ONE OF THESE SEEMS TO BE A BETTER USE OF MONEY THAN THE OTHER
Top and Middle:
You can buy a pair of $495 socks from
Bottom:
For $50, you can give someone the gift of eyesight:
https://www.seva.org/site/SPageServer/?NONCE_TOKEN=C1AB807DBC463026A6F14BF57568B903
Little scraps left behind Were approached with fear Nervous someone was near Hunger won out The shaking puppy starved By months out in the cold Decided to be bold And eat the food The soft-hearted young boy Knew what he had to do His pantry he’d go through To feed this dog Hoping he’d get […]
Caring to Share — Annette Rochelle Aben
Little scraps left behind
Were approached with fear
Nervous someone was near
Hunger won out
The shaking puppy starved
By months out in the cold
Decided to be bold
And eat the food
The soft-hearted young boy
Knew what he had to do
His pantry he’d go through
To feed this dog
Hoping he’d get closer
So daily he’d arrive
To keep that dog alive
Tears in his eyes
This went on for a week
One day when he arrived
He got a big surprise
The pup came close
He held his breath a bit
Spread his coat on the ground
And gently he sat down
Near his new friend
©2021 Annette Rochelle Aben
Art
• Students at MIT have occasionally hacked (that is, pranked) the school’s works of art. Actually, one hack really wasn’t a hack — it really was a work of art. Artist Scott Raphael Schiamberg installed what appeared to be a field of wheat in Lobby 7. On a Monday in May 1996, students and faculty strolled through the wheat. Mr. Schiamberg received much media publicity, and he received many congratulatory emails. One MIT employee emailed him, “It took my breath away. All Mondays should be so beautiful.” Of course, MIT students added a few touches of their own to the work of art — such as a cow and a scarecrow. However, MIT students liked the field of wheat, and they did not like some of the other works of art on the MIT campus, such as Louise Nevelson’s Transparent Horizons, which MIT students criticize as being like much other MIT art: In the students’ word, the art is “ugly.” MIT hackers once installed a desk and a study light in the top of the sculpture, and they once rededicated it with this plaque: “Louise Nevelson / b. 1990 / Big Black Scrap Heap / 1975.” And occasionally MIT hackers will install authentic-looking but satiric “works of art” in MIT galleries. For example, in 1985 MIT hacking group James E. Tetazoo installed “NO KNIFE: A STUDY IN MIXED MEDIASEARTH TONES, NUMBER THREE” in MIT’s List Visual Arts Center. The “work of art” consisted of a large plate, small plate, fork, two spoons (one a soup spoon), and glass on a tray placed on an upside-down trash receptacle. A statement accompanying the “art” satirized art criticism. The first sentence read, “The artist’s mode d’emploirelies upon minimalist kinematic methods; space and time are frozen in a staid reality of restrained sexuality.”
• Do modern angels wear jeans and use mobile phones? How about statues of modern angels? In the city of Hertogenbosch (aka Den Bosch) in the south of the Netherlands is the Roman Catholic St. John’s Cathedral. Dozens of statues are in the medieval cathedral, and some of the statues are recently created. Sculptor Ton Mooy sculpted 25 new angels for the cathedral, and among them he sculpted one modern angel. The artist wanted to create a jet-pack-wearing angel, but that design was rejected, so he created an angel wearing jeans and using a mobile phone. The artist points out, “The phone has just one button. It dials directly to God.” (It’s also interesting to note that the cathedral also has a large stained-glass window depicting Hell — the window depicts 9-11.)
• British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds looked through some drawings at a second-hand picture dealer’s, then asked how much one of the drawings cost. Astonished to hear that the price was 20 guineas, he asked, “Twenty pence, I suppose you mean?” The dealer replied, “No, sir. It is true that this morning I would have taken 20 pence for it, but if you think it is worth looking at, all the world will think it worth buying.” Sir Joshua paid the 20 guineas for the drawing.
Audiences
• Sometimes, stand-up comedians face very hostile audiences. Once, an audience kept shouting at George Calfa, “Get off! Get off!” He told the audience that the only way he would leave would be for the audience to give him a standing ovation. but after the audience had given him a standing ovation, he told them, “This is the first standing ovation I ever got — I’d better do an encore.”
• The recitals of modern dance pioneer Martha Graham were so different from classical ballet that many people had trouble relating to them. A woman attended a Graham recital, then went backstage afterward and asked her, “Martha, how long do you expect to keep up this dreadful dancing?” Ms. Graham replied, “As long as I have an audience.”
• CBS executives detested the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island; however, when they tested the pilot, they discovered that audiences loved it. This so amazed the CBS executives that they tested the pilot more than once, because they were afraid that something was wrong with the first audience.
• Following the premiere of Rodeo: The Courting at Burnt Ranch, choreographed by Agnes de Mille, the cast had 22 curtain calls and was showered with bouquets. Most of the bouquets consisted of flowers, but one was made of ears of corn and red, white, and blue ribbons.
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Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
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BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: “Spooks”
Album: MINNIE THE MOOCHER AT THE MORGUE
Artist: Louis Armstrong
Other Artists: Various, includes Louis Armstrong, Spike Jones, Boris Karloff and Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Anita O’Day and many more.
Artist Location: Various
Record Label: Moochin’ About
Record Label Location: England
Info: 129 track collection of spooky Jazz, Blues & Rock & Roll …”
Bosquet Bailes, a fan, wrote, “Mortuorios Para Vuestros Oídos. [Mortuaries For Your Ears.] Favorite track: ‘Frankie and Igor At a Rock and Roll Party.’”
moggydon, a fan, wrote, “Ah, the wonder of Spike Jones! I want one of his suits!
How can yo not sleep at ghost? (Honestly, the above is what autocorrect made of my not typing ‘how can you not smile at this?’ carefully enough! How apt!)
Steve Lake, a fan, wrote, “Moochin’ About is just an excellent label; epic EVERYTHING! and they’re all great!”
collidascope, a fan, wrote, “Just epic collection. Little jewels from my youth and the radio and the night. Favorite track: ‘The Shadow Knows.’”
No, Vincent Price is not in the collection, but Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” is.
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE)
Genre: Jazz. Novelty. Various.
Links:
MINNIE THE MOOCHER AT THE MORGUE
https://moochinaboutltd.bandcamp.com/album/minnie-the-moocher-at-the-morgue
https://moochinaboutltd.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaWXm4Sr4RTW9U3JvFo1XDg
davidbruceblog #2 