I Married Ethel Merman
Volume 3 Book 2 Part 9 of
Living in the Bonus Round


Lounging around in the sunny haze of Hollywood
on a concrete couch at Hollywood/Highland.

[ Book 3-1 ] -- [ Pt 1 ] [ Pt 2 ] [ Pt 3 ] [ Pt 4 ] [ Pt 5 ]
[ Pt 6 ] [ Pt 7 ] [ Pt 8 ] [ Pt 9 ] -- [ Book 3-3 ]
Jan. 22-25, 2003.
A Goodbye Hollywood Picturefest!

David Ehrenstein and hatrack!

This is David Ehrenstein. He interviewed me for an article about HIV that he's writing for the Advocate. David Ehrenstein makes me laugh. It's not that he's a comedian. He's actually a film critic and political commentator. In our discussion rooms, he'll say things so outrageously "David" that I just fall on the floor. David has one of the best blogs on the internet. He just started doing it not too long ago. Very political. Very thorough. He will critique an article or an essay from someone in the media or the world of politics or even show business line by line. He will pull it apart, cut it into pieces, and cruelly stomp on it until it is a dead carcass, bled, gutted and cleaned.

My friend Bev talks about almost being a nun and ending up a college drop-out in Jan. 24 journal entry. Myself, I did a major "drop-out" after my second year of college. I got an AA Degree in Music Ed (like a good Baptist choir director should) and then went to Dallas to this big church, where I had a total emotional meltdown. I've never really written about that time. I hardly ever think about it. But I realize now that when I chose to be a band member rather than an academic, it changed the course of my life. It was a different kind of education, but it taught me to be a decent player. (I'm remembering how much I enjoyed just being Amy Coleman's pianist/sidekick in Rochester). Oh, and I'm the band in this new musical called The Big Voice. You might have heard of it.

Speaking of Rochester, on the day before we were to leave, I had an unexpected visit from Lesli! Lesli was the Stage Manager for TLS-Rochester and she had never been to Hollywood. So we decided to meet at the Hollywood/Highland subway station and take pictures. My last chance for a Hollywood PicFest before heading east.

It
The newly remodeled Chinese Theatre.


Inside the Hollywood/Highland shopping center are elephants.


 

Next down the block is the Kodak Theatre
where we will go to receive our next GLAAD Media Award
(if we win, of course).

This is the glamorous entranceway.


The other way down Hollywood it's a little less glamorous.


Across the street is the famous Roosevelt Hotel.
The first public staged reading of TLS was here in the Cinegrill.


And finally, the Hollywood sign bathed in the gentle haze of smog.
Goodbye, El Lay. 
Next: The Great Frozen Northeast!

[ Book 3-1 ] -- [ Pt 1 ] [ Pt 2 ] [ Pt 3 ] [ Pt 4 ] [ Pt 5 ]
[ Pt 6 ] [ Pt 7 ] [ Pt 8 ] [ Pt 9 ]
© 1996-2003 by Steve Schalchlin.
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