My Favorite Artists/Future Blog Posts/Med Updates/Upcoming LP

I've actually started the listening for the next article in the My Favorites Artists Series, Rush. They have an extensive discography, so it's going to take awhile, but I think I can get through. I might have a little free time coming.

Might even use some time to pound out a few more album reviews I had wanted to get to but haven't been able to. And SOTD looks to be back at full strength, so we'll see if we can keep that going (and if I can keep from getting too crazed by it if we do).

As for the med stuff, I had the port surgically placed into me last Thursday, and had my first chemo treatment that afternoon. They changed the chemo plan at the last minute, based on the fact that a second biopsy has determined a point of origin for the cancer - it started in the bioducts in the area between my liver and gall bladder.

The treatment itself was, dare I say, almost pleasant. They gave me nice nurses who put me in a comfy recliner and gave me a blanket. After the first one gave me some extensive education on this protocol and what to expect, I mostly listened to my MP3 player for the next 3 hours (which gave me a chance to start re-listening to my potential Album-of-the-Year stuff).

One thing I've learned quickly is that when people in your life who have gone through chemo or helped a loved one to go through it try to tell you about it, they often can't, because there isn't really just one chemo - everyone's plans get individually tailored with different chemicals and time periods, based on where the doctors believe the point of origin is, what stage you're in, etc. I was literally in surgery to get the port put in when the doctor called Denise about the results of the redone biopsy. This changed which chemicals they used, how often they want to give it to me, etc., on the spot, so when I went in for the chemo an hour later, I was getting a different treatment than had been planned just earlier that day.

I felt pretty strong Thursday night, the night of the chemo, and when I got up Friday, I felt like I could wrestle a tiger.

Then, the combination of chemo/cancer did something cruel and unexpected. Throughout the course of this experience, because the majority of the cancer has settled into the lining of my stomach, sitting has been hard. Almost anything I sit on puts pressure on my stomach, which makes it very uncomfortable to sit anywhere for more than a few minutes at a time. The only two places I was comfortable were in my nice, high bed with a firm mattress (and that was for laying, not sitting) and my comfy old recliner chair.

This chair was long past its shelf life, but it was huge, and soft, even though its days of moving as a recliner were long gone. (It was originally an electric recliner. When she was younger, my daughter used to delight in occasionally unplugging it on me when I was reclining in it, leaving me helpless like a turtle on its shell while she would laugh at me.)

But these days, it listed seriously to the right, and was stuck in a position with the footrest partway up. And as I've gotten noticeably weaker over the last few months, it was getting harder and harder to get out of. It required a sort of one-hand push off from my right hand, which was getting harder and harder to do. And Thursday night was the night I suddenly couldn't do it anymore. The arm was strong, but the legs weren't fully strong enough to push off and take my weight.

It took both my son and my daughter's boyfriend, two of the strongest young men I know, more than 15 minutes working together to get me out of that chair without hurting me. It was both a frightening and humiliating experience.

So we had to finally get rid off my wonderful, comfy old chair. And so far, although I'm starting to learn to some workarounds for this old hospital recliner my sister-in-law lent us, it's been hard to stay in the family room for any significant length of time.

Then, on Saturday morning, the second day after the chemo, the effects hit, and I felt like I'd been run over by a Mac truck. I slept for almost all of Saturday and Sunday, and half of Monday. I couldn't hold much food down, and I didn't feel like eating. It felt like the end.

By Monday night, I started to come out of, and by Tuesday I felt better - good enough to at least organize my work mailbox and start trying to figure out some temporary work arounds to work in the living room. (We ordered me a new chair, which my mother-in-law is giving us as a gift, bless her loving heart. But it probably won't arrive for another week or two).

So that's where I'm at today - trying to get a sense of the cycle of my reactions to the chemo. I'm scheduled for a week off from chemo next week, and then back in the saddle the week after.

So here's my hope. Right now, it's still mid-August, and my doctor is hoping this treatment will improve how I'm feeling in a few months. The last set of unused concert tickets that I bought are for Annie Haslam's 75th birthday tour with Renaissance, playing right here at the Patchogue Theater in November. We've got fifth row seats. That gives me three months to maybe feel a bit better, gain some strength back and maybe actually make this concert.

Wish me luck with that, gang!

*******************

Here's one local music nugget that I'm excited about. I got an email last week letting me know that Tara Drouin (nee Tara Eberle) of Iridesense, is releasing her first solo album on Paradiddle Records on August 23. It seems to be called Silver Linings. (I'm not 100% sure on that, though.) In any event, Tara has always been one of my favorite vocalists, so I'm definitely psyched for this LP.

July 2022 Song of the Day Update

Technically a late rating came in that tied the Kate Bush song "Sunset" with the Portishead song "Silence". The host for the month awarded the win to Portishead, since it was own rating (which came in a few days after the first of the month) that brought Kate Bush up for the tie. So I guess the winner is Portishead with an asterisk. But if you're a completist, you'll maybe want to listen to the Kate Bush song as well, which is readily available on YouTube.

July 2022 Song of the Day - SOTD Lives! (And Medical Update)

Yeah, I'm a sucker. But after a one-month hiatus, the Song of the Day feature has returned to the Spunik  Music website, and I'm involved again. Here's how it happened.

One of our regular Users, Pangea, decided to revive Song of the Day after it took the month of June off. Given my love/hate relationship with SOTD (I love it, but it makes me crazy when Users give absolute insane ratings, like scoring Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" 0.5 out of 5). But I liked the theme Pangea chose for the newly revived July SOTD. I told them I would give a song rec, if that was alright, but I didn't feel up to rating all the songs. (And honestly, at that point, I wasn't 100% sure I'd still be alive at the end of the month.)

Anyway, for new readers, this blog entry refers to the monthly Song of the Day list on the Sputnik Music website. Each month (except for last month), one User hosts the list and names a theme. Everyone then recommends songs in line with this theme, and people rate the various song recommendations. The list of July songs can be found at Sputnik Music Song of the Day July 2022. 

1. The theme for the month was "Comeback songs", which was defined as "a song that was part of an artist's comeback."

2. Participation was very good this month in comparison with the last couple of months where the SOTD existed, in terms of people listening to and voting on the songs. Nevertheless, most of us still got to make two recs during the month. My first rec, and the one that inspired me to get involved again, was Blondie's "Under the Gun", my favorite song from their 1999 comeback album (which had been their first LP in 17 years.) It was written as a tribute to their fallen friend Jeffrey Lee Pierce. It scored a little over a 3 out of 5 with the others, which was fine with me - some Users brushed it off, but others certainly enjoyed it. At the point I decided to make a second rec, in all fairness, I decided it would be taking advantage if I didn't also take part in the scoring process. So I went back to the beginning and scored all of the songs for the month. My second rec was Psychotic Waltz's "Devils and Angels", the opening track from their 2020 album The God-Shaped Void, their first LP after a 24-year hiatus. I didn't really think it would go over well, but it scored an average of 2.93, so more people enjoyed it than I'd thought might. Blondie - Under the Gun; Psychotic Waltz - Devils and Angels.

3. I had a fairly decent month listening-wise, with a average rating of just slightly under 3. I was pretty happy with that. My highest rated song of the month was Fairport Convention's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" with a lovely vocal by Sandy Denny. (Although I think I still prefer the Judy Collins cover of this song). Fairport Convention - Who Knows Where the Time Goes.

4. I might be calling this a little early, but I don't think so. The highest overall group rating for the month went to Portishead's "Silence" (not one of my favorites, but whatever), although it was somewhat closely trailed by D'Angelo's "Really Love" (which I liked better) and that brand new 2022 pop icon Kate Bush (Stranger Things fans will get it) with "Sunset". Portishead - Silence.

I know I used to make a YouTube playlist for the month, but I didn't do that this month, and I don't think I'm going to do it anymore. However, if you go the list itself (at the end of paragraph 3 above), there's a link for every song, and all of them were available on YouTube this month.

As for the promised health update, it's this. I've moved my care to Sloan-Kettering in Commack, NY. They have a planned treatment course of chemotherapy for me, which they seem to think will help me feel better, at least for awhile. The doctor thinks she can give me a year and a half or so (which is more than the other place seemed to think was realistic). Personally, I feel like that's a little optimistic. But then again, I also know that when you're feeling lousy, whether your back is out or you have cancer, while you're feeling that way, it seems like you'll never feel good again. So that could be coloring my assessment.

In any event, I have my cardiac clearance for surgery, and they plan to put a metal port in me to make the chemo easier to administer. I'm not looking forward to any of it, but we'll see how it goes. You know I'll be leaning heavily on music to see me through it. And if I can see my daughter's birthday, my wife's birthday, our Anniversary and maybe even the holidays this year, that would be great.

That's all for now, my friends. Stay healthy and safe.

I missed Howard Jones and Midge Ure/Long Island Doctor Guy (*Trigger Warning)

Denise and I had tickets to see Midge Ure opening for Howard Jones last night at the Patchogue Theater last night. (We're also supposed to see both of them on the '80s Cruise next March). Unfortunately, due to health issues and other considerations, I decided it was wiser for me to stay home. Especially because my understanding was that Midge Ure would be unable to play due to COVID.

Now I like Howard Jones, but I've seen him six times over the years, going back to what was one of my favorite concerts ever, M+M (aka Martha and the Muffins), Howard Jones (playing solo with only a mime to support him) and Eurythmics at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in 1984. But I only ever saw Midge Ure once, solo acoustic at the new (but already old now) My Father's Place in Roslyn in September of 2019. And I've always loved Ultravox (who I never saw live at all).

Anyway, health stuff has had me feeling pretty weak lately (more on that in a bit), so I figured I'd hold off until the last minute on deciding whether to go to this show. I learned last week that Midge has been off the tour for a little, due to having COVID, and that Howard has been covering by playing a short solo acoustic set prior to his regular set. At first, I heard that Midge would be back and playing at the show they had scheduled in New Jersey on Saturday night, July 16.

To be totally honest, I went with Denise to a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon, and at that point, I pretty much decided I probably wouldn't go to the show. On top of everything else, in my less-than-100% current state, I decided that even if I was physically up for it somehow, it would be reckless to go to the show and risk catching COVID in my current weakened state. But I still held a little place open in my heart that said "maybe". Then, on Saturday night, we got the word from some of Denise's friends who went to that Jersey show that Midge hadn't played, and that it looked like he wouldn't be rejoining the tour until Tuesday. 

Oh well. I figured it was probably for the best. (And I still believe that.) But I definitely had a tinge of regret when Denise texted me from the show Sunday night that Midge had played after all, and that he'd been great. And he'd even had a keyboard player playing with him, which made it easier for him to play almost all Ultravox material in his 10-song set. (He closed, appropriately, with "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes").

I texted her back "Nice!" followed immediately by, "The bastard."

But you can you do? Because I learned today that it's unlikely I'm going to catch him on that '80s Cruise next year, either.

This year's two cruises were great, but they took a lot out of me. The trip to Florida and back for the 2022 '80s Cruise in March was a really strenuous one, and we had lots of extra stress because of Denise's back problems. It took me weeks to recover and start feeling like myself afterwards.

Then, even before the Celebrity Summit Cruise in May, I wasn't feeling great. I put it down to blood sugar issues, and really concentrated on eating well for the first few days of the cruise. Sure enough, I did feel significantly better for most of the rest of voyage.

But as soon as I got home, something wasn't right with my stomach and my digestion. At first, I thought it was a diverticulitis issue. (I have history of that). I did what I always do in that situation, and increased my fluid intake like crazy to wash whatever might have been stuck in there away. But this time, it didn't work.

I went to see my doctor, who sent me for an Ultrasound and an X-Ray, and the Ultrasound showed a cyst on my liver. She referred me to my gastroenterologist, who sent me for a CT-Scan and scheduled me for a few other tests. That didn't show much more about the thing on my liver. However, it did show a nodule on one of my lungs and fluid on both lungs (which is what had me hospitalized last summer). Swell. So they referred me back to my pulmonologist.

Next up was another CT-Scan of my lungs requested by my pulmonologist. This didn't show anymore about my lungs. Unfortunately, it did find a mass in the lining of my stomach. At this point, I started to realize I was screwed. (Especially given that this was exactly the sort of the course my mother had followed before passing away in 1999.)

I was referred to a surgeon to schedule a biopsy. He respected my wishes to try to keep me out of the hospital. So this led to two weeks of jumping through the hoops of getting three different medical clearances and doing all of the necessary pre-testing at the hospital to do the procedure on an outpatient basis. He did the biopsy on Thursday, July 7, and was immediately able to tell me that although they needed a few days for the pathologist to a complete analysis of the sample he took, a quick test had definitely showed the presence of cancer.

I saw an oncologist the next day, and a PT-Scan, the biopsy and some bloodwork eventually led to the conclusion that what I've got is a Stage 4 cancer that has already spread through my body to such a point that whatever treatment (likely some form of chemotherapy) they devise, we're really only talking about managing the disease rather than curing it. And although he couldn't really give me a timeframe, because they can't really tell the point of origin (since it's already so widespread), it's sounding to me like we're talking months and not years.

As I was writing this, I got a call from Sloan-Kettering in Commack, where I'll be going next week for an independent analysis and a second opinion. But truth is, it's not looking good.

So Midge and Howard last night might have been my last shot at seeing one more concert, and it sounded like it was a good one. But again, if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I'd have felt good enough to enjoy it. 

What that means for this blog is that I don't think I'm likely to get that next My Favorite Artist article about Rush written - I like to listen to a an artist's full discography and some of their solo offshoots before writing one of those. (And lately, it's been about six or seven months to do that for each artist.) But maybe I'll do an abbreviated write-up of Rush and the other artists on my list if I get the chance. Let me mull it over for a bit.

The other thing it means here is that I might be posting my 2022 Best Of lists a little early this year. I've done a lot of listening so far, and it would be a shame to see it go to waste.

Hopefully, this entry hasn't been too depressing for you, dear reader. I'm not depressed myself - I've had a wonderful life full of music and laughter and love. And miracles have been known to happen, so who knows? But if I leave off suddenly at some point, I wanted you to understand why.

Not sure what I'll post next here, but I think I'll be thinking about those abbreviated My Favorite Artist write-ups and see what I can do.  

 

Favorite Artists, Part 15: About Fleetwood Mac

"Whoa, wait a minute, I'm confused," you're thinking. "We had already worked our way through the '70s and into the '80s with this series. Why are we backtracking?"

That's a good question, and it has a simple answer. The truth is, while Fleetwood Mac started in the '60s and hit their full stride in the '70s with the beginning of the Buckingham-Nicks era, it wasn't until the 1980's that it really hit me that they were, in fact, one of My Favorite Artists. As much as I loved the self-titled LP (1975) and especially Rumours (1977), it took the release of the Mirage album, and particularly the song "Gypsy", in 1982, to cement Mac's place in my pantheon of favorites.

Fleetwood Mac has a weird history. They began their days as a British blues band, founded by guitarist Peter Green. Green left the acclaimed group John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers to form his own band. When he left, he took drummer Mick Fleetwood with him, and tried to entice their bass player, John McVie, to come along as well, by naming the new band Fleetwood Mac. They added guitarist Jeremy Spencer, and a few weeks later, McVie did move over to Fleetwood Mac. 

Eventually, starting with their second LP, they added a a keyboard player, Christine Perfect (who later married McVie, but wouldn't become an official member of the band until their fifth LP, 1971's Future Games). 

Green, unfortunately, had a mental breakdown, partially fueled by a lot of LSD. Spencer ran off and joined a religious cult, and was replaced with guitarist Danny Kirwan. Kirwan lasted for awhile, and at some point, was joined on guitar by Bob Welch. When Kirwan left after something of an alcohol-fueled mental breakdown (are you seeing a pattern here?), he was replaced by Bob Weston. 

I was aware of Fleetwood Mac from early on in their career. Probably the first recording of theirs I ever heard was the non-album single "Oh Well." (The first song would have been Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman", but of course what I heard was the much more famous Santana version. I wasn't aware that it was originally a Fleetwood Mac song until decades later.) But I was never a big blues guy, so I didn't pay FM a whole lot of attention.

I eventually went back and picked up all of those early Fleetwood Mac albums. But while there was some good stuff here and there, I can't say I ever rated any of their pre-1975 albums more than a 2.5 out of 5.

By the early-to-mid 70's, they had morphed from being a blues band into more of a pop rock band, and you would have thought that the songwriting contributions of Christine McVie and Bob Welch would have made them a reasonably strong one. But Welch did his best work as a solo artist (especially on his 1977 LP French Kiss), and McVie didn't really hit her stride until the next rendition of the band.

After the recording of the unsuccessful 1974 album Heroes Are Hard to Find, the band began to suspect that Welch was going to leave, and started casting about to replace him. (Weston had already left an album earlier after starting a secret affair with Fleetwood's wife Jenny - which began another dysfunctional band pattern for Fleetwood Mac.) They became aware of Lindsey Buckingham after hearing the Buckingham Nicks LP, and asked him if he was interested in joining. Buckingham told them he would, but he and his musical/romantic partner Stevie nicks were a package deal. Fleetwood and the McVie's probably figured, "Fine. We'll stick her in the corner of the stage with a tambourine. How much harm can she do?" and agreed. And thus, the classic lineup of Fleetwood Mac.

The new lineup came out firing on all cylinders with their self-titled 1975 album, which was their first to hit (or come anywhere near, for that matter) # 1 on the US charts. 

I was aware of this album right away, although for some weird reason, I didn't buy a copy until years later. But "Rhiannon" hit me immediately, and the presence of Nicks and Buckingham inspired Christine to take her game to a whole new level, with songs like "Say You Love Me" and "Over My Head". And somewhere along the way, I became of aware of "Landslide". These days, if I had to choose the greatest and most most beautiful song of all time, I think "Landslide" would be my choice.

Some thoughts about this lineup. I made a (partially) facetious comment one time, calling Lindsey Buckingham the third best songwriter in the band. I actually believe that, but it's not as insulting as it sounds. Yes, I know that he was the guy who organized and arranged everything, and that (especially with Stevie) he helped the others with their songs.

But let's face it, Stevie's songs in this era, especially the ones she wrote for FM, but also those in her solo career, were just ridiculous. "Rhiannon", "Landslide", "Dreams", "Gold Dust Woman", "Sara", "Sisters of the Moon", "Edge of Seventeen", "Gypsy" - this was an insanely good output. And clearly, Stevie has had the most successful solo career of any of the members of the band.

As for Christine, as I said earlier, she really hit her stride during this period, with contributions like "Say You Love Me", "You Make Lovin' Fun", "Songbird" and "Little Lies".

In contrast, for me, with the exception of "The Chain", which is a great song (and although it's credited to the whole band, my guess is Lindsey was the biggest contributor), I feel like a lot of Lindsey's songs enhanced the albums, but wouldn't have carried them by themselves. (I will admit to a special love for his solo track "Holiday Road" from the the Vacation movies, though.)

Rumours was released in 1977, and of course, was legendary. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album I ever bought (initially on the strength of "Dreams"), and I played it to death. It's one of those albums where practically every track is a winner. (In retrospect, that's also true of the self-titled album, and it might very well be just as good an LP. As often happens in music, though, Fleetwood Mac let the world know that this new lineup for the band was a great one, and set the stage for Rumours to be the massive multi-platinum hit that it was.)

Meanwhile, the turmoil going on within the band when they were making Rumours is also legendary. John and Christine were basically broken up (and Christine was sleeping with the band's lighting director), Lindsey and Stevie were in process of breaking up, Mick was going through a divorce, and at one point, disastrously enough, Stevie and Mick even had an affair with one another.

I remember seeing a concert clip of a show on the Rumours tour where the band was playing "The Chain", and Stevie and Lindsey were just barking the chorus into one another's faces like the musical equivalent of a hatefuck. It was intense, but totally riveting - you couldn't look away from it.

For me, this two-album streak was flat out the highlight of Fleetwood Mac's career. There are some who hold that Tusk is their (or Lindsey Buckingham's, at least) masterpiece, but I've never been able to see it. I liked the two Stevie songs I named earlier ("Sara" and "Sisters of the Moon"), and I sort of liked the title track, weird as it was, but a lot of the rest of it just sort of bounced off of me.

They released Mirage in 1982. I don't really feel this was a great album, but "Gypsy" was certainly a great song, and Christine's "Hold Me" was pretty strong too. And it was around this point where Mac crossed the threshold into my list of My Favorite Artists.

It was another five years before they released Tango in the Night, which was the last LP with all five members of the classic lineup on it. They added a lot more to their legacy with this album, which featured classics such as Christine's "Little Lie's" and "Everywhere", Lindsey's "Big Love", Stevie's "Seven Wonders".

Of their last three studio albums, Behind the Mask (1990) featured Stevie and Christine (but no Lindsey), Time (1995, their least successful LP) had Christine, but neither Lindsey nor Stevie, and Say You Will (2003) featured Stevie and Lindsey (with just a few sparse musical contributions, but no songs, from Christine). They also released a 4-song EP, appropriately entitled Extended Play in 2013, which again had contributions from Lindsey and Stevie, but none from Christine. Mick and John, of course, played on all of these, making them the only two band members to play on every album in the entire Fleetwood Mac discography. There were some decent songs scattered among these offerings, but I think it would be fair to say nothing on par with their best material from Fleetwood Mac through Tango in the Night.

If you've been following this Favorite Artists series, I think it's pretty obvious why Fleetwood Mac eventually made my top bands list. It's all about the hooks. You had a great songwriter in Stevie Nicks, and two very good songwriters in Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham. All three were respectable vocalists, (although yes, I thought it was funny when South Park had the American GI's in Iraq getting Stevie mixed up with a goat). The band was certainly always instrumentally proficient. And while my interest in Fleetwood Mac was primarily in the classic lineup, I respect their blues history, and the fact that they were actually the first band to record Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman" and Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady."

I've seen Fleetwood Mac live in concert twice, both times in Madison Square Garden. The first was in 2009, on a tour where the band wasn't accompanied by Christine McVie, and the second in 2019, on a tour where Lindsey Buckingham had been replace by Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's band. So obviously, I never got to see the full classic lineup together, and both times, it would be fair to say that the band was past its prime. Nevertheless, I treasure the fact that I got to see them live in whatever form I did, and that over the course of the two shows, I got to see all five members of the classic lineup, even if it was never all of them at the same time.

I think that's all I have to say right now about Fleetwood Mac.

The next article in this series is scheduled to be about yet another band that started in the 1970's but didn't make the My Favorite Artists until a decade later: Rush.

Unfortunately, as some of you aware, I have something of a serious health scare going on now, and while I hope to live long enough to write that for you (and for me), it's a little iffy right now. (Truth be told, I had to really buckle down over these last few weeks to make sure I got this one written and posted.)

So let's hope I get that Rush write-up done someday. But if I don't, it's been fun writing these first fifteen articles, as well as the rest of the reviews, etc., on this blog.

Ciao! (For now?)

 

 

Long Island Musical Theater 2022/2023

Now that life seems to be getting back to some form of normal post-COVID, the Island's concert venues and musical theaters have started reopening. I held off for a little on publishing this to give the last few theaters a chance to post their schedules for the upcoming season, and I think we've got most of them (the main exceptions being the Argyle Theater in Babylon and the Smithtown Performing Arts Center in Smithtown). Unfortunately, the pandemic caused the closing of The Broadhollow Theaters in East Islip and Elmont, although Studio Theatres has taken over the location in East Islip (and also has a new non-musical theater season in Lindenhurst). Some of the theaters have shorter schedules than in previous years, but at least they're back in action. So here goes.

For the three Actor's Equity Theaters:

The Gateway Playhouse, Bellport: (Note: As usual, they split their shows between the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport and the Patchogue Theatre in Patchogue. See below.)

Head Over Heels - June 8-June 26, 2022 (Bellport)

The Little Mermaid - July 15-August 7, 2022 (Bellport)

The Cher Show - August 26 - September 11, 2022 (Patchogue)

A Christmas Carol: The Musical - December 16-December 28, 2022 (Patchogue)

The Wedding Singer - January 27-February 26, 2023 (Bellport)

Clue - March 17-April 16, 2023 (Bellport)

The John Engemann Theater, Northport: (Note: The first two shows listed below are technically part of their 2021-2022 Season*.)

Kinky Boots* - May 19-July 3, 2022

On Your Feet!* - July 14-August 28, 2022

Mystic Pizza - September 15-October 30, 2022

A Christmas Story - November 17, 2022-January 1, 2023

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - January 19-March 5, 2023

The Scarlet Pimpernel - March 16-April 30, 2023

The Sound of Music - May 18-July 3, 2023

Escape to Margaritaville - July 13-August 27, 2023

The Argyle Theater, Babylon: (Note: These three shows are the end part of the 2021-2022 Season. They haven't announced their 2022-2023 Season yet.*)

BUDDY: The Buddy Holly Story* - May 19-June 26, 2022

Footloose* - July 14-August 28, 2022

An American in Paris* - September 15-October 23, 2022

For the Regional Theaters:

Noel S. Ruiz Playhouse at the CM Performing Arts Center, Oakdale:

Bye Bye Birdie - August 6-August 20, 2022

Cabaret - September 17-October 1, 2022

Matilda: The Musical - October 15-November 5, 2022

The Wizard of Oz - November 19- December 18, 2022

Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, Smithtown:

Schedule to Come

Cultural Arts Playhouse, Syosset:

School of Rock: The Musical - June 25-July 17, 2022

Newsies - July 23-August 21, 2022

Studio Theatre's Bayway Arts Center, East Islip: (Note*: Lost in Yonkers is not a musical.)

Something Rotten - July 8-July 24, 2022

Lost in Yonkers* - August 5-August 21, 2022

Avenue Q - September 9-September 26, 2022

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 - October 7-October 23, 2022

The Addams Family - November 4-November 20, 2022

Theater Three, Port Jefferson: (Note: The first production listed below is technically a part of the 2021-2022 Season*.)

Mama Mia!* - May 21-June 25, 2022

Guys & Dolls - September 17-October 22, 2022

Something Rotten - May 20-June 24, 2023

Merrick Theater and Center for the Arts, Merrick:

Matilda - September 9-September 25, 2022

Right now, an ongoing health issue makes me hesitant to buy any tickets to upcoming shows. But I think the one I'm most tempted by and hope to catch is Engemann Theater's production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. I love the cast album for that one, and it's rarely performed. And if I'm feeling better by then, I might check out Theater Three in Port Jefferson for the first time. I'm always down to see Guys & Dolls.

I'll try to update this list as the theaters update their schedules. But I've got to say, it's great to see musical theater returning to Long Island.

Song of the Day Postscript

So the last time I mentioned Sputnik Music's monthly Song of the Day list was in early April, when I left the list after some (idiot) fine-but-misguided User awarded a 1 out of 5 score to Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine." For me, it was like the time Married With Children's Al Bundy had a mental breakdown at his all night Shoe-a-Thon after he accidentally looked up while trying to sell women's shoes and saw underwear that said "Saturday". Only today was Wednesday! In his immortal words, "Next thing I knew, I was insane!"

What I didn't tell you, though, was ironically enough, after I left, my rec for the month of April came in first and won the month. (If you recall, the theme was "Songs That You Hate That You Think Your Fellow Users Will Love".) I won the month with the revered (but kind of crappy) "Let's Go Crazy" by the very-revered but completely ridiculous artist formerly known as Squiggle (aka Prince). It was only the second time my rec had ever scored highest in SOTD, the first being during one of the first month's I participated when I won with My Favorite's "Burning Hearts".

I had no intention of participating again anytime soon, but in May, a friend of mine was hosting it and asked me if I would contribute a rec (even though I was no longer participating in rating the songs). The theme for May was "Live Recordings", and I went with a classic, Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain". (I'm pretty sure he never actually made a studio recording of that one.)

For a good part of the month, it looked like I was going to win for the second month in a row. (And I won't lie, I would have loved that.) Unfortunately, the next couple of ratings knocked my score down significantly. When the month ended, my score was no longer the highest. And sadly, even if I had ended up with the highest rated song, I don't know if I technically could have claimed the win, because somewhere near the end of the month, the whole SOTD just petered out and died.

What I mean by that is it just never ended. It was left incomplete. My friend got busy elsewhere, so there were only 29 songs nominated for a 31-day month. And at the end of it, the handful of Users who were still participating decided that since the participation had gone down so much, it might be a good time to put the whole thing on hiatus.

So for now, Song of the Day is like Snow White waiting for her prince (or her squiggle) to come. It's not exactly dead, but it's in a coma until someone revives it. So for those of you who enjoyed the feature, and my writings (and rantings) about it, sorry about that.

(Singing: "After midnight, we gonna sell a lot of shooooeeees!")