{"id":4247,"date":"2019-02-13T11:45:32","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T19:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/?p=4247"},"modified":"2019-02-14T07:29:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T15:29:23","slug":"showing-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/showing-up\/","title":{"rendered":"SHOWING UP"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Julia and me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are having a date! Husband and I are zigzagging through rain-splashy traffic for an afternoon matinee of Julia Sweeney\u2019s<\/a> one-woman show at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood Village. It\u2019s dog-eat-dog as he squeezes our little Honda Fit into the long line of cars entering the $4 validated parking lot next to Trader Joe\u2019s. It may be \u201cmellow Sunday\u201d but it\u2019s still a zoo out there and we will do just about anything for cheap parking in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

You may remember Julia Sweeney as \u201cPat,\u201d the gender-bending character on Saturday Night Live, way way<\/em> back in the day. Was she a boy? Was she a girl? After that stint in the limelight she wrote shows and took them on the road. They were about her life\u2014losing her religion, losing her brother, almost losing her own life, adopting a little girl from China, marrying a scientist, settling into middle-class housewife-dom in the Midwest and today, at the age of fifty-nine, bringing her new show to Los Angeles. She calls it \u201cOlder and Wider.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
It’s Pat…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We afternoon revelers take our seats, forming an intimate semi-circle around an empty floor in the middle of the Geffen\u2019s mini-theater room. Well it\u2019s not quite empty. An usher brings a bottle of water and a big cup of something<\/em>, places them on the stool and arranges the microphone and stand real close to the beverage supply. With no fanfare whatsoever Julia is introduced and bounces into the spotlight wearing a black jogger suit as if she too just dashed over from Trader Joe\u2019s.<\/p>\n

And immediately she apologizes. For her voice. She\u2019s getting over a cold and is still hoarse and crackly and improvises on the spot about her emergency room visit. Then the microphone goes dead. Then the lighting goes funky. And this is NOT part of the show. But as the jean-clad techie rushes on stage and replaces the mic and the sound lady, whose disembodied voice is floating above, proclaims that the lighting IS the way it\u2019s supposed to be, Julia Sweeney soldiers on. With grace and humor. She answers audience questions until the new microphone arrives. She sweetly tells the light lady \u201cNO we need the lights turned down\u201d and we applaud happily when that finally happens. All these distractions…and this woman \u201cstays in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Julia Sweeney greets the audience after her show<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That is why, when Julia Sweeney makes an audience-schmooze appearance after the show, I tell her \u201cyou are such a pro.\u201d Because it takes a pro to navigate the vagaries of doing a show, the vagaries of being in show business, the vagaries of just living your life and still grabbing onto an anchor\u2014to something<\/em>\u2014that keeps you, well, upright. And maybe even smiling. Because you are still breathing, after all.<\/p>\n

She weaves story after story through her ninety-minute monologue, embellishing each one with lots of ha-ha <\/em>moments. But like any good storyteller, Julia Sweeney is holding up a mirror for us, so we can catch a glimpse of ourselves. When her daughter confesses that her boyfriend is \u201cannoying<\/em>,\u201d mom declares, \u201ceverybody is annoying. E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y\u2026\u201d The audience is roaring, of course, because\u2026well\u2026DUH\u2026<\/p>\n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _<\/p>\n

\"\"
Miss Peggy Lee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once upon a time The Geffen was The Westwood Playhouse, standing pretty in the shadow of UCLA, which is right across the street. I flash back to the summer of 1984 where I am the first person in line with my $25 sit-anywhere-you-can-grab-a-seat<\/em> ticket to see Miss Peggy Lee<\/a>. I want to be in the front row, center, close enough to see the veins in her eyeballs. She is my favorite singer.<\/p>\n

Her combo launches into THE signature song as she s-l-o-w-l-y approaches the microphone. It\u2019s delicious torture how she takes her time<\/em>. She extends her arm towards the audience, starts snapping her fingers and sings, \u201cNever know how much I love you\u2026\u201d Oh wow! This is what COOL looks like. Her platinum hair\u2014a wig probably\u2014is dolloped just so<\/em> in a perfect pageboy\u2014and she sings that song\u2014Fever\u2014 like she\u2019s singing it for the first time. What a pro!<\/p>\n

Talk about the vagaries of life\u2014she has traveled THAT road. Peggy Lee had a hardscrabble childhood, born in the \u201cjazz capital\u201d of the world\u2014Jamestown, North Dakota. But she found a way to do what she loved\u2014to sing and write great songs and be a star. I do think she was a \u201cdiva.\u201d She also liked to sue people who pissed her off. Like the Muppet folks when they added a new character to their brood: A blond\u2014it\u2019s all about me<\/em>\u2014bombshell. With an attitude<\/em>. They gave this pink fluff a familiar<\/em> Midwest hardscrabble back-story and named her \u201cMiss Piggy Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well Peggy Lee got wind of this and called her lawyers. That is why today Kermit the Frog’s on-again, off-again paramour is known simply as Miss Piggy.*<\/p>\n

Apparently Peggy Lee had a pre-show ritual which included knocking back a shot of cognac and letting lose with a guttural whoop<\/em> before going on stage. I can only imagine she was doing that before the show I saw in 1984. Then she comes on stage and sings like there is no tomorrow.<\/p>\n

I remember hearing someone say that the sum of his whole life has brought him to THIS moment and then THIS moment. In other words, THIS is it. Peggy Lee brought each filament of her life to THIS moment. I could hear it in her songs, see it in her face. Just as Julia Sweeney does in her show. That\u2019s what singers and actors and comics and writers and artists DO. They hold up a mirror so WE can see ourselves\u2026doing the same thing.<\/em> SHOWING UP and landing here<\/em>. Baggage included.<\/p>\n

*Sourced from the book, Is That All There Is? The Strange Life of Peggy Lee<\/a><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"I\u2019m doing my thing in my little corner of the world\u2014teaching, doing gigs, writing songs. If you are a Southern California person and interested in my ukulele classes here\u2019s an update:<\/p>\n

I am starting a brand new class: Ukulele For Beginners PLUS. We need a transitional workshop for folks who already play a little but want to feel more confident and learn more goodies on the ukulele. This four-week workshop begins Saturday, March 2, 2019 at Boulevard Music<\/a> in Culver City.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"My Four-Week OnGoing Ukulele Workshop & Jam is beginning a new session on Saturday, February 16, 2019 at Boulevard Music<\/a>. This has morphed into an intermediate level class where we co-create song arrangements and add lots of flash and fun.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"My ukulele group, The CC Strummers<\/strong>, meets twice a week, Monday afternoon and Thursday morning in Culver City. Please CLICK HERE<\/a> for the details.<\/p>\n

And thank you all for being there, staying connected and coming along for the ride.<\/p>\n

Warmly,
\nCali<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are having a date! Husband and I are zigzagging through rain-splashy traffic for an afternoon matinee of Julia Sweeney\u2019s one-woman show at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood Village. It\u2019s dog-eat-dog as he squeezes our little Honda Fit into the long line of cars entering the $4 validated parking lot next to Trader Joe\u2019s. It may be \u201cmellow Sunday\u201d but it\u2019s still a zoo out there and we will do just about anything for cheap parking in Los Angeles. You … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[192,189,191,190],"class_list":["post-4247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-being-a-pro","tag-julie-sweeney","tag-one-woman-shows","tag-peggy-lee"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":192,"label":"Being a Pro"},{"value":189,"label":"Julie Sweeney"},{"value":191,"label":"One Woman Shows"},{"value":190,"label":"Peggy Lee"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Julia_Sweeney-597x1024.jpg",597,1024,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":4,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":192,"name":"Being a Pro","slug":"being-a-pro","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":192,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":189,"name":"Julie Sweeney","slug":"julie-sweeney","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":189,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":191,"name":"One Woman Shows","slug":"one-woman-shows","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":191,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":190,"name":"Peggy Lee","slug":"peggy-lee","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":190,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4247"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4279,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions\/4279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}