TILL THERE WAS YOU

Oh dear blog, how I continue to neglect you! I don't mean to, but you know that I will always return to you, don't you? Ok, I'm being silly now. Since Maureen posted about how November is blog writing month (or whatever it was) I said I'd try to blog daily...for the month of November. Well, its nine days into the month now and this is my very first post. There have been a lot I've been wanting to write about -- for the purposes of this blog and for myself (as me how many I've done even for myself...I think you know the answer). We'll see if I can keep this up...don't count on it though.

A few weeks ago, I saw the magnificent Barbara Cook at the equally magnificent Disney Concert Hall. It was lovely and she was amazing (as usual). There's nothing like spending an evening with a crowd of middle aged folks and balding gay men (I know you men are hyper-aware of your hairlines, but seriously this was some serious scalp-age I was noticing -- it was a sea of Daddy Warbucks...)

Cook's concert was in conjunction with the celebration of her 80th birthday and let me tell you, I've never been more impressed with a person in their 80s. The woman sang a full set with no intermission to thunderous applause after every song. As I looked around at the crowd during her performance, I saw toothy grins on the faces of the audience -- everyone looked so happy and some were even dancing in their seats (it was really cute). Cook's voice was flawless -- every song was gorgeous and on more than one occasion I found myself tearing up just hearing her sing.

Cook's voice has changed through the years -- she is no longer young "Marian the Librarian" from The Music Man -- she's stronger and more magnificent now than ever before. Bravo, Barbara!