text:
Hot dog
|Hot dog
|Alternative names
|Frankfurters, Frankfurts, franks, wieners, weenies, tube steak, sausage
|Place of origin
|Serving temperature
|Main ingredients
|Pork, beef, chicken, or combinations thereof, and bread
Food energy
(per serving)
|210[1] kcal
|Other information
|Hot dogs are often red, but may be brown
|Cookbook:Hot dog
A hot dog (also spelled hotdog) is a cooked sausage, traditionally grilled or steamed and served in a sliced bun as a sandwich.[2][3][4][5] Hot dog variants include the corn dog dipped in corn batter and deep fried, pigs in blankets wrapped in dough, baked, and served as hors d'oeuvres, and Beanie Weenies chopped and mixed with baked beans. Typical hot dog garnishes include mustard, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, relish, cheese, chili, and sauerkraut.
The sausages were culturally imported from Germany and popularized in the United States, where they were a working class street food sold at hot dog stands that came to be associated with baseball and America. Hot dog preparation and condiment styles also vary regionally across the United States. The hot dog's cultural traditions include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and Wienermobile.
- History 1
- Etymology 2
General description 3
- Ingredients 3.1
Commercial preparation 3.2
- Natural casing hot dogs 3.2.1
- Skinless hot dogs 3.2.2
- Home cooking hot dogs 3.3
Health effects 4
- Choking risk 4.1
In the United States 5
- Hot dog restaurants 5.1
- Condiments 5.2
- In Canada 6
- Hot dogs outside North America 7
- Records 8
- See also 9
- Notes 10
- References 11
- External links 12
Claims about hot dog invention are difficult to assess, as stories assert the creation of the sausage, the placing of the sausage (or another kind of sausage) on bread or a bun as finger food, the popularization of the existing dish, or the application of the name "hot dog" to a sausage and bun combination most commonly used with ketchup or mustard and sometimes relish.
The word frankfurter comes from Franconian city of Coburg, is said to have brought the Frankfurter Würstchen to Vienna, where he added beef to the mixture and simply called it Frankfurter.[8] Nowadays, in German speaking countries, except Austria, hot dog sausages are called Wiener or Wiener Würstchen (Würstchen means "little sausage"), in differentiation to the original pork only mixture from Frankfurt. In Swiss German, it is called Wienerli, while in Austria the terms Frankfurter or Frankfurter Würstel are used.
Around 1870, on Coney Island, German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls.[9][10][11]St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and provided gloves to his customers so that they could handle the sausages without burning their hands. Losing money when customers did not return the gloves, Feuchtwanger's wife suggested serving the food in a roll instead.[12] In another version, Anton Ludwig Feuchtwanger served sausages in rolls at the World's Fair–either the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago or the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis[13]–again allegedly because the white gloves provided to customers to protect their hands were being kept as souvenirs.[14]
The association between hot dogs and baseball began as early as 1893 with Chris von der Ahe, a German immigrant who owned not only the St. Louis Browns, but also an amusement park.[15]
Another claim of inventing the hot dog is told by Harry M. Stevens, an American sports concessionaire whose vendors sold German sausages and rolls to spectators at the old New York Polo Grounds during the winter. He called them "Dachshund sandwiches", but a New York Post cartoonist "couldn't spell dachshund, so when he drew the cartoon, he called them hot dogs."[16]
In 1916, a Polish American employee of Feltman's named Nathan Handwerker was encouraged by Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante, both working as waiters/musicians, to go into business in competition with his former employer.[17] Handwerker undercut Feltman's by charging five cents for a hot dog when his former employer was charging ten.[17]
At an earlier time in food regulation, when the hot dog was suspect, Handwerker made sure that men wearing surgeon's smocks were seen eating at Nathan's Famous to reassure potential customers.[14]
The term dog has been used as a synonym for sausage since 1884 and accusations that sausage makers used dog meat date to at least 1845.[18] In the early 20th century, consumption of dog meat in Germany was common.[19][20] The suspicion that sausages contained dog meat was "occasionally justified".[21]
According to a myth, the use of the complete phrase hot dog in reference to sausage was coined by the newspaper cartoonist New York Giants baseball game at the Polo Grounds.[18] However, TAD's earliest usage of hot dog was not in reference to a baseball game at the Polo Grounds, but to a bicycle race at Madison Square Garden, in The New York Evening Journal December 12, 1906, by which time the term hot dog in reference to sausage was already in use.[18][22] In addition, no copy of the apocryphal cartoon has ever been found.[23]
The earliest known usage of hot dog in clear reference to sausage, found by Fred R. Shapiro, appeared in the December 31, 1892, issue of the Paterson (New Jersey) Daily Press.[24] The story concerned a local traveling vendor, Thomas Francis Xavier Morris, also known as "Hot Dog Morris".[25]
Somehow or other a frankfurter and a roll seem to go right to the spot where the void is felt the most. The small boy has got on such familiar terms with this sort of lunch that he now refers to it as "hot dog." "Hey, Mister, give me a hot dog quick," was the startling order that a rosy-cheeked gamin hurled at the man as a Press reporter stood close by last night. The "hot dog" was quickly inserted in a gash in a roll, a dash of mustard also splashed on to the "dog" with a piece of flat whittled stick, and the order was fulfilled.
Other early uses of hot dog in reference to sausage appeared in the New Brunswick (New Jersey) Daily Times (May 20, 1893), the New York World (May 26, 1893), and the Knoxville (Tennessee) Journal (September 28, 1893).[22]
General description
Common hot dog ingredients include:[26]
- Meat trimmings and fat
- Flavorings, such as salt, garlic, and paprika
- Preservatives (cure) - typically sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite
Pork and beef are the traditional meats used in hot dogs. Less expensive hot dogs are often made from chicken or turkey, using low-cost mechanically separated poultry. Hot dogs often have high sodium, fat and nitrite content, ingredients linked to health problems. Changes in meat technology and dietary preferences have led manufacturers to use turkey, chicken, vegetarian meat substitutes, and to lower the salt content.
If a manufacturer produces two types of hot dogs, "wieners" tend to contain pork and are blander, while "franks" tend to be all beef and more strongly seasoned.
Commercial preparation
Hot dogs are prepared commercially by mixing the ingredients (meats, spices, binders and fillers) in vats where rapidly moving blades grind and mix the ingredients in the same operation. This mixture is forced through tubes into casings for cooking. Most hot dogs sold in the US are "skinless" as opposed to more expensive "natural casing" hot dogs.
Natural casing hot dogs
As with most sausages, hot dogs must be in a casing to be cooked. Traditional casing is made from the small intestines of sheep. The products are known as "natural casing" hot dogs or frankfurters.[27] These hot dogs have firmer texture and a "snap" that releases juices and flavor when the product is bitten.[27]
Kosher casings are expensive in commercial quantities in the US, so kosher hot dogs are usually skinless or made with reconstituted collagen casings.[27]
Skinless hot dogs
"Skinless" hot dogs must use a casing in the cooking process when the product is manufactured, but the casing is usually a long tube of thin cellulose that is removed between cooking and packaging. This process was invented in Chicago in 1925[28] by Erwin O. Freund, founder of Visking which would later become Viskase Companies.[29]
The first skinless hot dog casings were produced by Freund's new company under the name "Nojax", short for "no jackets" and sold to local Chicago sausage makers.
Skinless hot dogs vary in the texture of the product surface but have a softer "bite" than natural casing hot dogs. Skinless hot dogs are more uniform in shape and size than natural casing hot dogs and less expensive.
Home cooking hot dogs
Hot dogs are prepared and eaten in a variety of ways. The wieners may be boiled, grilled, fried, steamed, broiled, baked, or microwaved.[30] The cooked wiener may be served on a bun (usually topped with condiments), or it may be used as an ingredient in another dish.
Health effects
Unlike other sausages which may be sold uncooked, hot dogs are cooked before packaging. Hot dogs can be eaten without additional cooking, although they are usually warmed before serving. Because an unopened, packaged hot dog can have Listeria bacteria that cause listeriosis, it is safer to heat them, especially for pregnant women and those with suppressed immune systems.[31]
An American Institute for Cancer Research report found that consuming one 50-gram serving of processed meat — about one hot dog — every day increases risk of colorectal cancer by 20 percent.[32][33] The Cancer Project group filed a class-action lawsuit demanding warning labels on packages and at sporting events.[34] Hot dogs are high in fat and salt and have preservatives sodium nitrate and nitrite, which are possible contributors to nitrate-containing chemicals believed to cause cancer.[35] According to the AICR, the average risk of colorectal cancer is 5.8 percent, but 7 percent when a hot dog is consumed daily over years.[35]
Hot dogs have relatively low heterocyclic amines (HCA) levels compared to other types of ready-to-eat meat products, because they are manufactured at low temperatures.[36]
Choking risk
Hot dogs present a significant choking risk, especially for children. A study in the US found that 17% of food-related asphyxiations among children younger than 10 years of age were caused by hot dogs.[37] Their size, shape and texture make them difficult to expel from the windpipe. This risk can be reduced by cutting a hot dog into small pieces or lengthwise strips before serving to young children. It is suggested that redesign of size, shape and texture would reduce the risk.[38] One pediatric emergency doctor comments that a stuck hot dog is "almost impossible" to dislodge from a child's windpipe.[38]
In the United States
In the US, "hot dog" may refer to just the sausage or to the combination of a sausage in a bun. Many nicknames for hot dogs have popped up over the years. A hot dog can often be seen under the names of frankfurter, frank, red hot, wiener, weenie, durger, coney, or just "dog".
Hot dog restaurants
Hot dog stands and trucks sell hot dogs at street and highway locations. Wandering hot dog vendors sell their product in baseball parks. At convenience stores, hot dogs are kept heated on rotating grills. 7-Eleven sells the most grilled hot dogs in North America — 100 million annually.[39] Hot dogs are also common on restaurants' children's menus.
Hot dogs may be served plain, but are commonly served with a variety of condiments, including ketchup, mustard, chile con carne, pickle relish, sauerkraut, onion, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and chili peppers.
In 2005, the US-based National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (part of the American Meat Institute) found mustard to be the most popular condiment, with 32% of respondents preferring it; 23% of Americans said they preferred ketchup; chili con carne came in third at 17%, followed by relish at 9% and onions at 7%. Southerners showed the strongest preference for chili, while Midwesterners showed the greatest affinity for ketchup.[40]
Condiments vary across the country. All-beef Chicago-style hot dogs are topped with mustard, fresh tomatoes, onions, sport peppers, bright green relish, dill pickles, and celery salt, but they exclude ketchup.
Many variations are named after regions other than the one in which they are popular. Italian hot dogs popular in New Jersey include peppers, onions, and potatoes. Meaty Michigan hot dogs are popular in upstate New York (as are white hots), while beefy Coney Island hot dogs are popular in Michigan. In New York City, conventional hot dogs are available on Coney Island, as are bagel dogs. Hot wieners, or weenies, are a staple in Rhode Island where they are sold at restaurants with the misleading name "New York System."[41] Texas hot dogs are spicy variants found in upstate New York and Pennsylvania (and as "all the way dogs" in New Jersey), but not Texas.
Some baseball parks have signature hot dogs, such as Fenway Franks at Fenway Park in Boston and Dodger Dogs at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Fenway signature is that the hot dog is boiled and grilled, and then served on a New England-style bun, covered with ketchup and relish. Often during Red Sox games, vendors traverse the stadium selling the hot dogs plain, giving customers the choice of adding the condiments.
In Canada
Skinner's Restaurant, in Lockport, Manitoba is reputed to be Canada's oldest hot dog outlet in continuous operation, founded in 1929, by Jim Skinner Sr.[42][43] Hotdogs served at Skinners are European style footlongs with natural casings, manufactured by Winnipeg Old Country Sausage in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Half Moon Drive In, also in Lockport, Manitoba and located directly across the river from Skinners, was established in 1938 by brothers Peter and Louie Kosowicz.[44] The original drive in consisted of three wooden buildings shaped like semicircles—one was for takeout, one was for dine-in, and the third was a dance hall and later an arcade.[44] The Half Moon also serves European-style wieners manufactured by Winnipeg Old Country Sausage.[44] One of the most popular items is the Moon Dog, consisting of cheese, bacon, fried onions, pickles and mustard, and the Half Moon serves about 2000 on an average summer weekend day.[44]
Hot dogs outside North America
In most of the world, "hot dog" is recognized as a sausage in a bun, but the type varies considerably. The name is applied to something that would not be described as a hot dog in North America. For example, in New Zealand, it refers to a battered sausage, often on a stick (which is known as a corn dog in North America), and the version in a bun is called an "American hot dog".
A common brand of hot dog available throughout China
Thai khanom Tokiao being prepared, a Thai style crêpe with a hot dog sausage, at a night market
The world's longest hot dog created was 60 meters (197 ft), which rested within a 60.3-meter (198 ft) bun. The hot dog was prepared by Shizuoka Meat Producers for the All-Japan Bread Association, which baked the bun and coordinated the event, including official measurement for the world record. The hot dog and bun were the center of a media event in celebration of the Association's 50th anniversary on August 4, 2006, at the Akasaka Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan.
A hot dog prepared by head chef Joe Calderone in Manhattan sold for US$69 during the National Hot Dog Day in 2010, making it the most expensive hot dog sold at the time. The hot dog was topped with truffle oil, duck foie gras, and truffle butter.[45]
On May 31, 2012, moose cheese from Sweden, sweetened dried cranberries, basil olive oil/pear-cranberry-coconut balsamic viniagrette, and ground peppercorn. Proceeds from the sale of each 1.4 kg (3 lb) super dog are donated to the Shriners Hospitals for Children.[46]
See also
- Advanced meat recovery
- By-products
- Hot dog variations
- List of hot dog restaurants
- Mechanically separated meat
- Sausage bun
- Sausage sandwich
- Vienna sausage
- ^ Brady, William (11 June 1929). "Personal Health Service". Amsterdam Evening Recorder. p. 5.
- ^ "Hot Dogs Chain Store Basis". Los Angeles Times. 11 October 1925. p. 18.
- ^ "Anniversary of Hot Dog, Bun.". Binghamton (NY) Sunday Press. 29 November 1964. p. 10D.
- ^ Zwilling, Leonard (27 September 1988). "Trail of Hot Dog Leads Back to 1880's". New York Times. p. A34. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ^ Lavin, Cheryl (24 September 1980). "Hot dog! 2 mustard moguls who relish their work.". Chicago Tribune. p. E1.
- ^
- ^
- ^ Schmidt 2003:241
- ^ Immerso 2002:23
- ^ Sterngass 2001:239
- ^ "History of the Hot Dog" page of ePopcorn.com.
- ^ KiteFly Web Design - kitefly.com. "Hot Dog History". Hotdogchicagostyle.com. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
- ^ McCullough 2000:240
- ^ a b Jakle & Sculle 1999:163–164
- ^ McCollough 2006:Frankfurter, she wrote: Hot dog shrouded in mystery
- ^ Collins, Gail (15 January 1985). Hot Dog,' This Company Says, After Being in Business Almost 100 Years"'". Los Angeles Times. United Press International. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ a b Immerso 2002:131
- ^ a b c Wilton 2004:58–59
- ^ "Germany's dog meat market; Consumption of Canines and Horses Is on the Increase." (PDF). The New York Times. June 23, 1907. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
- ^ "Monthly consular and trade reports" 64 (240-243). United States Bureau of Manufactures, Bureau of Foreign Commerce, Dept. of Commerce; Bureau Of Manufactures, Bureau Of Foreign Commerce; Bureau Of Statistics, Dept. of Commerce and Labor. 1900. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
- ^ "Hot Dog" at Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ a b Popik 2004:"Hot Dog (Polo Grounds myth & original monograph)"
- ^ "Hot Dog". Snopes. July 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
- ^
- ^ "Searching history for hot dog's origin". 2011-07-04. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
- ^ National Hot Dog and Sausage Council glossary of sausages Retrieved August 15, 2011
- ^ a b c Levine 2005:It's All in How the Dog Is Served
- ^ Zeldes, Leah A. (2010-07-08). "Know your wiener!". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
- ^ "Viskase: About Us". Viskase Companies, Inc. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ Cooper, Stacy. "Hot Dogs, Get Your Hot Dogs: all about hot dogs, wieners, franks and sausages". Inmamaskitchen.com. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
- ^ "Listeria and food safety". Health Canada. 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
- ^ AICR Statement: Hot Dogs and Cancer Risk, American Institute for Cancer Research, July 22, 2009.
- ^ Attack ad targets hot dogs as cancer risk, Canadian Broadcasting Company, August 27, 2008.
- ^ Hot dog cancer-warning labels sought in lawsuit: Healthy Cleveland, The Plain Dealer, August 29, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ^ a b New Attack Ad Targets Hot Dogs, Citing Dubious Cancer Risk, Fox News, August 26, 2008.
- ^ "A Hot Dog Healthier Than Chicken? Could Be...". ClickOnDetroit.com. 2011-03-23. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
- ^ Harris, Carole Stallings; Baker, Susan P.; Smith, Gary A.; Harris, Richard M. (May 1984). "Childhood Asphyxiation by Food: A National Analysis and Overview". JAMA 251 (17): 2231–2235.
- ^ a b Szabo, Liz (22 February 2010). "Pediatricians seek choke-proof hot dog". USA Today. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ "7-Eleven About Us .. Fun Facts". 7-eleven.com.
- ^ "Fire in their Bellies: Sixty Percent of Americans Prefer Hot Dogs Grilled, New Hot Dog Council Poll Data Shows Mustard Takes 'Gold Medal' in Topping Poll". National Hot Dog & Sausage Council; American Meat Institute. 25 May 2005. Archived from the original on 16 June 2005. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
- ^ Lukas, Paul. "The Big Flavors Of Little Rhode Island." The New York Times. November 13, 2002.
- ^ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/whos-got-canadas-best-hot-dog/article584896/
- ^ http://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/04/02/hot-dog-skinners-celebrating-85-years
- ^ a b c d http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/can-we-be-frank-164986476.html
- ^ Cook, Wendy (28 July 2010). "$69 Hot Dog (Photos, Video)". National Ledger. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ Pierleoni, Allen (1 June 2012). "Sacramento claims record with $145.49 hot dog". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- "Anniversary of Hot Dog, Bun". Binghamton (NY) Sunday Press. 1964-11-29. p. 10D.
- Brady, William (1929-06-11). "Personal Health Service". Amsterdam Evening Recorder. p. 5.
- "Hot Dogs Chain Store Basis". Los Angeles Times. 1925-10-11. p. 18.
- Immerso, Michael (2002). Coney Island: The People's Playground. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
- Jakle, John A.; Sculle, Keith A. (1999). Fast Food. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Lavin, Cheryl (1980-11-24). "Hot dog! 2 mustard moguls who relish their work". The Chicago Tribune. p. E1.
- Levine, Ed (2005-05-25). "It's All in How the Dog Is Served". The New York Times.
- McCollough, J. Brady (2006-04-02). "Frankfurter, she wrote: Hot dog shrouded in mystery". The Kansas City Star.
- McCullough, Edo (2000) [1957]. Good Old Coney Island: A Sentimental Journey into the Past. New York: Fordham University Press.
- Popik, Barry (2004-07-15). "Hot Dog (Polo Grounds myth & original monograph)". The Big Apple. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- Schmidt, Gretchen (2003). German Pride: 101 Reasons to Be Proud You're German. New York: Citadel Press.
- Sterngass, Jon (2001). First Resorts: Pursuing Pleasure at Saratoga Springs, Newport & Coney Island. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Wilton, David (2004). Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Zwilling, Leonard (1988-09-27). "Trail of Hot Dog Leads Back to 1880's". The New York Times. p. A34.
External links
- Home page for a PBS documentary about hot dogs
- USDA Fact Sheet on hot dogs
- Hatnote templates using unusual parameters
- WorldHeritage pages with incorrect protection templates
- All articles with unsourced statements
- Articles with unsourced statements from August 2011
- Articles with unsourced statements from May 2009
- Sausages
- Hot dogs
- Street food
- World cuisine
- American cuisine
- American sandwiches


text:
by Gary Graffman
What kind of a world are we sending our conservatory graduates into?
Recently I had the pleasure, for the second time, of addressing the American Symphony Orchestra League at its annual conference. To prepare, I dug up my old notes from the first occasion--back in June, 1981--and discovered that my thoughts about the state of serious music performance in the United States, particularly as it pertains to orchestras, are still pretty much the same. Among other things, the imminent doom of classical music, predicted at that time, is still being predicted.
My vantage point, however, has shifted: In 1981 I was--and had been for the three previous decades--a full-time performer whose interest in orchestras was largely based on how often I played with how many. But since 1986, when I took over the directorship of the Curtis Institute of Music, my focus has been centered rather on how to help the remarkable students in our all-scholarship school to achieve their dream of being full-time performers. And since 108 of our 160 students play orchestral instruments--and five more are conducting students--it is clear that the continuing health of American orchestras is a major concern for us.
It's well known that about half of The Philadelphia Orchestra is composed of Curtis graduates. Twenty-five of them have entered that orchestra during the sixteen years I've been director. And, of course, many more are now playing in other orchestras: Among the musicians in the largest 25 orchestras in the U.S. and Canada, 235 are Curtis-trained, with 75 holding principal chairs. Curtis alumni occupy more than one-quarter of the principal desks at the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as, of course, The Philadelphia Orchestra, where they have pretty much taken over these positions.
It is true that many of our students would prefer to be soloing in front of a major orchestra rather than playing in it. But besides wind and brass players, for whom an orchestral post is the usual goal, I believe today's string players, too, are becoming ever more realistic in understanding their professional options. Many are enthusiastic about playing in orchestras--especially since a number of them now provide opportunities for members to play occasionally in chamber ensembles as well.
It goes without saying that no small part of this enthusiasm is engendered by the steady income offered by an orchestral post. For a Curtis student who has been receiving financial assistance (in addition to the full-tuition scholarship) throughout many school years, going directly into The Philadelphia Orchestra is a bit like hitting a weekly jackpot--with benefits. Which brings me to the subject of problems our orchestras now face. How long can they provide these jackpots to musicians, considering the difficulties that confront them? I'm reminded daily of these difficulties by the constant media barrage describing gory details in every area of the classical music business. Disaster is always just around the corner.
One advantage of having reached the age of pontification is that I actually lived through experiences identical to those which are now considered unique to our present philistine condition. As an example, I'll quote from an article that appeared in The New York Times within the last couple of years. Headlined "BMG Trims the Classics," the story indicated that the recording company intended to "analyze the commercial strengths and weaknesses" of such performers as James Galway, Evgeny Kissin, Evelyn Glennie, and the Canadian Brass, and if necessary, terminate their recording contracts--which, in the cases of the latter two, they ultimately did.
Reading this article gave me an eerie sensation of déja vu: A similar purge took place when I was under contract to BMG's predecessor, RCA Victor. I was one of the artists scheduled to be purged, and at that time I was playing regularly for Vladimir Horowitz, who was also with RCA (although, obviously, on a far more exalted level). We spoke almost daily about almost every imaginable subject, and so when I told him that my recording contract was about to be terminated, he replied, "Yes, me too!" This was hard to believe, but Horowitz went on to describe his Byzantine negotiations with RCA, during which he was told that his contract would be renewed only if he agreed to record an album of popular music, including a tango tune called "Jalousie." He told me that his wife, Wanda (the daughter of another RCA recording artist, Arturo Toscanini), had grabbed the phone and snarled at the RCA executive who was attempting to produce only saleable merchandise, "Better you should open a whorehouse!"
This scandal, which at the time was widely claimed to mark "the death of classical music," occurred in 1961--41 years ago.
It is true, of course, that society's enthusiasm for cultural activities waxes and wanes during the course of any era. The pendulum swings back and forth, and at present its swing certainly appears to veer away from those of us who care deeply about the arts. But each time the swing goes in that direction, we are told definitively that "classical music is dead." (I've been around long enough to live through two or three of these round-trip swings.)
I believe, however, that at least part of the worry about declining audiences for classical music has been caused by the unrealistic expectations of administrators in the classical music field. Carried away by their success in the recent past (when the pendulum was swinging the other way), many of them have come to believe that their potential audience is limitless. As a result of this insatiable hunger for expansion--ever more concerts in ever larger auditoriums--musical activities have gradually been stretched far beyond the demand. I think it's most important to keep in mind that the demand for this kind of music is--and in my opinion, always will be--quite finite.
Acquired Taste
In any culture, at any time in history, interest in the arts has been evinced by only a small minority of the population. It is neither a necessity for physical survival nor an instinctively inspired human response. In most cultures this interest has been an acquired taste. Certainly everyone, both young and old, should have an opportunity to become educated in matters of the arts and thus, perhaps, acquire this taste. Without doubt, education in arts and aesthetics should be a compulsory component of any school curriculum, like math or history. This is absolutely a given. And until our states mandate that public schools offer such studies to all students (something that exists even in many Third World countries), we will never realize our potential in this regard.
But I think we must also bear in mind that not every person, no matter how well educated, will necessarily end up being interested in what is known as "classical music." Nobody is trying to get me to attend a wrestling match; so why should I try to make someone who prefers wrestling to Beethoven attend a symphony concert?
I wonder whether a good part of the current concern about the alleged decline of classical music audiences is not actually a short-sighted view, like obsessing over a "correction" in the stock market. How many of today's management types actually remember what the music business was really like in the so-called Good Old Days? I think that if things were put into perspective, they would realize that we're now really way ahead.
When I started out as a performer in the late 1940s, the number of American orchestras that played--and, therefore, were paid--for 52 weeks a year was nonexistent, and the salary of an orchestra player was not a living wage. And since there were far fewer concerts than there are now, opportunities for soloists were a fraction of what they are today. There were only two major concert managements, with a total of about 40 pianists between them, for example. Well, last year's Musical America directory listed 624 pianists. So maybe we should be worrying more about glut than decline.
In the 1950s, New York had only one large concert hall and--believe me, because I was there--very few performances were anywhere near sold out. Yes, Horowitz and Heifetz and Rubinstein performances were full. But for the performances of most artists now considered legendary--such as Piatigorsky, Milstein, and Rudolf Serkin--even though readily available student coupons entitled anyone, not just students, to attend for practically nothing, still the hall was not full.
I remember often sitting in a half-empty Carnegie Hall to hear New York Philharmonic concerts conducted by Bruno Walter, Artur Rodzinski, and Dmitri Mitropoulos. In those years (when the orchestra's administrative staff consisted of about three executives and a couple of assistants and secretaries), nobody expected the world to beat a path to Carnegie Hall. Marketing experts were unheard of in the concert world, and the norm was a half-empty (or half-full) hall.
Today, marketing experts have invaded our concert halls, and hype often prevails. The administrative machinery of a major symphony orchestra resembles that of a huge international corporation (or perhaps even the government of a medium-sized monarchy!), and most of the marketing techniques employed for the Selling of the Symphony have absolutely nothing to do with the symphony being sold--that is, with presenting the finest music played in the most skillful manner for an audience that wishes to listen.
An audience that wishes to listen. Perhaps that is the key.
In the mid-1960s, when the arts pendulum began to swing wildly once again toward the joys of culture and large auditoriums were being built to accommodate anticipated hordes of symphony-goers, the Ford Foundation gave enormous sums of money to orchestras throughout the country. Actually, the gifts were matching grants that were quickly matched. Great news, one would think. Not so, according to a friend of mine, then the conductor of a highly respected mid-level orchestra. "Mark my words," he said. "Now our troubles are about to begin!"
That sounded strange to me. After all, his orchestra would be lengthening its season and increasing its subscription concerts from pairs to triples. How could this be bad? "Simple," he explained. "At the moment we have just the right number of concerts to accommodate our audience. Our pairs are well attended, and most subscribers renew every year. But I think that if we go to triples and extend the season, which we'll certainly be expected to do with these additional funds, we'll still have the same number of attendees, but there won't be enough demand for all of those extra available seats." So the obvious procedure would be to promote the extra concerts in a way that would attract a brand-new audience; as we'd say nowadays, to broaden the base of support. "But," said my friend, "there just aren't that many more people in this city who want to hear the kind of music we play."
The result was as he predicted: The orchestra's management began campaigns to entice non-symphony-goers with artificial gimmicks, adding pops concerts and potboilers on normal symphony programs, thus lowering the standards for everyone. The new audience didn't care to hear serious music, even when sandwiched between Broadway show tunes, and the regular audience was infuriated at the cheapening of the programs they had enjoyed. Eventually, the conductor quit; and the orchestra began a downhill slide from which it never fully recovered.
I think the reason for our perception of declining audiences is simply greed: It's not that fewer people are interested in classical music nowadays; it's that we have still not learned to accept the fact that this kind of music will never appeal to audiences of the size we are now trying so desperately to attract--of the sizes we must attract in order to pay for the expenses incurred by all the efforts to attract those larger audiences who had no interest in going to symphony concerts in the first place. To quote the immortal words of the legendary impresario Sol Hurok, "If the people don't want to come, nothing will stop them!"
As a performer myself, as well as someone who is responsible for helping to pave a path for future performers, nothing would please me more than to see concert opportunities galore and sold-out series blanketing the earth. I would also like to see created, by all varieties of educational means, the largest possible audience for classical music. But I would not want to see this happen at the expense of maintaining the highest standards of artistic integrity.
And by the way, I don't agree with the complaint we so often hear, "Audiences are getting older. See all those gray heads out there? What will we do when they're no longer around?" The answer, I think, is that we'll replace them with the next generation of gray heads. Concert audiences have always been composed mostly of older folks. It stands to reason that by the time people have the means and the time to attend concerts, their heads are gray. I'm reminded of a famous chamber music series that flourished in New York during the 1950s called The New Friends of Music. You could tell when you were at one of those concerts just by observing the audience: Generally quite elderly, they looked terribly intense, spoke German, and often carried scores. They were devoted to Schubert and Central European performers and thus were nicknamed by us youngsters (a definite minority in that audience) The Old Friends of Schnabel. Well, one would assume that a half-century later these gray-haired music lovers would have long since departed for their eternal heavenly quartet concert. But when I visit the Marlboro Festival each summer, I swear--I swear--the auditorium is packed with identical Old Friends of Schnabel, right down to the intensity, the miniature scores, and the Central European accents.
The More Things Change...
During the last couple of years, while the century was busy turning, I have often been asked--speaking of pontificating!--to give my ideas about the changes we should expect to see and hear in the music world during the new millennium. How are we preparing our students for the brave new technological future, now that the symphony concert as we know it is fast becoming passé ?
The only prediction I feel safe in making is that, just as a minority of people today continue to be moved by Shakespeare, so will a minority of people in the future continue to be moved by Beethoven. And so, as we need Shakespearean actors today, I trust we'll need Beethoven players in the future. And if there's anything to be learned about the future from studying the past, then I can report that, in spite of what were considered revolutionary technological advances at the time, nothing that classical musicians do has changed all that dramatically since the 1940s, except that nowadays there's more--perhaps too much!--of everything.
Musicians, as far as I can see, remain the same, even in the 21st century. It's fascinating for me to watch our new students, some in their very early teens, being turned loose for the first time on a symphony by Mahler or Sibelius or Shostakovich--or Dvorák or Brahms or Haydn or Beethoven, for that matter. They love all of it, in exactly the same way I loved listening to that same music when I was their age, almost sixty years ago.
It is not my intention to make light of the difficulties facing many of our orchestras today. I wish I could offer constructive suggestions. But I can only say that I feel strongly that "dumbing down" is not the way to go. One of my real worries is that, in the relentless quest for ways to expand and find new audiences, our orchestras will, instead, succeed in driving away their true music lovers.
We absolutely must face the fact that a symphony orchestra was never meant to be all things to all people. As the Cleveland Orchestra's executive director, Tom Morris, has written, "Identifying priorities is an essential prerequisite to dealing with issues of change. You have to decide, 'What is it that you represent? What do you believe? What's your point of view?' In the case of the Cleveland Orchestra, we have a solid and identifiable artistic point of view--our repertoire is based on the music of Schubert, Mozart, and Beethoven--and everything flows from that." Other orchestras and conductors follow other artistic points of view, and this is precisely what's essential, it seems to me.
The last word goes right back to Shakespeare: "To thine own self be true." The mission of an orchestra, I believe, is simply to present the best possible music, performed in the best possible way, for the people who want to listen. I believe that those of us who are involved with, or care about, the performance of great music must approach life with the conviction that as long as such music exists, there will always be people--albeit a minority--who will want to hear it. Our job, then, is to continue that tradition without compromise.
An internationally renowned concert pianist, Gary Graffman is president of The Curtis Institute of Music. This article is adapted from his remarks to artistic administrators during the 57th National Conference of the American Symphony Orchestra League in June, 2002.

subset: commoncrawl


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Michael Williams Gossip
Michael Williams gossip, latest news, photos, and video.
Michelle Williams hair magic
Splash, INF
Splash, INF
Michelle Williams is currently making the talk the show rounds in New York in support of Oz: The Great And Powerful. Last week at the premiere in Hollywood, they styled her hair so that it still seemed really short. Click here to see. Today they've pushed it forward so that you can see how it's grown. Full Story
The Witches
Oz: The Great And Powerful premiered last night in Hollywood. Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams, who play the three witches, were all making fashion statements. Least favourite: Mila Kunis. Whatever it was it looked like Marchesa. Ashton Kutcher showed up at the event too, only he tried to go undercover. Full Story


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Teun Voeten is a photojournalist and the author of How De Body? – Hope and Horror in Sierra Leone.
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Gareth McAuley spoke of the satisfaction Northern Ireland had taken from overcoming widespread doubts to defeat Ukraine 2-0 in Lyon and secure their first ever win at a European Championships.
McAuley's powerful 49th-minute header and Niall McGinn's close-range finish deep into stoppage time secured an unexpected victory against higher-profile opposition.
It also revived Northern Ireland's hopes of progressing to the competition's knockout stages from the competitive Group C, taking them level on three points with Germany and Poland who play later on Thursday evening.
"It's massive," McAuley, who at 36 became the second oldest ever goalscorer at a European Championships, told ITV.
"Nobody has given us a chance. Lots of people said we wouldn't get a point. We weren't at it against Poland - to our standards, the intensity we wanted to play at - but tonight was a lot better. We're delighted for every one of these people that's come to support us.
"It's special (to score), it'll sink in probably over the next few days. The team performance was pleasing, the reaction from getting beaten against Poland...We've got a tough game to look forward to now, and we've got something to play for: that's what we wanted.
"We had a point to prove to ourselves. These (fans) are with us no matter what. We thought we'd let ourselves down (against Poland), just with the intensity we played at.
"But we've put it right. We've got a big game to look forward to in Paris (against Germany).
"It's pleasing, it's good, (there's a) tough game ahead but we're delighted.
"The lads will take confidence from it, because we'd been written off."


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CW extends "Ringer," "Secret Circle," "Hart of Dixie"
[media-credit name="CW" align="alignright" width="240″][/media-credit]
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Britt Robertson and Rachel Bilson have a bit of job security.
The CW today gave full season orders to all three of its freshman shows — the flat Sarah Michelle Gellar soap "Ringer," the teen-witch Kevin Williamson drama starring Robertson, "The Secret Circle," and the Rachel Bilson southern-medical-melodrama, "Hart of Dixie."
Each gets an order for the "back nine" episodes this season.
They're not brilliant works that demand thoughtful attention, but they don't have to be — they're on CW.


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Modify Accurate Metal Hop Up Chamber for AK Series (HP-02-02)
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On March 9, 2008, Dechen Pemba, a British-born teacher living in Beijing, boarded an overnight train for Xian, a city about 560 miles to the southwest. She was met there by Dhondup Wangchen, who had traveled from his home in Amdo, a region of the Tibetan plateau that takes up most of China's Qinghai Province. The two were strangers to each other, linked only by heritage and a loose global network of activists and exiles who hope, in various ways, for a freer Tibet.
Spring starts early in Xian, and the day was bright. When they spoke about the purpose of their meeting, they talked quietly in the Lhasa dialect of Tibetan in the open air and away from passers-by, or in the apartment of a trusted friend of Wangchen. They were being followed, maybe. It was hard to know. When Pemba left that evening, she was carrying a bundle of tapes, the final installment of Wangchen's project for the previous year, with the intention of smuggling it out of the country.
Five months later, the Summer Olympics began. On the same day, Wangchen's 24-minute documentary, "Leaving Fear Behind," made its premiere. "I am not an educated man," he tells the camera. "I have never been to school. However, I would like to say a few things."
What followed was a series of clandestine conversations made public. Wangchen asked ordinary Tibetans to talk about the Olympic Games, and about China. A monk on an empty road says the Games should stand for freedom and peace, and "as a Tibetan, I have neither freedom nor peace." A creased old man in a light-starved room says he doesn't know what to make of the Games. "I feel very uncertain, as though I'm wandering in the dark and don't know where it's safe to step," he said. "I don't trust the Chinese at all. Not one bit."
Who is allowed to talk, what are they allowed to say, and to whom? In November 2012, CPJ awarded its International Press Freedom Award to four journalists from around the world--Dhondup Wangchen, Mae Azango, Azimjon Askarov, and Mauri König. All four came up against these questions and found their own ways to answer. The stories they ultimately told are the stories of ordinary people--not politicians, not wealthy power brokers, not criminal masterminds. They didn't rely on databases of stockpiled information. Their sources were people who had something to say about their own lives, and wanted to be heard.
There is power in ordinary voices. That much is clear from the threats and attacks that followed the telling. Part of it--both the power of their work and the reason for the attacks--had to do with the secrets revealed. Mae Azango, one of only a few women working as journalists in Liberia, reported on a brutal initiation rite known to many but kept deliberately hidden. Azimjon Askarov recorded what went on in southern Kyrgyzstan's detention centers, where people accused of crimes are held without trial. Brazilian reporter Mauri König traveled along the country's invisible borderlands, where drugs, weapons, and humans are bought and sold and used. Dhondup Wangchen told a story--in contradiction to the one told in the opening ceremony of Beijing's Games--of an empire's faltering power to impose happiness through prosperity.
The four journalists were also attacked for who they are. An African woman criticizing her own society. An Uzbek in Kyrgyzstan at a time of ethnic violence. A Brazilian journalist on the wrong side of a border.
Wangchen knew the risks he was taking. Before he even started on his documentary, he sent his wife and children to the Tibetan exile city of Dharamsala, India. Just after he finished filming in March, protests began in Tibet, as the slow simmer of anger against Chinese rule erupted into a boil. All Tibetans came under suspicion.
Police knocked on the door of Dechen Pemba's apartment in Beijing in July 2008 and escorted her to the airport. The last few months had been frightening ones; she had been stopped and questioned, her apartment searched. At least, she thought, she had the protection of a British passport; being deported wasn't the worst thing that could happen. "I was more worried for my Tibetan friends," she said. For them, "terrible things could happen and nobody would even know."
By that time, Wangchen had already disappeared into China's prison system.
During the Liberian civil war, Mae Azango spent four years living as a refugee in the Ivory Coast. Some days she went without eating. Walking down the street wasn't safe. "Someone will come up and slap you," she said. "They will say, 'This road is not for you.'"
She could have learned almost any lesson from that. The things she learned were empathy for the most vulnerable people, and respect for her own fight. "When I came back home, I lived a poor life," Azango said. "I know what it feels like. That's why I have so much passion in reporting on ordinary people."
Azango has written about sexual violence, poverty, police brutality; she writes about things she wants to change. It was natural that she would write about female genital cutting. Girls who go through the initiation rite, common in the Sande society in Liberia, are told never to speak about it. Government officials, who sometimes owe their power to the tribal elders who protect the practice, are hesitant to condemn it. The local media won't touch it.
"Nobody talks about it," said Azango. "Everybody knows."
But Azango asked questions, and people began talking. One woman recalled the day, 34 years earlier, when it happened to her: Five women held her down and another cut out her clitoris. "It can hurt much more than delivery pain when they be cutting your clitorises with a knife because they cannot numb the place but only put leaves to cover the sore," the woman told her, in a story that appeared in March 2012 in FrontPage Africa, the newspaper in Monrovia for which Azango works.
The outrage followed swiftly after publication--not against the practice, but against Azango. She was threatened with violence. People turned up at her office looking for her, and Azango was forced into hiding. It wasn't that anyone denied the truth of what Azango was reporting. Nobody called her a liar. What they called her was a traitor.
"They say I'm Liberian. I'm African. I should protect our culture. They say I take our culture and serve it up to the white people," said Azango. "You will see me to be a hero in the Western world. In my home, I'm a violator."
When FrontPage Africa reports on corruption, or even child prostitution, other media tend to pile on with related stories of their own, says Rodney Sieh, the newspaper's editor and publisher. But not in this case. Sieh got a call from an editor at another publication. "He told me that we shouldn't allow white people to come into our country and tell us how to conduct our culture." Both Azango and Sieh rejected that argument. After all, Azango says, she published the story for a reason: She wanted the practice of female genital cutting to end.
"That is why I use my pen. I believe my pen has the power to make the government shift," said Azango. If she had been a white woman reporting on it, Azango says, she would have simply been ignored. There would have been no threats. But there would have been no national conversation, either. As it was, the government--called out on the complicity of its silence--spoke out against the practice. Tribal leaders agreed to suspend female genital cutting for four years.
Without enforcement, it's a long way from the ending Azango wants. But the journalist, who has since emerged from hiding, isn't done yet. "Push until something happens," she said, explaining the term behind an acronym. "That's my motto. PUSH!"
In April 2010, protests in northern Kyrgyzstan led to the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and the installment of an interim president, Roza Otunbayeva. The new government proved unable to exert full control, however, leaving space for old tensions to rise to the surface. In southern Kyrgyzstan, a pro-Bakiyev faction worked to consolidate power and came into conflict with an Uzbek minority, prevalent in the region and seen as politically ascendant.
In June, riots erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan, lasting less than a week but taking a brutal toll. By the end, according to Human Rights Watch, 400 people were dead, thousands had been forced from their homes, and Uzbek neighborhoods were in ruins. Most of those killed were Uzbek. Most of those arrested in the aftermath were also Uzbek. One of them was Azimjon Askarov. The unrest and the confusion--and Askarov's ethnicity--had given his enemies a perfect opportunity to silence him.
Askarov made a living as a painter, depicting pastoral scenes of life in the southern Kyrgyz town of Bazar-Korgon, as well as a series of self-portraits. His face, with its craggy cheeks and bushy eyebrows, was a landscape all its own. In 1998, Askarov learned from a brochure about a new human rights organization and made his way to the nearby city of Jalalabad to volunteer, says Valentina Gritsenko, who had founded the group.
"He was an artist," said Gritsenko, "really open and sensitive to people's problems. He could see what was happening around him and wanted to do something." The painter threw himself into this new project, which consisted of interviewing people who were detained without trial, recording instances of torture, and monitoring treatment of minorities, who experienced frequent, often subtle discrimination. He once succeeded in freeing someone accused of murder by producing the alleged victim, alive; the prosecutor was dismissed. He wrote about a woman who was raped repeatedly during her seven-month pretrial detention; she was freed.
Askarov went on to form a separate local rights group, called Vozdukh, meaning Air. His work was published in its weekly bulletins, and on regional news websites. He upended the careers of police officers and prosecutors. Most of the police in his area were Kyrgyz; many--but not all--of the people whose cases he advocated were Uzbek.
Askarov took photos and video, too, in June 2010 as violence ravaged his town. He visited hospitals, and provided journalists with details about the movement of weapons, as well as police abuses, including two shootings, he told CPJ. On June 15, he was arrested and beaten "like a soccer ball." He was charged and convicted of complicity in the murder of a Kyrgyz police officer killed during the violence, inciting ethnic hatred, and other crimes. His case was riddled with inconsistencies and heavily reliant on the testimony of police officers who knew the victim and had reasons to resent Askarov.
The painter, human rights defender, and journalist was sentenced to life in prison. Masha Lisitsyna, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, is working on a complaint to the U.N. Human Rights Committee calling for Askarov's release. She visited him in prison, where he is kept in a cold and damp basement cell. Askarov recalled to her the words spoken by a police officer in the first days of his detention: Because of the article criticizing us, we will get even with you. We will make you die slowly. Now we have the opportunity and time to punish you.
In the wake of the violence of June 2010, CPJ has documented the near disappearance of Uzbek-language media in southern Kyrgyzstan. Osh TV and Mezon TV, two independent TV stations with Uzbek owners, were both heavily vandalized and ordered to close, accused of inciting violence. Osh TV resumed operations, but transferred to ethnic Kyrgyz ownership; Mezon TV never did.
Now there are fewer ways to talk, and less to hear.
The border regions of large countries can often be nearly invisible to those in the urban centers. Think of the scrublands and desert of southern Texas or Arizona, where thousands of immigrants each year hope to remain unseen as they travel north. Borderlands--neither here nor there--can also be perfect places to hide crimes.
Mauri König has spent his career illuminating the borders that Brazil shares with its neighbors. In a series of investigations in 2004 and 2005, he was able to map out the routes of child sex trafficking along the borders with Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. In another investigation, he showed how Brazilian police had linked with criminal groups in Paraguay to form a car-theft ring.
In 2000, his work took him to San Alberto, Paraguay, 50 miles from the border of Brazil, where he was investigating the mysterious deaths of teenagers at the hands of the Paraguayan army. Pulled over at an apparent police roadblock, König was dragged from his car and beaten and kicked by three men. One of his attackers wrapped a chain around his neck and tightened it to the point of suffocation. "You will never come back to Paraguay again," they told him. His camera was destroyed and its film, showing children inside the Paraguayan army headquarters, was unspooled. "Down with the Brazilian press" was scrawled on the hood of his car.
König's attackers were counting on the protection of the border, even as they were profiting from its porousness. He was on their turf, after all; they thought they could evict him. They weren't figuring in the ability of news to cross borders, too, to forge a larger global community out of a fragmented and divided population.
The assault on König had the opposite effect from the one intended. It became international news, drawing attention to the story that König was telling: Paraguay's army had been recruiting underage soldiers. He continued with his reporting and told a complete story, publishing the names of 109 children and teenagers from Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay--the youngest 12 and the oldest 18--who had died under questionable circumstances while in military service.
The story had real impact. International and domestic pressure on Paraguay led to changes in the army's behavior. The unexplained deaths stopped, and the national legislature made military service voluntary rather than required. König says the main motivation for his work is to provoke anger, so that his journalism can be a tool for transforming realities and people, for stemming injustice.
"My primary intention is to give visibility to excluded people and their problems, which are in fact the problems of all humanity, only on a smaller scale," said König. "I write hoping to plant a seed of indignation in each reader, so that each one, within possibility, does something to improve the situation."
The slim documentary that Dhondup Wangchen made about Tibet in 2007 and 2008 was extraordinary, says Robert J. Barnett, who directs the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University. Other documentaries have been complaints about suffering and victimhood in Tibet, appealing for sympathy and for condemnation of the aggressor, says Barnett. Or they've been fragments collected by Westerners, in the model of the intrepid outsider braving the dangerous.
Wangchen's film, instead, poses a question: Do the Chinese state and media represent us?
"It treats Tibetans as intelligent agents in contract with the [Chinese Communist] Party, and invites them to discuss what they think of the contract, and whether it's kept its promises," said Barnett. "It's quite a different way of thinking that we don't see, and it's typical of internal discussions."
The film was made as the Chinese government was cracking down on expression and religion in the eastern Tibetan region where Wangchen lived, which had previously enjoyed more leeway than central Tibet. The end of Wangchen's filming coincided with the start of protests that swept across Tibet. The answer he found in his documentary--that no, the Chinese state does not represent Tibetans--was the same conclusion that thousands of others were reaching at the same time.
It is hard to know exactly what happened to Wangchen. He has been unable to contact his family; fragments of information have come from Jigme Gyatso, a monk who assisted in making the documentary and has been in and out of jail over the past several years. Wangchen's family knows that he was sentenced to six years in prison on subversion charges, and that his appeal was denied. His wife, Lhamo Tso, says he has contracted hepatitis B in prison.
Wangchen's crime was articulating for a global audience what he and others--ordinary people--were thinking. His crime was being one among many.
Tso, an unassuming bread maker and mother of four, now takes his message around the world. "My main concern is for the release of my husband, Dhondup," said Tso. "But I also talk on behalf of all the prisoners in Tibet, and people who are suffering like me. I talk on behalf of the Tibetan people."
Kristin Jones is a reporter living in New York. In 2011, she was part of a team that won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for "Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes," a collaboration between NPR and the Center for Public Integrity. Jones was CPJ's senior Asia research associate until 2007.


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Greetings JPF! I'm Mr. Bukakke and it's nice to meet all of you. I'm a somewhat okay programmer, but I'm looking to use this forum to gain more knowledge. I'm currently pursuing a Bsc in Computer Science, and I hope to be able to develop good stand alone applications one day.
I've read a couple of the threads and I notcied that you guys have quite a cool group of knowledgeable folks here, so I guess I made the right choice


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And acknowledges their differences,
beginning with the fact that, from the start,
Spain never truly liked Mexico all
that much. All wonder and illusion of early
pursuits has long faded into disuse,
their once great relationship reduced to
spite and uniforms stomping through the dust.
And Mexico admires Spain, and its
hope that all remain well between the two.
Treaties and international peaces
can be administered despite the breach;
so much can be forgotten over time.
And although one stole the other's language
(read: heart), they still share spices, soccer, god.


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I don't know about you, but I'm starting wonder whether we're watching the death spiral of a Government that's lost its purpose and sense of duty. It seems with each day that passes, the Government's calamitous handling of our country is evidence that it's given up on its obligation to public duty. The asset sale farce and the poor manner in which the Treaty of Waitangi claims have been handled show a misunderstanding of how a majority of us think. The willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder with a handful oil executives, yet ignore the concerns of 150,000 Kiwi's who want a cleaner safer way of growing our economy shows an arrogant disregard for those concerned about the future of New Zealand. As Phil Heatley put it: "they are not really New Zealand". Really? And Texan oil giant Anardarko is? It seems that the Government has been waiting for their second term to really unleash their ideological and regressive policies on our nation. I say ideological, because it seems that the economic and social basis for these decisions is desperately flawed. It seems that their once likeable front man is losing his touch. The veneer of the jolly, laid-back, 'he's the sort of bloke you'd shout a pint' Prime Minister, can no longer hide what John Key's Government is doing to the nation. I say this because the events of recent months have got me wondering whether the current Government is acting in the best interests of New Zealand. Who do they represent and what principles do they have? Are they the principles of ordinary New Zealanders, or are they the principles of greed? On Friday, it was revealed that New Zealand was the only nation at a global summit to vote against action to save our very own Maui's dolphins . The Government's argument was bogus, claiming that there just wasn't enough science to support the protection measures put on the table . A shameful and misleading claim as these are the most studied dolphins on the planet. The real reason is that the Ministry of Primary Industries had acted to protect minority fishing interests over the survival of a species. Pure and simple. Can you imagine if efforts to protect our iconic Kiwi were dumped in favour of the possum fur industry? These actions will place New Zealand on the wrong side of history. They will undermine our global reputation and damage the reputation of those fisheries that are operating in a less destructive way. And this will harm their efforts, along with many other businesses trying to access overseas markets. New Zealand's reputation is its economic lifeline and it's a reflection of New Zealander values. This Government has just let us down because it failed to do the right thing. Which leads to the vital question; does the Government have a sense of what is right any more? At the beginning of the month, a joint proposal with the US to safeguard the pristine wilderness of the Ross Sea from fishing and exploitation was blocked by Steven Joyce, David Carter and Gerry Brownlee. They did so because it was "not consistent with the Government's economic growth objectives". To them, it was more important to protect a fishing industry that serves up rare fish to high society restaurants in New York than it was to protect one of the most beautiful places on earth. This is a morally bankrupt and appalling decision. Last week, the Arctic sea ice shrank to its smallest extent ever recorded, prompting warnings of accelerated climate change . This was a warning sign we can't ignore. We must reduce our pollution and urgently move towards a cleaner, safer way to power our homes and businesses. Yet, in spite of climate change warnings, Government Ministers have set about gutting the Emissions Trading Scheme - the only law we have that would encourage our biggest polluters to clean up their act. In 1984, New Zealand sent shock waves around the world by standing up to a global superpower and blocking nuclear powered vessels from entering our harbours. It was a courageous act that has become a touchstone in our history. It defined our nation as a country that had principles, values and a strong sense of doing what was right. Today, our Ministers have degraded that stand. Any politician or member of Government has an obligation to uphold the highest ethical standards. And this means deciding which actions are right and wrong. It also means protecting and promoting those values that are shared by us all. Yet, by writing laws to suit our biggest polluters and plunderers and forcing through a short-sighted business agenda that will erode our cultural heritage it seems clear that the Government has not only lost its direction, but also its moral compass.
Nathan Argent is the Policy Advisor for Greenpeace New Zealand based in Wellington and is a long time Greenpeace campaigner with an interest in clean technology solutions.


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Because the information on this blog are based on my personal opinion and gosh I am so fucking opinionated, it should NOT be considered professional financial investment advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional, preferably both and in that order. My thoughts and opinions will also change from time to time as I learn and accumulate more knowledge,or my meds wear out, or my post coital euphoria passes.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Gold outlook


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While the total number of advisors registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped to 10,511 in 2012 from 11,539 last year, the total regulatory assets under management (RAUM) reported by all advisors jumped significantly—to $49.4 trillion in July from the $43.8 trillion AUM reported in 2011, according to a just-released report by the Investment Adviser Association and National Regulatory Services.
In their 12th annual report, Evolution/Revolution—an in-depth study that analyzes annual updates filed by SEC-registered advisors and based on information on file with the SEC as of July 16—both groups note the drop in the number of advisors is attributed to the "switching" of about 2,400 advisors with $25 million to $100 million in AUM in July from federal to state registration, as mandated by Dodd-Frank.
But the Dodd-Frank Act also required the registration of certain "private fund advisors" under the Investment Advisers Act, which has resulted in the addition of more than 1,500 newly registered investment advisory firms with the SEC.
David Tittsworth (left), executive director of the IAA, noted in a release announcing the survey results that the Dodd-Frank Act "has had a profound effect on the composition of the investment advisory profession." The law, he said, "has shifted regulatory responsibility for hundreds of smaller firms to the states, while requiring larger private fund advisers to register with the SEC. These seismic shifts have resulted in a net decrease in the number of SEC-registered investment advisory firms. However, many of the core characteristics of the advisory profession remain fairly constant."
For example, Tittsworth noted that a "relatively small" number of large investment advisory firms manage a high percentage of total RAUM. The 90 largest advisors—those that manage $100 billion RAUM or more—reported that they manage almost half (48.9%) of total RAUM.
Similarly, the 664 advisors with $10 billion RAUM or more reported that they manage 82.7% of all assets, while most SEC-registered advisors are small businesses. "In 2012, 74.0% of all advisers reported managing less than $1 billion RAUM," Tittsworth says. "Almost 60% of all advisors reported 10 or fewer full- and part-time, nonclerical employees and 88.7% reported 50 or fewer. It is clear that the U.S. investment advisory profession is an engine of small-business creation and growth."
John Gebauer, managing director of NRS, added in the same release that the SEC-registered firms employ more than 759,000 professionals and serve more than 23 million individual and institutional clients.
He also noted that the IAA/NRS report "highlights the fact that the SEC is collecting more data about private fund advisers than ever before," as private funds "have become a mainstream component of the investment advisory profession." More than one-third of all SEC-registered advisers (37.9%) reported that they manage at least one private fund, and a total of 26,202 private funds have been reported by all SEC-registered advisors with collective RAUM of $8.1 trillion.
Approximately 2,333 advisory firms reported that more than 75% of their RAUM are from assets of private funds, Gebaur noted saying "1,346 of these 'specialist' private fund firms are newly registered as investment advisors with the SEC this year."
Gebaur also noted the SEC's intention to implement new examinations tailored to these types of firms, and that the SEC is in the process of collecting much more extensive information via Form PF.


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The Crimson varsity celebrates its Sprints championship, with Harvard-Yale and Henley titles still to come.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Harvard heavyweight varsity eight has been selected as 2009-10 Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Co-Crew of the Year, capping a season full of successes and closing another memorable chapter in the history of one of college athletics' oldest and most historic programs.
The Crimson shared selection as top crew with Cornell. Harvard captured the Eastern Sprints and Henley Ladies' Challenge Plate titles, won the Harvard-Yale Regatta, placed fourth at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships and posted a 7-1 dual record. The Big Red missed the Sprints grand final but came back to edge Harvard by less than a second at the IRA regatta.
Harvard finished one-second shy of a perfect dual season. The Crimson opened the spring with a 4.4-second win at Cornell before suffering a narrow loss to defending Eastern champion Brown. Harvard then survived a collision with Princeton to take the Compton Cup, defeated Navy and Penn for the Adams Cup and cruised to a six-second win in a Smith Cup showdown with Boston neighbor Northeastern.
At Sprints, Harvard avenged its only previous loss by beating third-place Brown, with Princeton placing second. The Crimson led throughout the grand final, but the contest was close among the top three crews, and Harvard surged to a 2.5-second win. The victory gave Harvard its 26th Eastern title and 26th Ivy League crown. The varsity's performance also anchored Harvard's 30th claiming of the Rowe Cup as overall team champion, while the freshman eight and freshman four also captured Sprints gold.
The varsity defeated the rival Bulldogs by 5.9 seconds in the four-mile finale of the 145th Harvard-Yale Regatta, capping the Crimson's third straight sweep at America's oldest intercollegiate sporting event. Harvard took the lead a mile into the race and led by as much as eight seconds with a mile to go.
The Crimson varsity showed that it was not only a top crew in the East but could compete against the nation's best by earning a spot in the IRA grand final. Harvard battled with Cornell throughout that race and finished more than nine seconds ahead of Brown. A bronze medal for the second varsity eight also highlighted the Crimson's fourth-place team finish.
Harvard wrapped up the season with a win on the other side of the Atlantic, beating the combined eight from Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University by one-third of a boat length to take the Ladies' Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta. It was the seventh time the Crimson has won the event at Henley.
The Crimson's success in 2009-10 was not limited to the varsity eight. In addition to their Eastern crown, the Harvard freshmen posted a fourth straight undefeated dual season, going 7-0. The IRA medal-winning second varsity also had a 6-1 dual mark, while the third varsity went 5-1 and earned a bronze medal at Sprints.


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Cesar Millan on Vegas: 'I want to do the Dog Pack'
LAS VEGAS — At first blush, the notion of a live Las Vegas show about dog training seems a little odd. But when the star is Cesar Millan, the show becomes more than just a canine obedience lesson.
"When I think Vegas, I think ... the Rat Pack," Millan told USA TODAY Network the day after his show was recorded live at the Palms Casino (to air on Nat Geo WILD in early 2015). "I want to do the Dog Pack."
Millan's television shows — Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, which aired for nine seasons, and now Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911 — have made the Mexican-born dog trainer a household name. But Millan, 44, is not without his critics, who say his approach is dominance-based and who object to some of his techniques, such as his willingness to use choke chains and other physical corrections.
"They haven't seen the message, they haven't read the books, they haven't really experienced the over 300 episodes that I have done," Millan said of those who take issue with his approach.
On stage in Las Vegas, Millan seems anything but controversial to the Palms Casino crowd. They laugh along as he cracks jokes and dramatizes the mistakes of some dog owners.
It's the owners, he says, that his message is geared toward.
"My goal is not to train dogs," he said in the interview. "My goal is not even rehabilitating dogs." Rather, he said his aim is to educate people.
John Ciribassi, president of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, a group that has criticized Millan's methods, says Millan's popularity stems from the fact that he "comes across to the public in a very theatrical way."
"What he does is more flashy," said Ciribassi. "What we do is more methodical." He said his group advocates positive reinforcement, not putting dogs in positions where they can engage in behaviors that could trigger problems and, in many cases, the use of anti-anxiety medications to deal with underlying issues.
Ciribassi said that Millan's methods may suppress certain behaviors, but they do not address underlying emotional issues that some dogs have, and can cause increased anxiety and potentially aggressive reactions. He added that there "is no place for using punishment as a primary means for training."
Millan said he does more than suppress problematic behavior. "The underlying problem is what I address," he said.
He also rejected the notion that his approach is punishment-based.
"I don't punish." he said. "I do give direction. I do believe in leadership."
He said he has "saved many lives" and that he is often the last resort for dogs that have particularly challenging issues.
Though she did not discuss Millan specifically, Penny Leigh, a North Carolina dog trainer who runs the AKC Good Dog! Helpline, a telephone service for training issues, told USA TODAY Network she supports a positive-reinforcement approach. She said a common mistake people make in working with dogs is assuming they think like humans.
"People think their dogs are people, and they're not," she said, adding that dogs aren't scheming to get revenge on their owners because they're mad.
Millan stresses the notion of being a pack leader when training your dog. "Assertiveness, confidence, those are feelings that you develop so you can lead, not just dogs, but lead your life."
He said that the "humanizing" of dogs can be "detrimental" to them and humans' "lack of understanding" can make dogs "unstable."
Near the end of his show, Millan told the crowd that much of what he'd learned in life he'd learned from dogs. In the interview, he elaborated on what these lessons were.
"They live in the moment," Millan reflected. "Every moment is precious."
He added: "They are absolutely, brutally honest. They will never lie to you."
Millan acknowledged there is "no one formula" to use with dogs. "I'm not saying my way is the best way," he said. "It's just one way."


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Common Lilac
Syringa vulgaris
Common Lilac is a very common ornamental plant in gardens and parks, because of the attractive, sweet smell of its flowers in late spring which can vary from white to dark lilac in color.
A multi-stemmed, suckering, tall shrub growing up to 15' in height. In late summer, lilacs are attacked by powdery mildew.
Family: Oleaceae
Type: Ornamental
Origin: Southern Europe
Season: Spring
Type: Ornamental
Origin: Southern Europe
Season: Spring


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There seem to be two central problems with ownership regulation efforts: ownership really is not the issue that we are trying to address through policy and we have convoluted views of ownership.Media ownership is not really what concerns us, but is a proxy of other concerns. What we are really worried about is interference with democratic processes, manipulation of the flow of news and information, powerful interests controlling public conversation, exclusion of voices from public debate, and the use of market power to mistreat consumers. It is thus the behavior of some of those who own media rather than the ownership form or extent of ownership that really concerns us.
This is compounded because media practitioners, scholars, and social critics have highly convoluted views about ownership and most have complaints about all forms of ownership. It is thus nearly impossible to identify a preferential a form or extent of ownership.We don't like private ownership of media because proprietors can use them pursue their private interests; we don't like corporate ownership because companies can put profit goals ahead of social goals; and we don't like having just public service media because they doesn't provide enough choice and are often limited in their ability to pursue political agendas--a function important in democracy.
We don't like big companies because they can be arrogant and unapproachable and because they can control content as well as markets; we don't like small companies because they can't provide the range and quality of content we desire and because they sometimes can't withstand pressures from powerful interests.We don't like foreign owners because they don't share our identity, don't represent who we are very well, and can bring foreign influences that affect national sovereignty; we don't like domestic owners because they can be too close to those with domestic social and political power.
The list of ownership we do not like—and the fact that most regulation is promoted because of particular proprietors we disliked—makes it difficult to fashion effective policies. We are stymied because no ownership form itself is good or bad and they all have advantages and disadvantages. And there are examples of good and bad owners under all the forms of ownership.Using ownership regulation to control the behavior of bad owners can only somewhat limit the scope and scale of their activities, not address their poor behavior. It is like permitting higher levels of crime in one area of town as long as it does expand into other areas.
If we are to effectively address our real concerns, we need to develop better mechanisms for influencing behaviour and we need to stop ineffectively regulating ownership just because it makes us feel like we are doing something.


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I'm not convinced that it's an indirect object.
Student or Learner
Hello one and all! I have been posting a lot of questions about objects recently and here is another one!
In the sentence
She persuaded her brother to do the dishes
how many of you would class "to do the dishes" as an object of the verb persuade? (her brother is clearly the direct object - can "to do the dishes" be classed as the indirect object? Is it an argument of the verb persuade? And if not what would you say it is?
I personally would say it is an object and an argument but so many definitions say an object must be a noun or a noun equivalent and I don't think it could be said to be either. All opinions welcome!
I'm not convinced that it's an indirect object.
Only if you are prepared to arbitrarily redefine 'indirect object' in a totally radical way!
From a grammarian's viewpoint, 'to do the dishes' is simply a dependent infinitive phrase.


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Danger omelet: The Spanish tortilla
Much like learning the tango, the first attempt at the eggy, starchy Spanish tortilla is not for the faint of heart. Deceptively simple, it requires strong arms, a steady hand, and a certain appreciation for danger. Simply put, it's the kind of harebrained business that I simply cannot resist trying on a schoolnight.
My interest in eggs is a recent development, and I've spent the last year cultivating it; though Bench is the household's undisputed King of the Scrambled, I must say I've become quite the glad hand at poaching, and I have been feeling of late that I am ready to step up my game. Omelets seemed like a sensible next step, moreso when I discovered that attempting the right kind of omelet presented the very real possibility of completely trashing my kitchen. That kind of a disclaimer is like waving a red flag in front of me; resistance is futile. The description that did me in is by Ximena at Lobstersquad:
"(T)ortillas require nerves of steel. Blood must be summoned, upper lip stiffened, oven mitts worn, and prayers said. Please understand that the Italian method of starting on the stove top and ending under the grill is strictly for little girls. Likewise the French sissified folding thing."
I mean, really–how's a girl like me supposed to resist a description like that?
To my chagrin (and Bench's delight), the tortilla was not quite as much of a production as I'd feared. Yes, it required flipping. And yes, it had a truly terrifying amount of oil in it. But, the prodigious quantity of olive oil involved kept everything well-lubricated and unstuck, which was a godsend when flipping the incredibly heavy cast-iron skillet over during the tortilla-turning process (plus a goodly amount of it drains off before you mix it in with the eggs).
Though success is, in fact, dependent upon truly posting one's courage to the sticking place (hesitate for a second, and you're screwed), at the end of the day it is a potato omelet: no more, no less. I assure you: if I can do this, you can do this. And once you have, it's a tremendous trick to have up your sleeve–its versatility means you can pull it out for just about any meal; plus, it's excellent cold, so you can make it ahead of time. Smother it with ketchup for a fantastic hangover breakfast, or pair it with a salad for a delicious light meal.
I leave you with these pieces of advice:
- Invest in oven mitts.
- Be sure to have lots of paper towels on hand to drain the oil off the potatoes
- Be brave! You can totally do this.
Spanish tortilla (Tortilla de patates)
1-1.5 lbs medium-sized waxy red or white potatoes, peeled
1 medium-sized white or Spanish onion
6 eggs
2 tbsp milk or half and half
tons and tons and tons of olive oil (somewhere around 1/2-3/4 cup)
- Cut each potato into quarters, and then slice thinly (contrary to popular belief, you don't actually need a mandoline, though I'm sure it helps). Place in a towel-lined colander to drain a little.
- Meanwhile, quarter and thinly slice the onion as well.
- In a heavy, large skillet, heat all but two tablespoons of the oil at medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, drop the heat to medium-low, and cook (stirring occasionally) until just tender, about 7 minutes. Add a bit of salt and pepper.
- Add the onions, and keep cooking until everything is soft, about 10-15 more minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop the potato mixture on to a baking sheet that has been lined with paper towels to drain. Reserve the oil that remains in the pan for later use.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together with a bit of salt. Add the potato mixture, mashing it about slightly to break up the potatoes a bit. Let this mixture sit for about ten minutes.
- Meanwhile! Take the 2 tbsp of oil you set aside earlier and put it in a heavy, 10″ skillet (I used my cast iron–I recommend you do the same). Keep at medium high heat until it just starts to smoke. Pour the egg/potato mixture into the pan and flatten it with a spatula until the top is more or less level. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, shaking the pan and running around the edges with a small spatula, until the top has started to set, 6-10 minutes.
- Take a rimless plate that is larger than the pan, place it face down on top of the pan. Using oven mitts, flip it over quickly and turn out the omelet onto the plate. Then, replace the pan on the stove and gently slide the tortilla, uncooked side down, back into the pan. Reduce the heat to VERY low and keep cooking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 3 more minutes.
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Steven Hack - U.S. Navy Seabee WWIIBorn Istvan Hack on 21 August 1907 in Porva, Hungary.
Was a shoemaker in Budepest then worked as a lumberjack in Canada before immigrating to the U.S.
Married Theresa Stosz in Feb. 1938.
Steven Hack died on 7 January 2007 and is buried in Whiting Memorial Park in Whiting, Manchester Township, NJ.
Seabees - Naval Construction Battalions
Construimus, Batuimus - "We Build, We Fight."
The first Seabees voluntarily enlisted. Emphasis in recruiting was based on experience and skill. The age range for enlistment was 18-50, but after the formation of the initial battalions, it was discovered that several men past 60 had managed to enlist. Because of the emphasis on experience and skill rather than physical standards, the average age of Seabees during the early days of the war was 37. Voluntary enlistments were halted in December 1942; as a result the average age of Seabees was much younger and they entered the service with only basic skills.
During the Second World War, the Seabees performed numerous tasks in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of Operation including building major airstrips, bridges, roads, gasoline storage tanks, and Quonset huts for warehouses, hospitals, and housing.


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Australia ~ Mecca pilgrimage wins youth art prize
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Posted: 16 June 2009 at 3:26am
Mecca pilgrimage wins youth art prize
AAP June 16, 2009, 3:54 pm
An intricately detailed watercolour depicting thousands of bowing Muslims at the annual Mecca pilgrimage has won its Melbourne-based creator Australia's richest art prize for young people.
Jackson Slattery, 26, of North Fitzroy, will now have more time to devote to his passion after winning the $40,000 judges' prize in the 2009 Metro Gallery Art Award, presented in
Slattery, who won the award's $10,000 People's Choice Prize last year, used the finest of paint brushes, some with just a couple of hairs, to produce the tiny figures bowed in prayer.
The painting, called `Our Plastic Everything is Broken', was inspired by an image Slattery found in an old National Geographic magazine.
He said the prize was especially welcome at a time when artists were struggling more than ever because of the economic downturn.
"It's an incredibly generous prize and this is the kind of money that can buy an artist a whole lot of freedom," Slattery told AAP.
Judge Sam Leach, the winner of the 2006 prize, had an apt description for Slattery's painstaking work, likening it to the art of calligraphy.
"When you look at this painting, apart from being very realistic on detailed inspection you'll see that there's marvellous mark making, it's almost calligraphic in some areas," he said as he announced the winner.
A 30-year-old artist from Mudgeeraba in the Gold Coast hinterland, Victoria Reichelt, took out the People's Choice Prize with an original take on her self portrait.
But rather than the traditional face, it shows her bookshelf, stuffed with a whole range of books about everything from snow domes to French cookbooks and art.
"I think you can tell a lot more about a person by what's on their bookshelf," she said.
The "self portrait" follows an exhibition she created last year, featuring bookshelves of eight Australian artists.
The judges highly commended a large oil on canvas self portrait by 24 year-old
The Metro Gallery Art Award was established in 2003 and is awarded to artists under the age of 35.
Announcing the awards, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett paid tribute to the small Armadale gallery in Melbourne's inner southeast for supporting young talent.
"It's a wonderful thing when a small gallery makes such a footprint and such a commitment to the youth of today as they go about their work," he said.
Over 120 entries were submitted to this year's competition.
~ Our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings ~
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Thanks Abuayisha
~ Our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings ~
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"Everyone asks about the nude scenes in On The Road, but I also had to dance, and dancing is harder than being naked. My character, Marylou, is so exuberant, and I had five minutes to do something that showed she was sort of like the craziest motherfucker around. In the book, it says, "Dean takes Marylou and they do a love dance and no one can take their eyes off them." It's one sentence. And I was mad intimidated by it.
We did the dance four times to the song "Salt Peanut". By the end, I was as red as fire truck. I was holding onto Garrett (Hedlund) because I was going to fall over. I almost passed out ever single time."
New pictures of Kristen from W Magazine + talks about the OTR dance scene
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Frankfort, KS Rent to Own Homes
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