Hi there, Most people were in head-to-toe shades of white.  There were many dressed in white tops with beige / tan pants.  Also, there was a man dressed in a green blazer with white undershirt and pants who looked smashing.  I say, go with what you have planned.  They will let you in as long as your are not wearing all red.  Have fun!

akajakeedwardmarks:

Dear Mr. Green Man,

Thank you for last night’s joyous Rite of Spring.  It was a lovely evening to reconnect with friends (dreamingofmanderley, Mr. Sweeney) while also meeting some new people.  I hope you found my offerings appropriate – Annabella with her apples and Astrid with her eggs guided me as best they could.  I certainly exited the night feeling all sticky, sweet, and full of good thoughts.

Spoilers ahead…

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I was going to write a recap, but this letter summed it up beautifully. I will recap one dance that akajakeedwardmarks did not see down on the dining room floor.  It started with a trance-like molestation of the moss deer by the “innocents” (fresh-faced, nubile dancers I’ve never seen before), ramped up with pregnant goddesses and their black clad mates and ended with a birth (I’ll keep what was birthed a secret, lest I spoil the surprise).

So go, go,go to this, my lovelies!  The dinner was so delicious. Don’t let the memories of past events blind you to yet another successful fete thrown by the masterminds of SNM.

The Green Man.  If you don’t have dinner plans and there are still tickets left, this evening is not to be missed.

The food was divine — as was the company.

Recap to come…

Thanks to thatperilousstuff’s ingenious follower contest, I am the proud owner of a new deck of cards!  Thanks, Peril!!! 

It comes just in time to help me predict whether The Green Man will be cursed with rain.

Then again, I suppose seeing all of your nubile, white-clad bodies drenched by rain could be something of a blessing.

If I can only remember how to read the cards…

caoine:

Light sculpture Forms in Nature by Hilden & Diaz

I need this in my life.  NOW.

Strongly connected to Jack in the Green and the May King, as well as John Barleycorn during the fall harvest, the figure known as the Green Man is a god of vegetation and plant life. He symbolizes the life that is found in the natural plant world, and in the earth itself. Consider, for a moment, the forest. In the British Isles, the forests a thousand years ago were vast, spreading for miles and miles, farther than the eye could see. Because of the sheer size, the forest could be a dark and scary place.

However, it was also a place you had to enter, whether you wanted to or not, because it provided meat for hunting, plants for eating, and wood for burning and building. In the winter, the forest must have seemed quite dead and desolate… but in the spring, it returned to life. It would be logical for early peoples to have applied some sort of spiritual aspect to the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Folklorist James Frazer associates the Green Man with May Day celebrations, and with the character of Jack in the Green, who is a more modern adaptation of the Green Man. Jack is a more specifically defined version of the nature spirit than the earlier Green Man archetype. Frazer speculates that while some form of the Green Man was probably present in a variety of separate early cultures, he developed independently into a variety of newer, more modern characters. This would explain why in some areas he is Jack, while in others he is Robin of the Hood, or Herne the Hunter in different parts of England. Likewise, other, non-British cultures seem to have similar nature deities.

The Green Man is typically portrayed as a human face surrounded by dense foliage. Such images appear as far back as the eleventh century, in church carvings. As Christianity spread, the Green Man went into hiding, with stonemasons leaving secret images of his face around cathedrals and churches. He enjoyed a revival during the Victorian era, when he became popular with architects, who used his visage as a decorative aspect in buildings.

Legends connected to the archetype of the Green Man are everywhere. In the Arthurian legend, the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a prime example. The Green Knight represents the pre-Christian nature religion of the British Isles. Although he originally confronts Gawain as an enemy, the two later are able to work together - perhaps a metaphor for the assimilation of British Paganism with the new Christian theology. Many scholars also suggest that the tales of Robin Hood evolved from Green Man mythology. Allusions to the Green Man can even be found in J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan - an eternally youthful boy, dressed in green and living in the forest with the wild animals. Today, some traditions of Wicca interpret the Green Man as an aspect of the Horned God, Cernunnos.

All this according to the inter-webs. According to Mr. Sweeney? “The Green Man did some depraved, f-uped things in the old days…like, you might get knocked-up if you get too close and other pagan s@I%.”

REALLY?!

Not that I’m looking to get too close to the Green Man, but just for that, I will be there. Hope to see some of you in white on the night and look forward to a spring awaking of sorts.

Can’t wait! xo

No. I wasn’t stoned last weekend.  Yes, I did consume a lot of herb(s).  And yes, I was at the McKittrick twice in one weekend (a first!).  But I swear I was sober (unless intoxication by Leopold’s kiss counts…oh, more on this later).

Saturday 4/20

Even though it was 4/20, I was not celebrating that herb but rather vertigomatty’s birthday. Unbeknownst to me it was also, sadly, Careena Melia’s last night as Hecate. The downside: it was Careena’s last night as Hecate.  The upside: it was a crazy mashup of current and past cast members, Tumblrs and tourists in the audience that night. 

I followed Tim Heck’s Banquo for nearly an entire loop.  Finally saw Patrick Ferreri’s quietly paranoid Fulton (his 1:1 is something I’ve never experienced before). New boy witch mesmerized me with his pretty blue eyes in a swirl of curtain and whispers.

The highlight of the evening was the last witch’s rave. Careena brought out her sister witch (Dita von Teese) for “double double toil and trouble” — an incantation with TWO (!!) Hecates. One dressed in flame red, the other in the midnight black. They hex the moonlight together and made the goat man dance. There was magic and a packed room full of familiar white masks. There were touching tributes made with slight gestures from the cast to Careena…some of us got a little misty eyed — for this was truly the end of an era.

After the show, I met up with several new and old friends and we traded stories. I did not do a “double” or back-to-back shows (something I have never done before and lack the stamina for).  I am sad to have missed seeing Careena in the bar, but got to have a lovely, surreal and spontaneous pizza date with scorchedthesnake. Turns out, we both love meat and porters (not necessarily in that order). Surprise!

Sunday 4/21

The next night, Mr. Sweeney and I got up to the garden for the Herb Festival. We were guests of Maximilian and got a little flower boutonnierre pinned onto our lapels to demarcate us from the regular guest (though I am unsure if anything was actually different). The garden was in full bloom with cherry blossom branches flanking the railroad track and new green plantings of mint, lavender, rue, etc. surrounding the tables.

We were served a small bowl of punch, an amuse bouche of oysters with kumquat and a tray of herb-inspired finger sandwiches and sweets. I found Annabella, and met two new residents of the garden — Astrid and Darius.  Astrid, with her cloud of golden hair and misty colored shawls and scarves, looked like an ethereal angel. Her breathy voice and infectious laugh made her orphan story and her waiting for a “special someone” all the sadder.  Darius, soft spoken and darkly handsome, whispered to me in a strange halting voice about things that did not belong in the garden. We spent some time together in a dimly lit room and just when I thought he might hurt/kiss/hug me, I was swiftly returned to my companion.

After a long time spent with Annabella and our desserts devoured, Mr. Sweeney and I found ourselves down in the Manderley drinking a little bubbly to celebrate. As soon as I walked in, I saw HIM. Oh, yes. My favorite detective’s doppleganger, Leopold. He was debonnaire with a devilish grin and a kiss for every lady’s hand. We bantered on about the advantage of having multiple lovers tucked in the hotel and hamlets nearby and I pretended not to care about his 4 wives and other lady loves. Standing so close, it was a hard not to appear flushed — even in the dim light of the McKittrick.

It is always the surprises — two witches, a pizza at midnight, new faces, a tête-à-tête when you least expect it — that remind me of why I love coming back.

A pictoral recap of the Herb Festival treats for Maximilian’s guests.  I’ll tell you all about it in my next post.  I promise, my dears!

thebloodybusiness:

Cawdor here.

I’m not sure I have words. How do you describe the actual, literal heart of a show like Sleep No More leaving? How will I walk into that place, not wondering *if* she’s wearing red or blue & white tonight, but *knowing* she never will again?

I guess I’ll find out tonight.

In the…

She will be missed dearly.

The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable

The video preview from Punchdrunk.  In case you wanted to fly to London (or better yet, fly me to London, loves!)