FATHER'S DAY.

Interesting dynamic today, the day before Father's Day.
Anyone who knows me personally knows that I have a major addiction to theatre a minor addiction to puppetry and an avocation of making and loving one of a kind artist dolls(all valuable because without them I would never have been able to feed my children or pay the rent) as well as having six children, a wonderful wife and both the wife and I have serious health problems.

All of these came into play today. Starting with puppetry, today, in Savannah (actually yesterday, today and tomorrow) they are having the Southeastern Puppet Festival, called Puppet Gumbo in the publicity. One of the people involved in the organization of this event is one of my favorite people, Angela Beasley, a puppeteer with a wonderful company she calls Puppet People, who (If the story told is true) got into puppetry by joining Junior League. (The story is not that simple but is too long to tell today) For years, while I was teaching puppetry at Georgia Southern we interacted a lot, performed at some of the same events and, I think, learned a lot from each other (At least I learned a lot from her)

When the festival was first announced Janet and I made plans to attend the whole thing, but as the time elapsed and we never seemed to get scheduled for her aortal surgery doing three days was obviously too much and we tentatively made plans to go to Savannah today for the outdoor puppet parade and a performance by Hobey Ford, a puppeteer whose work I admire very much.
Then I discovered that my daughter was coming from South Carolina, two sons were coming over to clean around the pergola so that we can cook out there tomorrow, and, to top it off, Janet got quite ill at breakfast time this morning and had to rest. That took care of the puppetry, we simply couldn't get away, but the family stuff was wonderful, several friends dropped by (for a few minutes each) and we had a wonderful day.

About dollmaking and dolls: About a month ago, my son in Mississippi called, and one of the things he said was that he had found me a wonderful Father's Day Present, but couldn't figure out how to send it. He didn't say what it was (of course) but his mother advised him to take it to a UPS store and ask them to pack it. Yesterday evening, about bed time the UPS man came by with a package that looked like it had been kicked down the stairs, but which was, at least, intact.
I opened it to find a really wonderful eighteen inch (about) sculpt of what was obviously Lady Macbeth. She is lovely, and I was really excited. (I don't sculpt women very well, so I am thrilled by those who do) I will take a picture and post it tomorrow, (I am old tonight). I wrote to my colleagues on the dollmakers listserve and found the name of the seller, her mother, and have been promised the name of the sculptor. I have been dancing around the house, showing her to every soul that enters.

About theatre. My daughter brought a CD of the remake of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY. It was filmed on the stage as it was presented last year on Broadway. It was excellent. Company is one of those shows that demands both acting, singing and instrumental skillis of the performers, and it was really fine. One thing it brought to mind is the way television has, sort of, made a mishmash of everything. I remember the start of the Arts and Entertainment channel when so many plays and concerts were broadcast as if they were live, showing the action on the stage as it was theatrically performed. I couldn't help contrasting Sweeney Todd shown that way (as a stage presentation televised) with the recent movie of the same. No comparison (and less than half the blood). I still play tapes (gradually going rotten) of Shakespeare, Shaw, and grand operal that were broadcast on A and E, and it makes me sad to see it become a pit of movie and tv reruns with the occasional World War II newsfilm..

Well that's all folks. I think I will be able to avoid posting on politics for at least another month or two.