I despaired of seeing a really good movie ever again. 
Then came Hope Springs.

Granted, I would pay good money to see Meryl Streep or Tommy Lee Jones read a phone book, but here they have a damn good script, great surrounding cast and location, and master director David Frankel (The Devil Wore Prada) to aid and abet.
Things are looking up.
Must mention Steve Carrell, who held the helm as the shrink that pulled it and them together.

WARNING: 

it may make you want to have sex again.

BIG WHOOPS

OMG OMG OMG

My fingers are getting as unreliable as my eyes.

It's Charles Shea LeMone.

Sorry C Shea.

IT'S HOT IN LA

It's HOT in LA

Hey, June and July were gorgeous. We're due. 

Speaking of hot .... Charles Shea LeMone has a new book out.  

The Spring of Unexpected Consequences. Now available at Amazon.

I met Shea through Jim Morris, my lunch buddy who wrote Above and Beyond War War Story (and the acclaimed Dumbo Drop) 

Jim is a master story-teller with a quirky slant on things. He makes you think whilst he's entertaining you.

Yeah, I love a good blood, guts,  gore, 'n' glory combat story. A totally foreign world to me. But his new book, "Telequah" is a stunning departure.

Here is another new-to-me world: today's Native Americans. Specifically the eponymous tribe involved in this gripping adventure.

So anyway, Jim gave me a copy of  "A Dance In The Streets,"and I got hooked on LeMone. Be careful. He's is addicting. 

I think Corner Pride may be my favorite, though. Here is a rare snap of Shea as the teen whose coming of age struggles in a black neighborhood of Philadelphia are it's grist.

Another friend who continually astounds me: the very talented painter, Denise LaFrance. 


Her stuff is gonna be worth big bucks one day. I need more walls.

It's now time to run cold water over my wrists and temples and have a nice lie down. DAMN, IT'S HOT.

Yes, Virginia, therr IS a GREAT PUMPKIN

OK. So it's not actually Virginia. It's Marsha Meyers - my friend who did the hilarious portrayal of the gossip columnist in Singing In the Rain at the Downey Community Theater (see earlier post).

 Our coven of three met at the delightful Louisa's on Los Feliz (our favorite watering hole) to bubble up some trouble and chow down on really good Italian food. The third of the party is Joyce Brody - mother superior to most of the Democratic committees in our area.

We have here a "Klong" sent to me by the couple from Hamburg who were here to do an interview with me for promotion of the the chamber opera he, Thies Mynther has written. Sandra ran camera. John is on left, leaning on Thies, Miriam of Cabaret fame is sweetly supporting yours truly.
John's cousin, Rafael completes the picture being shot by Sandra, seen in mirror, if you look closely. 


Another gift has been the Kindelization of my book and it's announcement crafted by the producer of the audio version of the book - which will be released the first of the year, Sam Caldwell. It follows this post.

The Devil Made Me Do It Kindle Edition

It’s official, The Devil Made Me Do it is available as an Amazon Kindle e-book! You may purchase and install the  e-book using your Amazon account and Whispernet.

My e-book publisher has added a personal photos page along with a link to a Kindle friendly webpage hosting additional photos. The Kindle friendly webpage will be continuously updated with new photos from my past and as well as more recent snaps.

A Barnes and Nobles Nook e-book and Audio Book (read by yours truly) are in the works. Please subscribe to this blog or the Devil Made Me Do It Facebook page for availability updates.

New book websites to check out:

http://www.thedevilmademebook.com

http://www.georginaspelvinmemoir.com

Who Says You Can't Go Back Again?

John, my loving spouse, took me aaaaallll the way "down the hill" to Downey (about a forty minute drive from our humble hovel under the Hollywood Sign in Sunday mid-day traffic) to see our buddy, Marsha Myers, play the role of Dora Bailey in the Downey Civic Light Opera staging of Singing in the Rain.

Marsha was one of the original War Babies: the improv group that John was with when we met.



Now, I can't speak for the dialog, but the DANCE STEPS were a faithful recreation of every tippy tap in the fabulous Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds movie. I'll swear to that.
Dance steps, I remember. Dialog, not so much.

Ms. Myers' portrayal of the gossip columnist who stitches the story together for us was HYSTERICAL. My sides still ache.
There's one more weekend left of this treasure. If you can make it, you won't regret it. 

BTW, the humble hovel is getting a face lift as I write.  The water blasting happily coincided with our one day of rain last week. Now the scrapping and scrubbing has the back yard denizens - squirrels, geckos, humming birds, and crows - watching from their various limbs and rocks in mild apprehension. Me, too. 
The painter man asked, "What color."
"The same," we said. 

No good. A number must be chosen and properly recorded. It's never easy.

Roots

This just in from my pal Howie Gordon (screen name Richard Pacheco)
 

"The Berkeley Gordon men return to Scotland and don the great Clan Gordon kilts.

Underneath, we're wearing tefillin.  Put that in your haggis and smoke it, Mel Gibson!
Happy New Year!"

Aye, wud but that I could hae stood thar wid dae bonny lads. 

We're probably related. Me Da's pap did cum fra The Isle of Montrose. And in this picture, Howie looks a lot like a lot of my cousins. OK. I know you're Jewish, Howie - and a happy new year to ye - but you do look like kin. No wonder we had instant empathy.

Here's a picture of my first cousin, Ernest 

(a son of my dad's sister) 

and his daughter Kristi Lisa

. Now have you ever seen a more Gaelic pair?