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Roderick Russell
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Roderick Russell Featured in Upcoming Ripley’s Publication

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Ripley Entertainment have just announced that they will be featuring world-record holding sword swallower Roderick Russell in it’s upcoming fall of 2007 publication entitled Ripley’s Believe It or Not: The Remarkable…revealed.

Set for inclusion are several photographs, including x-ray images, of Mr. Russell in the act of swallowing swords. One of a mere fifty active sword swallowers remaining in the world, Roderick is the only performing artist presenting this unique and rare art form while dancing a tango.

With a tentative publication date of August 7, 2007, The Remarkable…revealed can be pre-ordered now through Amazon.com.

# Hardcover: 256 pages
# Publisher: Ripley Publishing (August 7, 2007)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1893951227
# ISBN-13: 978-1893951228

Making a brief stop in the middle of the night on route I-81, about 25 minutes south of the Virginia/Tennessee border, I found myself eagerly hunting down an energy drink at a convenience store. As much as they run my body down, Red Bull and Full Throttle truly have been my saviors on extensive overnight trips and prior to innumerable shows for which I’d traveled all day to perform.

While my eyes scanned the cases and sifted through the untold amount garbage (including that which I was after), one particular beverage caught my eye. Its squat green glass bottle and vintage-style thick styrofoam label stood out starkly against the sleek metal, atypical shapes and highly stylized colors and designs of the modern energy drinks. It was the name, though, that encouraged me to pick up this rogue bottle: Dr. Enuf.

	Resurrection Cemetery is either the boldest instance of false advertising in history, else it’s precisely where I want to be buried when I die - sorry Alcor, after all these years, I may have to find God. The benefits package seems pretty good.
	But wait, it gets better! Not only is the name entertaining, the landscape is to die for! Not a grave in sight! Nowhere! What a fantastic marketing ruse.

Resurrection Cemetery
(570) 368-2727
4323 Lycoming Mall Dr
Montoursville, PA 17754

POSTSCRIPT: I’ve been meaning to write about this witty little morsel for some time now but unfortunately it’s not until just recently, after the snow has fallen, that I’ve been able to snap some photos. Rest assured however that even under all that snow, there is not a grave in sight. In truth, the graves are located some ways down a private road. But as viewed from the main road, this cemetery truly is a miraculous plot of land! One has to wonder if it was intentional or not…

As a performing artist I tour the country constantly, often finding myself in a new city every day. Not having the time that leisure travel affords, I’ve been perfecting the art of Hit and Run Tourism, learning how to take in a new city as quickly as possible. While I like to see the normal sights, I have a particular love of good coffee, good food, good art and anything exceptionally strange and unusual. This is what I’ve found in cities across America.

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First lesson learned in Atlanta: where not to stay. Due to a $1,100 airfare debacle, I decided to do what for me is unusual - book the cheapest hotel I could find. Already significantly over budget, I set my fingers to work on Orbitz to locate a clean if modest hotel to stay in for a reasonable price. I thought that they came through with the Stratford Inn on Parkway Drive. The pictures looked nice, decor not run-down and I even spoke with them on the phone, after which I was certain that the staff were nice people and the hotel would be more than adequate.

After four days in the Keystone State of Pennsylvania - during which time I had the pleasure of seeing Sharon Isbin play - and a grueling thirteen hours on the road through snow, closed highways and lack-of-sleep-induced delirium, I find myself this week in Nashville, Tennessee.

In town to book my solo show for dates late this year and next, I’m working from the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center; a sprawling, massive city unto itself, and the largest non-casino hotel in the United States. Though not on the scale of some of the Vegas casinos, the Opryland Resort does feature some stunning indoor environments, including several conservatories and atriums, a series of stunning lobbies with soaring ceilings, beautiful furniture and elegant carpets as well as many restaurants and shops.

Without question my favorite and most-read blog happens to be Boing Boing. They keep me up-to-date with curious tech news, bring me bizarre and unusual stories from around the globe and I see many mentions of friends and affiliates come across their pages. I’m also a big fan of the editors individually. I especially enjoy reading the sci-fi work of Cory Doctorow and listening to Xeni Jardin on NPR. So when I had something to contribute to their wonderful blog, I was a bit happy.

Dining establishments distinguish themselves in numerous ways; from the mundane and expected methods of hosting famous chefs, serving top-notch gourmet dishes and offering impeccable service, to those unusual establishments that set themselves apart by virtue of their unique and off-beat marketing approaches. Toronto’s cosplay-themed iMaid Cafe (slashfood review here) and Bradenton, Florida’s Linger Lodge, which features such treats as Guess That Mess - their meat is “so fresh, you can still see the tire tracks” - are two great examples of the latter. Though I certainly have a penchant for the unusual and decidedly bizarre (just look at what I do for a living), one restaurant that is particularly close to my heart is the much more reserved, though always delightful, Traveler Food and Books.

Just a quick announcement for everyone in Central Pennsylvania who has been eager to see the show: I will be performing several public shows in April in your area!

On April 22nd I will be at the Pickelner Arena in Williamsport, PA performing two shows. This event is sponsored by Clear Channel Broadcasting and is free and open to the public. Tune into your local Clear Channel stations - KISS 102.7 and BILL 95.5 - for all of the details.

Following that, on April 28th I will be in Canton, PA performing in the space at the Canton High School. This performance space seats 700+ and the show is open to the public. Tickets must be purchased for this show, but I have it on good authority that they will be affordable!

Such is the sloganized dictum of the National Endowment for the Arts, driven deep into the minds of NPR devotees on an hourly basis as we listen to our favorite music, art and culture programs each day. And towards that end of supporting great art, the Bush administration is proposing $128.4 million in funding for the NEA during the 2008 fiscal year, as reported today by the Washington Post. The good news is that this is actually an increase of $4 million, and only one in a steady stream of increases (see the appropriations history) since 2001, marking an upward turn from the downward spiral that began in 1996 when the budget was dramatic slashed to $99.5 million by a Republican Congress, who had hoped at first to eliminate federal support of the arts and later merely settled for a scheme to flat-fund the organization.

In the grand tradition of Glenn Gould’s So You Want To Write A Fugue comes a wonderfully self-referential “instructional” video on fugue writing by NYU student and chess enthusiast Danny Pi.

Created for James Gardner’s Sight and Sound course (Pi is a Film and Television student at the Tisch School of the Arts), this little video makes us laugh out loud with its use of the theme from Britney Spears’ Oops!… I Did It Again.

Described by Pi as “silly” and “pretentious”, he is absolutely right - and though he claims to not understand why people like it, I think that you’ll agree that it is both fun and delightful. I for one am a big fan. It doesn’t reach the heights of the works that precede it (SYWTWAF and the Solitude Trilogy) but then, it’s not supposed to. It’s simply clever and cute. Enough said.

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photo © 2002, John Freeman used with permission

Being a traveling artist myself, I have the opportunity to see many remarkable - and many more less-than-remarkable - performances in cities throughout the world. New York City, of course, presents a profoundly high incidence of these works of public and private art, being the cultural center that it is.

Street performance is one particularly colorful and active scene in NYC, and though I would be hard pressed to draw a comparison between the juggler on the corner and Andras Schiff at Carnegie Hall (unless that juggler is Michael Moschen), I do delight in some uniquely fun, witty and original shows - and I’m happy to show my support.

In the spring of 2002, however, I was stunned into silence and awe at the true power of street theater when I happened upon, by sheer chance, a performance by Thoth in the tunnel at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, directly across from the Bethesda - or “Angel” - Fountain.

I am constantly traveling and come across a wide array of unusual of often ironic signs, buildings and other structures while on the road. I’ve always been a fan of such things, and thought that I’d begin sharing some of them with you here. My apologies for not having pictures for this post.

Seen While Driving in Southbury, Connecticut

Street Sign: Poverty Road
First Building on Street: H&R Block

Special Note: Not only did I find an H&R Block Tax Service on Poverty Road, but this particular location is home to the H&R Block Premium service and the District Office.

Seen While Driving in the Lewiston to Monmouth region of Maine

Street Sign: New Beginnings Lane
Sign Below It: DEAD END

I’ll have more every now and again, and I’ll be sure to snap some photos next time as well.

Happy Travels!