Topic: RUG STORY (Read 20512 times)

Jrand73 · « **Reply #30 on:** November 10, 2004, 07:52:55 AM »

DR BEN here is what the book AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE by Gerald Boardman says about THE LUTE SONG:

The prologue announces: "It is a venerable tale of the time when the gods walked upon earth and wrought their magic in the sight of men." The scholarly Tsai-Young has refused to take the examinations at court, preferring to remain at home with his beautiful wife. But she and his parents prevail on him to go. His wife comforts him with her vow to remain loyal: "Mountain High-Valley Low." He does so well in the examinations he is appointed Chief Magistrate. AS a result he is forced to marry the daughter of Prince Nieou Chi. his attempts to communicate with his family are blocked. His mother and father die of starvation and his wife is reduced to beggary. She treks across the country and appears at his house. The Princess recognizes her. Sympatehtic and knowing, she arranges for the wife to be reunited with her pining husband. Even the harsh Prince is touched by their obvious love and agrees to annul the second marriage: "What the Voice of Jade has ordained; the Voice of Jade may revoke."

Sounds like something Lucy Ricardo would write.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #31 on:** November 10, 2004, 07:56:04 AM »

Oriental page Two Dance!

Ben · « **Reply #32 on:** November 10, 2004, 07:57:06 AM »

Thanks DRJRand.

Wow, how could that show NOT have been a hit???

Matt H. · « **Reply #33 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:04:27 AM »

DR Ben, I have that CD of ONE TOUCH OF VENUS/LUTE SONG, and I don't recall a synopsis of LUTE SONG inside, but I will look and get back to you here on the forum.

Matt H. · « **Reply #34 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:05:34 AM »

I have the book DR Jrand quoted from which was also going to be on my agenda, but I guess it's unnecessary now!

Matt H. · « **Reply #35 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:07:30 AM »

Speaking of toupees, I will never forget back in a TV GUIDE article in the 1960s where they did a several page spread of TV actors who wore toupees, and I don't think any of them had ever acknowledged that they wore toupees. The two most notable actors I remember from the article were William Shatner and Lorne Greene, and I wondered at the time if the actors or their agents were fuming because their crients' secret was out to the public at large.

Matt H. · « **Reply #36 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:09:23 AM »

Just checked on the LUTE SONG CD booklet, and there is indeed info. Do you want me to transcribe it, DR Ben?

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #37 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:11:21 AM »

Quote from: Matt H. on November 10, 2004, 08:07:30 AM

Speaking of toupees, I will never forget back in a TV GUIDE article in the 1960s where they did a several page spread of TV actors who wore toupees,

At the rate HBO and SHOWTIME are going, we'll soon have a TV GUIDE article on actress who wear merkins.

der Brucer

TCB · « **Reply #38 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:16:25 AM »

ASK BK DAY!

[/u]
Since I was e&t for several weeks while I was without a computer, I probably missed this information. What is the current status of WHAT IF? Will it be reopening in L.A.? Will it possibly go to New York?

Also, BK, any possibility of a book signing somewhere in the Northwest? Seattle? Portland? Puyallup?

George · « **Reply #39 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:24:33 AM »

Quote from: DERBRUCER on November 10, 2004, 08:11:21 AM

At the rate HBO and SHOWTIME are going, we'll soon have a TV GUIDE article on actress who wear merkins.

der Brucer

Okay, what's a "merkin"?

MBarnum · « **Reply #40 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:25:30 AM »

BK, perhaps a book signing at POWELL'S in Portland! That would be fun!!

Ben · « **Reply #41 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:28:14 AM »

DR Matt H, if you wouldn't mind, that would be great! Thanks.

I will leave the definition of Merkin to others. I'm assuming it's what I've always heard it was and since this here site is supposed to be a family site, someone else can come up with the euphemism (sp).

MBarnum · « **Reply #42 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:28:39 AM »

Tomorrow is a holiday and I am taking Friday off for a vacation day...so a nice 4 day weekend and I hope to get much DVD watching done.

I received the Marx Bros. and the W.C. Field's DVD sets and they look great...nice presentation...nifty boxes! I am so looking forward to seeing INTERNATIONAL HOUSE! What a funny movie that one is. I also received a Jewish Bollywood movie in the mail yesterdayl...yes, you heard me right...a Jewish Bollywood movie...more on that later!

bk · « **Reply #43 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:29:11 AM »

I know that Marcy, the Marketing Lady, is looking at Seattle and Portland both. Seattle has a wonderful mystery bookshop I can never remember the name of. I'm sure we'll make it up there.

bk · « **Reply #44 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:30:59 AM »

The investor I have been discussing What If with is also the producer of this film I'm rewriting. His idea is to fund both projects at the same time, which wouldn't happen until November. If he does so, we'd reopen in LA for a couple of months and then try to come into NY.

Noel · « **Reply #45 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:36:28 AM »

Not another day of merkin definitions! We've done this before, I think. You can look it up.

Partners In Crime is a great store (one of several in NYC specializing in mysteries). Already, I'm fretting that people will have trouble finding it because there's both a Greenwich Street and a Greenwich Avenue, and the Village is confusing, and a lot of people get lost without their numerical grid.

Greenwich - the street it's on, runs Northwest from roughly Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street to Eighth Avenue and Thirteenth Street. (How can it do that, you wonder? It's diagonal.) Very few people have heard of Charles, which comes to a T with Greenwich, across the street from the bookstore.

December 5 is the opening of the new revue I'm writing songs for, Generation F'd, so I should be able to make the signing. Yay!

MBarnum · « **Reply #46 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:36:43 AM »

BK, Marcy may already know of this bookstore, but just in case here is a link to a Portland bookstore called Murder by the Book http://www.mbtb.com/

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #47 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:38:34 AM »

Quote from: George on November 10, 2004, 08:24:33 AM

Okay, what's a "merkin"?

::sigh::
An artificial hairpiece used to cover a young lady's shaved pudenda. Originally came in fashion when lice were all the rage, and body hair shaving was a prophylaxis.

Or, as Mrs. Slocum would say, "My Pussy has a bald spot, and needs a wig."

der master of arcana Brucer

TCB · « **Reply #48 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:47:07 AM »

The Seattle Mystery Bookshop in downtown Seattle does lots of signings.

TCB · « **Reply #49 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:48:25 AM »

Too much information, derBrucer!

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Stuart · « **Reply #50 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:48:35 AM »

Quote from: DERBRUCER on November 10, 2004, 08:38:34 AM

::sigh::
An artificial hairpiece used to cover a young lady's shaved pudenda. Originally came in fashion when lice were all the rage, and body hair shaving was a prophylaxis.

Or, as Mrs. Slocum would say, "My Pussy has a bald spot, and needs a wig."

der master of arcana Brucer

Thank you for this edifying piece of information. I, too, was unfamiliar with the term.

Now, are there any...um...hairdressers(?) out there who can explain how the thing is attached?? Politely, of course, as this is a family-friendly website which has just embarked on its fourth year of being the ginchiest website in all of internet-dom.

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #51 on:** November 10, 2004, 08:57:14 AM »

Quote from: TCB on November 10, 2004, 08:47:07 AM

The Seattle Mystery Bookshop in downtown Seattle does lots of signings.

And, pray tell, how does a bookshop hold a pen?

der literalist Brucer

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #52 on:** November 10, 2004, 09:13:54 AM »

Quote from: Noel on November 10, 2004, 08:36:28 AM

Not another day of merkin definitions! We've done this before, I think. You can look it up.

Easier said than done. Collegiate dictionaries don't list it. Some unabridgeds list it as a "cannon mop". You have to have a really sturdy lap and pull out your Webster's International Unabridged Second Edition to get to the heart of the matter. Or, you could go to The Straight Dope and read a fascinating, and quite funny, disertation on same. It even makes reference to the Merkin-tile Exchange.

der Brucer

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #53 on:** November 10, 2004, 09:45:24 AM »

It could be worse!

CNN reports:

Quote

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush has decided to appoint White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to replace Attorney General John Ashcroft, because he is "very close to the president and someone he knows can be trusted with major challenges," a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Right after Gonzales was made White House Counsel, one website observed:

Quote

Voice of Moderation?

In his 23-month stint as a state Supreme Court justice, Gonzales was considered by some observers to represent a moderating influence on a generally conservative bench.

Other saw Gonzales as more readily fitting into the conservative faction on the court, especially on business-related cases. Earlier in 2000, Gonzales sided with the majority as the Texas high court overturned a lower-court ruling allowing class-action lawsuits by car owners against the Ford Motor Co. to proceed.

However, some conservative Republicans are already sounding alarms about the appointment of Gonzales, saying his social views are too permissive.

For instance, Gonzales sided with the majority in a high court decision allowing some minors to have abortions without notifying their parents.

“Gonzales is on the Texas Supreme Court and there he has voted against even parental notification for minors who are having abortions,” said conservative leader Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research Council, in a recent memo. “The White House Counsel position often has major influence on [U.S. Supreme Court] appointments. Clearly we are going to have to encourage the new administration to stick to the pro-life position it outlined in the campaign.”

In an article on potential SC nominees, National Review observed:

Quote

...nothing in Gonzales's jurisprudence in that case (one on Parental Notification) or others would lead people to believe that he would be a Supreme Court justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas — which is what Bush said he wanted on the campaign trail.

So far, the White House campaign for Gonzales has found few takers among social conservatives or legal conservatives generally. Some of the former are regularly discussing what to do if Bush nominates Gonzales.

The short answer is that there's not much they would be able to do to stop Gonzales's confirmation. Social conservatives would feel betrayed — the rank-and-filers, that is, not just the leaders of the Washington groups — since the chief reason they were given to vote for Bush was that he would nominate "strict constructionists" like Scalia and Thomas. But Republican senators are not going to vote against a Bush nominee who's also the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court, whatever conservatives say. Conservative opponents of Gonzales will have to be careful not to threaten more than they can deliver.

Whenever the social conservatives sound an alarm, take heart.

der Brucer

elmore3003 · « **Reply #54 on:** November 10, 2004, 10:06:05 AM »

Quote from: DERBRUCER on November 10, 2004, 06:41:12 AM

OK then, what musical performance would you most like to attend (time travel allowed)?

My two choices would be:

The première of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" at Paul Whiteman's concert "An Experiment in Modern Music" in 1924 at Aeolian Hall (with brilliant arrangementsby your good friend Ferde Grofé). (Wow, that sentence sure gave charmap.exe a workout.) (But the sie wouldn't do the fance AE for Aeolian )

The première performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at Prague, National Theater, October 29, 1787

DRDerBrucer, I would joyfully be your date to both nights. Let me add two more:

Opening night, CARMEN, Opera Comique, March 3, 1875

Opening night (and riot), LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS, Ballet Russe, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, May 29, 1913

elmore3003 · « **Reply #55 on:** November 10, 2004, 10:10:35 AM »

Quote from: George on November 10, 2004, 08:24:33 AM

Okay, what's a "merkin"?

All right! I'll be the tacky one: A merkin is a pubic wig, but in these days of bikini waxing, I think the merkin is obsolete.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #56 on:** November 10, 2004, 10:11:46 AM »

Quote from: MBarnum on November 10, 2004, 08:28:39 AM

I also received a Jewish Bollywood movie in the mail yesterdayl...yes, you heard me right...a Jewish Bollywood movie...more on that later!

Fiddler on the Taj Mahal? A merkin is a rug.

bk · « **Reply #57 on:** November 10, 2004, 10:12:35 AM »

I do not like waxing. I do not like thongs.

DERBRUCER · « **Reply #58 on:** November 10, 2004, 10:14:56 AM »

Quote from: bk on November 10, 2004, 10:12:35 AM

I do not like waxing. I do not like thongs.

Has someone suggested you wax and thong?
(Please - no film at 11)

der Brucer

bk · « **Reply #59 on:** November 10, 2004, 10:27:32 AM »

Mr. Charles Pogue knows exactly whereof I speak as we have had many amusing conversations about the subject whilst dining at Musso and Frank with T. Minoff and Schwab's with Juliana A. Hansen.

News:

Author Topic: RUG STORY (Read 20512 times)

Ben

MBarnum

Ben

MBarnum

MBarnum