She lived in a women’s hotel on Gramercy Park South but was ready to make a move. It turned out that Glinda the Good Witch didn’t have a job lined up, either. As I wrote in another post about this period… Dorothy may have been happy to go back home, but the Lion, with his newfound courage, stayed in Oz. It was looming in the distance like the Emerald City. Most of the other cast members had theatre jobs lined up for the summer, while I was about to wake up on the black and white side of the rainbow with no prospects other than crawling back to Carle Place Tower Records and asking for my job back. It was a big adventure with a little romance and a lot of angst as the tour drew to a close.
I previously wrote about my first professional theatre job as the Cowardly Lion on a children’s theatre tour. I felt like I belonged there more than anyplace else, even if I was content to spend most nights in my apartment getting acquainted with Robin Byrd and leased access television rather than going over to Avenue B to watch GG Allin roll around in his own poop. So I wasn’t a rebel through and through, but I loved the East Village. Marks Sounds and played it as I hung posters and organized my books and records on unstable milk crate shelving units. I picked up a used promo CD of Spellbound at St. Not the edgiest choice, but it perfectly captured the energy I felt as I moved into my first New York City apartment. “Promise Of A New Day” – the lead track on the album – was my unofficial theme of the Summer of 1991. Her #1 hits from the Forever Your Girl LP are still in heavy rotation there, yet her chart-topping follow up album, Spellbound, seems to have been forgotten along with its two #1 hit singles: “Rush, Rush” and “ Promise Of A New Day.” Paula Abdul still reigns supreme on Lite-FM, if my trips to the pharmacy and grocery store are any indication. “A match,” he said, “Madame, a match to set the goddamn place on fire!” When Oscar looked at me, I could not bear it. I showed him all the house right through the garret and said “What one thing does it still require?” When Wilde was there, he visited my home.įilled with all the treasures of the ages and a nugget Uncle Nate had sent from Nome. I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s. I had a negligee cut like a toga and all my candelabra piped for gas. The season that I gave my talks on yoga was one I felt I never could surpass. In my dining room I put “Boy Extracting Thorn From Foot” and my guests that winter scarcely touched their food. I made the natives conscious of the nude. I produced a pageant based on Jackie Horner and the deficit was given to the poor. I was the first to have a Turkish corner though plenty followed suit, you may be sure. I swore I’d die before a tie was laid to desecrate Versailles. I completely reproduced the Versailles garden though the Erie claimed they had the right of way. In its place I put a Venus in a nightie and a rather naughty but authentic faun.
I Brought Culture to Buffalo in the 90’s – the year I took the iron dog off our lawn. He couldn’t tear his eyes from my bay window and the maidenhair beneath the rubber plants. He was spellbound at the splendor of my whatnot and the cigar butt Papa got from General Grant. I showed him all the glories I’d bought so cheap in GreeceĪnd all the wonders I’d brought home from Rome.