Sunday, August 15, 2010

• Soundings

  Sunday, February 5, 2012
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  Sunday, January 29, 2012
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  Sunday, January 22, 2012
• Soundings

  Sunday, January 15, 2012

Rain stopped play at last Monday's Midsummer's Night Dream and Spectacular at the Botanical Gardens (see the next item for the rain date) but a power outage betwixt first and second performances of "One Night Stand" on the previous Saturday at The Studios of Key West only increased the dramatic effect.

It was the fourth annual outing for this "Dozens of Creative People -- 24 Hours -- 5 Plays" at The Studios. Triple entendres flew like confetti from all that energy built up putting together scripts, costumes, props and backdrops beginning at 7 p.m. the previous evening.

All five plays had to contain a common phrase and prop, the phrase being "What we have here is a failure to communicate" and the prop being a home pregnancy-test kit. This led to theater wilder than hopped-up EugeneO'Neill and audience members in the front seats were close enough to be interfered with. So they were, by a flirtatious Quincy Perkins in red wig, lime-green suit and fishnet tights. "How good am I looking tonight?" he murmured, hitting on a whole row of young women. "Eleven?"

Our notes tell us that other highlights included a bare-chested Mike Mongo telling Amy Pesola, "Take a chill, Lady Gaga," and a glimpse, we think, of Connie ("dammit, I was almost there") Gilbert humping a leg. Brooke Babineau was delightfully lost in his own play (the actor had taken sick at 3 p.m.) and an upright bed in Cricket Desmarais' play proved to be an inspired way of revealing the shenanigans as if from above.

We enjoyed, too, the program's listings of all involved, a catalogue that could only be called Only in Key West. Joe Vain, for example, explaining that "the fear of being creatively stunted pushed him to Los Angeles of all places, where he became lost and disoriented and almost became another piece of gum on the Walk of Fame if not for his friend's insistence on coming out to Key West for a mental check. Boy, has that paid off or what?!?!"

Then there's Rita Brown, of whom it is written: "Only after she signed up for 'One Night Stand' did she find out they were talking about a play."

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The fourth annual Midsummer's Night Dream and Spectacle has been rescheduled for tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 16, from 5 to 11 p.m. at the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden.

Music, feasting, dancing, singing and theatrical antics will celebrate the art and artists of the Keys. The spectacle stars singers, dancers, painters, actors, poets, illusionists, palm readers and storytellers. With a constellation of guest star artists, band leader Peter Diamond and the Mighty Meteor Orchestra -- Lonnie Jacobson, Tim McAlpine and Matthew Watson -- set the rhythm for the night.

Adult admission is $10, children under age 12 free. Centennial Bank invites all its customers to attend for free; show your debit card for admission.

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Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was Moon.

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You can see them at ground level everywhere in town, crossing the floor in your home or at work and sharing the sidewalk. When you touch them, they curl up.

They are called yellow-banded millipedes and not very much is known about them. They were first found in Monroe County in 2001 and they are still only seen in Monroe, Broward and Miami-Dade.

They are thought to have originated from the Caribbean and it is believed they may be attracted to lights, which would explain their ubiquity all about us.

Together with scorpions, millipedes were perhaps the first arthropods to leave water and invade land, back in the Silurian period even before insects had appeared on Earth. (Millipedes are not insects.)

The yellow-banded millipede, Anadenobolus monilicornis, is an arthropod, meaning it has bodily frames divided into many very similar segments. It is in the class called diplopods, or millipedes, with two pairs of legs per somatic segment compared with the one pair of legs per segment of the chilopods, or centipedes. (A millipede doesn't really have a thousand legs, nor the centipede a hundred; they just appear to do so and the actual number will vary.)

Another distinction between millipedes and centipedes is that all centipedes are fast and fierce predators of other arthropods, while millipedes are herbivores.

Millipedes are very slow and many species, including the yellow-banded variety, which can grow from one to four inches in length, exhibit the defense mechanism of curling into a tight spiral to protects their more vulnerable belly.

The yellow-banded millipede, which does not bite and consumes only decaying plant matter, is harmless to humans and possibly a boon to many mammals. The University of Florida Extension Service cites monkeys in a Miami-Dade zoo rubbing their fur with the yellow-banded millipede. Grackles have also been reported to rub this millipede under their wings. It is known that millipede pores secrete a substance that can act as an insect repellant.

If you find them indoors, remove them to the outside; dry conditions inside could kill them within 24 hours. They cannot breed indoors. And be prepared for a slight odor if you vacuum them up; they can secrete the odor when disturbed.

Thanks to Kim Gabel at the Extension Service for much of this detail.

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Photographer, journalist, author, artist, travel writer and school board candidate Barbara Bowers is the next Literary Luminary for Literacy Volunteers of America on Wednesday, Aug. 18, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Fleming Street library auditorium.

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There's a milestone birthday celebration coming up when John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, America's first underwater preserve, turns 50 years old.

On Dec. 1 there's to be an underwater birthday celebration at the 9-foot bronze Christ of the Deep statue, donated to the Underwater Society of America in 1961 by industrialist Egidi Cressi.

The park was dedicated Dec. 10, 1960, thanks to the efforts of the late Miami Herald editor John Pennekamp to create a park just 90 minutes from Miami.

Today, Pennekamp draws more than one million visitors annually to explore nature trails and beaches and observe underwater wildlife in its 70 nautical miles.

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The name of each of the continents ends with the same letter that it starts with.

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Due to a number of requests, Reef Relief is extending its 2010 Coral Camp one more week, from Aug. 16 to Aug. 20.

Coral Camp is a weekly summer program based at the Reef Relief Environ-mental Center, 631 Greene St. next to Conch Republic Seafood Company. Cam-pers ages 6-12 have the chance to explore the reef and participate in hands-on learning activities with guest speakers and state-of-the-art films. Engaging field trips include the Eco-Discovery Center, the Key West Aquarium, Fort Zachary State Park, the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservancy and a snorkel trip to the reef with Sunny Days and Sebago.

Camp fees are $215 per child per week. Coral Camp runs Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Call 294-3100 or e-mail reefrelief@gmail.com as soon as possible; spots are limited and filling up fast.

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It is not possible to tickle yourself because the cerebellum will warn the rest of your brain what you are about to do. Once the brain knows that, it will ignore the resulting sensation.

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In a 1991 interview with Longevity magazine, Sylvester Stallone (see "The Expendables" review on page 10) said: "I am 5 feet, 10 inches."

In the New York Times in 1993, Stallone said: "I am exactly 5 feet 10¬½ inches."

In Playboy in 1978 he said: "I am five feet ten and three-quarters tall."

Others print that Stallone's actual height is five foot, nine inches.

But in William Goldman's 2000 book, "Which Lies Did I Tell?" the author follows a "hot lead that Sly was 5 feet 7 inches tall," the exact same height as Goldman. When he encountered Stallone at a swimming pool, Stallone "got out, grabbed a towel. I got out, grabbed a towel. He stood. I stood. Sixty-seven inches. Dripping wet."

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Where isMozart?

No one knows the location of the 18th century composer's burial place.

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Sir J. M. ("Peter Pan") Barrie, Sir Isaac Newton and Hans Christian Andersen all died virgins.

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Today marks the 65th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the war in the Pacific, commonly known as VJ Day.

That war was shortened by the decision of President Harry Truman to drop atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. Truman was not even aware of the existence of the atomic bomb when he assumed the presidency on April 12.

The end of the war in Europe (VE Day) occurred 65 years ago on Truman's 61st birthday, May 8.

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Quote for the Week:

"What are most people doing? Worshiping the teapot rather than drinking the tea!"

-- Zen teaching