Today's New York Times carries a front-page story about a French priest who has spent a considerable amount of time researching and documenting the killing fields of the Ukraine, where the Nazis rounded up whole Jewish farming villages and shot them in mass graves.
Father Patrick Desbois is speaking with local eyewitnesses and gathering their accounts--gaining access to information that Jewish visitors and researchers have often been unable to obtain. His work is being exhibited now in France, and his organization, Yahad in Unum, has a website.
Several years ago, a cousin of mine (Ben Weinstock) and a friend of his (David Chapin) wrote a 2-volume account of the Jews in the Letichev region of Ukraine. Entitled The Road from Letichev: The History and Culture of a Forgotten Jewish Community in Eastern Europe.
It contains photos of my grandparents, who emigrated to the U.S., and my grandfather's parents, who stayed behind and were eventually shot by the Nazis. There are maps of their village, showing where their home was located, lists of residents, and other detailed information. The book is mostly an assemblage of of original source material, with little edited out--accounting for its length. While that makes for dry reading, it's a great book to flip through.
I can't see a visit to the Ukraine in my future, but it's nice to know that a family member made the effort to document some of our history, and that Fr. Desbois is contributing to the effort to keep the memory alive of those who lived there.
Until next time...
Rick
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
The "Blowup": Chapter Two
Errol Morris returned from Sevastopol, where he visited the "Valley of the Shadow of Death" depicted in the mysterious photographs. Here is the next installment of his tale (he promises a third installment and then suggest he may write a fourth solely to respond to the many hundreds of blog post comments he's received.)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
"Black Water"
I had an Emily Litella moment.
"What's all of this I hear about Blackwater?"
Besides making me smile, it made me remember a great song of the 70s by the Doobie Brothers by that title. It was from the album What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, and was #1 on the charts for awhile in 1975 (their first top single). Here's a sampling of the lyrics:
Wikipedia points out an interesting facet of this song, by the way:
The Wik-meister also says the song introduced a bluegrass sound to traditional rock, but I'm not sure I'd go that far.
So when you hear all the yadda yadda yadda in the news about that private security firm in Iraq, singing (or humming) this song is an appropriate diversion.
Until next time...
Rick
"What's all of this I hear about Blackwater?"
Besides making me smile, it made me remember a great song of the 70s by the Doobie Brothers by that title. It was from the album What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, and was #1 on the charts for awhile in 1975 (their first top single). Here's a sampling of the lyrics:
Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'
Ol Mississippi, she's callin my name
Catfish are jumpin'
That paddle wheel thumpin'
Black water keeps rollin' on past just the same
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me
Wikipedia points out an interesting facet of this song, by the way:
The song is characterized by the melodious a cappella section, with lyrics that are perhaps the most well-known in the entire song: "I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland/Pretty mama, come and take me by the hand."
The Wik-meister also says the song introduced a bluegrass sound to traditional rock, but I'm not sure I'd go that far.
So when you hear all the yadda yadda yadda in the news about that private security firm in Iraq, singing (or humming) this song is an appropriate diversion.
Until next time...
Rick
Friday, September 28, 2007
My Favorite Mondegreen
Googling something the other day, I came upon the word "mondegreen," and it rang a bell. Looking it up, I remembered why: it's the term for "misheard" song lyrics.
That reminded me instantly of the Bernard Farrell play I produced at the Laguna Playhouse a few years ago called Lovers at Versailles, the title for which (one learns in the play) is a mondegreen of the Frank Sinatra lyrics "lovers at first sight" in the song Strangers in the Night.
A local donor to the Playhouse, Nina Brice, sent that in to the LA Times daily columnist who displays errors in signage and other such gaffes, and he wrote about it.
However, it makes me think of a dispute I had with Alison the first time we heard together the Joni Mitchell song In France They Kiss on Main Street, from her 1975 album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Here are the lyrics from the stanza in question:
Alison heard me singing aloud the following lyrics:
Hey, it made perfect sense to me--so I had never bothered to check the printed lyrics on the album jacket!
Anyway, mondegreen has an official entry in Wikipedia (well, as "official" as you can call anything on that site!), and there is another website I discovered called Am I Right - Making Fun of Music, One Song at a Time.
Both provide additional examples of mondegreens.
Feel free to share your own in comments to this post. I'd be interested to know what you've misheard! (And don't tell me there haven't been any!)
Until next time...
Rick
That reminded me instantly of the Bernard Farrell play I produced at the Laguna Playhouse a few years ago called Lovers at Versailles, the title for which (one learns in the play) is a mondegreen of the Frank Sinatra lyrics "lovers at first sight" in the song Strangers in the Night.
A local donor to the Playhouse, Nina Brice, sent that in to the LA Times daily columnist who displays errors in signage and other such gaffes, and he wrote about it.
However, it makes me think of a dispute I had with Alison the first time we heard together the Joni Mitchell song In France They Kiss on Main Street, from her 1975 album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Here are the lyrics from the stanza in question:
Downtown
The dance halls and cafes
Feel so wild you could break
somebody's heart
Just doing the latest dance craze
Gail and Louise
In those push-up brassieres
Tight dresses and rhinestone rings
Drinking up the band's beers
Young love was kissing under bridges
Kissing in cars kissing in cafes
And we were walking down Main Street
Kisses like bright flags hung on holidays
In France they kiss on Main Street
Amour, mama, not cheap display
And we were rolling, rolling, rock 'n' rolling
Alison heard me singing aloud the following lyrics:
Feeling the breeze
In those push-up brassieres
Hey, it made perfect sense to me--so I had never bothered to check the printed lyrics on the album jacket!
Anyway, mondegreen has an official entry in Wikipedia (well, as "official" as you can call anything on that site!), and there is another website I discovered called Am I Right - Making Fun of Music, One Song at a Time.
Both provide additional examples of mondegreens.
Feel free to share your own in comments to this post. I'd be interested to know what you've misheard! (And don't tell me there haven't been any!)
Until next time...
Rick
Comments on Yesterday's "Blowup" Post
Alison pointed out that one of the comments posted on Errol Morris' NY Times piece was a .gif file flashing on and off the two photos for easier comparison. Click here to view.
She pointed out to me that not only are cannonballs missing from the On photo, but some rocks as well.
My brother, Bob, wrote me from a business trip in Alaska:
"Funny you should write about it. I was captivated by Morris's piece as well and thought about it intermittently throughout the day. I loved the mystery of whether Sontag herself overblew the issue of the photographer commandeering the locals to move the rocks. With digital photography becoming ubiquitous, in a few years no one will ever believe in the authenticity of a photography."
Comments to this and my other blog posts are always welcome. Just click on the Comments link at the bottom of each post.
Until next time...
Rick
She pointed out to me that not only are cannonballs missing from the On photo, but some rocks as well.
My brother, Bob, wrote me from a business trip in Alaska:
"Funny you should write about it. I was captivated by Morris's piece as well and thought about it intermittently throughout the day. I loved the mystery of whether Sontag herself overblew the issue of the photographer commandeering the locals to move the rocks. With digital photography becoming ubiquitous, in a few years no one will ever believe in the authenticity of a photography."
Comments to this and my other blog posts are always welcome. Just click on the Comments link at the bottom of each post.
Until next time...
Rick
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
"Blowup" (Redux)
Who can forget the recently-late Michaelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup?
It starred David Hemmings as a photographer during the heyday of London swings (like a pendulum do) who comes to believe that an innocuous photo he shot reveals something more sinister, and seeks to uncover the mystery. The story came from the pen of Julio Cortazar, a highly regarded for his book Hopscotch. (In 1981, Brian DePalma made a film called Blowout that was loosely based on the concept of the original Blowup.)
Today's New York Times carries a piece by filmmaker Errol Morris about a truly fascinating Blowup-like mystery surrounding two photographs taken in 1855 during the Crimean War by a historically-important photographer, Roger Fenton. Though it's a bit lengthy, I highly recommend it.
The gist is that Fenton shot two photos of a road in what soldiers referred to as The Valley of the Shadow of Death--a place where the Russians routinely rained cannon fire. One photo shows this lonely road littered with cannonballs, the other shows only shells in the gulleys alongside the road. Writer Susan Sontag suggested in a book that Fenton faked the photo with the cannonballs in the road, and cited expert opinion on that in order to address the inauthenticity of artists who seek to alter photos for greater dramatic effect.
Errol Morris isn't quite so certain, and investigates further, uncovering more questions along the way.
It's a sort of brain-teaser worth taking the time to read.
Until next time...
Rick
It starred David Hemmings as a photographer during the heyday of London swings (like a pendulum do) who comes to believe that an innocuous photo he shot reveals something more sinister, and seeks to uncover the mystery. The story came from the pen of Julio Cortazar, a highly regarded for his book Hopscotch. (In 1981, Brian DePalma made a film called Blowout that was loosely based on the concept of the original Blowup.)
Today's New York Times carries a piece by filmmaker Errol Morris about a truly fascinating Blowup-like mystery surrounding two photographs taken in 1855 during the Crimean War by a historically-important photographer, Roger Fenton. Though it's a bit lengthy, I highly recommend it.
The gist is that Fenton shot two photos of a road in what soldiers referred to as The Valley of the Shadow of Death--a place where the Russians routinely rained cannon fire. One photo shows this lonely road littered with cannonballs, the other shows only shells in the gulleys alongside the road. Writer Susan Sontag suggested in a book that Fenton faked the photo with the cannonballs in the road, and cited expert opinion on that in order to address the inauthenticity of artists who seek to alter photos for greater dramatic effect.
Errol Morris isn't quite so certain, and investigates further, uncovering more questions along the way.
It's a sort of brain-teaser worth taking the time to read.
Until next time...
Rick
Monday, September 24, 2007
Fuhrer/Furor at My Alma Mater: Jihad on Ahmadinejad
Raucous times have returned to my alma mater at last!
It only took 30+ years for everyone to get really riled up on what had once been renowned as the most politically outspoken of the Ivy campuses during the Vietnam War era.
And what was the catalyst? That pipsqueak from Iran who used this opportunity to verify that women are full citizens there, that his country has no homosexuals (neglecting to say why: they've executed them all), that they love Jews but the Holocaust was just a big figment of everyone's imagination to justify creating Israel on Palestinian land, that he is not interested in developing any nuclear weapons and has no intention of attacking America--even though it's evil incarnate.
I'm glad he got to speak because it only strips away any illusions people might have about whether what is being reported is what this guy really thinks. Ironically, he isn't the real power in Iran: that belongs to the Ayatollah--which is why so many of Ahmadinejad's election promises and post-election statements have never come to fruition. The ultraconservative clergy are determined to keep Iran an Islamastan, but they let their president perform their clerical duties.
Ah, well, free speech is a great thing, and detest him as I might, Ahmadinejad was humilated and derided during his appearance and in the introduction by Columbia University president Lee Bollinger. It only goes to show how stupid the Iranian president is that he didn't anticipate he was actually being "framed."
Bring on Hu Jin Tao of China to speak about the Olympics--and then nail him. And there are plenty of other despots out there who should be put on the dais at Columbia to reveal their true colors.
Until next time....
Rick
It only took 30+ years for everyone to get really riled up on what had once been renowned as the most politically outspoken of the Ivy campuses during the Vietnam War era.
And what was the catalyst? That pipsqueak from Iran who used this opportunity to verify that women are full citizens there, that his country has no homosexuals (neglecting to say why: they've executed them all), that they love Jews but the Holocaust was just a big figment of everyone's imagination to justify creating Israel on Palestinian land, that he is not interested in developing any nuclear weapons and has no intention of attacking America--even though it's evil incarnate.
I'm glad he got to speak because it only strips away any illusions people might have about whether what is being reported is what this guy really thinks. Ironically, he isn't the real power in Iran: that belongs to the Ayatollah--which is why so many of Ahmadinejad's election promises and post-election statements have never come to fruition. The ultraconservative clergy are determined to keep Iran an Islamastan, but they let their president perform their clerical duties.
Ah, well, free speech is a great thing, and detest him as I might, Ahmadinejad was humilated and derided during his appearance and in the introduction by Columbia University president Lee Bollinger. It only goes to show how stupid the Iranian president is that he didn't anticipate he was actually being "framed."
Bring on Hu Jin Tao of China to speak about the Olympics--and then nail him. And there are plenty of other despots out there who should be put on the dais at Columbia to reveal their true colors.
Until next time....
Rick
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