I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

December 05, 2014 - 10:56 a.m.

I Do Believe in Fairies!

I have no eggs in the house! What am I going to do, forego eggs for breakfast or put off eating till after shopping. It's a dilemma.

I had a change in plans last night. I got a call from Heather she had a problem so I told her that I'd stop by her house after going to my PO Box. Once I got there I found the problem was resolved. But then she offered me pizza and I got comfortable and then saw that the show I wanted to go to cost money and then got comfortable on the couch and didn't get up. This ended up as serendipity when we turned on TV and the live Peter Pan was just starting. We had perfect timing. I had no idea it existed. I saw the Mary Martin version repeatedly as a kid. I thought of it as something I saw every year and associated it with the Wizard of OZ but also knew I didn't see it as often. I checked on Wikipedia and saw that it was show in 1960, 63, and 66, when I was 3, 6, and 9. That's it but I watched it each time and it was a big deal each time.

It confused the hell out of me as a kid. I think t was the 63 version where I realized that Peter Pan was played by a woman. So I thought it was the story of a woman that thought she was a boy. It was a pioneer in transgender television. I also got confused that Captain Hook was Mr. Darling. My parents were able to explain that one to me.

Peter Pan is one of my big childhood things so there was no way I'd miss this. And of course the original was performed live too. There were actually three performances but only the last was videotaped so I saw it live the first time and on tape the next two.

So how was the new production? Not bad. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Alison Williams was no Mary Martin, but who is? Mary was one of the greatest Broadway stars ever. Christopher Walken was weak as Hook. I felt there were some sound issues especially early on. Ms Williams' crow was weak and I think that was largely a technical issue. Everything sounded sort of flat then.

But it was fun! As the play says, Peter is youth and freedom. He's a Jungian archetype. He's the literary precursor to Max in Where the Wild Things Are. He won't grow up. Never Never Land is a young Edwardian boy's dream filled with Red Indians and Pirates. Excuse the use of "Red Indians" but that's how people referred to them at the time and Native Americans does not have the same romantic appeal. They too represent freedom from civilized society. I knew they'd have to get rid of "Ugg-a-Wugg"but they handled it well.

The new songs tended to the sappy but I could put up with them. The only originals that I totally forgot were the three Hook dance songs, Hook's Tango, Hook's Tarantella, and Hook's Waltz.

I totally forgot the context of "I do believe in fairies!" But as soon as the poison appeared I remembered. And yes I clapped and said "I do believe in fairies!" That's just brilliant breaking down the fourth wall and making the children in the audience part of the show. That's more theater magic than the flying. I saw it when I was 3 and it never left me. While at one level I'm the total skeptic that scorns pseudo-science and mysticism, and is embarrassed for Arthur Conan Doyle's believing in fairies at another level I do believe. Sure they don�t exist but it would be a better world if they did.

The original Barrie play ended a bit down with the children returning home and Peter being left all alone. He then added the coda where he returns for Wendy's daughter Jane. That's makes a big emotional difference.

The 1960 production that I saw was 90 minutes. This was three hours. There were added songs and far more commercials. So this is what Melissa Joan Hart does now? Walmart commercials? I preferred her explaining it all.

None of the evening was planned and it's why I don't have eggs in the house. It was too late to go to Trader Joe's and I didn't want to pay more for eggs at a bodega. But I'll pay that price for a taste of my childhood.

I think I'll have a breakfast that I'd love as a child but never had, a peanut butter and bacon sandwich. The only question is should it be on a bagel or bread? I haven't decided yet. I don't have to tell you everything.

One rant before I go. December Songs is a holiday tour that Rod Picott, Amy Speace, and Doug & Telisha Williams do. I pretty much doubt that anyone is a bigger combined fan of the three of them than me. I was there when Rod and Amy met. I have seen the a zillion times. And do they play New York where I can see them? No. Is this fair? No! Does this mean they hate me? Yes!

Now you can all go on with your lives while I sit here and cry.


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please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile December 05, 2014
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