Archives for June 6, 2006

When last we spoke, I was seeing two plays a day at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and trolling for really good restaurants in between shows. I found an amazing one, Amuse, where I ate a meal so fine that I could easily have closed my eyes and imagined myself at a table in New York, spending at least twice as much money for food not nearly so tasty.

On Saturday morning I started home for New York, a tedious but blessedly unscary process that went on, all told, for eleven hours. Since then I’ve done the following:

– I slept really, really late on Sunday.

– I opened a bagful of snail mail.

– I rehung one wall of the Teachout Museum in order to make a place for my new Arnold Friedman lithograph.

– I went to a press preview of Neil LaBute’s new play, Some Girl(s).

– I sat slackjawed in front of my TV after coming home from the theater and pretended to watch His Kind of Woman. (I was too tired to sleep.)

– I got up first thing Monday morning and wrote my drama column for Friday’s Wall Street Journal. It took me a lot longer than usual, suggesting that I hadn’t quite recovered from my transcontinental travels.

– I read the page proofs of Hitchcock’s Music, a forthcoming book about the use of music in the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

What now? Today I’ll write my “Sightings” column for the Saturday Journal, go to the gym, get a haircut, and pick up my laundry. Tomorrow I’ll spend the entire day doing research at the Louis Armstrong Archives in Queens. On Thursday I’ll write up my research notes, fill out a couple of expense reports, work on my schedule for July, and go to a press preview of Spring Awakening. On Saturday I’ll go to New Jersey for the opening of Paper Mill Playhouse’s new revival of Hello, Dolly! In between I’ll visit a few art galleries, see a few friends, and maybe–just maybe–blog.

Or not.

“‘Havistock is a bit of an ass,’ Jowett later told a blunt Yorkshire lad who bluntly repeated it to me. ‘And an American ass at that. But a dinner party is pleasanter for his company, and how many men can you say that about?’

“How many indeed? I should like his encomium on my tombstone.”

Louis Auchincloss, The Rector of Justin

At the Coudal Partners site, they’ve posted their first set of 2006 Field-Tested Books, wherein writers write about the experience of reading a particular book in a particular setting. Terry and I both contributed entries this year, and mine is now up and available to read (Terry’s will be posted in another batch later this week). My place is North Whitefield, Maine. My book is…well, you’ll just have to hop over and see, won’t you?

You’ll surely find it worth the trip. Also among today’s contributors are Kevin Guilfoile, Daniel Radosh, Claire Zulkey, and a man I know better as “Lunchboy,” Francis Heaney. More entries will be added throughout the week from worthies including Maud Newton, George Saunders, and Jessa Crispin, to name a few.