Mouse Farts in a Wind Tunnel

April 10, 2003

Long time no see. I've been busy and I've been sleeping, and sometimes I've just been busy sleeping. Not to be understimated -- I'm currently clocking about twelve hours sleep a day. I'm recovering from a busy and stressful weekend at the Dayton Area Mensa Regional Gethering (that's DAM RG, for all the non-geeks). I had to be around many more people than I am comfortable with and it forced me into an unusual level of extroversion. The result: days of dissociation and sleep. Still feeling the buzzyhead, but hoping I'll be able to focus a bit more soon. Sometimes dissociation is just a ridiculous thing to live with.

This showed up in my inbox from the H-LaborArts mailing list. Read it and weep for the present, where any similar presentation of organized labor is unimaginable.

Love's Labor's Lost: Looking Back at 'Pins and Needles,' the Play That Was Union-made

On November 27, 1937, Broadway patrons were serenaded with "Sing Me a Song of Social Significance," the hit song from the labor movement-inspired musical "Pins and Needles." Although no major New York press critics attended the opening — they would show up in dribs and drabs over the next three months — "Pins and Needles" went on to play 1,108 performances, breaking the longstanding records of past blockbusters such as the 1919 "Irene" (670 performances) and the 1929 "Show Boat" (572 performances). In fact, "Pins and Needles" would keep the record until 1945, when "Oklahoma" surpassed it. What makes it even more amazing is that "Pins and Needles" was not your usual Broadway musical — in fact, it was not your usual Broadway anything.

A nice article to wake up to after hours and hours of strange dreams including one that included a white duck with dalmatian-like black spots and a nasty set of human teeth in its bill. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a guard duck is just a guard duck.

posted by el goose on 4/10/2003 01:37:57 PM | link

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