Well, dear readers, perhaps the road to recovery has arrived. Yesterday was the first day and evening where I felt a little better, with no relapses or annoying symptoms, other than the occasional coughing. Here’s hoping that continues today, as well. As I did yesterday, I had a rehearsal scheduled for today, which I canceled, so that I can make sure I’m as well as can be before the big busy rest of the week happens. I must say, I am so bored of being cooped up, but one more day shan’t hurt me, especially if it insures that I’m completely over this hideous thing. I advise everyone to do whatever possible to avoid this flu like the plague – in fact, I believe it IS the plague, thanks to my conspiracy theories about the government’s inducing it. Interestingly, I am not alone in those thoughts. Speaking of those thoughts, yesterday was a day in which I only left the house twice, once to get food, and once to pick up mail. I got up in the morning after having slept an unbelievable twelve hours (I went to bed at ten and awoke at ten). At around eleven-thirty I decided I was feeling up to a long jog, so I did a long jog, which was actually more of a power walk than a jog. It felt good, and my back was actually well behaved until the last couple of blocks, and even then it wasn’t too bad. I then did some work on the computer, answered some e-mails, and had a couple of short telephonic conversations. I then went to Gelson’s and got some turkey and ham, some rye bread, some tomatoes, cucumber, and onion, and some of their deli’s really good Righteous Red Potato Salad. I then came home, made one ham and one turkey sandwich, and had about half the potato salad, which was a small portion to begin with. For dessert, I had about seven pieces of chocolate licorice. Later, I went to pick up three packages and a couple of letters at the mail place. I also got word that the Laurette CDs could possibly be delivered today, which was excellent news. Much later, around six-thirty, I cut up some tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion and put them in vinegar with a little salt and pepper and ate that – it was really a huge portion and it really hit the spot. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched more Dragnet episodes. For the entire last week there has not been one movie I’ve wanted to TIVO and I haven’t really been out to acquire any DVDs. So, it’s been these Dragnet episodes, which, as you know, I’m really enjoying. In the ones I watched, the wonderful Carolyn Jones (here billed as Caroline) made two appearances. And I have such great face radar, that I instantly recognized an actor in one episode as the actor would go on to play the disgusting Bob Ewell in To Kill A Mockingbird. It was a little confusing, since I knew that the actor’s name was James Anderson. In the Dragnet episode he was billed as Kyle James, but a little imdb check revealed that it was indeed him, prior to his getting an entire new set of upper teeth. I must say, it’s pretty amazing that Jack Webb directed every single episode of this show, and did a pretty great job doing so. He’s very creative, and I’m sure this show was shot in three or four days. And his by-play with Ben Alexander gets better and better – some of it is laugh out loud funny, especially when Ben has the answers for whatever pain is ailing Joe Friday, whether it’s an impacted wisdom tooth or a terrible headache. It almost looks like Webb has trouble keeping a straight face during their exchanges. It’s a real shame that this series has never had a legitimate DVD (or video) release. There are copyright notices on every episode, and yet these all appear to be in the public domain. But I’m pretty sure that Mark VII Productions was Mr. Webb’s company, and he was a pretty savvy businessman, so I’m surprised the Webb estate has never made a deal on this show – one would hope they’d have access to good source materials, but then again, who knows. I must say, I’m an unabashed fan of Mr. Webb’s and I also like the films he directed, most especially, The Last Time I Saw Archie. I know it’s fashionable to poke fun at him, but he was a good actor and a better director, and Dragnet really was one of the most influential television shows in the history of television.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, whilst we ponder the irony of watching Detective Joe Friday on a Monday.
Today, I shall do the long jog only if I’m feeling up to it – if not, I shan’t. Other than that, I only have a couple of small errands to do, and then I’ll just sit at home, write booklet notes for our upcoming release, and eat something fun. I’ll probably watch more episodes of Dragnet, and move on to some of the other old TV shows included in this twelve disc set.
Tomorrow at ten, we begin extensive rehearsals for the Kevin and Sean show. For our LA contingent, if you haven’t booked your tickets for next Monday night’s concert, get off your complacent butt cheeks and do so – it’s going to be a really fun night. We’ll be rehearsing every day straight through to the show. Tomorrow is a long day, from ten to three. Other days are slightly shorter, which is good. I only have one thing I need to do in the evening this week and that’s tomorrow night, when I’ll be attending the opening night of the play at LACC. There is an opening night at the Pasadena Playhouse on Friday – for some reason the invitation just arrived last Friday, which is really late, so I’ll have to see how I’m feeling. I may RSVP today.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, maybe do a long jog, write, do a couple of quick errands, and, if CDs arrive, get them all packaged up and ready to ship – if they come early enough, I may, in fact, drive them over to the post office. Today’s topic of discussion: I’d like to know where you’ve had the best of the following items – not home made, but at restaurants or brands you can purchase – potato salad, macaroni salad, seafood salad, cole slaw, and other dishes like them. What made them so great, can you still have them, all of it. Then, if you do homemade versions of any of them, what’s your secret recipe? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I watch more episodes of Joe Friday on a Tuesday.