Pinky Diablo is a Dallas area based preacher, retired zoo keeper, and trouble-maker for hire. Pinky has just left the zoo and will be making his mark in other ways around the metroplex.
March 30, 2008
Don't Laugh--Pinky Often suffers from This Malady
Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Taranto, Italy was hit by a dance craze unlike any other. The town was afflicted by a malady that would come to be known as "tarantism" and was characterized by a hysterical impulse to dance. Some people claimed tarantism was caused by the bite of the European wolf spider, which is also known as the tarantula (and is also named after Taranto); such folks declared that dancing off the venom was the only cure. Musicians supposedly traveled to the region to help cure the epidemic, and some believe that the Italian folk dance called the "tarantella" resulted from the craze (though it is also possible that the name of that dance derived independently from "Taranto" and has no connection with "tarantism").
Pinky has retired from the zoo to work on his opera "The Zoo Keeper's Lament" and to embroider baby chicks and dirty words on pillowcases. Email Pinky immediately if you are an opera producer, investor, scene designer, costume designer or composer.Pinky has the original blog at www.oneandonlypinky.blogspot.com and now has a new marketplace blog www.pinkydiablo.blogspot.com where you can purchase Pinky's newest and hottest paintings of skeletons and hell.
Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Taranto, Italy was hit by a dance craze unlike any other. The town was afflicted by a malady that would come to be known as "tarantism" and was characterized by a hysterical impulse to dance. Some people claimed tarantism was caused by the bite of the European wolf spider, which is also known as the tarantula (and is also named after Taranto); such folks declared that dancing off the venom was the only cure. Musicians supposedly traveled to the region to help cure the epidemic, and some believe that the Italian folk dance called the "tarantella" resulted from the craze (though it is also possible that the name of that dance derived independently from "Taranto" and has no connection with "tarantism").
