MARGA GOMEZ SEARCHES FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE.

 

Subscribe to My Blog! August 1, 2025 Marga Gomez Searches for Intelligent Life. PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com I saw The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley, performed by Marga Gomez. I loved it -- especially the second half, when Marga really gets her teeth into the play and runs with it. She's created so many brilliant solo shows herself. And this landmark play, written by Jane Wager and performed by Lily Tomlin, opened on Broadway in 1985. It seems as funny and profound now as it did then. It's aged well. I urge you to go see it. The show is running through August 17.... And they are also streaming live performances August 5-10! So, in fact, everyone reading this blog can see it, no matter where you are! Isn't that amazing? I had no idea theaters were doing that, now that the pandemic is over. CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS. Here's the play synoopsis from the Aurora Theatre website: Through the eyes of a lovable and eccentric bag lady with a sharp wit and a heart as vast as the cosmos she ponders, Wagner weaves a rich tapestry of interconnected stories that celebrate a mosaic of humanity in all its beauty, chaos, and contradiction. Marga Gomez plays a whole cast of quirky and unforgettable characters, revealing the invisible threads that connect us all.   “A true goosebump experience” - The New York Times I happened to be in New York when the show opened in 1985, and of course I had to go see it. Lily was already very famous for her TV and film work. It was a very big deal. She's a lesbian. Jane is her life parther and, I assume, her wife by now. All the dykes knew Lily was a dyke, but she was NOT out as a performer. And I was not happy when the script portrayed lesbian sex as a big joke with the vibrator blowing out all the electricity on the block, while it portrayed straight sex as all yummy and smoochy, with romantic sound affects. No, I was NOT happy. Otherwise, I loved the show. but I could not accept the vibrator joke followed by the luscious heterosexual intercourse. I mean, come on! I don't believe in pressuring people to come out of the closet, but have a little respect for your own people! So I wrote her a letter. And one day, the phone rang and I picked it up, and said "Hello?" because in those days there was no caller ID so I had no idea who it was. And the voice on the other end said, "Terry?" And I said, "Yes?" And the voice said, "This is Lily Tomlin." Fortunately, I happened to be stoned at the time, said I said without a beat, "Oh hi, Lily!" as if I was expecting her call. And then we had a little discussion about the offensive vibrator bit. And of course, she knew I was a lesbian and she knew that I knew SHE was a lesbian and I knew that she knew that I was a lesbian. And I knew she knew that I knew that she knew that I knew ... and on and on in an endless series of mirrors, as gay people have engaged with each other from time immemorial. And I only wish I had said, "Look, Lily, we're both lesbians, right?" But I never did. Anyhow, we debated. I didn't feel that I convinced her that lesbian sex deserved more respect and heterosexual sex deserved less. But when I saw Marga perform, either the vibrator joke had been cut or Marga played it down. And she certainly did not play the sex with the male of the species as a delight to end all delights, so the offense that was a flaw in Lily's performance is not present in Marga's performance. Anyhow, go see Marga Gomez in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS. All for now, Bloggellinis.

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Dancers in the Air

 

Subscribe to My Blog! July 28, 2025 Dancers in the Air PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com See those three tiny figure way up at the top of the very tall building? Those are the dancers of Bandaloop, the aerial dance company, before they take off. I had never seen aerial dance before Saturday. My friend Tara, often my guide to amazing cultural events, introduced me to them in downtown Oakland on a cloudy/sunny/cloudy afternoon. The performance, called Somewhere to Oakland, took place in three different locations of downtown Oakland's civic center, a very attractive and useful congregation of plazas and skyscrapers. These are a few photos from their first location. There's no way I captured tthe amazing leaping, whirling movement of the dances in these still photos. All the dances at every location were accompanied by poets reading and gorgeous live music on the ground, created by a wondrous and soulful singer and accompanied an inventive melodious guitarist/piano player. Sorry I can't credit people. I don't have the information. The theme was Migration. My photos are a feeble reflection of the glorious performances. I just wanted to WATCH, not record! The first dance was performed by three women, entwining with each other, flying apart, coming together.

Then a solo by the artistic director of the company, during which the clouds lifted. And then a spectacular finale with six dancers - accompanied by their shadows. So it felt like there were twelve performers on that huge concrete wall. These photos are a very meager reflection of the beauty and magic of Bandaloop. Oakland is their home, but tthey our. I urge you to sign up on their website, so you'll know if they migrate to somewhere near you. You'd best be in Bandaloop's loop. Thank you, Tara! Terry

WHERE TO BEGIN?

 

Subscribe to My Blog! JUNE 23, 2025 WHERE TO BEGIN? PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com I WAS going to start the first blog in quite a while with the whimsical gorgeous sculptures that were in residence through yesterday at Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco. But NOW, I thought, It doesn't seem quite appropriate somehow, now that we have bombed Iran in order to please Netanyahu. Yes, the entire world is edging closer and closer to catastrophe. Yes, our President is a malevolent narcissist who is also very stupid. Last time around, I thought it was a GOOD thing that he was stupid and lazy and incompetent. It meant he

would simply do LESS, and I think that was true. But THIS time, he's having a BALL being stupid and lazy and incompetent. And that is an absolutely terrible thing which might lead to the disintegration of our country and the complete collapse of civilization. And, even though civilization is just so awful, I'm still very attached to it and am certain that I will miss it if it collapses. But then I decided that no matter how bad things are, we can still take a moment to enjoy whimsy and beauty, can't we? And that's kind of a specialty of San Francisco. Despite what you might have heard, this city is still so much fun to walk around. So dadgummit, I have decided to begin with beauty and whimsy!

Photo by Craig Lee  These fantastical beings are alebrijes made by Oaxacan artists Angelico Jiminez, Adrian Xuana, Ephrain Santos, Constantino Blass, and Linares. I bought an alebrije when I was in Mexico. Only, instead of being fiberglass and 15 feet tall or long and mounted on 8 foot bases, it was carved of wood and four inches long. I would love to show my alebrije to you. But Loulou, my standard poodle, found it very appetizing. Here's a shop window on 24th Street full of normal size allebrijes.

As you can see, even small alebrijes are totally cool. The one in the middle is an imaginary animal like the big sculptures in the park. And now back to the giant alebrijes...

But one has no need to go to a special exhibition in a lovely park in order to see something surprising and delightful. Oh no. One can find magic so many places in San Francisco. Therefore, now for my next offering, I present for your delectation ... JUST SOME WALL OFF OF HAYES STREET I always spend a lot of time looking at this wall. There is so much to see, so many colors and forms. It's so... so... EXUBERANT! Questions arise: How many people worked on it? One? Ten? Was it done in a weekend or over months? Where did the artist(s) get all that stuff? If you came upon this wall in a museum with the name of someone on a plaque next to it, would you not find it delightful? And yet here it stands outside, day in day out, rain or shine, plaqueless, created for free, for the joy of creation, as a gift to the street. AND NOW, LAST BUT BY NO MEANS LEAST.... What kind of city would allow someone to put such an appropriate and deeply felt statement on a memorial park bench?? MY KIND OF CITY! I am grateful to the friends of John Gavin and join them in mourning that he only lived 40 years. That does, indeed, suck. Bloggelinnis, San Francisco sustains me. Terry

Lilith Women's Theater | 547 Douglass St. | San Francisco, CA 94114 US

WE ARE ALL KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA

Subscribe to My Blog! APRIL 19, 2025 WE ARE ALL KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA. PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com Below: My front Window (I live in a storefront). Below the words is a photo of Kilmar Garcia's wife, speaking to protesters demanding he be returned rom the Salvadoran prison where he was illegally sent. He was legally living in the U.S.

When I was thinking about the wording of my window sign, I didn't mean it as a statement of solidarity with Kilmar Garcia, who has been kidnapped by the U.S. government and sent to a horrible prison. I mean: If he can be put on a plane to El Salvador without any due process, with no means of returning home ---- then I can too! What happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia can happen to ME. And you and you and you. It can happen to any person within the borders of the United States. Trump admited it was an "administrative error." But what an incredibly USEFUL error, what a weapon of fear in Trump's arsenal. Of COURSE he refuses to bring Garcia back! As long as Garcia remains in that Salvadoran prison, Trump gets to flaunt his absolute power over every single person in this country. Oh, it's worth defying the Supreme Court for THAT. When you think about it, Garcia's imprisonment is much MORE frightening BECAUSE it was a mistake. There is a random element to the threat. "Oops! I didn't really mean to deport you to El Salvador! My bad. But, now that you've ended up there -- You ain't coming back. I LIKE you being there!" Shades of Kafka's The Trial. It does seem like Trump's world is Kafka's world. Of course in times like this, I can't help but reassure myself that I personally would not be illegally and randomly deported -- because I'm white. And that comfort will last until the first white person is randomly swept up and cast out of the country. Then I'll probably reassure myself that I won't be grabbed becasue I'm old. I think human beings put a lot of energy into figuring out why the bad things that happen to others won't happen to THEM. But deep down inside, I feel less safe since I heard about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. I have a fear I didn't have before. And I know that makes Trump happy. But, and it is a BIG but.... Resistance is building! Below is Robert Reich's latest column. I like him because he's always trying to figure out what we should DO. This column was titled "What We Must Do Now." "If the Trump regime can dictate what the universities of America teach or research or publish, or what students can learn or say, no university is safe. Not even the truth is safe. If the Trump regime can revoke student visas because students exercise their freedom of speech on a university campus, freedom of speech is not secure for any of us. If the Trump regime can abduct a permanent resident of the United States and send him to a torture prison in El Salvador, without any criminal charges, no American is safe. What do we do about this? We stand up to it. We resist it. We denounce it. We boldly and fearlessly reject it —regardless of the cost, regardless of the threats. As columnist David Brooks writes in his column yesterday (I’m hardly in the habit of quoting David Brooks): It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. But what does a national civic uprising look like? It may look like a general strike — a strike in which tens of millions of Americans refuse to work, refuse to buy, refuse to engage in anything other than a mass demonstration against the regime. And not just one general strike, but a repeating general strike — a strike whose numbers continue to grow and whose outrage, resistance, and solidarity continue to spread across the land. You know that things are REALLY BAD if David Brooks, a rather conservative columnist is calling for a "national civic uprising." I urge all of you to start preparing now for such a series of general strikes. I will inform you of what I learn about who is doing what. (One possible place to begin is here.)" I myself clicked on there "here" button and signed up to get a "Strike card." I've been been hoping for some kind of BIG resistance. For those who read my last blog, you know I thought everyone should go to D.C. But not one Bloggelini thought that was a good idea. This country is too damn BIG to bring everyone together in one place to shut it down. But a General Strike would involve millions protesting throughout the country. The planners say they need almost 11 million strikers, for the strike to have an effect. Right now they're at 333,000 who have made a commitment. Bloggellinis, drastic measures are called for. We're being led by a madman surrounded by fawning idiots. Please klick here and read about the plan of building up to a general strike. Sign up and get a Strike Card! I'm pretty excited about this idea of a general strike. The planners are very thoughtful. Terry

Lilith Women's Theater | 547 Douglass St. | San Francisco, CA 94114 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice