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[bk]

Well, you've read the notes, you've empathized with me about the horrid sandwich (if you new people haven't read the notes, do so by clicking on BK's Notes up to - you really won't be with it and hip and in and happening and cool, man, cool, unless you read the notes first), and now you are ready to post until the cows come home.  Moo.

[Panni]

My question for bk: Why would you eat a stinky sandwich? IMHO stinky sandwiches - even if they cost $7 - should not be eaten. And BTW - if you went back to Von's and told them the sandwich was stinky - they'd give you a refund. I've only recently started to shop there and they're sickeningly friendly and cooperative.

[JoseSPiano]

Good Morning!

-Hmm... Wasn't it just "evening"?

BK:

So, tell us what you really thought of the sandwich?  

-Actually... Just what made the sandwich taste bad?  Did the fillings taste bad?  Did they taste "off"?  Was the avocado just a bit too mushy? (texture is always important)  Was the turkey in the form of freshly sliced turkey breast, or was it one of those "pressed together" deals?  Did the combination of the turkey and avocado just not taste good together?  Do you think the bacon would have made it taste any better?  Oh, and what beverage did you choose to accompany said "horrid sandwich"?

-Do you drink tea?  Hot or iced?  Lipton? English Breakfast?  Earl Grey?  Green?  Herbal?  Roobios?  "Bubble" Tea?  Etc., etc., etc.??

*There are a few "tea sodas" out there right now.  I really like "Cricket Cola" (both in the regular and the diet), and some of the "STeaP" flavors are pretty good too.

-If you find yourself wide awake at an unseemly hour of the night, do you have a sure-fire, guaranteed way to help you fall asleep?  -Is there a particular book, movie, record, etc.?

-Well, since the "Goldberg Variations" were written for an insomniac.... Hmmm...  -Although the last time I tried "them", I ended being so enthralled by the piano playing... When I heard the Aria being repeated (after the quodlibet)... Ah, well...

Tylenol PM anyone?  

OH.... Maybe now would be a good time to try Bookworm.....

-Must resist... MUST resist... Bookworm very bad... Must resist...Bad Bookworm...

[bk]

As I said, I didn't feel like going out again and it's all I had in the house, save for some popcorn (which I ate whilst watching Moulin Rouge).  No more wire sandwiches ever.

[JoseSPiano]

As I said, I didn't feel like going out again and it's all I had in the house, save for some popcorn (which I ate whilst watching Moulin Rouge).  No more wire sandwiches ever.

Well, if you were at Von's, couldn't you have picked up a few other foodstuffs?

 

[bk]

I could have, but I had this humungous sandwich in my hands and I thought, at the time, that it would be yummilicious and that I wouldn't need anything else.  Besides, I was on foot and didn't want to carry too much.

[Tomovoz]

I watched "Moulin Rouge" a few months back. Enjoyed it much more than new version. The colours and sound were wonderful - main problem was the "stilted" dialogue from Mr Ferrer who sounded as though he was making speeches.

DRs Panni, Beekay Jay & Jane. (hope I got that right!), we watched "Trembling Before God" last night. Certainly food for thought (not necessarily kosher either). I felt so much for those people. I find it incomprehensible that any Religion would "speak for God" and put themselves "above God" in casting judgement on others.  Thank God I'm not a member of any religious organisation. I think it is often the case that organised religion corrupts the purity in love of God.

[JoseSPiano]

-Must resist... MUST resist... Bookworm very bad... Must resist...Bad Bookworm...

Whew!  I resisted... However, Food TV and "Iron Chef" is a different story... "The Porcini Battle".  -And some great antics from the challenger.

[Ann]

I have been bad about posting the last few days...I am sorry.  It's been kinda crazy in my life lately.  I'll post more on the TOTD later, just wanted to do a quick post now before bed.

Sandra -  I am not worthy... Your scores put my pitiful ones to shame...

[JoseSPiano]

And the winner is...

"Challenger Marco Molinari"

Hmmm... and now he just tossed some flour onto his cheering section... And it was a very close vote with three of the judges voting for the Challenger, with a surprise vote for Morimoto-san from the guest Italian judge...

OK.... yeah, I think I need to get some sleep now...

 

Good Morning... Good Day... Good Night...

[Panni]

I should be in bed, too. But I'm wired -- like Jose. Is it contagious, Jose?

[Panni]

Tom - I totally agree about your views on intolerence in religion. Shameful. Skammen.

[BEEKAY]

I watched "Moulin Rouge" a few months back. Enjoyed it much more than new version. The colours and sound were wonderful - main problem was the "stilted" dialogue from Mr Ferrer who sounded as though he was making speeches.

DRs Panni, Beekay Jay & Jane. (hope I got that right!), we watched "Trembling Before God" last night. Certainly food for thought (not necessarily kosher either). I felt so much for those people. I find it incomprehensible that any Religion would "speak for God" and put themselves "above God" in casting judgement on others.  Thank God I'm not a member of any religious organisation. I think it is often the case that organised religion corrupts the purity in love of God.

TomofOZ you have hit the nail on the head...I was moved by the dilemma of the Orthodox Jews as it  is the same with the fundamentalist Christian churches, particularly the so called Spirit Filled churches that hounded more beautiful people out of the church than inviting them in. The final comment in the program made the most sense.

[Jrand73]

Lalalalala.

Wednesday - and my sandwich was fine.  But I made it myself, so I knew to avoid anything questionable.

How shocking to be walking along the street swinging a sandwich thinking all is right with the world....and then to be shattered when said sandwich is on one's table at home.  Shocking!!

My question for ask BK day - do you have a webcam?  Do you ever use it?

And I will say - I am from Indiana and have never been featured on an original Broadway cast album - but even I know that MOST cast albums are recorded in one day.  I have known it since reading the backs of cast albums MANY years ago that say such things as:  "Recorded April 28, 1963, in New York City."  (SHE LOVES ME).

[Jason]

Good morning all. What a day it has already been! In order to be at work on time, I must leave my apartment no later than 8:15 in the a.m. Well, Dear Readers, wouldn't you know that I hit a wrong button on my alarm clock and turned the thing off instead of snooze and I woke up at 8:17 in the a.m!! Somehow I managed to still make it here at 9:00 on the dot (not Dippin' Dots, mind you), but I'm not lying when I tell you that I still have pillow creases on the side of my face. I never have pillow creases unless I'm running horribly late. And now it's gross and rainy outside. It's actually sort of chilly, even, and I didn't wear a jacket OR bring an umbrella with me, so I'm kind of in a bind. Oh, well...perhaps it will dry up before 5:00.

Some of my friends here at work are telling a story about watching a young woman steal a cab outside the Ed Sullivan (David Letterman Show) Theatre as they were walking to work this morning. Three of them managed to see this going on. I'm told the young lady was (unconvincingly) shouting "thief! thief!" as if the cabbie had stolen her purse, and then she ran down the street, hopped in his cab and drove off down 53rd Street! Oh, if only Danise had seen that, she'd have a whole other opinion of the Big Apple. :-) Only in New York...

Here's a question for BK and any other DR who might like to answer: Have you ever witnessed a crime? [I witnessed a crime once--it was called BIG: THE MUSICAL. Remember, there's no groaning allowed here at HHW.com.]  Have you ever perpetrated a crime? The third part to my three-part question about crime: If you could commit any crime with no fear of repercussions, what crime would you commit?

[Jrand73]

Ah DRJASON, once many years ago, when I was working at a small family owned department store in a local mall, I was out front on the sidewalk watering the flats of plants...it was spring....when from down the sidewalk I heard the owner of Flower Shop yellL  "Stop thief...stop him!"

A man was running toward me with a handful of cash in his hand.  I didn't know if he had a gun or anything, but I turned the water hose on him and slowed him down a bit....he got away, but they found him a few minutes later, soaking wet, behind the mall.

[William E. Lurie]

I saw ASSASSINS last night.  As Frank says of MY FAIR LADY in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, "I sort of enjoyed it".  It comes off better on stage than on CD (and I have heard both the Off-Broadway and Chicago versions).  I did not expect it to be so funny.  As I'd heard, it is really more of a revue than a book musical, but everything is connected.  The score may not be Sondheim's best, but it is probably his most versitile since FOLLIES.  The cast is uniformly excellent (even Mario Cantone who I have never liked in anything I have seen him in).  And how unusual it was to see Marc Kudisch bald and Michael Cerveris with hair!  I do not think the audience enjoyed it that much.  There was no standing ovation in this day and age when almost every show on Broadway gets one, deserved or not.  On a negative note, I do not enjoy seeing a Broadway musical from a wooden chair squeezed around a tiny table with everyone so tightly packed in that in case of fire it would be a calamity.  I realize that this is a holdover at Studio 54 from CABARET, but it was totally wrong for ASSASSINS.  I have heard that regular theatre seats will be installed for PACIFIC OVERTURES, but it should have been done in time for ASSASSINS.  

This leads me to my Ask Dear Readers question (for Dear Readers over a certain age).  The one new song in ASSASSINS (added initially in London) is "Something Just Broke" with the Ensemble remembering where they were when they heard of the Kennedy Assassination.  Where were you when you heard the news.  I'll start: I was working nights at the time stage managing a revue that played two shows a night, so I was sleeping until at least noon.  When I got up I turned on the television and there was a photo of President Kennedy.  My first thought was "shit - there go the soaps and game shows" but then I noticed the dates under the picture and realized he was dead.  Of course the owner of the hotel where the revue was playing insisted we do the early show that night (to a very small audience) but the late show was called off when nobody showed up.  We did play Saturday and Sunday, and were probably the only show in Chicago that did.

[Jennifer]

Re: last night's American Idol

I found the show very bizarre.  It was obvious that the judges favored Fantasia.  Yet they completely nailed her on her first song.  I mean they were brutal, which totally shocked me.  They do have influence on the voting public.  And knowing how much they want Fantasia to win I was shocked at how negative they were about her first song.

Yet they heaped tremendous praise on Diana's first song (I didn't particularly like either first song).

Then came song 2 and they said Diana was very good. But they said Fantasia was amazing.

Then song 3 and they said Diana was horrible (which surprised me a bit, since last week when she sang the same song they said it was the best thing they ever heard).  

The judges were brutal towards Diana, yet after Fantasia sang song 3 they said she was the American Idol (Simon also said that of the 70 Idol winners around the world, she was the best).

It was just extremely bizarre to me.  Letting them sing songs they'd already sang was not a good idea to me.

And seeing the judges criticize Fantasia so harshly for song one surprised me.  And seeing them love Diana's first song so much surprised me.  But wow, they were so mean to Diana at the end!  I felt so bad for Diana that they all said how much they wanted Fantasia to win.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I think they should be allowed to say what they think.  But it is supposed to be America's choice.  And to me they basically brainwashed America into making Fantasia the winner.

[Matt H.]

AMERICAN IDOL was very anticlimactic for me last night. Singing songs they had already performed was ridiculous, and honestly their initial renditions of those songs in previous weeks were WORLDS better than their performances last night.

Praising Fantasia is one thing, but the judges' crowning her the idol made me rather ill (and I'm from Fantasia's home state and have liked her generally.) However, they all but did the same with Ruben last year, too, so I have to say I'll only be tuning in to the last ten minutes of the show tonight. Or maybe not at all. I can read about it on the internet.

[Matt H.]

I was home from school the day President Kennedy was assassinated. The TV was on, and my mom was in the kitchen and asked, "What's all that noise on TV?" I wasn't really watching but caught just a bit of what the commentators had said and replied,. "Oh, it's something about someone taking a shot at President Kennedy." I didn't stay in the room, but my mom came into the den to see, and a few minutes later, I could hear her crying. I'll NEVER forget that day.

[Matt H.]

Just back from the dentist for my semiannual check-up and cleaning. I always breathe a sigh of relief when that little chore is over.

[Jennifer]

Praising Fantasia is one thing, but the judges' crowning her the idol made me rather ill (and I'm from Fantasia's home state and have liked her generally.) However, they all but did the same with Ruben last year, too, so I have to say I'll only be tuning in to the last ten minutes of the show tonight. Or maybe not at all. I can read about it on the internet.

I know they preferred Ruben last year.  But I don't think they went to the same extremes (although seeing as though Ruben is a mediocre success & Clay is a big star makes me wonder).

DR MattH, I do agree that having the judges go on and on about Fantasia last night did not sit well with me either (I wonder if the public will try to go against their wishes).  But I really do believe that they just feel that Fantasia is a far better talent.  IT's just the way they did it that was iffy for me.

Were you surprised at how negative they were towards Fantasia for Song 1?

[Jrand73]

I have seen one production of ASSASSINS and didn't like it - or the CD, but that's just me.

Thanks for the  info WEL!

Hmmmmmmm....it was a very strange day that Friday.  I was in the 8th grade.  When we came back from lunch, my history teacher said we were going to have a study hall and he was in and out of the room.  My next class was English, and the young lady teacher we had was not in the room when the bell rang.  We were astonished because this had NEVER happened.  She came in briefly and told us to read some pages then left again.  She came back again and had been crying, then left.  We went to our last class of the day....mine was science.  My teacher Mr. Alexander was just sitting at his desk and didn't say anything.

Finally one girl spoke up....her name was Karla Doty...she had a transistor radio and had been listening at lunch time.  She said:  "Somebody said the President has been shot....is that true?"

Mr Alexander didn't say a word, he just shook his head and we all started talking among ourselves, then the principal came on the intercom system and said:  "It is my sad duty to tell you that President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas today.  Vice President Lyndon Johnson will take the oath of office on his airplane returning to Washington DC.  School is dismissed.  Walkers can leave, and riders please board your busses."

We went out and got onto our bus, but it didn't leave for the longest time.  And of course when we got home we started watching television.  Our basketball game was cancelled.  

Just three weeks before, during a performance of Holiday on Ice at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds Coliseum, there had been an explosion that had killed 74 people.  It was a terrible tragedy, and everyone knew someone or of someone who had been there that night.  My aunt and uncle had had tickets to go, but didn't because my uncle worked late....saved their lives.  

So we were just getting over dealing with that "can't understand" event when we were hit with this.  I still remember the feelings.

[Jason]

I can't contribute to the Kennedy discussion because I wasn't born until well after his assassination. I suppose my generation's equivalent would be the explosion of the Space Shuttle Discovery. I remember exactly where I was when it happened--the lunchroom of my elementary school. We were watching it live because of the historical importance of Ms. Christa McCauliff going to space, so we saw the explosion as it happened. None of us knew what happened, but we all knew it wasn't good. I think I was too young to understand how terrible it really was, but for something that I thought didn't make much difference to my life, I think it says something that I can still remember Ms. McCauliff's name.

[Emily]

The Crime I Witnessed:

When I was in Secondary III (Grade 9) I was getting on a bus at the Villa Maria metro station when this guy walked on just after me and started yelling at the bus driver.  It was only mildly unusual for public transportation.  

Well... that is until Mr. Angry-Pants took out a knife and stabbed the bus driver in the leg...

Needless to say, chaos ensued (and I was several hours late after having to give my account of what happened to the police)

[S. Woody White]

This leads me to my Ask Dear Readers question (for Dear Readers over a certain age).  The one new song in ASSASSINS (added initially in London) is "Something Just Broke" with the Ensemble remembering where they were when they heard of the Kennedy Assassination.  Where were you when you heard the news.

I was still in elementary school at the time, fifth grade.  My parents were away in San Francisco, attending a convention, with my father's parents taking care of us that week.  The school principal went from class to class, giving us the news.  And from that point on, for several days, everything was very quiet.  Recess was subdued.  The other parents in the neighborhood didn't want their kids playing in the street.  The weather was the same as always, but the sounds of people were muted.

Mom and Dad were finally able to get home, a couple of days later.  Up until the assassination, they'd been having a wonderful time, a rare vacation.  But the convention still had business to take care of, so they hadn't been able to leave until their already-scheduled flight.  The only other memory of that trip, for them, was that Mom's feet slid out from underneath her at one point, and she'd ended up flat on her behind in the gutter.  She loved telling that story, emphasizing that she hadn't had a drop to drink, of course.

But she never connected the story with the world events when she told it.  Not once.

[PennyO]

I was in junior high, Louis Pasteur, ninth grade pin and camera day. We were on the playground, taking pictures of each other for the yearbook (I was in one of those "off" semesters, graduated in February), when the principal announced Kennedy had been shot in Texas. Just numbness. I sort of "went away" for days. I don't even remember the live stuff on TV, except that I have seen it while conscious in the years since. No emotion. I just sort of went away.

Crimes: well, I have felt the urge to murder - even thought up good ways to do it and "not get caught." But I always told several people how I'd do it, to derail my insanity. Ah, but shoplifting - to my shame, I did this crime, and nothing I can do to erase the past. I even remember being in the Theater Department at Los Angeles City College long, long ago... some of us would go for lunch to a small coffee shop nearby, have lunch, then "flee." I still feel bad about having participated in that - but I was young and impressionable, and wanted to impress a certain brilliant young actor who was a couple of years ahead of me. (Yeah, yeah, Pen, go ahead and shift the blame...)

[mrkdl73]

Since I wasn't online yesterday, I would like to catch up by mentioning my favorite Jerry Herman songs.  Actually, pretty much anything he wrote, I find enjoyable, but some particular favorites include "Time Heals Everything", "That's How Young  Feel" (I have a thing for Charlestons"), "Just Go to the Movies", and "Elegance", (even though there is some type of rumor he didn't write it, he's credited with writing it, so I'm including it).  I'm currently performing in Hello, Dolly at a dinner theater, so I get to sing his songs five times a week and today with a matinee and an evening, I get to sing them twice!  We close this Saturday, which is kind of sad, but I've been cast in the next show, so tomorrow I begin rehearsals for SHOW BOAT, playing Frank.

Oh, a DR Jason, I think you know Bill D. from your Bucks County days; he's our Cornelius and a wonderful guy (a Rodgers and Hammerstein reference).

I'm not sure who it was that ever came up with the bright idea of dinner theatre, but I don't think they liked actors.  I mean, they're asking people who's average age is death, to come, sit down, eat a big, warm meal and then sit in the same seat and watch a show in the dark for two hours, which means they're bound to nod off.  Then at the end of show, just when you think you've gotten a standing o, you realize they're just getting up to put their coats on because they're afraid the bus is going to leave without them.

[Emily]

The Tony website has announced what each nominated (and still playing - GRR BIG RIVER) musical will be performing on the telecast:

Assassins ­ Nominees Michael Cerveris, Denis O’Hare and company will perform “Everybody’s Got the Right”

Avenue Q ­ Nominees John Tartaglia, Stephanie D’Abruzzo and company will entertain with “It Sucks to Be Me”

The Boy from Oz ­ Nominee Hugh Jackman will prove (as Peter Allen) that he is “Not the Boy Next Door”

Caroline, or Change ­ Nominee Tonya Pinkins will sing “Lot’s Wife”

Fiddler on the Roof ­ Nominee Alfred Molina will lead the company in “Tradition”

Wicked ­ Nominees Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth will perform the show’s act-one finale, “Defying Gravity”

Wonderful Town ­ Nominee Donna Murphy will lead the company in the production number “Swing.”

I am ecstactic that Wicked will be doing DG!  Huzzah!  Hooray!  And Avenue Q will definitely be a highlight as well!

[Matt H.]

DR Jennifer, I would have been even harsher with Fantasia over that lousy first song. Letting the backup singers do all the singing while she did some improvised riffs just didn't do it for me AT ALL. After the first round, I was sure Diana had it, not because of the judges' negative reaction to Fantasia's singing so much but just because Diana seemed to put everything she had into that first rendition, and Fantasia didn't.


BTW, for those who care, a George Eads pic is on the way later this afternoon. The scanner is hooked up to the upstairs computer.