THE LONG BEACH PLAYHOUSE (Drama 101)

"Dead Wrong" Went and saw the opening night of this little comedy very funny....a comedy about a NY Italian Family that buries it's families members in the backyard. Things get crazy from there, get the picture.

I have been a long time supporter of the Long Beach Playhouse and get invited on occasion to events like this. It is usually myself, my guest and 150 Long Beach Blue Hair's. Super sweet folks. It is such a cute place, they have a champagne reception with a crappy buffet, the food always goes along with the theme of the play...the Blue Hairs just love it. They act as if the actors are all big time starts too...I just adore old people and the theatre, this is perfect combo.

While shredding some bills I came across a letter from the playhouse, how had I miss this. It wasn't one of the regular mailers and did not appear to be the standard cry for funds package. I tore it open and it was an invitation for two to the opening night of the earlier mentioned play, and the date was holy cow today. Wow it was 3:00PM on Saturday and I really had not planned on doing anything. I called the "Fancy" one and asked if she wanted to go, she said "sure" with that Brooklyn accent thing, it comes and goes...

I can finally almost even think of what Nancy looks like in between dates not entirely still ...very very strange. From the first glimpse of Joanne I never forgot what she looked like. I was wondering if I could describe Nancy to a police sketch artist well enough to have her arrested or not, I doubt it.

Nancy said she would be pressed for time, the Play Started at 7:30 and she had to get ready and drive all the way to Huntington so she had to run. I feel for women in general, I think they all are beautiful in there own special way, not sure why they feel they aren't.  

Fancy got to my house and that was the first time she met my daughter Tara, Fancy walked to the family room and saw Tara standing in the kitchen, she was so startled by Tara's presence that it may as well have been Vlad the Impaler. While I fight tooth and nail with my daughter seemingly on a daily basis, I will say that she is twice as mature as both of Fancy's young adults put together and she was very hospitable to Nancy, she even told her how nice it was to finally meet her and that she had been looking forward to meeting her for a while now, the whole nine yards. Well Tara left for adventures unknown a few minutes later and Nancy proceeded to slap me on the arm, not like some love tap either, like wham...then she yelled "Why didn't you tell me your daughter was home" Wow...guess I am used to her being here I blurted out. I could kind of understand but really not so much...

We made it to the show on time, and Nancy (being from Brooklyn and half Italian) just thought it was the funniest thing ever, for some reason however she wasn't really into chatting with the Blue Hairs after the show, I never could figure that out either. They are so cute, I love chatting them up, they have the best stories.

We stopped of on the way back to Casa Jimbo and had a cocktail at some place over in the Marina...the house band was playing one of my favorite songs,"Almost" by Elvis Costello a slow melodic jazz number and I asked her to dance, once again she declined saying no one else was dancing...it was probably for the best, I had not even considered why I love the song so much these days.

Dickie Bird used to tell me, "Boy" ( just in case you don't know why I always am referring to myself and why my Nana referred to me as a boy, silly boy, or the boy all the time is because that is what Dickie called me...always...not my brother he was Don...I was The Boy) "Boy, you wouldn't ever worry about what everyone is thinking of you, if you would just realize how seldom they do" I don't think I have been self conscious in public settings since I was 10..thanks Dickie Bird.

We made it back to my house and I made espresso, we sat in the back yard and talked it was a really nice October night in HB...I have some really really tall Palms in my yard and they look great in the moonlight. Well we started talking about the night and ended up talking about why I a hadn't warned her that Tara would be home. Would she have dressed differently or brought a gun or what would have been different, I could not get an answer.

Conversation turned towards her family and we discussed her hatred of her sibling. Nancy told me of the time that her brother had injected his opinions and actually seemed to be taking contrary sides during her second divorce in Atlanta...ATLANTA.? SECOND DIVORCE? OK so what I thought was number two had now become number 3 in the blink of an eye, I asked her to continue, she told me that she was exhausted and still had to drive all the way back to YORBA LINDA (not sure if she was hinting at staying but)...well she had just met my kid for the first time and so no way in hell was she getting invited to stay...I mean I could have put her up in the guest room but the thought never occurred to me....

A quick kiss goodnight, and off she went. I had a business trip coming up in a couple weeks. Had to go to Vegas to audit a company on an acquisition I was working on, I thought hey maybe I will extend the trip though the weekend too, see if she wants to come...hmmmm....yeah that sounds good.

Later that night I put that Elvis Costello song on the stereo for another listen, I felt a tear roll down my cheek, I never saw it coming.

Water always finds the path of least resistance, even though sometimes it just seems like such a long way to go.

Almost blue
Almost doing things we used to do
There’s a girl here and she’s almost you
Almost all the things that your eyes once promised
I see in hers too
Now your eyes are red from crying
Almost blue
Flirting with this disaster became me
It named me as the fool who only aimed to be
Almost blue
It’s almost touching it will almost do
There’s a part of me that’s always true...always
Not all good things come to an end now it is only a chosen few

I’ve seen such an unhappy couple
Almost me
Almost you

Almost blue