The Greedy Bastard Tour bus with the author. (Skip Rickert)
Onstage, live at the Keswick Theatre. (© 2003 by John Angelini)
On tour. (Courtesy of the author)
Cast and crew at a rest stop. Back row: Peter Crabbe, Mike (driver), Scott Keeton, English, Tom (merch), and John du Prez; front row: Skip Rickert, Jennifer Julian, Jennifer Usher (costumes), Eric, Larry Mah (sound), Gilli Moon. (Larry Mah)
Performing “The End of the World” with Peter and Jen at the Keswick Theatre. (© 2003 by John Angelini)
Act Two: the story continues…(Larry Mah)
The Bruces with eBay winners, Boston. (Skip Rickert)
I was lucky enough to perform in my hat at beautiful spaces like the Williamsport Theatre. (Larry Mah)
With the Finnish Terry Gilliam. (Courtesy of the author)
Jennifer and Peter perform “The Getty Song.” (© 2003 by John Angelini)
Sound check: John at the piano, Peter, Jennifer, and I. (Larry Mah)
The expensive set. (Larry Mah)
Performing “I Like Chinese” with Skip. (Larry Mah)
Singing “Killing for God.” (Larry Mah)
In Toronto. (Larry Mah)
The expensive merchandise. (Courtesy of the author)
We visited Gore Vidal and Howard Austen in their Roman apartment, where we sloshed martinis and went off for a very drunken dinner. Olivia and George Harrison came out to visit, and to celebrate his forty-fifth birthday we made a big cake saying Revived Forty-five, a reference to his Thirty-three and a Third album. Long gone is the world of albums, LPs, EPs, singles, 78s, 45s, and 331?3s.
There was intense speculation about who would succeed in dating Uma, and she sailed serenely through it all, effortlessly resisting the drunken lurches of the rather wonderful Oliver Reed. There was a famous old Italian actress called Valentina Cortese, who constantly made Uma’s life hell. Valentina’s idea of acting, no matter what the scene or how it had been rehearsed, was on the word “action” to bump Uma out of the way and then head straight for center screen. It was like a football play. No matter who was between her and her goal she would always end up in the middle waving her arms around dramatically. For the rest of us it was amusing. For Uma it was a nightmare. Robin got revenge for all of us. Fully aware of her tricks, he stepped firmly on the hem of her robe to prevent her moving, then squashed fruit into her mouth to prevent her protesting. He earned all our applause.
So here we are, then, in St.Louis with its big McDonald’s arch. Tonight is our twentieth show! After that we pile into the buses and head north for Buffalo. Foul weather is on the way. Oh, to be young and in Roma again!