Hurried out after that. I had another doctor's appointment. This one went a bit better than the last one two weeks ago. Though Dr. Jessica still wants me to take blood pressure medication, I talked her out of medication for depression. I need a purpose, something to do with my life, and I won't find that in a pill. She suggested taking creative writing courses, which isn't a bad idea. I could use some new ideas, since my own creative writing is stalled badly right now. I also need to double down on Abilities Solutions and figure out what's going on there and why that voucher is taking so long.
I also suspect I'm going into menopause. I've been seeing certain signs for at least two or three months now, maybe longer. She says I'm still a little bit young for perimenopause...but I also entered puberty at age 9. It wouldn't surprise me in the least
Made a few quick stops on the way home. I needed to give Collingswood Family Medicine a small co-pay fee, but their computers were down and they couldn't use their credit card machines. I needed to run to the bank anyway, so I stopped at the ATM machine inside, got money, and dropped back at the doctor's office and paid them.
After a brief stop at WaWa for water, I went for a ride around Knight Park. They were dead quiet for the middle of the day. People were either at lunch, or avoiding the 95 degrees heat. The only people I saw out were three men taking rests from doing landscaping across the street. Only saw one or two joggers when I cut across Newton Lake Park on my way home. Grabbed two soft pretzels, a stuffed pepperoni pretzel, and a Diet Pepsi from A&A Pretzels on my way home.
Put on The Scooby Doo Show while I had lunch. "Mamba Wamba and the Voodoo Hoodoo" takes the Mystery Inc gang on their own trip to New Orleans to see a friend of theirs who is now in a rock band perform his new song. The thumping number based on an old voodoo chant brings a witch doctor, Mamba Wamba, who abducts their sole female member and threatens to turn her into a zombie! The gang joins the rockers to find out who Mamba Wamba really is and what he actually wants.
Switched to YouTube for Out of Sight while I vacuumed, Swiftered, dusted the rooms, and made the bed. I go further into this bizarre blend of spy capers and teen Beach Party antics at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Put on The Monkees while finishing up the bed. "Monkees at the Movies" seems appropriate after a Beach Party imitation. The quartet are recruited as extras when a Beach Party movie invades their town. The spoiled teen idol playing the lead (real-life teen idol Bobby Sherman) treats them so badly, they annoy him until he quits. When they look for a new lead, the guys convince Davy to do it...but when the British boy's own ego swells to twice his diminutive size, his friends end up bringing him back down to earth.
Worked on the soundtrack and rock inventories after the movie ended. Added Santana and More of the Monkees to the Rock albums and Nashville, The Golden Age of Hollywood, the film versions of Oliver!, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and Paint Your Wagon, the TV rock fantasy On the Flip Side, The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band, the 1981 Pennies from Heaven, Phantom of the Paradise, and the Disney animated or partially animated films Moana, Pete's Dragon, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio to the soundtracks. I'll finish up the P titles and start in on the Rs tomorrow after work.
Broke for dinner and Match Game '78 around 7 PM. Buzzr once again jumped around, this time to the end of the year after the new set came in and Richard Dawson left. I caught the infamous week that Jack Klugman appeared with Donna Pescow and Bill Anderson, a year after he and Brett Somers divorced. They showed why they separated when they argued over "__ Hall of Fame" in the first episode. Jack complained about panelists not getting gifts in the second. Gene gave him a sweater with the show's logo on it.
Finished the night listening to two of my new records and one of my CD finds while working on the Out of Sight review. Moana isn't considered to be one of Lin-Manuel Miranda's better scores, but it does feature the hit "How Far I'll Go" as the curious title character (Auil'l Cravalho) dreams of exploring the far Pacific Ocean. My other favorite song is the hilarious "You're Welcome" for Dwayne Johnson as the boastful demi-god Maui.
The Monkees themselves weren't crazy about More of the Monkees, and in some ways, I can understand their complaints. Yeah, they're right that the cover is lousy (it was apparently intended to be a JC Penney ad), and in some ways, it does feel like it was thrown together. On the other hand, you can't argue with some of their best material, including two of their biggest hits, "I'm a Believer" and "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone." I'm even fonder of one of the prettiest ballads Micky Dolenz ever performed, "Sometime In the Morning." Of the songs on the second bonus album, my favorites are Micky's bouncy "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet" and Davy's charming "I Never Thought It Peculiar."
Saturday Night was originally going to be Stephen Sondheim's first stage musical in 1955, but the original producer died, and then Sondheim lost interest. It didn't finally make its stage debut until it turned up on a college campus in 1997, which is what I have here. It's about the simplest show you can imagine. Three guys in Brooklyn bemoan their lack of dates on Saturday. One guy has loftier plans to become a Wall Street big shot. He even crashes a party, where he falls for a girl doing the same. However, it's 1929, and his plans may go up in smoke along with his funds.
Yeah, this is nothing amazing or a lost treasure, and the slight and silly story makes me understand why Sondheim gave up on it. Even so, there are some nice songs to be found here. The title song as the guys bemoan their lack of dates and "In the Movies" as they and their girls discuss the perfect night out are especially fun.
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