Mondo Lizzie Borden

My friend Don Hammontree, singer, photographer, video artist, has posted one of his songs from his new CD “Brutalist School”—titled Quequechan. He has created a music video incorporating his photographs of Fall River, many of which you might recognize.

It is a really fine song. Take a listen.

The second video from Don Hammontree’s latest CD “Brutalist School” (download it at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/hammontree3 or at iTunes), “Quequechan” is the singer/songwriter’s tribute to Fall River, Massachusetts, his home of more than 11 years. Most of the photographs of the city shown in the video were taken by Hammontree, an avid photographer.

Fall River, a city of around 90,000 people that sits on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border an hour south of Boston. In its heyday, it was one of the largest textile manufacturing centers in the world. Famous Fall River-ites include suspected axe murderess Lizzie Borden, master chef Emeril Lagasse, news host George Stephanopoulos, former Boston Celtic Chris Herren, and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne.

A native of Peoria, Ill., Don Hammontree is a singer/songwriter, writer and photographer. “Brutalist School” is his third CD, following “Mount Hope Days” (2003) and “The Mumbai EP” (2005). He is also the author of the self-published novel “Baptized in Formaldehyde,” a day-in-the-life, coming-of-age, sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll story for the whole family.

A busy performer, Hammontree has played throughout the American Northeast, Midwest and South, as well as in Poland and Ukraine. For his latest shows, please consult

http://www.myspace.com/donhammontree

Don Hammontree is also on Facebook, as well.

The Fall River Spirit, a weekly addition to the Herald News, did a nice piece on the famous of Fall River, besides Lizzie Borden! It is a great collection of facts and presents the city and its contributions to culture, politics, sports, and cuisine in a wonderful light indeed.

Link to the article is here.

A group of rather inventive T-shirt designs have popped up recently on Zazzle.com.

Zazzle is the world’s leading platform for quality custom products. Zazzle’s proprietary technology enables individuals, professional artists, and major brands, including Disney and Hallmark, to create and offer billions of unique products for customers worldwide. Zazzle’s rapidly expanding product base covers every topic imaginable and includes t-shirts, business cards, invitations, in addition to a variety of custom gifts. Upon creation, products are instantly and accurately visualized on the site and offered in the Zazzle marketplace. When ordered, each product is made on-demand, typically within 24 hours. Launched in 2005 and based in Redwood City, California, Zazzle’s vision is to redefine commerce, powered by the world’s imagination.

Here are a sampling of their Lizzie Borden wearables.

I really like this one!

Purchase yours here.

This one is less dark and more comical.

Purchase yours here.

This one reminds me of the Haunted Mansion characters at Disney World.

Purchase yours here.

Fall River History Club meeting

Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 6:30 pm

Fall River Public Library, Fall River, MA

Topic: The Fall River Fire of 1916

Presented by George Petrin

COMING SOON!
MARCH 17: Bob Kitchen will discuss the geology/geography of Fall River, and how Fall River became the largest producer of cotton in the world!

Free and open to the public.

See you there!

The print version of the 4th edition of the Literary Hatchet is available for sale!

You can order your copy here for only $8.00!

This issue contains some amazing fiction and poetry, from some fabulous writers.

Here is the Table of Contents:

Please support our writers and order your copy today!

The new issue of the FREE Literary Hatchet is now online for your reading pleasure. This issue is dedicated to the late William Schley-Ulrich.

You will find wonders within its pages, a gem in every poem and story.

We hope you enjoy it.

You can download your free copy here.

Just click Downloads, fill out the form for Issue #4 and it will download to your computer.

Warm wishes for a happy new year,

Stefani Koorey
Editor/Publisher
The Literary Hatchet

This image is from Zillow.com, a site where you can find real estate. Once I entered Fall River in the search box, and clicked on the city on the map, the outlines of Fall River are shown with the red marks showing the houses for sale.

So it was to my surprise to see that the part of Fall River where the people live is shaped like a hatchet!!! Do you see what I see?

Mondo Lizzie Borden would like to wish all of you a joyous holiday season and a Merry Christmas.

Another little tidbit from Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River was posted online today at the website for the Fall River Historical Society.

And a lovely Christmas present it is!

Also: the Historical Society has released a statement regarding the book’s scheduled publication!

I have seen the cover of this book and it is going to be a first class production.

Saturday, December 19, from noon until 2:30, you can meet Rory Raven, the author of Wicked Conduct, a new book on the Sarah Cornell story—another famous Fall River murder.

Here are the details of the book from the Historical Society’s website.

Here is a big story about the book by Deb Allard in today’s Herald News.

If you can’t make it to the book signing, you can purchase your copy on Amazon.com at a discount.

Tonight was the annual Holiday Open House at the Fall River Historical Society. The event was very well attended, with every room filled with the most interesting people! The food was first rate, and the wine was delicious.

Here are a few images for those of you who couldn’t attend. Michael Martins and Dennis Binette outdid themselves with the Victorian Christmas decor. Lovely!

We had a truly wonderful meeting of the Fall River History Club on Wednesday night. Without a lecturer scheduled (the holidays are neigh after all), the idea was hatched to ask members to bring in anecdotes of growing up in and around Fall River and/or select a few artifacts from their collection to share.

We had a great turnout and some new members came as well. The stories were fantastic and the company was full of good cheer. It is a great experience to have so many interested people turn out for a story or two. We all went away more enriched because of it.

Here is the write up in the Herald News.

Herald News Marc Dion told the story of his grandmother’s rosary, bringing it in for us to hold. George Petrin shared with us some of his Fall River souvenir ware and a screwdriver with the advert on it for Kaplan’s Furniture Store, his mother’s favorite place. Oh, he also brought a beer bottle from King Philip’s Brewery, and told stories about the old breweries in Fall River, with the audience members adding to the tale with their own remembrances.

A highlight of the night was Rosemary Pettine who read a letter to us from the Confederate soldier who had killed her ancestor at the battle of Fredricksburg. This letter was written with such grace and compassion, that it brought tears to our eyes, some 130 years after it was penned. The soldier was writing to her grandfather letting him know he had some possessions that belonged to the Union man he had killed in that battle and wanted to return them.

Dave Dennis told an amazing story about meeting a long lost relative while trying to secure the needed signatures to have a recount done after losing a city council seat by just 40 votes. The woman was agonizing over what to do with her dead husband’s pocket watch. The watch belonged to Dave’s grandfather, as this woman’s husband had been Dave’s cousin. The watch had been treasured by Dave’s grandfather, a cop who walked the Corky Row beat for years. The sequence of events that led up to this gift of the watch is almost unbelievable, with so many different things having to line up to make it possible.

Al Lima brought a photo of his sister Rikki, and told a few stories about her. She died years ago from asthma when she was just 39.

Alan Amaral served up some tales of his Italian heritage and donated two copies of a book about the Italian immigrants in Fall River (which were immediately borrowed!).

Everett Castro brought in some really old images of the Quequechan and asked the assembled group to ID their current incarnation/location.

Mary Jane Walls brought in a WWI German bayonet she had found in the house she moved into.

Jim Mullins brought in a piece of the floor from the old city hall where his father was the tax collector and regaled us with humorous tales of his boyhood and the way things used to be.

I brought in a load of postcards of Fall River and a 1922 Planning book that had been commissioned to improve the look of the city. Some of this plan is actually in the new master plan. If only they had followed this plan back in 1922—Fall River would be such a different place!

It was a grand time had by all. There won’t be a meeting in December, as usual, but we will return again in the new year for our January meeting. If anyone would like to join us, we meet the third Wednesday of every month (but December) at 6:30 in the Fall River Public Library. Or you can join our mailing list by emailing us at fallriver(at)mac.com.

I have been waiting for this. For a year or more, Google maps had one road on their street view of Fall River: President Avenue.

Well, now they have mapped out a lot of the city (leaving out a great deal too, I might add). You can travel down Fall River’s streets and see the “for rent” signs, look at the deepening potholes, and feel saddened that the new courthouse doesn’t fit in with the architecture of the surrounding neighborhood.

One thing that I think is really cool about this, however, is that it looks like they came by 92 Second Street on August 4th! When you see that street view you see the tent in the side yard that is erected to offer visitors cookies and lemonade and a place to sit while waiting for a tour.

You also see people waiting outside for their tour and if you look very closely, you see a reenactor at the side door. Cool huh?

There have been so many events in the past few months centering on Lizzie Borden that I have been hearing folks say that they are in Lizzie Borden overload. Lectures, trial reenactments, plays . . . . and they are not yet over.

On November 19, the last trial reenactment will be held in Taunton. My tickets arrived yesterday. I wanted to see each one as they are different from one another—-the lawyers change which changes everything! The questions are not the same and the focus of the prosecution and defense reflects the change in council each performance.

But after the trial redux, I think that will be the end of Lizzie for 2009. Oh, I almost forgot, the next issue of The Hatchet will be out soon. Announcements to follow in a day or two.

WATCH JILL AS LIZZIE ON THE THE RHODE SHOW!

LIZZIE BORDEN LIVE !!!
THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE
Written & Performed by: Jill Dalton
Directed by: Jack McCullough
Music by: Larry Hochman
Lighting Design by: John P. Boomer

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

ALL HALLOWS’ EVE CELEBRATION

Saturday, October 31, 2009
8:00 pm
Doors open @ 7:00 pm
$ CASH BAR $
PRIZES & SURPRISES

The Eagle Performing Arts Center
35 North Main Street, 2nd flr
Fall River, MA 02720
Advance Tickets ~ $25.00
WWW.LIZZIEBORDENLIVE.COM
Click on “SCHEDULE ” or purchase at the door
or call the Eagle @ 508-989-9207

Costume Contest & Halloween Costume Parade after the show
1st Prize: One night stay in the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast. ( …if you DARE !!! )
2nd Prize: One year subscription to: The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies
Third prize: 2 tickets to the Providence Ghost Tour (good thru Nov 14th)
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…Think you know her?…Think again…
“Sweet, innocent, witty and savagely murderous”

JILL DALTON As: Lizzie Borden
Winner Jacoby Award: MOST OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

“The nod goes to Jill Dalton for her Lizzie Borden in “Lizzie Borden Live.” She runs the gamut of emotions in her performance from that of a mild Christian woman to a ruthless murderer. Her reenactment of the murder of her mother (it was my stepmother!) and father is a chilling scene in this play and Dalton, who also wrote the script, vividly brings it to the audience.”
Jacob Schaad Jr., The Cape May Gazette

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Fall River Mayor Robert Correia praised the play saying that it was powerful and
exceptionally performed.

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“If she was innocent, that was an incredible price to pay,” said Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, who attended the play with his wife. “If she was guilty, she got what she deserved. But it raises aspects and a side of this story I never had considered.”

Dalton is nothing less than superb in her depiction of the character, as her Lizzie is alternating sweet, innocent, witty and savagely murderous. The audience is left to decide which Lizzie is the real one.” Cape May Star Wave

“I heartily recommend you see Lizzie Borden Live. . . . complex and most interesting Lizzie, in the person of Jill Dalton. Cape May Star Wave

“Absorbing performance . . . Dalton runs the gamut of emotions from supposedly mild Christian woman to that of a ruthless murderer.” Cape May Gazette

“Everything from Jill’s facial features (like Lizzie herself) to the way her voice can change throughout the play makes for compelling and oddly sympathetic viewing.” Exit Zero

“Truly superb . . . the script is fascinating. Jill Dalton is an astonishingly talented actress – she changes her mood and characters in a split second. The play should get a Pulitzer.” Charles Alexander, writer for Time Magazine

“Miss Dalton’s performance is a tour de force” Richard Behrens, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies

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Produced by: Up the Hill Productions

Lizzie Borden Live was originally commissioned by: East Lynn Theater Company, Cape May, NJ

www.lizziebordenlive.com