Well, dear readers, we had us a high old time at OCSA in the County of Orange doing the Richard Sherman event. This is the third or fourth time we’ve done our little show and Richard and I have so much fun because we’re so much of a piece – he likes to say we’re the same person. We had a full house of energetic teens – the energy in the room was really powerful. I think they enjoyed Richard’s stories and I always have a few new questions to throw his way and we also go off on tangents, which is always fun. I know it wasn’t that comfortable for him, pain-wise, but I also know it was so good for him to feel the love in that room, to hear the cheers for his songs as if he’d written Hamilton, and it truly fed his soul, I believe.
The ride to Richard’s house was a nightmare. I took Coldwater Canyon, which should have had 0 traffic at the time I left. But halfway up to Mulholland things came to a complete standstill and it took twenty-five minutes to get from there to Mulholland – that should have taken about four minutes. Believe me, I was beginning to hyperventilate about then. Then there’s the short easterly jog over to where Coldwater continues south – and THAT was completely backed up. It took another five minutes to get to Coldwater south – should have taken thirty seconds. As soon as we began down the hill I saw the sign – “Work Ahead” – so these lousy, stinking cretins were doing that block one lane while the other goes and vice versa. They are morons, these people. As soon as I got down to that spot and they were actually allowing our side to move I could see that this was completely unnecessary – they didn’t have to block anything with what they were doing, which was working high up with the electrical stuff – and I don’t think it was even about that, I think it was a damn cable company. I was so angry that in a fit of pique I rolled down my window and screamed at the grinning gizmo gesturing that we could move forward – “Do you have any idea what you’ve done, what problems you’re causing?” Well, I had a few cherce expletives in there, too. He just grinned his gizmo grin as if to say, “Tough, we do what we want.” I really wanted to get out of my car and knock him on the damn ground.
From that point on, I got down to Sunset quickly and then to the Shermans, actually arriving exactly at the planned time. The car to take us got there five minutes later and we all go in – we had a great driver, Edgar, and plenty of room to keep our legs stretched out. I must say, Edgar laughed at anything that came out of my mouth. Surprisingly, there was not a lick of traffic all the way down to the OC – couldn’t believe it. So, we actually got there about twenty minutes earlier than planned. We were taken to the green room where we relaxed, and then I did a little sound check with our singers. Then we all got situated on stage and got Richard comfortable, then they let the kids in, and some donors, too. Susan Egan sang divinely and Bret Shuford (who was in Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang on Broadway) was excellent, too. I structure the questions and flow very carefully so everything has a forward trajectory, and the songs are dropped in at just the right moments. I sang my two usual numbers – Richard’s The Whimsy Works and our song, Two Roads. Then there was a brief Q&A, and then we ended, as we always do, with a sing-a-long – Feed the Birds and It’s a Small World.
After, a few people, mostly donors, were brought up for photo ops and stuff, and then about twenty minutes later we were back in the car and heading home. Most of the way traffic wasn’t bad at all. It only got bad as we approached the interchange for the 405 and the 10. We’d decided to have the driver take us to Factor’s so we could eat, but Elizabeth, and rightly so, felt the day had been long for Richard, so they dropped us at Factor’s and went home. Richard’s son Greg, Richard Allen, and I then stuffed ourselves full of pastrami, a little kishka, a potato pancake, and I had some rice pudding for a sweet. I was ready to burst by the end of the meal. Then we took a Lyft home – I’d never done that before. It was so simple and the ride was pleasant, we had a nice Ukranian young gal, and then I got my car and headed home.
Once home, I had a lot of e-mails to answer, and work to catch up on, which I did whilst listening to music. So, a very long but very fun day for all of us.
Today, I will hopefully cast this young boy for Levi, and I’ll hopefully find out about our final Kritzerland cast member. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, do some banking, have a brief visit with Grant Geissman, and then I’ll head over to LACC to have a meeting with my set designer and I’ll be taking home our set model to play with. After the meeting, I’ll probably go up to the House of Pies or somewhere around there and have my meal o’ the day. Then I go back to LACC to see whatever show they’re doing – Doug Haverty is meeting me there. Thankfully, the show lasts but fifty minutes, so I’ll be home by nine-fifteen. Oh, and there will be a new Indiegogo perk up this morning – two more copies of A Kiss Goodnight signed by Richard Sherman.
Tomorrow and the weekend are unknown to me, other than finishing the song choices and getting singers their music, figuring out the show order and writing commentary, and also relaxing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully cast the young boy for Levi, figure out our final cast member for Kritzerland, have a visit with Grant Geissman, do some banking, hopefully pick up packages, have a meeting, sup, and see a show. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could own any piece of movie memorabilia what would it be? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the Richard show was so much fun.