Freakin' back pain...

Though I don't think that I have mentioned it here during this last week, I had one of my infamous "back throw out" sessions last Saturday night while at the "Almost Queen" show at the theatre. I can't really pinpoint any one thing that may have led to the "lumbar strain", but nevertheless it occurred.One moment, I was fine, the next - I was in severe pain and unable to stand up properly. Trouble is, here it is one week later, and I still have tightness and pain in my lower back. Not like for the first few days thankfully, but I have been experiencing some level of or pain ranging from mild to extreme for the last 8 days now.
And that doesn't make me feel like doing much of anything at all.

Refreshingly Honest...

After I left the theatre yesterday afternoon, George and I made plans to get together with our friend Michael, eat some dinner and watch a movie. Though as loosely made plans often tend to do, our schedule changed a bit when we all decided to dine at a local and hip little diner within walking distance from Michael's home.
We were in the mood for something "homey" food wise and once our server arrived the following conversation took place:
Michael K : "So, how is the meatloaf? Would you recommend it?"
Waitress : "No. Personally, I think it's disgusting. But if you're into that kind of thing..."
After a brief second of raised eyebrows and quick smirks, George than asks,
"Hmm. Well, what about the spaghetti and meatballs?"
Waitress: "You know, you're better off going to an Italian restaurant."

Thanks to her refreshing honesty, we all had Patty Melts.

And they were delicious.

Thank You honest waitress.

Howdy friends and neighbors

Originally uploaded by superbomba.

Imagine that you decide to host a "Get to Know Your Neighbors" BBQ/cocktail party on some sunny Saturday afternoon.

The doorbell rings...

Many thanks to superbomba and her phenomenal photo collection.

Leslie Jordan....

Guess who's coming to the RBTA?

(http://www.thelesliejordan.com/)

Busy Times

I have been so busy in my new position as Associate Director of the Rehoboth Beach Theatre of the Arts, that I've not had the same amount of time as I had been used to to partake in such activities as updating my blog on a regular basis. I'm not complaining, mind you, as I truly thrive on the challenge and excitement of it all. It's such a new project that there is, understandably, quite a bit of action always going on behind the scene.

I've performed in and/or have worked backstage with enough theatrical productions to have seen times of total chaos backstage. In fact, I've been in the middle of several just within the last several weeks as backstage manager with our current production. What's wonderful about working with such stage professionals is that together we ensure that the audience is blissfully unaware of any situation/s behind the curtain.

Of course that is exactly how it should be. "Suspension of Disbelief" is the term I believe...

The best toast I ever tasted...

This just struck me as so bizarre that I just had to post it. Not only can the toaster create the best toast you'll ever taste, it seems to be able to defy gravity as well. Either that, or the young woman enjoying her "coffee" likes to live life on the edge, or at least likes her toasters on the edge of the table.

Of course, judging from her glassy eyed "I hear you but I can't seem to comprehend a word you're saying" stare, she may mistake the toaster as her purse at any moment and slide her hand into it looking for her lip stick. In any case, if my breakfast conversation revolved around debate about whether I just finished "the best toast I ever tasted", I would think of other more practical uses for the toaster, perhaps as an accompaniment to a relaxing bath...

Hidden Face..

I love little stories about little surprises like this...

Hidden face uncovered under Van Gough painting...

Oddly enough, one of my well known works, "Marilyn"



Published in this : "Marilyn In Art", has an entirely different painting underneath it entitled "The Prophetess". I'm not sure if I have an image of the original work. But if I come across it, I'll post it here.

By the way, when you get a chance, check out this blog - www.rehobothbeachtheatre.blogspot.com.
This is the new blog for the equally new Rehoboth Beach Theatre of the Arts where I now serve as Associate Director.

Got to love the O.N.N.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Heap Big Silly Drink

0722082033.jpg, originally uploaded by sprouseart.

There I am on the right sharing a loving cup of a mini-mexican hat shaped punch bowl filled with god only knows how many different kinds of booze at a place called Mango's in Bethany Beach last night as we celebrated the birthday of my friend Michael. Fortunately, I didn't sip as strongly as I could have knowing that I had a full day today.

When it was brought to the table, the center of the hat was aflame. Fortunately, the birthday boy knew to blow out the wee fire so as to not burn away the alcohol of the rum.

Busy busy busy

Would it help to state that I have been working like a mad man? A little over 2 weeks ago, I took a position with the Rehoboth Beach Theatre of the Arts located, of course, in downtown Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. That position, as back stage manager, has now grown into backstage manager and publicist for the theatre. I'm very happy doing both as I feel as if I am in my "element". Of course, I also am spending as much time as possible in my studio as I have a solo exhibit in September at the Philip Morton gallery.

Needless to say really, but this new schedule has taken a large bite out of my regular schedule, leaving me less free time for, say, this blog. But fear not, I'll still be popping in and out frequently, but perhaps not daily.

Also, I'll be posting links here soon to the blog that I will be creating for the Rehoboth Beach Theatre of The Arts. If I could figure out how to use my groovy new phone for blogging, then you'll find even more dynamic content here. I'll let you know, or am very open to ideas on how to do that.

GO CAROL KRECK

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/11/mccain-campaign-had-prote_n_112255.html

BUSY Saturday!

It's 5:59 AM here. Why am I up so early on a Saturday morning? Well, I may have overlooked the information that last week I officially started working as the Assistant Stage Manager for the Rehoboth Beach Theatre of The Arts. (If you happen to be in the area during the run of our current production of "Broadway Fever" I urge you to catch a performance as it really is spectacular - if only I could get the words from Seasons of Love out of my head -



However, I also have to drive back to NJ this AM ( two hours) so that I can jury an Figurative Art Competition for the Annual Haddonfield Fine Art and Crafts Festival . I have to finish there by about 3, then high tail it back to the beach for tonight's show.

Truth be told, if I stay attentive and "in the now" it should all be wonderful!

Cheers

Follow the money....

I believe that I have made it rather clear that I intend on supporting the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, however, I'm not a fan of blindly following anyone or anything without keeping an inner-eye open. It's not an issue of not being able to trust, it is actually more of an issue of trusting greatly, trusting my inner-voice - the voice of my essence, some would call it intuition. It's the same voice that wisely suggests that I not allow any experience to take me over completely because that's when people begin to make mistakes. I believe that history has shown repeatedly that blind trust in anything has ultimately proven to formulate as costly mistakes.

That being said, let me now question why BHO voted to pass the FISA Bill. This is the same bill that he strongly opposed in 2007 with a statements coming from his campaign like "To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies" and "Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same".

This issue is deservedly getting all of the attention that it should. It seems to me that his decision to support this Bill after so vocally promising to vote against less than a year ago, was truly foolish and I can't see how it can be spun it any positive light.

Here is a very astute quote from an article by Bob Ostertag that sums it up quite nicely: "Here is another level on which this whole thing stinks. It is one thing for a presumptive nominee to adjust policy positions to reach out to constituencies he wants to bring in to his coalition which were not part of his primary victory. We have seen Obama do that with evangelicals, for example. Warrantless wiretapping has no constituency. There is no sector of the American population that just might jump off the fence and get behind Obama if he only agrees to give telecommunications corporations retroactive immunity for illegally collaborating with the Bush administration's spying. He is not courting votes here. Either he is caving in to pressure from the giant telecom corporations, or he has really bought into the idea that American actually needs warrantless wiretapping. Either option is equally unpalatable to many activists."

And here is a very compelling video produced by the American News Project.

July 6. 08

It's been over a week since my last post. Summer is actually a rather busy time here at the beach and it's easy to overlook such things as the "blog". I bet if one were to study my posting habits over the last few years, it could be seen that as summer progresses the span of time between my posts follows suit.

I've also been thinking of new ideas that I want to incorporate into this blog as well as my personal site as a visual artist. Truth be told, by ideas about many things have evolved recently, thanks in a great part to this.

In fact, the longer I sit here and stare at the keyboard, the less motivated I am to spend my current moment typing out what my very well be nothing more than my opinion of something. I've been finding myself critical of that same behavior in the media over the last year or so (basically - op-ed pieces being labeled news stories), and I really don't want to be guilty of the same behavior on my on blog.

I'm not sure how this new mind set will transform these digital pages, but I feel that it will occur, in fact, perhaps it has already begun.

Iraq? Huh? What's that??

According to this new unsettling story on huffingtonpost.com, the average time spent covering the "war" in Iraq by the major news networks is 2 minutes a week!

Read the article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/22/reporters-major-networks_n_108560.html

It may also interest you to know that a quick scan of CNN.com's main page as of this posting had no mention of Iraq. It did however have these important tidbits listed under its "Latest News" section which is prominently featured on the upper right hand side section of the page -

• Anna Nicole's ex bids on her lingerie
• Heartbroken Briton sells his 'entire life'
• McConaughey photog claims assault by surfers
• 'Get Smart' whips Mike Myers' 'Love Guru'
• Charlie Sheen's nasty voicemail to Denise
• Government paying smokers to quit
• Condo pool nudity rankles residents
• Toilet-paper wedding gowns honored

While there were a few other items that dealt with the current race for the White House and the cost of gas, these were titles featured right along with them. In fact, out of the 19 listed, these were half of the "news" stories.

Small wonder we have such an under-informed populace in this country - which of course leads to dreadful mistakes like this...

In Memoriam...

George Carlin



May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008

The end of a brilliant comedian with an equally brilliant mind.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/arts/24carlin.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_carlin

Very Funny Video...

Love This.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

And this is is even better - HOWEVER, it is definitely NOT safe for work, and the language may offend some listeners, though, it certainly didn't seem to offend McCain back in '92.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euu_DMhsXQo

"Them"

Them, originally uploaded by sprouseart.

Wacky digital collage with big thanks to flickr pro-member superbomba. Her collection of retro, "Arbusesque", vernacular found photography is simply out of this world!

I'm off to NJ this morn to move major parts of my studio to my new studio just a little over 2 months before my next solo exhibit!

Aiiieeee!!!

Happy B-day Nick - Shame about the Dame...

Tee Hee.. this is what our black cat Scraggles likes to do most mornings, a rousing game of fetch with her toy mice...



She will keep going like that until you either throw the mouse in some spot where she can't find it - like on top of the refrigerator.

Today is the birthday of my brother Nicholas. He is younger than I...much younger, and he is hitting a milestone decade birthday that falls between 20 and 40. I hit that birthday mark myself so many moons ago that my memory of the celebration that evening is somewhat vague and watercolored.

I do remember that George arranged a wonderful surprise dinner party with about 15 guests at a Spanish restaurant in DC that is now long gone. I can't remember the name of the place, though I remember the location. I remember most, but not all, of the guests that were there. I don't remember what I ate but I do remember the server and the manager walking from guest to guest pouring sweet tasting fortified wine from a leather cask into our mouths as celebratory shots. As the birthday boy, I had the biggest shot and I do remember swallowing several mouthfuls of wine as the crowd cheered me on.

Nick implied to me not too long ago that this particular birthday was making him feel a bit "old". I immediately asked him if he'd like to trade ages, which seemed to change the tone of the conversation a tad. Of course, while feeling older when hitting that particular mark is somewhat expected when you enter it, ultimately it isn't as psyche damaging as it was, say 25 years or so ago. It fact, by today's standards, it is considered downright young, and certainly, I will make no attempt to disagree.

I remember the day that Nick was born with pristine clarity. It was a warm and sunny June 20th, and my older brother David and I were playing Frisbee in the street when my parents left for the hospital. I was 13 and David was 10 days from 15. The year was 1978. I was wearing cut off Levi's with frayed ends and ever so slightly split up the side seams and my hair was parted in the middle and "feathered" back. I had a very wide distressed tan leather belt with large metal riveted punched with a huge oval shaped "rainbow iridescent" Boston belt buckle. I was also wearing a bright, canary yellow t-shirt that was spray painted with the word "Mike" on it in rainbow colored, metalic paint with a font so stylized that would have camouflaged me perfectly against the side of any ultra-popular customized van.

So, now who has the right to feel old? Tee Hee. I can already imagine some of my friends who read this blog (some of whom I met the year Nick was born or shortly thereafter and whom Nick grew up around) also sharing in their own private dismay that Sprouse's "little brother" was turning 30. For after all, if he's that old...what does that make them?!

I hope Nick has a great birthday, though, based upon our conversation from the other day, he may be feeling a bit somber and forlorn for the club where he has been the General Manager and the Main Talent Buyer for several years is closing its doors after this weekend. Tonight, as he informed me, will be the last Friday night at the Dame. There is some chance that the Dame will re-emerge in a new location but nothing is definite.

Feel free to read the article sent to me today by Nick.

http://www.kentucky.com/712/story/438335.html

If it's any consolation Nick, maybe when your my age 13 years from now, you'll look back on this day with vague watercolored memories as well.

Cheers!

Obama Hires Solis Doyle

My brother turned me onto this article on Huffingtonpost.com yesterday afternoon when it hit -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/16/obama-hires-solis-doyle-a_n_107395.html

I sent him this response this morning and felt the need to share it here as well.

Hmm. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Oddly, it seems that as of this morning, the main-stream media has yet to pick up on the decision. If Obama did make this decision as slap in Clinton's face, then I would see that as a highly irresponsible decision motivated by ego and inexperience. This isn't a game of schoolyard kickball, this is about the future of our country which, in my opinion, is hanging in a very delicate balance right now. Assuming that he did make the decision motivated by those reasons, It seems to me that it would only strengthen the idea bouncing around some folk's heads that he isn't "there" yet when it comes to fixing the long list of wrongs that we as Americans are struggling with right now.

But, let me rather suppose that that isn't the reason. The article on huffingtonpost.com uses terminology such as "insiders believe", "according to two close Clinton confidantes" and "one individual with knowledge of the Clinton campaign's political leanings". Again, the cynic in me dismisses such "sources" of information as potential gossip, unsubstantiated innuendo, and often downright untruthful made up on a whim by over zealous reporters needing to pad a "story" which is really just a thin disguise for an op-ed piece. It's important to note that there was another source that I read from an insider who debunked the entire theory of animosity between the two. I find it perplexing that the same people that would dismiss such "inside sources" when they see them printed on the cover of cheap and tawdry celebrity tabloids while waiting in line at the grocery store would be quick to believe them in some other context.

While it's possible that there may be bad blood now between PSD and HC, but there are some facts that seem to be overlooked.

1 - The two had been (and may very well still be) very close friends and PSD had been HC's personal assistant since 1992.

2 - The two women are such consummate professionals that, though possible, I can't imagine that they would transform into catty and bitter rivals when HC decided that PSD needed to step down. The truth is that there were mistakes mad in HC's campaign pre-Iowa and that's when PSD held the reins. It seems to me that as professionals and close friends, they would come to a mutual understanding that it wasn't working and, that for the better of the campaign, a change needed to be made.

3 - It's important to remember that Obama and Clinton had a private meeting not too long ago. Since most of the news story is based upon conjecture ( with a negative slant since that always makes for more exciting reading) isn't it just as possible that during that meeting Obama may have said something like this -

"Look, after this dies down, I'm going to offer you the VP so we can move forward with what really needs to be done."
In response to which HC may have said, "Great. I'm ready, but I just want one small request, bring in Patti as my VP assistant."

It is possible that that is what my be occurring.