News of the Weird - Feb. 10, 2007

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

“I’ve always had the desire to play (the cello) naked,” said Ms. Jesse Hale, a music major at Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.) and member of the CJ Boyd Sexxxtet of nude cellists who play their experimental, chant-like songs in concert around the country. Hale, who says she’s been playing naked since sixth grade, explained to Austin Peay’s newspaper in September that cellists “make full body contact with (their) instrument,” and their legs even “wrap” around it so that “(i)t just feels natural.”

The magazine Time Out New York reported on the “artistic palettes” of the Sprinkle Brigade of artists who dress up dog droppings on New York City streets with glittering candy bits and colorful toothpicks, for “urban beautification.”

British performance artist Ian Thorley, working on grants from several local councils, did a week’s stint on an Ashington street, stepping onto and off of a doormat while wearing a badge identifying him as a government doormat tester.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or [email protected] or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD