Blossom Dearie

Thought I might talk about one of my favorite musical artists, Blossom Dearie--  First heard Blossom at Indigo Seas---  an antique store I worked at on Robertson Blvd. in the early 90's.  The owner there has great style---  She and her husband live at director George Cukor's former home above the Sunset Strip---  Anyway, fabulous music was always playing----  "I'm Hip" "I'm Shadowing You", "My Attorney Bernie" and "Peel Me a Grape" were mainstays---  She had a paired down simple, honest-- jazzy approach to her music---  Plus an occasional 'throw away' comedy number--  From what I understand, she was tough regarding her work---  only surrounding herself with the best--  Lucky I was to see her live many times---  Her voice changed very little in her almost 60 year career--
One of my favorite songs is "Sweet Lover No More" which she termed a 'Jazz Waltz' singing to just a piano, bass and tambourine--  She passed away last February at 85--  Someone on Facebook suggested toasting the night sky to her version of "Fly Me to the Moon" which I did---

Put on you Sunday (Saturday) Clothes.....

Last night Jim and I joined some friends in seeing a tribute to Jerry Herman--  Jason Graae was the star in a one man show.  Loved every delicious second of it--  A Palm Springs audience is always a crazy quilt of characters--  We've seen A list celebs  (Meryl Streep!  Liz Taylor!) --  Desert locals "putting on the dog",  and everything in between...  Our Saturday night did not disappoint.....  The event was at The Joslyn Senior Center on glamorous Catalina Way in Palm Desert....  The show was in it's "try out" period and was testing out it's legs with an audience.  (The price was a steal at 10.00 a head!)  What was fascinating about the night (beyond the show..) was the crowd.  Broadway legend Donna McKechinie decked out in black jeans, Ugg boots,  puffy coat topped off with a jazzy scarf-- sat in front of us.  It all boiled down to New York slumming it in the desert---  My favorite patron, his late sixties---  looked like Marlon Brando circa "Superman"---  black slacks, black and white vertically striped shirt open to the waist, under that was another stripe--- same colors---  only going vertically and with a turtle neck.  All this was topped off with aviator tinted glassed (gold) and chunky jewelry....  fabulous! Another woman obviously used Liza as her muse--  Love it...  I'm not saying this to be mean--  quite the opposite--  I think it's great when people go for it and show us who they are--  Nothing is better than a night of show tunes surrounded by interesting people--

The King and I

My first taste of Show-business took place in 1974.  Harbor High was doing "The King and I" as their spring musical....  The call went out -- they were looking for children to play the "prince and princesses of Siam"--The possibility was intoxicating........  I don't remember the audition or what I sang--  but I made the cast---The theatre at Harbor  at that time was  beautiful--  Built in 1930, It was spanish/deco/nautical not like a High School theatre at all--  more like Broadway---  The 16 or so of us were paired up with harbor girls who would be playing our mothers.  Gina Haddox would be playing mine--  Doing that show was absolutely magical--   I still remember every lyric we sang--  Secretly, I wanted to wear my costume to school---Gina and I became very close--  there really was an adult voice inside my (9 year old) brain--  never wanting this show to end--  The cast party was crazy fun--  dancing to "Love will keep us Together"---  I felt so grown up--  The show closed---  everyone promised to stay in touch--  The theatre underwent a modern redo in the late seventies---  Two years ago I happened to be in Newport--  The theatre building was being demolished---  leaving the stage open to streams of sunlight---  the addition  falling away leaving the art deco underneth--  a bulldozer was chomping away at the balcony seats.....  It was spooky that I happened to be there on that particular day---

My First Post-- Welcome!

Maybe my first post should be about my goals with this blog--  I have a lot in this world that interests me---
My plan now is to dedicate an entry to one of these subjects--  "Old Hollywood is Fabulous" "Sometimes I Wish I Had Become A Surfer", "Why I Think Judy Garland is so Wonderful" "Cooking is a Drag" --  Just to name a few (of the thousands....)  These subjects occupy the inside of my head more than I care to admit---  Thank you (in advance...) for riding along---  And a big thank you to Chase Langford for getting me going---  Happy Thanksgiving!