Neil Diamond "Holly Holy" on The Ed Sullivan Show

Almost forgot about this favorite song. A song to close out the Sixties (November 30, 1969). I started to listen to pop music in earnest in January, 1969.  Symbolism of the simple set here is very harmonious with Hopi ideals.

 

"Grease" - Woodland Opera House - August 8, 2026

On Saturday evening, August 8th, I went to see "Grease" at the Woodland Opera House, in order to see Rachel Rycerz play Miss Lynch, and to shake loose some memories, since I had played Eugene in DMTC's "Grease" in April, 2003. 

The cast is solid, with Hayden Williams-Moran as Danny and Emilie Schwarz as Sandy; William Kuykendall as Teen Angel and Miller Traum as Johnny Casino. Maria Tilve is excellent as Rizzo, as is Amelia Robinson-Burmester as Marty. And Rachel Rycerz plays Miss Lynch very well! 

After the show, I conversed with Erik Catalan, who directed this show - his first directing job, apparently. Usually Erik is center stage. I asked him if he wanted to be in the show. He didn't answer directly, but I think the answer is yes. It certainly looked like fun. How long have I known Erik? Since 1998? 

I was surprised by "Raining on Prom Night," which is typically a solo by Sandy, but here featured four vocalists (Lauren Battaglia, Kaori Catalan, Lela Rose, and Juniper Thompson). Erik explained that the change helped the flow of the show. (Or something like that; maybe it's to give Sandy some rest? I dunno. I wasn't paying close attention, thinking instead how theater has kept Erik young.) 

This version of "Grease" includes songs from the movie. The first dance number, "Grease," is done to the Frankie Valli song whose style never fit with the rest of the show, but was a concession to the disco times of 1978, when the movie was released. I liked the fact that the entire company did this dance number, but thought it needs even more precision to have maximum effect. The other dances were fine!

Curtain descends after bows....   

Skating On Edge of Disaster

I felt I was skirting the edge of disaster on the night of seeing Green Valley Theater's "Disaster! The Musical." I tried to prepare. Since I hadn't been on the Cosumnes River College (CRC) campus for quite a few years, since well-before the pandemic, I made sure to arrive with twenty minutes to spare for meeting any challenges. 

My first problem after entering the west side of campus was trying to comply with the Cosumnes River College (CRC) parking-permit requirement. I waited in a long line of vehicles to obtain the permit, but when I got the permit dispenser I could not figure out the proper process. I grew increasingly desperate as the line of impatient motorists behind me grew, so I finally threw my hands up in exasperation and drove over to the east side of campus, where I found a parking permit dispenser in a remote parking lot where I could carefully study the tutorial on the dispenser's screen in order to finally obtain the $2 daily parking permit. 

Then there was the challenge of actually finding the theater. I have supreme confidence in my ability to find my way in any challenging geographic situation, no matter what. That meant that, yes, I was soon lost. Trusting Apple Maps on my trusty iPhone, I noted that they helpfully label the theater on their map of the CRC campus, but unfortunately their label is on the wrong building. After meeting another lost theater patron, and waving my wallet at a group of musical-theater enthusiasts singing a strange song about needing money (college campuses can be strange afterhours), we finally found the theater, ten minutes late, but fortunately curtain time was late too, so all was well. 

After the show, I wandered back across the empty, confusing campus in search of my car in that remote eastern lot. Good, there it is! But as I got in and started driving away, in the remote distance, someone was waving a light on his phone, trying in a remote feeble way to flag me down. What kind of chaos is this? I worried because some of Sacramento's most-difficult gang territories aren't that far from the CRC campus, and I hadn't been in this neighborhood for years (not since working with the 2020 census, stumbling into yards labeled "beware of dog" and finding lonely Pitbulls needing company). 

It was a black man in guerilla garb, age somewhat indeterminate, but maybe about 40. What did he need? He explained his predicament. He had been begging for money at a nearby stop sign for hours but had only collected $21. He was trying to travel to his father's house near the intersection of Elverta and Watt. 

I pondered this request. He wanted to travel from Sacramento's far-southern suburbs, through the center of the sprawling city, to Sacramento's far-northern suburbs, starting this journey at 11 pm? This was the most-ridiculous story I had ever heard. No one does anything like this - without a car the challenges are simply too great - which meant that his story could only be true. 

So I told him to jump in and keep his money. We had a cabbages-and-kings kind of conversation on the long drive and I was finally able to drop him off, coincidentally, not far from my friend Joe the Plumber's storage unit, which Joe secured in the most-inconvenient-possible location in the city for his purposes, for reasons that still elude me. 

So, all was well, and disaster averted.

"Disaster! - The Musical" - Green Valley Theater Company

Opening night of Green Valley Theatre Company's "Disaster! The Musical," at Cosumnes River College (CRC), was excellent! 

There's nothing better than the pop tunes of the 70s and the various disaster movies of 70s, and combining the two means a good time will be had. 

Probably the cleverest song is the opening song, "Hot Stuff," which is adapted for rapid exposition. The second-cleverest to me was "25 or 6 to 4." I got so caught up in the show that the song "Ben" somehow didn't register with me, since one of the characters is named Ben (no doubt named just for this purpose). 

A floating casino experiencing repeated disasters is a clever setting. I'd like to see a sequel, maybe based on my favorite disaster movie, the first disaster movie, "Airport" (1970). Or dare I hope? "Airplane" (1980)? 

Post-show mixing pictured here.