#cameron burr

[sinceileftyoublog]

Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs: The Kids Are Alright

Photo by Sarah Trott

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The first albums that Greg Gardner made, cassettes and CDs with friends when he was a child, had a pretty small audience: his mom. Decades later, Gardner's prediction for the size of the audience for his first album made in a professional recording studio? "A few moms." He's joking, but even with the name recognition of his main collaborator--none other than Bay Area psychedelic folk luminary Cass McCombs--the intended audience for this album is not your usual indie rock or folk crowd. Gardner's a preschool teacher in San Francisco, McCombs his lifelong friend, and the two have come together to put to music Gardner's already penned children's tunes. Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs - Sing and Play New Folk Songs for Children is out now on none other than Smithsonian Folkways, a full circle moment for Gardner, and a fitting home for these tunes that are simple but infinitely wonderful.

Gardner and McCombs grew up hanging out and making music together, influenced by Bob Dylan and Dylan's heroes, Folkways recording artists like Woody Guthrie and Elizabeth Cotten. Gardner's applied his love of music to his career, not only introducing his students to these same artists but writing songs for his students about what they're studying at the time, from the life of Harvey Milk to the human body and the animal life cycle. And in the past, Gardner ran Secret Seven Records, releasing music from other Folkways artists like Michael Hurley. Simply put, Smithsonian Folkways is Gardner's favorite label, which he told me without pause during our phone conversation earlier this month. When the opportunity came, through some mutual connections (including McCombs' former manager Kirby Lee) to apply for a grant from the label to record his children's songs, Gardner didn't pass it up. He was in the middle of recording some other songs for fun with McCombs and casually asked whether McCombs would want to put to tape the likes of "Little Wilma Wiggly Worm" and "Things that Go in the Recycling Bin", too. McCombs obliged, and the rest is, now, quite literally, folk history.

The songs on Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs were written for children but exist in multiple realms. McCombs has stated that he doesn't see much of a difference between the direct simplicity of folk music and children's music, and during our conversation, Gardner cited how much certain folk classics, written in totally different contexts, have been sung by and for children, both his students and throughout history. You can hear the flipside in their record: how songs written for children are ultimately universal. "Requiem for Ruth Bader Ginsburg" and "Wave a Flag for Harvey Milk" offer biographies of fierce activists of their time. "Each One of Us" revolves around the ideal that "each one of us is different but we're friends just the same," a song that rejects the feigning of similarity that well-meaning but misguided (and often white liberal) educators practice, the antidote to "I don't see color." And "Friends from All Around the World", with a "Hello Version" and "Goodbye Version", consists of people giving salutations in their respective languages, guests including everyone from Hurley and Peggy Seeger to Gardner's own former coworkers and grandmother and grandfather. Full circle, indeed.

Not to mention, the instrumentation on Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs is not of the grating, maximalist type of usual music marketed towards children that parents are used to. For one, a lot of the songs sound like they could be on a McCombs record, as he rips a guitar solo during "Little Wilma Wiggly Worm" and playfully harmonizes with the vocals on "What's Your Favorite Kind?" "My Skull Is Made Out of Bone" is a gorgeous and wistful concoction of guitar, cello, and keyboards. Hand percussion and claps pervade "J-O-B" and "A Builder's Got a Hammer and Nails", a drum machine the blues stomp of "Roll Around Downtown" that, no matter your religious affiliation, delightfully invites you "to the church of 8 wheels." And when I first listened to the scratchy cello, echoing percussion, and light singing of "The Sounds that the Letters Make", I had to make sure I hadn't accidentally triggered the music I was using to prepare for my recent Arthur Russell review.

Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs is also, in the grand tradition of Folkways, instructional, not just in lyrics. The LP got the full treatment. "Something that I love about Folkways is the packaging and the aesthetic of their old records, how they're really thick carboard with the pasted over sleeves and minimalist artwork that's striking and clean and beautiful looking," Gardner said. "All the records come with booklets and liner notes and photographs...This record is issued like an old Folkways record, with the paste-on cover and booklet with liner notes and suggested activities that go with each song. The LP version is meant to be colored in by kids if they're so inclined." Best, in tribute to a Cotten record Gardner and McCombs loved as kids, Folkways was able to release a few copies on yellow vinyl. The record, like the best folk music, is now a living, timeless document, one that can be enjoyed by all, regardless of age.

Below, read my conversation with Gardner, edited for length and clarity. We talk about his experience in the studio, the politics of children's music, and approaching difficult subjects with kids.

Since I Left You: How did you decide to do this project with Cass?

Greg Gardner: Since we were teenagers, we've made music together. I'm not really a musician, but I like to write songs and sing. I would go to my friends and say, "What about this?" and they'd make it sound better. I've been making strange and silly songs with Cass that weren't meant for the general public. We made a lot of cassettes in our youth. Since I became a teacher, I've been writing songs to amuse myself while I take the BART train to and from work, and also with the hopes the kids would appreciate them as well. The songs are always about stuff the kids have been talking about in class or studying. "Little Wilma Wiggly Worm" is about a worm we found in our classroom garden, and all the kids were so excited about holding this worm, and we all named it together. I wrote the song about it, and it became a way to connect and create community over a fun shared experience. I usually create some visuals that go with the song. I made a book of Wilma Wiggly Worm, and Cameron Burr animated that book into a music video.

So I had been writing songs for many years, and Cass and I recorded some non-kids songs, not for the public, just for fun, and I asked him, "Would you like to record some kids songs with me?" He said, "Yeah!" I had demos of most of them--some of them a capella, some demos with instruments. For the record, we used some of those demos, the skeletons of them, and added instruments and backing stuff. A lot of those songs were rerecorded specifically for the record. There are a lot more that didn't go on. We may have put too many on this record, too, but there they are.

SILY: I was fascinated by Cass saying, "A lot of what’s called children's music is just folk music...I don't see a big difference between children's music and adult music." What's the history of your relationship with traditional or contemporary folk music?

GG: Around when I was a teenager, hanging out with Cass and other friends, we'd listen to Bob Dylan, and then into the people that influenced Bob Dylan, blues artists like Jesse Fuller and Lead Belly, or Woody Guthrie. Cass then introduced me to Elizabeth Cotten, who is on Folkways. Her records were not intended for children, but the songs are definitely beloved by children and adults alike. "Freight Train" and "Shake Sugaree", on which her granddaughter sings. Those are so beautiful. And there are so many folk songs about animals that, even if not written for children, sure work for the child and the adult. Children go through the same gamut of emotions that adults do, so folk music is for all. While these songs were intended for the 3-5-year-old children in my class, I enjoy singing them and hope people older than 5 enjoy singing them as well.

SILY: You sing about "kids' stuff," but "Requiem for Ruth Bader Ginsburg" and "Wave a Flag for Harvey Milk" are relevant to everybody, and sadly so, considering the climate. Do you view any of these songs as political in the same way folk music might be?

GG: My intention wasn't to be political when I made them, but to hold up people that were brave and good role models for the students in my class and school. I'm lucky to work at a school that has similar values to my own. My preschool class has led the Harvey Milk assembly we have every year on his birthday week. At the time I wrote ["Wave a Flag for Harvey Milk"], there wasn't an age appropriate book about Harvey Milk--now there is--but at the time, I thought it would be an easy way to introduce 3-5-year-old kids to what Harvey Milk did for the local community and community beyond. I ended up turning it into a singalong coloring book, so the kids could see images of Harvey and what he had done and so the kids could break down the song verse by verse or line by line. After a while, the kids got into the melody and learned the words themselves, and they became interested in the song. It's kind of a political thing, but more so about holding up the voices of people that are advocates for others. That's what we try to instill in the preschool classroom anyway: Be kind to one another, accept one another, advocate for one another, and be brave. Harvey Milk and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are really great examples of that.

Of course, Folkways has so many protest and topical songs in their catalog. Whenever I make a song, I have all of those songs mushed into my brain, and I'm making up songs that are unintentional rip-offs of what I've heard.

SILY: I was thinking about "If I Had A Hammer" when I heard "A Builder's Got a Hammer and Nails". The former was sung at Communist rallies, which isn't exactly the case with your song, but it still speaks to the connection between seemingly divergent genres of music that are one and the same. In this day and age, the school is such a contentious place in many parts of the country, whether that's school board curriculum fights or repressive laws. It almost does seem like a similar fight, children's music and folk music, a la "This machine kills fascists."

GG: It's true. I live in a little bubble at my school. I don't know if I'm lucky because of that, but the kinds of things we're talking about in songs and that the other teachers at my school believe, are what I believe and I think Cass believes. I know if you walk outside the bubble of San Francisco, it's different. I'm glad that these songs [exist], and that there are other groups of people writing songs and books and having rallies and marches that are in line.

SILY: Had you listened to a lot of other music made for children before writing these songs?

GG: Not really. Mostly just older music, and a lot of that was on Folkways. Not when I was a kid. I remember listening to Woody Guthrie songs and learning "This Land Is Your Land". Maybe "Riding In My Car" when I was a young kid. As a teacher and as a parent, I've collected the old Folkways records and have a collection in the classroom that we often play. It's become the oral landscape of the classroom. As far as contemporary kids music, I don't really know it. I'm sure there would be a lot that I like. I do know that Elizabeth Mitchell has some beautiful records out. I only know a little bit of Raffi, but every time I hear him, I think, "That guy's good."

When we were getting ready to release this record, Folkways asked whether Cass and I could make a playlist of Folkways songs from their back catalog that they could put online and that I could write about. I said, "How about we choose the songs, but instead of me reviewing them, the kids in my class can say some words about them?" A lot of the songs I chose were ones we already listened to in class. Whatever the kids would say would be more interesting than what I would say, and they have a lot more non-sequiturs that are more fun to read. The kids reviewed all the songs and ended up re-drawing classic Folkways album covers, so we took pictures of that, too. That's how we bring other children's music into the classroom. We learn about Elizabeth Cotten and Woody Guthrie and Ella Jenkins, who is one of our very favorites.

SILY: The record has recordings of your students throughout the years. How far back are some of those?

GG: The majority are not very far back. All of the students on there are from the first COVID year. I recorded those in the classroom on my phone, and we snuck them into the record when in the studio later. I would have used kids from previous years on the record and had so many recordings of them singing, but you have to get the rights from all the parents, which was too hard, so I figured I'd just find all the parents from one year.

SILY: A song like "Each One Of Us" is consistent with the spirit of many songs on the album in that it's essentially about diversity and equality. When I grew up, equality was taught very blindly, in an, "I don't see color" type of way. The idea behind this song is more, "Everyone is different, which we should embrace." Can you talk about that idea as it pertains to writing songs?

GG: I think that was one of the first songs I wrote for the class. At the beginning of the year, with preschoolers, we learn about the classroom and each other. We invite families into the classroom to share things they like to do, holidays they celebrate, food they enjoy. That song was building off of that creation of a classroom community and learning that we have so many similarities but also a lot of differences that we can learn from. We become stronger and safer when we get to know each other better. That was a songbook as well. It had some illustrations that kids could color in, and they got to say, "I have brown eyes, too, just like my grandma," or, "I have two moms as well, and Chelsea, she has two dads, and Brian only has one mom and nobody else, and this person lives with their grandma, and I live in an apartment, too." They were able to make so many connections with the verses in the songs.

SILY: The song "I'm A Nocturnal Animal" is very funny, with rhyme schemes involving regurgitation and owl pellets, but it's also about the cycle of life and death. How do you approach a subject like that with young kids?

GG: Through books and songs, and they understand it themselves. When we're learning about Harvey Milk or Martin Luther King, Jr., there are always one or two kids who have already heard about them, and one of the first things they know is that they died or were killed. Death comes up a lot. Kids' grandparents pass away, or their animals pass away, so there's a lot of talk in the class. Some books are helpful to read with the students. It sounds kind of silly, but we do have puppets just like Mr. Rogers did. The puppets sometimes come out and talk about these things that are more difficult to talk about. We'll act out a scenario where the puppet has a pet that passed away recently and the other puppet will show compassion and ask them how they're feeling. The kids will watch it and talk about how they'd feel in such a situation, or talk about people in their lives who passed away, and open up an organic conversation that may not have happened if it was just me talking about the subject as an adult. When you introduce puppets or a song, there's some sort of layer that's removed, and the kids are sometimes more willing to be vulnerable in that kind of situation.

In our classroom, we also celebrate The Day of the Dead, let by another teacher whose family celebrates it, and that opens up a lot of discussions.

And a song like "Deciduous Tree" is about the seasonal cycle of a tree but also about butterflies and caterpillars. We talk about animal and human life cycles in the class, and there's inevitably death. We talk about it as a scientific thing.

SILY: It's unique to hear death in a song that's primarily meant for children.

GG: I've also noticed that when we're learning about these specific historical figures or discussing the death of an animal in the family, in the playground, I'll find a child lying down, and when I ask what's going on, they say, "I'm just playing dead." They work it into their pretend play, which helps them work through their feelings and emotions about subjects that are difficult. It's like a rehearsal for what could happen as an adult.

SILY: "My Skull Is Made Out of Bone" is a fascinating self-reflexive exercise. By the end of it, you're breaking the fourth wall, asking, "How did this song start? Well, it's because of my brain, which is protected by my skull, which is made out of bone." It's pretty layered!

GG: I like how it's a loop. It begins as it starts as it begins. The kids in my class will sing the last part, "My skull is made out of bone," and then start the song all over again. [laughs] We made that song because we were learning about the human body. The kids chose that study themselves.

SILY: Have you done live performances of these songs for parents?

GG: We do it for parents every year. We do the Harvey Milk song for assembly. My school goes up to 8th grade, so there are a lot of people in the assemblies, and a different group leads them each Friday. We usually have another assembly where we sing about something we've been learning about. This year, I made up a song about rocket ships, because the kids were learning about space and built mini rocket ships out of cardboard. We learned about the planets and talked about what we would do if we were visiting each planet and what we would find. Other times, throughout the year, we invite the parents in to come hear their kids sing. We had one performance outside of school, at an opening for the children's magazine Illustoria. We performed "My Skull Is Made Out of Bone".

I don't really like performing myself. It's the scariest thing for me. But I love singing the songs with the kids in the classroom every day.

SILY: Do you think Cass will work any of these songs into his setlists?

GG: [laughs] Probably not, though he told me he's done "Wave a Flag for Harvey Milk" before with Phil Lesh at Lesh's [now closed] restaurant Terrapin Crossroads. They did it during Pride Week. I wish I was there. Maybe he'll work something in. It's kind of its own separate thing.

I was also a little bit afraid that his fans would see this record and say, "Oh no, a kid's record, it doesn't sound like Cass's music."

SILY: It kind of does though! You can immediately tell it's him, and he has the perfect voice for these songs. It's gentle and expressive at the same time.

GG: He does have a very gentle voice.

SILY: And a lot of the instrumentation on here has that same folk background, a little rougher around the edges in terms of arrangements, especially with the strings and percussion.

GG: I like that we were able to put some strange things in there, some discordant sounds. I like that we got to play actual tools on "Hammer and Nails". Folkways has the tradition of releasing sound effects records, like Sounds of the Junk Yard. At the end of "Hammer and Nails", you hear these smashing sounds. There was construction going on upstairs, so initially, we had to keep stopping our recording, but we decided to just record them banging away and use that in the song.

SILY: There are sound effects at the end of "What's Your Favorite Kind?" and "Paper Airplane" too.

GG: I got to do a "whoop" with some tool I found in the classroom. I went in to look for woodworking tools but found the slide whistle. And "What's Your Favorite Kind?" has Tommy [McMahon], who I've been friends with since I was 10, playing Moog on there. He made it sound like a 1970s Sesame Street song, which is what I'd been hoping for. He goes by Controller 7.

SILY: How did you find the overall process of making the album? Are you planning on recording more songs?

GG: I think we'd like to do more. I'm going to keep making them myself. Cass said he'd be interested. He lives in New York now.

This was my first time going to a real studio, though it was during COVID, so a lot of it was piecemeal, where I'd have some demo stuff, and we wanted guests on there but couldn't get them into the studio, so we did a lot of cutting and pasting. It was cool how it all came together in the end. It would be fun to go in there now and lay it all down in a more live way. That's also hard to do with kids. I'm glad I got to use the voices of the kids in my class on this record. They're the biggest part of these songs. They're why they exist.

[prison-mikes-bandana]

Star Wars Needs More Gingers!!! These two have raised the bar for quality characters!!!!

[kwebtv]

The Ox-Bow Incident  -  CBS  -  November 2, 1955

A presentation of the 20th Century-Fox Hour (Season One Episode 3)

Drama 

Running Time:  60 minutes

Stars:

Robert Wagner as Gil Carter

Cameron Mitchell as Donald Martin

E. G. Marshall as Davies

Raymond Burr as Major Tetley

Wallace Ford as Monty Smith

Hope Emerson as Ma Grier

James Westerfield as Deputy Mapes

Walter Sande as Moore

Ray Teal as Bartlett

Tyler MacDuff as Gerald Tetley

Eddie Firestone as Art Craft

Michael Ansara as Jeff Farnley

Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. as Mexican

Taylor Holmes as Judge Tyler

Russell Simpson as Old Man

Robert Adler as Mark

Jay Brooks as Sparks

[sassenach77yle]

There was a soft whoof! noise, then a louder whoomp! as the ether in the surgery ignited, and suddenly we were standing in a pool of fire. For a fraction of a second, I felt nothing, and then a burst of searing heat. Jamie seized my arm and hurled me toward the door; I staggered out, fell into the blackberry bushes, and rolled through them, thrashing and flailing at my smoking skirts. Panicked and still uncoordinated from the ether, I struggled with the strings of my apron, finally managing to rip loose the strings and wriggle out of it. My linen petticoats were singed, but not charred. I crouched panting in the dead weeds of the dooryard, unable to do anything for the moment but breathe. The smell of smoke was strong and pungent. Mrs. Bug was on the back porch on her knees, jerking off her cap, which was on fire.

Men erupted through the back door, beating at their clothes and hair. Rollo was in the yard, barking hysterically, and on the other side of the house, I could hear the screams of frightened horses. Someone had got Arch Bug out—he was stretched at full length in the dead grass, most of his hair and eyebrows gone, but evidently still alive. My legs were red and blistered, but I wasn’t badly burned—thank God for layers of linen and cotton, which burn slowly, I thought groggily. Had I been wearing something modern like rayon, I should have gone up like a torch. The thought made me look back toward the house. It was full dark by now, and all the windows on the lower floor were alight. Flame danced in the open door. The place looked like an immense jack-o’-lantern. “Ye’re Mistress Fraser, I suppose?” The squat, bearded person bent over me, speaking in a soft Scottish burr. “Yes,” I said, coming gradually to myself. “Who are you, and where’s Jamie?” “Here, Sassenach.” Jamie stumbled out of the dark and sat down heavily beside me. He waved a hand at the Scotsman. “May I present Mr. Alexander Cameron, known more generally as Scotchee?” “Your servant, ma’am,” he said politely. I was feeling gingerly at my hair. Clumps of it had been singed to crispy thread, but at least I still had some. I felt, rather than saw, Jamie look up at the house. I followed the direction of his glance, and saw a dark figure at the window upstairs, framed in the dim glow from the burning downstairs. He shouted something in the incomprehensible tongue, and began throwing things out of the window. “Who’s that?” I asked, feeling more than slightly surreal. “Oh.” Jamie rubbed at his face. “That would be Goose.”

“Of course it would,” I said, nodding. “He’ll be a cooked goose, if he stays in there.” This struck me as wildly hilarious, and I doubled up in laughter. Evidently, it wasn’t quite as witty as I’d thought; no one else seemed to think it funny. Jamie stood up and shouted something at the dark figure, who waved nonchalantly and turned back into the room. “There’s a ladder in the barn,” Jamie said calmly to Scotchee, and they moved off into the darkness. The house burned fairly slowly for a while; there weren’t a lot of easily flammable objects down below, bar the books and papers in Jamie’s study. A tall figure belted out of the back door, shirt pulled up over his nose with one hand, the tail of his shirt held up with the other to form a bag. Ian came to a stop beside me, dropped to his knees, gasping, and let down his shirttail, releasing a pile of small objects. “That’s all I could get, I’m afraid, Auntie.” He coughed a few times, waving his hand in front of his face. “D’ye ken what happened?” “It’s not important,” I said. The heat was becoming more intense, and I struggled to my knees. “Come on; we’ll need to get Arch further away.” The effects of the ether had mostly worn off, but I was still conscious of a strong sense of unreality. I hadn’t anything but cold well water with which to treat burns, but bathed Arch’s neck and hands, which had been badly blistered. Mrs. Bug’s hair had been singed, but she, like me, had been largely protected by her heavy skirts. Neither she nor Arch said a word. Amy McCallum came running up, face pale in the fiery glow; I told her to take the Bugs to Brianna’s cabin—hers now—and for God’s sake, keep the little boys safe away. She nodded and went, she and Mrs. Bug supporting Arch’s tall form between them.

No one made any effort to bring out the bodies of Donner and his companions. I could see when the fire took hold in the stairwell; there was a sudden strong glow in the upstairs windows, and shortly thereafter, I could see flames in the heart of the house. Snow began to fall, in thick, heavy, silent flakes. Within half an hour, the ground, trees, and bushes were dusted with white. The flames glowed red and gold, and the white snow reflected a soft reddish glow; the whole clearing seemed filled with the light of the fire. Somewhere around midnight, the roof fell in, with a crash of glowing timbers and a tremendous shower of sparks that fountained high into the night. The sight was so beautiful that everyone watching went “Oooooh!” in involuntary awe. Jamie’s arm tightened round me. We could not look away.

What’s the date today?” I asked suddenly.

He frowned for a moment, thinking, then said,“December twenty-first.”

“And we aren’t dead, either. Bloody newspapers,” I said. “They never get anything right.”

For some reason, he thought that was very funny indeed, and laughed until he had to sit down on the ground.

123 RETURN OF THE NATIVE~ A Breath of Snow and Ashes

[ask-the-ducklings]

ask the ducklings anything!

hellor!! house wanted us us to start a tumblr, probably so he can spy on us, so here we are!!

*disclaimer, this is NOT the actual house md fellows, this is a silly guy on the internet pretending to be them

answered, moderated, and played by cameron (they/them or he/him or it/its) (@asclexe is my main)

the ducklings tell you to do ur daily clicks for palestine

more loading…

RULES FOR ASKS:

-i dont mind slight nsfw, but like i am a minor so like whatever you want on your conscience i guess

-don’t ask things like “has house ever had a panic attack in front of you guys” or “has house ever fainted ever” etc bc it’s annoying and im not house

-please specify who you’re asking, it can be just one fellow, two, or all of them. yk.

-bully us however you want.

-idc if you spam i just probably wont answer all of them

my answer will have their name and a color/style to indicate who is answering it, here’s the legend! :

foreman

chase

cameron

thirteen

taub

kutner

park

masters

adams

if it’s me, other cameron, it will be normal text.

please be patient after you have already sent an ask!! i am a full time student, i’m always in at least one play/musical, and life happens. and also sometimes i just don’t feel like it lol.

some posts maybe me ooc/updates on the blog, but all reblogs, follows, and likes will come from my main. this post for example is ooc, and it will likely by edited as stuff changes.

BLOGS I’LL INTERACT WITH!!!

house: @ask-dr-lawsuit-magnet (ran by beautiful mootie @wilsons-limped-husband)

wilson: @ask-dr-what-a-strange-typo (ran by @ham-burr-ger)

other wilson? @dr-well-adjusted (a la @wilsons-three-legged-siamese

cuddy: @ask-offical-housewrangler-things (ran by @realscreaminggoat!!)

amber: @that-cutthroat-bitch

so yeah, that’s all! send in your asks!

[sporadiceagleheart]

Happy birthday darling I have no presents and fantasy cake but I hope I make you happy with everything I made like this edit right here with all of your pictures in it Shirley Jane Temple Black 1928-2014 April 23rd 1928-February 10th 2014 and special rest in peace to those who passed away Bishop Rance Allen, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Lisa Loring, Bob Saget, Betty White, Heather O'Rourke, Judith Barsi, baby Leroy, baby Peggy Montgomery, Peggy cartwright, Darla Jean Hood, Jean Darling, Peaches Jackson, Mary Ann Jackson, Dorothy DeBorba, Mary Kornman and Mildred Kornman, Kenny Rogers, Patsy Cline, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Eazy-E, rest in peace Ana Ofelia Murguía December 31st 2023, Jim James Edward Jordan, Lucille Ricksen, Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton and Terry and Pal, Eva Gabor, Geraldine Sue Page, Pat Buttram, Joe Flynn, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Richard Belzer, Richard Harris, Bernard Fox, Raymond Burr, Perrette Pradier, Jeanette Nolan, Larry Clemmons, Bing Crosby, John Candy, John Heard, John Fiedler, Beate Hasenau, Billie Burke, Roberts Blossom, Billie Bird, Bill Erwin, Ralph Foody, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Jim Nabors and Frank Sutton, John Wayne, Clara Blandick,Charley Grapewin, Buddy Ebsen, Angelo Rossitto, Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, Bridgette Andersen, Dominique Dunne, Dana Plato, Robbie Coltrane, Lance Reddick, Betty Ann Bruno, Betty Tanner, Elizabeth Taylor, Helen McCrory, Ray Liotta and Tom Sizemore and Burt Reynolds, Zari Elmassian, Frank Cucksey, Vyacheslav Baranov, Vladimir Ferapontov, Carol Tevis, George Shephard Houghton, Irving S. Brecher, Richard Griffiths, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, Joe Conley, Alan Arkin, Jerry Heller, Fred Willard, Mary Ellen Trainor, Morgan Woodward, Anna Lee and John Ingle, David Lewis, Ken Curtis, Ed Asner, James Caan, James Arness, Amanda Blake, Avicii, Jane Withers and Virginia Weidler, Milburn Stone, Natasha Richardson, Joanna Barnes, Cameron Boyce and Tyree Boyce, Cammack"Cammie"King, Denny Miller, Jane Adams, June Marlowe rest in heavenly peace to all of them actors and actresses this is Shirley Temple birthday edit of the year

[aaronburrdaily]

January 13, 1809

Rose at 1/2 p. 10 in very bad order, having been up three or four hours with the bu.¹ Took de cre. tar. punch². At 12 Mr. Walker and Dr. Hume called and were denied. American newspaper. Packet arrived in twenty-three days. Colonel Smith called and denied. Dr. Hume called again at 3 and sat 1/2 hour. Colonel G. at 4. Walked to dinner at Captain M’Dowell's in snow storm. Y: Captain M’Dowell's two mothers and Miss Donald; Colonel Patterson; Major Cameron; Dr. Spence. Rode home in Colonel P.'s carriage with him and Miss Donald—which was tres mal fai³. Captain M'Dowell urged us to sup. Chez moi 1/2 p. 9. Sor. 10. Major Cameron’s. Y: Johnston, la chanteuse⁴; two Madame Camerons. Chez moi at 1/2 p. 11, tres mecon. de moi⁵. Finished letter to Koe. Began one of apology to J.B. All flat and bad. Couche at 2. Invaded by tous les Diab. de reprou⁶. Vigils till 5. Omitted: Mr. Arbuthnot called this forenoon to let me know that Mrs. A. had brought him a daughter.

1  Drinking. Literally, with (having) drunk. On this day Burr wrote a letter to Jeremy Bentham in London in which he said: “I lead a life of the utmost dissipation. Driving out every day and at some party almost every night. Wasting time and doing many silly things.” 2  Took cream tartar punch—a favorite cure of Burr's when he was “in bad order” in the morning. 3  Very badly arranged (fai for fait. Done.) 4  The vocalist. 5  For très mécontent de moi. Greatly displeased with myself. 6  Reprou. for reprouve. Reprobate. Hence, invaded by all the demons of the lost, the reprobate.

[signalwatch]

Amazon Watch Party Watch: Gorilla at Large (1954)

Watched:  02/03/2023

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Director:  Harmon Jones

So, to my complete surprise, I liked this movie semi-unironically.  

I found it weird that this movie starred fairly big names for the time.  Not huge stars, but knowable names and more than one of them.  It has Raymond Burr, Lee J. Cobb, a young Lee Marvin, Cameron Mitchell (before he spiraled into camp), and Anne Bancroft here to remind you she is, indeed, a very good idea.  I was not familiar with Charlotte Austin, who plays the virginal character, but who could scream like crazy and had great hair (and was in another gorilla movie in 1958 called The Bride and the Beast, penned by Ed Wood Jr.).

At around the 70% mark of the movie, I think it was Jenifer who pointed out "this is gorilla noir", and she was not wrong.  This is absolutely murder mystery noir, set against the backdrop of a carnival, with a gorilla as a character, and plenty of intrigue to go around.  The movie is knowing enough that it constantly plays with expectations, and I had no idea how this thing would wrap up until the end.  

It's also, visually, very interesting.  Shot at Nu Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach.  I thought it was the same location as Woman on the Run/ Gun Crazy and others, and was very wrong.  My takeaway is that California had some great amusement options in the 20th century.  (The Burglar was filmed in New Jersey, so I was way off there.)  But as something shot originally for 3D presentation, and in bright technicolor, it's a fascinating bit of visual cotton candy, including a dynamic scene with a mirror maze (that I'm not clear on how it was shot without showing the crew standing behind the camera, tbh).

It's not challenging the AFI Top 100 as an underserved, underseen classic, but it's *interesting*.  Including the bizarre decisions that led to the finale.  

   https://ift.tt/R9rc3Hz

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/wWcnphD

[ulkaralakbarova]

A team of U.S. government agents is sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Ronald Fleury: Jamie Foxx Janet Mayes: Jennifer Garner Grant Sykes: Chris Cooper Adam Leavitt: Jason Bateman Sergeant Haytham: Ali Suliman Damon Schmidt: Jeremy Piven Colonel Faris Al Ghazi: Ashraf Barhom Robert Grace: Richard Jenkins Aaron Jackson: Tim McGraw Francis Manner: Kyle Chandler Elaine Flowers: Frances Fisher Gideon Young: Danny Huston Ellis Leach: Kelly AuCoin Maricella Canavesio: Anna Deavere Smith Miss Ross: Minka Kelly Lyla Fleury: Amy Hunter Kevin Fleury: Tj Burnett Prince Ahmed Bin Khaled: Omar Berdouni Prince Thamer: Raad Rawi FBI Agent: Peter Berg Kidnapper: Sala Baker 35 Year Old Son: Ahmed B. Badran Janine Ripon: Ashley Scott Haytham’s Father: Nick Faltas Izz Al Din: Uri Gavriel Abu Hamza: Hezi Saddik Aunt: Yasmine Hanani General Al Abdulmalik: Mahmoud Said Rex Burr: Tom Bresnahan Earl Ripon: Trevor St. John Maddy Ripon: Sarah Hunley Range Rover Driver: Kevin Brief Pitcher: Brian Mahoney Reporter: Merik Tadros Suicide Bomber: Hrach Titizian Reporter: Sean Donnellan FBI agent: Markus Flanagan Inner-Circle: Anthony Batarse Special Forces Officer: Gino Salvano Kidnapper: Eyad Elbitar Passport Officer: Nick Hermz Self (archive footage): Osama Bin Laden Self (archive footage): George H. W. Bush New Reporter: Robin Atkin Downes Self (archive footage): Saddam Hussein Self (archive footage): John F. Kennedy Self (archive footage): Larry King Self (archive footage): Colin Powell Self (archive footage): Ronald Reagan Film Crew: Director: Peter Berg Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan Producer: Michael Mann Director of Photography: Mauro Fiore Editor: Colby Parker Jr. Editor: Kevin Stitt Costume Design: Susan Matheson Producer: Scott Stuber Original Music Composer: Danny Elfman Producer: Tim Smythe Executive Producer: Sarah Aubrey Executive Producer: John Cameron Executive Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh Executive Producer: Mary Parent Unit Production Manager: Steven P. Saeta Casting: Bruria Albeck Casting: Amanda Mackey Casting: Cathy Sandrich Gelfond Production Design: Tom Duffield Assistant Editor: Kris Cole Stunts: Zoë Bell Stunts: Sala Baker Art Direction: A. Todd Holland Supervising Art Director: Patrick M. Sullivan Set Decoration: Ronald R. Reiss Visual Effects Supervisor: John ‘D.J.’ Des Jardin Stunt Double: Shauna Duggins In Memory Of: Nick Papac Stunts: Sherry Leigh Stunts: Layla Alexander Stunts: Doug Coleman First Assistant Director: K.C. Hodenfield Associate Producer: Maria Williams Special Effects Makeup Artist: Quin Davis Makeup Department Head: Bill Myer Hairstylist: Barbara Lorenz Hair Department Head: Roxie Hodenfield Makeup Artist: Deborah La Mia Denaver Hairstylist: Deidra Dixon Makeup Artist: Michael Germain Hairstylist: Lisa Bertuzzi Makeup Artist: LaLette Littlejohn Key Hair Stylist: Melissa Forney Hairstylist: Jeffrey Sacino Second Unit Director: Phil Neilson Second Assistant Director: Jeff Okabayashi Supervising Sound Editor: Gregory King Sound Designer: Yann Delpuech Special Effects Coordinator: John Frazier Special Effects Coordinator: Burt Dalton Stunts: Kaily Alissano Stunts: Daniel Arrias Stunts: Greg Anthony Stunts: Jon Braver Stunts: Brian Brown Stunts: Chino Binamo Stunts: Eric Chambers Stunts: Jack Carpenter Stunts: Douglas Crosby Stunts: Max Daniels Stunts: Gokor Chivichyan Stunts: Steve Dent Stunt Double: J. Mark Donaldson Stunts: Eyad Elbitar Stunts: Paul Eliopoulos Stunt Double: Eddie J. Fernandez Stunts: Glenn Goldstein Stunts: Tad Griffith Stunt Driver: J. Armin Garza II Stunts: Nick Hermz Stunt Double: Chris Guzzi Stunts: Alex Krimm Stunts: Mark Kubr Stunts: Michael Hugghins Stunts: Theo Kypri Stunts: Krisztian Kery Stunts: Nito Larioza Stunt Driver: Aaron Michael Lacey Stunt Double: Brian Machleit Stunt Double: Jalil Jay Lynch Stunts: Anthony Martins Stunts: Eddie Matthews Stunts: Anderson Martin Stunts: Damien Moreno Stunts: Roman Mitichyan Stunts: Aladine Naamou Stunts: Aryan Morgan Stunts: Robert Nagle Stunt Driver: ...

[screen1ne]

HAMILTON Extends Booking Until 29 March 2025 and Christmas Schedule Announced

Jeffrey Seller and Cameron Mackintosh, producers of the West End production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s HAMILTON at the Victoria Palace Theatre, are delighted to announce that booking is extended until Saturday 29 March 2025. The Christmas performance schedule is also announced. HAMILTON stars Declan Spaine in the title role of Alexander Hamilton, Simon-Anthony Rhoden as Aaron Burr, Georgina…

[mikahorror]

i read this earlier yesterday morning & i still don't know what i expected walking into this when i clearly saw the words werewolf, vampire & erotica..... i'm looking for mm dark romantasy books by male authors & this is not that, at least not the dark romance part. unless you would classify it as dark because neither are human?? and because of the

anyway, i will be falling to my knees crying laughing whenever someone says three! & no one will know why. and i may read the 1st book because i was interested in how the meet(...cute? i don't go here y'all, is that the term??) scene would go* but this is "here's the moment that Cameron fell for Levi" & then 😳😳😳😳 & a whiff of a conflict then repeat for the rest of the novella. but the sheriff deserved what was coming 🫡

i found this indie author randomly on instagram so that's partly why i bought this even tho it's wayyyy outside of what i normally read. but solar ashes won't get 🌶️spicy🌶️ because i nearly died trying to get through this 76 page story lol don't get me wrong. they were also really sweet towards one another. every thing would be so normal & then oh yeah, he's basically a wolf

but still looking forward to prince of lust by lucien burr, another indie author i think, because the concept of "priest regrets his vow of celibacy so he summons a fuckin demon" is so damn funny i have to read it for the lolz

this is very serious market research so my wip doesn't accidentally do something like give the mc feminine hands or some other shit i would find weird, but just include it because i see it everywhere. but recommendations for dark fantasy with no sex would be more similar to my story.

even if no one else cares about solar ashes & it never gets published either way

*bc i'm once again doubting what i wrote for Ashe meeting korrin 😀

[kwebtv]

The Bastard  -  Syndication -  May 22 - 23, 1978

Historical Drama (2 episodes)

Running Time:  240 minutes

Stars:

Andrew Stevens as Phillipe Charboneau/Philip Kent

Tom Bosley as Benjamin Franklin

Kim Cattrall as Anne Ware

Buddy Ebsen as Benjamin Edes

Lorne Greene as Bishop Francis

Olivia Hussey as Alicia

Cameron Mitchell as Captain Plummer

Harry Morgan as Captain Caleb

Patricia Neal as Marie Charboneau

Eleanor Parker as Lady Amberly

Donald Pleasance as Solomon Sholto

William Shatner as Paul Revere

 Barry Sullivan as Abraham Ware

Noah Berry Jr as Dan O’Brien

Peter Bonerz as Girard

John Colicos as Lord North

William Daniels as Samuel Adams

James Gregory as Will Daniels

Herbert Jefferson Jr as Lucas

Mark Neely as Roger Amberly

Keenan Wynn as Johnny Malcolm

Raymond Burr as Narrator

The first of 3 miniseries based on the Kent Chronicles.  The second was The Rebels which aired on May 13-14, 1979 and the third was The Seekers which aired on July 8-9, 1979.  

[shutth3puckup]

only wags who are more famous than the players are carrie underwood and candace cameron burr (was on full and fuller house). honestly for publicity reasons players should go for more famous girls bc then people know about the sport but hey i’m not their PR team

Emily Ferguson (Karlsson) is, she has 300k more followers. I did even know who William was until I was watching one of her stories and saw she was at a Knights game, then went to her page and connected the dots.

Not a current player, but Dion Phaneuf is married to Elisha Cuthbert. She also dated a player before Dion.

And Tessa and Morgan.

Arguments can be made for each person in each relationship as to which one is more famous.

[ricardotomasz]

Such is life! Behold, a new Post published on Greater And Grander about Toxic People Aren’t Funny, with Danny McDermott; S2 E25

See into my soul, as a new Post has been published on https://greaterandgrander.com/toxic-people-arent-funny-with-danny-mcdermott-s2-e25

Toxic People Aren’t Funny, with Danny McDermott; S2 E25

After graduating with a BS in Engineering, Danny moved to NYC in the 90's and acted in and produced plays, sketch comedy, and stand up comedy. He became one of the biggest producers of stand up comedy in NYC outside the comedy clubs for 8 years. He had 5 different venues, producing 8 shows a week, and giving away 30 spots a week to comedians. Danny had celebrities such as Jim Gaffigan, Ed Helms, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, Bill Burr, and many others come in on a regular basis to headline. He also co-founded the Comedy Soapbox with Steve Hofstetter.   Danny was cast in a great deal of theater, appearing in numerous plays and was the lead in six productions off and off off Broadway.   He's had a few options on scripts, and moved to LA in 2013 and produced a comedy series that we premiered at the Hollywood Improv called "Who Killed the Bible Salesman", while doing comedy at the clubs and small venues. One of his scripts, a vigilante/horror/comedy, Danny successfully produced a reading with Christopher Titus, Judd Nelson, and Casper Van Dien. There were 18 actors and about 30 audience members.

Check out his new Website & Podcast The DL Show - http://www.thedl.show Follow him on Facebook @dannymcdermottla and @downlowshow

Follow him on Facebook: Danny P McDermott and The DL Show - Down Low with Danny and Lizette

Credits Include...

Who Killed the Bible Salesman? starring Fred Stoller

The Danny McDermott Show starring Rick Overton

Cross: Rise of the Villains starring James Hong, Eric Roberts, and Danny Trejo

Whiskey God starring Cody Renee Cameron

Please like and subscribe, it helps us out a lot.

Music is Sweet Georgia Brown by Latché Swing.

Episode still image is by Ricardo Tomasz on Greater & Grander.

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[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

From a Whisper to a Scream

...to a yawn.

Memo to horror filmmakers: do not invoke the names of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe unless you have the chops to stand the comparison. Writer-director Jeff Burr and his co-writers clearly do not, as evidenced by their work on FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM aka THE OFFSPRING (1987, Prime and YouTube). It’s an omnibus film with two half-decent stories and two strictly from hunger, with a cast you feel were sentenced to it as some demented form of community service. In the framing story, reporter Susan Tyrrell (playing a seemingly normal person and doing it well) visits Oldfield, TN, town historian Vincent Price after his serial killer niece’s execution. He insists the woman turned evil because of the town and tells Tyrrell four stories to illustrate that. Aging nebbish Clu Gulager obsesses over a co-worker (Atlanta’s own Megan McFarland) so much he kills her and violates her corpse, only to learn the fruits of necrophilia. When some angry marks shoot con artist Terry Kiser, he flees to the swamp where he meets a conjure man (Harry Caesar) with the secret of eternal life. Carny operator Rosalind Cash keeps the acts in “Lovecraft’s Traveling Amusements” in check through voodoo. And sadistic Union soldier Cameron Mitchell is captured by feral Southern war orphans. The first two simply plod, and Gulager’s story has next to no atmosphere (probably because the film had next to no budget), though there’s nice byplay between him and his invalid sister (his real-life wife, Miriam Byrd-Nethery). But the carnival story feels original and has Cash, who can turn even this film’s leaden dialogue into Shakespeare. And it’s fun seeing Mitchell’s utterly evil character get his comeuppance at the hands of a bunch of kids. The film also features Gordon Paddison (McFarlad’s ex- and Atlanta’s own Dr. Frank N. Furter), Terrence Knox and Angelo Rossitto, along with cameos by Martine Beswick and Lawrence Tierney.