Prettiest. Hippies. EVER.

HAIR was the next show in our Playhouse Square package and I'll confess to being a bit dubious. I've seen several productions of the 60's musical and while always fun, it feltlike a show that is short on plot, basically a collection of songs. However, I was curious to see if this production featured the lone nude scene or if it got toned down for the sake of the bluehairs that most often attend these kinds of touring shows.

First things first: this was the most physically beautiful cast I have ever seen in musical theater. And I'm not just saying that because I got to see them naked. Yes, the nudity remained and Ye Gods, was it fun to see!

Exhibit A:

Not only was the cast GORGEOUS, they were the most tuneful, playful, interactive cast for this show I have ever seen. I loved every minute of this show and that is entirely a credit to the cast. The handsome guy in the center of the photo above is Steel Burkhardt (swear to Goddess, that's his name) who managed to be sexy, ethereal, yet earthy as central character Berger (I prefer Banana Berger).

Ryan Link's "Woof" (far right bottom corner of the photo above, kneeling) was a scene-stealer. Phyre Hawkins' ("Dionne") version of Aquarius gave me chills. Sara King delivered an impressive "Sheila." But, it was difficult to take my eyes off this:

Tribe member Marshal Kennedy Carter is just so gosh-darned fit. He also has an incredible voice, as exhibited when he sang "What a Piece of Work Is Man."

Sadly, none of the beautiful people joined us at Bricco after the show. Missie and I gave the performance two thumbs up and both agreed that if the hippies in the 60's were actually this pretty, the Summer of Love would never end and right now, we would be a multi-racial culture of gorgeous second-generation free-lovers.

Year End Lists: 2011 in Personal Review

Media loves condensing events into lists, and nevermore than at year-end. So, here are my lists for seeing 2011 out the door...

The Top Five Worst Things for CeltTim in 2011:
#5 - I lost an old friend, Carolyn Beck. We became estranged some years ago and now that can never be made right. Still, I will forever treasure her quirky, sparkling wit and voracious intelligence.

#4 - I was not always as financially responsible as I would have liked. My only defense is that the medical bills spawned by suckage #1 made this especially difficult.

#3 - Frustration at work made me waste far too much time being angry and whiny. Time lost with negativity is never recaptured. Move on. No Day But Today.

#2 - The economy. I'm tired of watching friends lose jobs and lose homes and suffer upheaval and not be able to do something about it. Occupy Washington with non-politicians. Muzzle the Religious Right. DO FRIGGIN' SOMETHING!

#1 - Being hospitalized last January rocked my world and not in the good way. Accentuating the positive, I saw medical professionals at their best and learned who my real friends are. Clarity counts for something, right?

The Top Five Best Things for CeltTim in 2011:
#5 - (Those of you with delicate sensitivities should move on to #4. Really. Nothing to see here.) I got my freak on way more than anyone of my age, size and general appearance should ever have the right. Wowser. And for this, I thank the Almighty Electronic Gods and Goddesses.

#4 - I remained gainfully employed for the entire year, frustration notwithstanding. I still love my job, generally, and enjoy the people who work with me. I even manage to have a couple of good, real friends from there.

#3 - My auditory and optical nerves absorbed some damn fine entertainment this year: Doctor Who, Captain America, Thor, Glee, et al. Comics continue to be a passion and even "The New 52" turned out pretty good. But the thing that moved me the most started in a real theater, acted out by real human beings and then became an electronic obsession: next to normal. I miss the mountains.

#2 - Jake. 'Nuff said.

#1 - I got to spend some quality time with good friends in 2011. My friend Tammy both came to Akron to see me and I got to go to Chicagoland to visit her. Missie is my partner in crime and musical theater. Time spent with Lisa & George always makes me feel good about myself. Mike, Kiehl & Tim are family. Jim brings me joy on so many levels. Bob & Beverly are my surrogate parents. I am well and truly blessed.

So long, 2011; farewell; auf wiedersehen; adieu. Welcome 2012. Show me what you gots.

Will 51 Be Tons O' Fun?

At 4:10a.m. I turned 51. Today, like that day over five decades ago, is Thanksgiving. I will be spending it with my dog and later, with friends.

I should probably have insightful, witty things to say on this occasion. Sadly, I do not. Maybe something will occur to me later.

Take care of yourselves, y'all. I am thankful for every sparkling day on this planet. UB2.

Broadway Series #2: Opening the Door to La Cage Aux Folles

Yesterday, my friend Missie and I went to Cleveland Playhouse to see the touring production of La Cage Aux Folles starring George Hamilton and Christopher Sieber. It was a rollicking good time.

I've seen other productions of La Cage, but this one played up the comedic aspects of the source material to a fantastic, almost slapstick degree. Sieber's Albin and strong voice did the role proud. His delivery of gay anthem "I Am What I Am" was heart-wrenching.

George Hamilton's performance as Georges was understated. His voice was tuneful and his dancing on target. His performance made any age considerations disappear.

Also worth noting was Billy Harrigan Tighe's performance as Jean-Michel. His clear, bright voice on "Look Over There" brought a tear to my eye.

I ran into some friends during intermission who seemed less enthused about the performance. Their primary criticism dealt with the sparse drag costuming, unaware that this tour was the minimalist 2010 revival production.

The cast did some fund-raising after the show for Broadway Cares. My only regret was not having cash to get a signed program. Missie and I hustled to the nearest ATM and back, but we were too late. I'm tempted to go back and try again.

After the show, Missie and I went to our regular hangout, Bricco, and had drinks while the parking deck cleared out. Once again, the restaurant was frequented by members of the cast. It's always interesting to see actors off-stage, interacting with the real world.

Next in our package: Hair in January. I can't wait!

Shenanigans: McDonald's Monopoly Game "1 in 4 Instant Winners"

I pass a McDonald's on my way to work after dropping Jake off at daycare. So, for good or ill, on those days when I want a quick breakfast or an easy dinner, I all-too often use their drive-thru.

The annual Monopoly game has traditionally been a pleasant diversion. I usually end up with a handful of instant winning tickets and had garnered a few online prizes, though nothing life-altering. However, this year I noticed a distinct change in the number of winning tickets. Once I realized there was a change, I started keeping track.

For 2011, the game started in restaurants in late September and ended yesterday, November 5, although most outlets ran out of game piece-bearing packaging sooner. According to the promotional pieces, the chances of winning are 1 in 4 with 125 million winning game pieces being distributed. Normally, I get enough instant winners to not give these statistics much thought. This year was different.

Over the course of that one-month-plus, I gathered 38 game pieces. (Keep in mind that most food items have more than one game piece, many have as many as 4 pieces.) Of those, I uncovered 1 instant winner. One. Singular. My actual winnings were 1 in 38.

I play the online "second chance" game and had 6 online wins. This brought my stats up to about 18%, still pretty distant from the supposed 25% winning rate. Five out of the 6 online wins were for Coke Rewards points, with the remaining prize being 20 free photo prints on Snapfish.

So, I'm calling shenanigans on McDonald's monopoly game this year. If I didn't take the time to play the online game, my disappointment would be much greater. Even with the online prizes, I suspect something is amiss. Anyone else notice?

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
- V for Vendetta

Photo Essay: McDonald's Halloween Bucket Collection

I have a collection of Halloween treat buckets issued off and on as Happy Meal containers by the McDonald's fast food chain since 1985. I've shown some of these in previous blog posts, but I thought I would take some photos of the entire collection, since MickeyD's issued the most lame versions yet this year.

Also, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to SydLexia's fantastic photo essay of these kitschy gems. It was discovering her web page a few years ago that inspired me to fill out my collection. Check out her page. 'Tis awesome.

The first two photos are my entire collection:


The first plastic Happy Meal buckets were issued on a trial basis in 1985. They were all orange pumpkin recreations. The same set was reissued in 1986 with slightly smaller faces. The 1985 versions had some regional name variations. In some places, McPunk'n was named McPunky, McGoblin was aka McJack but McBoo was McBoo everywhere, as far as I know. The 1986 versions were reissued in 1987.

There were no Happy Meal buckets for 1988, but in 1989, the buckets got away from the "pumpkin only" theme, keeping McBoo and adding McGhost and McWitch. These versions still had the handle incorporated in the pail and had plastic lids. McWitch's pointy hat lid make stacking the pails for storage a bit more difficult, but no matter. The following year used similar pail designs, but in BRIGHT day-glo plastic except McBoo which did the glow-in-the-dark thing.

On eBay this year, I found a variation of the day-glo McWitch with an "M-shaped" handle. I have to say, I think McDonald's missed a cool marketing opportunity by not issuing all the pails with this kind of handle. Genius.

McDonald's stopped issuing pails every year. The 1992, 1994 and 1999 pails incorporate cookie cutters in the lids. The handles were now part of the lids, rather than the pails. Again, this made the lids difficult to stack. With the 1999 set, they abandoned pails with faces, and had wrap-around scenes instead. They also scaled the offering from three variations to two.

The twentieth century witnessed another major change to the Happy Meal pails. McDonald's stayed with two designs, but scaled the pails to a slightly smaller size, saved some plastic by putting the handle back on the pail, turning it into a cool "bat-wing" design and using a cardboard circle instead of a lid. Both designs used the wrap-around graphic.

The two most recent Halloween Happy Meal pail designs use stickers to complete the wrap-around graphic. Both are the smaller size, use snazzy handle designs and stiff-paper lids which carry the stickers. The 2010 versions were based on Mr. Potato Head with two different creepy skull- or Jack O'Lantern-shaped handles. This year's versions are essentially blank canvases, needing the stickers to be anything other than orange or green plastic. Bummer. But they have nifty cat-shaped handles. So, there's that.

And there you have it -- my complete collection of McDonald's Happy Meal Halloween buckets or pails or containers, choose your own term. It's been a fun project to collect and document. I sure hope the next time they issue a set, they rethink the sticker thing and give the "toys" a re-infusion of personality. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate their attempt to incite creativity and individuality, but stickers don't last. And one of the real benefits of these kinds of toys are that you can pick them up again as an adult and display them proudly. And remember Halloweens past.