Whatever we choose to do for a living (whether we like our profession or not) or hobby, if you want to improve your game, you gotta see how the successful people in your field have done it before. If you’re a computer person, it would behoove you to read a book by Bill Gates. If you play basketball, watching Kobe Bryant score 80 points a game should inspire you. So on and so forth.

Since I like to write musicals and songs, I spend a lot of time watching musicals and listening to songs. Today, I watched Funny Girl, with Barbra Streisand, for the first time in a long time. Good movie, I thought. I listened to the songs, and they were very clever, but as you watch it you have to ask yourself “Would this movie, or the songs, been near as good if Barbra Streisand wasn’t singing them?” You can make fun of her nose and accent all you want, but the lady certainly has chutzpah. I enjoyed Hello, Dolly more, but if you’re in a pinch, Funny Girl will do.

A musical Karen and I wrote, Geraniums and Wrens, was being produced in New Orleans last summer, and I was down there to oversee it, since this was the premiere production. During the rehearsal, there was a man sitting by himself in the back who I didn’t recognize. Just staring at the stage. He had nothing to do with the show apparently. So during a break, I went to see what his business was. I could tell right away he was riff-raff of some sort. Matted hair, dirty clothes, the works. I was about to politely ask him to leave, but he suddenly blurted out “That’s a beautiful song, man.” Shocked and flattered by his remark, I proceeded to say “Well, I appreciate that, sir.” He glared at me for a moment, and then said “I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to my pal Sam here, and I wish you wouldn’t interrupt his singing again.” He pointed to the chair next to him, but nobody was sitting there. Undaunted, I returned to my rehearsal, and I didn’t interrupt this man, or Sam, again.