KRISTIN CHENOWETH. This time of year, there is often a concern that someone who should come home will not be present.
Here is Kristin Chenoweth’s live performance of “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” by Andrew Lloyd Weber, from the Phantom of the Opera.
It’s from Kristin’s concert album, 2014, called Coming Home. It was recorded at the Kristin Chenoweth Theater in her hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Girl Lifts Boy ( 1st and 3rd images courtesy Mina Son)
New York City (Internet photo)
Levitt’s most important book
By Paul Goldfinger (re-posted from 2013 on Blogfinger) We have featured a group of important female photographers.
Those of you who follow photography on Blogfinger know that I am a big fan of black and white street photography. Some of the finest photographers in that genre were active in the 1930’s through the 1950’s in New York City and Paris. Among the best are Walker Evans, Eugene Atget, Andre Kertesz, Lee Friedlander and our guest photographer Helen Levitt, who was one of the pioneers.
Helen Levitt (1913-2009) photographed on the streets of New York City for over 70 years, both in black and white and color. She worked with Walker Evans in the 1930’s, and her work was shown at the first photo exhibit held at MOMA in 1939. She was an innovator in the street photography genre.
A documentary film maker named Tanya Sleiman has made a film, “95 Lives,” about Helen Levitt, and we heard about it from Mina Son, the producer, in November. Mina was kind enough to send us two photographs for our blog post and also a link to a very fine short film made by Tanya. I think you will enjoy it, as she tells us about her project. It is a unique treat for our blog. Thank you Tanya and Mina. The fund raising drive mentioned was completed in December 2012.
According to Mina Son, “95 Lives seeks to change the reality that Helen Levitt is a major female artist of the 20th century, someone who innovated in photography and film, yet is virtually unknown outside of elite art circles. This is why we are making this film.”
“Through Helen Levitt’s lens, we have found magic and visual poetry in our everyday lives. In helping her legacy live on, we hope her work inspires countless more generations of photographers to introduce the work and life of Helen Levitt to audiences all over.”
SOUNDTRACK: I guess the thing that has fascinated me about photography, ever since childhood, is the magic—-the freezing of a moment. It is a way to capture that moment and preserve it. Wouldn’t it have been great if photography had been invented one century sooner? We could see Washington crossing the Delaware or Napoleon at Waterloo.
Or, in our own lives, we can see how life was over 50 years ago, as in these images by Helen Levitt where ordinary street scenes back then now become extraordinary. This song matches up with these photos.
3/4 pound of cod fillets, cut in four inch pieces, or any other white mild fish
6 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 medium carrot, peeled, small diced
1 celery stalk, small diced
1 shallot, small diced
parsley, fresh, several sprigs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup unsalted chicken broth
2 tablespoons of margarine (or butter)
14 ounces canned plum or cherry tomatoes with puree
Preheat broiler.
In a 10 inch cast iron pan heat margarine and add carrots, celery, shallot, garlic, parsley and salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften, approximately 10 minutes. Stir ingredients in the pan, and if they seem to be sticking to the pan add a little of the chicken broth.
Next add the tomatoes with the puree, the chicken broth, and white wine. Stir and break up the tomatoes into bite size pieces. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Add fish fillets and shrimp. Cook them in the sauce for 3 minutes.
Turn the fish over and place the pan on a rack 8 inches from the broiler element. Cook for 5 minutes. Serve with a crispy French or Italian bread.
Serves 2
FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE: “The Saturday Night Fish Fry” from the original Broadway cast recording of the show Five Guys Named Moe.
The Etruscans were one of the first groups to populate the western Mediterranean. They arrived around 500 BC and settled north of Rome in the area now known as Tuscany. They are a bit mysterious, but some of their tombs and artwork from ancient times have been found. They were known to the Greeks and the Romans.
Etruscans did have horses and they viewed them as creatures of strength and power. Ancient artists depicted Etruscan horses as proud creatures. Jo Ubogy is a 75 year old artist from Connecticut who, back in the 1980’s, was working as a metal sculptor. I never met her, but I spoke to her by phone. She is still showing her art work, but she has stopped her large metal sculpting.
We were fascinated by her—a woman working with large heavy pieces of steel, welding them together in her studio and making them for outdoors showing. She reminded me of Rosie the riveter from WWII days when women worked in shipyards and airplane factories. There are many photographs of those women in overalls, climbing up on the wings of bombers or riveting in the hulls of destroyers, with their hair held back by colorful cloth kerchiefs.
We saw Jo Ubogy’s Etruscan Horse , 6 feet tall, at a small charming indoor-outdoor gallery on Long Beach Island, in Loveladies, NJ back around 1985. The artist didn’t explain her inspiration, but clearly she knew something about Etruscans, and this sculpture was the result—-a red horse with its roots in antiquity but with a contemporary flair.
For years the horse lived in our backyard in Chester surrounded by fields and woods. It was outdoors in snow and rain, but it always stood tall providing a place to land for migrating birds. Eventually, when we moved to Ocean Grove, we didn’t think we could use the horse in our tiny rear garden. So, we had it refurbished by craftsmen in the Grove and then repainted with an automobile quality paint job, and we tried to match the color precisely.
After that, for about 10 years, it was on display at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove. So it was indoors all that time, not exactly the environment that it was meant for. But now we decided that it could work in our backyard, so the Etruscan Horse is home again where it can be admired by all. It will be on display in the spring.
The Marais District in Paris is a historic part of town. Victor Hugo used to live there, but we didn’t bump into Victor when we visited. I guess I was busy trying to figure out how to go down the stairs without having to go up the stairs. French royalty liked that neighborhood including King Charles V who built his house there in 1361. Do you think he had to submit the plans to the Paris HPC?
The Rue de Rosiers in the Marais is the Jewish district. I can imagine King Charles or Victor Hugo strolling over to that neighborhood for a superior knish. After eating there, Victor probably felt less miserable than before.
There was a deli (Goldenbergs) on the Rue de Rosiers where there were a couple of bullet holes still enshrined in the front window after some terrorists shot up the area in 1981.
We had really great falafel at the Rue de R. purchased out the window of a hole-in-the-wall eatery. Sometimes, when you travel, it is the small moments that you recall most fondly.
“Something Wonderful” is from The King and I. Carly Simon has a YouTube video where she addresses the women in the audience and asks them to think of these lyrics when they are upset with their man. Carly says this song is one of the most beautiful ever written. It was composed by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
This version is performed by Peggy Lee. She is a popular singer who is not particularly known for this song, but her repertoire has been wide ranging. Listen for the strong bass parts towards the end which add drama and are probably by the trombone section . Also there is a soft oriental gong at the very end–a tip of the hat to The King and I.
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee also was a lyricist for many hit songs, and, as a doctor, I always enjoyed her rendition of “Fever.” And as a man, I always enjoyed her rendition of “Fever.”
“I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” was written by Burt Bachrach and Hal David for the 1968 show “Promises, Promises” starring Jerry Orbach. This version is lovely and is from the soundtrack of the 1997 blockbuster movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” Mary Chapin Carpenter (b. 1958) is a country singer/songwriter who has won five Grammys. The soundtrack is a very good compendium of popular singers and styles.
