This is the 10th installment of my own personal New Yorker Cartoon captions (easiest way to find all the others is to click on the Literary Lyricism category). It’s also the fourth to reference the Planet of the Apes movies in its title. One may think I’ll have to move on from that theme now that I have worked my way to the most recent installment in that cinematic universe; ah, but there are still a few more titles from the original 60 year old film series to mine – come to think of it, the previous use of the more general “Return” sequel signifier arguably suggests I have referenced the Planet of the Apes movies five times so far.
Which may be more amusing than any of my captions this round? I hope not. True to form none of my writings have yet reached the final three in the New Yorker captions competition.
There is much to discover and delight in at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, MOMA. I was especially taken by Montien Boonma’s House of Hope. A work of art that invites to be explored from many angles, perspectives and pathways.
I can’t transmit the rich, soothing sense of smell that pervades the installation. Still I hope that these photos and videos will convey much of the visual and experiential richness of this work.
In a handsomely arched hall turned screening room in a stately old building filled with history, my Edgar Allan Poe musical adaptation “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre”, was shown last night at the Giove International Film Festival (which I previously wrote about here) in Campo di Giove, Italy.
It also won two awards. For Best Actor (that would be me) and Best Cinematography (Jason Chua).
Jean-Luc Servino, the festival director, was so good as to send me some photos and a really cool video from the screening, which I am sharing here now.
That’s from the introductory video I sent to screen before the film (you can watch it here).
And below is a fun walk into the building and screening room as the film was in progress.
This Friday, August 23, my short film musical Edgar Allan Poe adaptation “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre” (click here for trailer and much more) will screen again in Italy, specifically at the Giove International Film Festival in Campo di Giove, nestled in the mountains of the Abruzzo region in central Italy.
“The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre” officially concluded its one and a half year festival run last November in New York City; but Jean-Luc Servino, who has followed the film’s progress across several festivals, and also screened it at the Robinson Film Festival in Naples last year, organized a special additional screening at GIFF this summer.
Initially I had planned to be in Abruzzo for the screening, but unfortunately that didn’t work out. So Jean-Luc asked me to provide him with an introduction to show before the screening, also asking me to include English subtitles for the intro as well as providing a version of the film that includes English subtitles throughout (not just when the Judges of the Inquisition sing in Latin).
Below is the intro that will screen Friday before the film:
Ed and I treated ourselves to a tasty meal in the even tastier restaurant, the Oscar Wilde, on 45 West 27th Street in Manhattan.
“A Public Place for Private Affairs”.
The name of the restaurant may be Oscar Wilde, but the decor is largely influenced by Lewis Carroll. (Having written an Alice in Wonderland inspired musical, I had extra incentive to explore this place.)
As you wait to be seated, a statue of Oscar Wilde hands you plastic baggies for your wet umbrellas, while an array of Carrollesque characters enjoy a tea party.
I dare say the statue refines Wilde’s cheekbones and nose in a manner than makes him resemble Hugh Grant in “Maurice” a little more than the original article?
The bar area at front is teaming with visual treats.
While I composed it, I already knew that I would also be arranging the piece for string orchestra. Todd Maki, the conductor and sound engineer who has worked on both of my short film musical Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” and “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre“, asked me to provide a piece for the Contemporary Integrational Orchestra Project. In an upcoming concert they will perform Evocation XXXI along with 10 other pieces composers created especially for them.
I will post about that at the time. In the mean time, you can listen to the computer do its (relatively) best imitation of a string orchestra here (and compare it to the piano/viola version):
In Berlin, Germany, just south of the Brandenburg Gate, across the street from the eastern edge of the Tiergarten park, lies the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, A K A the Holocaust Memorial, and also referred to colloquially as the Stelenfeld, the Field of Stelae, in reference to the 2711 concrete slabs (or stelae) that comprise the memorial.
The stelae vary in perceived height from low to monumental as the viewer walks along the wavily sloping paths along a grid of stelae, 54 of them going north–south, and 87 heading east–west, in a field spanning 4.7 acres.
It is a powerful memorial that is most effectively viewed and walked in person. I hope these photos will give some sense of the experience.
Today is Ed’s birthday. And I have presented him, as I have for the past 31 years, with another viola piano duet for us to play.
Below is the score you may follow along while you listen to the computer program play back the music in its inimitable, algorithmic flair…
Sigh … one of these days we may splurge on hiring two classically trained musicians to record all the Evocations… already it would be quite the box set (do they still produce those?).
I am thoroughly disgusted with the New York Times. It has lost all journalistic integrity with the pile-on of articles and op-eds pushing an agenda to force President Biden to drop out of the race, while barely giving voice to / downplaying other views on the matter as well as news on Trump and Project 2025 – or ignoring that news altogether. Where is the article on Trump denying knowledge of support of Project 2025? Or on the recent release of Epstein files? To name just two underreported or unreported news items while the current front page top three articles (and four op-eds) are all pushing the same anti-Biden narrative, a pattern that has been consistent now since the debate.
Where was the Times Editorial Board calling on the Republican candidate for President to drop out of the race after he was convicted of 34 felonies?
Shame on you. The agenda pushing has become too blatant. You have lost journalistic integrity. Whatever your motives, whatever your intentions, you are doing harm. You are becoming a handmaiden to the destruction of American democracy.
Ed and I made our wasy from Brooklyn to the Village to watch much of the Pride festivities and parade before joining the Quakers* at their late afternoon slot in the march down Fifth Avenue.
What follows are a couple handfuls of photo and video impressions.
Mid April Ed and I escorted visiting family to Liberty Island for a trip to, and up, the Statue of Liberty.
The morning started grey and rainy but turned sunny and blue around the time we reached the viewing gallery in Lady Liberty’s crown, allowing for some contrasting views in approach and retreat.
Yes, some pics here will be much like the typical, classic shots of the statue you have seen elsewhere. But I promise, many others will be far more unusual.
So among the expected, also expect some rather unexpected pics.
We have come to the final episode of the Beyond / Jenseits blog posts, at least as far as recounting the little night opera’s libretto and music in German and English. (Catch up with all of the opera and the previous episodes on the Jenseits/Beyond homepage.)
The Woman’s return back to her body and back to living commences in Section XXII. But before that in Section XXII we are diverted to some riffs on the indignities of aging, especially and unfairly for the female sex. The Angels briefly take on new personas as an ageist artistic director and an eager plastic surgeon.
The Woman reacts in a manner and with music that recalls the earlier sections on her girlhood, evoking grim(m) fairy tales and declaring “Snow White has the smoothest face lifting in all the world”.
Then the finale begins in earnest. The Woman watches her Husband and Son sit vigil by her hospital bed. After all she has now experienced in the Beyond, she muses “I am dead and was never more alive.”
However the horror of operating table is reprised, and the Woman feels herself drawn back into the terror of witnessing her body being cut into. This time she conquers her fear.
In fact, you can tell from this part of the German libretto that text was added for the Woman to sing. I realized in composing this section that I needed additional words to draw out and better transition into what was ultimately a musical transformation of the fear theme from something chromatically gnarled into a soaring celebration. A long distance phone call between me and Helga led to her dictating me those extra words you can now see in ink in this copy of the original German libretto.
The 1st Angel also gets a phone call. The Woman may return back to her body. She will live on.
But does the Woman still want to go back?
After all, life is hard. But it’s also a gift.
And did all this really happen? Or was it some sort of dream?
Between the Woman and the Angels the answers to those questions are more cryptic than clear.
In the grand musical finale the Woman states: “I am that which always was, which always is and always will be. I am all and not at all.”
And in a hushed epilog, after the final piano chord ushers her back from the Beyond, she muses:
“Do I live and only have dreamed that I died? Or am I dead and only have dreamed that I’m living?”
Notes from a Composer 