BLACK ON BLACK

September 30, 2016

Taking my old VW bus out for a run, even in the Ninety degree heat..  is fun.  Today we toured Echo Park (Vestal Avenue to where it stops!) and then down Sunset to Vine to Santa Monica where Christ The King holds court with Ravenswood looming to the south. 

Maybe the ghost of Mae West is looking down? 




This view used to have large florescent lights that illuminated the statue.  Long gone.

624 N Rossmore Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90004 where Vine Street sort of becomes Rossmore.
///

The construction of what look like more apartment buildings on Hollywood Boulevard with the incredible encroachment of concrete and glass is a little frightening.  Our streets are becoming canyons!  

Curson and Norton,  Hollywood, CA

After shooting photos on Vestal and over to the Catholic Church, I learned one thing for certain..  A certainty is a rare thing! Even though my memory told me that Curson and Norton in the virtual heart of Hollywood were south of Santa Monica Boulevard, by driving all the way from Melrose to Santa Monica Blvd., turning around, jockeying for position with a couple of huge trash trucks and cars coming from the opposite direction.. in a Hurry!!  down past Melrose to Beverly and then coming back again searching for the intersection of Curson and Norton,  (There's  fireplug there I really wanted to get a shot of!) I crossed Santa Monica north from Curson with a little zig zag to the east and then north continuing again to find Norton a block away. The fireplug was patiently waiting for me.  A cab running the stop sign was a little scary, but we survived.. the photo and the cab and I.  

Why Vestal Avenue, a fireplug and Christ the King?  Maybe I'll tell you later. 

Hot in Hollywood? You betcha.. and the choice to just cruise Hollywood Boulevard from La Brea to Western was slow going, allowing me take in the touris scene.  I saw  a huge Transformer guy.. and a black man who was very upset; bent over the hood of an LAPD Black and White.  He was being frisked by a black cop literally twice his size. The guy was obviously troubled and when the cop finally took the cuffs off and released him, the small black man sort of 'reeled down the street.'  He was waving his cap wildly and seemed to be shouting or something.. He was gesticulating and weaving all over the place with his colorful prosthetic leg at right angles off to the left of the rest of his body.  The big black cop wiped the sweat from his brow and turned his back as the man wobbled away, weaving and waving his cap.  

The humanity lined up for Jimmy Kimmel Live was long and patient.  A kid on a skateboard whizzed by a sidewalk artist.  The sun shone down on open top tourist buses and the 'scramble' intersection at the now over loaded  Hollywood and Highland corner was more like an 'amble' with an really odd older man in shabby clothing  waving a hand printed sign on a stick: "Boycott Hoes and Bitches" as he rummaged in the trash can there on the corner.  

My agent's office used to be right on that corner.. and the Credit Union.. and production offices for game shows.  I even did a radio spot with Joan Rivers in a small studio in that building. Joan said that she was afraid of getting a ticket where she had parked her car. I volunteered to go and move it for her.. 

"What kind of a car is it??" 

"Oh.. It's a Corvair or a Corvette.. One of those.. "

 We recorded the spot and that was that!

September 30, 2016

michaelsheehan

  

SO LONG SEPTEMBER 2016

September 29, 2016

I am a nostalgic.  Plain and simple..  I think of the past and moments that are important to me and there they are.  Seeing a terrific Punch and Judy at the Complex last week..  Richmond Shepard's cool investment retains the rag tag and thread bare feeling of store front theatre is a good reference.  He's still around at the age of 87, reportedly living in New York.  I don't know if the little row of theaters on LA's now official Theatre Row still belong to him, but what he did there is a credit to the craft of mime and acting and producing seat of the pants theatre.  A good thing. I did hear that he performed at the Taper one time for an audience of blind people.  Hmmm.

I was thinking, however, about early days in LA and The Company Theatre on Robertson between Pico and Olympic and the amazing work done there.  Being on the fringes of that.. the periphery, really.. I recalled that by its very nature, that space was an environment for theatre.. Entering the tiny room from Robertson Boulevard through a little foyer you became ... in a way.. a part of the play.  The walls were all used redwood stained with boiled linseed oil by whomever was around under the guidance of a technical genius: Russell Pyle.. who designed and created sets and turned the room into whatever the play required.  It was dark and wooden and alive. LA Times theatre critic, Dan Sullivan, once said that we did it on a dollar ninety eight and a book of Green Stamps.  (Remember Green Stamps??)

The Company Theatre's ground breaking shows like The James Joyce Memorial Liquid Theatre, The Emergence and ultimately, The Hashish Club were literally conceived and born in that wooden room.  In memory I pause. I can smell the wood.. 
I remember the workshops with artistic director Steven Kent on Saturday mornings with trust exercises and yoga disguised as warm ups.  Blind walks and, wow! Fritzi Winnick .. a new kid.. comfortable in her own skin in the middle of the floor.  Theatre Games from Spolin and some we made up ourselves.. to get away from the pretense of acting.  To get to the stuff lurking deeper.. deep within.  Abandoning fears or embracing them.  It was an environment for art.  You had to be there. 

 Thanks, Rugg.  Thanks for everything... 

September 29, 2016

michaelsheehan

/// 

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE!

September 28, 2016

Warm day..  the first three letters of that word are WAR..  a FB friend asked about fate and free will today in the pithy and interesting posts she shares.  I made the analogy of a baseball pitch.. ironic as I don't know much of anything about baseball.  I think we get pitches daily.. curve balls, sinkers, fast balls!  Is there such a pitch as a "stinker??"  

(I get them several times a day in all shapes and sizes).. the deal is that we stand at the plate and don't control the pitcher, but we can either take a swing or step back.. we can emulate Babe Ruth pointing to the left field bleachers.. and succeed..  or sometimes we strike out.. I understand that in baseball if one bats over 300, that's good. That's only getting a hit a third of the time.. not even! Something to think about. 

How odd to make a baseball analogy when I am not a fan and don't much understand the game, but recognize when I page by a game on TV the sound of a solid hit and the whiff of a swing and a miss. 

///

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE is a 1936 play adapted from a novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis. It chronicles the rise to power of an American Fascist who takes over the country.. the USA.  Evidently, there will be readings sponsored by Berkeley Rep on October 24th and other dates to just alert us all to the prophecy that Lewis  declared over eighty years ago as Hitler was rising to power.  He was concerned for the candidacy of Huey Long (do your own search for that guy) and his extreme views.  Today we have more extreme views by the republican candidate and it's important to be very careful that we don't screw up and get him elected. The worst may be yet to come.  More later on the readings.  There should be more than one in the LA area and around the country, too. 

/// 

Too much stuff today.   A friend's home was burglarized and some jewelry stolen.  If you happen to see a nice 18 inch turquoise necklace with little yellowish beads between the 1/2 inch oblong turquoise beads..nicely burnished.. It would be great to get the necklace and the earrings back.  

//

 Anna Konya, is having a sale of her gorgeous gypsy skirts!  I hope that my dear friend, Pam, will allow me to get one for her.  She would look great in one! 

 http://www.annakonyadesigns.com/gallery/index.html 

Pam got me on a roll with ideas about what would happen if she wore one of Anna's skirts in New Zealand where she will be later this year.  Or maybe one for her daughter or granddaughter? We could get a group rate?

Dear Pam: 

If you wanted a skirt, it would NOT be too expensive partly because the tax refund you got for me would cover it and that is found money.  So.. think how happy it would make me if you were out somewhere in the wilds of NZ and dancing and singing and flouncing your skirt and folks would say.. oh my.. and you would say.. it was a gift.. and they would say.. oh.. where can I get one?? and they would all be thrilled and you'd blush and say.. my friend who gifted me this skirt knows the artist who makes them.. we can refer you to the web site and they would all admire you and the flouncing and would all buy skirts and tops  and she'd send a dozen skirts to a fancy shop in NZ where they would sell to admiring folks and those folks would go out and their friends would say.. oh my. where did you get that gorgeous skirt?? and those folks would say.. oh thank you it's from an American artist who has been making and selling gypsy skirts for more than thirty years and they would all go to the shop or to the website and they would buy Anna Konya's clothing and they would go flouncing about and all of THEIR  friends would go WHOA.. where did you get that beautiful skirt and those people whom we will never know would lift the skirts and twirl and flounce and say that they love their gypsy skirts and turn those complete strangers on to Anna Konya's website or back to the local store and Anna would be back ordered and bitching and moaning because all she really wanted was this years rent and taxes and now she has to hire more help to meet the demand and her feet hurt and she's mad at me for gifting you with one beautiful skirt?  Oh my..

 Do a good deed today and don't tell anyone. Okay?  

September 28, 2016

michaelsheehan

I just hit the wrong button and almost lost this entire post! Yikes!!  and Whew.. 

NINE OR WAS TEN!???

September 27, 2016

We all get spam and more spam (thank you Monty Python!)..  This came this morning.. 

"Rth month. Fa-hien kept his retreat on board the ship. They took a course to the northeast, intending to fetch Kwang-c"  

Is the internet now writing its own book? Our brains are .. as I barely understand it.. just a series of synapses all flashing together.  What if  AI gets to the next step??  Self consciousness.. Like the Twilight Zone with Wally Cox?  or the guy who asked the computer, "Is there a God?" and the compter answered, "There is now!!" Hmmm?

Coming back from Santa Clarita yesterday I stopped to see nine or maybe ten LA County Sheriff's vehicles and twice as many officers at a service station digging into the back of a car that was stopped at one of the gas pumps.  There were lots of big guys and one tiny woman who seemed to be in the thick of the search.  All of the sheriffs seemed to be relaxed and casual.  There was a bottle or can sitting in between the aisles where cars pull in to get gas and the station seemed to be open for business: no crime scene tape.   The accountant in me wanted to know why nine or ten vehicles with red lights flashing and a dozen or so officers were casually rummaging around the trunk of this car. 

Doing the math.. hmm.. An LA Sheriff investigator makes about $1,600.00 a week, so to make the math easy, $40.00 an hour. The county was spending about $400.00 an hour for this bevy of officers, with only a few of them actually participating in the investigation. The sheriffs earn their salaries, of course.  I just wondered why would the business have to suffer the blocking of the gas pumps with all those vehicles?  No guns in sight.  Whomever the driver of the car was was not in sight.  Everyone was casual and inquisitive pulling a big pile of stuff out of the trunk of the car under investigation.  The other officers were sort of standing or sitting around.  Nine or ten vehicles. $$$?

Click on photo for a larger view. 

 This photo is as large as it will go. Click on it for a full view. 

///
The New Yorker has lost my subscription. maybe?  Dang!
 ///
TMobile has a trick for you!  When you call them to ask a question and  get put on hold to wait to ask a question from an actual person in another country, after being told by the robot that your wait is less than thirty seconds?? You are given choices of pop, jazz or classical music to bide your time with.  Lies!  No matter what you may choose, they put on techo crap with loud grating sounds, probably just drive you away.  I spent half an hour with a guy named Chris who promised he'd get my problem solved and I was shunted back into the "press one crap" that went on for a long time until I relented and dealt with the damned robot to pay my bill, being dinged an extra fifteen percent out of the blue for some extra fifteen percent cockamaymie tax!   It's still a deal and I can talk for hours until next September! Sheesh.. 
////

The New Yorker customer service lady, Janet, told me that my account address had been  changed! I need to find the address where my magazine may have been delivered!??  The assistance with the New Yorker was 180 degrees from my TMobile experience.  Life goes on...

///  and cryptically, the pinpoint of light in the tunnel is about the size of a dime.  If we treasure our friends, will they treasure us?  Which is worse? Hate or Indifference?

September 26, 2016
michaelsheehan

AND DEATH COMES AGAIN

September 26, 2016

Sunday afternoon, FB blossoms with news from ABC that Arnold Palmer has died at the age of 87.  Whenever something like this happens we get a plethora of personal anecdotes.   87 is a good age to live to.  Arnold Palmer showed us that golf was a sport for gentlemen.  We drink 'Arnold Palmers' half and half iced tea and lemonade.  I doubt that he actually 'invented' it,  but he gets the credit and that's okay with me.

My personal anecdote is short.  Working in Disneyland afforded me the opportunity to meet some famous people or in this case just watch as they walked by.  From behind, Arnold Palmer's shoulders were a mile wide. His gate exactly the same as I'd seen on TV many times.  He was just walking by:  "Hey.. That's Arnold Palmer!" I hope there's a nineteenth hole somewhere for this guy.  He was the epitome of a champion.  

///

A man with a windshield wiper as a weapon stops on an over pass.  He's a really big guy.  Really big! He is 'threatening' with the windshield wiper.  The cops have a dog at the ready, but have NOT drawn their weapons?  He tries for the edge to plunge down to the freeway below! The cops rush and grab him. They save his life.  Last shot is of the man with an oxygen mask on his face being loaded into an ambulance.   He was reported to have said that he couldn't find a job!  I hope this goes viral, but it probably won't as we are a blood thirsty lot.  

///

There may be a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel.  Film at eleven. 

September 26, 2016 deliberately not mentioning the Obvious.. 

michaelsheehan 

INCHES FROM DEATH!

September 25, 2016

Pretty dramatic Subject line!  But.. it's true.  Just before pulling out of my driveway yesterday on the way to the LAMAG to pick up my artwork, an old Mercedes Benz station wagon came down the street at a fairly high rate of speed.  The woman was on her cell phone and not paying any attention at all to the road.  We have a very narrow street with folks walking dogs or just themselves.  Wow!

I wonder if this young woman will have to kill someone.. or maim them?..  to get it that paying attention while driving is a good idea.  Had I been walking across the street as I often do without really looking as we have so little traffic here (my bad!) chances are that I'd have only been badly hurt.  What kind of damage can a MB station wagon to do someone at 25mph?

///

It's been a terrific day, though.  My artwork is retrieved. 

4' x 4' plywood, metal table and stuff

Drove from Hollywood to Spacious North Glendale for the Brand 44 Works on Paper in the evening.  New gallery configurations and a nicely juried show by Laddie John Dill.  It'll be up for about a month.  The works are for sale. Saw some old friends and made some new ones.  

Lola Ramona has a beauty of a piece in the show. "Eggs" (with unicorn).. she works in charcoal and I have been a fan of her work for a long time. 

Leslie and her Unicorn

 

 

 

 September 25, 2016

michaelsheehan

POSSIBLE BOOK

September 24,  2016

Off to the LAMAG to retrieve my installation in a few minutes.  I hope to self publish a book that will contain photos of the artwork as well as the creative process that I recorded over the period of time that I conceived and finally executed the piece.  

There's a big works on paper art opening for the Brand Associates tonight starting at Six PM at the Brand in Glendale.  I'm remembering the opening I had there with the blue hair docents and the "no wine" policy that embarrassed me and my friends who wanted to be generous.   I think the City of Glendale may have gone "wet" by now, these many years later. 

There's a wild play in Hollywood at The Ruby at the Complex on Santa Monica Blvd.  Theatre Row..  "Punch and Judy" is profane and highly charged with mayhem and fun.  That is .. if you go for that sort of thing.  Crisp direction and intensely focused actors combine to crank out an hour of wild entertainment, if you go for that sort of thing.

September 24, 2016

michael sheehan 

http://onstagelosangeles.blogspot.com/2016/09/punch-and-judy-lots-of-punch.html

SLOW DOWN.. YER MOVIN' TOO FAST

September 23, 2016

I heard that in England, if a car is stalled on the highway, blocking traffic, people who are behind the stalled vehicle simply stop, all lanes blocked briefly as others get out of their cars and push the stalled car to the side of the road.  This informs my daily journal, seeing a car headed south on the 101 near the Cahuenga Pass approaching Hollywood.  Traffic is slow by nature at this time of day, but the poor guy in the center lane will be stuck there until the AAA or one of those free trucks can come and help.  The point is that if in the next ten years we taught kids and others who are driving or will be driving to just slow down and slowly block the entire road, get out.. push the stalled car off the freeway which could take only a couple of minutes, then we get back in our cars and away we go.. that might be an idea.

There are many who will naysay this idea and they are right, of course.  Why should we take care of one another?  Why should we risk an accident? Put life and limb on the line?  Or, if in another time, why not? If we all agree that it might be an idea that would save literally millions of dollars in lost time and gas and hours on the therapist's couch, then, we train the driving populace to take a minute to render aid and get the freeway moving properly again.   Of course, this is not an over night fix.  But, with education and the willingness to be responsible for our entire society, if it works for the Brits, it could work for us. It's just an idea. 

///

The Academy presented a long and boring Student Academy Awards last night.  I was so looking forward to seeing at least a couple of the Gold Medal winners.  Instead, there were momentary clips of the three finalists in each of a handful of categories with lengthy speeches by not only the Gold Medal winners but the Silver and Bronze as well.  "I'd like to thank the Academy..." is limited in the annual big time Oscars Awards to about 45 seconds. One student director went blathering on for seven minutes (I timed him) with a heart felt ramble that, at times, made no sense whatsoever.

I'd expected to be entertained.  The best moment may have been in the line waiting to enter The Academy when a rather self important looking guy in his fifties with long steel gray hair was confronted by a small scary woman carrying a bag (was she a Beverly Hills Bag Lady?) who was vocally upset that she felt that this man had cut in front of her in the line!  Ignoring the dust up was difficult.  Turns out that the man was German and may not have spoken English at all. By the cut of his jacket and demeanor he may have felt that he should have been able to get in the Sam Goldwyn Theater ahead of others because he was connected to a winning filmmaker!  Privilege! The Bag Lady was bristling and the poor Academy security guy, Brendan or Brandon? who was charming and efficient really had his hands full herding the long line of attendees who had failed to make up much of a line at all! 

Richard Stermer, the man who oversees the entire evening was, as always, friendly and busy.  In fact, the entire staff at the Academy is so well trained that even in tense situations like the German and the Bag Lady, all goes very smoothly as we are frisked and wanded and sent into the hallowed halls.  The written speeches for the presenters and for Academy President, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, were cordial and welcoming and stiff.  Reading a teleprompter is difficult and those speeches never sound really sincere to me.  Presenter, Parker Sawyers, had to have the teleprompter screens moved up a foot to accommodate his height. His ad libs were a highlight of the long program. He recently starred in Southside With You as Barack Obama.

I've learned that the powers that be are not much interested in hearing suggestions for improving anything. However, common sense would, at least, require the winners of these awards to limit their thank you speeches to a reasonable time and to have the folks at the console flash a light or even have music play as they do at the Big Boy Oscars to signal the winner that his/her time is up.  If the awards are about the movies, then, figure out a way to include the screening of the Gold Medal winning films as they have done in the past during the presentations instead of at the late, late hour. 

It was well after 9:30 (two hours of thank you speeches by seventeen winners!!) when the screenings started and they started with the longest film first!  Oh well.  The film makers had a ball! 

 ///

The Brand Associates Works on Paper 44 opens at the Brand Galleries in Glendale tomorrow at 7PM.  I don't have a piece in this show, but am looking forward to see what Laddie John Dill chose to include. He's a local artist who embraces conceptual artwork. 

September 23. 2016

michaelsheehan

STUDENT OSCARS!

September 22, 2016

The Student Academy Awards are presented tonight.  Off to Beverly Hills soon.

 A few years ago I attended the awards and found myself sitting next to a mens' chorus of Norwegians who had come to support a student director nominee, Hallvar Witzø.  One of the singers was Hallvar's uncle.  They were all in tuxedos.  The Norwegians had been featured in Witzo's film, Tuba Atlantic.   The film won best live action short film. When the director came on stage to accept his Student Oscar, he introduced his uncle and the whole chorus sitting right next to me stood up and sang their song from the film, Anchors Aweigh!  The audience was astonished!  As I was! Their voices literally vibrated through the whole theater.  It was wonderful. I hope this director has gone on to make feature films. Seeing new filmmakers is always a surprise and often a real pleasure.  Tuba Atlantic is a very well done movie!   

https://vimeo.com/147588669

///

I am still in trouble.  The tunnel is dark. 

Autumnal Equinox.. 

September 22, 2016

michael sheehan

BUMPER STICKER MENTALITY?

September 21, 2016

Aphorisms are the bumper sticker truths that most of us can take in at a glance and apply to our lives. The danger, of course, is that as "true" as any bumper sticker might certainly be, if we take time to give these quips some thought, it may lead us to deeper understanding of living our lives more thoughtfully.  

Some folks feel attacked if you say "Hi! How are ya?" and wonder what we meant by that! People with serious philosophical points of view may carry a chip on their shoulder, too. Bottom line is that harmony is only achieved when we take the time to get beneath the surface and understand what's going on with other people.  If we really don't care about them, then, it's a brush off.  If we do, we take time to ask questions and come up with an understanding.. which sometimes is that we just don't, can't or don't want to agree.  Basic minds will resort to name calling and dismissals.  We see this in the jingoistic mind set that simplifies the current (though thankfully fading) issue of standing for the National Anthem into a "love it or leave it"  response. 

I took issue with the source of a nice aphorism that was attributed to a former radio psychologist who in public had expressed a negative opinion regarding African Americans as well as the LGBT community from her outspoken bully pulpit. The aphorism had to do with the freedom to make a choice but the reality of having to live with it.   I think that we are all responsible for the choices that we make but there are exceptions to every rule, even this one.  What I objected to was the attribution of the quip to the bigoted radio woman. I wonder if it was original to her?  It turned into name calling by a man whom I have known for many years and rancor that seemed to come from an angry place, which, to me, is the antithesis of what the teachings of Christ are all about.  

The missed understandings that are inherent in the simplistic communication of texts and tweets and FB blurbs are just a shame.  Hackles get raised and the need to be 'right' blossoms.   For me, I don't need to make anyone wrong to feel that my ideas are okay.  And, if I am wrong, there's responsibility again..  I do my best to admit the error.  Having an opinion is not an error. It's just an idea.  If someone disagrees, that's fine. I compare that radio psychologist to Rush Limbaugh.  Rush is a very opinionated guy who uses half truths and wonky analogies, just like the son of the republican candidate for President just did, comparing refugees to Skittles, to make his statements seem true.  There's no arguing with someone whose 'truth' is clearly not within the realm of the 'truth' that I believe. (Refugees are not candy!)  If we buy the premise of a huckster, then, we believe them for their being credible to us.   It happens all the time.  Bottom line is that by examining the source of any 'truth' we get to make up our own minds as to how valid it might be.   

I was in error for pointing out that the source of the simple quip was from a bigot whose opinions I just don't like.  Should we just let others do what they want and believe what they want and stay out of the splash zone?  Probably. 

For me?  I don't trust those whom I think are bigots or hucksters who will say anything that they think their audience wants to hear.  Critical Thinking goes beyond the bumper sticker and allows us to have our own understanding.  I'll still stick with "Love One Another." And.. "Expect A Miracle!"

September 21, 2016

michae sheehan

IT MAY HAPPEN HERE

September 20, 2016
(For some reason, this site thinks that this first paragraph should be in smaller print than the rest of the post.  Spell check tells me that 'paragraph' is misspelled with a little red line.  Oy! Which is also not a word to spell check! Read on.  Should this be wonky, it's the last time I'm going to try to fix it! ) 

Facebook is a regular stop almost daily. My friend, Pat Willson, often posts the birthdays of well known people. Today's is Upton Sinclair's.  He wrote a hundred novels and to me is often confused with another Socialist writer, Sinclair Lewis.  

 Of course, Upton Sinclair is NOT Sinclair Lewis who wrote "It Can't Happen Here" in 1935 that chronicles the rise of a Fascist Presidential candidate in America who uses strong arm tactics to silence the press and rises to the Presidency. Lewis made it into a play with John C. Moffitt.

It's time for another staged reading of this text!  

My main artery for sharing these daily musings is Facebook.  Hopefully, theatre friends may read this and join me to discuss the idea of a staged reading of the play version of Sinclair Lewis's play.  It's language is dated. It's a strong polemic with a frightening outcome.  

I so dislike politics.  I so love the power of the Theatre.  If anyone has a copy of the play, please be in touch.  directortv41 at yahoo.

September 20, 2016

michaelsheehan

BLUEBERRY TOAST! ECHO THEATER COMPANY. NOW!

September 19, 2016

This is the pae where whatever is on my mind pops up as I post the photo from my porch.  I'll be writing a review of Mary Laws's "Blueberry Toast" at www.onstagelosangeles.blogspot.com  in a minute, but it's on my mind and has been ever since seeing the matinee of the show at the Echo yesterday.  Copy and paste that address into your browser if you want to read a rave.

//

I didn't know that the entire Thai population of Hollywood would be at Barnsdall Park yesterday! It was the last day of the Open Call art show and I stopped by for a final farewell.  The staff and volunteers there have been kind: just super.  I'll pick my work up on Saturday and then head to the opening of the Works on Paper Show at The Brand here in Glendale.  Laddie John Dill, whose work I like, was the juror for this Brand Associates show. His work is conceptual in nature, so maybe I should have entered this big piece and arranged to deliver it after the fact of everything? Hah.. that doesn't happen.  I'll have the 'Game' with me when I head to the Brand.. so .. who knows?  I'll have to take that big table apart.  Hmmm.

// 

Re-reading "Kinship With All Life" by J. Allen Boone.  He was the 'sitter' for Strongheat, the German Shepherd that preceded Rin Tin Tin and was the darling of the movies for a time.  Boone recounts how he came to respect Strongheart and learned life lessons from him.  I am not so sure about how I feel as I was the first time I read Boone's accounts of his encounters with animals and his learning to communicate with them. It may be workable.  His story of making friends with Freddie the Fly is a stretch!   Of course, if we believe that 'We are all One' then the kingdom of the world and cosmos and Everything may be available if we learn how to listen.  

Doesn't feel like a Monday. Why is that?

September 19, 2016

michael sheehan

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH ART

September 18, 2016

Off to the Gallery in a few minutes, but learned just now that almost a hundred years ago, June Foray's parents, in the dead of winter in Springfield, Massachusetts, got together.  It might have been around Christmas, 1915?  Wow.. what a gift those folks have given us.  Over the years I've worked with June and we chat from time to time. Her friend, Dave Nimitz, is a very loyal guy who posted this terrific photo of June to commemorate her birthday today, September 18th.  

 That's Dave on the right.  

We have few real icons in life. At least my icons are few, but this lady and her talent and sense of humor and kindness make her iconic to me.  Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Granny from the Sylvester and Tweety Warner Brothers cartoons are what she'll be most remembered for, but I've always loved her radio spots as the spokesvoice for Bandini Fertilizer!  Very sexy.  Of course, Natasha was pretty sexy, too. 

June was brutally attacked in a follow home robbery many years ago and badly injured.  She said that what saved her life was "playing dead" which may have sent the attacker on his way.  She is a tiny woman! That she had the where with all to save herself in this very smart way left us with years and years of enjoyment of her wonderful talent.  Yes. I am a fan.  June founded the ASIFA "Annie" awards and annually ASIFA awards a special Annie for an animation voice performance named in her honor.

Happy Birthday, June!  Onward!! 

///

Last day at the LA Municipal Art Gallery.  Boy, this month went quickly.   Thanks to friends who made an effort to get down to see the work.  The gallery will be open in Barnsdall Park until five this afternoon. 

September 18, 2016

michaelsheehan

 

AU JOURDUI et MANANANANANA

September 17, 2016

Shameless self promotion ..  Two more days to see the amazingly wonderful Open Call show at the LA Municipal Art Gallery. Hollywood Boulevard west of Vermont..  Noon to Five.  I'll be there tomorrow, Sunday, for a little while between noon and about One PM. or so.  Up the hill! Good luck parking!

Oliver Stone's "Snowden" is an important film. I've written to President Obama asking him to pardon Edward Snowden.  A conservative pal has pointed out the damage to the ability of the USA to spy on the entire world, but it seems to me that for us to have laws that can be circumvented by political excuses are of no value unless they are kept.  Politics. What a pain.

Need to make a phone call. Need to have food.. must have food..  A beauty of a day and here I sit clacking away.. hah.. I am remembering my first typing class and the teacher's instruction to 'strike' the keys!  Do not push!  Clackety clack! My little green portable typewriter should be making art again.  The wonderfulness of mechanical objects will always astound me.  Of course, electronics rule the day and shall, but whomever it was who figured out the mechanics of a typewriter should get a standing ovation.

Saturday. September 17, 2016

michaelsheehan