The final tally for the PET-ition is 1,129. Thank you to all British citizens and residents who signed.
This petition is now closed, as its deadline has passed.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to recommend a Damehood for Petula Clark – which is long overdue.
Submitted by Irene Seaton – Deadline to sign up by: 12 March 2008 – Signatures: 1,129
Dave Stevens, born mere weeks before me, has died of leukemia. Dave was a comic book artist. A very good one. In fact, he was so good he was able to stop drawing comic books and instead concentrate on covers, pin-ups, and portfolios. Sadly, in his case, the good really did die young.
Stevens took an idealized vision of Bettie Page, the iconic 50’s “underwear model,” and paired her with a version of the character introduced in a 1949 Republic movie serial called King of the Rocketmen. With better art than story, and with installments sometimes years apart, Stevens had a cult hit on his hands, with a fan following that was big enough for it to be picked up by Disney and turned into a movie. Unfortunately, Disney was the wrong studio at the wrong time to make The Rocketeer, and the movie didn’t take off.
As alluded to previously, way back in the past century I got talked into joining the high school drama club. I was in two or three plays, and I had a great time doing them. The Proscenium Circus, as it was called, was the brainchild of an English teacher at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Massachusetts. His name is Ted Buswick. His wife Judy had been my eighth grade English teacher. She cured me of spelling hump day “Wendesday,” and she was approving when she caught me reading Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s funny how memories like those stick.
Judy and Ted have written Slate of Hand, Stone for Fine Art & Folk Art; which is, as the author of the forward says, “so timely and fills such a gap, why has nothing of the sort been previously undertaken?” Having taken a lot of art history classes in college I really enjoy Slate of Hand. I’m particularly impressed by the work of Ivor Richards, and everything in the chapter called “Stacked Sculpture.”
After teaching for fifteen years, Ted quit the profession in 1982 to pursue another career, but his influence as an exceptional teacher and drama coach lives on in myself, my sisters Jean and Marianne, and many, many others. There’s a short written interview with Ted at this link.
For all of the controversy surrounding the so-called Big Dig in Boston, with its mismanagement, shoddy work, corruption and waste, the total bill is about $14 billion. America’s presence in Iraq is now costing the United States $12 billion each and every month. And what, exactly, do we have to show for it, besides 4,000 dead Americans and record high gas prices?
As a follow-up to my tribute to the late Norman Hurricane Smith, the Beatles’ first recording engineer at EMI, I’ll send you over to this link, where Seth Swirsky tells of his meeting with Norman.
Also The New York Times has a good obituary for Norman, with some details I haven’t seen elsewhere, including confirmation that the alias Hurricane Smith came from the title of a 1952 movie. At this link.
A year ago in these parts there was talk of drought. The outdoor watering ban in town went from voluntary, to odd/even mandatory, to an outright prohibition. Those days are gone, thanks to plentiful snow and rain. As a result, our sump pump in the basement has kicked in early this year. Here’s a video of cute, little Sumpy in action. The suspense builds for fifteen seconds before he kicks in. He hangs out with his dehumidifier friend, who is probably still a month away from waking up from his hibernation.
[flv:/Video/2008/MAR/Sumpy.flv 440 330]
And now it’s time to get myself physically and mentally prepared for a 20-mile run! Marathon Monday, April 21, looms large.
