This post will probably make no sense except to those who were there.<\/p>\n
I woke up this morning and … I don’t know … I thought to myself: “September 29. September 29. What happened on this day? Why do I remember September 29?” I scanned the list in my head of birthdays. Then I got it. And in the next second, immediately – like a flickering newsreel – came this chain of memories.<\/p>\n
September 29, 1993. A rainy night. It was his birthday.<\/p>\n
Ann and I had actually put in a couple of DAYS preparation. Giggling to ourselves the entire time at how embarrassing we were. We would be totally serious about preparing, making lists, etc., and then either she or I would shout, “WE HAVE TO GET A LIFE!” But we plowed on.<\/p>\n
Ann actually took a day off work to get ready. I called her during the day, and said, “Hey, what’s up?” She said flatly, “I just baked 200 cupcakes.” Long long pause. Then she shouted, “HELP ME. I AM SO INSANE.”<\/p>\n
I matched her insanity. I had actually rehearsed a song to present as a gift to him on the night of his birthday in front of the crowd. Mitchell and I sat around the night before, working it out, discussing choices, creating props – yes – props. All of this was done with desperate seriousness<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Me: “So … on that line, do you think I should drop my voice to a whisper, or …?”
\nMitchell: “No, no … I think it should be much more up-front … Like – you are making no bones about it …”
\nMe: “Like this?” I sing the line in question as Mitchell suggested. Mitchell then gave me notes.<\/p>\n
I was going to sing “You Made Me Love You” – but the idea behind my performance was that it would be like Marilyn’s “Happy Birthday” to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. So we used that as our theme – and moved on accordingly with our rehearsals. Yes. Rehearsals. As though we were getting PAID for this.<\/p>\n
All along, as I rehearsed my song, Mitchell was cutting up pieces of black construction paper – for part of my prop. All so serious. He was measuring stuff out with a ruler, his face serious, concentrated … I had completely sucked him into my crazy web.<\/p>\n
Later, I said to Mitchell: “I am so geeky. I PREPARED A SONG.”<\/p>\n
Mitchell said, “Sheila, please. If you’re a geek, then what am I? I spent an hour last night cutting out small pieces of black paper with the utmost seriousness.”<\/p>\n
I had an outfit picked out. What was I going for? “Natalie Wood in Rebel without a cause<\/a><\/i>” was the theme of my costume. I curled my hair, big red curls. I had a long red scarf around my neck. Bright red lips. Pale skin.<\/p>\n Ann came to pick me up. Mitchell would be meeting us there later. I went racing out to her car, giggling like a maniac. There was a drizzle. We were going to be an hour and a half early for the show. This was so embarrassing. We had to talk ourselves down off the ledge about this. “Okay, we’re just going to have to be total geeks and accept it.”<\/p>\n Ann was dressed to the nines. She smelled great, and her heels clacked on the damp pavement, in an important-sounding way. I got in her car, and Ann gestured at the back seat – with a kind of shameful serious glee in her eyes. There I saw the stacked up pans of cupcakes. I couldn’t speak. I just stared at them. What had happened? Why were we SO excited for this man’s birthday? Why were we such lunatics? Where were the brakes? Where was the little voice saying, “Uhm … girls. Calm down.”<\/p>\n If the voice existed, we ignored it. As Ann Marie has said countless times: “I will<\/i> propel myself into the blazing star.” She says it in kind of a threatening tone, too, like: “Don’t even think I won’t!” I am shaking with laughter right now.<\/p>\n She was my perfect partner in crime. We both propelled ourselves into the blazing star without embarrassment.<\/p>\n The night came off without a hitch. Ann Marie set up a small area in the corner where she could pass out cupcakes to the crowd. The image of Ann, seriously doing this in a NIGHTCLUB, is a humorous memory that will never leave me.<\/p>\n My song was … well. Must not brag. But let me say that it came off juuuuuuuust as I planned. It was seriously cool<\/i>. I took OVER that whole joint. Literally. I just took OVER. Right before I started singing into the mike – it occurred to me that the entire nightclub wasn’t as silent as I wanted it to be – so I gently, gently shushed the crowd. And THEY OBEYED. Mitchell said to me later, “Who do you think you are, Tina Turner?”<\/p>\n One of the best birthdays ever. And it wasn’t even mine.<\/p>\n Propelling yourself into the blazing star means, obviously, you get burnt. But … for me … there’s no other way to live. Into the blazing star. Ouch!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post will probably make no sense except to those who were there. I woke up this morning and … I don’t know … I thought to myself: “September 29. September 29. What happened on this day? Why do I … Continue reading
![Natalie Wood in Rebel without a cause<\/a><\/i>” was the theme of my costume. I curled my hair, big red curls. I had a long red scarf around my neck. Bright red lips. Pale skin.<\/p>\nAnn came to pick me up. Mitchell would be meeting us there later. I went racing out to her car, giggling like a maniac. There was a drizzle. We were going to be an hour and a half early for the show. This was so embarrassing. We had to talk ourselves down off the ledge about this. “Okay, we’re just going to have to be total geeks and accept it.”<\/p>\nAnn was dressed to the nines. She smelled great, and her heels clacked on the damp pavement, in an important-sounding way. I got in her car, and Ann gestured at the back seat – with a kind of shameful serious glee in her eyes. There I saw the stacked up pans of cupcakes. I couldn’t speak. I just stared at them. What had happened? Why were we SO excited for this man’s birthday? Why were we such lunatics? Where were the brakes? Where was the little voice saying, “Uhm … girls. Calm down.”<\/p>\nIf the voice existed, we ignored it. As Ann Marie has said countless times: “I will<\/i> propel myself into the blazing star.” She says it in kind of a threatening tone, too, like: “Don’t even think I won’t!” I am shaking with laughter right now.<\/p>\nShe was my perfect partner in crime. We both propelled ourselves into the blazing star without embarrassment.<\/p>\nThe night came off without a hitch. Ann Marie set up a small area in the corner where she could pass out cupcakes to the crowd. The image of Ann, seriously doing this in a NIGHTCLUB, is a humorous memory that will never leave me.<\/p>\nMy song was … well. Must not brag. But let me say that it came off juuuuuuuust as I planned. It was seriously cool<\/i>. I took OVER that whole joint. Literally. I just took OVER. Right before I started singing into the mike – it occurred to me that the entire nightclub wasn’t as silent as I wanted it to be – so I gently, gently shushed the crowd. And THEY OBEYED. Mitchell said to me later, “Who do you think you are, Tina Turner?”<\/p>\nOne of the best birthdays ever. And it wasn’t even mine.<\/p>\nPropelling yourself into the blazing star means, obviously, you get burnt. But … for me … there’s no other way to live. Into the blazing star. Ouch!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This post will probably make no sense except to those who were there. I woke up this morning and … I don’t know … I thought to myself: “September 29. September 29. What happened on this day? Why do I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19532,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3669\/revisions\/19532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/members.shaw.ca\/giant\/rebel02.jpg\"){kind=link}