Most ancient civilizations found a way of marking time to predict changes that would affect their survival and destinies. These 'calendars' were often linked with one or more gods, who at some point in their progression, would return. Today, as human consciousness evolves in the age of healing, awareness, technology and reasoning, our attention is riveted to one calendar in particular, the Mayan Long Calendar, as something within its end time date, resonates for many souls. The date isDecember 21, 2012.
And before that date happens, you will have had the opportunity to have lived through the 2012 Presidential Elections. The date is November 6, 2012.
So be sure to mark you calendar for another great NoirCon in 2012. The date is November 8th through November 11th. Tell all your friends and watch here for more information.
The final day ofNoirCongot off to a spectacular start with Fantomas at 99: The Lord of Terror, a panel about the famed French arch-criminal that has appeared in numerous books, comics, and movies over the past century....
pattinase: A FEWNOIRCONPHOTOS
By pattinase (abbott)
A FEWNOIRCONPHOTOS. Add Image. Posted by pattinase (abbott) at 5:23 PM. Labels:noirconphotos-or those that came out. 7 comments: Paul D. Brazill said... My god, look at Ashley's tie! Bet he had to leave Australia just to be able to... pattinase - http://pattinase.blogspot.com/
Pulp Serenade:NoirConDay 3
By Cullen Gallagher
Day 2 ofNoirCon2010 ended with a great, low-key hang in the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel. Now, that made getting up for Day 3 a little tough on only 4 hours of sleep, but it was well worth it for Keynote Speaker Joan M. Schenkar's... Pulp Serenade - http://www.pulpserenade.com/
SECRET DEAD BLOG: Friday atNoirCon2010
By Swierczy
Friday atNoirCon2010. Not everyone is lucky enough to be hanging in Philadelphia this weekend, so pay attention to this space (and my Twitter feed attwitter.com/swierczy) for updates throughout the weeekend.... SECRET DEAD BLOG - http://secretdead.blogspot.com/
Pulp Serenade:NoirConDay 1
By Cullen Gallagher NoirCon2010 is off to a great start! The 4-day event fittingly kicked off with Larry Withers' terrific new documentary, David Goodis...To a Pulp. When Withers' mother, Elaine, passed away, he and his family discovered a family secret... Pulp Serenade - http://www.pulpserenade.com/
Pulp Serenade:NoirConDay 1
By Cullen Gallagher NoirCon2010 is off to a great start! The 4-day event fittingly kicked off with Larry Withers' terrific new documentary, David Goodis...To a Pulp. When Withers' mother, Elaine, passed away, he and his family discovered a family secret... Pulp Serenade - http://www.pulpserenade.com/
Pulp Serenade:NoirConPre-Gaming
By Cullen Gallagher
Over the course of the next several days, Pulp Serenade will be attendingNoirConin Philadelphia. I am very excited for the event. On Friday morning, I will also be moderating an hour-long conversation with author William Heffernan,... Pulp Serenade - http://www.pulpserenade.com/
During the festivities copies of Impossibly Funky will be available via Farley's Bookshop who will be on sight for the event. Posted by Mike White at 8:00 AM Bookmark and Share. Labels:Noircon...
The Voices in My Head: Duane Swierczynski onNoirCon
By Ian Ayris
Duane Swierczynski onNoirCon. Mr S. looks forward toNoirCon. To all you lucky so and so's going, click here for Duane's preview. Posted by Ian Ayris at 21:50 · Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share toGoogle... The Voices in My Head - http
pattinase: A FEWNOIRCONPHOTOS
By pattinase (abbott)
A FEWNOIRCONPHOTOS. Add Image. Posted by pattinase (abbott) at 5:23 PM. Labels:noirconphotos-or those that came out. 7 comments: Paul D. Brazill said... My god, look at Ashley's tie! Bet he had to leave Australia just to be able to... pattinase - http://pattinase.blogspot.com/
Pulp Serenade:NoirConDay 4
By Cullen Gallagher
The final day ofNoirCongot off to a spectacular start with Fantomas at 99: The Lord of Terror, a panel about the famed French arch-criminal that has appeared in numerous books, comics, and movies over the past century.... Pulp Serenade - http://www.pulpserenade.com/
Pulp Serenade:NoirConPictures
By Cullen Gallagher
TheNoirConBookstand, courtesy of Farley's Bookshop - this is only a fragment of the books they brought along! A great selection that included books by all of the panelists. If only I had won the lottery before I attended.... Pulp Serenade - http://www.pulpserenade.com/
This Tuesday, November 16, at the New 42nd Street Studios, a new musical, Shoot the Piano Player, will be presented in two readings. This is a jazz-infused musical adaptation of David Goodis' novel Down There which was the inspiration for Francois Truffaut's famous French New Wave film. Goodis was a prolific writer of several novels and screenplays (Dark Passage which was adapted for the screen withHumphrey BogartandLauren Bacalland later for television with David Janssen as The Fugitive, The Unfaithful and as well as an unproduced adaptation of The Lady in the Lake byRaymond Chandler). His writing captures the gritty underbelly of a city, particularly his hometown Philadelphia.
In this version of the telling, which is set in the l950s, Eddie is a washed-up classical pianist playing gigs at a Southside bar in Philadelphia. When his estranged brother gets in trouble, Eddie, against his will, is dragged into his brother's seedy world and is forced to flee for his life.
Shoot the Piano Player is a moving portrait of a man facing the demons of his past, the loss of loved ones, race and struggling for survival in a world gone mad.
Under the spell of the story, which has long been recognized as one of the best noir fictions,Margot Harleyoptioned the novel and began putting a creative team together. David Sherman, the composer, has worked withAngela Lansburyon an Evening ofDorothy Parker, wrote "Together Just Like This" forBilly Stritchand with his band toured the U.S. and UK for six years and produced three albums.Lois Walden, a songwriter and author of the recently published novel One More Stop published by Arcadia Books, wrote the lyrics. She has written forKathleen Battle,Dionne Warwick, and wrote the lyrics for American Dreams Lost and Found byStuds Terkel.Charles Smithis currently represented atWoodie King'sNew Federal Theatrewith Knock Me a Kiss. Earlier hisJoseph Jeffersonaward-winning play Free Man of Color was presented at 59E59 as the newly titled Freed; an Off-Broadway production is planned. The director,Carlos Armesto, is Artistic Director of Theatre C, a New York City-based company devoted to creating arresting theatre from unusual and unexpected collaborations. Recent productions, which Carlos directed include The Who's Tommy and Kingdom. Theatre C also won three Innovative Theatre Awards for its inaugural production ofJesse Zaritt's Binding, which was part of the soloNOVA Arts Festival at Performance Space 122 in May of this year.Carlos Armestowon the Princess Grace Special Project Award, 2010, for Theatre C's next production of Kyoung H. Park's disoriented, which will be presented in February 2011 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.
The cast includesMatthew Hydzik, who is currently Tony in West Side Story, and will be playing the lead of Eddie.Nikki James, who is playing the love interest Lena, just finished shooting an episode of 30 Rock.Derek Smith(Feather/Woodling) is starring in the role of Scar in The Lion King.Natalie Venetia Belcon(Harriet) was the brilliantGary Coleman in Avenue Q. Other cast members includeThomas Cannizzaro,Anthony Fusco,Amirah Vann,Doug Eskew,C. Mingo Long, Starr J. Busby, Kent Overshown, andCurtis Wiley, Jr.
For additional information contactMargot Harley. For Producer reservations, please RSVP at rsvp@theatrec.org or call Theatre C's reservation line at (646) 237-6973.
George Pelecanos reads from THE WOUNDED AND THE SLAIN (originally published in 1955 and reprinted by Hard Case Crime in 2007) by David Goodis (age 38 in 1955), Chapter 12, page 179:
He had no idea where he was going. He was waiting for anyone at all to come up and ask for money. There were moments when it occurred to him that he had no logical reason for handing out money. That in itself was a satisfying thought; he wasn't interested in logical reasons. To do anything logically was too much of an effort, and when people followed that pattern they were only kidding themselves. Coming down to the core of it, this thing called logic or common sense or normal behavior or whatever you wanted to call it was nothing more than a blindfold that covered the inner eye. It kept people from seeing themselves, every goddamn one of them here in Kingston and in all of Jamaica, in all of the continent and the hemisphere and let's take it all the way and say both hemispheres. So if the question is asked, What's it amount to? the answer comes sliding out easily: It's just a merry-go-round that stops every now and then for some to get off and others to get on, and no matter how much you pay for your ticket, no matter how many brass rings you snatch, it's only a matter of time before your place is taken by the next customer emerging from the womb to start the ride. So in the final analysis, it's merely the process of being taken for a ride, and despite all the bright colors and the hurdy-gurdy music, despite the gleeful yells as the amusement machine goes round and round, the windup is a hole in the ground where the night crawlers get awfully hungry when it rains.
My own favorite Goodis piece that echoes this same feeling was seen echoed in 1939 (Goodis was 22 at the time) in his first book entitled RETREAT FROM OBLIVION, chapter 8, page 132:
In his room he pushed the bed close to the window. He raised the pillow so that he could lie there and look out at the city lights. Down there they blazed and flickered green yellow blue orange red against the dark curtain of street and night sky.
While the lights flickered and blazed people were weeping, laughing, screaming and sighing, loving and hating. In a hundred years these people would be gone and the lights would be gone. But there would be new lights and there would be new people. The same story would go on. It had been going on for hundreds of thousands of years.
It was the story told of people in cities, on farms, in hills and in battlefields. They were good, they were bad, they were good again, and before they knew it they were dead and it didn't matter what they had been or what they had done. They might have gone through a lifetime without telling a lie, or they might have existed for twenty-three years and then gone on a killing spree and murdered five women and been electrocuted. But it didn't matter after the heart had stopped beating. It was all over, this show, and someone else was just beginning it some place else.
Everybody passed through it, kings and beggars, rats and elephants. When it was all over there was the body still, with the eyes open or the eyes closed. That didn't matter either. The eyes did not see anything. It was really all over and nothing could be done about it.
David Goodis' canceled stamp in this month's Philadelphia Magazine's Hot Tickets. The home town hero is recognized in the local magazine 43 years after his death. Come and join us for NoirCon this weekend.
