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Last night two women I knew invited me to a Dance night at a local bar. The disc jockey played tango, swing dance, salsa, and disco music over and over.
There were a few musical genres missing…rock, jazz, and Reggae.
I've taken a few swing and tango lessons but the truth is I'm not really into learning regimented mechanical steps. I grew up on rock and roll where people danced free form. It's interesting that after disco no one remembers that in the sixties people actually DANCED to rock and roll. Where do you think go go girls came from?
Every week American Bandstand would showcase new rock songs and kids would dance to them. All this is totally forgotten in the modern culture. People also don't realize that in the 30s and 40s people danced to jazz maybe because most of the people who did that may not be around anymore.
The other night I was at this fancy nightclub with friends. A jazz trio was playing over an hour when some of us got up and danced to the music. It would never have occurred to the other people in the restaurant in a million years to dance to jazz.
I'm no musical historian but it's interesting how some aspects of culture almost completely disappear.
Gencon gaming and fantasy convention in Indianapolis. They showed my movie and others at this convention. The costumes were out of this world.
BIBLOGRAPHY
1 Fay, Jennifer and Nieland, Justus. Noir Fay New York: Routledge, 2010. page 184.
2 Duncan, Paul. Film Noir England: Pocketbook Essentials, 2006. Page 12
3 Byrge, Duane. The Screwball Comedy Films London UK: McFarland & CO. 1991. page. 2
4 Rivett, James “The genius of Howard Hawks” Cahiers du Cinema 23, Paris: 1953. Page 130.
5 Renzi, Thomas C. Screwball Comedy and Film Noir. London UK: McFarland & CO., 2012. page. 6
6 Wood, Robin. Howard Hawks 1981. Page 5
Certainly the financial Greek crisis can’t compare with Angelina Jolie showing off her leg at the Academy awards. Someone asked How can she do this?
How can Sacha Cohen dressed up like Col Gadaffi dump an urn of ashes on an interviewer? How can Robert Downey Jr. who has been in and out of jail and rehab a millon times get to be a presenter every year at the awards? Are you kidding? These aren’t real people like you and me. They are multimillionaire bankable movie stars. They can get away with anything.
These photos are from the internet used for commentary only.
I thought the Artist was a fine movie but Hugo was a landmark showing the early days of film which much of the public know little about. Young kids may assume that movies have been around forever but barely 120 years. The stories of the pioneers who created a whole new artform with no roadmap is worth exploring so I recommend the movie Hugo for just that reason.
Back in 1989 traveling to Europe with 3 other poets by chance we met a guy handing out pamphlets in Paris for his group The New Surrealists. (M.A.I.N.S.) I gave him a copy of my magazine Underground Surrealist. Once a year founder David Belly would send me a collage in French which I didn't understand. I would in turn send him cartoons in English that he didn't understand... yet we kept corresponding for 14 years. In 2003 he invited me to be part of the New Surrealists Art show.
How could I pass up an opportunity like this? I sent my drawing The Night of Red Jazz to the gallery and I bought a plane ticket. What would it be like to be part of a Paris art show? What would the New Surrealists be like? Knowing little more than phrasebook French and hearing warnings about Americans being unpopular with the impending Iraq war I really didn't know what to expect.
I walked into Galerie Atelier Z where Karine the curator welcomed me. My drawing "The Night of Red Jazz" was hanging on the wall by the stairs. The New Surrealists were having a reunion since their last show four years ago. I was introduced not as the Professor of Surrealism: To my astonishment they considered me not just a guest but a full fledged member of the group. I had only met David Belly (in white jacket) before but had occasionally corresponded with artists Argus Avatar & Nora Picman. Picman had created a large ceramic Buddha. Argus was dressed up with silver gloves, a mid-eastern hat, and a cane. One of his paintings had propellers attached to them.
There was le sculptor Jacky Kooken with a giant handlebar mustache along with other talented and interesting artists. The opening the following night 600 guests showed up. There were art lovers, professionals, singers, musicians, and poets. If counting all the mink coats was an indication the show was a big success.
A dancer Maria came by wearing a Mardi Gras mask. Artist Argus Avatar paraded around with silver gloves and a sword. The next day I went out to lunch for couscous with David and Jacques. They showed me video of the last group show in a gallery in 1999. That night we met Karine and her mother and went walking through St. Germain visiting dozens of art galleries that had openings that night. David made sure to hand out flyers to our show to anyone who looked like a likely prospect. I met David and Jacques at Tour St Jacques. They took me to a basement book store which had many obscure books about Breton, Minotaure Magazine, and the surrealist artists.
One night we all gathered together to celebrate David Belly's birthday. Karine handed David a pin with the word M.A.I.N.S. engraved on it. This had been a fantastic week for meeting artists of vision and imagination. The following year I returned to a party thrown for David and the group on the Right bank.
A few years later David came to America. We went out to dinner in Boston and he told me of his quest to have Stephen Spielberg or Woody Allen make a movie about his group. That was the last time I actually was David but we still corresponded every year. We exchanged Christmas cards last month. It was a priveledge to have David as a long distance friend. Recently David Belly passed away and he will be missed.
In then 90s I went out with this woman I'll call Amy on and off for 10 years. Although she took acting, singing, and music lessons she would never actually get up on stage. When we were together we were absolutely hilarious every minute. If someone had followed us around with a video camera it would have been an incredible comedy show but she would rarely go to parties or social events so people rarely saw her. When I suggested that we get up on stage and do comedy together she acted as if I had invited her to take a space capsule to the moon.
I knew this other poet Kitty. We were romantic for a short time but that didn't work out. We hung out on the poetry scene all the time and she did these stories and poems that were hilarious leaving audiences rolling in the aisles. She passed way a few years ago.
I found a copy of a letter I sent her once suggesting that we work together as a comedy team. I told her that if we teamed up we would be a big hit and she wouldn't have to clean apartments the rest of her life but it fell on deaf ears.
What I've discovered was that outside of Stiller and Meara comedy teams of a man and woman together is as rare the mating of Chinese pandas.
Mike Nichols and Elaine May toured together as a highly successful team in the late 50s but only lasted 3 years.
Sonny and Cher had hugely successful songs on the radio and a television show but broke up after just a few years to follow solo careers.
There was series of sketches on the early Saturday Night Live: Two Wild and Crazy Guys It starred Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin playing two obnoxious Czech immigrants trying cluelessly to pick up American women played by Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, and Jane Curtin. It was popular but I don't think it lasted more than 10-12 episodes.
When you go to a comedy club what do you see? One guy or woman standing alone on stage telling jokes by themselves.
What happened to comedy teams? The Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello…..these were very popular comedy teams. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were hugely popular in the 50s.
But it seems that there are few comedy teams these days. Comedy teams of a man and woman performing together is extremely rare. Comedy teams of Chinese pandas performing together is even rarer than that. Why is that? I just don't know.
The movie Monkey Do Monkey Don't has been filming in Cambridge and Boston. Some filmming took place in the Occupy Boston camp.