Ron Vazzano – Page 2

"BRINGING TOGETHER DIVERSE PERFORMERS": ANOTHER GREAT AWOW SHOWCASE COMING UP THIS TUESDAY

“In bringing together diverse performers…it makes for an event the likes of which you will rarely, if ever, experience. A melding of artists within the walls…it was a memorable night. Yes, it was that good.” Ron Vazzano

Yes, as Ron says, an AWoW Showcase is always “that good.” May’s Showcase is shaping up as more of the same. And, Ron, a writer and poet, whose monthly on line “Muse-Letter,” a mix of essays, reviews, poems, quotes, wordplay, which has become quite popular among AWoW members and friends, will be one of the evening’s presenters. Ron’s essays have been posted on the Artists Without Walls’ website and he’s also read his poetry on a number of occasions at Showcases over the past year. In a former life, he spent some years as an actor appearing in theatrical productions in New York City as well as on the road. If past is prologue, Ron’s performance will be timely, witty and spot on.

The dance group Hammerstep has had successful international performances, including at New York City’s Lincoln Center and The Palace Theatre on London’s West End, as well as an online viral video of their recent appearance on America’s Got Talent. We’re thrilled that Hammersmith’s founders, Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus, will be performing for us on Tuesday. Traditionally trained in Irish Step dance as a child, Garrett has consistently found himself drawn to types of dance that are rhythmically innovative and that push the boundaries of athleticism through dance. Jason, originally from Sydney, Australia, Jason won 5 consecutive State and National Solo Irish dancing titles from 1999-2003. Both Garrett and Jason have toured with the world famous show, “Riverdance.”

Maritri Garrett recently performed at Rockwood Music Hall as part of AWoW’s “The Musical History of the Lower East Side.” Maritri played piano and sang a couple tunes from the American Songbook and then switched gears completely and accompanied Niamh Hyland on Blondie’s “Call Me.” A very gifted and multi-talented performer, Maritri also plays the cello and guitar. You can hear Maritri performing one of her original songs, “Rain” at the bottom of the page.

Back for her second appearance at an AWoW Showcase will be poet Liv Mammone, a vivacious young voice that will be heard on the New York performance poetry circuit for years to come. Using her background as a novelist, she uses various characters, including Venus de Milo, a fictional gangster, and a certain part of her own anatomy, to provide insight into what she calls “all the million ways one must be moved; the changes we make on our migrations through the world.” Anyone who heard and saw Liv’s laugh out loud, brilliant reading of her poem “Vagina Resigning” won’t soon be forgetting that experience.

John Munnelly, who is an award winning ASCAP singer-songwriter with a social conscience, will be making his first appearance at an AWoW Showcase. Born in Ireland now of Brooklyn, John is known for his witty & humorous nature, sometimes performing under the stage name ‘LaughJohnLaugh.’ John is a prolific writer in many music genres from Pop to the Prophetic releasing his ‘Hello World’ album in 2013 (available on iTunes) He toured Ireland to promote the album release in 2013. This will be John’s first appearance at an AWoW Showcase, which he says is, “Too good a show to miss – I’m playing three cracking songs. Hope to see you there.”

In the true spirit of multiculturalism, Dennis Demakos, who has been playing traditional Greek music and singing the tradtional folk music of dozens of countries from Europe, Asia, and the Middle and Near East for many years, Dennis will be making his first appearance at an AWoW Showcase. Dennis can be heard with two Bay Area California bands, The Disciples of Markos- disciplesofmarkos.com, and Balkalicious Fire Drive- bfdmusic.com. with whom he is pictured on the far right.

It promises to be a great night. Join us at The Cell Theatre, Tuesday, May 26. The bar opens at 6:45pm. See you there.

DENI BONET and ANNETTE HOMANN: "EMBRACING a BRACE of VIOLINS", by RON VAZZANO

EMBRACING A BRACE OF WOMEN ON VIOLINS

by Ron Vazzano

When you think of the violin, it’s usually in terms of something classical, something staid— even to the point of being stodgy—melodious, though somewhat somber, and often evocative of a lament in the key of bittersweet. For me, something along the lines of “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Unger from the hit 1990 PBS mini-series “The Civil War,” readily comes to mind. (Was that 25 years ago already?). All in all, a beautiful instrument to behold, especially when beheld by a virtuoso who can make even an Alpha male weep.

On the other end of the scale, associations might be in the context of bluegrass or hoe down music, and at such times, thought of as a fiddle. Is there a difference between a violin and a fiddle? Not really, though it is a subject open to much discussion, debate and lots of wry commentary. A few one-liners I ran across on line:

When you are buying one, it’s a fiddle. When you are selling one, it’s a violin.
$125 per hour and a tuxedo.
You can’t play a violin barefoot.
A violin has strings, and a fiddle has strangs.
You’ll never find a violinist with a mullet.
A violin sings, but a fiddle dances.
It’s a matter of style. If you have style, it’s a fiddle.

And the people playing it? We tend to think male, with hall-of-fame names like Isaac Stern, Jascha Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin and Itzak Perlman. In short, we think of violin players (though not fiddlers), as being of rather serious temperament and often rooted in European and “foreign” traditions. What you might call your father’s or grandfather’s violinists. That has changed.

Nowhere is that more in evidence for me, than with two violinists on the New York scene these days, who are turning the instrument and their performance on it, into something that shatters the glass of any stereotypes and preconceived notions.

No, Deni Bonet and Annette Homann are not your father’s fiddlers.

As one music critic noted on a new generation of violinists in this mold, “they are on the whole, female, ultra-virtuosic, career-focused and glamorous besides.” To which I would add specific to these two women, possessing a sense of total performance—including everything from the addition of body movement and choreography, to their banter in between pieces—wit, irony, and sexy besides.

Deni Bonet is a classically trained violinist, whose rather impressive “liner notes” from her website read:

Deni has recorded and performed with Cyndi Lauper, R.E.M., Sarah McLachlin among many others…
performed at Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, and just recently at the White House for President Obama and the First Lady
Her music has been featured on HBO, NBC, American Airlines, several film and modern dance projects, and has been described by the Wall Street Journal as “like Cheryl Crow meets the B-52’s.”

Her unique style is fully on display in a video produced for her single “One in a Million” that was released along with her latest album It’s all good.

I caught her at a gig at the Rockwood Music Hall in downtown Manhattan last month, in a night paying homage to “The Musical History of the Lower East Side,” a musical show created by Charles R. Hale. Deni made even a Stephen Foster medley sound hip. And I had the pleasure over a year ago, of performing a spoken word piece in tandem with arrangements she composed and played specific to a collaboration entitled “Unrequited Love.”

Annette Homann, classically trained and born in Germany :

Has been performing since the age of six
She has toured throughout Europe, China, Central America, Canada and the U.S. and at various venues…
Including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, New World Stages, and Brooklyn Bowl
Her extended techniques, and singing combining elements of bluegrass, blues, pop and classical with a theatrical vibe—the violin used in non-traditional ways, often replacing the guitar, and sometimes percussion— are in evidence on her recent CD, “Heimatgefühle” (German for “feelings of home”).

I got to see her live last month at a private art gallery event sponsored by Artists Without Walls in Chelsea. Her performance in covering Adele’s Skyfall, the theme song of the 2012 James Bond film of the same name, was at once both sexy and witty (and barefoot, defying a previously noted one- liner). It brought down the house.

And while I have not caught a live performance of so called “hip-hop” violinist Lindsey Stirling, whose Crystallize video on YouTube has gotten an unfathomable 119,000,000 views since uploaded in February of 2012 (is that a misprint?), Deni and Annette are every bit as good and dynamic in my book. (And Muse-Letter). And does Lindsey Stirling drop by McSorely’s Old Ale House on a rainy spring afternoon, take out her violin in the backroom and play? Annette has.

I wonder what Itzak Perlman thinks about all of this sort of thing?

—–

Ron Vazzano, a writer, poet and actor, has been a frequent contributor to this website as well as performer at Artist Without Walls monthly showcases. You can read his column Muse Letter by clicking here.

NITROUS OXIDE INSIGHTS: RON VAZZANO on ROOT CANALS

NITROUS OXIDE INSIGHTS

by RON VAZZANO

There’s the Erie Canal. The Panama Canal. And the Root Canal. This last of which I encountered for the first time ever, last month.

No big deal here, this being commonplace and hardly life threatening. Yet no day at the beach either, as this dental rite of passage has long been synonymous with that dreaded euphemistic phrase uttered by white-coated professionals: “you may experience some discomfort.” We lay people and patients call it for what it is. PAIN.

To ward off such anxiety in the dental chair—call it a throne as many of us have been crowned there on several occasions— I have gone under the influence of nitrous oxide. (To which I attribute the preceding bad pun as well as what might follow for which I claim no responsibility.). The goal has been to temper any “discomfort,” not so much physically—though it does help to dull the number of piercing shots of Novocain in nerve sensitive areas, but without which such a “procedure” as root canal would be unendurable—but equally important, psychologically. Or maybe it’s just me. Call me a wuss. I’ve been called worse.

With a nitrous infusion now wafting through my nostrils, they proceed to put goggles on me. (“What are these for?” “I will be working with sharp instruments.” I had to ask.). Then something made of rubber gets stuffed into my mouth that challenges the gag reflex. I feel that I am now in the hands of terrorists. I would gladly tell them whatever they want to know if I could speak—the mouth kept wide open by some sort of doorstop device. But as the nitrous begins to peak, the terrorist illusion gives way to one of a car. They might be mechanics probing under my hood. A small tune-up and I’ll be out of the garage and back on the road in no time. But that playful notion is literally drilled out of me.

Suddenly, Dr. Whitecoat Professional—wall-mounted diplomas implying competence—goes all Con Edison on me. He proceeds to jack-hammer my street with no prior warning or explanation. There are now sounds coming from down below, that in all my visits to the chair, I’ve never heard. Weird variations on a drilling theme in the key of Eek sharp!

One particular adagio drill bit passage, reminding me of a mandatory machine shop class I had to take as a high school student at Brooklyn Tech (♫ “Tech alma mater, molder of men”♫), somewhere in the deep recesses of the previous millennium. And in the absence of any sign of gracefulness in the execution, there is pressure, penetration and screaming metal, hell-bent on reaching China. And while I feel no actual pain by this point, I am sweating. Audibly. What if he slips? His assistant will no doubt cover up the evidence of this unfortunate accident, which could result in years of expensive litigation…and all to no avail.

In need to go elsewhere, the brain heads off to the movies. Appearing on its screen now, is that crazed dentist played by Steve Martin in “Little Shop of Horrors.” Followed shortly, by the dental scene from “The Marathon Man” with Dustin Hoffman and a menacingLawrence Olivier. (“Is it safe? Is it safe?”) And though such imagery and attendant associations race along, time seems eternal.

I was in that chair for about a week. And as I wandered into the dessert of resignation by say the sixth day, a thought seeped in and took hold, and repeated itself through the nitrous haze. That with all the advances in science and technology, with all its robotics and killer apps— even in the sci-fi sounding year of 2015— reality is literal, not virtual. We look to science, or God, to eliminate the discomforts that come with living. And neither can do it.

Oxygen now finally freely flowing, and having come back fully to my all too common senses, it was time to leave to go pick up my computer that had crashed and was in the shop. Okay, I’ll admit to “going Brian Williams” here. My computer did not crash at that particular time. Nor was it even shot at. I misremembered. You know, the nitrous oxide and all.

JE SUIS "MAD" by RON VAZZANO

Je Suis MAD

by Ron Vazzano

In the aftermath of the terrorist bloodbath in Paris at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, reportedly three million people took to the streets in solidarity, many holding up signs proclaiming “Je suis Charlie.” In translation, it might read something along the lines of…

“Though we were not even aware of the existence of this magazine…or, while we were aware of it and even thought it crude at times in its lampooning of religious beliefs and institutions, we are at one with Charlie in the right to freedom of expression without being murdered for it.”

When CBS’s Sunday Morning program asked the Editor-in-chief of MAD magazine, John Ficcara, for a commentary on this tragedy, he admitted to giving pause. He had a couple of concerns not the least of which was, that by appearing on TV denouncing terrorists and defending the rights of satirists and cartoonists, would he be endangering his own life and that of his colleagues?

He went ahead all the same and noted in his two and a half minute statement, something so obvious that we’ve always taken for granted. Yet in the lunacy of a terrorist world, it is newly appreciated and even profound in its assumption. He said in part:

“…we were merciless on the Catholic Church for covering up the child abuse scandal. And after 9/11, we went after Jerry Falwell hard for blaming the 9/11 attacks on gay feminists, abortionists and the ACLU.

We knew at the end of the day, no matter how much we lampooned Falwell or the Catholic Church, we shared a common set of rules of engagement.

The worst that could happen to us was that we got a stern letter from their lawyers—we live for those. Not once did we ever fear for our safety.”

Actually, from what I’ve heard about Charlie Hebdo, I would not have associated it in any way with MAD magazine. As a piece in The New Yorker noted, “they (Charlie) worked in a peculiarly French and savage tradition, forged in a long nineteenth-century guerilla war between republicans and the church and the monarchy.” Hardly the raison d’être for MAD. Yet former Chicago Seven defendant and later California state senator Tom Hayden has been quoted as saying, “My own radical journey began with MAD magazine.”

Having been a reader of MAD over forty years ago, I loved the great caricatures of the people it was spoofing in the pop culture, its sendups of ad campaigns, its regular features of “Spy vs. Spy,” “The Lighter Side of…” Don Martin cartoons and the Fold-in, and the like. I didn’t remember it being particularly controversial or scathing on any great political or social issues. Yet a quick Google scan of some covers over the years that jumped out at me, suggests that it has taken on the establishment and those things we hold dear. Sacrebleu, even Facebook.

The Fidel Castro cover from 1963 is particularly ironic, in that it has since been alleged, that one of the methods the CIA was considering in assassinating him, was with an exploding cigar. “Out-spying” even “Spy vs. Spy”?

From there it was but a short walk to a Barnes & Noble to pick up the current copy, to see if my remembrance of the magazine (comic book?) as being something merely mischievous, had developed into something more satirically venomous in my long absence. In two words…not really.

In its annual tribute to the year’s biggest idiots issue, “The 20 Dumbest People, Events and Things 2014,” it roasted some of the more low moments in the news of the past year. These included jabs at the “NFL’s Domestic Violence Problem,” “Ebola Hysteria,” the “Militarization of the Police Department” (though nothing on Ferguson) “Obama Caught Off Guard” (“Fail to the chief.”), “Hillary Clinton Crying Poverty,” “Chris Christie’s Traffic Scandal,” “Putin Invading the Ukraine,” “White House Security Breaches.” It also featured in a cartoon spread, “A MAD look at the Old Testament,” in which for example, the pharaoh’s daughter upon finding Moses in a basket, leaves him on the Nile river bank and just takes the basket. Not the sort of stuff that is going to result in a massacre of their staff by outraged fundamentalists. It will be interesting to see if MAD addresses Charlie Hedbo, even obliquely, in their next issue.

To be Charlie means going over the top and never having to say you’re sorry. It means believing in a right to freedom of expression that doesn’t cause an endangerment to people, as say yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater would. The only danger here being to themselves. And they knew it, as their office had been fire bombed before. And that takes guts. Or some might say stupidity. But in that sense, Je ne suis pas Charlie. Je suis MAD. And I suspect most of us are.

—–

Ron Vazzano, a writer, poet and actor, has been a frequent contributor to this website as well as performer at Artist Without Walls monthly showcases.

WALL-TO-WALL TALENT at AWoW's HOLIDAY SHOWCASE at THE CELL

“What a great night of talent…and Niamh Hyland’s voice is stunning. I literally get goosebumps. Amazing. ” Mitch Traphagen

—–

Joseph Goodrich started things off with “The New Boy”—a poignant and humorous look at Christmas in a small Minnesota town. Goodrich’s story skillfully conveyed the turbulent emotions of its main character, a seven-year-old boy whose life has been touched with loss. Sensitive writing and a bravura performance by Goodrich made “The New Boy” a welcome guest.

—–

Ron Vazzano’s poem “Trains: A Christmas Story,” suggested paradoxically, the joy and peril of getting what you wish for, in that it can come at a cost of a loss of innocence and humiliation in the process. Beautifully done.

—–

Award winning singer/songwriter/author Michael Sheahan opened his performance with “Jingle Jangle Jingle All Night Long” from his award winning Christmas Book, CD and Dance DVD, Mr. Holidays Presents The Roof Top Hop. This up-beat, joyful Christmas song had the audience smiling, laughing, and tapping their feet to it’s wonderful Christmas spirit. His second song “Some

Things Never Change,” the title track from Michaels Christmas CD, touched the audience’s heart with it’s loving sentiment for Mom and Dad as they physically change over the years. Michael finished his set, appropriately ringing in the New Year, with “Year Out…Year In.” You can hear all the above mentioned songs on Michael’s latest Christmas CD Some Things Never Change.

—–

Here’s what the audience had to say about playwright Brona Crehan and actress Grainne Duddy:

“Moonlight Sonata – a roller coaster of a ride. “

“Beautifully written and wonderfully told.”

“We felt like we were eavesdropping on something deeply personal and could have listened all night.”

—–

Singer/songwriter Ed Romanoff began his performance sharing the ironic discovery of his own Irish heritage and being welcomed to Ireland by Phillip King on the RTE program, “Where The South Wind Blows.” Ed then continued his engaging rootsy storytelling with an Irish twist by becoming the voice of Willie Sutton in a ballad about the famed Irish bank robber, paroled on Christmas Eve by Governor Rockefeller. Ed also played a crowd pleasing new song, “A Golden Crown,” about a boxer and a claddagh ring.

—–

Admiring Vera's 2014 AWoW Poster — **Admiring Vera’s 2014 AWoW Poster**

Nicholas Garr gave a wonderfully moving, and hysterically funny performance, from his solo theatre piece Paper Tigers, which explores our shared issues of love, sex, ambition, and self image, in a world where things are often not as they appear. In the scene Nick performed, Father Rodney, a teacher at an all boys Catholic school, gives his final religion class, to a group of graduating seniors. In Nicholas’ Paper Tigers, a Mafia psychic, channels a variety of characters from the underbelly of the familar, in order to help his audience find “spiritual understanding and their true inner selves.”

—–

What if 19th century Paris’ most infamous party-girl were undead and on the loose in the Big Apple? Marion Stein read from her new novel Blood Diva (published under the pen name VM Gautier) which reimagines the heroine of Camille and La Traviata as a vampire-about-town enjoying the human smorgasbord that is New York. Blood Diva is available in paper book and as an ebook at Amazon and other fine booksellers. Click here for a link to the Blood Diva blog.

—–

Honor Molloy and Niamh Hyland brought the evening to a close with “Christmas on an Island.” Adapted from a Radio Eireann script written by Honor’s mother Yvonne Voight, this selection from Smarty Girl – Dublin Savage is set in the wilds of Inish Maan during the last days of 1954. Honor played the mother and the mischievous Noleen O’Feeney. Niamh played a handful of Island Women, including the Mighty Spirit, Bridgie Flaherty. There was a song—miracle a song–as Niamh sang the first verse of “Silent Night” in Irish. Then the whole crowd joined in to celebrate the season and send each other home (with a quick stop at the Westside Tavern first.)

—–

The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase is on January 27th, 7pm at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St., NYC

All photos by Vera Hoar and Mitch Traphagen.

ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' HOLIDAY SHOWCASE at THE CELL THEATRE, TUESDAY, 12/23, 6:45PM

“This is a note of thanks for supporting my efforts through pictures and words these past two years. I’ve been working as an actor for at least twenty five years now and I’ve never before been involved in anything quite like this. AWoW is a unique blessing. So happy to be a member.” Jack O’Connell, actor, New York

Ron Vazzano is a writer/poet who has read his work at The Cell on a number of occasions since becoming a member of AWoW. As an actor, at a recent Showcase, Ron performed at a monologue he’d written called, “Ten Totems of Obsolescence in Passing.” Tuesday night he will be reading one, as he says, “Seasonally appropriate, poem.” No doubt, humor will abound.

Ed Romanoff’s debut album was a Roots Radio Top 100, number 12 in Europe, and its opening song was voted Song of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association. Recently, at fifty years of age, Ed discovered that he’s not Russian as he’d always believed, but Irish. Ed is writing a book about uncovering his true identity as well as recording a followup CD. He will be performing a few of his tunes with, we’re sure, a story or two thrown in.

Singer/songwriter/producer Michael Sheahan will be performing Christmas songs from his three-time award winning Christmas Book, CD and Dance DVD “Mr. Holidays Presents The Roof Top Hop,” as well as songs from his latest Christmas CD, “Some Things Never Change.” Looking for some additional holiday music? Look no further.

“Paper Tigers” is a solo theatrical piece, which is currently being developed by Nick Garr. In “Paper Tigers”, Nick creates, or rather, “recreates,” a variety of characters from the underbelly of the familiar. With them, he explores our shared issues of love, sex, ambition, and self-image, in a world where things are often not as they appear. Nick will be performing a segment that shows Father Rodney, a teacher at an all boys Catholic high school, presenting his final religion class to a group of graduating seniors.

Playwright and writer Joseph Goodrich will present “The New Boy”—-a holiday reminiscence set in Minnesota, where Goodrich grew up. In “The New Boy,” Christmas 1970 is fraught with loss, anxiety, and an unexpected guest. We heard Joe present this piece at Ed McCann’s “Writers Read” recently. Brilliant.

Honor Molloy and Niamh Hyland will present “Christmas on an Island”–adapted from a Radio Eireann script written by Honor’s mother Yvonne Voight. This selection from “Smarty Girl – Dublin Savage” is set in the last days of 1954 when Noleen’s mother heads out to the wilds of Inish Maan for Christmas. Might this include a tune from Ms. Hyland as well?

Marion Stein is a graduate of the Sarah Lawrence MFA program. Her work appeared in Gordon Lish’s legendery Quarterly Magazine. You can catch her snarky television recaps at Happy Nice Time People. Marion’s available fiction includes “Loisaida” – a novel of gentrification and its discontents – as well as the new work she will be reading from at the Showcase.

And rounding out the evening’s performances will be a scene from Brona Crehan’s “Moonlight Sonata,” which will be performed by Grainne Duddy.

A number of artists will have CD’s and books for sale, so if you’re looking for last minute stocking stuffers you’ll find them at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St, tomorrow night,Tuesday, December 23rd, 6:45pm

We hope to see you then.

ED SULLIVAN, TOPO GIGIO and AWoW

Singer/songwriter Ed Romanoff said, “If you were to put Ed Sullivan, Oscar Wilde and TEDTalks into a blender you’d get Artist Without Walls. The Showcase is a friendly environment for artists to share their work and start unique collaborations in a remarkably intimate setting. One of the most receptive and fun shows I’ve been a part of…”

And now we know who can step into the Ed Sullivan role if we take the the show on the road…Ron Vazzano.

Ron Vazzano as Ed Sullivan

This from Ron, “When you mentioned Ed Sullivan this past Tuesday night, it reminded me that I once played him at a church fund raiser on two different occasions. They were variety shows that went on for two hours. Two hours of having to stay in character as Ed Sullivan introducing these various acts performed by locals and members of the parish. I also did a bit with Topo Gigio, a puppet I still have.”

Ed Sullivan and Topo Gigio

Ron’s still at it. Here he is at a recent Showcase. We’re expecting a “Flying Wallenda” circus act from Ron during December’s Showcase. Okay, maybe not a high-wire act, but what about Topo, Ron?

PHOTOS from the ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE at THE CELL, OCT 22, 2014

Vera Hoar’s photos from the Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre, October 22, 2014. The names of the photographed appear above each photo.

Ron Vazzano

Laurie Lewis, Mike Visceglia and Liz Queler

Gibson and Warren Malone

Noah Hoffeld, Dan Yurkofsky and Melissa Stylianou

Sana Musasama

Richard Deane

Idan Morin

Steve Silver and David Sharp

STELLAR LINEUP for ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE at THE CELL, WED, OCT 22, 7pm

“Artists Without Walls allows the various artists to bring things they ‘make’ to The Cell, to share with others. Sharing my neon animations last night was a real honor. To have been able to offer the crowd a touch of fun and joy is the icing on the cake for an artist.” Jack Feldstein, animator and scriptwriter, after a recent AWoW Showcase.

And they’ll be more of the same on Wednesday, October 22nd, 7pm at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd Street, NYC.

Ron Vazzano is a writer and poet, and his monthly on line “Muse-Letter” (a mix of essays, reviews, poems, quotes, wordplay etc) just reached its tenth anniversary this month. Ron’s essays have been posted on the Artists Without Walls’ website and he’s also read his poetry on a number of occasions at Showcases over the past year. In a former life, he spent some years as an actor appearing in theatrical productions in New York City as well as on the road. Ron will be working in both capacities on Wednesday, doing a character monologue that he has adapted from an essay appearing on his website this month, entitled: “Ten Totems of Obsolescence in Passing.”

Laurie Lewis is a nationally and internationally acclaimed composer/producer/owner of Incommon Music, an original music production company, established in 1990. Incommon Music has produced hundred of scores and songs for film, commercials and multi media installations. Joining Laurie will be Liz Queler who is a touring and recording artist. Liz’s first theater piece ‘Still Will be

Heard’ was recently commissioned and produced by Montclair State University to rave reviews. AWoW is delighted to reunite Laurie and Liz – a songwriting and production team that began 25 years ago. They’ve developed a piece called “The Owl and the Pussycat” specifically for Wednesday’s performance.

World traveler, humanitarian and ceramic artist Sana Musasama will be joining us once again this Wednesday to discuss her efforts on behalf of abused young girls around the world and her work, which as she says, “Is about an experience that triggers an emotion, sometimes of a place or a time.” She then submerges herself with information that informs these ideas and concepts. “When I feel this overwhelming presence I poetically call my extra heart beat. I then pick up my clay and begin to build.” If you missed Sana when she visited us six months ago here’s another chance to meet this very compelling woman.

Singer/songwriter Warren Malone loves to sing, write songs and play guitar. “I love traditional folk music as much as I love a great pop song. The first record I ever put on was a Hank Williams’ record when I was four years old. As a kid I loved Elvis.” Joining Warren on the piano for some old time rock ‘n’roll will be his son Gibson Malone. If you haven’t heard these two play together you’re in for a treat

Richard Deane will be reading a scene from his novel-in-progress, “When Yesterday Comes.” At a reading earlier in the year Richard read a scene that poignantly explores the existential conflict between a cabdriver’s skittish trepidations and the allurement of his prurient desires as he drives two menacing street pimps uptown to Harlem on Christmas Day. We’re looking forward to another excellent passage from Richard’s work.

Singer/composer Dan Yurkofsky will present two songs from his recently released CD “Hoverhill. “Although he now resides in New York City, many of the songs on the record are inspired by life in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he lived for several years. He’ll be joined by two of the outstanding musicians that play on the album: cellist Noah Hoffeld and singer Melissa Stylianou.

Idan Morin, a guitarist who hails from Israel and studied at the Tel Aviv Conservatory of Music and more recently at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary music in NYC, grew up studying the giants of jazz and musicians from all over the world. His ability to communicate without words is cleary present in his music and Improvisation.

Hope to see you at The Cell this Wednesday.

FUTBOL: "THE BEAUTIFUL GAME" or OPERA BUFFO?

While many of us, well, some of us, will be glued to the screen for tonight’s US vs Portugal World Cup match, it seems Ron Vazzano might not be. Or will he?

THEIR CUP RUNNETH OVER

by RON VAZZANO

This is the quadrennial year for the World Cup in which about 3,200 countries (32 actually…it only seems that way to this bystander who doesn’t really “get” this sport), will compete for supremacy in the world of Soccer. This is serious stuff. And there literally could be blood, as there once was for a poor guy who came up short in the contest.

—–

Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1994

BOGOTA, Colombia — Angry at Colombia’s elimination from the World Cup soccer tournament, gunmen Saturday shot and killed Andres Escobar, the player who accidentally scored a goal against his own side in a match with the United States and helped seal the team’s fate, police said.

—-

Mr. Escobar’ fatal boo boo was the equivalent of half of the only two goals the U.S. would score by their own feet (or heads) over the course of the four games they played that year! Which brings me to a question I have vocalized on several occasions to devotees of the sport —much to my own peril: how can you follow a sport in which scoring occurs about as frequently as a solar eclipse?

There is such a profound imbalance between offense and defense, that not only is it hard to score, but so too, is even the potential to score. It is not uncommon to see a goalie only have to make about three saves an entire game. In another low scoring sport, hockey, New York Ranger Goalie Henrik Lundqvist made an astounding 48 saves in a 3-2 loss in the Stanley Cup final this month.

Of course in hockey, they are on skates and can move up and down a rather compact rink at speeds of almost 30 MPH. In soccer, men in cleats have to traverse a field larger than the state of Delaware, with the opposing goals being in different area codes.

“All Americans care about is scoring,” I’ve been ‘castigatingly’ told. “You have to appreciate the footwork and ball control.”

If I wanted to watch great ball control without the use of hands, I would watch a seal balancing a ball on its nose. Though come to think of it, with the Ed Sullivan Show long gone, where could I actually get to see that these days?

Here I am making sport of another guy’s sport, one played around the globe, while I have waxed unabashedly poetic and philosophic and even theological, on the wonder and beauty of baseball. Which for many, is a game that can bore them to tears for its being far too slow moving and ungoverned by a clock. So while acknowledging my chauvinism on the matter, I turn my attention to time and clock, and the Alice in Wonderland way in which they are handled in soccer.

Time in a soccer game is not real, but alleged. While claiming to play for ninety minutes, those minutes include: time that the ball is knocked out of bounds and therefore out of play …the time that expires as teams leisurely set up for corner kicks and penalty kicks and the like… the stoppage of play by a referee’s whistle for some infraction, which is then often contested by the perpetrator, as if doing a scene from Pagliacci…the team celebrations of hugging, kissing, rending of garments, and in general, going into seizures over the sheer improbability over what has just occurred. And all the while the clock keeps ticking…

Of course, if a player is seriously injured to the point where he must be carried off the field, or given last rites, they will add a few minutes to the contest in compensation. Though that too will be vague, and there will be no counting down of seconds by the fans as the game nears its end, as you will get in other clock-sports. No one really knows when the end is near. Suddenly, a whistle blows. Game. You would think in a sport where it is already so daunting a task to score a goal, not a precious second would go uncounted.

But all that aside, the World Cup is a spectacle. And spectacles are fun. And who doesn’t like a spectacle? (Aside from maybe a participant from Columbia.). And I’ll tune in if it gets interesting as the Cup moves along towards its finale on July 13^th. I’ve been known to watch Synchronized Swimming, if the U.S. was closing in on another Gold. My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of dominancy. Of thee I sing.

Yet, when “we” won that first game against Ghana 2-1 earlier this month, while scoring the fastest American goal ever in World Cup history at the 32-second mark, and a soccer bar’s window in Seattle was shattered(Reckless in Seattle?), I wondered if a record was broken along with that window, for the Jerkiest Sports Bar Moment for a game that decided nothing.

Imagine if the U. S. of A. were somehow, one day, ever to win one of these things what might break out?

The odds of that happening this year, as of this soliloquy, are about 250-1 according to London bookies. Who of course drive on the wrong side of the road.

And for all my issues with the sport and its culture, I will continue to root, root, root for the home team: USA!USA!USA! And… ♫ If they don’t win it’s a shame ♫… In which case—though a soccer atheist— I pray that Italy does.

* * *