Through no fault of my own, I ended up at a special birthday celebration this weekend for Ted Kennedy held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. On the way, I positively identified a handful of monuments (though I had no GPS marking equipment on me) and had cup of chicken tortilla soup at a cafe under the Watergate. The trip was a blast, being in DC was revealing and hanging out at an event where a bunch of rich people congratulated each other feverishly was completely mind-boggling. John Williams conducted, Bill Cosby hosted, James Taylor played a song about the conflict in Ireland, and Obama appeared towards the end when the host of performers had lined up to sing Happy Birthday to old Uncle Teddy, whose own family foundation, via Caroline Kennedy as official spokesperson, coyly gave him a lifetime achievement award. I was happy just to have been let in wearing steel-toed boots.
A few years back, I dragged a friend of mine to a bull-riding event at the arena here in Baltimore. It was the weirdest thing being there because before the production commenced, there was a fireworks display, accompanied by an extended burn and a large group prayer. This weekend’s event instead concluded with its catharic prayer: a rousing gospel group singing about how things were only going to get better from here on out. You leave having to believe them, thanks to the narrative arc of the evening’s ritual.
The production was fine, but not amazing. Some dead zones of activity (but not pronounced), and noticeably bad timing on audio cues ended up clipping the beginning notes of many of the Broadway performers who were there. Having spent so much time in technical theatre lately, I just found myself viewing the event from that angle and trying to “read” it semiotically. At times, I found the event a bit nauseating personally - though some of the performers were really pretty bitchin and I definitely felt an tingle of excitement when Obama walked across stage smiling. He’s just so damned recognizable as a character, in even a crowded room at a distance (we were in the balcony). You must be able to see the guy’s smile in outer-space, I swear. He just reads.
Despite the short informational film, set to an original score by Williams, I know next to nothing about Ted Kennedy - who he was/is as a man, what impact he has had or continues to have. All these people seemed to think he’s worthy of a bash like that. I’ll leave it to them and history to decide. Also current at the Kennedy Center right now is a festival of Arab art and culture called Arabesque. There was some really beautiful craft work there, along with some very vague safe art. The exhibit just felt like they were artistically overlooking the real cultural (and not to mention brutally physical) conflict that’s going on. I guess not all art has to shock and move though. This was a decidedly informative, almost anthropological exhibit, and that seems to be more of the Kennedy Center’s goal from what I can discern from their temple/museum sort of vibe, to edify.
I’m hoping that a quick trip to see Propagandhi at the Ottobar this week (thanks, JK) will help balance out my chi. If those guys are half as good as their records - and I’ve hear they’re supposed to be even better - then that should be a blast. I’ll be out of rehearsal early enough (and nearby enough with money enough) that I’ll probably go. Wikipedia, stupidly, highlights them as being “active in various forms of activism.” How deliciously vague! But I have a good feeling the show will be a hoot.
Speaking of events nearby, I’m also passing along a poster and event notice from Umbrella Radio who I’ve been enjoying the company of lately. They’re a local online community radio station with a global reach.
On a Mandala OS note, I’ve been thinking hard the past few days about a small collection of phrases which came to me during creative meditations: unity of function for one, and congruence & confluence. Still “downloading” this information into linguistic form, but it has something to do with being able to invoke the common functionality and universal interface methods of the OS from within any system, even if its not the OS proper. I don’t know how to be more specific than that right now though. Does anybody have cool esoteric computer jargon which might illuminate what I mean by that statement?
On that note, gotta go put together basic essentials for my upcoming week, which includes three tech rehearsals and a full dress. Will post here when I can. Take care!
PS. Here’s what the future looks like (thanks, Eric from Time Travel Club):
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT @TMBCHR (Auto-Generated)
- Frank Herbert on Big Government
- Downloading Information Into Your Brain
- Store Info In Other People’s Brains
- Eldridge Cleaver on the Kennedy Dynasty
- What’s the point of universal language?
