Haines His Way

Jane, only 1 more and you'll have 5,000 posts!!

Speaking of Steve Reeves, I bought a cheap copy of THE GIANT OF MARATHON starring him and directed by Jacques Tourneur

Yes, I'll admit it-- I WAS errant and truant for the chat last night.  Do not banish me; I ask you.

Oh so much good Kern.  One of my favorite of his songs is "Nobody Else But Me" sung by Cleo Laine in the London Revival of "Show Boat."  I loved the orchestrations from that production, although all of the voices are not my favorites.  Ms. Laine's IS one of my favorites, though.

"Hey Feller" is another fave (this time Music Guy's would have to rank #1 with me).

"Misery" (cut from the original) from the recent revival is stupendous.

The lyrics to "All the Things You Are" are so wonderful that anyone who simply sings them correctly is fine with me.  Ella Fitzgerald would be among those.

"Long Ago and Far Away" as well as the entire scores to "Swing Time" and "Show Boat" are some of the best things EVER written (IMHO).

The Amazing Race is great tonight - if you are a fan.

And MATTH, it was two complete episodes, not one episode stretched out to fill two hours.  Beautiful scenery and local culture.  And we really get to know the teams a LOT better this time.  I have a couple of favorite teams now.  AND THE ENDING OF THE SECOND EPISODE IS MOST MOST EXCITING.

Hi Tomovoz.  

A slow reaction from the land of OZ.. hi Jane  

Three contestants on AMERICAN IDOL tonight were truly impressive:

Constantine

Anthony

Carrie

Naturally the judges fell out over Nikko (who finished well, but started off low and wavery) and Vonzell (pitch problems and horrific phrasing), neither of whom greatly impressed me. (Nikko's number remained the busiest the longest amount of time.)

My prediction for the bottom three this week: Anwar (his worst vocal performance by far), Scott (too much unsteady falsetto), and Jessica (bland song done by a bland singer).

Glenn Close had sensational moments tonight on THE SHIELD. She has brought an amazing spirit and center to the show. She's a tremendous actress.

 I had to buy two graves when I got mine and my burning question is if I die without marrying, what will happen to that second grave?  

You could bury the new neighbors in it, right now. Just an idea.

der Brucer

Boyce & Hart.  Discuss.

Just so much Monkee Business to me.

der Brucer

DEPILATORY!

And besides...Hercules should ALWAYS have his hair in a 1950s pompadour...it is more authentic, dontchathink! LOL!

I remember going through jars and jars of Wave-Set (that yuky green gel that came before Dippity Doo).

An I had blue-suede wing tips!

der Brucer (Wave set also had other uses   )

Kind of a scrawny looking Hercules, though!  

Are you blind?

I had a tough time with AMERICAN IDOL tonight.  I am not a big fan of what passed as pop music in the 1990s, so I wasn't overwhelmed with any of the performances.

Having said that, my top three picks would be:


Least favorite performances were Scott and Jessica.[/font]

Wow, MattH and I agree completely.

Good Evening!

Back from my first Mamma Mia! show in Memphis.  And my first night on Keyboard 2.

Whew!

Considering I didn't get a chance to observe the "book" this time, I did rather well.  It was basically a sort of a trial by fire - just jump right in.  But the other guys in the pit are a great group, and made me feel very at ease as always.  The one trouble spot I was worried about turned out to be nothing to worry about.  Of course, there were two "easy" sections that I ended up coming in slightly tentatively, but, all in all, I had a good show.

Tonight, however, was a bit interesting for everyone.  Our bass player has come down with some sort of stomach ailment.  He sat out part of the sound check.  So, when we started tonight's show, we all had some readjusting to do.  The bass player played the show, but cut out early before the final set of bows music.  Tomorrow...  We shall see...

Additionally, The Orpheum Theatre here in Memphis seems to have a reverberant acoustic.  A VERY reverberant acoustic.  And my spot in the pit seems to be right in the middle of the "wave" - I'm sitting basically under the subwoofers.  I can literally FEEL the bass in my body.  Of course, it's a split second "late" due to the reverb... which makes playing with the click and/or the drums a bit interesting.  But now that I know what I'm dealing with, tomorrow night should go a lot smoother.  I'll know what to block out and what to pay attention to.

Onward and upward.

After the show, I joined the conductor and assistant conductor and his partner for a post-show meal at Blues City Cafe.  I had the BBQ's Shrimp - quite tasty.  And a New Castle.  

And something tells me I'll be spending a bit more time on Beale Street later this week..

Now, I'm back at the hotel, and I'm eating some 1/2-price Easter chocolate I bought at Walgreen's earlier.  A nice night cap.

DR Jane - The two peanut shops are different animals.  The Peanut Shop in Williamsburg is kind of "fancy", and part of the whole Colonial Williamsburg experience.  The Peanut Shoppe here in Memphis is more like a Mom and Pop operation.  It's a very narrow, but long storefront.  The lines for the counter can only be about two people deep if that.  Besides all the various nuts, they also sell the usual assortment of dime-store candy - fruit slices, maple nut goodies, rock candy, etc.

If you ever make it back to Virginia, and you have the time, it's worth the drive out on US Route 460 to check out the Virginia Diner.  Not only do they serve great food, but they also have their own line of peanut and nut products.  Most of the items duplicate the stuff you can find in Williamsburg, but they have a few "exclusives".

And the drive really is scenic.  Peanut and cotton fields on either side of the road.  The cotton plants are particularly beautiful when they are budding.

http://www.vadiner.com