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MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE
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The Museum of Modern Mythology and Pop Culture is dedicated to the historic, educational, and cultural contribution of Myth in our society. We also promote a performance-art outlet, encouraging the community to participate in museum events with their creative talents.
CONTINUE ON FOR PHOTOS OF THE 2010 EDGAR ALLAN POE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
FIRST, THANK YOU TO WALTER AND THE TAHOE YOGA & WELLNESS CENTER IN TRUCKEE FOR HOSTING OUR POE CELEBRATION. THANKS TO STEVE, ALSO, AND PERFORMERS FROM LAST YEAR'S 'OCTOBER COUNTRY' HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL. MEGAN LACY WAS ON HAND TO REPRISE HER VERSION OF POE'S 'FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.' RYA KIRBY HAULED OUT THE RAVEN COSTUME SHE CREATED FOR HER DANCE/PANTOMIME OF POE'S 'THE RAVEN.'
OHLIGANS PERCUSSIONIST ANDERS AND TRUCKEE BOOK & BEAN OWNER/MANAGER JOE RASO ALSO JOINED US FOR POE'S BIRTHDAY WITH THEIR TALENTS.
OLIGANS FRONTMAN, ERIC, BACK IN ACTION DOING SOUND TESTS.
IT TAKES ABOUT A HALF-HOUR FOR OHLIGANS TO SET UP THEIR EQUIPMENT. KELLY BARRETT JOINED THE BAND FOR THIS GIG.
KELLY DOING SOUND TESTS. HE'S ALSO A TALENTED ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER.
WITH GUITAR SOUNDS, DRUMS, OTHER INSTRUMENTS, AND ELECTRONIC GIZMOS, THERE'S A LOT OF CAREFUL PLANNING THAT GOES INTO AN OHLIGANS SET.
NEAR THE EAST WALL, SOME OF THE AUDIENCE SETTLES IN, SITTING ON CUSHIONS PROVIDED BY THE YOGA CENTER. NO SHOES ALLOWED, PLEASE.
MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE CURATOR DAVID LEMMO BEGAN THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WITH A TALK ON THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, HIS INFLUENCE ON SUBSEQUENT AUTHORS AND GENRES, AND THE WORLD-WIDE ADULATION.
DAVID THEN INTRODUCED LOCAL MUSICIAN MEGAN LACY, WHO HAD CREATED A MUSICAL VERSION OF POE'S 'FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER' LATE LAST YEAR FOR THE 'OCTOBER COUNTRY' HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL. MEGAN LEAD THE MUSICAL PORTION OF THE CELEBRATION WITH HER HOMAGE TO POE.
MEGAN'S BEAUTIFULLY HAUNTING SONG HAD THE AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND, AND HER LYRICS CAPTURED NOT ONLY THE STORY ITSELF, BUT THE AURA OF DOOM AND DECAY LOOMING OVER THE OLD HOUSE.
RODERICK USHER, THE LAST MALE OF HIS FAMILY-LINE, KNOWINGLY BURIES HIS SISTER ALIVE. SHE RETURNS TO HAUNT HIM, AND CAUSES HIS DEATH. THE HOUSE DIES WITH THEM.
MEGAN'S INTENSITY AS A SONGWRITER, MUSICIAN, AND SINGER IS REFLECTED IN THE ENDING PORTIONS OF 'FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.' AFTER HER SONG, SHE ALSO DID A DRAMATIC READING OF POE'S POEM 'ANNABEL LEE.'
IN THE SOUTH-WEST CORNER OF THE YOGA CENTER'S VENUE ROOM, THESE AUDIENCE MEMBERS AWAIT THE NEXT PERFORMANCE, WHILE MEGAN, IN THE FOREGROUND, TAKES IT EASY AFTER HER EXERTIONS. THE YOUNG WOMAN SITTING UP FOURTH FROM THE LEFT IS STEFANIE BELLI, WHO WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF LAST YEAR'S 'OCTOBER COUNTRY' HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION.
NEXT UP WAS RYA KIRBY'S DANCE/PANTOMIME TO A DRAMATIC READING OF POE'S IMMORTAL POEM 'THE RAVEN.' FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1845, IT IS ARGUABLY THE MOST POPULAR POEM IN OUR CULTURE.
WITH APOLOGIES TO RYA FOR USING THESE PICS FROM THE 'OCTOBER COUNTRY' FESTIVAL; THE READER FOR THIS PERFORMANCE WAS ALSO THE 'MASTER OF CEREMONIES,' AND THE PERSON PHOTOGRAPHING THE EVENT, AND FORGOT TO ASK SOMEONE TO PHOTOGRAPH RYA'S AND HIS PERFORMANCE. ABOVE, LEFT, RYA AS THE PRE-RAVEN MOURNER OF THE LOST LENORE; RIGHT, RYA WITH THE RAVEN MASK SHE MADE.
QUOTH THE RAVEN, NEVERMORE. RYA'S DANCE/PANTOMIME AS THE RAVEN CONVEYS AN ATMOSPHERE OF DISSOLUTION AS A DEVELOPING HYSTERIA ENVELOPES THE NARRATOR.
NEAR THE MIDDLE OF THE WEST WALL, THESE AUDIENCE MEMBERS, JOINED BY STEFANIE, TAKE A BREAK AS THE MC ANNOUNCES THE NEXT PERFORMER.
POE'S ICONIC SHORT STORY 'THE BLACK CAT' FIRST APPEARED IN THE AUGUST 19, 1843 ISSUE OF 'THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.'
JOE RASO, TRCKEE BOOK & BEAN OWNER/MANAGER, REPRISED THE DRAMATIC READING OF 'THE BLACK CAT' HE GAVE DURING THE 2009 'OCTOBER COUNTRY' FESTIVAL. JOE'S READING, FILLED WITH IRONIC NUANCES THAT ADORNED THE INSANE LOGIC OF THE NARRATOR, HAD THE AUDIENCE BOTH AMUSED AND TENSE.
THE MIND SHATTERING REVELATION AT THE END OF THE STORY WAS ACCOMPANIED BY JOE'S HAIR-RAISING HOWLS...
WE TOOK A BREAK WHILE THE NEXT MUSICAL ACT WAS SETTING UP.
RANDAL JACOBY (RIGHT) AND MICHAEL WARNER (LEFT) ARE NEW TO THE TRUCKEE AREA, AND HAVE BEEN TOURING AROUND WITH THEIR MUSIC. THEY CHOSE EIGHT OF THEIR SONGS FOR THE POE THEME, A SELECTION OF DOWN-AND-OUT/DONE-THAT-BEEN-THERE CREATIONS THAT PAID HOMAGE TO GREATNESS IN APPARENT SQULOR.
MICHAEL WARNER AND HIS SILICONE STRINGED UKULELE. APOLOGIES TO RANDAL AND MICHAEL, AS OTHER PICTURES OF THEM WERE TOO BLURRY. THEY'RE PERFORMING THROUGHOUT THE TAHOE/RENO AREA, AT PRESENT.
KELLY AND OHLIGANS DO SOME SOUND CHECKS IN THE LULL BEFORE THE NEXT PRESENTER.
HARD AT WORK MAKING SURE THE WIRES ARE PLUGGED INTO WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE.
HOW THEY KEEP TRACK OF ALL OF THE WIRES AND SOUND MECHANISMS IS A WONDER.
KRISTON PRATOR, ALSO AN 'OCTOBER COUNTRY' PARTICIPANT, IS AN ARTIST SPECIALIZING IN LEATHER MASKS. HE MADE A CAT ONE FOR THE POE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, PASSING IT AROUND FOR THE AUDIENCE TO EXAMIN. HIS BUSINESS IS CALLED 'TAHOE EXPRESSIONS.' CHECK OUT WWW.TAHOEEXPRESSIONS.COM
LAST MINUTE PREPARATIONS BY THE BOYS BEFORE THE FINAL PRESENTER.
BEFORE TURNING OHLIGANS LOOSE ON THE AUDIENCE, THERE WAS ONE MORE HOMAGE TO BE SHARED WITH THE GATHERING OF POE ADMIRERS.
DANCER AND WRITER DRE WROTE A 'LOVE LETTER' FOR THIS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. TOTALLY UNEXPECTED AND UNIQUE, HER HEARTFELT APPRECIATION FOR ONE OF OUR GREATEST MINDS CREATED THE PERFECT BACKDROP OF MOOD FOR THE PHANTASMAGORIC MUSICAL FINALE TO COME.
THIS WAS THE THIRD GIG OHLIGANS DID FOR A MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE EVENT, AND EACH PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN DIFFERENT.
ERIC AND ANDERS CAME UP WITH AN IDEA INSPIRED BY POE'S STORY 'THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM,' WHICH WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1842.
OFF THEY GO---WITH KELLY'S DISTINCTIVE VOCALIZATIONS AND DRUMMING.
ERIC LETS LOOSE WITH HIS FUSION OF ROCK/PUNK/POP, WHILE KELLY ADDS A CACOPHONY OF ELECTRONIC RYTHM.
ANDERS TAKES A BREAK FROM THE DRUMS TO BLEND HIS OWN ELECTRONIC SOLO INTO THEIR NON-STOP SHOW, WHILE ERIC ROCKS ON.
KELLY IS WORKING HIS KEYSTER OFF JUMPING UP AND DOWN BETWEEN HIS SET OF DRUMS AND THE ELECTRONIC GIZOMO ON THE FLOOR.
A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF CONCENTRATION.
AND THEN A CRESCENDO OF ICONOCLASTIC IDEAS AND PERSPECTIVE, IN THE FORM OF MUSICAL CREATIVITY.
AGAIN, THANK YOU TO THE PERFORMERS AND AUDIENCE OF THE 201st BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. BE SEEING YOU.
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