I had no problem checking into the Adolphus, which is an old hotel (opened in 1912) in the heart of downtown Dallas. I said hello to a few people and I apologize for boring them with my tales of HVAC woe. I unpacked and took a short nap, before calling into my book club meeting. (To my surprise, everyone liked Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and ( Read more... )

I took a quick trip to New York last week. Late January / early February is a good time to go there, because hotel prices are fairly low. I was able to get a room in midtown for just over $100 a night. The primary purpose of the trip was seeing the Encores production of Once Upon a Mattress, but a little time browsing Time Out turned up three ( Read more... )

Sorry for the long delay in writing. I’ve been distracted by trying, not very successfully, to get caught up on stuff at home. I’ve also been getting ready for an upcoming storytelling show (live only and sold out, so I’ll spare you the shameless self promotion this time).

Celebrity Death Watch: Edwin Wilson was a theatre critic, primarily ( Read more... )

I think this will get me caught up on everything up until this month ( Read more... )

Celebrity Death Watch: Bill Rice was a country music singer and songwriter. Robert Brustein was a theatre critic. Ado Ibrahim was the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, which is some sort of Nigerian traditional ruler. Frank “Hondo” Howard played outfield and first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Senators (who became the Texas Rangers ( Read more... )

After getting home from Boston, I had a couple of my usual activities.

Standing Meetings: Our Brothers Grimm discussion was about “The Blue Light,” which I was unfamiliar with until getting ready for our meeting. We had our usual good discussion about the relationships to other stories and the implications of different versions. I’m not sure ( Read more... )

When it turns to autumn, I want to be in New England. So I flew up to Boston the Saturday before last (i.e. the 21st). I’d been a bit concerned about stormy weather that day. But my flight was fine, albeit a bit more turbulent than is optimal. (And I actually like turbulence.) Prices were high and hotel availability was low, presumably due to ( Read more... )

The Loser community is an outgrowth of the (Washington Post) Style Invitational humor contest and Loser activities include periodic brunches and parties and the more or less annual excursion known as Loserfest. This year’s event was in Philadelphia, which is a city I’ve been to many times, but there were still things I hadn’t done before. In fact ( Read more... )

Lollapuzzoola was on Saturday, but I actually went up to New York on Thursday. That gave me four opportunities for theatre going (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon), as well as time to do something on Friday during the day.

I chose Some Like It Hot for my first show of this Broadway binge. It’s been a long time since I ( Read more... )

While the conference ended in late morning, I had booked that night at the conference hotel, so the afternoon was a good time to do things in the South Bank area of London. Me being me, I chose to have a bit of meander and ended up at the Tate Modern, which I don’t think I had actually been to before. (I had been to the Tate Britain.) Much of ( Read more... )