Gone Astray: Russell Johnson » Entertainment http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress News, opinion, podcasts and video on travel, world culture, media, science and technology. Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:52:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 ©Russell Johnson rjohnson@connectedtraveler.com (Russell Johnson) rjohnson@connectedtraveler.com(Russell Johnson) travel 1440 travel, culture, humor, music A fresh quirky take on people and places around the world, Russell Johnson Russell Johnson rjohnson@connectedtraveler.com No no http://connectedtraveler.com/images/RJHSBlog.jpg Gone Astray: Russell Johnson http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress 144 144 Charles Darwin Meets Gilbert and Sullivan http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2009/03/27/darwin_musical/ http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2009/03/27/darwin_musical/#comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:49:23 +0000 Russell Johnson http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/?p=229 Darwin CartoonIf it ever comes to your neighborhood, as it did ours last night at San Francisco’s Jewish Community Center, see Richard Milner’s “Charles Darwin: Live and In Concert.” Milner combines his love of musical theater, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, with his scholarship as an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History to do Darwin in song. He wrote the lyrics himself and manages to pull them off in a number of vocal styles: Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, Jimmy Durante’s “Inka Dinka Doo” and Maurice Chevalier crooning the love song “If You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish,” even something vaguely resembling a Blues Brother. It is 80 minutes of rollicking edutainment.

Milner wouldn’t play well communities that still believe that “Father Knows Best” and that man walked with tyrannosauruses or probably even with some free marketers who foster the principles of Social Darwinism, the notion that anything unproductive should be allowed to wither…or worse. That doesn’t jive with the complex ecological and social dependencies Darwin and his successors studied and proved.

Darwin probably never sang about his studies of finches and barnacles. Unlike Milner, he was said not to be a very funny guy.

Here is a video story about Milner produced by the New York Times:

]]> http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2009/03/27/darwin_musical/feed/ 0 Opera at the Ballpark: “Great Soprano Arrested for Possession of Thayer’s Slippery Elm?” http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2008/06/21/opera-at-the-ballpark-%e2%80%9cgreat-soprano-arrested-for-possession-of-thayers-slippery-elm%e2%80%9d/ http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2008/06/21/opera-at-the-ballpark-%e2%80%9cgreat-soprano-arrested-for-possession-of-thayers-slippery-elm%e2%80%9d/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:58:50 +0000 Russell Johnson http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2008/06/21/opera-at-the-ballpark-%e2%80%9cgreat-soprano-arrested-for-possession-of-thayers-slippery-elm%e2%80%9d/ Opera at the Ballpark

It is a night during which the moon rises within pie-in-your-face reach, wolves howl, Druids circle Stonehenge, a night when fans at AT&T Park in San Francisco stand to sing the Star Spangled Banner before the announcer yells: “Play Donizetti!”

Call us San Francisco “elitists” if you will, but where else will 20 thousand fans crowd the grandstand and stretched out on blankets around a baseball diamond to celebrate the Solstice with 2 hours 20 minutes of a soprano in pain. This is the second season of “Opera at the Ballpark,” the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco Opera mashup, when the AT&T Park throws open its gates for a free high definition jumbo screen telecast live from the War Memorial Opera House.

In a summer where Mike Meyers, Maxwell Smart and a karate-chopping Panda compete for box office, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, the tragedy of a Scottish drama queen, hardly seems like entertainment for one of San Francisco’s rare hot summer nights, but unlike at least one of those movies or a Giants game, few left early over bad jokes or when Lucia’s predicament became impossible, which was almost from the start.

I may never want to dress up for a proper opera again. I was quite happy in sandals, jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, thank you. And I was thrilled about the seats at the ballpark, with enough space and legroom for a linebacker, compared to the dainty, knee scraping economy-class seats at the opera house. Not to mention the cup holders, Bud-Lite, garlic fries, all-beef hot dogs and the license to issue a discrete belch, which at the Opera House would be greeted with a wagging forefinger. My only complaint was when, during intense, dramatic passages, a huge popcorn popper behind us started up. But that was forgiven by the fresh popcorn smells that wafted from it.

There was also more athleticism in this performance than in most Giants games. In 2000, I witnessed Barry Bonds’ first home run at this park, just after it opened. Soprano Natalie Dessay probably hit opera’s first homer here last night, smashing several out into McCovey Cove.  She, like Bonds, would have also performed well in the outfield. Dessay sang flawlessly while on her knees, while lying on her side and on her back. I am sure she could have dived and caught a hard line drive without missing a note.

And I have never heard of an opera steroid scandal: “Great Soprano Arrested for Possession of Thayer’s Slippery Elm.?”

]]> http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2008/06/21/opera-at-the-ballpark-%e2%80%9cgreat-soprano-arrested-for-possession-of-thayers-slippery-elm%e2%80%9d/feed/ 0 Jazz on the Russian River – Podcast http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2005/09/13/jazz-on-the-russian-river-podcast/ http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2005/09/13/jazz-on-the-russian-river-podcast/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:08:43 +0000 Russell Johnson http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/?p=62 Summa God’s Chillun Got Rhythm

What I did on 9-11
Podcast MP3


I wonder what the world would be like if its musica franca was jazz rather than marches and war whoops. I lollygagged Sunday, 9-11 away with my wife and friends at Jazz on the River, in Guerneville, on Northern California’s Russian River. Jazz buffs have gathered here every fall since the 1970s.

Martial music prompts one to march straight ahead, no questions asked, allowing nimble guerillas to snipe from the bushes, one reason the Americans beat the Brits in the Revolutionary War and the Vietnamese defeated the Americans. War whoops come from those whipped into a frenzy by chieftains and charlatans stoned on power. Jazz, on the other hand, requires creativity, innovation, quick responses and a level of
cooperation that we desperately need right now. Jazz musicians play exquisitely in harmony but defer to one another for solos. Usually they find their way back together in the end. I thought a bit about 9-11 — but just a little bit on this beautiful day — about how police, firefighters, ordinary New Yorkers came together as a giant selfless help group, doing their individual jobs then reaching beyond them like a sax players on a riff. Not so in New Orleans, ironically one of the birthplaces of jazz, where cops deserted and bureaucrats marched with blinders, like horses in a funeral cortege.

But enough of that. Fall is probably the most beautiful time to experience Northern California, especially here in Sonoma county. The sun is lower in the sky and casts a glowing orange light over the vineyards to the east, it outlines the towering redwoods along the Russian River and makes the cliffs at the coast glow orange, a striking color contrast to the blue, pollution-free skies. This is Northern California’s real summer, when the fog and the tourists have drifted away.

Although during the summer and fall, canoeists and bathers flock to Guerneville, a rather unusual mix of people call this place home. Guerneville is still Hicksville, with more honky tonk bars in a one block stretch than anyplace I have seen. You drive along the river and you see American flags posted on houses and fences. At one end of town is Fyfe’s Resort, a summer camp for gays, including some of the old Hollywood elite, for years. It now appears to be going mainstream. It has quite a good restaurant, I am told by friends who live there. Nearby is Bohemian Grove, the exclusive, mostly white men’s retreat where every summer leaders of industry and of the free and not-so-free world, along with chosen artists and musicians, cavort (naked some say), play theater games and, according to conspiracy buffs, plot the future of the world.
I’ve been there as a guest (Kissinger was nowhere to be seen) and it was pretty benign but a bit socially awkward. The Bohemians do their retreats in fairly primitive cabins, remindful of those of the Ewoks of Star Wars. This does, by the way, look like Ewok-land, with its redwood forests and burbling streams.

Except today, for a few hours, when jazz takes over: Pat Metheny, Carla Bley, Kim Nalley and the New Nelson Riddle Orchestra conducted by Riddle’s son Christopher. Not terribly Ewok-like, but a splendid combination of solo virtuosity and cooperation. What we need is another sax player in the White House.

We flew over Sonoma County a couple of years ago and shot this video:
Flying Dreams: Sonoma County (WMV)

]]> http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2005/09/13/jazz-on-the-russian-river-podcast/feed/ 0 2:59 Summa God's Chillun Got Rhythm What I did on 9-11 Podcast MP3 I wonder what the world would be like if its musica franca was jazz rather ... Summa God's Chillun Got Rhythm What I did on 9-11 Podcast MP3 I wonder what the world would be like if its musica franca was jazz rather than marches and war whoops. I lollygagged Sunday, 9-11 away with my wife and friends at Jazz on the River, in Guerneville, on Northern California's Russian River. Jazz buffs have gathered here every fall since the 1970s. Martial music prompts one to march straight ahead, no questions asked, allowing nimble guerillas to snipe from the bushes, one reason the Americans beat the Brits in the Revolutionary War and the Vietnamese defeated the Americans. War whoops come from those whipped into a frenzy by chieftains and charlatans stoned on power. Jazz, on the other hand, requires creativity, innovation, quick responses and a level of cooperation that we desperately need right now. Jazz musicians play exquisitely in harmony but defer to one another for solos. Usually they find their way back together in the end. I thought a bit about 9-11 -- but just a little bit on this beautiful day -- about how police, firefighters, ordinary New Yorkers came together as a giant selfless help group, doing their individual jobs then reaching beyond them like a sax players on a riff. Not so in New Orleans, ironically one of the birthplaces of jazz, where cops deserted and bureaucrats marched with blinders, like horses in a funeral cortege. But enough of that. Fall is probably the most beautiful time to experience Northern California, especially here in Sonoma county. The sun is lower in the sky and casts a glowing orange light over the vineyards to the east, it outlines the towering redwoods along the Russian River and makes the cliffs at the coast glow orange, a striking color contrast to the blue, pollution-free skies. This is Northern California's real summer, when the fog and the tourists have drifted away. Although during the summer and fall, canoeists and bathers flock to Guerneville, a rather unusual mix of people call this place home. Guerneville is still Hicksville, with more honky tonk bars in a one block stretch than anyplace I have seen. You drive along the river and you see American flags posted on houses and fences. At one end of town is Fyfe's Resort, a summer camp for gays, including some of the old Hollywood elite, for years. It now appears to be going mainstream. It has quite a good restaurant, I am told by friends who live there. Nearby is Bohemian Grove, the exclusive, mostly white men's retreat where every summer leaders of industry and of the free and not-so-free world, along with chosen artists and musicians, cavort (naked some say), play theater games and, according to conspiracy buffs, plot the future of the world. I've been there as a guest (Kissinger was nowhere to be seen) and it was pretty benign but a bit socially awkward. The Bohemians do their retreats in fairly primitive cabins, remindful of those of the Ewoks of Star Wars. This does, by the way, look like Ewok-land, with its redwood forests and burbling streams. Except today, for a few hours, when jazz takes over: Pat Metheny, Carla Bley, Kim Nalley and the New Nelson Riddle Orchestra conducted by Riddle's son Christopher. Not terribly Ewok-like, but a splendid combination of solo virtuosity and cooperation. What we need is another sax player in the White House. We flew over Sonoma County a couple of years ago and shot this video: Flying Dreams: Sonoma County (WMV) Audio,,California,,Entertainment,,Places Russell Johnson no No Doubt on Broadway – Podcast http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2005/09/09/doubt-on-broadway-podcast/ http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2005/09/09/doubt-on-broadway-podcast/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:22:08 +0000 Russell Johnson http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/?p=64 Doubt On Broadway
Listen MP3

I had a run-in with Doubt recently in New York: Doubt, the play at the Walter Kerr Theatre and ordinary doubt. Doubt, the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play, is by John Patrick Shanley who, according to the printed program, was a loser who was kicked out of every school he attended. In reality, however, he is a screenwriter, (won an Academy Award for Moonstruck) who abandoned Hollywood saying that money, celebrity and praise are the equivalents of heroin, a reality he grew up with in the Bronx. He returned to New York to become a prolific playwright. Doubt is the story of a nun who suspects a Catholic priest of molesting a child. She has no doubt about her belief and relentlessly pursues a padre who questions his own beliefs. The play is exasperating for the opinionated, especially in a country where a President is elected because of his alleged moral certainty. You leave Doubt testing your own perceptions of right and wrong. It is a powerful hour and a half without intermission. My wife and I have been talking about it ever since. The Manhattan Theatre Club is producing a new play by Shanley called Defiance about “Two Marine officers, one black and one white, are on a collision course over race, women, and the high cost of doing the right thing,” It opens February 28th next year.There is a guy on Broadway now doing a One-Man Star Wars Trilogy. Dressed in black coveralls with no props, Charles Ross morphs into everyone from Han Solo to Princess Leia to Jabba the Hutt. At one point, he’s the Death Star. Reviewers say its pretty good but you really should be a trekkie to appreciate it. At the Lambs theatre on W44th. A play called “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead”, an award winner in the 2004 New York Fringe Festival is going Off Broadway in December. It is a skewed interpretation of Charles Schulz’ Peanuts after “The Beagle” dies. It involves a missing pen pal, an abused pianist, a pyromaniac ex-girlfriend, two drunk cheerleaders, a homophobic quarterback, a burnt out Buddhist and, of course a “Very New York” drama queen sister.
]]> http://connectedtraveler.com/wordpress/2005/09/09/doubt-on-broadway-podcast/feed/ 0 2:34 Doubt On Broadway Listen MP3 I had a run-in with Doubt recently in New York: Doubt, the play at the Walter Kerr Theatre and ordinary doubt. ... Doubt On Broadway Listen MP3 I had a run-in with Doubt recently in New York: Doubt, the play at the Walter Kerr Theatre and ordinary doubt. Doubt, the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play, is by John Patrick Shanley who, according to the printed program, was a loser who was kicked out of every school he attended. In reality, however, he is a screenwriter, (won an Academy Award for Moonstruck) who abandoned Hollywood saying that money, celebrity and praise are the equivalents of heroin, a reality he grew up with in the Bronx. He returned to New York to become a prolific playwright. Doubt is the story of a nun who suspects a Catholic priest of molesting a child. She has no doubt about her belief and relentlessly pursues a padre who questions his own beliefs. The play is exasperating for the opinionated, especially in a country where a President is elected because of his alleged moral certainty. You leave Doubt testing your own perceptions of right and wrong. It is a powerful hour and a half without intermission. My wife and I have been talking about it ever since. The Manhattan Theatre Club is producing a new play by Shanley called Defiance about "Two Marine officers, one black and one white, are on a collision course over race, women, and the high cost of doing the right thing," It opens February 28th next year.There is a guy on Broadway now doing a One-Man Star Wars Trilogy. Dressed in black coveralls with no props, Charles Ross morphs into everyone from Han Solo to Princess Leia to Jabba the Hutt. At one point, he's the Death Star. Reviewers say its pretty good but you really should be a trekkie to appreciate it. At the Lambs theatre on W44th. A play called acirc;euro;oelig;Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead", an award winner in the 2004 New York Fringe Festival is going Off Broadway in December. It is a skewed interpretation of Charles Schulzacirc;euro;trade; Peanuts after acirc;euro;oelig;The Beagleacirc;euro; dies. It involves a missing pen pal, an abused pianist, a pyromaniac ex-girlfriend, two drunk cheerleaders, a homophobic quarterback, a burnt out Buddhist and, of course a "Very New York" drama queen sister. travel,,culture,,humor,,music Russell Johnson no No