Kansas City Road Trip, Day Two

Normalcy

The second day of my visit with my best friend was spent doing relatively ordinary stuff, but it had its ups and downs. It was somewhat more tiring than we would have liked, but in the end it was a very good day, even though my beloved Kansas City Royals got blown out 8-3 by the Baltimore Orioles (meaning the game Skip and I are attending later today will be the rubber game of the series).

Any day that ends with coconut cake is a good day...

"Needs more ants."

That line hasn't gotten any funnier since the last time...

Happy Birthday!

Police Gazette, 1955

On April 24, 1904 Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands.









de Kooning painted in a style that came to be called Abstract expressionism. He was one of the painters who came to be known as the New York School, a group that includes two of my other favorite artists, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.

Night's Watch, Junior Edition

From the delightful comic strip FoxTrot, by Bill Amend, which you should read every Sunday, as I do.

Until Next Time...

On April 24, 1942 Barbra Streisand was born in Brooklyn, New York. Babs is the test case for the theory that we should ignore the political opinions of our performing artists: Streisand's political views are, to put it politely, ill-informed and juvenile (not to mention infuriating), but she sings like an angel. I make allowances.

Because she was such a tremendous vocal talent, Streisand was always underrated as an actress, even though she won an Academy Award (for Funny Girl, her first film). I have enjoyed her performances in a variety of films that had no musical component whatsoever.

Original 1975 "one sheet" poster

In 1975 Streisand starred along with James Caan in Funny Lady, a sequel to her Oscar-winning Funny Girl.

Even though the film is a highly fictionalized account of Fanny Brice's relationship with Billy Rose, I didn't care about its relative lack of historical accuracy. It was just one hell of a movie!

Featuring songs by Kansas Citian John Kander and his partner Fred Ebb, it was the kind of star vehicle that allowed Streisand to shine. It was also quite literally the kind of musical they don't make anymore, as the saying goes. That's our loss. Funny Lady is right at the top of my list of movie musicals
I never get tired of watching.


Today's send-off is the scene from Funny Lady in which Streisand performs "How Lucky Can You Get?" in an empty theater. It's one of the best moments in the film, and one of my favorite movie musical moments ever. Enjoy...