Haines His Way

Archives => Archive 4 => Topic started by: bk on October 31, 2005, 12:05:34 AM

Title: 23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 12:05:34 AM: Well, you've read the notes, you've hiccuped twenty three times so that you are in synch with my not-quite-yet-replaced modem, and now it is time for you to post until the hiccupping cows come home.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 12:07:31 AM: And the word of the day is: MUNIFICENT!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 12:49:43 AM: I see that everyone has decided to wear their WUSSBURGER costumes. Not only WUSSBURGER, but WUSSBURGER WITH CHEESE costumes.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Charles Pogue on October 31, 2005, 01:56:32 AM: The worst professional production I have ever seen is a one-man show that Nicol Williamson did playing John Barrymore. Unlike the excellent-in-every-way one-man show Christopher Plummer did portraying Barrymore, Williamson's show was a sloppy, self-absorbed, undisciplined ego trip.

First of all, he made virtually no attempt to look like Barrymore...not even the usual pencil mustache. He looked instead...just like Nicol Williamson, blonde, curly hair and all. Now I suppose I could have forgone him not looking like Barrymore, had his acting been superlative, and he made me believe him.

But he didn't. He made no attempt to portray Barrymore either, but actually was playing Nicol Williamson and just saying he was Barrymore. His characterization was non-existent. His portraint was full of Nicol Williamson tics and indulgences and masturbatory theatrics that had nothing to do with the Great Profile. He would sing snatches of little ditties that I'm sure Barrymore never sang. He stumbled over lines when he didn't forget them altogether at times. He was frenetic and uncontrolled and all over the place. At times he acted like he was drunk or something.

I'm a bit of a Barrymore aficianado (I've got a program from his Hamlet at the Haymarket and two huge portraits of him hang in my TV room...one is as Svengali...printed from the original negative). I've read all the bios and know the nuances of his life pretty well and I not only found the performance sloppy, but the script as well...although Williamson sounded like he was rambling off and away from the script many, many times. Still it seemed badly researched and not particularly dramatic and utterly missed capturing the essence of Barrymore.

Further, Williamson was contemptuous of his audience. He knew he was giving a half-assed, flatulent, indulgent performance and didn't care, thinking he could phone it in and most of the rubes in the audience wouldn't know the difference. Unfortunately, he was right. He got a standing ovation simply because the cretins that night at the Geffen Theatre thought they were supposed to be impressed by anything English or because he was name actor. I think I audibly booed.

He was a very bad boy, giving a very bad performance in a very bad show. And he knew it. And got away with it...except he didn't get away with it with me!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: elmore3003 on October 31, 2005, 02:32:13 AM: Good morning, all! I was awake at 4:30 am, thinking about traveling to Chicago, and at 4:45 or so, I decided to get out of bed and finish the preparations for the trek. I keep thinking I've forgotten something in packing, but I also feel I've packed enough to be away for six months. Beats me.

Dear Friend BK, a lousy modem kept my computer out of whack for severasl months this summer. I'm sure your new modem will have you leaping like a gazelle in a woolly thong in no time.

TOD: the Ohio Light Opera production of MY FAIR LADY was the worst thing I've ever seen, and it was ineptly directed by the man directing opera productions for the Eastman School of Music. His directing abilities are not great, but MFL and its dramatics eluded him. The lady who choreographs for Ohio Light Opera is equally terrible since she gives her (limited) dancers around 5 or 6 limited steps for the little dances/prances in operetta numbers. Unfortunately, MY FAIR LADY is a big dance show and she and the director were not up to it.
1. Wouldn't It Be Loverly?: as soon as Liza started singing the refrain, she and the four Cockneys who sing the verse started prancing like mad, so when the dance break arrived, they cut the dance.
2. The scene changes took forever, and the production moved slower than a gazelle in a cast-iron corset.
3. The servants all arrived onstage before the end of "The Rain in Spain" so that when Mrs Pearce made a comment about all the noise waking her up, she was onstage to see it.
4. When Liza came back at the end, Higgins asked where his slippers were and they ended in a big kiss.

There's more to remember but the production was scarier than the same team's THE YEOMAN OF THE GUARD, THE BLAIR WITCH, PSYCHO, and A CHORUS LINE: THE FILM put together!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Tomovoz on October 31, 2005, 02:39:20 AM: TOTD: Worst professional productions I've seen here in Melbourne were 1. "Chess" - cheap set design and poorly staged. I've seen much better productions by non professional companies.
2. "A Chorus Line" (Revival_ which totally lacked any magic at all. theatre by numbers!!
3. "Man Of La Mancha" - Aldonza played and acted like Fanny Brice! and most of the production just without focus. A very sad night.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Tomovoz on October 31, 2005, 02:45:11 AM: Good morning DR Elmore. Safe journey.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: elmore3003 on October 31, 2005, 03:09:06 AM: Quote from: Tomovoz on October 31, 2005, 02:45:11 AM
Good morning DR Elmore. Safe journey.

Thank you, dear friend! Have a great week, all!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 03:54:10 AM: Boo! :o
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 03:55:36 AM: We will be having our Spirit Circle at the World of Wisdom Bookshop this evening at 7 pm EST. Hopefully the experience will be munificent for me as its moderator - and exciting and comforting for those in attendance.

Beginning Friday I will also be working at the store part time.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 03:56:04 AM: Have a good trip, DR ELMORE - wave as you fly over Indiana!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 04:09:26 AM: So sorry to hear that CITY OF ANGELS was not a good experience! I like the score a lot. The play can be confusing.

TOD:

hmmmmm....Worst professional production would be a play called COASTAL DISTURBANCES. The play by Tina Howe was horrible and the performances were in perfect tune with it. I just remember the setting as a beach with a lifeguard's chair. At one point two OLD people came out and did a scene while setting up one of those portable tents. UGH!!

Worst amateur production:

Another MY FAIR LADY....whew. Not well sung, acted, or choreographed....and the direction was frightening. Accents all over the place. Characters wandering around the stage. The choreography was the kind that EVERYBODY does the STEP at the same TIME - and the SAME steps are always repeated during the chorus.

The kicker was the scene changes. The scenery was painted on 4x8 pieces of plywood with legs and braces. each plywood slab also had a piece of painted canvas attached to the top and weighted with a metal rod through the bottom. Throwing the canvas over the tops of the three plywood pieces would make a new backdrop.

And throw them they did. These canvas pieces would come flying over the tops of the slabs and hit the floor with a mighty BANG.....those that made it over the top. Some got snagged on the precipice and hung limply half way over. So poor Freddy sang ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE to about 2/3's of the street.

And of course - twice the slabs were out of order so the the seams of the scenery didn't match.

By the middle of the show....so many of us in the audience were laughing it was very embarrassing....but I couldn't help it. Maybe it was SUPPOSED to be that way....I figured it was a joke on us.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 04:20:45 AM: DR CP:

Many years ago while I was sitting on the bench outside the Putnam County Playhouse - the grandmother of one of the children in the Children's Workshop was sitting on the opposite bench. She had on sunglasses and was very quiet.

I introduced myself and she did the same. Jean Nascimbene, wife of Dr. Leon Nascimbene. We started talking about the current season and she stated how much she enjoyed THE CRUCIBLE.

She then mentioned in passing that her father had been an actor on Broadway. I asked his name: Paul Huber.

Turns out that I was sitting on a bench in the field in the middle of Putnam County, Indiana, with the daughter of the man who played Rosencrantz in the John Barrymore production of HAMLET on Broadway.

She later brought me his scrapbooks to see (his Equity Card was number 3 or something like that) - telegrams on opening nights from many notables including Jeanne Eagels and Barrymore.... He was also in KING LEAR with Reginald Pole in the title role. Later in his career he did HIGH TOR and JOHNNY BELINDA and even ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. He played the Doctor in THE IMMORALIST the play that won James Dean the Daniel Blum Newcomer Award.

Interesting scrapbooks. Jean proclaimed that her children were not interested in them....I encouraged her to give them to the library in her late father's hometown - if the not the Library of the City of New York for their theatre collection.

Her father and Barrymore were great friends - although eventually John alienated him by making a pass at Jean's mother.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:19:12 AM: Good Morning!

I'm up! I'm up!

:)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ben on October 31, 2005, 05:22:24 AM: I am back from the weekend. We had a good time at Captain Louie. The show is OK but no great shakes. The children were very good but I'm not sure why they decided it needed to be moved. I don't see it having a long life once it opens. The book on which it was based, The Trip, (which was read at the beginning of the show as a teaser) didn't strike me as good source material for a show. There were some very nice visual elements but overall nothing stood out as wonderful.

I went to my 10th high school reunion in 1981, more out of curiosity than any other reason. Although I loved high school, it was more of an escape for me than a great social experience. I lived in the Speech and Drama department and didn't have many friends outside that group. Most of them didn't come to the reunion. There were people with whom I was friendly and we had nice chats but it didn't make me want to attend the 20th or 30th reunions. Perhaps I'll venture out to Minnesota for the upcoming 35th (in 2006) but it's not high on my list of things to do next year.

TCB said it very well about my thoughts on Halloween. I did have a very good costume in 1979 when I went as a Q-Tip. I think I might have posted that picture some time in the past. Now I don't partake much in Halloween festivities. We have to be careful about being home or leaving the apartment or returning after a certain hour because the annual Parade goes up 6th Avenue and disrupts traffic for hours. After 4pm it's hard to cross 16th Street and 6th Avenue (they close down the street early) so coming and going is disrupted. It's easier to just watch the parade on NY One, the local cable all news station.

A long-running show called Perfect Crime is one of the worst shows I have ever seen in my ENTIRE theatre-going experience. It opened sometime in 1984/1985 (they are touting the 20 year run right now). A friend from college was in the show and I happened upon free tickets from Equity. Since it was spur of the moment, I didn't get a chance to tell my friend I would be seeing the show. Lucky me because I left at intermission. In every way it was crap. The script sucks, the direction was non-existent. The sets were so flimsy they shook whenever a door opened or closed. Most of the actors ranged from adequate to embarrasing (Gordon was OK but not great) and I just couldn't bring myself to sit through the second act. How this piece of s**t has lasted 20 years is beyond me. The woman who wrote, produced and stars in it must have very, very, very deep pockets (of course her house nut is probably very low also). It is on the must miss list if you come to New York.

Mr. Moore is probably at the airport as I type. Good Flight Vibes and such.

I will listen to the radio show today as I always do. George, glad you were able to listen to the whole show last week. I listened earlier in the week and had no problem so it must have been a random hiccup.

I must now get back to work.

Later!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:25:03 AM: Topic of the Day:

A production of Chess that I saw in... Well, now I can't remember... One of those cities with "Falls" or "Rapids" or some other water feature in it's name... In any case...

It was a very interesting "mix" - a pretty decent set, some interesting use of video screens and cameras, and one or two decent performers... But the rest... Yikes! The choreography was laughable in a bunch of places - laugh out loud laughable (unfortunately). And they guy playing Freddy was sort of the chunky/clumsy side, so it sort of compromised the whole sexual tension dynamic between him and the actress playing Florence. Worst of all was the orchestra, or rather the lack thereof. One keyboard playing just one keyboard part. And I believe it was all tracked/programmed. Absolutely no "color", and worse yet, no percussion! And that's definitely a score that requires a bit of "beat" behind it.

But at least they had a good fog machine.

;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:26:59 AM: Yes, Good Travel Vibes to DR elmore- who is most likely in transit already. I believe his flight was supposed to leave at 6:30.

Have a wonderful time in Chi-Town!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:28:02 AM: DR Jason - 7:30 at Becco, huh? I would love a chance to have another meal there[/i] meet your parents.

;)

Have a great time today.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:28:43 AM: OH! And if you do happen to take tomorrow off to recuperate, I think I know how and where you could spend a few hours tomorrow afternoon...

;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:29:24 AM: And a Very Happy Halloween to Everyone!

Don't forget to brush your teeth!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:30:10 AM: AND...

A Very Happy Birthday to My Brother, Mike!

*Guess I need to call him sometime today.... oops.

;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:30:46 AM: DR Jrand - Congrats on the new job!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 05:32:48 AM: Well, I need to get ready to head down to midtown. I don't have to be there until 10:30, but I want to make sure I'm there on time. So, I'm gonna get ready here, and head in and grab a bite down there.

I hope everyone has a wonderful All Hallow's Eve... Or at least a wonderful last day of October.

:)

Laters...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 06:26:29 AM: JRand - Could you possibly be talking about the Broadway production of COASTAL DISTURBANCES starring Ms. Annette Bening and Mr. Timothy Daly? If so, that's what makes horse races. I thought it was one of the finer straight plays I'd seen in the late 1980's and was blown away by it. If you're talking about a different production, I could see where it might be a fragile play and in lesser hands fall apart. But wow, I loved it.

On the negative side, I agree with Ben about THE PERFECT CRIME, except that I sat through the whole thing. It was the most amateurish acting I'd seen on a New York professional stage. This was back in the late 1980's and it remains unsurpassed in that regard.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 06:30:37 AM: Congrats to DR Jrand for his new gainful employment and impending employee discount on books galore!

Happy Halloween to y'all. I wanted to wear a costume in my avatar today, but the firewall in my office will not allow us to upload pictures. Maybe tonight when I get home...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 06:40:13 AM: TOD:

There was a touring company of CATS that played in Philly a few years ago that I had the misfortune to sit through. It was cast with the most amateurish performers imaginable. It was as if they believed that they could get by with just posing and vogueing their way through the show. Awful! Where was the dance captain on this tour is what I want to know.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 06:56:53 AM: Yes, DR Elmore3003 should now be up in the air and downing double martinis.

DR JRand, congrats on the new job!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 07:00:22 AM: Early this morning, at about 3:30 AM, I was rudely awakened by a phone call that turned out to be a prerecorded message from some satellite company....yes, a junk mail phone call in the middle of the night! I was a bit disgruntled as when the phone rings in the middle of the night it scares the bejeebers out of me!

I am presuming someone someone at that company messed up when changing the time and set the solicitations to dial at 3:30 am instead of pm.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 07:01:14 AM: Ok, hopefully I will have a new window in my car today!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:07:58 AM: Quote from: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 07:01:14 AM
Ok, hopefully I will have a new window in my car today!

Drop the "hopefully" and make it into your affirmation of the day, DR MB. The Dynamic Laws of Universal Prosperity will deliver for you.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:10:15 AM: I am setting the tone for today by playing the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Spooky, foreboding music.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:15:03 AM: PAGE TWO DANCE:

No visuals, but picture me dancing to "Audrey's Theme" from Twin Peaks. That should scare you all enough!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 07:41:21 AM: Halloween greetings! Today is the last day of my 4-day weekend and I've already called in sick for tomorrow. Can't shake the upper respiratory thing and my doctor can't see me until Tuesday afternoon.

JRand - congratulations on your new employment! Should we visit your store when my family and I are in Indianapolis Dec. 10-12 for the Lord of the Rings exhibit at the Indiana State Museum?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 07:51:16 AM: Good morning!

At the risk of sounding like I'm hiccupping, we have yet another beautiful day here with (once again) cloudless blue skies and moderate temperatures. High today supposed to be 72.

It's called Paradise!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 07:54:04 AM: Yes, DRGINNY - please visit us. As the date approaches, I will give you the directions and the days I will be working then.

Thanks to all for the vibes. It should be interesting if nothing else.

No DRFJL - it was not the Broadway production of COASTAL DISTURBANCES but a regional professional production. My other most horrible play experience was a Don De Lillo play (I forget the title) at the same theatre directed by the the Directing Professor at Indiana University which was AWFUL!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 07:56:02 AM: Worst "professional" production I've ever seen was a local production of INTO THE WOODS. The tempi were so slow you could count the leaves on the trees just to pass the time. Actors had been cast who were rhythmically challenged and thus had monstrous times with the beats of certain songs. "Your Fault" was such a mess, I'm surprised they didn't just cut the song and play it as dialogue or something. It was between 11:30 and midnight when we walked out of that theater (started at 8), and it felt as if we had been sitting there six or seven hours.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 07:59:26 AM: But I have to say that the OLIVER! that I just saw about a month ago was just about the weakest amateur production I've ever seen: horrible direction, the weakest Fagin of all time (no Cockney accent, well coiffed hair and no dirt on his face; he could have been a college professor), an Oliver who frequently missed the pitch, a Nancy whose death brought laughter from the audience instead of shock or sadness. A hopeless production.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:02:27 AM: With reruns all over the place on tonight's TV menu, DVDs will definitely be the order of the day.

Another LOIS & CLARK will certainly happen, and I want to finish CLOSER. As for another movie, I may pull out THE WAGES OF FEAR since BK mentioned it the other day.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:05:53 AM: Just made luncheon plans, so in a few minutes, I must get up from here and get ready to meet the public.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:13:22 AM: Off to get ready now.

WBBL.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 08:17:09 AM: TOD - Don't remember details, but I have vague recollections about bad experiences at:

The pre-Broadway Detroit run of the revival of No, No Nanette. My friend took her contacts out at intermission, saying she'd seen enough.

A Cincinnati tour of Dreamgirls at the old Taft Theater - a real dump with a sound system so bad that all we heard was static.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 09:03:01 AM: A shower makes one feel so much better. And it's 65 degrees outside right now which means no jacket necessary and just a long sleeved t-shirt.

Funny, though, that leaves haven't really started changing colors to a great degree that I've noticed. Some, certainly, but nothing like usual for this time of year. I'm thinking they're just going to turn brown and drop off rather than going through that burst of color we're so used to here.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 09:04:53 AM: A couple of other really lousy productions that I remember:

A CHESS that was ghastly to sit through.

the revival version of YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN that a group here did last year. Three good performers and three terrible ones made for a whacky off-kilter production.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 09:06:04 AM: I'm heading out now for my lunch appointment.

WBBL.

I guess that means I can't think about seeing CAPOTE until Wednesday or Thursday. I'll be out of town a good chunk of tomorrow.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: S. Woody White on October 31, 2005, 09:37:46 AM: First runner-up pro production: Into The Woods at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera. The woods were painted day-glo. And the Witch was played by Leslie Uggams. Every time she finished a number, she threw her arms open wide and smiled even more widely. Wrong, absolutely wrong.

Winner, worst pro production: Fashion, at the Alex Theater, in Glendale, CA. A wretched show, with terrible music. The premise was that the ladies of some social club have decided to put on a recreation of an early musical called "Fashion," and the whole thing is staged as a rehearsal for such event. No costumes, just clothes these ladies have "worn". A total bore from start to end, even with Dale Kristien in the lead. Making matters worse, this was a replacement show for the rep company that was using the Alex, so we had bought season tix and had this foisted upon us. The rep company folded shortly after.

Oddly, as notorious a flop as this show was, a cast recording (http://www.castalbumdb.com/rec.cfm?RNumber=1579) was made. I have never been so curious as to seek out a copy. (I do own a copy of Bed and Sofa, however.)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 09:50:53 AM: I've been trying to recall all morning long if, when I saw COASTAL DISTURBANCES on B'way, Annette Benning and Tim Daly were naked in the opening scene. You would think that something like that would have stuck in in my mind.

Alas, the mind begins to go...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 09:57:14 AM: I'm up, I'm up. I had a scary good sleep, and am now stuck here until the scary Cable Man shows up with a new modem sans hiccups. The scary appointment was the usual anytime between eight and noon affair.

Recently there was a production of Merrily We Roll Along in NY, done by some kids just out of school, and they managed to get it into some theater designated as off-off-Broadway, but really was on like 47th St. between Ninth and Tenth. They tried to tout this as an acclaimed production and sent their people on the chat boards to post how great it was, and people fell for it and saw it and were not happy, especially at fifty bucks a seat. The posts were some of the most vicious I've ever seen.

But, that's the thing on these boards now - half the posts are about amateur productions, school productions, and community theater productions.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 10:03:11 AM: I have seen GOOD productions in ALL three of those categories - but oy! I have been victimized as well - in all three categories (and some Professional productions, too).

RE: Perfect Crime. Back in the 1990's, a man who was appearing in that show wrote a play that was produced here in Indianapolis, and I was in it. He was married to an actress who had been on YOUNG & RESTLESS in its first years as one of the Brooks girls. I think his name was James, but I forget his last name. Very nice man. Okay play..... I don't know if he stayed with the show much longer. He had taken a few weeks off to come to Indy.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 10:05:25 AM: I think a lot of 'civilian' people hate theatre because they have been dragged to so much that is just....well...bad.

When I go, I keep remembering those nights (and there have been many) when magic strikes, everything works, and you see something you love!

Frances Farmer wrote about the magic time between the moment the lights in the theatre go down and the curtain opens - the wonderful feeling of expectation and wonder that the audience feels as a group that something exciting is about to happen. I love that moment as well....and when it lasts for the whole show - that IS magic.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 10:15:18 AM: Is anyone going to watch scary movies tonight?

I think that I will...although I don't know which ones yet.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:17:45 AM: Well, at this rate we aren't going to be breaking any posting records, are we? We're havin' a partay here, you know. Let's get some scary postin' goin' on. Certainly I'm enjoying what's here so far because it is cherce.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:18:30 AM: I still haven't gotten over to Gelson's to get candy for tonight. Hope they still have some. As soon as the scary Cable Man is finished I shall hie myself over there.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JMK on October 31, 2005, 10:28:12 AM: It is a suitably Halloween-y stormy day here. Lots and lots (and lots) of rain and wind. The whole roof overhang and gutter of the Fred Meyer store had blown down when I went shopping this morning! So I think we will be driving the kids tonight and letting them run up to houses and then jump back in the car. ::)

I emailed BK that I finally finished Rewind this weekend and had a grand old time. In the funny synchronicity department, my friend and erstwhile Frances Farmer in Starcrossed singer/actress Susannah Mars is married to a nice chiropractor named....Gary Johnson. ;D

I've seen many a SCAAARRRRY production in my day. I was actually in one myself. I played Jerry in Zoo Story and we did it at (of all places) Brigham Young University. Now BYU (as you may imagine) has very stringent codes as to what and what cannot be performed on campus so we had to radically Bowdlerize that huge monologue Jerry has in the middle of the piece. I believe it ended up being two or three sentences. I was appalled. The audience loved it. :-X
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 10:29:00 AM: Not having candy for the goblins would be scary!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:32:50 AM: Benjamin Kritzer won an award for his performance in The Zoo Story. Coincidentally, so did I. Now, which one of us can remember The Story of Jerry and the Dog?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JMK on October 31, 2005, 10:34:02 AM: Quote from: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:32:50 AM
Benjamin Kritzer won an award for his performance in The Zoo Story. Coincidentally, so did I. Now, which one of us can remember The Story of Jerry and the Dog?

So did I, amazingly enough. I swept all the Best Actor awards that year from local up through the Rocky Mountain regionals. I'll see if I can find a pic and post it here. I had very long hair in those days. ;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 10:34:27 AM: I saw these little Sony robots on QVC.....for about $200. They sold out immediately. :o

Here they are choreographed to dance. ;D

They are about 16 inches high.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=N8FxUMIZkfo&search=robot%20dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=N8FxUMIZkfo&search=robot%20dance)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:35:26 AM: I'm not only up, but I've been out, gotten a flu shot, picked up my laundry AND caught up with last night's posts.

BK, I'm glad you found those menus. There is so much esoterica on eBay...you just never know what people will have held on to until you stumble across it there.

And that's the most fun of all when browsing through eBay.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:36:58 AM: For "Roseanne" fans, Nick at Night will be showing that series' Halloween episodes at some point during the day.

"Roseanne" had some bitchin' Halloween shows!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:37:58 AM: Last night's "Grey's Anatomy":

Holy buckets! This show ALWAYS delivers! Last night was one of the most interesting/entertaining/funny and heartwrenching shows I've ever seen of any kind.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jennifer on October 31, 2005, 10:40:29 AM: Happy Halloween everyone!

Congrats DR JRand on your new job!

I do not think that I will watch any scary movies tonight on tv. I will just hand out candy. I wonder what time the first little kid will arrive at? I'm guessing 6pm.

Btw, it cannot be good that I already started snacking on halloween candy (yesterday) (the ones i'm supposed to be handing out). :)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:43:17 AM: Quote from: JRand55 on October 31, 2005, 10:34:27 AM
I saw these little Sony robots on QVC.....for about $200. They sold out immediately. :o

Here they are choreographed to dance. ;D

They are about 16 inches high.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=N8FxUMIZkfo&search=robot%20dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=N8FxUMIZkfo&search=robot%20dance)

UNBELIEVABLE! Those are probably the HOT item for this Christmas, too.

I want a few!!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:47:54 AM: It's another beautiful day here. I am not, however, in the "Halloween" spirit, although I may watch "Meet Me in St. Louis" to put me there.

I don't really have any spooky, horror-type DVDs unless you count "Poltergeist."

I also don't get any trick-or-treaters. In fact, the last time I ever gave out candy at Halloween was when I lived in Lawrence, IN, circa 1982.

I was prepared for doing so in 1994 when I was out of the Navy and living in a nice neighborhood I thought kids would flock to, but the doorbell never rang once the entire night.

For the past 10 years, I've been in a secure building and the few kids who live here don't presume to trick-or-treat here.

I sorta kinda miss it. But I think it's pretty much gone with the days when it was safe to do it, except in certain areas/neighborhoods.

(I wanna go trick-or-treating in BK's neighborhood!)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:53:20 AM: Somebody else say something. I see eight other Hainesies/Kimlets in lurk.

:D
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 10:55:52 AM: I am waiting for the scary not-so-Speedy Glass man to come and take my car to their scary shop so that I can again have a scary passenger side window.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:56:46 AM: Yes, we have a large quorum on the forum, including the elusive butterfly of love, Mr. William F. Orr. Has HE read Rewind?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:57:23 AM: I guess the scary Cable Man has decided not to get here until one minute before noon.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 10:57:24 AM: Quote from: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 10:15:18 AM
Is anyone going to watch scary movies tonight?

I think that I will...although I don't know which ones yet.

My sister told me that she rented THE RING Saturday night and that it scared the crap out of her. I was thinking of picking it up for tonight. Either that or MAD MONSTER PARTY.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 10:57:56 AM: In fact as I typed that previous message the scary car window man called and he is on his scary way now.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 11:10:51 AM: My vote is for MAD MONSTER PARTY - which by the way is being remade!

Second choice: HOMICIDAL!!!!

Third choice: I SAW WHAT YOU DID!

Both films du William Castle!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 11:11:44 AM: Quote from: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:43:17 AM
UNBELIEVABLE! Those are probably the HOT item for this Christmas, too.

I want a few!!!

So true, DR RLP. The man who was selling them said all of the robots that were available for the season were already IN the country and that the demand was MUCH greater than the supply. 8)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 11:17:17 AM: Scary bad production that I was in:

JULIUS CAESAR, in college. The director decided to set it on Wall Street and had everyone dress in business suits. I played Brutus and never knew what the hell I was doing. I had to play against alternating Cassius/Cassia, not always knowing who was going to show up. Caesar was a big guy who sometimes refused to go down after I plunged my knife into his chest. Portia had a fever blister one night. And there were so many cast members who were doubled and tripled in roles that no one ever really knew who was who.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 11:22:39 AM: (http://i22.ebayimg.com/02/i/05/47/90/36_1_b.JPG)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 11:29:46 AM: Great artwork, Mike. Is that a place mat?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 11:33:40 AM: Scary Cable Man has come and gone, and I must say the new modem seems to be working splendidly, as everything is very fast now, even on AOL.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 11:34:04 AM: DR Dan - I don't think Bening and Daly were naked in that production, but I remember that Daly was wearing very little.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 11:35:10 AM: I might as well get my 600th post over with.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 11:39:55 AM: DR Ron, it is a postcard
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 11:41:07 AM: Say what anyone will about community theater productions, but the lady who's playing Carlotta in the current production of FOLLIES in NYC is rehearsing in the other room and what a joy to listen to her rehearse. If that's community theater caliber, may the theater gods smite me with it. :) There's just so much competition for parts in NYC that truly fabulous performers may find themselves having to do so-called community theater to stretch themselves between paying gigs.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 12:10:38 PM: Can't knock community theatre - as DR FJL says.

I think we are speaking of our nightmare productions - of all kinds.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 12:11:01 PM: Suddenly my internet has become unreliable....grrrrr.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jed on October 31, 2005, 12:21:24 PM: I'm sure I've seen some disturbing professional productions, but none so horrific that they leap to mind at the moment. Worst of any type I've seen was a summer stock Carousel. The Billy Bigelow was absolutely frightful, managing to find vowel shapes I had never heard before, and never care to again. Julie Jordan was no great shakes herself, and the chemistry between the two was simply non-existant. A very good Carrie was sadly nowhere near enough to save the production. Second place would have to go to a community theatre Sound of Music which included DG Ann in the nun's chorus. Musically a strong production... rather dreadful beyond that, particularly in the utter lack of any quality direction.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jed on October 31, 2005, 12:31:15 PM: Thankfully, there is a lot of good theatre out there, and Ann and I saw some Saturday night. She took me up to Seattle and treated me to dinner and a fine production of Sweeney Todd at the 5th Avenue Theatre as my birthday present.

A very strong, full-scale production, with a cast of 29 and a reproduction of the original Broadway set. The actor playing Sweeney was simply wonderful, with a perfect voice for the role and finding a great balance of the dark and comical sides of the character. Much more Cariou-esque than Hearn-ish, and therefore much more to my tastes. Also found Johanna, Tobias, Anthony, the Beggar Woman, and the ensemble quite excellent. Mrs. Lovett was fine, but at times tried to stretch things a bit much for the extra laugh, while Judge Turpin simply wasn't as strong vocally as the rest, but both were still perfectly passable in the roles.

I would have personally preferred if the metronome had been set one click faster on most all of the songs (particularly in Act I), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the slightly slower tempos rarely detracted from the effectiveness of the score.

All in all, a simply wonderful evening of theatre!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 12:35:25 PM: I think I need to see a GOOD production of SWEENEY TODD. Is the OBC the BEST recording to listen to?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: S. Woody White on October 31, 2005, 12:38:22 PM: Quote from: JRand55 on October 31, 2005, 12:35:25 PM
I think I need to see a GOOD production of SWEENEY TODD. Is the OBC the BEST recording to listen to?
Yes, so far.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: S. Woody White on October 31, 2005, 12:39:58 PM: I'll be at work all through the H'ween candy hours. Der B is off with the lads at school. The doggies are watching the house.

Careful, or they will lick you to death!

:o
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 12:40:50 PM: Quote from: JRand55 on October 31, 2005, 12:35:25 PM
I think I need to see a GOOD production of SWEENEY TODD. Is the OBC the BEST recording to listen to?

By far.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ben on October 31, 2005, 12:41:01 PM: JRand said:

I think I need to see a GOOD production of SWEENEY TODD. Is the OBC the BEST recording to listen to?

In my humble opinion, that is the best one. As much as I would like you to see a good production of Sweeney (I remember you said you saw a bad one and bad Sweeney can be gruesome - no pun intended), if you end up not liking the show, we will still like you at Haines His Way. That's part of the fun of being a Hainsie or a Kimmlet :)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ben on October 31, 2005, 12:45:25 PM: We are officially booked into an apartment in Dublin! The place looks and sounds great. A big one bedroom with a kitchen, television, phone and washer/dryer. The only thing it won't have is Internet access so I will truly be errant and truant for 14 days. It's near a local grocery store and right next to Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin City. We arrive Saturday morning, December 17th and leave Saturday afternoon, December 31st. I'm going to try and fit a two-day trip to Cardiff, Wales in there. I want to meet my radio show host, Beverly Humphreys and since she's not in the states and Cardiff is just a short hop across the water from Dublin I'll see if I can work something out. Who knows, maybe I can even appear on the BBC live.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 01:08:25 PM: Thanks to DRs SWW, DtM, and Ben for said ST recommendation. I shall do what I can do.

I have been to Dublin - and then on north to Dundalk. Beautiful beautiful country. LONG LONG lunch hours at pubs....and much music and dancing. I was there in May - so it was spring....but I am sure it is just as delightful in winter time - because the PEOPLE were wonderful!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 01:11:21 PM: I'm not knocking community theater - some of it is excellent. My POINT was that this City of Angels doesn't ever rise to the level of mediocre community theater, of which there is plenty. For those who've read the Kritzer books, you will know that I was part of a brilliant community theater group in the mid-60s, who did better work than most of the professional shows I saw in those days.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 01:12:01 PM: I must say, so far, so good with the new modem. I've not had one single problem on the net or logging onto various and sundried sites since it arrived.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 01:12:02 PM: Had a most wonderful lunch with friends today and then did some quick shopping trying to get to the theater in time for the 2 p.m. showing of CAPOTE.

Alas, I didn't make it so I'll have to catch it another day.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 01:12:38 PM: Now, let's get some scary postin' goin' on. What has scared everyone the most, your most primal fears?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 01:15:43 PM: Went to Gelson's and I must say it was pretty Slim Pickens for the candy, but I managed to buy thirteen bags of a pretty good assortment, including Mounds, Almond Joy, Skittles, Reese's Assorted, Butterfingers, 3 Musketeers, Snickers and Smores - hopefully that will get me through the night.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 01:16:44 PM: Worst production I've ever been a part of? Probably the first time I did WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. I played the major domo Carter (I was about 22 at the time). Only one or two of us did English accents, and the whole thing was just a long, dreary mess.

Much better was the second time when I played Vole. There are still three parts in that show I wouldn't mind trying.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 01:18:27 PM: I think hideous faces scare me the most.

I'm thinking of that awful faced servent in THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and, of course, Linda Blair's face during the last half of THE EXORCIST. Just to see screen caps of those women scare the bejesus out of me.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 01:20:59 PM: I finished CLOSER when I got home, and it had just as profound an impact on me the second time around even knowing how things were going to end.

Having had someone end things with me when I least expected it (after eight years) probably accounts for the devastating effect this movie has on me.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 01:22:25 PM: Then, I watched the first REAL episode of LOIS AND CLARK. Enjoyed it, but the Kat (gossip columnist) character played by Tracy Scoggins is VERY tiresome to me. I could do without her totally on the show. Don't tell me she hung around for the entire run of the series?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 01:23:20 PM: I'm going to watch THE WAGES OF FEAR tonight. It's long, and that shoudl take me right up to CSI: MIAMI which I'll watch "live" since that show is so awesome looking in high definition.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 01:28:02 PM: First person to send me his email gets the SCARIEST thing I have ever seen.

BISQUE it is on its way to you.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 01:43:27 PM: Read your email MR BK and be scared!

I guess no one else is interested.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 01:44:33 PM: JMK do you want to be scared?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 01:46:16 PM: Quote from: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 10:37:58 AM
Last night's "Grey's Anatomy":

Holy buckets! This show ALWAYS delivers! Last night was one of the most interesting/entertaining/funny and heartwrenching shows I've ever seen of any kind.

I agree. I'm really enjoying this show, too! And who knew that Patrick Dempsey's character would make that decision??
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 01:49:01 PM: DR GEORGE do you want to get scared?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 01:50:55 PM: That was SCARY!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Tomovoz on October 31, 2005, 01:51:20 PM: I've seen a photo of td dressed in curtains - can anything be scarier?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 01:51:42 PM: hahahah. Told you!

I don't know how to make it an attachment here.

But feel free to forward it!

BOO!!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 02:01:39 PM: JRand55, I want to be scared!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 02:03:54 PM: On its way MBARNUM
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 02:07:40 PM: Heights scare me. And bugs with pinchers. And I am always scared to look at my bank balance.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 02:08:41 PM: Did I miss it, or did William F. Orr just make a ghostly appearance for the last hour and then LEAVE without so much as a hello? I will have to bitch-slap that boy from here to eternity and hell and back.

Just had two count them two sandwiches - my meal o' the day - they were quite tasty and even a little scary.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 02:10:13 PM: I saw him logged in....
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 02:18:11 PM: Quote from: JRand55 on October 31, 2005, 01:49:01 PM
DR GEORGE do you want to get scared?

I just caught up to the posts (it's been pretty busy at work). Sure! Scare me!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 02:20:01 PM: Quote from: Jed on October 31, 2005, 12:21:24 PM
....Second place would have to go to a community theatre Sound of Music which included DG Ann in the nun's chorus. Musically a strong production... rather dreadful beyond that, particularly in the utter lack of any quality direction.

This reminds me of former DR Jenny's The Sound of Music story from February 22, 2004:
Quote
Two years ago, I was in a production of "The Sound Of Music" at a Long Island performing arts camp. I was thrilled to be cast as Mother Abyss (Very unconventional casting, if you ask me. My last name is Weinbloom! I don't make a very convincing Catholic.), and it seemed from fairly early on that this would be a very good production. Two weeks before we were supposed to open, the head of the theatre department came into our rehearsal studio to tell the cast that the very Jewish philanthropists of the camp had complained that nice Jewish girls were being "forced" to play nuns (No mention of the little Jewish boys who were playing Nazis!). Our director, in all his brilliance, came up with a 'logical' solution for this problem: Get rid of the nuns. Of course, the entire cast was outraged, but especially the poor nuns who not only were losing valuable stage time but also their one chance to act like shiksas! When I asked the director why the philanthropists were so upset, he simply said "Well, the Catholics have done some terrible things to the Jews over the years..." And the Nazis haven't?! With each passing day, different aspects of our characters and the show in general were stripped away. First, we were told that we wouldn't be allowed to cross ourselves. Eventually, we also lost the right to kneel or hold our hands in a religious manner. When we got our costumes, they were simple black dresses. No habits, no crosses, nothing remotely religious. Instead of referring to Maria's home in the begining of the show as the "Abby", we were forced to call it the "School". Two days before the show, we were asked not to sing the opening in Latin, but rather on a simple "Lalala". On the final cast list that was put in the program, the nun ensemble was referred to as "Singing Spiritual Women".

It was very, very sad.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 02:20:32 PM: With the darkness coming earlier now, I'm expecting the doorbell to be ringing presently, so I need to get downstairs to be able to hear it.

WBBL.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 02:21:38 PM: I guess I killed DRMBARNUM....he never responded to the email.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 02:22:10 PM: DR GEORGE ask MBARNUM to forward it to you

I am off to the spirit circle. Maybe I can get a couple of pictures!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jed on October 31, 2005, 02:22:25 PM: No Halloween candy has been purchased here. DG Ann tells me that trick-or-treating is pretty scarce here at this particular apartment complex. She's off to a symphony chorale rehearsal tonight anyway, so I'd be left to my own devices dispensing candy, meaning I'd most likely turn off the lights and keep all the candy for myself. :D
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 02:25:29 PM: Quote from: George on October 31, 2005, 01:46:16 PM
I agree. I'm really enjoying this show, too! And who knew that Patrick Dempsey's character would make that decision??

It may be hindsight, but I saw it coming. No show I can recall has ever succeeded when two protagonists get together. Sam and Diane on "Cheers" took a couple of years to connect, and then it was on-again, off-again with necessary friction even at its best. When Rebeccah came along, the writers were wiser.

On "Moonlighting", the show kind of died once David and Maddie connected.

On "Friends," Ross and Rachel had to separate in order for Monica and Chandler to connect. One was what audiences desired, the other was what audiences least expected. Their relationships counterbalanced one another.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 02:27:28 PM: The terra cotta Jack-o-Lantern is glimmering in the window, WGUC's Tunes from the Crypt are bellowing from the stereo speakers, and the treats are ready. We probably won't get many trick or treaters, because we live near the end of the sidewalk and have a very steep driveway. Most kids get to our corner and say, "Forget it!" But we're ready for the determined ones.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 02:31:33 PM: Page 5 Halloween Dance
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 02:33:56 PM: So far we've been visited by a witch, a princess, and a very short Darth Vader.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 02:38:15 PM: I got this in an e-mail from a friend, but I'd heard about it quite a few years ago. There even was a book written about it, I think. Anyway, it's fascinating...and creepy at the same time:

Quote
History Lesson. Have a history teacher explain this...if they can.

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'
Kennedy was shot in a car called ' Lincoln' made by 'Ford.'

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the kicker...

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Creepy huh? And then the e-mail says to send this to everyone you know. I'm posting it because it's creepy!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Michael on October 31, 2005, 02:41:56 PM: I am back after a week in hell. I have a lot to catch up on.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 02:42:47 PM: Quote from: JRand55 on October 31, 2005, 02:21:38 PM
I guess I killed DRMBARNUM....he never responded to the email.

It did give me a fright! LOL!

(I was waiting for it to show up, then realized you likely e-mailed it to my AOL rather then my work address...so I stopped waiting and checked my AOL! LOL!)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 02:46:42 PM: It has done been forwarded so as to send chills down the spine of DR George.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 02:47:08 PM: Glad to see you back Michael S.!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 02:50:50 PM: DH Richard has been experimenting with paper sculpture and has lined our front walk with snakes and bats and salamanders (Oh, My!)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 02:52:24 PM: DR Michael S - Great to see you back - how are you?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 02:56:51 PM: Just finished writing two somewhat emotional pages (I think I haven't written for the last few days because I knew I had to do these pages) - I really enjoyed writing them. In a short while, I shall shave and shower and then dress in my Halloween costume of The Old Jew. I use all my own clothes.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 03:07:04 PM: The neighbors had a big basket of candy outside their door with a sign to please take one and leave the rest for others. So I took one. I hope no one finds out.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 03:08:17 PM: I really do need a check on my eye prescription. I could have sworn the AOL headline read BUSH PICKS ALTO FOR HIGH COURT.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 03:28:39 PM: Here's something some may find frightening - I just put a tuna casserole in the oven for our dinner. Also corn muffins. Soon I'll cook peas.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 03:32:43 PM: Quote from: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 02:46:42 PM
It has done been forwarded so as to send chills down the spine of DR George.

Thanks! However, I'm at work and the security on our computers won't allow it to be played. :P So, I'll have to wait until I get home to be scared.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 03:33:25 PM: Quote from: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 03:28:39 PM
Here's something some may find frightening - I just put a tuna casserole in the oven for our dinner. Also corn muffins. Soon I'll cook peas.

Oooh, sounds delicious to me!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:11:55 PM: Well, the trick or treaters should be coming any time now. They actually have hours here - 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. I'm in a neighborhood with a lot of kids, but they are now doing a big thing here at the mall - so the kids can trick or treat in the comfort of a mall - where's the scary fun in that?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:13:14 PM: It's hard to say what scares me the most. I can say that one of the most afraid I've ever been is in my old house at the lake when I was my myself in the basement listening to softball size hail breaking windows upstairs. I don't recommend it.

Gotta go, I see some little ones coming up the walk!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:13:51 PM: I'll be back......how's that for scary!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 04:22:18 PM: We should start having our trick or treat reports right about now, for those who are on other coasts. And our partay better start being a partay pretty darn soon.

I just had the second call in two days that I've loved - both from people who've read and loved Rewind - always makes me feel good to hear that stuff.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 04:23:17 PM: I shall be showeing momentarily and then I shall be in readiment for our neighborhood trick or treaters. I accidentally ate a couple of bits-sized Snickers bars.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 04:28:13 PM: Happy Halloween news:

Chocolate as Health Food! (http://www.cocoavia.com) ;D
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 04:38:38 PM: The ghostly William F. Orr has returned and is hovering.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:40:15 PM: Well, in the past 20 minutes I've had 46 trick or treaters. The most memorable is the foreign exchange student from Turkey who is learning our traditions. His costume was a pizza guy, but it's cool he's out there learning about it I guess.

I've seen some darling fairies...little girls dressed up as fairies that is, and the last witch was really good....update, make that 52 and counting....
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:44:41 PM: When I was growing up I had a neighbor who would make you do a trick or he wouldn't give you a treat. I did a somersault (sp?) every year, but it always got me candy
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 04:54:57 PM: No trick-or-treaters here. Around here, and where I work, kids trick or treat at stores and shops instead of residences. Kinda wish some would come here, but what can you do?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:57:06 PM: It's fun to have them, but the last group was a bunch of about 8th grade boys - no costumes just grocery sacks asking for candy. Well, I gave it to them, but please, if you're going to do it when you get to that age, at least wear a costume.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 04:58:36 PM: Nanci Griffith at Carnegie Hall is cancelled. Anyone who wants a very rare program for this non-event, let me know!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 05:00:35 PM: Quote from: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 04:58:36 PM
Nanci Griffith at Carnegie Hall is cancelled. Anyone who wants a very rare program for this non-event, let me know!

I would love to have one! I adore her
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 05:01:57 PM: Worst professional production?
It was a play called SURVIVING GRACE, a vanity production, I believe, starring Ileana Douglas, who has never been worse or even nearly this bad. It was rotten to the core. I had erased it from my memory until just tonight, in fact.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:04:45 PM: Only one person has had trick-or-treaters?

And once again the ghostly apparition known as William F. Orr has disappeared without even the courtesy of a Happy Halloween. The ghoulies and ghosts and goblins are gonna get him, that much I can tell you.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 05:05:39 PM: Ok, the cute little sponge bob and the darling little princess just made up for the older kids. They were just too cute
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 05:07:01 PM: DR Sandra is carving a pumpkin:
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: TCB on October 31, 2005, 05:07:22 PM: Thanks to several of you for reminding me of the name of one of my worst theater experiences, PERFECT CRIME. I saw the show back in the late 1990's. I had never heard or read anything about the show, one way or another, and I had a free evening to kill; so, like a fool, I went to see it.

Still, it doesn't compare with sititng through LEGENDS, probably because I wanted so badly to ~~like~~ love that show, as much as I did its two stars. A total train wreck, from start to finish.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 05:07:52 PM: If any actually printed, I'll see what I can do, Cillaliz!

MAD MONSTER PARTY has one of the most nihilistic endings of any children's movie I can think of. It also has one of the most buxom stop motion puppets of any children's movie. The puppet is voiced by the great Gale Garnett, who sings two good tunes.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 05:10:07 PM: I have heard nothing good about THE PERFECT CRIME. How does it manage to stay open and pay the rent at its Times Square location? Probably people run down to the last option on TKTS and say, 'hey, it's the longest running show around' and then they are on the hook.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 05:10:28 PM: :
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 05:11:01 PM: Quote from: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 05:07:52 PM
If any actually printed, I'll see what I can do, Cillaliz!

Thanks!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ginny on October 31, 2005, 05:12:11 PM: Quote from: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:04:45 PM
Only one person has had trick-or-treaters?

Two of us so far - Cillaliz and myself. We had nowhere near the numbers she had in Iowa. The official hours were only 5:30-7, so it's been over for more than an hour here.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 05:23:07 PM: Quote from: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:04:45 PM
Only one person has had trick-or-treaters?

I'm still at work and plan to stay here until 7:30 p.m. After that, I'm going to Costco to get my Halloween pictures from today developed. Here at work, we had a costume contest break and about a dozen people came to work dressed up. I did too! I am wearing my tie-dyed shirt and my Woody (the car ;)) Hawaiian shirt over that and jean shorts. I have a funny red hat and these yellow plastic sunglasses with shades over the lenses and a camera. I was dressed as a tourist! I really hope the pictures turn out. If they are developed tonight, I'll scan and post some of them. If not, I'll be able to post them tomorrow.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 05:23:21 PM: Topic of the Day: I don't think I've seen a truly "bad" professional production. A lot of bad community theater productions (I ushered for most of them so I didn't pay to see them), but not a bad production by a real professional troup.

The absolute worst community theater production that I saw was (appropriate for today) Little Shop of Horrors. It was put on by a group that no longer exists called Puget Sound Theatre Ensemble (affectionately called "PEST" ;)). It was a truly horrid production. The Audrey couldn't stay in tune and all that they did for "Close for Renovation" was add one little vase with a single flower. That's it. That was their entire "renovation!" The voice of Audrey II was a local political "celebrity" who was not only not good, but just totally wrong. But he fit in with the rest of the production. ::) The actors playing Seymour and Orin were both pretty good. And the three urching weren't bad. A couple of years later, I did a show with one of them and she told me that the so-called choreographer didn't do anything with them! They had to make up all of their own dances and movement!

The performed it on the main stage of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts (where I usher frequently), a house that seats 988 people. This is not a show that can play in a theater that big. Anyway, they had a special Halloween night performance and if people came in costume, they could get a discount on the ticket price. Only 30 people showed up...total! Not 30 people in costume, but only 30 people in the whole theater!! Fortunately (especially for the young actors in their "training courses"), they eventually folded and are no more.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 05:32:11 PM: Now I'll be a killjoy.
Snopes debunks many of the claims in the Kennedy-Lincoln email...

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/linckenn.htm
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Danise on October 31, 2005, 05:38:10 PM: Boo! Did I scare you? :D

Well, we had exactly 3 Trick or Treaters. One Hulk, one princess and one vampire. I gave them a dollar each in quarters.

JRand, you can send me something scary and congrats on the job!

Something that scares me. Can't think of anything I'd care to share right now.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 05:40:00 PM: It's Joshie, our cat -- if he was orange and a very large gourd.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 05:40:27 PM: In the dark:
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 05:42:17 PM: See the resemblance?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 05:43:37 PM: Here are our adorable Trick-or-Treaters -- the Vietnamese-Jewish children from next door:
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:43:47 PM: But wouldn't it be SCARY if the pumpkin were carving Sandra?

The kiddies should start arriving soon. I put in new light bulbs out front, as two of them had bit the dust. What the dust did to deserve being bitten by the likes of a light bulb is anyone's guess.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:44:47 PM: Why is everyone inviting me to dinner tonight at the last minute? Cindy Williams just called and asked if I wanted to sup - but I said rain check as we must be here for the kiddies.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:45:15 PM: And we'll need lots more photographs of SCARY costumes.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: TCB on October 31, 2005, 05:47:18 PM: Quote from: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 04:40:15 PM

I've seen some darling fairies...little girls dressed up as fairies that is, and the last witch was really good....update, make that 52 and counting....

As have I , DR Cillaliz, as have I.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Danise on October 31, 2005, 05:54:14 PM: Cute photos all!

DR Michael S, I am so glad to see you post! I was worried about you after hearing all the horror stories on the news about South Florida being out of power and supplies.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 05:56:09 PM: No trick or treaters here this year...that is because I turned out the porch light...last year all I got were teenagers who didn't even bother to dress up, as mentioned above, holding out paper sacks. The nerve!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 05:57:11 PM: I see people walking up and down the street, but have had no kiddies thus far. My memory is that the same thing happened last year - they didn't really start arriving until just after six.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 05:58:30 PM: Oh, and Walmart has a bargain on DVDs...there was a whole display, near the Christmas stuff, of $4.88 DVDS...the only oldies were DUEL and the Universal Franchise Collections of The MA AND PA KETTLE movies and the FRANCIS, THE TALKING MULE movies....pretty good for $4.88!

I picked up THE GURU!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 06:04:19 PM: No kiddies yet. The kids are doing the north and south streets and are just passing by the corner houses which have entrances east and west. SCARY. I may have thirteen bags of candy left at the end of the evening. I see some fun costumes through the window, but kiddies are not a'coming to to my door.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 06:06:34 PM: Well, the final count was 82. Not bad. I still have a few candy bars left so that is a really good thing. Here's to chocolate!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 06:06:53 PM: The Goldstein children came back again.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 06:07:31 PM: Quote from: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 05:32:11 PM
Now I'll be a killjoy.
Snopes debunks many of the claims in the Kennedy-Lincoln email...

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/linckenn.htm

Oops! My bad. ;) Thanks for the info. I always wondered about it, but never did the (obviously simple) research to find out.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 06:07:40 PM: No kiddies yet. I hear lots of kiddie voices and yet no kiddies have come to my house. And my costume of The Old Jew is so good.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 06:09:59 PM: And one for Mahler's Ghost! ;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 06:10:27 PM: DR Sandra is telling the story of Poe's black cat. They read it in class today in honor of Halloween. Wow, no one can tell an uplifting story quite like Edgar Allen Poe.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 06:13:25 PM: Kiddies have arrived - I had ten in the first group alone. Kiddies are very bold these days - one candy is not enough - they come right out and ask if they can have two.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:19:04 PM: Gosh! If it weren't for this forum, I wouldn't have a clue it was Halloween!

Nothing out of the ordinary here.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 06:19:11 PM: Congrats on getting some Trick or Treaters!!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:20:23 PM: I watched "Hidalgo" this afternoon.

I very much enjoyed it. It's not a mental challenge, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's well-cast, gorgeously photographed, beautifully scored and has enough derring-do and adventure, PLUS A STORY, to make it worthy of the time I spent watching it.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 06:21:30 PM: On a lighter note, I went to Costco today at lunch. I got some goodies for the costume contest break and Bette Midler's brand new dual disc CD/DVD, "Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000BBOFOK/qid=1130811251/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-7701208-5864855?v=glance&s=music&n=507846). I really like this recording, but as mentioned many times in the amazon.com reviews, it's too short. It's only 33 minutes! Bette's tribute CD to Rosemary Clooney was just as short. Why? There are so many more songs that could have been added. I won't be able watch the DVD side until I get home. It has "Never Before Seen Peggy Lee Home Movie Footage" and "Archival TV and Film Appearances of Peggy Lee." That sounds like fun! ;D
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:22:16 PM: Where has vixmom been all day?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:22:26 PM: Where is Jose?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 06:22:28 PM: BK, be on the lookout for Stan Chandler and his lovely wife and baby.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:22:55 PM: Where is TPunk, Rodzinski???

And are you feeling much better today??
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:23:57 PM: Hey, Michael Shayne!

Welcome back to the fold.

Is everything restored? Was loss of power the only damage you suffered?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:26:17 PM: Jane must really have been busy today. Has anyone heard from her?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 06:26:59 PM: Oh dear. One of the Pixie Stix broke open when DR Sandra gave out candy. The Pixie Dust got on a vampire. So if you see a flying vampire, you'll know why. SCARY!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Ron Pulliam on October 31, 2005, 06:27:10 PM: Have I asked too many questions?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 06:27:26 PM: I'm sure Jane is busy with Halloween duties.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 06:29:25 PM: Rodzinski presents...
HHW TRUE TALES OF TERROR

The following is 100% true.
Maple Lane, Crown Point, Indiana, USA. 1977 or so.
My gradeschool was located at the end of Maple Lane, just beyond a cemetary.
GREENWOOD CEMETARY.
To walk home from school, you walked through a park that went around the cemetary. Students were forbidden from cutting through the cemetary.
As a first grader, that was good enough for me. But one day, I noticed that some older kids were cutting inside the fence, horsing around. An older troublemaker named Keith and a couple other boys...
I continued on my way home.
One of my sisters arrives home after me, gets my dad and soon they are headed out the door back towards school.
"Where are they going, mom?"
I misheard her at first. I thought she said, "They're going to see the lake in the cemetary."
I hopped on my bike and rode back up Maple Lane...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 06:47:49 PM: Part 2. Still 100% factual.

What Mom had said, as it turned out (in her rather matter of fact way) was, "They're going to see the LEG in the cemetary."
I realized this as I rounded the end of Maple Lane and cut through to where about 15 people were standing, including three of my sisters and my dad. They were quietly staring in at something that was on the grass. A human leg, cut off at high thigh level.
Seems the kid Keith had found a plastic garbage bag in the graveyard and dumped it out, and the leg was what was inside.
We stared at it for a few minutes. I remember my sister Polly saying, "It must be a lady's leg because it's shaved."
A single police car showed up, the cops wrapped the leg in a blanket and took it away in their trunk.
There was no story about it in the news, nothing in the paper.
What my dad heard through the grapevine was that it was a leg amputated from someone who had a plot at the cemetary. But the caretakers obviously didn't go ahead and bury the leg or whatever they were supposed to do.
One odd thing about it is that there was no sense of, "Gee the kids saw a leg. Should they get counseling?" Or anything like that. And none of us kids were particularly freaked out. We went home, ate dinner, talked about it at school the next day.
Then years later, my sisters and I got to talking about it, and it was like, "Did that really happen??? A freakin' leg just sitting out in the sun down the street???"
And then we knew, maybe for the first time, that it had happened.
The leg was real.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Sandra on October 31, 2005, 06:52:49 PM: Here's my question. If you were going to have your leg amputated, why would you bother shaving it?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: td on October 31, 2005, 06:57:49 PM: Quote from: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:32:50 AM
Benjamin Kritzer won an award for his performance in The Zoo Story. Coincidentally, so did I. Now, which one of us can remember The Story of Jerry and the Dog?

Another reason why I'm a BK fan!
Did you know, I don't think I've told this before, that I played Jerry TWICE for two different directors, in my sophomore year of college?

One production was staged outdoors in Schenley Park, the other was staged in The Pit, a former bar (Bimbo's), acquired by the university and converted into a theater.

Later still, Pittsburgh's City Theater acquired the space for its professional productions, BUT I appeared in the very first show there under the auspices of City Theater - a show written by Coni Congoli Koepfinger, being given its WORLD PREMIERE. It has since gone on to multiple productions, TRAIL PROOF has been produced all across the U.S.; still, I was the first Krylo Kontessa, an artist who never stops painting - or talking for that matter!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 07:01:24 PM: Quote from: Sandra on October 31, 2005, 06:52:49 PM
Here's my question. If you were going to have your leg amputated, why would you bother shaving it?

Maybe she didn't know that it was going to be removed. :o
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:03:12 PM: No sign of Stan Chandler and frau and child.

So many kids!!! And they keep coming, usually in groups of four to twelve. Best costume, a girl dressed as Mary Poppins - gorgeous clothes, wig, and makeup.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:03:51 PM: Best Male Costume - Three boys dressed as The Blues Brothers - they took their candy in a briefcase.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:04:28 PM: Now we're talking about shaving legs? THAT'S scary.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:06:21 PM: Welcome seven GUESTS! Are any of you SCARY? I'll bet some of you are.

I've changed costumes from The Old Jew to Dino at the piano.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 07:06:41 PM: I've never shaved my legs...not even when I performed in drag! ;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:21:08 PM: Kiddies are still arriving. Thankfully, I still have plenty o' candy left.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:21:40 PM: I'm playing Hugo Friedhofer's SCARY music to Paul Bartel's film Private Parts.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:25:08 PM: Er...I thought this was supposed to be a costume party...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Michael on October 31, 2005, 07:26:36 PM: Well I have 2 more days of notes to catch up.

Yes I am back and I have survived. I got my electricity back some time today. There are still places around me that do not have electricity. Traffic is bad because there are no street lights. Literally. They were blown off their lines. Many many trees down. Most of them ficus trees. I think they should get rid of all the ficus trees. They are not native to Florida and they do not have deep roots which is why they are easily blown over. I went to work since last Wednesday as they had electricity. I needed to do something during the day. I was going stir crazy. I managed to find a BEST BUY opened and bought a portable dvd player and was able to watch movies for a few hours and then went to bed usually around 9:00.

Tonight I was doing laundry as I had more than a weeek to catch up on.

I tried to get on line at work but there was some kind of filter that did not allow me to read beyond the first part of BK's notes.

Thanks to all that were concerned. Next time I am going to do what I did last year. I escaped to LA and Palm Springs for the duration.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Michael on October 31, 2005, 07:27:20 PM: Belated birthday wishes and congrats to all that had birthdays, awards and good things happened to them this past week.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 07:27:37 PM: Lovely hearing about the costumes! Imagination is a great thing! And using it to get candy is a great thing as well! ;D

Here I am about ready to start a Spirit Circle at the old World of Wisdom. We had 17 people and it was great fun.....talked to some interesting people on this side and that..... 8)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:30:23 PM: I had a record 38 trick or treaters tonight, which isn't bad for a city neighborhood. But they stopped coming after 7:30, and even though I was doubling the treats towards the end, I still have a bag of Kit-Kats and a bag of Hershey's Smores. Now what on earth will I do with them...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:31:05 PM: DR JRand, are you wearing a cape in that picture?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 07:38:07 PM: Quote from: Dan (the Man) on October 31, 2005, 07:25:08 PM
Er...I thought this was supposed to be a costume party...

You want a costume?? How's MY new avatar?? ;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 07:43:39 PM: I'm at work now, but I must be going. I'm off to Costco to turn in my 35mm disposable camera. I can only hope that the pictures turned out. I used the built-in flash, so there's hope, but you never know. It's too late to get them done in an hour (Costco closes in 45 minutes), but I should get them back by tomorrow. Laters! (quoth Jose ;D)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 07:44:36 PM: Only 14 more posts (after this one) and I'll have posted 5555 posts! (just had to share.)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 07:45:34 PM: New avatars from DRs GEORGE and DtM....very nice.

No....I am standing in front of some skirts for sale.....but they are very nice.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 07:46:11 PM: I think it's time for bed.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jrand73 on October 31, 2005, 07:46:35 PM: Nice to see DR MS back online!!

DR DANISE send me your email address, and I will scare YOU!!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:47:04 PM: I'm sure we've had over 100 kids already, and they're still coming.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 07:47:25 PM: Thankfully, I didn't run out of candy and still have plenty left.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: DearReaderLaura on October 31, 2005, 07:58:34 PM: Scare ME, JRand!

DearReaderLaura@hotmail.com
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 08:05:34 PM: Here's me in my creepy metal dude costume from a year ago.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 08:08:22 PM: Congrats on the new gig, JRand!!!
Let me know the coordinates and I'll try to have some Hoosier pals stop by.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 08:10:01 PM: Thought we had a trick or treater, but it was just Jose arriving back here. :(
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 08:13:13 PM: This is actually the first place I've ever lived where I get this many trick or treaters. It used to be a handful at the most. It's quite sad to get all ready for them to come to the door and then.....no one is there.......
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 08:14:24 PM: Creepy Metal dude is really quite a scary sight
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:15:55 PM: I had no trick or treaters again this year. No surprise, really, and I had two small Hershey with Almond bars that they would have gotten had they rung the bell.

Oh, well.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 08:17:26 PM: Nice hair Rodzinski.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:17:36 PM: Yes, indeed, welcome back, DR Michael Shayne.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 08:18:44 PM: I started to watch a SCARY movie called A WALKING NIGHTMARE (1946)....but I fell asleep.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Cillaliz on October 31, 2005, 08:19:50 PM: Well, I think I'm off to bed. I'm going to curl up and read The Devil in the White City....I think that's appropriate for Halloween...Night
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:22:43 PM: I watched a couple of movies tonight before watching one prime time series.

First up was FIGHTING TOMMY RILEY, an independent production that was sort of a minor league ROCKY with more a focus on the trainer rather than the boxer. Like ROCKY, the actor playing the boxer wrote this screenplay but he did focus on the trainer who turns out to be gay and falling in love with his protege. So in that way, he stole a bit from Patricia Warren's THE FRONT RUNNER, too (except that was about racing rather than boxing).

Not a terrible film but pretty pedestrian writing. Still, a wonderful central performance by Eddie Jones as the trainer.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:25:31 PM: Then, I put in THE WAGES OF FEAR, Criterion's first DVD release of this classic drama. Yes, I've read that the new release is a much better print. This one, while overall fine, does have more than a few instances of scratches and damage.

I saw this film once when I took a film class on world cinema back in the 1970s and never since, so it was great reliving it. Great movie that takes its time to establish mood and relationships. And infinitely superior to Friedkin's SORCERER.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:26:36 PM: Maybe DR T'Punk got the idea for her name from looking at that "punkish" picture of DR ROdzinski. :)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:27:58 PM: Watched a CSI: MIAMI rerun which was an episode from last season which was very enjoyable and with a most surprising killer revealed in the last moments. Even seeing it for the second time, I was completely surprised by the identity of the murderer.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:29:01 PM: Still on the DVR are last night's EXTRAS and MR. AND MRS. SMITH directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Don't know if I will get to them tomorrow as I'll be out of town for some amount of time.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:30:48 PM: And I still have two Val Lewtons on there, too: THE LEOPARD MAN and CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:32:53 PM: I've set the DVR to catch the next showing of a Nicole Kidman movie from last year that got some good reviews but which I never got to see - BIRTH. I must get around to it at some point this week, too, once I get some of the other things watched and erased. I don't think the DVR is set to get BIRTH until WEdnesday (maybe).
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jennifer on October 31, 2005, 08:36:39 PM: I had trick-or-treaters too!

I didn't count, but I think there were more than usual. It was so warm out (unbelievable). So it must have actually been fun to be out this year.

There were a bunch of cute costumes. One minnie mouse was quite cute. Also a skinny spider man with the muscle spiderman costume made me laugh. I also really liked the girl who came as green grapes (with tons of green balloons tied to her).

I still have some candy left.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Jennifer on October 31, 2005, 08:40:10 PM: BK, you only gave one candy???? That will not do! I usually give at least 4!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 08:56:01 PM: When all those Guests were online before, one of them was me. I couldn't sign on through Internet explorer so i was lurking. And yes, me bitching at the computer was very SCARY!!!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 08:57:52 PM: George - I now have that song that had the lyric "In the Year 5555" running in my head thanks to you. (Was the song called "In the Year 2525"?) Not a complaint, I like the song.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Matt H. on October 31, 2005, 08:59:51 PM: Off to slumberland now.

Good night, all!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Rodzinski on October 31, 2005, 09:00:11 PM: Quote from: MBarnum on October 31, 2005, 08:17:26 PM
Nice hair Rodzinski.

Yeah, I got it cut since then. :-\
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 09:00:33 PM: Glad you have your power back, Michael S. Welcome back!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 09:21:20 PM: Good Evening!

As the famous song lyric goes...

Heaven. I'm in Heaven...

:)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 09:25:07 PM: Back from some supper, and must now sit on my couch like so much fish. 300 posts anyone? The only real way to send out October, don't you think?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 09:32:50 PM: Quote from: FJL on October 31, 2005, 08:57:52 PM
George - I now have that song that had the lyric "In the Year 5555" running in my head thanks to you. (Was the song called "In the Year 2525"?) Not a complaint, I like the song.

I've never heard of it at all. Who sang it?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 09:34:44 PM: ...I decided to get off the A Train at Columbus Circle this morning, since I was running a bit early. And my "breakfast" was a Protein Berry Blast from the Jamba Juice in the Whole Foods in the Shops at CC...

Columbus Circle is at 59th Street. I decided to go ahead and walk down Broadway to the rehearsal studios... To the first day of rehearsal... for my first Broadway show...

Well, by the time I reached 55th Street, I had started to cry... Truly tears of joy. "It" all just started to wash over me, to sink in. I knew my "dream" would be truly be coming true come February, but after the phone call I received last Friday, my "dream" was moved up by a couple of months.

Thankfully, by the time I reached 42nd Street, my eyes had dried, and my smoothie had kicked in too...
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 09:35:03 PM: So, my new modem has been working wonderfully. I go away for an hour and get back, and Adelphia is suddenly experiencing outages all over Southern California. Unbelievable. I can get on certain sites, like this one, but not on others - I can't get to the adelphia home page, and I can't seem to get onto any secure sites.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: TCB on October 31, 2005, 09:43:23 PM: Tomovoz would probably know, but I believe it was Zaeger and Evans, and the song was called IN THE YEAR 2525.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: FJL on October 31, 2005, 09:43:28 PM: George - "In the Year 2525" was a big hit for Zager and Evans in 1969. I just looked at the lyric. I'd forgotten that it's such a pessimistic song, but it IS catchy. If I'm getting this site right, it's at

http://frodisman.com/2525.html
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 09:43:31 PM: Quote from: George on October 31, 2005, 09:32:50 PM
I've never heard of it at all. Who sang it?

I listened to the clip on amazon.com and I realized that I have heard this...but it's been a long time, and I never really learned it, just recognized it.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 09:44:45 PM: As soon as I walked into the rehearsal studio, the smile that was already on my face just widened even more. The first person I saw was my friend, Brad, who is the conductor for Lestat - and the one responsible for getting me on board. He was the perfect one for me to see first. "Thank You!"

People just started gathering over the next couple of minutes... The stage managers... The folks from the ad agency and Warner Bros... The rest of the music staff - including BK's buddy, Todd Ellison who is doing the vocal arrangement for the show... I finally got to meet the "famous" John Miller - the music contractor... Robert Jess Roth, the director... Matt West and Cynthia Onrubia, the musical staging people... Guy Babylon, the musical supervisor and right hand man for Elton John... Susan Hilferty, costumes... Derek McLane, set design... Bernie Taupin, lyricist(!)... The cast - Hugh Panaro, Carolee Carmello, Jim Stanek, Jack Noseworthy, etc., etc., etc...

WOW!

And a whole slew of other people... WOW!!

The director and designers did their presentations... WOW!!!

Then we broke for lunch...

:)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 09:50:27 PM: The most "surreal" moment came just before we broke for lunch. The stage manager wanted to go ahead and do the "introductions" since a lot of people were just there for the morning session. -We had rehearsal in the afternoon. So, they started going around the room, each person stating who they were and what they were doing with/for the production... They started with the people standing around the room... Stage management, company management... Then the director, Rob Roth...

"So, who are you?"

-What?

"It's your turn."

(Gulp) Oh, OK... Well, I'm Jose...

...I forget what exactly what I said next, but I tried my best not to mumble and not speak to quickly like I am wont to do. -However, I guess I did get my name out clearly enough - people remembered it later in the day.

:)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 09:53:32 PM: Congratulations, Jose!! That sounds like it's going to be a truly wonderful experience!! ;D
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 09:54:49 PM: All in all, a truly amazing day!

-And Elton John and Anne Rice come in tomorrow!

There's so much that happened today... And I could probably go on and on, but I'll just say that today was truly one of the THE BEST days of my life so far.

Thanks to all of you for your support, kind words and well wishes.

:)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 09:58:36 PM: ...And since I was feeling good(!), I ended up joining DR Jason and his family for dinner at Becco - one of my favorites restaurants.

It was a pleasure meeting Jason's parents and uncle and aunt, and dinner was wonderful as always. And due to my travels through Lousville and my father's Coast Guard experience, we actually had a bit more to talk about than expected.

...And after dinner, Jason and his family headed over to the Empire State Building for a final view of the city before heading back to Louisville in the morning.

Safe travels to them!

And "recovery" vibes to DR Jason! ;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 10:00:53 PM: OH! I got the best souvenir ever today too! A Lestat t-shirt with the the logo on the front, the name of the show on the back, and the Warner Bros. logo and "First Rehearsal 10-31-05" on the left sleeve.

:)

*They had a bunch of extras sitting on the table when I left, so I snagged a few for some friends. And if there are still some more tomorrow, I may snag a few more.

;)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 10:04:05 PM: ...And before heading to dinner, I stopped into one of those small convenience stores on Ninth Avenue to buy some mints. This guy starts screaming behind me. "WOW! WOW!" He then walks up to the guy at the counter and asks him to verify his lottery ticket - a scratcher... Then he shows it to another customer just to make sure he was not seeing things... Turns out he had just won $25,000!!

-I ended up walking out the door with him... He was wearing a t-shirt for the restaurant around the corner... As he passed the restaurant, and he just waved to his friends inside... And kept walking!

:)
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: JoseSPiano on October 31, 2005, 10:04:58 PM: And I believe that completes my frenzy for the evening. I have to be back at the rehearsal hall in nine hours, so...

:)

Goodnight.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: George on October 31, 2005, 10:05:29 PM: Well, I must be going. I have bills to pay, laundry to do and a meeting early in the morning. I need my sleep, especially with the time change. Good night, all!
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: td on October 31, 2005, 10:09:58 PM: WELCOME BACK, DR MICHAEL SHAYNE!

Great tales from day one's rehearsal, Jose! Tell Jim Stanek HELLO from me! (yeah, Jim knows Tony Dale. . .)

I didn't have any trick or treaters, nor did I watch a scary movie. Instead I watched the dvd of MAN OF LA MANCHA, a problematic film at best, but, Sophia Loren acquits herself quite nicely.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 10:35:14 PM: Reading Jose's posts, it's just like reading the opening chapter of Writer's Block, isn't it?
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Tomovoz on October 31, 2005, 10:37:10 PM: Quote from: FJL on October 31, 2005, 09:43:28 PM
George - "In the Year 2525" was a big hit for Zager and Evans in 1969. I just looked at the lyric. I'd forgotten that it's such a pessimistic song, but it IS catchy. If I'm getting this site right, it's at

http://frodisman.com/2525.html
One of the true "one hit wonders".
In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)
Their non hit "Mr Turnkey" is very interesting too.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: Tomovoz on October 31, 2005, 10:43:52 PM: Quote from: TCB on October 31, 2005, 09:43:23 PM
Tomovoz would probably know, but I believe it was Zaeger and Evans, and the song was called IN THE YEAR 2525.
For those who need to know Denny Zager and Rick Evans are from Wymore and Lincoln Nebraska.
Title: Re:23 HICCUPS
Post by: bk on October 31, 2005, 11:49:13 PM: Halloween WUSSBURGERS! No posts in over an hour and no one in the jernt.