Photopoetry

After a session with the poets of the piedmont, gathered in Taste Full Beans last night, I walked to my car parked in front of the Carolina Theater.  It was a cloudy, cool evening and the light was fading quickly.  

But tricks were being played out there too, which only the light can do and it is at it’s best when you aren’t really paying attention.  Suddenly I saw it. “Stop!” I shouted, “Stop! - Let me focus!”  

 pulled my camera out and quickly made setting changes then I shot and shot and shot and then - it was over.  Gone. Good things flash before they go.  Then they go.  

The night changed.  Now it was dark.  Spirits came out.  I only work with demons that can be seen, so I went home.  But magic had happened.  Not entirely unlike poetry.

HCT Same Time, Next Year

“Same Time, Next Year” is a clearly Implausible story - and that’s to say the very least.  It’s like a challenge to writers:  Here’s a plot that is impossible - can you make it believably realistic?

No way that could happen.  But it did.  Good writing, fine directing and excellent acting turned this Hickory Community Theatre production into an enjoyable and exciting evening in the Firemen’s Kitchen.   

The play unfolded in a series of scenes that took place over twenty-four years,  and the two actors portrayed their characters as they grew and developed and lived out their lives and this all took place with one amazing twist after another.   In a different way the play read like a quick visit through the lifetime of most of the audience in attendance, almost all of whom were old enough to have seen all of the background against which this unreasonable but captivating story took place.   

The play has to be one of the all time great vehicle for two actors to display their talents.  Denise Bernstein played Doris and George Page played George so beautifully and passionately that now I will HAVE to see every play from here on out with either Denise or George in it.  It was obvious that they were having fun and enjoying the play as much - actually more than the characters they portrayed possibly could have. And it was not just good acting.  The entire ensemble was well knit, the background images provided continuity and anticipation.  

One final word about the Firemen’s Kitchen - It is wonderfully great to sit down at your table with four chairs and meet two new people, strangers to begin with, who will share this evening with you.  Then to depart  and leave with two new friends.  That’s Hickory - the Friendly City.

One final, final comment:  the beer served in the theatre is not inspired.  Get off the Budweiser thing.  You have a lot of good beer just around the corner at  the Old Hickory Taproom.  They will probably be glad to help.  Turn each of these evenings into a REAL Hickory happening.

Latino Street Festival in Hickory, NC

A Latino Street Festival took place this afternoon behind the P. E. Monroe auditorium on Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC, this afternoon.  Mainly catering to young adults, but also with a significant number of kids just approaching school age, the festival was lively, rhythmic, catchy and Loud. Most of the younger kids gravitated toward the rubber buildings that swayingly contained various thrills and excitement. College agers were on the street dancing and laughing.  Most of the adults and "old" people headed for the shade and inserted their ear plugs - but - no problem!  They could still hear (and feel!) the beat, and they were mostly occupied with other kids, who were far too young to go near the swaying rubber buildings or to dance in the street but nonetheless showed amazing signs of rhythm by waving their little arms and legs in time with the beat.

Julia Alvarez in Hickory

Julia Alvarez presented as one of the Visiting Writers Program at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory last night, April 16, 2010.

Born in NYC, then raised in the Dominican Republic, she and her family returned to NYC after the dictator Rafael Trujillo continued his search for total power over the country.  One of his targets was Julia's father who was a physician. Ms. Alvarez then lived with her parents and three sisters in a small apartment which contrasted with the large compound they had enjoyed in the Dominican Republic.

She remarked how a sixth-grade English teacher changed her life by encouraging her to read  books and even challenged her to begin writing.  She also points out how she had come from an oral tradition in the DR to a very literate culture in America and how her mixing those two traditions or cultures has affected her writing.

One of her books "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent" had been selected for the "Big Read" here where many people in the Hickory community and various schools here have provided the book for people to read and discuss in literary groups.  Now this  year's "Big Read" ends with Julia Alvarez here to cap the discussion with the community at P. E. Monroe auditorium on the LRU campus. The auditorium appeared to be largely filled. A question-and-answer session followed her presentation.

Crazy Heart at Footcandles in Hickory, NC

This is a story of the loneliest man in the world who wandered through a maze of other lonely people all of whom were finding happiness in pretending to be happy.  

Whisky highs and toilet bowl lows frame the boundaries of this story while "happiness" plays a distracted beat in the background, occasionally coming forward to scream and strut, then falling back again and collapse into its accustomed metronomic stupor while your attention is diverted to some newly detected pulse of life.  

The rhythm of action that sweeps through this movie rises and falls portending some incredible climax of consummate triumph, while an accompanying  counterpoint of left-handed melody suggests an impendingly awful disaster.  There is betrayal and there is friendship and loyalty beyond all reason. People come as shadows into this movie and some quickly flare while others slowly bloom and the story moves on, carrying them all along as Crazy Heart is eventually anointed and baptized with the reality he has tried to ignore.  Redemption surely cannot be possible for such as he.  Or is it?  What finally happens, at the end of the movie, is clearly the beginning of a new story.

The photography, in my humble estimation, was not good.  Throwaway stuff - filler - a lot of it was.  Really good close ups, reveling in great lighting and good acting but really just mediocre in between those shots.  Too bad especially given the beautiful region of the American southwest. Much of that done at noon as if to say "Hey man this is a Transition! Get another handful of popcorn, check your watch, see what time it is."  The music too.  The background music, had a way of telling you what was coming.  When you thought the worst was going to happen you could just tune into the music in the auditorium and if it was "so-so", then OK, no big deal.  They could have done better with this. And also - this is a country music movie, so why was so much of the background music done in non-country music?  A complicated plot this movie has and intended for a complicated audience.

Frankly, I don't know how anyone could do the acting job that Jeff Bridges did in this movie and ever function again as a normal human being. If he dies soon, we'll know what did him in.  If he does another one this good but different, then I don't know what we'll do.

Beef O'Brady's in Hickory, NC

I loved the "Real Deal Reuben" I got at Frankie and Johnie's in Hickory.  Now someone tells me the best reubens in town are at Beef O'Brady's.  Funny because the two restaurants are only about 200 feet apart.

So today I went to Beef O'Brady's and was amazed at the two gentlemen just inside the front door.  At first I didn't know what to do.  I said "Hi there!"  I guess that startled them and they froze.  But it was obvious that they had been all wrapped up in themselves, having a blast, tapping and singing and whirling around and all before I showed up.

I got my reuben and took it home to eat.  How was it?  Great!  Marvelous.  It was SO good that I will pay it the highest compliment I can think of by saying it was almost as good as the one I got from Frankie and Johnie's.

But here's the good news.  The two reubens were VERY different from each other.  Both excellent.  So I am going to have to go back again, first to F&J, then to BO'B. Now keep in mind these two places are 200 feet apart!  I would encourage you to join me in this experiment.  Please let me know what you think.  And regardless - you will enjoy this win-win-win-win scientific exercise!

NOTE:  Beef O'Brady's is no longer at this shopping center.  It may have moved or perhaps gone out of business.  Google still shows it in the same  place but it has been replaced by "Fin and Filet" which I have not tried.

Poetry Alive in Hickory - April Edition 2010

An auspicious meeting at Taste Full Beans tonight as Poetry Alive brought poetic justice to Hickory.  The slate was SO good that Ted Pope came by to provide a special ring of authenticity, and he didn’t even read.  The poetry was THAT good.

Helen Losse began by spinning her web of special magic with thoughts and feelings and glimpses into those things we too often miss because we are too busy.  We are aware that they are happening, but we really don’t pay attention to how they feel or how we feel when they are happening.  Then someone like Helen takes us back and shows those things again, and brings our attention to some of the details and we say “Oh, yes - I’ve been there too.  Now I remember.  I wish I had paid more attention.”  She shines a flashlight into our past and lets us enjoy those parts of our life that we had missed the first time around.

Anderson Obrien followed as open mike reader with some poems that I thought at first were just fragments of comments until another of her comments suddenly made the others fit together in a different way than I had expected and instantly I saw a picture that I had not seen comming.  And I could only just sit there and softly say “wow”.   This is a special blending of art and magic.

After Fernand Chandonet read some well syllabled pieces, the first featured reader of the evening, Harry Calhoun, from Raliegh, took over.  His work was a lot of fun.  It is obvious that he and his wife enjoy  their life and we all enjoyed his sharing of their surprising and happy discoveries, and their treasured memories of friends and parents. He tells us about life, and shows us how to notice it and to appreciate it.

The evening was completed by Tim Peeler who took us through a veil that normally separates a world we all know - kind of - the world of the small motel.  We  all have stayed overnight in these places many times.  Tim thoughtfully told us some things we never knew happened there - like why the water in the swimming pool wants to check out too, and what to say to those ghosts who inhabit the dark, vacant rooms.

Beerology in Hickory, NC

This was a two part presentation beginning in the Catawba Science Center with a nice selection of snacks ranging from broccoli to oreos, along with spicy salsa, creamy cheese, carrot sticks and cookies.  Wow.  And beer.  I liked the first selection which was a hoppy clear thing, mouth-filling, creamy and delightful with three nice tastes that I enjoyed.  This was a “home-brew” by the presenter of the first part of the program,  Hickory guy, Bobby Bush who received the national “Beer Drinker of the Year” award in 1998.  He clearly deserved that title and probably has improved with the additional seasoning.  

Then some of us boarded the Science Center van to ride to the Olde Hickory Brewing Company.  Several of us followed, intently focused in our own cars.  

Steven Lyerly, Brew-master, welcomed us into the center of his magnificent, shining stainless steel magic machines.  We were given hops to smell, toasted barley to taste, and we toured the inner sanctum of this place where miracles constantly bubble forth.  

He also provided four of the brewery’s products for us to taste .  We began with Piedmont Pilsner, followed that with Poor Richard's Ale, then Table Rock Pale Ale and finally Hickory Stick Stout.  All good.  All great.  

Meanwhile, Steven told us how these beers were brewed.  He went over the ingredients, how they were chosen and balanced to fit together harmoniously, and what seasoned beer drinkers anticipate and enjoy for when tasting beers like these.  

But now - normally, beer is not served at the Catawba Science Center or at the Old Hickory Brewery.  So what is a poor pilgrim to do?  For starters there is the Old Hickory Taproom, which is about a block away, but across the railroad tracks, and which highlights the products of this brewery.  Then there is Amos Howard.  Who?   Well, that’s another story.  Steven can fill you in.  But first, go to the Old Hickory Taproom.  There everything will become clear.

Celtic Crossroads in Morgantown, NC.

Thursday, March 18, 2010, and the Celtic Crossroads are performing in Morgantown at CoMMA. En-route to Charlotte and the rest of the world, this group had performed on Wednesday in Michigan then spent Wednesday night and all day Thursday driving 850 to Morgantown to strike sparks all over that fair city.

Guitars, violins, banjos, drums, an Irish harp, a whistle and a horn.  Wow.  Lots of music, startling rhythms and amazing dance steps.

 The high spot of the show apparently was the dancers, Sineat Mcgeachy and Marcus Donnelly. They made several appearances during the show  and the last one brought down the house, also seemed to entrance their fellow performers who gazed in amazement particularly at Mr. Donnelly's incredible virtuosity and appeared lost in admiration - as was the rest of the audience. 

HCT and Gypsy in Hickory, NC

"That was great!" "What a wonderful show!" "Isn’t it marvelous!" "Hickory has a LOT of talent! "

Not my words, but what I overheard between the two acts and on the way out of the theatre after the final curtain fall.

The play was well received by its audience and it still makes a strong impression the day after seeing it. The main thing I remember was the great enjoyment of the actors who presented the play. They were having fun and enjoying the work they were doing.

Viki Ryan played Rose, the main character. She played it well and she seemed to get better as the play progressed. This is a demanding role requiring a powerful voice, agility, visual expressions and gestures. From a photographer’s point of view I would say that Viki Ryan displayed a wide dynamic range. I really look forward to her next performance.

I had never seen Gypsy before, not as a play, not as a movie, not even on TV. It actually did apparently take place pretty much as presented on stage, a quick search on internet revealing, beginning back almost eighty years ago. The songs of the play began coming out across the country in the late 1950s and we have all grown up with them.

Best clip? Easy. The three strippers. Bold, brassy, BIG, beautiful in their brazen boisterousness. Not that I ever thought for a moment they might strip down, no indeed, but that they might come out into the audience and strip down the house. But they were having too much fun for that.

The play’s power drives from its contrast. A ruthlessly arrogant/defenseless mother/trainer drives/leads her praised/persecuted daughters/performers to perform exquisite/pitiful performances/ displays on stage as Vaudeville dies. She thinks she has a magic that she can’t use for herself and she forces it on to her daughters and the men and boys in her life. In the end she is the only person remaining still under her own dominion. And then she loses control of herself. Or does she? You will have to see what she does then!

The play is mainly a vehicle for its famous songs. From a writer’s point of view, I felt it dragged a bit in two or three places. Not that I could do it, but I felt a longing for someone to write an updated version of "Gypsy". Go wilder, a little more lusty like "Carmen", push the telling points together and collapse the story into a magnificent swirl of effort, blame, agony, joy and triumph.

Carol Anne Hartman, as Louise, seemed playing well within her ability. She did her part well, and I think we all will look forward to her next performance. You can’t help but feel she is ready to liftoff.

Herbie had a hard role to play. He is very important to the development of the story but he can’t ever take charge or even spread his own wings beyond an occasional flap or two. Eric Stafford did him well.

Afterward we wandered around the corner to the Olde Hickory Taproom for a Brown Mountain Light and a Dopplebock along with a serving of their famous Pub Chips and rehashed the high and low points of “Gypsy” in the newly smoke-free atmosphere. This will probably become a Hickory tradition in the very near future.

Lenten Music Corinth Reformed Church in Hickory, NC

A gray, overcast and rainy day became became a background for this recital, number three of six, and when we came out the rain was falling harder than before but birds were singing and daffodils were blooming.

The first presentation was a raucous (to my very untrained ear) piece played seemingly at full capacity. Perhaps part of that was due to the fact that it was written by the amazing Felix Mendelssohn, who, according to the bulletin handed out by the members of the church, had actually died before he was born. Or maybe he was one of those born-again composers.

The performance, played by Joby Bell, organist at First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, was ably done. An organist is an amazing person. It certainly must be a hard hobby to follow. Organs don’t fit well into most homes - or neighborhoods - and the organist has a lot of keyboards and pedals to press and operate. Also the organist has to play the audience as well as his wonderful machine.

The second piece, “Oh Man, Bewail thy Grievous Fall” by J. S. Bach was considerably less than full throttle and seemed a well paced tune with lots of different tones. Next came a tribute to Master Tallis which was a sweet piece that seemed to invoke memories, perhaps of the first two pieces.

Most of the members of the audience seemed suspended somewhere between ecstasy and stoicism. Some were clearly lost in thought, far from the church, others had on their involuntary bored expressions, which would turn briefly into raised eyebrows as the cadence changed, then you could almost see welcome Thoughts occur again to them. Me too.

Finally came the beautiful Prelude, Fugue and Variation from Cesar Franck. It seemed to begin as a solitary figure, dancing on a small stage which then appeared becoming larger, and the dancer then became transformed into a wanderer dancing through a vast architectural wonder. Then came the fugue and confrontation and transformation. Finally the last part ended in the variations as a spiritually matured dancer demonstrated a sense of perfection.

About sixty heads rose above the walnut-rose pews. Forty of them were gray scale, shades from ivory to medium gray. About twelve of them were without appreciable hair of any kind except around the fringes. Two were kind of an ordinary mousy brown, the rest were perfect shades of red and blond.

Afterwards we went to Backstreets for a magnificent lunch. Delicious. I had a Bruchetta Melt. It looked pretty grim but was so good that I ate it all and enjoyed every bite. First time we have been there in well over a year. Last time the cigarette smoke was a problem. This time, in a newly rebuilt building, there was no trace of smoke. Beautiful.

Footcandle Film Society. "An Education"

Took in “An Education” last night at the Footcandle Film Society last night. I thought the movie was fine, and that's coming from a person who really doesn’t care for movies. A LOT of the photography was excellent, with beautiful shading of color values rising out of blackness, sharp close-up images revealing the smoothness of finely arranged skin tones next to a vibrant golden red siennaistic waterfall of hair, then on the same frame, but fading into a more abstract perspective with a mottled arrangement of old brick with its red, brown, grayness,and between that and the dark green of old trees you could see a fresh flash of flowers rising out of the darkness. And that’s just one of many pictures I took away from the show. Other abstract patterns of light and color devoid of name and form flickered across the reflections of polished cars and windows, and often from those windows would come the face of a girl looking out through that window even as a new awareness of "womanness" also peered out of her own girlish countenance. The only part badly done, from my viewpoint, was the Paris bit which was overexposed. That led me to expect an ephipany to leap from the screen like the dog-race did, but no.

Again, from my viewpoint, and without revealing the story, there was a LOT of suspension of belief required on the part of the audience. The writer filled all that in very ably, and glibly too I thought, and it wound up OK I guess. I thought it dragged for about ten minutes at about the one-hour point, but that was where it was changing cadence. Either that or I began missing some of the subtle points. So should you go see it or not? Hmmmmmmm. Well, yeah. Why not? You'll enjoy it.

Pir Zia

I went to see Pir Zia without a great deal of enthusiasm for the encounter. I had met him once before, talked briefly with him at a salad bar and thought he was OK, but he was not a pir. Not then. Of course that was a long time ago and he was still a teenager. Now, some twenty years later, I went down to pay homage? Not sure it would work.

For me there was only one pir. That was Zia’s father, Villiyat. PIR Villayat. He initiated me into the Sufi Order. He married Karima and me. He sang, he played cello, he philosophized and recited great poetry. He spoke many languages fluently and brought the great spirits of eternity into being before our eyes. He also has been dead now for three years. I felt in some ways like the Sufi Order had died with him. Now I went to see what was left.

Three days later, we drove north out of Sarasota excited with the new possibilities Pir Zia had discussed with all of us. The great torch has been well passed, and it may well become a beacon for the world.

Now in his mid-thirties, Pir Zia has come a long way from that old salad bar. He has studied Buddhism under the auspices of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Sufism in the classical Indian tradition of the Chisti Order. He holds a doctorate in Religion from Duke University and is editor of "A Pearl in Wine: Essays on the Life, Music, and Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan" (Omega Publications, 2001). He too, speaks many languages fluently and clearly has absorbed much of the magic displayed by his father and grandfather.

The aura I perceived coming from him was that of confidence, joy, and intelligent concern. I sensed the presence of access to different options and unexpected tools. There seemed to be an “awareness” of a different way to do things and of access to new avenues.

The world is always changing, but that pace is quickening because of mankind's access to new technologies. Religion is also being confronted with deeply probing questions, even from many of its faithful members who seek new ways and new options to accommodate their new understandings of a different concept of life. Somehow, a great threshold seems to have been passed over, and we are slowly becoming aware that we are entering into a vast new capacity. The old answers are still there, still coming from all the old churches and they are as strongly presented as they ever have been. But the questions have changed and they don’t seek new answers so much as they seek to develop a new understanding of who mankind really is as our species begins to form a new relationship with the Great Mystery we sense as being both beyond and within us.

For more information about Pir Zia and his work click here http://www.sevenpillarshouse.org/

Old Hickory Tap Room, Hickory, NC

Shortly after moving to Hickory last year my wife and I went to the Old Hickory Tap Room, ordered a beer and sat down to enjoy the atmosphere. We left before we finished our drinks, leaving because of the cigarette gasses that pervaded the place, and we did not come back.

In 2009, the North Carolina Legislature abolished smoking in eating establishments. Yea. It went into effect this January the second. We waited a couple of months to let the second-hand and third-hand gasses more or less dissipate and dropped in again last night after seeing a play just around the corner at the Hickory Community Theatre.

Wonderful. Good home-brewed beer and a classy group of waiters. The band did not stop the entire time we were in there, yet we sat in the other room and were able to carry on a conversation. We not only enjoyed some really good beer, we also ordered a serving of their special chips. Wow. I didn't get their name, but don't worry, they are at the top of their "Appetizers" menu. Get'em. They're good. They are really good. Our waiter brought us some small servings of dips - not that they needed any dip at all - but we had a "ranch", a "hot" blue cheese dip, and a "beer cheese" dip. Which was the best? Hah! We couldn't figure that out. And we tried hard.

Best of all, we talked to two waiters about the difference in patronage after the smoking ban went into effect. Had "attendance" dropped or maybe held steady? Both said that many more people were now coming in and that they had noticed that beginning with the first week.

Hickory Community Theatre and The Nerd.

I really wanted to write something about “The Nerd” but I think I have to recuse myself. That’s because I know all these people and I have known them very closely for many years.

Rick Steadman, accurately depicted by Daniel Breuer, is an accountant who worked for me in Tallahassee in the 1980 when I ran an accounting shop in the Comptroller’s Office. I am glad to see he hasn’t aged even a bit, he still wears the same shorty short shirts and the same tie that he always wore before, even his eyeglasses are still held together with tape, to save money, as they always were. And his voice hasn’t changed at all either! It brought back memories I thought had vanished long ago. God, he was good. I wanted to take him home.

Warnock Waldgrave, played by John Gann, oh man, how I have missed you! You were the old sergeant who made sure that the Titan II missile was ready to go, or that the load was adjusted on the KC-135 before take-off, or that the computers and the radar was always ready in Vietnam before the bomb runs began. Loved you guy, you made things happen. I always hoped you would find a sense of humor somewhere, and I still hope you still will.

Clelia Waldgrave, played by Delene Huggins, you are the woman eternal, the one shaped by man to help comfort and care for his fantasies. You are the woman who keeps the nucleus together while the masculine Atom determines WHERE you will wind up. You are the harried thing that man needs to keep himself sane and I have known you all through all my life in so many women that I met and have known, many of them as family members and most of them many long years ago.

William Grummert, played by Christopher Honsaker, is the song of potential success, the birth of new beginnings, the hope that springs eternal. I have known him in my real estate adventures, and in my law suits, and in legislators that I have worked with. What a good man he is! He is a bit shifty and off center sometimes, but that is because life is not fair with him either.

Tansy McGinnis, played by Cheryl Ann Roberts, I identify with most of all. She is me. That’s where I have been far too many times, cleverly and professionally zagging when I should have been sloppily zigging. Buying Palm instead of Blackberry, for example and then over correcting with Apple. I made out OK, just like Tansy did. We both could have gotten here easier than we did - but - well, that’s the way life is. Hi Tansy!

And then there was Alex Hammond, played by Anthony Liguori. Yes I know you too - not well, I saw you as Androgyny personified. More reminiscent of those old Greek gods than any mortal human I've ever met, except in a collective sense. But you were omni-present, providing guidance more by insightful "belly-bumps" with your eyebrows, than by guile, and in the amazingly delightful end, you were the one who kept sanity together with a beautiful, knowing smile and a fantastic game plan.

Finally, Thor Waldgrave, played by Preston Gann. Thor - things will get better. I been there. Relax man, you’re not really trying to play a role - not in the play of life that is. Un-unh, you take charge. For example if the script tells you to pull the shade down, you rip the poor thing off! If you get frustrated, you break saucers. But if a Nerd shows up, don’t - DO NOT- try to run away and hide in a closet!

So. That's one of the things about going to plays at the Hickory Community Theatre. You not only get to meet a lot of new people in the audience and on the stage, but you never know WHO you will really run into. It could even be you.

Damnation.

My new chapbook has been rated. It now carries a rating of “D”. That’s for “Disturbing”. It is, I have been told, “unacceptable in Hickory”. I kind of missed all that when I was putting it together, but nonetheless, I guess I have joined the ranks of Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer. Of course that’s only for those who haven’t read Ginsberg or Mailer, and it is only for a part of Hickory.

I had left the book for a week with an establishment that sells chapbooks from time to time. They said they needed to review it before making a decision. I was gone for a week and when I returned, I went back to them and asked if they wanted to carry it. That’s when I found out it had been rated. “It is unacceptable.” I was told.

“Hmmmm.” I said. “Could you let me know - ah - why?”

“It’s disturbing.” They said.

“Oh.” I said. (I was prepared for them not to want to carry it, but not for THIS!)

They went on, at my insistence, to explain that it was “over the top”, and would be too “controversial” for Hickory.

At least they did return the book to me. I donated it to the Burke County Library.

So, “D” stands for many things besides Disturbing. Among them are Dark, Dismal, Destructive, Depressing, Deadly, Dissolute, Dastardly, Dungeonesque? Differently Dramatic, Distinctive Developmentaly Delightful Discovery? Oh well - never mind. What is done is done.

I guess that’s what I get for doing my first “Publish on Demand” book. And since demand is way down in America now, I have pointed out to several people already that I will also Publish on Request, even Publish on a Slight Show of Interest. Just get my attention. Won't be easy now that I am downcast and depressed.

To Please The Bees

A chapbook. About 60 pages with 30 poems and 5 “glimpses” into some of the things which sometimes happen in the journey we call life. There are twenty pictures, usually photographs, sometime sketches, six are in color and others are black and white to celebrate that special joy of tone and contrast. The book sells for $9.95 plus shipping and is available only by print on demand from Soliloquy Press. To order a copy, contact John Womack at johnhwomack@gmail.com and provide your name and mailing address. A copy of the book will be mailed to you with an invoice.

Both the poems and comments describe everyday events, but but also endeavor to peek beyond that which we see at first glance and try to detect and understand what is transpiring behind that which is presented to us. The writing seeks to describe moods, feelings and discovery. The purpose of the book is not to provide answers but to raise questions in the minds of its readers.

The author is not a traditional poet - that is evident from the first page - but he tries to present a different vision of what he thinks poetry “should” do, at least sometimes, and occasionally changes the “poetry discipline” intrapoem so that the structure of a poem changes to match a changing mood. Does this work? That is a question the book asks that the author cannot answer. Another aspect of this book is the graphic presentation of some of the poems as they lie on the page in addition to their structure as a poem.

Saffron. Indian Restaurant in Charlotte.

Charlotte police investigated today when an explosion ripped through the Saffron Indian Restaurant shortly after their buffet line closed.  Several windows were blown out and Indian food was scattered over a large area. No one appeared to have been injured although one woman reported that her husband had suddenly disappeared and has not yet returned. She said she thought perhaps he had gone back through the line again for one MORE helping but then there was this huge “Puff” and everything “turned a kind of a saffron-like color for a moment”.

Hmmm.  Let me try that again.   Eating the lunch buffet at Saffron Indian Restaurant is like listening to one of the world's great musical masterpieces while strolling through a magnificent museum of art. Cascading tones of taste blend with contrasting elements of sour and sweetness.  Rich textures of pan and marsala and korma waft through the canvases and melodies of chicken and peas and mushrooms and lentils and rice and potatoes, all of which are saturated in the deep rich fullness of the melted flavors of spices and gravies that bring memories and dreams of glory to life, and each new bite is more than just an elevation of spirit, it is also a preparation and initiation for the next communion of body, soul, smell and taste. Well - you will simply HAVE to go there (2135 Ayrsley Town Boulevard, Charlotte, NC) and enjoy new thrills of great food. For more information check here: http://www.saffron-cuisine.com/

Young Victoria at Footcandle Film Society in Hickory NC

Not really a movie buff, I usually check my watch a couple of times during the few performances I attend. Not this time. In fact, I felt I was being cheated when I realized this film was coming to its close. The actors seemed to show an excellent display of personalities that walked a fine line (and crossed it a lot of times) between incarnation and cartoon. Loved the King Uncle. Took me back to my Air Force days. Queen Victoria was really the queen, like an icebreaker moving through dangerous waters, she was both captain and lookout as she elegantly went where no man had ever gone before. How did she get historically tagged with being so prim and proper? The Victorian era will always be know as the period in which the really interesting stuff was hidden, concealed and officially "ignored". Perhaps that came from her remoric politicians and their interrelationship. Prince Albert was of course imortalized in a can and for 100 years introduced young men to their first (and probably their best) taste of tobacco. I would call it a good movie and recommend it to anyone who was expecting to become a queen, or who might have to become one someday, or who might discover they have married one.

Hamlet in the Hickory Community Theatre

All the word’s a stage and all the men and women merely players, well, that’s the way that Hickory likes it, especially when its Community Theatre crew gets turned bloody loose in the Jeffer’s auditorium. Tonight it was Macbeth on stage, and the cast handled it well judging from the response.

Beth Woodard in the role of Lady Macbeth grabbed the audience and played her exceedingly difficult role exceedingly well. In one scene near the end, she got lost in ironic laughter that blossomed into maniacial giddyness. She should have been killed right then, instead of having to do it herself later.

John Rambo as Banquo (and later as a Scottish doctor) played perhaps the most workmanlike role and handled his part well. He provided balance and a center to the action when he was playing as Banquo. Nice.

There was another guy who did well but we lost his name. He was dressed in 1930’s style uniform with a pistol under a holster flap. We thought he was impressive. The third witch - the one with the white face - she looked like she could really be dangerous. Had to keep our eyes on her, and that was easy to do.

The most spectacularily good and bad performances have to go together to the special effects people. Their motto appeared to be “When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning, or in rain?” Well, I wouldn’t have had that job for all the crowns in Scotland. Every time you touch a switch or a control “something” happens, just like my computer and stereo system.

It all came together very well and all the actors survived for the final appearance before the audience, including somebody’s head still lying on the stage, and the audience applauded wildly, and for the first time in history Macbeth had a happy ending.

Dale Matthews and the Faith Factor in Hickory, NC

The notice in the Charlotte Observer said that Dr. Dale Matthews would hold a community seminar on spiritual and medical healing. Instead, he presented a basic powerpoint series of words, statistics, data and acrimonious acronyms demonstrating that religion was effective in improving the health of church participants. Then he said that wasn't what he was saying, but then he continued saying that religion was effective in improving the health of church participants for the next hour. While one of the “slides” did try to differentiate between Religion and Spirituality, it seemed that Religion was the thing that made Spirituality work. He also presented a “slide” showing that religion sometimes had its downside, including cults and wars, and then that amazingly important issue was just dropped. Perhaps just as well because that would be hard to use in building spiritual and/or medical health. No matter, little time was spent on that, and we returned to facts and figures about spirit/religion/faith/church. Dr. Matthews did make one comment about politics by saying he wasn’t going to say anything about politics, and added “Don’t anybody get me started talking about ‘Obamacare’!” Then, having said that about one of the main issues in America today, he went on with his figures and acronmania.

Nothing was said about integrating spiritual practices and studies into an overall program of health care. He did say at one point, about an hour and a half into his presentation, that everybody in the room was now one and a half hours nearer to their death that when he began speaking. Perhaps there is a better way to tell everybody that what you do just doesn't matter, but this is a real contender. Heads bobbed up and down all throughout the hall. I guess The Faith Factor only pays off after you die. No comment was made about the incorporation of physical exercise into a personal health program, and the lunch served at “half-time” portended there would be no references to nutrition either. Within the framework of the many comments Dr. Matthews made about college football games, I left his presentation at “half-time”. Perhaps he recovered in the afternoon session but as anyone involved in the practice of life knows, you HAVE to make your best presentation early, get the reader “hooked”, and come out with your best stuff right off the bat. Then you can’t get rid of people, they will follow you around and beg for more.

Gail's Hops and Grapes, Hickory, NC

Attended Gail's beer- and wine-tasting last night. Beer provided by Natty Green's of Greensboro, NC. I enjoyed their "Black Powder" and "Red Nose". My wife liked the Golden Amber and brought some home. We also got Duplin's Christmas Wine. I love Duplin's summer wines and have wished they made some cool weather wine.

MUST mention the complimentary snacks - made a FOOL of myself over the cheese-sausage mess. Wow. Now I need that recipe.

Gail's has a extensive inventory of well-crafted beers and fine wines, and their assortment of chocolates, wafers, coffees,teas and accessories and compliments make this shop the place to visit for all your entertaining needs and gifts.

Here is what Beeradvocate had to say about Gail's: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12117

Blue Moon? Or Risqué Moon?

Blue Moon :

the REAL Story

B U L L E T I N !

Breaking News! This just in to the DANCING TRAIL News Center: Here is the latest on the Real Blue Moon story! The magazine, Sky & Telescope, has just had their, probably, first ever exposé in the May issue of 1999. It turns out that the Real Blue Moon may not necessarily be the second full moon when two full moons occur in one month!

Now, what follows in this bulletin contains graphic material and may not be suitable for all ages; please use suitable discretion:

It turns out that the length of time from full moon to full moon is 29.5 days, and since the solar year has 365.25 days, then each year contains enough days for 12 full moons plus 11 days left over, so therefore, 7 years out of every 19 there will actually be 13 full moons. Also, the Astronomical Calendar Year, called a "tropical year", does not run from January 1 to December 31, but from "Yule" ( December 21, or winter solstice) to "Yule"; this places three full moons in each season except for those 7/19 years (told you it would get graphic) which will contain one season which will have four full moons. - and therein lies the scientific part of the problem.

The real problem, however, is religious, and that mix-match goes something like this: The Roman Catholic Church has decided that the vernal equinox will always fall on March 21, regardless of whether the sun actually crosses the equator on that day or not (people more familiar with the Roman Catholic Church than I am usually just close their eyes and nod their head when we get to this part), and also that Easter must fall within one week after the Paschal Moon which, the church says, is that first full moon after March 21. So, all the moons of the year are determined by the "tropical" year (yule-yule rule) except for the two near Easter, the Paschal Moon (the first full moon of spring) and the one before it, called (by the Church) the Lenten Moon, (the last full moon of winter) which are determined by ecclesiastical rules. And, in order to keep the other main moons still corresponding to the activity suitable to them (harvest, mid-summer, long-night) whenever a season, as measured from Yule to Yule has four full moons in it, the third (not the fourth) full moon is designated as the Blue Moon. So, now you know.

The Jewish faith handles this problem by adding to seven out of every nineteen years, basically a "blue month", which they call Adar. The Islamic faith, not being especially concerned with Passover, Easter or Christmas, ignores the whole thing, letting their calendar years rotate backwards so any given month begins 11 days earlier each year. So, if you want to refer to a really, really, really long time, you might try the term "Islamic Blue Moon"!

Sky & Telescope apologies for their "error", committed 53 years ago in the March, 1946 issue, and suggests that both methods be retained, since "theirs" is certainly much simpler!

How does all this affect our current Blue Moon status? Hmmm. That would mean no Blue Moons at all in 1999! Next one would be February 19, 2000. February, of course is the only month which could never have a Blue Moon under the second full moon in a month rule, but under the four in a season rule, one out of every four blue moons MUST occur in February! The others will have to be in May, August, & November.

The official DANCING TRAIL policy toward this new development will be to try to celebrate all Blue Moons, whether "tropical" or "ecclesiastical".  And perhaps we might call the now unauthorized, two in a month occurrence a "Risqué Moon", and the new, but really older, four in a season occurrence an "Out-of-the-Blue Moon".

Have a Merry Happy.

Season’s Greetings to all! And if you still reckon these seasons according to traditional ways, then Merry Christmas! Also - Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, may your Yule Log burn brightly, may St. Nicholas have undue compassion upon you, may you even have a Festive Saturnalia (if you - or perhaps some of your acquaintances- [or relatives] consider you to be pre-Christian), just - not TOO festive; and if you are Buddhist, you might just want to sit quietly, and think about it - or maybe think about something else - or maybe even nothing at all.

The word "merry" has gone through quite an evolution. Originally, back around 600 B.C. it simply meant "short", then due to some mischief of a derived factitative verb, it came to mean "to shorten", and from there evolved into a usage describing "pleasing", "pleasant", "enjoyable", "agreeable", "delightful" and THEN, around 1600, "mirth" crept in, and "merry" began to go giddy. Now, if you're "Merry", then you've probably gone a little bit too far. (All of the preceding is an elaborate corruption of the Oxford English Dictionary.)

But to get back to serious matters, If Christ was actually born according to the details related in the New Testament, when shepherds had brought their sheep back in the hills after the winter was over, then that birth really must have taken place some where around the middle of April. Astrologically, one author places it on April 17, 6 BC. (Michael Molnar, The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi. Rutgers University Press, 1999. ISBN 08135-270-5) Dr. Molnar bases his concept on belief that the Maji were not astronomers (there weren’t any back then) but they were astrologers. And if you will read his book he points out a “fantastic combination” of astrological signs around April 17, 6 B.C. I have corrensponded with Dr. Molner and pointed out to him that there is a corresponding assertion in a book on Gnani Yoga written by Yogi Ramacharaka in 1906. Dr. Molner said he was not aware of that.

Then there is Santa Claus. Our modern model has evolved over many centuries. Perhaps the oldest male deity in European history is a cagy guy known as the Horned God. Images of him date back to prehistoric cave drawings in Lascaux, France. He appeared as Pan Pangenitor to the ancient Greeks, and as Cernunnos to the Celts, and as numerous other horned or antlered fertility deities across Europe. On the eve of the Winter's Solstice, he was believed to impregnate the cold, dead Earth Mother, so that she may resurrect and give birth to new, green life in the spring.

The celebration of the Solstice was officially forbidden by the Christian Church, but continued on among peasants and even wealthy nobles. Finally, some 350 years after the supposed event, Pope Julius I acquiesced and created the holiday we now know as "Christmas", substituting the birth of Jesus for the veneration of the Pangenitor in an attempt to transform that quite substantial pagan holiday into a Christian one. Still, the figure of the Horned God survived into the character we today know as "Santa Claus," the "Old Man of the North," the ancient, furry, man in red who is borne aloft by a team of horned bucks and "delivers the goods" to the entire planet in one magical night.

Well, that’s just food for thought. But - may we all have a Happy Christmas Day, A Merry New Year’s Eve, and a Fantastic Year to Come!

John.

It's Really Not Our Fault

I don't think it really IS our fault, but when we moved to Hickory, NC, sixteen months ago, we were told we couldn't wash our cars, water our garden, or sprinkle our lawn. That was because Hickory was out of water, and as we were told, "It NEVER rains in Hickory."

Glub. Bubble, splash, slosh. Now,
rain falleth incessantly -
We runneth over.

Basho, if your frog
ever comes to Hickory
he will be happy!

And since we had come here from the mountains of western North Carolina, we were concerned about the winter snowfall. We asked our new neighbors how bad the snowfall was here in Hickory. They - with absolute poker faces - all told us that it "NEVER snows in Hickory." They even faked a show of sadness, as if they regretted that "fact".

Grind, rasp, gritty skreech -
Sound our new snow shovel makes
On our new driveway.

Basho! Push shovel,
You'll make something wonderful -
a big ball of snow.

Winter Storm Warning for the Carolinas

Cold temperatures, strong winds, snow, sleet, rain and freezing rain all coming down on the Carolina piedmont and all in one day. Later in the evening a man and his son go sledding down the street in front of their home as darkness follows quickly.

The Mystery on 34th Street at the Hickory Community Theatre

It was a good, workmanlike presentation for a community theatre. But more mysteries occurred on 34th Street last night than miracles. One mystery was to wonder why the person who adapted this play for the presentation took so long to properly introduce the guy who would be Santa's defense attorney, and the "friend" of the lead actress. He was one of the main characters, but he began as just a fellow worker at Macy's and had to kind of elbow his way in to his role. He did very well in both parts.

Another one of the Mysteries on 34th Street, was the lead actress. She had perhaps the pivotal role in the play since the action always came back to her, and it had to wait on her lead. This role seems to call out for a dynamic personality, one with appropriated gestures and a satisfyingly loud voice of command. For an aspiring community theatre actress she was good. But still, I carried the impression that I was watching an actress playing a role. She was not the character she played. She was not performing THE role that was the only reason she had been placed on the earth, and I did not get the impression that she was engaging in an act of creation herself.

But THE REAL MYSTERY was the actor who really stood out and carried the play over some of its tricky moments, and who was clearly having fun playing his role, and who BROUGHT MAGIC IN to the evening's performance. And he was somebody I couldn't identify from the cast of characters. He played the role of the "city boss" and the lead postman. It was fun to watch him. I will get his name and get it in here. We wanted to vote for him, since we had a ballot, but couldn't find him listed there either.

Mark Atkins played Mr. Shellhammer well, and he seemed to be enhancing that role into new dimensions as it unfolded. I bet his wife has to put him in a decompression chamber for an hour or two after he gets home.

The Defense Attorney, Brian Plemmons, seemed to almost be playing himself, he appeared to be a natural guy, who besides seeming to be an all around good guy, was a friend, and a man with integrity (in spite of being a lawyer!), and seemed to pick the play up and carry it around all by himself from time to time.

I saw the HCT performance of "The Producers" and the amazing "Doubt". Not every performance can be that incredibly good, but they offer inspiration for all performers and motivation for the members. There was magic in those great presentations, and the act of creation was also there, as the actors helped each of the audience members take part IN that act of creation amd everybody in that theatre grew and developed into something different than they were at the beginning. This play, about the 34th Street event, is a fun thing, and designed to cheer people who are already happy. And it did well in that role.

Frankie and Johnny's in Hickory, NC

While racing across Google Earth the other day, looking for something else, I accidentally hit upon an unlikely comment about a restaurant in Hickory. It said that this restaurant had gyro's just like the ones they had recently eaten in Athens. Wow! OK, that did it. I had to take them up on THAT.

The next day I went down to the place. Its name is Frankie & Johnny's. They bill themselves as "Home of the Real Deal Reuben", and feature "Authentic Philly's and Gyro's, Nathan's Hot Dogs, N.Y. Cheesecakes and Hot and Cold Subs and Wraps." I got a gyro, had it wrapped up and took it home to work and eat.

So how was it? It was good. Very good. As good as the ones I had in Athens a couple of years ago? Well, yes. Of course you have to understand that the bread was not fresh out of an Athens' bakery, and that Europe does not care for standardization when it comes to preparing and eating FOOD. Every place has its own way, or at least its own twist to add.  So when you go to Greece you will eat a lot of gyros, usually for lunch, and they will all be a little bit different from each other. Plus you can get lamb, pork, beef, and other meat in the sandwiches over there. Usually, our gyros in Greece also had three or four french-fried potatoes inside the sandwich. Frankie & Johnny's have only lamb gyros, and their french fries are in a separate container and are just so-so, but it's hard to get really good fries anywhere in the States.

Frankie and Johnny's passed its first test, so now - on to the second. Hmmmm. Let's see shall I make that one a Philly or a Nathan's - or a Real Deal Reuben? Hope to see you there! It's at 1509 29th Ave. Dr. NE, or in the Sandy Ridge Shopping Center.

AND . . . Since this initial experiment, I did return, this time having a Real Deal Reuben.  Fabulous.  Loved the swirled rye bread, slightly toasted sauerkraut, and the rest . . .?  Ummmmmmmmm.

Dixie Swim Club at Hickory's Firemans Kitchen

Dixie Swim Club. Saturday night (2009.1121) at the Fireman's Kitchen. Interesting, funny, delightful, lots of good acting. Good production, great direction, good vehicle for the actors. Here Kimberhly Hopkins-Hood (on left) and Joy McManus-Rodgers share a stupendous moment of Pure Life.

Was the Egg That was Laid on Western Piedmont Organic?

We attended one of Western Piedmont's presentations in its Fall Speakers Forum called “Food for Thought: Reinventing Our Food System for a Healthier World.” Joel Salatin was presented as a celebrity already featured on Peter Jennings, the National Geographic and the Smithsonian Magazine among other publications. His family farm, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, named “Polyface, Inc.” services more than 1500 families, 10 retail outlets, and 30 restaurants. We were looking forward to his discussion.

It wasn’t a total disappointment. Salatin made a few positive suggestions. He is a firm believer in small farms, even gardens and small chicken yards. He understands problems inherent in industrial food production, highly-processed food, and national and state governmental regulation of those industries. He also remarked about the absurdity of having some 50 golf courses in the Phoenix area, playfully visualizing them growing useful food. He even challenged Western Piedmont College to plant nut-bearing and fruit trees and vegetables over much of its campus. "Students could snack on healthy food as they walk between classes." (Applause!) He pointed out how many of the problems we have in our country today concerning our food are traceable to four main points:
1) Centralization - huge farms and livestock houses that are vulnerable to mass infection,
2) Transport - Too much of our food is not locally grown and prepared. Average food, Salatin says, travels 1,500 miles.
3) Industrial processing - one fast-food burger can contain meat from 1,500 cows.
4) Emphasizing the treatment of disease with medicine instead of helping the animals and their farms be healthy places.

Sounds pretty good. And that’s the sad part. Almost all of the rest of the presentation by Salatin was the testimony of a born-again libertarian. Not only did he testify, but he whined, and screamed and played-dumb-on-purpose. He ranted about the “food police” . He said the government was “stupid”, “incompetent”, “won’t do anything”, “hates people”, and has allied itself with the corporate farms. His reasoning was often bizarre, beginning with a plausible sounding example then using a number of different “causes” to arrive at the same “effect”. He urged people not to vaccinate their children against H1N1 flu, or for any other reason, and complained that the problems we face with our “industrialized food” is an outgrowth of the “War on Drugs”. What I heard was an involved attack on government for doing shoddy inspections, but also being too intrusive - and rather than suggesting improvements, he seemed to be calling for a total abolition of government involvment in anything related to food. Let the farmers control themselves. He gave us a lot of facts. I haven't (and don't intend to) check any of them but I do know that Louis Pasteur did not die in 1926, as Salatin said. He also said that our problems were caused because our industrialized food production process was out of control and protected by government. His approach was to get rid of government or to “ignore it”. He said that if you want to raise chickens, and your property restrictions or local laws don’t permit it, go ahead anyway.

So, Salatin basically demonstrated his own summation in his presentation:
1) He brought a lot of information to us about gardening and government, gathered it together and presented it as one mass project infected with the politics of libertarianism.
2) He came from another state, not from 1,500 miles away, but he covers a lot more territory than that spreading his word.
3) The information, facts, and figures concerning government, science, corporations, friendly farmers - and a number of causes married up with other effects - seemed to me to be pretty homogenized. A big burger it was, and composed of much dead meat.
4) His treatment focused on the government as being the source of all our problems, and did not elaborate on how we could use his information to improve our lives and our own "terrain".

He was a hit with the audience, gathering applause and ironic laughter on several occasions. Therein lies the sadness of this evening. Salatin could have given us helpful information, he could have used an uplifting tone instead of whining and shrieking. It could have been an inspirational evening instead of a long “I AM A VICTIM” recital. This even more ironic since he constantly made fun of people who act like they are a victim, and the audience which groaned with him when he told his pitiful stories, chuckled with him as he made fun of people who seem to enjoy being “victims” - then he told more tales of what the government and “food police” had done to him and how stupid their reasoning was.

In summation, the presentation was offered as instruction on ways we could begin to grow food at our homes to begin making important changes in our lives, and it would up being a political indoctrination on the "glories" of libertarianism. I was disappointed, and I'll bet WPCC was too.

The Cosmos Cafe in Charlotte

It was almost like an alien abduction. Soon after we climbed in our car and headed down the road we were enveloped in a blinding fog of rain and water that was swirled up from the highway by great interstate trucks and we disappeared all together in that collegially blinding mist. Later we arrived in a great city, prowled through streets that cowered under towering buildings and hesitatingly entered into a great interstellar space ship filled with parked cars and which bore the military-like name “The Standard Garage”. We carefully drove our car through slaloms of menacing-looking posts until we found a vacant parking spot.

Then - on to the “Cosmos Cafe” which was almost next door, where we picked out our meal for the evening. Lentil soup sounded prosaic enough until it arrived. Wow - what a melange of flavors! Tasty, with melted cheese, sparkling with fresh herbs and still husky croutons. We let the soup find its own level in our bodies with our eyes respectfully lowered to half-mast. Since we were in a hurry to catch our show at the nearby Belk Playhouse, we shared an Atlas pizza, and enjoyed that with a couple of draft Stella Artois. The pizza was almost TOO good. It featured two very thin crusts with a layer of mozzarella cheese between, then it was covered with tomato stuff and other cheeses. Gooomphg - wonderful. The melted mozzarella was tricky to deal with at first - we looked like we were doing a form of tabletop tai-chi as we dealt with the teasing ribbons of delicious cheese. Then on, through the rain again, now under umbrellas, off to the see the Complete Works of Shakespeare (Reduced). It was a good show and we enjoyed it - except for the lead into the intermission which seemed out of character with the pace that had been set up until then.

Back again to the space station which was still filled with dripping cars to redeem our own, then one more time back out onto the dark misty road, now headed home. We were happy, well-fed, content, enlightened, and waved good night to Charlotte, eagerly looking forward to our next encounter.