MONDAY, AUG. 20, 2007 - 5:00 PM

I'm sitting in my HoverRound at the JetBlue ramp at Newark Liberty Airport, waiting for my delayed flight home to Orlando. Sorry for the lag in blog entries, but I delayed my return to take the train into Connecticut and visit my Dad, who continues to hang in there at his life-care facility, with, what to me seems to be a cruel and unfortunately strong heart, that belies his mind, memory, and sensibilities. It's always difficult to visit him although he seemed very happy to see me, and it seems I caught him on an unusually good day as far as his temperament and ability to communicate goes, even though he did not ever once call me by the proper name.

Anyway, I'm glad I went. I also saw my Mom, and being around my nieces and nephews (all them very lively adults) is always a hoot. A horde of them came into the city to see LADIES' final, and very well-attended performance on Saturday night, as did James & Lisa and friends, and Brian G (for a 3rd time in NYC.)

Another night of heavy drinking and loud singing followed at Don't Tell Mamma before I headed to Connecticut with my relatives ... but not before being asked to leave a Pizza joint on Broadway due to PERCEIVED unruly behavior, and later almost getting into a fight on the MetroNorth commuter train due to one niece being a littler louder than some passengers found acceptable on a 1:47 AM train to New Haven.

Anyway, between Friday night with the Rovack Clan from my old neighborhood of Pine Rock Park at Don't Tell Momma (along with Doug Bowser, Brian G. and Kenny H.) and Saturday night with my relatives (along with Doug Bowser, Kenny, Barry, James, Lisa, et al) let's just say that since we arrived in New York, we have been pegged by the Matre D' at Don't Tell Mamma and are immediately escorted to a back room upon entering. For the record; Karl's tattoos were a huge hit in the nightclub (most especially when Doug would get the tender, innocent, young lad from Shelton to stand up and pull his pant waist down far enough so everyone could see the tattoo directly above his business which reads “Let's Go” with an arrow pointing downward. Lynn must be so proud! Also, should anyone ever ask, apparently my niece Kristen is a wonderful singer even though she never got up to sing, and my nieces Lauren and Stacy have seemingly dedicated their lives to taking pictures of themselves.

Anyway - as far as the actual reason for this entire escapade goes - it has indeed been an experience ... and although I was initially disappointed that we could not play the entire run of the Festival due to cast members needing to be back at work with several festival days remaining ... I am not longer disappointed in the least, but rather relieved.

A: I'm flat ass broke beyond any easy repair and could never have afforded another weekend up here.

And

B: I wouldn't be writing this blog right now if we had to all stay together even just one more night. I very likely would either be jailed at this point for having maimed or killed someone, or, I would be in a hospital recovering from extensive tongue surgery resulting from massive self-inflicted bite wounds.

I did very well, all things considered.

I can't speak for how well anyone else came through it, except to say we have all survived.

The boys were all seen by casting directors from both coasts, and the play was scouted by at least one legitimate Broadway producer that we know of. We all got really decent reviews and the play itself (largely due to Kenny's influence) got a least one truly sensational review. My name and photos of me along with extensive mention of Miss Sammy and myself were prominently featured in BACKSTAGE and the play was most enthusiastically received by all who attended. Now we go back home and follow up with those who expressed advance interest, and keep our fingers crossed, and hope that all of this effort, and all of YOUR emotional support, and your good wishes, and your funding and sponsoring and donating - pays off by opening doors to future New York ventures and possible publication or production of LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS.

To all of you reading this, may I say ... "Thanks for taking the journey with us, via this Blog."

Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters.

Thanks to Kenny & Barry for the accommodations.

Thanks to the many of you who came up to support us by attending the show in New York.

By now, Mark Barratelli is making similar strides as we did over a week ago, and I hope you will join me in wishing him large and appreciative audiences and lots of positive media attention as he plays the second half of the festival. Break a leg, Mark!

My sincere thanks to every cast and crew member for the role each has played in getting this work seen and heard in Manhattan. Thank you Kenny, David, Scott, Mike, Doug, Tommy and Sam!

And finally, thanks to Rich Charron for facilitating this blog and making it possible for us to share this amazing opportunity and adventure with our families, fans, and friends.

Be sure to always read your WANZeGRAM for future updates on our progress.

I'm WANZIE and That's all I wrote.

THURSDAY, AUG. 16, 2007 - 12:53 PM

I apologize for my absence from the blog-a-rama these past few days, but between late nights, and me constantly misplacing my glasses, blogging has been a virtual impossibility.

One of the true joys of the trip thus far was that most of us went to see SPRING AWAKENING on Monday night. It is a triumph of a show but more importantly it served as real inspiration for Rich and I. We have made no announcement of this as of yet, and now seems just as a good a time as any, so ... you might as well know ... My Composer/Creative Partner Rich Charron and I have recently taken our first baby steps toward the creation of our newest Charron/ Wanzie musical. We will not be discussing specifics for some time yet, as we have more material under consideration than we can meld together in one show. We do have a central theme, and had, about two months ago, settled on a fusion of two musical styles, which includes soft rock. Seeing SPRING AWAKENING was somewhat of a bittersweet experience for me. It was so wonderful but unbeknownst to me prior to seeing it, it incorporated quite a few dramatic elements with which I had been toying. Nonetheless, it's the best show I've seen in quite some time, and unlike RENT (with which many have compared it) it totally succeeded in being a seamless rock opera, with surprising but NOT jarring transitions. It was a show that dealt with difficult themes in honest ways but without making you feel you were being hit in the face or banged over the head by them as I felt was the case with RENT. It was a perfect piece of theater that was the ultimate result of the truly synergetic collaboration.

Then yesterday Kenny dragged me off to a Fringe show he insisted was going to be wonderful because the screenwriter of one of his favorite movies wrote it and I thought I would slit my wrists before it ended.

Seeing SPRING AWAKENING and then this Fringe show was a bit like visiting Disneyland then going to the Central Florida Fair.

After SPRING AWAKENING - I went to a private rooftop party at The Eagle - the theme and purpose of which would not be of much interest to anyone but Matthew Arter - so I won't go into details here, accept to say “Matthew, we need to tawk.” and to thank Patrick for a wonderful time. Everyone else did their own thing at various places all over the city, so I can't really spill the beans on anyone, because they are all afraid I'll blog about them. I do know Doug went to Porno Bingo last night, and then to a party, the name of which was a combination of a certain orifice and a certain vegetable, which I will not print for reasons of wishing to maintain some measure of good taste on this blog, but Doug is still asleep, so I have no details. Perhaps that's best.

We never really saw Monique, Tom and Katie again, once they used me to get the house seat for Wicked. I got some whiney email from Monique from back in Winter Park about how she had to balance time between her lover, friends, and daughter and blah, blah, blah. But I have friends who were still here who are actually desirous of spending time with me so I haven't yet had time to respond.

Rich and Brain left yesterday. Unlike Monique, they came by the condo to say goodbye.

Then the Misty and Jodi contingency left, also dropping by the condo to say goodbye before their departure. Hopefully Eddie was able to make it through the airport down to the gate without getting drunk and falling down in public, which seems to have been the basic theme of his visit. In the next 72 hours we are expecting Jim and Lisa and Monorail Brian from Orlando, also my friends Donna & Kenny Rovack and their whole clan from Connecticut, as well as my cousins and nieces from Connecticut; Lauren, Stacy, Jodi, and the Trumbeletttes.

Tonight we have two casting agents who requested tickets and will be attending LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS. On Friday we have a legitimate Off-Broadway Producer who requested tickets and will be attending the show. He also has a theater in P-town.

We've yet to see a review materialize even though 3 critics have attended the show. Very frustrating.

Kenny's out getting a BACKSTAGE. My interview is supposed to be in this week's issue that came out this morning. Hopefully it's in there, and hopefully it will cause people to respond by buying tickets.

Ticket sales for the festival over-all, for all shows, have been no where near as good as in Orlando, and the absence of a Beer Tent or any Central party place to hit between shows makes it difficult to discern that a festival is even occurring, and offers little chance for word of mouth promotions. Fringe Central in an un-air-conditioned storefront, with one vender in it, and nothing to cause anyone to want to hang there. Not at all the social highlight of the festival that is the Beer Tent in Orlando. The theaters are spread out all over the place, which doesn't really help matters either. Our sales are O.K. for tonight, and are actually very good for Saturday night. However tomorrow (Fri) at 5:15 is a very difficult time slot and we have very few reservations for that performance. So if you know anyone up here upon whom you can prevail to come see us, by all means call or write them and try and steer them to our Friday show.

I'm putting a lot of stock in the Off-Broadway producer who is coming on Friday. He has already written and expressed interest, just based on the pre-publicity. It will only take one person to make it happen for us, and perhaps he might be the one. But he is coming on Friday at 5:15, and I sure as hell don't want him seeing the show with only 18 people in the audience. We never came into this concerned about numbers. We came into it hoping one person would see it who might want to produce it. It is for that one person we are still hoping.

Tommy and Mike went to stay with friends for our 3 nights of no curfew. They were back in the condo after just one night. Apparently Astoria was not ready for that particular dynamic duo.

I was having back troubles so I went to a massage place with a name I couldn't pronounce where a tiny slip of an Asian woman literally mounted me, and crawled all over me on her knees, and punched me and poked in ways I have never before been touched. She basically beat the sh*t out of me. I haven't been out walking on the concrete yet today, so I don't know if she fixed my problem, but I do know I woke up feeling like a horse had trampled me during the night and every movement causes something to hurt in places I have never before felt hurt, and I may very well leave the theater this evening IN the hover-round for very real purposes having nothing to do with humor. I may not have PRETEND to be a “Criplett” to get the chair back home.

I love me some TKTS! I got a _half-price ticket to see FROST NIXON on Tuesday night all by myself while Rich & Brian went to SPELLING BEE and David saw HAIRSPRAY.

I'm soooo glad I saw FROST NIXON. It is a show that succeeds or will fail solely based on the lead performers and this was a PERFECT cast. Both the legendary Frank Langella as well as Michael Sheen (who was recently amazing as Tony Blair in THE QUEEN) were perfection as Richard Nixon and David Frost respectively, and have both been signed for the film version. The Broadway version was a planned limited engagement that ends on the 19th of this month, so I feel like I've seen a real important piece of theater history. I can't imagine any other two people in the roles.

Well, hair and make-up starts in just a couple of hours. Mike bought me a new wig today.

The others are very jealous, but seriously, I was beginning to look a tad bit like the Bride of Frankenstein and was scaring small children in the streets [Editor's note: Oh ... nevermind ... I better not!].

Tonight, I'm gonna be REAL pretty!

I'm WANZIE and That's All I Wrote. P.S. Kenny just walked in with BACKSTAGE. And happily I am the first writer/actor profiled in the article with 2 pictures of me right at the top of the page - SELF STARTERS - Fringe Actors Wear Producers' Hats - by Leonard Jacobs. Also the review just came out in TIME OUT NEW YORK which gave us 3 out of 4 Stars: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/event/theater/243149/ladies-of-eola-heights.

I'm WANZIE and That's all I wrote.

MONDAY, AUG. 13, 2007 - 1:47 PM

Well a fun night was had by all last night at the theater and beyond. Firstly, we had twice the audience we had on opening day and our precious house manager, Dan, said that for an out of town show before reviews that we were actually doing well. We have had 3 critics attend the first two shows, so keep your fingers crossed. The interview I did for Backstage comes out on Thursday morning, and our next performance is that evening. Hopefully that will translate to ticket sales.

Among our audience last night were Scott and Larry from The Scott Laurent Collection in Winter Park and stab-from-the past Karenann Ferrara - one of my very first friends and roommate from when I first arrived in Orlando. She and I and Keith Goudreau all worked together on The Jungle Cruise in 1975 and were in the fist Disney Living Nativity together as well.

Anyway - another solid show with which we were very happy. Now we just need to triple the audience on Thursday. Good news is we have had requests for media comps from a legitimate Off -Broadway producer, who has expressed an interest in the show even before seeing it. He'll be coming on Friday. We have a casting director from a gay TV network coming on Thursday.

I am madly infatuated with our honey of a Fringe House Manager, Dan. He is such Pumpkin material and with a personality and wit to go with it. He's the whole package; looks, personality, street smarts, theater savvy, sweet spirit, and commanding voice. I could lick him from head to toe he's so goddamned adorable. We all went out for drinks together after the show - to a straight bar of Dan's choosing, - about which I did not argue because I now live to please him, and have basically told him so. He was great fun to visit with and get to know better. Eventually, most of the others were discussing going to a bar called “Cock”, which to the best of my understanding is a dark, seedy, anything-goes type bar, about which that sweet-faced honey of a Dan man informed us was a downright “disgusting” place. So of course Tommy, Doug, David, Mike, Sam, Francisco, Peter, and Drew immediately went there. Karen, Rich and Brian and I stayed behind swapping stories and drinking with the lovely and luscious Dan, whom I foolishly thought was staying behind because he found visiting with me to be a delightful and fascinating experience, until it was brought to my attention that the entire time he was smiling at, and talking across the table to me, he actually had his hand on Brian's thigh under the same table. I called it a night shortly thereafter.

Eddie Cooper stayed up all night and half the next day yesterday, so he couldn't manage to get out of bed to come see our show last night. He and Misty and Jodi and Karen fly back to 0-town today, so the end of the story is that Eddie flew up here on the pretense of seeing LADIES OF EOLA HEIGHTS but never did. But boy did he have fun!

I'm taking it right now, while others are off to the Museum of Modern Art and then I intend to party the night away at a very exclusive event in the Village. That would be after a bunch of us go see Spring Awakening on Broadway tonight. Very excited about that.

Rich and Brian are sitting here with me on the 24th floor, typing away on their laptops. I don't know what clandestine thing Brian is up to - possibly emailing Dan - but Rich I know is hard at work updating the Ladies web page and is waiting for me to send him this very blog entry. He's doing such a good job of not only keeping the page as current and as interesting as possible, but also keeping after us to remember we are only here because of those of you in Orlando - and that the least we can do is let you all know what is going on up here - and so, for today, I have.

I'm WANZIE and That's all I wrote.

SUNDAY, AUG. 12, 2007 - 6:05 PM

OPENING day at the Fringe was less than eventful, crowd-wise (we had 38 at our show) but fortunately very uneventful as far as logistics and show presentation goes. Our make-up schedule went perfectly (see larger image here, which will open in a new browser window). (Due to being let into the Venue with only 15 minutes to spare prior to audience load-in, we all get completely made-up at the Condo. Sam and Doug can wait till they get to the theater to put their costumes on, but since Tommy and I are on first, he and I leave the Condo in full Ruby and Pearl regalia and hail a cab. We arrived ahead of time, so we sat on our folding chairs outside the venue waiting to get in, much to the delight of many a passer-by. The show started on time, and ended in a spontaneous standing ovation led by a front row of complete strangers. The show was almost letter perfect and the laughs and quiet moments came everywhere they were intended to come. We left feeling very relieved and very pleased.

We have no idea if are able to strike the show in the allotted time because we had 6 Orlando friends helping us for the opening. What happens in the future remain to be seen.

At any rate. We had a celebratory BYOB cocktail party at the condo at 6:30 and then people went to various shows. The majority of us went to Absinthe - a cross between circus and a bawdy (Very Adult) Moulin Rouge type show presented in an historic traveling Spiegel tent, which was built in 1928 and traveled throughout Europe, complete with velvet curtains and stained glass windows.

I came back to Fringe Production Central and went to bed after enjoying some spectacular views of the Brooklyn Bridge at night from the Southside Seaport where the tent is temporarily erected for the summer.

Some of the Orlando gang discovered an all night party with D.J. Manny Lehman and tiptoed in at 7:30 this morning in search of Vodka and other alcoholic beverages (the city is dry on Sunday mornings).

Drew and Peter and Francisco have arrived. They and Doug went to Central Park today to see the “bears” perched atop a hill overlooking and commenting on the once weekly spectacle of Disco Roller Skating.

I went to brunch and enjoyed French toast and screwdrivers.

It's 5:45 pm. Doug just got out of the make-up chair. Tommy is just getting started. We rotate. Yesterday I was first. Today I'll be last. Out show is at 9:30 tonight. It will be nice to arrive knowing we are good to go having one completely successful show behind us.

Apparently Eddie's boyfriend John reads this blog and immediately let Eddie know he was fully aware of his having to be dragged into the condo on his back at 3pm the other night. So due to that fact, I have been prevailed upon by Eddie Cooper not to mention his behavior of last night. Under threat of never being allowed to stay at EO Inn for as long as I live, I am begrudgingly acquiescing to Eddies demand... er... request.

BTW, Rich has posted a couple of movie files. They are each quite large and will take a bit to download, but they are great. Hit one of the download buttons, fix a cocktail, make a snack and then come back to your computer:

I'm WANZIE and That's all I wrote.

SATURDAY, AUG. 11, 2007 - 9:42 AM

“Shocked” is the only word I can use to describe my state of being as I entered the condo last night to find everyone (except Sam) present, accounted for, and asleep at 11:30 PM in anticipation of our early wake-up call. I was very impressed. Once again Sam was the last to arrive home, long after curfew. I guess he figures his age allows him certain liberties.

Karen Brown, Rich Charron, Brian Westmoreland and I had met up for a drink at THE VIEW - a revolving restaurant and cocktail lounge on the top floor of the Marriott Marquee on Broadway. Then Karen and I went to see The Drowsy Chaperone while Rich and Brian went across Schubert Alley to see Spamalot, all on _ price tickets from TKTS.

Karen took me out a lovely after-theater supper on Restaurant Row.

Tech rehearsal went really well yesterday. We lucked out with parking for the truck. We made it there on time (despite the rain) and made some quick adjustments in the placement of set pieces, and in the blocking, in order to accommodate some sight line and stage-access issues, and then we did a complete run-through with relative ease.

The theater was slightly less impressive than we had hoped for, since we had been told it was undergoing a 2-million dollar makeover. By my reckoning, they must have only made their way through about $78.00 of that budget. Everyone there was very nice, and very helpful. Dan, the Venue representative from the Fringe, was exceedingly cute and definite Pumpkin material.

I was first in the make-up chair this morning at 7:30 am. Our New York Premiere is at Noon. Since we can't get into the theater until minutes before Showtime, and we have to set up our own stage, we will all be traversing there in full costume, make-up and wigs.

Should prove interesting hailing a cab!

I'm WANZIE and That's all I wrote. !

FRIDAY, AUG. 10, 2007 - 8:39 AM

Well who would have thought that the only Broadway professional among us would be the first to break the rules? Sam broke two at one time:

1. He came back to Production Headquarters at 3 am when the curfew last night was for 11pm.
2. He brought home a trick….

…. Or what ever you want to call Eddie Cooper, so drunk that he actually fell asleep in the public hallway outside the condo while Sam attempted to get in using a wire hanger (insert joke here) because the security latch was on the door, and although he had a key, he could not open the door more than 2 inches. Thus, 3 people woke up all at once just moments prior to Sam giving up to check into the Hampton Inn around the corner. I let Sam in. Mike helped Sam drag (I mean literally pull Eddie across the threshold by his arms) into the Condo, where he slept for the night on the hardwood floor just inside the door.
David cooked Lasagna for everyone last night. It was swell.

My house seats for Wicked were 8th row dead center. Fabulous show once again.

Wake-up call was for 7am this morning. I'm typing after having just ridden the Hover-round down to the lobby to add to the pile of boxes and prop containers awaiting Kenny and Mike and Scott to return to the building with the rented Van to haul the stuff down to the Venue. We have load-in today, followed by tech rehearsal from 10 am to 1 pm.

Rich Charron and Brian Westmoreland are in the air on their way here. Their arrival will ratchet up the Florida contingency to 14 - Rich, Brian, Mike, Tommy, Kenny, Doug, Sam, Misty, Jodi, Eddie, Karen, Monique, Tom, and Katie. Tomorrow that number will swell to 17 with the arrival of Peter and Francisco and Drew. Next weekend we are expecting Orlandoans Brian Geiger, Jim Wolf and Lisa Curtis and several of my relatives from Connecticut.

Anyway, the Van just arrived, so I've got to go!

THURSDAY, AUG. 09, 2007 - 11:30 AM

Arwin (the former Mrs. Kelte) from Temmenos Theater days in Orlando (now with Fractured Atlas in New York) popped up for a drink last night and to join the welcome wagon for the limo full of drunks that finally arrived here at 9pm from a flight that was supposed to have left Orlando at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Doug apparently made quite a scene parading up and down the aisle of the plane in Miss Sammy's Streisand wig, and later at Newark airport, sporting Ruby's not-quite-aquamarine party hat.

As everyone flailed through the lobby of the Kenny & Barry's building, Kenny pleaded with the concierge - “If anyone calls you to complain, please call ME before you call the police.” Since Kenny has already totally charmed everyone who works in the building, as well as most of the area merchants, the reply was a most sincere “I will do that” delivered with a tone that implied a sincere belief that such an occasion would indeed arise.

For legal reasons I will fast forward through the remainder of the evening to the part where we went to bed, or as in my case, the couch! (See picture).

The sleep mask really does work, but, when you wake and remove it, with the sun blazing through the walls of glass, it has the effect of a stranded miner emerging from the depths of blackness into stark daylight. To avoid eye injury, I have become adept at sliding sunglasses up under the mask and onto my eyes prior to removal of mask.

It's a bit of drudgery, but one, which I suffer gladly for the sake of my art.

Sam, who was actually planning on staying in a friend's vacant apartment, returned to Production Headquarters in the wee hours of the morning, as he was unable to access said apartment due to not having a key to the deadbolt. Add one more to the body count in the fishbowl on the 24th floor!

It's 11:30 am. Mike and Tommy went to the West Side Diner for breakfast, Scott is checking emails, Kenny and I are blogging, Dorman is working on familiarizing himself with the sound cues for the show (and getting really pissy when he can't hear his many personal calls amidst the general babble in the room), Sam is wondering around aimlessly and Doug is still sleeping.

We have a production meeting and a read-through scheduled for 3PM today, and tonight I am taking Katie Byrnes (Monique's pride and joy!) out to see Wicked! (House seats from Mr. Schwartz himself, don't you know).

I am soooooo connected.

I'm WANZIE and That's All I Wrote!

TUESDAY, AUG. 07, 2007 - 10:30 PM

10:30 PM on Tuesday and just got back to the fishbowl tenement, AKA: the newest residential construction in The Theater District, AKA: Ladies Production Headquarters, after a whirlwind bar-hopping poster-distributing, post card-placing, publicity junket which just happened to include happy hour piano bar antics at The Duplex, a drink at Stonewall Inn, a little jazz and a little drinkie-poo at Arthur's Jazz Club, along with a run-in with a very drunk and very obnoxious straight man (who was also exceedingly butch and hot) who was seated next to Kenny at the Piano Bar and resulted in us downing our drinks in record time, to get away from his annoying narrative of the whole scene as Kenny confided - “Of course if I were here under different circumstances, instead of being annoyed and leaving, I might wait till he got drunk enough that I could take him home.”

Anyway, we also stopped at The Monster and distributed Ladies post cards there, and ended up at our favorite bar in the city, Marie's Crisis piano-sing-along-bar, where of course we were able to wail at the top of our lungs along with a bar full of other fags, all of which knew all of the words to every song from Les Mis and Little Shop of Horrors.

Of course it was difficult making our way through The Village (where I at one point in my career resided for a brief time in a brownstone at number 35 Grove Street, literally just steps away from Stonewall, Arthur's, and Marie's Crisis) without being spotted and photographed by the paparazzi. (See pic of me giving an impromptu press conference on the streets of the Village) I was being hounded by the press! Kenny was getting really freaked by being followed by all the cameras, so I eventually acquiesced, and granted on on-camera street interview.

It was so nice of Elizabeth Maupin to mention our blog on her blog. She also alluded to the WANZIE.com web site as a place to find, among other things, cocktail recipes. It was a good-natured jab, which I thought was quite funny even though I have never included a cocktail recipe on the site before now, but, I thought, well, why not ... after all I wouldn't want to disappoint Maupin's readers. So, we at the WANZeGRAM are proud to launch a new feature - WANZIE's Cocktail of the Month (see below), as inspired by Elizabeth Maupin. Hope you will check it out, and enjoy the recipe.

I'm WANZIE and That's All I Wrote!

The Official Elizabeth Maupin-Inspired ... WANZIE's COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH

Mix vodka and juices, pour over ice in a glass, and layer a little grenadine on top. Garnish with a slice of orange. Wanzie says "Don't forget to add the all-important paper parasols; Best enjoyed with a chaser of Peach Schnapps and Pumpkin-Infused Argyle Socks.

MONDAY, AUG. 06, 2007 - 3:52 PM

My first foray into the world of traveling as a “Criplett” went swimmingly.

The Mears Handicap Van picked me (seated in Pearl's “Hover-round”) up at the PH on Sunday morning and delivered me to JetBlue curbside check in. I never got out the chair. I drove it though an express lane at Security, onto the people mover, and right down the Jetway, finally stepping out of it at the door to the plane. The chair was waiting for me at the end of the Jetway upon arrival at Newark. Private van took me (still seated in the Chair) directly from the airport to our Midtown Manhattan LADIES Production Headquarters - otherwise known as Kenny & Barry's Condo.

Generous portions of Captain & Diet soon followed.

A trip to the farmers market and more Captain & Diet rounded out the afternoon till it was time to go to an early-evening (Sunday) performance of LEGALLY BONDE - The Musical.

I know, I know! But it was a welcome gift from Kenny, and I have to be honest in saying that while I would have never chosen it myself, the show, while nothing but a piece of mindless fluff - what just what the doctor ordered for decompression and stress reduction. It was a pleasure to see and far better than I would have ever anticipated, and it didn't drain me emotionally like seeing BENT - The Feel Good Show of the Summer Season - just before leaving Orlando. They ought to re-name that show SPENT, because that's how you come out it. David Lee and Daniel and Tom & company were all seriously wonderful. You should see it if you can.

Anyway, this morning we were up bright and early (one can't help but be up bright and early since Kenny and Barry have installed no window treatments in this tenement where I'm staying, and 70 % of the walls in this corner unit are floor to ceiling windows) and trekked to a radio station in the Wall Street area, where Kenny and I did a live interview on a show called OUT- FM.

You can listen to it by clicking here. Once the audio file has fully loaded, use your curser to move the tracking button to about the center of the file bar, as we are not on the show until a half hour into it.

Then it was off to prop-shop for the show at a midtown 3-story K-mart complete with elevators and escalators in it. Strange place this New York. And of course we didn't walk out of K-mart pushing a cart full of our purchases. No. We headed back to Production Headquarters to await our K-mart same-day package delivery. It's like being in a slightly dirtier EPCOT and using Disney's Package Express, except that this particular “Community of Tomorrow” has far more nationalities represented in it than the Disney version.

I'm back in the fishbowl on the 24th floor now, writing this bog. Tonight Kenny and I will go bar-hopping in The Village, specifically for the purpose of putting-up LADIES posters (but if large amounts of cocktails (and perhaps, just cock) happen to fall into our open mouths while poster mounting -well, I say, let the mounting begin!)

I'm WANZIE and That's All I Wrote!