Things to Think and Do

Things to Think and Do

Hello, Everybody—Nice seeing you again.

I accidentally got a job writing fiction once. It was a pretty good job, and it paid pretty well, but the problem was that I’d never written fiction before and I wasn’t sure how to do it. Up until then, all I’d written were true stories of my real life, which apparently someone had mistaken for being fictional, but weren’t. (Of course, now that I know more about serious literary writing, I understand that it’s all pretty much just thinly disguised autobiography anyway, but at the time I didn’t know that.) So anyway, I panicked, and then I read that George Saunders—one of my favorite writers ever—was teaching up at Syracuse, so I wrote to him and asked him if he would teach me writing in a sort of freelance tutoring, don’t-tell-the-University way. He said no, of course, but he was very nice about it. As far as my writing job went, it turned out not to matter too much anyway. And George Saunders is still one of my favorite authors, so I was very happy when Dr. Colby asked if I wanted to go see an adaptation of Pastoralia at P.S. 122 on Saturday.

We did go, and we had a jolly time. The story, about a guy who works as a caveman reenactor at a failing theme park, makes a fine play. I haven’t had the chance to go back and reread it, but it seemed to me that director Yehuda Duenyas did a nice job of adapting it for the stage. All the technical stuff was good, and Michael Casselli’s sets and Kirstin Tobiasson’s costumes were excellent. I don’t go to plays very often because so much of the acting just annoys the crap out of me, but these actors didn’t, and both Aimee McCormick, who plays Janet, and Ryan Bronz, who plays Ed, were outstanding. Bronz conveyed so much with just his facial expressions, which can’t be easy when you’re wearing a caveman unibrow headband. He’s no Kim Myung Min, but he’s very, very good—although it might not be so successful in a bigger theater where you couldn’t see him right up close. Pastoralia is in the wee little theater space on the 9th St. side of P.S. 122 through next weekend, and I recommend that you see it if you get the chance.

Here are some other things I’m looking forward to doing to fill time until I get my Hepatitis shots and ship out for Louisiana:

“Vintage Monsters,” a show of new works by SEEN (Richard Mirando) opens this Friday, 10/7, from 7:00-10:00 at McCaig-Welles Gallery, 129 Roebling, Williamsburg. Even if you can’t make the opening, try to get out to see the show—it’s up until 10/31, and it’s bound to be hot. I mean, jeez, it’s SEEN.

Maybe it has something to do with Halloween and Dia de los Muertos coming up, but there seem to be a lot of spooky photo shows opening. The Metropolitan Museum has “The Perfect Medium—Photography of the Occult,” a nice little historical overview of “spirit photos” from the 1860s until WWII. The Keith DeLellis Gallery (47 E. 68th at Madison) is showing spirit photos from a private collection, and there are a couple of others that seem to deal with apparitions, but I’m not sure if those are the same thing.

Next Saturday, as part of the openhousenewyork event—don’t blame me, that’s how they write it—our friends at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn are hosting a free performance-tour-installation thingie called “Angels and Accordions.” The idea of people playing accordions in a graveyard is pretty appealing to me, and I’m gonna call my friend DJ Smartski and see if he wants to go. There are two tours, at noon and 3:00, and it’s FREE, but you’ve got to call 718-788-7850 for reservations.

And then … and then … IT’S THE MOVIE “SHOWGIRLS,” ACTED OUT BY SOCK PUPPETS! Yes! It’s one of my secret, greasy dreams come true! “Sock Puppet Showgirls” by the Harvey Finklestein Institute of Whimsical, Fantastical, and Marvelous Puppet Masterage, at Ace of Clubs, 9 Great Jones St., at 8:00 on Saturdays and Sundays from 10/15-10/29. Tickets are $15, but I’m hoping there will be an opportunity to tip the puppets, too.

So this is all the stuff I’m going to try to jam into my life as fast as I can, and I hope I’ll see you there. In the meantime, thanks for reading my blog entry today, and may God bless.

Comments

[TJK Haywood]

Hello Bronwyn, I actualy KNOW Brian Wilson! well... he's not the same one that will call you for helping Hurricane victems but he's a guy named Brian Wilson.
I go to plays at Drew Univercity all the time.Some of them I find something to like about. It's the gal who is a big fan of the livly arts.
I love the fact that you are back on the air.I love your style .! Your not going to move to Louisiana are you ? .
Remember when I named my goldfish after you and then another one, Bronwyn 2 ?