I’m a little late with the July 2006 Update, so let‘s not waste any time. Here are some highlights:
A PLAY
Most of my July was spent writing a play, which I am hoping to do a reading of in early November. It’s the story of two friends who leave Orlando for the bright lights of California and--just kidding. It’s an untitled drama that my friend Keith is reviewing. Daryl and I brainstormed about ten great titles. Sadly, the two best ones are already taken. If you are writing a play and you need a title, you better cross off Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Starlight Express.
OSCAR BLEACHERS
One day, I hope to sit inside the Kodak Theater for the Academy Awards as a nominee and eventual two-time winner, but next year, I’m happy to remain outside. Are you interested in sitting along the red carpet for the 2007 Academy Awards? Free tickets are distributed lottery-style to folks that pass three rounds of background checks. Online sign-up begins Monday, September 18 so bookmark this website and be ready with all your information. Good Luck! http://www.oscars.org/bleachers
DRIVE-IN MOVIE GUERRILLA-STYLE
Remember the classic drive-in? They always had names with some sort of “evening“ reference: The Twi-Lite, The Star-Time, and my favorite, Asheville’s Dreamland Drive-In. I never saw a movie there but it was fun to drive by the Dreamland marquee at night, with its inviting neon clouds and drowsy moon, showcasing dreamy titles like My Bloody Valentine, Nightmare on Elm Street, Terror Train, and whichever Friday the 13th was in release.
Twenty years later, the Dreamland, like most of its breed is gone. In its place is the 21st century “guerilla drive-in” offered by companies like Hollywood Mobile Movie. If you have a blank wall and enough place for 20 cars, you can host your own show. Their tagline is perfect: The drive-in that drives in. http://www.hollywoodmobmov.org/
Glendale has a defunct furniture store called Seeley’s, whose neon marquee and clock burn every night as if the place is still doing great business. [Which it is, as a makeshift soundstage. The newsroom scenes from Anchorman were shot here, and the evening we visited there was a shabby-hotel set plainly visible through the giant display windows.] The neon clock out front still keeps great time. Instead of the numbers 1 through 12, the face reads G E O R G E S E E L E Y.
We pulled up at “fifteen past G” and parked on the backside of the two-story warehouse where a big screen had been draped from the roof. This was Daryl’s first drive-in movie and he was pleasantly surprised to find a modest concession stand offering complimentary popcorn and free samples of a new ice-cream treat called “blisscotti.” Mmmmmmm. We tuned our radio to the proper frequency, grabbed some snacks and waited for the show to start. After a few commercials, a trailer, a music video, and a short film, we were ready to watch the evening’s main feature: The Puffy Chair. Now that I think about it, that would’ve been the perfect film for the long-lost Dreamland marquee!
The Puffy Chair is a road trip/buddy comedy that Daryl and I both enjoyed, in spite of the inevitable distractions prone to a busy intersection near a railroad crossing and the hospital. Added to the soundtrack of the 90-minute feature were a train, the thumping bass line of passing cars, barking dogs, an ambulance, two fire engines and a medical helicopter. Mobile Movie could have advertised that The Puffy Chair was being shown in “Sensurround.”
In spite of challenges caused by the noise and abundance of ambient light, The Puffy Chair ended up being a solid little film. Ebert and Roeper liked it, too, but I’m sure they saw it under much different circumstances.
LINDA RONSTADT AT THE GIBSON AMPHITHEATER
“People never know what to expect when they come to one my shows, so I always take a moment at the beginning to go over the program.” Thus began a concert whose first half was American Standards and whose second half showcased how Ronstadt’s recording career started in the 60‘s and never really stopped..
Her first hit was with the Stone Poneys singing the Michael Nesmith tune “Different Drum.” Since then, she’s done a little bit of everything: pop, rock, folk, country, mariachi, and operetta. She‘s recorded with a diverse roster including Aaron Neville, Dolly Parton, The Chieftans, David Sanborn, George Jones, Phillip Glass and Kermit the Frog. Her back-up work includes The Eagles’ “Take It Easy;” Emmylou Harris’ “Mr. Sandman;” and Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies“ from Graceland.
After fifteen years in the folk/rock/country field, Linda surprised the music industry in 1983 by releasing an album of standards called What’s New. She was riding in a car in England when she heard Frank Sinatra singing “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” and decided to do the album. The record company agreed to pursue it but she insisted on a full orchestra and Nelson Riddle who had worked extensively with Sinatra. Ironically, Nelson Riddle had never heard of Linda Ronstadt and had to ask his daughter if she was any good. They ended up doing three albums, collectively known as ‘Round Midnight, before Riddle died in 1985.
She performed about 12 songs from ‘Round Midnight so I could‘ve left the concert at the break and been happy, but the second half wasn‘t too shabby since it had “When Will I Be Loved,” “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me“ “Ooh Baby, Baby“ and “Just One Look.” The two songs that got the biggest response were the Oscar-winning “Somewhere Out There“ and her terrific cover of Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou.” It was a wide range of styles and vocal ranges but she handled it all, sometimes sounding eerily similar to recordings made twenty or thirty years ago. It’s hard to believe she turns 60 this year.
Linda Ronstadt doesn’t have an official website but here are Amazon links where you can sample 'Round Midnight and The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt
She adds French chansons to her repetoire with her newest album, Adieu False Heart .
KRISTEN CHENOWETH
Two nights later, we were at the Greek Theater with our friends Byron and Shephard to see stage and screen star Kristen Chenoweth. She originated the role of Glinda in the Broadway hit Wicked and won a Tony for her work as Sally in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. She also had a recurring role on The West Wing and played Marian the Librarian in the TV version of The Music Man.
Kristen interspersed the show with stories about growing up in Oklahoma and her imitation of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Towards the end of “Popular,” her big hit from Wicked, she flubbed two lines. Afterwards she laughed good naturedly and marveled, “I can’t believe I forgot the words to a song I have literally sung 2,000 times!” It was exactly how you would expect her to react.
Her clear, expressive voice moved from torch, to patter, to coloratura with no evident strain. She was as nice as she could possibly be, even joking about the empty seats in the audience. We enjoyed the show, but the 20-something woman sitting next to me LOVED it. She told me so afterwards but it really wasn’t necessary since I had noticed her lip-synching quietly to every song. I thought it was going to drive me mental at first but she was so darn polite about it, her performance actually added to the experience, but please don’t tell Kristen I said that.
Here‘s Miss Chenoweth’s website which is in dire need of an overhaul. It looks like a page from the back of Seventeen or Young Miss.
http://www.kristinchenoweth.com/
I checked. It looks worse:
http://www.seventeen.com/?iv_arrivalSA=1&iv_cobrandRef=0&iv_arrival_freq=1&
3 MEN AND A BABY. . .GRAND
Two weeks later we were at Los Angeles Community College with our friends Rob, Shawn and Diana for another terrific concert. John Boswell, Brian Lane Green, and Lee Lessack are individual Broadway/Cabaret/Film/TV performers and recording artists who also tour as the group 3 Men and a Baby…Grand.
The singing by all three was strong as they sampled Broadway tunes and some original compositions, but my favorite part of the show has to be the piano solo by John Boswell. He took song titles from the audience, writing them down on a legal pad until he had a total of 21. He reviewed the list with the audience, set the pad in front of him and immediately performed an 8-minute medley incorporating every song. In the order he had written them down. No prep. No sheet music. No sweat.
http://www.lmlmusic.com/concerts_main.php?id=2
HEATWAVE
Speaking of sweat, we don’t get too much of that here. Los Angeles is blessed with such comfortable temperatures most of the year that many homes and apartments don’t even have air-conditioning. Unseasonably warm isn’t too bad for us, since we have AC, but there were friends, especially those with pets home all day, who were pretty miserable this month. It finally cooled down last week.
13TH ANNUAL GLENDALE CRUISE NIGHT
Glendale hosts a block party every summer with 300-plus cars, an oldies concert, community groups and live animals from the Glendale Rescue squad. It’s a quick walk downtown from our apartment, so we didn’t have to worry about parking. Unfortunately, we did have to worry about the July heatwave. It was so muggy that Daryl and I didn’t spend too long at the fair.
We skipped the “Sha Na Na“ show completely even though it was probably the only chance I’ll ever have to see the one band in history to perform in the movie Grease and at the original Woodstock.
The big stars at the event--besides a headless and obviously female Bob’s Big Boy--were the automobiles. My favorite was the 1954 Studebaker Commander.
LONDON CALLING
If you are a regular reader of the Update, you may remember that while in London last Christmas, we visited Mrs. Jill Caruth at her flat and had tea. It was the quintessential English afternoon. This month, she was in town as a birthday surprise to her daughter and we were able to meet her and JJ for a specifically-LA experience: dinner and drinks at the Polo Lounge. We were there for three hours, I think, just catching up and enjoying a delicious meal. What a treat to see her again. Now it’s our turn to cross the pond.
KATHY GRIFFIN
Kathy Griffin’s Emmy-nominated reality series My Life on the D-List wrapped up this month and we were supposed to see her live but she cancelled the show with no announced reason. We only found out when we got to the theater and saw a hand-drawn sign out front, which was pretty D-list, I have to say. It was two days after her appearance on Larry King where she discussed her recent divorce and we think that was why she backed out. We had a great time anyway since we ended up hanging out with JJ and her husband Adam.
STAR SIGHTINGS
We did see a few stars this month. As we were leaving the Polo Lounge, we saw Paula Abdul talking with some skinny blond. At a fundraiser on the Paramount backlot, we bumped into James Getzlaff, who starred in Bravo’s reality series Boy Meets Boy. Earlier in the month in the Target homewares aisle, Daryl recognized and talked to Designed to Sell co-host Lisa LaPorta.
My apologies for the delay in getting this out, but the first week in August was a full one. I’ll be back to tell you all about it next month.
Until then,
James & Daryl
