The Daily News

1   What a fun fundraiser we threw this past week! “We” is the Drama Workshop!  We had caramel candy apples with either nuts or sprinkles, apple wedges with a caramel dip on the side, pizza, pizza, and pizza from Lil C’s, ice cream sundaes with whipped cream and cherries, and root beer floats!! It was like every little kid’s fantasy! The action was fast and furious, and we should wind up making over $225 for like two hours of work all week. Great stuff!

2   The Drama Workshop is considering doing another fundraiser,  Movie Nites in the Theatre, but we are keeping it on the downlow, with the exception of the DN, which has a circulation of approximately 234,000, and climbing!

3   Okay, so the thing about white guys is we exaggerate beyond all reason, just for a chuckle.  It’s this dufus thing.

4   Last night, as I was leaving campus with Sunshine, we were stopped right outside the front of the Theatre, and Sunshine just gazed ahead and said, simply, “Look.”  It was around 6:30. To our left, the student parking lot stood, almost 1/3 full of cars, parked, moving, coming, going, picking kids up, dropping kids off. Straight ahead were small groups of students milling around the front of the gym. Off to our right, the ATFNL kids were lined outside the door of the wrestling room, converting everything into a haunted house. Kids were walking to and from the football field, and everywhere was this wonderfully autumnal sense of community.

5  That’s our school, in the Fall of 2004. Neighbors, friends, students, and a very active community enjoying the simple things in life. At first I didn’t know what Sunshine meant, but now it is crystal clear.

6   Don’t forget that The Dining Room happens tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m. at West Valley College. Cost is $10. There is also a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

7  So…Sophomores!!!! I took a little peek at your artwork today; looks awesome! Come out this weekend and make it happen for the whole school! You guys had the spirit last year; we bonded, and you showed me a LOT.  So put everything you can into Monday! In your honor, I am watching Cinderella tonight! Come out, Sophs, support your class. You do this just four times, so make it sing!

8  And so this is Halloween. And what have you done?

9  So…here’s a really fun item!  Have you heard who is going to play the part of Captain Jack Sparrow’s father in the upcoming sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean?  Answer is at the bottom of today’s DN. Guess first!  Which living (or IS he dead?) celebrity is born for the part?

10  The Heidi Chronz go on LIVE today, all day except 6th period.  This Halloween, and in fact, this Spirit Week, came faster than I ever would have imagined.

11  Every now and again, I look back to see time’s winged chariot fast on my heels…and I have to ponder…

12  And just as quickly, I absolutely must shake out of it and focus on the present.

13  So have a lovely Halloween, everybody.

14  And Sophomores, good luck. Take lots of pictures, leave lots of footprints. You won’t pass this way again. Love it; all of it. Too soon you will be Seniors.

15  Too soon.

16  Godspeed.

 

 

Number nine. Number nine. Number 9. Number 9.

A.

The father of Captain Jack Sparrow will be: Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones craggy guitarist, who was Johnny Depp’s inspiration for the Captain Jack character!

 

 

http://www.xanga.com/El_Directore

The Daily News

1   SOX!!!!!

2   Ya gotta love it!!

3   Nice of the Cardinals to show up for the Series.

4   Yeesh.

5   But what a great thing for everybody in America. A dream for anyone who has ever participated in any sport, and especially for all baseball fans. Just amazing, and the exact reason that I think baseball is the greatest sport ever invented.

6   Moving along, I took a look at my ridiculous schedule, and I seem to be doing an almost perfect job of getting absolutely everyone around me pee-yoed. I’ve made a career out of doing that. Working my butt off for everyone and his brother, and then having people pee-yoed, no matter how hard I work. It’s sort of my destiny, I imagine.

7   I imagine.

8   Pee-yoed.

9   I HAVE TO KEEP SAYING, YEAH SOX!!!!! Sorry. Moving forward…

9   Well, gosh, oh dear!  Was that the Band sounding all pumped up and solid?  You guys are starting to rock! Rev it up, looks like the Big Cats are marching into town next week.

10  Yesterday, the small piano <is that thing a “spindel”?> was examined by the pie-anny guy, who diagnosed the patient as “50-50″. Sad stuff. From what I’ve heard, one of the “G” keys was broken, probably by either a vandal, or just  by someone who got a little klutzy, and now the whole thing is shaky. It got glued and all, so here’s hoping the glue will do the trick.  Meanwhile, we all wait, patiently…poor little guy…

11   Spirit Week is just around the corner. I look to the Sophomores, and I remember two years ago how exciting it was going first. We all gathered together, and in the wee hours of a Monday morning, amid the fog and mist, we created a jungle, complete with jungle sounds, drums, and Fleetwood Mac’s great song, Tusk!, complete with backing by the USC Marching Band,  to get us out on the steps. One of my most memorable mornings ever. We were cold, wet, and attacked with all we had, which was a whole bunch of very spirited sophomores who were cold, hungry, but warm with smiles and fun.

12  In the political spectrum, looks like John Kerry could immediately jump on the bandwagon, and line up with a total winner from Massachusettes. Meanwhile, while John is holding up Sox hats and making jokes about the last President to preside over a World Champion Boston team, absentee ballots have mysteriously disappeared in Florida.

13  The Dynasty knows how to keep their power, and they will. They got in originally in ’63, and there’s LOTS of evidence to point that way, moved stealthily through the back streets and lots of the nation, and rigging most of the elections for the past thirty-two years. Every time you lift a rock, out climbs a Texan with a huge hat.

14  See? I just got a WHOLE bunch of people pee-oed. Perhaps it’s because I READ, and have studied this stuff pretty carefully, and refuse mainstream sources. Just trace all elections since the coup d’etat on JFK, and you’ll see readily just what has been going on.

15  It’s called simple research, not “conspiracy theory”. But who bothers lifting a book?

16  So if you get pee-oed reading this, get pee-oed at yourself for not studying things more carefully, or blindly following what mommy and daddy want. I’m going to go with facts and intelligence. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…

17  I think I’ll just slip out, stealthily, and report back to Langley. They already think I’ve popped off a little too much.

18  And yeah, SOX!!! People in Boston; it’s your time to shine!

19  Peace.

The Daily News

1   Every time I go into the Performing Arts office, I see massive activity going on. The building is becoming so much like it used to be, I almost don’t believe it.

2  I got hurled into my portable a few years ago, and never quite made it back. After Ponch and Fleming left, we had a couple of years where there was no solid thing going on in the Performing Arts office, and it became almost unbearable for me to go in there, amid the sadness, and the revolving-door of music teachers.

3   Without a sound, I moved my entire Performing Arts area to the portable, and set up shop. Peace 61, Camp Harringtown. It became its own sort of charming little ghetto piece, complete with terrible room design, broken desks, plywood curtains (hey, at least they’re painted black!), and the same collage/cool ambiance that defined the old Performing Arts office.

4  It was needed at the time. I recall walking through the building, hearing some kids still playing music, but really, for all intents and purposes, it was an abandoned ship. VERY tough for me to walk in there and try to do anything resembling normal. Old, dusty programs faded sadly on the walls. It became a sad museum piece.

5  Since the arrival of Ms. Hooper, this place has become its own world once more!  Sadly, the Drama Workshop doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere but the Theatre, but it’s all good. I still have moments of wanting to get back to the PA office, home of soooo many wonderful memories, but my whole operation exists now in P-61, a pretty nice little place, funky, fun, and in keeping with the old office.

6  But walking  into the Theatre building, I still feel the power of a place that is massively alive, and it is now its own wonderful entity. Watching kids in practice rooms, kids surrounding Ms. Hooper with questions about this and that, and people practicing everywhere shows me that an entire world has been created, and is now a beautifully comfortable “home” for a whole new generation of students. It’s clean, fresh, and alive once more. Fun, and such a cleansing!

IN other NEWS:

7  It’s almost ten o’ clock, last night. I arrived home early last night, like 8:30!  Yeah, believe it. That’s early.

8  I came home to the Red Sox about to light it up!!! Tonight’s the night, as they say. St. Louis doesn’t have a prayer. Of course, the Boston fan who is over 100-years old is ready for the worst. He is also complacent enough to have said, “There’s always next year…”

9  No, there REALLY was this hundred-plus-year old man who was interviewed on I think KGO two days ago, and he was a diehard <wrong word, m’bad!> Bosox fan. And to all you fair-weather Bosox fans, I can only say: it ain’t over ’til it’s over.

10  Your NORMAL baseball fan would say, “Stick a fork in the Cardinals.” Not the octogenarian. He’s remains cautious.

That’s what NO World Series victory since 1918 will do to a guy.

11  I see Ashlee Simpson actually performed LIVE the other night, and even joked when the band started, “Wait! That’s the wrong song!” Cute, and probably the only thing that saved her.

12  I wasn’t aware she is only 20. I’ll cut her some slack. When I was twenty, I had already directed a play that failed, and that was under my belt, which was a lot thinner than it is now. Not to worry: I countered with hair that was much thicker…

13  Just babbling.

14  Lunar eclipse tonight at 7:23. Some weatherman named Lloyd Lindsay Young said it’ll be clear. Look to the East.

15  Did Bono and the Edge sell out to I-Pod Tuesday? Nah. They showed with Steve Jobs at the California Theatre downtown to plug Ipod, and to sell their own version of it.

16  Bono and Edge. Actually, their REAL names are Paul Hewson and David Evans, but who wants to know THAT?

17  Bono. Edge. Ipod. Sell, baby, sell!

18  Time to go.

19  Out.

The Daily News

1  This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., The West Valley College Drama Department presents The Dining Room. Tickets are $10 w/ cards. Jenny Valdez is in it, and has been working with West Valley for over a year now, and told me that opening night was awesome. The Show also runs Sunday afternoon at 2. If you can, get out there and see it! The Director is Ginger Drake, one of the most talented directors in the South Bay. Be there!

2   We had an amazing first rehearsal for the One-Acts yesterday. Amid massive noise from Spirit Week, sawing, dancing, etc. the cast of It’s Our Town, Too and The Arkansas Bear delivered the goods. The first rehearsal seemed like we had been doing it for weeks! I would like to thank the Cast and Crew for rallying together to get this first major rehearsal not only under our belts, but to a very good level, very quickly.  We were cold, tired, hungry, and all the rest, but pushed through and got almost all the plays blocked. Amazing pace, and great attitudes by everyone.

3  Special stuff, I tellya. I reached back to some earlier shows and really enjoyed directing yesterday.

4  Also, I would like to thank the kids in the Drama Workshop, and Karena Ramirez in particular, for putting together a great fundraiser after school. We brought in over fifty dollars in a half-hour. How many of us wish we could MAKE that?

5  Tired, man.

6  I got home around an hour ago. Tired, but exhilarated beyond all measure. Just had a great day, and it was terrific getting back in there and directing like the old days. Good stuff.

7  Today we will have more. Karena made these awesome little apple slices and caramel things, cold and delicious, and only a buck. You dip the apple in caramel, and it’s to die for. We got these WAY sweet green apples that dunk perfectly. She placed them in nachos trays, with the little sidecar for the caramel. Just desserts!

8  We also busted out root beer floats and ice cream sundaes! Yum!!

9  Anyway, if you feel like some sweet stuff at the end of a long school day, stop by the Theatre after school for the rest of this week. I already want more of those sliced apples. Best way to spend a buck in town.

10  I can always tell when it’s a good year. I can’t wait to get up and go back in each day!  Talk about re-born. I’m loving things these days: so much on the table.

11  I heard Sir Elton John ran screaming through England after having watched Ashlee “Pieces of Me” Simpson’s SNL voice- malfunction. Hilarious. I missed it, but the mic was reportedly at her waist when the song she already sang came on. Actually, it wasn’t her fault, but her snivleing about “acid reflux disease” being the reason for the lip sync was a classic drama-queen crock. Been there, seen that. Her daddy/manager backed this idiotic excuse, and you know? The sad thing about B.S. is that the B.S.’ers usually believe their own B.S., espcecially when daddy is out front nodding the affirmative.

12  I heard Ashlee looked like something out of a Jet Li flick. That happened on my DVD yesterday. The talking was all out of sync with the actors, and it was great stuff. Gotta love it.

13  Did you REALLY think I was going to let Ashlee Simpson slip past me?

14  Let’s get to people who are NOT millionaires, and who sing acoustically with or without their “acid reflex diseases.  Let’s go see high school kids who give everything they have to their music, and don’t count on CD’s to support them.

15  I keep hearing good things about the Choir. I have a choir/spy in my fifth period class, and this person LOVES it. I can’t wait to come in some morning and hiding and listening to you!

16  I walk through the building, and I could hear music, sweet, sweet music, and I thank Ms. Hooper for working until she can’t see! What a terrific job!

17  Performing is all about no excuses. Work hard. Focus. Execute. Don’t count on Sparky to push play. Use your own voice. Belt. Sing “Pagliacci, I love you very Machie!” Break some windows.

18  And Ashlee, I think Millie Vanilli <who?>  may have some cardboard and crayons for you. 

19  Sometimes, I’m just such a sweetie.

20  Peace, y’all.

The Daily News

1   I have been trying to get this old clunker of a computer to do things that it just can’t do. Hey, I got it for a hundred bucks, keyboard AND monitor included, and it does just dandy with the internet, websites,  power point, excel, office, front page, and a whole buncha other goodies. It’s not even that slow; it moves along.

2  But things like pictures, dvd’s, and media, it sucks. So I have this brand new digital camera which totally rocks, and I just can’t seem to get the computer to be able to burn the pictures to CD-R’s.

3  So yesterday I bought this MAD DOG DOMINATOR 4-in-1 52X CD-RW + DVD-ROM that is as big as my TUNDRA! This little guy supposedly could DO IT ALL!!!

4  Not only THAT, but I was able to pull out the existing, and put this BIG BAD MAD DOG in its place!

5  How exciting, huh? I tore my old housing apart, popped that baby in there and…

6  Illegal operations. Warning! Your computer is about to shut down. YOU HAVE COMMITTED SOME SORT OF COMPUTER CRIME, AND YOU CAN SEND A REPORT WHICH WILL DO NOTHING, OR JUST PRESS “DON’T SEND” AND EVERYTHING WILL SHUT DOWN AND RESTART!!!

7  Computers, I swear. I just went with it. Un-did stuff. Re-did stuff. FINALLY, my computer added a little light that said, “WRITE THESE FILES TO CD!” which it previously couldn’t do!!!  YEAH, BABY!!!!

8  I got all these pictures ready to pop onto a CD-R, so I could clear the boards on the hard, and…

9  It said, “PLEASE INSERT A CD INTO THE DRIVE, BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH YOU ALREADY HAVE, YOU HAVEN’T”!

10 This was after wrestling around with the thing all night. I have the housing all over my living room, tiny-ass screws  and teensy-tiny screwdrivers hither and yon, colorful installation CD’s that say nifty things like NERO EXPRESS, and POWER DVD, plastic baggies, rebate information, and all the rest.

11  I tried again. It said, “PLEASE, YOU THINK YOU’RE PULLING A FAST ONE HERE? YOU THINK I JUST FELL OFF A TURNIP TRUCK? INSTALL A CD INTO THE DRIVE, BECAUSE I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU TELL ME, IT AIN’T THERE! YOU CAN CHECK IF YOU WANT. GO AHEAD!”

12  I pushed the CD-R Drive. There was a perfectly clean CD-R in there. I took it out and put in a new one. It read, “NICE TRY PAL!”

13  And at the bottom corner of the computer, some little pop-up said, “You have files ready to be written to CD.”

14  I figured I’d just get it in the morning. I’d go online instead.

15  It began it’s little journey, you know, the seven steps to getting online. After the seventh step, it hovered for like a year. I planted a few flowers, changed a tire, cleaned the garage, and came back to a huge STOP sign. “YOU CHANGED YOUR VISA CARD NUMBER OR SOMETHING, SO YOU CAN’T GO ONLINE OR CHECK E-MAILS, OR WRITE THE DN, OR DO ANYTHING YOU WANT! CLICK THE BUTTON IN THE LOWER-RIGHT HAND CORNER TO CHANGE YOUR INFORMATION, OR YOU’LL NEVER E-MAIL YOUR FRIENDS, EVER AGAIN!!!! AND DO IT NOWWWW!!”

16  <song swirling through my head>  Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do…

17  So I pushed the button. That annoying little hourglass popped up, and spun for around six or seven more hours. I finally did what any red-blooded American would do: I pushed the “off “button.

18  Mind you, I’ve been forewarned by every computer savvy person on the planet that turning off your computer when it isn’t “safe” to do so could result in head injuries, hard-drive mishaps, and simply getting blown to smitereens right there in your fat chair. I didn’t care. I got savage!  This MACHINE was a control freak, and I don’t suffer control freaks very well, since I AM one! So I pushed off, and held it for three minutes. B@#ch!!! Take that!

18  Ever just do that? You get so annoyed by your computer that you just TAKE the gamble that you might blue-screen it, and you just try to murder it? I just popped the off button, and it all went away.

19  I got back on, and it fired right up and got me online.

20  So now I can tell you all about my daughter’s rock debut last night at MACLA, 510 S. First St. They had an open mic poetry/music/verbal expression/hip-hop/acoustic night, starring all the open mic people from Cafecito (in the daytime, it is known as Iguanas, downtown across from Mickey Deez), and it was really a folksy flashback to the 50′s coffee-house beat stuff.  Caitlin and her friend Monica sang two original tunes to a full house, and they were met with whoops and hollers!  I loved it!!

21  So K.T., Daddy’s proud of you, you rock goddess!

22  Nah. But honestly, they really did great, and I was a pretty proud dad.

23  So I thought I would brag to a captive audience, that’s all. They will be having more of those, because Cafecito is pretty small. It was great seeing not only my daughter, but a lot of local artists in a relatively new venue. I hope it grows.

24  That’s about it for Monday. I just had to moan a little about computers. I’m sure we’ve all had some of those frustrations. I’m sure it will be fine; it was just sort of funny how much those little beasts can drive us to the point of madness.

25  Never fear. I just dashed out my door in utter glee, running around the neighborhood sharing root beer and blowing whistles, and then talking, and again, LISTENING intently, to the “wee people”. I’m okay; word of honor. It just all turned sweet, that’s all.

25  And never fear; there is always sweetness somewhere. Ya gotta have faith.

26  Ya just gotta have faith.

27  Peace.

 

The Daily News

1  John Kerry must be getting desperate. Yesterday I saw a picture of him, and it looked dead-on like Elmer Fudd. He must be courting the Hayseed contingency, which I understand is stuck firmly on a cartoon nail, atop a cartoon fence.

2  Dang.

3  Am I the only one who thinks that, if not for the Red Sox, yesterday’s headline should have read, “The Fall of Castro”?

4  Argh!  I just now, at like 10:17 p.m. noticed that I never submitted a public DN yesterday. That may sound strange, but it is last night that I am writing this, so sometimes I have to think all backwards.

3  This drives me mad. I often come home, unwind a little, then hop right on computer and get to gettin’.

4  I usually write a rough draft at night, and then awaken at around 5:30, and begin revising and editing, and really, try not to sound like a knucklehead. I also like keeping up with the Daily News, which is why this rag is entitled “The Daily News”. If something happens in the morning, I don’t want to be scooped.

5  So it drives me crazy when I forget publicly to get this out there.

6  Ah, poop.

7  Breaking News!! So I just received an e-mail from Zachary Cordero!  He just wanted to tell me he missed me (and, I assume, all of you as well), and so I’ll give out a big “howdy” to y’all from Zack.

8  Bob Geldof and Midge Ure (who?), recently talked with Coldplay, The Darkness, Robbie Williams, and Dido, to converge on a new single, due around Christmas. The spirit: Ethiopian famine relief. A good cause; always a good cause. Way back in 1985, such luminaries as Bono, Boy George,Phil Collins, and Sting put out a single entitled “Do They Know it’s Christmas?”, which raised nearly 9-and-a-half million dollars for that famine plagued country.

9  America naturally responded with a super/band, which included, among others, Al Jarreau, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Dianne Warwick, Hall and Oates, Harry Belafonte, Kim Carnes, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Ritchie, Paul Simon, and the Pointer Sisters. It was started by Belafonte, who confronted several others, and the rest is history. The entire campaign was entitled USA for Africa. One of the most amazing events in history, and Geldof is hard at work attempting to help once again, twenty years later.

9  It’ll be interesting in these days of self-indulgence and non-political attention. Hopefully, it will trigger better awareness by young people of the world that surrounds us.

10  I’ve been told that I look like the mole in Wind-in-the-Willows right now, so I’m getting hints that it might just be time to turn in.

9  Okay, so the e-mails are coming in like Japanese aircraft, so I’d better vamoose. I don’t need to get hit with a house.

10  Have a great weekend.

11  <poof>

peace.

 

http://www.xanga.com/El_Directore

 

The Daily News

1   For the first time in my life, I’m going to be rooting for the American League in the World Series. The Red Sox miracle of the past week just needs follow-through.

2  Can you imagine if it becomes Boston vs. Houston, right before elections?

3  Amazing, the sour grapes in New York. Tantrums last night, “WHO’S YOUR DADDY” taunts when they’re down 8 to 1, and then the sound guy incessantly playing New York, New York during the Soxs’ celebration. No class, dude.

4  A bit hair-brained of Tony Francone pulling Derek Lowe in seventh so that Martinez could fight off the “WHO’S YOUR DADDY” curse. For a minute, I thought Dusty Baker was managing.

5  Ah, well. I think everyone in America should root for Boston at this point, unless you are from St. Louis or Houston.

6  Sometimes having two cars down helps you along. I went home early so I could get dressed up for the ICC banquet, and wound up with no ride. Everyone got home late, so I sat home. On the good end, I was able to pop on the game. Ultimately, the cars pulled up, but way too late. Oy.

7  Every cloud, as they say…

8  Casting for the Fall One-Acts went well. I posted the casts, as well as the names of the plays, on the door by the amphitheatre.

9  Sunshine told me yesterday that we have new, state-of-the-art soda machines in front of the Theatre. I forgot to take a look. Car down for the past week; you really get out of your normal routine.

10 More strange brew: I was telling my classes all about ghosts, and the curse of Macbeth all day, when at the end of the day, Lakhena turned and was holding a copy of…Macbeth! 

11  Sometimes I just want to keep an October score sheet, I swear.

12  Drama meeting today at lunch in the Theatre. We shall discuss our candy apple sale, which starts tomorrow after school. We already made a few today, and they just rocked! Yum!

13  I’m beginning to settle in to my re-from the amazing ATFNL retreat in Santa Rosa. Just a lovely time, and a great cause. ATFNL, incidentally, stands for Anti-Tobacco/Friday Night Live, a bit confusing, yes, but just an awesome alliance. I seem to be moving quite naturally into that realm.

14  So…as the year turns…and turns.  We begin the Show today. I’m really looking forward to it! Great cast, great group!

15  More to come. Music peeps: keep it up. I keep sneaking around here and listening to how alive this department has become since the arrival of Ms. Hooper, and I fully hope to enjoy a great Winter Concert. Work hard; nothing will make things better. And cooperate.

16  In the end, it will show itself to be one of the most wonderful gifts you could give not only to others, but to yourselves.

17  Have a great day, everybody.

18  Out.

The Daily News

1  SOX!!!  Anyone else starting to get it?

2  Rice to Seattle.  A major step up for the Seahawks, and hats off to the great Steve Largent for allowing Jerry to wear his number 80. Two great players, and this is just where Jerry should be. He SHOULD be a Niner, but not a York Niner. So this is good; this is good.

3  I have no explanation for why there was no DN Friday. I just returned from going with the ATFNL kids up to Santa Rosa for an anti-tobacco/drugs/alcohol retreat, which was just grand, only to click on my computer and see that Friday there was no DN.

4  Did I ever write one?  I thought I wrote one, but sometimes things spin pretty quickly around here, and before you know it, a year has slipped by.

5  Anyway, I had auditions on Wednesday and Friday, grades due, and preparation for a sub the past two days, so it would make sense that something might have gotten away. I mean, I KNEW I couldn’t get a DN off once we were in Santa Rosa, because I had no personal access to a computer.

6  Ah, vat da heck.

7  Just finished casting the Fall One-Acts, when I had a couple of strange things happen. First off, the night before last, we told ghost stories at the retreat, and things became very Tober.

8   Then, last night, right after I had finished typing the CAST list, I had several very interesting coincidences. I had cast a play called It’s Our Town, Too, a spinoff of the great Our Town by Thornton Wilder, when I looked at the TV, and Hal Holbrook, the actor who played the Stage Manager in the most famous version, was on TV. The new version has a character named Molly, and this guy on Jay Leno yelled, “Thanks, Nurse Molly!”  ALSO, I wrote a play and was deciding on names for characters, when I thought, “Lorna”, old inside joke, but because there was an ex-YBer at the retreat named Lorna, and there was a Lorna on a commercial. And MOST amazing was that I wrote this really funny little comedy, and in it, I make a brief reference to Simon Le Bon, lead singer of the 80′s band, Duran Duran. Guess who was on Jay Leno last night?

9  It was 10/9 yesterday, and I was in a very spiritual realm on the way home. I love the rain; makes me feel spiritually cleansed.

10  One BIG piece of news is that I left and came back, and both the Red Sox AND Houston are still fighting for the World Series. I even WATCHED that long, long game the other night, and I must say, enjoyed it thoroughly.

11  Things-That-Probably-Screwed Up, Dept:  Peter Pan. I wrote Lorraine on Friday, which wqs the deadline, and requested a form, which she sent me. I needed to get all the money and paperwork back to her by 5, but it just didn’t happen. Looks like once again, we have dropped the ball on an AMTSJ show.

12  <sigh>

13 BAND!  Step it up for Ms. Hooper! I understand that the Cat House is going to be pretty fun stuff, and I would like to stray out and check you guys for quality. Whataya say?

14 I need to get back to the retreat for just a second. The kids from YB were the District Leaders in a conference that was done predominantly by students. Oh, yeah, Mr. Michelon had a little to do with it, but seriously; every discussion and workshop was run by students, and by YB students at that! Congratulations on a very successful two three days! ATFNL rocks!!!

13  That’s about it for this morning. I need to get over to my room to assess any collateral damage from my absence.

14  Wish me luck.

15  Peace.

The Daily News

1   AHHHHHH!!!!!!

2   Muggy weather. Block schedules! Anyone else wanna complain?

3   Ah, why complain. Can’t complain. It’s just like 6 something on Thursday night, and it’s hot as the proverbial oven.

4   Not sure which proverb, actually, but if there actually IS a proverbial oven, I’m the turkey.

5  Stick a fork in me, man.

6  Poooooooooshhhhhh!

7  Whawtuh. Whawtuh.

8   Yesterday in Drama, we found some ancient Drama Workshop archival tapes. They were of auditions for Skin of our Teeth (1990), and Surprise (1993). I played them for the class, so we could study what to do and what not to do at auditions. The kids, of course, loved the 90′s hair, outfits, and all the rest.

9  I smiled, and amazed them that I not only knew the names of everybody who auditioned, but that I could tell them which colleges they attended, how many kids they had, and anecdotes to boot!

10 It was really fun! Such great Workshop names as Jenny Warkentin, Ivria Kaplowitz, Kim Kirutsubo, Patty Greene, Gabe Moreira, Kristi Parker, Andrew Navarro, Chella Aranda, Sharise Dang, Michael Jeter, and a ton of others flashed in front of my eyes. It was like watching a movie of some of the Legends of the Drama Workshop. There was even a rare shot of myself and Ponch walking across the stage, which, of course, brought down the house!

11 Amazing memories, good times. The ’93 auditions rocked, because we were auditioning for Surprise, a funny little show that I believe was written by Jack Sharkey, the same guy who wrote Creature Creeps, yet the set for Wizard of Oz was being built. Just amazing.

12 Interestingly, we JUST threw away this blue board with Wizard of Oz written on it in sparkles. I’m pretty sure it was used to house one of our follow-spots on that amazing show.

13  I guess this whole year will be all about stuff like that. That was right when Heidi was at her wonderful peak, haunting this and that and the other thing all year.

14  Funny, because all morning I kept hearing the name of Heidi on the radio. Wonder if anything’s up? It is, after all, moving towards Halloween! 

15  Ms. Hooper, please don’t trip. It’s a different Heidi, so I think you are safe.

16  Actually, everyone is pretty-much safe with Heidi anyway.

17  So Choir, you guys ready to roll? Don’t worry about Heidi; I’ll give you the heads up on that wonderful spirit who still dances through our building. She’s a sweetheart.

18  Band: you guys sound sooooo good every day that you march past my room!  You all make me smile so much!  I don’t want YOU guys to worry either. Nice ghost. Loves all.

19  19.

20  Haha.

21  19. This stuff gets so silly. If you want to know ahead of time about the ghostly sprite, go to www.ybdrama.com, and click on the Heidi Chronicles. I update it once a year on Halloween, so go in there  and enjoy!

22  Good times, good times. It was ever thus.

23  Sometimes those old videos make me smile. I think of myself, Ponch, Shawna Fleming (one of the most WONDERFUL teachers walking this planet!), and everyone else who made those wacky days seem like the Wild West.

24  Today, when you get ready for the game, or for whatever you are going to do this weekend, walk through these halls and rooms with the dignity of a museum. A lot of beautiful memories have traveled through these walls. Yesterday brought all of that richness and wonder alive once again, and I went home smiling for times that only those who lived them could possibly realize.

25  The times continue to this minute.  I look forward to many more wonderful moments in this building this year!

26  Peace, and enjoy a wonderful weekend, everybody.

27  Out.

The Daily News

1   Okay, so I begin the DN with absolutely NO knowledge of yesterday’s news. This is always a risk, because stuff happens every single night, as I am creating all this foolishness.

2  Oy.

3  So…how’d auditions go. Okay, it’s like this. I am as excited over this Show as any in the history of the Drama Workshop. Seems we are constanly in the situation of “making a comeback”.

4  From what? I ask you.

5  Well, I had forgotten that there was a parent’s meeting last night, and after having fought through some of the most sinister storms things could throw me, I settled into audition mode.

6  The challenges were, we announced auditions all week, only the school decided NOT to have bulletin announcements on Tuesday. Uh…MAJOR day for audition announcements, but, what happens, happens.

7  THEN, I remember that there is this parent meeting, which I fully admit I had forgotten about, and they were loading cookies, punch,  and all the rest into the Theatre RIGHT when I wanted to have auditions.

8  I swiftly relocated auditions to my room, but I knew that with no publicity, and a move, auditions would be sparce.

9  Duh.

10 M’bad.

11 Much more happened, but we moved carefully enough, and the TRUE Drama kids rallied, and scored! Great audition!

12  We had the auditions, and they totally rocked!  I LOVE my Drama Workshop for rallying in, and getting the job done.

13  I also saw the Choir arriving, dressed in black, looking REALLY good overall.

14  But when I watched them take the stage, I knew.

15  Congratulations to the Choir for delivering the goods last night!

16  Thank you for representing the arts. Stay classy; class is what it is all about.

17  Moving on…I wonder what Bill O’ Reilly’s phone bill is.

18  Bush/Kerry: wash.

19  Rice/Davis: argh. Has ANYTHING with Al Davis EVER made sense?  Jerry: you are too much a legend to be treated like this. York: pitch to Jerry. He should go out in glory, and in a NINER uniform.

20  Sorry, folks. I just calls ‘em as I seez ‘em. It’s pathetic to see a man of Jerry Rice’s stature being put out to pasture. I’d LOVE to see the Niners pull him on board, and him fanning the flames of the young receivers. Not likely to happen; football throws its superstars out by the nape of the neck and the seat of the pants. Happened to Ronnie Lott. Happening to Jerry. Norv Turner is a turd.

21  Hockey. Settle it, and get people back to work. I heard that the most glorious 70 St. Peter <s> is closed. Thanks, guys. When sports people let things go to the point of lockouts, someone needs to jump in and speak for the normal workers, who suffer loss of wages and hours, and quite often, jobs. Restaurants, hotel workers, and all the rest get affected by these things. Settle. Now. Give people their jobs back. Quit being selfish. Period.

22  Okay, enough grousing. I had much to grouse about…about which to grouse, for one day. I had my WORST day all year yesterday, but I have fully recovered, and am tanned, rested, and ready.

23  Are you?

24  Peace.