The BlogThe Bloghttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013-04-05T22:19:25ZSquarespaceStory | Identity Politics: Why You Should Carehttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/4/5/story-identity-politics-why-you-should-care.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-04-05T17:22:08Z2013-04-05T17:22:08ZTwo fascinating articles crossed my path on the same day this week. One, an old piece from the TransGriot blog titled "Why The Transgender Community Hates HRC"; the other, a new piece from Slate.com called "Meet The Gaybros: They like sports, hunting, and beer. They make the gay community mad."

I mean, come on! With titles like those, wouldn't you be fascinated?

Well, if you're a human being who'd rather not be an idiot (in the most classical sense), you should be fascinated. If you're someone whose work is all about story and character, you really should be. If you live in the alphabet soup called the GLBT "community"... Yeah, they're both pretty much compulsory reading.

Why? Because they're both about the importance of one's own story. (They're about other things, too, but stick with me.) They're about our need to have our own story told, told accurately, told empathetically, told to and by those like us, to and by those not like us, to those who do and don't like us, and—perhaps most importantly—told back to us. Like a mirror. A mirror up to (our own) nature.

Read them, both. I'd start with the Slate piece first and then the TransGriot blog entry (the opposite way in which they came to me). 

Meet The Gaybros: They like sports, hunting, and beer. They make the gay community mad.
by J. Byran Lowder, published on Slate.com March 20. 2013

Why The Transgender Community Hates HRC
by Monica Roberts, published on her TransGriot blog October 8, 2007

 

nibbly bits:

  • you can follow Ms. Roberts on twitter here
  • you can follow Mr. Lowder on twitter here
  • I found the trans article via a Facebook post. The Slate one I found through the wonderful podcast Slate Culture Gabfest. Give it a listen, here.
  • griot: /grēˈō/ noun, A member of a class of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.
  • note the URL for the Slate piece. Was that the original title of Lowder's piece? What's the word after "fellow"? "Gays"? "Bros"? "Redditors"?

 

]]>I'd Go | Transport Group : The Memory Showhttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/4/4/id-go-transport-group-the-memory-show.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-04-04T17:51:52Z2013-04-04T17:51:52Z

Again, I'm still going to be on the road with Memphis, but were I in NYC I'd certainly go check this out:

And there are discount codes over at BroadwayBox.com:

$35.00 - 4/16 - 4/28*
Use code MSBBOX1

 

$45.50 - 5/1 - 5/18*
Use code MSBBOX2

Regularly Priced at $65.00 

Here's the boxoffice link.

]]>I'd Go | Daniel Fish & Christina Rounerhttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/4/2/id-go-daniel-fish-christina-rouner.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-04-02T21:08:59Z2013-04-02T21:08:59ZI have no idea what he's up to, but I just got an email blast from diretor Daniel Fish in which he says...

I'll be showing some of a work-in-progress this Saturday:

YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, COOKIE!
(after A Woman Under The Influence)
Featuring Thomas Jay Ryan and Christina Rouner
Conceived by Daniel Fish
...and attached, the flyer below. Like I said, no idea what it is, but the last time I went to see something he and Christina Rouner worked on together, I was very, very happy I was there.
If I were in NYC for this, I'd go.
Jeff Larson, Andrew Dinwiddie and Caleb Hammons
are pleased to present: 

CATCH 56
8pm Saturday 6 April
at The Bushwick Starr
$10 gets you in

featuring:

Daniel Fish !
Cynthia Hopkins !
David Neumann !
Deke Weaver !
more !

"Consistently entertaining, stimulating, thought-provoking and irreverent."
- New York Times

“A crash course in what performance looks like today.”
- ARTFORUM

“Everyone’s favorite performance series.”
- Culturebot.org

“It’s hard to justify seeking any other form of entertainment on your Saturday night.”
- Claudia La Rocco, New York Times

The Bushwick Starr:

207 Starr Street
between Irving and Wyckoff
Bushwick, BROOKLYN
L to Jefferson
or what you will
 
Click HERE for directions.
]]>Ukulele Zen | The Dumber They Comehttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/3/25/ukulele-zen-the-dumber-they-come.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-03-25T20:44:05Z2013-03-25T20:44:05ZWell, shit. Now I need a bonjolele in my life. 

Found this great video by John Bianchi on the Uke Hunt site. Please to enjoy...

]]>Ukulele Zen : Assam/Like A Birdhttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/3/23/ukulele-zen-assamlike-a-bird.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-03-23T11:48:18Z2013-03-23T11:48:18Z

]]>Fuel : Last Week's Findshttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/2/10/fuel-last-weeks-finds.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-02-10T19:33:27Z2013-02-10T19:33:27ZThings that fed my brain and soul this past week:

Memories :

Actor Jeb Brown recalls, for The New York Times, his childhood expericence working in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Click the photo to read his excellent piece on the NYTImes website.

photo credit : Martha Swope/New York Public Library

New Words :

I'm a showtune lyric nerd. Doing on-the-fly analysis of the lyrics on SMASH keeps me motivated to continue watching the show. This last week's standout was "They Just Keep Moving The Line," an original song written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. I especially liked this quatrain: 

I jumped all of the hurdles
To break out of the pack
I started on the outside
And then hit the inside track

 Check out the entire lyric and the performance here.  

Art & Architecture :

This is The Lantern Bearers, painted by Maxfield Parish in 1908. It now lives in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, Arkansas, thirty minutes up the road from where Memphis was playing this week, in Fayetteville. 

I know. It surprised me, too. I'm a big Parish fan, so this was my favorite item in the collection, and it's a very impressive collection. And the building, by Moshe Safdie, is just beautiful. I'll have images of the museum up within the next week.

Whimsy(?) : 

Artisanal Pencil Sharpening.

That's right.

Found him through Ask Me Another on NPR. Check that out here. And have a look at this:

]]>Ukulele Zen | (This Here's A) Lullaby Songhttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2013/1/2/ukulele-zen-this-heres-a-lullaby-song.htmlChristopher Gurr2013-01-02T19:58:07Z2013-01-02T19:58:07ZOk, I'm looking for some lullabys to record for the new baby of a friend of mine and just stumbled onto this on the Ukulele Hunt website. I kinda love it:

Makes me want to seek out more of this Stingray Sam.

]]>Ukulele Zen | Peter Sellershttp://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2012/12/29/ukulele-zen-peter-sellers.htmlChristopher Gurr2012-12-29T15:09:02Z2012-12-29T15:09:02ZThe delightful and useful Andy Ihnatko sent me the link to this. I didn't know the song and didn't know Sellers played the uke. But, of course, he did. Here he is playing and singing "I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me", 

Check out this link on the Ukulele Underground forums for more on the tune, including chords and lyrics.

]]>Images | Boston 2012http://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2012/12/24/images-boston-2012.htmlChristopher Gurr2012-12-24T15:45:00Z2012-12-24T15:45:00ZMy fourth time playing Boston and my third time in my very favorite theatre in the country: The Colonial. I love the building, the theatre, and the local crew. I. Just. Love. It.

]]>Sounds | More Homebrew Recording...http://www.christophergurr.com/blog/2012/12/20/sounds-more-homebrew-recording.htmlChristopher Gurr2012-12-20T20:24:29Z2012-12-20T20:24:29ZThis is fun recording project you may want to support via Kickstarter. I post it in honor of my first time seeing The Nutcracker live and in person, which I will be tomorrow with Boston Ballet at The Opera House.

So, check this guy out: Michael Charles Smith. Here's to setting up mics and a laptop and making your very own album...

 

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