The Wild Reed: February 2023

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Out and About – Winter 2022-2023

I leave later today to return to my homeland of Australia for a month-long visit. It’s been over three-and-a-half years since I was last in my first home. To say I’m excited about the prospect of reuniting with family and friends after such a long time apart – the longest since my relocation to the U.S. in 1994 – would be an understatement. I am looking forward to it immensely.

Before my return to the Great South Land I want to close the book, so to speak, on the winter I will soon be leaving behind. I do so by looking back on this particularly snowy (and unpleasantly icy) season with the latest installment of The Wild Reed’s “Out and About” series.

Yes, I know it’s a bit premature for my friends here in Minnesota who still must endure another several weeks of winter while I fly off to the end of summer in Australia; but, be that as it may, here’s a review of the people, places, and experiences that were most meaningful to me in the American winter of 2022-2023.

Above: My Christmas tree was in my bedroom this past Christmas season.

This was because its usual spot in the main area of my attic abode has been taken over by my ficus tree (left), a tree that actually dates back to the late 1980s when it was in the office of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM). This was a number of years before my arrival to the U.S. from Australia and my subsequest working for CPCSM and thus my inheriting of this tree in 2003.

It’s been with me ever since, in four different living situations – in St. Paul (2003-2011); with my good friend Tim in two different houses (one and two, right next door to one another) in south Minneapolis by Minnehaha Creek (2012-2016 and 2016-2018); for a brief time on Chicago Ave. just south of the creek with my friend Connie and her cat Charley (December 2018-October 2019); and now here in my current home in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis (2019-present).

Above: Adnan . . . in winter light.

. . . And opening his holiday gift from me – a copy of Sonia Choquette’s book, Trust Your Vibes.

Above: My “best mate in the States,” Deandre (left) with our mutual friends (and his new housemates) Margaret and David.

Left: Tyga! . . . Deandre’s animal companion.

Above: Christmas dinner with friends (clockwise fron left) John, Noelle, Jackie, Alicia, Scott, Liana, Amelia, Dee and Phil.

Right: What a handsome crew!

Above: Another lovely Christmastide gathering. I’m pictured with (from left) Chloe, Kathleen, Mary and Joey.

Above: Seeing in 2023 in my attic apartment with friends (from left) Joseph, Kathleen, Calvin, and a sleeping Frodo.

Above: Lunch with my dear friend Joan at the Highland Grill, St. Paul – January 6, 2023.

I traveled to the Minnesota town of Montevideo on the weekend of January 14-15 to join in the celebrations for my friend Elva’s 86th birthday (above). Elva is the mother of my good friend Angie.

Elva was so happy I made the trip from Minneapolis to Montevideo to celebrate her birthday. As was I!

Above and right: With my wonderful work colleagues having a Hawaiian potluck lunch in solidarity with one of our colleagues who was actually holidaying in Hawaii.

I’m honored to be part of Mercy Hospital’s Palliative Care team, a consultative and interdisciplinary team comprised of incredibly competent and caring health care professionals. I’m the interfaith spiritual care provider (or chaplain) on this team, a position I’ve held since the autumn of 2018.

Above: On Saturday, February 25, members of my work team and I enjoyed lunch at the famed Owamni restaurant in Minneapolis.

Above: Dinner with Joan at another great local restaurant, Heather’s in south Minneapolis – February 15, 2023.

Above: With my dear friend Phyllis – January 28, 2023.

Above: Lunch at Pizza Lucé with my friend Brian – Sunday, January 8, 2023.

Above: My moon-gazing hare in the backyard became a blizzard-gazing hare on February 23, 2023. It was soon completely covered over by snow.

Above: The view from my south Minneapolis attic abode of the massive January 4, 2023 winter storm.

Above and right: Home, sweet home! My attic abode and sanctuary in the Seward neighborhood of south Minneapolis, where I’ve lived since October 2019.

Above: Adnan – earlier this morning, February 28, 2023. My saaxiib qurux badan (“beautiful friend” in Somali) recently paid me a great honor by writing the following to me.

I just want to say a sincere “Thank You.” . . . I won’t go into detail what for. Just know I greatly appreciate you and your constant kindness as well as unconditional love! You’re an awesome person.

Thank you, Adnan! I love you too, buddy.

NEXT:
Central Station – Sydney, Australia

and

Out and About – Spring 2023

Winter 2022-2023 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Honoring the Darkness While Remembering the Light
• Solstice Storm
• Cornel West: “Our Anti-Imperialism Must Be Consistent”
• The Christmas Miracle
• “Our Knowledge of Others Is Always Partial”: Garth Greenwell on the Morality of Fiction
• Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies: Quote of the Day – December 28, 2022
• Marianne Williamson: “We Must Challenge the Entire System”
• In This Time of Liminal Space
• The Light of This New Year’s Day
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan – January 4, 2023
• Progressive Catholic Perspectives on the Legacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
• Kahlil Gibran on Self-Knowledge
• After Record-Breaking Snowfall, a Walk Through the Neighborhood
• Phillip Clark on the Magi as Archetypes of “Witchy Faith”
• Interiors
• Remembering and Emulating the Visionary and Radical Martin Luther King Jr.
• University of Antwerp Honors Patrice Lumumba
• For Rita Coolidge, Love Is Everywhere
• Ditching the Crime, Keeping the Sin: Thoughts on the Pope’s Call to Decriminalize Homosexuality
• Taking the High Road
• The Way of Love and Healing
• Reed Brody: Quote of the Day – February 6, 2023
• A Favorite Burt Bacharach Song
• What It Will Take to Abolish the Police
• Kiki Dee and Carmello Luggeri: “A Classy Duo”
• A Vibrant Relationship
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – February 16, 2023
• Michael Meade on “Slowing Downwards”
• Happy Birthday, Buffy!
• Carnival: “A Necessary Release of Pagan Expression in a Christianized World”
• Pope Francis on Lenten Fasting
• From the Palliative/Spiritual Care Bookshelf
• Kimi Djabaté
• Marianne 2024
• Winter Vignettes
• Carl Anderson: “Still One of the Greatest Interpretations of Judas on Film”

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Autumn 2022
• Out and About – Summer 2022
• Out and About – Spring 2022
• Spring . . . Within and Beyond (2022)
• Out and About – Autumn 2021
• Out and About – Summer 2021
• Out and About – Spring 2021
• Out and About – Winter 2020-2021

For previous Out and About series, see: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Carl Anderson: “Still One of the Greatest Interpretations of Judas on Film”

It’s the birthday of the late, great American vocalist Carl Anderson (1945-2004). He would have been 78 today.

As I’ve noted previously, I sometimes like to think that in a parallel universe Carl has the superstar status which in this universe was inexplicably denied him. This despite the fact that he possessed a vocal range, elasticity, and sensuality that matched, and often bettered, those of his contemporaries Freddie Jackson, El Debarge, Jeffrey Osborne, John Whitehead, Al Jarreau, and Luther Vandross.

As the Funky Town Grooves website notes, “Carl Anderson was a singer with great range, clarity of diction . . . [and] that rare ability to sing flawlessly from a technical standpoint [while] still communicating character and emotion.”

He was, in short, an artist and vocalist extraordinaire.

I dare say that for most people, Carl Anderson is best known for playing Judas Iscariot in the 1973 film adaptation (above and right) and numerous stage productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. (For more about Carl’s groundbreaking portrayal of Judas, click here, here, and here.)

With this year being the 50th anniversary of the 1973 film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, it seems only appropriate to mark Carl’s birthday by sharing yet another glowing appreciation of his portrayal of Judas in this film. So without further ado, here’s an excerpt from Jacob Ethington 2017 review of Jesus Christ Superstar, one entitled “Sympathy for Judas: An Appreciation of Jesus Christ Superstar.”

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It’s always fascinated me that the big anthem of Jesus Christ Superstar’s title, “Superstar,” is sung by Judas Iscariot. There’s not a lot written in the Bible about history’s greatest traitor, but Jesus Christ Superstar builds a character for him regardless. There’s actually a lot to unpack in reviewing any incarnation of Jesus Christ Superstar, but the analysis of Judas as a character is one of those things you have to start addressing up front. This incarnation, a film adaptation shot primarily in Israel, is no different, but Judas will keep coming up in this review a lot. He's the most interesting thing about the musical, a musical that is most easily described as the following: An anachronistic rock opera about the last week of Jesus Christ’s life told mostly from the perspective of Judas Iscariot.

. . . The hardest part of the production to get onto film though is the musical’s deliberate staging of artifice. On stage, you’re not supposed to build elaborate temples and period accurate sets. You’re supposed to call attention to the fact it’s a group of performers, and the film surprisingly manages to maintain that spirit in the first few minutes. The primary cast literally pulls up in the middle of the desert on a bus loaded with props, and while the overture plays, the cast gets off the bus and gets into costume.

The end result is a hodgepodge of influences that are constantly at odds with each other, but have a distinct and campy charm all of their own. It might be a bit of a mess, but there’s not a lot on film like the 1973 adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, and I’m grateful that something so truly weird exists.

The story stretches roughly from Palm Sunday to the Crucifixion. The singing roles are spread among Jesus Christ (Ted Neeley), and his followers, Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman), Peter (Philip Toubus), and Simon (Larry Marshall), the Pharisees Caiaphas (Bob Bingham) and Annas (Kurt Yaghjian), and the authorities of Pontius Pilate (Barry Dennen) and King Herod (Josh Mostel).

. . . But while this is Jesus’ story, he’s not the one telling it. This is where Carl Anderson’s performance as Judas comes into play. Anderson is a larger than life presence in the film, and his voice is straight up the best of any performer in the film. No one sounds as good as him, and since Judas has the best songs in the musical to begin with, every scene he's in works like gangbusters. And by default, Carl Anderson is still one of the greatest interpretations of Judas on film.

One of the biggest blindspots in reinterpreting the Bible on film is Judas Iscariot. Almost every story that deals with Jesus’ crucifixion on film never even attempts to explore the character, the psychology, or anything that might be interesting about Judas. He shows up at The Last Supper to betray Jesus, gets his money, and hangs himself. That’s it. The only other film I can think of that offers another view of Judas is The Last Temptation of Christ.

. . . It’s worth saying that Jesus Christ Superstar’s version of Judas is mostly made up, with no Biblical text to support the idea that he’s been Jesus’ “right hand man all along,” but this Judas is a hybrid of sorts. He’s not just the betrayer, but the modern perspective of the Christ mythology that wishes to spread its message, but believes that talk of miracles and powers have overshadowed the ideology. It’s a bold choice, but not as bold as bringing Judas back as an angelic presence after his suicide to sing the title song.

By offering that perspective, Anderson is among the greatest Judas’ on film, which is kind of weird the more I think about it. Whatever, at least someone this charismatic and fun has the distinction of being in the pantheon, so that’s cool.

– Jacob Ethington
Excerpted from “Sympathy for Judas:
An Appreciation of Jesus Christ Superstar”
Jacob Writes Forever
April 2, 2017

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Of course, it would be remiss of me not to state the obvious: There is much more to Carl Anderson than Jesus Christ Superstar. Indeed, for over three decades Carl was an accomplished and well-respected song stylist, artfully blending jazz, soul, pop, and R&B influences into his own unique and unforgettable style.

Between 1982 and 1996 Carl released nine albums. In addition, he made memorable duets with other artists and provided solo guest vocals on a number of songs by others. Artists he worked with included Weather Report, Nancy Wilson, The Rippingtons, Michael Paulo, Maynard Ferguson, Gerald McCauley, Eric Marienthal, Brenda Russell, Dan Siegel, Lisa Deveaux, and Linda Eder.

Yet for reasons that are frustratingly elusive, many of Carl’s best recordings remain unknown to the general public. His most popular song is his duet with singer-actress Gloria Loring, “Friends and Lovers,” which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1986.

Carl died on February 23, 2004, after an 8-month struggle with leukemia. He was less than a week from his 59th birthday. . . . His memory and his music, however, live on.