Out of the Heat, Into the Frying Pan

Started a steamy, sunny morning with the American Top 40. We skipped ahead to 1983 and the dominance of pop, New Wave, and soul. Among the hits during late July were "Our House" by the British group Madness, "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer, "1999" by Prince, "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant, "Come Dancing" by the Kinks, and "Maniac" by Michael Sambello and "What a Feeling!" by Irene Cara from the Flashdance soundtrack. A third British group had the #1 hit that week, the classic ballad "Every Step You Take" by Police.

After a quick stop at a quiet bank and a chat with a teller, I headed off for this week's yard sale/farm market run. Unlike last week, I actually had time to enjoy it. I stopped one house on Haddon Avenue near the bank and a few in Collingswood before I hit the farm market. I came up with two videos and three records from Haddon Avenue:

Nat King Cole - Stay As Sweet As You Are and Nature Boy

The Andrews Sisters -  In the Mood

The two videos to dub were the Laurel & Hardy vehicle Flying Deuces and the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby.

The farm market was packed today, despite the heat. It took me a while to get to some booths. No wonder. It's the height of the summer harvest, and there's beautiful produce wherever you look. The farms are bursting with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, blueberries, peaches, corn, cucumbers, melons, and all kinds of summer squash. I ended up with blueberries, white peaches (cheaper than yellow ones), two more of those mini cantaloupes that were so sweet earlier this week, tiny Pristine apples, a green pepper, an onion, and a tomato.

I rode around a bit more after that. Took in another yard sale on the other side of Collingswood, but found nothing. Did much better after a long ride to Audubon. It had clouded over while I was riding around. I felt raindrops as I made my way down Carlisle Avenue. Thankfully, they didn't last long, and I was able to dig through at least twelve boxes of books. The pickings turned out to be slim. They were mostly college textbooks or books on spirituality, religion, or holistic medicine. I did find one interesting-looking volume, Don't Worry, Make Money, by the author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.

The small shower disappeared as quickly as it arrived. It was long gone by the time I had arrived home. When I put away my finds and produce, I was dismayed to discover that the long ride had made a squished mess of my poor tomato. I ended up eating it with a bit of Red Wine Vinaigrette for lunch, along with a slice of raisin bread and chunky peanut butter.

Made a very quick run to the Oaklyn Library after lunch. I got there at 1 and they start shutting down at 1:45, but I did get a few things done. I organized both the adult and kids' DVD shelves and moved series books to the series shelves.

I spent an hour reading Don't Worry, Make Money in the living room after I got in. I wish I could take their advice. I can't help worrying about money. Of course I live from paycheck to paycheck. I've never lived any other way. I don't want to work at the Acme anymore, but it would mean losing my paycheck and health insurance and ultimately, my apartment and my independence. I'm proud of my independence. I don't rely on anyone, and no one relies on me. I want things to stay that way...but I have to make money to do it.

I went out to sweep the porch around 3ish. There were already clouds building on the horizon. The porch was a mess; thanks to the hot summer, there's dry leaves and branches everywhere. I was just finishing up when I heard noisy thunder. Thankfully, I'd just made it inside before the first sheets of rain splashed down.

I didn't really do much else today. I had considered going into Philadelphia, but my legs were killing me, my thumb has been sore (I hope I haven't sprained or strained it), my heel spur has been acting up, and I didn't sleep all that well last night. I was too dead tired to do anything major. I paid bills and updated some household inventories on my computer for a few hours.

When I got off, I made chicken stir-fry with summer vegetables and spiral pasta for dinner and watched Footlight Parade. My favorite Busby Berkley musical is the first of former hoofer James Cagney's infrequent forays into musical territory. Cagney is the creator and director of "prologues," traveling ten-minute stage spectacles that played between shows in major movie houses during the 30s. Joan Blondell is his devoted secretary. Ruby Keeler's the mousy assistant who would rather be in the chorus; Dick Powell is the slumming college boy who falls for her. Frank McHugh is the whiny director/choreographer who never seems to think anything will work. Can they all come together in the end to impress impresario Paul Porcasi with three of the most amazing musical numbers ever on film?

I know 42nd Street is usually the one people think of when Berkley comes to mind, but he really topped himself here. For one thing, despite this not really being about Broadway, you get more of a backstage feel here than in most of the other Berkley backstagers. There's a lot of pre-Code innuendo too, like Blondell's retort to gold-digger Claire Dodd - "As long as they've got sidewalks, you've got a job!" And Cagney's a blast to watch. He's a force of nature that blasts through the film and takes everyone else along with him - even Keeler and Powell seem to be having more fun than usual.

Of course, the big thing here are those three finale numbers "Honeymoon Hotel" is back in semi-cutesy "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" territory. The real classics are the last two. "By a Waterfall" puts Keeler and probably most of the chorines on the Warner lot through a gigantic water ballet that would leave Esther Williams dumbfounded. "Shanghi Lil" brings Cagney into the picture as a sailor looking for his Chinese woman. While Keeler's no Chinese beauty, Cagney gets to show off the moves he later used to such good effect in Yankee Doodle Dandy.