Gotta love The Onion:


High School Tony Awards Honor Nation's Biggest Drama Club Nerds

I wish we had this when I was in school. I totally would’ve rocked the
Best Performance By A White Kid In Yellowface award:

Douglas Coler as The King in The King & I, Madeira High School, 1978

Tags: Theatuh, Bare Midriffs

The Daily Jazz download is outta here! Careful study of the metrics for this site showed an alarming trend: You didn’t give a crap. So, no more free jazz for you. (Unless you sign up at AllAbout Jazz.com, which I urge you to do.)

There’s also been some further shuffling of the sidebar, and you can now follow my most recent Twitter tweets there, or do it here.

The RSS Feed has been added to the top of the page, in case you simply must to add it to your FeedReader of choice (NetNewsWire, any one?) immediately without bothering to scroll to the bottom of the page, where it also lives.

The new swag is taking the boys in R & D a bit longer than they’d estimated, so you’ll have to content yourselves with thongs n such from the CafePress store for the time being.

Still to come: further optimization of the photos in the galleries for quicker loading, a fix for the tag cloud, and I’m told there will be a noticeable change in the look of the site in the next couple of weeks. Yowza.

Tags: Site Stuff

Its been Computer Issues Week around the house. Jo’s Aluminum PowerBook has been gradually petering out for a while now, and she’s been working more and more on her Compaq laptop. (The Real Estate business is heavily PC-centric; most, if not all, major MLS sites are written to be used with Internet Explorer only...Firefox works intermittently, and Safari almost never... and the various tools that realtors use depend heavily on Active-X and Outlook integration. Some wise programmer could make a kajillion bucks by rewriting all of these services to be Mac-savvy or platform/browser independent.) I’ve suggested many times that we sell both of those machines (and the Rev B iMac, and my old 12” iceBook, and the Clamshell, and the Wallstreet...) and trade up to at least a new intel iMac or a MacBook, but she’s remained unconvinced that VMWare Fusion or Parallels would suit her. (Another problem is that we dont have Windows install disks). But the AlBook nearly croaked again, so off we went to the Apple Store. As usual, the gang there were very helpful, walking us through both Fusion and Parallels, which they have installed on two side by side iMacs. Both virtual machines are smooth, nearly seamless in the integration into OSX, and play very nicely with Tiger (which she’s running) or Leopard (more of which in a sec). So, now the spirit is willing, but the checkbook is weak. We really can’t afford to upgrade right now, even if we did get rid of the stockpile of outdated machines, so we’ve decided to replace the dying hard drive and boost the ram in the AlBook. That’ll give us another couple of productive years.

My iBook has been chugging along, and recently passed the 3 year mark for AppleCare service. That’s right: no more warranty repairs for me. This is more than a little frightening, as the motherboard was replaced 2 years ago, and the hard drive failed twice as well. I finaly broke down and replaced the battery last month, which was long overdue. So I don’t trust that all will be smooth sailing from here on out. I can’t afford a new machine right now, either. Probably won’t be able to for many many months. I was an early adopter of OSX, installing the first version on the old 12” on the day of it’s release in 2001, and I’ve upgraded quickly to each new point release. I held out, though, on Leopard, the iBook doesn’t have the most powerful graphics card and imagined that the new system - what with its dependence on CoreImage and all - would be sluggish and unresponsive. Nevertheless, I knew I’d have to upgrade sooner rather than later, because some of my favorite tools were adding Leopard-only features.

Sooner came Tuesday. I cloned the iBook to my external firwire drive, removing cruft beforehand, and the install process (I chose upgrade rather than archive and install) took the better part of 90 minutes, but when the book rebooted, there was OSX 10.5 in all its science-fictiony glory. And I was immediately connected to our Airport network. Software update asked to install version 10.5.3, which I did, and restarted. I carefully pored over the disk, making sure that all the stuff I wanted to retain had been, in fact, retained. It was. In several hours of use, I felt no sluggishness. The CPU monitor showed a few minor slow points, but nothing that was noticeable in the actual use. This on a three year old iBook with a 1.33 ghz processor and maxed out as much as it can to 1.25 gigs of RAM. (Try getting Vista to work on a 3 year old PC laptop.)

I back up regularly. Religiously, even, with SuperDuper. I was anxious to set up Time Machine, Apple’s dead simple back-up and recovery software. I partitioned the eexternal drive, cloned my hard drive to it so it was bootable, and told Time Machine to use the second partition for back up. I didn’t need TM to copy the entire drive, since I have the clone, so the incremental hourly back ups don’t take long at all. But something went awry during the night, and on Thursday morning I was greeted with an alert that Time Machine Back Up had failed.(I knew it was to good to last!) Happily, a search turned up a post over at Daring Fireball. Seems that John had had a similar system quirk. He linked to this post on
bumppo.net, and after running a Disk Utility repair on the offending files, all is well.

For the record, I’m now a huge fan of Spaces, the virtual screen option, particularly in conjungtion with Exposé. My work flow, such as it is, is much smoother and more intuitive. I can’t say I’m sorry I waited to upgrade to Leopard, but I’m happy that I made the jump. Now I have to hope that the machine holds out for another year or so.

Tags: Site Stuff

Alert readers–both of you–will notice that the Amazon dohickey that previously resided in the bar to the right has been removed.

It was interfering with the page loading time, and that, my friends, is simply unacceptable. Precious seconds were wasting away while you, my loyal audium, were waiting for the script to execute.

I do this because I care. The thousands of dollars I was making on referrals is just not worth the frustration.

The Daily Jazz link remains, for now. Mainly because I need something to fill that space....and because its FREE JAZZ, damn it!

Tags: Site Stuff

New swag!

Not necessarily spiffier, mind you, but a new design to go along with the old favorites.

Tags: Site Stuff

A few comic-strip/cartoon cross-overs that have succeeded as Broadway musicals:

Annie

The Lion King

Beauty and The Beast

Lil' Abner

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

And a couple that have not:

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman!

Tarzan

Snoopy

Doonesbury

Next up:

Shrek

and

Spider-Man....with songs by Bono and The Edge, under the direction of Julie Taymor. (The story linked is dated last year, but this is really going ahead, and has been in the works since at least 2004)


If anybody can make Spider-Man work, its Julie Taymor, and Shrek is probably going to be a hit on name value alone, but I can't say I'd pay to see either one.

Tags: Theatuh, Musical, Super Hero, Crap

Here's the Story: 'A Very Brady Musical' Will Premiere in L.A.

The project is a real family affair: The show's director and co-writer, Lloyd Schwartz, is Sherwood's son and business partner; Hope Juber is Sherwood's daughter, married to co-writer Laurence Juber (a one-time guitarist for Paul McCartney in Wings); Lloyd's wife, Barbara Mallory, will play Carol and is also associate producing the show.......Elliot Kevin Schwartz....as Peter

The story even references the cringe-inducing Happy Days -The Musical that I took issue with a while back. (Yeah, that thing is still breathing.) This show will probably make pots of money.

There's got to be a way I, too, can recycle material from the 1960's into good old American de-valued dollars. Hmmm- fifth and sixth grade Spring Recitals? As I recall, the material was snappy and topical and funny.

Folks I attended grade school with have stopped by this site recently....

Does anybody still have Mr. Benedict's script?

Tags: Theatuh, TeeVee, Crap

Many of you are on our mailing list. Many of you have changed your email addresses since joining our mailing list. Many of you received this year's Extravagant Holiday Card. Many of you did not. For the did nots, please see below, and take a moment to send us an updated address.


Now then: You'll remember that Chet, our long-serving intern, left us in June for "greener pastures". Literally, greener pastures: He's now the second-in-command at a farming co-op in Guatemala. Coffee beans and sorghum. In the intervening months, while I was away, our office manager Carolyn hired a new guy, some one who could fill Chet's shoes and perhaps improve those areas in which Chet was lacking. (That's a lot of leeway, Chet having average sized feet and a healthy dose of ineptitude). Kevin and Jimbo, our tech guys, introduced me to him on conference call: "Doug, this is Lenny; Lenny, this is Doug, your boss. Go away now." I was glad to hear that we'd found somebody, and thought no more about it, confident that the floors of the Compound would once again be polished to a high gloss, and that the pool would be kept at a constant temperature. December rolls around, Jimbo sends me the draft of the Extravagant Holiday Card, and I approve it. Kevin sends it out. Last night, I get an email from Carolyn, asking why they didn't pass it along to her for approval. No big deal, I write, it looks fine. Well, one thing, she writes: The new kid's name is Larry. Larry, not Lenny.

Look, I can't be expected to keep track of this stuff. Kev and Jimbo obviously thought his name was Lenny, and have been calling him Lenny since day one, and when he was introduced to me, Lenny/Larry didn't correct them. So, I ask you, how'm I supposed to know?
If you have received one of our Extravagant Holiday Cards, or if you download said card, do us all a favor and dab a little white-out over the "enn' and change it to "arr", okay? Good help is hard to find.

Enjoy the holidays.

Tags: Pagan Rites, Site Stuff

Tonight, the Bobcats finally won another game, ending a 7 game skid by defeating the (LeBron-less) Cleveland Cavaliers 96-93. It wasn't easy, and the 'cats did it in un-Charlotte like fashion by hitting their last 14 free throws, 10 of those were by PG Raymond Felton. Good thing, because the Cavs hit about 6 more in the paint than did Charlotte, keeping the game close in the second half after a 51 tie at half time.
The Bobcats needed this win, bringing them to 7-11 on the season, and heading to a likely defeat in Detroit on Sunday. Cleveland is in the midst of their own rough patch, now losers of 6 in a row. Something is up with LeBron James, though. A sprained finger keeps you out for six games?

The other drought in Charlotte continues, as it does throughout the South East. We've lost a few plants to the lack of rain (and the resulting water restrictions), and this past week had to have a crew in to take down a large diseased pine tree from the front yard, two small trees and several bushes in the back. They also topped the huge Oak next door, which means we won't have a bajillion acorns beating down on the roof for a few seasons. The crew didn't stack the remains to the correct city guidelines, leaving me with a five by fifteen foot high pile of branches to separate for pick up, and a few massive logs that I hope will be scooped up by neighborhood marauders. There is also the matter of a thick carpet of brown pine needles that covers most of the front yard...

Tags: Basketball Jones, Home

Christopher Reeve once told of his father's pride when informed that Chris been cast in Superman. Turns out his Pop thought it was Shaw's Man and Superman.

My initial reaction last year to the news that there would be a musical version of Happy Days was along the lines of "I don't know that Beckett lends himself all that well to musicalization."

My other thought was "Dear God, no".

But sure enough, Garry Marshall and his gang were going to turn the seminal sitcom into a stage musical. And have done so. It premiered last year at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, CA. It played to decent houses and almost unanimously negative reviews. (They did claim that the show was a 'work in progress', (albeit one with a $37.50 ticket price). The Falcon is owned by Mr. Marshall, so he may book whatever he pleases, but now comes word that this concotion will continue to iron out it's kinks at the Goodspeed Opera House, en route to a September opening at The Paper Mill Playhouse. Given that the Papermill has just gone through a very public meltdown, this may not be a bad thing, if crowds turn out. But if they don't, expect that the State Theatre of New Jersey will have another brush with death.

I have no reason to think that audiences won't show up. We've all slowed down to gawk at highway accidents, after all, and I expect that there are a few die-hard fans of the series that can't wait to see Fonzie and Richie and the rest sing and dance up a storm. There are more than a few of us, though, who just ask why. Why bother? The potential for big money is there, sure...but this is stage money, not TV money. Garry Marshall can't be hurtin' for cash. Were there really people clamoring for this to happen? Couldn't you just tune in to Nick at Nite and make up songs to sing to yourself while watching reruns?

I have the same question, but trebled in intensity, for the producers of Lord of The Rings: The Musical. Why? why? WHY?Never once, while reading the books, or while watching Peter Jackson's films, did I wish that Aragorn would burst into song. I did not long to have Hobbits sing and Black Riders dance, nor render Middle Earth, Rivendell, and Mordor into series of hydraulic lifts, turntables, and computer controlled leikos. And I did not wish for Sarumon to have a curtain call. But it has happened already in Toronto, and now in London. How does anyone condense these epic tales into 3 hours of stage time, and do them justice. Even fleeting justice? The answer is that it cannot be done. Or rather, it cannot be done well.

To be fair, there are an awful lot of musical adaptations out there: South Pacific (based on James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific); Peter Pan, after J.M. Barrie; Cats, after T.S. Eliot,...and many, many more. Note that Legally Blonde: The Musical has recently opened on Broadway, and that Trevor Nunn (!) is slated to direct a musical of Gone With The Wind next year. It seems that every film ever made is ripe for the musical treatment, deserving or not (witness Evil Dead: The Musical, and Reefer Madness). But again I wonder: Who really wants some of these projects, and would they be interested in what I'm working on?

Cause, y'know, I could make it happen......

Tags: Theatuh

My dear friend at Shotgun Productions, Linda Nelson, along with her Co-ArtisticDirector Patricia Klausner are presenting The 10th anniversary celebration of Other Voices, their fundraiser for OAR: The Organization for Autism Research. Other Voices stars: Kristine Zbornik (2007 MAC & Bistro Award winner, Mamma Mia!), Chester Gregory II (Tarzan, Hairspray) and comic Jessica Kirson (J.A.P. Show, Jay Leno), Hosted by Todd Alan Crain. Directed by Stewart M. Schulman, Musical Direction by Michael Rice at Caroline's on Broadway, Monday, June 4, starting at 6 pm. Details at the Shotgun web site.

I can't be there, so I need you to make up for my absence. Click the OAR link above, or on the OAR graphic on the right side of this page and make a donation. Any amount will do, really (but remember that all this research eats up money). You'll get that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from doing a good deed. And while you're there, check out the other ways that OAR is raising funds and awareness around the country, and around the world.

Congratulations on 10 years. Thousands have benefitted from your good work. Here's hoping that there won't be a need for an Other Voices 20th Anniversary.

Tags: Theatuh, Peeps

The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency to help reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Why am I telling you this? In bolded text, no less?

As it happens, two of my dear friends had heart and/or vascular related, life-threatening episodes last year. Mark (of whom I've written in the past) had a medicated stent implanted in the left anterior descending artery in his heart in September of last year, after a visit to his doctor (he was feeling sluggish) revealed his ticker was on the verge of shutting down entirely. Shutting down within a matter of hours, in fact. I saw him in October, and was floored when he told me, because he looked so blasted healthy, just weeks after the procedure. And he continues to do well, thanks to medical intervention. That, and the fact that he's now bionic.

An old friend from Los Angeles, Kimit, who now resides in 'Indifreakinana', suffered a stroke last April. Awful for him, his wife, and family, and awful for his friends who are so far away and get the news much after the fact. He, too, is on the road to recovery, but his has been a longer route than Mark's.

Mark is working with the American Heart Association for their 44th Annual American Heart Gala and Auction on Long Island on May 4. According to Mark (who knows of which he speaks), when the AHA reaches their impact goal by 2010,

"we will have 115,000 fewer cardiac deaths, 40,000 fewer stroke victims, 13.2 million fewer smokers, 12.5 million people with lower cholesterol and 20 million people becoming physically active."

I haven't seen Kimit and his lovely wife Samantha in years, and yet they both loom large in my heart (!), for their various kindnesses, condolences, and comforts they freely gave my struggling self during the dark days in the City of Angels. I've seen Mark a bit more frequently, and he has been - and remains- open, wise, funny, generous with his time and his resources; all of those things that friends are supposed to be but rarely are. Mark is that, and more.

A world without Kimit and Mark would truly be a lesser place. Really, I'm in no rush to experience it.

So, the pitch: You have a heart? Make a donation, any donation, to The American Heart Association. Every dollar counts. And check out the AHA website for further ways to contribute. Go ahead. I'll wait.

I leave you with this tidbit from one of Samantha's emails:

"If there is even a hint of high blood pressure among you and yours, take care of it. It is fucking scary."

Amusing article over at Wired, which includes this laugh out loud sentence, about X-Men's plain-named Jean Grey:

It's as if the Avengers included Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Dave Henderson.

Tags: Super Hero