Jo Loesser and I made two memorable trips together in 1997, the first was to Logan, Utah, in July to help the Utah Festival Opera with a wonderful production of Greenwillow. I was in charge of all the musical revisions, and I had been in Utah from the week before July 4 through July 5, supervising things. After the July 4 orchestra rehearsal, I flew back to Manhattan and Jo flew to Salt Lake City. Two days later, she called me and said, I need you here tomorrow! And around 5:30am, I boarded a flight back to Salt Lake City, where I spent two weeks on the production - she wanted me to rescore "Coulda Been A Ring," which I did - and palling around that part of Utah with Jo as a most entertaining chauffeur.
In November, I realized I had absolutely no work lined up to get me through the New Year, so I applied for a Christmas job at Barnes & Noble. I dropped off the application around 6:00pm, and the next morning I got a call about an interview. I went in, spoke to the first floor manager, and was hired. When I got home, there was a phone call from Jo. She needed to book my ticket for London. I had been working on some of the cut material from The Most Happy Fella for a new recording, and Jo decided she needed me there as the editor. My memories of that trip - besides the wonderful company, musicians, and dinners - was Christmas shopping and antique hunting with Jo in early December. She was so much fun.
