The Continuing Adventures of Dr Dzoe

Looking back, it’s been over six months since a WIBR post.  Hmm… admittedly, my reading has been a little off (I read almost nothing during Wonderful Life rehearsals, spending my time studying lines instead), but still.  Let’s see if I can remember everything I’ve read in that time.  I’m sure these aren’t in the right order: apologies for that.

– Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War, by Evan Wright.  Evan Wright is a reporter with “Rolling Stone” who was embedded with a unit of recon marines in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  This is his report of the attack.  I read this after watching the excellent HBO miniseries based on it (said series being made by the guys behind “The Wire,” my choice of best TV series ever).  The series is excellent, so is the book.  Both are factual reports of the invasion and the soldiers who made the attack, the incredible professionalism of the men doing the fighting, the screw-ups by their commanders, and all with a slight anti-war tinge that doesn’t interfere with the reporting.  I strongly recommend both series and book.

– Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.  Another case where I watched an HBO series and found it so fascinating that I had to read the book on which it was based.  This one is about one particular company of paratroopers in WWII who fought from Normandy through the end of the war.  Again, a fascinating and extremely well-done mini-series based on a fascinating and extremely well-done book.  Again, I strongly recommend both.

– Wellington by Gordon Corrigan.  A biography of the Duke of Wellington.  I’ve been wanting to read a bio of Wellington since reading the Sharpe’s Rifles novels in which he is prominently featured.  The man certainly led an interesting life, having been Britain’s preeminent general during the Napoleonic wars.  But I can’t really recommend this particular biography: it is a little too short and rushes past too much of the man’s life without giving any particular insight into him.  A good biography of a great leader should tell you something about his leadership style: this one doesn’t.

– The Trouble with Testosterone and Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on our Lives as Animals, by Robert Sapolsky.  Sapolsky is a biologist who writes essays of popularized science.  Over the last six months I read both of these collections of his essays and enjoyed both immensely.  Whether he is talking about particular scientific discoveries in the bio-sciences, or telling of his observations over many years doing field studies with African baboons, there’s plenty of interesting insights in these books.  I particularly enjoyed his takedown of the nature-vs-nurture argument: in Sapolsky’s telling, it’s a false dichotomy, as our genes moderate our responses to the environment, and thus nature and nurture work together.  Strongly recommended, and I’m sure I’ll read more of his essays in the future.

– Drood by Dan Simmons.  On June 9, 1865, Charles Dickens was in a terrible train wreck.  Although not injured himself, in helping the injured he saw terrible things that left a dark stain on his imagination.  He died exactly five years later, on June 9, 1870.

Drood is a historical fiction of those last five years of Dickens’s life.  They introduce the mysterious and horrible figure Drood, a sort of demon somewhat reminiscent of Dracula.  Dickens was a fascinating person, larger-than-life and quite complicated, and the book is a marvelous thriller centering on him.  And the depiction of the opium dens in the sewers of London is well worth the read.

– Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander, by David Cordingly.  Lord Thomas Cochrane was a British naval captain during the Napoleonic Wars.  His adventures and exploits were like something out of fiction.  In fact, he became the basis of Jack Aubrey, the hero of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series and the movie “Master and Commander.”  But after several years bedeviling the French, Cochrane was convicted of a stock swindle (though the book argues that he was wrongly convicted) and drummed out of the navy.  Needing an income, he became commander in turn of the navies that liberated Chile, Peru, and Brazil from their European overlords.

A marvelous read of a marvelous life.  Strongly recommended.

Last night, I was so excited I could practically bust.  It was our first night rehearsing in the actual theater, and what an absolute joy to be back on stage after all this time.

For the first several weeks of rehearsals, we don’t actually work on the stage itself.  In our case, most rehearsals were in various rooms at the McLean Community Center where the Alden Theater is, though we had one in the music room of a local elementary school.  You don’t get the actual stage until near the end of the rehearsal period, and in our case that meant last night.

But last night we were on stage with the set around us and the technical crew running the sounds and lights.  There was a fair amount of confusion, but then there always is at this stage.  That first rehearsal with the entire crew present is called the Tech Rehearsal, and it involves matching the light and sound cues to the scenes that we actors have been working on for the past two months.  It’s all a bit of a mess at this point, but I have no doubt that everything will come together smooth as silk by opening night.

But for me, just being on stage was an extreme joy.  Wandering around backstage, checking out the dressing rooms, and sharing war stories in the green room (or cast lounge) with the rest of the cast (actor’s do loving telling tales of past productions, all the wonderful things that can and do go wrong in live theater).  And just generally exploring: peeking my nose in all the nooks and crannies of the theater, looking at the light boards, climbing to the catwalks where they hang the lights, and feeling giddy at that sense of being behind the scenes as it the show comes together.

I feel confident that the show will be good.  The cast is solid, we have everything down nicely, and while the tech stuff needs work, the crew all know their stuff and are certain to pull it all together.

But really, I can hardly wait for that magical moment when the audience is seated and the play is about the begin.  Standing offstage waiting for my entrance, peeping through a hole in the curtain to count the crowd and look for familiar faces, the buzz of adrenaline as I get ready to go on.  Friday night can’t come soon enough!

And oh, a couple of useful links:

For details on the show, including a link to buy tickets, go here.

To read the preview from a local newspaper, go here.  They even spell my name right.  (Three out of four times, anyway.)

Last week, I was surfing through theater reviews in The Washington Post and came across a glowing review for a community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest.  That’s a play I particularly like – I saw an amazing production of it in Dublin a couple years ago – so I decided to click through to the website of the McLean Community Players, who were putting it on.

Julie, Kate, and I went to see it last Friday, and it was quite good, but that’s not the point of this post.  You see, when I stopped by the McLean Community Players site, I noticed that there was a big link at the top for auditions.  So I clicked it.

I did a lot of theater back in high school and college.  In my last two years at UVA, I was in a total of nine plays.  That’s not counting all of the theater classes (I could almost have been a drama major, but couldn’t see how that would impress employers looking for computer programmers).  And I enjoyed being on stage.  A lot.

But life has a way of filling up.  I spent my twenties working full time and raising a family and going to grad school at night, and there really wasn’t time for rehearsals in there.  My thirties weren’t quite so busy, but the closest I got to acting was reading bedtime stories to the kids and telling campfire stories to Girl Scouts.  So adding it up, twenty-five years of my life have passed without a chance to take a bow to thunderous applause.  And I missed it.  A lot.

So when I clicked through and discovered that the McLean Community Players were holding auditions that very evening for the It’s a Wonderful Life Live Radio Play, I decided why not, I’ve got a little free time (don’t tell my boss that – he’ll find ways to fill it!), might as well give it a shot.

The concept of the show is that five voice actors are putting on a radio version of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life sometime in the 1950’s.  The experience for the audience is like watching a live broadcast in an NBC studio back in the heyday of radio, complete with live commercials, visible sound effects, and even an “Applause” sign.

Of course, the heart of the show is the story from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. If you haven’t seen it go do so now.  I’ll wait.  Or look it up on Wikipedia.  Or something.  It is well worth watching – a Christmas classic.  (But there’s nothing particularly religious about it, except for a couple of angels that show up.  Strictly non-denominational angels.)

There are five actors in the play who join to voice all of the roles in the movies.  One actor plays George Bailey, the central character, and two play the various men of Bedford Falls.  One actress plays Mary, George’s wife, the other plays all the other women.  I figured that one of those multi-voice roles would be perfect.  I like doing the multiple personality thing, and I got quite used to it reading those bedtime stories.  Besides, they seem tailor-made for hamming it up.

To cut to the chase: I got a part.

But it wasn’t one of those multi-voice parts.

I’m going to be George Bailey.

Yup, the lead of the show.  (Well, not necessarily by lines, once you add up all the lines given to some of those voice actors.  But certainly the central character of the story.)

This is going to be loads of fun.

And oh – a link to the show’s site, because I just know you’re going to want to come see it: The McLean Community Players doing It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.

Him (from a phone number in the 703 area code that I don’t recognize): Yo yo yo, question: how easy is it for you to get to boston?

Me: Not too hard, I guess.  Who are you?

Him: What?  How could you forget your favorite brothers phone number

Me: It’s easy.  Why, I don’t even remember having a brother.

Him: Ouch, i think you were nicer as a teenager.  I just wanted to say sorry for not calling on your bday before it got too tardy.  I want to make it up to

Him: you.  Hence the questions.

Me: Hmm… Really, it’s not my birthday, and I have no brother,

Me: So I think you have the wrong number.

Me: Plus, it’s been a long time since I was a teenager, and I’m much nicer now!

Him: Oh you’re right, wrong number.  Sorry, I thought you were my sister playing coy.

Me: No problem.  Wish her happy bday from me!

Him: Great to hear it.  I don’t doubt it for a minute.  Nice talking to you tonight!

Me: Bye.

———————–

And a note: I rather like the kind of random electronic encounters that modern technologies have brought us.  This one certainly gave Julie and me a few smiles tonight.

And Happy Birthday to my unknown correspondent’s sister, wherever she may be!

Seen on the back of a green Civic: SOCIALISM ISN’T COOL

You know, they’re right.  There’s nothing cool about a bunch of bureaucrats trying to solve complex social problems for the benefit of the general public.  I’d go so far as to say that the average government office is about as uncool a place as you’ll find anywhere in the world.

You know what’s cool?  Fascism is cool.  They’ve got those neat black leather uniforms with the chrome fittings, the sly “Do what I say or I’ll break your head” attitude, and all those snazzy rallies that often involve torches.  Of course, there’s the whole violent repression thing, not to mention the tendency to start unjust wars, but there’s even something cool about that.  After all, unjust wars features lots of explosions, and explosions are cool.

All of which is to say: maybe we shouldn’t pick our governmental approaches based on what’s cool.

———–

A note: I am not a socialist, haven’t been since high school.  (That was not long before I was a Randroid.  I went through a lot of different phases back then.)  But I could not help noticing that the woman with the bumper sticker was driving on the Capitol Beltway, part of the Interstate Highway System, which was a government creation that could fairly be labeled a socialist endeavor.

So while I believe that free enterprise has an important place, I can see the point to having an active government.  The proper limits of government involvement is an interesting and open question, but the answer will certainly not come down to what’s cool.

On the Lexington battlefield, there was a monument erected in 1799.  It included a plaque that had to be the most melodramatic historical marker I’ve ever read, including no less than eight exclamation points.  As an apt finish to the Massachusetts trip, I here include the text in its entirety:

Sacred to Liberty & the Rights of mankind!!!
The Freedom & Independence of America,
Sealed & defended with the blood of her sons.

This Monument is erected
By the inhabitants of Lexington,
Under the patronage & at the expense of
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
To the memory of their Fellow Citizens,
Ensign Robert Monroe, Mess. Jonas Parker,
Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington Junr,
Isaac Murry, Caleb Harrington, and John Brown
Of Lexington & Asahel Porter of Woburn,
Who fell on this field, the first Victims to the
Sword of British Tyranny & Oppression,
On the morning of the ever memorable
Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775.
The Die was cast!!!
The Blood of these Martyrs,
In the cause of God & their Country,
Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then
Colonies: & gave the spring to the spirit, Firmness
And resolution of their Fellow Citizens.
They rose as one man, to revenge their brethren’s
Blood and at the point of the sword to assert &
Defend their native Rights.
They nobly dar’d to be free!!
They contest was long, bloody, & affecting.
Righteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal:
Victory crowned their arms: and
The Peace, Liberty, & Independence of the United
States of America was their glorious Reward.

Built in the year 1799.

They don’t make ’em like that any more!

Here’s the run-down of things that we did in Massachusetts:

Sunday, August 9: We picked up Andy at the train station in Alexandria at 9:30 and spent the next twelve hours or so driving north.  A long day, but at least we got to eat lots of yummy rest-stop food.

Monday: We spent the morning wandering around Gloucester, had lovely lobsters for lunch, and went to Salem for cheesy tourist stops.  See the last post for more details on that.

Tuesday: Hampton Beach was the destination beach of my childhood.  We went there often – that’s where I learned the joys of body surfing in the large cold waves.  Tuesday was my return to Hampton.  The waves were a lot lower than I remember – either it was a calm day, or my images are calibrated to a much shorter me.  And the water was awfully cold for those of us more accustomed to the Chesapeake – Diana dipped in one foot and decided it was not for her, and while Kate spent some time in the water with me, her skin was turning as blue as her bathing suit.

But the boardwalk was a lot of fun – Julie enjoyed searching every candy shop for the ultimate fudge (and ended up buying a pound in each of two shops: yummy!), Andy circumnavigated the boardwalk several times, and I just enjoyed looking at the various kitschy things with a bemused look.  A lovely day!

Wednesday: In the morning, the girls and I went with my mother on a whale watch.  We spent four hours out on a boat and ended up seeing four humpback whales, thus averaging a whale per hour.  Here’s some pictures:

Later in the day we went to my Aunt Joan’s house.  She held a big party where I got to see aunts, uncles, cousins, and their various families.  This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip – it was great to spend time talking with everyone.

Here’s me with my adoring cousins, a lovely group of ladies with impeccable taste:

Thursday: The kids were ready for a lazy day, so Julie and I went on a Revolutionary War binge.  We climbed the Bunker Hill Monument (275 stairs up, the same number down again – and our calves complained for the next two days), toured the USS Constitution (it’s still a part of the navy, so the tour guides are all navy personnel: it added a lot to hear them talk about what “we” did in battle on the ship – as active duty navy, they feel a part of the Constitution’s heritage), and Lexington and Concord (both remarkably small given the importance of what happened there – Lexington in particular looked postage-stamp sized after all the Civil War battlefields we’ve visited, but then only around 300 men fought there).

Friday: Andy and I went scuba diving off Rockport in the morning (lots of lobsters, several flounder, and a nice sized skate).  Then Julie, the girls, and I went into Boston to visit the Aquarium (a really nice one – very similar to Baltimore’s, which should come as no surprise as it was one of the major influences on the design of Baltimore’s aquarium) and the Museum of Fine Art (remarkable museum, with art from just about every period and place that you can imagine – we saw ancient Roman and Egyptian art, a special exhibit of work from Renaissance Venice, and Japanese art of several periods, including a fascinating exhibit of pieces from 1930’s Japan).

Saturday: A somewhat lazy day, we went to the Gloucester craft fair, then back to the Salem Willows where they were holding a jazz festival.  Finally it was dinner at Bertini’s (one of my mother’s Salem hangouts in her college days) with Joan and Chuck and two of their grandchildren.

Sunday: A long drive home…..

And that was my week in Massachusetts.  Pretty busy, no?

I believe I’ve mentioned how I’ve formed a recent addiction to the Radiolab podcast. This is an NPR radio show about science, and I’ve found many of the episodes to be fascinating. I really haven’t been spending enough time with science over the past few years, and it’s been good to get my feet wet again.

A few months ago, I listened to a Radiolab episode that had nothing to do with science. Instead, this episode was about Wagner’s Ring cycle of operas – a trilogy of four hour operas, with a two hour prelude that occurs before the first, based on Norse mythology and covering the struggle between power and love, good and evil, and the end of the world.

I’ve never really gotten into opera, though I’ve seen a couple over the years. But of late, I’ve thought it might be something to pick up. Over-the-top passions, big classical music, larger-than-life stories – it all sounded like the thing for me.

And the Radiolab episode made Wagner’s Ring sound like the place to start. First off, it discussed the parallels between Wagner’s Ring trilogy and Tolkien’s – and I’ve been a serious Lord-of-the-Rings geek for years. Second, it was clear that there’s lots of Wagner geeks out there – this was something that generated a passionate following in its fans, and that sounded interesting. And third, it just sounded pretty cool.

So I decided to do my research. I started by reading The Nibelung’s Ring by Peter Bassett. Then I got a copy of the operas on both CD (the Georg Solti recording) and DVD (Daniel Barenboim). And over about a month, Julie and I watched the four operas on DVD. And enjoyed them far more than I had hoped to – it really is great stuff.

Finally, last Saturday Julie and I went to see “Siegfried,” the middle opera of the trilogy, and our favorite, at the Kennedy Center. And we were blown away. You have a teenage hero raised by an evil dwarf, a legendary treasure guarded by a dragon, and an enchanted princess surrounded by magic fire. It’s incredibly good, and the Kennedy Center performance was marvelous.

At the very end, Siegfried seduces the princess (“You say you’ve loved me always? Then love me now! You say you will love me forever? Then love me Now!”). And she, although aware that their love is fated to bring about the end of the world, finally gives in and falls into his arms, singing of glorious love and joyous death. All full of passion and romance that in scale is, well, operatic.

And there’s some pretty funny scenes too. At one point, Siegfried encounters Wotan, the king of the gods. Wotan wants Siegfried to succeed at his quest, but Siegfried manages to get Wotan so angry that he tries to stop Siegfried instead. (Truth be told, Siegfried is a bit of a brat: he makes his first entrance leading a bear into his cottage so he can terrorize Mime, the dwarf who is raising him.) (He’s not too bright either, but that’s another story.) Anyone who has raised teenagers can appreciate Wotan’s feelings: you try to be rational, and the next thing you know you’re threatening the kid with a spear.

Anyway, Julie and I are now big fans of Wagner’s Ring. Give the Radiolab episode a listen and see if it sounds good to you too.