Greasing the Wheels

The school holidays are over.  So is the little break I took these holidays, although I still have a day's grace because I'm not rostered until Tuesday.  I've spent the past few days chauffeuring my sons.  On Friday it was to and home from a sixteenth birthday party.  This doesn't seem too big a drama but the party was held in a neighbouring town necessitating an hour-long round trip.  Twice.  It is too much trouble these days for young people to find out, notwithstanding constant nagging from their mothers, whether there are other attendees who have to travel to the town with whom we could possibly organise a car pool.  You know, one kid's parent drives them there, and another kid's parent drives them home.  It is also too embarrassing to be given leave to come to the front door and meet the birthday girl; being a mother I am mandated to stay in the car and not embarrass my kid.  It would seem it is also too much trouble to remember to take along the mobile phone gifted to my sixteen-year-old, which would have enabled him to telephone me and advise when the party was over and whether other parents could drive him home.  So irked was I when I was FINALLY telephoned to be asked for a lift home, I was tempted to change into something seriously rank, an outfit that would facilitate maximum level embarrassment to my kid when I knocked on the front door of the birthday girl's house.  I pondered changing into a pair of too-small shorts with the waistband of a G-string showing o'er the top, a sweaty old tank top with NO BRA beneath, and maybe some ugh boots.  Hair tied in pigtails would have been a nice touch, too.  Compiling this ensemble would have wasted valuable time as Mr Bingells was preparing a nice dinner, but oh what fun it would have been to do.  *Laughing evilly and rubbing fingertips together a la Mr Burns on 'The Simpsons'*

Today, my youngest asked could he come shopping with me because he had some leftover pocket money.  Having inherited my theatrical bent, he wanted to purchase a DVD he had seen - 'Grease Live', which is a 2016 live production of the musical.  The only name I really recognised was Vanessa Hudgens.  Not that I'm a big fan or anything, but just recognised the name because I understand she's a Disney Darling.  In case you care, she was playing Rizzo.  He invited a friend over, and the three of us watched it.  I actually quite enjoyed it.  I'm not a big fan of the show per se, but the cast were talented and the musical numbers were performed with much gusto and high levels of octane.  The cast looked reasonably close in age to the characters they were portraying, unlike the 1978 movie which featured people staring down the barrel at menopause, or else coke-ravaged nose jockeys who looked closer to forty than seventeen.  Bloke playing Danny is in his early thirties, but he still looked younger (to me) than the twenty-something John Travolta was at the time of filming the 1978 version.  Also, this version's Kenickie performed most of 'Greased Lightning', as is intended in the stage show.  The film had Travolta performing it because he, well, wanted to, and he had clout.  I guess it didn't occur to him he had the lion's share of other numbers to sing.  Same thing happened in the film version of 'Evita'.  I noticed when I watched it.  Madonna, who had the titular role, performed 'Another Suitcase In Another Hall'.  This made no sense to me.  The song is designed to be (1) performed by Peron's mistress - the one usurped and ousted by Eva Duarte-later-Person, and (2) performed by a Soprano, to my understanding.  Madge's performance of this just made no sense to me continuity-wise, and kind of sounded like a pained cat.  I am gracious enough to admit I thought she was good in the rest of the movie, but this just got right up my schnoz.  Why do big name actors have to stamp their little feet and compromise the integrity of the story just because they like a particular song?  It's like some big name dude playing Jesus in a filmed version of Christ's passion, and then wanting to bang in a few nails because he's always wanted to swing a hammer onscreen.

Well, that's all for now.  Still finalising edit for my next novel - 'Howling On A Concrete Moon'.  Watch this space so you will know when to buy it.  The loud thud you heard was the heavy hint I dropped.