Well, dear readers, it is November. Can you believe it? 2012 is almost through. This year has flown by, like a gazelle doing Pilates. Does anyone still do Pilates or has that already gone the way of the dodo bird? But before we go any further, let me just say here and now and also now and here that it is my fervent hope and prayer that November will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Speaking of the dodo bird and things going the way of, apparently cupcakes, the hottest, trendiest thing for the last couple of years, has now gone the way of the dodo bird. The very good cupcake place in the little mall where my mail place is has finally disappeared. And so have almost all the other cupcake jernts that popped up everywhere. It’s like Krispy Kreme – they have their moment, sometimes the moment lasts for a few years, but people just move on to whatever else is hip and trendy, which is now, as I understand it, pie. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Yesterday has now gone the way of the dodo bird, but it was a thoroughly fun day and a fine way to leave October and begin November. I got up at nine, the helper came soon thereafter, and then I did some work on the computer, then got ready to go to a little rehearsal at Jason Graae’s home environment. The little group he put together for the Halloween concert for his mom’s retirement home was a fun bunch – pianist John Randall, Jason, Heather Lee, Susanne Blakeslee, Liz Larsen, Diane Pancel, and me. We all ran our numbers, and it was great to see Liz, who I haven’t seen in five years, and Heather and Susanne – John Randall I haven’t seen since he played the Nudie Musical staged reading. Then we all moseyed on over to the Evergreen Retirement Home. I have to say that Jason’s doing this for them is so heartwarming and sweet, and the folks there love him and love that he brings in entertainment for them. The little concert lasted about forty minutes, and our duet went over really well, with lots o’ laughs. After, I hugged Jason’s mommy, and then a really nice lady came up to me and asked if I remembered her – it took me just a second to realize it was David Wechter’s dad’s sister, who I used to see at all the Wechter events. I gave her a big hug and I know she was happy to see me. I don’t know if it’s a happy place for her but I surely hope so. It just felt great to be there and do this and I’d do it again anytime.
After, we all went over to Mo’s and I had a really yummilicious quesadilla. We gabbed, and happily Heather and Liz and Diane and John are all coming to the Kritzerland show on Sunday, so that’s fun. I think we’re now close to seventy people, so if the cast ends up having friends, we could be close to a sellout again. Then I picked up one package and came home. I got all the candy ready for the onslaught of trick or treaters. Last year I have out around six hundred candies. This year, for whatever reason, was a lot slower – oh, we still had a lot of kids and I probably gave out three hundred pieces of candy, but maybe there’s now another neighborhood that’s popular with the populace for Halloween. The kids and costumes were adorable. Then Angel Reda (she was in the last Kritzerland show) came by with her friend – she was on her way to a huge costume party at LACMA – she was in a VERY skimpy Little Bo Peep affair and let me tell you that every pair of male eyes and probably many female eyes will have been on her – she is spectacularly beautiful and tall and lithe – I’m sure she was probably the belle of the ball.
By that time it was already nine, so I sat on my couch like so much fish and checked out some more of the Hitchcock box set transfers. It’s definitely more miss than hit so far, but as I watch each film I’ll go into much more detail. The two real winners in the set so far are Vertigo and The Birds. Then I watched about thirty minutes of the new Blu and Ray of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. It and Virginia Woolf are my favorite plays, and I’ve had Long Day’s Journey on VHS and DVD, but never watched either because they were not in the proper ratio. Finally this Blu-ray sets that right and it’s a very nice transfer and I just love the movie. I saw it six or seven times during its initial run and it had a VERY interesting initial run in LA. Instead of opening at a movie theater, they opened it at a playhouse, namely the Huntington Hartford. They installed a screen and projectors and it worked very well there. I believe that’s the only time that ever happened there. It’s a VERY long film (almost three hours) so hopefully I can finish it tonight.
After that, I listened to one of our new masters, which is superb, took two aspirin for a little headache that will hopefully take a hike soon, and made two fried eggs as my snack (I’d only eaten the quesadilla all day) and had some of the bite-sized candies. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I can hopefully sleep in a bit, then I will absolutely jog, then eat something light but amusing, then we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal. I’ll also hopefully pick up some packages, and do a couple of errands and whatnot, and send our latest cast member his material for one of the upcoming Outside The Box episodes – his name is John Sloman and he’s done a lot of TV (including a nice recurring role on Mad Men) and Broadway. We’re thrilled to have him and now that I do I can finish casting the other three parts.
Tomorrow is relatively free, which is great as I won’t have a day off for some time. But I do have to write two sets of liner notes, and I do want to finish casting the December Kritzerland holiday show – I’ve actually already cast two gals, so it’s just one more gal and two guys and a guest star. Saturday is our stumble-through and directly after that I go to Book Soup for a signing. I have no idea if we’re going to have more than two people attending, but I surely hope we have at least ten to fifteen or it will be a little depressing. The unknown is whether anyone will come from the bookstores’ clientele. Then Sunday is our sound check, the it’s the premiere of episode one of season two’s Outside The Box, followed by show time.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, have a rehearsal, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first date you ever had – who was it with and where did you go? Let’s have loads of lovely topics, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland happy to welcome in November and let me just say again that it is my fervent hope and prayer that November will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.