totally not andrew lloyd webber

Happy Friday and Happy Easter everyone! I've been taking a bit of a spring break this week, took some days off to enjoy the lovely weather (80! In Chicago! In March/April!), get my oil changed, shop, and recharge my batteries (in every possible sense). But Diva Lessons know no holidays, and the show must go on, etc.

The below is from the Rosie show - the picture doesn't match the sound really well, weirdly, so don't pay too much attention to that. It is a really lovely song and one of my favorites. I actually sang it back when I was taking voice lessons, and when I finished, one of my classmates looked at me and said excitedly, "What a great song! Is it Andrew Lloyd Webber?"

No! Nononono! It's not. It's Lennon/McCartney (and note to all you American Idols in advance of next week - watch and learn, people. This is how you handle a song from the Lennon/McCartney songbook. Okay, Tim?)



In other Diva news, Ms. Patti chose a winning title of the many submitted for her new book. Go here, because you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you. And no, I don't know why she needed a contest, only to pick that. Yes, I submitted some titles. No, obviously they weren't selected. But the one chosen never even crossed my mind. Like, ever. I was trying to be all creative and outside the box and so on. But c'est la vie. (Go on, say it!)

But mine is not to Question the Diva. Mine is only to read the book and soak in the potentially dishy gossip. As Randy might say, Yo, Patti! I have mad love for you, baby. I think she will totally go places and do stuff.

Okay, I'm done.

Happy Friday!

you! cake or....

I had a dream last night where the girls and I were at an Eddie Izzard show. For some reason, the house was practically empty and we kept moving down so we could get better seats. During a bit, Eddie came up to me, put his thumb on my forehead and tried to read my mind. Then he did it to Heidi too, and he tried to get us both to read each other's minds... I don't know what on earth that means.

Speaking of Eddie, though, I ran across this article in (where else?) Time Out New York. My free subscription runs out sometime next month I think, and I will miss it bunches and bunches.

The prolific absurdist Eddie Izzard is accustomed to breaking new ground. On Saturday 16­—hot on the heels of running 43 marathons in 51 days (to benefit the charity Sport Relief) and the premiere on both sides of the pond of the new documentary Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story—he becomes the first British comic to play the arena at Madison Square Garden.

You ran 43 marathons in 51 days?!?
The first three weeks were hell. It was chafing my feet, they were all blistered up and the pain was very intense, but then the weirdest thing was that my feet started healing as I was running. They actually become really hard. Then it’s just endurance and stamina.

What sort of frame of mind does it take to keep going?
You can’t entertain the idea that you can stop at any point, apart from serious injury. Having a TV crew there also helped because it would be very embarrassing after ten days to say, “Well, I can’t do this. I’m sorry, everyone. Pack up and go home.”

You’re used to cameras; were you pleased with Believe?
There’s a thing where certain people will go, “That guy’s a transvestite; I’m not going to go watch his stuff,” and it will get blocked off to that audience. So I thought a documentary could explain things more, dig around and show the stuff going on in my head, who I am and where I come from.

Was watching yourself through other people’s eyes cathartic?
That bit at the end where it explains what seems to be my motivation—that it’s my mother? That came as a shock to me, because I didn’t realize it. It was good to say that and get that out there and know that myself.

You mentioned the transvestism. I saw you get heckled in Vegas at the Comedy Festival.
Right; they were asking, “Why aren’t you wearing a dress?,” which is slightly different. You expect a lot of, “I hear you’re a transvestite. I don’t like that.” But I tend to get, these days, “Why aren’t you wearing a dress?” So I do try and explain that I will go in boy mode and girl mode, and at the moment I’ve been in boy mode. You want to have the freedom that women have of being able to wear whatever they want whenever they want.

GAME OVER

Saturday evening, hanging out with Heidi, chillin' like a villain on penicillin, we decide to order in and watch a movie. We'd been surfing around online and happened to see "Gamer" advertised. It features our fave Scottish hunk, Mr. Butler, and I convinced Heidi that we should watch it. If Gerry's in it, how bad could it be? At least we get to look at him, right? Was my reasoning. This proved to be incredibly bad reasoning, as it turned out. Does anybody even remember this film being in theaters? It was there for about a minute and then it was GONE. Do you know why? Because it's crappy, that's why. So very very weird and surreal. A virtual reality whiz creates games involving real human beings who are 'played' by video game nerds. One of the games pits jailbirds against each other in epic battles. If they survive 30 battles they get set free. Oh, but there's other stuff going on, blah blah blah, Gerry escapes the game to rejoin his wife and daughter, he has to fight the bad guy, etc etc etc. Crazy craziness.

So do yourselves a favor and: 1) don't see it. and also 2.) don't listen to me when I suggest movies. Clearly, I am incapable of making good choices where he is concerned. Damn it, Gerry, why must you make it so hard for me to love you???

You can't make this shit up...

1. I'd like to formally apologize to my colleague, as I thought she was lying about trampolining being an Olympic Sport. But it really is! I didn't believe it until I saw it last night with my own eyes. It's oddly fascinating, and I like it MUCH more than beach volleyball. You know how most people like jumping on the bed as kids? This kind of reminded me of that - jumping on the bed with no danger of hitting your head on the ceiling, no chance of getting yelled at by mom, and being able to do triple double sommersaults and cool stuff like that. There is also apparently synchronized trampoline and I am super curious to see that. Strangely though, this seems to be a sport where the US is not smashing the competition. I wonder why not?

2. Was at Ravinia this past weekend. Can someone please explain to me why on earth anyone would buy lawn tickets to a dance event?? The music wasn't really that great, and if you go spread a blanket or whatever way the hell back by the special event tents, you aren't going to see anything, either. So what's the point??