What's the opposite of frustrating?

Fulfilling, maybe?

Anyway, that's what yesterday was, on the whole. Really full and wonderful in surprising ways.

I went to elizabeth n's family place, because her grandmother passed on thanksgiving, and the memorial service was yesterday. Had a bit of a reunion with that whole clan, then went to salem presbyterian: she'd asked me to sing with the choir at the memorial, and of course i was happy to (and there isn't much out there that i wouldn't do for elizabeth if she asked - she's just one of the great beautiful brilliant wonderful people in the world). Got to meet her neice claire for the first time: gorgeous and precocious, natch. And the service was very nice, and moving. Then a couple receptions during which i got to meet much more of the extended family and some friends. Their minister once trained to be an actor. Hmm. Lois, the dearly departed, whom i never did have the pleasure to meet, seems to have been a singularly magnificent individual, and i was honored to be a part of the celbration of her life.

But i had to bow out early to head downtown for the show. Traffic was odd because fridays are HUGE CHRISTMAS EVENTS this time of year, especially yesterday because, in spite of it's being about 16 degrees out, the xmas parade was happening in the evening. So i watched a little bit of that (had to feel for the baton twirlers, who were seriously underdressed) then went on to the theater. Good energy in the air; did a warm up, played 'big bootie' with a couple of the young cast members (this i'd have to show you in person) and then did the show. And it was FANTASTIC - just one of those nights that starts out well, and people throw in some new stuff and other people react to it organically and the audience responds in kind. [GREAT audience last night, which kind of begs the question: does a good audience make a good show, or a good show make a good audience? Answer: both, of course; but in my opinion, much more the latter - if it's funny, they'll laugh; if it's moving, they'll be moved] Even a wardrobe malfunction (fred's wife's petticoat came undone during that interminable party scene), which did cause some onstage corpsing, resulted in spontaneity that kept the show alive and on its toes.

Then out to a bar for a fun discussion with a bitchen bunch of folks.

All in all, a pretty good day.

As promised, a wee bit o' magic 8pod:

First one from last weekend that i didn't have a chance to write about then -

How will Operation Slut-It-Up-A-Notch go? The Kinks, "Who'll Be The Next in Line?" Don't really need to add much to that, do i?

How will our 'Secret Santa' turn out? Jimi Hendrix, 'Killing Floor' Yikes! Maybe we should focus on the fact that it's an amazing version of a rockin' song, or else that party might turn into a sam raimi movie.

How will christmas in new york be? Stevie Wonder, 'Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day' Hey i kind of like this one a lot. Great groove, sweet and sexy... maybe i'll have a nice warm return to the city.

What about the drive back home? Soulwax, 'Beatles vs/Kraftwerk' A cool mashup of 'Eleanor Rigby' with some good ol' synth from deutschland. All the lonely people? All right, I'll be alone on that drive, but if i can treat it like the autobahn, kraftwerk-style, i won't complain.

Ok, i don't know why this blog isn't letting me put things in bold or italics anymore; didn't use to be a problem. Also, why can't i plug links into the text the way everyone else can? Is this an anti-mac/anti-safari aspect. Blah. Not gonna let it crunch my buzz.