Out into the Cool of the Evening- Strolls the Pretender

So, a lot of pretty interesting things going on this weekend. Certainly its been fun to watch the party of state's rights manage to federalize a single dispute between the husband and family of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for several years. To watch the leadership use this woman as a political tool, whether or not they believe in the sanctity of life in this case or not.

I went downtown on Friday looking for work, and I also went to get lunch at the ESPN Zone to watch the tournament. I got there in the second half of the first set of games, and there were lots of people at the bar supporting they're schools, and a lot of people with their brackets out, brackets that were probably fine for a while, until they hit the end of the first set of games Friday night. I must say that there were a few women my age, or slightly older, from NC State who were, as Mr. Tony likes to say, "getting it done". Speaking of that, I saw the SportsCentury on Peggy Fleming last week- Peggy Fleming is definitely still getting it done. I'm sorry, that was my id raising its ugly head for a minute. It’s not more than an occasional visitor, so I have to express it when he comes out.

The games this weekend were pretty fabulous. Courtney, the woman whose house I'm staying in, went to Kansas, and so was a bit disappointed by the result of the Bucknell game. I really enjoyed the Vermont game, because I love those kind of great stories. Luckily, I wasn't able to see much of the game on Sunday, because they were showing other games here, because I probably would have been conflicted. I want to see the conference to do well, but I have no particular interest in seeing State win beyond that, and sense I am a rank sentimentalist, I wanted to see the Catamounts advance. The NC State Wolfpack, and their very attractive alumna, were fabulous in both games, coming back from a big deficit against Charlotte and then upsetting UConn. I really was impressed by them, and of course North Carolina, because they were incredibly dominant in both games.

Right now my plans for the interview are this: drive up to New Hampshire Thursday and spend the night in a hotel, either in town or just outside it, and then to stay with John Sellers on Friday night, at which point I'll probably come home Saturday.

By the way, my XM Channel, On Broadway, carried Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Center on Saturday. It was amazing to listen to, even the roundtable which featured Sondheim, Frank Rich, Joss Whedon and others on Sondheim's effect on popular culture, which of course led to a discussion of "Once More With Feeling..." the greatest Buffy episode I've never seen. By the way, I heard a lot of the songs from Company I wanted to hear, and I got to hear Angela Lansbury doing "A Little Priest", but I didn't hear "Pretty Women", the one song from Sweeney Todd I wanted to hear, but that's okay.

If I may make a suggestion to the play selection committee for next year, and by next year, I mean 2006-2007, the year after some of my favorite men and women graduate, the one that decides the next musical. Keeping in mind that the last two musicals have been a bit heavy, I might suggest something a bit light like, for example, A Year With Frog and Toad, which is about as far from heavy as you can get.

Good luck to everyone on their thesis, as well as the continuing work on Workshops and Trojan Women.