The state of theatre

When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the city of New Orleans was reeling from devastation no major urban center had ever withstood. All of the major performance venues for theater were either detroyed, severely damaged, or in serious doubt of being able to sustain a season with a population that was widely dispersed in other towns and cities. Yet, within six months the acting community was back in businesss staging theatrical productions for the psychological benefit of the weary populace and the uplifting of the scores of dedicated theatre professionals and volunteers who had returned to the city they loved. While I was not able to be here in the early days, I was able to witness several productions in 2006 and many more in the 15 months since I returned. Recently, a spectacular version of "Cabaret," originally meant to be staged in the September that followed Katrina, was restaged at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre. What made this production so special was that virtually every original cast member (Jessie Terrebone, Roy Haylock, and Jimmy Murphy among them) were back for this production, almost three years later. Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre is in the midst of their run for "L'il Abner" this weekend and this follows a well received "Pal Joey" that opened the season less than a month ago. The Tulane Shakespeare Festival mounted two very strong productions of "The Taming of the Shrew" and "As You Like It," both cast in innovative settings that, for the most part, worked very well. Barbara Motley, the proprietress at Cabaret Le Chat Noir has been featured on the latest cover of New Orleans Magazine, a credit to her skills as a cabaret operator, member of the Downtown Development District, and a promoter of local theatre. Uptown, the Anthony Bean Community Theatre and Acting School have served up "Unplugged" with original music and lyrics by young peformers of the current hip hop generation. Several new production companies have opened and one of them, InSideOut Productions is mounting a moving performance of a Southern death row drama titled "Coyote on a Fence" by Bruce Graham. Directed by Ashley Riccord and starring her husband Michael Aaron Santos, this small cast with big production values shows what is capable in a post-Katrina theater environment. Across town a new staging of Chekov's "Uncle Vanya" is playing and a new production of "Private Eyes" opens this evening at Southern Repertory for their City Series. Another new company, FourFront Productions, will be presenting their first offering, "Gutenberg! The Musical!" in August. I've left out a number of others, but not intentionally. It's just that the theatre scene is so varied here that I wanted to give examples of all of the contrasting choices on a present-day menu that almost three years ago lacked basic ingredients or even a serving menu. It is a credit to the amateurs and professionals who tread the boards that theatre has rebounded so well in this city that needs so badly to be entertained and for its collective imagination to take flight.

Computers running s-l-o-w ?

More times than not, I am asked about why computers that formerly zipped along doing their thing have slowed to a virtual crawl. There are several answers, but most have to be determined by a spate of different questions. Are you running anti-spyware? If not, has the computer been compromised by downloading a spyware program that seems innocuous, but in fact is acting like a parasite on your system? Many times a flashing box warns "You have been infected. Check your system now!" and end users scared into thinking they are doing something wrong click on the "scan" only to find out that they now are truly infected with a spyware that demands $29.95 for removal of suspicious files. More times than not, the suspicious files are anything but and these programs will remove non-infected files to appear to be doing something important and vital. Spyware is not unlike a virus in the way it compromises a computer's ability to function, but unlike a virus it does not replicate itself by sending itself to other nodes on the local area network or by e-mailing itself to contacts derived from a computer's address book. With viruses no longer able to compromise many of the security holes in Windows products, virus alerts have become fewer and fewer. Even if a new virus rears its ugly head, anti-virus script writers are able to bash it in little time. The adventurous virus writer finds his moment of glory or ignonimy has faded. Aside from the vile threat from spyware, another problem with aging operating systems is the fact that temporary Internet files and cookies need to be deleted on a regular basis. The way to accomplish this easy task is to go to the Control Panel and click on Internet Options. Then click on the General Tab of Internet Properties, go to Browsing History and click on the Delete button. Click on Delete Files and wait a while. Then click on Cookies and delete those as well. If you're not running Windows XP Service Pack 2, it is slightly different. You'll have to click on Internet Options and go to the middle of the General Tab and click on View Files. Click on Select All, which should highlight them all. Then delete the Files with the Select All and delete keys found under File and Edit. Once they have been deleted, delete the Cookies in the same fashion. This should increase the speed of most computers, but in many cases the difference will be noticeable, but slight. Sometimes a reboot of the computer will yield great results because it will free up the RAM that has been allocated previously by other applications. Again, it may be a slight increase in speed, but could be just what you need. These are fairly simple practices, but should be considered from time to time (at least once a month) to keep computers running faster than they are at present. A good anti-virus and anti-spyware program is vital today. Good practices of deleting temporary Internet files and cookies and an occasional reboot will also help. Good luck.

My Dear Sweet Cynthia

I regret that I must report today the loss of one of the great stars of New Orleans, nay, of America, Cynthia Owen. Cynthia died late Sunday night in Las Vegas on the eve of her 45th birthday. Her death remains unclassified, according to a report in today's edition of the Times-Picayune. Click here.
As a performer, Cynthia was without peers on the local stages. She possessed an extraordinary voice and a stage presence that made her a local luminary ever since she was a teenager in her hometown here in New Orleans. Cynthia, the daughter of local performer and singer Lyla Hay Owen, also achieved some fame as a featured performer aboard the American Queen and Robert E. Lee riverboats as well as in St. Louis at the Theatre Factory there. Cynthia also performed in a national touring company of "Nine," based on Fellini's film "8 and 1/2." Above everything else, she was a dear friend and I am blessed to have shared my life with her. A beautiful lady with an indomitable spirit, Cynthia charmed her way into the hearts of local theater goers for most of the decades of her life. She was a belter, but she could finesse the most difficult of intimate songs too. It is painful for me to think that she is gone. I remember her as a teenager coming into my family's record store and I was taken with her charm and irrepressible spirit. I caught most of her stage work through the years and counted her as among my closest of friends in the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina. Sadly, since the passage of the storm and my stay in Cleveland, I had not seen her. In the interim I had heard she was in St. Louis, had married and was now living in New York commuting between the East Coast and the West Coast. Yet, I was gladdened to hear that she would be performing as part of the cast of Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre's "Pal Joey." Unfortunately, she was ill just prior to the show's run (an attack of sciataca I was told) and her part and her song, "Zip," were hastily cut from the production. I will forever mourn the fact that I was not able to see her perform in that show. I feel certain that I would have seen her after the show and caught up with what had been going on in her life. Cynthia was a dynamo whether it was part of an ensemble or doing a cabaret show that spotlighted her abilities as a solo performer. I am overwrought with the thought that I will never see her smile or listen to her laugh again. She was a joy to me and the thought that she has passed so suddenly brings wave upon wave of inconsolable sorrow. I will cherish the great times we shared and remember her as a beautiful and charming lady. We have lost one of our truly great ones. God bless you, my dear sweet Cynthia.

Save the Sazerac

Thanks to our wonderful Louisiana Legislature, the City of New Orleans now has its own official cocktail, the Sazerac. Many of my Cleveland friends will recall that two liquid refreshments kept me connected spiritually to New Orleans in my stay there. The mornings produced a heady cup of coffee with chicory (usually Cafe du Monde or CDM brand), which got me going throughout my busy day. However, when evening came, the choice beverage for me was a Sazerac, considered America's first cocktail and invented right here in New Orleans. The Sazerac has always been made with Peychaud's bitters, which are the second most popular bitters in this country. However, the most popular brand, Angostura, far outsells Peychaud's bitters and is used to make a plethora of popular cocktails like the Manhattan and the Old Fashioned. So, if one asks for bitters at most bars, they invariably get Angostura. Bitters are made with herbs suspended in an alcohol or glycerol solution. Like the name suggests, they have a bitter taste when sampled alone. However, they are used as starters for several alcohol concoctions and meld with spirits in such a way that they enhance the libation and provide it with a taste that stays well on he tongue. When pharmacist Antoine Amadie Peychaud, an immigrant from the West Indies, first came up with Peychaud's bitters, it was intended to be used as a digestif, or after-meal potable that would aid digestion. Peychaud began selling his proprietary bitters and created the original Sazerac cocktail using them with a special brandy imported from France. When liquor taxes became popular in the mid to late 19th Century, bitters were also passed as "medicine" and several popular watering holes, often colloquially referred to as "coffee houses," sprang up to dispense the potent potables. In New Orleans the most famous was the Sazerac Coffee House, constructed in 1852. It featured a 125-foot bar manned by as many as a dozen bartenders. The use of absinthe, then legal in the U.S. to coat the glasses of the concoctions gave the Sazerac its unique place in history and later, as American tastes dictated, whiskey was substituted for the original brandy. The famous Sazerac Room of the Roosevelt Hotel, later renamed the Fairmount, was world famous for dispensing their potent libations. It was reputed that Huey Long downed as many as six of these strong drinks before the long drive back to Baton Rouge. Today, the Sazerac is made with rye whiskey and Herbsaint (a substitute for the now banned absinthe) stands in for the licorice or anise flavored liquor used to coat the glasses. So, I am off to class and we will see if my version stands the test of the experts. Hmmm...it will be the best "class" I've attended all year.

Happy Birthday, America

With all of the hoopla surrounding yesterday's July 4th celebrations, it was hard for me to get a word in about the importance of our Independence Day. As someone who is keenly aware of the rights and privileges we Americans entertain in our daily affairs, I am always concerned that ever more of our rights are being given up voluntarily at the expense of so-called security. Anyone who has boarded a plane in the last seven years knows of the travails one must endure in order to successfully move from origin to destination. How many women have had to give up their children's box drinks because they didn't think about their being larger than 3 ounces? How many times have we wanted to bring a bottle of water on board only to remember that the one we just purchased outside the airport has to be disposed before boarding? It's not just the annoyances, it's the flights that have been delayed due to everyone trying to stuff their overloaded carryon items into the overhead bins. Now, with American Airlines and others charging for any suitcase checked into a flight, that battle for overhead bin allocation space would seem to get more heated. Red light camera enforcement has given way from catching motorists who flagrantly run red lights to capturing the license plates of those who drive nine miles above the speed limit. I can't wait till the cameras start recording those people not wearing seatbelts or using text messaging while driving. Not that I'm apologizing for those scofflaws. It's just that the technology has made it much easier for government (or private concerns working for government) to intrude into personal lives as a way of seeking more profit and revenue streams. The ability to monitor the private lives of citizens has taken on Big Brother status in recent times. As Benjamin Franklin so eloquently pointed out: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." I hope we keep that in mind as we continue to lose more and more rights at the sacrifice of "security."

Death by bulldozer

In one of the most bizarre terrorist attacks I've heard about, a Palestinian wreaked havoc in the busy streets of Jerusalem by using an unconventional weapon, to wit, a runaway bulldozer. During the course of the attack a packed city bus was turned on its side and a number of cars were smashed, and pedestrians were struck before the assailant was shot dead by an Israeli motorcycle division police officer who climbed into the cab of the vehicle while on its rampage. It is ironic that a bulldozer would be the weapon of choice. That's because the images most Israelis associate with them are that of bulldozers razing the houses of Jewish settlers in disputed areas of the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Dozens were injured in this brazen assault, but the fact that three women were the ultimate victims of the attack in the heart of Jerusalem serves as a reminder that terrorism is intended to disrupt the normalcy of life. Women buying items in food markets or using public transportation to make purchases at retail outlets make ideal victims for terrorists. Because they stand for innocence and have no political agenda, women killed in senseless tragedies like this strike terror in the heart of everyone. The case can certainly be made that if it happens to them, it could happen to anyone. Reports from Jerusalem suggest the terrorist, a 31-year-old East Jerusalem Arab and father of two, was very well-versed with how to use the bulldozer as a weapon. A witness watched as he used the shovel portion of the powerful device to hit a van head-on and then to use it to smash and flatten the front of the vehicle. Reports say dozens of other vehicles were smashed along busy Jaffa Street unable to get out of the way of the oncoming earthmover because of concrete barricades that have been erected on the sides in prepartion for a light rail system being constructed there. Ironically, the attack occurred as Israel opened up its borders to Gaza, a move orchestrated by Egypt in a deal with Hamas, who promised to stop lobbing missiles into Israel from their positions in Gaza. Despite promises to the contrary, Kassam missiles had been launched yesterday, breaking the cease fire so tenuously negotiated. Meanwhile, Israeli politicians have pointed to the dead assailant's status as an occupant of the former East Jerusalem section. All former East Jerusalem residents were offered citizen status following the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel captured the Arab section of the city and unified it. Most refused to accept citizenship. Some Israelis, like Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai, the chair of the right-wing Shas Party, have called for stricter measures to limit the movements of East Jerusalem residents. Others point out that such measures would threaten to partition East and West Jerusalem again, making East Jerusalem a likely capital of a Palestinian state should that occur. There is no doubt that this adds to the ongoing malaise in Israeli politics brought about by constant bombardments in places like Sderot, the double military problems of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbellah in Lebanon, the looming nuclear threat from Iran, and ineffectual and scandal-plagued leadership from Olmert's government.

A sudden goodbye and a sudden change of mind

When I joined the Cleveland Jewish News staff in October of 2005, I did so with the knowledge that I would be taking a very big chance. I would be leaving behind all of my friends and social connections in New Orleans to take up roots in a community of which I knew very little. The fact the CJN was a Jewish newspaper made the prospect seem a bit more reassuring, but it was a giant leap of faith to be certain. Among the members of the staff who made me feel at home was a quiet, tall figure who worked in the Production Department as a graphics designer. His name was Matthew Narby, but everyone called him Matt. Matt had started working at the newspaper in 2004, the year before I arrived. Like the late Tim Russert, he was a native of Buffalo and had graduated from State University of New York before moving to live and work in Cleveland. Prior to joining the CJN staff as a member of the production team, he had worked as a production manager and graphics designer at Trader Publishing as well as a designer at a nearby Kinko's. A devout Catholic, in his spare time Matt wrote children's books and taught religion classes at St. Clare's parish in nearby Lyndhurst. The ever-present smile he wore and his general demeanor always suggested he was happy. I recall Matt as a tireless morning reader of the Plain Dealer. He was an inveterate sports enthusiast who followed the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cleveland Indians and the Buffalo Sabers with a passion. He had an amazing head for sports trivia and kept his mind active during periods of downtime at work through a series of mental gymnastics, which always meant solving the daily crossword puzzle. Sometimes I even supplied a word or two in Matt's quest to finish the task. I really liked Matt as a fellow co-worker and found his unbending spirit refreshing. He was never without an opinion on sports or politics, but he mostly kept to himself and concentrated on his work. Perhaps it was because of his deep-seated religious background and compassion, he always seemed concerned with me as to what progress or lack thereof I could tell him about restoring my damaged home in New Orleans. Recently, Matt submitted a book review on a historical novel that was published in the CJN's March 28 edition. A dedicated husband and father, Matt was often on the phone with his loving wife Tara or conversing after school let out with his two daughters, Victoria and Grace. He worked hard through the day, but when it was time to go, he headed out through the door with a twinkle in his eye, making way for his home in South Euclid. In short he was a mensch, a Yiddish term for a responsible adult. Despite his being Catholic, it is a badge I believe he would bear with honor. Matt rarely missed a day of work due to illness, although he kept a mighty big secret from staff members; he had a congenital heart defect that put his life at risk. This past Sunday that big heart of Matt's suddenly and unexpectedly gave out. He was only 35. Like all of the CJN staff, I will mourn his loss and offer my deepest sympathies to his surviving family members.

Meanwhile, Governor Bobby Jindal acted like a responsible adult yesterday when he suddenly changed his mind, after saying he wouldn't, and vetoed the whopping pay increase that Louisiana state legislators had voted for themselves. The veto kills any chance that the measure can be considered again this year. It also derails the recall petition that had been launched two days prior, precipitated by angry voters who demanded he take such action.