Quanah Parker - a cool dude

I have been meaning to write a post about Quanah Parker, the last great Comanche chief.  I learned much about him when I read "Empire of the Summer Moon:"  I am still wondering why no one has made a movie about his life.  Early in his life he was literally scalping settlers and buffalo hunters and years later he was a respected pillar of the community and rode in a parade with Teddy Roosevelt.

Read about him here.

Today I ran across his epitaph.  All my poet friends should eat their hearts out.

Resting Here Until Day Breaks
And Shadows Fall and Darkness
Disappears is Quanah Parker
Last Chief of the Comanche
Born – 1852
Died Feb. 23, 1911

The epitaph of Quanah Parker

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glint in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush.
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Ai!

Einstein on the beach (for real!!)

From Wkipedia:

Einstein on the Beach is an opera in four acts (framed and connected by five "knee plays" or intermezzos), composed by Philip Glass and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson.^[1] The opera eschews traditional narrative in favor of a formalist approach based on structured spaces laid out by Wilson in a series of storyboards.^[2] The music was written "in the spring, summer and fall of 1975."^[3] Glass recounts the collaborative process: "I put [Wilson’s notebook of sketches] on the piano and composed each section like a portrait of the drawing before me. The score was begun in the spring of 1975 and completed by the following November, and those drawings were before me all the time." ^[4] The premiere took place on July 25, 1976, at the Avignon Festival in France. The opera contains writings by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs.^[5] It is Glass's first and longest opera score, taking approximately five hours in full performance without intermission; given the length, the audience is permitted to enter and leave as desired.^[5]

Having established that, what more can I offer?  Well then,

3 pretty cool things

Sorry I've been off the grid for a while.  Just got back from the Tahoe/Donner and haven't thought about some kind of deep and meaningful post.  So here are three things that I think are pretty cool.

1.  Latest ear worm (see ear worm section on my blog site):  "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol.  (This dang thing is hard to get out of my head).  Check it out for yourself, right here.

2.  A new HBO show that is totally funny yet deep in many ways:  "Catastrophe," which you can read about right here.  I'm really loving this show.

3.  An amazing home video that will blow your mind (just imagine yourself in that boat -- sends shivers up my spine.)

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Last night I watched an amazing documentary on Netflix streaming video: "What Happened, Miss Simone?"  I have always been a huge fan of Nina Simone, having been introduced to her by my good friend Michael Lally when I was about 21 or so.  He had the original 1959 album on the Bethlehem label, which featured Mood Indigo, He Needs Me, Little Girl Blue, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Plain Gold Ring, and of course I Loves You Porgy.  It was a hard album to find in those days but I finally tracked one down, bought it, and nearly wore it out in the ensuing years.  I also saw her live at the Berkeley Community Theater, probably somewhere around 1967 or 1968.

I thought I knew a fair amount about her, but after watching last night's film I realized there was a whole lot I didn't know.  I'm not going to spoil it for you but suffice it to say that the film has an almost perfect balance of Nina performing over the years and exposition by way of interviews of her and others, and many excerpts from her private diaries. There has been some criticism based on allowing her abusive ex-husband to give his side when she is now dead, but there is plenty from her side in her interviews and especially in her diaries.  Husband shrinks to a pathetic guy in the face of all that, so don''t worry about Nina not "giving her side of the story."

  Take my word, if you are a Nina fan you will die for this film, and if you are new to her you owe it to yourself to see it.  If you don't have Netflix, find a friend who does and bum a watch.  If you don't have a Netflix buddy, join Netflix.  It's only about ten bucks a month and you will be getting a huge bang out of those bucks.