1.31.2020
Da Vinci and Banksy
Saturday, February 1, 2020
1.30 - 36 years after poem
1.30.2020
36 Years After Meeting the Quartier Latin draft 1
I'm back again.
Then, I slept on the roof of the American University of Paris.
I woke to find a note
on my chest in French
Translation:
my girlfriend and I like to have the roof to ourselves
I had nowhere else to sleep
it was over 90 degrees in Lisa's room
she had to work the next day
and I had sweat through my hostel sheet
no air unless outside
Now I'm in a downy queen sized bed
with four pillows
a trompe l'oeil fresco on one wall and mirrors opposite
too much fun hiding in the frescoes
taking selfies took awhile
salmon pink puddle drapes
windows facing the famous jazz club
music spills out and up
but I want to be shut in
46 degrees, with rain and windchill
Two Marmots tea
70% cocao bites
Bourgogne blend
sound better than stumbling
over cobblestones charming
for those without foot problems.
28 January EU Flags Come Down on Friday
1.28.2020 DRAFT
Mercato Mayfair in old Catholic Church off Bond Street
Kensington Gardens Peter Pan
Parakeets and Pigeons
Notting Hill and Portobello Road
AA Milnes' pretend grave markers where babies fell out of their perambulators, cracked their noggins and died
Green House for cab coffee so they don't freeze to death
& Juliet a new star is born - they didn't put the lead in their promo posters! Miriam was great!
Will complete later!
Mercato Mayfair in old Catholic Church off Bond Street
Kensington Gardens Peter Pan
Parakeets and Pigeons
Notting Hill and Portobello Road
AA Milnes' pretend grave markers where babies fell out of their perambulators, cracked their noggins and died
Green House for cab coffee so they don't freeze to death
& Juliet a new star is born - they didn't put the lead in their promo posters! Miriam was great!
27 January Cyrano de Bergerac skewered
1.27.2020
Here is a list of how to wreck my favorite French-themed play:
1. Cast a gorgeous man as Cyrano and leave his nose untouched.
2. Eliminate any semblance of costume design and dress your actors like they are rehearsing.
3. Don't allow the actors to make eye contact. Have them focus on some spot in the Dress Circle so nobody connects with them.
4. Take out all of the humor, double entendres, site gags, witty asides, and dialogue.
5. Edit the violence, sword fights, near misses and hits. Eliminate any action.
6. Make Roxane likable.
7. Take away the Musketeer-era set design.
8. Take out the church references to save bumbling priests and "innocent" nuns.
9. Set Act 5 in a coffee shop instead of a convent.
10. Change every line in the play except two, which fail like improper anachronisms should.
11. Put a really bad rapper in the play as Ligniere, and have him open the play.
12. Have strobe lights misfire.
13. Eliminate all traditional aspects of drama except the Pathetique.
14. Take the fun out of play.
15.Edited for general audiences: My friend fell asleep.
GEEEEZ!
Here's what worked (almost)
1. Start with a poetry open mic.
2. Rap battle.
3. Inclusive casting.
4. More female roles.
My conclusion? Every AP Lit. musical we made (our dramatic-tragic-pathetic-comedic efforts) was better than this one. I could write a better rap version of Cyrano, one where he could skewer everyone with his language. Maybe I should.
Here is a list of how to wreck my favorite French-themed play:
1. Cast a gorgeous man as Cyrano and leave his nose untouched.
2. Eliminate any semblance of costume design and dress your actors like they are rehearsing.
3. Don't allow the actors to make eye contact. Have them focus on some spot in the Dress Circle so nobody connects with them.
4. Take out all of the humor, double entendres, site gags, witty asides, and dialogue.
5. Edit the violence, sword fights, near misses and hits. Eliminate any action.
6. Make Roxane likable.
7. Take away the Musketeer-era set design.
8. Take out the church references to save bumbling priests and "innocent" nuns.
9. Set Act 5 in a coffee shop instead of a convent.
10. Change every line in the play except two, which fail like improper anachronisms should.
11. Put a really bad rapper in the play as Ligniere, and have him open the play.
12. Have strobe lights misfire.
13. Eliminate all traditional aspects of drama except the Pathetique.
14. Take the fun out of play.
15.
GEEEEZ!
Here's what worked (almost)
1. Start with a poetry open mic.
2. Rap battle.
3. Inclusive casting.
4. More female roles.
My conclusion? Every AP Lit. musical we made (our dramatic-tragic-pathetic-comedic efforts) was better than this one. I could write a better rap version of Cyrano, one where he could skewer everyone with his language. Maybe I should.
27 January Accents of East London
1.27.2020
Jean and I hit the road for the bus stop at Bermondsey. I look at the real estate windows and realize the prices of flats one block away from the Thames drops enormously. It's a really cute neighborhood. Hmm. We get on the top of a double-decker bus and sing Joni Mitchell's "Twisted". At some point, the video we made will be here:
In Rotherhithe, we see Brunel's tunnel entrance. He built the first tunnel under the Thames in the 19th century and there's a little garden on top of the Brunel museum called Midnight Apothecary. A little red fox sneaked in and started chewing on some roots.
Next we visited the Time and Talent Garden, near the Norwegian church. Here I found inspiration for my own garden. I had a wave of homesickness, to be honest. There's a Poet's Corner sign so Jean took a pic of me.
We are heading to the Mayflower pub, where I hope to sign the descendants of the Mayflower book for Frank, Audrey and Lauren. We find this famous statue of a Pilgrim and a modern schoolboy:
Since the pub doesn't open until noon, we head across the street to the Sands Film company costume library. What a beautiful place! A lovely person lets us in - she's the cook for the workers and we get to walk through their cafe on the way to the library in back. I find costume folders from the 1920's and wonder if the dresses might be making a comeback. A beautiful desk used in a movie creates a set with glass curios and authentic objects from the 1600's.
Outside the pub, we meet two Mudlarkers, who show us the trading tokens from the 1600's they have found in the mud of the Thames. Jean and I are ready to jump over the railing and dig in, but we learn you must have a license to did in the mud! Ahh.
The Mayflower pub has gates to prevent the high tide from coming into the pub from the back deck, and we see the water level marks. We ask to sign the book, and order a delicious lunch of hake.
More walking, until we find the DLR Overground train line, which takes us on an Underground rail for a few stops until we come above ground near Greenwich. Two cops are standing outside the exit, and we think nothing of it until that night, when we learn there was a stabbing/murder right there earlier in the day.
The accents of East London are just like Professor Higgins described in My Fair Lady. Hoxton, Covent Garden, Lissom Grove, in the city center but nothing as strong as Cockney or other East London tones. So cool!
It's raining now as we approach the Greenwich Royal Observatory. We duck inside the gallery with the Painted Ceiling and an older guide grabs us and gives us 30 minutes of story-telling. He tells us to go Skittle bowling under the chapel across the way, so we do!
The hike up the hill to the Royal Observatory in the rain was rigorous, and the clouds were a bit too low to really appreciate the view, but what I did see was incredible. Years ago, I read Longitude, a book about the race to create a compass that would work at sea when the clouds made star navigation impossible. I saw all four of James Harrison's longitudinal clocks and it was incredible to think how he melted the bronze and created such perfect movements with the gears. The first three were huge, and the winning fourth one looked like an extra-large pocket watch. It was thrilling!
We took the boat bus back to Tower Bridge, waving at Ian McKellen's white house with the pink trim. Time for a play!
Jean and I hit the road for the bus stop at Bermondsey. I look at the real estate windows and realize the prices of flats one block away from the Thames drops enormously. It's a really cute neighborhood. Hmm. We get on the top of a double-decker bus and sing Joni Mitchell's "Twisted". At some point, the video we made will be here:
In Rotherhithe, we see Brunel's tunnel entrance. He built the first tunnel under the Thames in the 19th century and there's a little garden on top of the Brunel museum called Midnight Apothecary. A little red fox sneaked in and started chewing on some roots.
Next we visited the Time and Talent Garden, near the Norwegian church. Here I found inspiration for my own garden. I had a wave of homesickness, to be honest. There's a Poet's Corner sign so Jean took a pic of me.
We are heading to the Mayflower pub, where I hope to sign the descendants of the Mayflower book for Frank, Audrey and Lauren. We find this famous statue of a Pilgrim and a modern schoolboy:
Since the pub doesn't open until noon, we head across the street to the Sands Film company costume library. What a beautiful place! A lovely person lets us in - she's the cook for the workers and we get to walk through their cafe on the way to the library in back. I find costume folders from the 1920's and wonder if the dresses might be making a comeback. A beautiful desk used in a movie creates a set with glass curios and authentic objects from the 1600's.
Outside the pub, we meet two Mudlarkers, who show us the trading tokens from the 1600's they have found in the mud of the Thames. Jean and I are ready to jump over the railing and dig in, but we learn you must have a license to did in the mud! Ahh.
More walking, until we find the DLR Overground train line, which takes us on an Underground rail for a few stops until we come above ground near Greenwich. Two cops are standing outside the exit, and we think nothing of it until that night, when we learn there was a stabbing/murder right there earlier in the day.
The accents of East London are just like Professor Higgins described in My Fair Lady. Hoxton, Covent Garden, Lissom Grove, in the city center but nothing as strong as Cockney or other East London tones. So cool!
It's raining now as we approach the Greenwich Royal Observatory. We duck inside the gallery with the Painted Ceiling and an older guide grabs us and gives us 30 minutes of story-telling. He tells us to go Skittle bowling under the chapel across the way, so we do!
The hike up the hill to the Royal Observatory in the rain was rigorous, and the clouds were a bit too low to really appreciate the view, but what I did see was incredible. Years ago, I read Longitude, a book about the race to create a compass that would work at sea when the clouds made star navigation impossible. I saw all four of James Harrison's longitudinal clocks and it was incredible to think how he melted the bronze and created such perfect movements with the gears. The first three were huge, and the winning fourth one looked like an extra-large pocket watch. It was thrilling!
We took the boat bus back to Tower Bridge, waving at Ian McKellen's white house with the pink trim. Time for a play!
Thursday, January 30, 2020
A chorister is celebrated at St. Paul's Cathedral Evensong
(First draft)
Little Zander's family were ahead of me in line
His sister struggled to keep it together
I sat in the row behind them
She tried to sit in her mother's lap
too big at 14
she looked at me and I recognized
she was lost on the autistic spectrum
too much going on
St. Paul's Cathedral
too big for her
The stained glass windows
the awesome relics and shiny floors
the way her slippers slid on the marble
the organ vibrating my sternum, her ear drums
too loud, even with both hands covering her ears
the Spaniards next to us trying to follow along
the impossible to understand words of a hymn
speaking their language the whole time
We saw the choir come in
little Zander was in all black in the back
the Dean of the Chapel made a speech
the Choirmaster put a white apron robe thingy over his head
the collar stiff up to his chin
now he matched the others
But the Dean - he smiled and said, "It's time to twirl"
8 year old Zander spun and his white robe made angel wings
revealed an underlay like a little girl's tutu
his older sister stood up and clapped while everyone sat
She had been "so good" the whole time
then they sang a strange Evensong
the creepy anthem written in a minor key
the sinful behavior going down in Athens
and Jesus rising above the alter in a Buddha pose
hands uplifted to reflect the Light
Zander's sister lay across their mother's lap
exhausted sucking her thumb rocking back and forth
with one eye on her, and one eye on Zander
Mother watched her son take a seat in the choir
and held tight to her big girl.
Little Zander's family were ahead of me in line
His sister struggled to keep it together
I sat in the row behind them
She tried to sit in her mother's lap
too big at 14
she looked at me and I recognized
she was lost on the autistic spectrum
too much going on
St. Paul's Cathedral
too big for her
The stained glass windows
the awesome relics and shiny floors
the way her slippers slid on the marble
the organ vibrating my sternum, her ear drums
too loud, even with both hands covering her ears
the Spaniards next to us trying to follow along
the impossible to understand words of a hymn
sung in a major key with 8-part harmony
echoing to the ceiling
they left in the middle of the prayerspeaking their language the whole time
We saw the choir come in
little Zander was in all black in the back
the Dean of the Chapel made a speech
the Choirmaster put a white apron robe thingy over his head
the collar stiff up to his chin
now he matched the others
But the Dean - he smiled and said, "It's time to twirl"
8 year old Zander spun and his white robe made angel wings
revealed an underlay like a little girl's tutu
his older sister stood up and clapped while everyone sat
She had been "so good" the whole time
then they sang a strange Evensong
the creepy anthem written in a minor key
the sinful behavior going down in Athens
and Jesus rising above the alter in a Buddha pose
hands uplifted to reflect the Light
Zander's sister lay across their mother's lap
exhausted sucking her thumb rocking back and forth
with one eye on her, and one eye on Zander
Mother watched her son take a seat in the choir
and held tight to her big girl.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
26 January Getting Roman
Walking across Tower Bridge to London's Roman Wall. Sunny in the morning, freezing in the rain later that evening.
My friend's flat on the South Bank. The tide is rising. Spectacular views.
Look at this fat Squirrel eating in front of the Tower of London prison - he chewed out some tourists who were getting their selfie sticks too close! Let's put a Yeoman outfit on him.
Mithraeum in the Bloomberg European HQ + Susan Hiller's Jukebox of 76 songs, a new installation of songs about London streets. Michael Bloomberg's group excavated this old temple to Mithras and moved it about 18" so that it wouldn't continue to degrade with the high water table near the Thames. I couldn't find it until a security guard showed me the entrance. Free!
Concert at St. Paul's Cathedral with chorister initiation, WW1 cross, Christopher Wren design. Free!
OK, so I wasn't supposed to take pictures during the service or during the little boy's initiation rites into the Choristry, but when I asked a docent after everyone left if I could take a picture of the WW1 memorial cross, he said no. Then he winked and said, "I'm turning my back." I had just a second to put my phone in selfie mode and hold it behind me and hope something good happened. You can see Christopher Wren's incredible architectural design and splendid ceilings, but you can't see Jesus in his Buddha enlightenment pose. Rats. It's above the tiny blue window towards the bottom left.
My friend's flat on the South Bank. The tide is rising. Spectacular views.
Look at this fat Squirrel eating in front of the Tower of London prison - he chewed out some tourists who were getting their selfie sticks too close! Let's put a Yeoman outfit on him.
Mithraeum in the Bloomberg European HQ + Susan Hiller's Jukebox of 76 songs, a new installation of songs about London streets. Michael Bloomberg's group excavated this old temple to Mithras and moved it about 18" so that it wouldn't continue to degrade with the high water table near the Thames. I couldn't find it until a security guard showed me the entrance. Free!
Concert at St. Paul's Cathedral with chorister initiation, WW1 cross, Christopher Wren design. Free!
OK, so I wasn't supposed to take pictures during the service or during the little boy's initiation rites into the Choristry, but when I asked a docent after everyone left if I could take a picture of the WW1 memorial cross, he said no. Then he winked and said, "I'm turning my back." I had just a second to put my phone in selfie mode and hold it behind me and hope something good happened. You can see Christopher Wren's incredible architectural design and splendid ceilings, but you can't see Jesus in his Buddha enlightenment pose. Rats. It's above the tiny blue window towards the bottom left.
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