No, it's not me on the left. Or the right. The Power of the Net I just received an email from an Out There reader who asked if I was the same J.W. who played opposite her in The Taming of the Shrew back at charming John Adams High School in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York. I mentioned this archetypal face-reddener, my first brush with Thalia and Melpomene, at the beginning of the last post. Indeed, Claire (Callegari) Giblin played an attractive, assertive, full-voiced Katherine to my squeaky, pimply Petruchio. She's now a museum curator and … [Read more...]

That's Seahawks all-pro tackle Walter Jones selling it Perspiration Soda I loved the inevitability of puns and wordplay when I was a kid, and so I thought the title of the oh-so-'60s musical The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd was an absolute laff riot. Still, though I could imagine what a crowd smelled like, I had never actually sniffed one. And greasepaint? I hardly knew what it was, no less could recognize its scent. (My first real musical was A Funny Thing Happened... with Zero Mostel, who was greasepaint, and grease, … [Read more...]

This time featuring Barack Obama and Grammy-winner Donnie McClurkin, in a fine Los Angeles Times commentary by out blogger of color David Ehrenstein. Then check out my post below for the B-section Dallas version. For an automatic alert when there is a new Out There entry, email jiweinste@aol.com. … [Read more...]