Weekend Update

This day job is a test; this is only a test. A test of my ability to deal with anger, resentment, and all those other pus-filled boils which my ego delights in bursting. Anger is all about ego; ego is all about fear. What am I afraid of? It's a day job. The only thing I should be afraid of is letting it become my whole life.

One more memory gone. Fazil's closed on Friday. Is there an actor in this city who didn't rehearse there at least once for something? I was trying to remember (DJ--help me out here): wasn't this where we rehearsed Don Juan in Hell's Kitchen? And didn't I have the sit-down reading of the first draft of History Of The Lagers there too? The sad thing, if it's true? I haven't been inside the place for over ten years.

Call me "Old Spice."

Trusting my friend Kathleen's taste in music yet again, I saw the Melanie C show at Hammerstein Ballroom Saturday night. (That sound you just heard? Half my friends doing a double-take.)

It was a good show. (That sound you just heard? Those same friends doing a triple-take.) Besides being ripped like Rambo, Melanie has a Jonatha Brooke voice with a deeper tone, and while her solo stuff may not be Spice-Girl-hooky, it's Dusty Springfield good. I can see the Pet Shop Boys writing for her so easily.

The floor was about three-quarters filled, with the front really crowwded and the back full of dancers. Good dancers too. The camera and cellphone screens focused on her were like little monitors all night long.

Three times during the show she stopped to collect gifts and cards and flowers from the mob at the front of the stage. She got more swag than a presenter at an awards show. Worked harder for it, too.

Bonus moment for pop culture fanatics: all the other Spice Girls watched the show from a roped-off area about 20 feet from where we were sitting in the balcony, although the verdict is still out on whether Skeletor Posh was there.











Thank you, tooth pain. I can barely open my mouth, and my lower jaw is so swollen I look like a catfish. The way the universe works? This means I will get a movie audition sometime in the next 20 minutes.