… in a river every moment passing new … I climbed the Eiffel Tower, and saw the rooftops from the angels’ view. Now things will never, will never be the same. They will never, will never be the same.

I saw Blue Flower by the Weimarband at HERE tonight. It’s still a work in progress, but musically it’s very good — they describe themselves as Sturm n’ Twang, or Kurt Weill meets Hank Williams — with strong musicians and talented, charismatic singers. There are samples on the Weimbarband web site.

The visual design, by Ruth Bauer, uses beautiful slides of her own creation plus historic images of people such as Franz Josef and Marie Curie.

The historical context and references range from the events leading to WW I, the Weimar Republic, a fictionalized menage of Franz Marc, Max Beckmann, Hannah Höch, and Marie Curie, plus Dada. Part of it takes place at the Cabaret Voltaire — the last time Zurich was really interesting.

While watching the performance tonight, I was reminded of the quote I posted earlier. I worry about the ability of artists to create works with historical resonance, or references, given the dumbing down of our culture and the nearly complete lack of historical or cultural knowledge. No wonder people think movies are the highest art form now. Most of them are easy on the eyes, don’t make you think too much, ignore history, and give you musical cues about how you’re supposed to be reacting. I wonder if I’ll have to rely on European culture to keep such ideas alive for a bit longer, at least as long as I live. That’s one more reason to work on my languages.

Not to have knowledge of what happened before you were born is to be condemned to live forever as a child.

  — Cicero

I already saw it, but you should go if you’re interested in music or theatre, or music theatre:

The Sandman, a new opera from Target Margin

… as opposed to my theatre post earlier today:

• Sarah Vogwill and Jonathan Feldschuh at Art Resources Transfer in Chelsea, up through January 25
  
• Stacy Greene at Plus Ultra in Williamsburg, opens next Friday (January 10)</p>

I’m going to see all of these, so email me if you want to know when I’m attending.

At St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO:

• Jennie Richee — because of Mac Wellman and almost everyone else involved
  
• Brace Up! — because of Wooster Group and Paul Schmidt
  
• Barber of Seville — because of the music and David Neumann</p>

At P.S. 122:

• Paul Zaloom — gay puppetry
  
• Art, Life and Show Biz — Ain Gordon
  
• Sentence — David Neumann
  
• Bitter Bierce – Mac Wellman and Ambrose Bierce</p>

Plus Panic! at Ontological, since one needs a dose of Richard Foreman occasionally, and I know one of the cast members, Tea Alagic.

OK, I finally added the Daily Kos to my blogs on the right after reading 2003 in review, a “future history.”

They thought Clinton lying about sex was the worst behavior in the history of American politics. South Knox Bubba has a response.

[via Ruminate This]

A mother to her daughter, on her friend whose parents don’t seem to love her:

I know darling… One thing about unwanted children: they soon learn how to take care of themselves.

— from The World of Henry Orient starring Peter Sellars, Paula Prentiss, and Angela Lansbury. We got it from NetFlix and watched it last night.

I had heard of the movie, and was reminded of it recently when the Times had an obituary of the director, George Roy Hill.

It’s a weird early 60s movie with worldly parents drinking scotch, and two 14-year-old girls who decide to stalk a concert pianist named Henry Orient. The way the two girls joke about Chinese stereotypes and speak in funny accents probably helps explain why the film is so obscure today.

One of the two girls went on join the Dark Side as a communications expert, working for the likes of William Webster and Ronald Reagan.

The Bush administration kills tracking of mass layoffs, because it makes them look bad.

Meanwhile, our President stands to make a lot of money from worldwide war the old-fashioned way, by inheriting it.

One more: our tax dollars have started going to religious groups to promote marriage. I love my gay dollars going to help spread the word that I’m evil.

Good essay on why cutting taxes on dividends is a bad idea.

Phil Gyford has turned the diaries of Samuel Pepys into a daily weblog.

An article by him about the project is on the BBC web site.