because a streetscape isn’t theoretical, it runs through people’s lives.” The initiative was inspired by improvements in the Times Square area during Michael R. Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor of New York. “When we closed Broadway to cars and opened it to pedestrians in 2009, we saw the potential hidden in 2.5 acres of gray asphalt,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation and now transportation principal at Bloomberg Associates, the pro bono consulting arm of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which advises mayors around the world. “Streets make up more than 80 percent of a city’s public space, so they’re really the front yards for millions of Americans.” Three cities began or completed installations in late 2020: Kansas City, Mo; Saginaw, Mich.; and Norfolk, Va. The remaining 13 are expected to finish their projects this year. Through mid-May, the cities have transformed a combined 26,000 square feet of streetscape with artwork and engaged more than 1,500 residents and 72 artists in the design and installation process. Themes range from unity and improving police and community relations to diversity. Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to feature minority artists who will design vinyl wraps for 25 utility boxes throughout downtown. Troy, N.Y. intends to beautify an underpass. “So many U.S. cities have underpasses that, whatever the original intent, turned into real barriers, and divided neighborhoods in ways that often aren’t very positive,” Ms. Levin said, expressing hope that the art projects “can create a gateway instead of an impediment.” Teal Thibaud, director of the Glass House Collective, a nonprofit that works in an underserved neighborhood in East Chattanooga, Tenn., said even small improvements could help spawn others, especially in an area that had received limited infrastructure investment in recent years. The Bloomberg-funded mural, completed in April, helped beautify the area, and several grants from local foundations, which increased the overall project budget to $60,000, enhanced the area in other ways. A new street park next to the asphalt mural that created a safe gathering space, fence art to slow traffic near the elementary school, and painted stencils on sidewalks to encourage school children and other residents to follow the safest local routes were among the projects, said Ms. Thibaud. “We’re starting to see it all work together.” Last fall, Kansas City, Mo., redesigned a busy, dangerous four-way intersection where cars rarely stopped for pedestrians, said DuRon Netsell, founder and principal of Street Smarts Design + Build, an urban design firm that focuses on walkable communities. “People were just flying through the intersection, significantly over the speed limit.” Stop signs and traffic-calming measures like bollards and planters to extend the curbs and narrow the driving lanes, and the community-painted mural “blended into a unique project that is not only beautiful, but also drastically improved safety,” said Mr. Netsell, who worked on the project in partnership with the Kansas City’s Public Works Department and Midtown KC Now, a nonprofit local community improvement organization. Soon after installation, foot traffic increased, overall vehicle speeds declined by 45 percent, street crossing times for pedestrians were cut in half, noise level dropped by about 10 decibels and the share of pedestrians who said they felt safe crossing the intersection increased to 63 percent from 23, Mr. Netsell said. Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg Associates issued the Asphalt Art Guide, a free manual with tips, checklists, and case studies of successful projects around the world to encourage more cities to develop visual art projects. In March, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a second round of up to 20 grants, open to all U.S. cities. “Safety doesn’t have to be mundane and boring,” Mr. Netsell said. “We’ve proven that we can make our intersections and streets much safer, but we can also make them really fun and vibrant. It’s something that all local communities can do.” Source link Orbem News #Art #streets

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