'School of Rock' (backdated)

    It’s the end of the month, the last day of the month in fact, Friday, July 31st, 2026, and I still haven’t come up with a subject to meet my quota of four posts per month.

    I know, I’ll post about the 23rd, but backdate the entry to a week ago last Friday, the day after. There is a reason for this and for keeping the time of day 10:36 AM, which it is at the moment.

    First off, I already, have a post for the 23rd of July, which as you know marked the 72nd birthday of my twin sister and I.

    Secondly, had I chosen to write on this subject, involving an evening event, I most likely would have begun doing so the following morning of the 24th. 

    So what happened? My sister Yvette and her friend, Andy Hernandez, decided to treat me on my birthday to see a live theatrical performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical play ‘School of Rock’ based on the 2003 film of the same name. The play was a presentation of Fairfield’s Missouri Street Theatre (MST) and the heart of the city’s Downtown Theatre was the venue.

    However, before I begin relaying my impressions of the production, I want to veer away for a moment to touch upon a melancholy matter having to do with turning seventy two, Genie and I are now older than are late, middle sister Angelica was at the time of her passing, which just a month and a half shy of her seventy second birthday, five years ago. It’s sobering to realize we have outlived her. I wish Angie were still with us instead. Due to our respective ages being similar to her, and our reaching seventy two, whereas she did not, this specific birthday was going to be unavoidably overshadowed by those particular facts. At least for me in part. I was with Angie, helping her when she left us. I cannot forget her.

     Life, goes on, and Angie would have wanted nothing but our happiness, so sure, let’s celebrate cheer, and take in a rock ‘n’ roll musical!

    It should be noted that I as an artist was also involved, among other crafts, in the thespian arts during my schooling. I have been on stage as an actor, as a touring singer and band member, I have worked behind the camera on set both professionally in television and film, so I come to the performance as one already initiated and acquainted with the lively arts.

1972 and Eighteen, Four Times Over

    72.

    1972.

    What, besides the pair of digits, have they in common?

    Well, for me on this day, July 23rd, 1972, I turned 18 and adult (as did my twin sister.)    

    Whereas today, we're eighteen again; for the fourth time.

    72.

    So to commemorate the occasion and coincidence, the summer of '72, being 18 the first time - sorry Michel Legrand, Peter Nero, and Bobby Goldsboro - and turning 72 (a multiple of 18) I thought, in fun, to play the number two Billboard chart topper for the week starting July 23rd, 1972 and ending July 29th. 

    'Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)' by Looking Glass.

Brandy, imaged by ChatGPT based on my prompts.

 

 -Official VEVO Music Video-

     Now, I suppose I could have chosen the top Billboard tune for that week, but that would have left me 'Alone Again (Naturally).'* 

 

;-) 


-FIN-

ChatGPT's accidental second image, mistaking my follow-up comment for a request.

 

*On July 23rd, 1972, Gilbert O'Sullivan (Raymond Edward O'Sullivan) with his melancholic ballad, held the top slot that week and would not relinquish it until August 26th, when Brandy at last claimed the title.

 

 

 

 

Dawnita Perryman and Her July 4th 'Break It Down' Line Dancers

 From my Facebook and YouTube: 

A freeze frame from the video below.

    Enjoying the Sestercentennial last Saturday with my sisters Yvette and Georgene, one of them a member of Dawnita Perryman's 'Break It Down' Line Dance class. As my sister was in the midst of the group, making it difficult to get a clean clean unobstructed view of her, I chose to concentrate on the instructor instead, and the class as a whole.

TRT: 10:48  

 Below is a copy of the announcement.

Mad Hatter Holiday Festival flyer.

 

     -FIN-

 

Marx "Prehistoric Times'

 Another nostalgic stroll down memory lane...

     My twin sister saw them first and excitedly pointed to the display window. "Ricky look! Look!" I did. My eyes got big and my mouth must have dropped open. Dinosaurs vacuum packed in plastic! Prehistoric monsters featured in either the front window of  J.J. Newberry's* or Woolworth's side-by-side department stores located on 'The Miracle Mile'** nearest 23rd Street. The year was 1960 sometime in the late fall. Night had already fallen, making the brightly lit windows displays all the more inviting. We, my twin sister, our two older sisters, and mom were headed south, walking along the west side of Mission with 23rd Street not too far away. Perhaps our mom was taking us to Sears on Mission and Army Streets, or to Kress, or the Mission Branch Public Library, I cannot say, but my twin and I brought everyone to an abrupt halt.

     "Ooh Mommie!" I must have cried. Hoping the combined enthusiasm of my twin and I would impress her to an urgency of some sort as my older sisters describe the various dinosaurs on display. Clearly our mother could see where our gaze had followed: from the Marx Toys' 'Prehistoric Monsters' subset, featuring eight dinosaurs to, the toy manufacturer's 'Prehistoric Times' complete play set of sixty pieces laid out across the base of the display case including terrain, plants, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mammoths, sloths, cavemen, you name it.

    "Too expensive," Mother informed us, and with that we were on our way. My twin and I would have to settle for the window shopping experience and nothing more. 

 Marx Toys' 'Prehistoric Monsters' subset in its original package (a little worse for wear, tear, and shrinkage.)

 

 

 

 

 

     Not long after that night, our dad presented us with the subset of eight 'Prehistoric Monsters'. I don't it was Christmas Day, but before that. Oh joy, oh joy! There were only the eight molded creatures: the Triceratops, the Trachodon, the Stegosaurus, the Dimetrodon the Tyrannosaurus, the Allosaurus, the Ankylosaurus, and the Brontosaurus, but they were by far the most important.

Shown here, sans color, are the Marx Toys' eight, plastic 'Prehistoric Monsters' (terrain not included.)

 

  For decades they stayed in our possession until February 10, 1998, when as the remaining occupant of our family home, I had to move out upon its sale, and had to let go the final two monsters: the gray T-Rex, and the green sauropod.

Marx Toys 'Prehistoric Times' Complete Play Set (artwork from the box cover lid.)

-FIN-

 

*  J.J. Newberry Co., also titled the 5·10·25 Cent Store, was housed on the ground floor of the Mission Masonic Temple. F.W. Woolworth Co. was adjacent, occupying the actual northwest corner of Mission and 23rd Streets.

**'The Miracle Mile' was Mission Street from 16th Street to Army (now Cesar Chavez) Street.