From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #372 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Saturday, October 20 2001 Volume 03 : Number 372 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Michealangelo ["Shelley DePaul" ] [RS] theatre curses ["Rachel Rubin Ladutke" Subject: [RS] Michealangelo >.Another artist quote I've always liked is >Michelangelo's thoughts on sculpture. He thought that the >figure of the piece >was somehow contained in the marble,..... WELL, Laura, If you liked that you will love the following. It's a passage from a story about Michelangelo ('Of One Who Listened To Stones') by Rilke, in a sublime little volume ("Stories Of God") Well worth buying. Highly recommended. I gave Richard my copy when I saw him at Godfrey's in May. Had to go out and get another one. It's one of those books I can't live without. Anyway, here's the passage. ......Many prayers were at that hour on their way from the earth. But God recognized only one thing: the strength of Michelangelo rose up to him like fragrance of vineyards. And he suffered it to fill his thoughts He bent lower, found the striving man, looked beyond his shoulder at the hands that hovered listening about the stone, and started: Did the very stones have souls? Why was this man listening to the stones? And now the hands awoke and tore at the stone as at a grave, in which a faint, dying voice is flickering. "Michelangelo," cried God in dread, "Who is in that stone?" Michelangelo listened; his hands were trembling. Then he answered in a muffled voice: "Thou, my God, who else? But I cannot reach Thee." And then God sensed that he was indeed in the stone, and he felt fearful and confined. The whole sky was but a stone, and he locked in its midst, hoping for the hands of Michelangelo to deliver him; and he heard them coming, though as yet afar........... Michelangelo does eventually release God from the stone. But if you want to know how, you'll have to read the story! I'm glad you reminded me of that story, Laura. A nice start to the day. O.K. I'm off Later then Shelley ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 08:11:26 -0700 From: "Rachel Rubin Ladutke" Subject: [RS] theatre curses Hi, As a playwright and sometime director I'm really enjoying this thread. Very suitable for Hallowe'en. Larry and I are heading up to Salem on November 2. Bwa-ha-ha! Thanks to whoever posted the amusing seance story. I'm going to forward that to a theatre list I'm on, and they should get a kick out of it. Ironically enough, I'm also doing a presentation soon on supernatural forces in modern drama and the discussion of Welles' production is definitely going to figure. There's some really neat web sources on it. Check out www.loc.gov if interested. Anyway I don't know anything about a Hamlet curse either, only the other one. But I once directed a production of THE MIRACLE WORKER with twelve little girls and a golden retriever! The girl playing Helen was young and small (eight) and in one scene she's supposed to take the dog. Tara couldn't hold the dog on her leash so I told her if she put her weight on the dog, it would sit. But she never quite mastered it. At the next to last performance, she didn't try to do it, and Constanze (the doggie) began to walk. After she pulled "Helen" a little ways across stage, Tara let go. Stanzie walked through the Kellers' house (the other side of the stage), down the stairs and into the first few rows. The audience loved it. The next day Tara refused to take Stanzie's leash so the actress playing Annie Sullivan took it instead. Whew. Fortunately, Stanzie never had elimination problems on stage, though she did used to bark in the basement of the theatre between scenes, sometimes. Rachel 8o) * * * * * * * * * Rachel Rubin Ladutke, playwright, director (NYC) CLARY'S EXODUS, Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Award! POOL OF TEARS, out soon from Brooklyn Publishers! Visit my web page: www.rachelwrites.com "The sun rose with so many colors it nearly broke my heart." - Dar Williams, AFTER ALL Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 14:32:17 EDT From: L8NiteBluz@aol.com Subject: [RS] Re: Bohemian-wanna-be...:-) In a message dated 10/19/2001 10:44:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time, owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org writes: << I was very moved and wrote it down in my journal at some outdoor cafe while wearing my pretentious beret and smoking clove cigarettes, pretentiously (Cut me some slack, I was 20 and in Europe! And yes, I also wrote bad haiku in my journal!) Anyway, doesn't this also bear relevance for songwriters like RS? >> Gee ....thanks Laura.... :-) ....does this mean that at thirty-nine I should stop sitting in pretentious coffeehouses, in a black turtleneck, drinking $5 Latte's, writing pretentious poetry in my little black notebook while listening to Richard Shindell cd's over....and over....and over..... Regarding the syntax/ phrasing in BN....I think that is exactly the reason why there has been so much discussion about this song. He sounds like the concerned friend/neighbor who really is trying to help, but when you look a little deeper that facade of goodness seems to hide the devil inside.....or at least that seems to be the general perception.... Syntax, phrasing, voice manipulation...all the greats (RS included) seem to use it to make a song more effective. Bruce Cockburn uses this very well to express sadness, or longing, or disgust, or hope....whatever the case may be. Of course the master of phrasing, Sinatra, did this so well when singing a ballad, no one before or since has been able to interpret a lyric, specifically a standard or pop ballad like he did.......it's all in the voice and the way it's used. ...with grande', skim, decaf, no-foam latte' in hand... Mark ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 15:43:15 -0400 From: patrick t power Subject: Re: [RS] FolkTrain (dubious Richard content) Charlie supposed: <> Oh, I don't know about that . . . Richard would have been able to dream up *some* kind of vile circumstance for her in the sleeper cars or something! Pat ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 21:10:41 EDT From: Pfleary@aol.com Subject: [RS] papa ooo mao mao Norman used the acronym: "ROTFLAMO" Norman, I believe the acronym is ROTFLMAO, which stands for Rolling On The Floor Laughing with Chairman Mao. ;-) Peter ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 21:10:18 -0400 From: "Norman A. Johnson" Subject: [RS] if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao (JL and PM) Peter wrote: >>Norman, I believe the acronym is ROTFLMAO, which stands for Rolling On The Floor Laughing with Chairman Mao. ;-) << Oh, that should have been ROTFLAMAO. Rolling on the Floor Laughing AT Chairman Mao. Norman ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #372 ***********************************