Long Time No Blog

Apologies to faithful readers (I suppose there are one or two of you) who've dropped by looking for new postings lately only to find the same old stuff. The first half of May was particularly exhausting for me - a sudden sprint at the end of a long race - and I find myself busily reacquainting myself with my sofa cushions rather than doing anything remotely constructive. Last weekend, I helped my collaborator, Albert, move to Philadelphia, a task that entailed loading his massive collection of opera CDs, LPs, books and scores (plus a household item or two) onto a truck and driving to Philadelphia. With the help of my son Alex and his buddy Nicholas, we managed the whole affair in a day - driving to Beacon, loading, driving back to Philadelphia and unloading before collapsing on Saturday night. Sunday there were a few loose ends, including items to be stashed in a storage unit and a busted bed to reconstruct, but the deed was complete, and was I beat! The previous week's madness was the Prince Music Theater's gala, for which I stepped in as director and musical arranger at the last moment. The task here included an original song honoring Suzanne Roberts, host of Seeking Solutions with Suzanne on CN8 and the guest of honor at the Prince fete, plus several other musical numbers. Just today I received a lovely note from the Prince recognizing my contributions to the gala - it was a job well done for a good cause, and I even managed to have a little fun along the way.
But now, I'm resting and regrouping, preparing for the coming weeks, which will include...? What? Well, not a production of Gemini the Musical, since that's been postposed til September. But certainly casting for said musical, along with a possible one-week workshop late in June. A trip to Carnegie Hall so that Kerry can receive his Gold Key award from the Scholastic Writing Awards on June 10. A couple of Phillies games (the Phightin' Phils have battled their way into the number-one berth in their division), including one tonight. And hopefully a little vacation time as well - we'll see. And with any luck, a little blogging.
Meanwhile, here's an image from a recent visit to Philadelphia's Vietnam Veterans' Memorial:



The shadowy figure reflected is Kerry, who has been writing a school paper about Vietnam; the image turned out to be the perfect cover shot for his paper.