The Color Purple? Hell Yes!

Your DivaCardista just got calm enough to type after seeing the perfectly lovely Broadway show (at the Broadway Theatre) The Color Purple. And if you and all of your friends haven't, you simply must.

First of all, we -- DivaCardista and her 40 new best friends from The Hotchkiss School -- saw the matinee this past Sunday and what a time we had.

Then, the Lord blessed [through a friend of a friend who just happened to be the Director of The Color Purple] so that we were able to get a backstage tour after the show.

Now just how fabulous is that?

And, let me tell you: for this to be a fairly understudy-heavy performance,
those understudies held it down! They did the doggone thing! Bravo! Brava!

And that ensemble is simply too marvelous for words.

And how humble is Lou Myers?

Simply listed as Ol' Mister in the Playbill and "just" part of the Ensemble online, muli-talented, multi-lingual Lou Myers, the man whom DivaCardista has loved since he came in to the Huxtable household talking about his onion sandwich & then went on to fry up onions and tough love in A Different World, could have "demanded" more in terms of billing & "star treatment", but saw the big picture (I bet) and decided to get in where he fit in. So although Mr. Myers had just about a scene and a half altogether...BrotherMan took those three/four lines and two/three entrances and worked them, doyouhearme?

More can learn from he.

Onliest thing that I would change would be to put some elevators up in that mug! Bad enough that large groups have to wait six months or more to get tickets, which, actually, we are really happy about because it means all them superdupertalented on&off stage folk remain employed in the telling of an important series of stories first woven so beautifully by Mz. Alice Walker & re-rendered so truly by Mz. Marsha Norman,

but for those patrons who are neither decathelets nor in posession of crampons & grappling hooks, those staircases can be a bit much.

Yet, even with that having been said, especially since I can't get the score out of my head, even if you have to wait, even if you have to climb for a while, even if it cuts into your Starbucks budget a bit, just go.

Your soul will thank you.

Blessings,
DivaCardista

Can This Be Real? (You Down wit OPP?)

Since I like to keep in touch, though busy as a mug, here are a few of the things that pass through a Diva's mind on a rainy Thursday (in no particular order):

• Them Fancy Feast InFauxMercials!:

Um, it is me, or

a) are we treating cats better than we treat our own mothers on Mother's Day?
Think about it:
when was the last time you had gourmet salmon & shrimp? On crystal, no less?
(And no, Chicken of the Sea on a White Rose paper plate doesn't count.)

b) shouldn't there be some cat food ad with

50% more field mouse!

somewhere on the label? (I'm just tryin to keep it real, gnome sayin?)

• "Maybe I'll Whip You [if You Misbehave?]":

Whip Appeal? Perchance. Let it Whip? OK. (great beat, easy to dance to...) DivaCardista will even let the perennial favorite slide: Lovely Aisha's phonic contusion which promts the oft quoted

"sound like she said sound like she said
Beat Me"

as heard over Mr. Wonder's happy "Isn't She Lovely" harmonica solo.

But, not to be all 1865 about it...

Am I really supposed to be cool with a stage full of beautiful brown people harmonizing and soulfully making music to support a white guy riffin & runnin himself into an r&b froth over & over again about the possibility of a [tee hee] whipping (of any description) following the probability of his lover's misbehavior?

"Most records sold" quoth Ms. DeGeneris. Hmm. Looks to me like "Sexy" needs to go Back and read HEmotions or go see The Color Purple so he can hear Sofia's message loud and clear:

I love Harpo, God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead
before I let him or anybody beat me.

or to quote the DivaCardista Director's Cut of Love Story

"Love means never having to say
Whip me
and
I Will Cut You."

& finally (for now)

• When Kofi Speaks, Folk Should Listen:

When this thoughtful, reserved, wise, even-tempered, erudite man talks about
...er... Our Persia Problem & starts to sound like Usher

"People screamin it won't work
Time and time [you] say
I'm gonna leave
But [you] can't let [this] go..."

we all best be scheduling some extra prayer time tonight!

Blessedly,
DivaCardista

Yearning to Breathe Free

Ah, September! That special time of year when a Diva's mind turns to feverish thoughts of just how are we gonna get Ma on @*&% Medicaid!!

And if you've not journeyed down the sweet and [mil]dewy paper trail that leads one to Medicaid Lane, well, darling, you simply must.

But enough about the seeming infinity of data that flutters round as we endeavor to catch up. Let's be about the actual Catching Up, shall we?

Just before these delightfully white walls began to close in on my person, DivaCardista opted to break out (or be clowned) and began her inaugural Friendship Tour!

Both delight and psychophysiospiritual necessity, my tour loosed me from the Atlantic and led me clear across to the Pacific and those fantastic Hollywood Hills. Thank you Lord, for, you see, once the wheels of that jumbo jet touched the tarmac, my shackles broke and my spirit was set free.

And didn't your DivaCardista play La Tourista to the hilt. We went to the Rose Garden, The Science Museum, saw our first IMAX film (scared me half to death, everything just about to eat everything else...thank you, Mr. Brad Pitt aka The Narrator...next time, warn us about the grizzliness about to ensue up under the beautiful blue, ok?), wove through USC campus, went to a fierce wrap party for my multitalented Television Writer pal Anthony (held in some delightfully offbeat architectural oddity that looked like The Goth Hilton)...and, most importantly, spent time with my fantastic friends at their gorgeous home with a kidney shaped pool and, yes, room for a wee pony.

Speaking of which, I really loved waking to the pitter patter of two and a half year old feet. Said feet belong to none other than wee Diva Olivia Pearl, my friends' pride & joy. And did she and I have a blast! My favorite part was when we fingerpainted together. Now that was great, as it has been a minute since I've worked in that medium. She is truly a bright light in this world and I am so glad to have finally met her.

During my stay in LA -- just three nights/four days, because of the whole fish & house guest theory -- my friends & I had the happy opportunity to see fantastic Miss Fantasia just doing it right in the record-breaking Lifetime special "Life is Not a Fairy Tale". Mph mph mph! What a wonderful piece. She and Miss Debbie Allen did the doggone thing! And the fantastically ubiquitous Miss Loretta Devine (whom, I am happy to say, I also saw last night on "Everybody Hates Chris" as Chris' maternal grandma) better just go on with her badd self.

And then it was off to see my goodfolk in the Midwest.

Rolled up in Chicago, feeling all kinda good from LA only to experience new delights in the truly new & improved downtown Chicago. Got to see the amazing outdoor sculpture known as The Bean; The jazz was just great; the beach was...well, janky, but still enjoyable as my entrepreneurably lovely galpal Ally took me past it and onto my first (drumroll please) totally tricked out sailboat! (And I helped!) Learned a bit about rigging & physics all whilst chilling in the middle of the freshwater pond known as Lake Michigan.

I even got to see my Chicago alma mater and one of my dear professors, who is gently recovering from a bit of a fall.

Dear folk, all.

And then, enriched, enlivened & considerably refreshed, I returned to my little home near the Diva in the harbour just in time for the next verse of the neverending song that is @*&% Medicaid.

All in all, We truly hope you & yours enjoy this Labor Day Weekend and the last breeze of summer.

Blessings,
DivaCardista