Thurs. Jan. 16, 2025: Bit of a Rough Road

 via pixabay.com

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Waning Moon

Uranus, Jupiter, Mars Retrograde

Snowy and cold

You can read about the latest on the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.

I get a newsletter called “History Facts” that has all kinds of oddities in it. Yesterday’s was about the first Broadway musical, called THE BLACK CROOK, performed in 1866. The article was short, but funny (once I worked my way around all the ads). So now, of course, I want to know more about it. And maybe write about it.

According to the article, it ran for 500 performances and grossed more than $1 million dollars – in 1866, mind – and had a sequel called THE WHITE FAWN.

And I just really need to track down these manuscripts and read them. (I found a couple of books from the library that I ordered).

The theatre was called Niblo’s Garden at Broadway and Prince Streets (not the Broadway neighborhood as we know it today). That gives me more to dig — in the NYPL Performing Arts Archives, in the NY Historical Society, at the Museum of the City of New York’s archives. The “when” is up in the air, but I’m hooked by the crook!

I have never been a fan of Paris Hilton, but she is stepping up to help in the fires, especially when it comes to helping animals, and I respect that. She’s doing more than the trio of ass-licking billionaires, that’s for sure.

Worked on the support letter, and it’s almost where I want it now. I think it will be ready to print, sign, and drop off by today.

Did a library run to drop off and pick up books. Turned around a medium sized coverage. Adapted a bunch of serial episodes into chapters for ANGEL HUNT. Did a bunch of admin work.

Read a memoir by someone whose work I admire, but the memoir was so filled with unaware white privilege that I was put off by it.

Had a rough night. Woke up around 1 with a racking cough. Took some honey, took what was supposed to be a 12-hour cough suppressant, used a cough drop. Finally managed to fall back to sleep. The cough suppressant kicked my ass, and it was hard to get up. It took Charlotte, Tessa, and Bea to get me out of bed around 6:30, and I was completely disoriented. The suppressing part only worked until about 7:30 or so, so much for 12 hours, but I continue to feel drugged and dragging.

If you’ve ever been curious about backstage, Playbill has an excellent article on the difference between a swing, an understudy, an alternate, and a standby. You can read it here.

I also read an article in THE CONVERSATION, spurred by the Neil Gaiman situation and the author-fan relationship (which can be carried over to any performer or public figure). While the points about consent and unequal power make sense, what the article ignored was how those coming into power next week will affect this with the way they encourage this type of behavior and don’t believe that consent is necessary.  In fact, they often enjoy when there isn’t consent. As usual, by wanting to appear apolitical, the piece appeases the right.

As much as I appreciate what President Biden has done for the past four years, the points he set out in his speech last night that need to happen to preserve democracy were all things he and Congress had the power to do in these past four years and chose not to do. I realize the pandemic had to take priority, but they could have enacted term limits, expanded the Supreme Court to remove the corrupt rightwing majority, and more. Most importantly, the instigator of the insurrection could have and should have been arrested and jailed by Jan. 22, 2021. It’s very frustrating. Yes, Manchin and Sinema caused as much intentional destruction as possible, but there were ways to work around them.

I also saw a term coined over on Bluesky for the Democrats who are appeasing and “working with” the incoming administration – Vichy Democrats, which I think is appropriate.

On today’s agenda: online meditation group, polishing the support letter and dropping it off at the A4A office, running a few errands. Hopefully, some coverage work will come in. There was a deadline yesterday, and we’ll see if it actually has any effect on our workload. And how long they take to pay us this time. I have a book review to finish and turn in, more adaptation work to do. I should get out a few pitches, work on the short story, and work on VICIOUS CRITIC. We’ll see how much actually gets done.

Have a good one.