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30 May 2013

world made up of silver and copper / once i was the king of spain / now the Leafs call me up to drive the Zamboni

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100th Anniversary of premier of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps / here's Nijinsky a-doin the Rhumba / here's her Social Security Nhumba

Click to enlarge. Set dials to desired Past or Future destination.

Hi Mary, salut Axel --


Thanks for the great and rare links.


Because no one on Earth could possibly care about my odd neuroses, I'll write this off-List ...


I have a personal affection for all classical, symphonic and operatic works whose premieres ignited audience fistfights. I'm pretty sure a real screaming brawl erupted at the premier of Le Sacre du Printemps.
It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky, with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. When first performed, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation and almost a riot in the audience.
Most of the violent brawls I've seen, the brawlers and screamers are wearing informal attire, and the room reeks of strong, cheap drink.


But once in a while -- about as frequently as a flyby by Halley's Comet -- the brawlers and screamers are wearing gorgeous gowns and expensive fur coats and diamonds and pearls and evening dress and top hats. If there's a fragrance of alcohol, it's the finest champagne. THOSE are the brawls I love the most.


And of course the music isn't accidentally G-22 (a Country & Western tune) on the Wurlitzer juke box, but a symphonic classic.


When I finally get my Time Machine working, one of the first destinations I'll set the dials for is Paris 29 May 1913, with enough advance time to buy a good seat for the premier of Le Sacre. And a few hours to rent evening attire and a top hat.


Thanks, merci, dank u wel!


Bob

Massachusetts USA
==============

----- Original Message -----
From: Axel Van Looy
To: Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 4:32 AM
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Happy Birthday "Le Sacre"

Thanks Mary for the mail and link,

Yesterday ARTE celebrated the 100th anniversary with 

- a live broadcast from the Théâtre des Champs Elysées where the Sacre was represented twice : once with the original choreography of 1913 and one with a new creation by Sasha Waltz.

- a documentary by Dag Freyer about the year 1913

- the film by Jan Kounen : Coco Chanel & Igor Strawinski (2009)

I only saw the live broadcast yesterday, rest will come in the weekend.

Axel


=====================

Le 29 mai 2013 à 23:34, maryellen jensen a écrit :
 

Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du printemps" celebrates its 100th birthday today:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/stravinskys-le-sacre-du-printemps-makes-its-infamous-world-premiere

Here's a link to a splendid documentary of an older Leonard Bernstein rehearsing a
younger Schleswig-Holstein orchestra in the art of 'bestial' effects; this is one of the best docus of Bernstein at work that I've ever seen: Vive Le Sacre !! Vive Bernstein !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kyso5VmZ6g

English, a little German with Italian subtitles, it's a miracle the thing is still available to be seen so catch it while you can.

Mary


**************

As he lay on his deathbed, what were Leonard Bernstein's last words?

It's STINE!!!

================

Here is Grover Whelan
unveilin
the Trylon
over on the West Coast
we have Treasure Island
Here's Nijinksy a-doin the Rhumba
Here's her Social Secutity Number

-- "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"
from "At the Circus" (1939)
by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg
sung by Groucho Marx

******************
from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopydia


Lydia the Tattooed Lady

"Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" is a 1939 song written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.[1] It first appeared in the 1939 Marx Brothers movie At the Circus and became one of Groucho Marx's signature tunes. In 1950 Groucho famously 'stopped' trading at the New York Stock Exchange by commandeering a microphone and singing the song before telling jokes for 15 minutes, during which time traders suspended their work to watch him perform.[2] The lyrics made many contemporary references to topical personalities such as Grover Whalen, who opened the World's Fair in 1939. The complex lyrics written by Yip Harburg with clever rhymes such as Lydia/encyclopedia were inspired by W.S.Gilbert.[1]
Among the items, persons, and scenes tattooed on Lydia's body are the Battle of Waterloo (on her back), The Wreck of the Hesperus (beside it), the red, white and blue (above them); the cities of Kankakee and "Paree", Washington Crossing the Delaware, President Andrew Jackson, Niagara, Alcatraz, Buffalo Bill, Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon, Lady Godiva (with her pajamas on), Grover Whalen, the Trylon, Treasure Island, Nijinsky, and a fleet of ships (on her hips).
As lyricist Harburg explains,[citation needed] the final stanza originally contained the lyrics "When she stands, the world gets lit'ler. When she sits, she sits on Hitler"; the lines were removed because the studio feared the song would sound too dated. The line that replaced it begins "Grover Whalen unveilin' the Trylon" which seems far more dated today than the reference to Hitler. On some subsequent radio appearances, Groucho sang the song in its entirety. Feinstein's recording omits a number of other lines, but restores the "Hitler" couplet, while Morris's is essentially as Groucho sang it in At the Circus.
The couplet "Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso / Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso" seems to flub the name 'Pablo Picasso', noted painter and personality of the 1930s,

Other versions

The song has been performed by many other artists:

  • In the 1940 movie The Philadelphia Story, Dinah Lord (played by Virginia Weidler) sings the song's first verse.
  • The song has been recorded by Stubby Kaye (1961), Michael Feinstein (album: Pure Imagination, 1992), and Joan Morris (album: Bolcom, Morris & Morath sing Yip Harburg, 2003).
  • In January, 1976, Kermit the Frog sang this song, complete with a Muppet version of Lydia (pig), on the second episode of The Muppet Show, which featured Connie Stevens as the guest star. Muppets creator Jim Henson is said to have considered the song one of his favorites. Henson also drew all the tattoos on the Lydia puppet. The song was also used in Jim Henson's memorial service, performed by Kevin Clash in his ¨Elmo¨ voice.
  • On the television series M*A*S*H, Maxwell Klinger sang part of this song in the episode "Images" after seeing the extensive tattoo work on a wounded soldier.
  • An abridged Barbershop Quartet arrangement was performed by "The New Tradition" quartet while dressed and acting as the Marx Brothers as part of their final song set as they won the 1985 International Barbershop Competition. They subsequently repeated this performance during shows they performed, and finally recorded it as part of an LP.
  • The song was also sung by Robin Williams in the 1991 film The Fisher King. In that version, the reference to Andrew Jackson is changed to Michael Jackson.
  • In the 1995 Disney comic "The Treasury of Croesus"[3] by Don Rosa, Donald Duck sings the song throughout the comic. This is a pun on the ancient kingdom of Lydia — as Donald asks whether King Croesus really existed, his uncle Scrooge asks him if he has never heard about Lydia, to which Donald replies that he learned all about Lydia on last night's late movie. When asked to share his newfound knowledge, he starts singing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady".
  • In the situation comedy It's a Living, pianist Sonny Mann (Paul Kreppel), meeting a woman whose body is covered with tattoos, plays the song until one of the waitresses flips the keyboard cover onto his fingers (a running gag in the series).
  • In season 4 of the Canadian sketch comedy series The Kids in the Hall, a sketch is featured in which an escape artist successful in the '30s, played by Dave Foley, performs the song at Carnegie Hall whilst being hung from the ceiling and bound in a straitjacket as part of his final public performance.
  •  

24 May 2013

PizzaQ! unsolicited e-mail du jour / 'tis the season for cold borscht with sour cream!

unsolicited e-mail du jour. I don't know no Russian or Slavic, and my Cyrillic sux. So uhhhh you tell me ... please. Oh okay, first English translation wins 4 slices of Pizza with borscht and sour cream.

==========


наилучшее урегулирование для всех ваших вопросов [url redacted] - Свидетельств нет потому, что нападений и не было: в нас не играла кровь, и мы не выходили на охоту... Мы были скрытыми оборотнями, то есть не перевоплощались, жили одной половиной, а не двумя. Каждый оборотень живет жизнью обычного человека до тех пор, пока кто-то не разбудит в нем вторую половину. Это можно сделать и с помощью заклинания, и... могут помочь родные. Заклинания написаны в книгах магии. Одну из них открывали триста лет назад и в этом году... Если бы ведьмы не разбудили мою сущность, я так и прожил бы всю жизнь в лесу отшельником... И не было бы этих похищений. Они поплатились за свою жадность и получили сполна. Загубили мою жизнь, а в ответ я загубил их. Вернее, чуть не загубил... Я с трудом сдерживаюсь, чтобы их не загрызть... Там твой покупатель на линии ждет:

21 May 2013

PizzaQ! wazzis?

Click to enlarge.

* what lingo?

* what's it say/mean in English?

AND ... it's not just a phrase. It's the Title of a rad phat awesome bitchin bad Thing that's like Happenin Now (in certain cultural circles).

* what's the bitchin awesome Thing?

* who made the bitchin awesome phat Thing?

1 Large Pizza with extra Goat Cheese (chevre) and Fiddleheads.
 

(Hurry up, the very brief Fiddlehead season's nearly over. Snooze u Loose, you'll have to settle for a crummy Domino's pizza.)


Feel free to abase your clueless self and beg Vleeptron for hints -- but if you're like really hip, there are already clues imbedded in the PizzaQ.

20 May 2013

grinning group at the Top Of The World -- Pakistani sister and brother & twin sisters from India plant flags on Everest summit!

Click on photos to enlarge.

Agence-Vleeptron Presse's Man-on-the-Ground in Karachi informs us that there wasn't just a Saudi woman making history on the Top Of The World.


There's a 21-year-old Pakistani woman, her 29-year-old brother (photo caption unclear if that's he on the right, but whoever the heck he is, he's standing on the summit of Mount Everest -- and that ain't chopped liver), and they both made it without oxygen bottles! (Air's a bit thin up there ...)

Also in this remarkable Everest expedition were twin sisters from India. Indian and Pakistani women  climbed the highest mountain on the planet and planted their national flags side by side. Just guessing, but bet there were lots of broad smiling and grinning, maybe hugging, too.

Wow. Amazing. Remarkable.

=================

The Express Tribune
Pakistan national daily
Monday 20 May 2013


For the record:
...Woman climber 

...makes Pakistan proud
 

by Sehrish Ali / Shabbir Mir

ISLAMABAD / GILGIT-BALTISTAN -- Two young siblings achieved rare mountaineering glory for themselves on Saturday by becoming the first Pakistani woman and only the third Pakistani man to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal.

Through their feats, 21-year-old Samina Baig and her 29-year-old brother Mirza Ali ensured that their country’s flag fluttered on the world’s highest summit.

An ecstatic Samina informed her family about her successful ascent via satellite phone.

Mirza Ali and Samina can count themselves lucky as they will be remembered as the only Pakistanis to scale Everest on the 60th anniversary of the first conquest by Edmund Hillary [New Zealand] and Tenzing Norgay [Nepal] on 19 May 1953.

Only two other Pakistani mountaineers, Nazir Sabir and Hassan Sadpara, have ever climbed the highest peak.

“According to initial reports, the two mountaineers and 29 other foreigners reached the summit at 7.30 am (local time),” said Pervaizuddin, a resident of Shimshal Valley.

Two twin sisters from India, Tashi and Nugshi, also accompanied Samina and Mirza.

Together, the siblings placed the flags of India and Pakistan side by side on the highest peak on earth -- making a statement of peace.

But Samina and Mirza’s effort stood out because the two siblings managed to scale the peak on the 48th day of their expedition, without the use of supplementary oxygen.

Mirza, who has been regularly updating about their expedition on his blog


mirzaadventure.blogspot.com 

[Check out this blog!!! The dude remembered to bring his camera and took amazing photos of the team's ascent to the Top of the World!!! They're on the long, perilous descent now -- but he posts his satellite phone number and invites fans to call!!!]

wrote: “We request all our readers and visitors [to] please pray that Samina becomes the first Pakistani woman to reach the summit of Everest. And I hope to be the first young Pakistani without bottled oxygen to unfurl Pakistan’s flag on top of the world together with our Indian friends! Wish us luck! Thank you for sharing and for your support!”

Hailing from Shimshal village in Gojal tehsil of Hunza-Nagar district, Samina has come a long way.

“She is proof that the country has the talent and motivation; unfortunately there is no government support for mountain climbers,” said Colonel Sher Khan, one of the country’s leading mountaineers. “It is a sport without spectators.” Khan counts the people of Shimshal as among the world’s best climbers.

Samina’s expedition began on 1 April. She and her team ascended the mountain via the south face from the Nepalese side.

Mirza and Samina have been mountaineering for leisure for the last 10 years. They have served as mountain guides and expedition leaders for peaks in the Karakoram, the Himalayas and the Hindukush. But Samina has started climbing professionally for the past four years.

- 30 -


19 May 2013

who says i can't? oh, the King? (waves to Monarch from Mt. Everest summit 8848 meters above sea level)



Click tricked-out 1988 Toyota technical to enlarge

This bumper sticker used to adorn
my beloved Toyota 4x4 pickup truck
(when last seen, still doing tough hard chores 
in all horrible conditions & weather for
Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School
Northampton, Massachusetts USA)

DPA / Deutsche Presse-Agentur
founded 1949 / Headquarters Hamburg DE
Saturday 18 May 2013
(pickup from Haaretz / הארץ‎ Israel daily broadsheet)


First Saudi woman 

climbs Mount Everest

Raha Moharrak, a 25-year-old university graduate, reached the world's highest peak, said an official at the Nepal Mountaineering Department.
       
[foto:] Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at an altitude of 8848 metres, in northeastern Nepal

A 25-year-old university graduate has become the first woman from Saudi Arabia to climb Mt Everest, authorities in Nepal confirmed on Saturday.

Raha Moharrak arrived at the world's highest peak at around eight in the morning, said Tilak Pandey, an official at the Nepal Mountaineering Department.

Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by a conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy, strictly restricts the rights of women.

Moharrak was part of a group that included the first Qatari man and first Palestinian man to attempt to reach the summit.

The "Arabs with Attitude" group posted a message on its Twitter account congratulating Moharrak.

The first ever Saudi woman to attempt Everest has reached the top!! Bravo Raha Moharrak. We salute you


the message read.

Moharrak also became the youngest Arab to reach the summit.

Altogether, 35 foreigners and 29 Nepalis scaled the mountain on Saturday.

The month of May is a busy time on Mt Everest, as it is the best time of the year to climb.

More than 3000 people have climbed Mt Everest since it opened to the world in 1953. Hundreds have lost their lives attempting to climb it.

- 30 -


07 May 2013

It's election day in South Carolina! Vote for the guy who hiked the Appalachian Trail all the way to Buenos Aires!

Click stamp to enlarge.

Or vote for Stephen Colbert's sister. I don't think she ever ... 

Oh well. I don't know what to tell you. Vote for the lying philanderer if you want. The U.S. Congress needs another lying philanderer.

Okay, I screwed up last night. The election is for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, because its Congressman was appointed (by the governor -- a job the world's most famous mountain trail hiker used to have) to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat.

The news today indicates the race will be a real tight squeaker. The district is historically heavily Republican -- they voted Romney in the 2012 presidential race.