Outer Limits

Strange - the Las Vegas Strip is technically not in the City of Las Vegas, but rather, in the Township of Paradise. In fact, Bugsy Siegel built his casino where he did because of that technicality, and that's why the Strip is located where it is.

Wen Ho Lee Wins His Suit

The good guy wins, for once, but not after much damaged occurred. Still, the reporters and the government mulishly maintain their innocence, in what amounted to a lynching:

Wen Ho Lee, the former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of being a spy, settled his privacy lawsuit Friday and will receive $1.6 million from the government and five news organizations in a case that turned into a fight over reporters' confidential sources.

Lee will receive $895,000 from the government for legal fees and associated taxes in the 6 1/2-year-old lawsuit in which he accused the Energy and Justice departments of violating his privacy rights by leaking information that he was under investigation as a spy for China.

The Associated Press and four other news organizations have agreed to pay Lee $750,000 as part of the settlement, which ends contempt of court proceedings against five reporters who refused to disclose the sources of their stories about the espionage investigation.

Lee said of the settlement: "We are hopeful that the agreements reached today will send the strong message that government officials and journalists must and should act responsibly in discharging their duties and be sensitive to the privacy interests afforded to every citizen of this country."

The payment by AP, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and ABC is the only one of its kind in recent memory, and perhaps ever, legal and media experts said.

The companies said they agreed to the sum to forestall jail sentences for their reporters, even larger payments in the form of fines and the prospect of revealing confidential sources.

"We were reluctant to contribute anything to this settlement, but we sought relief in the courts and found none," the companies said. "Given the rulings of the federal courts in Washington and the absence of a federal shield law, we decided this was the best course to protect our sources and to protect our journalists."

The statement noted that the accuracy of the reporting itself was not challenged.

The government agencies did not admit that they had violated Lee's privacy rights.

Betsy Miller, one of Lee's lawyers, said the payments show "that both the government and the journalists knew that they had significant exposure had this case gone to trial."

Lee was fired from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but he was never charged with espionage. He was held in solitary confinement for nine months, then released in 2000 after pleading guilty to mishandling computer files. A judge apologized for Lee's treatment.

Two federal judges held the reporters in contempt for refusing to reveal their sources to Lee. The journalists had argued that he could obtain the information elsewhere.

Cockroaches As Jewelry

Saw this in "Science" magazine - found it a bit hard to accept.

I remember hot summer nights in Tucson in the 1980's. Hard to sleep, but not because of the heat. Less-civilized cockroaches than the ones pictured here, of the sort that I believe are called German cockroaches (and which run rampant through urban areas of Arizona), would skitter across my bare flesh in the dark. I would awake, grab them off my belly, and fling them through the dark, hearing the sharp crack of the chelatinous impact against the wall. Never occurred to me to put them on my hand, though. Just another illustration that I suffer from a lack of imagination:

Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Brooch ($80.00) - A little information on our little friends. These insects come in varied patterns and are decorated with the finest Austrian Swarovski crystal. Each roach takes about an hour of painstaking work to achieve his final magical glory. All roaches are male to ensure sterility, and come complete with a leash set. This consists of a gorgeous pin you attach to your clothing with a chain that clasps to the cockraoch's carapace to keep him from running amok. The lifespan of these animals is approximately one year if housed and fed properly. This is not a guarantee, it is an estimate. Roaches love fresh bananas and must have access to fresh water at all times, a very damp paper towel or cotton ball will do the trick. Dehydration is the main cause of death. Keep him in a little terrarium in the dark and he will love you and be very responsive to your touch. Roaches are shipped overnight in a box and can be kept in this box for up to 4 days without food or water while you secure him more hospitable accommodations.

2006 Hurricane Season Starts

According to Central Florida Hurricane Center Blog:

The names for this year are: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie, William.

June looks like a real yawner of a month right now - some activity in the Pacific south of Acapulco, but the Atlantic is quite placid, from Africa to the Windward Islands.

May it always be so.

Hold That Arid Western Soil!

There's all sorts of biological activity going on in even the most arid soil, and killing those microrganisms, say, by running offroad vehicles over them, can lead to the generation of beaucoup dust. The people in Moab, Utah are learning this the hard way:

Taking care not to disturb the soil, Belnap scrambles up the rocks and picks up a sample.

"So here's a nicely developed soil crust. All those different colors are different lichens," Belnap says. "We have mosses in here as well, we have cyanobacteria in here as well, and this is absolutely stable from both wind and water erosion."

The cyanobacteria themselves are microscopic, but they create strong threads. Belnap holds up a clump of dirt. Another clump dangles from a tiny thread. These threads do an amazing job of holding the soil together, she says.

The cyanobacteria grow quickly, but the mosses and lichens do not. Belnap says it has taken hundreds of years for them to grow here. And in the Mojave Desert, it took more like a thousand years.

That has huge implications for what Belnap really cares about: restoring the biological crust on these disturbed lands. She wants to stop the blowing dust.

Twilight of the Mammoths

Jerry writes:

Interesting new book: "Twilight of the Mammoths", by Paul Martin.

The most compelling argument for the "overkill" hypothesis is that megafauna like the mammoth seemed to have survived all of the deglaciations of the Pleistocene EXCEPT the last one, which just happens to be the only deglaciation in which homo sapiens existed. (The "Pleistocene Park" idea is really loony, however!)

For myself, I don't think "Pleistocene Park" is such a loony idea. Indeed, I remember that there are places in Texas, for example, where rhinoceroses are kept on big ranches, low-key, in order to provide protection against Asian horn hunters. And there are open spaces where it can be done!

Let's do it!

Note From Juan Ramos

Information today from Juan:

They cancelled yesterday's surgery for today which involved skin grafts to his right lower leg and left lower arm. I don't know the time of today's scheduled surgery. John's mother Barbara and I took the night off to clean things up at home and get some much needed rest. Noemi Rios, the Stage Manager for "Take Me Out" did however visit John last night and called me at home afterward to inform me that she and had a conversation of sorts with John. She would ask him questions and would slowly shake his head to indicate yes or no. He even rolled his eyes when she asked him a question that involved a "duh" answer. So that was good to hear even though his medication for pain may not allow him to remember that encounter today. That being said, I would not encourage visitors today as he has some non-surgical procedures scheduled for today before his surgery and will be having a pretty busy day according to his nurses.

John Hancock Update

I just paid a brief visit to John over at UCD Med Center. There was something of a shift change amongst visitors at 5:30 p.m.: his mom (and friend) were leaving, and theater folk (Brad, Maria, Andee) were arriving.

The surgery that was scheduled for today (on an add-on basis, with an emphasis on skin grafts) didn't occur. Presumably that surgery will proceed tomorrow. Sedation continues, in part, in order to avoid the agitation that accompanies rousing.

The balancing act continues with his treatment. It is important to mitigate the disruptive effects of a quick succession of surgeries. For example, because of the surgeries, he hasn't been able to take advisable blood-thinning agents, and so is now at risk of blood-clotting. Soon, they intend to place a filter in a blood vessel leading to his head, in order to catch possible blood clots.

In general, John is slowly improving.

Frog Myth Debunked

Apparently frogs will not sit still as their water temperature slowly increases to a boil.

We placed Frog A into a pot of cold water and applied moderate heat. At 4.20 seconds, it safely exited the pot with a leap of 24 centimeters. We then placed Frog B into a pot of lukewarm water and applied moderate heat. At 1.57 seconds, it safely exited the pot with a leap of 57 centimeters.

How did our expert interpret this triumph of science? "There are certain cases where gradual change is almost preferred," Hofman commented. "The change myth assumes a very narrow view of people. If frogs can do it, people definitely can."

Map Of Gasoline Prices

Jerry writes and says:

Check out this map of gas prices.

Wow! We must feel real special here on the West Coast!

Part of this is the inefficient way that they've been dealing with cleaner fuels in California and the refusal of the oil giants to upgrade their West Coast refineries in the face of NIMBY resistance. Politics is king, and higher prices here reflect political decisions as much as they reflect the natural distribution of fossil fuels.

Orgy of Myths

Apparently Roman orgies were fairly tedious affairs:

Dr Blanshard, who lectured on the search for orgies at Sydney's Nicholson Museum this week, said people tended to project their fantasies on to ancient civilisations "and the Romans would be surprised by our ideas of how they spent their Saturday nights".

... Dr Blanshard, a Queenslander with a PhD from Cambridge University, found "a couple of references" late in the third century "that look like orgies but nobody seems particularly interested in repeating the experience".

The orgy myth persists because "moralists have painted Rome as an empire that fell as a consequence of its loose morals".

While Romans had "widespread display of genitals", they were not intensely sexual.

He showed a vase depicting multiple partners in multiple sexual positions, but the women are bruised or portrayed as old and fat, with lined faces.

"Are they really saying, 'Go try this at home'?" he said. More likely, the image on the vase "may well suggest an orgy but warn: don't expect it to be pretty".

Dr Blanshard said liberals also used the Roman orgy myth to validate their practices. "Oscar Wilde, for example, gave classical gloss to his encounters with boys," he said. "He thought, 'I'm doing what Socrates did'."

Dancing Experiment Fundraiser On Hold At DMTC

Ack! The latest from DMTC.

Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, but consistency also means soothing predictability. Apparently there is a scheduling issue for "Dancing Through The Decades":

Due to scheduling issues, Davis Musical Theatre Company's "Dancing Through the Decades 1950's" at the Hoblit Performing Arts Center (607 Peña Drive, Davis), on Saturday June 3, 2006 at 7:00 pm has been cancelled...we will let you know when the next Dancing Through the Decades will be...thank you.

Madonna - The Show

(SFGate caption) Madonna performs "Like a Virgin" Tuesday at the HP Pavilion, the first of two sold-out shows. Chronicle photo by Liz Mangelsdorf


My photos didn't turn out so well, but there is a fansite, AllAboutMadonna.com, where photos from the May 30th San Jose concert were recently uploaded by "Pera". The rest of the photos in this particular post come from that site.

As we waited for the show, roars would periodically emanate from the other side of the arena. Apparently, people over there caught sight of Madonna, but we didn't see anything on our side. We watched the technical personnel raise and lower meter-diameter metal spheres over the stage. At one point, there was a short-circuit, and a shower of sparks. Bad! But for some reason, sparks didn't happen during the show, when the metal spheres were lowered.











Having read a review of the LA show, I knew Madonna and her entourage would emerge from a giant silver ball after it descended from its place amongst the ceiling rafters to the end of of the central-arena catwalk. Even though I knew she had to get into the ball somehow, with the sleight-of-hand that all the light and sound provided, I was distracted and never saw her enter the ball. Once on the floor, the giant silver ball unfolded in a magical, mystical way that was fun to watch.

Great show! Just the most AMAZING street dancers who ever lived! Here is the Sacramento Bee review: here is the SFGate review. There is an even better review of the show at mp3.com.

One dancer came to the stage right platform and spun on his head. Very hard to do, even for experienced break dancers. But he did it for thirty seconds without touching the floor, an eon in dance time, then brought in his arms and legs towards his body's core and spun up, like a figure skater, before springing out of it. Not just amazing - superhuman! And the other dancers - they leaped eight, ten, twelve feet from platforms and jungle gyms onto the (springloaded) catwalk for the number 'Jump'.

Street dancing is partly martial arts, partly hip hop, part break dancing, partly fearless aggressiveness. The dancers oozed testosterone. Even the women oozed testosterone, even the willowy woman in green with the amazingly-flexible back. At one point, there was a staged fight, and Madonna was mixing it up as well. Lying on the floor in splits, Madonna fended off an aggressive move by one of her dancers by putting her foot behind her head and pushing her crotch forward aggressively. The guy backed off! Pretty funny - I should do that next time I'm in a fight!

Madonna also did her 'Like A Virgin' saddle ride on the stage right platform, very close to where I was. Wished I had gotten a photo as good as the SFGate picture! So close, and yet, somehow so far!

Because we were sitting on the side, the 'Live To Tell' cross hanging didn't have the emotional impact it could have had by viewing from the front. Afterwards, she lay down in front of the cross, removed her crown of thorns, and was "resurrected" by the placement of a robe across her back (according to Georgette, this was a scaled-down version of what James Brown does in his raucous, gospel-oriented concerts, with repeated episodes of shaking and multiple robes being placed).

Madonna tends to be heavy-handed and didactic, but from where I was sitting, on the side, I couldn't read enough of the projected messages, or make out her lecture from the arena echo, so that was OK. She does point at Raising Malawi as a Web Site that does good stuff.

At one point she started bitching about unresponsive Las Vegas audiences (she had just arrived from there on her concert tour). I thought I heard her say "And you? You're shit!" to general applause. Maybe I misunderstood because of arena echo, but the masochist in me was getting excited.

Among the last numbers, 'Erotica,' was, predictably enough for Madonna, strangely unerotic. Eroticism requires playfulness, and Madonna is carefully programmed - she has to be to survive all the possible pitfalls, in concert. For example, during her pony ride, it was instructive to see just how careful she was with hand placement on the pole and the saddle, so as to avoid the possibility of injury. Actually, the most erotic number was the opening number, where her riding gear and aggressive equestrian brutality scared the bejesus out of me, and which I found secretly thrilling. Lovemaking with Madonna must be something like grabbing some fava beans and a bottle of Chianti and going on a picnic with Hannibal Lecter.

Towards the end, the roller skates came out, and the dancers did marvelously on them as they hurtled headlong on the catwalk, halting at the last possible moment. Madonna came out in the trademark John Travolta white suit and did a fun number, in part, to a remixed 'Disco Inferno'.

No encores, no muss, no fuss!

Madonna

After seeing the concert last night, now seems a good time to comment on Camille Paglia's essay from last December, 'Dancing As Fast As She Can,' about Madonna's new album 'Confessions On The Dance Floor.' I agree with much that Paglia wrote, but at the end, disapprove of Paglia's censoriousness. Nevertheless, I think Paglia might agree with me is that, in a way, Madonna is playing it safe. Even though Madonna can see that dance music needs a rejuvenation, she needs to get more creative in order to be that revolutionary agent.

It appears clear that Madonna will leave her mark as a pop singer and dancer, and not, as she evidently hoped, as a film actress. Madonna is too self-willed and emotionally-armored to be a very good actress, except when playing others of her type (e.g., Evita). Her shrewd examination of pop culture shows that dance culture is most in need of a revival, and, having succeeded before there, she could well succeed again. But she's not going far enough.

Camille Paglia delves into Madonna's current album and her past:

With its infectious melodies and upbeat rhythms, "Confessions on a Dance Floor" is a good album -- but it is not a great one. And it certainly does not equal or surpass Madonna's early work. Normally, it is wrong and presumptuous to expect artists or performers to tarry in their first phase; we should welcome their creative evolution and stifle our own nostalgia. ... But in this case, Madonna has invited and courted the comparison to her younger self by going ostentatiously retro, from the discotheque cover image of "Confessions on a Dance Floor" to the vintage violet leather jacket and slutty pink leotard she is wearing in the album's publicity photos and debut video, with its "Saturday Night Fever" empty dance studio.

Madonna emerged from the New York dance club scene of the early 1980s as a reinterpreter of disco music, which had been declared dead after the Bee Gees juggernaut of the late '70s but was still thriving in the gay and black worlds. Her superb 1983 song "Burning Up" (recently covered by Boston's the Rudds) was the first step in her monumental creative renewal of disco, which would surge forward and by the late '80s and early '90s start to splinter and proliferate into the dozens of still-booming subforms of techno and trance music.

As a trained dancer who combined Martha Graham with jazz style, Madonna intuitively understood the deep dynamics of disco -- its implacable grandeur, its liquid pulses and skittering polyrhythms, its flamboyant emotionalism. It wasn't just the clunky thump-thump-thump of drum machines, as hard-rock acolytes contemptuously dismissed it. In a 1991 cover story on Madonna for London's Sunday Independent Review, I described disco as "a dark, grand Dionysian music with roots in African earth-cult" -- a defense that seemed bizarre because disco had yet to achieve academic legitimacy (which arrived in the '90s as more writers embraced popular gay history).

As an example of not going far enough, Madonna's appropriated ABBA's work for 'Hung Up.' The first instant I ever heard the song, my very first reaction, even before I knew it was Madonna, was 'damn, this must be a major artist, because who else could afford the rights to this song?' That should NEVER be one's first emotional reaction to a path-breaking song! Outrank anger is a better reaction than cynicism towards a new song - at least anger is honest, and indeed, is usually the first indication that something new has entered the world. Indeed, I remember how, when 'Lucky Star' and 'Borderline' were first heard on the airwaves in the early 80's, how I agreed for a short time with my college roommate that Madonna was terrible, and we should shun her. After a while, I realized my error, and that my anger was anger towards the new (anger towards the new that many expressed again in 1997 and 1998 when Britney Spears was first becoming popular).

Apparently Paglia agrees, at least about the part regarding the ABBA ripoff:

Through her fusion of Graham primitivism with Italian Catholic ritualism, Madonna caught the pagan majesty of disco and embodied it in a stunning body of original compositions that conquered the world and have never gone out of airplay -- "Into the Groove," "Open Your Heart," "Vogue" and a host of others. Her primary inspiration wasn't ABBA, the prolific and beloved Swedish pop group whose 1979 hit, "Gimme Gimme Gimme," is reworked -- or should I say pirated -- on "Hung Up," the signature song on her new CD. No, her real ancestor was the Italian magician, Giorgio Moroder, celebrated for the operatic albums he produced for Donna Summer in Germany, which were a direct influence on several of Madonna's fine early producers, like Jellybean Benitez.

Moroder does make an appearance on "Confessions on a Dance Floor" in the beat from Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" borrowed for "Future Lovers" (a track produced by Mirwais Ahmadzai), but it feels listless and undigested. Madonna's current main producer, Stuart Price, appears to have little feeling for or understanding of Moroder, who in my view remains the benchmark by which all old and new disco music must be measured. Last summer, Madonna described her forthcoming CD as "future disco" -- which raised the hopes of all die-hard disco fans that "Confessions on a Dance Floor" would be a masterpiece, a return to roots but also a visionary breakthrough.

That's not what we got -- though you'd never know it from the gushing reviews, which applauded the CD for achieving Madonna's purported aim of making people dance. My blood boiled at this insulting reduction of dance music to gymnastics -- mere recreational aerobics. I for one do not dance to dance music; disco for me is a lofty metaphysical mode that induces contemplation. (Of course, this may partly descend from my Agnes Gooch marginalization in the old bar scene, where I was -- as Nora Ephron would say -- a wallflower at the orgy.) Giorgio Moroder's albums, which I listened to obsessively on headphones, were an enormous inspiration to me throughout the writing of "Sexual Personae" in the 1970s and '80s. Disco at its best is a neurological event, a shamanistic vehicle of space-time travel.

Indeed, Paglia feels the album is badly-made:

I was shocked at how the reviews had failed to note its tinny shrillness, sonic cliches, and intermittently clumsy or muddy layering -- a startling lapse in Madonna's usually impeccable quality control. Even worse, the stitching together of one track into the next -- a basic disco convention that some reviews carelessly allowed readers to think was Madonna's innovation -- is in every case but one embarrassingly weak, wavering and amateurish. For decades, hundreds of ace DJs all over the world, in clubs or on street corners, have been doing masterly hypnotic variations of disco's seamless segue.

What is disappointing in "Confessions on a Dance Floor" is that its songs don't feel fully developed. It's like a first draft: Madonna is generating many interesting melodic ideas that stay in the mind, as on "Get Together" or "Forbidden Love," but they haven't really been thought through or lived with, and they are often suffocated or undermined by Price's tacky, penny-arcade embellishments. Price plainly lacks the elegant musicianship of a true techno artist like Paul van Dyk. Disco is visceral -- a quality missing here. In my opinion, there are only two truly strong songs, "Hung Up" and "Jump" -- especially the latter, with its magnificent, hymnlike ascensions.

I haven't heard the album fully myself, and a concert is usually a bad place to do so, given the arena echo that muddies even the best work. [Update: Having listened now to the album, I disagree with Paglia about the disco segues. Seamless segues are part-and-parcel of modern discotheque music, but not on orginal albums, when discrete breaks between songs are usually desirable.]

I did like that Madona is beginning to incorporate Yemenite rhythms into her work. Yemeni music distills the very soul and essence of excellent dance music:

The use of Mideastern tonalities on "Isaac" (which features a Yemeni singer from the London Kabbalah Centre) is ambitious, but the refrain becomes monotonous. The Israeli singer Ofra Haza was more effective with these atmospherics in the haunting "Love Song" and "Galbi" on her 1988 disco album, "Shaday."

Paglia is willing to give Madonna a break:

But it seems querulous to blame Madonna for anything, because she has given so much to the world. She is a model of prodigious productivity without any affectations of avant-garde self-destructiveness or anomie. Her dance moves and ensemble work have been absorbed by performers in film and TV all over the world, from Latin America to India and Japan. She revolutionized feminism by giving enormous momentum to the pro-sex wing that had been ostracized throughout the p.c. era of those puritan censors, Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon. When I wrote in my polemical 1990 New York Times op-ed that "Madonna is the future of feminism," there were squawks of disbelief on all sides -- but that is exactly what came to pass over the next decade.

Madonna is her own Hollywood studio -- a popelike mogul and divine superstar in one. She has a laserlike instinct for publicity, aided by her visual genius for still photography (which none of her legion of imitators has). Unfortunately, her public life has dissolved into a series of staged photo ops. She has become a fashion icon more than a music pioneer. She lives in a peripatetic court of paid retainers -- flacks, flunkies, cooks, nannies and adoring handmaidens (no wonder she compares herself to Cleopatra in "Like It or Not"). She acquires properties and objects to flaunt in glossy magazines but somehow expects us to accept her as a spiritual wayfarer in Kabbalah, that chic brand of gnostic mysticism that she keeps doggedly and foolishly describing as "older than religion" (sigh -- doesn't she ever read books?).

A self-described "work Nazi," Madonna is overscheduled and overprogrammed. Remarkably for a Graham dancer, she has become poor at improvisation -- which produces her manic, mechanical stage shows, where little room is left for natural warmth or banter with the audience and where the production is always too small and precious for large arenas. There is a painfully tight calculation to Madonna's self-presentation that has certainly blighted this CD, with its preachy, sepulchral voiceovers. "I hate to waste time," Madonna says. But artists recharge themselves and their imaginations precisely when they are doing nothing.

Then Paglia takes the break away, and even becomes insulting:

When will she decide she has made enough money for 10 lifetimes and recommit herself to the noble cause of making music? Music never dies. Do we really need another Madonna tour? Does she have to compete with women performers 25 years her junior? Why turn every private moment, including motherhood, into commerce and publicity? (This was then-boyfriend Warren Beatty's complaint about her in "Truth or Dare.") And why does every artistic venture have to be crushed by streamrolling promotional gimmickry (like the depressingly literalist linkage of "Hung Up" to a cellphone company)?

At a recent party in New York celebrating Salon's 10th anniversary, the formidable Cintra Wilson said mordantly to me (I scribbled all this down on a cocktail napkin at the bar), "Madonna is the Robo-Celebrity, calcified with discipline -- religiously saintly, physically superhuman, in all ways faultless. She represents the unspoken desires of America -- to be good at everything!"

Even allowing for the fact that she must strenuously maintain her hipness for a busy husband 10 years her junior, Madonna is starting to morph into the mature Joan Crawford of "Torch Song," still ferociously dancing but with her fascist willpower signaled by brute, staring eyes and fixed jawline. In cannibalizing her disco diva days, Madonna runs the risk of turning into a pasty powdered crumpet like the aging Bette Davis in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Will she become a whooping Charo shaking her geriatric hoochie-coochie hips on TV talk shows? Or should we expect a sudden, grisly collapse from glowing beauty to dust, like Ursula Andress as the 2000-year-old femme fatale in "She"? Too hungry to connect to the youth market, Madonna goes on childishly using naughty words and flipping the finger (as onstage at Live 8 last summer). Marlene Dietrich, her supreme precursor, knew how to preserve her dignity and glamour.

Madonna's seemingly-belligerent refusal to care what people think of her is overdone in a number of songs: 'the lady doth protest too much.' She is quite worried, I believe, about her reputation. Paglia gets cruel here. I know what Madonna would say. Hell, Paglia knows what Madonna would say (lyrics from 'Like It Or Not' which is on her new album):

You can call me a sinner
But you can’t call me a saint
Celebrate me for who I am
Dislike me for what I ain’t
Put me up on a pedestal
Or drag me down in the dirt
Sticks and stones will break my bones
But your names will never hurt

I’ll be the garden, you’ll be the snake
All of my fruit is yours to take
Better the devil that you know
Your love for me will grow
Because

This is who I am
You can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I’m never gonna stop, no no

Cleopatra had her way
Matahari too
Whether they were good or bad
Is strictly up to you

Life is a paradox
And it doesn’t make much sense
You can't have the femme without the fatale
Please don’t take offense

Don’t let the fruit rot under the vine
Fill up your cup and let’s drink the wine
Better the devil that you know
Your love for me will grow
Because

This is who I am
You can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I’m never gonna stop, no no, you know
This is who I am
You can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I’m never gonna stop, no no, you know

No no, you know
No no, you know
No no, you know
No no, you know

I’ll be the garden, you’ll be the snake
All of my fruit is yours to take
Better the devil that you know
Your love for me will grow
Because

This is who I am
You can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I’m never gonna stop, no no, you know
This is who I am
You can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I’m never gonna stop, no no, you know

No no, you know
No no, you know
No no, you know
No no, you know

I'm more lenient than Paglia. Madonna has done amazing things, and she might still do amazing things. At the end of last night's concert, the chorus line from 'Hung Up' echoed over and over, and whatever Kabbalah might involve, this is Madonna's true mantra:

Time goes by, so slowly
Time goes by, so slowly
Time goes by, so slowly
Time goes by, so slowly

So slowly...

There's still plenty of time!

Seven Brides Call, Plus Chroreographers & Elly Judges

Runaway Stage Productions (RSP) is looking for a replacement brother in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.".

RSP is looking for the following performers for its current production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers:

Gideon – (17 – 21) The youngest of the Pontipee Brothers. Tenor vocal range must be a good actor and dancer.

Suitor – (17 – 25) Rival of the Pontipee Brothers. Good dancer, actor and singer.

Boys and Girls – (8-14) years of age. Good singers and actors.

If you are interested in auditioning for one of these parts please contact:

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is currently in rehearsal and all interested parties are encouraged to apply immediately.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers performs July 7 – 30, 2006, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the 24th Street Theatre, 2791 24 th Street, Sacramento

Thanks,
Bob Baxter
Director
Baxterb@runawaystage.com

Also of interest is this other RSP announcement:

RSP has a position open for the next Youth Musical Theatre Workshop (YMTW):

The position is a paid position for choreographer. The position is a stipened position depending on enrollment and the commitment is approximately two days a week for 10 weeks begingin June 24th (orientation 10 a.m. - 12 noon) and Mondays, Wednesdays 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. and some Saturdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Schedules are negotiable. It is required that all staff be available for orientation, tech week and performances. If you are intersted in this position please send an e-mail expressing your interest and some experince in choreographing children ages 6-16 and your contact information (name, phone numbers and e-mail address). The production is Bye Bye Birdie and this is a general workshop for all children.

RSP also has a position of Choreographer available for The Full Monty, this is also a stipend position. The position is responsible for all choreography for the show and must be available for auditions, various rehearsals (negotiable) and tech week. If you are intersted in this position please respond with an e-mail expressing your interest, experience and contact information (name, phone number, e-mail). Auditions for the Full Monty are July 9th and 10th at 7 p.m.

SARTA is looking for judges for the Elly awards in the Young People's category. If you are interested please contact Peggy O'Guinn at the SARTA Office. Please respond immediately if you are interested in being a judge.

Madonna - "Confessions" Tour, San Jose, May 30, 2006, Pictures

I really need to get a faster digital camera, or learn how to use the one I have better. Some nice possibilities here, unrealized. Nevertheless, SFGate.com has some better shots!






"Ray of Light"


"Live To Tell" Side view of Madonna on a cross










"Like A Virgin"

"Gift of the Magi"

I ended up missing seeing my friend Jerry in San Jose. Georgette had a cell phone, but Jerry left his at home:

Too bad we missed each other! So sorry for the late start (a matter of unrealistic expectations, balancing work, picking up Georgette and the exasperating but fortunately short-lived traffic jam at Highways 580 and 680).

After arriving, I made a beeline for your office, arriving at about 6:40 p.m., but by that time you had left. Then we ate at a tacqueria near 4th & Santa Clara until 7:20 p.m., actually arriving at the arena at about 7:40 p.m.

Jerry replied:

It's like that O. Henry story, "The Gift of the Magi" -- we were both trying to do what we thought was most convenient for the other. (I thought sure that you would park close to the arena!) I figured you might get in around 6:30, so I decided to head over to the arena at about 6:05. I got over there around 6:30 and walked back-and-forth along Santa Clara Street until about 7:00

I should come down when there isn't any time pressure, and we should sit in a Mexican Restaurant for three hours and drink margaritas together!

Apprehension

The concourse at the HP Pavilion was very crowded when we arrived for the Madonna "Confessions" concert Tuesday evening in San Jose. Sometimes, especially in front of sales booths, it got to the point where movement was difficult.

At one point, two women travelling along brushed against me, one behind and one in front. The woman in front, carrying a glass of wine, noted that she might spill it on me. I joked that I'd lap up every drop, and she smiled and said it would certainly taste good. We went our separate ways on the way to our seats.

A minute later, I noticed I no longer had my wallet.

Security folks at the HP Pavilion were certainly understanding, but what could be done against a pickpocket? I spent the evening under a bit of a pall, wondering about how much credit damage would occur.

It was certainly a pleasure seeing my wallet again, on the driver's side floormat, when we returned to the car after the concert....

I did end up getting fleeced nevertheless, meaning I spent all my cash, on parking and food and gas. It would have happened anyway, but by not having the wallet with me in the arena, I probably saved money by not buying overpriced Madonna schlock using the credit card. At least I spent the cash myself rather than some criminal do it for me, though! I now have a Madonna T-Shirt, purchased from a street vendor to whom I pleaded poverty, and for which I spent $7 in random cash I had in my pocket, rather than his asking price of $10!

More On John Hancock, Plus Two Things We Can Do

Two messages today; one from Juan Ramos and one from MikeMac, regarding what's up with John. First, from Juan:

John was in surgery yesterday from 10:00 a.m. until about 6:00 p.m. Orthopedic surgery was done on his left hip and his right ankle. He held up well during surgery and recuperated well. So those who have visited him previously will notice that he no longer has weights hanging on the left side of his bed. These weights are used to keep his hips in alignment until surgery. His next surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday). The focus will be on the open wounds in his right calf and his left forearm which will involve skin grafts and orthopedic surgery on his right knee. His nurse reported this morning that as she was moving John's hand he squeezed it. That was very good news.

MikeMac reports:

John is doing pretty well. The nurse last night said today will be a rest day for him, with another 6 hours or so of dialysis. He should be a bit more responsive after that, but it's still unclear how cognizant he'll be. His pelvis has been finished, and he has plates on the two fractures, apparently. Also, you'll notice one of his legs is out of traction (no weights pulling the bones into shape), since his left leg is apparently finished with operations. He will be sent back in for more surgeries tomorrow, but he's out of heavy sedation again for a while.

His creatinin levels are rather high ..., but still nothing for them to really worry about. His kidneys are producing urine, but not always at full bore.... They said his liver functioning was pretty good, although there was still the risk that it was damaged a bit in the loss of blood pressure.

Anyone who wants to donate blood in John's name (he's had to have several units put in) can go to any Blood Bank. It's a fairly common occurence and they are prepared to handle it. There is a blood bank just two or three blocks from the UCD Med Center near between Alhambra and 32nd Street on Stockton Boulevard: 1625 Stockton Blvd, I believe. Here is a Google Maps page with some other blood banks in the Sacramento Metropolitan area:

MikeMac continues:

Here is an e-mail from Noemi Rios detailing "Take Me Out" performance dates:

The show (in case you have not already received the information) runs through to June 17th.

We have performances on Fri June 2, and Sat June 3, and Sun June 4, Fri June 9th and Sat June 10th, Fri June 16 and Close on Sat June 17. Tickets are $15.00, and the show starts at 8:00PM.

Tickets are selling fast. Hope you can pass on the word or come see the show yourself. Thank you for your help.

Noemi C. Rios

Only 7 more chances to see it and support Juan and John!

John Hancock Update

The word this weekend from several visitors was that John 'turned a corner' in his progress, meaning his condition has stabilized and is no longer quite as precarious as last week. His eyes are open now.

This morning, John Hancock is in surgery, to address his hip and pelvic injuries (there wasn't much time to address these problems last week). Here is a message direct from Juan Ramos:

He is scheduled for surgery today at about 10:00 a.m. to address the injuries to both hips and his pelvis. This will be about 6 to 8 hours, visits should be scheduled for after 7:00 p.m. tonight. He had a day of respite from every-other-day surgeries because of the Memorial Day holiday. I was with him last night from 9:00 p.m. to midnight and despite the heavy sedation he was very slowly blinking his eyes in response to my voice, for which I was grateful. It will be awhile before he can come out of the sedation and the anesthesia from surgeries. UCD staff has been absolutely incredible and continue to address his injuries as rapidly as they can while continuing to keep him stable which is quite a balancing act. The doctors did say he has "turned the corner." I continue to encourage his numerous friends and loved ones to visit him and talk to him even though he is under sedation. I know it has been and will be a very important part of his healing. You may call 734-2848 beforehand to make sure he out of the operation room and in his room.

Fashion Dictatorship

See, Gabe, I know all about red yarn Kabbalah wristbands - the Internet told me about it!:

In today’s fast-paced 21st century society, we have seen a flood of icons that have influenced the world of fashion. Paris Hilton made a Chihuahua the latest accessory for wannabe celebrities and Pharell made it cool to pop the collar of your Lacoste polo. Even so, these fads (and oftentimes celebrities) tend to fade out as soon as they come. With Madonna, it’s totally different. Back in the 80’s she made rubber bracelets a staple in little girls’ jewelry boxes and we will never forget her “pleasuring” antics in that pointy Blonde Ambition bra. Sure, there are times when her experimental couture ways were immediate flops, but most of the time, her style tends to echo throughout time. Otherwise, people wouldn’t be wearing those rubber bracelets today or donning pearl snap cowboy shirts reminiscent of her “Don’t Tell Me” video.

Here Come The Clones!

There was an interesting item in the paper yesterday ("Bettors Nightmare: 2 Identical Mules" - no link, however) regarding a mule race, soon to be held in Winnemucca, NV, between Idaho Gem and Idaho Star, mules who have not just similar names, are not simply related, but are actually clones of each other. It sounds like a fascinating experiment to decouple the nature-vs.-nurture debate, and just look at the nuture part.

Idaho Gem was the first animal from the horse family cloned and his brother, Idaho Star, was the third. Both were born three years ago and carry identical DNA taken from a fetus produced by the same parents that sired a champion mule racer named Taz.

For my part, I'm rooting for Idaho Gem, although I'm hard-pressed to say why, exactly. Maybe it's because:

Idaho Gem bolted and ran over his trainer's foot when a helicopter flew nearby. Star remained calm.

Artistic Differences

In the last decade, small community and school-based theater organizations have proliferated in Sacramento. These groups are responding to a variety of needs, not least of which is finding genuine artistic expression in an age when large media organizations threaten to pre-empt and co-opt all such expression.

In the six months since DMTC opened the Hoblit Performing Arts Center, several groups have either sprung into existence to take advantage of the new facility's availability (Dreamcoat Productions; Teen Cabaret, Helen Spangler's Children's Workshop) or have used the facility to further their own mission (Flying Monkees).

Now, a new organization is taking shape: Artistic Differences. Erik Daniells is one of the people behind the new venture: there are a number of others as well.

Like Flying Monkees, Artistic Differences isn't necessarily wedded to one physical facility, but rather, is in service to a concept. Flying Monkees is in service to young musical theater enthusiasts. Artistic Differences is in service to a more nebulous, but nevertheless noble, goal - artistic excellence:

We are committed to planning and executing each of our staged productions to achieve the highest artistic quality to which we are capable. We will not be afraid to take calculated artistic risks and will strive for growth based on a continual critical evaluation of our strengths and weaknesses.

Artistic excellence is hard to achieve in musical theater, because the effort is necessarily a collaborative effort, and can be hamstrung by the weakest part of the effort. It seems to me that there two ways to have the best shot at artistic excellence:

• use the best available performers; and,
• allow ample time for rehearsals.

Hopefully, the new group will do both.

The first public performance of Artistic Differences will be with the show "Falsettos," with a preview scheduled for Sunday, July 2nd at 8:00 PM at DMTC's Hoblit Performing Arts Center, 607 Peña Drive, Davis, and with shows scheduled July 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and continuing on August 4th, 5th, 6th. A number of good performers are already lined up:

Michael RJ Campbell, Ken Figeroid, Marcy Goodnow, Joey Harris, Margaret Hollinbeck, Craig Howard, Jerry Lee, Kristen Wagner and more to be announced.

The best of good fortune with this new venture!

Tropical Storm Aletta

First of the Pacific season!

Start With A Bang?

The NOGAPS computer weather model looks ahead a week, and sees the month of June, the beginning of hurricane season, starting with a tropical storm near Bermuda.

2000 Pound Wonder

Pat Robertson either:

• is the strongest man alive; or,
• has trouble with numbers.

Pot Doesn't Cause Lung Cancer?

The strange result of a recent study. I figured smoke of any sort is likely to cause cancer, but this study suggests otherwise.

Bay Checkerspot Butterfly

(Left): Caption from Washington Post: Traffic-induced habitat changes are threatening the breeding grounds of the bay checkerspot. (Courtesy Jon Christensen)


There is an article in today's Sacramento Bee, written by Juliet Eilperin from the Washington Post, discussing the rare Bay Checkerspot Butterfly, which lives on endangered habitat in the Serpentine Hills immediately adjacent to San Jose, and on Coyote Ridge, south of town.

Recently, a biologist named Stuart Weiss determined that cattle grazing is an essential element in keeping the Checkerspot's favored shrubby habitat from being overrun by nitrogen-loving grasses. Nitrogen deposition (nitrogen-bearing air-pollutant compounds like nitric acid and ammonia settling out on the land) has greatly increased in recent decades as the area became urbanized. Nitrogen deposition tilts the biological playing field towards grasses and away from shrubs. Grass-eating cows tilt the playing field back in the other direction, back towards butterfly-friendly shrubs.

But on Coyote Ridge's northern edge, their numbers crashed in the early 1990s as Silicon Valley's high-tech boom spurred a wave of development. The species, with its brilliant orange-and-red-flecked wings, first crashed between Palo Alto and San Francisco in the 1980s, prompting federal officials to list it as threatened with extinction. Then in the early '90s its numbers dropped on the southern edge of San Jose, around the suburban subdivisions that abut Coyote Ridge.

The cause was a mystery until conservation biologist Stuart Weiss figured out that the butterfly's woes stemmed from a combination of pollution from the freeway below and, surprisingly, a cutback in local cattle grazing.

The fate of the bay checkerspot -- despite its problems, the butterfly still hatches in mid-April -- highlights the complexity of ecological relationships. As development surged, the stress of vehicular and power plant pollution devastated a population cycle that had existed for centuries.

Over years of research, Weiss -- who has worked for utility and waste management companies as well as conservation groups and government agencies -- documented how the nitrogen oxide emissions from cars commuting to Silicon Valley enriched the nutrient-poor serpentine-rock soil that sustains the native grasslands on Coyote Ridge. This soil enrichment allowed invasive grasses -- which flourish in more nitrogen-rich soil -- to out-compete the native plants on which the checkerspot depends. When local ranchers stopped grazing their cows on one side of the ridge, it made things worse, because grazing helped keep invasive grasses in check.

"The grazed side is great butterfly habitat, the ungrazed side is lousy," Weiss said. "You end grazing in the areas and it's bye-bye butterflies."

While Weiss may appear an unlikely champion for ranchers -- the amiable Stanford-trained scientist brings along a thermos of green tea and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate on his field trips -- he says that, in this case, cows play a vital role in preventing what he calls a "drive-by extinction." Cattle seek out the most nutritious grasses, he explained, and so they consume the grasses that threaten the dwarf plantain (Plantago erecta), critical to the checkerspot caterpillars.

There is no question that exhaust from cars cruising below Coyote Ridge is depositing nitrogen in the ridge's soil. About 110,000 vehicles a day traverse Highway 101 and, along with other urban sources, annually deposit 15 to 20 pounds of nitrogen per acre on the ridge, according to Weiss's monitoring equipment. Some of the nitrogen is absorbed by living plants, while small particles of the pollutant stick to plants and the ground and are washed into the soil by rain. By contrast, pollution from power plants and vehicles each year deposits just four to five pounds of nitrogen per acre on Jasper Ridge, a Stanford University biological reserve half an hour away.

By the mid-1990s, the checkerspot's numbers on Coyote Ridge's northern end had dropped from about 50,000 to near extinction. But in areas that have been grazed and well maintained, the population hovers in the low hundreds of thousands.

As part of the state permitting process for construction of the recently-built and nitrogen-generating Metcalf power plant, Calpine Corporation agreed to set up an endowment to ensure that cattle grazing can be implemented in perpetuity on these hills, whatever the cattle market might be, in order to offset the extra nitrogen deposition from the power plant, plus the far-larger nitrogen deposition wafting in from automobile emissions.

Unlike some conservation sagas, however, in this case local businesses and elected officials listened to Weiss, and it has made a difference, not only on Coyote Ridge. When Calpine Corp. decided to build a 600-megawatt power plant that would emit 120 tons of nitrogen oxide a year, Weiss lobbied the firm to create a 131-acre butterfly and plant reserve on nearby Tulare Hill as mitigation.

Calpine assented, setting aside the habitat six years ago and providing a $1.3 million endowment to manage the land. "It was increasingly clear there was some concern about sensitive hillside habitat, and this seemed to be the best means to address this," said Kent Robertson, Calpine's director of public relations. Local chapters of the Sierra Club and American Lung Association welcomed the move, he said.

That established a precedent, so when the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority moved to expand Highway 101 below Coyote Ridge from four lanes to eight, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service instructed the agency to preserve 548 acres of habitat as compensation. Fish and Wildlife determined that the pollution from the increased traffic posed a threat not only to the butterfly but to four federally listed endangered plants as well: the Santa Clara Valley dudleya, Metcalf Canyon jewelflower, coyote ceanothus and Tiberon paintbrush.

"Obviously, when you are expanding a highway or doing a major construction project, there are going to be environmental impacts," said transportation agency spokeswoman Jayme Kunz, adding that the June 2005 land purchase cost $55.3 million. "We felt mitigation was a critical part of doing any kind of construction that would expand our highway."

In any event, as part of my job here at Sierra Research, I did the air quality modeling regarding nitrogen deposition on these hills, on behalf of Calpine Corporation.

Long live the Checkerspot Butterfly!

John Hancock Update

More this morning from MikeMac:

John is doing very well. Late last night, he squeezed both Lauren's and mine hands. The nurse says he's off main sedation, meaning he's no longer being kept under, but since his kidneys aren't filtering the chemicals out so well, they're still keeping him down. I hope (and the nurse concurs) that dialysis today will put out a lot of the chemicals and we'll see more response from him. However, he is scheduled for some surgeries today around noon; the doctors are hoping to take care of his pelvic fracture, right upper arm fracture, and take a look at his left (I think) ankle to see if there's anything to be done other than keeping it in one place like they're doing now. It's probable that this anesthesia will add to the other drugs in his system and set him back on the "wake-up" timetable. However, with his kidneys starting back up, we may not have long to wait anyways.

The doctor came in last night to check on him a bit, and asked John to open his eyes, and he did! This is a Very Very Good Thing, since it means John is capable of hearing us and respond to commands. We're all very excited about it!

He's almost breathing on his own. The respiratory technician said that John was initiating the breathing pretty much entirely by himself, but the respirator was still supplying "high backup pressure", which is taken to mean the machine is pushing air into his lungs, but is waiting for John to start the breath, so his lungs are starting to come back. If you go in there and look at the screen, there's a green line with a few purple streaks in it... the purple is apparently his lungs sucking on the respirator vent.

Drunk Driving Record

Shouldn't even be alive!:

Lithuanian police were so astonished by a breath test that registered 18 times the legal alcohol limit, they thought their device must be broken. It wasn't.

Police said Tuesday 41-year-old Vidmantas Sungaila registered 7.27 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood repeatedly on different devices after he was pulled over Saturday for driving his truck down the center of a two-lane highway 60 miles from the capital, Vilnius.

Lithuania's legal limit is 0.4 grams per liter.

"This guy should have been lying dead, but he was still driving. It must be an unofficial national record," Saulius Skvernelis, director of the national police traffic control service, told the AP. "He was of high spirits and grinning the whole time he was questioned."

Church Vs. Madonna

First time (Like A Prayer) as tragedy, second time as farce? Or is second time tragedy too? Or was it always farce? In any event, the Church of England is annoyed:

But church authorities were not impressed when she appeared on a 6m-high mirrored cross to sing the ballad Live to Tell, while video screens showed images of world poverty.

"Is Madonna prepared to take on everything else that goes with wearing a crown of thorns?" asked a Church of England spokesman.

"And why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?"

David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance, a London-based charitable organisation, said: "It is downright offensive. Madonna's use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous.

"The Christian reaction to this sort of thing tends to be tempered, but if the same thing was done with the imagery or iconography of other faiths the reaction would be very different," he told London's Evening Standard newspaper.

In 1989, the Vatican attacked Madonna's accompanying video for the song Like a Prayer as blasphemous. It featured burning crosses and a black Jesus.

As an agnostic, I basically don't care. I see the Church's point. I'm not sure what Madonna's point is. Anyway, I plan to be completely offended Tuesday evening, when I journey to San Jose to see all this blasphemy in-person.

John Hancock Update

Portions of MikeMac's morning E-Mail:

So I talked to Juan today, around 8:30 or so. He says John got a glowing report from the nurses last night. He seems to be steadily, if slowly, improving. The physician says ... that the next few days should be "rest days" from the surgeries. On Saturday, the physician expects all of John's traumatized systems to begin working on their own again, including the kidneys and his lungs (I believe). There is still no ETA on consciousness.

...As Marc noted, they were showing pictures of the wrecked BMW. It's a miracle of German engineering that John is alive. The driver's seat was pushed all the way back, almost in the back seat, but the steering wheel and column were crushed into the front dash, probably still a comfortable arm's length from the seat. The Buick crashed it's midsection into John's corner of the car. R. said the Buick had a "Vee-shaped" dent in the front. There are several scratches and dents on the hood where they assume the BMW slid on the ground, although the police reconstruction & diagram says they flipped anywhere from 1 to 4 times. The pictures are probably not for the squeamish; they're kind of scary to think of John inside it.

...Juan will be performing in "Take Me Out" tonight, but I believe it's sold out to a group which always buys a large block of tickets to Lambda Players shows. It might be a good idea to go see John tonight, if possible, since it's unknown just how many people will be at the hospital or at "Take Me Out", but we should try to see it sometime in the next couple weeks.

Yesterday afternoon, when several people were passing around photos of the car, someone else also remarked on how the front seat was pushed into the back seat. From my perspective, the opposite observation seemed more notable, how there was still space between the front seat and the back seat. It showed how, excepting around the driver's feet, the eggshell-like passenger compartment held together, despite the intense impact.

Defanging Right Wing Hate Crusades

So much to blog about: so little time!

J. shared a Chain E-Mail making the rounds attacking Cindy Sheehan. Here is my take....

Last year, the Congress increased the 'death gratuity' from $12,420 to $100,000, with another $150,000 to $300,000 available through life insurance - that explains the $250,000 mentioned by the Chain E-Mail writer. The 'death gratuity' was made retroactive to Sept. 11th, 2001, but I suspect the life insurance wasn't (I don't know how life insurance works if you can retroactively enroll the dead). So, the $250,000 figure is likely an exaggeration.

What's with the character assassination stuff? Presumably, opponents of Cindy Sheehan feel they are highlighting her hypocrisies, but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that her current work is a far better monument to her son's life than some carved stone. There's an eternity of time for a slab of marble, but the current work is far more urgent.

The mothers of fallen soldiers deserve respect - they have earned it.

C., who is also a veteran, replies:

Regardless of whether American agree or disagree with Cindy Sheehan, it is her right as an American to protest as she may. Most importantly she is a "Gold Star Mother" (Mother's who lost their son's in time of war) and has earned the right to protest regardless of what others may have to say. On a personal note, because I feel she is being manipulated I do not agree with a lot of what she has to say.

Myself, I note that Cindy Sheehan began her protest with no help. I doubt she is being manipulated beyond any point she feels comfortable with.

And that Chain E-Mail? Here it is....
-------------------------------------------
Tells you something about that old gal !!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: STUCK ON STUPID!

What Is This Picture? Read Below

Obviously, it's a picture in a cemetery. What cemetery and whose grave?

Sadly, it's the grave of Casey Sheehan. After two years, and a DoD payment of $250,000 to the "Peace Mom", Cindy Sheehan has not had the time or bothered to have a headstone placed on this young hero's grave. And, she doesn't even have to pay for one, the DoD will provide one:

"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) furnishes upon request, at no charge to the applicant, a government headstone or marker for the grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world. For all deaths occurring before September 11, 2001, the VA may provide a headstone or marker only for graves that are not marked with a private headstone.

Flat markers in granite, marble, and bronze and upright headstones in granite and marble are available. The style chosen must be consistent with existing monuments at the place of burial. Niche markers are also available to mark columbaria used for inurnment of cremated remains."

Apparently she can find time to protest on at least 3 continents, get arrested various times, go on vacation in Hawaii, have photo ops with the Marxists in Venezuela, but can't seem to find the time to properly mark her son's grave.

Ever wonder what the expression "stuck on stupid" meant? Well here is an example:

The grinning idiot clinging to Je$$e Jack$on is Cindy Sheehan... the sob sister protesting the war at Bush's ranch, who lost her son in the war, the same son she gave up in her divorce when he was 7 years old.

And by the way if you wonder why she has so much free time ... she is going through another divorce right now and guess what? She is giving up custody of another son.

As Forest Gump once wisely proclaimed, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Please DO pass this one along.

First Visit To UCD Med Center

Left: Bronze (1991) by Lisa Reinertson, UCD Medical Center, Sacramento.


Made my first visit late this afternoon to UCD Med Center to see John Hancock. John was unconscious, following surgery this morning.

Juan Ramos wasn't there (hopefully getting some desperately-needed rest), but other friends and family of John were present. Family members in the waiting room passed around shocking photos of the ruined BMW, taken in the auto shop where they had towed the ruined car. The integrity of the German-engineered, solidly-built passenger compartment was barely maintained following the head-on collision. The driver's area was practically pulverized. The other car must have been moving very fast (someone said maybe 80 mph, although those speeds would be very difficult to reach on Riverside Blvd.)

A physician came out to the waiting room to explain what the surgery that morning had entailed. In general, it sounded pretty good, considering. John stayed warm and his blood pressure remained stable, and there were no complications.

The abdomen had been cleaned and a piece of intestine had been removed. Starting tomorrow, feeding down a feeding tube can start.

The orthopedic surgeons were able to clean and dress the right calf. Both ankles had been broken in the accident, but in the left ankle, the bones had been dislocated as well. The surgeons reduced the amount of dislocation in the left ankle, in anticipation of the time when the bones can be further relocated and set.

John is on continuous dialysis. The hemorrhagic shock caused by accident is causing fluid retention and preventing the kidneys from functioning. The physician anticipates that it will be 5 to 7 days before the swelling has gone down enough to allow kidney function to return.


I'm feeling awfully vulnerable about driving around these days! Seeing all those desperately hurt people in the ICU is enough to make you get religion about all sorts of things, like speed limits and seat belts and drunk driving laws!

Afterwards, I mulled over what I'd seen. Even though it's not quite apropos in this instance, since this collision is more like a crime than an accident, I keep coming back to one of the best books to ever have come out of the decade of the Counterculture 1960's, a book which went through numerous revisions, entitled: "The Idiot's Compleat Guide to Volkswagen Repair," a book which I found most useful when I had my VW Bug (1977 - 1990). There was a quote which I remember, all these years later, and which I paraphrase:

We would all drive a lot more safely if we were strapped like Aztec sacrifices on our front bumpers.

Unarguably true, but maybe beside the point. Maybe most people would drive more safely, but what about the others, the reckless speed demons? There are times when you need every ounce of German ingenuity, and BMW engineering, not the more-fragile VW sort, just to survive!

Bonding With Robots

Quite understandable - they do what we wouldn't dare!

U.S. soldiers in Iraq are giving nicknames and forming emotional bonds with bomb-defusing robots they have come to regard as teammates, according to the founder of the company that invented the machines.

IRobot Chief Executive Colin Angle said one group of soldiers even named its robot “Scooby Doo” and grieved when it was blown up after completing 35 successful missions defusing improvised explosive devices.

“Please fix Scooby Doo because he saved my life,” a soldier told repair technicians, according to Angle’s account at last week’s Future in Review technology conference.

Two... Three Things We Can Do

The first impulse everyone in the Sacramento Musical Theater community felt upon hearing of John and Juan's car crash was 'what can I do to help?' We have sufficient nerve to wave magic wands, like a Congress of Glindas, and try to make things better, but alas, we are amateurs, not surgeons, and not even as skilled as Celtic Druid shamans, and thus our magic only goes so far.

There are two things we can do as a community, however. The first is to support Lambda Players and see "Take Me Out." Juan will be back onstage this weekend. Our understanding is that Stage Manager Noemi Rios found a replacement for John, and let's do what we can to support him: the stage can be scary place for an understudy.

The second thing was suggested by Ben Wormeli:

I was trying to think of something I could do to help this morning, and I realized one thing I do for DMTC might help here. If any of you wonderful singers would like to serenade John with a lullabye as he recovers, or something more upbeat when he's conscious and feeling better, I would be happy to accompany you on the guitar. It's not a piano, but it's very portable. It's probably not something we can do in the ICU, but perhaps once he's out. Let me know. I would be happy to do this, day or night.

I can start bringing my guitar and my musicals "fake" book to work here in Sacramento everyday so I'm always ready when you are. Please pass this on to anyone else you think might be interested in doing this.

MikeMac thinks it's a great idea:

I love it! It's also something he could join in on when he's feeling better, and might help his diaphragm recover from all the surgeries he's had/is going to need. It might also be a good idea to bring him tapes of shows he's missing, along with live commentary from visiting cast members. Anyone interested in this should contact Ben.

I can pass along any messages to Ben - E-Mail Marc Valdez at mvaldez@sierraresearch.com

Plus, Ryan Adame is gathering signatures on the matte surrounding a framed photograph of John. The photograph is available at DMTC's Theater in Davis:

I had a picture of John blown up (20" x 30") (double-fisting some drinks at Mike & Lauren's bachelor/bachelorette party -- in true John style!) yesterday, with a tons and tons of room on the mat for people to sign. The picture will be at the theatre through Sunday. I sent Steve an e-mail to send to the entire DMTC list, so look for that too, but please come by as you are able and leave a note, etc. for John.

Update

(As summarized from MikeMac's E-Mails):

This morning, John is in surgery. The orthopedists are making their first efforts on John's legs. They've been impatiently waiting until his condition stabilized enough to start work. Surgeons are also doing abdominal work. Apparently, guest visits will be suspended for a short time immediately following surgery. According to MikeMac:

Juan & Co. will be waiting off on seeing him after the surgery, preferring to make sure he has enough time to recuperate before surrounding him again.

Nevertheless, people are still encouraged to come visit John:

He's still in Tower 2 of the UCD Medical Center, SICU1 on level 2 (Google Maps). The parking structure is on the right as you turn off of Stockton towards the Medical Center. An information desk is directly inside the hospital to the east (right on the map) of the parking structure, and they can direct you to "SI1".

Continuing quoting MikeMac:

Apparently, when a nurse was flushing out his mouth early this morning, he opened his eyes! This is not to say he was fully aware of where he was, but it is a Very Good Thing.

We saw John extensively last night, and he looks considerably better than the previous day. The dialysis seems to be working, and he doesn't appear as swollen as before. He's still unconcious, but the nurses feel he's reaching a point where they can ask him if he can open his eyes. His hand seems to tighten a little sometimes around people's hands, and when I tell him an off-color joke, the spasms seem sort of like laughter. Juan says the best thing is for people to just be there, holding his hand, touching his head and talking to him.

SacBee on John Hancock

Left: John Hancock, looking serious, at DMTC's Adult Acting Workshop, July 23, 2005, portraying the disdainful Mr. Potter in "It's A Wonderful Life."


I was wondering when the Sacramento Bee would have something - John has far too many friends for this news not to stir concern far and wide in Sacramento:

At about 6:30 p.m., Hancock and Ramos were on their way to the theater in a 1997 silver BMW 328i for an evening performance, eastbound on Riverside Boulevard. Near Shoreside Drive, a man driving a 1989 Buick west on Riverside crossed over the dividing line, hitting the BMW head-on, Sacramento Police Sgt. Terrell Marshall said.

The driver of the Buick got out of his car and ran. Firefighters had to extricate Hancock from his car, a 1997 silver BMW. He was life-flighted to UC Davis Medical Center.

A Bit More Info Regarding John Hancock

Here's what I know, based upon E-Mail traffic. I need to visit myself, perhaps tomorrow...

Several people have gone to see him in the hospital (Steve, MikeMac, Lauren), and a few more will go today (Jan). Steve had first heard about the accident from Bob Olson, who, perhaps because he works for a television station (or maybe just because he was watching television), may have been in a good position to hear first. They were driving to their show Saturday night, about 7:10 p.m., and were hit head-on by a vehicle going the wrong direction. The other driver ran off.

John's condition is critical, but stable. He is in Special ICU 1 (SI1), Tower 2, UCD Med Center (phone number is 916-734-2848). The main desk is at 916-734-2011. He is unconscious. According to Mike Mac:

He's in a neck brace and a respirator, and just about every square inch of his body is covered by plaster, tubes or the sheets, except for his head above the mouth and parts of his arms and hands. He looks pretty roughed up.

More Trouble in River City

The Reclamation Board will meet to reconsider its vote:

The state Reclamation Board plans to reconsider an April vote that moved toward allowing luxury homes to be built on top of levees on a Delta island.

Board President Ben Carter announced his intention to reconsider the vote at the board's meeting Friday (May 19) in Merced. He cited concerns that the decision violated state open-meetings law. That concern was expressed at the time by the board's own attorney, but ignored by the board.

It's not clear what's really going on here, but it should be closely watched.

A Really Bad Auto Accident

John Hancock and Juan Ramos were hit, head-on, on Riverside Boulevard, Saturday night, on the way to Lambda Player's "Take Me Out." Juan was badly bruised, but is nevertheless doing much better than John, whose limbs were shattered (particularly his ankles), and suffered a lacerated liver plus other internal injuries, etc., etc. Apparently they had to use the jaws-of-life and a life flight helicopter to get him out of there.

John is at UCD Med Center, Tower 2. Call Juan at 734-2011 to arrange visits. They are encouraging visits, although be advised that John isn't out of the woods yet, and is seriously sedated.

Bonehead Beinart's Book

So, I see Peter Beinart's book, "The Good Fight" is finally out, the one he's been working on for two years (after reportedly getting a $600,000 advance). Beinart is former Editor at The New Republic (TNR), and basically drove me away from that once-fine magazine. Peter Beinart is the evil Mr. Hyde to the august Walter Lippmann's (the founder of TNR) good Dr. Jekyll.

Beinart believes that liberals, and liberals only - no freakin' hippies or 'progressives' or union people or populists or anyone without an Ivy League credential - will set things aright. Walter Lippmann believed something of the same sort in the years following World War I. Trouble is, Beinart draws the liberal circle so tight that not many people can squeeze into his circle of the Elect. I consider myself to be a liberal's liberal, not the least bit interested in identity politics, but it's clear that even I'm too damned progressive for his company. The trouble is, politics is made up of grand coalitions, so who exactly is going to implement his vision of the future, if just about everyone is excluded? Lippmann, to my knowledge, never was so picky.

There was a time, in the fifties and sixties, when no good liberal in New York even knew what to think unless they had read Walter Lippmann's newspaper column first. That wonderful authority will elude Mr. Beinart: he has proven wrong on so many counts that he can't possibly recover.

George Will has some stern words for liberals, and predictably-enough, uses Beinart to make his points for him.

His project of curing liberalism's amnesia begins by revisiting Jan. 4, 1947, when liberal anti-totalitarians convened at the Willard to found Americans for Democratic Action. It became their instrument for rescuing the Democratic Party from Henry Wallace and his fellow traveling followers who, locating the cause of the Cold War in American faults, were precursors of Michael Moore and his ilk among today's "progressives."

Beinart conflates the followers of Henry Wallace with those of Michael Moore. First, Moore is a social critic, not a leader. Moveon.org is an organizational device, not a party, And there is no danger of an AlQaeda fifth column in the U.S. among native-born Americans. Beinart's analogies fall apart at the slightest examination. Nevertheless, Beinart's solution is to purge all progressives. Thanks, Peter! George Will continues:

Today's doughfaces are "progressives" who flinch from the fact that, as Beinart says, "America could not have built schools for Afghan girls had it not bombed the Taliban first."

Fine as far as it goes, which isn't far. There is no point building schools for Afghan girls if the girls suffer execution as an immediate consequence of attending those schools. They need protection. In today's Afghanistan, they don't get it.

... Since [Vietnam], Beinart argues, liberals have lacked a narrative of national greatness that links America's missions at home and abroad. It has been said that whereas the right-wing isolationists in the 1930s believed that America was too good for the world, left-wing isolationists in the 1960s believed that the world was too good for America. After Vietnam, Beinart says, liberal foreign policy was "defined more by fear of American imperialism than fear of totalitarianism."

Human rights is the liberal narrative of national greatness. Study Jimmy Carter, if you have a chance.

Beinart briskly says "I was wrong" in supporting the invasion of Iraq. Wrong about Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. Wrong in being "too quick to give up on containment." Wrong about the administration's competence to cope with the war's aftermath. ("Staffers tasked with postwar reconstruction were told to bring two suits. They would be home by the end of summer.") Denouncing conservatives for waging a "war of hubris and impatience," Beinart says that "George W. Bush has faithfully carried out the great conservative project. He has stripped away the restraints on American power, in an effort to show the world that we are not weak. And in the process, he has made American power illegitimate, which has made us weak." Because "the more proactive America wanted to be, the stronger international institutions had to become."

Why should liberals - progressives if you will - follow someone who's always so wrong like Peter Beinart?

Beinart worries that "the elections of 2006 and 2008 could resemble the elections of 1974 and 1976, when foreign policy exhaustion, and Republican scandal, propelled Democrats to big gains." If so, those gains will be "a false dawn." The country will eventually turn right because, "whatever its failings, the right at least knows that America's enemies need to be fought."

This "false dawn" remains a possibility, because the Democratic party is so damned timid. Progressive muscle is needed!

The American Prospect has a better approach towards Beinart.

If we are to move forward along lines Beinart suggests, we need to know whether Beinart and other liberal hawks will recognize the difference between antitotalitarian liberalism and conservatism, neo- or otherwise, when they see it. Unfortunately, Beinart slips and slides around this question. His chapter on Iraq, which rehearses the administration’s various arguments for war, reads at first blush like a wise and disinterested account of a tragic march to folly. But he writes about this period as if he’d spent it on a mountaintop in Tibet instead of editing an influential magazine and cheering on the administration virtually every step of the way -- and accusing war critics, not all of whom (news flash: not even a majority of whom) are anti-imperialist Chomskyites, of “intellectual incoherence” and “abject pacifism,” as he so unforgettably put matters to The Washington Post in February 2003. I resented those comments at the time personally, I still do, and I know a lot of people who feel similarly.

I took Beinart's insults personally. I take this stupid book personally too. "This book should not be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

The hell with Peter Beinart and his ilk.

Bully Boy

Mark Salter, Arizona Senator John McCain's Chief of Staff, decides to go medieval on Jean Rohe's student ass for talking back to the Senator. Rohe responds....

Just another example of how Republicans like to dish it out, but have trouble taking it.

Making A Forecast

First tropical storm of the season, a Pacific storm, south of Acapulco, by morning of May 25th....

The Happy Couple

Disordered husband, orderly wife:

Every since childhood, Sandy says he has woken up with scratches all over his body.

“There’s blood on the pillows, scratches there,” he said.

It’s the work, he believes, of aliens who run tests on him in his sleep.

“I believe I’m being abducted by aliens, by ETs, you might say. I basically feel like a lab rat,” he said.

He knows it sounds unbelievable, which is why he took so long to tell his wife.

Material Girl

OK, I stuck my foot in it: Madonna, HP Pavilion, San Jose, Tuesday, May 30th. Seats looking from the side of the stage.

Don't put me off 'cause I'm on fire
And I can't quench my desire
Don't you know that I'm burning up for your love
You're not convinced that that is enough
I put myself in this position
And I deserve the imposition
But you don't even know I'm alive
And this pounding in my heart just won't die
I'm burning up

Chorus:

I'm burning up, burning up for your love
I'm burning up, burning up for your love
I'm burning up, burning up for your love
For your love

Lizard Brain

Ah, the term 'lizard brain' was popularized by 'marketing guru' Clotaire Rapaille! It's an appropriate term for the way we make consumer choices. I've always thought that the automobile industry is a very lizard-brain enterprise, because it is driven so much by our desires and wants. The oil industry, on the other hand, is always tethered to reality by the geological nature of its starting point. No matter how conservative they might be, oil men are always rational in the end - they have to be - whereas auto men can never afford to be rational, ever.

Bebe

I was going a bit out of my mind trying to make a marathon dash in finishing up shredding Katherine's law office papers on Friday and Saturday. My last push fell short: there are still four boxes to go.

A bit stir crazy, and suffering a bit from hearing loss (it's not my headphones at work - the shrill whine of one of the shredders grates after many hours), I went to Arden Fair Mall, to meet up with the DMTC gang, who are going over to see "Guys and Dolls" at RSP this evening.

Entering Arden Fair Mall, two teenage girls were doubled over with paroxysms of laughter just outside the store windows for 'Bebe.' As I passed, their laughter only intensified. What was so amusing? Two girl friends were inside Bebe, standing in the store window, doing their mannikin best to be both elegant and motionless....

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Identification Kit

I was thinking of buying a new digital camera, but maybe I should be thinking on a bigger scale. You never know when you might stumble across some WMD, at home, or just around town:

The Environmental Protection Agency requires the following items, BRAND NAME OR EQUAL, to the following: LI 001, KT1040-1 MicroCat WMD System with new Sony HD Series Camera. Includes 1 free seat for the S1803 training class. (See attached SOW for details), 1, EA; LI 002, KT1044 CommercialCat System, 1, EA; LI 003, Freight S&H, 2, EA.

Oy Vey!, Broadway!

This should be a wonderful show! Gil said the idea was to do a show featuring Broadway songs created by Jewish composers. That is a huge number of songs though; basically, most everything ever sung on Broadway. With such a vast array of material to work with, how can one go wrong?:

OY VEY! BROADWAY! Musical Revue - Directed by Lenore & Gil Sebastian
May 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, June 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16 and 17

Lenore and Gil Sebastian, the creators of last season's hit SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY present a revival of their 1992 smash hit musical revue honoring the Jewish songwriters of the Broadway stage. From Romberg to Rodgers, Hart to Hammerstein, and Berlin to Bernstein, enjoy the musical showstoppers that have delighted audiences on the Great White Way for generations. Don't miss this one!

CHAUTAUQUA PLAYHOUSE, Carmichael
http://www.cplayhouse.com/
916-489-7529
Friday and Saturday evenings, 8 p.m.
3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays, 2 p.m. [Sundays almost sold out!]

Bastardos

You've got to hand it to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page. As a snarky aside, with no evidence whatsoever, they casually accuse Massachusetts Senator John Kerry of treason.

If only there had been a border fence between Vietnam and Cambodia, he might never have run weapons to the Khmer Rouge!

Well, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board is actually a cabal of cannibals intent on eating Catholic flesh!

So there!

Train Loses Air

A pneumatic hose broke, or something, and so they've stopped a train right across all of Midtown's rail crossings, from the American River levee, to S Street, creating a huge traffic jam.

Actually, I think they are looking for my penny....

Apes

There have been several stories in the media in the last several days about intelligent putty-nosed monkeys, who compose grammatically-correct sentences:

“The pyow-hack sequence means something like ‘let’s go’ whereas the pyows by themselves have multiple functions and the hacks are generally used as alarm calls.”

And apes who plan ahead:

Both orangutans and bonobos were able to figure out which tool would work in an effort to retrieve grapes, and were able to remember to bring that tool along hours later, researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

No stories about more common apes, however. B., who used to work graveyard at the AM/PM convenience store, told me about one customer she particularly loathed. He would walk up to the service window at 3 a.m., fling coins in the change tray, and without further elaboration or even making eye contact, shout "GUM!" at the window.

Unexpected Hostility

At 10:16 p.m., I was driving north on 21st Street behind a small black sedan carrying several people, when the front-seat passenger stood up, leaned outside the window, and flung a bottle directly at a pedestrian just north of, and walking away from, the Press Club, at P Street. The nonplussed pedestrian didn't flinch as the bottle shattered on the sidewalk. The car turned left at L Street.

Didn't get a make of the car, but I did get a plate: 3RWD570. Called the police - who knows what's next?

What Happened To My Penny?

Returning from lunch at (where else?) Subway Restaurant (where I've eaten most of my lunches, since 1997), I noticed a train approaching from the north on the Southern Pacific tracks that run through Midtown Sacramento. I felt an impulse I haven't felt since childhood.

When I was a kid, my Dad told me there was a powerful wind next to a passing train, right at track level, that could suck you unawares right underneath the train. I wanted to see this wind in action, so on a visit to my grandmother's house in Bernalillo, NM (where the AT&SF rail line was to be found), I decided to place a piece of paper under a small rock right next to the rail. The powerful wind would surely wrench the paper loose from under the small rock and the train would rip it into confetti. Only one problem, though: I was not allowed out of the yard.

The kid next door was under less-demanding supervision, however, so I persuaded him to set up the experiment. The train came too quickly, though, and in haste, he mangled the experiment, by placing the piece of paper, topped by a big rock, right on top of the rail. I panicked and fled, sensing that the speeding train would derail when it hit the big rock, and careen out-of-control, sending thousands of tons of metal flying through my grandmother's kitchen.

Nothing like that happened, though. After the train passed, no sign of the rock was to be found. Likely, either the train crushed the rock into dust, or simply knocked it off the rail.

Today, being a mature adult, instead of rock and a paper, I decided to try a penny. I laid the penny right on top of the rail and waited for the train.

The first few Diesel BNSF locomotives rolled right over the penny. Looking at the penny between the passing wheels, I could see it had flattened out under the incredible weight. The penny was apparently glomming onto, and fusing with, the rail. I quickly looked away, then back, but the penny had abruptly vanished. It couldn't have been knocked off the rail. Like a wad of gum on the sidewalk sticking to the bottom of some passersby's shoe, the penny had apparently glommed onto the passing wheel of one of the lumber or petrochemical rail cars, and simply rolled off, to the south.

I'll miss that penny....