One of my favorite Christmas traditions is listening to the children's opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. I've been playing it every year since I was 9 (mostly). I wondered what happened to Chet Allen, the boy who sang the part of Amahl. Well, I just read this story on a blog:
"Sad to relate, the 12-year-old American Boychoir soprano who first played Amahl never saw 50: Chet Allen committed suicide at 44 by taking five times the lethal dose of an anti-depressant medication he'd been hoarding. His fabulously sung, go-for-broke, eerily on-target performance as Amahl had got him into the 1952 movie Meet Me at the Fair with Dan Dailey and Diana Lynn. Then his voice, along with his life, changed: As a baritone, he stayed with the Columbus Boychoir until the 11th grade, then finished high school and never sang or acted again. In and out of psychiatric hospitals for years afterward, Allen held down a variety of jobs including a 10-year stint as a stockboy for a local store. At the screening, Menotti explained that Allen needed more care and attention than anyone could give him. The composer had visited him in Columbus and found a man-boy, still in the throes of Amahl, unable to get beyond that defining role."
On IMDB someone added that Menotti [the composer of Amahl] would later say, "No one could have helped him enough."
I looked at old New York Times stories about Allen. There's one on December 13, 1951, announcing that he got the lead part. He must have been beside himself. Imagine having that kind of accomplishment at that age. Amahl aired live on NBC on Christmas Eve at 9:30PM. "The clarity and tone quality of his accomplished singing were secondary to his remarkable acting and facial expression," the Times wrote the next day.
Chet Allen killed himself on June 17, 1984. Gian-Carlo Menotti is still alive at 95, by the way. I read something he wrote for the Times in 1971 about growing old. It's very dark, and he rails unreservedly, "On approaching old age two ghosts must be abjured: disillusionment and bitterness. For the dreamer I once was, disillusionment is almost unavoidable. For the fighter I still am, the bitter taste of defeat, especially when defeat is considered unjust or treacherous, is apt to poison one’s heart ..." It made me like him. He's just so honest. And he talks about the small joys. And "the dignity of being needed." His one true joy in life seems to be the Spoleto Festival, which he founded, and continues today. I see in Wikipedia that it says the festival was founded in 1977, which can't be right. He's talking about it in 1971, and refers to their programs for the past 14 years, making it sound like it's been around since 1957. Weirdly, on the Spoleto website they say 1977, too! Oh wait, no, they say it began in Italy in 1958. Okay, all is right with the world again.
1. Worship the belly that is Bean's. (Come on. Go ahead and try not to love that little belly.)
Jonathan's story about finding Bean is in this week's New York Magazine.
I didn't do too badly reaching people. The Vatican hasn't responded to my email yet, of course. But my medical tests came back negative! Yay! I live to curse the universe yet another day.
I took that on 10th Street, walking home one night. It was prettier in reality than it is in this shot, alas. Today I did a lot of message leaving, or email leaving. It's like it's my job to bug people for stuff. Here a selection of the people or places I emailed today.
- The Vatican (!!). Always scary for this lapsed Catholic to contact the Vatican. But I need some stats about exorcisms.
- The Nassau County Police Department. This is for a piece about unsolved murder.
- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More exorcism stuff.
- The NYPL. Yet another exorcism question, but this was about Gallup poll data to see how many Americans believe in possession.
- FDNY. Looking into a fire, related to my Long Island piece.
- Miami Cold Case Squad. About a 1967 poltergeist case.
- The detectives union.
- A woman named Peggy Lee in Virginia about a priest I'm trying to track down who had a poltergeist, maybe, in 1949.
- My doctor for test results. (Routine, nothing scary. hopefully.)
Let's see how many people I actually reach by the end of the week.
1. Worship the belly that is Finney's.
2. Finish reading the 1950's Duke correspondence.
3. Make a brow appointment.
4. Meet Ellen and drop off books.
5. Make next week's to-do list.
6. Christmas decorate? Too soon?
UPDATE
1. Done.
2. Made a dent, got waylaid doing some interesting research.
3. Done.
4. Done.
5. Done.
6. Decided it was too soon. Next weekend.
What I did yesterday:
- About five minutes of reading/research for my book.
- Made a video of me singing to Finney.
- Talked on the phone with Chris for maybe an hour.
- Ate.
- Read The Cabinet of Curiosities for a few hours.
- Watched a few tivo'ed TV shows.
- Ate.
- More TV.
I gave myself a day off because a very very very nice retired NYPD lieutenant posted the following about my book on a blog called NYPD Rant. I'd been very nervous about The Restless Sleep coming up on NYPD Rant. It's a no-holds-barred kind of place and God knows what they would make of my book. But my day was made beyond belief because of what he said.
"I don't recommend books about the job much, but The Restless Sleep by Stacy Horn deserves one. It's the story of the history of the Cold Case Squad, but in addition to covering unsolved murders, including PO Stapleton's killing, it delves into NYPD politics which I thought the author had a pretty good handle on.
"I write true crime stuff myself, but Ms. Horn, who is a civilian (she works for NPR), did a better job than I could have ever done. Highly recommended."
Can you believe it?? So, of course I immediately put my work down and sang to Finney. Note his go-away paw action and complete lack of interest.
This year I had Thanksgiving at crickets. Thank you, cricket! This is cricket carving the turducken. That's Anne to her right, waiting with the gravy.
This is cricket and the soon to be famous Bean. Jonathan, who is to Anne's right in the first picture, sitting down, wrote a piece for New York Magazine about her getting lost and thankfully found. It comes out next week.
I should make a "Things I'm Thankful For" list. But I'm feeling kinda lazy and trying to decide if I should work out and work on my book (that's the good angel on my shoulder talking) or go to the movies and shop (the devil talking).
Partial list: My book contract, the cats aren't sick, I'm not sick, none of my friends or family are sick, my rent stabilized apartment, my HDTV, my new glasses, Cute Overload, technology in general, cameras, computers, ipods, etc., coffee, good hair days, Bush's days are numbered, all the cute clothes in the world, Tolstoy, Bach, Mozart, sparkly red nail polish, and the internet. Thank you for that, Department of Defense.
I'm a little sad that I missed seeing The March of the Wooden Soldiers this year, even though the only part I like is when the soldiers come to life.
Without any prior planning, me and my friends all bought new glasses, and we've been sharing pictures. Here are mine! These are my favorite glasses EVER, of all time!! View 1.
View 2. Jonathan did not like the red sides of mine. Too flamboyant, he thought. You gotta be kidding me, Jonathan. (That's my beloved HDTV behind me. My favorite thing that isn't a person or a cat.) Ha. I just realized that in pictures they look very similar to my last glasses. But they're not!! They fit my face better, not as wide, and the shape is very different. Really.
I just read in the Times that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October. That’s 119 people a day. Other figures from the article.
3,345 in September.
3,009 in August.
3,590 in July.
3,149 in June.
2,669 in May.
1,129 in April.
710 in January.
This is insane. Every month, more people die in Iraq than died on 9/11. The grand total is between 47,440 and 52,642. I’m having a little trouble finding what their military/police death totals are.
The total U.S. soldiers dead so far is 2,866. There have been 48 so far this month. We’re .05% of their total dead (based on an average of the disputed total).
I’m trying to understand what those numbers mean. The population of Iraq is 26,074,906. (We’re 295,734,134.)
Essentially they’re sliding into civil war. 620,000 died in our Civil War, which was four years long (1861 - 1865). Our population in 1860 was 31,443,321, so they’re 18% smaller than we were then. Still, it’s not anywhere near as bad yet. It’s hard to tell what their numbers would be if it was a full-out war. We’re three years in right now.
I started looking at figures for Vietnam. We had 58,178 casualties in Vietnam. (We had troops there from 1965 - 1973.) Based on an average of the various disputed figures for civilian deaths, the percentage of our dead to the total dead civilian dead looks like it’s in the area of .01. So the death rate of our soldiers now is higher.
It's just a fucking mess for everyone, no matter how you look at it, isn't it?
I love this comic. It perfectly describes my friendship with Howard, and sums up my attitude towards life. I am the person on the right. It came from Randall Munroe, who must be such a charming human being. All his stuff is great. This one reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the show Angel.
"In the greater scheme, the big picture, nothing we do matters. There's no grand plan, no big win ... If there's no great, glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. Cause' that's all there is - what we do now, today ... now I just want to help. I want to help because people shouldn’t suffer as they do. Because if there isn’t any bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world."
I love that last line. It's not so much that I want to help, I volunteer here and there, contribute to causes a couple of times a year, it's more that I just like the idea that if there is no God, if this is all there is and all we have is us for a little while, then everything we do matters. The smallest kindness I do matters, and my effort to not add to the suffering of the world matters. That means if I'm a jerk it matters almost even more. Because there's no God to make it all better in the end. It all matters. Until we die and the next crew takes over, of course. (Ack.)
This is a ginkgo tree in Sheridan Square (in the Village). They're my favorite tree because they look so science fiction-y. Oh God, I just read this. "Extreme examples of the Ginkgo's tenacity may be seen in Hiroshima, Japan, where four trees growing between 1–2 km from the 1945 atom bomb explosion were among the few living things in the area to survive the blast." I also just read that they're still alive today!
None of the ginkgos around the world seem to grow as weirdly as ours in New York City, though.
Anyway, I was on the Long Island Railroad at 7:37AM this morning, God help me, to go out to interview the people from the Property Section of the SCPD in Yaphank. They were all extremely nice to me, and showed me the gun that Ronnie DeFeo used to kill his family (of Amityville Horror house fame).
This picture is for my friend Anne (note to Anne: I was going to say pal). She's looking for rain boots and I told her that I saw a sign for "All Weather" boots for $35 at Marc Jacobs. It's something of a miracle that you can get anything for $35 at a Marc Jacobs store, but here they are. Pretty colors. And the foot shape looks less clunky than other rain boots I've seen.
Fashion is so much work. I cope by ignoring it and wearing mostly jeans and tshirts, but I was walking around yesterday, checking out a few stores on Fifth Avenue, and good God there's a lot of cute clothes out there, people. I want them.
It's Holiday Concert time for the Choral Society of Grace Church!
Friday, December 1 at 8pm
Saturday, December 2 at 3pm
Grace Church, Broadway at 10th Street.
Festive music by Bach, Mendelssohn and others (including traditional carols) in the spectacular surroundings of one of New York's finest architectural landmarks!
From our New York Sun review: "I assumed that this would be a pleasing concert, although an amateur one. I was wrong. It was magnificent."
Tickets: $20 at the door, or $15 in advance (from me).
I have decidedly mixed feelings about the holidays, but there are some things I like, and certain traditions persist.
1. My winter cleaning. (Done.)
2. Buying flowers in Christmas colors. (Red or white)
3. Playing holiday music. (The best part--that Snoopy and the Red Baron Christmas song! Amahl and the Night Visitors!)
4. The Grace Church Choral Society holiday concert.
5. Christmas decorations. (Sparkly things and colored lights!)
I've always fantasized about spending Christmas in New Orleans but once again, I will not be doing that this year.
Does anyone else have fantasies about what you'd do for Christmas if you could do anything you wanted?
This is one of the Ralph Lauren stores at Bleeker and Perry, where I am very very very lucky to live. I still can't get over how Bleeker Street has changed. I have to say, even though I can't afford to shop in any of these stores I love having them here. They are very pretty and I enjoy looking at the things in the windows. Don't you love the holiday look here?
Cynthia Rowley, across the street, is into this amazing shade of blue right now, and it's running through everything in the window and the store. Alas, although the Marc Jacobs stores make a big effort with their windows, they are usually not a success.
20 pound Finney is the fattest cat in New York who doesn't have diabetes. I thought I detected the beginning of the signs (my last two cats were diabetic) but no. Thank God. That gets expensive. So now he has to go on a diet. The vet said to get him down to between 274 and 240 calories a day. He's at 300 now. Right. No problem. 26 - 60 calories less. Who can fine tune their cat's diet like that??
This picture is my start at the ghost photography business. I had the night flash option on and he moved. So, that's the trick.
Other good news yesterday: the world was hit with an asteroid 4,800 years ago, causing a mega-tsunamis, and we weren't there.
Remember a while back when I had the picture of the guy levitating and it looked so real? Well, in a 1939 Journal for the Society for Psychical Research, they had an article showing how pictures like this are done/faked. The person here has actually jumped, not levitated. You take the picture when they're on the downside of the jump, and if they put their toes up and arms down it looks like they are levitating. It doesn't look like a jump.
Doesn't it look like this guy is just hovering there?
Today, as a reward for all my housecleaning this weekend, I am having a spa day. It's just a day I occasionally designate as a pampering day. Among other things, I'm going to a salon to get highlights, and later I will lay around and read things like People Magazine. While eating Cheetos. Okay, not Cheetos.
What I did this weekend.
- Took everything off the shelves and dusted them if they were books, or washed them if they are washable.
- Organized all my choir music scores.
- Took everything out of the cabinets, washed down, and threw out expired canned food (it’s a post 9/11 thing, even having canned food in the house). Washed down front of cabinets.
- Cleaned out refrigerator.
- Washed down every inch of the bathroom, walls, shower curtain, etc., went through all the products and threw out what I’m not using.
- Cleared off desk, butcher-wax polished, and then went through all the items on desk, cleaned, washed, polished, and then organized desk.
- Washed windows and screens.
- Took everything out of all drawers, washed down, organized and put back.
- Moved all furniture than can be moved and cleaned underneath.
- Woolite cleaned my desk chair.
- Windexed all pictures.
- Cleaned and scoured coffee maker and Briter water pitcher thing.
- Took all blankets and stuff to laundry.
- Pulled out ladder and dusted all the high-up places.
- Organized wires and cables underneath desk.
- Put away summer clothes, and pulled out winter clothes
- Found a nice box for all my extra books (Restless, Waiting and Cyberville). They were in four or five different piles around the place, I wanted them all in one spot.
- Still to do, organize a "to-read" shelf, which means admitting which books I'm not going to get to and getting rid of them.
- Vacuumed and dusted the place to within an inch of its life.
That's Buddy on the couch, doing his part to un-do all that I have done. That's okay little dude. Shed, kitty, shed! That's what vacuums are for.
Friday Night Lights is still spectacular. I wanted to mention that everyone is so perfect, even the people who are not the "stars", like this guy, who plays Saracen's friend. He is the epitome of teen guy best friend. The coaches wife is great, although I guess she is kind of a main character. The guy who plays though the coach though. The actor is normally incredibly attractive to me, but he gets this character so right that although I am riveted by him, I'm no longer in the least bit attracted. And the vulnerability of Saracen! Anyway, I love watching this whole world which I have zero experience with. It comes off as very real to me. I guess someone who lived in a small, football-obessed town in Texas will have to say if it's authentic.
Grey's Anatomy, which I still look forward to more than any other show, is having some problems. What the hell have they done to George and Baily? It looks like they've figured out they've done something to Baily because she's beginning to come back. But I miss the George I came to love. I'm not smart enough to figure out what is not there so much, though.
PS: I'm doing winter cleaning this weekend. By the end of the day I will have the cleanest apartment in Manhattan.
This is a picture of actress Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered on November 1. I met her because Echo produced an independent film series in the 90's called Alt.Film and we launched with her first film, Sudden Manhattan. She was incredibly sweet and smart (and once fixed me up with a friend of hers). Her murder, like all murders, was horrible and stupid, but her's was horribly stupid beyond belief. If you haven't read already, her murderer punched her unconscious, and, thinking she was dead, hanged her to make it look like a suicide. The hanging is what killed her. She had a three-year-old daughter.
I found this section in her director's statement for Sudden Manhattan. Rest in peace, Adrienne.
"It was empowering to chronicle and parody my own personality, and those of some of my friends. It was empowering to place it all in New York City, a place I have learned to love despite my fear of it. New York takes every step along with you. It mirrors what you are feeling. If you are depressed, you walk outside, and everyone is depressed, and the streets are gray. If you are on top of the world, the streets seem to burst with triumphant energy. New York helped provide me with the gumption I would need to write, direct, and star in my own movie. A New Yorker knows how to persevere despite fear."
I like Spitzer. He's smart. Oh God it's such a pleasure to see someone with intelligence and integrity rising in power. Sigh. Good times. Democrats all over the place. I feel a little safer today. More democrats everywhere. The first female Speaker. Progress! Thank you, America.
Come on Virginia and Montana! You can do it! Bring us home.
Then let's turn our attention to Barack Obama. My future president.
Update: YAY!! Thank you, Montana!!
Someone in there paid $11,000 for a photograph of Madonna. It was a great shot, taken in 1990 by Herb Ritts, but still. The bid for the snowglobe shot I love was $3,900 when I left.
I'm telling you though, I saw more great haircuts, earrings, outfits in there--some women really know how to put it together. Men too, but I was looking for tips. I was happy with my outfit, which was a white tshirt and jeans, with a nice jacket over it and lots and lots of pearls. I swear it worked.
I'm meeting my friend Marianne at an auction to benefit Aperture in a couple of hours. I have no money to bid, alas, but if I did I would bid on this photograph by Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz. Isn't it wonderful and sad?
Look at their work! I'm embarrassed to admit that I never heard of them, which doesn't say anything about them, of course. There was a time when I used to go to galleries all the time, but it's been years and years. Now I only go from time-to-time. Oh God, I'm going through their recent works. They are stunning.
Okay, now I not only want a husband I want a rich husband who will buy me art. (Kidding. I mean I would love an art-giving husband, but it's not a requirement.)
Remember how the other day I said a bird flew into my window twice? This morning three birds flew into my window, one so bad I went downstairs to see if there was an injured bird, and sure enough, there was a sad, hurt little bird. I had nothing to catch him. I went all around the neighborhood, under-dressed (it was cold) looking for a store to give me a box, and it took forever, most places weren't open yet, and the only one I could get was too small.
I went upstairs, trying to find a bird rescue place to tell me what to do, reached a squirrel rescue woman who was very nice, and she gave me two numbers to try, but said the bird might just be stunned, and just needs a little while. So I've showered and I'm going back down there. But even if the bird isn't there, that doesn't mean he didn't hop off someplace to die.
What is going on with these birds?? I've lived here since the early 80's and have never had this problem before. I think they are sparrows, because they kinda look like this picture.
Once again, I got carried away with drumming and forgot to take pictures. But I made a quick movie of us warming up before the parade started. OHMYGOD. I found someone else's films of us on YouTube. They're better than mine. They're the two after mine. Okay, but I have the inside view. Because I'm, like, in the band. The guy with all the feathers in the first film after mine -- great drummer. (And good looking. And he dances well. And ... I think he invented ... television.)
Today I am taking my friend Howard out to lunch to celebrate his new book contract. So good day ahead (we're going to a place I love, too).