Without delay, my precious cup of reality is delivered by my equally precious reality liquid delivery machine. No muss, fuss, or civil disobedience was incurred in the making of my steaming, frothy cup of Columbia’s second most popular export. One sip and my brain engages in summarizing the agenda for the day. At the top is the clock.
It is set for June 15, 1924, and the location is Paris, France. The duration is two hours. Pulling the plunger finds us at the Théâtre de la Cigale. We are going to witness the premier performance of the ballet Mercure. This ballet is choreographed by Léonide Massine. The music is by Erik Satie and costumes by (get this) Pablo Picasso. Yes, this is the final theater involvement of Picasso, who dabbled in the venue for about ten years. At the time, he was the leader of the cubist movement in art and was well-regarded.
As the performance begins, a group of artists from the surrealistic school of art demonstrate against Erik Satie by jumping on the stage and yelling, “Brave Picasso, down with Satie.”The police arrive, and the ballet continues after the order is restored. It was too bad for us since the demonstration took up most of the time. The alarm goes off, and couch landing 101 takes place. My text notification says Linda Hill has sent one. It reads: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “sum.” Use the letters “sum” in a word in your post or use the word “sum.” Enjoy!
To see what others have done with the prompt, visit Linda’s post. Here is the link. https://lindaghill.com/2024/06/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-15-2024/https://lindaghill.com/2024/06/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-15-2024/
Sum by John W. Howell © 2024
“That was some melee, huh?”
“Yes, it was. The reviews for the ballet were good and Picasso given a lot of praise. There were only a very few performances, though.”
“Why’s that?”
“The show manager was over his head. The last show was on June 22. He figured he was at sum-zero on cost and time to pull up stakes.”
“That’s too bad. Sounds like it could have been something.”
“Given that was one hundred years ago, and people are still talking about it, I would agree.”
“Which brings up another classic.”
“Please don’t say VooDoo Ranger.”
“You said it.”
“Trapped like a rat.”
“I ordered Uber.”
“Let me guess a wheat combine.”
“No, take a look over there.”
Photo by Dan Antion
“What is that?”
“A 39 Chevy.”
“Looks like a panel truck.”
“Only lots of custom work.”
“Okay, I’m ready. Shotgun.”
“Sum bebop, you got me.”
“For once.”
Fiction Favorites 
Hi John,
why were the surrealists against Satie? The philosopher and music specialist Theodor W. Adorno saw Eric Satie as an outstanding surrealist composer.
Thanks for your stream of consciousness
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Here is the whole story, Klausbernd. The fledgeling Surrealist group led by André Breton and Louis Aragon. Breton was eager to win Picasso over to his cause and ready to use violence to defend his honor. During a Dada event the previous year (at which Satie was present), he responded to poet Pierre de Massot’s verbal attack of Picasso by breaking Massot’s arm with his walking stick. He also had a personal score to settle with Satie, who had presided over Breton’s 1922 mock-trial at the Closerie des Lilas restaurant for attempting to overthrow Tzara as leader of the Dadaists. So the performance was the perfect opportunity to embarrass Satie.
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Thanks a lot, dear John
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😊
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Thanks for the info. Interesting.
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I thought so too.
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Thanks for that, John. Most interesting. It jogged a memory …’Im indoors and I were exploring parts of France way back, and about to park our car, having listened to a recording by Erik Satie on the radio. (We love our music…) The place Honfleur – quite delightful. Exploring, we came across the birthplace of guess who? Erik Satie! What a surprise.
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What a surprise indeed.That is a great story.
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Imagine being so brilliant that your movement is well, an actual movement! With flags and signs and the cops showing up to break up the fun. That’s impressive. Tarantino never forged that kind of thing.
As for the Uber, that’s a Voodoo ride if I ever I saw one.
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The ride is a VooDoo ride for sure. The movements back in the 20s had some serious moments. Folks took everything pretty seriously. I think we are seeing the same today in politics. Tarantino is my go to director for sure. Love his stuff. Thanks, Marc.
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It sure is.
Yeah, what was old is new again, in a totally different level of acidity.
He’s an all-timer.
Thank YOU Boss
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😊
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Quite the journey, John. Too bad you missed some of the performance. I did not know Picasso was involved in theater. That’s interesting.
With the Olympics coming up, you might want to work on perfecting your landings. You know, as soon as we start watching, we’re going to be judging.
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I was thinking of a double tuck. Maybe I’ll practice. (heaven help the couch)
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😂
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😁
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What the hell did they have against Satie? Sheesh. I mean if Picasso made the costumes (still wrapping my head around that one), the surrealists should have been clapping at his addition to the classical. People.
That is a crazy ride, tell you what!
I’m gonna have to toast you from a restaurant (friend’s 60th party) 😉
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I’ll give you a pass. Have a great time. Here’s the story.The fledgeling Surrealist group led by André Breton and Louis Aragon. Breton was eager to win Picasso over to his cause and ready to use violence to defend his honor. During a Dada event the previous year (at which Satie was present), he responded to poet Pierre de Massot’s verbal attack of Picasso by breaking Massot’s arm with his walking stick. He also had a personal score to settle with Satie, who had presided over Breton’s 1922 mock-trial at the Closerie des Lilas restaurant for attempting to overthrow Tzara as leader of the Dadaists. The performance was a good opportunity to embarrass Satie.
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Wow! What an interesting bit of history. Thank you, John!
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😁
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I wonder if they tasered the protesters as they did to that fence jumper at a baseball game this week. He went down like a lead balloon.
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I think the billy club was 1924’s answer to the Taser. Thanks, Steve. 😁
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Hope they used it😉
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I’m sure they did.
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A journey back in time deserves a special car and you and Dan found it!
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Thanks, GP. I give fill credit to Dan. 😊
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Not sure I understand why they were protesting. Was it all about art styles?
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Here’s the story. The fledgeling Surrealist group was led by André Breton and Louis Aragon. Breton was eager to win Picasso over to his cause and ready to use violence to defend his honor. During a Dada event the previous year (at which Satie was present), he responded to poet Pierre de Massot’s verbal attack of Picasso by breaking Massot’s arm with his walking stick. He also had a personal score to settle with Satie, who had presided over Breton’s 1922 mock-trial at the Closerie des Lilas restaurant for attempting to overthrow Tzara as leader of the Dadaists. He too the opportunity to use the performance to embarrass Satie. Short answer – Petty jealousy.
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Wow, that’s quite a car and quite a story! I didn’t know Picasso was involved in theater, but I can easily imagine him designing the costumes. Thank you for the early morning coffee break. 🌞
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He also wrote the story which amazed me. Tghis was when he was very well known and successful. A man of many talents.
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Well, I learned something new today…Picasso was involved in the theater! Who knew?!
That’s a cool ride to the bar.
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Yes who knew. Thanks, Deborah.
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I love the idea that Picasso was a costume designer. Something to pay the bills until his credit is built.
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He was actually earning a lot of money with his art at the time.
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The car looks like Bonnie and Clyde’s, sans bullet holes.
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Ha ha ha. It does.
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It’s too bad that differences in taste could cause a fantastic opera need police backup to complete the performance.
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It was more petty jealousy. Thanks, Tim.
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See that car made me think of the hamsters. Cool guys.
Kia Motors “Hamster Rap” 2010 Commercial (youtube.com)
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Very cool. Thanks, Lois.
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I agree that if people are still talking about a ballet a hundred years later, it had some impact. Great use of the prompt and fabulous Uber ride!
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Thank you, Jan
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I have to admit I did not know anything about this history. Thank you the entertaining time travel.
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Glad you liked it, Thomas 😁
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Costumes by Picasso? I hope a few survived. I wanna ride in that ’39 Chevy. Great post, John.
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I am with you, Jennie. I would like a ride and would love to see some of the costumes.
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Yes!
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😊
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Don’t think I’ve ever seen a 39 Chevy before. What a hood! Looks like it would get about ten miles per gallon. I Googled it because I was curious. 6.55 MPG. 😊
I know many of your Streams of Consciousness posts start with your morning coffee. I don’t know if you know about this (I didn’t), but they now make a baby Keurig that makes baby formula at the proper temperature in a few seconds. I couldn’t believe it when my son and daughter-in-law had a bottle ready in less than ten seconds.
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Will wonders never cease, Pete. I remember the formula days and what a pain it was. Thanks for sharing.
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The roaring 20’s sure were fascinating with the various art movements. Clearly jealousy and ego don’t mix well.
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I guess folks back then didn’t have enough to worry about. Things will certainly change by the end of the decade. Thanks, Monika.
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A very interesting answer to the challenge, John! xx Michael
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Thank you, Michael.
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