Just For The Record...

I've got 36... Barbra Streisand albums...

well, including this one.

Where to start...

I think it must have been some time around late'69 or maybe early'70 that I saw "Funny Girl" for the first time. The first of probably more times than I have her albums. Saw it at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Yes, one of the perks of growing up in Southern California. Seeing first run movies at the famous theatre was simply no big deal. Except for this one.

Imagine me, a young impressionable, actress/singer/dancer wanna-be, with a slightly larger than normal nose. Well, I was instantly hooked and my two year enamorement with one Patty Duke took an instantaneous nose DIVE. (I promise to keep this blog shorter... :)

Anyway, I owe Barbra a bunch.

The BackStory

I'm not sure what most teenagers do during their high school years. Don't get me wrong, I certainly had my share of extracuriculars along with boy crushes and the occassional munchies. I think I went to a "Three Dog Night" concert once as well as "The Moody Blues" and for sure "Joe Cocker." (I just realized that I have a whole lot of other things that I am now itching to write about!)

But one of the things I probably remember the most, at least during my last year of high school, was stalking Barbra Streisand.

301 Carolwood Drive in Holmby Hills, CA. That was her address.

Lorna and I had gotten this super secret piece of information from our friend Julie who had gotten it from a friend of hers. (Who would have known there could be so many "losers" in one small town?) But anyway, 301 Carolwood became our weekly Saturday destination.

Most of the time we would just drive by... and then go do the things that most teenagers do on a Saturday evening on Sunset or Hollywood Blvd. Usually it was dinner at Old World, a movie and a stop at Tower Records (thus all the albums.) But we did do some pretty "stalkerish" things as well. I'm not quite sure how many of the things I remember actually happened, like talking to young son Jason through the gate because I realize that sometimes when you embelish a story just once it can all of a sudden become very real in your mind, so I'll try to be honest here and use only my true memory.

• We did tote our bikes in the back of my VW station wagon a couple of times so that we could endlessly circle the block.

• We did pull a cardboard shipping box out of her trashcan once with the name and address label still attached.

• We did follow her yellow Mercedes once, causing her to panic a bit and to cut us off in her quick escape up the freeway ramp.

• We did have the police called on us more than once.

• And I'm not sure if we ever really took a picnic lunch to eat on a blanket in the vacant lot across from her house or not. Maybe we just thought about doing it. Given the last bullet point though, I highly doubt this ever really happend.

But we did stalk her backstage at the Hilton in Vegas once. Now there's a story.

Julie, Lorna and I had driven to Vegas to see her concert. Actually, my mom had driven the 3 of us along with my sister Jeannie and a friend in tow, but once we got there my friends and I never really saw the rest of the crew.

Prior to the dinner show, which my mom and sis were attending, we somehow snuck backstage through a side door off a service entrance that my friend (of course) knew about. We walked around for a while, acting as if we belonged there. (As if 3 teenage girls would ever have looked like they belonged there!) But somehow we pulled it off. I think the "ah-ha" moment of fooling everyone was finding that bank of pay phones...

And then suddenly, there she was. Walking from her dressing room to the stage accompanied by a female security guard and her little dog Sadie. And she was so much tinier than I had imagined! (Barbra, not Sadie) And then there we were petting her little dog and pretending that we weren't at all interested in the person who was walking her. And that's about it. We left the backstage area eeeeeing and awwwwwwing. Whether or not we left on our own accord is a detail I don't recall. Selective memory being what it is...

At the midnight show, we tipped the host $10 and somehow found ourselves seated at the very front table. Elbows on stage front table! Whether or not she recognized us during the concert we'll never know. If she did, she handled it like a pro.

Harvey Wallbangers were the fare of the evening. Don't they card in Vegas? Or perhaps we all just looked 21 and with the price of the ticket came two free beverages... (By the way, my friend Julie passed away sometime during the early 2000's due to an alcohol related illness, which is one of the reasons I can now remember the details of that night so clearly, sort of in the same way that I can still remember with such clarity the morning of 9/11, even though at the time I had no real reason to remember it.)

Anyway, as soon as the concert ended, Julie (the bravest of us all) hopped up onto the stage and dashed behind the curtain and of course we followed suit. The stage was already in the dark, but not dark enough for us to be able to swipe a type written sheet of "cheat notes" off the stool.

Yes, that really happened. And no, I do not know where that sheet of cheat notes is today but I will probably forever feel a little guilty about it.

And just for the record, Lorna and I DID attend the famous "Live At The Forum" concert with Barbra, Quincy Jones & Carol King. And to be honest I really don't remember doing anything out of the ordinarly foolish that night, except for purchasing the $20 nosebleed seats.

Anyway, I really don't remember how long this whole obsess I mean fandom, lasted. Probably well into my twenties for sure, though you'll notice that any of her current albums are unmistakably missing from my collection. I guess other things just eventually took over... as in career, husband, children, life changes, work and yes perhaps even Clay Aiken..

But if I had to name the top 20 people, things, events or experiences that have had the biggest impact on defining my life, I'm pretty sure she would be right up there.

And I just now remembered that somewhere along the line I somehow acquired THIS one too.

A collection of 94 tracks, 67 of which are previously unreleased. (So I guess I'm at 37 now, except that this one should probably count for a couple more.)

And also, just for the record, I don't know of anyone else who has an original copy of this...

But then again... you just never know.

I may just have to get caught back up one of these days.

*sigh*

Barbra Streisand - Official Site

*Updated Christmas 2012: Thanks Thom!!!

The Greatest Star Wannabe (BackStory)...

As much as I wanted to act, sing and dance as a child I still spent most of my early teen years pretty much lying on the sofa in my basement dreaming about it. And though I'd had some semi-decent dance recital experiences, my first year in high school drama class was a complete and utter disaster.

My assignments were total failures... not because they were terrible or anything, but because I didn't do any of them. I was paralyzed with fear about getting up in front of people! My drama teacher, Mrs. Bradbury, would later tell me that the only thing she ever remembered coming out of my mouth was "I'm not ready." Until the lipsynch assignment of course... which I practiced it in front of the mirror for at least a week beforehand.

I'll never, ever forget that day. Even now it remains the single most important dividing line between my eventual doing or continual dreaming.

I think all my memories are still intact, but since we do sometimes tend to overly embelish the past I thought I'd just do the rest of this straight from my old journal.

October 3, 1969

I shook all the way there, but I made it to Drama class. I wanted to do my song right away to get it over with. Ya know, every time I do anything in front of the class I just kind of blend into the wall. Nobody knows that I can do anything good.

I was so scared that Mrs. Bradbury would be bored with me. And after that speech by Michelle about how I could do "I'm The Greatest Star" SO good! That sure would be embarrassing! Anyway, I had to sit throught 5 songs, twiddling my thumbs. I didn't think I could stand it!

Finally, Michelle pointed to me and so Mrs. B. called on me next. I was terrified because all the other lip synchs that day had been SO good.

I started out the song a little tense and really hot from the spotlight on me. But then I just calmed down and just felt the part. Believe me, I felt the part! I almost cried and gave lots and lots of expressive emotion with my face and arms. I don't think I could ever do it that good again.

When it was over I heard a louder applause than I've ever heard in my life. I'm not kidding.. it went straight through me! I went to sit down and I could hear everyone whispering. Then I heard Mrs. B. saying, in the most surprised voice, "Jannet, that was great!" I said thank you and then went to retrieve my record before sitting down. Shaking. Every one shut up and then I heard Mrs. B's voice again saying, "Well, who wants to follow that?" Nobody said anything.

About a minute before class was over Mrs. B. came over to me and said, "That was excellent, and I want you to do it for 4th and 6th period on Monday. I never knew you had it, and just think all last year you were wasted! I could just kill you!"

And as I left the room she said one more thing to me.. "I couldn't believe it! I just sat there with my mouth open!"

I came home and laughed and cried and danced and sang and everything else...

Unfortunately, this was back in the day, way before video cameras and YouTube.. so you'll just have to use your best imagination...

Gosh I love her!

A Senior Yearbook comment from B.J.Bradbury...

SO many dreams ahead!

L J P...

A BFF tale...



My first (and probably last) in what might be considered the true sense of the word. In fact, I'm actually somewhat surprised we didn't coin the acronym back in the day...

Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of wonderful friendships in my life and I certainly hope to have many more, but there was just something so very different, special and once-in-a-lifetime about this one. Perhaps it was because we were so young and hadn't completely discovered ourselves yet.. or maybe it was because nobody else liked us!

But we were exactly the same. We called each others mom's "mom", had the same thoughts, finished each other's sentences, had the same dreams, shared the same jokes, smokes, the driving, a bad sense of direction, pj's and the occassional outfit and boyfriend. In short, we pretty much inhabited the same space for a while (even though height-wise I was about a foot taller)...

But there we were. Mutt and Jeff, Tom and Huck, Thelma and Louise, Paris and Nicole, Lucy and Ethel...

I'm sure at that time we could never have ever imagined just how much our paths would eventually diverge and that how one day we would end up not really talking that much at all. Not that we wouldn't talk all night again if we ever had the chance... but we just never have the chance. And I'm pretty sure that the content of any late night discussions we might have now would be very, very different from the late night 'discussions' we had back then...

The first time I met my BFF was on our first night of rehearsal for a community theatre production of "West Side Story." I had escaped the dismal thespian world of Hacienda Heights and had headed over the hill that summer to a place where the opportunities were a little more promising. Anyway, there she was practicing this lift with one of the chorus guys when he almost dropped her and her eyes suddenly locked on mine (I just happened to be the only one standing there) with this big wide eyed "OMG... hahaha... Help Me!!!" face. Well, I was hooked instantly! And the rest is history. By the way, just to prevent any possible confusion here... the word is "Thespian." You can Google it.


Jannet and Lorna - 1971


Andy's SuperBurger - Our Nightly Hangout

I seriously can't remember too much more about my years from age 16 to 18 except for the time we spent together... and when ya think about it those formative years can take up a whole lot of space in one's life. I mean, those events and memories can actually add up to a lot more than say, those from even 26 to 58, which I am now... almost. Funny how that is.

But anyway... other than suffering through school all week (and doing community shows in the summertime) we pretty much just looked forward to the weekends when we could drive into Hollywood or Westwood. And all we needed was a full tank of gas and $5 cash for a night on the town. The full tank of gas cost us about $5 as well... so we were pretty big spenders and free as birds! Not sure exactly what we always did there, except for cruising the boulevard, taking in first run movies at $1.50 a pop, purchasing the latest album at Tower Records, having dinner at Old World or Ships and of course stalking Barbra Streisand. Thankfully Barbra still exists. lol (But that's another whole story entirely...)


Jannet and Lorna - 1972

The Maggot Book...

Seriously. We had one... and we carried it with us everywhere!... because I mean really, one just never knows when a thing like that might come in handy. It was dedicated to "all those obnoxious and annyoing." And all we ever had to do was to ask them their name...



To date there are just 142 entries. Come on Lorn, we could have done SO much better than that!


A Birthday Card for my 18th

Graduation...
It always happens.


Senior Choir Banquet


Graduation Day

Now keep in mind, she was still two years younger than I was and so still had to remain in High School... while I got to go off to pursue college and New York and all sorts of other things grown up... (which just now made me realize that how all of those years I may have been contributing to the downfall of a minor.. :)

But we still kept in touch!



And sent pictures...



And then finally...

Yay!

But after that, honestly?.. I think that both of our lives just got completely crazy. In fact I don't think either of us could hardly keep track of it at the time! College, jobs, shows... and then a U.S.O. tour (which by the way I cannot believe how her mom ever let her fly off to the Orient without making her bed first... and I only know that because I had to make the dang bed myself. lol) But anyway...

We were able to hook up again and re-acquaint during the spring 0f '75 for a trip up the coast...


I Dare You To Blink


BFF's


Damn Mustang


A Christening

And for yet another trip to Vegas...


What happens in Vegas stays...

And then we spent a summer together in NYC the following year, sharing a one room flat with a gal named Piper Pickeral who really loved protein drinks... long before they were fashionable.


Freedom


Rebels


*sigh*

I would end up staying in New York for the next 10 years but at the end of the summer Lorna packed her bags and bid us goodbye. Please don't misunderstand. It's not that she didn't like New York..

She just liked L.A. better...



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So I guess this turned out to be a little more of a photo journey and a little less content filled than I had planned. But there was just so much to cover. Way too many funny little stories, antecdotes and memories to ever be able to fit in here! So I may just have to write some of those down in their own seperate blog entries in the future. Except that once I do that, we may have to kill you...

Anyway, I'm not sure when it was that we lost the together exactly, but I think it may have had something to do with this...


Haha

But seriously, I'm fairly sure that we both shared in a little bit of the blame there. Although blame is not exactly the word I really mean to use at all. I think it's just that we both grew up, which people sometimes tend to do... except that I still ended up growing up to be a little taller... ; )

I believe that a friend is someone you can always count on, someone who makes you laugh and cries along when you do. Someone who gives you good advice even when that outcome will have nothing to do with them. Someone who you can just sit with without ever wondering what to say and yet who will still forgive you when you end up saying something stupid or at least less than smart.

But a BFF is all of the above plus one who at some point defines you... and not only for a time but, in a way, forever (thus the double F's...). And someone who, if you ever happened to just show up at the other's front door one day, say 40 years later, wouldn't even question it or think it particularly weird... Someone who can attend your first wedding and then completely understand when it doesn't work out without you even having to explain it and vice-versa... Someone who rejoices with you in the birth of your first child and loves all the beautiful pictures you send and then later shares with you all the trials and joys of being a mother to that beautiful baby... and again, vice-versa.



...And also someone who introduces you to AOL (the really big thing back in the 90's!...) and then years later accepts your "friend" request on FaceBook without question, even though you may not exactly fit the demograpghic. lol

And oh yes, someone who you might be able to send a silly blog like this one to and who will just laugh right along with you at all the memories, almost as if it were yesterday.

Anyway, LJP, thanks so much for everything. It was definitely a blast!



And so just how many times did you actually end up appearing on Johnny Carson exactly anyway?...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bedtime Rituals...

Being the middle child, I always had to share a room while growing up. Or maybe a better way of putting it is that I always GOT to share a room. First with Carol, who then got her own when Jeannie got too old to sleep in the crib in my parent's room, after which I became "roomies" with Jeannie.

I have two very distinct memories of those two different arrangements, which at the time may have been just silly childhood goings on, but they have somehow stuck in my mind forever.

Carol and I had storytime.

I think it all started on the day when somebody barfed on the patio outside the nurses office right after we got our flu shots at Valinda Elementary. I was in first grade.

I came home and told everyone about it and and how totally gross it was and that how afterwards they'd had to call the Jennifer (janitor) to clean it up... (except that I don't think the word "gross" actually existed at the time...as a matter of fact I don't remember if the word "barf" did either.)

Well anyway, Carol, big sister that she was, roared with laughter...

So then ensued our midnight tales in bed every night after the lights were out. The stories could be as absolutely discusting as we could possibly make them, but the one rule was that they always had to end with the tag line "And the Jennifer cleaned it up." I remember the stories involving every possible type of bodily excretion that we were aware of at the time... And Vic Tanny (the health fitness guru at the time) also found his way into many of our stories so they were never lacking in entire swimming pools overflowing with fat and blubber. Fun times, fun times.

Many years later... I was writing to Carol and we were laughing about all those stories we use to tell each other... when I ended up with the thought of "Wow, little did we know that one day she REALLY would..." hahahaha (some of you will get that...)

We also had our alternate story theme called "The Family Wash"... but I don't remember any of them too distinctly, but I think the stories were pretty similiar just maybe not quite as graphic. At any rate airing our dirty laundry wasn't one of our big specialties at the time...


Me and Lala... a couple years before "the stories"...

Next came little sis Jeannie and the back scratches. We had a nightly routine that we couldn't stray from. This was the order. Short design, long design, scribble, short picture, long picture, scratch. Of course each one had to be erased in between, which basically meant a backrub. I was usually the unselfish older sister always offering to do her back first... so that I could just fall asleep afterwards. Haha

We had a date last year to revisit the backscratches when we found out we were going to have to share a bed at our family reunion in Aspen Grove, but then unfortunately, a room freed up...

We all played Apples to Apples out in the common area instead.


Jeannie and me in the BYU dorms summer of '64 while mom was going to school. I think this may have been where our backscratching tradition began.


The three of us in the backyard on Lawnwood St. in '60.

I sure do love my sisters and all our memories! I think we really need to do another sleepover one of these days.