Well...so far our 4th of July weekend has been lovely. Friday night, we sat on the back balcony watching A Maxfield Parrish sunset descend over the Hollywood sign, while imbibing champagne and listening to Glenn Yarborough sing Rod McKuen songs. Then, after a lovely dinner, watched the last hour of THE RED SHOES, followed by THE GLASS SLIPPER, then a very weird Italian film called THE IRON CROWN...all on TCM.
Yesterday, after sleeping late, while The Lovely Wife was doing a few personal errands, I went over to BK's and my favourite bookstop, Mystery & Imagination, in Glendale where they were having a twenty % off sale, plus, if you brought their flyer, they paid the sales tax (8.5% in CA). There I bought a signed 1st edition of Bob Crais latest Elvis Cole mystery. I know Bob slightly through Harlan Ellison and the WGA, Heck of nice guy. I also bought a limited edition of supernatural stories By H. B. Marriott Watson, a relatively obscure Australian/New Zealandwriter from the late 19th/early 20th century...but who hobnobbed with the likes of H.G. Wells and other British literati of the day and, from the book's introduction, led a rather interesting life. I know him for a series of very fine short stories he wrote about a Highwayman. I have read and own the first volume he wrote, but the two subsequent volumes...written in the early part of the century...are very obscure and tough to find, even given my considerable sources of the book trade. Perhaps the most interesting find though was a book I had been doing a search on the internet for just the previous night. Watching my Jim Bowie TV tapes, I noticed the series was based on a novel entitled TEMPERED BLADE. Oddly enough, I was checking out the paperback historical section in my bookstore and there it was for six bucks.
Late afternoon, as we both arrived home within minutes of each other, our very fun neighbours, Ray and Janie, across the street invited us over for a glass of wine. A glass turned into several out on their cool back patio and they even invited us to cook our dinner that we had planned to grill out on their gas grill.
We took our dinner home (steak for me; fish for Julieanne) and watched the restored 1776. What a delight! The sound particularly was so much better and the whole film was far less choppier than I remember. It also happens to be one of my favourite musicals.
This was supposed to be our 4th activity and meal, but we changed plans and did it a night early, as tonight we planned to go up to Barnsdall Park, very near our home and watch free Shakespeare. We'll pack a picnic dinner of Curry Pasta Salad. Even though it's free, we had to make reservations, because apparently the seating in the natural amphitheatre is limited. The play is TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA...which I've never seen done, except for the musical version produced by Joe Papp back when I was in college. So it should be fun. Barnsdall Park is also one of my favourite little parks, but I've not been there in a long time because there was so much construction going on around a few years ago when they were building the subway. It has a very nice Frank Lloyd Wright House up there and great views of the city.
Before we go to the play, we'll soak in the Jacuzzi this afternoon with a little more champagne.
So...so far, pretty good Fourth.
Jay, the Athol Fugard play sounds fascinating. I think I must check it out. Thanks for the review. You're a great cultural barometer for what's going on out here.
