12,210 stories from Trav S.D.
Today is the anniversary of the Los Angeles premiere of D.W. Griffith’s landmark film The Birth of a Nation (1914), which like America itself, is epic in scale, unprecedented, in…
I learned this weekend the devastating news that a pivotal person in my life was near death. Even hearing that it was close in these raw, heartbreaking days was enough to double me over with…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Darlinda Just Darlinda, Hill and Dale, Ula Uberbusen, Victrola Burlesque
Today is the birthday of the great American author Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951). And today I must take this opportunity to apologize to the members of my old book club. Ten or 15 years ago at …
There’s been lots of chatter on social media since last night and I finally got definitive word from Bob Greenberg: Professor Irwin Corey has passed away at age 102. Â Those old enou…
Today is the birthday of Arthur “McKee” Rankin (1844-1914). Rankin is they keystone of America’s greatest acting dynasty. I don’t call him the founder because he̵…
Today is the birthday of Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004). Reagan has to be one of the most polarizing figures in American history. People tend to either love him or hate him. Personally, as…
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 …
In addition to its long history as a traditional gathering spot for protest, New York’s Washington Square Park has an association with (often movement related) folk music just as long.…
I find myself much disappointed in Nancy Isenberg’s much hyped White Trash: The 400 Year Untold Story of Class in America. If anything, as far as I can tell this particular “unto…
I wish I could claim I hurt my foot strictly by going to anti-Trump protest marches, but, nah, I walk several miles every day and ignored the mounting discomfort, and now am strictly resting…
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…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, CULTURE & POLITICS, PLUGS, Protests Tagged: bodegas, Brooklyn Borough Hall, protest, rally, Yemeni
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…
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
