SILENCE! THE MUSICAL==>Still An A+

TGIF to all of my loyal and faithful readers and followers.

Had a great early dinner yesterday with my theater buddies Dian Crystal aka My Lady and Marty Kosarik aka ??? at our favorite Fallopian ... ooops ... sorry Marty ... I meant Ethiopian restaurant, Meske, located on West 47th Street in my Hell’s Kitchen ‘hood.

We each had our usual fare ... the vegetarian platter, which is tasty, spicy and surprisingly filling. Did a lot of catching up and stuff.

After dinner we split and I did a brief walk and wander session in the Times Square area, with all of the hordes of tourists, and then it was time for my 7:00pm show ...

SILENCE! THE MUSICAL, the parody of “The Silence of the Lambs,” which on my 4th visit still earns an A+. 

It remains as raunchy, campy and profane as advertised, and then some.

The original performers in the roles of Agent Starling and Hannibal Lector have been replaced but I am happy to report that both Pamela Bob and Harry Bouvy do excellent jobs.

The virtually full-house was roaring from beginning to end. I mean, as I have posted before, what’s not to like in a show that has Hannibal Lector singing the following wistful ballad as he thinks about Agent Starling ... PROFANITY ALERT! PROFANITY ALERT! DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING IF YOU ARE PRUDISH AND/OR OVERLY SENSITIVE ....

“If I Could Smell Her Cunt.”

Yes, my loyal and faithful readers and followers out there in the vast hinterlands, that is the correct title of the ballad and it pretty much reflects the theme of the show.

As I posted earlier, this was my 4-peat and I still highly recommend the show if ... and I mean ... IF ... you are in the mood for some raunchy and profane fun.

As a side note==>before the show began I ran into my old friend Paddy Haugghey.

It had been a long long time since I had seen him and it was great to make contact again.

Paddy==>you look TERRIFIC!!

Moving on to today ...

This morning I met up with John Scott Reed aka Fabson for breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall diner named Johny’s (yeah, that’s the correct spelling) Luncheonette at 124 W. 25th Street.

When I got there and looked into this small counter-only place my first thought was ... WTF? ... why does Fabson want to eat here? Well, now I  know why==>the food is excellent, it is relatively cheap and the service is good. If you are in the area and need a quick no-frills bite, check it out.

Fabson and I had some much needed/wanted face time and catching up. Man, he has a lot of very interesting things and stuff going on in his life.

Still moving on ...

Tonight’s entertainment event is ...

8:00==>NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC @ Avery Fisher Hall, featuring pianist Emanuel Ax. 

The program is: 

Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D minor;

Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto; and,

Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, Linz

(subscription series ticket exchange)

When the concert is over I will walk back to the apartment. 

Moving on to the sports arena ...

Tonight at 8:30pm is the Baltimore/Texas wild-card game. The winner will then face The Yankees on Sunday to begin the 5-game American League Division Series. The season is over for the loser. I will be pulling for The Orioles.

Yesterday the Boston FuckSox fired Manager Bobby Valentine after only one season in that fetid cesspool known as Fenway Park. Man, what a surprise==>NOT!!

Valentine led the FuckSox to their worst season since 1965 as his tenure was marked with confrontations with his coaching staff and key players. He will not be missed by the so-called Red Sox Nation.

OK, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, it is time to post this and then have a great walk and wander session. The weather is awesome in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!

Oh, Billi Pod is approaching the halfway mark on his 1,079 mile adventure/challenge==>539.50 miles. Will reach it sometime in the coming week. Stay tuned.

Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>5.57  miles (or, 12,191 steps)

Total mileage since 7/1/12==>503.63

Mileage remaining until 4/23/13==>575.37

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!

Billi Pod

“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”

NEW YORK YANKEES==>On To The Post Season!!

Yes, my loyal and faithful readers and followers ... it was sooooooooooooo much fun last night out at Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed And Ego Built.

The Bronx Bombers kicked the woeful Boston F**kSox butt, winning 14-2 with what has been our forte this season, the long-ball.

Robbie Cano hit 2 homers, driving in 4 runs and Curtis Granderson hit 2 homers, also driving in 4 runs. Our starting pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda, gave us 7 strong innings.

At the beginning of the game there was an electric feeling in the air and the 47,393 crowd got louder and louder as the Yankees poured on more runs and the win appeared to be a certainty.

Then, at 9:56pm the scoreboard showed that The Orioles had lost to The Rays 4-1, thereby sealing the Division for The Yankees, regardless of the outcome of this game. The stadium went absolutely wild.

When the final out was made we all went wild again. Everyone was standing and cheering. Yes, The New York Yankees are advancing to the post season as winners of the AL East and also with the best record in the American League.

We will play the winner of the of Friday’s Orioles/Texas wild-card game, in the Division Championship Series. I have tickets for 2 of the 3 home games. The starting times and all that are uncertain at the moment.

As a side note ... this was my 40th game and the Yankees record for those games==>26 wins and 14 losses. Much better than last season.

I have to admit that I was tired, hungry and emotionally drained when I finally got back to the apartment at 11:30pm.

A major shout out to Detroit's Miguel Cabrera for winning The Triple Crown, leading the league in homers, RBIs, and batting average. He becomes the first player in 45 years to accomplish this milestone. AWESOME!!

Moving on ...

This afternoon I will meet up with my theater buddies Dian Crystal and Marty Kosarik for an early dinner at the Fallopian restaurant Meske in my ‘hood.

Then for the evening it will be ... 

7:00==>SILENCE! THE MUSICAL - “Campy, raunchy and mounted on the cheap, this tuneful parody of 'The Silence of the Lambs’ is sweet, tangy and very tasty.” (Off Broadway - complimentary ticket).

I first saw this gut-busting funny show on September 10, 2011 at its original venue, Under St. Marks Place, and totally loved it, giving it an A+.

It moved to a new venue, PS 122, and I saw it on November 3, 2011 and then on June 23, 2012 and loved it even more because the running time had been tightened up a bit.

Well, it has now moved to the Elektra Theatre, a new venue in Times Square.  So ... I am totally looking forward to seeing it again this evening in a 4-peat.

OK, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, Billi Pod feels the need for a walk and wander session ... so ...

Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>6.51  miles (or, 14,237 steps)

Total mileage since 7/1/12==>498.06 

Mileage remaining until 4/23/13==>580.94

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!

Billi Pod

“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”

The NY Philharmonic Concert Was Wonderful

Good afternoon all of my loyal and faithful readers and followers.

I am so happy to report that last night’s NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC concert at Avery Fisher Hall was wonderful, especially the awe-inspiring performance by the 21-year-old Russian pianist Danill Trifonov playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. He received a roaring standing ovation from the audience.

The closing number was the Symphonic Suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” featuring concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, and it was sublime.

Yes, Billi Pod was in need of a classical music fix and this concert totally filled his needs/expectations.

When the concert was over the nasty weather had cleared up so I began the walk home while listening to the YANKEES/BOSTON FUCKSOX game on my trusty but ancient Walkman.

OMFG!! The Yankees were losing 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9th inning and, dammit, those pesky Orioles had won 1-0 over Tampa Bay. Things felt very gloomy in The Yankee Universe.

Then ... wham-bam ... Baseball Senior Citizen, the 40-year-old Raul Ibanez, hits a pinch-hit 2-run homer to send the game into extra innings. Awesome!!

I made it back to PHC while floating on a cloud and settled in to watch the extra innings.

Bottom of the 12th inning ... OMFG!! ... wham-bam ... Ibanez ... yes ... Ibanez ...  gets a crucial hit to drive in the winning run and we win 4-3 to remain 1-game up in the AL East.

Wow, what a day==>I finally address my hearing-loss issues, have an awesome NY Phil concert, and the Yankees win in extra-innings ... what a day!!

Tonight’s entertainment event is ... tada ... 

7:05=>YANKEES/FUCKSOX @ Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed And Ego Built, for the regular season finale.

This will be Billi Pod’s 40th game of the season. It should be #41 but I skipped a game early in the season due to bad weather and the sniffles.

On the mound for The Bronx Bombers will be Hiroki Kuroda (15-11) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-6) for the FuckSox.

It has been a miserable year for the Bobby Valentine led FuckSox who are dead last in the AL East at 23 games under .500. They have lost 7 straight games, and, hopefully, that number will increase to 8 tonight.

This is yet another must-win game for The Bronx Bombers. The post season implications are way too complex for me to attempt to condense for this posting. Suffice it to say that we just gotta win tonight.

OK my loyal and faithful readers, I need to post this and do a major walk and wander session somewhere ... so ... 

Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>4.90  miles (or, 10,716 steps)

Total mileage since 7/1/12==>491.55 

Mileage remaining until 4/23/13==>587.45

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!

Billi Pod

“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”

I Address My Hearing Loss Issue

Good afternoon my loyal and faithful readers and followers. I am sorry for the lateness of this posting but sometimes other things have to take precedence.

What am I talking about you are no doubt breathlessly asking? Well, it actually is pretty simple ... or maybe simple isn’t the operative word ... or maybe ... f**k ... I don’t know ... what about my life is ever “simple” ... anyway ...

This morning at 11:00am I had my scheduled appointment with Dr. Rose DuLude, a clinical audiologist, who was recommended to me by my cardiologist Dr. Fred Feuerbach. Her office is located in the Upper Eastside.

Well, as I had expected, the series of tests she administered confirmed that I have serious hearing loss in both ears. Following a consultation session we agreed that the only way to address this issue was through a hearing device(s).

Long story short, I opted for a state-of-the-art “invisible” device for each ear.

Expensive? Yes! Covered by insurance? NO!! But, I knew this going in.

The order has been placed and it will take about a week for the devices to be made. I will, of course, return to Dr. DuLude’s office for the fitting and training session.

I was really impressed with Dr. DuLude’s persona. She exudes the feeling that she really cares and I felt very very comfortable with her as she guided me through the difficult steps and decisions I had to make.

So, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, including my family, after many years of total denial I have finally addressed this “issue.”

When I got back to PHC, however, I found myself in no mood to write on this blog and it wasn’t helped that the weather had taken a turn for the worse. After about an hour of basically walking around the apartment sucking his thumb, Billi Pod realized that he had an obligation to his loyal and faithful readers and followers out there in the hinterlands, boondocks and wilderness ... so ... here we are ...

Moving on ...

Last night was an excellent time out at Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed And Ego Built, as we kicked FUCKSOX butt by winning 10-2. 

The Bronx Bomber bats exploded in the 2nd inning as we scored 9 runs on 4 home runs, including a 2-run blast from Mark Teixeira, who was returning to the lineup for the first time since August 27th. This pretty much took care of the game. There was a feeling of joy throughout the stadium.

We got an excellent outing from our ace CC Sabathia.

The Orioles lost to The Rays, so we now lead the AL East by 1-game.

Tonight, for the second game of the 3-game final series, it will be rookie David Phelps (4-4) vs. Jon Lester (9-14) for the lowly FuckSox.

The weather may be a factor because at 3:45pm it is nasty and lightly raining.

Tonight’s entertainment event for Billi Pod is ...

7:30==>NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC @ Avery Fisher Hall - The program is:

Musorgsky - “Night on Bald Mountain;” Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 3; and, Rimsky-Korsakov - “Scheherazade.”

This is the first concert of my 3-series season subscriptions and I am really looking forward to it.

When the concert is over I will walk back to PHC, weather permitting, while listening to the final innings of the YANKEES/FUCKSOX game on my ancient Walkman.

So, everyone, there you have it ... sorry for being so late ...

Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>5.36  miles (or, 11,715 steps)

Total mileage since 7/1/12==>486.65 

Mileage remaining until 4/23/13==>592.35

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!

Billi Pod

“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”

Sunday Was A Tripleheader For Billi Pod

It is another beautiful morning in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World.

Yesterday was an awesome tripleheader for Billi Pod, starting with ...

Late lunch with two of my AA buddies, X & Y (you know who you are) at a sports bar in the Upper Westside, with terrific burgers, wings and diet cokes.

We watched the Yankees/Toronto game. The Bronx Bombers got off to a terrible start and were losing 5-1 going into the top of the seventh inning. To say that there was a feeling of doom and gloom is to put it mildly.

Then ... bam ... bam ... we staged a comeback and ended up winning 9-6 and the crowd went absolutely wild, X, Y and me included.

With the win and a later loss by the Angels, the Yankees clinched a berth in the post season. YES!!

The second part of the tripleheader was a theater event downtown in The East Village and this is Billi Pod’s report card on ... 

RED DOG HOWLS, about an elderly Armenian woman who helps a young man uncover his tragic family roots==>A

The extremely disturbing story line is delivered by an awe-inspiring performance from the incomparable Kathleen Chalfant.

The audience was really transfixed by what was happening on stage and the final scene is both shocking and breathtaking.

It is playing downtown in The East Village at The New York Theatre Workshop and has a running time of 90 minutes, without intermission. It runs through October 14th.

Billi Pod says==>see this show.

After the show my theater buddy Dian Crystal aka My Lady and I walked up 2nd Avenue to 10th Street to the recently opened restaurant, Nicoletta, for the third part of the tripleheader. This restaurant specializes in awesome pizza as you can see from the picture that Dian took.

We had a great time, with good food and good conversation.

When dinner was over we split and I decided to walk back to my apartment on West 42nd Street. This was my route ...

From 10th Street, north on 3rd Avenue to 14th Street; west of 14th Street to Park Avenue; north on Park Avenue to 34th Street; west on 34th Street to 9th Avenue; and, north on 9th Avenue to 42nd Street.

The total distance was 2.85 miles. I felt great when I opened the door to PHC just a few minutes before 11:00pm.

So, I hope you loyal and faithful readers and followers will agree with me that yesterday was an awesome tripleheader, but ... it is up to you to decide because ...

I report - you decide.

Now, moving on ... 

Tonight’s entertainment event is ...

 7:05==>YANKEES/BOSTON FUCKSOX @ Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed And Ego Built.

This is the final regular season series. On the mound for The Bronx Bombers will be our ace CC Sabathia (14-6) vs. Clay Buchholz (11-7) for the FuckSox.

Folks, make no mistake about it, nothing would please those woeful FuckSox more than to prevent the Yankees from winning the AL East. I predict that all 3-games will be nail biters.

If the Yankees and the Orioles end the season tied for first place in the AL East there will be a tie-breaker game on Thursday down in Baltimore.

I plan to head out to the stadium a bit early for a walk and wander session in ‘da Bronx.

Just a bit more sports ...

The Florida Gators are now ranked #10 in the Top 25 AP Poll.

We will play #4 ranked LSU on Saturday in The Swamp. The Tigers are favored by 3-points at present.

I HATE TIGERS!!

The Jets are really struggling and Mark Sanchez has been largely ineffective and ... guess what ... there is growing rumblings that Timmy Tebow should be the starter.

Will it happen? Not for a few more games, IMHO.

I am ending this posting with a bit more detail on my walking stats as I am advancing in my 1,079 mile challenge/adventure.

Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>6.12  miles (or, 13,379 steps)

Total mileage for week==>44.81 miles (or, average of 6.40 miles per day) 

Total mileage for September==>191.30 miles (or, average of 6.38 miles per day)

Miles now in storage locker==>145.49 miles.

Total mileage since 7/1/12==>481.29 (or, average of 5.23 miles per day) 

Mileage remaining until 4/23/13==>597.71

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!

Billi Pod

“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”