People noticed in the video I posted earlier this year that Jim has fully retired from the stage. For those concerned about him, he isn't dying. He's just got a breathing issue and he has no energy to get up and get out. When he's home in his chair with his faithful servant -- guess who -- and his cat, he's his same old grouchy self.
But he hasn't been sitting doing nothing while the Game Show Network blares in the background. He's been writing a book about his mentor, David Burns, a great Broadway character who was a Vaudevillian whose energy and presence drove the comedy engines of many Golden Age of Broadway productions all the way up through the early 70s.
Based on lost interviews Jim found when helping Turner Classic Movies with some Joan Crawford letters. As I helped him edit the manscript we realized this biography was becoming more than just a great story about a very quirky professional, but a new portrait of a bygone theatrical era seen through Davy's eyes.
David Burns, a New York first generaton Jewish Lower East Sider, could surprisingly speak fluent Chinese. In the early 20th Century, he told Jim, the Jewish and Chinese communities (what is now Chinatown), worked together for refugees of each other's clans and attended the same schools. He crossed the ocean during the Great Depression doing what were called "quota movies." British quickies thrown together to meet a legal quota of local movies. He always played the street level New Yorker. The American sidekick. The wisecracking agent or crook.
And then, back on Broadway, he became the only man who could tell the notoriously powerful David Merrick to go f-- himself unless David got exactly his quote because he could literally save a failing show. He won a Tony for The Music Man and didn't even sing a song.
The book is called EXIT LAUGHING, due to the circumstances of his passing. He died onstage after getting the biggest laugh of the night. It will be on sale June 22.
GAVIN AND STEVE NEWS
Our mornings at Strawberry Fields -- Tuesdays and Wednesday from 9am to 11am -- are so beautiful now. Yesterday, the air was a little chilly, The greens were really greens. The trees are in full foliage and the park caretakers have removed the weeds and invasive species, nurturing the ground cover so it’s all really beautiful.
Right as we were starting, there was a German man who has come before with his wife. They came last year and then again earlier this year. He got there right about 8:30 -- we always start a little early to run through songs that need rehearsal -- and stayed (his wife joined us later) all the way through till 11. He said he loves the IMAGINE circles and he thanked us for bringing that spirit of love.
There was not a lot of early traffic and then about 9:30, several groups came through one right after to the other. One was from Italy, one was French, followed by more Italians and then two groups from Argentina. I don’t know why Argentina love us, but they do. They must’ve stayed for at least a half an hour of dancing around the mosaic posing for pictures with us, sharing the mic and singing along.
Then there were the two babies, barely able to walk, who walked to the circle and then plapped themselves down right in front of us, absolute entranced. When Blake Lee began to sing "Imagine," the image of the the two of them with the word IMAGINE behind them became almost overwhelming. I grabbed the mic and said, "You're who we're doing this for!" Their proud parents were beaming, probably because we held their attention for at least 15 minutes.
After which, of course, I announced we are available for kids' birthday parties. We're also doing a free outdoor Beatles singalong this Saturday afternoon at this beautiful park on 103rd and West End Avenue, sponsored by the Friends of Straus Park.
SATURDAY, MAY 16 AT 1-3 PM
STRAUS PARK
THE BEATLES SING-ALONG WITH GAVIN & STEVE
https://fospark.com/event/beatles-concert-sing-a-long-with-strawberry-feels-duo-1pm/
STEVE NEWS
I also had the great honor of playing for a reception by the wonderful women's group, the NYC Insider's Club by the Three Tomatoes publishing company. The guest was noted magazine editor and writer, Myrna Blyth who told us amazing stories of people like Bob Dylan, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher. Her husband, also a reporter, accompanied The Beatles on their first nationwide tour. So we had a lot to talk about. She had just written a Substack piece about them and the enduring quality of their music. https://myrnablyth.substack.com/p/all-about-the-beatles
And if you're a woman in New York, join their club! https://www.thethreetomatoes.com/nycinsidersclub
I have some new songs written but not recorded. I've been so focused on my health, diet, exercise, music and taking care of the house that I fall asleep before I can even think of setting up the studio. Still, as we adjust to old age, the one focus I have had is my health. And ny my health, I also mean my voice. As before, I'm constantly, constantly working on raising my range, relaxing my delivery and staying focused on quality of sound. That's the advantage of constant performance. And to be able to do it for people in real time is even better because I can tell when I'm doing it right.
LAST THING
Yesterday, out of nowhere, unplanned, I turned Give Peace A Chance into a freestyle rap. I went from the last verse into suddenly saying, "Everybody's talking John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rose Marie, the lady on the bench whose wearing blue jeans and that beautiful blouse, the tough guy with the cowboy boots..."
I went all the way around the circle naming people and it wasn't authentic "rap," of course. But it was completely fluid, totally spontaneous, and hilarious. All of it to bring people in.
Because in the true method of the Tao, as my mentor John Bettis would tell me, our job there is not to be the main attraction but to help create the empty space where the people can fill in their own personal feelings with the memory of The Beatles and John Lennon, the message of imagining a better peaceful world.
Personally, for me, it's therapy, how I stay alive. At 72, to be outdoors physically and mentally challenging myself is how my mind stays sharp, how my battered body manages to keep things pumping. Yesterday, I spoke with Maggie at my endocrinologist's office, and she was over the moon about my blood sugar levels.
And so all is well. A new book. New songs. A summer of Beatles music. Join us on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings!
