musical thoughts: there really should be...

There really should be more Emily Dickinson in rock (like The Schramms' "Of All the Souls"). And there really should be a rock or punk cover version of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" (are you reading this, Nick Cave?)

The Google Book Settlement

Many thoughtful voices are raising questions about the settlement, which still requires court approval. Here are two recent articles, each of which contains links:

The Register 8/5/09 Link

O'Reilly Radar 4/17/09 Link

I think it is beneficial for the books to be digitized and be searchable and available to the public. I do, though, have qualms about granting Google a monopoly. I would love to know what my readers think.

Twitter follower number is wrong

Twitter says I have 180 followers, but I looked at my followers list and I really only have 150. Is anyone else seeing this problem?

Delacorte Theater in Central Park (Shakespeare and other) History of Productions

I was having a friendly argument with Mary Beth about whether all of Shakespeare's plays have been produced at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. So I went looking for a list of the New York Shakespeare Festival (later renamed the Public Theater) productions in the park... couldn't find one online. So I made one. Turns out all of Shakespeare's plays have been presented in the Park, except for The Two Noble Kinsmen, attributed to Shakespeare and John Fletcher. ('Kinsmen' was produced at Lafayette Street's Public Theater in 2003.) Starting and ending dates of each show are not all correct. Corrections, comments welcome.

1962 (first year of Delacorte Theater)
Merchant of Venice
The Tempest
King Lear

1963
Antony and Cleopatra Jun 13
As You Like It July 11
The Winter's Tale Aug 8-31

1964
Hamlet June 10 - July 4
Othello July 8 - Aug 1
Electra (Sophocles) Aug 5-29

1965
Love's Labour's Lost June 8
Coriolanus July 13
Troilus and Cressida Aug 10

1966
All's Well That Ends Well June 16 - July 2 (the play's New York professional premiere according to the NYT!!)
Measure for Measure July 6 - 30
Richard III Aug 3-27

1967
Comedy of Errors Jun 8
King John Jul
Titus Andronicus Aug

1968
Henry IV Part I June 11
Henry IV Part II July
Romeo and Juliet Aug

1969
two shows
Peer Gynt (Henrik Ibsen) July 8 - Aug 2
Twelfth Night Aug 6 - Aug 30

1970
The Wars of the Roses Jun 21- Aug 22
In repertory -
Wars of the Roses Part One, Wars of the Roses Part Two, (a retitling of Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3) and Richard III
Marathon production given twice - June 28
Wars of the Roses and Richard III

1971
Timon of Athens Jun 29 - Jul 18
Two Gentlemen of Verona Jul 22 - Aug 8
Cymbeline Aug 12-29

1972
Hamlet June 20
Ti-Jean and His Brothers (Derek Walcott) Aug
Much Ado About Nothing - Aug 17

1973
two shows
As You Like It June 21
King Lear Aug 1

1974
two shows
Pericles June 20
The Merry Wives of Windsor Jul 31

1975
Hamlet Jun 18 - Jul 19
Comedy of Errors Jul 24 - Aug 24

1976
Henry V Jun 24
Measure for Measure Jul 28

1977
The Threepenny Opera (Brecht/Weill) Jun 28 - Jul
Agamemnon (Aeschylus) Aug

1978
All's Well That Ends Well Jun 29-
Taming of the Shrew Aug 3

1979
Coriolanus June 28
Othello Jul 27

1980
only one show
The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan) Jul 15 - Aug 24

1981
The Tempest Jun 26
Henry IV Part 1 Jul 31 - Aug 30

1982
Don Juan (Moliere) June 14- July 17
A Midsummer Night's Dream Jul 30 -Aug 28

1983
Richard III Jul 1
Non Pasquale (rewrite by Nancy Heikin and Anthony Giles of Donizetti's opera) Aug 9 - Sep 4

1984
Henry V Jun 29 - Jul 23
The Golem (H. Leivick) Aug 3

1985
Measure for Measure Jul 10 -
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Rupert Holmes's adaptation of Dickens's unfinished novel) Aug 3

1986
Twelfth Night July 2
Medea (Euripides) Aug

1987
Richard II Jun 27
Two Gentlemen of Verona Jul 30
Henry IV Part I Aug 22

1988
Much Ado About Nothing Jul 9 - 31
King John Aug - Sep 4

1989
Twelfth Night Jul 9
Titus Andronicus Aug 12

1990
Taming of the Shrew Jul 12
Richard III Aug 16
Romeo and Juliet Sept

1991
Othello June 21-
A Midsummer Night's Dream July 30 - Aug 11
The Tempest Aug 27 - Sept 8

1992
As You Like It July 9
The Comedy of Errors Aug 16

1993
Measure for Measure July 19
All's Well That Ends Well Aug 15

1994
The Merry Wives of Windsor Jul
The Two Gentlemen of Verona Aug 18

1995
The Tempest June 22 -July 19
Troilus and Cressida Aug 4 - Sep 3

1996
Henry V Jun 30
Timon of Athens Aug

1997
Henry VIII Jun 13 - Jul 9
On The Town (Bernstein/Comden/Green) Jul 31 - Aug 31

1998
Skin of Our Teeth (Thornton Wilder) Jun
Cymbeline Aug 16

1999
The Taming of the Shrew July 1
Tartuffe (Moliere) Aug 22

2000
The Winter's Tale July 6-16
Julius Caesar Aug 8 - Sept 3

2001
Measure for Measure Jun 17-28
The Seagull (Chekhov) Aug 12-26

2002
only one show
Twelfth Night Jun 25- Aug 11

2003
one show
Henry V June 26- Aug 10

2004
one show
Much Ado About Nothing Jul 1-Aug 8

2005
back to two shows
As You Like It Jun - Jul 17
Two Gentlemen of Verona Aug 28 - Sep 11

2006
Macbeth Jun 28 - Jul 9
Mother Courage and Her Children (Brecht) Aug 21- Sep 3
Peer Gynt (Ibsen) Oct

2007
Romeo and Juliet Jun 7 - Jul 8
A Midsummer Night's Dream Aug 23- Sep 9
Hair (Rado/Ragni/MacDermot) Sep 22-24

2008
Hamlet Jun 17-29
Hair Aug 7 - Sep 14

2009
Twelfth Night
The Bacchae (Euripides)

CROSS-REFERENCE

All's Well That Ends Well - 1966, 1978, 1993
Antony and Cleopatra - 1963
As You Like It - 1963, 1973, 1992, 2005
The Comedy of Errors - 1967, 1975, 1992
Coriolanus - 1965, 1979
Cymbeline - 1971, 1998
Hamlet - 1964, 1972, 1975, 2008
Henry IV Part 1 - 1968, 1981, 1987
Henry IV Part 2 - 1968
Henry V - 1976, 1984, 1996, 2003
Henry VI Part 1 - 1970
Henry VI Part 2 - 1970
Henry VI Part 3 - 1970
Henry VIII - 1997
Julius Caesar - 2000
King John - 1967, 1988
King Lear - 1962, 1973
Love's Labour's Lost - 1965
Macbeth - 2006
Measure for Measure - 1966, 1976, 1985, 1993, 2001
The Merchant of Venice - 1962
The Merry Wives of Windsor - 1974, 1994
A Midsummer Night's Dream - 1982, 1991, 2007
Much Ado About Nothing - 1972, 1988, 2004
Othello - 1964, 1979, 1991
Pericles - 1974
Richard II - 1987
Richard III - 1966, 1970, 1983, 1990
Romeo and Juliet - 1968, 1990, 2007
The Taming of the Shrew - 1978, 1990, 1999
The Tempest - 1962, 1981, 1991, 1995
Timon of Athens - 1971, 1996
Titus Andronicus - 1967, 1989
Troilus and Cressida - 1965, 1995
Twelfth Night - 1969, 1986, 1989, 2002, 2009
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - 1971, 1987, 1994, 2005
The Two Noble Kinsmen - Not yet produced
The Winter's Tale - 1963, 2000

The Hackensack River

The Hackensack River at New Bridge, River Edge, NJ, May 2004

Click image for larger size

Lux Interior, 1948-2009

Brilliant and creative when performing, friendly and approachable off stage. I saw The Cramps more times than I can count, probably every time at CBGBs. So sad another symbol and mainstay of that time is gone.

"angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night" - Allen Ginsberg, "Howl"

"he who kisses the joy as it flies/ lives in Eternity's sunrise" - William Blake

As an experiment, I'm going to post here some of the little blurts I write about music on last.fm -- called "shouts" in the last.fm universe.

The Fall - No Bulbs from The Wonderful & Frightening World of The Fall
I love the melodic stuff from when Brix was around.

Liz Phair - Glory from Exile in Guyville
The guitar seems to have an unusual tuning -- any musicians out there?

Liz Phair - Dogs of L.A. from Whip-Smart
another weird guitar tuning. And bonus points for name-checking both Super 8 and Abe Vigoda.

Liz Phair - Stuck on an Island
"I tried to bend it back into shape with a rake for a crowbar"