Haines His Way

I can tell you that this month, even without today's posts, of which we know there will be many on account of our faboo Rockin' New Year's Eve bash, this has been our third best month ever.

You MUST get on today.  This is the place to be.

Ann must still be catching up.

Everyone else is just sitting there like so much fish.

We'll stay all night and we'll sing 'em all.

Good Morning!

-Well, I was trying my best to get to bed before 3:00am tonight, but...  I guess that'll have to be one of my New Year's Resolutions.



Well, I actually got some CD listening done this past week. One of these day I'll catch up on the pile of DVDS...

Here's my somewhat annotated list...

Cast Recordings
Bells Are Ringing - Another CD from the pile of CDs I've-bought-over-the-past-few-years-but-never-listened-to - or CDIBOtPFYBNL2 for short - or not so short.  Oh!, to have been able to see Judy Holliday live!

Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring In 'Da Funk - I took this off the shelf since this is the show that won Ann Duquesnay her Tony Award - and Ms. Duquesnay is in Hallelujah, Baby!  -Time for it to go back on the shelf for another couple of years...  

If Love Were All - (CDIBOtPFYBNL2) What a wonderful Valentine to Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence.  And produced by our very own BK.

As Thousands Cheer - (CDIBOtPFYBNL2 and another BK-produced album).  I might be doing this show this summer, so...

Fiorello - (CDIBOtPFYBNL2) I think I had actually listened to a few tracks on here in the past, but never the whole album.  However, I saw a very good production done by the Arlington County Parks and Recreation Department many years ago.

After the Fair - (CDIBOtPFYBNL2 and BK-produced) Two "dreams" of mine were in this show: Michelle Pawk and Jimmy Ludwig.  Michelle just simply wows me in everything she does, and Jimmy just plain wows me.

Sweet Smell of Success - (CDIBOtPFYBNL2)  I'm gonna have to give this one a few more listens.  I know the show itself had it's problems, but the score is well-preserved and presented on the OCR.  Bill Brohn's orchestrations sound great even coming out of my small boombox.

Classical
Schubert - "The Final Year" - Vol. 37 in the Hyperion Schubert Edition (CDIBOtPFYBNL2)  What an amazing recording on all accounts.  The performances by the three tenors on the disc are models of lieder singing, and Graham Johnson's partnering at the piano is no less distinguished.  And then, like all of the volumes in the this series, the copious liner notes are by Mr. Johnson, himself.  The booklet alone for this volume is 112 pages!  And most of it is text!  And there's even a second booklet which is an index to the songs and singers from the previous 36 volumes of Schubert songs.

Chanticleer - "A Portrait".  Basically a greatest hits compilations from this 13-voice male singing group based out of San Francisco.  Nice selection of music covering the early to the late.  And the previously unreleased track of "Christmas Time Is Here" was especially appropriate this past week.

Dawn Upshaw - "Voices of Light", Music of Messiaen, Debussy, and Faure - I commented on this disc a few days ago.  Ms. Upshaw's singing, as always, is direct, honest and beautiful throughout, and Gilbert Kalish handles the thicker and thornier textures of some of the accompaniments with ease.  There are some true moments of musical ecstasy on this disc.

Pop, Jazz and Other
Take 6 - "Beautiful World" - I need to give their debut disc another spin - it's been a while.

Jane Monheit - "Never, Never Land" (CDIBOtPFYBNL2)  I have a few more discs by Jane Monheit in the waiting to be played pile, and I'm definitely going to have to move them to the top of the pile.  To think she was only 22 when she recorded this album!?!?!  I've heard her a few times here and there on some TV shows and some radio play, but some of the hype surrounding her "discovery" turned me off a bit.  Now I know what the hype was about!

Lyn Larsen - "Stairway to Paradise" - A CD by our very own DR MusicGuy!  A fun and toe-tapping selection of music.

Billy Joel - "Fantasies & Delusions", Music For Solo Piano, Op. 1-10 (CDIBOtPFYBNL2) - Hmm... To paraphrase a famous quote: I've played and listened to lots of Chopin, and, you, Mr. Joel are no Chopin.    -I'm trying to figure out how many more listens - if any - I want to give this disc.  It wasn't bad listening, just pleasant - bordering on bland.  And reading the "additional arrangements" credit in the booklet has made me a little suspect...  I'll have to take out "Innocent Man" and "52nd Street" when I get back to Richmond.

And to round out this past week's CD listening, the accompanying CDs for "Benjamin Kritzer" and "Kritzer Time"  - Now I need to find my "Kritzerland" CD... Hmmm...

OH, and I guess I can include the DVD of What If? since I did watch it this past week!

Media check:

I haven't been watching or listening to much of anything.  I just haven't been in the spirit.

I should be here for the festivities.  The theatre is not having an official party tonight since only one of the theatres currently has a show in it.  However, two of the cast members have volunteered their apartments for a party since they are being housed next to each other.  I may or may not go.  I'm leaning towards not going.  We shall see.

New Year's Eve has always been a strange time for me.  I've had a couple of good New Year's Eves, but a lot of the time, I seem to be around people who feel they must have a good time since it's New Year's Eve rather than just plain having a good ole time.  The revelry seems forced at times.

I also grew up watching the big countdown on TV with Dick Clark standing in Times Square - alas, Regis will be doing the honors tonight.  However, that's still how I like to celebrate New Year's Eve - watching TV.

-I also have two shows on Saturday, and since the show is at 2:30, and I've been sleeping in until around Noon, hmmm...

Tonight, my family and I will be dining at Anthony's Home Port, here in Olympia.  Our reservations are for either 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m.  Regardless of when the dining starts, I plan to be in my very own home evirons long before the bells chime at midnight.  Actually, I don't have any clock at my house that makes any kind of chiming noise, so it'll have to be either the metaphorical chiming of the bells at midnight or the TV.  Either way, I'll be at home.

I just finished the first half of "Writer's Block" about an hour ago (see my last two posts last night) and I intimated that I would start reading the rest of it after my "intermission."  Well, it's quite late now and I have bills to pay.  Most of them can be paid on-line but it takes a while to get through it all, which means that I'll have to finish the second half of the book...later (a Little Night Music reference).

So, I'm signing off from HHW for the evening, but (unfortunately) I'm not heading to bed, yet.  Good night!

Almost 4:00AM here on the East Coast of the United States...

Goodnight.

I see Hisaka.  How's the weather in far off Japan?

DRJOSE I am getting very excited about MAMMA MIA!

The REAL party will be right here.  

A Kiss Before Dying is out on DVD in a beautiful letterboxed transfer - don't bother with the pan and scan VHS.

Hisaka went away without posting.  But when I look to see who's where on the site, she doesn't show up as being on the board, despite her name appearing.  Maybe she was reading the notes.  

And the rest of you, sitting there like so much fish, what has happened to our frenzy?

I had a computer snag, and had to log off for a sec.

But I should be getting to bed, so I can par-tay tomorrow.

Der B and I have had both stay-at-home and on-the-town New Years.  The most faboo was the Gala Reopening of the newly restored Alex Theater in Glendale.  We wore our tuxes, and had a magnificent time.  It was especially interesting for me, as I had worked there back when it was a movie theater, run down and grungy.  Seeing it properly lit inside was fascinating.

Last year, our first New Years in our new home, we stayed home.  Boring, but that's how it went.  Der B was getting ready to fly back west, to finish moving our furniture, and we didn't know anyone yet here in Rehoboth.  This year is different, since we do know a few people, in particular Charles and John, who will be putting on a fabulous feast for us and the others that will be there.  We don't look exactly like strangers any more, people are beginning to recognize our faces, that sort of thing.

Driving home will, of course, be handled very cautiously.  I agree with you, BK, on how the start of January brings out the worst in drivers.  It also brings out the roadblocks, with ticket happy cops willing to make the naughtier drivers pay the price.

DRRLP, welcome back!

Well it is going to be a full day. I am working today, having dinner with my mother, doing some shopping, a writing some more of my play and then going to party at some friends new home. Strange that I haven't seen them in a year, but it  feels like I just only saw them a year ago.