the two storytellers

 A bit ago I posted about the storytelling class that Ethan and I were taking. Well, the class is over and the stories are told. Of the 13 people who started the class, nine stayed until the end. Here are Ethan's story and mine.

the monkees, 2021

NOTE: The Monkees, live at the Paramount Theater in Huntington, NY, October 28, 2021 

On my own I wouldn't have bothered getting tickets to see The Monkees on their farewell tour. Davy Jones and Peter Tork are dead, leaving Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz to carry on. And they're both in their upper '70s. If I had to choose two of the four to perform a show it would have been Dolenz and Nesmith, so there's that. But I still didn't have high hopes.

But friends decided that they were going and asked if Blair and I were interested. So that kind of made it a horse of a different color.

But the show was actually quite good. That was due in large part to a band of really great musicians I'd never heard of (and whose names I don't remember). OK, I'd heard of one of them -- Coco Dolenz, Micky's sister was there for backup vocals and percussion. At any rate, the band did a really good job with the material. As one would expect, the emphasis was on the hits. But they also played some of the lesser-known tracks including "Goin' Down," "Auntie's Municipal Court" and "Tapioca Tundra." That last one was, technically, a hit but is little-remembered. One special treat was "Different Drum," a hit for Linda Ronstadt that Nesmith wrote.

Nesmith and Dolenz were simply vocalists, leaving the instrumentation to the band.^* And that's one of the differences between this tour and what I've seen of recent tours. I don't know this is the first tour in which the Monkees themselves are just the vocalists (and I'm not interested enough in the matter to research). But a quick search for footage of past tours on Youtube shows me that as recently as 2019 Dolenz and Nesmith were playing guitar onstage. Incidentally, I can see that the band on that tour featured at least some of the same musicians as on this.

Which, of course, raises the question of why they're not playing more instruments. [MAJOR DISCLAIMER HERE: I HAVE NO INSIDER KNOWLEDGE, AND THIS IS PURELY SUPPOSITION BASED ON WHAT I SAW] Based on the way Nesmith shuffled weakly onto the stage, at times seemed to have trouble controlling his hands, and seemed to have trouble standing (among other things I saw), I strongly suspect he has Parkinson's disease. And if not parkinson's he clearly has some other physically debilitating problem. I don't believe he had the physical wherewithal to play a guitar. Mickey, by contrast, was vigorous and youthful, clearly enjoying himself as master showman and belting out tunes. But it would have looked odd for him to be playing a guitar while Nesmith wasn't. Nesmith looked old weak by comparison, and at times he appeared to be having trouble even singing.

But the fans in attendance -- myself included -- were inclined to overlook any physical shortcomings. Perhaps because we were just happy to see these two performing the old favorites, and to sing along. And perhaps because this is very likely the last time we'll see The Monkees in any plural form. 

_______________________

^*In the interests of full disclosure, Dolenz did play tambourine at times, and he played timpani for the opening of "Randy Scouse Git."

cinema history class: the screaming skull

Session: Get Some Skull, Week 3
Movie: The Screaming Skull (1973)
Directed by Gloria Monty

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
After Dr. Pratt kills his wife, her skull comes back to haunt him. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

The first thing I need to say is that this The Screaming Skull is not the famous 1958 film (which I have yet to see). This was a 1973 made-for-TV production. It's not exactly famous -- I couldn't find anything about it on Youtube (which is why I have just the still picture up there instead of a trailer) or Wikipedia.

Originally broadcast in color, the film seems to only be available in black and white -- in a version taken from a kinescope. Oddly, the loss of picture quality serves this interesting ghost story well -- enhancing the nightmare quality.  I suspect that it wasn't as effective in the original full color crisp version that aired on TV. It also made the production feel much older. It had a 1950s feel to it.

Gloria Monty's direction was generally good, though at times (especially early on) she made the film feel like a soap opera. Which kind of makes sense given that she is best known for her work with the soaps. Vincent Gardenia and David McCallum play off each other beautifully, even if they really don't look convincingly like brothers.

This, I should note, is a nearly-forgotten gem that I likely would have never heard of if not for Keith's class. 

 

Ratings

Me: 9.5

Bob-O: 8.7

Christina: 9.2

Dave: 9.3

Ethan: 8

email shortcut

I figured out a shortcut that will save me time in sending group emails -- a way to easily put a bunch of email addresses in the "to" line of my emails without having to enter each one individually. Put simply, a distribution list. Yeah, I am sure Gmail has a way to do it, but I haven't figured it out.

I am the newsletter editor for LIDS. In that capacity, I sometimes have to send group emails to the entire LIDS membership. I have a membership list in a spreadsheet with several dozen email addresses. In the past, I've typed each email address in. I haven't had to type the full addresses because of the predictive features. But it's still a pain in the ass. And it's prone to error.

But I realized -- and I wonder how it took me so long to realize -- that I can use Excel's features to create my distribution list. Using Gmail's website for my email, the required format for entering multiple addresses in the "To" line is to separate addresses with a comma and a space. So in the membership spreadsheet, which has one row for each member (or couple), I added a new column for the distribution list. As the rows go down, it builds the list. So the entry in the last row is the full list -- which I can copy and paste in the "To" field. I figure I can do this for other things where I have more-or-less set lists of people to send emails to. The JEA Board, Keith's film class...

For the purposes of illustration, I created a simplified list of three names, showing how the distribution list would grow. This obviously works for longer lists. If someone changes email addresses, or people are added or removed, this is easy to change. In the LIDS list, I also included logic to ignore rows where there is no email address -- yes, we have a few members who eschew such things. For what it's worth, people who are more comfortable in Word can create and update a similar type of list in Word and use it in GMail. But I used Excel because I am much more comfortable in spreadsheets than in word processors.

I used my LIDS list this past weekend to send out the fall newsletter, and it was so much easier.

All that said, I realized as I wrote this that I probably could have Googled something like "Create a distribution list in GMail." I'll bet there's a simple way of doing it. But I have my solution so, whatevs...

cinema history class: the skull

Session: Get Some Skull, Week 2
Movie: The Skull (1965)
Directed by Freddie Francis

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Collectors are interested in the skull of the Marquis de Sade. But it comes with a heavy price. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

This was a Peter Cushing tour de force. There are large stretches of this film with little or no dialogue, yet Cushing manages to convey so much with that face. There was a great cast in this -- along with Cushing, the film starred Christopher Lee, Richard Wymark, and a bunch of other really good actors.

Some of the best parts of this movie -- though my description will just make them sound creepy -- are the scenes in which the titular skull is exerting its influence, controlling people and (possibly most unsettling), floating from place to place. The fact that the damn thing moves so slowly and hauntingly makes it work -- despite what one might think from the description.

Whoever designed the sets and pulled together the props did a tremendous job. In the collectors' homes, it seemed like everywhere you looked there was a visual treat. Maybe they just went to the old prop storage shed and pulled anything and everything that could possibly fit. 

I probably should have rated this higher.

 

Ratings

Me: 8.75

Bob-O: 9.7

Dave: 10

Christina: 8.8

Ethan: 10

Joe: 10

storytelling class -- round 2

Back in March of 2020, Ethan and I started a Storytelling class at The Magnet Theater. I blogged about that class -- or the start of it anyway -- here. Well, that class ended after one session. COVID. Ethan and I had the option of continuing the class in Zoom, but decided against it. Instead we bided our time, hoping things would eventually open up.

And open they did. A bit anyway.

So Ethan and I restarted Adam Wade's storytelling class last month. Today was the sixth session, which means that next week is the class showcase -- the finale, where we each get onstage in front of an audience and tell our story. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In the year and a half since the abortive session, Adam has changed things up quite a bit. Back then, at the end of the first class, Adam asked us to come back with three story pitches. Some amount of time in the subsequent classes would have been spent discussing the pitches and each of us deciding what story to tell. Remembering that, I was -- in the first class - already contemplating what stories I would pitch.

But those thoughts were wasted -- Adam has taken a different approach. In the first class, he gave us a prompt -- a beloved childhood object. Near the end of class, we each got up and spoke about such an object. He told us, for the second week, to prepare a talk about a favorite restaurant or similar eating establishment. And in the secondo class he told us to prepare, for the third week, to talk about a mentor or friend. After that, we each had to pick one of those three prompts and build it into our story.

That had me disappointed. Even though I was having trouble coming up with three stories to pitch, I was feeling oddly annoyed that Adam was limiting us to these three prompts. In fairness, Adam did  give us the option of going off menu -- subject to his approval -- if we had some other story that we really really wanted to go with. But when I thought about it, I realized that I could craft stories from each of the three prompts, so the hardest part was picking one of them.

But I picked one. And the last three weeks have been spent building my story. figuring out what works and what doesn't. Adding bits and removing others. And Ethan has been doing the same with his. We have each presented three iterations for the class, and listened to critiques and suggestions. We still have a week to practice, but at this point we're pretty much ready.

So next week I'll be onstage, telling my story about ... well, just tune in next week. 

cinema history class: the four skulls of jonathan drake

Session: Get Some Skull, Week 1
Movie: The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
Directed by Edward L. Cahn

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
The men of the Drake family have all died at age 60. A long-dead archaeologist and his also-dead companion want to make sure that keeps happening. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

This is an interesting story, and it's well-paced. There are some good performances -- notably by Henry Daniell, who played Dr. Zurich. And, it should be noted the gore -- tame by today's standards -- was (at points) envelope pushing.

All that said, I didn't find any of the characters interesting, and it was therefore hard to really feel engaged with the story. In fact, I enjoyed myself immensely while watching the film, but I think that was more a product of the environment than the movie itself, because within a few days it had kind of left my brain. Were I to rate it now, it would fare worse than it when I rated it fresh off the viewing. 

 

Ratings

Me: 8

Bob-O: 9.5

Dave: 9.4

Christina: 8.2

Ethan: 8.5

Joe: 10

happy tunesday! חמישה פחות אחד

 Last week I posted a lyric video of Tobias Wilson's recording of my song, "Five Missing One." When I shared it on Facebook, I offered bonus points to whoever can identify the old Israeli pop song that inspired it.

Well, this is it: חמישה פחות אחד by החברים של בני (which translates, roughly to "Five Minus One" by Benny's Friends")

My song actually began as an attempt to translate the Hebrew song. And my chorus is -- lyrically -- very similar to Benny's Friends' chorus. Of course, it's in a different language, the melody is very different and the choruses are very different.

Benny's Friends' song is much more poetic, and certainly less literal than mine. In case any of my reader is not fluent in Hebrew, here is a translation of their song (aided by Google Translate):

Soon the light, the light
Will surprise an endless black night
We are waiting for this light.
That’s why we’re here.

Soon the time, the time
Will start a different count, a different sign.
We are waiting for this time.
That’s why we’re here.

We’re five minus one.
We gave heart to heart and hand to hand.
We had a friend who was not afraid.
We’re five minus one.

Soon the song, the song
Will fly over the sea, over the city.
We are waiting for this time.
That’s why we’re here.

We’re five minus one.
We gave heart to heart and hand to hand.
We had a friend who was not afraid.
We’re five minus one.

it's zmedsday!! (cvii)

 

happy tunesday! five missing one

Toby Wilson's latest recording for me.

I started this song by trying to write a translation of an old Israeli C&W song. Bonus points if you can identify which. After coming up with a passable translation of the chorus, I decided to take the song in a different direction. I was trying to get a bit of a Louis L'Amour vibe going. I don't think I succeeded, but I still like the song. Before putting out the album, I may ask Toby to rerecord with a different arrangement.

sharon art

Three and a half years ago Sharon took an art course at the Bridgeview Academy of Fine Arts. I wrote about that here. As that class came to an end, she said she wanted to take another class. But not right away. Eventually.

Eventually has come, and Sharon is back at Bridgeview. After all this time she decided to take the same course over again rather than jump to a successor class. The illustration here is from her easel at the end of the first session.

The above should not be interpreted to mean that she stopped doing art in the interim. Sometimes it seems that she's always drawing -- whether digitally on her computer or non-digitally with pen and paper. I could shae a practical gallery of her art on this post, but that's not the point. Maybe I'll devote a post just to that. At this point, a good bit of her art -- at least the digital stuff -- is commission work. So people are paying her for her work, which is really cool.

cinema history class: dr. jekyll and sister hyde

Session: Saucy Jack, Week 4
Movie: Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
Directed by Roy Ward Baker

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Trying to end all disease, Dr. Jekyll finds a way to turn himself into a woman, which leads to a battle for control. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

The interesting thing about DJ&SH is that it's a three-way crossover, trying to combine the stories of Dr. Jekyll, Jack the Ripper and Burke & Hare. What's even more interesting is that it actually works. Brian Clemens managed to put together a script that combines these elements seamlessly in a way that doesn't seem forced.

Also to Clemens' credit, the dialog is smart and snappy with lots of well-placed humor and clever lines.  As the guys in class were quick to point out the film never gets to the point of being a comedy, but it is clever and humorous. Similarly, the romantic subplots have raise the potential for this to become a screwball comedy, but it never actually went there.

I loved watching Jekyll/Hyde descend into a tug of war, as the two personalities vie for control of the one body they share. And I felt sorry for Howard and Susan, the well-meaning but unknowing Spencers who each had romantic interests in Jekyll/Hyde. But, of course, their loves were not to be.

The casting of Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick as Jekyll and Hyde was really well done. The two look like they could be brother and sister, which lends an air of believability.

 

Ratings

Me: 9

Bob-O: 9

Dave: 9.8

Ethan: 8.5

Joe: 10