Replies: 58 Unseemly Comments
I enjoyed going barefoot, eating watermelon in the back yard; churning ice cream with my parents on a warm summer evening.
I loved visiting relatives in the same sleepy southern town where my mother now lives -- acres and acres of peach trees, pecan trees, and fields of cotton as far as one could see were the emblems of summer -- that, plus the chemicals in the air - the chemicals that were sprayed at night; the odor of which lingered in the air during the day. And one's first exposure almost always resulted in a case of pink eye.
We'd also go to "the beach" each summer -- and it was always Daytona Beach with miles and miles of beaches -- beaches on which you could (and can, still, to this day) drive your car.
And there would always be a long weekend in Asheville, NC, visiting my Aunt Belle and Uncle George -- with warm days and very cool nights and trips through the mountains and wading in rushing streams.
Ah...my long vanished, wonderful youth!
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/10/2003 09:12 AM PST
What a wonderful topic.
I liked to spend a few weeks staying with my cousin Lana - we gave all kinds of lessons in the morning - baton, gymnastics, tap and jazz - and then spent the afternoon in the pool. Always went home with lots of money....50 cents a lesson adds up!
Other times I would spend hours reading comic books and Mad magazine under the trees outside. Stay up late watching movies until the TV stations signed off.
Using the world's longest extension cord, I could take my record player outside and play my favorite tunes al fresco.
And whichever cousins came to stay with us - we would do an original play with music to entertain our parents!
We went to the drive in nearly every weekend. Sometimes I would read my school books for the next year so I never had to do it when it was required.
Also went to little league games my brother played and mowed the yard. Typical stuff that seemed boring and difficult at the time, but I miss it now.
Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/10/2003 09:23 AM PST
Oh - and most important - write endless numbers of fan letters to tv and film stars and wait by the mailbox each day for replies.
Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/10/2003 09:24 AM PST
Just thought you might be interested in some of yesterday's stats for this here site - we had close to 28,000 "hits", we had over nine hundred "visits" and the joint was jumpin'. Congrats to one and all and also all and one.
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 09:28 AM PST
Hey BK, have you tried ear plugs? I bet they would help.
Btw, sorry I disappeared from the chat without word. We had thunderstorms and had a power failure (which totally sucks late at night).
Posted by Jennifer @ 06/10/2003 09:50 AM PST
Hello all. . . long time, no post.
Summer was always full of
workshops and classes. . .
orchestra, painting all that sort
of stuff. And a couple of weeks
of camp in Northern Illinois.
Ahhhhhh. . .
A little news of myself: I have
just been cast as Head
Mistress / Ahab in Moby Dick!
The Musical.
Cheers.
Posted by Kurt @ 06/10/2003 09:55 AM PST
Ah, summers back as a teenager. In my early teens I spent the summers making my 8mm home movies (I was the president of Galaxy Productions and the rival studio was Courier Productions which was run by my best friend David Courier...both based in that great tinsletown Central Point, Oregon!) Some of my most popular titles released in the 1977/78 season were VOGORAN, MONSTER FROM BELOW, VOGORAN VS. AZILLAM, DAY OF THE DINOSAURS, and the hilarious comedy THE GOTTOLOP!
As I got older my favorite summer thing was to become a night owl and watch old movies and tv shows until about 6 am. That is when I first saw such films as ATTACK OF THE 50 FT WOMAN and THE WASP WOMAN. I would watch the movies whilst dining on Smack Ramaan and Pepsi and talking on the phone with my buddy David who was doing the same as I. Those were the days!
Posted by MBarnum @ 06/10/2003 10:17 AM PST
As I recall, I spent long summer hours watching tacky tv game shows. Way back then on the Price is Right the new car prices always began with a "2" -- well, they still do, but back then there were only four digits in the price instead of five!
It's too hot to spend time outside here, unless you had a pool, which we did not.
Posted by Laura @ 06/10/2003 10:30 AM PST
Ordered my copy of Benjamin Kritzer last night...can't wait to read it!
Summer memories...well, I left adolescence just last year so they aren't all that distant, but they are mostly sweet. Nothing so bucolic as raspberry-picking, but my summers were defined by vacations. Every summer my family would visit my grandmother in Queens, and I remember the sense of exaltation as we approached Manhattan and I saw the skyline...then the wonder of seeing the city, the billboards and megastores and throngs of people, as we drove into the Lincoln Tunnel. I remember visiting my relatives in Dallas and the vast, clear Texas sky, and I remember our forays to Rehobeth Beach and the time I was nearly swept out to sea. I swam too far out and the tide carried me about half a mile away from my worried parents.
And when I wasn't vacationing, there was armchair-travel...I read a lot of books.
Posted by Maya @ 06/10/2003 11:07 AM PST
Where did you order it from?
Where in tarnation IS everyone?
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 11:13 AM PST
I ordered from Amazon..I was having trouble ordering it from this site...it kept giving me some weird message that my billing info was wrong.
Posted by Maya @ 06/10/2003 11:19 AM PST
Brent Barrett is even better looking and a better singer in person than on any CD (and his BK-produced CDs are excellent). Because of the large cast in Broadway by the Year 1960, Brent only did a few numbers. The best of these was "I'll Never Say No" from MOLLY BROWN which Brent did without a mike! His rendition of the title song from CAMELOT sounded great but he did some very strange moves and gestures which, I assume, were from the Papermill staging where he recently played Arthur (and where these strange moves by the entire cast were mentioned in the reviews). Yet as great as Brent was, most of the rest of the cast was his equal. Two other singers who BK has recorded --- Liz Larsen and Marc Kudisch --- were part of the cast and each had their own higllights. Marc also sang two numbers unmiked and he recreated the role of Conrad Birdie which he did on tour and television. He can still shake those hips. Liz, in a succesion of beautiful gowns, sang everything from "Irma, La Douce" to "I Ain't Down Yet" and made each song her own. In addition to the performers who BK has recorded were four other singers. Tovah Feldshuh (on a night off from playing Golda Mayer) brought the house down with her rendition of "Kids". Lisa Vroman has a beautiful voice but it was wrong for much of the material she sang, and Brent totally overpowered her in their duet of "Fireworks". Douglas Ladnier sang well, but looked like he would have been more at home in a Vegas lounge than on the stage of Town Hall. But the big surprise of the evening was Eddie Korbich, a performer who has a lot of credits but is still fairly unknown. Anyone who can stop a show twice with numbers as varied as BIRDIE's "Put On A Happy Face" and DO RE MI's "Late Late Show" --- not to mention every number he was in --- should be someone to watch for.
Since I got home late I missed most of chat but I did have a lovely conversation with Maya who makes a nice addition to HHW. As much as I enjoy the group chats, it's also a lot of fun to have a one-on-one chat with another Hainsie or Kimlet. Actually there was a lurker in the room for the whole time Maya and I were chatting - TCB. He/she did not add even one comment to the conversation.
The final word (at least from me) on the Tonys. It was the lowest rated Tony Show since they began being broadcast nationally in the late 60s. However the good thing is that CBS only had 10 calls and 68 e-mails complaining about "the kiss". Of course most people who would have complained were busy watching the basketball game.
Posted by William E. Lurie @ 06/10/2003 11:27 AM PST
BK - looks like Appassionata Von Climax and Mammy Yokum are both going to be that Courts show with you and Susan!
Don't that take the rag offen the bush?
Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/10/2003 12:12 PM PST
DR MBarnum after reading about your summer - you MUST read Kritzerland! YOU MUST!!
Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/10/2003 12:32 PM PST
DR William E. Lurie - Well, I have been called a lot of things in my time, but a lurker is not one of them. I was in chat for about an hour last night and I talked to everyone there, including Maya and BK. I think there was still eight or nine people there when I signed off. When I left I said goodnight to everyone. I don't recall that you were even in the chatroom when I was there. Perhaps you signed on just as I signed off and my name stayed on your list. But I assure you, that I am not a lurker!
Posted by TCB @ 06/10/2003 12:58 PM PST
TCB - Your name was in the Users list when I logged on and stayed there until I logged off. Usually when someone logs off their name leaves the list. I'm sorry to have called you a lurker, but based on the list of people logged on that's how it appeared.
Posted by William E. Lurie @ 06/10/2003 01:08 PM PST
Indeed! TCB must definitely did not lurk. He and I had a great chat, in addition to his keeping up with other conversations. It's quite possible his name stayed after he left.
R
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/10/2003 01:12 PM PST
Thank you, Ron for the testimonial.
Posted by TCB @ 06/10/2003 02:06 PM PST
Hearing Eddie hit those impossible high notes in ASSASSINS left no doubt in my mind he has a super voice. Wish I could have heard him.
My town had a summer swimming team, and I spent my summers swimming on it (freestyle and backstroke). Also, once I got my driver's license, I had to work for my dad. He owned a jewelry store, and I spent a good part of every summer (especially June) delivering wedding gifts around town. I also worked in the back room of the store wrapping wedding gifts and polishing silver for the store. I despised waiting on customers, so that was a reasonable compromise.
Posted by Matt H. @ 06/10/2003 02:10 PM PST
I'd rather not talk about what we did over summer break. It involved traveling in a small camper with my annoying brother all over the country to visit my father's (crazy) relatives.
Posted by Sandra @ 06/10/2003 02:34 PM PST
Much of my teenage summers
were spent doing various and
sundried chores at my
grandparent's house. Painting
their house, all sorts of yard
and garden work, etc etc etc.
But when it comes to actually
ENJOYABLE summer
activities, many fun times
spent with friends, whether
enjoying the sun at the lake, or
sitting about like so much fish
avoiding the heat. Also
attended a jazz camp three
summers and had a grand ol'
time. My favorite family
vacations were when we
would head off to the Oregon
coast... just love the area
around Yachats.
Since I graduated HS (in '98),
my summers have been spent
with a summer stock
company. I didn't expect to be
involved with them this
summer, but the job market is
a bit slow this year (state
budget woes not a good thing
for new teachers), so I've been
pulled into minimal service for
however long I'm still in town
this summer. Basically
serving as human scenery
with one line (I'm portraying a
Nazi and a party guest in
Sound of Music), but it gives
me something to do on show
nights, and an excuse to
spend more time with my
friends in the cast.
Posted by Jed @ 06/10/2003 02:42 PM PST
Summers were not for relaxing. They were for swimming, playing tennis and reading.
When I was younger I went to numerous camps. From a young age, since I went with my older brother and sister, I went away to camp. The overnight camps were great fun and always had horses. Later I went to Tacaloma Day Camp, the last year as a junior counselor.
We often went to the Santa Monica beach where we rented rafts and rode the waves. On multiple occasions I swam to the end of the pier and back, something I could never do today. Pacific Ocean Park was another popular place in the summer. My mother always talked me out of going on the large roller coaster. It wasn't until high school that I finally had my one and only experience on it. As the roller coaster went down the big hill, I began to fly up out of the car. Fortunately I was with Keith and he pulled me back down and held onto me. When my group of friends (I believe Penny was one of them) wanted to stay on for another ride, I was actually too terrorized to get off by myself and stayed for a second ride.
Posted by Jane @ 06/10/2003 03:01 PM PST
JRand52...I will definately be getting both books! Bruce can I still order them from you? I have heard high praise around here for them and they sound like fun!
What I wouldn't give to go to this summers Ray and Sharon Court's show! Will be going to Los Angeles in August or September to have lunch with THE QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE and have dinner with a HOT ROD GIRL! Sadly I can't seem to coordinate my trip to attend the show also :( and can't afford to go down there twice.
Has anyone here been to the Court's show? I have gone twice and they are such a blast!! And, oh, the celebrities that you get to meet!!!
Posted by MBarnum @ 06/10/2003 03:07 PM PST
Yes, signed copies of both books are available right here - you'll find the links under the "handy-dandy links to new sections" button. Once there, just click on each book and then "buy this book" and voila. Apparently dear reader Maya had a problem, so do let me know if you encounter one and we'll have it fixed in short order.
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 03:10 PM PST
Thanks Bruce, you can expect my order very soon for one or both books!
Posted by MBarnum @ 06/10/2003 03:33 PM PST
"Where Did My Childhood Go?" (Mr Chips):- Endless summers with cycling, swimming and fishing and of course my Top 40 addiction was in full swing in those wonderful carefree days of the late fifties and early sixties.
Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/10/2003 03:33 PM PST
Then, there were the summer rains, thunderstorms, both day and night.
The day rains were warm. You could smell them coming. They smelled like the hot water in your garden hose tasted.
The evening rains were a delight, especially if you had metal awnings. I slept many a night with my window open as the rain pounded on my awnings, a cool breeze drifting through my bedroom and into my dreams.
*
I think I remember someone asking this question here last week, but don't recall seeing an answer:
"Does anyone know where the performance on the DVD of 'Mostly Sondheim' was recorded?"
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/10/2003 03:38 PM PST
Ron, have you tried www.barbaracook.com ?
Posted by George @ 06/10/2003 03:48 PM PST
Hello all you wonderful Hainsies/Kimlets and Kimlets/Hainsies.
I got back to Richmond yesterday afternoon, and have been slowly, but surely "decompressing" from the weekend - closing of 1776 and various and sundried Pride activities. I didn't really party at all over the weekend, but the weather was sooooo gorgeous Friday night, that I ended up walking around Dupont Circle for a few hours after the show. It was just a beautiful evening - lots of people watching. And once I got back home, I was still so wired that I didn't get to sleep until around 6:00AM! -And I had two shows on Saturday!
The closing weekend of 1776 went very well, and it's always interesting to see what actors/actresses will do with their final performances. What new shades and "options" they will bring to the show. All in all, a lovely weekend. And, as always, the producers, Ford's Theatre, held a nice quiet reception for us at the Old Ebbitt Grill - open bar! And since we closed with the Sunday matinee, there was enough time to mingle and say our goodbyes, AND still get home in time for the Tonys!
As for the Tonys... All I'll say right now is that I liked them, and although I wish the design awards could have received prime-time coverage, it was nice seeing full production numbers, instead of spliced bits and pieces. However, Radio City is just WAY too big for the ceremony. Come on, it's not like the Minskoff or the Gershwin couldn't have been used this year.
*I'm also still catching up on all the sparkling posts from the past few days. Mea culpa... My brain just keeps telling me to take it easy right now, so I am.
OH! I also finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay during the closing matinee. Now as if a closing night was emotional enough. What a simply beautiful book, and the final pages truly touched my heart. I want to read it again - and soon - this time, however, with a dictionary by my side - that Mr. Chabon really knows a lot of big words! ;-)
As for today's topic...
We usually spent the summers either moving from one city to the next - the cross country trip from Seattle to New London, CT was quite memorable. I also remember the trip from DC to Seattle, but not too well, except for the fact that we took the LONG way and took a swing though Nevada and California in order to visit some relatives in San Diego.
Otherwise, we usually took some sort of long car trip to visit friends - Florida, Massachusetts, etc. I never really did camp when I was growing up, although I always wanted to. However, when we lived in Connecticut, I did go to a day camp at the park down the street from us, and I loved the trips to the roller skating rink, and going strawberry picking. And when I wasn't spending time in the car, I was usually watching TV - loved those afternoon movies!
*OH! When we drove across country, we rarely stayed in a hotel - we usually just pulled into a rest area, and slept in the car. We'd roll towels into the windows as shades, and somehow manage to find enough floor and/or seat space to sleep - and with two parents and FOUR boys, it was quite the feat even in our gigantic yellow Gran Torino - with the black interior! -Boy did that get hot when driving through the desert. Well, after we got our sleeping quarters set up, my mom christened our new digs:
CARMADA INN
-Still makes me smile!
So nice to be back amongst you wonderful and welcoming people. More later.
Posted by Jose C. Simbulan @ 06/10/2003 04:07 PM PST
Of course you'll want to start with the first book, Benjamin Kritzer, if you only order one.
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 04:08 PM PST
Just finished Kritzerland.
Absolutely delightful, as I fully
expected it to be. Now to wait
11-1/2 months for the third
book!!!
Posted by Jed @ 06/10/2003 04:45 PM PST
Jed, since you liked the book, go directly to amazon.com and post a review - they all help. And then, you can post the same review over at barnesandnoble.com. Glad you enjoyed it!
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 04:52 PM PST
Those wonderful summers as a teenager were spent on Beacon Beach, Point Pleasant, NJ, just 20 minutes from Lakewood, NJ, where I grew up...every day, all day, from 9am to 5pm. That's where all Lakewoodians congregated...
BK: You mentioned Monti Rock III yesterday...did you know he is a resident and local celeb here in LV? He usually appears at the local community celeb functions and in lounge shows from time to time. I even have tapes of GET DANCIN' and I WANNA DANCE WIT CHOO (Disco Tex And The Sex-O-Lettes).
Posted by KT @ 06/10/2003 04:54 PM PST
Let me delurk for a moment to point y'all to my summer e-mail address (click on my name), but hey, here it is in black and tan:
worrhu@earthlink.net
And: Jed, I spent several happy summers or parts thereof in a rented house right by the cliff in Yachats (YA-HOTS to you non-Oregonians) in the '70's, but I was well past the teenage years.
Ah, happy memories of the guy who ran the crab pot. He was, I recall, a rather well-known photographer but just loved spending his summers running a crab pot.
Every day we had fresh mussels that we picked off the rocks--there is no commercial mussel-harvesting in OR, so that's where you get them. And they are in abundance.
I will tell you some day about my adventure getting a 15-foot log from the ocean, onto the rocks, to the beach, and finally, eventually into a truck and to Corvallis.
But now is not the time. (Oh, a Candide reference!)
And that's where in tarnation is I.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 06/10/2003 04:56 PM PST
Many thanks to George for suggesting the obvious. Haven't been to that URL since December.
Still, I did have to search quite a while, but I now have the answer: The show was taped in Washington when it was part of the Kennedy Center celebration for Stephen Sondheim last year.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/10/2003 04:58 PM PST
Oh, and about our Unpleasant Business:
We have a court date (our fifteenth!!) this Friday (the XIIIth!!) which will amount only to setting yet another court date on which all parties will be asked if they are ready to go to trial on the subsequent week--as we were three weeks ago now.
Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends--oh, a Beatles reference!
Posted by William F. Orr @ 06/10/2003 05:07 PM PST
As a teeenager i usually worked on very bad canadian films that most of them never saw the light of day. Theywere shot for the tax write provided by the canadian government.
Posted by Michael Shayne @ 06/10/2003 06:05 PM PST
Ummm...I'm not sure about Mr. Orr's "Beatles" reference, but I DO know it's an Emerson, Lake and Palmer reference ("Brain Salad Surgery").
So sue me! I had MANY interests in the 1970s!
Will ANYone admit/own up to having taken the "National IQ Test" on Fox last evening?
Anyone?
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 06/10/2003 06:24 PM PST
Thanks to George and Ron for checking re the Barbara Cook concert.
Sgt Peppers I guess William F.
Good to know that you and Joe are to go a-courting again. More Romance is indeed what we all need.
Off topic: (what's new). After so many years I eventually watched "Big" last night. It does have charm (Yes, even with Mr Hanks.) I naturally went back to the Cd of the musical this morning. I quite like it. It seems like a show that should have worked..
Now I am listening to the new CD release of the OBC of "Nine". What a treasure it is.
Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/10/2003 06:36 PM PST
What we have here is a lull. We don't need no stinking lulls. We need the errant and truant to show their faces or, at the very least, their keyboards. Let us not go from the heighest heights to the lowest lowghts. That would be most unseemly. Here, let me start: What are you all wearing right now? Oh, wait, that's for a different kind of website. No, damn them, damn them all to hell, I want to know what each and every one of you are wearing right now. For example, I am wearing a black with white stripes polo shirt (even though I am not playing polo which, of course, is olop spelled backwards), jeans, and gray socks on my unshod feet.
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 07:34 PM PST
As usual, jeans and a crop top.
Posted by Jane @ 06/10/2003 07:57 PM PST
I'm wearing blue jeans and a blue sweater. And blue socks. (That is three blues.)
Posted by Laura @ 06/10/2003 07:58 PM PST
What did I do during the summer? Usually, not a gosh darned thing. We'd take day trips here and there, but that's about it. One summer my dad drove my sister and I to California to visit his two sisters (one now lives in Las Vegas). He drove straight through without stopping, except for gas and food. From our front door to his sister's front door was 23 hours and 55 minutes. My dad slept very soundly the first day that we got there. Other than that, my sister and I didn't do much.
As to the other topic, I'm wearing a tie-dyed tee-shirt with all the colors of the rainbow in it, blue jeans, blue boxer-briefs (is no one else wearing underwear?), ankle socks and running shoes, for I am about to go out for a walk and to return a coaxial crimper to Radio Shack so that I can get my money back.
Posted by George @ 06/10/2003 08:26 PM PST
Note to George: Of course, but I thought it would be unseemly to mention a leopard-spotted thong.
Posted by Laura @ 06/10/2003 08:28 PM PST
Oh wow, things are getting racy! I'm wearing a white polo t-shirt and jeans that are slightly too big on me (I've lost some weight). Anything else I have on belongs to that "other kind of website" that BK mentioned!
DR William E. Lurle--thank you for the earlier compliment;the feeling is mutual.
DR Ron--I'm going to see Barbara Cook at the Kennedy Center on Thursday! Of course I could have just left it at buying the DVD, but I want to see her live in all her unfading glory...I never have before, and to actually see the woman who first played Cuenegonde and Marian and Amelia and is such an inspiration is going to be so cool!
Posted by Maya @ 06/10/2003 09:02 PM PST
Too Cool News to Save until Friday:
I just Miss Allison Hayes and Miss Lori Nelson on dvd! They are among the stars attending the Hollywood premiere of George Stevens' GIANT.
Posted by td @ 06/10/2003 09:46 PM PST
Black sweater, black track pants, black T-Shirt: Sounds like Morticia's hand-me-downs! Black socks and (now I'll have to check)blue and yellow stiped briefs. No! I am certainly not a boxer man. And dark blue slippers. And a smile. Just thinking what I could have been wearing at some other time!
Listening: Percy Faith's "Do I hear A Waltz".
DR Maya: Being so far far away I have not seen the Sondheim concert (the DVD is wonderful) but did get to see Ms Cook in "Better With A Band" a few years back. Amazing performer who really does hold the audience close to her. She radiates warmth and comfort. I am not surpised that all on this site who have had the chance to meet this lady have spoken so highly of her.
Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/10/2003 09:54 PM PST
Sorry you miss them td. But what are you wearing? How is your mother?
Having played "Big", and "Getting Tall" today, it seems appropriate that someone should mention "Giant".
Posted by Tom from Oz @ 06/10/2003 09:58 PM PST
Well, the thought of those two lovely ladies just had my little fingers tongue-tied . . .
I'm wearing baby blue boxer briefs. . .
AND. . .this is really cool, for any of my online friends who have been following this: after only one single week, my mother (at age 70, plus a few months), will be discharged from the hospital TOMORROW/TODAY following her knee replacement surgery. Even her doctor is finding this "miraculous." Thanks for asking. . .
Posted by td @ 06/10/2003 10:20 PM PST
In the good ol' summertime - oh, an In the Good Old Summertime reference! - when I was growing up, our family liked to go on fishing/camping trips to Lake Cachuma (gesundheit!) near Santa Barbara, California. My parents would pitch the tent and we'd all set up the campsite. Then we would rent a boat, attach our our own motor to it, and putt putt around to different spots on the beautiful lake to go fishing. Everyone was supposed to bait their own hooks, but I adamently refused to touch the slimey worms (oh, yuk!). Then, at the end of the afternoon, we'd putt putt back to shore. Any fish we'd caught - the lake was stocked with delicious Blue Gil - we'd then clean and fry back at our campsite for dinner. (The rule was, if you didn't clean your own fish, you didn't get to eat. Again, I was too squirmish to touch, let alone clean the fish. Yet, somehow I still got to eat.) At night, we enjoyed sleeping under the starfilled sky. It was magnificent! How I loved camping out!
Posted by Susan @ 06/10/2003 10:29 PM PST
Good evening-
I wrote something else, but then my computer froze, and now I can't think of what it was, so..
The Barbara Cook Mostly Sondheim DVD - Here's a blurb from Playbill.com from a few weeks ago - should answer the question:
Tony Award winner Barbara Cook will autograph copies of her new VHS/DVD Mostly Sondheim May 20.
The 6 PM signing at the Lincoln Center Tower Records (Broadway and 66th Street) coincides with the first day of release for the new DVD/video, which was filmed live at the Pepsico Theatre at SUNY Purchase. Released on the KOCH Vision label, Barbara Cook Mostly Sondheim — Live in Concert salutes the songs of Stephen Sondheim as well as the tunes the award-winning composer has said he wished he had created.
Featuring Wally Harper as musical director, the DVD also boasts several bonus features: Cook's Master Class at the Kennedy Center (Aug. 14, 2001), an interview with the legendary singer, interactive menus, instant chapter access to songs and Cook's complete discography on DRG Records. The concert is digitally mastered with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and the recording has a suggested retail price of $29.98 (DVD) or $19.98 (VHS).
So... Now I haven't seen it yet, but I'm wondering if I made the DVD. I was in the audience for that masterclass - and knew everyone who sang that day - and one of the cameras was right in front of me, and always seemed to be on me everytime I started tearing up.
Oh - the masterclass most definitely took place in 2002, not 2001, since it was just last summer during the Sondheim Celebration.
-And due to the previously announced Oklahoma tour being scuttled, it's going to be a very quiet summer at the Kennedy Center this year. Quite the change from last summer.
As for today's second topic: My Hampden-Sydney Music Festival t-shirt. -I think I played Brahms, Faure and more Brahms that summer. The t-shirt has Beethoven on the back wearing sunglasses - very cool! Black running shorts, good ole tightie-whities, white socks, and my soon to be replaced white, orange and blue New Balance cross trainers.
-And, yes, I did go running today, but that was in a different outfit.
Posted by Jose C. Simbulan @ 06/10/2003 10:32 PM PST
Perhaps we'll have a fasion report every day - now we call all make mental pictures of each other. Maybe tomorrow - oh, a The Oscar reference - I shall wear my Beat Me Kick Me Pumps and my pedal pushers.
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 10:35 PM PST
As for the second question of the day . . . hmmmmmmm. I'm wearing a purple cotton beach dress (though I'm nowhere near the beach), black 4" platform thongs (shoes!!!!), and, because Benjamin Kritzer would want to know, cotton unmentionables.
:-)
Posted by Susan @ 06/10/2003 10:44 PM PST
Benjamin Kritzer would be very happy to know that.
Posted by bk @ 06/10/2003 10:56 PM PST
New outfit. I'm in my pink summer pj's. I should be asleep by now as I will be up early tomorrow for a special, extra long hike with friends. Taking snacks and lunch for Echo and myself. Back to bed & hopefully sleep will come to me this time.
Posted by Jane @ 06/10/2003 11:31 PM PST
Ah yes, td....Miss Allison Hayes at the GIANT premiere with Mr C.V Whitney, president of Winchester Pictures!
My question is - just how comfortable was she sitting for nearly four hours in a dress with several thousand bugle beads on it?
Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/11/2003 03:26 AM PST
Black jeans today with a black/green houndstooth shirt.
Posted by Jrand52 @ 06/11/2003 03:27 AM PST
Ron:
You are so right, and I am so wrong. My Joe is the rock guy around here. He constantly quotes that line when awakening in the morning with tremors and cramps. I always thought it was from Sgt. Pepper's, but I checked with my local expert, and indeed he said "Brain Salad Surgery".
Oops.
Posted by William F. Orr @ 06/11/2003 07:42 AM PST
