laughter

Hylas and the Nymphs, John William Waterhouse

Methinks Hylas is about to fall into trouble.

This morning February wings in, sun-bright, cooled by a soft fresh breeze. Last night my friend Patricia and I attended a delightfully comedic presentation of “Around the World in Eighty Days” playing at The Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. The acting was excellent, the comic timing perfect, the slapstick sent gales of laughter rollicking through the audience. Among the finer things of life, laughter is one of the finest. Before heading for our eight o’clock seats, we footed about looking for a place to have dinner. Laguna Beach has many small, independent restaurants tucked among its puzzle of streets. Last night every place was busy with up to one hour waits, but we found a bistro with seating open at the bar so we happily plopped ourselves down. I had the best mojito and a scrumptious seafood salad–lump crab, shrimp, fresh greens, scallops, topped with ringlets of crisp onion–I nearly licked the bowl. Patricia had a salmon salad and a martini. A fitting end to January and a nice treat for the work I’ve done on Swans.

Had breakfast with my neighbor at the Belmont Brewing Company at the pier, and now that I’m back, I’ve got new narrative to write for today’s work– several new scenes focusing on Rijjan Mira.

Looks like it’s going to be a lovely afternoon later. Maybe I’ll get in a walk.

absolutely terrific

Summer, Walter Crane

Last night I fell in love with the music of Jersey Boys, chronicling the rise of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, in town now playing at the Ahmanson.

Going to the musical was this year’s birthday treat to myself (along with a three-day writing weekend). It was absolutely terrific. Those boys had soul. Hearing the songs being sung in big musical production was wonderful. Everybody in the theatre was doing some sort of chair wiggle, foot swing, head-bob. Oh What A Night, Sherry, and Can’t Take My Eyes Off You were the crowd’s favorites, especially Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, which almost didn’t get played at all on the radio at the time because the dj’s, the music producers, etc. didn’t think it was a good song. At the time Bob Gaudio wrote and submitted it for play, another of the group’s hit songs, C’mon Marianne was flaming up the charts and getting all the play. Unable to convince anybody to play it, Gaudio financed its production on the airwaves himself, and the rest is pop music history.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ music was still being played on the radio when I was a little girl growing up in Louisiana, and I’ve heard them covered by other artists over the years, giving new life to the group’s classic original songs. Gaudio’s timeless lyrics are timeless. I think not enough on-air credit is given to the original artists of many popular songs that today’s artists are singing under new or revised arrangements.

DJ’s used to credit the original song artists, but I’ve noticed that’s not done so much anymore. Right now Oh, What a Night has been revised into a rap song and is getting plenty of play on the radio. In fact the show opens with the French Rap Star and dance production of Ces Soirees-La (Oh, What A Night) from a 2000 show in Paris, honoring the pop classic forty years later. And then you’re taken back in time to the group’s beginning. I loved every minute of it.

Today’s plan:

Continue reading through and notating Runaway Heart. I’m halfway through the 101 pages and I’d like to finish it today.

Continue reading Perfectly Plum. I’m at the second section, LOVES.

Status check regarding WIPs:

Romantic fantasy novel: 8,825 words. 38 pages. Last scene written: Emeryk visits Aloli with a saphiroclus which he uses to detect and confirm the presence of a powerful transportation spell in her father’s study.

Short fiction: no work; want to do the short story weekend, have no ideas, however.

Runaway Heart. 20,294 words. 101 pages. Working with June 2002 manuscript, but not writing yet. Reading through, line editing, and considering plot possibilities. Latest important step: getting insight into Lyra’s motivation.

Time to work the plan.