Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Time to tie up the random loose ends before 2009 comes in.

American talk show hosts should be required to take notes on The Graham Norton Show. He's a small-time show with a niche audience (although I'll bet his show with Barry broke all kinds of ratings records) and he's more entertaining the Leno, Letterman, and the rest who think they're hot shit in a champagne glass because they can listen to themselves yap for 30 minutes of a 60 minute program. Graham actually took the time to talk about his career and have some fun with the audience at the same time. From now on it will be impossible to watch US talk shows knowing Barry is going to be shoved into the last 5 minutes and credits like a side show.

Add my voice to the throng who wants to see the UK footage from December released on DVD or maybe an iTunes download. Those of us who aren't ready when British Airways is are dying to see the alternate set lists and have some more loosened up fun than even Vegas seems to allow. Come on, you weren't going to release the footage that ended up in First & Farewell either, right? Same thing!

I'm still in afterglow from October. I know Barry doesn't "tour" anymore, he just sets up concerts in various cities and travels around to play them. ;-) But I can think of quite a few people in the deep South who wouldn't mind a bit if he dragged his happy ass back down here some time in 2009. Lots of openings in Philips Arena starting in the spring. No snow (not usually, anyway) and if you hit the right time of year the humidity isn't bad at all. More later....

More than those shows were the friends I didn't know I wanted or needed. You know who you are and you refreshed my spirit in a depth that I thought was long gone.

Last two weeks I was living under a rock while my other half pulled 80-hour weeks to finish a work deadline. So when I return to the land of the cyberliving, this is in my mailbox:

It doesn't take much to make someone's (read: my) day and this did it. Thanks Stiletto. :-)

My daughter is going to make out like a bandit Christmas morning. To tell you the truth there's not going to be much under the tree for me this year - but that's more than OK. Most of my "Christmas" was in October in Vegas and that did more for my morale than any amount of jewlery or furs in a fancy wrapped box. Besides I just got another present confirmed today. This time last year a lot of thoughts were running around my head that became the foundation of this blog, although they weren't entered until February. Take a look back to that month's posts (or you'll remember if you've been reading for any length of time) and you'll see why I don't care what's under the tree:

From what the doctor can tell, she was conceived the day before I left for my vacation-with-Barry-and-friends-in-Las Vegas trip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So Barry - WHEN you find your way back to the ATL for another arena show during one of your Hilton breaks, timing is going to be everything. Summer is bad for me - July is going to be busy and 7/14 is going to be especially exciting. Besides, the humidity combined with the heat are sheer hell. So how about spring or fall? Philips Arena has open weekends in early May. September 12 and 19 are good. October 17 and 24 are open. So there are plenty of options here before next year's holidays set in.

Unless something major comes up it's going to be family time for YBA until 2009. So Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, and Happy New Year to everyone who stops by.

MUAH!