Topic: THE ABOUT-TO-BE BEAUTIFUL SATURDAY (Read 22474 times)

S. Woody White · « **Reply #30 on:** April 02, 2005, 08:58:04 AM »

Of recent television animation, I was regularly surprised by the list of guest voices on Hercules. Not only did the regular cast list include Tate Donovan, Sandra Bernhard, French Stewart, James Woods and Robert Stack (as Bob, the Narrator), joining in on the fun were such voices as Alice Ghostley, Mandy Patinkin, Jane Curtin, David Hyde Pierce, Heather Locklear, William Shatner, Idina Menzel, Jodi Benson, Merv Griffin (as Merv, the Griffin), Eric Idle, Jonathan Freeman, Reba McIntire, Carl Reiner, and yes, Robert Keeshan as Aesop. (Talk about bringing things full circle with that last one!)

And that's just a partial list.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #31 on:** April 02, 2005, 08:59:25 AM »

I'd put up a Page Two dance, but that list of names winded me!

vixmom · « **Reply #32 on:** April 02, 2005, 08:59:53 AM »

And for our "Common Sense Thrown Out the Window"

portion of the day I provide this , which was forwarded to me by my dear brother Bob

Quote

The Stella Awards
It's time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards." The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in NM). That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States.

Here are this year's winners:

5th Place (tie): Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th Place (tie): 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

5th Place (tie):
Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.

4th Place:
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd Place:
A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

2nd Place:
Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms.Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.

1st Place:
This year's run away winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #33 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:00:15 AM »

Today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day.

No, really! I don't make these things up!

vixmom · « **Reply #34 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:02:16 AM »

I always loved the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, particurly the 'Fractured FairyTales" segment and the segment witj Mr. Peabody, his boy Sherman and the Wayback Machine

Also, the Roadrunner cartoons and Bugs Bunny

S. Woody White · « **Reply #35 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:06:58 AM »

Vixmom, that list of winners has me totally stumped.

Why can't I ever do something stupid and get paid for it?

Danise · « **Reply #36 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:11:23 AM »

Quote

JoseSPiano
Re:NO NOTES TODAY - OOPS, APRIL FOOL'S! - NEW
« Reply #212 on: Today at 05:11:26am »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Evening!

Just when I was getting comfortable with the show...

"Hmm... There's a note sticking. Is it my keyboard? Is it Key 1? Is it Key 4? Is it Key 3?... OK - here comes my solo section... Oh, @$%#^@%#! it is my keyboard... Oh, no... messed that entrance up... What do I do?!?!.... I'll just keep playing... OK... Push the Panic button.. #$!%&#$! it's still stuck!..."

Then Chris who sits in front of me turns to me and says, "Turn the keyboard off." -But what about the solo string line I have coming up?

Then the conductor gets on his mic, "Turn off the keyboard."

So, I turn it off.

I turn it back on.

I raise my volume pedal...

"!@$!@#@#! it's still stuck!!!!!!!"

So, I turn it off again. Say at little prayer. Turn it back on.

-By this time, the Musical Director/Conductor who was sitting out in the house tonight comes running into the pit wondering what's wrong. He dons a pair of headphones to see if anything it still wrong.

The next song starts....

Whew!

Well, that woke me up!

I truly had no idea what to do since I play the solo string lead line before the refrain starts up again. Was it better to cut out? Or just to keep playing? And since there are four keyboards in the pit, all of us were wondering if it was our keyboard that was malfunctioning. Thankfully, no real harm done, and there was no post-show "discussion" about the incident. Technology happens - or doesn't happen.

But I'm guessing the "stress" of the situation brought my heart rate up to the proper zone for aerobic activity.

Yikes! I can only imagine how horrible that was for you! I hope that doesn't happen very often.

I happened to like The Grump and his dragon.

Grump's always nagin'
His jolly green Dragon
But the dragon keeps lagin' behind.
Here comes the Grump!
Here comes the Grump!

We had a taste of the same storm you did, DR Elmore. It passed through very early this morning. Hard to believe that some could reach all the way from here to NY.

DR Jane, I went to the Muse web site--they do have rooms with 2 double beds. If anyone would like, maybe we could maybe share a room? Just a thought. October is a long way off and there is time to look at all options.

I checked out Jet Blue--nice prices. I also learned if I had booked my transport to/from the hotel, I would have saved myself $4.50.

Maybe you do save if you book everything yourself instead of trusting the travel sites.

bk · « **Reply #37 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:13:20 AM »

I'm up, I'm up, and yes, Virginia, it's a beautiful day, although not as beautiful as yesterday.

I see FROUNCE has got the better of everyone. And to that I can only say - FROUNCE!

S. Woody White · « **Reply #38 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:29:30 AM »

That's ECNUORF backwards!

S. Woody White · « **Reply #39 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:30:53 AM »

The weather here in Delaware is quite gluggy.

Ginny · « **Reply #40 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:32:55 AM »

Not-so-beautiful in SW Ohio Saturday greetings - it's gloomy here today and very windy.

TOD - Huckleberry Hound, Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Flintstones from my childhood and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Heroes on the Halfshell) from my son's.

JMK · « **Reply #41 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:34:45 AM »

Cartoons: Yes to Rocky & Bullwinkle (which my kids are loving via the new DVDs), George of the Jungle and Roger Ramjet. But how could we not be mentioning The Simpsons? (Trivia note which most of you probably already know: most of the surnames in the Simpsons are street names in Portland).

Ginny · « **Reply #42 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:35:13 AM »

Quote from: Danise on April 02, 2005, 09:11:23 AM

DR Jane, I went to the Muse web site--they do have rooms with 2 double beds. If anyone would like, maybe we could maybe share a room? Just a thought. October is a long way off and there is time to look at all options.

Or how 'bout a suite where the 3 of us could have a pajama party?

Danise · « **Reply #43 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:40:05 AM »

Quote from: Ginny on April 02, 2005, 09:35:13 AM

Or how 'bout a suite where the 3 of us could have a pajama party?

Works for me!

Ginny · « **Reply #44 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:40:19 AM »

More TOD - My favorite segments from the Rocky & Bullwinkle show were the tales of Dudley Do-Right, RCMP.

JMK · « **Reply #45 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:42:31 AM »

Jose: re: malfunctioning keyboards. I may have mentioned this before, but I had a similarly horrible incident of technology gone awry although I would argue mine was worse

because the band was on-stage up high on a huge dais where everyone could see us. I was MD-ing the west coast premiere of Putting it Together and the theater company was busy going out of business so they couldn't hire two keyboardists. So I had a Yamaha (I think) with a floppy drive (and believe it or not it was a SS non-HD drive, IIRC--I remember it took us days to find a disk old enough that would work in the drive) where I sequenced one of the keyboard parts for the more heavily-2-keyboard pieces (I actually just kind of combined the keyboard parts for the bulk of the show and played it all myself--oy, the carpal tunnel by the end of Act II, especially after Marry Me a Little--coming after almost two hours of nonstop playing

. Anyway it all worked beautifully until one night right before the Night Music sequence in Act II, which is probably about the only really quiet moment in the show. The cast was gathered on the couch and suddenly the keyboard's metronome, which was this hugely clanging metallic sound, went off. It took me (and the band) a few seconds to realize what was going on. I furiously was punching the metronome Off button to no avail as I continued to play. I quickly turned and whispered to the bass player to do a vamp while I quickly turned off the keyboard and turned it back on, solving the problem. Now by this time the cast was actually giggling a little and the band was highly amused, too.

We had this truly horrible Stage Manager (all I remember is she was 8 months pregnant and was smoking cigarettes like a chimney if you can believe it) who came backstage after the show and read us the riot act for "unprofessional behavior", as if I could control the frigging keyboard.

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #46 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:44:36 AM »

Good Morning!

And the sun has returned to the Memphis skies. -And there's a saxophone player playing somewhere outside my window in the square down below. And I notice a bunch of limos parked out there too right now. Hmmm...

Sleep was good. And I allowed myself to sleep in, more or less. And I feel back to normal this morning too. I guess I really did need to take a break from my Memphis Fried Food Diet.

-It also hit me that all the "sweet tea" I had been drinking was probably taking it's toll too - probably all that high fructose corn syrup.

I just finished some of the pasta salad, marinated slaw and tuna salad I had bought from Zoes yesterday. Very good, and very healthy.

And that's my morning report.

Danise · « **Reply #47 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:47:38 AM »

Gotta run--the dogs want to go check their Pee-mail!

Laters!

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #48 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:50:33 AM »

DR JMK - Ah, yes! And then there was the time the demo song started in the middle of the big fight scene...

Or when instead of the train sound effect, the keyboard decided to change to the "telephone ring"....

Or when one of the actors accidentally pulled out the power supply to whole PIT during the opening of PASSION at Signature Theatre... And I kept on playing since I heard the "live" string and wind players behind me still going... "Ohhh!!!"... Thankfully, it happened during an underscoring section, and by the time the power was back up and the keyboard reset, it was just in time for my crucial harpsichord vamp.

Or...

-I better stop before I jinx myself.

-And, yes, DR JMK, your story is worse/better!

S. Woody White · « **Reply #49 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:53:19 AM »

Quote from: JMK on April 02, 2005, 09:34:45 AM

But how could we not be mentioning The Simpsons? (Trivia note which most of you probably already know: most of the surnames in the Simpsons are street names in Portland).

There's a Nahasapeemapetilon Street in Portland? Way cool, dude!

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #50 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:54:25 AM »

...And while watching PASSION the other night, it reminded just how tricky and slippery that keyboard part was/is. Since we were using the original orchestration - not having the benefit of a 35-50 piece orchestra - the keyboard provided not only the piano and harpsichord sounds, but also the harp and some subtle string support. I don't think I had more than 10 measures rest the whole time. And all those notes!

Ginny · « **Reply #51 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:55:50 AM »

Quote from: JMK on April 02, 2005, 09:34:45 AM

(Trivia note which most of you probably already know: most of the surnames in the Simpsons are street names in Portland).

DR JMK - Is one of the names Halsey? That's the street where my family lived when I was born. (Can you tell I'm not a Simpsons-watcher?)

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #52 on:** April 02, 2005, 09:56:29 AM »

OK - Time to get ready for the matinee. The second assistant conductor will be making his debut today. *I'm looking forward to looking at his face on the monitor.

Laters...

S. Woody White · « **Reply #53 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:02:04 AM »

No one has yet mentioned The Point.

I remember the first telecast, with Dustin Hoffman narrating. What was up with the narration changing from telecast to telecast?

JMK · « **Reply #54 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:04:49 AM »

Ginny, NE Halsey St. is indeed in Portland, but there's no Simpsons character by that name (that I can think of, anyway). I used to live over by Halsey on NE Thompson St. in the Lloyd District

Surnames on the Simpsons that are streetnames (not an exhaustive list, just what's coming to me now):
Simpson
Flanders
Terwilliger
Hibbert
Skinner

If someone posts a list of other surnames I can tell you if they're streetnames.

bk · « **Reply #55 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:11:42 AM »

The Malfunctioning Keyboard - that's the title of my next novel.

FROUNCE, baby, FROUNCE. Perhaps if someone provided a definition, then we'd get somewhere. That someone, however, will not be me.

bk · « **Reply #56 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:17:27 AM »

What shall I do this morning. I have a hankerin' to get in the motor car and go over the hill. Perhaps I shall do that. Perhaps I shall not. Then again, perhaps I shall.

FROUNCE, I tell you.

Michael · « **Reply #57 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:20:09 AM »

Does anyone how to look search for items from Amazon from any of their other sites other than going there? I know the French and German, but I want to look at the one from China and I tried to guess based on Amazon's other set ups but this I think is diferent

S. Woody White · « **Reply #58 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:20:40 AM »

Frounce. French ounce, perhaps?

Nah, they went metric ages ago. A much simpler system; the only people who find it confusing are the ones missing a finger or two.

Michael · « **Reply #59 on:** April 02, 2005, 10:26:21 AM »

Dr Elmoore. Called and left a message for you. Thanks! They arrived!

News:

Author Topic: THE ABOUT-TO-BE BEAUTIFUL SATURDAY (Read 22474 times)