The Wild Reed

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

“I Learned So Much From the Experience”: Marianne Williamson on Her Presidential Bid

The ninth Democratic presidential debate is taking place tonight in Las Vegas, Nevada. But I just can't stomach even the thought of watching it. It's not that I don't have a preferred candidate, I do! . . . Rather, it's that the sight of billionaire Michael Bloomberg on the debate stage would be too much of a painful reminder, not only of how the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is once again rigging the nomination process for a preferred centrist/moderate candidate, but also of just how corrupt our overall political system is, given that a plutocrat like Bloomberg can so brazenly use his wealth to manipulate public perception and basically buy the presidency of the United States.

And let's not kid ourselves: the DNC's changing of the rules so as to allow Bloomberg into the debates is an attempt to undermine and derail the momentum of front-runner Bernie Sanders, a progressive candidate.

And, yes, it's a form of cheating. Looking back, we can see that this moving of the goal posts also cheated other progressive candidates, like my first preferred candidate, Marianne Williamson (left), who dropped out of the race because she couldn't meet the fundraising threshold established by the DNC; a threshold that has now been abandoned in order to accommodate Bloomberg.

It really is quite sickening – and a profound betrayal of this country's democratic ideals. No one should be able to buy themselves the presidency. And by attempting to do so, Bloomberg and his supporters show that they are actually part of the deeper problem plaguing us – the corruption of our democracy by money. And as Williamson continues to remind us, it's a problem of which Trump is the most horrendous symptom. But make no mistake, Bloomberg's buying of the presidency would also be a terrible and festering symptom of this problem.

So with all of this in mind I've opted to forgo watching this evening's debate. Instead, I thought I'd share the following from Marianne Williamson. It's her thoughtful and heartfelt sharing of what it is she learned from her presidential run. Marianne first shared these thoughts on February 12 on her official Facebook page.

My concern now is for the process of democracy itself. Having spent a full year in the belly of the beast, which in the case of politics is as literal as you can get, I’ve seen the underside of American politics as well as the beauty of what’s possible.

After the second debate, when I was the most googled candidate in 49 states, the word clearly went out from the establishment on high to “Get that woman off the stage!” They knew if I was on the third debate stage I would be an unstoppable force, and they were right. So boy they went to work. Could you look anywhere that there wasn’t a headline about me being “anti-vax, dangerous, crazy, anti-medicine, anti-science, a grifter, bad to gay people, or fat-shaming”? The lies and vilification were extraordinary, many coming from people whose politics are pretty much like mine, and many, I am sorry to say, coming from women. People were duped into thinking I was some wacko crystal lady, whatever that means – or worse. It’s like I was radioactive. When voters actually heard me, I did fine. Great, in fact. But many people had the idea that it was beneath them to even come and hear me. And many just kept saying “She’s unelectable.” When every time you’re mentioned for almost a year the word “long-shot” is written before your name, it has an effect on people.

If I had run a better campaign I would have been able to survive all that. But for many reasons I did not. And I do regret dropping out when I did, because even though I was basically out of money I still would have gotten as many votes in Iowa and New Hampshire as did Tom Steyer or Andrew Yang. I was spooked by everything that was going on, and it made me drop out a minute before the punchline. [New Hampshire] still would’ve been the end of the road for me, I’m sure, but it would’ve been an ending on a much higher note.

I learned so much from the experience; that is an understatement. I said many times: the system was even more corrupt than I feared, but people were even more wonderful than I knew. I continue to feel such gratitude for those who supported me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t do better. If I ever do it again, I promise I will slam it like nobody’s business. :)

– Marianne Williamson
February 12, 2020

Carl Anderson and The Black Pearl

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The Wild Reed’s celebration of singer and actor Carl Anderson continues!

It’s actually a month-long celebration, as February is the month of both Carl’s birth (in 1945) and death (in 2004, at age 58).

This evening's installment of The Wild Reed’s celebration of Carl focuses on his second feature film (after 1973's Jesus Christ Superstar), the extremely rare 1977 film, The Black Pearl, based on the novel of the same name by Scott O'Dell.

The Black Pearl is the tale of a teenage boy, Ramón (Mario Custodio), who dives for pearls off the coast of Baja where he finds a legendary black pearl that is guarded by a giant manta ray, the "Manta Diablo." Carl plays the rather unpleasant pearl diver Moro (named “the Sevillano” in the original book).

The Black Pearl is yet to commercially surface on DVD or Blu-ray. In fact, there does not seem to be even any copies of it available on VHS.

Following is a fascinating (and at times humorous) piece by John Campopiano on the elusiveness of The Black Pearl. Campopiano's article was first published January 29, 2018 at DiaboliqueMavazine.com. It's reprinted below in its entirety with added images and links.

I’m no stranger to the world of animatronic creatures. I’ve been watching, collecting, and researching nature-runs-amok films and anything inspired by Spielberg’s classic, Jaws (1975), since the late 1990s. If it features something that crawls, swims, or flies, chances are I’ve probably seen it or own it, or both. As a young collector I would watch films like Grizzly (1976), Orca (1977), and Up from the Depths (1979) on repeat. Sure, the economic reason for these films to exist is obvious, but what I’m more interested in is how writers and filmmakers of these films adopted the Jaws storytelling formula into their own derivative works and how many of these films, specifically from the 1970s, address the issue of man and his–usually negative–impact on nature. My curiosity for these films has largely driven my penchant for collecting.

In recent years, I’ve been setting my sights on slightly more obscure fare–films that maybe had a very limited release (or no formal release at all–as was the case with the 1992 Canuxploitation cult classic, Psycho Pike) and those made specifically for the small screen. The Bermuda Depths (1978), a Rankin/Bass & Japanese co-production, is a great example of the latter. It stars Carl Weathers (two years after Rocky) and Burl Ives as the crusty, local captain–slightly reminiscent of Captain Quint. (IMDb: Scientists investigating the briny deep are threatened by a giant turtle and the spirit of a young brunette swimmer in the Bermuda Triangle.) Much like the film about which this article is dedicated, The Bermuda Depths is softer in tone, rich with symbolism related to humans and their entanglements with magical and unexplained powers of nature, and would likely be categorized as fantasy instead of a horror film. The film also features very little animal-on-human violence. However, unlike the film about which this article is dedicated, The Bermuda Depths is easy to find.

Enter, The Black Pearl – a 1977 USA/Spanish co-production based on the 1967 Newbery Honor winning novel by Scott O’Dell about the son of a pearl dealer living in the Baja peninsula and his encounter with a giant manta ray, or, manta diablo. The film adaptation was shot in the Bahamas and Spain and boasted a huge, animatronic manta ray that could have made a formidable opponent for “Bruce” (Spielberg’s great white shark) or even Captain Ahab’s whale, Moby Dick, though unlike Jaws and its many copycat films, The Black Pearl was intended for a slightly younger demographic, one that was not necessarily thirsty for more limb-tearing Jawsy-esqe terror. And while it is now considered scarce by home video collecting standards, the film featured a handful of notable names of the period: The writer responsible for adapting O’Dell’s novel into a screenplay was Victor Miller, best known for writing the original Friday the 13th. Saul Swimmer, director of The Black Pearl, had also directed The Concert for Bangladesh which was produced by George Harrison and represented the first benefit rock concert ever. Though despite its connection to celebrated films and filmmakers, The Black Pearl remains a bit of a forgotten 1970s oddity.

Backing up a bit, it’s worthwhile to place The Black Pearl within the larger context of sea-centric stories of the period. The 1970s were a time of heightened interest in oceanic mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Depths, books like Charles Berlitz’s 1969 bestselling novel, The Bermuda Triangle, and made-for-tv films like the 1975 thriller, Satan’s Triangle (starring Doug McClure and Kim Novak) and the Leonard Nimoy’s series, In Search of . . . (which dedicated an episode to the “mysterious phenomenon” of the Bermuda Triangle) are evidence of pop culture’s fascination with the mysteries of the deep. In addition, the commercial success of Jaws suggested that there was an appetite among the movie-going and book-reading public. Of course, literary and cinematic works of this ilk long predate the 1970s. Certain works of Herman Melville, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway have dealt with the struggles between man and beast and man’s (often destructive) exploration of the oceanic unknown. The Black Pearl – by what little I have to go on as of this writing – appears to fall in line with these other stories.

Aside from my interest in films of the 1970s and ‘80s, the elusiveness of The Black Pearl has also fed my desire to find a copy. As a collector, some of my best experiences are when I’m consumed by the thrill of the hunt. Hours of online research and crate-digging are part of the job, which can make the hunt both frustrating and appealing. Produced by Universum Film in Spain and Royal Productions in the USA, I assume it received a VHS release here in the States. Records indicate that it was also released on VHS in Canada under the alternate title, The Secret Cave and in France as, La Perle Noire. The online catalog WorldCat, which itemizes the collections from over 72,000 libraries in 170 countries, lists one copy (under the Spanish title, La Perla Negra) at the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid and another at the Biblioteca de la Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona. While it’s great news that they exist, Spain is just under 3,400 miles away from Boston and I don’t have an applicable library card. So, buying or even scheduling an in-house viewing of those copies seems unlikely.

Another lead came via the website, Todocoleccion, an online marketplace similar to eBay where two separate copies were listed – plus photos! Unfortunately, I struck out again. The first tape listed was a Universal Video VHS release but the issue was that it had already sold – despite the listing remaining live on the page. The second listing, also a Universal Video release, was just for the case plus artwork – no tape! A damn tease, for sure. But despite these failed attempts my quest for a copy of The Black Pearl continues. As a devotee to physical media – especially legacy formats and those nearing the end of their shelf lives – I’m committed to finding a copy the old fashioned way and have resisted any temptation to scour the darker corners of the Internet for torrents of the film, though I suspect the latter does exist somewhere.

Ultimately, I’ve not yet seen The Black Pearl, so I’m hoping that my eventual discovery of this VHS sunken treasure won’t echo the tagline found on the North American poster: “His fabulous treasure turned into sheer terror!”

– John Campopiano
“Chasing the Manta Diablo: My Quest for a Copy of The Black Pearl”
Diabolique Magazine
January 29, 2018

One person who does have a copy of The Black Pearl is “Schlockmeister” of YouTube's Schlockmeister's Movie Review channel. Here's his 16-minute review of The Black Pearl from April 8, 2019.

NEXT: Carl Anderson in The Color Purple

The Wild Reed's February 2019 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering and Celebrating Carl Anderson
• Carl Anderson: “Pure Quality”
• Carl Anderson's Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar: “The Gold Standard”
• Carl Anderson's Judas: “A Two-Dimensional Popular Villain Turned Into a Complex Human Being”
• Carl Anderson: “Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire”
• Playbill Remembers Carl
• Remembering the Life of Carl Anderson: “There Was So Much Love”

For more of Carl at The Wild Reed, see:
• Carl Anderson: “Like a Song in the Night”
• Carl Anderson: “One of the Most Enjoyable Male Vocalists of His Era”
• With Love Inside
• Carl Anderson
• Acts of Love . . . Carl's and Mine
• Introducing . . . the Carl Anderson Appreciation Group
• Forbidden Lover
• Revisiting a Groovy Jesus (and a Dysfunctional Theology)

Related Off-site Links:
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part I: A Broadway Legend with Lynchburg Roots – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org, May 12, 2015)
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part II: The Legend Lives On – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org,June 10, 2015)
Carl Anderson – Jazz Legend: The Official Website
Carl Anderson Memorial Page
Carl Anderson at AllMusic.com – Ron Wynn (AllMusic.com)
Carl Anderson Biography – Chris Rizik (Soul Tracks)

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Bernie Sanders and the Corporate Media

Bernie Sanders campaign is up against the oligarchy. And that oligarchy’s biggest and strongest arm are the corporate media outlets.

– Norman Solomon
Excerpted from “Despite Corporate Media’s 'War on Bernie,'
Sanders Rides Wave of Support into New Hampshire Primary”
Democracy Now!
January 30, 2020

As the presidential campaign got underway last year, we watched the media lavish its affections on Beto O’Rourke for a while, and then Kamala Harris, briefly, and Elizabeth Warren for quite a while.

But, as it will, love waned.

Joe Biden became the new sure thing – experienced, solid and empathetic. Most of all, he possessed that ineffable quality: electability. But last week, after the Iowa caucuses, the attention shifted squarely to Pete Buttigieg, portrayed as a centrist savior, though it’s still debatable whether he actually won.

Then . . . the news media’s roving crush moved to Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar. Her third-place finish in the New Hampshire Democratic primary became the story of the night.

Never, though, has mainstream media turned its loving eyes to the front-runner, Bernie Sanders. Quite the opposite.

– Margaret Sullivan
Excerpted from “The Media Keep Falling in Love
– With Anybody But Bernie Sanders”
The Washington Post
February 13, 2020

After the New Hampshire results came in, political reporters and pundits put facts into linguistic pretzels, instead of just stating what the numbers did: That Sanders had won, taking the popular vote for two straight contests in a crowded field. Not all of it was pure ideological offense. New York Times politics reporter Jeremy Peters, tweeted: “Pete, after winning Iowa, is almost beating Bernie in a state Bernie won four years ago by 22 points. Under any normal standard of assessing the Democratic race, Pete would be called a frontrunner.” Likewise, Trip Gabriel also of the New York Times, also asserted an upside-down analysis tweeting, that the number one story of the night was Amy Klobuchar (who came in third) and the number two story of the night was Pete Buttigieg (who came in second) coming closer to Sanders than expected.

Sanders has been a punching bag for the media establishment for some time. In explaining its decision to pass over Sanders to endorse, strangely, both Warren and Klobuchar, the New York Times editorial board wrote “we see little advantage to exchanging one over-promising, divisive figure in Washington for another.” Their competitors have been little different. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Jennifer Rubin have made Trump-Sanders comparisons a writerly tick. Last April, Milbank said both Sanders has emerged as “the Donald Trump of the left,” citing their “flair for demagoguery” and speeches with “Trumpian flourishes.” Rubin for her part has been banging that drum as daily practice, accusing Sanders in January of “playing Trumpian politics.” As if a politician advocating for healthcare and against student debt somehow equaled Trump's authoritarian and racist [extremism].

. . . In consistently undercutting Sanders, news organizations do themselves no favors, also undercutting their own credibility in a time when they sell themselves as a corrective to disinformation (The Washington Post’s slogan is now “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” while the New York Times ran a “The Truth Is Worth It” ad campaign). This pattern of anti-Bernie coverage has spawned conspiracy theories – no assist to truth either. One voter, who says she “watches MSNBC constantly,” in Iowa told Ari Melber that though there were “multiple wonderful candidates who would be great presidents,” she voted for Bernie because she was angry about the “stop-Bernie cynicism” she heard from a number of MSNBC commentators.

– Mari Uyehara
Excerpted from “Why Does Mainstream Media
Keep Attacking Bernie Sanders as He Wins?”
GQ
February 12, 2020

[One way that the corporate media presented Bernie Sanders'] victory in the New Hampshire primary as a loss was to combine the vote totals of all the "moderate" candidates to show that "Sanders could lose the Democratic nomination to a unified centrist vote" (Business Insider, 2/12/20). This is based on the assumption that supporters of particular candidates see themselves as belonging to ideological camps that don’t cross over—a dubious premise. For example, polling suggests that if Joe Biden were to drop out of the race, the biggest bloc of his supporters would switch to Sanders as their second choice.

Nevertheless, Vox (2/12/20) argued that the results “show Bernie Sanders still has an 'electability' problem,” claiming that exit polls showed that voters who prioritized beating Trump, rather than someone who they agree with on major issues, chose Buttigieg. But this is a false dichotomy that ignores the fact that words like “electable” and “pragmatic” have been coded for decades to mean “right-wing” or “pro-corporate.” (Extra!, 9/1/92, 7/1/06; FAIR.org, 1/1/95, 3/16/10, 8/21/19).

It also ignores the reality that Sanders does better in head-to-head polls against Trump than either Buttigieg or Klobuchar, who often lose to the president. If media analysts can’t seem to recognize this reality, voters increasingly do; in the latest Morning Consult poll (The Hill, 2/12/20), more voters (29%) named Sanders as the most likely to beat Trump than any other candidate.

– Alan MacLeod
Excerpted from “For Media in New Hampshire,
Losing Is Winning and Winning Is Losing”
FAIR
February 14, 2020

More than ever, Bernie Sanders is public enemy number one for power elites that thrive on economic injustice. The Bernie 2020 campaign is a direct threat to the undemocratic leverage that extremely wealthy individuals and huge corporations constantly exert on the political process. No wonder we’re now seeing so much anti-Bernie rage from leading corporate Democrats – eagerly amplified by corporate media.

In American politics, hell hath no fury like corporate power scorned.

Flagrant media biases against Sanders are routine in a wide range of mainstream outlets. (The media watch group FAIR has long documented the problem, illuminated by one piece after another after another after another just this month.) In sharp contrast, positivity toward Sanders in mass media spheres is scarce.

The pattern is enmeshed with the corporatism that the Sanders campaign seeks to replace with genuine democracy – disempowering great wealth and corporate heft while empowering everyday people to participate in a truly democratic process.

Big media are continually amplifying the voices of well-paid reporters and pundits whose jobs involve acceptance of corporate power, including the prerogatives of corporate owners and sponsors. And, in news coverage of politics, there’s an inexhaustible supply of former Democratic officeholders and appointees who’ve been lucratively feeding from corporate troughs as lobbyists, consultants and PR operatives. Their corporate ties usually go unmentioned.

An important media headquarters for hostility toward the Sanders campaign is MSNBC, owned by Comcast – a notoriously anti-labor and anti-consumer corporation. “People need to remember,” I pointed out on Democracy Now! last week, “that if you, for instance, don’t trust Comcast, why would you trust a network that is owned by Comcast? These are class interests being worked out where the top strata of ownership and investors hires the CEO, hires the managing editors, hires the reporters. And so, what we’re seeing, and not to be rhetorical about it, but we really are seeing a class war underway.”

– Norman Solomon
Excerpted from “The Escalating Class War Against Bernie Sanders”
Common Dreams
February 17, 2020

Many polls have documented what the public thinks about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ policy positions, and the evidence is overwhelming: From a wealth tax to minimum wage, they are extremely popular. . . . In October 2019, The Hill reported on an American Barometer survey that found “70% of the public supported providing ‘Medicare for All,’ also known as single-payer healthcare.” . . . [When journalists ignore such findings it means their] ignorance is willful, [with] roots in a profoundly ideological position, an ideology adopted by journalists who favor and are rewarded by corporate arguments promoted by corporate Democrats.

– Robin Andersen
Excerpted from “Factchecking NPR’s
Attempted Takedown of Bernie Sanders”
FAIR
February 18, 2020

None of the corporate media outlets – not ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSCBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or the Associated Press – reported about the Yale study in a peer-reviewed medical journal finding that Bernie's Medicare for All bill would SAVE $450 billion and prevent 68,000 deaths a year.

– Warren Gunnels
via Twitter
February 17, 2020

Related Off-site Links:
The Cosmic Irony of Bernie Sanders’s Rise – Seth Ackerman (Jacobin, February 17, 2020).
What Bernie Offers Trumpites: Sanders’ Message Resonates in Surprising Ways With Some of the President’s Fans – Michael Tracey (New York Daily News, February 17, 2020).
What “That’s Not Realistic” Really Means: Bernie Sanders, Social Democracy, and Capitalist Apologetics – William Hawes (Medium, February 15, 2020).
Jane Sanders Says Bernie Campaign Will Remove "Powers-That-Be" from Government: "We Already Have Corporate Socialism" – Benjamin Fearnow (Newsweek, February 15, 2020).
Comedian John Oliver Makes Case for Medicare for All, Debunks Right-Wing Talking Points – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 17, 2020).

UPDATES: Sanders Projected To Win Nevada Caucuses, Solidifying Front-Runner Status – Scott Detrow and Deirdre Walsh (NPR News, February 17, 2020).
Bernie Sanders Is the Winner of the 2020 Nevada Democratic Caucuses – Tara Golshan, Daniel Marans, and Carla Herreria (The Huffington Post, February 22, 2020).
“That's Called Electability”: Diverse Coalition Propels Bernie Sanders to Big Win in Nevada – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 22, 2020).
Multiple Studies Show Medicare for All Would Be Cheaper Than Public Option Pushed by Moderates – Igor Derysh (Salon, February 22, 2020).
Bernie Sanders Is No Donald Trump – David Roth (The New Republic, February 21, 2020).
After Bernie Sanders' Landslide Nevada Win, It's Time for Democrats to Unite Behind Him – Nathan Robinson (The Guardian, February 23, 2020).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Thoughts on the “Sanders Surge”
• The Case for Bernie Sanders
• Quote of the Day – September 7, 2017
• Quote of the Day – January 21, 2017
• Quote of the Day – November 9, 2016
• Progressive Perspectives on the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
• Progressive Perspectives on the Election of Donald Trump
• Carrying It On
• Hope, History, and Bernie Sanders

For more coverage at The Wild Reed of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, see:
• Thoughts on the Eve of the Iowa Caucuses
• Quote of the Day – February 9, 2020
• A Thank You Letter to Marianne Williamson
• “A Beautiful Message, So Full of Greatness”
• Progressive Perspectives on Joe Biden's Presidential Run
• Beto, Biden and Buttigieg: “Empty Suits and Poll-Tested Brands”
• Pete Buttigieg, White Privilege, and Identity Politics
• Quote of the Day – October 19, 2019
• Quote(s) of the Day – February 26, 2019

Image: Artist unknown.

Puerto Vallarta (Part III)

I share this evening a third and final batch of photos from my recent time with friends in the beautiful resort town of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast.

Left: At far left with friends (from left) Pete, Brent, and Jeffrey – Puerto Vallarta, Sunday, February 2, 2020.

As I noted in Part I, my friend Brent and I flew down to Mexico early Sunday morning, February 2 and stayed for four days with our mutual friends Pete and Jeffrey, and Pete's parents Gary and Ruth, in a condominium in the Molina Del Agua complex, located in the Old Town of Puerto Vallarta. Throughout the duration of our stay the weather was unseasonable crappy – overcast, rainy and cool. But we definitely made the most of our time in this beautiful place.

Hopefully the photos I share in this series of posts attest to that!

Above (from left): Brent, Jeffrey, and Pete – Sunday, February 2, 2020.

Writes Mónica Ramírez López about Puerto Vallarta's reputation as the “Gay Capital of Mexico.”

Puerto Vallarta is one of the favorite Mexican tourist destinations of the LGBT community. There are hotels, bars, nightclubs, beaches, and even drinks specifically for LGBT travelers, and due to the safety and welcoming environment for these guests, it is the first city in Mexico to receive the Gay Travel Approved distinction by GayTravel.com. Here we discover how and why Puerto Vallarta became the Gay Capital of Mexico.

In the south of Puerto Vallarta you will find the “Old Town,” also called “The Romantic Zone,” the tourist area favored by expats and foreigners who want to soak up local traditions. The Old Puerto Vallarta is also considered the gay neighborhood since 1980, when the gay community and retired Canadians and Americans bought land and properties in order to create gay-friendly businesses. Today there’s a wide variety of attractions with this focus, including bars, restaurants, stores, nightclubs, and both budget and boutique hotels.

In this zone is nestled the popular beach Playa de los Muertos, which, although not exclusively gay, for the last 20 years has been known as a gay-friendly beach (also called Blue Chairs, because of the many blue chairs placed by a gay resort which bears the same name), mainly in the high season, from November to March.

. . . Unlike certain countries, laws against homosexuality never existed in Mexico. There is, however, a strong macho culture and religious influence which disapproves it—nonetheless the locals show respect. Under these circumstances, the growing community has led LGBT organizations to work to promote a change of culture in the pursuit of equality. Their work has gotten results: they have achieved recognition of gay rights, and implemented laws against the provocation and incitement of hate or violence against LGBTs, and also to guarantee equality in employment and public accomodation and services. Even more, in 2013 Puerto Vallarta legalized civil union between LGBT couples, followed by same-sex marriage in 2016.

This city organized its first Gay Pride March, and has hosted the Pink & Proud Women’s Party—the equivalent lesbian celebration—for the last four years, with assistance from the local Canadian and American communities. The multiple events in support of the LGBT community have marked out Puerto Vallarta as the “Mexican San Francisco.”

Above and below: A dancer at La Noche Lounge and Rooftop Garden Bar, a popular gay establishment we visited on the evening of February 4, 2020. This dancer's grace, strength and prowess reminds me of something that Bo Franklin wrote in his article, “Are You Man Enough to Pole-Dance?”

I can appreciate why [pole-dancing or simply “pole”] has a greater appeal to gay men. Beyond its focus on style over brute force, pole hasn’t completely shaken its deviant origins. It came from the fringes of society, and for a lot of gay men this feels familiar; we know what it’s like to unite around something others see as taboo. . . . [T]here’s something queer about pole.

Indeed!

Do you know what came to mind for me as I watched this particular dancer? . . . Bobbie Gentry's song "Belinda," about a burlesque dancer in Corpus Christi!

Following are some of the song's lyrics that I've adapted to accompany my photos of the memorable dancer (and acrobat) I encountered in Puerto Vallarta.

You may know my body
But you cannot know my mind
He moved his lips but didn't make a sound
You may know my body
But you cannot know my mind
Then he'd dip and turn and smile and swing his body 'round

. . . Then one night I wrote a hasty note
And threw it on the stage
Askin' him if he would have a drink with me
And we talked of many things
About the sunshine and the country
And a tear came to his eye quite suddenly

And I listened to him, thought about him
Finally, I asked him
"Tell me, Basilio, what does your life mean?"
He looked me in the eye
And told me "A hundred bucks a night
And to be a damn good dancin' Burlesque queen"

“Ah, you may know my body
But you cannot know my mind”
He said to me as he prepared to go
You may know my body
But you cannot know my mind
Then he laughed and left to do his second show

Above (from left): Pete, Ruth, Gary, and Jeffrey – Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

Above: Jeffrey and Brent – Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

Above: On our last night in Puerto Vallarta (Wednesday, February 5, 2020) we were invited to a soirée hosted by another holiday resident at Molina Del Agua. Our host (and his mother) had the event catered by a local up-and-coming chef and his restaurant staff.

Above: I call this my Puerto Vallarta portrait! (With thanks to my friend Pete.)

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Carl Anderson: On and On

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As was the case last year, February this year at The Wild Reed is dedicated to singer and actor Carl Anderson, who was born on February 27, 1945 and died on February 23, 2004 at age 58.

As I noted last year, 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!

Indeed, I think a case can made for Carl's 1996 album Heavy Weather Sunlght Again being a sonic bridge between the “old school” R&B of his contemporaries and the then-emerging neo-soul of musicians such as Maxwell, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Eric Benet, and D'Angelo. (Perhaps more on this contention in a future post.)

I dare say that for most people, Carl Anderson is best remembered for playing Judas Iscariot in the 1973 film adaptation (above) 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.)

Of course, there is much more to the life and career of Carl Anderson than Jesus Christ Superstar, as has been well-documented at The Wild Reed (see for instance here and here) and elsewhere.

This year's series of February posts celebrating Carl will, in large part, focus on his film career beyond Jesus Christ Superstar. But for this initial post, I want to focus on what he is most well-known for: his singing and that voice.

And so without further ado, I share one of my all-time favorite Carl Anderson tracks, "On and On." It's the title track from his second solo album, released in 1984. The title of this song also sums up well what it is I'm committed to doing here at The Wild Reed when it comes to keeping Carl's talents and career out there for people to experience and appreciate. . . . Enjoy!

Changing times
Love seems left behind
But it's only in our troubled minds
Don't despair
Look in your heart and find
The love so strong
That's where we belong
Give yourself a chance
Love won't do you wrong

And now we're not afraid
'Cause our love is so brave
And we know our love will grow and grow
On and on
On and on and on
Love goes on and on
On and on
On and on and on
On and on

Loving you
Is like living through
All of the joy of ages old and new
There is only one love
That we all can have a share of
And we know our love is growing
Growing on and on
On and on and on
On and on

There is only one love
That we all can have our share of
And I know that love is you and I
On and on
On and on and on
On and on

My love for you
Growing strong
On and on

After all that's said and done
Our love goes on and on

All our fears are gone
Gone and gone and gone

Fills my heart with song
As our love goes on and on and on and on
On and on

NEXT: Carl Anderson and The Black Pearl

The Wild Reed's February 2019 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering and Celebrating Carl Anderson
• Carl Anderson: “Pure Quality”
• Carl Anderson's Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar: “The Gold Standard”
• Carl Anderson's Judas: “A Two-Dimensional Popular Villain Turned Into a Complex Human Being”
• Carl Anderson: “Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire”
• Playbill Remembers Carl
• Remembering the Life of Carl Anderson: “There Was So Much Love”

For more of Carl at The Wild Reed, see:
• Carl Anderson: “Like a Song in the Night”
• Carl Anderson: “One of the Most Enjoyable Male Vocalists of His Era”
• With Love Inside
• Carl Anderson
• Acts of Love . . . Carl's and Mine
• Introducing . . . the Carl Anderson Appreciation Group
• Forbidden Lover
• Revisiting a Groovy Jesus (and a Dysfunctional Theology)

Related Off-site Links:
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part I: A Broadway Legend with Lynchburg Roots – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org, May 12, 2015)
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part II: The Legend Lives On – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org,June 10, 2015)
Carl Anderson – Jazz Legend: The Official Website
Carl Anderson Memorial Page
Carl Anderson at AllMusic.com – Ron Wynn (AllMusic.com)
Carl Anderson Biography – Chris Rizik (Soul Tracks)

Saturday, February 15, 2020

George Yancy on the “Unspoken Reality of Death”

My work as a palliative care chaplain brings me close to death – and the range of responses that people convey in relation to this reality, including my own responses. No surprise, then, that I find George Yancy's recent New York Times' piece, “Facing the Fact of My Death,” so pertinent and compelling. Following (with added links) is an excerpt.

The fact of death is like a haunting. It frequents me, entangled in everything I do: It’s just beneath my pillow as I sleep, strolling next to me as I casually walk from one class to the next, inserting its presence between each heart beat in my chest, forcing its way into my consciousness when I say “I love you” to my children each night, assuring me that it can unravel the many promises that I continue to make, threatening the appointments that I need to keep. This sense of haunting is what the Harvard professor Cornel West calls the “death shudder.” Of this “shudder” in the face of death, he writes, “Yes, dread and terror were involved, but also perplexity. Exploration. Where does nonexistence take you? What does it mean to be stripped of your own consciousness? How do we live with the idea that we are always tantalizingly close to death? At any moment the bridge can collapse.”

I continue to shudder. Yet there is something about facing the fact of death that invites us to double back, to see our existence, our lives, differently. The scholar Mark Ralkowski, reflecting on Martin Heidegger’s notion of “being-toward-death,” writes: “In rare moments, we can be returned to ourselves by an experience of anxiety (Angst), which disrupts the tranquility of the everyday world by emptying it of its usual significance and meaning. In these moments, none of our projects or commitments makes sense to us anymore, and we see that we are committed to roles prescribed to us by das Man” – which means “the they” or “the crowd.”

I want my students to experience one of those “rare moments,” to consider the short duration of their lives. To get them to think differently about our time together, to value their lives differently, I make a resolute effort to remind my students that all of us, at some point, sooner or later, will become rotting corpses. That, I explain, is the great equalizer. No matter how smart, brilliant, wealthy, beautiful and fit you are, no matter how great your MCAT, LSAT or G.P.A. scores, no matter your religious or political orientation, we will all perish.

After hearing this, students will often become completely silent. There is a sudden recognition that something has been haunting our joy, our unquestioned and collective happiness, our sense of “permanence.” It is palpable. No matter how many times I’ve decided to remove the veil, the sting of our collective finitude continues to hit me, along with the reality of bodily decomposition and putrefaction. The unspoken reality of death, which is the haunting background of our lives, shakes my body; I mourn for me and my students, and humanity.

Yet a clarity emerges. My students and I see each other differently, perhaps for the very first time. We are no longer simply students and professor, but fragile creatures and mysterious beings who have been dying from the moment we were born in a universe with no self-evident ultimate meaning. Something as previously uneventful as sitting next to one’s fellow classmate takes on unspeakable value. That shared understanding, vulnerability and mutual recognition of collective destiny makes our time together even more joyful, even more precious.

I’m not sure if the “death shudder” will ever abate while I’m alive. And I am no closer to understanding the fact that I exist or why I must die. I don’t seem to be able to achieve the necessary adjustment, the solace of acceptance. In his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein writes, “It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.” Wittgenstein helps to give voice to something mysterious about our being: It is that we exist, and that we will die, which is so uncanny. It is that both life and death are inextricably braided together that elicits the shudder. And the shudder and the uncanniness point beyond mere facts. They function, at least for me, as gestures, as intimations of a beyond, that enthrall my soul.

George Yancy, is a professor of philosophy at Emory University. His latest book is Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly About Racism in America. To read his commentary “Facing the Fact of My Death” in its entirety, click here.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Chaplaincy: A Ministry of Welcome
• Interfaith Chaplaincy: Meeting People Where They're At
• Spirituality and the Healthcare Setting
• World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
• Resilience and Hope
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Debbie Blue
• Autumn's “Wordless Message”
• Autumnal (and Rather Pagan) Thoughts on the Making of “All Things New”
• Within the Mystery, a Strange and Empty State of Suspension
• Resurrection in an Emerging Universe
• Resurrection: A New Depth of Consciousness

Image: Photographer unknown.

The Wild Reed

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

“I Learned So Much From the Experience”: Marianne Williamson on Her Presidential Bid

Carl Anderson and The Black Pearl

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Bernie Sanders and the Corporate Media

Puerto Vallarta (Part III)

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Carl Anderson: On and On

Saturday, February 15, 2020

George Yancy on the “Unspoken Reality of Death”

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