Smithsonian.com

Self Portrait Without Skin (1997) by Kim Eric Lilot. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Friday, October 30: A Salute to Judy Garland and Friends

It’s unfortunate to think that Judy Garland may now be best remembered for the tragic circumstances that filled her life, not to mention as one of the ultimate camp icons. I mean she was a darn good entertainer. (Her crowning achievement may very well have been her 1961 performances at Carnegie Hall, memorialized on vinyl—and later CD—and acknowledged by the Library of Congress as an aesthetically and culturally significant recording.) Forty years after her death (and 70 years after she appeared in The Wizard of Oz), pianist Richard Glazier is presenting a tribute show featuring a host of songs that Garland made world-famous: “The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song,” “The Man That Got Away” and, of course, “Over the Rainbow.” Tickets are required. Rates are: $25 general admission, $20 for Resident Associate members. Tickets may be purchased online. American History Museum, 7:30 PM

Saturday, October 31: ImaginAsia: Predicting Your Future

Cootie catchers are a popular means of fortune telling, but their accuracy is somewhat suspect. When in doubt, consult the Book of Falnama—sort of the big honkin’ cootie catcher that commoners and royalty in Turkey and Iran used to consult when they needed advice about the future. Kick off the afternoon by touring the new exhibit Falnama: The Book of Omens and learn about the auspicious meanings behind the images and symbols and then go back into the classroom where you can create an amulet for protection and posterity. Free. Freer, 2:00 PM.

Sunday, November 1: Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos

Come and celebrate the Day of the Dead—a Latin American holiday that celebrates the memory of the dearly departed—at the American History Museum. From 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM, an ofrenda (altar) will be created to memorialize the braceros, Mexican guest workers who labored in the United States from 1942–1964, and you can make your own paper flowers to leave on the ofrenda or to take home to honor the memory of whomever you like. At noon, writer Mary Andrade will talk about Day of the Dead traditions and will be available to sign copies of her book Day of the Dead: A Passion for Life. You will also be able to sample traditional Day of the Dead foods at the Stars and Stripes Café. Free. American History Museum, 11:00 AM-4:00 PM.

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.

As the final days of the month draw near, that sugar-seeking holiday is upon us again; the holiday when we indulge our inner monster and make recreation of  horrifying our friends. Now is the season for zombie couture, anything goes so long as it’s bloody, gross, funny or edgy. And if you’ve been invited to a Halloween party and are still searching for a costume with just the right flare, look no further than the Smithsonian. The collection is stocked with creative crunch-time costumes for your trick-or-treating convenience.

Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart in Night At The Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian. Image courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Amelia Earhart: In Night At the Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian, actress Amy Adams plays this powerful woman accessorized with inspirational tips from the museum’s Air and Space collection. Don a (still stylish) brown leather jacket, coif your hair into a sexy early-20^th century bob, carry a miniature plastic plane and you instantly become the iconic aviatrix.

The Artist Formerly Known As: If you’re feeling a fit of 1980s electro-funk coming on (no, it’s nothing like the symptoms of H1N1) on Halloween night, cue American History’s  “Yellow Cloud,” the guitar formerly owned by the Purple One himself. *Sequin jacket and high heels not provided by the Smithsonian.

Julia Child: It might be a tad difficult to tote around her kitchen, which is housed in its entirety at the National Museum of American History, however, in light of the recent film “Julia & Julia,” grab a wooden spoon, an apron and mimic Meryl Streep’s manicotti mannerisms.

Batman: Artist Mark Newport’s work (knitted superhero costumes) is currently being featured at the Renwick Gallery. The loose and not-at-all-form-fitting costumes question the validity of superheros. Obviously knitting an entire Batman costume would be impossible on our hurried schedule before the party, so ATM blogger Abby Callard suggests a shortcut: buy a Batman costume that is a few sizes too big, throw in a knitted hat or gloves and call yourself “Sloppy Batman.”

With Balloon Boy costumes bound to be this year’s version of 2008’s popular Sarah Palin costume, there’s no place like the National Air and Space Museum for aspiring ballooonists. Get inspired by the curious “Balloon Farm” photo, circa 1892, in our photo gallery. Perhaps a few plastic bags could do the trick, but don’t get offended if people think your costume is full of hot air.

Annie Oakley: If you dress up in a cowgirl outfit and tote around a rifle, you could be Annie Oakley. But you could also wear the same getup, and walk down the sidewalk belting out “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun,” and your costume becomes Ethel Merman all the way. Take a few tips from Merman’s visage from the collections of the National Postal Museum. Portrait Gallery.

If you and your date are feeling a bit pinched from the recession, and have resorted to scarfing up fountain change to pay for your Starbucks, you could both go as “Loose Change,” picking up tips and ideas from the National Numismatic Collection at the American History Museum, home to 450,000 coins, medals and decorations and 1.1 million pieces of paper money (including the recently acquired “Confederate Treasury horde” of cancelled Confederate paper money).

View our photo gallery of last minute Halloween costume ideas.

Halloween isn’t the most musical holiday out there. Repeated listenings of “Monster Mash” (and it’s infrequently heard B-side), the Ghostbusters theme, The Addams Family theme song, the theme from The Munsters. Are you detecting a theme here? I mean, you could also play 101 variations of “Night on Bald Mountain” and do the Time Warp again and again and again, but that’s a good way to kill your Halloween party really fast. Don’t get me wrong—I love all those novelty songs that comprise the hit parade from Hell, but a little variety in one’s personal musical catalog is a good thing.

That said, if you do some digging in the Folkways crypt, there are tunes here and there that provide some wonderfully apropos sounds for the season. Here are a few selections that will give your ghoulish gathering a Smithsonian twist.

Witches and War-Whoops: Early New England Ballads. This one made the list for several reasons. The cover is bright orange and features a perfectly morbid image of pour souls hanging on the gallows. There’s also the fact that the bulk of this album is a collection of ballads that recount Salem at the time of the infamous witch trials. So with songs like “Death of Goody Nurse,” “The Gloucester Witch,” and “Bloody Brook,” this is probably the most Halloween-y album in the Folkways pantheon.

Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 3, No. 1). This folk album features two tracks that may fit your mood this Halloween: “Skeleton” and “Chiller Theater.”

La Bamba: Sones Jaroch from Veracruz. This Spanish-language album features the hard driving rhythms of the harp and guitar—not to mention a song called “The Witch.”

She Was Poor But She Was Honest: Nice, Naughty and Nourishing Songs of the London Music Hall and Pubs. I’m a something of a fan of musical theater, with Stephen Sondheim held in high regard. As much as I love my 2005 revival cast recording with Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris (and some of you may be more familiar with the Tim Burton film), I was quite taken by “Sweeney Todd the Barber,” an earlier musical treatment of the legend of the demon barber of Fleet Street.

Activity Songs for Kids. Okay, so Halloween is probably first and foremost a holiday for the kiddies, and there’s something in Folkways’ black bag for them too.

LISTEN TO THESE HALLOWEEN SONGS

Audio Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways, the nonprofit record label of the national museum. For CDs or digital downloads please visit folkways.si.edu

A small male spider of a closely related Nephila species lies on top of the giant female showing the extreme difference in size. (Look closely, the male is the light brown thing to the left.) Photo by M. Kuntner.

The largest-ever orb-weaving spider has been discovered by researchers in a remote park in South Africa. Once thought to be extinct, the Nephila komaci was tracked down by Matjaz Kunter, chair of the Institute of Biology of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Jonathan Coddington, senior scientist and curator of arachnids and myriapods at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The duo had made several trips to South Africa specifically to find these species. Until now, N. komaci had successfully evaded the team.

These gold and black arachnids debut just in time for Halloween. But the males get the short stick in this Halloween tale. They’re a boring brown color and tiny, as it turns out, though the scientists are quick to point out that that is the normal size. The females, on the other hand, are giant. Their bodies can measure a whopping 1.5 inches, and their leg span can reach up to 5 inches.

The intricate webs that these creatures weave can measure as much as three feet in diameter—imagine using that as a Halloween decoration.

Be sure to stay tuned for our next Halloween-mystery: Bats in the northeast United States are dying from a peculiar disease that leaves them with white noses. Smithsonian scientists are on a mission to learn why.

Check out the size of that web! Photo by M. Kuntner.

Morris Kantor's "Baseball at Night"

The battle over (New Jersey) baseball’s championship trophy starts tonight as the New York Yankees host the Philadelphia Phillies in game one of the World Series. At the Smithsonian, however, it is baseball season year-round. In the collections of the National Museum of American History, curators have obtained various items relating to the October (this year, the November) Classic. A sampling of the historic objects:

• Official programs from the 1919, 1952 and 1979 World Series
• Gameday ticket from the Colored World Series of 1934 that included squads from the Philadelphia Stars, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Black Yankees, and the Chicago Giants
• Parking certificate from Memorial Stadium in Baltimore from the 1979 World Series between the Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates
• A scorecard from a game from the 1951 series, decorated by small vignettes of baseball scenes in each of the four corners of the card.
• The actual third base used in the 2007 World Series, along with the jersey worn by Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester.

These items, and other sports-related memorabilia, came to the museum either from staff who were serendipitously attending games or from donations. The Red Sox objects, for instance, came from the team itself. But a diehard baseball fanatic would notice one strange thing about this collection. Who won the 1952 World Series? The New York Yankees. What about 1951? The Yankees. Also in the collection, a pennant for the Yankees.

Does the Smithsonian have a pro-Yankee bias?

Not if Jane Rogers, American History’s associate curator for the Division of Music, Sports and Entertainment has anything to say about it. Her husband is a Orioles fan, so rooting for the Yankees is out of the question for her. Her sports allegiances are more tied to the Washington Redskins, but for the sake of her dignity, it’s probably best to pretend that isn’t the case this season.

None of the World Series items are currently on display, but if you have a hankering for some museum-style baseball, go to the American Art Museum’s “1934: A New Deal for Artists” and view Morris Kantor’s “Baseball at Night,” also seen above.

A painting by Jon Fjeldsa depicts H. zusii with its close relatives. (Clockwise from top left: Aglaiocercus kingi, Aglaiocercus coelestis, H. Zusii and Taphrolesbia griseiventris)

Scientists, including the Smithsonian’s Gary Graves, recently used nearly microscopic fragments of tissue to identify a presumably extinct hummingbird. Even more amazing, the specimen from which the tissue was taken is 100 years old.

The Heliangelus zusii hummingbird specimen was originally purchased by Brother Nicéforo María in Bogotá, Columbia in 1909. Nearly four decades later, in 1947, he sold the specimen to Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP). Meyer de Schauensee couldn’t identify the bird and enlisted help from experts worldwide including the Smithsonian’s Secretary at the time, and renowned ornithologist, Alexander Wetmore who wrote, “I have never seen a bird like it.” No conclusion was ever reached.

In 1993, Graves analyzed the feathers and compared the bird to every hummingbird specimen found in the ANSP and the Natural Museum of Natural History. He concluded that the specimen represented the only-known example of a unique hummingbird species, and he named it after Richard L. Zusi, an expert on hummingbirds and the curator of birds at the Natural History Museum. But the experts were still skeptical.

Scientists used this 100-year-old hummingbird specimen to confirm that Heliangelus zusii is a unique species.

In 2009, Graves, Jeremy Kirchman of New York State Museum, Albany, Christopher Witt from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and Jimmy McGuire at the University of California, Berkeley analyzed data from fragments of mitochondrial genes to confirm that H. zusii is in fact a unique species. Unfortunately, the tiny bird has never been seen in the wild and is presumed extinct. But, the tiny creature will go down in the history books as a species in his own right. However, the more important discovery here is that scientists can use nearly microscopic tissue samples to classify previously unknown species, no matter how old they might be, and quite possibly discover the taxonomy of dozens of other birds that are known only by the single specimens housed in museum or research collections.

Google has been busily snapping street-view photographs all across the country to add to Google Maps. As a result, many landmarks are just a click away. You can now take a virtual drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and spin around in Times Square.

But just imagine if Google were to go off-roading. That’s just what Daniel Ratner, a Senior Mechanical Engineers on the Street View team, did in his 20 percent time, the one day a week Google encourages their employees to work on something not necessarily in their job descriptions. He built a tricycle with a street-view camera mounted on it and took to California’s bike routes and pedestrian paths, to start. So far, Google Maps has documented LEGOLAND California, Arastradero Open Preserve, San Diego State University, the Monterey coastal bike path and the Santa Monica Pier.

Now, Google is polling the public. Where should the Street View Trike go next? They’ve invited people to nominate places in six categories: trails, university campuses (think: prospective students could take tours!), theme parks and zoos, pedestrian malls (ie: oudoor shopping areas, boardwalks), landmarks and sports venues.

Will you join us in nominating the National Mall? After all, it is America’s backyard! It would be great to see the trike circle the four-mile path from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and back.

Nominations will be open until tomorrow, October 28, and can be submitted at www.google.com/trike. (To make our campaign more successful, it might be smart if we all enter the National Mall in the landmarks category.) Google will then decide on a short-list of locations to vote on in mid-November.

A Colombian accordion player featured in Smithsonian Network's " The Accordion Kings" focuses intently. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Networks.

As part of the Latin American Film Showcase, “The Accordion Kings: The Story of Colombian Vallenato Music,” a Smithsonian Networks film, will be shown at the Georgetown Business School – Lohrfink Auditorium tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. The film captures an annual festival of accordion music that takes place in the Colombian coastal town of Valledupar.

In 2008, Smithsonian magazine’s Kenny Fletcher wrote about the making of the film. The documentary focuses on the competition among accordion masters to be crowned the “vallenato king” at the festival. Vallenato is similar to country music in the United States, relating the everyday stories of love and love lost. “Wearing straw cowboy hats and jeans,” Fletcher wrote, “the hopefuls are covered in sweat, eyes closed, bodies rocking, fingers blurring as they fly across the accordion’s keys. The competition’s nationally televised finale has the drama and fanfare of “American Idol.”

As the genre becomes mainstream, festival organizers say the competition, which promotes the traditional form of vallenato, preserves their musical heritage. “It’s a way of linking you to the land, to your ancestors, your traditions,” says Gabriela Febres-Cordero, the honorary president of the 40-year-old festival.”

Vallenato is an essential part of Colombian culture. The rhythm of vallenato was first documented in the late 1800s. Gabriel García Márquez is said to have described his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, as a 400-page vallenato.

The Latin American Film Showcase this year features more than 30 films from from almost 20 countries. The offerings include contemporary classics as well as films released just this year.