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Our 2013 Presidential Inaugural Poet. Latino, gay, talented — Mr. Richard Blanco

Poet Richard Blanco

In the history of the United States, only four poets have been invited to participate in U.S. Presidential Inaugurations. Robert Frost was invited by John F. Kennedy; Maya Angelou, by President Clinton; Miller William, by Clinton (second inauguration); and Elizabeth Alexander, by President Obama.

These poets’ thoughtful, artistic, insightful words have helped stitch together the pieces of fabric that are the patchwork quilt of diversity in America.

On January 21^st 2013 Richard Blanco will join the rarefied ranks of Inaugural Poets. I'm proud to share one of my favorite poems by Richard Blanco:

LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL
Marco Island, Florida 

There should be nothing here I don't remember . . .

The Gulf Motel with mermaid lampposts
and ship's wheel in the lobby should still be
rising out of the sand like a cake decoration.
My brother and I should still be pretending
we don't know our parents, embarrassing us
as they roll the luggage cart past the front desk
loaded with our scruffy suitcases, two-dozen
loaves of Cuban bread, brown bags bulging
with enough mangos to last the entire week,
our espresso pot, the pressure cooker--and
a pork roast reeking garlic through the lobby.
All because we can't afford to eat out, not even
on vacation, only two hours from our home
in Miami, but far enough away to be thrilled
by whiter sands on the west coast of Florida,
where I should still be for the first time watching
the sun set instead of rise over the ocean.

There should be nothing here I don't remember . . .

My mother should still be in the kitchenette
of The Gulf Motel, her daisy sandals from Kmart
squeaking across the linoleum, still gorgeous
in her teal swimsuit and amber earrings
stirring a pot of arroz-con-pollo, adding sprinkles
of onion powder and dollops of tomato sauce.
My father should still be in a terrycloth jacket
smoking, clinking a glass of amber whiskey
in the sunset at the Gulf Motel, watching us
dive into the pool, two boys he'll never see
grow into men who will be proud of him.

There should be nothing here I don't remember . . .

My brother and I should still be playing Parcheesi,
my father should still be alive, slow dancing
with my mother on the sliding-glass balcony
of The Gulf Motel. No music, only the waves
keeping time, a song only their minds hear
ten-thousand nights back to their life in Cuba.
My mother's face should still be resting against
his bare chest like the moon resting on the sea,
the stars should still be turning around them.

There should be nothing here I don't remember . . .

My brother should still be thirteen, sneaking
rum in the bathroom, sculpting naked women
from sand. I should still be eight years old
dazzled by seashells and how many seconds
I hold my breath underwater--but I'm not.
I am thirty-eight, driving up Collier Boulevard,
looking for The Gulf Motel, for everything
that should still be, but isn't. I want to blame
the condos, their shadows for ruining the beach
and my past, I want to chase the snowbirds away
with their tacky mansions and yachts, I want
to turn the golf courses back into mangroves,
I want to find The Gulf Motel exactly as it was
and pretend for a moment, nothing lost is lost.

Richard Blanco and basengi Joey

We congratulate you, Richard. We will be watching. And, we know you will make us proud because you already have.

UPDATE: NPR's interview with Blanco on Morning Edition is wonderful—Listen to it here.

Post written by Stephen Brockelman.

Icons. Both worked. Sort of.

(click to enlarge)

“We crave for new sensations but soon become indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences” 
― Nikola Tesla, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla

2013 Scholarship information for SAG-AFTRA members and their children.

SAG Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
The Screen Actors Guild Foundation announces the 2013 John L. Dales Scholarship Program for eligible SAG-AFTRA members and their children.

Established in 1973 to honor John L. Dales who served as the SAG Executive Secretary for 37 years, the Dales Scholarship Program has provided over 1500 scholarships to members and their children who are pursuing their educational dreams.

Visit the SAG Foundation website for information, guidelines and applications.
 
Jill Seltzer
Executive Director
SAG Foundation 

Post written by Stephen Brockelman

News: Baltimore CITYLIT, Literary Arts Week

Some great events this week in Baltimore, Literary Arts Week. 

October 17 — Mt. Vernon Literary Walking Tour: Maryland Humanities Council. 

Follow in the footsteps of Baltimore's literary luminaries, 19thC merchants, and industrialists. To reserve a spot, www.MtVernonLitWalk.eventbrite.com or call (410) 685-4186. Meet in front of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, 11:00 a.m.

October 17 — Moon Madness: A Night for Lunatics, Lunarians, and Luna Lovers.
Bring your best writing about, or inspired by, the moon and share it with other admirers of our lovely Luna. Maryland Writer’s Assoc., Baltimore Chapter. http://mwabaltimore.wordpress.com/. Village Learning Place, 2521 St. Paul Street, 6:30 p.m.

October 18 — CITYLIT PROJECT'S FREE FALL BALTIMORE EVENT! — CityLit Press and the State of Publishing — Join the local authors of CityLit Press—Jen Michalski, Laura Shovan, Bruce Sager, Jennifer Wallace, Leonora "Peachy" Dixon, and Neil Didriksen—and publisher Gregg Wilhelm as they share their wonderful literary art and discuss the dynamic state of publishing. gregg@citylitproject.org. Poe Room, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, 6:30 p.m.

October 19 — Baltimore Review Revue: The Baltimore Review.
A burlesque of editorial striptease that will titillate your literary impulses—with workshop, readings, and more. editor@baltimorereview.org. Minás Gallery, 815 W. 36th Street, 7:00 p.m.

October 20 — Maryland Writers’ Conference 2012: Writing in Times of Change.
With Keynote Speaker and Workshop leader Marita Golden. For writers of all genres and levels. www.marylandwritersconference.org. Thumel Business Center, University of Baltimore, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Registration 8:15 a.m., start 9:00 a.m.

October 20 — Baltimore City Senior Citizens Poetry Contest Awards.
Baltimore City Department of Recreation & Parks - Senior Division: Awards to senior citizen poets in a contest to celebrate their literary talents and imagination. Winner announcement, readings. Light reception follows. hlynn@umbc.edu. Poe Room. Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch, 400 Cathedral Street, 2:30 p.m.

October 20 — 510 Readings: Fiction.
Four fiction readers of local, national, and international acclaim. Socializing at Fraziers Bar afterward. Local authors Jen Michalski and Michael Kimball are your hosts. http://510readings.blogspot.com/. Minas Gallery, 815 W. 36th Street, 5:00 p.m.

October 20 — Literature Party 2012: Publishing Genius.
A night of readings and performances featuring the best writers from around town and around the country. www.literaturepartybaltimore.info. Metro Gallery, 1700 N Charles Street, 8:00 p.m.

Literary Arts Week is created and sponsored by CityLit, GBCA, and MSAC.

October 1st. This week at the Peabody.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy's birth, Artist Diploma candidate Ronaldo Rolim (BM ’10, Piano) will perform at An die Musik, 409 North Charles Street, on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 8:00 pm.

Ronaldo Rolim, Pianist

Sharing the stage with the pianist will be violinist Lydia Chernicoff (BM ’10, MM ’12, Violin) and cellist Andrea Casarrubios (BM ’11, Cello), fellow members of Trio Appassionata; flutist Anastasia Petanova (BM ’06, AD ’10, Flute); and pianist Wan-Chi Su (MM ’11, Piano), a Graduate Performance Diploma candidate. For tickets, call 410-385-2638.

On Saturday, Oct. 6, at 9:00 pm, faculty artist Michael Formanek, double bass, will give the only Baltimore concert of his CD release tour at the Windup Space, 12 West North Avenue. He will perform, as he does on the new recording, Small Places, with alto saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. For tickets, visit thewindupspace.com.

Dariusz Skoraczewski (BM ’94, GPD ’96, Cello), appointed principal cellist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2011, will play George Crumb's Sonata for Solo Cello on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 2:00 pm, as part of the Music in the Great Hall Series. He will also perform works by Chopin, Schumann, and Franck with faculty member Lura Johnson, artistic director of the series. The concert will take place at Towson Unitarian Universalist Church, 1710 Dulaney Valley Road. For tickets, visit migh.org.

 
Elisa Koehler & students from Detmold Hochschule fuer Musik

Elisa Koehler (BM ’87, Music Education, Trumpet; DMA ’96, Conducting) will be the trumpet soloist for a performance of Jan Krtitel Jiri Neruda's Concerto in E-flat major on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 4:00 pm. The free concert, part of the Bach Concert Series, will be held at Christ Lutheran Church, 701 South Charles Street.

Todd Simon (BM ’07, Jazz Piano), pianist and saxophonist for the United States Naval Academy Band, will give a solo jazz piano performance at An die Musik, 409 North Charles Street, on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 5:00 pm. For tickets, call 410-385-2638.

Coming Soon to the Jewish Museum of Maryland — in Baltimore — GefilteFest!

GefilteFest, the poster

The news of this event made smile; I hope it does the same for you.

Something fishy is going on at the Jewish Museum of Maryland!

We’re expanding the Museum’s hours and adding new tours and programs!

Beginning October 21, the Museum will be open from 10am to 5pm, Sunday through Thursday. Tours of the historic Lloyd Street Synagogue, third oldest synagogue building in the US, will now be available five times daily.

To hook you on JMM’s new hours, the Museum is proud to present GefilteFest on October 21, 2012.

Join us for a day of cooking, eating and storytelling for the whole family. Don’t miss the gefilte fish “throw-down,” as teams vie for the honor of being crowned champion of this classic Jewish delicacy. Meet the owners of Gefilteria, a Brooklyn-based startup, making waves in the food world with their boutique gefilte and  other old world Jewish foods.

We’ll be sharing fish tales throughout the day, with recipe swaps, cookbook readings, music and more.

Get in the swim at the JMM (but please note: no crabs allowed).

The Jewish Museum of Maryland
at the Herbert Bearman Campus
15 Lloyd Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

410-732-6400
info@jewishmuseummd.org 

New LifeRaft Video from SAG Foundation

SAG Foundation - LifeRaft Videos

LifeRaft: Is Your Demo Reel Working for You?

Does your reel show you well?

Is it what casting directors and agents are looking for?

What should be on your reel and what is better left off? How long should your reel be? Will your reel help you get work? Should you have separate short demos for specific types of jobs you're right for? Just a comedy and a drama reel?

This panel will explore industry protocol for choosing your best material, highlighting your work and uploading online. Panelists include Andy Henry (Casting Director), Bob Telford (Reel Editor), Joe Gressis (Reel Editor), Bruno Oliver, (VP Now Casting Inc), Alycia Stark (Commercial Agent, Stark Talent), Todd M. Eskin (Theatrical Agent, Across The Board agency). Moderated by Caroline Liem (Casting Director).

View the latest LifeRaft video here.

Yes, Even Caption Writers Need an Editor

Frankly, I'm surprised that I haven't seen this copy error more often in early documents.

To learn more from the authoritative source, The Johns Hopkins Gazette, click here.

TV's 1st White House Tour was Hosted by President Truman, not by JFK's First Lady

It was the 33rd President of the United States who brought the White House into a new era—the era of television. President Harry S. Truman held the first televised Presidential Address from the White House on October 5th 1947.

Although ground-breaking, the Truman address to the nation was delivered to an extremely limited audience. Television was still in its infancy. In 1947 there were only about 44,000 TV sets in U.S. homes and the sets were concentrated in just a few major cities. By comparison, there were over 40 million radios in the United States.

First Presidential address to be Televised - Truman, 1947

According to Politico.Com: Though Truman pioneered the now-familiar ritual of a White House telecast to the nation, he was not the first president to appear on television. President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcast on a compact black-and-white screen from the New York World’s Fair on April 30, 1939.

It should be noted that FDR’s comments on the opening day of the 1939 World's Fair’s were seen only on receivers at the fairgrounds and at Radio City Music Hall, in midtown Manhattan. The next day, May 1st, early TV sets went on sale to the general public, as RCA (Radio Corporation of America)—NBC’s (National Broadcasting Company) parent company—began broadcasting on a daily basis. Those daily telecasts didn't last long; they were, for the most part, suspended until the end of World War II.


First Televised Presidential Address - Truman, 1952

Following Truman's address in 1947, all of his subsequent White House speeches, including his 1949 inaugural address, were televised. In 1948, Truman was also the first presidential candidate to air a paid political ad on TV. President Truman's televised tour of the White House followed some unsettling observations.

From the Truman Library:

The White House is Falling Down: Some said the White House was standing only from the "force of habit"

Shortly after moving into the White House, President Truman noticed the telltale signs of a building under serious physical stress. He frequently complained of drafts and unusual popping and creaking noises in the old house. In letters to his wife Bess, back home in Missouri, Truman often joked of the "ghosts" that inhabited the White House.

"The damned place is haunted, sure as shootin... You and Margie had better come back and protect me before some of these ghosts carry me off."
    [Harry Truman, in a letter to his wife Bess, September 8, 1946]

"The floors pop  and the drapes move back and forth. I can just imagine old Andy and Teddy having an argument over Franklin."
    [Truman, in a letter to Bess in June 1945]

Early in 1948, in response to the President's concerns, engineering reports confirmed that the White House was in a serious state. The White House was burned out to its exterior walls during the War of 1812 and further compomised by poorly constructed, successive additions of indoor plumbing, gas lighting, electric wiring, heating ducts, and major structural modifications in 1902 and 1927. Following the 1948 engineering reports the decision was made to move the Trumans across the street to Blair House for three years while the White House underwent a complete interior demolition. The complete reconstruction only retained the exterior walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Executive Mansion.

Following the reconstruction, on May 3, 1952, President Truman conducted a televised tour of his new home—the new White House. This is an excerpt:

 
The First White House Tour on Television - the Video

A decade later, on February 14, 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy proudly presented her White House restoration to the world.

The restoration was Mrs. Kennedy's premiere project as First Lady. She was dismayed during her preinauguration tour of the White House to find little of historic significance in the Executive Mansion. The rooms were furnished with undistinguished pieces that she felt lacked a sense of history. Her initial efforts to restore the White House began on her first day in residence.

Jacqueline Kennedy Tour of the White House - 1962

A record 80-million viewers watched the broadcast. It was later syndicated to over 50 countries around the world. If you haven't seen the tour hosted by Jacqueline Kennedy, you should watch. Besides being a wonderful historical document, it is honestly informative and quite a production—by the television standards of the day.

 

From the Museum of Broadcast Communications:

On the night of 14 February 1962 three out of four television viewers tuned to CBS or NBC to watch a A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Four nights later, ABC rebroadcast the program to a sizable national audience before it then moved on to syndication in more than fifty countries around the globe. In all, it was estimated that hundreds of millions of people saw the program, making it the most widely viewed documentary during the genre's so called golden age. But the White House tour is also notable because it marked a shift in network news strategies, since it was the first primetime documentary to explicitly court a female audience.

July's Free eBook via University of Chicago Press - Read, Enjoy, Share.

From my friends at the University of Chicago Press:

We thought you'd like to know about the July free e-book selection, The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon by Philip Graham.

Cover, The moon, come to earth by Philip Graham

The travel notes collected in The Moon, Come to Earth (originally published on McSweeney’s) form Graham’s exuberant yet introspective account of a year’s sojourn in Lisbon.

His lyrical accounts reveal his struggles with (and love of) the Portuguese language, an awkward meeting with Nobel laureate José Saramago, and being trapped in a budding soccer riot—but he also waxes loving about Portugal’s saudade-drenched music, its inventive cuisine, and its vibrant literary culture. Get your free e-book edition of The Moon, Come to Earth during the month of July.

“So enchanting: It dances and sighs. It twitches and hums and stumbles and then rights itself, with a winsome smile. It’s like a living thing, filled with desire and uncertainty and joy and regret … Graham is a nimble, witty writer with a penchant for teasing out the small, telling detail from the crowded scene around him … and this book is the perfect companion as one contemplates those mysteries, those ceaseless journeys outward and inward.”—Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune

About the Books Division of University of Chicago Press:

The Books Division of the University of Chicago Press has been publishing books for scholars, students, and general readers since 1892. The Books Division has published over eleven thousand books since the Press was founded. It has more than five thousand books in print at the present time, including such well-known works as The Chicago Manual of Style; The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn; A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean; and The Road to Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek.

Hot Weekend; Cool Lit in Baltimore

Stop frying eggs on the sidewalk this weekend and get inside for some cool literature!

Writer/Cartoonist Tim Kreider Returns to Baltimore
June 29, 7pm
Atomic Books

3620 Falls Road

INFO HERE

Artist and essayist Tim Kreider will be discussing essays in his new book, We Are Nothing, while showing some of his new cartoons.
----------

The New Mercury Reading Series
June 30, 5:30pm
Windup Space

12 W. North Avenue

INFO HERE

It’s going to be an extremely hot one! So drop by the Windup Space, at about 5:30, for four extremely cool Baltimore writers of Interesting Stuff That’s Not Made Up. Diana Parsell, Sue Eisenfeld, Saul Myers, and Earl Crown will all be reading, taking questions, signing photos, shaking hands, and buying at least one drink at the wonderful and highly accommodating Windup Space, the series home for over one year. Come along, enjoy your first and second and third drafts of the evening as the temperature moves down into the double digits.
----------

Among Poets: Maryland’s Poet Laureate Lucille Clifton
From now through the end of the year
Reginald F. Lewis Museum

830 E. Pratt Street

INFO HERE

This exhibition features images photographed and collected by Lynda Koolish and shows Lucille Clifton among her poet friends, some with Maryland ties. Coordinated by Dr. Joanne Gabbin of the Furious Flower Poetry Center and concurrent with a photo exhibition about Clifton at Enoch Pratt Free Library. Do yourself a favor and check out this wonderful exhibit celebrating a cherished Maryland poet of world-wide acclaim.
----------

For the best listings of POETRY READINGS, please visit and bookmark Poetry in Baltimore's terrific calendar.

That's it for this week's LIT LOW DOWN!

CityLit Project is in residency in the School of Communications Design at the University of Baltimore.
STAY IN THE LIT LOOP: Like CityLit Project's Facebook Page Now!

Remember Audio MixTapes? Think Video!

The folks at the Paley Center for Media in New York City have put together some of the best theme-program schedules that I've ever seen. This series ups their already impressive ante.

TV MixTapes

The Paley Center recalls the days when, if you liked someone, you made them a tape. We like you, so we're making mixtapes for you—compilation screenings of amazing things in our collection, curated to provide a unique viewing experience each month with a different theme. Plus it's all on a movie-size screen with great sound.

Every month the Paley Center will present special screenings culled from their massive collection, curated to provide a unique viewing experience … audiences can expect classic episodes from favorite series enhanced by exclusive Paley Center content, original compilations of the weird and wonderful created for this series, and selections from rare programs unavailable anywhere else. Plus there is the thrill of seeing it all on the big screen, with great sound.

Here's the package, the line-up:

Summer "Camp" - starts July 5th 2012
Welcome to a compilation of television’s most outrageous, campy, and head-scratching moments—a celebration of the weird, wild, and wacky side of the small screen, culling only the best moments in discrete chunks for the YouTube generation.

We excerpt the craziest scenes from afterschool specials, old network celebrity spectaculars, outdated training and educational films, camp classic television movies, bizarre music videos, and other outré ephemera. A surefire hit for the Gen-X audience and available exclusively at the Paley Center. 

Hotter than Hellmouth - August
Hell hath no fury like a demon scorned … or something like that. Join us as we celebrate the dog days of August in air-conditioned bliss with this really creepy compilation of television programming spotlighting emissaries from hell (both fictional and not), anchored by “Once More With Feeling,” the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which will be screened in its entirety. We don’t want to give too much away, but also look for clips from The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, South Park,Thriller, plus a few gems from our collection of programs, commercials, and Paley Center panel discussions. To conclude the package, we’ll screen excerpts from Tom Snyder’s legendary 1981 interview with Charles Manson.  

Dueling Star Treks - September
Star Trek: The Next Generation celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in September, and with this specially produced compilation the Paley Center boldly goes where thousands and thousands have gone before, tackling the red-hot-button question of whether The Next Generation was also the greatest generation, or whether that honor belongs instead to the original series. Was the first Star Trek too campy? Next Generation too earnest? Beverly Crusher or Bones McCoy? Spock or Data? Kirk’s bare chest or Picard’s bare head? We will shy away from no issue, illustrating our points through a deft selection of clips featuring moments from both shows and a few surprises as well, including excerpts from Paley Center events with the cast and the creative team of TNG and with Captain James T. Kirk himself, the great William Shatner.

Sweet TV Dreams (are made of these?) - October
For the month of chills and thrills, the Paley Center brings you a sixty-minute mixtape that shows the truly frightful—as well as the lighthearted—dreamscapes that have seeped out of our collective unconscious and into our daily TV viewing over the years.

The creepy/scary stuff will come from the usual suspects—Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, The Outer Limits, Buffy the Vampire Slayer—joined with the more psychological hauntings of Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and M*A*S*H. Then we'll look to Bewitched, My So Called Life, The Practice, and Absolutely Fabulous for the lighter side of our neuroses. 

James Bond: 50 Years on Film -  November
This mixtape will screen in November, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first Bond film (Dr. No) and also the release of the new Bond film (Skyfall). Included are clips from the 1954 television version of Casino Royale (Bond’s screen debut); two Bond-themed TV specials in our collection; The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which Ian Fleming helped develop (plus a Paley Center panel with star Robert Vaughn); Get Smart (including clips from PaleyFest); Archer (including our David Cross–moderated seminar); The Avengers (starring Bond girl Diana Rigg); and appearances by Bond stars Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore in television programs and ads. 

Christmas Carols: A Scrooge Mash-up - December
Arguably the most famous and familiar holiday story ever written, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol continues to enchant generation after generation and inspire countless adaptations, with more, no doubt, yet to come. Since everyone has their particular favorite dramatization, the Paley Center presents its own “Scrooge mash-up,” so to speak.

The entire story will be told using clips from versions starring Mr. Magoo, Patrick Stewart, and Basil Rathbone among others, as well as the tale as interpreted by the casts of such shows as WKRP in Cincinnati, Northern Exposure, and The Honeymooners.

Ok now Baltimore, if you love classic film and television as much as I do, let's book some Bolt Buses and head to The Big Apple for a what will certainly be a monthly fun-fest. And bring your friends. There are new finds and real surprises in this collection of shows. I'm sure that you haven't seen some of these moments before. That's all I'm going to say.

The Paley Center for Media
25 West 52 Street • New York, NY 10019
212.621.6600

Free for Paley Center Members and included with general admission.

Baltimore's Sailabration - via Webcam

National Aquarium, Baltimore - Sailabration Webcam

Thanks to Aqua.Org for sharing their Inner Harbor webcam with us so that we may share a glimpse of Baltimore's Sailabration with our family and friends who can't be here for this extraordinary event.

From Aqua.Org:

Watch live as an international parade of more than 40 tall ships and naval vessels sails into Baltimore. Sailabration runs from June 13–19, 2012.

Photo Credit: Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun

The National Aquarium's webcam is here.

To learn more, visit starspangled200.com. Over the weekend, watch out for the Blue Angels, they will be flying low and hard over Baltimore for the first time. And, be sure to take a look at the list and descriptions of the ships that will be visiting Baltimore for this event. It's impressive.

Amaze Your Friends. Be a Hit at the Next Party. Speak with a Foreign Accent.

Actually, learning an accent or a dialect for any purpose is a long, exhausting, and tedious process. For actors, learning an accent is somewhat easier because they are learning a script, a finite run of words and it is also more difficult because actors are exposed to a broad audience of potential criticism, some from native speakers.

There is a guy in London, Gareth Jameson, who offers tips on the general approach to learning many different accents. He's on YouTube and VideoJug; he's a treasure.

Actor and Dialogue Coach, Gareth Jameson

Gareth can get you to a basic, a general, foreign accent by showing you how to manipulate just a few letter-sound combinations.

If you are looking for a quick intro to an accent, check this guy out.

Here's a clip from the transcript (video below) of his Russian training:

Voice-over: Gareth Jameson provides tips on how to perform a Russian accent. He provides three lessons on how certain letters should be pronounced to better create a Russian accent.

Jameson: Hello I'm Gareth Jameson. I'm an actor and a voice coach from www.londonvoicelessons.com Here are some tips on working on your voice!

The key to any accent is to isolate the sounds that are specific to that accent. So when we're talking about a Russian accent, and I'm talking very generally here about, uh, the sort of accent you'll get in films about Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states. There are, man—this is a huge area, so there are many accents that cover this part of the world.

We're talking about one specific one, a sort of general Russian accent. Now, the first sound I like to work with is the "l" sound. You're gonna have a really dark "l" right at the back.

So say "pull," "pull," "little," "pull" (Gareth pronounces the l as "ull") and that "l" is the "l" we are going to use for all our words. So when we say words like "love" it starts at the back: "love," "lemon, limond," "Lovely lemon lind." This is the first thing I use for my Russian accent.

The second thing is Vs and Ws. Vs and Ws sound the same in a Russian accent, and it's sort of a cross between the two. So you don't want to be like Checkov on "Star Trek" and talk about "Wodka."

As you can see, accent lessons don't play well in text only, so here are a couple of links, check this guy out.

 

Gareth Jameson on YouTube.Com

and on VideoJug.Com

Enjoy. And, check out his take on American English and Southern American. Oh yes, the next time you are at your favorite watering hole try using an accent with the bartender. It could be all kinds of fun. Decent Russian or Romanian might get you a free drink. Or all kinds of new and exotic friends.

Baltimore Friends: Can You Help Me Regain Access to My Facebook Account?

A couple of days ago I tried to post a story from my blog on Facebook. And, I received an error message. I tried to comment on a friend's post, couldn't do it—got an error message—albeit a different one. Here's what I'm seeing:

This one says:

The link you are trying to visit has been reported as abusive by Facebook users. To learn more about staying save on the internet, visit Facebook's Security Page. Please also read the Wikipedia articles on malware and phishing.

And, this one:

The content you're trying to share includes a link that's been blocked for being spammy or unsafe: Body of an error/warning message. Title is: Sorry, this post contains a blocked URL

For more information, visit the Help Center. If you think you're seeing this my mistake, please let us know.

I'd appreciate it greatly if someone coud help me out with this issue. And please, if you know a real Facebook wiz, forward this. 

75 Years Ago Today, Baltimore's News-Post Reported: 'Hindenburg Explodes'

On many fronts, 1937 wasn't altogether a great year. The United States was still attempting to recover from the Great Depression, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared after taking off from New Guinea, Japan occupied Beijing, the Great Hong Kong Typhoon killed 11,000 people, Italy withdrew from the League of Nations. John D Rockefeller, George Gershwin, and Jean Harlow died. In April of 1937 German warplanes from the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion destroyed the Basque town of Guernica during what was reported as the first air bombardment of an undefended town in history; more than 1,600 civilians were killed.

And, the Baltimore News-Post ran this this headline in May:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1937, Baltimore News-Post Reported: Hindenburg Explodes

Earlier that year WLS, Chicago's powerhouse of a radio station, dispatched announcer Herb Morrison and his engineer, Charlie Nelhsen, to cover the Hindenburg landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Morrison's report was to be recorded on a large acetate disk for later broadcast. Recording news and actualities was, in 1937, against all the rules of network radio broadcasting. Morrison's recorded report lead to a change of those rules, which at the time only allowed recordings to be used for sound effects in radio dramas. Morrison's report was so human and so compelling that NBC played the recording on it's network and it became the prototype for news actualities in the post war years.

Morrison was a slender, diminutive man with dark hair, dimples, and a strong chin. On the air, he sounded older than his years. He was dapper, and by all accounts he was exceedingly handsome. Prior to his dispatch to Lakehurst, the majority of his radio work had been as an announcer for live musical programming. For the Hindenburg report from Lakehurst he wore a blue serge suit and a tailored top coat.

Announcer, Herb Morrison

Today most people see, or remember, a newsreel of the Hindenburg disaster with Morrison's account as the voice-over. However, that's a later construction of how the actual reports were filed, seen, and heard.

Even in 1937 newsreels were a low-budget affair. Black and white cameras with no ability to record sound were used. And Morrison and his one-man crew were recording a transcription to a disk with no ability to add visuals. Think of what you remember seeing as one of the earliest audio-visual mashups.

Here is an actual (and yes, silent) newsreel from the time with post production, editing, and a certain amount of 'film touch-up' as performed by the releasing studio.

 

And this, from the Smithsonian, is Herb Morrison's radio report added to actual newsreel film, without any film reconstruction. The difference in film quality is all-telling.

  

According to WLS radio: Listeners in Chicago and across the country didn't hear Morrison's coverage of the disaster until the next day because his report wasn't broadcast live from Lakehurst. He and engineer Charley Nehlsen had been experimenting with field recordings on huge acetate discs. They realized the gravity of their recordings as they found themselves being followed by German SS Officers! After hiding out for a few hours, the two managed to make a clean getaway and get back across the country to WLS. The chilling account aired the next day on the station and was the first recorded radio news report to be broadcast nationally by NBC.

I've been fascinated by lighter-than-air craft, zeppelins, and blimps for as long as I can remember. In Baltimore we all see quite a few small blimps soaring over the city—Dish Network, MetLife, and yes, the Conan craft. I wondered what a zeppelin the size of the Hindenburg would have looked like flying over Baltimore. I wondered if it might have looked this:

Hindenburg Over Baltimore, MD

The Hindenburg explosion killed 35 of the 97 people on board and one person on the ground. A cause of the disaster has been widely speculated about and has created more conspiracy theories than the Kennedy assination, yet the true cause of the Hindenburg's demise has never been discovered.

This Week from the Peabody: Strings, Percussion, Brass, and More! Much More.

On Wednesday, May 2, at 1:00 pm, C Street Brass, a quintet founded by Conservatory students, will perform baroque, tango, and jazz crossover works at a free concert presented by WBJC in the Fine Arts Theater at Baltimore City Community College, 2901 Liberty Heights Avenue.

Faculty artist Joe Burgstaller, trumpet, will present Change Your Mind, Change Your Playing, a performance master class for all instruments, on Thursday, May 3, at 7:00 pm in Room LH414 (Leakin Hall). The class will include mock juries and other jury prep.

Courtney Orlando, violin and voice, who teaches ear training at the Conservatory, will give benefit performances for Mount Vernon Music Space, 1015 North Charles Street, on Friday, May 4, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 6, at 3:30 pm. On the program are works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Astor Piazzolla, Caleb Burhans, and Michael Rickelton (MM ’10, Composition). Percussionist Terry Sweeny, a junior, will also perform. For more information, visit mountvernonmusicspace.com.

Soprano Jennifer Holbrook (MM ’09, Voice; GPD ’11, Opera), tenor and countertenor Peter Lee (BM ’06, MM ’08, Voice), and baritone Kevin Wetzel (MM ’06, GPD ’08, Voice) will perform with the Peabody Concert Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore Orchestra and Symphonic Chorale, Peabody-Hopkins Chorus, Peabody Singers, and Peabody Children's Chorus at the Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric, 140 West Mount Royal Avenue, on Saturday, May 5, at 8:00 pm. Edward Polochick, artistic director of Concert Artists of Baltimore and a Peabody faculty member, will conduct the collaborative performances of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Tickets are $28 and $38 and may be purchased by visiting lyricoperahouse.com or calling 410-900-1150. Student rush tickets may be purchased for $10 each at the Lyric Box Office starting one hour prior to the performance.

                         Brian Ganz, Peabody Faculty Artist

Faculty artist Brian Ganz, piano, will perform Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra with the National Philharmonic Orchestra as part of an all-Debussy program on Saturday, May 5, at 8:00 pm. The concert will take place at The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For tickets, visit nationalphilharmonic.org.

The Peabody Children's Chorus, directed by Doreen Falby, will present The Poet Sings, a program of music set to the words of Shakespeare, Blake, Dickens, Dickinson, and other great poets, on Sunday, May 6, at 3:00 pm in Peabody's Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. Tickets are $5. To purchase tickets, call the Peabody Box Office at 410-234-4800. Also that day at 3:00 pm, an ensemble from the Peabody Children's Chorus will appear in a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society in the Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson. For tickets, visit baltimorechoralarts.org.

Free noon recitals
At this week's free Thursday Noon recital in Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, Brassivity—trumpeters Yanbin Chen and Tristan Clarke, hornist Joel Watts, trombonist Emily Joseph, and tubist Scott Miller—will perform Bach's Fugue in G minor, Michael Kamen's Quintet, and the Allegro Vivo movement from Eugene Bozza's Sonatine for Brass; violinist Szu-Yun Chiu, cellist Young Eun Lee, and pianist Sejoon Park will perform Schubert's Trio No. 1 in B-flat major; and violinist Erica Richardson, cellist Antoinette Gan, and pianist Choo Choo Hu will perform Dvorák's Trio No. 1 in B-flat major.

On Friday, May 4, at noon, there will be a free performance by Conservatory harp students in the Peabody on the Court series at the Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street.

Enjoy!

Oh say! Look, it's a recital with the title, 'Ce Moys de May'

The Peabody Renaissance Ensemble will present two concerts on Thursday and Friday, Apr. 26 and 27, at 7:30 pm, in Leith Symington Griswold Hall.

Directed by Mark Cudek, the group will perform a recital titled Ce Moys de May: Music for Mary, Queen of Scots, which includes music that she would have listened and danced to, verse from her favorite poets, favorite tunes from her youth, French courtly dance to honor Mary, and much more.

Soprano Julie Bosworth and countertenor Daniel Moody are featured soloists and were coached by Adam Pearl. Tickets for the concert are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for students with ID. To purchase tickets, call the Peabody Box Office at 410-234-4800.

ClancyWorks in Concert: 10 Years in the Making | at Baltimore Theatre Project

In Chorus Line it was Dance 10, looks 3. In these performances it's Dance 10, looks 10.

ClancyWorks Dance Company presents an evening of original choreography on Saturday, April 28th at 8:00pm and Sunday, April 29th at 3:00pm at Baltimore Theater Project.

                                           Love Strings

The Washington Post has described Adrienne Clancy, as a “wizard of invention,” and her choreography as “a tour de force of unpredictable partnering.”

This evening-length concert, part of the 10th anniversary season of ClancyWorks, is a clear continuation of the mission of the company. It will feature students from residencies at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology and Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, a performance by The Collective, a Baltimore-based dance company, and some of Clancy’s original works that span the 10-year existence of the company.

This performance manifests the major role that both physical and metaphorical partnering play in Clancy’s work. Specific to Clancy’s creative process is an exploration of architecturally informed partnering work that uses dance to further pedagogical practices by promoting tolerance, teamwork, community activism, and individual empowerment.

                                         Wall Dance

Partnering is not only the artistic strength of the company, but also the baseline of their organizational work! From the partnering of physical objects, to the partnering of ideas, ClancyWorks: 10 Years in the Making features diverse dance works that embody Clancy’s use of partnering work not only as an aesthetic statement, but also as a symbol of trust and support.

Spinning Webs explores the wondrous, whirling, win some, lose some, web of relationships. The plots of Cupid and Aphrodite are transformed into the mythic Spider Grandmother—who, according to Native American emergence tales, spun the world into creation. Clancy’s choreography builds upon Spider Grandmother emergence tales and asks: how do we maneuver through our own webs of life, and how do we cultivate a web of relationships? Spinning Webs is part four in Clancy’s exploration of the Spider Grandmother dances.

Drift, showcases Adrienne Clancy and Sandra Lacy in a dynamic duet not to be missed! Prior to founding ClancyWorks Dance Company, Clancy was a member of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, where she held leadership roles as Rehearsal Director, Community Arts Project Director and a lead performer. Lacy previously performed with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Together, these alpha forces have created a collaboration that examines philosophical questions of pathways and explores who walks with us along these paths.

The Collective, named Baltimore’s Best Dance Company in 2008/2009, will present Sisters choreographed by Adrienne Clancy. As a hub for professional dance in Baltimore, the sixteen-member company will present a dynamic Clancy work based on female relationships.

The concert will also feature students from ClancyWorks’ Arts in Education residencies, where they will be showcased alongside the professional company. These programs include high school students from Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts and George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology from Baltimore County. Working together, these students and ClancyWorks Company members have created pieces that demonstrate working as a team yields greater results than an individual could achieve by him or herself.

What:
ClancyWorks Dance Company
When:
Saturday, April 28 at 8:00pm
Sunday, April 29 at 3:00pm
Where:
Baltimore Theater Project
45 West Preston Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Tickets: $20 General Admission; $15 Seniors, Teachers, Artists; $10 Students
To purchase tickets visit www.theatreproject.org or call (410) 752-8558.

Washington DC's Hirshhorn Museum: The Building is Going to be Transformed!

                 Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC - "Song 1"

Jacob and I have this installation on our must-see list:

Doug Aitken: SONG 1

March 22, 2012 to May 13, 2012

Internationally renowned artist Doug Aitken (b. California, 1968; lives and works in Los Angeles and New York) will transform the Hirshhorn’s iconic circular building into “liquid architecture.”

Using nearly a dozen high-definition projectors, Aitken will seamlessly blend imagery to envelop the entire façade of the Gordon Bunshaft–designed structure with a 360-degree panorama that will make the Museum recede into cinematic space—rotating, rising, and evolving into new forms.

                                      Artist, Doug Aitken

Exploding film conventions, the work cannot be viewed from any single perspective or at any single moment in time. Visitors must walk the perimeter of the building in order to experience the work more fully.

                Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC - "Song 1"

This site-specific commission will remain on view each evening for nearly two months. More than a temporary artwork, this truly original piece will also become part of the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection, enhancing its ever-expanding holdings of cutting-edge time-based media.

Visit the Hirshhorn Museum online to learn more.