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Photography and Film, Blogs from the Vault

2012-06-02T16:46:00.003-07:00

La Castigleone

Poetry and Quotes, Blogs from the Vault

2012-06-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Things I Love Thursday

2012-05-31T19:10:00.001-07:00

Inspired by Gala Darling http://www.galadarling.com

Assateague Island's wild ponies...

Making things with shells and rose petals...

Train whistles and clock chimes through rain...

The Threepenny Opera, Brecht/Weill Style...

Alabama Song before the Doors:

The Beat Poets... all of them

Charlie Plymell

The Town Behind the Land of the Outlaw Amish: Photos by James Neighbors

2012-05-30T18:48:00.003-07:00

My friend and fellow actor James Neighbors has taken these remarkable photos of the quaint little place I live in. He even took one of me writing...

We have a little square:

with a fountain...

and statues:

We have frescoes and reliefs:

and not only ivy covered houses:

but a log cabin:

Jesse James hid out not in the cabin, as might be expected, but in a cave just up the road:

There is another fountain

atop a scenic and historic hill. It has a panoramic vista:

The vista is in front of this amazing auditorium, (I stage managed a play Jim was in here):

We have a marvelous clock that chimes:

and an antique Railpark, (with baggage unclaimed for a century),

where I sang songs and read The Elves and the Shoemaker for children,

including not Amish but Mennonites, at Christmas time:

The square is filled with cute little shops and another chiming clock:

and one uber-uber cool hip store:

Sometimes vicious storms attack us:

Sometimes we drink coffee:

sometimes we find ourselves pastry-less:

I am occasionally caught writing in public:

...and magnolias. We have lots of magnolias.

Songs to Remember Doc Watson By

2012-05-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Lonesome Liz's Top Ten Weekend Movies

2012-05-26T14:19:00.001-07:00

This fabulous, long weekend, anyway. Not necessarily in this order; though, it's the order that occurred to me. I love them all:

1. Twelve Monkeys

2. Gattica

3. Tombstone

4. The Game

5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

6. The Last Waltz

7. Skeleton Key

8. The Village

9. Immortal Beloved

10. Catch Me If You Can

Extra Bonus: The Gift. Haven't seen it yet but think I will.

The Trail of Tears

2012-05-21T20:22:00.001-07:00

Cherokee in Ceremonial Dress, 1800s
image source:

http://www.nchumanities.org/programs/road-scholars/cherokee-ceremonial-practices-1800s

My Father's Grandmother was full Cherokee and I was very sad to discover, upon arriving in Dalton, GA en route back to the Land of the Outlaw Amish from the Lowlands, that this was where the Cherokee's Trail of Tears started. For those of you who don't know, that was the forced removal of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, among others from their homeland. At the time, Dalton didn't exist yet as a town of course, it was a trade crossroads called Cross Plains. The Choctaw were the first to be removed, the Cherokee here in Dalton in 1838. 4,000 of the 15,000 'relocated' Cherokee died on the way to the 'Indian Territory'.

We have then President Andrew Jackson and his Indian Removal Act, (1830) to thank for the atrocity. "To this day, many Cherokees when given a twenty dollar bill as change, will refuse it and ask for two ten dollar bills instead, as they do not wish to carry the painful memory of the past when looking at the face of Andrew Jackson who appears on the twenty dollar bill. " from Georgia Cherokees and the Rest of the Story by Robert Jenkins http://dalton150th.com/1860.html

The march was 1,000 miles and was undertaken, to the greater part, barefoot. They were, additionally, given used blankets from a Tennessee Hospital where smallpox had broken out. A Georgia soldier said it was the cruelest thing he'd ever seen, (Wikki).

What was a primary motivator for such inhumanity? Gold had been discovered in Georgia.

In Cherokee language it is called Nu na da ul tsun yi - "the Place Where They Cried".

Oddities in Lonesome Liz's Travel Bags - Savannah/Tybee Island Edition

2012-05-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

1. A 4 foot long horseshoe crab shell

2. A rather large bag of other sea treasures, including a Sand Dollar

and a whelk

4. An evil eye ring and pendant

5. Two black bead bracelets full of Saints medals, one hematite

6. "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" by Ron Hansen

7. A sketchbook made by Kate Black (http://www.kateblack.com) fast filling with drawings from NYC to Tybee

8. Bits of Savannah brick for some brick dust immersed in ancient Hoodoo

9. Hundreds of thoughts and snippets of conversations written out on bar napkins. For example: "Juju hangs as thick here as sauce on spaghetti."

10. A belt all of coins

11. A bulletin from what may be the only church held in a bar in the world

12. A bottle of ocean water

13. The Fonzie lunch box I keep my jewelry in

14. 'A Frontier Lady: Recollections of the Gold Rush and Early California' by Sarah Royce

15. One of my Mojo Art bottles containing Oil of All You Have Lost.

(I can't find the photo of that one, but here's another)

Southern Folk Magic - Hoodoo in Savannah

2012-05-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Aunt Caroline Dye, Conjure Woman

I'm on my way to Savannah and have just discovered it's Hoodoo Central - here are a few of the beliefs and practices recorded by the Georgia Writers Project in, 'Drums and Shadows' - read the full text at SacredTexts.com http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/das/das06.htm

To dream of a dead person is a sure sign of rain.

If you hear an owl hoot in the day time, someone you know will die.

If you hear a ghost call you, they want to take you with them and you must tell them you aren't ready to go yet.

If the first person to come into your house on Monday morning is a woman, you'll have bad luck the rest of the week.

It is bad luck to borrow or lend salt.

Sweeping out the house at night will sweep your luck away.

Shaking a tablecloth out the door after dark will bring death in your family.

Laying a broomstick across the door at night keeps witches away.

If your left eye twitches, you'll get bad news. If your right eye twitches, good news is on it's way.

Placing a knife or a bible under your pillow keeps witches away.

If you blow on a coin, it will help you get more of them.

If you dream of a snake, it means you have an enemy.

Babies born with teeth will have bad luck all their lives.

Memphis Jug Band, Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues

20 Reasons I Love Martin Margiela

2012-05-13T08:17:00.001-07:00

http://www.martinmargiela.com

Things I Love Saturday

2012-05-12T22:34:00.001-07:00

The cherries I'm going to pick tomorrow at the Outlaw Amish farm...

The dried rosebuds and petals that have come to cover all the tables in my apartment... (so I'm now making them part of a mixed media sculpture)...

Savannah! I'm going there in a few days for my birthday!!!

CORN PUDDING omg it's so awesome and amazing and I just ate some.

My costumes in 'Becky's New Car', a play I'm in at the Public Theater of Kentucky. ESPECIALLY the long, black veil I wear when playing a ghost:

This is Josephine Earp's long black veil, (wife of Wyatt), I have clothes on under mine.

Thomas Hardy. I'm happily re-reading 'Tess of D'Urbervilles' and 'Mayor of Casterbridge' is next.

1892 edition of Tess:

You can read Tess too: http://www.online-literature.com/hardy/tess_urbervilles/

Candlelight - I'm writing Jesse James songs in their glow...

And Jesse James. I love Jesse James.

My Levon Helm Tributes

2012-05-02T19:11:00.004-07:00

More Lonesome Liz Music: http://lonesomelizmusic.blogspot.com

"The Weight" with Nashville's Colton Steele and Mitch Plumlee

"When I Go Away" with Jack Montgomery, author of "American Shamans"

Outlaw Country in Kentucky with Guests from Nashville

2012-05-02T19:11:00.001-07:00

More Lonesome Liz Music: http://lonesomelizmusic.blogspot.com

Hangin' Ground - an original take on the tale of John Hardy

We Agree, another original

And yet another original... You Drove Me to Drinkin', Now Who's Gonna Drive Me Home

Johnny Cash's "I Hardly Ever Sing Beer Drinkin' Songs" with Colton Steele

"Waymore's Blues" by Waylon Jennings

My adaptation of "Rye Whiskey"

Nashville Songwriters, A Tornado and Going Home With Kara Clark

2012-03-10T19:43:00.005-08:00

Kara Clark, Barefoot and Badass
at the V Club, Huntington, WVA

I honestly don't know what was more intense, the tornado or the weekend with Kara Clark in Kentucky and West Virginia. She and her music, are just that badass. Oddly, the weekend began out on a fairly mellow note. Typical Nashville, typical songwriter's round. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's this cool, mellow show where several singer/songwriters sit in a line and play their songs, individually and together. There's more structure to it, of course but that's the basic idea. They're generally very good songwriters because it's Nashville and the streets there are, you know, paved with very good songwriters.

So, there I was, sipping bourbon, listening to nice tunes at Douglas Corner Cafe with no indication of the coming storm. I played a few songs, met a few cool people, was back home in Mayberry/Peyton Place/Bowling Green by 1:30 am. I don't watch t.v., so still had no idea of the coming level 9 tornado but I sure did have trouble sleeping. I think I fell asleep by six and had strange dreams about ancient storm gods between then and 8 a.m. when the phone rang. It was a tarot client asking if she could come earlier than suggested because this:

was on it's way. Yep. That's the actual one. After the reading I check mail and am getting im's saying, "National Geographic Channel is here, we're tornado fodder." I'm thinking, mannnnnn I have NOT had enough sleep for this and Kara's coming tonight @#$%, (shaking fist at Storm Gods in the sky). I was alarmed enough that, by 11:30 a.m., she who a few days before sat cracking Oz jokes with the door open watching a tornado warning was seeking shelter from the storm. It touched down close-by enough to take down the Outlaw Amish's barn. (You may recall the Outlaw Amish from the barn videos and barn photos - thank god it wasn't that barn the tornado took out but way too close for comfort.)

Needless to say, it was a rather stressful afternoon. When you hear on the radio, "We are not kidding. This is serious. It does not matter if it looks normal outside the tornado can touch down with no warning." and then hear that it's touched down a few miles away; not a good thing; not a good thing at all.

SO I'd had nearly no sleep, had frightening lucid dreams about battling storm gods in the two hours I did sleep and then spent the day fearing impending doom. By the time Kara and her band got to town for their show at the Twisted Tap I honestly didn't see how I was going to pull a third wind out of my hat. But of course, I did.

One word for those of you who are in Bowling Green and have not gone to the Tap yet, GO. Their music standards transcend even their food standards and they've got the best chef on the square. They also have the most professionally run sound/lights of any venue I've been to here. AND they had the good sense to book Kara Clark there.

(If you don't already know and love Kara, check out the photo blog I did a while back featuring her with new husband Eerie Von, (Misfits/Danzig): LA Photos, More Photos by Anthony Scarlatti. We also co-wrote one of my favorite blogs here ever: Top Ten Things Outlaws Always Have and Top Ten Things Outlaws Never Have.)

Kara, who's Grandfather played with Hank Williams, Sr., has an amazing new CD, Southern Hospitality out. The project was co-produced by Kara, Kenny Olson, (Kid Rock) and Mark Lambert, (Leon Russell) with engineering by Toby Wright, (Metallica, Alice in Chains). Olson and Eerie Von are also featured on the album.

Here are Kara, Eerie and Kenny playing one of the songs:

Kara's phenomenal band, (which includes the cousin of an influential Old Time musician, Roscoe Holcomb, Matt Shively on bass, David Walker, Charlie Joseph Abbott and Johnny McCormick), played at the Tap on Tornado Friday before heading out to her hometown of Huntington, WVA for her CD release party there at the V Club. (The V Club, by the way, is ALSO an extremely cool venue. I did not expect to find an in house poster artist with work reminiscent of Bob Masse, fabulous murals of HST and other coolness on the smoking deck, fabulous lighting and the quickest, easiest and best sound check any of us had ever seen yet LO there it was. If you're in Huntington, go to V Club.) Eerie had also painted a super extremo cool back-drop for the show. (Raise your hand if you think Eerie Von painting band backdrops positively RULES).

Example of cool V-Club poster:

The shows were BOTH utterly amazing - all of her songs are fantastic but I think my two favorites are/were The Devil Don't Cry and Living Proof, (scroll down the page to titles, it's so worth it).

Live at the V Club

Here's video from the show. Kara's playing with her nephew, Jared Beckett. The song, "Southern Hospitality", criticizes racism in the South and was co-written by the very talented Beckett.

We partied till the wee small hours at the closest thing to a David Lynch set I've ever seen, an after-hours place called The Crowbar. It didn't look like Twin Peaks but like the other dimension they all jumped in and out of. Red and black, a long wall of doors at one end, a stage curtain in an odd place where there seemed to be no stage...

I made the mistake of saying, "This looks like a David Lynch set!" Which was not well-received by a rather large, drunk and somewhat angry looking West Virginian to my left.said, "WHAT???" I quickly replied, "No, no, I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean it in the other dimension, midgets going to come out from behind the curtain at any time kinda way." He promptly laughed and bought everyone, (in the bar, I believe), a shot in honor of being on a David Lynch set.

The tales told on the way to and from WVA would fill another blog and I just may do that, (I took good notes, as my friend Mike O'Neill once advised was best always done in our Grateful Web interview). But for now I'll leave you with what I returned to, having to display my Outlawness by breaking into my house because two SOMEONES, locked the keys inside!

Photo by the someone least to blame for the break in, Candy Monk:

Famous Last Words

2012-01-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

"I do not believe in my death." - Salvador Dali

"I told you I was ill." - Spike Milligan

"I hope I haven't bored you." - Elvis Presley, (concluding what would be his last press conference.)

“What is the answer?” No answer came. She laughed and said, “In that case what is the question?” - Gertrude Stein

"This is no time to make new enemies." (When asked on his deathbed to forswear Satan.) - Voltaire

"Relax - This won't hurt." - Hunter S. Thompson

"Tell them I've had a wonderful life." - Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him." - John Barrymore

"Let me go - The world is bobbing around me." (Also reported as "The room is jumping up and down" and "The world is a bubble - trouble wherever you go".) - Sam Bass

"Now comes the mystery." - Henry Ward Beecher

"Friends applaud, the comedy is over." Beethoven's publisher's web site (www.schott-music.com) claims his secretary wrote that he said "Pity, Pity - too late!" Ludwig Von Beethoven

"Goodnight." - Lord Byron

"I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minute of it." - Errol Flynn

"It is. But not as hard as comedy." in _Time_ 30 January 1984 (On his deathbed, in reply to the comment `It must be very hard.') - Edmund Gwenn

"I believe we should adjourn this meeting to another place." - Adam Smith

"Either this wallpaper goes, or I do!" [The authenticity of this quote is complicated by his deathbed conversion back to Catholicism and the fact that a priest was with him up to the very end. Another deathbed quotation is also attributed to him: he asked for Champagne to sip as he died, and as he sipped, he is reported to have said: "Alas, I am dying beyond my means."] - Oscar Wilde

"God bless... God damn." - James Thurber

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." - Francisco 'Pancho' Villa

"I wish I'd drunk more champagne." - John Maynard Keynes

"Drink to me." - Pablo Picasso

"Josephine..." - Napoleon Bonaparte

"I'm bored with it all." - Winston Churchhill

"Why not? Yeah." - Timothy Leary

"It's all been very interesting." Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
"Go on, get out. Last words are for fools who haven't said enough." - Karl Marx

"All my possessions for a moment of time." - Queen Elizabeth, I

NEW UPDATES ADDED! Weird, Odd and Just Plain Stupid Crimes in Bowling Green, Ky

2012-01-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of @BGDNCrimeBeat on Twitter:
1/30 Police were called to Greenwood Mall after a couple who had gone to mall to buy book on relationship help gets into fight in parking lot.
1/17 Dustin Hubbard, 19, of Corbin is wanted in connection to robbery at Dreamworld Adult Bookstore. Accused of demanding cash and MILF Potpourri
1/17 Man reports assault while shooting hoops at Living Hope Baptist Church. No arrests made.

1/17 Shoplifter tells BGPD he wants to party on his bday so he stole candy and beer. He also lifted a bottle of NyQuil and 2 deli sandwiches.
1/16 Man accused of robbing his roommate has only 36 cents on his person when his property is inventoried at the Warren Co. Jail.

1/11 Two BG men get into fight; one armed with a rake and the other armed with a baseball bat. Guy with the baseball bat won.

1/9 Wisconsin police say Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop violated his bail. Yes, that's his real name. No it's not BG, just had to share.

1/5 A masked gunman wearing socks on his hands at Dream World Adult store in Knox Co. demands money, mad hatter incense and MILF potpourri.

12/28 Man who got cold while walking steals an unlocked truck that the owner left running. Jail provided a warm bed for the evening.

12/28 Man on Patton Way tells BGPD someone stole his gold mouth grill that fits over his six top front teeth.

12/20 Accused shoplifter tells police she brought empty bags into store because she recycles, then shows pd her pro recycling tattoo to make pt.

12/20 Burglar steals BB gun and smoke detector from Parkside Court Apartment.

12/18 Man gets in wreck in Butler Co., gets treatment in a BG emergency room, needs a ride home, admits to stealing Lexus to get back to home.

12/14 Shoplifter at Wal-Mart conceals glow sticks in his pants.

12/13 Convicted felon tells BGPD that the gun he bought in Franklin "shoots well and doesn't have much of a kick," police records show.

I can't wait to hear more of the mayhem in our little Mayberry here. Seriously.

Another Things I Love Wednesday

2012-01-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

See! For some reason today, not Thursday, is when it always strikes me to do this. Another New Year resolution is to actually keep this up, it's always a good idea to take time to focus on the positives, regardless of what else is going on.

Things I love this Wednesday:

Irish coffee with Jameson's, so yummy and warm it's almost worth being outside in the cold for the joy of having it afterwards * snow * chocolate * eating candy out of wine glasses * the Voodoo and Hoodoo infused tunes of Dr. John * my interview in the Amplifier * cashmere * mittens * my rabbit hat, ears and all * making collages * the creepy doll and carriage Bertena Varney gave me * not having to be at work until 10 am again! Thank you holiday's for being great, but also for ending * walks when it's cold but bright and sunshiny out * the new blog I've designed with my son, Charlie's Books * telescopes * the castle blocks Santa brought Charlie * shea butter & Moroccan oil - they've given me totally new skin & hair (in their concentrated forms, not products simply containing them * hula hoops & slinky's * starting a new year! *

Thanks to Gala Darling for this amazing idea!

Things I Love Wednesday

2011-12-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

Though the original by Gala Darling is 'Things I Love Thursday' I seem to always feel like doing this on Wednesday! I usually wait, and then wind up not doing it/forgetting by Thursday! So, as part of a general New Year's over-haul, I'm going to just make it 'Things I Love Wednesday' and hope that leads to more routine posting of this fabulous accentuation of the positive!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Champagne! * the smell of Gingerbread baking * eating gingerbread! * wine glasses full of colorful candy * wrapping presents * home-made soup on a rainy day * fluffy, fuzzy, snowbally things on bright red slippers * my new, cute, cuddly black kitten * the French Press and fabulous Kona Coffee I got for Christmas * Davidoff cigarettes, I almost wish I didn't know they existed * Edith Wharton * hand-crafted chocolate, especially white chocolate * red velvet cake * Katelan Foisy! * Cole's Funny Picture Book * drawing * Beowulf * Bob Masse's art * Martin Powell's Spider comics * Jack Montgomery's American Shamans and his music too! * holidays, especially Christmas * adventures and a New Year full of more of them to look forward too!

One last thing I love:

Not usually but so much of a Reubens fan but wow. His portrait of Maria Serra Pallavicino.

Funny Church Signs

2011-12-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

Self Portraits of The Scandelous Countess

2011-11-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

Read About the First Fashion Photography Model , Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione, who financed, costumed and choreographed a series of self-portraits that chronicled her life, including the parts she played on stage. They continued until near the time of her death, when the collection was around 700 photos. She first gained noteriety as the mistress of Napoleon III.

Photos of Evelyn Nesbit

2011-11-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Read about Evelyn Nesbit

13 Things I Love Thursday

2011-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Gala Darling

Thirteen Things I Love This Thursday:

1. Photos of the Belle Epoque's scandelous super-model, Evelyn Nesbit:

2. Rod Serling's 'Night Gallery', my newest vintage t.v. obsession:

3. Witches! And my ever-expanding gallery of them: http://conjurewomanscorner.blogspot.com/2011/11/witches.html I'm drawing them too. Perfect follow-up to the murder ballad illustrations.

4. Director Bill Leonard's Lizzie Borden production:

(Which did not star Elizabeth Montgomery, of course, but I loved her as Lizzie.)

5. Trains! I'm so excited about upcoming projects with the Railway Museum!

6. Once popular, now obscure American and English Literature, 1880-1910(ish). I've been utterly engrossed by tale after tale.

7. Derby Pie:

8. Seeing my guitar and voice student every Thursday!

9. Lemon ginger tea - I think I like it as much as Oolong...

10. Lost River Pizza omfg!!! It may be the best I've ever had.

11. Lost River Cave and other legends of Jesse James. They say his ghost hangs out in Bardstown.

12. Calvin Klein's 'Euphoria' - it smells sooooo good.

13. Vintage accessories - awesomeness! (I want this one!)

Top 10 Passive Agressive Notes

2011-11-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

From Passive Aggressive Notes.com

1. Annoyed

2. An Obvious Problem

3. The Sad Butter

4. Difficulties

5. The Tooth Fairy

6. Advocating Smarter Robbery

7. Some People are Just Assholes

8. Truth Stranger than Fiction

9. Family Heirlooms

10. Jesus

Photographs by Alphonse Mucha

2011-11-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

The Killing of the Second Billy the Kid - Nov. 14, 1882

2011-11-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

From History.com

Nashville Franklin "Buckskin" Leslie

"On this day, the gunslinger Franklin "Buckskin" Leslie shoots the Billy "The Kid" Claiborne dead in the streets of Tombstone, Arizona.

"The town of Tombstone is best known today as the site of the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral. In the 1880s, however, Tombstone was home to many gunmen who never achieved the enduring fame of Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. Franklin "Buckskin" Leslie was one of the most notorious of these largely forgotten outlaws.

"There are few surviving details about Leslie's early life. At different times, he claimed to have been born in both Texas and Kentucky, to have studied medicine in Europe, and to have been an army scout in the war against the Apache Indians. No evidence has ever emerged to support or conclusively deny these claims.

"The first historical evidence of Leslie's life emerges in 1877, when he became a scout in Arizona. A few years later, Leslie was attracted to the moneymaking opportunities of the booming mining town of Tombstone, where he opened the Cosmopolitan Hotel in 1880. That same year he killed a man named Mike Killeen during a quarrel over Killeen's wife, and he married the woman shortly thereafter.

Billy "The Kid" Claiborne

"Leslie's reputation as a cold-blooded killer brought him trouble after his drinking companion and fellow gunman John Ringo was found dead in July 1882. Some Tombstone citizens, including a young friend of Ringo's named Billy "The Kid" Claiborne, were convinced that Leslie had murdered Ringo, though they could not prove it. Probably seeking vengeance and the notoriety that would come from shooting a famous gunslinger, Claiborne unwisely decided to publicly challenge Leslie, who shot him dead.

"The remainder of Leslie's life was equally violent and senseless. After divorcing Killeen in 1887, he took up with a Tombstone prostitute, whom he murdered several years later during a drunken rage. Even by the loose standards of frontier law in Tombstone, the murder of an unarmed woman was unacceptable, and Leslie served nearly 10 years in prison before he was paroled in 1896. After his release, he married again and worked a variety of odd jobs around the West. He reportedly made a small fortune in the gold fields of the Klondike region before he disappeared forever from the historical record."

More about Buckskin Leslie and Billy Claiborne

The marriage of Buckskin Leslie