Fall Calendar August 31, 2007
Posted by Jamieson Ridenhour in calendar, dickens, lectures, music, vampires.add a comment
This fall is shaping up to be pretty busy in terms of lectures and performances. I know most of you out there aren’t in North Dakota (because most people aren’t), but here’s the list so far in case you’re in the area. I’ll be doing literature, theatre, and music at these places and times:
- Sept. 13th 11am University of Mary, Bismarck. Panel presentation on Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. This is a UMary convocation, a three-person panel discussing various aspects of the campus read. I’ll be talking about the book as a mystery novel and doing a brief Sherlock Holmes intro.
- Sept. 15th 12pm Custer Park, Bismarck. Performance with Ian on drums and our new friend Aaron on saxophone. We’ll be playing under the name Blind Mice, as part of the fall Downtown Art in Motion program.
- Oct. 26th 7pm Spirit Room, Fargo. The Thirsty Dead! Lecture on vampires in popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Oct. 27th 6:30? Bismarck Public Library. Spooky reading and singing as part of the library’s kids’ Halloween program. I’m working on Richard Thompson’s “Sam Jones,” and looking for scary stories that won’t traumatize youngsters. I think Carmilla is out.
- Oct. 28th 2pm Garrison Theater, Garrison, ND. The Life and Literature of Charles Dickens. Lecture on Dickens for the Garrison Arts Council. I’ll come up with a better title before I send them the promotional material.
- Nov. 29th 11am Heskett Hall, University of Mary, Bismarck. In Darkest London. Lecture on London in 19th century Gothic literature as part of the university’s Faculty Excellence Series.
- Dec. 16th 2pm Bismarck Public Library. A Christmas Carol. A full-length Victorian style reading of Dickens’ story. I’m really excited about this one. A benefit for the children’s collection at the library.
That’s it for this semester, as far as I know. There may be some more Blind Mice gigs, depending on schedules and what-not. In the winter/spring, Blind Mice will be playing at the February Downtown Art in Motion at Kirkwood Mall in Bismarck, and I’ll be doing a lecture on Victorian London at Black Hills State University in South Dakota. I’ll also be directing The Importance of Being Earnest at UMary. I’ll give more dates and details for those and other things later this fall.
We’re sticking around Bismarck for Thanksgiving, so come on up. Seriously. We can’t wait to see you.
New Semester August 27, 2007
Posted by Jamieson Ridenhour in Uncategorized.add a comment
Faculty workshops are behind us, and there are but two days before the semester starts. I’m still tweaking the syllabus for my Brit Lit survey (if “tweaking” involves throwing out an entire Shakespeare play and replacing it with another Shakespeare play), but otherwise think I’m ready. Some photocopying today, a meeting with an advisee, and then I’ll man the registration table tomorrow for two hours. Then classes on Wednesday.
I enjoy the beginning of semesters. I love what I do, and there’s an electricity that feeds the first week or so of a new semester. I haven’t taught Brit Lit I since 2005; it’ll be nice to spend time with Chaucer and Shakespeare again. I’m teaching two Shakespeare plays this time: Twelfth Night and Hamlet. This is one more than usual, and I had to sacrifice Marlowe to do it, but it seemed right. He’s the most important writer in English–he should get more time than the other guys. Plus, I mean, Hamlet.
I’m listening to Ella Fitzgerald singing “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” as I type this. Possibly the finest vocal performance ever recorded. I never get tired of Ella. Today’s been slowish jazz day–Diana Krall, Ella, and most likely Kind of Blue coming up later.
I finished David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green, and second my half-done endorsement of a few weeks ago. Funny, heartbreaking, real, and brilliant. I’m looking forward to reading Mitchell’s other novels (two of which were shortlisted for the Booker). Right now, though, I’m reading Roy Porter’s Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine, which I thoroughly enjoying in a sick sort of way. And Harold Bloom’s Hamlet: Poem Unlimited is in the batter’s circle. I’ll most likely be starting the second half of Don Quixote on audio file this week as well–my goal is to finish that novel before Christmas. It’s amazing, of course, but so damn long! And finally, I’m reading China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun out loud to Gwyn and Watership Down out loud to Ian. I’ll write about Mieville’s book when we’re done–it’s really impressive so far, better than his adult novels (which are nothing to sneeze at, unless you’re allergic to dark alternative world parables).
Soon I’ll post some stuff about London, which I’ve promised but not delivered on, and some video from our gig at the public library last week.
I have a chapter and a half left on the London book, and some revisions to the preface. Six weeks left…and I’m starting on Carmilla next week as well. It’s fun to be busy, sometimes.
Giant Lego Man August 9, 2007
Posted by Jamieson Ridenhour in Netherlands, big Legos.add a comment
Here’s the best news story I’ve seen in months. click the photo to see the full video:
I hope there’s no explanation for this. It’s much more fun like it is…
Urban Harvest August 6, 2007
Posted by Jamieson Ridenhour in Aimee Mann, Eva, Ian, drums, guitar.add a comment
Here’s a short video clip of Eva dancing during Ian’s and my set at Urban Harvest last Thursday. You can hear us playing the end of Aimee Mann’s “The Moth.”
Gigs August 5, 2007
Posted by Jamieson Ridenhour in TV, books, gigs, music, summarizing July.add a comment
I was away for three weeks during July–we spent nine days with my family in Florence, SC (with a day trip out to Huntington Beach for some sandy Atlantic fun); three days visiting friends in Hendersonville, Asheville, and Black Mountain, NC, and then nine days in Boone, NC with Gwyn’s family up in the mountains. Very restful, and much fun to see family and friends. In particular it was good to reconnect to David LaMotte, who I’ve been in sporadic touch with, but who I haven’t actually laid eyes on since before Ian was born. The mountains were beautiful and cool; we spent some time splashing in streams and having picnics:
After a twenty-five hour journey, for which we have the incompetent screw-ups who run Northwest Airlines to thank, we got home on the 29th. And then rehearsals for the Urban Harvest gig. Ian and I played an hour-long electric show, the firs time I’ve played electric guitar on stage since I played with Stoutboy for one gig in 1992. It was much fun–here’s a pic:
Thursday’s Urban Harvest also marked Eva’s singing debut. She sang “Sidewalks of New York” for the Urban Idol talent show. She didn’t place, but she sang beautifully. She opted out of singing with us during the set, but maybe next week.
We’ve got a few more shows coming up. Wednesday August 8th we’ll be playing at Custer Park in Bismarck as part of the Brown Bag concert series at 12pm. Then on the 16th, Ian will perform a drum solo for the Urban Idol finals downtown before giving out the awards, and then over to the Public Library where we’ll do a set for the library’s annual ice cream social.
There’s another show downtown in September, possibly with our friend Aaron on saxophone, and one in February at the mall. Ian’s pretty stoked to be playing so much, and he’s sounding good. We’ve added an old Cars song to the set, which is really fun to play, and are going to add “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” this week.
And that’s a brief (very brief) summary of what’s been going on. I’ve been working on the London book while on vacation, and got quite a bit done working during the mornings. I visited my publisher in Jefferson, NC while we were in Boone, and was shown the royal treatment. Gwyn and I got shown around the offices by David Alff, my editor, and met everyone from the president to the designers to the printer before going out to lunch with David and Carl, the publicist. I felt like a real author.
I’m also working on the novel and a short story. I’m hoping to establish a consistent writing routine this semester to divide work between each of my projects. McFarland has extended my deadline until October 1st; I’m really committed to keeping this deadline, as going later will mean I miss being part of the spring catalog. Keep your fingers crossed.
In between, I’ve been absorbing books, music, and TV. Gwyn and I watched the entire run of Freaks and Geeks, which is every bit as good as I’d heard. Like Joss Whedon’s Firefly, Freaks and Geeks is head and shoulders better than many shows that don’t get canceled before finishing their first season.
Even better is Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which I read during the vacation. It’s astonishing that Strange is Clarke’s first novel–it’s one of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read. Clarke’s narrative voice–a sort of Jane Austen pastiche–is simultaneously wide-eyed and knowing, the story itself a fully realized alternative history complete with footnotes. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Presently I’m reading David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green, which is just as good but in a radically different way. It’s a year in the life of a thirteen year old boy in a sleepy townlet in middle England, told in lovingly recreated 1982 British teen slang. I’m half-done right now. I’m also re-reading Forster’s A Passage to India, which like all Forster is insightful, funny, poignant, and full of fully-rounded characters and stunning passages of descriptive prose. I’m a hundred pages from the end of that one.
Music-wise, I have to recommend Free Planet Radio’s New Bedouin Dance, a hybrid of jazz and middle-eastern music from Ashevillians Chris Rosser, Eliot Wadopian, and River Guerguerian. Ian and I saw River play drums with David LaMotte a couple of weeks ago, and we bought the Free Planet Radio CD at David’s merch table. Jump over to their website and take a listen.
Whew! That’s enough for now. I’m back at home now, and so will blog more often. Hopefully that means a few entries with content that steps outside the catching up mode of the last few.
Say hi if your stopping by. We’re a long way from most places, and it’s good to hear from friends…
