Last night's Do was so much fun!! Mark and I left Thousand Oaks a few minutes after 5:00 pm and headed for the House of Pies to get the annual peanut butter pie. Traffic wasn't too bad and we got to Bruce's around 6:30 pm and he's right that the party got a bit of a slow start this year. I think there were only about four people there when we arrived, but that changed quickly. After that, Bruce's memory of the events completely departs from my memory, which I don't think has ever happened before. Yes, the family room was smoky from the log, but after about half an hour of discussing what to do about it, a very tall gentlemen grabbed some kind of tool and closed and opened the flue again (Bruce wasn't in the room at that moment). That seemed to do the trick and the smoke was mostly going up the chimney and very little coming in the room and people were commenting that now there was more smoke in the area between the kitchen and the family room and the family room was fairly clear. And so we all stayed there for another good hour or so. I don't recall ever seeing the log put out, not that I doubt that it was, but it must have been some time later. Eventually, so many people arrived that the party split up into half being in the family room and half being in the kitchen, but that happens every year because not everyone can fit in the family room. And, yes, we all eventually moved into the living room with the piano, but again, that happens every year. We were not chased out of the family room by smoke, to my recollection. Mark will probably tell a story that's half way in between Bruce's memory and mine.
The running joke of the evening (because Bruce kept asking Sami to re-tell the story) was that Sami hears heavy breathing from Sarah's room in the middle of the night because Sarah is always in her room doing sit-ups. (Sarah has lost about 20 pounds this past year and really looks terrific.) But naturally Bruce was convinced that Sarah is bringing male suitors into her bedroom through a window in the middle of the night. Sami kept exclaiming, "Her door is open! I can see her doing sit-ups!" but Bruce kept teasing her - it was pretty funny.
Of course the crowning glory of the party was the second half in the living room around the piano. Barry Pearl, Mark and I and a couple other people moved there first and we knew if we just waited there on the couch long enough, the show would begin. Meanwhile, Barry (sitting on my left) lamented that he has something great coming down the pike, but he absolutely can't talk about it because he had to sign some kind of confidentiality agreement. So, the gentleman sitting on my right kept guessing, it-has-to-be-this or it-has-to-be-that, like he thought he could coerce Barry into revealing his big secret, but Barry held firm and couldn't confirm or deny any guesses. So, it will be interesting to see next year what that turns out to be.
The "show" proceeded just as Bruce described. His epic song got many big laughs. It's really wonderful and it's not too long and goes by pretty quickly because it's so entertaining. "The Impossible Dream" was sort of an odd song choice from James Mulligan, but his voice really is incredible. Sami wanted to sing "Suddenly It Happens" but she didn't have the lyrics. She kept searching for them on her phone and couldn't find them, but I think she found a video of Jenna Lea Rosen singing it. So, she went off to do something with that and came back minutes later and was ready to do the song. Now, I don't know what she did in those few minutes because she certainly didn't have time to transcribe all those lyrics, but somehow how the song was sung and it was lovely.
A little after 9:30 pm, just when people were murmuring that it didn't look like Richard Sherman would be appearing, he and his wife did appear. He told the story of the song "Christmas in New Orleans" and how the song is a big hit in New Orleans, but no one else has ever heard of it. And the second song Bruce did from the LA revue was also wonderful. I think Richard Sherman has become a very big Bruce Kimmel fan because he stood behind the piano, reading the music, listening to Bruce sing, tapping his toe with a smile on his face, and enjoying the song very much. Bruce wrote today: "I can’t imagine how that must feel to a fifteen-year-old, to be accompanied by a legend." I doubt Sami sees Richard that way - she's too young and has known him too long. But Bruce, I can't imagine how that must feel for YOU to be admired by a legend. It must be a dream come true.
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Topic: I WANT TO WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND THE DO IS DONE (Read 5059 times)