In January, when Daryl and I drove out to California, the first stop was New Orleans. We got there around 10:00pm, drove through crowds of Saturday night revelers in the French Quarter, found a hotel, and crashed for the night. Sunday morning was spent visiting Jackson Square, a deserted Pat O’Briens, a bustling Café du Monde and what must be the world’s smallest grocery store. It was a quick tour made of small, pleasant moments. If only Katrina’s visit had been the same.
I’ve been through a few hurricanes [Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Floyd, Georges, Irene, David] but nothing close to Katrina. Even last August, when we were without power for nine days following Charley, we still had our cars, restaurants, phone service, daily newspapers and an air-conditioned job site. The lack of fresh water, power, communication, food and shelter in New Orleans is nothing short of tragic.
SOME GOOD NEWS
On August 22, I began working as an official Disney Cast Member again--with the Silver Pass and everything. Our parents are just relieved that we have insurance again. Daryl is also at Buena Vista Home Entertainment working in the Synergy department.
MICHAEL BUBLE AT THE GREEK THEATER
For our birthdays, our friends Byron and Shephard took us to see Michael Buble at the Greek Theater. LA was the final date on his tour so he pulled out all of the stops, joking with the audience, doing impressions and singing for two hours without any visible water intake. Michael makes it look so easy, crooning "The Way You Look Tonight" one minute and then belting out Queen’s "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" the next. He even did some a capella work on the Carpenters’ "Song For You." It was a GREAT show and we are indebted to Byron and Shephard for making that happen. To see and hear more about Michael Buble--including his latest single "Home"--check out http://www.michaelbuble.com/
BOOKS
Another birthday present I enjoyed was the complete set of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. These six books were written between 1977 and 1987 and tell the interwoven stories of the apartment residents at 28 Barbary Lane, San Francisco. The first book was turned into a highly-rated miniseries for PBS about ten year ago. I especially enjoyed the ‘time capsule’ aspect of the series as it touched on everything from the pet rock fad to Tylenol’s tamper-proof packaging to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
MUSEUMS
That same weekend we were driving through a neighborhood and happened upon the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. It was interesting to see that even within Native American cultures there is a class system of noblemen, subjects, and slaves.
http://autrynationalcenter.org/swexhibitions.php
This past Saturday we caught the Rembrandt exhibit at The Getty. It’s an amazing place to spend a day--even if you’re not into art--because the architecture, the view, the gardens and overall design are top-notch. I’ll probably spend more time on this in a future update, but in the meantime, here are some of the pieces in the museums collection http://www.getty.edu/art/.
THEATER
The Book of Liz was written by Amy and David Sedaris. It’s the story of an Amish woman who, tired of making cheeseballs and being under appreciated, leaves her compound and becomes a waitress in a Colonial-themed diner. [Their specialty is “Williamsburgers”] It was a wacky show that made us laugh a lot. It was performed in a cozy space by actors who appear on TV from time to time. Here‘s the cast list and information about the Blank Theater Company: http://www.theblank.com/mainstage.htm
STAR SIGHTINGS
Speaking of familiar faces, we passed by the Teen People 25 Under 25 party and saw singer Ryan Cabrera walking the red carpet. Oscar-Winner Geoffrey Rush was in the audience with us watching The 40-Year Old Virgin. I almost didn’t recognize Roy Disney when he stepped off our office elevator in his Hawaiian shirt, khakis, and sneakers.
VISITORS
Other familiar faces this month included our friends Margo and Richard Gravely who stopped by a few weeks back. She and Daryl met over the phone back when she handled the Magic Kingdom Club for Disneyland and he did the same for WDW. They fell out of touch after leaving the company but reconnected when they both rejoined this year. It was great catching up.
Our friend Tony Tropea was out here last weekend just as the temperature was climbing back into the high 90’s. Even though we got shut out of a TV Taping at Warner Brothers, we still had fun driving around the city pointing out TV landmarks like the Brady Bunch house and the Townsend Detective Agency from Charlie’s Angels.
THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL
This month, we saw two jazz concerts at the Bowl. The first was a Celebration of Antonio Carlos Jobim hosted by guitarist Oscar Castro-Nuevas. He had lots of big names from the Bossa Nova scene but I am not going to pretend like I had heard of any of them prior to that night. Even though my late arrival made me miss “The Girl From Ipanema,” hearing “Desafinado” and “The One Note Samba,” made up for it.
Last night we attended Jazz Sophistication: George Duke and Friends. The main reason we signed up for this one wasn’t George Duke, it was Shirley Horn. We were turned on to her by our friend Marge Ann, who is very active in the Central Florida Jazz Society. She loaned Daryl her copy of Shirley’s album Here’s to Life and he became an instant fan. Listen for yourself:
http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/product.aspx?ob=disc&src=art&pid=9707
Shirley has been ill of late and unfortunately had to cancel. Her last-minute replacement wasn’t too shabby. It was the equally talented and more known Dianne Reeves. She put on a terrific show singing and scatting smoothly through standards like "How High the Moon" and "One For the Road." You can sample her 15+ albums at http://www.diannereeves.com/.Of course, this being a night devoted to jazz, it was hard to ignore what was happening in the city that made it famous. Dianne spoke the about the extended family that she and the band had in Louisiana and Alabama. She made a simple plea for people to donate to any charity that was helping and then slid into a mournful "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?"
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
And miss her each night and day
I know I’m not wrong because the feeling’s
Getting stronger the longer I stay away
Miss the moss-covered vines, tall sugar pines
Where mockingbirds used to sing
I’d love to see that old lazy Mississippi
Running in the spring
Moonlight on the bayous
Creole tunes fill the air
I dream about magnolias in June
And I’m wishin I was there
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
When that’s where you left your heart
And there’s one thing more, I miss the one I care for
More than I miss New Orleans
Until next month.
James
