Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3774 - Cynthia Erivo Cast as JC in Jesus Christ Superstar
My friends an I were discussing alternate casting of the roles of Jesus Christ Superstar back in the early 1980s.
I adore Jesus Christ Superstar.
This casting choice for a show at the prestigious and highly visible Hollywood Bowl is a huge win for LBGTQIA+ rights and visibility in a new era, with an administration, that wants to strip those rights and pretend gay and trans and nonbinary people do not exist.
I didn't see Wicked the movie, but I know who Cynthia Erivo is, obviously.
Remember, I am in low power mode right now so not a lot of commentary.
Thanks for tuning in.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
Cynthia Erivo brushes off outcry over Jesus Christ Superstar casting: 'It's a musical, the gayest place on Earth'
Conservatives, including a pastor, have called the casting of Erivo, a queer Black woman, "blasphemy."
By Jessica Wang Published on June 2, 2025 03:22PM EDT
Cynthia Erivo is rising above the crucifixion of her casting as Jesus in the upcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
The Wicked star will play the Messiah for a three-night performance at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles over the summer — a casting decision that came with criticism from conservatives, including a pastor who called it "blasphemy" to cast a queer Black woman in the role.
Speaking to Billboard in a new profile, Erivo laughed off the outcry and suggested naysayers better familiarize themselves with Andrew Lloyd Webber's works. "Why not?" she said. "You can’t please everyone. It is legitimately a three-day performance at the Hollywood Bowl where I get to sing my face off. So hopefully they will come and realize, ‘Oh, it’s a musical, the gayest place on Earth.’"
First released as a concept album before taking Broadway by storm, the rock opera is an interpretation of Jesus' final days before his crucifixion and chronicles his relationship with Judas, Mary Magdalene, and his disciples. Erivo is no stranger to the story, having previously assumed the role of Mary Magdalene in Morgan James' all-female Jesus Christ Superstar album.
Erivo's Hollywood Bowl iteration will begin Aug. 1 and run through Aug. 3. Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo will serve as director and choreographer, while Tony winner Stephen Oremus will serve as musical director and conductor.
Though Erivo is unmoved by the conservative outcry, it's admittedly harder to brush off the current presidential administration's attempts to strip the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and threaten the arts via the hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“I don’t know who gains what from that," Erivo said of Donald Trump's insertion onto the Kennedy's board.
"I hope that it comes back,” she said. “It’s really sad to have to watch this happen to it. The Kennedy Center is supposed to be a space of creativity and art and music for everyone.” She's calling on the queer community to "not decide to just tuck away and start hiding and not being themselves anymore, because that is exactly what they want."
"The more yourself you are, the more you are in front of people who don’t necessarily understand, the better understanding starts to happen," Erivo added.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2506.17 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3639 days ago & DAD = 293 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #130 - Turkeyville Christmas Show
Hi Mom, You were with us today. Dad and I went to the annual Christmas show at Cornwell's Turkeyville Dinner Theatre, produced by Top Hat Productions.
You love these Christmas shows.
I may post my review later, after it appears in the newspaper, but here's a few thoughts.
Above is a picture of Dad and me with producer Dennis McKeen.
As you can see, he is wearing a very festive suit.
Christmas show 2013
So, Dennis decided to do a tribute for you. His wife Holly, who played Charlie the Christmas Elf, in the show of the same name, announced the sing-along, dedicated to you. She called you a "young lady," which I thought was very sweet. But she accurately recounted your complaint about them dropping the sing-along from the show, and how Dennis put it back in just for you.
It was a very sweet dedication. Both Dennis and Holly have lost their mothers in recent years, and both were sympathetic to our feelings, especially as Dad and I attended the first Christmas show without you.
But even before the tribute, I was already pretty wrecked as the cast closed the show by singing Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah."
I love that song.
But it really made me weep, this time especially.
Also, I did some shopping in BOTH gift shoppes in your honor, Mom. I didn't buy anything, but Dad did. He bought a gift for Lori.
I wish you had been there physically, Mom, though I felt you embracing me, all around me, around us, in spirit.
It's early, but Merry Christmas.
Here's a video of "Hallelujah." I chose a version with four part harmony to try to recreate what they did at Turkeyville.
Turkeyville gift shoppe
Turkeyville candy counter
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2409.05 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3352 days ago & DAD = 008 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
David Bowie passed away yesterday following an 18-month battle with cancer. The news was confirmed through his official website, his publicist and son Duncan Jones, who tweeted, "Very sorry and sad to say it's true." Though he only lived to 69, it's hard to think of an artist who had a larger impact on pop culture. Bowie was a gifted and prolific songwriter who created iconic albums like Diamond Dogs, Heroes and Let's Dance. He was also a fashion icon, actor, painter, producer, Broadway star and performer who invented iconic alter-egos like Ziggie Stardust, the Thin White Duke and Major Tom.
Bowie had a huge impact on geek and sci-fi culture. His first hit, Space Oddity, was released shortly after 2001: A Space Oddysey and the same month that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Many of his music production techniques were also highly innovative. Bowie collaborated with Brian Eno on the album Low, creating new sounds with Eno's AKS synthesizer and an Eventide Harmonizer. He was also an accomplished actor who starred in the groundbreaking sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth, along with fantasy classics The Hunger and Labyrinth.
Suffice to say, David Bowie had a big impact on a number of us here at Engadget. The following are some tributes, anecdotes and memories of how his work affected us.
Calling David Bowie a musician or pop star is like calling Everest a mountain. His art rose above everything and glistened in a sunlight too powerful and air too thin for most to handle. And yet, that voice never spoke down to us from its position at the very edge of the earth.
Instead it welcomed everyone into his world of aliens, space and sometimes fear. It spoke to the odd. The kids that couldn't figure out where they belonged. The adults lost in a sea of grey. The musicians, the artists, the dancers, the writers. When we needed someone, when we needed solace, we turned to Bowie or one of his many disciples: Lou Reed, Morrissey, The New York Dolls, Nine Inch Nails and on and on and on.
I keep thinking this is an elaborate piece of performance art. Bowie will rise again. Bowie will lead us out the depression of his own passing. It's tough to imagine something as human, as earthly, as cancer taking him from us. He was our alien crooner. Can aliens even get cancer?
But he will lead us out of the sadness that's surrounded his passing. His voice will tell us it's going to be alright. His music will be our solace. The "Thin White Duke," "Ziggy Stardust," "Aladdin Sane" even the "Goblin King" will be blasting out of speakers and headphones for days, weeks, years, millennia. I'm devastated today. But tomorrow and the next day and the next and so on, I'll be besides myself with happiness because I'm here and David Bowie made that possible.
I think I played Suffragette City on a continuous loop for about a month when I was 17, disaffected and usually high. I also wore the grooves through Space Oddity, Ashes to Ashes and China Girl. Needless to say, I was a huge fan of David Bowie the musician, and that's never changed.
I wasn't that knowledgeable about the depth of his cultural impact, though, until I saw the David Bowie Is retrospective at the Philharmonie museum in Paris last May (it's currently at the Groninger Museum in The Netherlands). Going through the exhibition, you realize how Bowie had an uncanny ability to predict and then define pop culture. The sheer quantity of his creative output was also mind-blowing. Through each of his phases -- Ziggy, Major Tom, Alladin Sane, etc. -- there wasn't just albums, but highly inventive costumes, artwork, music videos, books and more. Bowie was very hands-on with all of those side-projects.
He didn't do it all alone, of course. Bowie liked collaborating with choreographers, designers and artists, both well-known and avant garde. That includes a mime (Lindsay Kemp), Japanese fashion designer (Kansai Yamamoto) and fellow rockers Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger and John Lennon. At the end of the exhibition, we were marveling at how different his phases were, and how inventive he was in each. As the Philharmonie put it, "He never bows to the expectations of the record company or sticks to a winning formula. For Bowie, that's the moment to move on to something else."
I came late to David Bowie fandom -- by the time I was old enough to appreciate him, I'd missed his Ziggy Stardust days and the '80s pop era. I'd learn to like those, too, but for me Bowie was defined by the '90s and how much he embraced technology.
Remember how Bowie was once again the coolest thing because of the drum-and-bass and industrial music in Earthling? How he even found his way into a video game, Omikron: The Nomad Soul? This was a man who refused to settle down as his hair turned gray, who wanted to push technological boundaries rather than retreat to what he knew. It's fitting that his last album, Blackstar, was an out-there experiment uniting electronic music with avant garde jazz and rock. And it was a pretty damn good experiment, too.
I don't want to beatify him. Everyone knows Bowie's troubles with drugs, his fractured family life and the occasional album that didn't blow everyone away. But it's rare that you get an artist of any kind who stays vital and relevant right up to the very end. I'll miss you, David.
Even though I grew up decades after the launch of "Space Oddity," Ziggy Stardust or even "Under Pressure," David Bowie influenced my young life in incredible, unforgettable ways. I can't hear his voice without soaring into a galaxy of memories: I'm in fifth grade and I hear the name, "David Bowie," for the first time. It's uttered in reverence by a friend who is infinitely ahead of her time (and continues to be today).
I'm in middle school and it's nighttime. I'm sitting in a car outside of an apartment complex with my dad, the volume cranked up as the tinny radio finishes playing "Space Oddity." Bowie croons, Ground control to Major Tom / Commencing countdown, engines on, and my young mind is blown. My dad's name is Tom. Somehow, this song is about him. It's a warm and heartbreaking moment, perhaps the first time I realize that, yes, even my dad is going to die one day. But it's not morbid; it's beautiful.
I'm a teenager, watching Jonathan Rhys Meyers make out with Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine, a movie that parallels Bowie's life and romances to such a degree that he's threatened to sue the production company. I fall in love with the unabashed, unapologetic openness of the glittering, gaunt man that's modeled after Bowie. I fall in love with parts of myself that I'm just beginning to understand.
There are plenty of smaller memories scattered throughout my personal Bowie galaxy -- driving with friends and singing "Under Pressure" at the top of our lungs; dancing on my own to his later work with Trent Reznor; watching him play a convincing Nikola Tesla in The Prestige; devouring his new, gorgeous YouTube music videos. The best part is that I know this galaxy will never run out of stars. Though the man himself has left Earth, Bowie's art will continue to shape my life in small, welcomed ways.
That's the power of art -- it has an unencumbered ability to exist and influence human thought for centuries after its creators have faded to stardust. That's the power of David Bowie. Cheers.
I must admit that I'm not as familiar with David Bowie's works as some of my fellow editors, but that doesn't mean I haven't been felt his massive influence on music on popular culture. Anyone who knows even a little bit about music history knows that Bowie's work has influenced hosts of artists across a huge variety of genres and decades. As I was growing up in the '90s and becoming deeply obsessed with music, two albums that blew my young mind away and remain favorites to this day are U2's Achtung and Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral -- two albums that simply wouldn't exist without Bowie.
U2 visited Berlin in 1990 and 1991 to record Achtung Baby in the same studio that Bowie recorded his famous "Berlin Trilogy" of records (Low, "Heroes" and Lodger)in the late '70s. It's no coincidence that the band had the same producer on board, Brian Eno, the man behind some of U2 and Bowie's most famed work. Say what you will about U2 now, but the band had a 15-year period where it released numerous all-time classic albums, reinventing its sound several times -- that thirst for reinvention was directly influenced by Bowie, and the band knew Eno was a producer who could get them there.
NIN mastermind Trent Reznor's appreciation for David Bowie is well-known -- NIN did a co-headlining tour with Bowie in 1995 in support of The Downward Spiral. That would have been my first concert, but for a variety of teenage reasons it didn't come together. It's a real shame, because I've since seen plenty of videos of Bowie's performances on that tour as well as his onstage collaborations with Reznor on "Reptile" and a reworked version of "Hurt," and all those performances were fascinating.
I've dabbled in Bowie since, but for whatever reason the influence he had on some of my favorite albums wasn't enough to push me fully into his world. I'm sad I didn't appreciate him as much while he was alive -- but fortunately, he's left a huge mark on the music world and dozens of albums to explore. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to spin up Low.
I came to know David Bowie through the works of others. Growing up a '90s kid, it was impossible to turn the radio on and not hear Nirvana's unplugged cover of "The Man Who Sold the World" at least once a day. And then years after its release, I discovered "I'm Afraid of Americans," his song with friend Trent Reznor, while I was in high school.
It was an impromptu Rock Band party that's perhaps my most vivid memory of Bowie, though. Friends and I were cramped into a small living room, holding plastic instruments and rocking out to "Suffragette City" in front of a modest Samsung LCD TV. I'm pretty sure I mangled the song's drum parts, but when someone belted out Wham bam thank you, ma'am! it was hard to not smile despite my inability to keep rhythm.
He was my favorite artist's favorite artist, and albums that've had such a huge impact on my life (specifically, Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile and Reznor's soundtrack work) almost assuredly wouldn't have happened were it not for the trails Bowie blazed in his career. Even now, in the wake of his passing, some of my favorite artists are showcasing their love and respect for the man, and I'm discovering even more about how smart and prescient he was. It's things like that which make me forever grateful for the indelible impact he made on music and culture. Thank you, Mr. Bowie.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2401.09 - 10:10
- Days ago = 3112 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #2314 - So, I PERFORMED in a play for the first time... since the 1980s
So, I was in this play...
Though it may invite ageism to confess, I was last in the stage for THEATRE (as opposed to other things) in 1986 in a production of Crimes of the Heart at the Kalamazoo Civic theatre, in what is now called the Susan Parrish theater, though I do not recall what it was called back then.
Because of the pandemic, we did not perform this show on the stage. We rehearsed via ZOOM and then filmed. The entire filming schedule took about a week. Thankfully, I was only in three scenes, so I only filmed for two days. I say thankfully not because I did not enjoy working with all these great people -- and these people ARE great, the cast, the crew, the director, the writer who was also the stage manager, all great -- but because WORK and life and I am not sure I could have handled more than two days of filming.
So, I was in this play...
I love this script. The student writer -- Casey Halleck -- is very talented and has a keen eye for comedy and a laser focus. To write a play that has this much pathos and good comic business and is this short takes mastery of form and function. I am VERY impressed with Casey.
And the director Betsy Richard was great to work with!! It's been a few years (see above) since I was given direction in such a production. It worked my brain in new ways. She's an incredible talent at drawing out the very best from her performers. So impressed!
This filmmaker -- whose first love is acting, go figure -- is amazing.
The rest of the cast was incredible to work with. These young people are so TALENTED. And watching them evolve their choices with this script and these characters was magical.
And then a solid crew to bring this film to completion. Such great people.
When I first watched just the first scene, I was very disgusted with my performance and wanted to do it over. Another take or twenty?? But then forced (at an "opening night" of sorts) to watch it again, I am less critical of myself. And people laughed, so maybe I did all right.
Here it is. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we all enjoyed making it.
Runners Telephone by LCC Student Casey Halleck, a short original play. Injured with a “floating kneecap," Sam shows up for a 5K training run hoping to reconnect with their old friend, Charlie. Coach expects Sam to complete the circuit, Taylor and Grace baffle Sam with mixed messages, Lynn steals Sam’s thunder, and Charlie remains aloof! What is a runner to do?! Act One Drama Student, Casey Halleck (Club Greg) has done it again with a script that will warm your heart and tickle your funny bone. Filmed on location in around Longview!
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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