Back in the dark ages of the interwebs, long before the days of banner ads and animated .gifs, when the fashionable background color of all websites was gray, and when knowing HTML meant you knew how to change the text size and alignment, I started my very first web page … on GeoCities … because at the time, it was the only place I knew of where you could get a free webpage, and because you could have a cool “address” like www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/4780 (and for those of you Wayback Machine users, my page was WAY before the one that’s archived) and you could decorate your page with nifty stuff like rainbow divider bars and stuff. It was also the reason I learned HTML in the first place, and to this day I still hand code most of my sites using good old archaic HTML – no Flash, no .css, no .php just HTML. Of course, this blog is special because I use the magic of WordPress but that’s only because it’s easy, and I’m lazy.

GeoCities was also the very first home of the nomadic First Bernadette Peters Webpage. It didn’t stay there long though, it moved first to CompuServe then to Earthlink then I closed it back in 1999 because I was bored and there were other fan pages by then and Bernadette finally got her own “official” web page.

A Little Night Music (1973) This is one of those Sondheim musicals that I have a love/hate relationship with. I hated the movie. I hate the theme of the show. I love the characters. I love the clever lyrics of some of the songs. I love the trio of songs “Now”, “Later” and “Soon.” Brilliant. But not included on the CD. I hate that the song “Send in the Clowns” is both one of the most beautiful songs from a musical yet one of the most annoying due to the fact that everyone and their dog had to sing it back in the 1970s on every freaking variety show that existed (and there were many!) One nice thing about the CD though is we get to hear Sondheim sing a couple songs that were cut from the show and I love that. I love and hate they included “Send in the Clowns” but thankfully it’s the Glynis Johns recording.

The Enclave (1973) More incidental music from a play. Interesting but very 70s, just not my bag, man!

Stavisky (1974) Did anyone actually see this movie? I know I didn’t. I have no clue what it was about. But with this CD we at least get to hear the music from it.

Pacific Overtures (1976) Yep even Sondheim did an Asian-themed show during the 1970s. Not really one of my favorites but admittedly I am not really that familiar with it. There are a couple interesting things included on the CD though, Sondheim playing “Prayers” and “There is No Other Way” on a piano “prepared” to sound like a koto whatever that is. Not exactly pleasant to listen to but it’s rare stuff where Sondheim’s commentary is more interesting than the songs.

I Never Do Anything Twice (1976 The Seven Percent Solution) Another song from a movie but seriously this is one of my most favorite Sondheim songs E V E R! I first heard this song on the Collector’s Sondheim CD (sung by Millicent Martin) and that one is a longer and more entertaining version than the one included here. Shame, really cuz it’s brilliant especially if you have a dirty mind like I do.

Sweeney Todd (1979) My second most favoritest Sondheim musical of all time and in my opinion his most uhm …wickedly delicious! I absolutely love, love, love the original cast of this show, and I’m SO glad this CD has Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou’s version of “A Little Priest.” They also included Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris’ version of “The Worst Pies in London” which provides an interesting contrast on a whole lot of levels. Yum. If you’re not familiar with this show, for God’s sake get yer grimy paws on a copy of the original Broadway cast video and watch it. Then once yer hooked go rent the recent Tim Burton film version. They’re two totally different approaches to the same show but in my opinion the Broadway cast is superior for a multitude of reasons (the most obvious being the show was written for the stage not the screen.) I do wish they’d included the gloriously beautiful song “Johanna” on this CD though especially since they included “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” since the two songs are really two parts of a duet, in a clever Sondheim kinda way. Oh well, thank goodness for cast recordings and videos hehe.

Reds (1981) I remember when this movie came out, I seem to recall it won a lotta awards and it was about Commies but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. I didn’t know at the time Sondheim did music for it though or maybe I would have seen it. The theme is kind of pretty in a sweeping epic kinda way though.

Merrily We Roll Along (1982) The backasswards show. I’ve never seen it but I know some of the songs like “Old Friends.” Also included is the beautiful yet tragic “Not a Day Goes By” which is one of Bernadette Peters’ favorites, she does it at most of her concerts. It’s one of those songs that can take on a totally different meaning depending on the approach/subtext the performer uses, which is probably why Bernadette likes it. The version included on the CD is from the original cast recording. One little factoid about this show is it was the Broadway debut of George Costanza erm Jason Alexander before his Seinfeld fame. Nice he went back to Broadway after Seinfeld.

Sunday in the Park with George (1984) This is, by far, my most favorite Sondheim show of all on so many levels. It’s close to flawless musically, I think, and has some of the most beautiful musical subtext of any Sondheim show. It is also exquisitely cast with Mandy Patinkin (I fell in love with his voice with this show) and Bernadette Peters (who I never really knew could sing until this show.) What the show is about is right up my alley, too, with all my personal struggles trying to decide what path in life to take, the creative one or the boring expected one, the secure protected one or the risky lonely one. I watch this show when I need to be inspired. I’m glad they included the perfect “Finishing the Hat” on this CD but I wish they’d included the beautiful “Sunday” as well. It’s truly brilliant. And if you haven’t seen this show you need to. Even if you hate musicals. Especially if you hate musicals.

Into the Woods (1987) I love this show too. It’s the first show I ever saw on Broadway (sans Bernadette Peters, damn her, she left a scant couple weeks before I saw it to do some stupid movie.) It’s the first (and only!) Sondheim show I ever performed in. This is probably Sondheim’s most accessible show. Kids will get it. Adults will get it for totally different reasons. It also has some of the most touching songs in it too, like “Children Will Listen” and “No One is Alone” (not included on this CD.) It also has the hilariously funny “Agony.” This CD also includes songs that were to be in a never-done television production of the show.

Assassins (1990) I bought the cast recording for this show as soon as it came out (it was during my “musical theatre obsession” phase where I had to have the recording for every musical that came out during this time.) At first I hated it. I mean, a show about people who try to kill U.S. Presidents? WTF? I seriously started to think Sondheim had lost his mind at this point. And the music reminded me of that cheesy Disneyana type stuff. Which is sort of the point I guess. But like a lot of Sondheim shows, on subsequent listenings I got more and more out of it. And now the brilliant “The Ballad of Booth” is one of my favorite Sondheim songs.

Dick Tracy (1990) OK I may be the only one but I liked the music from this movie. So much so that I bought the soundtrack (did I mention something about being somewhat obsessed with musicals back around this time? I think I did.) Anyway, this CD contains a rather large selection from the movie, probably because no one saw it and no one knew Sondheim did the music for it, except me. Included are the lovely “What Can You Lose?” a duet between Mandy Patinkin and Madonna. You know that’ll never happen again. There’s other songs too, including a couple I wouldn’t have bothered to put on this CD but then again I’d already heard them before.

Water Under the Bridge (1992 Singing Out Loud) I don’t remember this song. The booklet says it was originally from an unproduced film but that it appeared in “A Celebration at Carnegie Hall” which I of course have. I guess I’ll have to re-watch it. Maybe it was cut from the PBS version or something cuz I seriously don’t remember it. Liza Minnelli with Billy Stritch doing Sondheim you’d think I woulda remembered. Oh well. Senility bah.

Passion (1994) If you’re a regular reader of my blog you already know how I feel about Passion but I do like the song “Happiness.”

Wise Guys Bounce Road Show (2003) The Sondheim show that refuses to die despite being run outta town and changing its name multiple times. Ah, Stevey, let it go in peace. Please. Don’t let this be the last show you do. PLEASE. ‘Nuff said.

Invocation and Instructions to the Audience (The Frogs 1954 erm 2004) Everything old is new again! Ah yes, we have come full circle. This song was included on A Collector’s Sondheim, and I believe it was originally written back when Sondheim was in college or shortly after (I don’t have the CD notes in front of me to check) and then in 2004 Nathan Lane brought the show back to life with a new book.

So there ya go, the review is done. AND it broke my previous record for longest post! Twice! With 1314 and 1513 words for part 1 and part 2, respectively.

OK this is the first part of overly long commentary about the new Sondheim CD set “The Story So Far” cuz I’m bored and I’m listening to it and I am somewhat compulsive about expressing my opinion. Lucky you.

First, after importing all the songs from the four (!) CDs into iTunes, I had to put them in chronological order because that’s how my brain knows the material and I get confused easily in my peri-menopausal old age. So the order in my review isn’t quite the same as on the CDs but it’s pretty close. Mostly I just interspersed CD 4 into the other stuff where it belonged historically.

Just to annoy you I’m gonna do a show by show kinda commentary only some songs I might not comment on because I don’t want to bore you all too much so just ignore the stuff you don’t know/care about. OK, here goes:

I Must Be Dreaming (1948 All That Glitters) OK, not much to say about this except it’s from his college days and I gotta say the boy was quite accomplished even back then.

The Two of You (1952 Kukla, Fran and Ollie TV show) They rejected it, too bad, cuz I used to watch this show as a young kiddie and mighta become a Sondheim fanatic at age 3 instead of age 13 or so. Except I wasn’t born yet when this song was written. Oh well.

Saturday Night (1954) Not really all that impressed, but it’s “lost” stuff, although one of my old CDs had at least one song from this show, but I forget which one and I’m too lazy to dig out the disks to find out. Too bad I wasn’t compulsive when I imported those into iTunes.

They Ask Me Why I Believe in You (1956) From a TV script that never got produced. Bernadette Peters recorded this and it’s on her Sondheim, etc, etc CD but I like Steve’s version better just cuz he’s so cute when he sings his own stuff.

West Side Story (1957) Wow flashback, this was my first Sondheim show, only I didn’t know it at the time. But I loved this show. A lot. This show and Gypsy were my first favorite musicals. And they were both touched by Sondheim. Coincidence? I think not!

Gypsy (1959) The other early fave. As a small kiddie I was dragged to rehearsals of musicals (my divorced mom was a violinist and musicals were easy to play for quick money) and I vividly remember sitting in the empty theater of this show during show rehearsals and watching everyone up there on stage and thinking “Wow, I wish I could do that!” I fell in love with the show and got bitten by the theatre bug all at the same time. And I learned every song and every line by heart and recited them in the car on the way home every night. Much to my mother’s dismay (her personal “favorite” was “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” that I did, complete with hip gestures, which embarrassed her to no end which of course just encouraged me more.) The recording on the CD is from the original Broadway cast featuring The Merm herself (I have the vinyl of this album somewhere too ….)

Invitation to a March (1960) Never heard this before that I know of, it’s kind of pretty, although out of context so it doesn’t make much sense since it’s just cue music.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) My least favorite Sondheim show, although the movie is pretty funny, I had to watch it again in college in my Comic Spirit class which was a class where we “studied” humor (we really just watched funny movies and cartoons, and did a bit of reading from things like “The Decameron” but hey it counted for GE credit and the teacher told dumb jokes only he thought were funny.)

Truly Content (1962 Passionella) Another one with The Master himself singing. Was later part of the show The Apple Tree which in a later revival starred one of my favorite musical theatre performers Kristin Chenoweth. So I guess it’s OK.

Don’t Laugh (1963 Hot Spot) Another one I’ve never heard, from a show I never heard of. I kind of like this song. And it’s sung by Sondheim on the CD. Did I mention he sounds cute when he sings?

Anyone Can Whistle (1964) It’s nice to have yet another recording of some of the songs from this show. I already have the concert version thingie that came out uhm … 10 years or so ago with Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, Madeline Kahn, Scott Bakula and a bunch other great peeps, but I don’t have the original cast album. Maybe I should get it. The show is a bit wacky and hard to follow but it has some great songs, including the title song that I used to use as an audition song.

Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) Oh man, this stuff is great. A show I’d forgotten about. And a couple of the songs on the CD are previously unreleased songs from the demo recording!

The Mad Show (1966) I swear I remember hearing Linda Lavin singing this song on TV long, long ago. What the hell ever happened to her? She did that TV show Alice and her career died or something. This may be the only recording I ever get of her singing.

Evening Primrose (1966) Who knew Tony Perkins could sing? I like the versions from Mandy Patinkin’s Dress Casual album better, but who knew Tony Perkins could sing? Worth it just for that!

No, Mary Ann (1969 The Thing Of It Is) I don’t like this one much. Steve doesn’t sound cute on this one. And it’s kind of generic in a Sondheimy way.

Another Hundred People (1970 Company) I really like this song, I’m not sure why. It also makes a great audition song if you can pull it off. This recording is from the original cast I think, with Pamela Myers, who, if I’m not mistaken, I saw in the touring production of Sunday in the Park with George (with the original sets and costumes from the Broadway production, so close, yet so very far ….)

The Ladies Who Lunch (1970 Company) Elaine Stritch at her classic best. This is a gotta have it.

Being Alive (1970 Company) This is from one of my top three Sondheim musicals ever. And every time I see it I “get it” more and more (probably because I mature a bit between viewings.) In my opinion probably the deepest show Sondheim’s ever written in regards to his understanding of people. The song “Being Alive” is probably the best song he’s ever written. I’ve heard several performers sing it, both within and out of the context of the show. It’s nice to hear another recording of it. My personal favorite rendition though is Raul Esparza from the recent revival but maybe I should buy the original cast recording too.

Happily Ever After (1970 Company) I like this song, too bad it was cut from the show. I also have another recording of this from the Collector’s Sondheim CD (performed by Craig Lucas) but this one is sung by Sondheim himself.

Follies (1971) This show isn’t one of my favorites but it has some great songs. Most notably the fabulous Elaine Stritch singing Broadway Baby (which I like a whole lot better than the Bernadette Peters’ cutesy version.) Add in other performances from the Follies in Concert recording by Carol Burnett (I’m Still Here) and Barbara Cook (Losing My Mind) and others and it’s a hit. My only complaint is there isn’t anything from the original cast. But maybe it was never recorded? The concert version is a great recording though.

OK I’m gonna end here because I’m tired of typing. Part two later, starting with A Little Night Music. Gads and I’m only halfway through CD 2 ….

I finally got my copy of “The Story So Far” from that store whose name I won’t mention because their online ordering system totally sucks but it starts with a B and ends with an ers but it should start with an F and end the same way. Anyway, I ordered the thing the day after Christmas with a gift card my brother gave me and the morons didn’t tell me it was out of stock and back-ordered until I emailed them oh, two weeks later asking where the hell is the item I ordered. And of course, their website provides no information about it being on back-order, only that it was “in process” well damn, process it already! And of course there was no way to cancel the order online, you have to either call or email them. Which I did already. And told them twice to cancel the damn order and issue a refund so I could buy it cheaper on Amazon. And they said they would, and that they’d issue a new gift card. But they didn’t. Then a week later I got an email saying it had shipped. Bastards. Oh well, they’ll never get any business from me again E V E R. I think I know now why Amazon broke off their affiliation with them.

Anyway, got the CD and just starting to listen to it but so far it’s a nice little nostalgia trip down Sondheim lane. Most of the songs on the set I’ve heard before, but not necessarily these actual recordings of them. Long, long ago, I bought a CD set called “A Collector’s Sondheim” that had a lotta obscure Sondheim stuff that was recorded by other people, but this one has some of the same songs but with their original casts. It’s a drool-fest I’m tellin’ ya. And the little booklet dealie has some brief but interesting historical stuff in there and some notes by The Master himself about some of the cut songs. I wish it had more of that stuff, but maybe someone will write an accompanying book. Yeah I wish. But hey, there’s that old chestnut “Sondheim and Company” I have stashed in a box somewhere that maybe I should drag out and read while listening to the CD.

One little thing I did notice is that among all the little quips about Sondheim from people who’d performed his music, there isn’t one from Bernadette Peters, who, if I’m not mistaken, has probably performed more of his songs than anyone. WTF is up with that? They had to have asked her. But there are some pictures of her, including ones of her looking quite nerdy in her glasses taken in her youthful prime.

I have finally managed to obtain a long-sought item from my quest to complete my collection of programs from every show Bernadette Peters has ever done. Yeah, lame I know, but the wonderful thing about trying to collect Bernadette Peters programs rather than say oh, I dunno, anyone else, is that they’re damn cheap when you do find them. For the most part anyway. There were a couple I bought long before the internet that cost me a pretty penny but one of ‘em is signed not only by Miss Divadette herself but also by Mickey Rooney and it might actually be worth something some day if he ever dies.

Anyway, I digress … someone on ebay was selling a program from a show she did back in the dino days of her career, back when her most impressive credits included a road tour of Gypsy and some Kraft TV special. Yeah. Hehee. Anyway, I’m happy cuz I’ve been trying to find this program for literally decades and it’s one of the last ones I need to complete my quest. (If anyone has a program from “Johnny No Trump” or “This is Goggle” or heaven forbid, any of the summer stock shows she did as a teen lemme know.)

OK I gotta watch Bernadette on “Ugly Betty” now. ::giggle::

Hehe I was doing my occasional searches for Bernadette Peters pix and found this one:

With an Interesting Description.

If it requires a login, use this(case sensitive)
name: NCFOTONA
password: Guest

Now, I dunno who this guy is other than that they’ve attended a few “things” together in recent months, and they are holding hands in the picture, but uhm … I don’t think they’re married, but who the hell knows? She does wear a ring on her “wedding finger” (but I’d figured it was some kinda remembrance ring for her first husband.)

But, Bernadette is kinda hidey when it comes to her romances, so who knows, maybe she did get married and didn’t tell anybody.

Yes, it’s another one of those “catch-all” posts. Because I have stuff to say but I’m too lazy to think up clever titles for each separate post.

Lemme see … I guess the most important thing to talk about is Bernadette Peters was on Grey’s Anatomy last night. I’m not at all into that show, I watched it a couple times when it first started cuz it’s one of those “medical” drama things and I loves me some medical stuff (I used to be so fixated on medical-themed TV shows as a child that my mother thought I might actually grow up to be a doctor. Haha fooled her! The closest I’ve come is being pre-med for about 5 minutes in college once, before I switched to pre-vet (which lasted about 3 months until I failed chemistry and realized that math was really hard and the hope of me passing even algebra, let alone advanced calculus was a pipe dream at best.) But I have worked for a variety of medical insurance companies over the years so I knows me some medical terminology (and I even impressed the hospital workers a bit with my knowledge the last couple weeks, like I could identify which heart valve was pumpin’ away when my dad had an ultrasound.) But anyway, I digress. The show itself was pretty dopey, worse even than the last season or two of St. Elsewhere (man I loved that show.) The writing was very uneven too (I guess that’s what happens when a lotta different writers work on a TV script that’s rushed out.) And the acting … well … I can’t tell whether the actors on the show are any good or not cuz the writing was so bad. I mean, how do you react to a script that has your character lying on a table with an amazingly super-slow-melting icicle sticking outta your chest? Do you laugh? Do you cry? Do you walk off the set until they do a rewrite? Well, apparently not the last choice.

Anyway, the premiere was two hours long, it easily could have been half that long. Poor little Bernadette though, not only was her character’s husband near death, but his name was Michael. How cruel is that? Oh well, I guess it probably helped her Method acting a bit, she did a good job and I’m pleased to say she didn’t do the cutesy mug-for-the-camera thing once. And she admitted she’d had plastic surgery! Oh no wait, that was her character, I got confused hehe. Usually when she “acts” on television or in movies, I don’t for a minute believe it cuz her persona is so unique it keeps getting in the way. But as she’s matured, her acting is getting better, which is a good thing, cuz it means she might actually be taken seriously as a real actress someday and someone will give her a freakin’ decent script for once so she can win an Emmy or an Oscar or something to complete her collection. I keep hoping she’ll do a role where she takes huge risks and gets rid of all those annoying mannerisms and vocal inflections and that hair, taps into her dark side and unleashes all those deeply buried demons, and blows everyone away with her performance so they say “Wow, that’s Bernadette Peters? I thought she sucked but I guess not!” I’d love to see her play a character outta control, like a psycho serial killer (hey, Mary Tyler Moore did it!) or a drug addict or a mentally ill person or something other than the drab, boring, nice, sweet, doormat victim roles she usually does. But hey, at least she doesn’t play prostitutes anymore ….

Uhm … lemme see, what else … oh yeah, the economy. Bah. I wish I had money to invest cuz I’d be making a killing right now. But in a way I’m glad I’m not rich cuz I’d be pissed they took away the ability to short sell stocks … WTF? That’s how I make all my money! No fair! Hehe. Well, I would if I had money. I used to play stock market simulation games (yeah, yeah, I know not like the real thing) but I’d regularly double my money in 90 days or less (I even won a t-shirt once for finishing in the top 50 of the round!) I dunno what all those greedy, arrogant, selfish, wicked people on Wall Street are gonna do now. They might have to get real jobs. Cuz you know they didn’t save their money so they have a nice nest egg to suck off the rest of their lives. Image and lifestyle areimportant when you’re evil. Yeah, I don’t have a lotta respect for people who make money by manipulating numbers and lying to people. Especially when the taxpayers are gonna end up bailing out the companies who essentially stole from them. I think they should be the ones sending out “Economic Stimulus Checks” but what do I know? Oh well, Bush can just print up more money and everything will be OK! Those Obama rainbow-colored unicorn scented sunglasses of denial are lookin’ better and better.

Uhm, what else … oh I know! Politics! Yeah, I hear there’s an election coming up or something. And the nominees are busy putting their feet in their mouths over and over again. And is it just me or are John McCain’s clacking dentures annoying? And Sarah Palin … oh man, I dunno what to say. She reminds me of those bobble-headed Mormon women who used to give “spiritual” talks in church when I was a teenager and who talk down to you like you’re a 3-year old, but never say anything worth listening to. Yeah, I want her to be VP. Not. Although I have to say, Biden is pretty good at foot-in-mouth maneuvers too. And Obama, well … at least he can read a teleprompter pretty well. Whoever does end up “winning”, is gonna have a lotta work to do. Bush has managed to FUBAR everything so badly it might take decades to recover. Oh, BTW, I had a dream a few nights ago wherein Bush postponed the election until March, and we all know how “prophetic” my dreams are.

Help us Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope ….

Well, I went to Bernadette Peters’ concert at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts last night and it had the potential to be a great concert – the concert was a good two hours long, with a rare intermission. And not one but two slinky, translucent and sparkly new Bob Mackie dresses to boot (one of which, emblazoned with “fifteen thousand Swarovski crystals” was literally at times, blinding.) But … something seemed just a little off. I’m not sure exactly what it was, she sounded a little hoarse, so she might have been sick, but I’ve heard her perform when she’s sick before and she usually pulls it off superbly anyway due to her impeccable vocal control. But tonight she seemed somewhat uneven and struggled with not just a note or two here and there (she is human after all) but several songs were scattered with signs of struggle. She seemed somewhat distracted as well, she even forgot to introduce the orchestra … twice … until she’d left the stage after her encore and Marvin (bless him) summoned her back. She also seemed very emotional, more so than the usual tears at strategic points she usually does … this time she was emotional even on songs like “Shenandoah.” What’s up with that? And “Some Enchanted Evening” was almost unbearable to sit through because she seemed on the verge of breaking into uncontrollable tears at any moment. So I dunno if something’s going on in her life, but being the showbiz vet that she is, the show must go on, or what. One thing the woman does do exceedingly well though is act the song. And whatever was going on, she at least tried to use it to connect to the material, the only problem is it made me, at least, a bit uncomfortable, because I kept wondering what was up and if she was gonna completely lose it. She didn’t of course, but she came close enough at least once that she not only had to wipe the tears from her eyes, but I could hear her sniffling too. I’ve often wondered in the past how she could cry onstage without getting a runny nose, but I guess at least last night, she couldn’t. Of course maybe it was just that she wasn’t feeling well and the decongestants started to wear off. Who knows.

Given the fact the show was about two hours long though, that meant more songs. Unfortunately she did nothing new; instead, she pulled out songs from the graveyard of her career, “I Never Thought I’d Break” for one, and “Time Heals Everything” (which she hasn’t done much at all lately, so that was nice to hear again.) I was really hoping for a tidbit of something new. It might have been my imagination but it seemed the arrangements to some of her songs were a bit more “jazzy” than usual, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part that she’d do some material from her promised upcoming CD “Body and Soul” (that is, if it ever actually gets finished, she’s been promising a new CD of “jazz songs” or “standards” depending on which interview you read, for years now.) But alas it was not to be. Not even a tease of the second lullaby she wrote for her recently finished second children’s book about her other dog, Stella, tentatively titled “Princess Pig” (after, I assume, Stella’s nickname Piggy cuz she looks like Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.)

The new dresses were nice though. I think last night was the best version of “Fever” she’s done yet. That new white dress that’s cut up to there uhm … is uhm … well I just hope that was underwear I saw. The black one was quite nice too, it was a black version of that tired old champagne dangly bits dress. Come to think of it, I think the new crystalized one was a white version of that tired old champagne spangled thing. I guess Bob (or Bernadette) didn’t wanna bother with using a new pattern. I liked the black one better though, partly because it didn’t blind me with its blingyness and partly for uhm … other reasons.

Another minor disappointment came after the show, at the stage door, where about twenty people waited over an hour for her to come out (a few got tired of waiting and left) but she seemed very rushed there too. Not at all her usual overly gracious, greet every single person and give them undivided attention no matter how long it takes self. She barely even talked to anyone, and hurriedly signed a few things and took a few pictures. And she skipped me completely. Bah. That’s what I get for forgetting to bring something for her to sign (but seriously, I’ve got a freakin’ box full o’stuff she’s signed I really don’t need any more.) All I wanted was a quick picture of her as she walked by, but I didn’t wanna be aggressive so I just kinda let her go and didn’t whine about hey you just skipped me you little twit (yes, that’s what I was thinking, only I used different words in my head hehe. ) She was obviously in a rush to get somewhere (my guess is there was a late-night flight to catch, given the fact her assistant had been packing trunks and boxes (as opposed to the usual bags and flowers) into a car. And Bernadette was wearing flip flops. Hehe. AND she didn’t get into a limo, she got into a normal car, and Patty drove it away.) So anyway, all I got was one lousy, far away, non-flash shot of her from the side:

I’m glad I went to her book signing last June afterall where I got quite a few good pictures.

I had a few questions I wanted to ask her, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and hope she answers them eventually. Or I could pull a major dork and write her a fan letter. I haven’t done that in over twenty years, I feel dorky enough waiting by the stage door, but writing a fan letter is just a bit too much methinks, at my age. Especially since I have a tendency to ramble and I’m sure she probably doesn’t even read 90% of them anyway, her poor assistant Patty probably has that unfortunate job. In fact her poor assistant has to do a lotta crap I wouldn’t do for anybody … like lugging huge heavy trunks all by herself into the trunk of a car. WTF is up with that? I almost offered to help but she looked a bit uhm … harried and unhappy and I get more nervous asking her a question than I do Bernadette hehe. I was too scared to ask her if Bernadette was gonna come out.  But Marvin came out a few minutes later and assured the crowd she would be coming out. Thanks Marvin! Nice car, BTW.

Anyway, I’m undecided on whether it was worth the $75 I spent, the seat was actually not bad, it’s a small venue and the row was elevated so no big bobble-heads blocked my view. And the concert was two hours long. I just wish she’d been more “on” and she’d done even just one or two new songs. I probably won’t be going to any concerts again for awhile, until/unless I hear she’s doing new stuff. But at least I caught her a few times this year just in case the “offness” this time was a sign of things to come. It’s rare she does more than one concert in the Los Angeles area in a year, but this year she’s done three. And I caught them all.

Well OK for me it’s bust. I guess I’m not going to BlizzCon this year since a) I work all day so didn’t get a chance to buy tickets and b) they sold out earlier today when I tried and c) the website wouldn’t load when more went on sale this evening and by the time the page loaded they were permanently sold out (I assume … given there is no more little ticket thingie on the BlizzCon page now, only a pay per view thing for DirecTV.)

It’s sorta OK though cuz it looks like the panels are pretty much the same as last year (which was the primary reason I went last year) and the ingame goody is a polar bear mount and well, being the lamer that I am I rarely use mounts, I prefer to stealth. And it doesn’t say on their site that they’ll have Diablo 3 to test (not that big a draw for me) or beta access (I’m already in WOTLK beta so uhm … that’s all I need for now.) SO … I’ll just look at it as saving myself $100 and if I really want an inflatable Frostmourne, I can buy one overpriced on ebay. Not.

Oh! And last night was the finale of The Mole and well, I was right, Craig was the mole, and I’m glad Mark won cuz he was very focused playing the game (the dude’s journal was his savior methinks.) And I’m glad Nicole wasn’t the mole cuz she was trying to pretend she was, and I’m glad she didn’t win cuz she was just snotty to the other players.

In the little Mole game I played with my imaginary online friend, I scored 30 points and he got 7. I woulda slaughtered him more but we restarted at episode 4 cuz of a differing opinion on who the “winner” should be so we redefined the rules and started from 0 again. I picked Craig as mole from week one though, woot! Body language for the win!

Lemme see what else, uhm … I’m working now I forget if I said that, job is OK, there was some overtime the last couple weeks but none now so that’s good, more time for WOTLK and Travian and Travians and oh yeah, the Olympics which are causing me sleep deprivation why oh why can’t they show it live on the west coast grrrr. I hate NBC.

Oh, and this Saturday is another Bernadette Peters concert in town. ::yawn:: I heard she’ll have a new Bob Mackie dress for it. We shall see, I’m getting a wee bit tired of that champagne colored sparkly thing with the dangly bits that get caught on the microphone stand and almost topple her over. Hehe. I had to mention Bernadette Peters cuz my blog hits go up when I do. They go up more when I mention BlizzCon and Wrath of the Lich King beta though. Anyway, I figure she’s doin’ a lotta concerts in California this year so I’m playing catchup and seeing most of them, since the last year I saw one was 1993. And she likely won’t do any nearby next year cuz she tends to skip years. And I hate to say it but her voice is starting to go just a wee bit and I wanna see her while she’s still near her prime.