Brunch in Andersonville with friends. Just like old times. I am always happy to see the things that do NOT change (the fabulous “Jesus Saves” church with its old-fashioned neon sign, Ann Sather, Presence – my favorite store ever, Reza’s – I went on a date there once – yummy food) and then the new things. Like Hamburger Mary’s on Balmoral and Clark. What a FUN joint. Open for brunch. Fabulous music. We heard: “There’s Always Tomorrow” from Rudolph, “All I want for Christmas” – by Mariah (“It’s a modern Christmas classic,” announced Mitchell), “Papa Can You Hear Me” from Yentl … etc.<\/p>\n
Eric met us (oh, and Eric gave me a makeover on Saturday – he works at the Smashbox<\/a> counter at Macy’s – that USED to be Marshall Field … and Mitchell and I stopped by – and Eric just did me UP … I’ll have to write more about that later, it was awesome – Eric is totally an artist. I could not believe the transformation in my face. But it was subtle – I still looked like me – just completely glamourous, and much younger. Well done, you! And what the hell, I splurged – and bought some fancy-ass makeup – I’m really happy) – and Kate and the baby came too. Mitchell dashed up and down Clark like a maniac, arranging to have some cheapo furniture shipped back to his apartment from a second-hand store – I could see him running by the window on occasion – however, he eventually joined us – and we all sat around, and drank coffee, had a big brunch, and baby-worshipped. He was just sleeping for the most part, but still. It’s hard to not just look at him all the time. Oh, and Kate regaled us with her brrrrrrrillllliant (and terrifying) Ann Miller imitation. We HOWLED. “way down SOUTH …” etc. I’ve seen Kate’s boozy Liza, I’ve seen Kate’s passive-aggressive emotionally tormented smile-that-looks-like-a-wince “Robin” (“I’ve never felt so free”) – I’ve seen many of her characters – but never her Ann Miller. Something really frightening happened to her eyes when she hit the word “SOUTH”. They went a little bit dead.<\/p>\n Much hilarity when discussing Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte<\/a><\/i>. Mitchell said, “Someone informed Agnes Moorehead that she should play the role as a fat black woman.” Mitchell did her classic line: “I don’ know nothin’ ’bout that ripped up old dreeeesss.” If you know how she says that line, then you will know that Agnes Moorehead is the weirdest most specific and yet most bizarre actress on the planet. I love her. That is one of the weirdest performances in film history. “I don’ know nothin’ ;bout that rippped up old dreeeesss.” Uhm – what? And then of course Alex and Mitchell have this whole joke about Olivia de Havilland’s response to that screechy insanity. “She’s in a different movie,” said Mitchell. Cut back to Olivia. She’s all soft focus and blurry. She says in a soft mellifluous and yet somehow ominous voice, “But you do know … that it was rrrrripped …” with lots of gentle contortions with her mouth – which Alex and Mitchell have completely exaggerated beyond any recognition to the original.<\/p>\n Oh – and we kind of cannot stop talking about Dreamgirls<\/i>. We are all about Dreamgirls<\/i>. We cannot wait for Dreamgirls<\/i>. I don’t know anyone who is not counting the days for that movie to open. Mitchell said, “I’m so excited for that movie to open that sometimes I forget to even wash myself.” We talked about it off and on for days. Dreamgirls, Dreamgirls, Dreamgirls<\/i>. Next week cannot come soon enough. I wish we could all go together.<\/p>\n I went back to Kate’s place and we spent hours hanging out, talking, and basically baby-worshipping. Everything he did we oohed and ahhed over. We just sat and stared at him sleeping, watching little flickers of … emotions? Gas? … pass over his face. He’s perfect. It was just great to see her with him, to see Tim with him – to talk to them about their new roles, how they’re doing, all that stuff. I loved it.<\/p>\n Made me wish I lived closer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brunch in Andersonville with friends. Just like old times. I am always happy to see the things that do NOT change (the fabulous “Jesus Saves” church with its old-fashioned neon sign, Ann Sather, Presence – my favorite store ever, Reza’s … Continue reading