This post looks at speculations about the physical appearance of Jesus. Continue reading “Merry Kitschmas”
Merry Kitschmas
Bachelors Anonymous
Most of our readers will know why I haven’t posted here for two months. In preparing for Portrait of Rudy Perez 2: Remain in Light in June, my musical partner Rob Berg and I dusted off music we hadn’t visited in decades. Continue reading “Bachelors Anonymous”
Picx Picx: Greñudo’s Favorite Hot Sauce
I’ve been distracted lately by food videos sent my way by YouTube. A week ago America’s Test Kitchen posted Our Top Rated Hot Sauce.1 At about the same time I was reintroduced to the first hot sauce I ever used on a regular basis.
Continue reading “Picx Picx: Greñudo’s Favorite Hot Sauce”
Le plus grand zombie is US
Pardon merci, je suis le grand zombie
I’m just not human tonight
— Mekons, “Big Zombie”
I haven’t thought about anthropologist Wade Davis much since his 1985 nonfiction book The Serpent and the Rainbow was turned into what I thought was an icky film by Wes Craven in 1988.1 In L.A. I had a habit of picking up review copies and other first editions at Cosmopolitan Book Shop, where I got Davis’s book. I always had good luck there. Continue reading “Le plus grand zombie is US”
Portrait of Rudy Perez 3: Anatomy of a Performance
What follows is an extension of Part 2 of my interview with dancer-choreographer Rudy Perez. It’s not an interview but rather the thousand words that are hardly worth a (moving) picture. It’s an anatomy of the performance that first brought Rudy and me and my fellows together. Continue reading “Portrait of Rudy Perez 3: Anatomy of a Performance”
Islands Past: Future Islands’ “Thrill”
I remember seeing the band Future Islands on a late night show, except that I rarely watch network television. It must have been their “Seasons (Waiting On You)” from Letterman’s Late Show in 2014 before Colbert took over. I thought, “Joe Cocker lives.” And I swear I recall telling my wife Andrea about lead singer Sam Herring: “He looks like he’s about to pee his pants.” That was then. Continue reading “Islands Past: Future Islands’ “Thrill””
Everybody Dance Now 5: The People’s Panopticon
Yesterday my brother Richard remarked in our weekly transpacific Skype chat, that the cell phone camera has changed everything, from unmasked undistanced kids walking down a hallway in Georgia (I hadn’t yet seen it; he’s on Bangkok time) to gals getting their nails done getting zip-tied on the blacktop near my neighborhood. Continue reading “Everybody Dance Now 5: The People’s Panopticon”
Dreaming California: The Life of Jim Foshee
Not long ago I was asked to vet a request for use of photos that appeared in my writings at The Tangent Group. The reprint request was from Robert C. Steele for his book Banned from California. Curious about the book, I did a halfhearted web search and didn’t find it. Days later my friend Jerry Gerash told me he was sending me a book about Jim Foshee. “You know who he was, don’t you?” he asked. “Of course,” I said. I know who Jim Fouratt is. Continue reading “Dreaming California: The Life of Jim Foshee”
Diamonds in the Mine: An Exploration of Humanitarian Gemology
My brother’s gemology webinar last month caused me to reflect on my time as a “gemstone journalist,” which I haven’t really written about in this venue. See what you think. Continue reading “Diamonds in the Mine: An Exploration of Humanitarian Gemology”
Everybody Dance Now 4: Time/Travel
This fourth edition of Everybody Dance Now involves travel in space and time, beginning with a short from Arizona filmmaker and photographer Harrison J. Bahe of Navajo Joe Films. “Xibalba” comes from the soundtrack of The Fountain (2006) composed by Clint Mansell, which also accompanies Bahe’s film. Xibalba is the Mayan underworld, which figures in The Fountain, a once-and-future picture that weaves together Mayan and Hebrew mythology, featuring a Spanish conquistador astoundingly being recognized by a native priest as the First Father, the life source. Continue reading “Everybody Dance Now 4: Time/Travel”