My Big Fat Jewish Wedding with the Pope and Jean Genet

UPDATE: Ok, so the wedding was neither big nor was it particularly traditional. But it was a great wedding. Call me a romantic, but I think people should publicly proclaim their love for each other, for friends, for family, etc. and dance a lot with all of the above much more often.

Also: the Pope, despite rumors and wishful thinking from my mother and grandmother was not in attendence Sun. However, the renovated Baltimore Basilica is super-beautiful. Designed by Benjamin Latrobe as a pro bono project, it was architectually the most advanced building in America when it was built and the only larger structure at the time was the U.S. Capitol (also designed by Latrobe). The interior has been restored to Latrobe's original dramatic color and natural lighting scheme. Plus the Historic Trust realized Latrobe's original vision of a more intimate undercroft chapel that is reminiscent perhaps of how the first Christians worshiped.

If you are interested in early American neo-classical architecture, it's really a must-see. It's sort of like Latrobe's super-pastel frosted birthday cake for God. In a good way. In a modest, egalitarian, Enlightenment era sort of way. If you're in downtown Baltimore or the Mount Vernon area, check it out.

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It's not my wedding, silly -- that seems distant and perhaps unlikely at this point. It's a family friend's wedding to his Jewish bride. Despite having many Jewish friends over the course of my childhood, adolescence and adulthood, I confess that I have never before attended a straight-up, traditional Jewish wedding. Most of my Jewish friends have either shacked up with a "goy" and/or had decidedly non-traditional weddings. (I'm not going to name names. You know who you are!)

I have been assured that glasses will be crushed underfoot, chairs raised, full-on chuppa holding, extra-long/extra-booty shaking Hava Negila dance, etc. The groom's family -- my adopted extended family -- are lovely, shy, reserved, liberal and WASPish. Cultures may joyously collide. And there I'll be in the middle of it all. To which I say -- Bring it on.

The very next day, I am invited with my mother and grandmother to an invitation-only ceremony/reception to celebrate the renovation and re-opening of Baltimore's Basilica. It is rumored that there will be high security and that an "extra-special guest" will be in attendence. There will be the highest possible level of Catholic pomp and circumstance. And probably a lot of incense thrown around in the air. Don't ask how we got tickets. I'm just along for the ride.

Then next Wed, I am invited with my cousin, a denizen of the dance world, to attend what sounds like a real corker of entertainment. Here's the description she sent me:

As two of today's most renowned dancers/choreographers, French West Africa's Koffi Kôkô and Brazil's Ismael Ivo join Ziya Azazi--a Turkish master of the whirling dervish tradition--and Japanese director Yoshi Oida to form a multicultural team of dance/theater visionaries. Together, they've created a riveting re-imagining of The Maids, French playwright Jean Genet's gender-bending classic about two servants and their wealthy mistress.

In Saint Genet l'Africain, Kôkô and Ivo portray prison inmates who act out their deepest fantasies in separate cells. Under the watchful eye of an eccentric warden, played by Azazi, their stylized game of dominance and submission soon turns deadly. A longtime collaborator with experimental theater genius Peter Brook, Oida draws upon tribal rituals and Asian aesthetics--also found in Martha Graham's dance-making--to explore concepts of eroticism and confinement. The fluctuations of mood, from delight to revulsion to horror, are accentuated by Brazilian artist João de Bruço, who performs his entrancing, percussive score with other musicians onstage.

"Conviction and intensity… a gripping performance"
--London's The Independent

"Compelling… Martha Graham's influence lives on."
--London's The Observer

Is your mouth agape? So was mine. Wow. Can this performance possibly deliver even a fraction of what it promises? I can't wait! Again, I say: Bring on the cultural extravaganza. I guess I am lucky -- I have the coolest family (and friends) ever. Love, Pink Thunder

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[Air Jordan 13]

I thank thee that I am none of the wheels of power but I am one with the living creatures that are crushed by it. O(∩_∩)O~