Well, dear readers, it’s quite late so I must write these here notes in a hurry so let me just dive in with gusto and verve and vim and vigor, not necessarily in that order. Last night, I was in the Springs of Palm seeing my wonderful, long-time friend Cindy Williams in her new one-person show. Robert Yacko came along, and we had a fine time. I was irked that it was a very small audience – about sixty people, but boy did they have a good time, and I hope that the publicity team really figures out how to sell this so that she has the full houses she deserves. The show itself is kind of a cross between a show show and one of those kinds of shows where a celebrity speaks and shows clips. The piece of special material I wrote for her landed wonderfully – hefty mitts from all. They had ten minutes of pre-show clips, too, and I was in the first of them, one of the musical numbers we did with Donny and Marie. I’m in a few other clips, too, although there’s no Nudie Musical stuff and I understand why – older audiences who might not appreciate something quite that raunchy. A good portion of the show is of course devoted to Laverne and Shirley and those clips show instantly that she was and is one of the best comic actors of our time, and that rare comedienne who can do physical comedy with the best of them. They don’t make ‘em like her anymore, they just don’t. Nor do they even understand the mechanics of what makes great physical comedy. Show ran about two hours with a little Q&A at the end. We did get to see her after the show. Robert had never met her. I do love this woman hugely – we have sooooo much history together, most of which is chronicled in There’s Mel, There’s Woody, and There’s You – we’ve been close as close can be since we were seventeen and began LACC together. All the shows we did there, all our adventures, and then Nudie Musical and all the TV stuff we did together, including three episodes of her show.
Yesterday was Friday, in case anyone didn’t remember. I got eight hours of sleep, got up, went to Staples and picked up the printout of the book, made a quick trip to the ATM, and then came home and got ready for the long drive to Palm Springs. That drive took three hours due to ridiculous traffic and the fact that for a good portion of the trip they are stupidly doing a bunch of work on the freeway and its usual five lanes have been reduced to two – add to that two or three accidents and that equals three hours. We got to the restaurant at four-thirty.
It was called Lulu’s and it was pretty good. I had a wedge salad and meatloaf, and Robert had some chicken dish. After that, we moseyed on over to the theater and picked up our tickets to the show, then took a nice walk. Then it was back to the theater, Cindy’s assistant found us and told us where to wait after the show.
Then we saw the show and afterwards saw Cindy. That was fun, and then we were on our merry way home, which did not take three hours or even two hours – it took exactly one hour and forty minutes. Here is an actual photograph of Cindy with li’l ol’ me and li’l ol’ Robert.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven-thirty at the latest, I’ll shave and shower, set up the room for our stumble-through, and then at two o’clock we do it. After, I’ll give whatever notes I have and we’ll run anything we need to run, and then I’ll sup afterwards. Then I’ll come home and rest my weary bones and voice and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll relax and rest my voice, get ready, and then mosey on over to Vitello’s for sound check and then we do our show. I’m sure some of us will go downstairs after for some food. I will, of course, have a full report and a few photographs. Then on Monday, we’ll be shipping CDs like crazy, I’ll be doing a lot of writing on the project with David Wechter, I’ll be proofing the new book, entering whatever corrections I have and then getting the book to the other proofers, a few meetings and meals, so a busy little week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven-thirty at the latest, shave and shower, set up the room, have a stumble-through, give notes, run anything we need to, sup, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of Cindy Williams and favorite episodes of her show? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, always happy to see Cindy and happy to have seen her new show.