HALLOWEEN PHOTO PHRIDAY!!!

The smell of fall always makes me think of Halloween. It was Dad’s holiday with us. Mom would stay at home and hand out candy, but Dad would spend the night with us walking from spooky home to spooky home armed with a flash light and a taste for snickers bars.

The week before the big day we would all decorate the house. My parents should have worked in the theatre because they had a flare for the dramatic and could create the most amazing décor with just household items. The rock garden on the way up to the front door was our graveyard with scary & funny epitaphs.

A giant ghost swung from the roof of the porch to greet you, carved Jack-O-Lanterns, spider webs and more kept your senses akimbo in case something undead suddenly rushed by….

The icing on this candy corn was my tiny lady bug record player wedged in the front window of the kitchen. Turning on its face was the Disney World Haunted House 45. It may have been made by the mouse but it was scary as hell in the dark. Clearly there was a time before iPods, I am a product of this time and therefore direct you to wikipedia if you do not understand the concept of “record player” or “45”.

Costumes were NEVER store bought. No plastic masks, or cheap one size fits all. Actually, wait, I think maybe one year we did that, I was Mickey Mouse and my sister, Laura was Boo-Berry from cereal fame. However, those masks were unbearably hot and made your face sweat. Completely grossed out we never went that way again. Especially, since I think Laura ate off pieces of the mouth of her mask in order to stuff the candy into her eager little face.

Our costumes were either made for us or we crafted items we already had into Halloween gear. Some of my favorites were, the wolfman, Mom had an old shag wig and we used my Dad’s winter fur lined gloves (turned inside out of course) as my paws. Add some plastic fangs and grrrrrrr!!!


We’d do themed, costumes too, Peter Pan (me) & Tinker Bell (Laura), or Han Solo (me, more than once) and Princess Lea (Laura), I also went as Zorro for a number of years, and in high school actually had the nerve to go as Ira Gershwin. I may never have “come out” to my parents but HELLO how gay was I???

I just remember Mom making us a spooky dinner and Dad buzzing around for batteries, Laura and I about to pop over the candy carnage that would ensue. Dad loved watching over us and always had a, “What’cha get!” when we ran down from the house with out newly acquired booty. At homes with bowls of candy already out he never let us take more than one, it actually didn’t even occur to me to do that until I was wised up by older kids. Who would rape bowls with greedy hands and giant bags.

Of course now I still approach Halloween like I’m 10. There are years the costumes just come to me in a flash of genius while others are a little weaker. Some classics are The Magic 8 Ball, (now since retired due to threats from fellow gays that I am never allowed to do it again…hahahah) Mama Cass, (PJ’s and a Ham Sandwich around my neck with a big bite missing) of course people also thought I was a latch key kid but hey a funny dead celebrity pun is a funny dead celebrity pun.

This year might be close to perfection. It’s unexpected and will not be lost in the crowd of Joe the Plumbers, Sarah Palin’s and Jokers. Pictures will be posted so stay tuned my little blog babies I can’t wait to hear what you think…..

Happy Halloween!!!!
BOO!

RAIN

"God is in the rain," unfortunately I had to swim through him on the way to work this morning. Around 8am Kayla, got off her chair and got into bed with me. She didn't wait for me to say, "Come on girl, jump!" She just jumped and unlike her usual foot of the bed circle dance she simply laid down beside me and put her head on the pillow. It was the sweetest thing ever. Clearly she is becoming more human and less dog through the years. It was so dark in my tree house that I thought it was the middle of the night but my alarm was set to pop off and I snoozed until 8:35. Dread of the outside world kept me snuggled in till way past I should get up and into well I'm so late why bother.

Needless to say today is dragging and I just wish I was still home in bed with the puppy. Who I am sure is watching her stories and curled up in the comforter awaiting my return.....

Eureka!!!

The secret to life is to imagine Sisyphus happy....and that is why my journey as a comedian makes perfect sense.
Knock-Knock.
Who's there?
Sisyphus.
Sisyphus who?
Shut up I'm trying to get this rock up to the Hollywood sign.

Photo Phriday

Nothing says imagination like China Town. If only this big guy could speak I wonder what tales he would tell?

Rounding third....and having seconds.

As October is quickly coming to a close I realized that I have worked 14 days in the month of October. Seems I could have gotten a lot more done with all that time off, but life has a way of filling up on you. Recently, spending 8 days off was a dream that included a picnic at the Cloisters and a four night culinary adventure with Kathryn & Gypsy who were in town from LA. Gypsy, an executive chef, flew in from the coast to shoot a new game show for the Food Network called "Chopped," a sort of mini Iron Chef. We ate at four unbelievable restaurants with various friends and were treated like rock stars by the staff and chefs of said eateries.

A highlight was being ogled by Joel Grey; yes Cabaret Tony Award winning Joel Grey, who was momentarily mistaken for Ron Rifkin but was so blown away by our collective beauty that he had to mention it to the chef who promptly reported to us how hot we were. It's good to know people who KNOW people. LOL.

I was surrounded by this amazing circle of women who have known each other for years, formed and performed together in their theatre company known as Ateh. They permeate my universe thru the power of facebook and beyond, I feel like maybe if I stay sans “partner” being alone won’t be so bad. Overall, I do have a very large and impressive group of friends. Collecting only the finest of individuals their light and love has been life saving in the face of the progression of my existence on this big blue marble, to say the very least. However on this particular occasion with these particular friends I had moments of sheer happiness from just being, breathing in, breathing out, passing the salt, making a joke, taking “in” life at it’s very basic elements made this weary heart feel lighter.

That old assumption that if you get a group of diverse women together they will eventually turn on each other is horse hockey. Surely thought up by a man and perpetuated by our human need for carnage, the death matches of Rome now replaced by the ever probing celebrity riddled covers of popular magazines, could not be further from the truth. I stood back from these ethereal women and just watched on more than one occasion how they treat each other. Their subtle interaction and reaction was at the very least comforting and at the other end completely intoxicating. Love comes in all forms and is shown in a myriad of ways for me it’s the tiny things that get me the most.

Perhaps, a throw away moment that no one really sees or acknowledges would be missed subconsciously if left out. The web of these small gestures, hold us together. Not everyone gets the sweeping romance, or life long soul mate who spackles in your cracks and reminds you that you are beautiful, safe and forever loved. That’s only for movies and novels that have the luxury of being scored and rewritten. The reality is that we all need to be reassured that we are important, that we matter, that our love matters. Finding that out over dinner made the oysters that much sweeter and this diner a tad bit more secure in her place at the table.

Mange!

BLOGGING OWED!

I need to blog up and recap my 8 crazy nights but you'll have to settle for a Photo Phriday until then....

I found my future home.....
GORGE!


Plus I love the glib advertisement: MANSION FOR SALE!! HAHAHA!!

8 Crazy Nights!!

Out of the month of October I will work a total of 14 days. Seriously, the High Holy Days all fell in the middle of the week which makes Brandy, the faux Jew, a happy girl indeed. Since the summer came and went with me NOT going anywhere, but Atlantic City for Vinnie’s 40th Birthday Gaming & Buffet Festival, I am looking forward to the coming week like a kid right before Christmas. I have a show on Saturday night, I plan to take Kayla to the park as much as possibly, I’m dusting off the old bicycle and taking the much improved baby leg for a test drive. The Biggest Loser has shown me that I might not be that fat yet, but it is possible so being “scared” skinny is gripping me into much needed action.

I also plan to focus on a few projects that have gone to the way side of late that need tending to.....A room of one’s own with Oscar Wilde as my muse might push forth something worth while that can be submitted for polite yet encouraging rejection letters.

October is one of my favorite months, not only is the crisp air and hot apple cider at every turn but it's time for the gayest of all holidays. HALLOWEEN! My costume has been in my mind for months, and I need to procure only a few items to pull it off, so now before the stores get too stressed I will go out in search of my master pieces that will transform me into a hideous creature indeed.......mwwhahahaha!

The first signs of the haunting season popped into view early this week, on my way to Anthony’s Birthday party at Bamboo 52!! I saw my first pumpkins. Small yet adorable behind bars they called out to me.



So much nicer than the squashed candy corn I saw this morning while walking the dog. I was sans camera but in all honesty it was too gruesome a sight to record pictorially. Poor little corns.

Photo Phriday....and I quote

“Let’s face it, there’s a touch of the homosexual in all of us. You see it’s not the cock and it’s not the twat. It’s the eyes don’t you know and sometimes the smell of lilocks."
~Tallulah Bankhead
(???? - December 12,1968)

God's Yard Sale

Was the god of Abraham cleaning out the closets and putting things up on ebay to make a little cash in these hard times? Walking down East 20th towards Avenue C I came upon this discarded pew from a Shul that I could NOT locate on the street??? Did it just fall from the sky? Did the great Synagogue in Olam Ha-Ba get new seating?? If so will ticket prices go up this High Holiday Season?? Poor pew....even God redecorates!