A relatively new friend came over yesterday to grab lunch and talk shop.
He is a writer type in the film, tv, and theater vein. He is also one of the very few who have seen my new place in person. I am still in that tender stage of settling in, where letting someone cross the threshold feels oddly intimate. Like inviting someone into my head, my habits, and my work-in-progress life.
As soon as he stepped inside, he spotted my ukulele and asked if he could play it. “Of course you can,” I replied. And play he did. What a lovely surprise.
I’m learning, slowly and surely, that my new friend is talented in so many, many ways. Writer. Performer. Musician. Courage factory. Creative octopus with more ideas than time to make them happen.
There was something so calming about hearing him play a song I’d never heard before, but that still felt familiar. As he sight-read from his phone, singing quietly along, I got goosebumps and felt all warm and fuzzy inside.
His impromptu performance in my living room inspired me hours later to pick up my tenor uke and practice strumming the handful of chords I know by heart.
Did I mention I can be a slow learner?
But a determined one.
After his performance, we headed to a local favorite diner and ordered some yummy food. Between sips and bites, we cussed and discussed our creative avenues, our overlapping interests, and the strange intersections where our ideas tend to collide.
I love getting to know fellow creatives. It makes my brain giddy with delight to meet people who share my wide-ranging interests and my obsession with art in all its forms.
Despite our 20+ year age difference, my new friend inspires me with his courage to try things and make them work to his advantage. He reminds me that play matters. Experimentation matters. Curiosity matters.
You don’t need to be the best at something to enjoy it. You only need to try it out, add some love, and see what happens.
Maybe that’s why the ukulele called out to both of us:
It’s an instrument rooted in joy.
Fewer strings. Fewer expectations.
More room to play. More room to grow.
More room to let the lullaby find you.
By the time I got home after lunch, I felt that little creative spark glowing again.
Not a fire. Not a blaze. Just a warm flicker that said, “Keep going!”
Keep learning your chords.
Keep making new friends.
Keep opening the door…to whatever inspires you next.
Keep calm and play on, players!
Clint 🌈✌️
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On Returning to My Body, and Choosing to Stay (Queer Resilience)
NOTE: I highly recommend this beautiful, thoughtful essay (by new-to-me writer Nyle) about recovering from a life-threatening injury and choosing your place in a world full of chaos and uncertainty. It definitely struck a chord!PalCinema Review: Wicked: For Good (PalCinema, Television, & Music)
ON THIS DAY = NOVEMBER 19
BIRTHDAYS
1889 = Clifton Webb = American actor, dancer, and singer 🌈
1905 = Eleanor Audley = American actor
1905 = Tommy Dorsey = American composer and bandleader
1920 = Gene Tierney = American actor and singer
1924 = William Russell = English actor
1933 = Larry King = American journalist and talk show host
1934 = Jim Foster = American activist 🌈
1935 = Jack Welch = American engineer, businessman, and author
1936 = Dick Cavett = American actor and talk show host
1938 = Ted Turner = American businessman and philanthropist
1941 = Dan Haggerty = American actor and producer
1942 = Calvin Klein = American fashion designer 🌈
1953 = Robert Beltran = American actor
1953 = Tom Villard = American actor 🌈
1954 = Kathleen Quinlan = American actor
1955 = Steven Powsner = American attorney and activist 🌈
1958 = Charlie Kaufman = American filmmaker
1959 = Allison Janney = American actor
1959 = Timothy Conigrave = Australian actor, writer and activist 🌈
1961 = Meg Ryan = American actor and producer
1962 = Jodie Foster = American actor, film director and producer 🌈
1965 = Paul Weitz = American actor and filmmaker
1966 = Jason Scott Lee = American actor and martial artist
1966 = Rocco DiSpirito = American chef and author
1973 = Savion Glover = American dancer and choreographer
1977 = Reid Scott = American actor
1979 = Barry Jenkins = American director, screenwriter, and producer
1983 = Adam Driver = American actor
1986 = Jeannie Ortega = American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
EVENTS
1916 = Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures.
1999 = John Carpenter becomes the first person to win the top prize in the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
Transgender Awareness Week (November 13-19)
PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Change before you have to.”
Jack Welch
https://youtu.be/cZ2IajyHn7U?si=R4S67sgNBfvqO_kW
Round the Horn sample show. A very camp couple were featured most times called Jules and Sandy. I will dive back into the rabbit hole to get some sound bites. I don't know if there were anything to compare with in the 🇺🇸 In these woke times these broadcasts would never be made. It's all pure 🏴🇬🇧 inuation humour, we are masters of it here. Cheers DougT
Now Mr Clint in days of yore and radio light entertainment was the standard on Sundays. Morning church then mums everywhere were busy preparing the Sunday roast dinner. The males were down the pub having a few beers. Step forward a whole raft of light entertainment radio shows, both comedy or musical. The following is a synopsis of a typical few hours before evening church.
Besides Round the Horne, several other popular radio shows were broadcast on Sunday lunchtimes, primarily on the BBC Home Service and later BBC Radio 4.
Key shows in that slot included:
Beyond Our Ken: This show ran from 1958 to 1964 and featured largely the same cast as Round the Horne (including Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, and Betty Marsden). Round the Horne was its direct successor in the Sunday lunchtime slot.
The Navy Lark: This long-running sitcom (1959–1976) was a staple of the Sunday lunchtime schedule, often airing around the same time as Round the Horne.
The Clitheroe Kid: Another popular and long-running comedy that was frequently broadcast during the Sunday lunchtime/afternoon period.
Educating Archie: Popular in the 1950s, this show often preceded the later comedies like The Navy Lark.
Family Favourites (later Two-Way Family Favourites): This music request show was very popular and aired around the lunchtime period, bridging the gap between morning and afternoon programming.
The Billy Cotton Band Show: This show, featuring music and comedy, was also part of the typical Sunday sequence following Family Favourites.
The Sunday lunchtime period on the BBC was a popular slot for light entertainment and comedy, designed for family listening, and these shows formed a significant part of that tradition for decades.
Now at that time I was too young to fully appreciate the more 'adult humour' we kids just laughed in time to the studio audience. I'll post a broadcast of a Round the Horn show for your entertainment. But honestly this was the revered BBC I'm talking about 😯 Hell knows how they got away with it. Cheers DougT