#Paintings of Saint Lucy in Italy

[kommabortsig]

Saint_Lucy_by_Domenico_di_Pace_Beccafumi.jpg

[stewartsblog]

Title: Holy Family with Saint Lucy

Culture/Place: Italy

Media: Oil on canvas

Date: ca. 1560s

Why do you think John Ringling bought this particular work of art? Walking through the Ringling museum you can see John ringling has a intrest in a lot of italian artwork. I have found the he and his family are catholics and Saint Lucy is a prodominate figure in the catholic church. Heres a short description of the painting from the Rimgling Museum, "The Virgin, seated at left, presents the newborn Christ Child to Saint Lucy, who stands at right, while an angel and St. Joseph (in back) look on. Lucy holds a plate with two eyes and an awl, referring to the legend of her martyrdom, in which her eyes were gouged out." I feel John Ringling had a certain style of paintings he liked because many of them has the same sense of familiarity.

What is it made of? oil paint. How big is it? 49" wide and 77" high. What subjects (if any) are represented? she plucked out her own eyes after an overzealous suitor admired them; she wanted no distractions from the devout life. God, however, later restored her sight. She is thus considered to have the ability to protect those who venerate her against blindness & other ophthalmic disorders. The peacock is a symbol of immortality, its 100 “eyes” in the tail representing the all-seeing church. The tail feathers, which renew themselves, are an allusion to resurrection. I feel the more you really observe this painting the more meaning you find. After doing some research on this painting I was able to learn so much and really see all the hidden symbols thee artist left.

[fafaweng]

👻 「 Happy Saint Lucy day 」 • Swipe to read the folklore behind this day and stuff that mouth of yours with a saffron bun while you’re at it! Unless you don’t like raisins. In that case, just pretend to join in on the tradition. The dark legend of Saint Lucy’s day！ Do you know the dark legend of Saint Lucy’s day？ Recently this Saint was celebrated all over Scandinavia and people seem to appreciate this painting I made a while back so I thought I’d share it once again！ Looking forward to Christmas？ Did you know, that in the middle ages, the 13th night of december was considered dangerous？ It was a night were animals could speak and spirits and magical creatures were roaming the streets. Today, Scandinavia and Italy celebrate an italian martyr known as Saint Lucy (or Saint Lucia) who is said to have blinded herself but was given her sight back by god. When burnt at the stake she was not wounded but was eventually killed with a sword. Although in modern times portrayed as a saint wearing a candle lit wreath, many accounts (from the middle ages and even into the late 1900’s) describe Lucy to be a witch, an evil spirit or a leader of spirits. This is connected to her name’s similarity to ”Lucifer”, the devil himself. • ART by # Anton Vitus ( # vitusart / # AVITUS) • Sources： #wikipedia , #isof , #nordiskamuseet • #HappySaintLucyDay #saintlucysday #saintlucy #folklore #mythologyart #folkloreart #darkart #darkartandcraft #darkartist #horror #horrorart #fantasyart #characterdesign #painting #digital #traditional #notai #legend #storytime #art #folklore #saintlucy #darkart #gothic #yule #digitalart #digital #darkartandcraft #darkartist #scandinavia #christmasart #hauntedart https://www.instagram.com/p/CmT4rG0SAtm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thewendybirdr]

I'm painting my Saint Lucy Statue in class ♡ ° ○ so far

[mia-paintings]

Bust of a Woman Wearing a Turban, Guido Reni, c. 1640–42, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Paintings

Oval canvas, female figure holding a bowl. When Guido Reni died in 1642, he was the most famous artist in Italy, and his sought-after paintings became even more valuable, including those left unfinished. This late work was likely among the incomplete canvases in his studio. As it passed from one princely collection to another before coming here, the woman’s identity continued to be a source of much speculation. A cardinal identified her as Saint Lucy holding a bowl containing her eyes, extracted during her martyrdom. To others, her turban suggested that she was a sibyl, an ancient Roman prophetess, shown reading signs and foretelling omens; or perhaps she was Circe, the sorceress who turned the Greek hero Odysseus’s companions into pigs. A more recent identification is Porcia, the wife of Brutus, Julius Caesar’s assassin, who killed herself by swallowing burning coals. Unfortunately, the artist’s death before the picture’s completion prevents any definitive conclusion about this young woman’s identity. Recent conservation of this picture was made possible by a generous contribution from an anonymous patron through Mia’s Adopt-a-Painting program. Size: 21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (54.61 x 44.45 cm) (canvas) Medium: Oil on canvas

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1612/

[guido-reni]

Bust of a Woman Wearing a Turban, Guido Reni, c. 1640–42, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Paintings

Oval canvas, female figure holding a bowl. When Guido Reni died in 1642, he was the most famous artist in Italy, and his sought-after paintings became even more valuable, including those left unfinished. This late work was likely among the incomplete canvases in his studio. As it passed from one princely collection to another before coming here, the woman’s identity continued to be a source of much speculation. A cardinal identified her as Saint Lucy holding a bowl containing her eyes, extracted during her martyrdom. To others, her turban suggested that she was a sibyl, an ancient Roman prophetess, shown reading signs and foretelling omens; or perhaps she was Circe, the sorceress who turned the Greek hero Odysseus’s companions into pigs. A more recent identification is Porcia, the wife of Brutus, Julius Caesar’s assassin, who killed herself by swallowing burning coals. Unfortunately, the artist’s death before the picture’s completion prevents any definitive conclusion about this young woman’s identity. Recent conservation of this picture was made possible by a generous contribution from an anonymous patron through Mia’s Adopt-a-Painting program. Size: 21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (54.61 x 44.45 cm) (canvas) Medium: Oil on canvas

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1612/

[obsessionarts]

"St Lucy Altarpiece (detail)" (Italy, 1532) Oil on wood, By Lorenzo Lotto

[sneakend]

Hyvää joulua, @fruzsislangblrstuff  !!! I had the honor of being your substitute santa for @langblrsecretsanta this year. I made a list of interesting Finnish Christmas traditions with related vocabulary. And since you like baking I added some Finnish recipes at the end! Hope you have a great year 2020!

♢ food ♢

Casseroles

Casseroles are a staple of Finnish Christmas, enough so that most people get sick of them by December 25th. The traditional Christmas dinner includes casseroles made of potatoes, carrots, liver and rutabaga. My family usually also includes a macaroni casserole even though this is a food that people eat throughout the year. It’s great for kids too since they’re often not that into the other casseroles. Moreover, sweet potato casserole has gained popularity in recent years and I think I even saw parsnip casserole at the grocery store this year.

laatikko = a casserole (the same word also means box so a cardboard box would be pahvilaatikko). The name of a specific casserole can be formed just by adding the name of a vegetable in front of this word, peruna (potato) + laatikko = perunalaatikko (potato casserole) just like in English.

bataatti = a sweet potato

lanttu = a rutabaga

palsternakka = a parsnip

peruna = a potato

porkkana = a carrot

makaroni = macaroni

maksa = a liver

Rosolli

A bound salad eaten mostly as a cold side dish, in particular as part of the traditional Finnish Christmas meal.

Rosolli is made of cooked, diced root vegetables, especially beetroot, carrot and potato, often combined with one or more of pickled cucumber (of either the vinegar or brine type), raw onion and apple. It is often served with a dressing made of whipped cream or a soured cream product available in Finland called kermaviili (being a type of viili made with sour cream), laced with vinegar or the pickling liquid of beetroot, which also colours the cream pink.

My personal opinion is that rosolli is gross but each to their own.

punajuuri = a beetroot

suolakurkku = pickled cucumber (literally “salt cucumber”)

etikka = vinegar

kermavaahto = whipped cream (literally “cream foam”)

Rice porridge (riisipuuro)

A warm porridge eaten with cinnamon and sugar. Can be eaten either as a dessert or breakfast on Christmas. A whole almond is hidden in the porridge and the one who finds it in their bowl gets to make a wish.

kaneli = cinnamon

sokeri = sugar

manteli = an almond

Christmas tart (joulutorttu)

A Finnish Christmas pastry, traditionally made from puff pastry in the shape of a star or pinwheel and filled with prune jam and often dusted with icing sugar. Lately people have also started using different jams or even caramel as a filling for these. Some years back there was some controversy in Sweden over the fact that some people think these pastries resemble swastikas. But not to worry, there are several different shapes one can choose from!

luumu = a prune/plum

Chocolate boxes

These are one of the most traditional (and lazy) gifts year after year. Every Christmas everyone gets at least a few of these, eats their favourites and leaves the rest to gather dust until they’re inedible. Every Christmas the supermarkets have special deals where you get a bunch of chocolate boxes relatively cheap (what’s really cheap in Finland?). The most popular are the ones by Fazer and Panda. Other popular Christmas sweets include green jellies, Julia and Budapest.

suklaarasia = a chocolate box

Glögg (glögi)

A Scandinavian, spiced, usually alcoholic drink, served warm. There are many different types in Finland, including a good selection of non-alcoholic glögg that’s sweet and even fit for children. The prices vary from under one euro to 20 euros (potentially even more). Some people add raisins and almonds to their glögg.

mauste = spice

rusina = a raisin

♢traditions♢

Little Christmas (pikkujoulu)

A Finnish traditional party held to anticipate Christmas. The Pikkujoulu party is non-formal, highly festive, and themed after Christmas. Pikkujoulu parties are held by various communities, organisations, companies, or just among friends. Pikkujoulu differs from Christmas as more free-form and less religious.

Saint Lucy’s Day (Lucian päivä) 

A Christian feast day observed on 13 December, commemorating Lucia of Syracuse, an early-4th-century martyr, who according to legend brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candlelit wreath on her head to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible. Her feast day, which coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, is widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide.

Saint Lucy's Day is celebrated most widely in Scandinavia and in Italy, with each emphasising a different aspect of her story. The Finnish celebrations have been historically tied to Swedish culture and the Swedish-speaking Finns. The St. Lucy of Finland has been elected since 1949 and she is crowned in the Helsinki Cathedral. Local St. Lucies are elected in almost every place where there is a Swedish populace in Finland. The Finnish-speaking population has also lately begun to embrace the celebrations. (Santa Lucia)

marttyyri = a martyr

pyhimys = a saint

seppele = a wreath

valo = light

Declaration of Christmas Peace (joulurauhan julistus)

Christmas Peace is a tradition based on old Scandinavian legislation created by Birger Jarl in the 13th century, extending the tradition of the Truce of God. Offenders who committed crimes on religious holidays like Christmas were given harsher punishments. The Declaration of Christmas Peace has remained in Finland where it is an essential part of the Christmas tradition.

Declaration of Christmas Peace is announced in several Finnish cities on Christmas Eve. The oldest and most popular event is held at noon at the Old Great Square of the former Finnish capital Turku where the declaration has been read since the 1320s. The Turku declaration has been broadcast by the Finnish Broadcasting Company since 1935. (on YouTube)

julistus = a declaration

rauha = peace

Kauneimmat joululaulut

Literally the most beautiful Christmas carols. An annual event organized by and held in local churches is numerous cities before Christmas. People gather to sing the most beloved Finnish Christmas carols and have a chance to donate money to a charity. The event has become an important Christmas tradition to a lot of people and many attend even if they aren’t religious.

kaunis = beautiful

laulu = a song

kirkko = a church

Heavy Christmas (Raskasta Joulua)

A music project from Finland founded by Erkka Korhonen. Raskasta Joulua have recorded traditional Christmas carols and Christmas hits in a Heavy metal style. Their albums and tours have featured appearances of many notable Finnish metal vocalists.  Raskasta Joulua have toured every year since 2005 and the 3 concert tour has become an annual tradition. (on YouTube | x | x | x)

Depressing Christmas carols

Many of the most beloved FInnish Christmas carols are quite melancholy and depressing. Here are some examples:

Varpunen jouluaamuna (The Sparrow on a Christmas Morning) - About a girl meeting her dead little brother who visits her in the form of a sparrow. (on YouTube)

Sylvian joululaulu (Sylvia's Christmas Song) - About a caged bird that can never return to its homeland. Zachris Topelius who wrote the original poem opposed the custom of trapping birds and piercing their eyes so they could be used to attract other birds. (on YouTube)

Konsta Jylhän joululaulu (Konsta Jylhä’s Christmas Carol) - About a little child visiting their mother’s grave on Christmas. (on YouTube)

Christmas sauna

You absolutely can’t have Christmas without sauna! It’s common to clean the sauna before Christmas and to use candles and lanterns to create a cozy atmosphere. It is also possible to buy a frozen vihta/vasta (a bunch of leafy, fragrant silver birch used to gently beat oneself) in some stores and thaw it for Christmas. Moreover, in Finland elves aren’t limited to Christmas elves but it’s believed that every sauna has its own elf that takes care of it.

♢items♢

Candles

Though candles are common in many places during Christmas, in Finland one should visit a graveyard during Christmas Eve to either light a candle or to simply admire the hundreds of candles already burning. For the Finnish independece day on 6th of December many also buy special blue and white candles (the colors are the same as in the Finnish flag).

kynttilä = a candle

hautausmaa = a graveyard

Poinsettia

This is a very popular Christmas flower in Finland and can be found in nearly all stores that sell flowers in December. It is called joulutähti in Finnish, which literally means Christmas star. People often gift this to others during Christmas. Hyacinths are another common Christmas flower and stores sell them in many different colors.

kukka = a flower

hyasintti = hyacinth

Elf door (tonttuovi)

A tiny decorative door through which the Christmas elves can wander. These are a rather recent craze in FInland but every year it’s possible to find more and more acessories for elf doors in the stores. There are tiny mailboxes, snowmen, sleds, presents, lanterns, Christmas trees, brooms etc. It’s possible to make an elf door by yourself, to buy one you have to paint or to get one that’s completely ready to set up.

ovi = a door

tonttu = an elf (like a Christmas elf, not Legolas)

kelkka = a sled

lumiukko = a snowman

lyhty = a lantern

Advent calendar (joulukalenteri)

Though many Finns swear by the traditional chocolate advent calendar, other options have become available in the recent years. There are the ever popular tea, toy and cosmetics calendars but also ones for cats and dogs, calendars filled with fishing equipment and the most Finnish of all, a salmiakki advent calendar. Additionally, this year an ice cream calendar was released by Vanhan Porvoon jäätelötehdas. Nokian panimo also created a beer calendar consisting of 24 000 beer cans and costing 48 000 euros.

salmiakki = salty liquorice

jäätelö = ice cream

kalja/olut = beer

♢tv♢

Santa’s hotline (Joulupukin Kuuma linja)

A tv show shown every Christmas in which children can call Santa. People can also send Christmas greetings through email and they are read during the show. In between the calls different Christmas themed cartoons are played. (on YouTube)

The Joulukalenteri

Finnish for "The Christmas Calendar"; the English word "the" is part of the name, making it approximately "The The Christmas calendar". It was a 1997 Finnish television miniseries produced by MTV3 that was broadcast again in 1998, 2007 and 2017. It was based on the Danish series The Julekalender from 1991. The series came out in December 1997 with one episode per day, concluding on Christmas Eve. It’s still popular to this day and caused nightmares for me when I was a kid. (Different advent calendar shows for children are popular in Finland but this one’s aimed at adults.)

Santa Claus and the Magic Drum  (Joulupukki ja noitarumpu)

A 51 minute long Finnish-Hungarian animation released in 1996. The story is based on a 1995 children's book of the same name by Mauri Kunnas. The movie has been recorded in Finnish, English (British) and Swedish. It was made for TV broadcasting and was first shown on Christmas Eve 1996, and has been broadcast on YLE TV2 nearly every Christmas Eve since. (on YouTube)

joulupukki = Santa Claus

noita = a witch

rumpu = a drum

♢recipes♢

Christmas

potato casserole

carrot casserole

rutabaga casserole

macaroni casserole (I’m vegetarian so I always make this without eggs and replace the meat with soy)

rosolli

rice porridge

Christmas tart

More Finnish pastries

Runeberg torte (Runebergin torttu) = a Finnish pastry flavored with almonds and arrack or rum. It usually has raspberry jam encircled by a ring of icing on top. The torte is named after the Finnish poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877) who, according to legend, regularly enjoyed the torte with punsch for breakfast. Runeberg tortes are typically eaten only in Finland and are generally available in stores from the beginning of January to Runeberg's birthday on February 5.

Pulla = a mildly-sweet Finnish sweet roll or dessert bread flavored with crushed cardamom seeds and occasionally raisins or sliced almonds. Typically coated with egg wash and then sprinkled with white sugar or almonds.

Semla = a traditional sweet roll associated with Lent and especially Shrove Tuesday. Today, the Swedish-Finnish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off, and is then filled with a mix of milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. In Finland, the bun is often filled with strawberry or raspberry jam instead of almond paste, and bakeries in Finland usually offer both versions.

pancake (pannukakku) = Structurally, the Finnish pancake resembles a hotcake, and is baked in an oven instead of using a frying pan.

Karelian pasty (karjalanpiirakka) = traditional pasties or pirogs from the region of Karelia. Today, the most familiar and common version has a thin rye crust with a filling of rice. Mashed potato and rice-and-carrot fillings are also commonly available. Butter, often mixed with chopped-up boiled egg (egg butter or munavoi), is spread over the hot pasties before eating.

spoon cookies (lusikkaleivät) = Lusikkaleivät are Finnish "spoon" cookies so named because they are shaped with a spoon. The inside of the spoon cookies is filled with a berry jam, either raspberry or strawberry.

mocha brownies (mokkapalat) = perhaps the most common treat in every child’s birthday party.

[italianartsociety]

By Jennifer D. Webb

Giovanni Paolo Panini died in Rome on October 21, 1765. Although best known for his painted vedute of Rome, Panini also was an architect and stage designer.

Born in Piacenza on June 17, 1691, Panini trained with two painters, Giuseppe Natali and Andrea Galluzzi, and a stage designer, Francesco Galli-Bibiena. He moved to Rome in 1711 to continue his studies and it was there that he received his first formal commissions for the decoration of Roman palaces; he worked at the Villa Patrizi between 1719 and 1725. In 1719 he painted his Alexander Visiting the Tomb of Achilles to document his entry into the Accademia di San Luca.

After 1717, Panini concentrated his efforts on vedute or “reportorial views” as defined by Peter Björn Kerber. Kerber notes that such “eyewitness views” not only record a transitory moment and include contemporary portraits but also “shape” the historical record. (1) To illustrate his final point, Kerber demonstrates how Panini adapted scenes for particular patrons, Kerber highlights formal details in the paired View of Saint Peter’s Square and Interior of Saint Peter’s commissioned by the French Ambassador, Étienne François, Comte de Choiseul-Stainville. For Choisel’s pair, Panini varied the viewpoints slightly and, in the Interior scene, the ambassador, in a group that includes a cardinal, are highlighted. In other commissions for the same patron, Panini altered the architectural details of particular buildings in order to make them look more formal and thus convey the significance of particular meetings. This is especially evident in King Charles III Visiting Pope Benedict XIV at the Coffee House of the Palazzo Quirinale (1746). Rather than record the simplicity of a meeting space that Pope Benedict XIV had commissioned to provide a more informal setting, Panini enhances the ornamentation by doubling sculptural details including the pilasters, adding a papal crest, and elongating the side wings. Kerber argues that Panini’s verdute best balance drama with verisimilitude.

During his career, Panini also painted portraits and designed the chapel of Saint Teresa in Santa Maria della Scale in Rome.

References: Anna Maria Ferrari. “Panini [Pannini], Giovanni [Gian] Paolo.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2443/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T065056; Kerber, Peter Björn. Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe (2017).

Louis Gabriel Blanchet, Portrait of the artist, 1736. Photo credit: Wikipedia.

Views of Modern Rome, 1757, oil on canvas. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons.

Interior of St. Peter’s with the Visit of the Duc de Choiseul, 1756-57, oil on canvas. Boston, Athenaeum. Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons.

Further reading: Julian Brooks. The Lure of Italy. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017; Lucy Whitaker and Rosie Razzall, Canaletto and the Art of Venice. London: Royal Collection Trust, 2017.

[jamieroxxartist]

Tonight is The #EveofStLucy In Denmark, St Lucy brings prophetic dreams to women who recite this prayer before retiring on the eve of her holy day: Sweet St Lucy, let me know Whose cloth I shall lay Whose bed I shall make Whose child I shall bear Whose darling I shall be Whose arms I shall lie in.

In Austria, witches were thought to be especially powerful on St Lucy’s Eve as they were in England on Halloween and May Eve. In Italy, St Lucy is the gift-giver who comes in the night, like St Nicholas or Santa Claus. Children leave bunches of carrots, hay and bowls of milk for the donkey on which she travels around the countryside.

Painting Print: Saint Lucy Art Print by Mary MacArthur (https://society6.com/product/saint-lucy_print)

[gonemarshall]

About the New York Song, ‘Bazooka Joe Don’t Live There Any More’ by Singer-Songwriter Gone Marshall

The New York song, ‘Bazooka Joe Don’t Live There Any More‘ (aka, ‘Bazooka Joe’), is an alternative folk & rock song I wrote as an homage to an old school New York neighborhood hero. The song was inspired by my association and friendship with long time resident of Little Italy’s MacDougal Street, Mr. Leonard Cecere, who ran a small but famous mailbox and card shop called ‘Something Special’ on the corner of Houston Street and MacDougal streets in New York City’s SOHO/Greenwich Village.

I’d first stumbled upon Lenny and his shop, ‘Something Special’ when I was in need of a mailbox at the time, as I’d just relocated back to New York City, in a self-funded effort to complete a documentary about street booksellers in New York. (*Note: That movie, ‘BookWars’, went on to have a decent art house run and international TV sales; it’s now part of the Circulating Film & Video Collection at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC)

At the time, I had very little funds, and no real place to live, as I was in between rented rooms as a self-funded indie filmmaker. So, I needed a mailbox first and foremost.

I was living in a small rented room on Morton street in the West Village, so I went scouting around to find a mailbox in the neighborhood.

What I encountered was ‘Something Special’, an old-school, slightly dog-eared combination card, gift, trinket and mailbox shop on the corner. It was a real old time, independent establishment through and through, something that must have been standard in the village throughout the 50s, 60’s and 70s, up until New York really started to develop.

It would have been in the year 1999 or 2000 that I met Lenny and his shop. Even then, New York City was really beginning to change, with many of the dive bars and hangouts of the East Village being converted into condos, and the central village area becoming more posh and upscale – a far cry from its scrappy 1950’s/60’s roots.

Yet, here was Lenny and his shop, ‘Something Special’. His shop was like a time capsule, not deliberately so, I think, but an actual neighborhood shop and corner store which had been planted there for decades and was still going strong.

Lenny and his wife, Lucy, were long time, original residents of that corner of SoHo-Little Italy, where it just meets up with the Village, and they were beloved by all. Basically, they were neighborhood heroes, as far as I could discern…

I didn’t realize this at the time, as I was just seeking a mailbox at first… it turns out that a lot of famous people (celebrities, writers, you name it) had mailboxes at Lenny’s shop too. Other notables who didn’t have a mailbox there would stop in for a coffee, or donut, or just to shoot the breeze with Lenny. I guess celebs needed a nondescript mailbox, and folks who appreciated the ‘real, old-school New York’ would stop by Something Special just to remind themselves of the original neighborhood spirit of the city.

Sara Jessica Parker, one of many celebrities who had a mailbox at ‘Something Special’and whose headshot was on display

Actor Matthew Broderick’s framed headshot stood atop a jumbled shelf in back of the register

Lucy Lawless (Xena the Warrior Princess), whose framed publicity still also stood behind the register at ‘Something Special’. Some lyrics from the song refer to her ‘jungle dress’ and a ‘warrior princess in the mud’ 🙂

Lenny was not the time to proclaim anything, though he proudly displayed the photos that his celebrity fans would give him on the shelf behind the counter. Sarah Jessica Parker (‘Sex in the City’) had her photo in there, as did Matthew Broderick. Lucy Lawless (‘Xena the Warrior Princess’) had her photo in there; she was wearing a sort of leopard skin outfit which I refer to in the song as a ‘jungle dress’, feeding us with ‘fire and thunder’

There were a few other notables in the neighborhood too, there on the corner of MacDougal and Houston, who either had a mailbox at Lenny’s or just stopped in to say “Hi”.

Patti Smith

As I recall, Patti Smith had a house next door or nearby, for instance. I bumped into her a few times while stopping off to get a donut or coffee soda, or to pick up my mail. Nobody bothered anyone if they were visiting ‘Something Special’, as if it were an unwritten code of conduct. I mean, you could run into someone notable there and just say ‘hey’ or ‘ how’s it going?’, and then go and get your mail.

Lenny would greet everyone the same way: ‘Hi Patti’. Or to me, when I showed up once with a box of videotapes of my movie after it had finally been released:

‘Hey Rosetti!’

(My real name is Rosette, which is French actually, though Lenny converted this into Italian)

‘Hey Rosetti. When you gonna’ be famous? You got a movie now. You wrote a book too.’

‘Ah…I don’t know Lenny. I’m just doing what I can.’

(It didn’t matter to Lenny that I was still scraping to get by – literally. I even painted his storefront once in exchange for mailbox rental, I was cutting it so close)

‘You want a cup of coffee?’

‘Sure.’

Anyway, Lenny and his shop, ‘Something Special’ is at the heart of the song, ‘Bazooka Joe Don’t Live There Any More‘. I’m quite sure that any listeners who knew Lenny or his shop, or some of the folks who hung out there, would recognize a lot from the lyrics.

Actually, I should now explain how the song got its title. Lenny told me once, I think it was a winter day actually, maybe that’s how we got on the subject, how he’d served in the Army during the Battle of the Bulge, aka the Ardennes Offensive, in 1944. He mentioned that, while he was not a front line soldier (*I forget now what he told me he was doing, he could have been an engineer or support troop), the offensive took place so suddenly – per Hitler’s plan – that the US forces had no time to compose themselves properly.

So Lenny related to me how a seargent had come up to him with a Bazooka, which is a shoulder launched anti-tank weapon and told him:

“Cecere, take this Bazooka and guard that bridge. Nothing crosses that bridge. Not even if it’s one of our tanks or vehicles, ’cause the Krauts are using our stuff against us. If they try to send a tank across , you take them out with this. Aim at the ground just in front of the tank, so’s it bounces up underneath where the armor is thin” (All this is per my recollection now, from our discussion, I may have some details off but that’s essentially what Lenny told me).

Lenny took the Bazooka, without any training, and guarded that bridge. He told me nothing happened in the end, but for the few hours or a day that he was standing there, it was just Lenny with a bazooka against the Wehrmacht.

(*There’s actually an extended bridge section in the song which refers to this moment, but I had to take it out because the song was running too long. Here are the lyrics for this missing section:

EXTENDED BRIDGE (*extended version only, not present in current track)

When the battle lines bulged / I stood there at the bridge / My finger on the trigger / On the Ardennes grimy ridge

Take this rocket, son / Front line’s gone, pick up a gun / Punch it at the lip of Earth / ‘Neath the Tiger’s grey steely girth

I saw squirrels some birds / But no charging tank / Clouds broke for our Thunderbolts / I went back to my rank

Transition Back to Main Bridge C-> A -> C -> A

So, I had to put the bazooka reference in the song, and I fit it into the title. It also made a bit of sense to allude to the popular Bazooka Joe bubble gum comics which were launched in the 50’s. The Bazooka Joe sensibility kind of matches the feeling of ‘Something Special’, which was in its multi-purpose way, also a candy shop for school kids passing by on their way home from school.

Now, WHY did I write the song? Well, per the lyrics, I found myself many years later, in 2017 or so, living far, far away, starting to make more music and writing more songs. I had pivoted from filmmaking to songwriting. So, I was poking around on the internet one afternoon looking for ‘Dean Martin songs’ (per the lyrics of the song), as I wanted something with a crooner-like aspect to cover.

Then it occurred to me, as time had passed, and as life had grown busy (and sometimes frantically so, as I had been trying to make creative projects and stay afloat for a couple decades already) that I’d lost touch with Lenny over the years. He flitted into my mind though as I looked for Rat Pack music, you know, Dean Martin, Sinatra, and the like. Something about Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra reminded me of Lenny all of a sudden.

Well, I figured, that, yes, it’s possible or even likely that Lenny may have passed away – I think this was 2017 that I was looking for the Dean Martin songs – but I couldn’t know for sure until I looked.

Anyway, I did search for him online and found out that, indeed he had passed away, I think the year before.

Even though I now knew, logically, that time passes by and waits for no one, it still hit me very hard for some reason when I saw Lenny’s obituary there facing me online. Because he was a kind of neighborhood hero, along with his wife Lucy actually. Real life, everyday heroes, quite possibly saint, or at least saint-like, though I am not Catholic, I believe he and his wife Lucy were.

Not to mention that I had some great personal memories of him, his shop, the ‘real New York’ portal that it was, and all the folks who passed through and populated ‘Something Special’.

On the other hand, there’s also a wistfullness to the song, in that ‘Bazooka Joe’ does not live there any more. He (Lenny and many other old school neighborhood heroes) is physically gone. His memory is not gone, but that type of person – open, frank, character-driven – seems to be becoming scarce these days.

Passing elephant nose man from the Greenwich Village, NYC documentary, ‘BookWars’

New York City’s character, well Manhattan at least, also seems to be homogenizing somewhat as it develops and prices the ‘characters’ out of the city, bit by bit. I’m not the first to point this out, by the way – this is also one of the themes that appears in the aforementioned New York documentary I made, ‘BookWars’.

I should also say though, in fairness, that Jackson Heights and other areas in Queens and beyond still seem to have a lot of character…but in terms of Manhattan and the Village, the old school people like Lenny and places like ‘Something Special’ are disappearing, bit by bit. It would be great if a new generation of ‘old schoolers’ may somehow emerge to take their place, if that may somehow be possible.

Anyway, I don’t know why it took me a couple years to actually gather the song fragments, formulate them, and produce them into a final track. Well, I’m still emerging music artist, with limited (self) funding – that’s one reason. My creative mind and momentum was also derailed here and there for rather long stretches when financial situations demanded my full attention.

Of course, that’s not my motivation with this tune, as it’s an homage, and is beyond strict valuation.

Which is why I had to push ahead with it…it’s really something straight from the heart.

So, I chugged ahead, along with some other great session players (some working remotely) and finally completed the song. The elapsed time from recording the first scratch guitar and vocals to the final master and mix was about 5 months.

The elapsed time from reading about Lenny’s passing to releasing the final track was about 3.5 years.

Who knows, maybe the song needed a long time to sit and brew, as it’s really rather a dense and detailed clipping of a real time and place, and full of memories to handle with grace and care. I think I approached this song like a documentary to some degree, maybe because of my filmmaking background?

Anyway: I hope folks can gather something nice from the song, and that they may be moved by it in a ‘Special’ way!

Gone Marshall, Songwriter, ‘Bazooka Joe Don’t Live There Any More’

‘Bazooka Joe Don’t Live There Any More’

A Song by Gone Marshall

CREDITS

Writing, Composition, Acoustic Guitar, Main Vocals: Gone Marshall

Fingerpick Acoustic Guitar: Richard ‘RJ’ Marshall

Female Vocals: Ieva Zdram

Electric Guitar: Jake Bisognin

Percussion: Brian Petry

Bass: Alan Reynolds

Mixed by: Skyler Taylor & Jason Rosette

Produced by Jason Rosette @ CAMERADO (ASCAP)

(c) 2020 Camerado Music & Jason Rosette obo dba Gone Marshall

[lbrookshallfilmfestivals2020]

The Immersive and the Cinematic - Frank Gray

The Immersive - As an adjective: 

Of a work of art, performance, screening, game that seems to surround the viewer or player so that they feel totally involved in the experience.

Noting or relating to activity that occupies most of one’s attention, time or energy.

(In a computer or gaming system) generating a 3D image that surrounds the user.

Immersiveness - As a noun:

Providing, involving, or charecterised by deep absorption or immersion in something. (Such as an activity or a real artificial movement).

Immersion - As a noun:

As a metamorphic use of the experience of submersion; applied to representation, fiction or simulation; can be defined as the state of consciousness where a ‘visitor’ or ‘immersant’ is transformed by being surrounded in an artificial environment; used for describing partial or complete suspension of disbelief, enabling action or reaction to stimulations encountered in a virtual or artistic environment.

Cinematic - As an adjective:

That which is of or related to cinema.

Combining the two will give you an immersive cinematic space.

Immersive spaces include:

Auditora: odeons, amphitheatres, theatres and concert halls.

Churches.

Museums and galleries.

Cinemas: standard, 360 degrees and IMAX.

Immersion can also be charecterised by reading and using our imaginations, as well as playing VR game.

Physical Spaces

The Upper Church os the Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi, Italy. (13th century)

The Legend of Saint Francis, painted by Giotto (1297-1300)

The Rotunda, Leicester Square, London. Robert Barker’s 360 degree panorama. (1793)

Barker’s 360 degree Edinburgh panorama. (1796)

Holyrood Chapel, Louis Daguerre. (1824)

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London. (1834)

The Chain Pier, Brighton, painted by John Constable. (1826-7)

The Last Judgment 1,2 and 3 by John Martin. (1851-4)

The Great Exhibition, Joseph Paxton, London. (1851)

Brighton Aquarium, Eugenius Birch. (1872)

Poole’s Myriorama, Pictorial tours. (1889)

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

Boston Symphony Hall, Architects: McKim, Mead and White. Acustic scientist: Wallace Clement Sabine. (1900)

Projection

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae. The Great Art of Light and Shadow, Athanasius Kircher. (1645)

Phantasmagoria Show, Étiene-Gaspard Robert. (1798)

A single slipping slide. (1820)

The Magic Lantern Show, as a storytelling medium. (1890)

The Arrival of Moving Pictures, the Edison Vitascope. (1896)

Serpentine Dance. (1896)

Grandma’s Reading Glass, G.A. Smith, Hove. (1900)

The Duke of York’s Theatre, Preston Circus, Brighton. (1910)

The Cinerama system. (1953)

The Nantes Triptych, Bill Viola. (1992)

Fire Woman, Bill Viola. (2005)

IMAX. (1967)

ScreenX. (2015)

Inner-Space

Magic Lantern Peep Show, painting by John Thomson. (1877)

Holmes Stereoscope. (1861)

Her Last Prayer, Stereograph. (1860)

The Edison Kinetoscope. (1894)

Television. (1955)

Smartphones.

Virtual Reality headsets.

Talking about cinematic immersiveness made me remember 4D cinemas, maybe in the late 00′s early 2010′s I remember going to theme parks and them showing films in 4D. The difference between this and 3D is as well as the imagery ‘popping’ out at you, the seats you’re sat in shake, mist and water get sprayed at your face, and they backs of your seats can move and poked your back. There was also a standing up 4D experience I had at Universal Studios, where you were apart of the movie, Twister (1996), you stood on a platform and a set was built around the screen where you watched a scene from the movie. The platform shook and they used fire effects around the platform, which was very immersive. They even had a flying cow prop which made me laugh.

[tarotcardreaderangelalucy]

I have always been a huge fan of C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia”. So much so that I chose “Lucy” (one of the heroines in the books) as my Confirmation name. Last night I was wakeful (gout in my finger 😣) and Googled why Lewis chose the name “Narnia”. Turns out he chose the name from his Atlas. It’s a Real Place called Narni in Italy. Previously “Narnia” in Roman times. He just liked the sound of the name. I found a picture of Narni, Italy, and it looks remarkably like the city, Calormen, in the Narnia book “The Horse and His Boy”! THEN I found that Narni’s local saint, by coincidence, is “Blessed LUCY of Narni”! A nun who established several convents. She took her name from St. Lucy of SYRACUSE (I was born in Syracuse, New York, and used her saint’s name at Confirmation.) because she was born on that saint’s name day! And yes, those are human eyeballs in her painting. She is patron saint of the blind (I am functionally blind in one eye.). So lots of coinky dinkies between, Narnia, Narni, Lucy, Lucy and me. Cool! #Tarot #tarotreader #tarotcardreader #tarotcardreadernewyork #tarotreadernewyork #tarotcardreadernewyorkcity #tarotcardreaderangelalucy fairy #tarotreaderangelalucy #psychic #psychicnewyork #psychicnewyorkcity #tarotparty #psychics #intuitivebusinessconsultant #tarotreadernewyorkcity Michael #angelalucy #tarotcardreadernantucket #intuitiveconsultant #newyorktarot #tarotcardreaderkeywest #tarotreadingprofessional Aslan #newyorkcitytarotcardreader #tarotparties #narnia #saintlucy #narniitaly #cslewis #calormen (at Tarot Card Reader New York City)

[grantmkemp]

Joan of Arc, and the Light Queen party on Christmas Eve, 1952

The many origins of St. Lucy of Siracusa, and becoming a Swedish tradition .... Read more below ....

67 years ago, Rome, December 24th, 1952, film star Ingrid Bergman sits under a huge tree with her 3-year-old son, Robertino. Special guest at this Christmas party was Sweden's Light Queen, Kerstin Ornoe, who was visiting Italy to attend festivals.

The history behind The Light Queen .....

It's not surprising that the origin of the light queen is a little confusing, and like many Christmas traditions it seems to have grown from a few different origins. The information below is from several sources, and even if the history isn't definitive, it does help to paint a picture of where the  modern tradition comes from, and then how it became a Swedish custom ....

According to one traditional story, Lucy was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283. Her father was of Roman origin, but died when she was five years old, leaving Lucy and her mother without a protective guardian. Although no sources for her life-story exist other than in hagiographies, St. Lucy, whose name Lucia refers to "light" (Lux, lucis), is known to have been a Sicilian saint who suffered a sad death in Siracusa, Sicily, around AD 310. A devout Christian who had taken a vow of virginity, her mother betrothed her to a pagan. According to the legend, she was threatened to be taken to a brothel if she did not renounce her Christian beliefs, but she could not be moved, even with a thousand men and fifty oxen pulling. Instead they stacked materials for a fire around her and set light to it, but she would not stop speaking, insisting that her death would lessen the fear of it for other Christians and bring grief to non-believers. One of the soldiers stuck a spear through her throat to stop these denouncements, but to no effect. Another gouged out her eyes in an attempt to force her into complacency, but her eyes were miraculously restored. Saint Lucy was able to die only when she was given the Christian Last Rites.

In another story, Saint Lucy was working to help Christians hiding in the catacombs during the terror under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and in order to bring with her as many supplies as possible, she needed to have both hands free. She solved this problem by attaching candles to a wreath on her head

St. Lucy is the patron saint of the city of Siracusa (Sicily). On 13 December a silver statue of St. Lucy containing her relics is paraded through the streets before returning to the Cathedral of Syracuse. Sicilians recall a legend that holds that a famine ended on her feast day when ships loaded with grain entered the harbor. Here, it is traditional to eat whole grains instead of bread on 13 December.

In pagan circles Lucia, is also linked with the days growing longer after the Winter solstice.

The Light Queen .... and becoming a Swedish tradition

Saint Lucia's Day was assigned in the calendar of saints to the 13th of December ever since early Christian times. But Swedish folk customs shouldn't really have had anything to do with her. She first appears in 1764 at an estate in Västergötland, dressed in white with a candle in her hand.

There is evidence that German travellers brought with them this custom to higher middle class circles in western Sweden. For at least 100 years, however, this new way of celebrating Lucia was an experience in the privacy of family homes, without any organised public spectacle.

In the beginning of the 1900s Lucia processions became a popular part of the festive season. But the custom certainly would not have attained its present position and continued spreading if the newspaper Stockholms Dagblad had not decided in 1927 to crown a Lucia for the capital city. Since that day Lucia contests have developed more and more and today there is hardly a small village that doesn't crown its own queen of light. Within many work places and Swedish homes a Lucia procession is held on the morning of the 13th of December.

In 1952, Sweden's Light Queen was Kerstin Ornoe, and is seen in the picture wearing the crown and silk dress. So from it's beginning as a nice Christmas spectacle in a large country house in 1764, it was the newspaper competition to crown a Light Queen for Stockholm that forms the modern tradition.

This is my colourised version of a black, and white press photograph taken at the party on Christmas Eve, 1952

Restoring Your Past  … Website Restoring Your Past … on Facebook

[mia-paintings]

Bust of a Woman Wearing a Turban, Guido Reni, c. 1640–42, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Paintings

Oval canvas, female figure holding a bowl. When Guido Reni died in 1642, he was the most famous artist in Italy, and his sought-after paintings became even more valuable, including those left unfinished. This late work was likely among the incomplete canvases in his studio. As it passed from one princely collection to another before coming here, the woman’s identity continued to be a source of much speculation. A cardinal identified her as Saint Lucy holding a bowl containing her eyes, extracted during her martyrdom. To others, her turban suggested that she was a sibyl, an ancient Roman prophetess, shown reading signs and foretelling omens; or perhaps she was Circe, the sorceress who turned the Greek hero Odysseus’s companions into pigs. A more recent identification is Porcia, the wife of Brutus, Julius Caesar’s assassin, who killed herself by swallowing burning coals. Unfortunately, the artist’s death before the picture’s completion prevents any definitive conclusion about this young woman’s identity. Recent conservation of this picture was made possible by a generous contribution from an anonymous patron through Mia’s Adopt-a-Painting program. Size: 21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (54.61 x 44.45 cm) (canvas) Medium: Oil on canvas

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1612/

[guido-reni]

Bust of a Woman Wearing a Turban, Guido Reni, c. 1640–42, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Paintings

Oval canvas, female figure holding a bowl. When Guido Reni died in 1642, he was the most famous artist in Italy, and his sought-after paintings became even more valuable, including those left unfinished. This late work was likely among the incomplete canvases in his studio. As it passed from one princely collection to another before coming here, the woman’s identity continued to be a source of much speculation. A cardinal identified her as Saint Lucy holding a bowl containing her eyes, extracted during her martyrdom. To others, her turban suggested that she was a sibyl, an ancient Roman prophetess, shown reading signs and foretelling omens; or perhaps she was Circe, the sorceress who turned the Greek hero Odysseus’s companions into pigs. A more recent identification is Porcia, the wife of Brutus, Julius Caesar’s assassin, who killed herself by swallowing burning coals. Unfortunately, the artist’s death before the picture’s completion prevents any definitive conclusion about this young woman’s identity. Recent conservation of this picture was made possible by a generous contribution from an anonymous patron through Mia’s Adopt-a-Painting program. Size: 21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (54.61 x 44.45 cm) (canvas) Medium: Oil on canvas

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1612/