Fire in the Sky and a Movie Review...

I can still hear the rumbling and popping of a few leftover fireworks in the neighborhood (at least I hope that popping is fireworks!), and reflecting on a fun 4th. I went to Guitar Center today since I had a gift card there I hadn't used yet, and bought a new pair of drum sticks (you can't have too many!) and a set of practice pads.

I also plunged in and invested in a headset microphone system (I sort of gulped, bit the bullet and handed them my credit card), because I've been needing one. I was warned that it's not the most expensive (read: best) brand, and it's on VHF frequency, so there's a chance I'll pick up police radio over the monitor. (Wouldn't that be fun during a performance? With my luck, I'll hear the police responding to a burglary at my apartment building...)

Later on, I went to David Cerda's house, where he had a few Handbaggers, Joans and friends over for a little get-together. We watched the beginning of "The Big Cube," a movie starring Lana Turner as a newly-married and retired actress whose stepdaughter starts driving her insane by spiking her drinks with acid. All I can say about Lana is, it's even more obvious as she got older that she had to have been discovered in a drugstore...I can't imagine her auditioning like that and getting work! But it's definitely worth watching just for the costumes and wigs, and it's loads of fun in the "so-bad-it's-good" category.

And if you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend "Girls Will Be Girls," with Coco Peru, Varla Jean Merman and Jack Plotnick (all men playing female roles). That movie's just damned good. It's sort of a cross between "The Valley Of The Dolls" and "The Women." The dialogue was funny, all the "business" was effective, and the three actors won Jury Awards for their performances. Jack Plotnick's performance as Evie, the untalented has-been-who-never-was, was comically perfect. To describe her, I can only tell you to picture Eve Harrington middle-aged and bitter, and cross her with Elaine Stritch and Sylvia Miles. Coco and Varla were wonderful as well. Many jokes were made in the dialogue about Coco being unattractive, but she's actually quite a pretty drag queen...

Another highlight of my day was my bus ride this afternoon, listening to some gangsta on his cell phone talking about his drug bust and his upcoming "cawt appearance." Boiled down, the gist of the conversation sounded like this:

"Muthafucka Muthafucka Shit Shit Shit
Muthafucka Muthafucka Shit Shit Shit"

(If you say it in the right tempo, it sounds just like that song "Cotton-Eyed Joe.")

So, is everyone back to work tomorrow? Yeah...?

NOT ME! I took two days of vacation, so I'm sleeping in tomorrow and doing laundry (God, I hope Faith Hill's not being interviewed anywhere).

Hope everyone had a fantastic fourth!