Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 176

Unidentified Funnel Object

Pretty wild.  A leading TV station, and other outlets, in storm-wracked Indiana posted this photo on its site from viewer--who added the funnel cloud, a UFO and, some way, Big Foot.

Flashing

Great collection of photos of naked flashmobs--actually, art project by Spencer Tunick-- from around the world.  Good luck on reading the text and captions though....

Yet Another Beethoven "Flash Mob"

This is from last year but just found.  I've been chronicling these for some time, and Bill Moyers, along with his swell segment about our Beethoven 9th film this week, posted a few of them on his site--which has proved to be wildly popular.  So, another:

Raves for 'A Gentleman's Guide'--Upton Sinclair Next?

Holding breath a bit tonight. New musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is opening tonight on Broadway. As an old rock 'n roller, and lattter day Beethoven freak, Broadway musicals are not normally my bag.  So why do I care so much about the premiere tonight? 

The same folks who wrote it--Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman--have also penned a musical based on my book, The Campaign of the Century , about Upton Sinclair's race for governor of California in 1934, leading a lefty mass movement (which inspired "the birth of modern politics").   I know that sounds unlikely for a musical, but the show is great, taking advantage of that campaign being Hollywood's first all-out plunge into politics.  Anyway, I presume a great success for the current play will bode well for "Campaign." 

UPDATE:  Reviews  just now appearing, most important this rave in NYT (yes, these guys are "literate").  AP loves it.  So does Variety .  Here's a rave just up from Entertainment Weekly, which gives it an "A."  Hollywood Reporter high praise.  Also: USA Today.

Tornado Watch

Local TV in Peoria flees the set and goes off air amid tornado warning.

Doris Lessing, R.I.P.

The great novelist has died.  Watch how she, perhaps aptly, responded to getting the Nobel Prize: "Oh, Christ."

Truth Stranger Than Fiction

For those who found last night's SNL skit on unlikely cover songs pretty far out, consider that Dylan DID do a cover of "Big Yellow Taxi," considered by some one of his worst cuts ever to make vinyl (even if it was put out by Columbia to humble him after he briefly left the label in the early 1970s).

Malcolm's Dad Has 'Breaking Bad' Nightmare

Amazing that they shot this faux "alternate" ending with Cranston, a la the famous Newhart thing.

JFK Assassination and Beethoven

The Boston Symphony happened to be playing an afternoon concert when President Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963.  The famed conductor, Erich Leinsdorf, had to announce his death to the hometown crowd--and then, following the gasps, led the orchestra in the funeral march from Beethoven's "Eroica."  It's all in the clip below.  The same movement was played at Kennedy's state funeral three days later.  Plus:  watch Bill Moyers' segment for his TV show this week, now online, on the new film I've co-produced--which explores the amazing political and cultural influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in America and abroad. My book on the same subject here.

Ives, Emerson and Beethoven

As you may know (or be sick of hearing), I am a Beethoven man, but here's my favorite piece of autumnal music, from Charles Ives via Jeremy Denk (who is featured in my Beethoven book).  Ives, of course, bases the "Alcotts" piece around the opening of LvB's "Fifth Symphony."