18 July 2005

my entertaining day

after yesterday morning's family calls & Melina-brushing I walkd to the college to see Nick Mangano's vibrant "Measure for Measure." during intermission Robert Nott remind'd me that we'd seen a production some summers ago at the other college in town. that one was so bad I'd totally forgotten I'd seen the play. but Mangano's modern dress staging is exciting theater from lights up till final fade.

from there I took a bus to town for dinner at Plaza Cafe. I walkd around   encountering a photo shoot at a local bar. then to the Lensic for the Santa Fe Jazz Festival. the performers were Tuck & Patti -- just weeks away from their 27th anniversary as a duo. early on Patti meltd me with "My Romance." abt midway she turnd the mic over to Tuck & exitd the stage. previously mute he suddenly blossomd as a deft comedian with his Wes Montgomery story. they are unique performers who create utter joy on stage.

back home I was determind to stay up late & watch the first screening of "The High and the Mighty" in decades. my boyhood memory of Jan Sterling's performance has always been strong. it was on American Movie Classics. when that channel began I was a regular viewer. they showd vintange films without interruption. but somewhere along the way its owners became greedy. they began to stop the film midway for a long commercial break. I stoppd watching. last nite the movie was interruptd abt a dozen minutes into it. I had no idea that AMC now is totally like network. as much as I wantd to see Sterling I simply cdn't watch her under such barbaric conditions. so I reluctantly turnd off AMC.

2 comments:

richard lopez said...

that is a bummer about commercials. i remember amc, and bravo (the arts channel when it broadcast plays, independant cinema, the bbc's south bank show, profiles of poets, writers, musicians and artists etc. etc) were commercial free and films were mostly uncut. no it sucks, and makes film watching near unbearable. i stopped watching bravo years ago. it sucks. and amc had back in the late 90s a program called _american pop_ which showed old drive-in type films with intermission shorts and cartoons. the broadcasts intimated there would be a channel devoted to such programming but it never materialized and soon after amc began showing commercials in the middle of its films. it now sucks too.

Charles said...

The Plaza Burger is unbelievably delicious.