Well, dear readers, I have breaking bombshell news for you – today is the lucky sevens day, the 77 Sunset Strip day, the day someone around these here parts turns 77. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, and let us keep it a mystery no more – today is the 77th birthday of li’l ol’ me. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that 77 will be a year filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. But that’s not all. Today is also the day of the Kritzerand show, our annual holiday show, this time as a benefit for the Arboretum library. And frankly, isn’t that a lovely way to spend a birthday? I think it is. But while we’re still in the trombones year, namely 76, let’s catch up on yesterday, shall we? I got about six hours of sleep, I think, but stayed in bed for another hour, then got up, answered e-mails and got the living room set up for our stumble-through. Then everyone arrived right on time, and we began. It was really fun, lots of laughs when appropriate, a few of the usual lyric flubs, but everything worked and I’m hopeful we’ll have a nice show for everyone. After, I gave very few notes, everyone left, and I went and visited the ATM, then called the mail place, but there were only a couple of envelopes there, so they can wait until tomorrow. Then I came right back home and ordered fried catfish, lobster mac and cheese and yams for food. The two catfish files were very small, the yams were fine (and not much of a portion), but the lobster mac and cheese was really rank and I think rotten and I only took two bites before throwing it out. Then I sat on my couch and finished the movie I’d started. I went back fifteen minutes to get in the swing of it and in the end I thought it was a good movie with some terrific performances and really excellent direction. In fact, I’d say this director would be really good save for his choice of composer for this and other films – the score is so irritating, and the movie is just crying out for an actual film score – I kept thinking of Ennio Morricone and what he would have done. But visually, it’s very classical in its compositions and the photography is tops. The film is called Conclave and is about the attempts to choose the next Pope. Not as easy as you think, and in the end the choice comes with a surprise that I shall not reveal here. Ralph Fiennes is terrific, as is Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow and the others. There are few women in the film, the most important of which is played by Isabella Rossellini. I certainly can recommend it, especially this year.
After that, I got some cold sesame noodles, figuring I’d just eat a few as a snack and save the rest, but they weren’t too good. So, I ate very little and put the rest in the refrigerator. Then I dozed off for an hour or so, and here we are, feeling a little queasy and I hope those two little bites of mac and cheese aren’t messing with me.
Today, I’ll be up at eight-thirty, I’ll shave and shower and dress for the show, I’ll leave here at 9:45 and hopefully arrive at the Arboretum by 10:30. I’ll check out everything, then the cast arrives at 11:30 and we do our sound check for an hour or so. Then we can relax until show time. Doors will open at two, I’ll make sure my folks have good seats (we’re around 260 right now and I’m sure there’ll be walkups), and then I’ll just hang out with the cast until about fifteen minutes before the show. Then we do the show at two and after there’s a little birthday thing for Adrienne Stiefel and me at a nearby jernt. I’ll just hang out there for a little while, and then a few of us will go have a birthday meal somewhere fun. After that, home I come, and I will have a full report for you and hopefully with some photographic evidence.
Tomorrow will be ME day, just catching up on stuff, going to the mail place and enjoying the day and evening. Tuesday, I’m being taken out for a belated birthday dinner, Wednesday I get my new permanent crown, after which I take the motor car to the body shop and get a time estimate on the fix-it job. If it’s longer than three weeks, I’ll try to find someplace that has got good ratings and see if they can do it in three weeks. The rest of the week will be doing whatever needs doing and then I’m on vacation until the New Year – not going anywhere but not working.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up at 8:30, shave and shower and dress for the show, be on my way to the Arboretum, make sure everything is as it should be, do a sound check, do our show, attend a little birthday thing, and then have a birthday dinner. 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, as I begin the lucky sevens year of 77.