11,832 stories by "Trav S.D."
Filed under: Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: Austin Pendleton, Penny Arcade, Tammy Fay Starlite, The Anarchist, theatre, WOW Cafe
A couple of years ago we waxed enthusiastic about the samples we heard of The Hat, an opera-in-progress by Karen Siegel and Zsuzsanna Ardo at Opera on Tap’s New Brew series (same…
Today is the birthday of the once ubiquitous character actor John Fielder (1925-2005). Few know the name but most everyone of a certain age knows the face and the voice! A diminutive m…
Yesterday 1,000 Yemeni bogeda owners in NYC shuttered their shops (for the day) Â to protest Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban, which affects them and their families directly. Their day culm…
Today is the birthday of the great American illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978). It couldn’t be better timed, for his late work says forcefully what I firmly believe: American patr…
Today is the birthday of Brooklyn’s own Jack Waldron (Jack Kestenbaum, 1893-1969). In vaudeville days, he was a comic, singer and dancer with a team called Lockett and Waldron; he l…
Today is the birthday of William F. Mangels (1867-1958). Born in Germany, Mangels moved to the U.S. in 1883 and became a bicycle repairman. His understanding of wheels, gears, chains, and sp…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, CULTURE & POLITICS, PLUGS, Protests Tagged: bodegas, Brooklyn Borough Hall, protest, rally, Yemeni
I hoped to love Julia Lee’s Our Gang: AÂ Racial History of the Little Rascals because the subject is right up my alley: the social and cultural impact of a classic American film come…
This Friday, February 3 at 8pm, at Barbes in Park Slope, Opera on Tap will be showcasing a small section of Curse of the Rat-King, the opera-in-progress I’m developing with David Malla…
February is Black History Month. This year it arrives at a time of deep sadness. The Black Lives Matter movement was picking up momentum last year, but with the election of X%$FR#@ to the Pr…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, German, PLUGS Tagged: Jenny Lee Mitchell, Mad Jenny, Miss Ekaterina, Pandora Burlesk, Slipper Room, Weimar
I feared for attendance at tonight’s planned “What the F**k, Chuck?” rally at Grand Army Plaza, as Senator Schumer has now vowed to take a hard line and promised to block T…
Filed under: Comedy, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Ten Foot Rat Cabaret, Under St. Marks
Today is the birthday of ubiquitous Hollywood character actor Percy Helton (Percy Alfred Michel, 1894-1971). We’ll get get into his movies anon, but few people probably know how cha…
I found everything to love about the Grey Art Gallery’s current exhibition Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City 1952-1965. It’s not the world’s most…
Filed under: CULTURE & POLITICS Tagged: New York, Rally Against Hate, Tompkins Square Park
Today is the birthday of Elise Cavanna (Elise Seeds, 1902-1963). Originally from Philadelphia, Cavanna took art classes at the Pennsylvania Academy before studying dance with Isadora Duncan.…
Thousands gathered at Battery Park today to protest Trump’s Muslim Ban — a location obviously chosen for its symbolic value, across the harbor from the Statue of Liberty and Elli…
Filed under: PLUGS, Radio (Old Time Radio) Tagged: Fireside Mystery Theatre, podcast, radio drama, Slipper Room, Snowbound in Sunken Harbor
Today is the birthday of one of America’s greatest stage and screen artists, W.C. Fields. Thus far, we have published over 130 articles about Fields on Travalanche. To read them go …
This new series of posts came out of the realization that I have relatives and roots in all 50 U.S. states. My ancestors lived in 14 of them (all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent), and I …
My first ever two-protest day, and my first 4 protest week, though that’s not as remarkable as it sounds. The Cheeto-in-Chief is working havoc on a thousand fronts, and both of today&#…
“Watch what we do” was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s boast in response to the public’s fears about the installation of America’s new fascist President …
This Sunday (January 29) at 11am,  Film Forum will be screening that purported classic Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951). The title of the film in some ways prom…
