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Notes from a Composer
“Speakeasy” Selections
Author Archives: dannyashkenasi
LIGHTSCAPE 2025
Our yearly return to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s winter lights and sounds spectacular, this time with much more video to show more lights in motion and share more accompanying music. Brought to you by Rodrigo, Anna, Ed and me.
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Melodies Linger On, Two-fisted Touristing, Uncategorized
Tagged botanic garden, brooklyn, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Cathedral, colors, conductor, Edward Scissorhands, fireflies, Fountain, Lake, lights, Lightscape, music, nature, Orchestra, photography, sculpture, Sleigh Ride, soundtrack, spectacle, trees, video, winter
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On Set as Bernhardt, a Fairy Tale Grandfather
That’s me in costume as Bernhardt, the grandfather, on set of the short film “Mouse”, which was shot in Bushwick last weekend. “Mouse” is a fairy tale with adult themes. Bernhardt, the grandfather, is a woodsman who lives in a … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup
Tagged accent, adult theme, Ashley Pignataro, Bella Thorpe-Woods, Beth Parisi, Bushwick, Christmas, Christopher Gambino, Ed Elder, fairy tale, German, grandfather, Jode Sparks, Mouse, Nazis, Peanuts, Queer, sexual abuse, short film, Tiroler hat, transgender, War, Wolf
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Lamentations of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions
Give me an E! Give me a Go! What’s that Spell? The 20th installment of the long running series. Find the other 19 here. The Old Testament continues to inspire the current run of installment titles. Whether the current title … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism
Tagged ark, Atlantic, cheerleader, Cornucopia, death, dogs, Dorothy, ice berg, library, Noah, Pacific, polar bears, restaurant, school, self-help, therapy, Wizard of OZ
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Seasons Greetings
We dressed our tree. Our windows have lights. Even our trellis is dressed. I prefer to call it a Solstice Tree. And since this is a very Queer home, our tree angel is a vintage Billy doll. He’s very anatomically … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Beginnings, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Musicabilia
Tagged angel, art, balls, Billy Boy, Brazil, Christmas, Cow, creche, disco, disco balls, dragon, frog, Gay Blade, Holiday, Hope, lights, mirror, ornament, Paul Cadmus, peace, peacock, photography, planets, Prince, Queer, Reindeer, Solstice, swan, tree, trellis, Vine, Xmas
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Autumn Colors
November backyard photo safaris Part 1: The trees on a rainy day
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged Autumn, backyard, brooklyn, colors, december, foliage, Garden, green, ground coverage, Japanese maple, leaves, November, Pacific, paw paw, pink, rain, RED, Rhododendron, tree, yellow
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Looking Up in NYC
There’s an old New York City adage that the only people who look up while walking around in Manhattan are the tourists. Well, I’ve been living here for almost 40 years, and I still look up. And sometimes I whip … Continue reading
New Musicabre at the Vietnam Memorial
This Monday I was in Washington DC and took some photos at the Vietnam Memorial which I will share below. The picture above however is not one of the photos I took but a screenshot of footage I was shooting … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Cinema Scope, Poe Musicabres, Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged adaptation, Autumn, DC, Edgar Allan Poe, memorial, musicabre, musical, photography, reflection, Roses, screenshot, shadow, short film, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, Vietnam, Washington
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Ecclesiastes of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions
You do you, but I ain’t callin’ no king’s horses or men or 911 this time! After exhausting movie sequel options in general and the Planet of the Apes movies in particular, the Old Testament continues to be a deep … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism
Tagged 911, application pool, autopilot, baseball, Bears, caption, carboretor, cartoon, clown, cockpit, crew, Humpty Dumpty, New Yorker, Octopus, Old Testament, peanut butter, receptionist, skeleton, squirrel, strike, umpire
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Reflections at the AIDS Memorial
After completing the No Kings march last Saturday, Ed and I took a break at the Aids Memorial in the Village before going for dinner and taking in a double feature at Newfest (we saw the queer animal documentary “Second … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Beginnings, Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged Aids, disc, Edward Elder, Fountain, granite, memorial, mirror, NewFest, No Kings, NYC, October, photography, Pigeon, Queens of the Dead, reflection, Second Nature, triangle, Village, Walt Whitman, water
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NO KINGS – TIMES SQUARE
I joined some friends (and 300 000 more) in New York City yesterday (plus 7 million more nationwide) to march for Democracy, Truth, Decency, among other things, and against Fascism, Lies, Bigotry, among other things… Above and below, references for … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism, Notes in the News
Tagged chickens, Congress, Epstein, fascism, ice, Immigrants, lyrics, March, No Kings, NYC, pedophile, Protest, Quakers, resistance, Taylor Swift, Times Square, Trump, Tyranny
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Rainbow Refractions on the Buddha Heads
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin'
Tagged Buddha, figurine, head, knick knack, lens, light, photography, prism, Rainbow, refraction, Sunshine
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The Colosseum
A Tour of the Famous Ancient Roman Amphitheatre In the center of Rome just east of the Roman Forum stands the Colosseum, the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world. It was built … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged amphitheatre, ancient, Christians, Colosseum, Emporer, europe, Flavian, gladiator, history, Italy, Jerusalem, marble, Mussolini, Nero, photography, Rome, Spartacus, Temple, thumbs down, thumbs up, travel
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The New Actor Reel Page
A new page has been added to the Notes from a Composer banner: Actor Reels. Here is where I will be periodically adding clips and edits from my work as an actor. I have been acting in a fair amount … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope, Poe Musicabres
Tagged actor, edit, excerpt, feature, film, Independent, musicabre, reel, Resurrection, short film, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart
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TELL-TALE in MILLESIMO
“The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” wins Best Long Short Movie at the Millesimo – Cairo Montenetto International Film Festival Officially “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre“, the first of my now three short film musical Edgar Allan Poe adaptations … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Cinema Scope, Live! On Stage, Notes in the News, Poe Musicabres
Tagged Alberto Bellavia, Andrew Vandaele, Award, Bridge, Brittany Christine, Cairo Montenetto, Castle, Dante, Edgar Allan Poe, film, Film Festival, four-handed, Genoa, horror, Inferno, Italy, Liguria, Long Short Film, Millesimo, musicabre, musical, ruins, Savona, silent movie, The Tell-Tale Heart, Tower
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Notes from a Composer 