Showing posts with label Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Show all posts

Monday, July 28, 2008

God bless Ann Miller: The week in revue

I guess I have a lot to catch up on. Last week was pretty rough. I had taken the muscle relaxers my doc prescribed for my headaches last Sunday and I was stoned off my ass on Monday. Could barely get any work done. So I stopped taking them.

Wednesday I was meeting with my boss and could barely concentrate. I was trying to fake it but eventually fessed up to the fact that I was having major difficulties processing any of the materials we were going over. He's an MD so we talked about probable causes. I tried to blame the muscle relaxers, but as soon as I heard myself say that the side effect was lasting three days after I took the last dose, I knew that it wasn't true. (Not that that can't happen, it just wasn't the case this time.) I ended up telling him about the other meds I'm on, something I try to avoid doing ever, but like I said, he's an MD, so I figured he'd at least approach the situation clinically, which I guess he did. He asked if I needed any time off, but that seemed silly to me at the time. The conversation then turned to whether my psychological irregularities were going to affect my performance here - he threw in some jazz about the most important thing being my my well-being but, while I'm sure he (thinks he) meant it, came across as lip service. He's very matter-of-fact. It's on the the things I like about him. There are a lot of things I like about him, which is its own sort of problem but I'll get ot that some other time. Maybe. He needed to hear that I was taking some kind of action to address the situation (not crazy about that phrasing, but I was desperate to avoid the word "issues") so I figured I'd better tell him about the other meds.

Okay so that was Wednesday. Thursday I made it downtown and felt awful as soon as I stepped off the train. But I figured , What the hell, I'm already here, so I went in to work. I surveyed my desk, contemplated all the work i had to get done and went home an hour after I arrived Slept until noon. I can't really explain what was wrong, I just felt crappy. The thing that bothers me the most is that Shelby was on vacation last week, so I didn't get to see him on Thursday and maybe the whole thing was psychosomatic. Later in the day I was in the mood for some gritty crime drama and got ready to watch Hardcore, which had just arrived via Netflix, but decided to call Annika first. We ended up giggling a lot, which left me in a better mood, so I watched On the Town instead.

Friday I went to work and the headache was back. But I was lucid again, so I stayed at work. I think I took some Vicodin, but can't remember for sure. Friday night was a movie night at Paul's. Lotsa fun but very few people showed up, despite the number of positive responses on the evite. It seriously pissed me off. He puts a lot of work into these nights and people just seemed to disregard it. Anyway, it was Cult Movies 101. Started with Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, which was pretty fucking awesome. Then a surprisingly good print of Todd Haynes's Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, which was also pretty fucking awesome. I had to bolt before Pink Flamingos. Just too damn tired.

That brings me up through Friday.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Catching Up


There are many reasons I've been lax here. First, I'm pretty sure no one's reading. Also, I have a short attention span.

Does two count as many? Whatever.

Some recent show tunes include:

Show Girl: 1961 Original Broadway cast (Gaynor) The one and only Carol Channing.


Song of Norway: 1944 Original Broadway cast member (Grieg/Wright & Forrest) Original star Irra Petina's role was taken by Kitty Carlisle on the Decca original cast album (I thinl it had something to do with contract exclusivity). So, she recorded six songs from the show, released on three 78s, which I found for $3.

LoveMusik: 2007 Original Broadway cast, live (Weill/various) Not that I own any bootlegs.

Spring Awakening: 2006 Original Broadway cast (Shiek/Sater) I like it more every time I hear it, though it is somewhat reviled by many show queens.

Judy Garland: The Complete Decca Masters (various) All four discs. In one day.

Misery: 2000 Demo recording (De Young) Based on the novel by Stephen King. It's no Carrie. But then, nothing is. (Love that artwork, though.)



I know that there have been others - I do listen to showtunes constantly. I just don't remember what any of them are.

In other news, I slipped on the el platform yesterday and gave myself a concussion.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Musicals of the Day: Jule Styne edition

Felt like revisiting some lesser known Styne today.

Fade Out - Fade In: 1964 Original Broadway cast recording (Styne/Comden & Green), Carol Burnett was not happy with this show

Hazel Flagg: 1953 Original Broadway cast recording (Styne/Hilliard), featuring Helen Gallagher as Carole Lombard

Prettybelle: 1982 cast album with most of the 1971 cast (Styne/Merrill) "A musical comedy tale of rape and resurrection starring Angela Lansbury as an alcoholic schizophrenic in a sanitarium? We'd be stupid not to do this!" For what it's worth, manic-depressives do do rewrites. We just get grumpy when forced to admit it wasn't right the first time.

Subways Are for Sleeping: 1961 Original Broadway cast album (Styne/Comden & Green), I've been in a Phyllis Newman kind of mood lately. Apparently.