Good morning, all! Today I turn 64, but I don't think my mental age is much older than 10 or 12; it's the bags under my eyes, the wattles, the bald pate and the inability to move that give me away. I have put the laundry into the washers and mopped the floors. After the clothes go into the dryers, I'll vacuum the apartment and tidy. Then, I'll bathe, have some breakfast and read the birthday cards that have been arriving since Thursday.
This morning, I had 64 emails! Usually, it's about 20, all of them ads, but most of today were birthday greetings or Facebook announcements that my wall is getting lots of posts. It will be fun to read them later. At 4 pm, the foundation producing the Victor Herbert recordings is throwing a small bash for me and 8-10 friends. Selecting a few was difficult because there were so many I wanted to invite. And that's my birthday.
So, to the following HHW family members from last night, DRs vixmom, cillaliz and George, and from this morning, DRs Ben, Druxy, ArnoldMBrockman, and Jennifer, thank you all so much for the birthday felicitations! I hope I haven't missed anyone so far!
In spring, 1980, just a little over 30 years ago, I saw at the long-gone Thaiia on West 95th Street THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL with a composer friend, Thom Heinrichs, from the Drama Book Shop. We laughed all the way back to the subway, said goodnight, and two hours later I went back for the final showing of the movie. The next day, everyone at the Book Shop had to suffer through our praises and I said, Bruce Kimmel is insane and I want to work with him. The wish took me another fourteen years to achieve, and in the past sixteen years I'm sure both Bruce and I have had moments to regret that wish and to rejoice that such a partnership happened. I know that BK saved a career when it was at its nadir and I owe much to him, including this fantastic site and the dysfunctional but highly erudite and entertaining nuclear family that we've all made from it. Thanks! I do love you all.
Now, if we could just sell that damned property!