Category Archives: Interesting Things as of Late

isn’t it all?

Rock Around The Clock

5 Replies

Well it’s a Saturday and it was a pretty good day. Bill was up and out this morning, he needed to go to his parents apartment to meet the latest home health care aide. Last night he had to dismiss the previous aide since she wanted $200 under the table to take care of Bill’s mother as well as what she was contracted for, his father care. Funds being tight, she had to go. She wasn’t much help either, lot’s of attitude, so it’s bye bye for her. Bill gave his goodbye kiss and was out the door. I woke up at 7:30. I wasn’t feeling that so I went back to sleep, getting out of bed at 9:00. I had my coffee and was out to get the sundries. Back home for breakfast and I plotted my day.

I was reluctant to do anything but I had planned on heading into Brooklyn to see a Samuel Beckett play, Happy Days, starring Fiona Shaw who I loved ever since I first saw her as the physical therapist in My Left Foot. She also plays Harry Potter’s aunt in the movies, in case you wondered where you might have seen her. But the scene in the restaurant in My Left Foot is incredible and quite intense, she playing Daniel Day Lewis’ unrequited love. It’s sad and scary to see the Christy Brown character go out of his mind with anguish, and the look on Fiona Shaw’s face just adds to the despair. Fantastic. I headed towards the bus so I could catch a subway to Brooklyn. Ran into Gary Jennings with his boyfriend on the bus. Don’t know the boyfriend’s name, but I met him a year or so ago at the Hoboken St. Patrick’s day parade. Nice guy though. It was a nice chat with Gary, catching up. We seem to meet on buses these days, rather than the bar at McSwells.

They and I parted ways and I wandered through the bus terminal headed across town to Grand Central Station. Midtown Manhattan is a haven for tourists on weekends and they were everywhere. I did my best to avoid them but there they were standing on escalators, not moving, and not allowing anyone to pass, or they’re having conversations on top of stairways or at the bottom, or just stopping right in my path when I have a good trot going on. I hopped on the 4 train to Brooklyn and was soon on Flatbush Avenue. I looked at a street map to figure out where the BAM Harvey Theater was but couldn’t figure it out, so I just turned the corner and there it was a half block away. I walked to the box office, explained to them that I couldn’t make last night’s performance and that I was told I could get a past date ticket in exchange. That worked out quite nicely. Whereas yesterday I would be in the balcony for last night’s show, this afternoon I was in the 10th row in the orchestra.

I hung outside the theater having a quick smoke, when I saw Kathleen Turner walk by, then Lisa Gay Hamilton, then someone who could have been Peter Coyote, but I wasn’t sure. He had one of those four footed canes to help him walk, and he looked like he could have been a Digger in a previous life. Got to my seat where I was totally mesmerized by Fiona Shaw waist deep in dirt. The stage design was decidedly post apocalyptic. A Fantastic play, bravura performance by both her and Tim Potter who played Willie to Fiona’s Winnie. It was a full house, though the three people seated in front of me didn’t stay for the second act. I don’t think they understood the play, and it’s not easily understood, it does border on the absurd. I never saw Waiting for Godot, another Beckett play but from what I understood, sometimes half the audience is in stitches and the other half deep in though trying to figure out a deeper meaning. Samuel Beckett never gave anything away and took the secrets to his plays and other work to the grave. At intermission they actually played the theme from TV’s Happy Days. ♫Sunday Monday Happy Days ♪ I swear I am not putting you on.

days600.jpg

days2190.jpg
Photos: Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times

The second act lasted what seemed to be about 20 minutes. I walked out into the Brooklyn daylight and saw Lisa Gay Hamilton walk by. Bill and I saw her in an episode of Law and Order a few times and she is simply amazing. She was also in The Practice years ago, and she also directed a documentary on Beah Richards another great and overlooked actress. Beah Richards played Sidney Poitier’s mother in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. She more than likely broke your heart in other shows and movies, just look her up on IMDB. I called out, Miss Hamilton and Lisa turned around. I explained that Bill and I were fans and we loved that episode of Law and Order SVU with Ludacris, which was amazingly powerful. She was great and charming and has a beautiful smile which she showed when her sister took our picture.

12608-happy-days-026aa.jpg

I was feeling game and remembered that before the show I saw Fiona Shaw walk in the direction of what I figured out to be the stage door, and me being a stage door Johnny, I made a bee line over there. There was just one guy besides me standing around, then Kathleen Turner came out, smoking and chatting with a friend. I was going to ask her for her picture but I was intimidated actually. Fiona Shaw appeared and was talking to Kathleen Turner while trying to get in a taxi. I just asked if she would sign a copy of the play that I bought after the show in the lobby and she did, then asked for a picture and she insisted on having a picture with Kathleen Turner.
12608-happy-days-029aa.jpg

12608-happy-days-028aa.jpg

Fiona and Me
12608-happy-days-030aa.jpg

No problem, then I asked if Kathleen Turner’s friend would take a picture of Fiona and myself which he did. I was going to ask for a picture with both Kathleen and Fiona but once again Kathleen Turner intimidated me, not by her doing, but by her persona. After that I giddily walked away. I walked down Fulton Street listening to the Kinks, then onto the Brooklyn Bridge, still a marvelous thing, it is my favorite bridge. I’ve ridden my bicycle across it many times, but never walked across it. Still a thrill and tourists aplenty taking snapshots.

Fulton Street
12608-happy-days-031aa.jpg

12608-happy-days-033aa.jpg

12608-happy-days-036aa.jpg

12608-happy-days-037aa.jpg

12608-happy-days-040aa.jpg

I decided to walk over to JR and pick up a copy of My Left Foot, but they were out so I bought a copy of My Beautiful Laundrette instead which isn’t anywhere near My Left Foot, but both star Daniel Day Lewis and start with My. Then I walked over to the World Trade Center Path train where I missed a train since I helped tourists figure out what train to take. That was it, all in all a really good day. I have to stop being lazy and get out more. It was all worth it, it was fun, and I finally saw my first Samuel Beckett play starring the wonderful Fiona Shaw.

What did you do today?

Epistrophy

1 Reply

I don’t know what happened. Last night as the evening progressed I became really fatigued, my bones were aching and I had difficulty staying awake. Probably just like you as you read this blog day in and day out. Only this time it was me. I didn’t do much, just sat and read, telling myself I would go to bed at 10:00. After a half hour phone call with brother Frank, I went to sleep. Frank has been going through some tough times, the stroke, though mild, did a number on him. He thought he was out of the woods stroke wise, but he’s not. The damage caused still shows itself from time to time. He was telling me about something that happened last January, when he actually meant this January. Things like that. He’s stressed.

I was fading fast during the call though and as soon as I got off the phone I went to bed. I wore my sweatpants, a fleece top and got in bed under the comforter but I was still cold. Even burying myself under the sheets I was shivering. I eventually fell into a deep sleep, waking up at 6:00 this morning with my temperature around 99. I decided not to go to work which was a smart decision and slept for a few more hours. Woke up still crappy, went back to bed. Now it’s 5:30 and I’m feeling a lot better, and planning to go into work tomorrow.

I guess whatever it was, it was a 24 hour virus. I communicated with Lydia to see how she was doing. She was quite busy, Tom Chin going crazy without me there. I told her where to find some things she was looking for. She told me they were out of coffee and I headed out to Empire Coffee in Hoboken where I’ve been buying the office coffee. The girl who took care of me is someone I really don’t care for. The first time I dealt with her was last month.

She asked me what I wanted to get and I was looking over the selections of coffee in the store. Then she asked me to hurry up since she had been working there all day. That will forever set the tone for dealing with her. She bends over backwards to be nice and I remain aloof. There are nicer people in the store I would rather deal with, but the past two times it’s been her.

After getting coffee for the office, I headed home, ready to do nothing but recuperate. I am still going to see the Beckett play tomorrow at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and who knows? A touch of fever might help with the comprehension of the play. Getting hungry which is a good sign, I think I’m going to make some soup. Haven’t eaten much in the past 24 hours, so something light would be a good thing. I’m just glad to be feeling better than I did 24 hours ago. No chattering teeth tonight. Work tomorrow. I’m surprised I was able to write this much, and I’m sure you are too.