Haines His Way

The first time I read of the Karen Carpenter/Mama Cass  sandwich connection was in the notes on a Ben Bagley album. Tasteless - and funny. Two ladies with the most wonderful voices.

Good Evening!

Back from my trek to midtown.  A friend of mine ended up calling me to go through some music since he got called in for an audition for Spamalot tomorrow.  So we ran through some of the stuff in his book, as well as "Look On the Bright Side of Life" - he's been called in for Patsy.  -And if he gets cast, he better mention me in his bio!

I just ate a perfectly delicious pear.  I love good pears.  I'm eating it whilst watching the coverage of Katrina and the evacuation of New Orleans...crazy stuff.  

DR Jed and I spent some time this morning listening to the new Guy Haines album, which I got to listen to even though I was not technically  the recipient of the Sparkling Prize.  

DR Cillaliz - Glad to hear that you cried.  

I haven't laughed that hard in a long long time

Hope DR JANE is sleeping soundly now.

Thank you.  By then I was, finally.

And what's even more amazing, is that they actually try their best to do the Twyla Tharp choreography!

Too funny

And on a lighter note, I ended up $29 ahead playing lottery scratchers today.

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~VIBES TO EVERYONE IN KATRINA'S PATH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/move]

It's the disdainful elmore3003 back from the wilds of Rhinecliff, NY, where THE GOLDEN APPLE was performed at 3:00 pm in concert.   There were lots of folk showing up, composers Stephen Schwartz and Steve Alper, Peter Howard, Don Pippin, Steven Suskin, Erik Haagensen, Bruce Pomahac, Jim Morgan of the York Theatre Company, Howard Kissel, and many more.  I sat with the Moross family and met some wonderful folk.  DRJose, it was a zoo!  You would have had a great time.  There were several highlight moments:  "Lazy Afternoon" was close to perfection:  slow, sultry, and not a sound in the house for the whole number.  I thought Crista Moore had the best grasp on a character with Penelope, and "Windflowers" was a beautiful moment as well.  Danny Marcus as Menelaus was also excellent, and he had the most moving line to lead into "Windflowers":
    We don't get any younger
    Everything changes but the heart's hunger

Danny and John Cullum were wonderful as well in the Scylla-Charybdis brokerage number, and the chorus sang wonderfully.  I hope this concert gets another performance in New York.

In a very unusual move, I took Dixie Bell to Walter Chapel United Methodist Church for "The Blessing of the Animals." Before the blessing, Dixie and I strolled up to Dad's gravesite; well, Dixie (at nine months) didn't exactly stroll, she tugged, she pulled, she ran.
Rev. Darlene, who if she were a canine would be a twin to Dixie, performed prayers over several animals, a chihauhau, a lab, a persian cat, a springer spaniel on the front steps of the church. Only Dixie sat at Darlene's feet while being blessed, her only moment of truly good behavior.

 :)Sweet.  

DR elmore - Thanks for The Golden Apple report.  Glad to hear that it went well.  It would have been nice to have been there today, but, all in all, it was nice to have another day off, more or less.  I had a nice morning getting stuff done around the apartment, and it also gave me a chance to take a closer look at the show I'm up for.  I shall hope for a presentation in the city sometime soon too.

Had a great day at work, went very quickly and had great customers, some of them downright funny

Getting home again, der B had the news stations on, of course.  The only thing I can do is send my prayers to New Orleans.  A couple of friends of ours, Mark and Josea, are doctors there; I expect they'll be extra busy for the next week or so.

Evenin', all.

There was just a news update about Katrina. Mr. Brian Williams was standing outside the Superdome where they plan to house 30,000 New Orleans-ers for "one night or possibly several weeks." And I thought sharing a house with 21 people was tough doing summerstock. All kidding aside, I really wish the best for the people of New Orleans. They are in my thoughts and prayers.

I was one of the lucky ones who got to see all six shows at the Sondheim Festival - a couple of them twice, and all FREE. IMHO, PASSION was the best of the six. I'll admit this at the risk of hurting DR TomofOz's sensibilities (Aussies and their sensibilities, my lord) - PASSION was not, is not, nor will it ever be one of my favorite Sondheim scores, but that production was in and of itself as close to perfection as I could imagine. Ms. Judy Kuhn was amazing as Fosca and Mr. Cerveris was wondeful as Georgio. I've seen him do the role twice since then....he was best at the Kennedy Center. I was even uber-impressed with Ms. Rebecca Luker, whom I have always found to be a lovely singer but not-so-strong actress. She was great, and didn't even have to bare her breasts.

I was also lucky enough to get a comped ticket to the PASSION reunion concert last fall (one of the few perks of working where I do), and to see/hear Donna and Marin was thrilling.

I was also lucky enough to see/hear Ms. Patti LuPone and Ms. Audra McDonald do the concert version at Lincoln Center this spring. Every time I see the show, I go in thinking, "Not this again! I hate this show!" and I walk out in tears.

"I'm someone to be loved, and that I learned from you..."

Had a busy night watching some wonderful television. First up, the always entertaining COLD CASE. I had not seen this during the regular season, so it was new to me, and I did not figure out the murderer's identity before the end of the show. I was going in a totally different direction.