Well, dear readers, it is quite late, and my energy is waning, but that shan’t stop me from waxing enthusiastic about this day and evening’s nice bits. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I shall be waxing even as I’m waning. Every time I use the word waning I feel like Elmer Fudd. I always thought Elmer Fudd would make a great Henry Higgins. The wane is Spain stays mainwy on the pwain. Oh, now you see what I’ve done? Now I just want to write the entire notes in Elmer Fudd lingo. Don’t worry, I won’t, but I’m sorely tempted. In any case, it is quite late and I have a lot to say, and I shall now wax even as I wane. Yesterday was another non-stop day filled with merriment and mirth and laughter and legs, as well as the usual few annoyances. I got up early, answered e-mails, made telephonic calls, had a meeting with CD lady, and then had to hie myself to LACC for a meeting with the president of the Foundation. That went well, and then I had to hie myself back home, where I continued to make telephonic calls and answer e-mails. I then had to hie myself to rehearsal with Joan Ryan, our first staging rehearsal with John Boswell in attendance. We still used our rehearsal CD, but we set most of the patter underscore, and we ran all of act two, which, I must say, works really well, save for our ongoing battling over her penultimate song – I’m not backing down, and she knows it, so she’s just going to have to do it and when she does and finally commits to it, it will be like all the other songs that we’ve battled about for four months – they become her favorites. Her final song (prior to her encore) was going to be her old warhorse, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, but I just hate the arrangement and almost everything about it. She’s been telling me for weeks how much her husband wants her to sing Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home, so I threw out On A Clear Day, and we’re doing Home in its place. It will work much better. After rehearsal, I began the incredibly long drive to deep Culver City to sup with Miss Liz Larsen and her ever-lovin’ Sal Viviano. Rather than brave the 405, I took Benedict Canyon over the hill, and shockingly, there was absolutely no traffic. At Olympic, I cut over to Overland, and took that all the way south into deep Culver City. The drive took an hour, but it could’ve taken a whole lot longer. Funnily, I had a message from Liz asking where I was – she’d misunderstood the time and thought I was going to be there at six, not seven. I got there right on time at seven.
I had the most delightful time I’ve had in ages. They have a cute house (a relative left it to them), and I was delighted to find Mr. Jason Graae and his ever-lovin’ in attendance, as was Jason’s new dog, Roy. Liz had made an assortment of wonderful dishes – pasta with red sauce and turkey meatballs, a pasta and vegetable salad (out of this world), great chicken salad, some cheeses, and home made chicken nuggets (also out of this world). We dined on the patio and the conversation was wild, wacky, and pretty hilarious. Everyone was waxing nostalgic over all the albums we did back in the day, and how people show up at their concerts with all those CDs for them to sign. We all realized just how special that whole time was – unique and wonderful, with a real honest to goodness rep group of singers. I hope to someday get back to doing that sort of album – I really and truly miss it, and the likes of these singers. After dinner, we retired to the living room, where the adults and Liz and Sal’s two adorable sons played Celebrity. I was the “timer” so just watched everyone play, and it was a lot of fun and the laughter was long and loud, not necessarily in that order. The whole evening was a delight, and the Vivianos were perfect hosts. And Jason and I are just so on the same wavelength, humor-wise, that we were just howling with laughter the entire evening. After that, I came home, but could not sit on my couch like so much fish, since I had to start writing these here notes. I still have to catch up on the plethora of postings.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, as Elmer Fudd would say, it’s weally weally late and I must get my beauty sweep.
Today, I have an early-morning rehearsal with Joan and Bos – we’ll run the entire show from start to finish without stopping. After that, I must come home and hopefully the Milla CDs will be here and I’ll get those shipped out pronto. Then I have some letter writing to do, some telephonic calls to make, a trip to book, and a whole lot of whatnot.
After all that, I’ll then be on my way to Mr. Grant Geissman’s home environment, where I’ll spend a few hours watching as he begins the book design of Murder At Hollywood High. I’m really looking forward to that, I must say.
Tomorrow is yet another wacky day – a meeting with Charles Fox, a rehearsal with Miss Ryan, and then, hopefully, a small dinner and then the watching of some DVDs.
Now wait just a darned minute. Let’s put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s dance the Hora and the Monkey, for today is the actual birthday of our very own actual Cillaliz. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own actual Cillaliz. On the count of three – one, two, three: A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN ACTUAL CILLALIZ!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, rehearse, do errands and whatnot, and then design a book. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite party games – the ones that are really fun and funny and wacky, and the ones that are just intellectually stimulating? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as the waning takes over from the waxing.