Well, dear readers, it is quite late and I must now write these here notes in a hurry because I’ve got another long day today. So, it was a very long day but had some fun elements. I love when a day has fun elements, don’t you? It’s much preferable to a day that has some dreary elements. Yesterday had no dreary elements. I got up just before she of the Evil Eye arrived. Then I moseyed on over to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for the book fair. There were more dealers than usual, but far less people than I’ve ever seen at one of these – to say attendance was sparse would be a gross understatement. That was nice for those who were there – no elbowing people shoving you aside or hogging space. I first visited my friend Craig Graham, who owns Vagabond Books. He gave me a copy of his newly published book of poetry. His daughter Katie was there – she was a Kritzerland helper for a couple of months about three years ago. We gabbed for a while and then I began making my rounds of the dealer booths. As always, there were some truly collectible and pretty books on the various and sundried shelves and in glass cases. And, as always, the prices continue to go up as the economy continues to go down. There’s a real disconnect in the book collecting world. I saw some real beauties, which is always the fun of perusing these shows. Dealer Peter Stern had his gorgeous “as new” copy of Elmer Gantry, which I lust after at every show. Marked at $15,000, he will never sell it. The book has never been all that valuable, nice copies usually going for two to three thousand dollars. I do understand that this particular copy is probably the finest anywhere, but he’s so far out of the stratosphere that anyone who purchased at that price would undoubtedly lose a great deal of money if they ever wanted to cash out. It’s a spectacularly beautiful copy but sorry, it’s worth nowhere near that, which is why he’s now had it at every book show for the last two years.
There were a couple of copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, both priced over $20,000. There were a lot of books priced more reasonably, but certainly there were no real bargains there, even with the usual discounts dealers will give. I spent about three or four hours looking around – but most of the big stuff will be at the San Francisco book fair in a week – that’s where dealers from all over the world come – probably over two hundred of them, and if I had the time or inclination I might even go up there, as those big fairs are really fun.
After that, I came home, did some work on the computer, answered e-mails, picked up a couple of packages, then moseyed on over to Barry Pearl’s. Then he, his ever-lovin’ Cindy, and I drove to Palos Verdes, where he’s doing his show. We went to a barbecue jernt he likes. We should have arrived there at five-fifteen, but thanks to a rather stupid traffic accident on the 405 (what else is new), we didn’t get to the restaurant until a little after six. Then there was a twenty-minute wait and then we were seated. We ordered quickly, got our food, and did manage to get out of there by seven-fifteen. It wasn’t the best barbecue I’ve ever had, but my pulled pork sandwich was excellent, and I had a teeny-tiny side of mac-and-cheese that was quite good. Then we moseyed on over to the Norris Theater to see Barry in Neil Simon’s Proposals.
I’d never seen Neil Simon’s Proposals, a play from 1997 – it’s funny that all three of his one-word title plays were not really successful – Rumors, Fools, and Proposals. Proposals was, for its time, the fastest fold of any Simon play – only seventy-seven performances. The reviews were respectful and after seeing the play I’d say they were more than respectful, which is odd because, for me, it’s really not a good play at all. Proposals is a strange beast – it begins as a memory play where you think it’s going to be about an African-American housekeeper. But it never really turns into that, at least not in this production. At times it’s like Tennessee Williams, at times like William Inge and at times like pure Neil Simon. It seems to want to be three different plays and therein lies the problem. A memory play, a family play, and a Neil Simon farce with larger-than-life comic characters – and it just doesn’t work. The laughs are only sporadic, and the drama isn’t sufficient to sustain interest. Then suddenly a character comes on who’s filled with Simon malaprops – it’s suddenly like Guys and Dolls, and while there are definitely some good Simon laughs in those scenes, it just makes the rest of the play seen even weirder.
Barry was very good, as were some of the other actors. But the production itself never seems to find its footing – the tone is unclear, the pace, which is key when you’re doing Simon, is off and everything is just played too far upstage for its own good. The theater itself is lovely. The Saturday night performance was only about half-filled.
After the show, we did the long drive home, and then I came home. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get as much beauty sleep as possible.
Today, I shall be up early and at The Federal by eleven. They serve some kind of buffet for the judges, and then at noon we judge the finals for the LA’s Next Great Stage Star competition. We’ll hear twenty singers, then we turn in our voting sheets, and then they whittle it down to five finalists, who then sing another song. Then we turn in our final voting sheets and from those they choose the winner. Last year when I did it, it was so long that I finally had to leave right after turning in my final vote. They tell us we’ll be out by three – and I am doubtful we will. After that, I have a dinner.
Tomorrow and the entire week, I have to lock in our final cast member (I think we’ve done so – just waiting for confirmation), and gather all the music together for our cast. Then I have several meetings and meals and lots of errands and whatnot and then a couple of shows to see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, judge a singing contest and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream dreams with fun elements.