"The girl wasn't half bad"

That was Babs' self assessment when she went through the vault of unreleased material and settled on the 11 that made it to Release Me, her 60-something-ith CD.

As always with Streisand, I love (LOVE LOVE) some tracks and give a shrug and an "eh" when I hear others. And as always with Streisand, I prefer the less technically perfect tracks and gravitate to the more emotionally real ones. (I think the lady herself values perfection more than authenticity, so she and I often disagree on which are her best performances.)

My favorites on this one are "How Are Things in Glocca Mora?" from Brigadoon (which didn't make it to her Broadway album) and an outtake of "With One More Look at You" from A Star Is Born. I hope she performs these chestnuts (recorded in the 1980s and 1970s, respectively) when I see her in concert NEXT FRIDAY!

And yes, Dear Lady, you aren't half bad. :)

Someone told me it's all happening at The Zoo

Spent a very rainy Sunday with my nephew at the Brookfield Zoo. Despite the intermittent storms, we had a good time, managing to see the lions and a leopard, dolphins, peacocks, primates, otters and a few assorted reptiles. We also stopped at two refreshment stands (at 13, he eats a staggering amount).

It was also good for him to spend some time with me on a Sunday. He used to visit my mother every Sunday and I would join them for Scrabble a couple times a month. I'm going to try to see him at least one Sunday a month -- partly to help him with the mourning process and partly because he's a nice kid and I enjoy his company.