willkommen

I adore the theater and I am a painter. I think the two are made for a marriage of love. I will give all my soul to prove this once more.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)printmaker, painter and designer

We must live for the few who know and appreciate us, who judge and absolve us, and for whom we have the same affection and indulgence. The rest I look upon as a mere crowd, lively or sad, loyal or corrupt, from whom there is nothing to be expected but fleeting emotions, either pleasant or unpleasant, which leave no trace behind them.

Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) actor

Childhood is the world of miracle and wonder; as if creation rose, bathed in the light, out of the darkness, utterly new and fresh and astonishing. The end of childhood is when things cease to astonish us.

Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994) playwright and dramatist

A magician makes the visible invisible. A mime makes the invisible visible.

Marcel Marceau (1923 -2007) mime artist, creator of Bip, the white-faced clown

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)literary critic, playwright and essayist

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) dramatist, playwright and poet

Everything that has been will be, everything that will be is, everything that will be has been.

Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994) playwright and dramatist

notes on photos:

1. marc chagall ceiling mural in the paris opera - painted in 1964. photo october 2005.
2. there are many statues and busts in honor of sarah bernhardt who was acclaimed as "the most famous actress in the history of the world" scattered around paris. this statue was in a small park near where my sister lived unfortunately I didn't write down either the street or the artist -I think this monument was near her home in the 17th arrondissement
   

   Known as 'The Divine Sarah' she was the most acclaimed actress of her time, and not only in Paris, where she was born and pursuit her career, but also on the stages of European and American theatres. In 1859, Sarah received theatrical training from the Conservatoire de Musique et Déclamation, three years later she was already performing as a student of the prestigious Parisian Comédie-Française. Throughout the 1870s, she was recognised as a dramatic actress, performing Racine, Moliere, Shakespeare and others. In 1894, the first lithographed poster advertising her play at the Theatre de la Renaissance was produced by Alphonse Mucha, which resulted in a six-year contract for the artist and a series of Art Nouveau masterpieces depicting the actress. Bernhardt was also a pioneer in silent films, making her debut as Hamlet in 1900. She continued to act even after the amputation of a leg in 1915 and even went on a tour in the United States that same year. Sara Bernhardt is buried in the Parisian Le Père Lachaise Cemetery.

3. p and l performing to a very select audience on the stage of the cain park ampitheater, 11 july 2009
4. to mimes the entire world is a stage. paris september 2004
5. eileen ivers and the immigrant soul performing on one of the many musical stages of the cleveland irish festival. they will be back for the 2009 cleveland irish festival and you can count on me being there, but the question is will you be there too?
6. gates outside of shakespeare's globe theater, london 2004
7. eugene ionesco's grave in in the cimetière de montparnasse.
   

in the book of mouse, one of the most iconic stage songs is this one by none other than the amazing joel grey (1972)

niama

I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that.

Woody Guthrie (b. 14 july 1912 -1967) composer and singer

today is the birthday of the musical and cultural icon woody guthrie. I have posted many songs of woody's on the mouse in the past so I thought perhaps I'd like to continue my current trend of introducing some perhaps lesser known musicians that rock the world!

today's song is from another musician whose birthday is today - angelique kidjo. if you don't know the music of angelique I hope I have helped remedy that! her voice is transcendent and the movement of her songs - whether it is a lullaby or an afropop dance tune well I find all of her songs simply quite irresistible!

the song I chose for today is entitled niama - I don't know what the words mean, but I know I like it. I first encountered this the tune on putumayo's album of lullabies called dreamland. by the way, accompanying angelique on this tune is carlos santana (another musician with a july birthday - july 20th to be exact!). longtime readers of the mouse may recall that I am preoccupied with birthdays a little more than usual during the month of july!




photo: ms t taking a stroller siesta - on july 26 ms t will be turning 4!! by the way, I'm not the only one preoccupied with birthdays this month!!

hey world

The best way to avoid a bad action is by doing a good one, for there is no difficulty in the world like that of trying to do nothing.

John Clare (b. 13 July, 1793 - 1864)

we had a great weekend - it was especially full and fun because of friends visiting from out of town. I can never get enough of this family .....and just why is it that they aren't living in cleveland anymore? oh yeah, the cold and a chronic case of parental wanderlust. well, that's cool as long as there is no permanent emigration plan to some far away land.

no time to write much, but I wanted to pop in and share this song. I love when I read comments thanking the mouse for introducing a musical group. if michael franti and spearhead aren't yet household names, I thought I'd do a good action and help make it so

I adore this song... I only came aware of michael franti and spearhead a year ago, when I posted a song of theirs that fit perfectly with a post. now they are absolute favorites, I'm quite interested in seeing them live. however, there's no sign that they are coming to cleveland, but they will be in nyc early september, hmmmm I wonder if I can pull a trip off? I better decide soon and act fast I'm sure the tickets are going like hot cakes!

next

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

E.B. White (b. 10 july 1899 - 1985) writer

along with today being the birthday of e.b. white it is also the birthday of peace activist cindy sheehan. cindy is currently visiting northeast ohio. I had the opportunity to meet cindy wednesday afternoon.

cindy is touring the country to promote her new book and to remind people that just because w is out of office that doesn't mean that we can sit back on our laurels. there are two wars still being waged and we can't just wait for peace to happen - there is still plenty of work needed to do to make peace happen NOW!

in addition to her older books, which include, peace mom and not one more mother's child, cindy just released a new internet-based book entitled myth america. in this book she provides a discussion of 10 myths that many americans seem to accept - hook, line, and sinker. cindy's talk to the group gathered in cleveland heights peace park on wednesday primarily discussed these ten myths.

cindy also discussed her congressional challenge against nancy pelosi. she stated that even though it was incredibly difficult, taxing, and expensive the race did provide her with the equivilent of ph.d in political science. cindy hosts a weekly internet radio program, cindy sheehan's soapbox. in addition to being available via the internet 24/7 there are a few radio stations that broadcast the show. one station that airs the show is in dallas, cindy quipped that she has a fantasy that a certain dallas resident makes sure to tune in every sunday.

another person born on july 10 is béla fleck - clearly here's is a guy that improves the world every time he picks up magical banjo of his!


photos: tipper the cat definitely enjoying the day; cindy sheehan in peace park, cleveland heights improving the world

ghost riders in the sky

The distance that the dead have gone
Does not at first appear—
Their coming back seems possible
For many an ardent year.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) poet

I have heard, but not believed, the spirits o’the dead
May walk again.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) playwright and poet

An enchanted life has many moments when the heart is overwhelmed with beauty and the imagination is electrified by some haunting quality in the world or by a spirit or voice speaking from deep within a thing, a place, or a person. Enchantment may be.

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) journalist and critic

There are an infinite number of universes existing side by side and through which our consciousnesses constantly pass. In these universes, all possibilities exist. You are alive in some, long dead in others, and never existed in still others. Many of our "ghosts" could indeed be visions of people going about their business in a parallel universe or another time -- or both.

Paul F. Eno (b. 1953) paranormal investigator and author
quote from in Faces at the Window

Fear is the main source of superstition and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British author, mathematician, & philosopher
Unpopular Essays (1950), "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) author, inventor, and futurist

notes on photos:

1. I wonder if this is a ghost train? photo taken at some stop in new york state on a recent train trip from cleveland to new york city. march 2009
   
2. a street corner memorial to a teenage girl who was killed near this site, cleveland october 2008
3. my cousin suz offerings to her mother and my god mother who had recently passed away - the tableau includes, rosemary for remembrance, a beautiful pink urn holding my aunt's remains, and small symbols representing aunt mary's love of gardening, cooking and animals - the four angels represent her daughters. pennslyvania, may 2008
   
4. when I was thinking about photos which could embrace this ghostly theme, for some reason my mind immediately thought of this photo of a set of windows inside the cleveland's gray armory - each time I've been in the building I can feel the presence of long gone individuals. ironically (or would it be coincidentally) a friend recently asked what the upcoming theme for tt was and what was I planning to do for it - when I told her about the photos I had chosen from cleveland, including this one from the armory, she assured me that was perfect - a few years ago she took a haunted cleveland tour and the armory was one of the stops! and it turns out this is another haunted cleveland location. I don't have time to get the stories behinde these two locales - but maybe there's something on haunted cleveland website! should blogging bud willow (and the host for this ghostly theme) ever mosey up to cleveland for a visit I think I have the perfect activity!
   
5. a desolate and spooky looking scene somewhere in new york state. do you think new york has haunted tours? hmmmm
6. the east side flats of cleveland was once a vibrant part of town but a few years ago there were a couple incidents where some folks met untimely ends. this section of the city now seems like a ghost town. there was some talk of doing a major renovation of the area and they actually began work on a redevelopment project, but then the economic bottom dropped out so it seems the area will be remaining a ghost town - at least for a while longer.
   
7. one evening while walking in nyc we encountered this haunting memorial to honor cyclists and pedestrians who have been killed on the streets of new york, but whose deaths often go unnoticed and unreported. the first ghost bike memorials were created in 2003 in st. louis, since then the movement has grown and there are now these somber tributes to be found all over the world.
   

I didn't think I'd be able to pull this theme off, and well, I guess I don't know if I did - but I tried. I am a bit behind the eight-ball (the magic eight ball???) this week I have a couple new jobs gearing up (which is a good thing!) which has consumed a lot of time.

I look forward to checking out all the other tt posts - I just hope the ghosts I will meet will be friendly and good - I can be a bit of a scaredy mouse

planning today's title and theme song, I first thought of the song ghost train then I realized the song I was thinking of was mystery train once I realized that ghost riders in the sky jumped into my head - there are a lot of good versions out there, but few do it better than johnny cash


by the way there is a song called ghost train by the counting crows, which incidentally is quite good but it didn't have the quality I was looking for today.

magic bus

I don't know about you but I have a real problem with people who refuse to acknowledge the serious nature of global climate change and I really have a problem when I encounter folks who deny that it exists or that human activity is in any way responsible for global warming. recently someone, whose identity will remain anoymouse, forwarded an article by a conservative columnist whining about how a report which claims that the science behind global warming is 'inconclusive' is being suppressed by the very governmental agency the guy works for (although they did not ask him to write said report). the columnist concludes her article by suggesting that the author of the report is some sort of modern day copernicus and is being persecuted by "the new religion of human-induced climate change." according to this pundit, people who believe humans are responsible for climate change are waging an inquisition.

just what kind of parallel orwellian universe are we living in? in my way of thinking people who deny the existence and seriousness of global climate change are essentially 'flat-earthers' - here is this columnist, of an extremely widely circulated publication, likening the guy to copernicus(his report, incidentally, has been discredited by not only his own agency but other independent groups; oh, the so called scientist of the report is actually an economist).

the language of scientific 'inconclusiveness' takes us back to the bad old days when the very powerful tobacco lobby used that argument to fight governmental regulation of its industry - cigarette smoking bad for human health - what kind of poppycock claim is that! those of us of a certain age remember quite clearly how the the reagan administration advanced the theory of scientific 'inconclusiveness' and used the argument that we have to "study it some more" to forestall any and all types of environmental regulation and protective action. more bad old days.

I, for one, am interested in creating and living in good new days - days when we don't have special interests use the bullshit catchphrase 'inconclusive science' to keep us from doing what needs to be done to save our fragile and beautiful blue and green planet!



I don't know about you, but I'm going go out there and embrace this new religion of 'human induced climate change.' yes, I believe humans are responsible for the planet. I believe the tremendous rise in human population with our overwhelming dependence on the burning of fossil fuels to power our lives is responsible for global climate change. it is frustrating to try and convince people who are set in their perspective and believe global warming doesn't exist or who reluctantly admit that it exists, but we can't do anything about it because it's due to trees or cows farting or some such nonsensical position.

I feel strongly that governments around the world have to act and act fast to put a halt to the problem with global climate change. but we don't need to wait around until governments act; there are lots of things each of us can do every day to help the planet and stop global warming. there's are tons of resources out there - want to get started? well just go here, or here, or even here for ideas

one thing that is really simple that can help reduce one's carbon footprint is to use public transportation. cleveland's local rta system has a new catchy ad campaign tying together riding the bus or train to helping stop global warming.

years ago I heard the expression that magic is making things happen - it is a phrase that I immediately latched on to and adopted as one of my personal affirmations. when it comes to stopping global warming, each of us can be a magician and can make it happen!

today's theme song is the wonderfully infectious magic bus, written in 1968 by pete townshend,


in april 2006 I gave up my automobile; ever since, if I need to go someplace too far to walk to, I rely on the bus or train. the bus doesn't have to be magic but I find that riding the bus is often a very magical experience!

go ask alice

when I returned home from last weekend's jaunt to dc waiting for me was a wee alice from susan of artspark theatre. last month susan mentioned that she would send 10 alices to interested friends in the bloggyhood. shockingly, I actually got a comment posted in time. susan intends to send out another batch of alices in early august; by now they probably are already spoken for - but who knows how long susan will continue this wonderful project of populating cities and towns with the adventurous alice!

today alice accompanied us to the west side market - and boy did she have a good time! all the shopping and new friends left her dreadfully thirsty, after the market, alice, f and I went across the street to the great lakes brewery for an ale - alice and I shared a pint of glbc's new grassroots ale which is described as:

A fragrant saison blended with coriander, lemon balm, chamomile and lemon basil, some of which were sustainably grown on our "Pint Size Farm" at Hale Farm & Village.

I find it a refreshing seasonal beer - reminiscent of a couple different belgium beers I always enjoy. since it is the fourth of july holiday weekend, f went with the independence ale which is described as;

An American Red Ale with crisp hop flavor.

it can be difficult to choose what beer to try at glbc, they has so many good ones! I noticed quite a few folks went with flights of beer where they get a assortment of various brews.

if interested go here to see other snaps of alice on her first of hopefully many cleveland adventures.

wishing everyone an absolutely trippy weekend! to get you off on the right foot (or would that be the left foot?) here's a live 1967 performance of the jefferson airplane performing white rabbit