SciFi Night host at Artspace, Chris Jay

ChrisJayArtspace

Filmmaker and writer Chris Jay was host for the first Artspace Sci Fi night. He revealed that he is moving from Williams Creative Group to Louisiana Film Center. The LFC, he says, has won enough funding to accelerate its schedule.

SciFiNightArtspace

SciFiArtspace1

Some 50 people dropped in for the initial free SciFi Friday movies at Artspace, said Chris Fowler-Sandlin. The ubiquitous Robot sketches echoed the images from 1927 epic Metropolis.

Robert Lopez Munoz, Robots designer / Artspace

Robert Lopez Munoz, Robots designer

Artists become stars when they are as fluent and creative as the Blue Sky Studios team. Kids were drawn to Robert Munoz, Greg Couch, Michael Knapp and Bill Joyce at Artspace.

Entranced by a Munoz sketch are Ellie Schott, Hannah Schott and Matthew Smith.

Pop&lock lessons by FunkyConnection at Artspace

FunkyConnection at Artspace

Learning to move, freeze and flow from FunkyConnection (see earlier post) were Annalysse Orchard, Casey Boose, Angela Hampton and Elysse Orchard.

McLean, Virginia's Litschwewskis learn sculpture from Jane Heggen

Artspace: learn sculpture from Jane Heggen

Kenesha Lawrence, instructor and artist Jane Heggen and Virginians Jenna, Jeanette and Jacqueline Litschewski enjoy sculpting at Artspace.

Hello, Chicago : Ruby & Kenneth Lawrence with kids Kenesha & Brielle

Ruby and Kenneth Lawrence with kids Kenesha & Brielle

Dropping in to enjoy Artspace on Sunday were the Lawrence's from Chicago: Ruby & Kenneth and daughters Kenesha and Brielle. Their grandma lives in Atlanta, Texas, said Ruby.

Chelsea Girard learning animation at Artspace

Chelsea Girard at Artspace

At Artspace you draw your repeated sketch on a long piece of paper atop a light table, put the sheet into the zoetrope viewer and voila! Magical transformation.

Jerry Davenport teaching Semara how to paint by remote artmobile

Photographer-artist Jerry Davenport and Semara

Remote-control monster vehicles get their tire treads full of paint and allow kids to paint on large sheets of paper by truck. It's an ancient technique known to many artists, says Artspace
guide and photographer Davenport.

Conductor Arthur Post and SSO board member Sybil Patten

Post and Patten

What happens after the concert: the candidate goes to a reception with a pleasant mix of music lovers and musicians. There the candidate is informally grilled by board members such as the very active Sybil Patten.

Jaunty bassoonist Karen Miller, SSO

Karen Miller

Karen Miller, new bassoonist with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, shakes her head very musically as she plays her reed solos.

Eddye Blossom and Myla Landry at the SSO

Blossom and Landry

"You look terrific," I said, shaking hands with Mr. Blossom. "We try," he quickly assured me.

Lane Crockett, prince of performance critics, at the SSO

Lane Crockett, arts critic
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

Find Lane Crockett's insightful writing in Shreveport's Forum magazine and online at the Shreveport Arts Council's shrevearts.org web site. Crockett has the ability to touch upon all aspects of a performance, from book to players to the scene. His writing has a conversational flow but demonstrates deep background. While his critical remarks are moderate - focus on what he omitted to get the full tale - they fulfill a distinct need.

Shreveport-Bossier has a wealth of performances but a dearth of critics, people who have studied art as well as writing and who are willing to take the abuse that follows the proffering of honest evaluations. Yet growth in the arts does not come to those insulated from criticism.

Stan Buelt and daughters at the Shreveport Symphony

Kristine, Kathleen, Stan and Laura Buelt

Music players and music lovers of all ages attended the recent SSO concert. There were lots of families - such the Buelts - as well as teens in the audience.

Janis & Alden Woods at the orchestra concert

Janis & 9 year-old Alden Woods

Moms and daughters were in abundance at the SSO's Commedia concert.

Sofia Kostelanetz & Lisa Sun and their friends at the symphony

Kostelanetz and Sun and fellows

Whether it was the opera or the symphony, Shreveport teens have been much in evidence at concerts this month.

Lisa & Gif at the symphony

Lisa & Gif

Was it the Beethoven or the 20th century pieces that drew the young audience to the SSO this week? Or are they simply tasting widely from the array of downtown entertainments?

Chuck Moffet, Lea Johnson, Sally Moffet at the SSO Commedia concert

Chuck & Sally Moffet flank Lea Johnson

Fun-loving supporters of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra like Chuck & Sally Moffet and Lea & Melvin Johnson were jazzed by the 20th century pieces performed at the concert March 19.

Conductor Arthur Post made a positive impression as he walked the audience through Bolcom's Commedia, which was sometimes dissonant. Post illuminated his discussion with excerpts played by various sections of the orchestra. And the audience distinguished itself as thoughtful listeners when the concerto flipped from atonal to a sweet passage: widespread laughter erupted.

Blue Sky Studios art team / Robots at Artspace

Couch, Knapp, Lopez and Joyce at Artspace

Greg Couch, Michael Knapp and Daniel Lopez Munoz, Blue Sky Studios illustrators, and Robots designer-producer Bill Joyce enjoy intros from SRAC chief Pam Atchison at the Artspace / Art of Robots opening.

Myron Griffing Munching : Artspace

Myron Griffing and Talbot Hopkins Trudeau

FOB's Myron and Talbot take a turn with the Foodstuff of Artspace.

Maggie Martin, Paul Schutze, Betty Phillips / Artspace

Maggie Martin / Betty Philips

Shreveport Times writer Margaret Martin, husband/photog Paul Schutze, Elizabeth Joyce in greeen skirt and Betty Phillips, community leader, amidst black-clad dancers at the grand glissade of Artspace.

Jane Heggen's Potheads / Giftspace in Artspace

Jane Heggen's masks / Giftspace

Products from Shreveport-Bossier artists are featured alongside mass market items - Edward Gorey and William Joyce, for instance - in the considerable array of goodies assembled by Chris Fowler-Sandlin in Giftspace. Rapid sellers include wire flowers by Alana Dyson, Potheads by Jane Heggen and jewelry by poet Theresa L. Mormino, said Fowler-Sandlin.

Elizabeth Joyce / Artspace

Elizabeth Joyce

Elizabeth Joyce is a mother, attorney (non-practicing), vibrant communicator, bon vivant and capable partner to Bill.

Pam Atchison & Billy Wayne / Artspace

Pam Atchison & Billy Wayne

Pam is architect of the big schmear: Artspace, funding, direction, grants, the art community, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council team.

Community leader and Caddo teacher Billy Wayne joins her at the Artspace opening.

Jack Joyce Artspace

Jack Joyce

Lots to do at Artspace. Participation, ahoy!

Bill Joyce's son Jack takes advantage of the light box. Later we saw him enjoying the clay sculpture station. His sister, Mary Katherine, joined friends at the video station.

Talbot & Noma at the grand bagattelle of Artspace

Talbot Hopkins Trudeau& Noma Fowler-Sandlin

Noma and her husband Chris Fowler-Sandlin are part of the Artspace team. Chris' manages Giftspace and Coffeespace and Noma will soon unveil Artspace's latest room, Coolspace, wherein local poets, musicians and videometers will be featured.

Tony & Danielle Reans / Artspace

Tony & Danielle Reans

Painter Tony Reans and wife Danielle consuming a libation while chatting with Talbot.

Lisa & Jeff Wellborn & Talbot at Artspace

Lisa & Jeff Wellborn & Talbot Hopkins Trudeau

FOB's, right?

Stan Carpenter / Artspace

Stan Carpenter, photographer

Documentor with a sense of the absurd: the bemused, witty and artful Stan Carpenter. Medical photos, journalistic work and wry views of American culture are his specialties.

Talbot Hopkins Trudeau: a lavender Animatronix head for Artspace

Talbot Hopkins Trudeau: a lavender Animatronix head for Artspace

Talbot and the editor assembled an Animatronix robot head for one segment of the Robots exhibit at Artspace.

William Joyce at Artspace describing the background and amplification of the sketches behind the movie Robots

William Joyce, artistic director of Artspace

Storyboards, master images, pencil sketches, oil and acrylic renderings, variations, detail, tons of stuff that didn't make it into the movie Robots, you can enjoy it all close-up - even the erasures under gorgeous, colorful pieces - at Artspace / The Art of Robots exhibit.

I'd like to shoot a video of Bill explaining the segment you can see in the background of this photo taken upstairs. It shows a large master sketch by Joyce and the multifarious explosions of sketches produced by his teammates to explain and amplify his concept.

Opening night at Artspace, The Art of Robots exhibit

Artspace crowd at the grand ouvert of Artspace on Texas St., Shreveport

The illustrators from Blue Sky Studios - along with their partner, Bill Joyce - sketched gorgeous quickies into people's newly-purchased Robots books at the grand plie of Artspace / the Art of Robots. And a literal feast of illustrations from the movie Robots hangs from the walls of 3 floors of the gleaming, antique gallery.

DDR: sock feet, swinging arms, laughter, squeals, up-down-left-right and new friends

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DDR, or DanceDanceRevolution, was born in Japan and has made considerable progress among alternative-minded and J-rock-minded American teens.

Here's what wikipedia says about it:
Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR for short, is a music video game series introduced by Konami in 1998. It was first released as an arcade game in Japan, and several variations have been produced, including those for home use (see above; three sets are in action). It is part of the Bemani music game series, and has been released under the title Dancing Stage in Europe.


The game is typically played on a dance pad with four arrow panels: Up, Down, Left, and Right. These panels are pressed using the player's feet, in response to arrows that appear on the screen in front of the player. The arrows are synchronized to the general rhythm or beat of a song, and success is dependent on the player's ability to time his or her steps accordingly.

Go buy one and make your heart rate soar and have a big time with your friends.

Hmm; how many of you have tasted the pleasures of DDR?

Austin's droll Jack Johnson-type pop star/anti-star: Bob Schneider / photoAlexandraValenti

Bob Schneider / photo Alexandra Valenti

Two of the wittiest web sites I've seen belong to Austin singer-nutcase Bob Schneider and his sideman, Billy Harvey, who has his own act.

Thanks to serious Schneider fan Ken Berg for the drop on these smokin' sites.

And check photog Alexandra Valenti, too.

Lisa Nicoletti & Michelle Glaros of the Centenary art faculty

Lisa Nicoletti & Michelle Glaros

Busy bringing films and filmmakers - and other art events - to Shreveport are Centenary art department profs Lisa Nicoletti and Michelle Glaros. Nicoletti recently brought in award-winning documentary maker Jonathan Stack. Glaros was instrumental in hosting the first Louisiana Film Festival and presenting documentarian Alice Elliot and the appealing The Collector of Bedford Street.

They were getting acquinted with dancer-author Sondra Fraleigh, who is presenting workshops this week at Arodasi Dance Center.

Red River Radio's Helen Taylor at the Opera

Helen Taylor and friends

Helen Taylor is the British host of Red River Radio's entertaining and informative program, Prysm. Hear her Monday nights at 6:30 on KDAQ.

Away from the mic and minidisk Taylor is Associate professor of English for LSUS. Her specialties include medieval studies and 18th and 19th century women's writing. Dr. Taylor is also Director of the masters of Liberal Arts (MLA) program at LSUS.
Happily, she also contributes releases to Spt1.

Contraptions, curators, grants ...

Michael Moore, Robert Trudeau, Kristi Hanna at Bistineau Gallery

Items perhaps helpful to planning ...
Fragments from a NYT story on changes in art centers:

* with an extremely smart curator
* sculptor Tim Blum, whose cast metal figures and faux-scientific contraptions are based on Duchampian puns
* produced by Dean Daderko, one of the city's most presciently peripatetic independent curators.
* the collective's members survive primarily on grants, on proceeds from their art and on a talent for frugality that they regard as an art in itself.
* a three-month residency they did at the Queens Museum of Art. Wearing bright orange coveralls, they clocked in every morning and began with an empty gallery and continually modified the space with gridlike screens and temporary barriers while doing their own projects: making collages, tabulating statistics, building contraptions. The result was a single installation, an accumulation of accumulations, a combination of theater, child's play and ritual, a Rube Goldbergian version of everyday life.
* - specialize in happening-style interactive events, sometimes in museums, often in the streets.

Elliot Vaughn at the Body Electric / photoMichaelGMoore

Elliot Vaughn at the Body Electric / photoMichaelGMoore

Elliott Vaughn, poet, is as engaging as his 'fro is wide. Whether he's helping at Bistineau Gallery, at Fairfield Studios House Concerts, at the Arodasi Dance Center or attending the Body Electric opening, you can be sure your night will be more copacetic when Elliot's around.

Denise Peske Dews among the artists exhibiting at Body Electric / photoMichaelGMoore

Denise Peske Dews, artist, at Body Electric / photoMichaelGMoore
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

Artists at the opening of Sizer Yerger's tattoo parlor and art gallery included ebullient painter Denise Peske Dews. Denise creates with paint, resins, found objects, you name it. And she's an inspiring art teacher. Her art and teaching productions are often aided by her son Andrew and husband, Ben.

Please see more at Northwest Louisiana Art Gallery.

Rebecca Nesbitt at Shreveport Opera

Rebecca Nesbitt at Shreveport Opera
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

Dancer, choreographer, percussionist, teacher, artist, seamstress: Rebecca Nesbitt adds a puckish vibe to downtown events. The S'pt Civic Theater was packed with comely women and eager men ready to sip from Dr. DulCamara's elixir of love at the recent Shreveport Opera, "L'elisir d'amour."

Elixir of Love director Eric Dillner announced a major new grant for Shreveport Opera from the Annenberg Foundation. Sybil Patten was instrumental in securing the grant, announced Dillner, artistic director of S'ppt Opera.

SRAC project manager Jeff Courtman: Robots at Artspace

SRAC project manager Jeff Courtman: Robots at Artspace

Saturday, March 19, will see the public opening of the Robots exhibit at Artspace. The Rivet Town and Robot City displays were designed by Robots movie designer-producer Bill Joyce. And working with Joyce at Artspace to make a cosmos from recycled domestic effluvia is Exhibit Manager and imagineer Jeff Courtman.

Backstage at Artspace's Robots exhibit: John Bicknell

Backstage at Artspace's Robots exhibit: John Bicknell
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

John Bicknell is a guitarist-singer, designer - the alligator in the window for Artspace's Peter pan exhibit, etc. - and constructor for the Rivet Town and Robot City displays designed by Bill Joyce for Artspace.

Martha Bicknell Artspace Robots exhibit in progress

Martha Bicknell Artspace Robots exhibit in progress
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

Bush audience at Centenary hand-picked: "Lame, lame, lame."

Imperatus Bushus

From a medical writer living in S'pt whose throughtful and well-written career-and-life chronicle is at gonies.blogspot.com ...

Today, President Bush is visiting Shreveport to talk with "ordinary citizens" about his Social Security plans. Despite the event being held on campus at Centenary, tickets for faculty, staff, and students were limited. Why? Because the seats are being filled with a bunch of hand-picked Bush supporters who will nod along approvingly. Wouldn't want to have a dissenting opinion among the "ordinary citizens" out there, now would we? Lame, lame, lame. I have no problem with a public figure convening his or her fan club for a self-indulgent praise-a-thon, but at least advertise it straight up as such, instead of implying that the meeting is an opportunity for actual dialog.

Hunter Thompson: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Parker: "Let's go pro, sisters & brothers"

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Message from Michael Parker:

Hello, friends. We had a great meeting this evening, and we have a plan. Forget just about everything from yesterday's update. Since it appears that Shreveport-Barksdale Highway will be blocked off, we are returning to Columbia Park for our rendezvous point. Since the Americans for Social Security group has moved their rally to LSUS, we will not be doing anything requiring a permit, just parking, meeting and marching. We will meet at 11:45 & leave soon after, with our destination being the designated protest zone at Alexander & King's, outside the Cline Residence Hall at Centenary.
Signs are being made as I write this, and another group of Centenary faculty & students are doing the same at another party in the neighborhood. They will be at the protest zone.
I think tomorrow will be a watershed moment in progressive politics in our city. Don't hesitate to call me (227-7685) early in the morning if you have any questions. I can't think of any better sentiments to leave you with that those of the late Hunter S. Thompson: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Let's go pro, sisters and brothers.

Bush protest spot at Centenary secured by College Democrat organization: front of Cline Dorm

robot
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

From Chris Brown via ShreveSpoon at Yahoo:

This note went out to Centenary today by the College Democrat club.
Thought some of you might be interested in joining the protest.  Cline Dorm is on Kings Hwy and faces Alexander Ave and the Vacuum Cleaner Hospital.

-Chris Brown

P.S. Wonder who chose for the protest to be on a grassy knoll?  Well, I guess it's more like a dirt slope.

-----
Zeke Aull has confirmed that the grassy area currently barricaded in front of Cline has been designated as the public viewing area. No protestors will be allowed to cross King's Highway. Mr. Aull anticipates (not surprisingly) heavy police presence.

[...]

Then on Friday, we will be meeting in front of Cline from 12-12:30 PM to protest.

Michael Parker: Peace and Dissent

Hello, friends. I think we are solid on out details now. The group Americans for Social Security, who were also rebuffed for Columbia Park, are going to rally at LSUS from noon-12:30. I'm going to encourage people to go to that, if indeed the 2:00 start for the speech proves correct. Then, at 12:30, we caravan to the rendezvous point for the march, which will be the old Quail Creek Cinema parking lot on Shreveport-Barksdale Highway. It's a large parking lot with a Chinese restaurant on one side, but the theater & other businesses are vacant, so we won't be stepping on toes taking up parking spaces.
We'll march down to King's, & then down King's to Centenary. According to info I received today, the area in front of one of the residence halls, Cline, has been designated a "protest zone," & faculty & students will be gathering there. As distasteful as the concept is, the media will (hopefully) see a concentration of people, signs, etc.
Now, if there's an announcement of an earlier start for the speech, I think we should skip the speech at LSUS in order to get our march over to Centenary.
One other point: Sgt. Andrews with the police suggested signs without wooden sticks, as those could be confiscated for "security" reasons. You know how the undead fear wooden stakes.
Anyway, we are meeting at our house tomorrow - Thursday - at 6:00, at 528 Wilkinson, to finalize things, make signs, etc. People are encouraged to bring snack foods & drinks, their creativity and their passion. Thanks for your efforts getting the word out.
Peace and dissent, brothers and sisters.

Michael Parker: Why we despise Bush-Cheney policies

Anti-Bush March & Statements: Michael Parker
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

Hello, friends, this is Michael Parker. This is the last of about five emails tonight letting people know our protest progress. We lost Columbia Park as a meeting place, but have some interesting ideas for another spot to launch our march from. We should get more details in the paper tomorrow to plan around.
Sheila will be hosting a final meeting thursday evening at 6:00, to solidify details. Given the short notice and secrecy surrounding the emperor's visit, our ability to use word of mouth, email & the phone to get the word out will probably make or break us. I will probably try to get some press releases out tomorrow, but some details will probably have to wait for Thursday. As always, don't hesitate to put people in touch with me, either email or phone at 227-7685. & the meeting Thursday is at 528 Wilkinson. Whew! I'll talk to y'all again soon.

Sizer Yerger, graphic artist and tattoo parlor proprietor / photoMichael Moore

Sizer Yerger labors atop the light box / photoMichael Moore

The Body Electric Tattoo Studio/ Art Gallery Opening
Saturday March 12th 7:30pm till ?
Art, Music, Food, Drink 
Featuring the works of area artist: Rob Peterson, Ruth Junto, Allison Dickson, Bryan Sullivan, Michael Moore, Jen Wasson, Sizer Yerger, Eric Dean, Denise Peske Dews, Shannon Palmer, Noma Fowler-Sandlin.
Live Music with Dirtfoot and Mars Vegas
984 Jordan Shreveport 681-0990

Mapping the Unconscious / Charles McGrath on John Ashbery / NYTimes

Strand Theater chandelier. Photo by Talbot Hopkins.

Mapping the Unconscious
By CHARLES McGRATH
WHERE SHALL I WANDER
By John Ashbery.
81 pp. HarperCollins Publishers. $22.95.
SELECTED PROSE
By John Ashbery.
Edited by Eugene Richie.
326 pp. University of Michigan Press. $29.95.

John Ashbery is our great poet of the interior landscape -- all the bric-a-brac we carry around in the attic of our minds: imagery, quotations, movie dialogue, advertising jingles, song lyrics, snatches of overheard conversation. He's like Daffy Duck, if that's who the speaker is, in the poem ''Daffy Duck in Hollywood'':
Something strange is creeping across me.
La Celestina has only to warble the first few bars
Of 'I Thought About You' or something mellow from
Amadigi di Gaula for everything -- a mint-condition can
Of Rumford's Baking Powder, a celluloid earring, Speedy
Gonzales, the latest from Helen Topping Miller's fertile
Escritoire, a sheaf of suggestive pix on greige, deckle-edged
Stock -- to come clattering through.
Ashbery has been curating and rearranging this material for so long now -- since 1953, when his first book, ''Turandot and Other Poems,'' came out -- that, almost without our noticing, he himself has become a part of our mental furniture. Once thought to be willfully ''difficult'' and impenetrably obscure, Ashbery now, at 77, seems almost avuncular, the grand old man of American poetry, both wise and ironic -- the party guest he describes in one of his new poems, who is ''bent on mischief and good works with equal zest.'' We may not know much Ashbery by heart, but we recognize his voice the instant we hear it, because nobody else writes this way:

Attention, shoppers. From within the
inverted
commas of a strambotto, seditious
whispering
watermarks this time of day. Time to get
out
and, as they say, about.
Ashbery has written more than 20 books -- most of them of consistently high quality, with the exception of the tedious ''Flow Chart'' -- and he has been around so long, reinventing himself over and over again, that the experience of reading him now is a little like re-enacting the central drama of most Ashbery poems: the experience of suddenly coming upon something that is both deeply familiar and more than a little strange.
The publication of Ashbery's ''Selected Prose'' -- reviews, essays and occasional pieces written over the last 50 years -- is a reminder that from the beginning he set out to be different and not too easily understood. ''A poem that communicates something that's already known to a reader is not really communicating anything,'' he said once, and he was referring not just to content but to voice and tone. As a young writer, he consciously broke with the reigning poetic style of his time -- that of Robert Lowell and the ''confessional'' poets. More than that of any other American poet except Stevens, his early aesthetic was anchored in Paris (where he lived for 10 years), in surrealism and in the work of French experimental writers like Michel Butor and Raymond Roussel.
In the early essays especially, there's a contrarian impulse; the young Ashbery practically brags about how much he loves the kind of writing that at first or even second glance doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Ashbery was also greatly influenced by painters like de Kooning, Pollock and Jasper Johns, and it's meant to be high praise, for example, when he talks about Johns's ''organized chaos'' and ''arbitrary order,'' and how his painting ''seems to defy critical analysis.'' His own work strove for just that kind of artful abandon. Some of the poems from his 1962 collection, ''The Tennis Court Oath,'' were so dense and allusive, and so full of wild leaps and jarring discontinuities, that they should have come with a surgeon general's warning. Reading them gave you a headache.
But for all its complexity, Ashbery's poetic practice has often had a slangy, homespun quality, and over the years his idiom has come to feel more and more comfortable and familiar. No longer the dadaist enfant terrible, he has lightened up a little, and through sheer longevity and productivity he has taught us how to read him. ''I wanted to stretch the bond between language and communication but not to sever it,'' he said in 1995.

More of McGrath in the Books section of the NYT.

NYT: Film Studies and the Language of the Culture

Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New M.B.A.?
By ELIZABETH VAN NESS
Published: March 6, 2005
ICK HERBST, now attending Yale Law School, may yet turn out to be the current decade's archetypal film major. Twenty-three years old, he graduated last year from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied filmmaking with no intention of becoming a filmmaker. Rather, he saw his major as a way to learn about power structures and how individuals influence each other.

"People endowed with social power and prestige are able to use film and media images to reinforce their power - we need to look to film to grant power to those who are marginalized or currently not represented," said Mr. Herbst, who envisions a future in the public policy arena. The communal nature of film, he said, has a distinct power to affect large groups, and he expects to use his cinematic skills to do exactly that.

At a time when street gangs warn informers with DVD productions about the fate of "snitches" and both terrorists and their adversaries routinely communicate in elaborately staged videos, it is not altogether surprising that film school - promoted as a shot at an entertainment industry job - is beginning to attract those who believe that cinema isn't so much a profession as the professional language of the future.

More of this article at the NYT . . .

Michael Parker, on the left - in both senses of the term

Michael Parker, David Nelson and Bill Daniel
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Hello, friends and citizens. This is Michael Parker, & I'm writing all of you because I just found out today, as I'm sure many of you did, that George Bush is coming to town on Friday, March 11. I feel that this requires a peaceful, nonconfrontational, boisterous, creative and witty response. To that end, my wife Sheila Kelley and I are willing to host a meeting at our home, 528 Wilkinson St., in Highland, to discuss said response. My feeling is that people should gather in Columbia Park day of for a march down Kings to Centenary, where the speech is to take place. I don't have any illusions about being able to get close to the event itself, but Kings is visible enough that we could have a real visual impact, particularly with signs, costumes, etc. That's just an initial suggestion, I'm not committed to any particular format of action.
Some of you are close friends, some acquaintances, some no more than telephone voices or email correspondents at this point. It's time for us to come together, to speak the truth to the barely-hanging-on-to-power. We are not that far from critical mass, brothers and sisters, and if we can be a visible dissenting presence someplace where he probably feels most comfortable, we can get some momentum going.
Please invite anyone else who you think would be sympathetic, just rsvp so we can get a reasonable headcount. Email, call, stop by, whatever you feel comfortable with. Peace, y'all
Michael Parker
528 Wilkinson
227-7685

Escaped Images rehearsal / "Resisting Entropy"

EscapedImages2
Originally uploaded by trudeau.