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[Jrand73]

He passed away after the show on Monday night.

[Jrand73]

So much hairspray.

[singdaw]

So much hairspray.

A Harvey Fierstein reference?    

[singdaw]

SHE doesn't look like Judy Holliday!    

[DERBRUCER]

The shame of it all!

EPISCOPAL CAFE

Every day diplomacy

Countries, like people, make friends with others one at a time. This is a story of one failure. In fairness to an unknown visitor to our country, imagine yourself in his place. The scene is on a recent Amtrak trip between New York City and Boston. The conductor collects tickets, requests identification, folds destination stubs into seatbacks, moves on to other cars. An older man across the aisle, traveling alone, shows his passport. It is clear from their conversation he doesn’t know English.

After decades as a frequent traveler, I have thousands of pictures -- scenery, buildings, people, architecture, from around the world. Today the train passes a lovely stretch of Connecticut shore, tidal marshes, nesting ospreys, the Long Island Sound. What little attention I pay as the visitor takes pictures, is that I’m impressed with his equipment. He and I, unknown to each other, are members of a picture-taking culture, fellow citizens of a show-and-tell world. I wonder if his will join the thousands on YouTube. I imagine, after his return home, how many friends he will impress with stories and pictures of this mild, early autumn, Saturday morning journey along the New England shoreline.

The train is a half hour west of New Haven when the conductor, having finished her original rounds, reappears. She moves down the aisle, looks, stops between our seats, faces the person taking pictures. “Sir, in the interest of national security, we do not allow pictures to be taken of or from this train.” He starts, “I…….” but, without English, his response trails off into silence. The conductor, speaking louder, forcefully: “Sir, I will confiscate that camera if you don’t put it away.” Again, little response. “Sir, this is a security matter! We cannot allow pictures.” She turns away abruptly and, as she moves down the aisle, calls over her shoulder, in a very loud voice, “Put. It. Away!” He packs his camera.

Within a minute after our arrival in New Haven, two armed police officers entered the car, approached my neighbor’s seat. “Sir, we're removing you from this train.” “I….;” “I……” “Sir, you have breached security regulations. We must remove you from this train.” “I…,” “I…..” “Sir, we are not going to delay this train because of you. You will get off, or we will remove you physically.” “I…..”

Nearby passengers stir. One says, “It’s obvious he doesn’t speak English. There are people here who speak more than one language. Perhaps we can help.” Different ones ask about the traveler’s language; learn he speaks Japanese. For me, a sudden flash of memory -- a student at International Christian University in Japan, I took countless pictures without arousing suspicion.

The police speak through the interpreter, with the impatience of authority. “The conductor asked this man three times to discontinue. We must remove him from the train.” The traveler hears the translation, is befuddled. Hidden beneath the commotion is a cross-cultural drama. With the appearance of police officers, this quiet visitor is embarrassed to find he is the center of attention. The officers explain, “After we remove him from the train, when we are through our investigation, we will put him on the next train.” The woman translates. The passenger replies, “I’m meeting relatives in Boston. They cannot be reached by phone. They expect me and will be worried when I do not arrive on schedule.” “Our task,” the police repeat, "is to remove you from this train. If necessary, we will do so by force. After we have finished the investigation, we’ll put you on another train.” The woman translates. The traveler gathers his belongings and departs.

...

der Brucer

[Jrand73]

Marie, the dawn is breaking.
Marie.......

[bk]

All packages are addressed and I'll be shipping out all orders today.

[Jrand73]

Gorilla At Large.

[Jennifer]

DR Laura, as others have said, Marie Osmond's father passed away.

She did the show on Monday night and dedicated the first number to him. Apparently he watched it and they chatted about it.

I guess he died sometime later that night. And Marie was not at the show yesterday (tuesday).

It really made me teary, because the dance was quite beautiful. She had done her hair like her mom had worn it (in tribute to her parents who had danced to earn money).  It made me teary because they said her dad had watched it before he died.

[Jrand73]

DR derBRUCER I forgot to say thanks for the Debra Messing suggestion last night.....but no thanks.

[Jane]

I've been getting lovely e-mails all night from our performers, all of whom are saying it was one of the classiest and  best thought out benefits they've ever done.  That is music to my ears.  Vilanch said he had the best time and would do it again anytime.  

such lovely compliments!  

[Jane]

DR JoseP,
And if I ever should pass out, I hope you are there.

 

[Jane]

edi & JRand-

[Jane]

DR Laura, as others have said, Marie Osmond's father passed away.

She did the show on Monday night and dedicated the first number to him. Apparently he watched it and they chatted about it.

I guess he died sometime later that night. And Marie was not at the show yesterday (tuesday).

It really made me teary, because the dance was quite beautiful. She had done her hair like her mom had worn it (in tribute to her parents who had danced to earn money).  It made me teary because they said her dad had watched it before he died.

now i'm teary eyed.  such a beautiful last memory for her to carry with her.

[JoseSPiano]

Good Afternoon!

Hmm... I think I like Equity Chorus Calls!  When we got there this morning, the Equity lounge was filled to the brim with "female singers" - at least that's how the casting notice had them listed.  It was already just 15 minutes before our start time, and they had just assigned number 150!  -And there were about 300 who signed up on the preliminary list over the past couple of days.  Well...  Luckily(!), with the way the rules work, we were able to request that the audition be cut-off/locked as soon as we started the first group.  So... After hearing 163 women sing 8 bars or so of music...  DONE!



*And we actually finished a little before 1:00.  Now that's a good day!

[DearReaderLaura]

That is a beautiful story.

[JoseSPiano]

And, of course, some of my favorites came into the room today to sing, along with some of my "favorites" (quotes intended).  In fact, one of my true "favorites" walked in... Wearing some white, knitted (like out of qhite yarn!) one piece, sleeveless, backless creation... And I don't think she was wearing a bra either.  She came to the piano, and put two pieces of paper, well, music in front of me.  On the left was the song she had prepared, and on the right were some words and some letters - which turned out to be note names.  Well...

"Oh... I heard you play this a little while ago.  I don't have the music, but here are the notes and words.  Do you mind playing that for me?"

-I was literally speechless.  For a moment.

OK... Well, you should have brought your music with you if you wanted to sing the song.

"But I heard you wanted to hear high legit, so I changed my mind."

OK

-She was singing "Never" from On the Twentieth Century, and she was just singing the tag which consists of me playing the vamp three times then hitting the button.  Easy enough.  Well, she started.  Then finished.  Then finished again.  Before I did.  From what I could tell, since she couldn't hold out the notes, she just cut them in half and went on to the next pitch.

*And for those of you with good memories, this is my same "favorite" person who gave me an eight page song in loose sheets... Two days in a row... And then on the second day, while I was trying to arrange everything, she commented, "Come on.  You should know it by now."

[JoseSPiano]

Thanks for the DD code, DR SINGDAW.

What a story DR JOSE.....do you think the lady saw the prices on the Michael Buble Cd's and collapsed?

I think she was having a reaction to the sale price of the new Beatles' "Help" boxed set... And the subsequent New York City sales tax.

[JoseSPiano]

DR JoseP, your rants were right on the nose! What frustration!

And if I ever should pass out, I hope you are there.

Trust me, DR MBarnum, if you ever end up horizontal...  

*However, I did go by the Virgin Megastore right after my auditions this morning, and I did speak to a manager.  He listened to me, and acknowledged that he does have a lot of "immature" staff.  I'm not sure if he can actually do anything about it for the the future, but I was happy to at least get it off my chest.  -And I also dropped some key words and phrases like: liability, OSHA, lawsuit, etc.  

[JoseSPiano]

OH!

And I have a new bedroom window.  Finally.  

[DearReaderLaura]

My goodness, Jose. Being rude to the pianist is very stupid.

[bk]

Everything is shipped and I am just relaxing for ther rest of the day.

[JoseSPiano]

In other news...

I had a pretty good workout this morning at the gym.  I tried out some new machines/equipment.  Some of them I like, some of them I still need to get used to.  I also realized that when the weight/resistance is listed for "plated equipment" at "45 pounds", that means a 20-pound plate placed on each side of the equipment - the bar will make up the remaining 5 pounds - for 45 pounds total.  It does not mean to place a 45-pound plate on each side of the equipment (even though each side moves independently)... Like I did this morning.  That first rep was a killer.  And a surprise!

But I left the gym feeling truly "pumped", and it was great playing the auditions today still feeling that high.  

[JoseSPiano]

-And I actually think I can see some real muscle development in my upper body starting to happen, starting to show.  

[JoseSPiano]

Well... If the WGA Strike continues...

No Lost until 2009?!

[singdaw]

Does it show?

[a Babs reference - Hello, Dolly!]

DR JoseSPiano, if you collected these audition stories into a book, I'd definitely buy it!

[td]

DR PENNYO ENROUTE TO HER JOB INTERVIEW:



der Brucer

Ah, but, DR PennyO is not the only queen on HHW.
I'm just sayin'. . . .

[singdaw]

If DR PennyO is riding in a bejewelled chariot, then I'm the horse.

[JoseSPiano]

If DR PennyO is riding in a bejewelled chariot, then I'm the horse.

Hmm... I could go there in just so many ways.  

[VinTek]

Do you have any suggestions as to where I can sell (either on the internet or at a store) old vinyl records and record albums (45, 78, 33-1/3, 12 inch)?

I don't know if they still do this or not, but Canterbury Records in Pasadena used to buy and sell a lot of used vinyl.  Give them a call at (626) 792-7184.