31 January, 2007

RIP EHH

...there's no need to be thinner/ let's all have the lobster dinner/it's down to you and it's up to me/ we gotta get back into the DNC....

My hobby uh, fascination uh, obsession uh, research project specialization reaps occasional unexpected bounties.

For instance, in her drawer of junk jewelry, the White Diamond found a promotional charm bracelet that she brought to me on Opening Night. I treasure and wear it on special occasions.

And Wednesday, the day that E. Howard Hunt, former Plumber, died, my neighbor brought to me a DVD: Oliver Stone's Nixon, starring Anthony Hopkins.

Naturally, my life is so over-scheduled that I haven't watched it yet. But I am hopeful.

For those of you who don't remember who E. Howard Hunt was, and can't be bothered to click on a link, a brief recap:


The Hunt recruits (Villo, Franko, Gino and Macho, no lie -ed.)and James W. McCord Jr., security director for the Committee for the Re-election of the President, were arrested at the Watergate, and one of the burglars was found to have Hunt's White House phone number.

Hunt and fellow operative G. Gordon Liddy, along with the five arrested at the Watergate, were indicted on federal charges three months later. Hunt and his recruits pleaded guilty in January 1973, and McCord and Liddy were found guilty.

Hunt eventually spent 33 months in prison on a conspiracy charge, and said he was bitter that he was sent to jail while Nixon was allowed to resign.

"I felt that in true politician's fashion, he'd assumed a degree of responsibility but not the blame," he told The Associated Press in 1992. "It wasn't my idea to go into the Watergate."

Hunt also was involved in organizing an event that foreshadowed Watergate: the burglary of the office of the Beverly Hills psychiatrist treating Daniel Ellsberg, the defense analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers, published in 1971.

Hunt and Liddy — the so-called White House "plumbers" — broke into the psychiatrist's office to gain information about Ellsberg. The break-in was revealed during the 1973 espionage trial against Ellsberg and co-defendant Anthony Russo, and was one of several incidents that led to the dismissal of the case because of government misconduct.

(And on the flight back to DC bragged to a stewardess- shut up, they were still called stewardesses then- about their big-deal spy-boy antics. -ed.)

Hunt spent his final years in a modest home with his second wife, Laura Martin Hunt, and declined many interview requests from The Associated Press.

He has a memoir coming out next month titled "American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate and Beyond."

(I'll wait until I see it in the used bookstore to buy it. I have tried- and failed- to read several of EHH's novels. Either not to my taste, or... well. -ed)

Hunt's first wife, the former Dorothy Wetzel Day Goutiere, died in a plane crash in 1972. Besides his wife, Hunt was survived by six children.


So rest in peace, E. Howard Hunt. Beside Nixon, beside Ziegler. Beside Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Mitchell, Ulacewicz, RoseMary, Martha, Pat, and Dorothy. Soon all of you will be dead, and I can write whatever I want. Note this, Woodward. Bernstein. Dean. Mo. LIDDY. You will all someday die, and gods willing, I WON'T.

Not until I've written litigation-worthy lies, half-truths and flat-out facts about all of you.

Mwahahahahaha.





(I Spy, You Spy; Watergate! the Musical, Pomeroy/Brown)

17 January, 2007

Hot, Cold.

...it's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in bacon...mmmmmmm....

Today, I am wearing eleven items of clothing. Indoors. Counting each of my socks and shoes separately.

And as recently as last week, I was Topless in 60+degree weather with springlike humidity. The daffodils are confused and have made a premature appearance.

Stupid Maryland.

12 January, 2007

Not Quite...

...if a mime speaks in a forest, how does she sound?....

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: Philadelphia

Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.

The Midland
The Northeast
The South
Boston
The Inland North
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have?
Take More Quizzes


Sorry for the prolonged silence. In other news, Tom Sawyer opened last week. I've seen no reviews, but there was a preview piece, that aside from some errors, (including the spelling of my name) was really quite nice.

[Faint praise, I know. See for yourself.]

Preview
Center offers bargain rate for 4 shows
Plays include 'Tom Sawyer,' 'Glass Menagerie'
By Mary Johnson
Special to The Sun
Originally published January 5, 2007
The folks at the Chesapeake Arts Center are starting 2007 with what they describe as "the best theater deal in town": four shows for $38 for center members and $48 for everyone else.

The bargain prices, available through Jan. 21, earn a quick return on investment. The first show, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, opens tomorrow and closes Jan. 21.



It will be followed in March by Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, a sophisticated comedy by comedian Steve Martin in June and an original show in August, to be chosen from submissions to the 26th annual Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

Charlotte Chorpenning wrote the adaptation of Mark Twain's classic novel about growing up along the Mississippi in the 1840s.

Tom, who loves skipping school and playing pranks, wins and loses the heart of Becky Thatcher. Then, after witnessing a killing in the graveyard, he and his friend, Huck Finn, run away to Jackson Island to become pirates. Feared dead, they return home to interrupt their funerals and eventually to face the villain, Injun Joe.

Tom Sawyer is directed by Cybelle Pomeroy, who said children could still imagine enjoying such adventures.

"It's been terrific to work on this family-friendly story with a bunch of friendly families," she said. "I can't say enough about the devotion, talent and support of the cast and their families. Every time I turned around someone was offering to do yet another thing for the show. It's a fabulous team effort."

Josh Feist, the arts center's education and membership coordinator, added: "Anyone who is young at heart will certainly love this show. I have never had the pleasure of working with so many bright young actors."

Feist, who plays a supporting role in the production, noted the show is a family affair. The director's son, Garrett Pomeroy, plays Huck Finn. Daniel Swann plays Tom, and his father is in the cast.

Fatima Umanzor plays Becky Thatcher. Sarah Tighe plays Injun Joe, and Chesapeake Arts Center's favorite actress and teacher, C.J. Crowe, is Aunt Polly. Many cast members are former students in arts center drama classes.

Debuting in December 1944, The Glass Menagerie was Williams' first successful play. Told by Tom in flashbacks to the 1930s, the story centers on his aging Southern belle mother, Amanda Wingfield, who lives with her daughter Laura and Tom in a dingy St. Louis apartment.

Amanda works in a department store, Tom in a shoe factory. He spends his free time drinking and going to the movies. Afraid of the outside world, Laura has dropped out of college and retreated into her world of miniature glass animals.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile is a 1993 play written by Steve Martin. The play is set in a bar in Montmartre, Paris, where Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso discuss genius and art. The year is 1904, when Einstein is a year away from publishing his Relativity: The Special and General Theory, and Picasso is three years from painting Les Demoiselles D'Avignon.

Picasso and Einstein debate the value of genius and talent with a variety of other characters, including one from the future who could be Elvis Presley in blue suede shoes. A colorful cast provides insight and laughs in language that earns a PG-13 rating,

The last show of the season will feature a work chosen from those submitted to the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

From more than 100 submissions, a limited number of plays are selected and performed at Baltimore area theaters, including the Chesapeake Arts Center. Theatergoers can participate in history and support local artists by attending.


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer runs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. Sundays at the center, 194 Hammonds Lane in Brooklyn Park. Subscription tickets may be ordered in advance or at the box office. Individual tickets cost $12 for arts center members, seniors and children and $15 for nonmembers. Information: 410-636-6597.


The price of tickets and show times were misstated when this article was published in the print edition. The Sun regrets the errors.


So, a little busy lately. I'll write about the holidays in satirc detail when I've got a minute, but this post is just slap-and-dash, with apologies. In OTHER other news, I was offered the role of Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. I've always wanted to do Tennessee Williams, and I've never had a lead. I might just take it.