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Martin represents Whittlesey at Cambridgeshire County Council, a Fenland District Council and sits on Whittlesey Town Council.
Stoptober
This is a bit of a cut and paste, but it's important. Stoptober starts tomorrow. Most people who smoke want to stop - so why not join forces with loads of like minded people and try tomorrow:
What is Stoptober?
Stoptober is the 28-day national stop smoking challenge which is set to return following its launch in October 2012when more than a quarter of a million people nationallypledged to make a quit attempt, and over 160,000 successfully managed to quit. In Cambridgeshire approximately 800 people attempted to quit smoking during Stoptober last year, almost 200 more compared to October the previousyear. Evidence shows that stopping smoking for 28 days means that an individual is five times more likely to stop for good. Stoptober provides the opportunity for local stop smoking advice to be supported by a high-profile nationwide advertising campaign and aims to generate motivation and intention, making quitting more of a norm and to encourage people to collectively quit and support each other with their quit attempts. Stoptober is being supported by a number of nationwide organisations, companies and charities. Stoptober is calling upon people across the country to get behind the campaign and encourage as many smokers as possible to attempt to go smokefree for 28-days, from 1 October. In its second year, Stoptober is expected to be bigger and better than last year.
Stop smoking services
More people want to quit than make a quit attempt, with 68% of smokers reporting they'd like to stop, compared with 38% actually making a quit attempt. Stop smoking services, like Camquit, can assist smokers to make a successful quit attempt. Those living, or working, in Cambridgeshire whowant to stop smoking can access intensive support and advice from a trained advisor at Cambridgeshire's local stop smoking service, Camquit. Camquit stop smoking advisors can provide smokers contemplating quitting, or ready to make a quit attempt, with expert advice on how to stop together with discussions about the best options when it comes to stop smoking medicines. Camquit are a team of professional advisors who understand that quitting is different for everyone. Advisors can arrange Nicotine ReplacementTherapies at prescription only cost and for those who don't pay prescriptions these are free. They have extended open hours, including weekends and evenings, and hold clinics right across the county. Smokers are followed up for at least four weeks following the quit date to help them through the most difficult period. Those who attend Camquit can expect friendly and non-judgmental support from their stop smoking advisor. The first session lasts around 20 minutes, then follow-up sessions of around ten minutes in each of the following weekly sessions. Smokers who are supported through their quit attempt are up to four times more likely to be successful than if they try on their own.
For advice, information, and support making a quit attemptCamquit, Cambridgeshire's local stop smoking service can be contacted on: 0800 018 4304 or referrals can be made on our websitehttp://www.camquit.nhs.uk/CAMQUIT/Support/Referral-form.htm.
Smokers can register with Stoptober athttps://stoptober.smokefree.nhs.uk/
Posted by Martin Curtis at 09:55 No comments: Links to this post
Life can be fun. Grafham Water Centre
I have had quite a difficult week this week, focussing on trying to get across a very difficult message about the tough situation Cambridgeshire is in financially because of massive reductions in Government grant.
So it was great to have a bit of light relief today when I visited the Grafham Water Centre to see the work they are doing providing outdoor and adventurous activities for young people. I have always loved what Grafham do, largely because I know how much good having fun in the outdoors can do for children's development. What surprised me today was how much they have moved forwards since my last visit; I particularly enjoyed hearing about the outreach work they are doing with schools.
Today, I think the plan was to put me on a RIB and motor around watching the children sail across the lake. I appreciate their flexibility, because I suggested I would much rather sail across with them so they found an instructor who sailed across the lake with me, they then (bravely) allowed me to sail back on my own. (I am no sailor, but it really wasn't that difficult).
Before today I never could have imagined you could put two 10 year old completely novice sailors in a boat with a minimum of training and get them to sail across a lake and back with very few problems; it provided a perfect example of the benefits children get from being stretched (of course they had back up from the instructors who were around all the time in the RIB's). I enjoyed the sailing today, but I got the most satisfaction from seeing the nervous faces (and tears in one case) of the children heading one way across the lake turn into smiles and laughter coming back. They then had even more fun having a massive splash-about in the water when they got back to the Centre.
I must finish by saying thanks to everyone at the Grafham Water Centre for looking after me this morning and, indeed, the amazing children who laughed their way through the whole morning while I was there (and of course their teachers).
Every Briton knows that it was really us that won the America's cup this week. It seemed a perfect time for me to spend a few hours pretending I was Ben Ainsley.
Photos to follow.
No across the board salary reduction
I had a meeting with some of my cabinet colleagues at Cambridgeshire County Council today where we talked about the recent pay and conditions consultation that has been carried out to help meet the millions of pounds of savings we need to make. I was pleased to see that Cabinet colleagues who had been looking at the consultation results, talking to staff and investigating what happens in other Councils were in agreement. They felt we were right to look at these options but also, like me, agreed it was right not to look further at an across the board pay reduction
There will be an ongoing debate, including using arenas like Group Leaders to ensure that other political groups have their say, but I believe the final recommendations are highly unlikely to include a recommendation to reduce pay.
Cabinet have always wanted this to be a proper consultation and whilst, in light of the savings we have got to make next year, it was right to test the appetite for this measure, it is clear that staff do not want it, it is also clear that some other councils who have implemented similar measures have suffered recruitment and retention difficulties which affect their ability to deliver services (think of the implications, for example, on our ability to protect vulnerable children if we find staff leaving at a faster rate than we would like or if we were struggling to recruit).
I signalled this latter issue as a concern at the last Full Council meeting. It was also included in an email that I sent to the Chief Executive of the County Council on 29th August where I said:
" Another issue was raised with us about terms and conditions. That is, to a degree, inevitable given that the consultation is happening. One aspect raised was about the need for understanding of the wider circumstances that are affecting incomes, such as benefits cuts etc. etc. – things that are outside of our gift, but need to be considered. It is interesting that this was linked to recruitment and retention – which you know was one of my concerns and correlates directly with what I was told by a leader of another authority a few days ago, who had been through a similar process, implemented a 2% cut and is now suffering a R&R problem with social workers as a result. His advice was clear – don't do it."
I have highlighted this email because it demonstrates that the Cabinet view is entirely based around the interests of the employees of the County Council who are our greatest asset, and because it shows that the line of thinking predates recent political spats about the behaviour of certain Councillors.
The financial pressures facing the Council mean that we still must deliver very significant budget savings so the review of other terms and conditions is on-going -as is consideration of other ways of saving money put forward by staff as part of the consultation.
To me, this is what politics should be about. Having a mature conversation and debate which sets out the problems and look at all the evidence before picking the best course ahead. These are difficult times and we have many difficult and challenging decisions to make to meet the tough savings required. but we aim to do this in a common sense way.
I hope that when staff see all of the formal recommendations around pay and conditions they will recognise that we have made active use of the consultation in coming to a conclusion.
Staff Pay Awards
The details of the pay awards for Cambridgeshire County Council employees have now been announced. The agreement is for a 1% pay rise for the majority of staff, 0.8% for the middle management band and 0.5% for the most senior staff.
It is interesting to see the conflicting pressures and views on this – our two biggest opposition political groups called for 0% for the top two tiers (albeit the Lib Dem member of the committee voted at the committee just for 0% for the most senior management - more of which later) whereas the Unions called for 1% across the board – that suggests to me that the recommendation that Cabinet put to the Appointments and Remuneration Committee was probably about right.
I found the Liberal Democrat stance on this extraordinary. The proposed pay rise went through our group leaders before the recommendation went forwards. To be fair to the UKIP group, they were consistently opposed to a rise in the top two tiers – and they were the only group to oppose at group leaders.
So having nodded the change through at group leaders, imagine my surprise when all of a sudden the Lib Dems chose to release details of a confidential paper to the media and, in my view, blatantly lied.
Their press release said this:
"High-earning Cambridgeshire County Council officers could get a pay increase just weeks after the rest of the staff were told they face a pay cut and even possible redundancy."
The Lib Dems know (they know because they tried to spin this before and had the truth pointed out to them) that if the reduction in salaries we are consulting on is implemented it will apply to absolutely all staff – so if the proposed reduction was combined with the pay rise which is 1% for the lower tier, 0.8% for the middle tier and 0.5% for the top tier, senior staff would face a bigger reduction (2.5%) than more junior staff (3%). The Lib Dems have since spun this to talk about specific figures – but the basic truth is clear, if we went forwards with a salary reduction, senior staff would be hit hardest both in percentage and numerical terms (although it is worth pointing out for accuracy that the reduction would start next April whereas all the agreed pay rises will be backdated to April).
Does this matter? It does for two reasons:
1. The electorate deserve to be told the truth; I want opposing groups to challenge when they think we have got it wrong and to put forward alternative arguments – but if they have to bend and twist the truth like this, then it helps no-one.
2. This particular deceit has the potential to drive a wedge between senior staff and the employees of the Council. We have amazing staff who are facing tough times, they do not deserve to be lied to, things are tough enough financially in Cambridgeshire without this.
Next year there are elections taking place in Cambridge and in some of our Districts. Ask yourselves this question – do you want to elect someone to power who is willing to mislead you in the way the Lib Dems have here?
The issue about salary reductions is being sold by some almost as a done deal; it is absolutely not the case. The proposal is part of a wider review of pay and conditions which encompasses a number of options, we decided to include a possible 3% across the board reduction in salaries in light of the fact that we have £33m of savings to find for FY2014/2015; it was right to ask the question – but I made it clear at the last full council meeting that we had to be very mindful of the impact of such decisions on staff morale and on recruitment and retention - so we will listen to the voice of staff. I have also consulted with a few other Council Leaders who have already made decisions to reduce salaries so I can get their views on the impact on their staff. I, and my Cabinet colleagues, are waiting to see the responses from the consultation before we make any recommendations (and of course we will consult other political groups as well). I am pretty sure that any final outcome will have a number of significant tweaks to what was consulted on, because I am determined that this should be a proper consultation and not tokenism.
For information, here are a few basic facts about salaries in Cambridgeshire:
1. Government indicated to Council's that it should challenge the ratio between the lowest paid council employees and the highest and if it was higher than 1:20 then it should do something about this. Cambridgeshire's ratio is well below this at 1:15.
2. Cambridgeshire's workforce has been reducing over recent years and this has included the senior leadership team; for example from our CLT team over the last 2 years we have seen a reduction in the number of Executive and Service Directors, which has resulted in 15% less capacity and equivalent reduction in cost of over £300,000 per annum.
3. The pay increases announced were not just concerned with Directors and senior managers, in fact these were the minor number - it included over 1,000 of our employees that deliver services to our communities on a daily basis – senior social workers, children's centre managers, engineers, education advisers; senior professionals/managers whose average salary is 36k.
A final point, we could of course have given absolutely nothing to our most senior managers, and some would say they can afford it. However – we do have a duty to ensure that we keep the best staff in Cambridgeshire. The Leader of the UKIP group has challenged whether there is a real issue here – in fact he said on the radio:
"At the end of the day it's a captured market. So these executives move from council to council, constantly raising the costs, and claiming that they'd earn twice the money if they were out in the public sector."
The accuracy of that comment will unravel in the next few weeks. But the truth is that our Strategic Directors are responsible for budgets that can run into hundreds of millions of pounds, they run services that keep children and vulnerable adults safe and are responsible for leveraging millions of pounds into the County Council's coffers – so I want the best people in Cambridgeshire because 2nd best means less safe people and less money coming in from outside sources; our view was that the differential pay rise sends a message that we recognise the value and the great work that all of our staff do from the top to the bottom of the organisation whilst providing some balance.
UPDATE: The news was released late last week that one of our Strategic Directors is moving to take up a Directorship in Royal Mail - this means that the last two Directors to leave the employ of Cambridgeshire County Council have not moved from "council to council" - which is the claim made by UKIP.
Which Cambridgeshire Councillor said this about Cambridge..
"Cambridge doesn't sell anything that's bulky. People come here, people whisper in their ears, they tell them stories, they tell them facts, they tell them fairytales. They teach them to speak English. Off they go again, no packaging, no transport, nothing, they do it…and if they forget it, it is their fault they're stupid"
(think purple)
Charicature by Nick Smith
Whittlesea Street Pride | Creating pride in Whittlesea
Steve Barclay PPC - Home
Getting The Message Out
Samantha Hoy - Wisbech North
Nick Clarke; Telling it as it is
Which Cambridgeshire Councillor said this about Ca...
Promoted by Mrs D N Clark on behalf of the Conservative Party Candidate both of 111 High Street, March, Cambs PE15 9LH


Just posting up some results from my saturday wood fired bake. I did a pain au levain, running off of thoms country french but I increased the hydration a bit because my high extraction flour absorbs a lot of water due to a small bran content. I mill the flour myself and dont have a super fine sifter so the extra water gives quite an open structure. Comments and Questions are always welcome.
I work at a small Organic Bakery in Winnipeg,MB. We get our grain directly from the farmers and mill our own flour/grain and press our own organic sunflower oil at the bakery . The bread is pretty basic but is made with the best ingredients possible. I work the night shift from 8pm to 430am by myself and on average I make between 275 and 400 loaves each night along with roughly 700 buns and 250 WW cinnamon buns. I make 9 kinds of bread during the night: Wholewheat, Wholewheat Multi, White, Cracked Wheat, White Multi, Wild Rice, Light Sourdough Rye, Spelt, and Ciabatta.
After I finish work at 430 I drive 45 min to bake in a woodfired oven for a farmers market on the weekend until 10am which is just for fun to help out a friend with production.
PICTURES! They're kind of crummy because I took them on my phone.
As requested here's the recipe I use to make baguettes. This recipe yields about 10-390g baguettes. For use in a home oven i would scale down the weight otherwise you'll end up with a small loaf rather than the slender french icon.
Yeast (Fresh) 26g If using instant yeast use 1/3 of the listed fresh amount.
1. Poolish- 12-16 hours prior to the bake mix all ingredients for the poolish until smooth. Water temp should be cool to the touch roughly 21°C or 70°F. Cover and let rise at room temp. Make sure the Poolish does not collapse. If the poolish collapses discard it as it will not longer provide the proper flavour, extensibility or gluten development to your dough.
2. Mixing- By hand or my machine. It's up to you I use a spiral. In the spiral i put all the ingredients in and mix for 6-7 minutes on the only speed the spiral works at. Itwould be equivilant to a 1st speed on most mixers. Your looking for a smooth shiney dough with moderate gluten development. Dough temp should come out of the mixer at 25°C or 78°F. You'll have to adjust the water temp based on the ambient temp.
3. Fermentation- Bulk Ferment 2 hours. With a Fold at 1 hr.
4. Dividing and Shape- Pour dough from proofing container on to floured table. Do not Degas at this point. Scale out your portions and be gentle we're trying to retain some of the hole structure we've built from out fermentation. Give a light oval preshape to the portions and let rest for 10-15 minutes. The dough needs to be sufficiently relaxed because when we final shape the dough we want to extend the dough to its final length in 1 or 2 passes. At this point we are trying to handle the dough as little as possible. Over working the dough will give a very tight crumb structure. Final shape the dough gently degas and shape http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3pFkbKzOSE this is the closest video i can find to how i final shape the baguettes.
5. Proofing - Proof at room temp for 30min - 1hr between folds of bakers linen, couche, canvas whatever you've got. seam side up.
6. Bake - Score w/ razor blade in desired pattern or cut into epi loaves. Bake @ 460°F w/ steam on hearth. Give a good bake so the moisture in the dough doesn't migrate out the the crust, a soft crust on cooled lean bread means it needed a longer bake. I don't time my bakes because each batch of dough is different so thats a judgment call in your court.
8. If there are left overs the next day make crustini, breadcumbs, crutons or bread pudding!
If i'm missing anything or am completely wrong let me know and i'll give this an update. Hope this helps.
2009 Culinary Salon. Bread display wins Gold!
On Saturday the 7th at 9pm I started mixing my first dough and began my overnight bake to have fresh bread out for my display at the 2009 culinary salon. As the night progressed I created my take on the epi loaf, guinness and barley bread, ciabatta, palmiers, croissant, danish pastries, 5 grain buns, 5 strand challahs and my centre piece. I set up the display around 6 am on sunday after a relaxing night bake. Judging began at 8am and i was allowed back at 1pm. I arrived with much anticipation and found my peice awarded a 1st place standing in my category!. Gold! I took some pictures of my work space at the college for everyone to see. Needless to say i was excited all day about the win.
Read more about 2009 Culinary Salon. Bread display wins Gold!
Today i put together a decorative plaque, baguettes, ciabatta, and the beer and barley bread. I'm entering a baking competition this weekend and have been practicing for the last little while. On Sunday I'll be doing the decorative plaque, baguettes, ciabatta, beer bread, multi buns, challah, palmiers, croissants, and danish dough for my display. Thoughts and comments are always welcome. If people are at all interested in a tutorial for the plaque just let me know! (I'm from Manitoba, Canada and our province has heritage with the bison and farming hence the wheat and bison on the display) I've redone the plaque already to clean up the seams and braid and this was my first.
This weekend I decided to get in touch with my sweet side. I made cinnamon buns on sat and croissants, chocolate hazelnut danish and an apricot basket ( unglazed in pictures). I used the recipe out of artisan baking by ciril hitz. My assistant was also helping me out with the weekend bake.
Read more about Five Grain?!
Todays Bake included a few baguettes and I tried out the Beer and barley bread from hamelmans book. This is a solid recipe and i opted to use guinness as the beer because it definitly my favourite to drink on its own and figured it wuld give the bread great flavour. I would definitly recommend this recipe to anyone looking for a semi whole wheat bread with lots of flavour! Questions, thoughts, comments are always welcome.
So this is my first post here. I've got a few pictures here of the bread display I am putting on for the open house at the college. Theres Baguettes, Ciabatta, Miche, Light Sourdough Rye, and Challah. I also had a semolina loaf but someone decided to drop the dough on the floor. Enjoy!
Read more about Bread Display!


Slide and float on a Hover Craft and find out just how much fun they are on different surfaces! Tours on Hovercraft Experience Friuli are scheduled and subject to calendar availability.
Events for Hovecraft Experience Friuli are scheduled every 2 months. You are welcome to partecipate and try the hovercraft on the snowy circuit or on sand, water or even hills! Professional Hovecraft pilots are gonna be there to help you out with instructions on drivign an hovecraft and safety briefing.
Check availability from the booking form above. Please book at least 10 days in advance. For more information contact us using the form below.


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Rough Passages
Coffin Ships - The Middle Passage - Timeline - Equiano's Travels
Coffin Ships
From Wikipedia, "Coffin Ship" and "Great Famine (Ireland)"
The term coffin ship (Irish: long cónra) is used to refer to the ships that carried Irish immigrants escaping the Great Irish Famine [1845-9] as well as Highlanders displaced by the Highland Clearances [18th-19th C.]. A coffin ship was also a ship in poor condition that was overloaded and overinsured so it was more valuable to its owners if it sunk. [...] Coffin ships … resulted in the deaths of many people as they crossed the Atlantic, and led to the 1847 North American typhus epidemic at quarantine stations in Canada. Owners of coffin ships provided as little food, water, and living space as was legally possible – if they obeyed the law at all. [...] mortality rates of 30% aboard the coffin ships were common.
The scene at Skibbereen, west Cork, in 1847. From a series of illustrations by Cork artist James Mahony (1810-1879), commissioned by Illustrated London News 1847; Coffin ship statue in Murrisk, County Mayo, Ireland.
The Middle Passage
From Wikipedia, "Triangular Trade" (in "Atlantic Slave Trade") and "Slave Ship":
The first side of the triangle [of the transatlantic slave trade] was the export of goods from Europe to Africa. A number of African kings and merchants took part in the trading of enslaved people from 1440 to about 1833. For each captive, the African rulers would receive a variety of goods from Europe. These included guns, ammunition, and other factory-made goods. The second leg of the triangle [also called "The Middle Passage"] exported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas and the Caribbean Islands. The third and final part of the triangle was the return of goods to Europe from the Americas. The goods were the products of slave-labour plantations and included cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum. Sir John Hawkins [1532 - 1595], considered the pioneer of the British slave trade, was the first to run the Triangular trade, making a profit at every stop.
"A painting c.1830 by the German artist Johann Moritz Rugendas depicts a scene below deck of a slave ship headed to Brazil. Rugendas had been an eyewitness to the scene."
"A plan of the slave ship Brookes, showing how 454 slaves were accommodated on board. This same ship had reportedly carried as many as 609 people. Published by the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade."
From Wikipedia: the Bussa Emancipation Statue "is a public sculpture symbolising the "breaking of the chains" of slavery at Emancipation. It is located in Barbados, east of Bridgetown at centre of the J.T.C. Ramsay roundabout formed at the junction of the ABC Highway and Highway 5. Many Barbadians refer to the statue as Bussa, the name of a slave who helped inspire a revolt against slavery in Barbados in 1816, though the statue is not actually sculpted to be Bussa. [...] The statue, made of bronze, was created in 1985 by Bajan sculptor Karl Broodhagen 169 years after the rebellion."
A still from Amistad, Spielberg, 1997
This timeline lists information relevant to the transatlantic slave trade, "Caliban," and related topics in the poetry and lyrics of Kanye West, Langston Hughes, Billy Holiday, Leonard Cohen, Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill, Marilyn Manson, and Jarabe de Palo. I've numbered and put in italics five texts related to colonialism, slavery, abolition, and African independence. Key dates and events are from "Transatlantic Slave trade," "Civil Rights Act," and from individual years in Wikipedia.
1. On the earliest colonial takeover of the New World: Bartolomé de las Casas, Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias / A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1552
2. On being taken into slavery in Africa, surviving the transatlantic slave trade, and arguing for the abolition of slavery: Olaudah Equiano, Equiano's Travels, 1789
1806 and 1831: slavery abolished in Britain and then in the British Empire
1838 The People's Charter is drawn up in the United Kingdom, demanding universal suffrage
1863 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
1888 Slavery abolished in Brazil
1956 the United States Supreme Court declares illegal the state and municipal laws requiring segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott - Fidel Castro and Che Guevara depart from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, en route to Santiago de Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with 82 men
1963 — January 14 George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. In his inaugural speech, he defiantly proclaims "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!" — April 12 Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a Birmingham, Alabama protest for "parading without a permit". — June 11 Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in the door of the University of Alabama to protest against integration, before stepping aside and allowing black students James Hood and Vivian Malone to enroll. — President John F. Kennedy broadcasts a historic Civil Rights Address, in which he promises a Civil Rights Bill, and asks for "the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves" — June 12 Medgar Evers is murdered in Jackson, Mississippi. (His killer, Byron De La Beckwith, [[was] a member of the White Citizens' Council. This group was formed in 1954 in Mississippi to resist the integration of schools and civil rights activism. … All-white juries failed to reach verdicts in the first two trials of Beckwith in the 1960s. He was convicted in 1994 in a new state trial based on new evidence. - "Medgar Evers" Wikipedia]. — August 28 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech — September 15 The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in Birmingham, Alabama, kills 4 and injures 22. — November 10 Malcolm X makes an historic speech ("Message to the Grass Roots"). — November 22 Assassination of John F. Kennedy
1964 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/raised-voice Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam" — February 25 Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) beats Sonny Liston, and is crowned the heavyweight champion of the world. — April 12 In Detroit, Malcolm X delivers a speech entitled "The Ballot or the Bullet" — April 13 Sidney Poitier is the first African-American to win an Academy Award in the category Best Actor in a Leading Role in Lilies of the Field. — July 2, The Civil Rights Act is a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.
3 and 4. On the transition from life in tribal Africa to life under British rule: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 1958, and Arrow of God, 1964
5. On the transition from colonial rule to independence in Ghana: Margaret Lawrence, The Tomorrow-Tamer, 1963
Equiano's Travels, 1789
The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. […] This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. [...]
While I was thus employed by my master I was often a witness to cruelties of every kind, which were exercised on my unhappy fellow slaves. I used frequently to have different cargoes of new negroes in my care for sale; and it was almost a constant practice with our clerks, and other whites, to commit violent depredations on the chastity of the female slaves; […] And yet in Montserrat I have seen a negro man staked to the ground, and cut most shockingly, and then his ears cut off bit by bit, because he had been connected with a white woman who was a common prostitute: as if it were no crime in the whites to rob an innocent African girl of her virtue; but most heinous in a black man only to gratify a passion of nature, where the temptation was offered by one of a different colour, though the most abandoned woman of her species. [...]
May the time come--at least the speculation to me is pleasing--when the sable people shall gratefully commemorate the auspicious era of extensive freedom. Then shall those persons particularly be named with praise and honour, who generously proposed and stood forth in the cause of humanity, liberty, and good policy; and brought to the ear of the legislature designs worthy of royal patronage and adoption. May Heaven make the British senators the dispersers of light, liberty, and science, to the uttermost parts of the earth: then will be glory to God on the highest, on earth peace, and goodwill to men:--Glory, honour, peace, &c. to every soul of man that worketh good, to the Britons first, (because to them the Gospel is preached) and also to the nations. 'Those that honour their Maker have mercy on the poor.' 'It is righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people; destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity, and the wicked shall fall by their own wickedness.' May the blessings of the Lord be upon the heads of all those who commiserated the cases of the oppressed negroes, and the fear of God prolong their days; and may their expectations be filled with gladness! 'The liberal devise liberal things, and by liberal things shall stand,' Isaiah xxxii. 8. They can say with pious Job, 'Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?' Job xxx. 25.
As the inhuman traffic of slavery is to be taken into the consideration of the British legislature, I doubt not, if a system of commerce was established in Africa, the demand for manufactures would most rapidly augment, as the native inhabitants will insensibly adopt the British fashions, manners, customs, &c. In proportion to the civilization, so will be the consumption of British manufactures.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Whew! Yesterday was a big, full day. As I had mentioned before, I was excited to see the movie, "Camp Out", starring ME (well, and some other people). My excitement was dampered quite a bit by the death of my friend, Robin. Her funeral was Saturday morning, just hours before getting to see the movie.
First, the funeral. I've already given my little memorial for Robin. The funeral was very carefully orchestrated to include all aspects of her life. There was a lot of music and drumming. Robin was a conga player, so the Youth Encounter alumni did a lot of singing and drumming. They sang songs that had a lot of personal meaning for me, often because I sang them while I was on team. There was singing for 30 minutes before the actual funeral. The church choir sang, and Youth Encounter alumni sang. Then a small group sang "The Wood Song" by the Indigo Girls. That was where I lost it (for the first time). The recessional was "We Are Marching in the Light of God". Not your typical closing hymn for a funeral. But several people brought their own drums and played along. It turned into a drum circle. It was BEAUTIFUL!
Following the funeral, I got to talk with a few people, but I had to hurry out to get things set up for our private showing of the movie. I was already late. I won't go into detail about the setting up, or the requests of the production company. I'll just get to the good stuff.
The movie is WONDERFUL! It is very funny and touching. I mentioned above that it stars me. That's not quite true. It really follows the kids who come to the camp. They are wonderfully articulate about how they feel about the Christian Chrurch. It's a good film for anyone who wants to do reconciliation work between spirituality and sexuality. I said I wouldn't recommend the movie until I'd seen it. Well, I've seen it, so go and see it.
Actually, this next weekend, the film is making its premiere at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. If you are in Australia (well, the Melbourne area), go and see it. For those of you in the US, we know that it is at the Cleveland Film Festival March 23-24. We really want it to show at other places, so please make sure theatres are filled. I'm sure I'll be making plugs for the film whenever I know where it is.
For those of you who are interested, information about The Naming Project is to the right, under LINKS. The web site for Camp Out is here. I'm sure that soon, J will have something to say about the movie as well. J is the main adult who narrates much of the film. For the most part, you will see me playing the guitar (rather poorly) by a fire.
So, I've known about this movie for a long time and have been DYING to see it and I live and will not live anywhere near Cleveland anytime soon. When will us "little people" get to see it???
and i do not live and will not live anywhere near Cleveland.
This weekend, we pushed for a showing in Minneapolis (since you will be Region 3, you must travel to Minneapolis at least once a year!). It may be as part of a film festival, or we just may have our own showing. We will wait about a month to hear about the festival. If it's not to be, then we can have our own red-carpet event.
We are also hoping that it will be playing in several places around the country - not just Cleveland. Hopefully, it will be in a theatre near you! We'll keep updating The Naming Project web site.
As it turns out, I will not need to make a pilgrimage to see the movie, as I will be living in the area!
umm... this is mark, by the way.


How Small Is The 2014 Audi R18?
Here's the thing about the Audi R18 and all the other 2014 LMP1 prototypes: they're tiny.
LMP1 prototypes are the top class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but what they have in importance, they don't have in stature.
Here are the stats for the 2014 Audi R18, pinched off of its French, German, and English Wikipedia pages.
I hope that answers your question as to how small an Audi R18 is. Basically, it's about as long as a regular two-door coupe on sale today, but it's a good bit narrower, and much lower even at its highest point.
Take a look at the R18 in the pits and how small it is compared to the mechanics working on the car.
Moreover, most cars are shaped like boxes. Most of their dimensions is taken up by, well, the car itself. The Audi R18 and the other LMP1 cars cut out just about everything but the little turret where the driver sits and the fenders covering the wheels. The rest of the car is pancaked down into as little space as possible.
These LMP1 racers are even smaller than their small dimensions suggest.
For some reason Audi hasn't published any pictures of their R18 next to any other car, but it is identical in dimensions to its corporate cousin, the Porsche 919. Porsche put out these pictures comparing the 919 to their new 911 racecar.
Don't worry about the perspective here — the 911 just about dwarfs the prototype 919.
Below you can see the real difference in height. Much of what makes these LMP1 cars as tall as they are is just the roof scoop air intake. The height of the cockpit's roof is even lower.
You can imagine how much a regular sedan would tower over a 2014 LMP1 car at your local hardware store, let alone how a current SUV would lord over it. You couldn't fit a 2014 LMP1 car in the back of an F-350, but you might be tempted.
Please do not try and put any LMP1 cars in the back of any pickups. Audi would get mad at me.


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Taste Test: PortraitXO Refines Sonic Flavors with Sonarworks' Reference 4
Berlin, Germany, September 6, 2019 – LA-Born, Berlin-based artist PortraitXO is always in the process of finding new experimental musical projects to connect her personal experiences to listeners. What makes PortraitXO's work so unique is that from a young age she has experienced sound-to-taste synesthesia, a condition which has the artist "tasting" different frequencies of […]
Hummingbird Media, Inc. ⋅ Published: September 6, 2019
Berlin, Germany, September 6, 2019 – LA-Born, Berlin-based artist PortraitXO is always in the process of finding new experimental musical projects to connect her personal experiences to listeners. What makes PortraitXO's work so unique is that from a young age she has experienced sound-to-taste synesthesia, a condition which has the artist "tasting" different frequencies of sound. This has given her a singular approach to music and a fascination with creating multi-sensory experiences that can give others a doorway into her creative world, something she has manifested in conventional songwriting as well as interactive installations and live performances. Her continuing efforts in refining this process have found her embracing Sonarworks' Reference 4 audio calibration plugin, ensuring that her musical projects not only translate on a sonic level across all of these mediums, but on a taste level as well.
Sampling the frequency spectrum
Although only 4% of the population* is reported to experience synesthesia, artists with the condition are not entirely uncommon. Hans Zimmer, Mary J. Blige, and Kristin Hersh are just a few of those that experience it in the more well-known sound-to-color affiliation where certain sounds are also experienced as color hues. For PortraitXO, who has experienced the condition for her entire life, the correlation between sound and taste gave her an appreciation for variety in both from an early age. "It's always been this intangible experience and I never really questioned it," she said. "The best way I can explain is that both sound and flavor are two types of senses that are among the hardest to describe, so once I realized how I was experiencing things this way was different from others, I sought to find ways to express that in my work."
"The highest frequencies are very citric, and they trigger the most dynamic reactions," she continues. "From there it gets sugary until the middle highs, where it tastes like chili. The very middle are bland flavors like rice and potatoes, while the lows are like unsweetened peanut butter. What this ultimately gave me was an appreciation for all flavors and therefore sounds, which made we want to explore music that would encompass all of these tastes."
Portrait XO is currently a Resident Artist at Factory Berlin, a think tank of artists, tech innovators, and scientists from across the globe that explore boundary-pushing ideas in arts and science, and part of a 2-week residency for Night Embassy by Jagermeister (CO:QUO x Digi-Gxl) from September 6-17. Portrait XO has used this opportunity to explore and educate others on her condition, creating immersive works that allow her audience to experience sound as she does. Taste components in these have ranged from matching flavored sweets to sound clips in interactive installations, to live experiences like her 'Sound Tasting' performance in January 2019 where audience members drank specific wines and beers to accompany the pieces that she performed on stage. "I loved the idea of showcasing work in a different way, that would create a unique experience," she says, "It allowed me to still use music as my primary language but allow it take on a different role in how someone would experience it."
Mixing to taste
PortraitXO varies her production setup depending on the end situation, favoring Ableton Live for her sound installations and Logic for her more songwriter-focused recording projects. "They each make me write and produce differently," she explains. "Logic puts me in a more traditional producing mind frame and I'll often use it when I want to focus on crafting the structure of a composition. When I want to get more experimental and do more sound designing for an installation, I definitely favor Ableton." She uses an Apollo Twin interface and a variety of MIDI controllers, including the ROLI Seaboard, MAudio Keystation, and the Akai APC40 to compose a wide range of music influenced by both her singer/songwriter background and her classical piano training.
A key part of her recording setup for the last few years has been Sonarworks' Reference 4, which has allowed her to ensure that her compositions and songs translate across the variety of mediums that they are heard in, as well as ensuring that she's mixing them to their optimum potential. "Once I started using Reference 4, I noticed a difference right away because my bedroom studio wasn't treated at all," she says. "It was fascinating to see all the trouble spots that Reference 4 pointed out, and having it systematically adjust my monitors was immediately helpful."
She also uses Reference 4 when working in headphones, something she has to do more often since relocated from Los Angeles to Berlin, favoring a lovingly worn pair of Sony MDR 7506s that she used for over a decade. "I've had to bounce between a few different studios, and I've found myself missing the calibration when it's not present, it's something that creates an overall frequency flatness that makes the mixing side of things much easier."
She notes that although an optimum mix may not correlate to a specific taste — each piece having its own unique identity in that regard — she did occasionally find herself influenced by taste, albeit inadvertently. "I used to drink lemon water in the morning while I was working on my mixes, and I kept finding that the mixes would sound muddy when listening back. I didn't make the connection until later that the lemon juice was making me more sensitive to higher frequencies," she says with a laugh.
Cutting edge experimentation
Portrait XO is set to release her debut AI album later this year and single launching soon, another experiment that has her challenging listeners perceptions – duetting with AI-generated audio developed from her own voice in collaboration with CJ from Dadabots. Where her previous pieces have been carefully composed, this experiment has her developing musical ideas alongside cutting-edge AI technology, using the computer-generated randomness to spark off new compositional ideas. The work is once again allowing her to present something to an audience that they've never experienced before. "All of my creative executions have a strong sonic focus since I've always felt that my main communication tool has been through sound," she says. "This particular project is a fun game of fill-in-the-blanks for me, but it still shares a through line with my other work in that it's giving the audience a journey through process. I get a lot of joy out of that." Her next show is on September 17th where she will perform her AI album pre-release in collaboration with a global network of diverse 3D design and animation artists – Digi-Gxl.
* https://www.livescience.com/17156-synesthesia-taste-words-benefits.html
For more information about PortraitXO, please visit: https://www.portraitxomusic.com/
For more information on Reference 4, please visit: https://www.sonarworks.com/reference
About Sonarworks
Sonarworks was founded in 2012 when two music lovers met a scientist and embarked on a mission to deliver the ultimate sound experience for anyone creating or listening to music. Sonarworks is the leading sound calibration company in the sound recording industry. The company's technology is in use by more than 30,000 recording studios worldwide, including more than 35 Grammy winners who enjoy and endorse Sonarworks. Now we are on a mission to take this even further – deliver the ultimate sound experience to all music listeners, regardless of the device used, be it headphones, speakers, or car stereo.
This section of Pro Sound Network, "The Wire," contains original press releases that reflect the views of the industry organizations issuing them. Releases are not reviewed or edited by Pro Sound News editorial staff.
Innovations: Sonarworks Reference 4
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Sonarworks Reference 4 Monitoring Correction Software – A Real-World Review
Sonarworks and Focusrite offer users free Reference 4 Headphone Edition license
Review: Sonarworks Reference 3 Calibration Software
At NAMM: Adam Audio, Sonarworks Partner for Monitoring Solutions
'Accurate, reliable sonic reference': JBL Pro by HARMAN unveils One Series 104-BT reference monitors


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Thank You For Tuning Into "Telethon!" (A Letter From Gregg Mozgala)
Dear Friends, Viewers, Advocates, and Supporters,
Has your brain ever caught fire with an idea? Mine did a few months ago when I walked into The Lark and laid out my plans, such as they were at that point, for the event that was to become "Telethon!" The Lark could have dismissed the whole notion as crazy. But they said yes. Actually, they said something along the lines of, "Sure. Go for it. Let us know how we can help." Together, we have crafted The Apothetae and Lark Fellowship and Initiative, and "Telethon!" to foster a broad and necessary conversation around Disability in the theater. I am extremely thankful for The Lark's continued extraordinary support.
I also need to draw special attention to Kristjan Thor; who shot and managed all the videos, The New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts and Stone Street Studios for allowing us to shoot in their spaces and, of course, all the artists who participated.
And lastly, I would like to thank YOU. Thank you for watching. With every view, "like" and share, YOU have said 'yes' and offered your compassionate support as well.
The Apothetae is an idea. Without the people who nurture that idea, it is nothing. Throughout this past month, all of you have stoked the sparks of inspiration and ideas. You have allowed us to catch fire.
The theologian, John Wesley once said, "Catch on fire with enthusiasm, and people will come for miles to watch you burn." Whether you watched every week, or are just joining us, we're glad you did. This episode is over, but we're far from finished. We're just getting warmed up.
- Gregg Mozgala, Founder & Artistic Director of The Apothetae
Lloyd Suh, Director of Artistic Programs at The Lark (Left), and Gregg Mozgala, Founder & Artistic Director of The Apothetae (Right) prepare to host "Telethon!" 2016.
Please stay tuned for future details regarding The Apothetae & Lark Initiative and Playwriting Fellowship! We are currently, actively seeking major funders to help us launch this program and hopefully open submissions next season. Until then!
Hot Cripple #20/August 2016- The 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team
This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.
This month we feature the United States 2016 Paralympic Team.
BP Sponsored Olympians L to R: Matt Stutzman/Paralympic Archery, Lex Gilette/Paralympic Track & Field, Melissa Stockwell/Paralympic Triathlon, Nathan Adrian/Swimming, Rudy Garcia-Tolson/Paralympic Swimming, Tatyana McFadden/Paralympic Cycling (Wheelchair), Brad Snyder/Paralympic Swimming, Sanya Richards-Ross/Track & Field
The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will be held from September 7th through September 18th. Around 4,350 athletes from more than 160 countries will travel to Rio to compete in 528 medal events in 22 different sports.
Much like the 2016 Olympic games, the lead-up to the Paralympics have not been without speculation and scandal.
Zica.
Russia's Paralympic team was officially banned amidst a much publicized doping scandal.
By the end of the 2016 Olympics low ticket sales, empty seats and allegations that money for travel stipends allocated to Paralympic athletes from 50 nations were spent elsewhere (on the 2016 Olympics and non-disabled athletes), raised fears that this year would result in a huge step backward for the games and the Disability community.
Vogue Brazil did the impensável; publishing a spread where images of non-disabled actors were photoshopped to appear as disabled athletes. The editors' decision to not use actual disabled athletes raised the ire of many current/former athletes and Disability advocates.
The NBC network devoted thousands of hours to the 2016 Olympics and broadcasts numerous commercials using Paralympic athletes to sell the products of their sponsors. NBC's subsidiary NBCSN-SPORTS recently released the full schedule and is devoting only 66 hours to the 2016 Paralympic games.
Former Paralympian (and recent HOT CRIPPLE) Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt had something to say about that-
Okay folks, this is important...the Paralympic TV schedule for the U.S. has been announced. You will notice that the times are crappy (i.e. 1AM) on NBCSN. However, if people do not tune in, and we do not get the viewership, this will NEVER change. So PLEASE turn your tv on and keep it on mute while you sleep, DVR it, host a midnight party, TUNE IN! Pretty please...we have so far to go in order to catch up to countries like the UK and Canada, but this is the most coverage there has ever been, so we must show that it is important to us Americans. Thank you."
Shortly after that statement was posted on line ticket sales for the Paralympics skyrocketed and broke a record for the most tickets sold in a single day. These two events are unrelated. Or are they?
Despite all the scandals and fears swirling around the 2016 games, the Rio Olympics were a huge success. We have no doubt this year's Rio Paralympics will follow suit. In a recent article in the New York Times, Frank Bruni wrote-
"Don't tell me what's wrong with the Olympics. Let me tell you what's right with them.
In a world rife with failure and bitter compromise they're (the athletes) dedicated to dreaming and to the proposition that limits are entirely negotiable, because they reflect only what has been done to date and and not what's doable in time.
They make the case that part of being fully alive is pushing yourself as far as you can go. Every Olympic record, every personal best and every unlikely comeback is an individual achievement, yes, but it's also a universal example and metaphor."
Who knows more about pushing limits and being a stand in for universal metaphors then PWD's?
We wish all the athletes participating in this year's games the best, but of course our hearts are with the men and women of TEAM USA!
Check out individual profiles of some of the featured athletes:
Brad Snyder, Paralympic Swimming
Lex Gilletter, Paralympic Track & Field
Matt Stutzman, Paralympic Archery
Melissa Stockwell, Paralympic Triathlon
Tatyana McFadden, Paralympic Track & Field
The Apothetae and The Lark present "Telethon!" 2016: An online event to raise awareness and support for The Apothetae and Lark Playwriting Fellowship
New York, NY – The Apothetae, a theater company dedicated to the production of full-length plays that explore and illuminate the "Disabled Experience," and The Lark, an international theater laboratory based in New York City, are thrilled to announce their partnership in launching The Apothetae and Lark Initiative. The Initiative, currently in the development stages, includes plans for annual convenings of Disabled artists with the theater field at large, a workshop for Disabled writers, and The Apothetae and Lark Playwriting Fellowship, which will provide a Disabled writer with a two-year cycle of support for the generation and development of a new work to essay and challenge popular perceptions of the "Disabled Experience." In addition to the artistic and career support of The Apothetae and The Lark during the writer's residency, plans for the award include $40,000 in financial support, a $10,000 opportunity and resource fund, and a $10,000 production enhancement fund. To raise awareness and support for this program, The Apothetae and The Lark will produce "Telethon!" 2016, a virtual, theatrical event consisting of regular video posts to The Lark's blog during the month of September.
Through these efforts, The Apothetae and The Lark, with the aid of Steering Committee members Claudia Alick (Community Producer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Shirley Fishman (Resident Dramaturg at La Jolla Playhouse), Jack Reuler (Artistic Director at Mixed Blood Theatre), and Howard Sherman (Senior Strategy Director and Interim Director at Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts), will provide an unprecedented platform of support for Disabled artists. The needs for a higher and more intentional level of advocacy were articulated during conversations that occurred during the first national convening of Disabled artists and the larger theater community, held by The Apothetae and The Lark in May of 2015, and out of which this Initiative was borne. While topics of equity, access, and inclusion in the theater have recently gained increasing prevalence, Disability is only just beginning to enter the conversation. By affording Disabled writers the space and resources required to take the necessary risks, The Fellowship aims to aid in the generation of work with the power to revolutionize the cultural dialogue surrounding Disability.
"We are an incredibly rich and diverse community with many stories to tell." says Gregg Mozgala, Founding Artistic Director of The Apothetae. "The Disabled community needs space to nurture its talent and experiment."
To raise awareness and support for The Apothetae and Lark Initiative, The Lark and The Apothetae will produce "Telethon!" This virtual, theatrical event will take place throughout the month of September, and will consist of regular posts on The Lark's blog. Each week, The Apothetae and The Lark will publish new videos created by members of the community, inspired by The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. This annual broadcast, held from 1966 until 2010, was hosted by actor/comedian Jerry Lewis to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The event has faced criticism not only for using Disabled people as a fundraising tool, but also for focusing the public's attention on medical cures to "normalize" Disabled people instead of addressing issues like providing accessible buildings, transportation, and employment opportunities. The MDA Telethon is an important part of Disability History in the 20th and early 21st Century United States. The Apothetae and The Lark see this as an opportunity for Disabled artists to begin to reclaim agency and ownership around their stories, images, and bodies. Confirmed participants so far include Ryan Haddad, David Harrell, Anita Holander, Gregg Mozgala, Evan Ruggerio, Pamela Sabaugh, and Jessica Yates.
"The Lark and The Apothetae are ready to launch this initiative as soon as we have funds in place," says Lloyd Suh, Director of Artistic Programs at The Lark. "We're hoping that by announcing our plans in this way, it will help us to identify key partners who are interested in contributing to this important work."
As both organizations continue to raise the profile and support for this program, The Apothetae and The Lark encourage anyone interested in getting involved or staying updated to sign up for The Apothetae and Lark Initiative's dedicated email list.
To watch the "Telethon!" videos, visit www.larktheatre.org/blog regularly during September to check for new videos, post your thoughts in the comments section, and join the conversation.
Finally, for those interested in getting involved with "Telethon!" and The Apothetae and Lark Initiative, there is also the option to donate by visiting www.larktheatre.org and entering "The Apothetae" in the "Notes Regarding Gift" section of The Lark's donation form.
Hot Cripple #19/July 2016- Ian Dury
This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.
This month we feature painter, musician, actor and rock and roll vagabond, Ian Dury.
From his website...
Ian Robins Dury was born in Harrow, West London on 12th May, 1942.
The roots of Ian's creativity can be traced back to the cultural wastelands of post-war Essex and the various schools he attended in the 1950s. After contracting polio in 1949, at seven years old, Ian was confined to Braintree Hospital in Braintree for eighteen months before attending Chailey Heritage Craft School for disabled children from 1951 until 1954, followed by the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. The schools proved tough going for Ian. Chailey let the children fend for themselves in spite of their varied disabilities, and physical and mental hardships were not uncommon. The Grammar School was also a challenge and its academic private school traditions provoked Ian's rebellious character. He sought to sublimate the rigours of school life, and gain respect, by expressing himself through drawing and music, becoming an authority on reproducing images of glamour girls and knowing all the latest record releases. The wild rock and roll sounds of Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps became the backdrop of his teenage years.
The death of Gene Vincent in 1971 inspired Ian to form his first band, Kilburn and the High Roads. He became the vocalist and lyricist, co-writing with piano player Russell Hardy. A year later Ian enrolled into the group a number of the students he was teaching at Canterbury School of Art, including guitarist Keith Lucas and bassist Humphrey Ocean. The Kilburns, as they were affectionately known, found favour on London's Pub Rock circuit and signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but despite acres of favourable press coverage, an album – Handsome – and a tour opening for The Who, the group never rose above cult status.
In 1975 the Kilburns disbanded. A chance encounter in a musical instrument hire shop with former Byzantium guitarist Chaz Jankel led to a new songwriting partnership. Jankel, armed with reams of Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, including the classic Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. Jankel's treatment of this material was precisely what Ian had been searching for and soon they were recording, assisted by drummer Charley Charles, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and the former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne.
An album was completed, but major record labels passed on Ian Dury, whom they may have seen as a Pub Rock no-hoper. However, next door to Ian's manager's office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for his oddball genius. The now legendary single Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll / Razzle in My Pocket marked his Stiff debut and this was swiftly followed by the album New Boots and Panties!! that eventually achieved platinum status.
In October 1977, Ian signed up for the Stiff Live Stiffs Tour, alongside Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis. Ian's new band, now augmented by guitarist Johnny Turnbull and keyboard player Mickey Gallagher, was christened Ian Dury and the Blockheads and the group became the surprise hit of the tour. To capitalise on this, Stiff Records launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting, in the Spring of 1978, in the Top Ten hit What a Waste.
New Boots and Panties!! continued to sell in greater quantities and in November that year, Ian released the irrepressible Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, which became a UK Number One hit in January 1979. Dury was now a bona fide pop star and, with the Blockheads, toured to great acclaim.
While New Boots and Panties!! headed towards its remarkable 90 week chart run, the group commenced work on the follow up album, entitled Do It Yourself. Another Top Ten single, Reasons to Be Cheerful (Part Three), kept Dury in the public eye during this arduous period of recording. The album was eventually released in June 1979 in a Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve of which there were over thirty variations, all based on samples from the Crown wallpaper catalogue. In 1980 Chaz Jankel departed the Blockheads to concentrate on a solo career, signing with A&M Records. Chaz was replaced by former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who further enlivened the group's stage act and contributed to the next album, Laughter, and its two minor hit singles – I Want to Be Straight and Sueperman's Big Sister.
In 1981 Ian Dury and the Blockheads disbanded, Ian quit Stiff and signed instead to Polydor, who released the album Lord Upminster. This included the controversial single Spasticus (Autisticus). For this record, Dury was re-united with Chaz and they recorded in the Bahamas with the legendary rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. A second Polydor album, 4000 Weeks Holiday was released in 1984 and it was toured with a new band, Ian Dury and the Music Students.
In the mid-eighties Ian scaled down his musical output to concentrate on film and stage work. His theatrical CV includes films such as Roman Polanski's Pirates, Bob Hoskins' The Raggedy Rawney and Hearts of Fire with Bob Dylan, plus a voice-over for the fondly remembered Toshiba TV commercial, 'Hello Tosh – got a Toshiba?' He also acted in the stage plays Road and Talk of the Devil and wrote songs with Chaz and Mickey for Caryl Churchill's Serious Money and his own stage musical, Apples, produced by the Royal Court Theatre in 1989.
In 1990, Blockheads drummer Charley Charles became ill with cancer and the group decided to help with a series of benefit concerts but sadly Charley did not live to see these shows. The re-united Blockheads, with new drummer Steve Monti, produced the live album Warts 'n' Audience, released on Demon Records. Throughout the early nineties, the group played gigs on a regular basis, often in mainland Europe. A second album for Demon, The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories, was released in 1992.
In late 1995 Ian returned from filming in America feeling unwell and in 1996 he was treated for colorectal cancer, undergoing surgery and making a good recovery. He and the Blockheads began work on material for a new album and Ian became involved with UNICEF, accompanying the organisation to Zambia to witness an immunization programme. Ian's work rate didn't slow throughout the following year even though he was re-diagnosed with cancer in early 1998. In June that year he and the Blockheads released their first album for seventeen years – Mr Love Pants. It was greeted with rapturous acclaim, many critics opining that it was Ian's best album since the seminal New Boots and Panties!! It was followed by a guest appearance next to Paul Weller at an open-air gig in London, and a sell-out UK tour.
Ian continued to work for UNICEF, traveling to Sri Lanka with Robbie Williams in October 1998. His profile remained high and he used it to good effect, working for the charity Cancer Bacup on the launch of their new helpline number. In April 1999, Ian and the band played three sell out London gigs followed by a string of shows around the country and later that year the band returned to the studio to start laying down tracks for a new album. Sadly, Ian became too ill to finish this album and it was released posthumously in 2002 with the unrecorded vocals covered by Chaz and Robbie Williams.
Before Ian died he kicked off the new Millenium with 'New Boots and Panto' on February 6th 2000. It was a special evening at the London Palladium, with Kirsty MacColl as guest support. Ian drew on his last reserves of energy to give an astonishing performance. It would be his final gig. Six weeks later he passed away peacefully at home with his family.
Ian Dury died on March 27th 2000.
NY TIMES - Actors With Disabilities Are Ready, Willing & Able To Take More Roles
"Mr. Mozgala hopes that artists themselves will create opportunities. His company, the Apothetae, has commissioned playwrights with this aim. "My community, and the history of disabled people, is fascinating," he said. "Me just walking across the street — there's something dramatic going on."
The actors Katy Sullivan and Gregg Mozgala. Credit: Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Hot Cripple #18/June 2016- Dr. Anjali Forber Pratt, Ph.D.
This month we feature doctor, activist and former paralympic athlete, Anjali Forber Pratt
From the good doctor's website...
Born in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) India, Anjali lived in an orphanage for two and a half months before being adopted by her family from Natick, Massachusetts. Two months after arriving in the United States, she contracted an illness resulting in the diagnosis of transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord. Rushed to the hospital, she was not expected to live. However, she survived, paralyzed from the waist down.
Anjali was introduced to the world of sports at the young age of five. She attended a sports clinic for children with disabilities at the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton, MA. Exposed to a variety of sports, Anjali took a strong liking to track. She quickly excelled and by the age of nine she was competing at the national level in track and field.
She is the former world record holder in the 200m. She focuses on the sprints, namely the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
July 2007, Anjali competed at the United States Paralympic National Track and Field Championships, where she finished 1st place in the 100m and 200 meter events, 2nd in the 400 meters and 4th in the 800 meters.
She was named to the United States Paralympic Track and Field Team and selected to represent the United States at the ParaPan American Games in Rio de Janeiro—where she came home with two gold medals in the 100m and 200m and a bronze in the 400m.
Anjali was the Bronze Medalist at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, in the 400m.
Anjali was the Bronze Medalist at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, in the 4x100m relay.
Anjali was the Gold Medalist in the 200m, Silver Medalist in the 100m and Silver Medalist in the 400m at the 2011 World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Anjali went on that same season in 2011 to break the world record in the 200m at a competition in Switzerland.
Anjali represented Team USA at the 2012 London Paralympic Games competing in the 100m, 200m and 400m.
As a Paralympic medalist in the sport of wheelchair racing, she has dedicated her life to helping others recognize their potential.
Anjali J. Forber-Pratt, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor at the Department of Human & Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University. Her research agenda adopts a social-ecological framework and looks at issues surrounding identity, equity and empowerment through methodology for individuals who are different in some way, with a large focus on disability. Forber-Pratt has a strong background in qualitative methodology and her research focuses on individuals who struggle to succeed due, in part, to some difference that has labeled them outside the mainstream. Those differences include, and are not limited to, disability, race, gender, and sexual orientation. Her work cuts across education (elementary, secondary, postsecondary), sports, work, and quality of life contexts.
Globally, she is involved with disability advocacy efforts related to access to education, employment and sport through public speaking and media appearances. Dr. Forber-Pratt has appeared on several television programs and radio shows including: NPR; The Stream; and Sesame Street; and has been quoted in the national print press, including The Boston Globe, New York Times, Huffington Post, USA Today, and Runner's World. She was honored by the White House as a Champion of Change in 2013 and had an opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion with President Obama about disability policy issues.
Hot Cripple #17/May 2016- Christina Olson
This month we feature American icon, Christina Olson.
Christina Olson is the woman in Andrew Wyeth's striking painting Christina's World, and questions surrounding why she is sprawled in a field, looking longingly toward a far-off farmhouse have drawn in viewers for decades. The true story behind Christina's World makes the 1948 painting even more intriguing.
The 31-year-old Wyeth modeled the painting's brunette after his neighbor in South Cushing, Maine. Anna Christina Olson suffered from a degenerative muscular disorder that prevented her from walking. Rather than using a wheelchair, Olson crawled around her home and the surrounding grounds, as seen in Christina's World.
The neighbors first met in 1939 when Wyeth was just 22 and courting 17-year-old Betsy James, who would later become his wife and muse. It was James who introduced to Wyeth to the 45-year-old Olson, kicking off a friendship that would last the rest of their lives. The sight of Olson picking blueberries while crawling through her fields "like a crab on a New England shore" inspired Wyeth to paint Christina's World.
"The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless," he wrote. "If in some small way I have been able in paint to make the viewer sense that her world may be limited physically but by no means spiritually, then I have achieved what I set out to do."
Olsen was a recurring muse and model for Wyeth, captured in paintings like Miss Olson, Christina Olson, and Anna Christina.
"Miss Olson"
"Anna Christina"
Though it would become his best-known work and an icon of American art, Christina's World was described by Wyeth as "a complete flat tire" when he sent it off to the Macbeth Gallery for a show in 1948. He also wondered if the painting would have been improved if he "painted just that field and have you sense Christina without her being there."
Alfred Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, was so taken with Wyeth's work that he purchased Christina's World for $1800. While the early critical reception was lukewarm to cool, the painting's prestigious position at MoMA fortified its reputation. Today it's one of the museum's most admired exhibits.
Though undeniably iconic, the painting has long been undermined by vocal detractors. Art historians have often snubbed Wyeth's works in their surveys, and some naysayers have attacked the painting's widespread popularity, deriding it as "a mandatory dorm room poster." Meanwhile, critics have chastised Wyeth's attention on Olson's infirmity and characterized it as exploitation. Still others claim there was no art in rendering realistic imagery in paint.
One person who didn't object to Wyeth's depiction of Olson was Olson. In her book about her husband's work, Betsy James Wyeth recounts a conversation she had with Olson about the piece, writing:
Christina's World remained her favorite to the end. Once when I asked her why, she simply smiled and said, 'You know pink is my favorite color.'
'But you're wearing a flowered pink dress in Miss Olson and holding a kitten. I thought you loved kittens.' 'Course I do, but in the other one Andy put me where he knew I wanted to be. Now that I can't be there anymore, all I do is think of that picture and I'm there.'
Today the farmhouse is a national landmark. The Olson house has won comparisons to Monet's garden at Giverny because of the plethora of paintings and sketches it inspired. In the 30 years from their first meeting to Christina's death, Wyeth created over 300 works at the Olson house, thanks to the Olsons allowing him to use their home as his studio. Explaining the house's hold on him, Wyeth said, "In the portraits of that house, the windows are eyes or pieces of the soul almost. To me, each window is a different part of Christina's life."
For all this, the Olson House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011. As part of the Farnsworth Museum, patrons will be able to visit the Olson house starting on Memorial Day weekend, 2016. Until then, the house is closed for vital infrastructure upgrades.
Christina's World made Olson famous. Shortly after the painting made its MoMA debut, one overzealous admirer walked into Olson's home, came upon her resting, and asked for an autograph. Twenty years later, her death made national news, reviving interest in Christina's World.
MoMA has only loaned out Christina's World once. Following Wyeth's death in 2009 at the age of 91, the museum allowed Christina's World to visit its creator's birthplace, Chadds Ford, Penn., where the Brandywine River Museum exhibited the polarizing painting for two days in memorial before returning it to New York.
Wyeth is buried near his painting's birthplace. Down the hill from the Olson house lies a cemetery, where Andrew Wyeth's grave can be found in the family plot of Alvaro and Anna Christina Olson. Wyeth's tombstone faces up toward the house at an angle that closely resembles that of Christina's World. According to his surviving family, it was his final wish "to be with Christina."
Hot Cripple #16/April 2016- Johnny Eck
This month we feature American freak show performer, side show and film actor, Johnny Eck.
Johnny Eck, (John Eckhardt, Jr.), is best known today for his role in Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic film, Freaks and his appearances as bird creature in the Tarzan films. He was often billed as the amazing "Half-Boy," "The Amazing Half-Boy," "King of the Freaks" and "The Most Remarkable Man Alive." Besides being a sideshow performer and actor, the multi-talented Eck was also an artist, musician, photographer, penny arcade owner, Punch and Judy operator and expert model maker.
Still from Tod Brownings, FREAKS (1932)
John Eckhardt, Jr. was born on August 27, 1911 to Emilia and John Eckhardt, Sr. in Baltimore, Maryland, as a fraternal twin. His brother Robert Eckhardt was also a performer and he had an older sister named Caroline. Eck was born with a truncated torso due to sacral agenesis. Though Eck would sometimes describe himself as "snapped off at the waist", he had unusable, underdeveloped legs and feet that he would hide under custom-made clothing. Though Eck capitalized on the resemblance between himself and Robert, the twins were fraternal. Aside from the sacral agenesis, Eck was healthy.
In 1937, Eck and Robert were recruited by the illusionist and hypnotist, Rajah Raboid, for his "Miracles of 1937" show. In it they performed a magic feat that amazed audiences. Raboid performed the traditional sawing-a-man-in-half illusion, except with an unexpected twist. At first Robert would pretend to be a member of the audience and heckle the illusionist during his routine, resulting in Robert being called on stage to be sawed in half himself. During the illusion, Robert would then be switched with his twin brother Eck, who played the top half of his body, and a dwarf, who played the bottom half, concealed in specially-built pant legs. After being sawed in half, the legs would suddenly get up and start running away, prompting Eck to jump off the table and start chasing his legs around the stage, screaming, "Come back!" "I want my legs back!" Sometimes he even chased the legs into the audience. The subsequent reaction was amazing - people would scream and sometimes even flee the theater in terror. As Eck described it, "The men were more frightened than the women - the women couldn't move because the men were walking across their laps, headed for the exit." The act provided the perfect jolt by frightening people at first but then caused just as much laughter and applause. The illusion would end with stage hands plucking up Eck and setting him atop his legs and then twirling him off-stage to be replaced by his twin Robert, who would then loudly threaten to sue Raboid and storm out of the theater. Their act was so popular that they played to packed audiences up and down the East coast.
In addition to film, sideshow and stage, Eck was also pursuing other interests in this period. He and his brother were musicians, having their own twelve-piece orchestra in Baltimore. Eck conducted while Robert played the piano. Eck continued his love of drawing and painting; early on choosing such subjects as women, ships and himself. He was also a race car enthusiast and the driver of his own custom-built race car that was street-legal in Baltimore, the "Johnny Eck Special". In 1938, Eck climbed the Washington Monument on his hands.
The song "Table Top Joe", which describes a man without a lower body who becomes a famous entertainer, by Tom Waits is based loosely on the life of Johnny Eck.
On January 5, 1991, Eck suffered a heart attack in his sleep, dying at the age of 79 at the home where he was born. Robert followed him on February 25, 1995, aged 83. They are buried under one headstone in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore.
Hot Cripple #15/March 2016- Ella Ewing
This month we feature femme phenom, Miss Ella Ewing.
Ella Kate Ewing was a Missouri woman considered the world's tallest female of her era. She would use her great height to earn a living as a sideshow attraction, popularly known as "The Missouri Giantess." She was of normal size while a baby and young child, with the first signs of any abnormality appearing shortly after her seventh birthday. At age fourteen she towered over not only other children, but her parents and other adults, measuring 6 feet 10 inches. Ewing's maximum height is a matter of dispute, but in several accounts she was claimed to be over eight feet tall. Her mother's journal indicated that Ella's growth finally stopped when she was age twenty-two, at 8 feet, 4 inches tall. However, this is not well documented, and as such she is not mentioned in Guinness World Records. The Guinness Book of Records has stated she measured 7 feet 4 and a half inches tall, and may have reached 8 feet 4 inches by the time she died. As typical of many people afflicted with pituitary gigantism Ella's arms were very long, with her hands and feet exceptionally big. She wore a custom-made size 24 US shoe and often wore multiple rings on her fingers to mask their unusual length.
Ewing initially disliked being gawked at, but decided that as it was unavoidable she might as well make some advantage to it, so agreed to make appearances and tours. Her Baptist faith, however, meant she would not make appearances on Sundays. For a time Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus introduced her as the Earth's tallest woman. Her professional career began at age twenty when Lewis Epstein, a museum owner and impresario from Chicago offered $1,000 for twenty-seven day appearance at his establishment. As part of her contract Ella's parents were allowed to accompany her and the family considered it something of a paid vacation, touring the sights of the Windy City when she was not on display at Epstein's museum. Not long after returning home Lewis Epstein made an even bigger offer, a five-month engagement for the then-astounding sum of $5,000. Convincing her hesitant father that was more money than he could earn in five years of hardscrabble farming, she accepted and thus embarked permanently on a career as a museum and circus sideshow attraction.
Ella died of tuberculosis and is buried at Harmony Grove Church near her hometown of Gorin. In Scotland County, Missouri there is an "Ella Ewing Reservoir" for fishing and an arts festival in Memphis, Missouri was also named for her.
Richard On Richard- A Conversation With Michael Patrick Thornton
This month, The Apothetae is preparing for a workshop production of "Teenage Dick;" a modern adaptation of "Richard III" set in high school by Michael Lew. The production will be presented as part of The Public Theater's Public Studio Series later this month. Across the country, The Git Theatre in Chicago, is about to present a production of William Shakespseare's Richard III at Steppenwolf Theatre. I recently sat down with Michael Patrick Thornton, Artistic Director of The Gift Theatre. I asked Michael about his process, his work and his thoughts on taking on this (in)famous character and archetype.
-Gregg Mozgala, Artistic Director
I am a disabled Artistic Director. You are a disabled Artistic Director. That may be where our similarities end. However, both of our theater companies share a commitment to great storytelling and community engagement. While I don't think of The Apothetae as a "Disabled Theatre" company per say, Disability is more front and center in our mission and all of our public-facing material. Your theatre, The Gift, is not a disability-specific theater, however, the theme of the body at the core of your process and the company's mission of creating work for traditionally underserved communities can certainly point in that direction. Can you talk about how disability, if at all, factors in when you are looking at plays, developing a season, taking on new actors, staff, etc.
I think since the very first moment when we gathered around a fire and looked up into the starry night sky, we tried to wrangle these giant feelings of simultaneous loneliness & connection into some sort of contextualization, and we did this through storytelling. Whether it was paintings on a cave wall or the parables of Jesus or Zen koans, storytelling is our first ethics & morality class. And so in a very very roundabout way of answering your question, my disability sorta beckons me as an artistic director to treat Disability in metaphorical iterations; i.e. what's disabling our society? What's disabling our country? What's disabling me? Very often, that answer is fear. Very often, the answer is a paucity of love. So, while yes The Gift has me--an incomplete quadriplegic--as the artistic director and we have an ensemble member who is legally blind and yes we've featured a deaf actor on our stage and yes one goal for our future home is the most handicapped-accessible theatre in the world, I don't really think of us as the disabled ones. I'm not trying to be cute with this phrase, but I believe everyone has their own wheelchair. Everyone, at certain points, needs "assistance." And for me, this is what the best art does: it meets us in our time of need or estrangement or quiet internal panicked peril and shows us we are not alone. If we want to pursue this further down the rabbit hole, I believe the single greatest disabling thing about being human is over-identification with the ego. That puts us in us-versus-them modes of perception. It puts us into an experience of the world where we are always the starring role with everyone else merely extras, or, as David Foster Wallace wrote, "lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation." And what happens when you game this out from the individual level to the global is a dangerous world obsessed with death, starving for empathy; this is where art comes in. The Gift plays are held together by this connective tissue of Love, and while the plays may look very different, situationally very often they are about a character or characters having to give up the over-identification with the ego (i.e. The Story of Themselves) to shed that hard skin in order to open up and really start living. And we're demanding the highest level of emotional bravery of our ensemble to tell these stories by being ruthlessly honest and near-confessional in their living them out loud in real time onstage; so a sort of very breathtaking overlap manifests betweens actor & character which then ripples into the audience. And hopefully we all feel a little more fresh, a little lighter on our way out the doors and back into our lives. If you reach enough people this way, and if they continue to pass the baton forward, you can change the world. And I know how that sounds, but after two close brushes with death, I don't really care. Wallace was right: in an ego-driven world, single-entendre principles--Sentimentality--is the new punk.
You are currently in rehearsals for a production of "Richard III" by William Shakespeare where you will be playing the title role. I am about to begin rehearsals for a modern adaptation of "Richard III" set in high school entitled, "Teenage Dick." I don't think it's hard to see why you and I would be attracted to the character/archetype of Richard III. Can you speak on what you think is different about someone who actually has a visible, physical disability playing arguably one of the most (in)famous characters in Western Literature- does it make a difference in how audiences view or perceive that role/Disabled people? Does any of that matter?
First of all, I think it's so wonderful that Adolescence is your lens for your production, as so much of these gnarly existential thorns start popping up in high school when our brains are still developing and hormones are raging and factions and alliances shift seemingly on an hourly basis. High school can be its own War of the Roses for both the outsiders and the popular--the internal turmoil of the cheerleader and the bullied AV Club nerd might be exactly the same. Who knows. I really wish I could see what you all do with it.
You know, when I was at The University of Iowa I read Antony Sher's Year of the King about his preparation and process for RICHARD III and I remember being so enthralled with it; pages of pages dedicated to his sketches of how to play Richard as a bottled spider and his use of arm crutches and physical training etc. etc.. But that was before I became disabled. And now, I look at that sort of focus on one aspect--the disability--by a non-disabled actor and it seems sadly empty and sorta parlor tricky and kind of insulting, actually, as if everything about Richard can be tied to his disability which, when you think about it, doesn't seem that much more of an evolved point of view on disability than the medieval explanations for disability as outward manifestations of a crooked and evil inner soul. I think Richard's tragedy is he chooses to "prove a villain" because society can't see him as anything else. He identifies with and nurtures the dark in him, not the light. So, to me--and forgive me for not expanding too much on this but the truth is I am no-pun-intended paralyzingly superstitious about articulating too much about my process--RICHARD III is not merely a play about disability. For me, it's really about loneliness.
I'm sure you and I can go thru a fair amount of beers trading stories back and forth about insults we've received via the entertainment industry (producers refusing to cast us or even see us, etc.) or stunningly dense things said to us by audience members post-show. For example, in the past I've had people come up to me in the lobby post-show and tell me my portrayal of a wheelchair-user was "top notch". Mind you, they're telling me this as I am sitting in my wheelchair. Or people at opening night parties asking why I'm still sitting in the chair since the show's over. Or people saying I don't really need this wheelchair because they saw me upright on TV; of course, they're referring to "Private Practice" and evidently blocking out the fact that I was upright because I had a standing Levo C3 wheelchair for that show. I think what happens when you or I take the stage in a character like RICHARD III is we move the scales back towards even. I mean, the representation of disability on TV and film is like, what?, 1% I believe is the last statistic I read. I'd love to know what % of actors who've ever played Richard have been disabled, and if it's over 5% then I'll eat the Folio. You know, Gregg, I really struggle with my opinions about representation because on the one hand I firmly believe in my heart that the arts are a vehicle for empathy and just because I can't play Lance Armstrong in a biopic because of my disability doesn't mean that non-disabled Actor X shouldn't play disabled character Y. But when the scales are tipped so disproportionately, when the opportunities for disabled artists are so scant--when sometimes we can't even audition because the location of the audition is not accessible or involves us waiting in the rain in the pot-holed alley while the receptionist calls the building manager to call the elevator guy to open up the service elevator so we can ride up in a creepy lift surrounded by boxes of lettuce, the floor sticky with garbage juice which gets on my tires then my hands, I get to a point where I say this is bullshit. Where I feel like I'm not welcome on Planet Non-Disabled. But the ghoulish irony is that disabled people constitute the largest minority on Planet Non-Disabled. And, without wishing any ill-will toward anyone of course, the plain math of life is that, eventually, most of us are headed to Planet Disabled. So we should be having conversations about this topic. But we don't, because America has drunk the infinite-growth/we're gonna live forever kool-aid. And the reason we drink that kool-aid is fear of death. Which returns us to the conversation about the ego.
So, yes, I do think it matters that you and I--artists with disabilities--are currently playing the looming Macy's Thanksgiving parade balloon character of all disabled characters, Richard III. I think our respective plays will be enriched by our different points of view and that the perception of the role changes from How Ugly Can I Make Richard? to How Human Can I Make Him?. If Richard III is always going to be understandably inescapable from the Disability conversation, then we can't just punt and leave the articulation of that subject matter to Olivier and Sher and McKellan and Spacey and every other non-disabled actor who has played and continues to play that character. I mean--and I know I run the risk of offending an entire country by saying this--Laurence Olivier evidently based his Richard III on a mean producer and on the Big Bad Wolf; I'm all for oblique and alternative approaches to making art, but as an actor with a disability, I'm no longer comfortable having that be the filmic standard-bearer for the most (in)famous disabled character in Western Literature. In fact, it makes me kind of want to slap the shit out of him. There are worlds of depth beyond what Richard looks like and, while the physicality was presumably "the way into Richard" for those actors, my question is "in to what?" Heavily focusing on the playing of the disability as the panacea to playing Richard is, I'm sorry, precisely the miscalculation that arguably only a non-disabled actor would make. And I understand that this probably reads a bit hot and outragey and that really isn't who I am (or, who knows?, maybe it is), but these are my feelings right now. Maybe they're more readily at the surface because I'm living as Richard these days. Maybe he's stolen the laptop and is pecking away, furiously. (Insert smiling bunch-backed toad, spider king emoticon).
But at a certain point, enough is enough. The conversation surrounding disability needs to be more nuanced and a great way to have that conversation is through works of art featuring artists with disabilities playing all sorts of characters--disabled identified ones and, even more revolutionary, ones that are not.
So, to your question Does It Matter?, I think it does, yes. Maybe not to every audience member, but ultimately, on a long-enough timeline, I believe it really does.
Antony Sher as "...that bottled spider… that poisonous bunchback'd toad" Richard III Act I, Scene iii
Congrats on your 15th Anniversary Season! What's next for, The Gift? What's your blue sky, anything is possible dream project for the company?
15th Anniversary! We have an upcoming production of Grapes of Wrath that I'm so excited about with a very diverse Joad family that is a mix of biology and necessity--a family who bonded together by virtue of being ostracized. I think it's going to be revolutionary. And then we conclude with a thrilling Melissa Ross premiere called A Life Extra Ordinary about a woman's disappearance which reunites our ensemble member John Gawlik with Melissa after having directed her Thinner Than Water premiere at The Gift. A Life Extra Ordinary also features a powerhouse Gift ensemble; I'm so excited to see it I'm excited for developing new works for the American theatre by underserved voices. I'm excited for a new space that allows us to continue our conversations, a space that demystifies and democratizes art. I'm excited for our ensemble at The Gift and excited to do everything I can to make their dreams come true. I'm excited to build something perfect that is the clearest expression of everything you've been so kind to let me ramble on about like a lunatic. Life is hard. Art helps. To me, it's not really about the plays. It's about the people. The plays are the trojan horses that bring the conversation into the space, that allow us all to sit around the fire and look to the stars and say: "We're here. We're alone. We're together. It's okay."
Best of luck with the production, Michael! Break legs! (And Happy Birthday!)
The Gift Theatre Company's RICHARD III is part of Steppenwolf Theatre's Garage Rep Season. The production begins previews Thursday March 3rd and runs through April 24th
"Teenage Dick" by Michael Lew/Commissioned by The Apotheate, Gregg Mozgala, Artistic Director, goes into rehearsals March 8th, and runs March 24th-April 2nd at the Public Theatre.