Good times and bum times, I've seen 'em all
And, my dear, I'm still here!
Plush velvet sometimes,
Sometimes just pretzels and beer,
But I'm here!
I've run the gamut, A to Z
Three cheers and dammit, C'est la vie!
I got through all of last year - and I'm here!
Lord knows, at least I was there, and I'm here!
Look who's here!
I'm still HERE!
- Stephen Sondheim Follies
Image: David Weeks © 2008
And, my dear, I'm still here!
Plush velvet sometimes,
Sometimes just pretzels and beer,
But I'm here!
I've run the gamut, A to Z
Three cheers and dammit, C'est la vie!
I got through all of last year - and I'm here!
Lord knows, at least I was there, and I'm here!
Look who's here!
I'm still HERE!
- Stephen Sondheim Follies
Image: David Weeks © 2008
Happiest of birthdays to you, Brian!
ReplyDeleteAs I read the words below your photo (good photo, by the way), I kept thinking "Those words are so familiar"... well, yes, of course they are. I just saw "Follies" a few weeks ago!
May it be a very good year for you. Best wishes!
P.S. On my blog, you'll find a birthday card of sorts...
ReplyDeleteAll the best!
ReplyDeleteSCB - Thank you for the greetings here -- and the terrific birthday ode on Your Blog!
ReplyDeleteBORIS - Thanks, my old mad Dutch friend! Also for the WONDER-full on-going Wonderland doodles; keep it up and you'll soon have enough for a BOOK!
Another year... do you remember?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX2nxZvO6DQ
Feliz, feliz en tu día,
amiguito que Dios te bendiga,
que reine la paz en tu día
y que cumplas muchos más....
(Be happy in your day,
God bless you my friend,
have a great day
and many happy returns)
Are you sure? Sixty?, you look splendid...gorgeous... Happy day!!!!
Have a great birthday Mr B !
ReplyDeletedocuto : a piece of paper recording the number of cards and presents you got on your birthday with a brief description of each, found several years later in a box with some cake crumbs.
Many happy returns of the day, and congratulations on the milestone birthday. Wishing you fun, frolicking and presents (and not just a busted balloon and empty honey jar.)
ReplyDelete(Loved the Sondheim.)
Many Happy & Healthy Returns, Dear Brian!
ReplyDeleteI think you should allow yourself to have some birthday cake (just to make sure that Buttons doesn't scoff the lot).
Well done SCB for your Ode.
EUDORA - Thank you for the compliments - I'll now try to feel 'gorgeous' all day! :-) And muchisimas gracias for the song - with translation! - and performance!
ReplyDeleteMr BOLL WEAVIL (most prolific of my blog-chums) - Ta, ever so, and, yes, I've already written out my birthday 'docuto'!
SUSAN D-L - Funny you should quote dear old Pooh! I was actually going to blog the Eeyore's birthday episode, but decided it was - even for me - too Eeyore-ish for today! But I was thinking it!!
SHARON - 'Healthy Returns' I'll certainly drink to. Thank you! To tell the absolute truth, I had birthday cake last night at the Magic Circle, courtesy of our friend, Diva of Deception. So I probably ought to go a bit careful today. On the other hand.......
Happy Birthday, Brian, from the Ascot pensioners!
ReplyDeleteWe'll look forward to celebrating in style soon, but in the meantime we all hope you've had at least one glass of Bucks Fizz with your toast and marmalade this morning.
Happy Birthday! Do you get a bus pass now?
ReplyDelete- Phil
Pfew, I remembered!
ReplyDeleteI am on a holiday in the UK at the moment, but still have webaccess, so:
Happiest of birthdays Brian! Here's to many more. Have a great day!
Happy Birthday Mr.S! Hope it's a great day and an even greater year.
ReplyDeleteSHEILA, PHIL, DRAGOLADYCH and BITTER ANIMATOR - Thank you all for your birthday wishes and, yes, Phil, I DO get my bus pass (thanks for rubbing it in) and free medications - some of which also require rubbing in! :-0
ReplyDeleteOdd, isn't, when I was quite small, birthdays meant a trip on a bus and a bag of sweets: obviously very little has changed - other than the frequency of buses and the potency of the sweeties!
MARK e-mailed to say....
ReplyDeleteJust checked your blog for the first time in a while. It's wonderful, engaging and great fun. And, of course, a great testament to your writing skills. Loved the ABC.
And just one more wish for your birthday (not having previously realised it's a big one today).
Also courtesy of Mr Sondheim:
If you know
What you want,
Then you go
And you find it
And you get it-
And you give
And you take
And you bid
And you bargain
Or you'll live
To regret it.
Why you do
What you do,
That's the point:
All the rest of it
Is chatter.
If the thing you do
Is pure in intent,
If it's meant,
And it's just a little bent,
Does it matter?
Thanks, MARK, A great lyric from Into the Woods: one of my favourite Sondheim shows!
ReplyDeleteI've just spent about half an hour trying to send you a special e-card, which you won't receive because there appears to be something wrong with either yours or my e-mail address! The mysteries of the web!
ReplyDeleteOh well - a very happy birthday anyway Mr. S.!
trasm: the hypnotic-like trance induced by a major something-ty birthday!
Thanks for the thought, SUZANNE, my e-mail address is mail@briansibley.com, but it might just be that the greetings card company couldn't believe that it was possible that I am sixty!! I certainly can't!
ReplyDeleteA very happy birthday to you Brian! Here's hoping your 61st year is a great one :)
ReplyDeleteHope you're having an absolutely terrific birthday, Brian!!
ReplyDeleteANDY & JAMIE - Yes, guys I am feeling very ANIMATED today! Imagine, if you will, Taz on a zimmer-frame!!
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonderful sunny day for a birthday. I hope you're having a good time proving that sixty is the new forty.
As my dear friend the Delightful LA Actress says, "Wishing you health and happiness."
Thanks, GOOD DOG, your wishes appreciated as always (hoping you are now fully on the mend) and good to get news once more - even indirectly - about the DLAA!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteJeremy Beagle and Studley Moore left you birthday wishes on my blog. I have no idea how to link it to a comment though!
ReplyDeleteThanks, GOOD DOG I'm sending the folks over, so they can meet Jeremy Beagle and Studley Moore - in person(s)!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! I hope it's a great one for you. You have a great blog.
ReplyDeleteWow - was Studley created especially for Brian - I hope the Duchess isn't y-affronted.
ReplyDelete"Be here now" -- congratulations on your ongoing presence and wishing you a pile of presents on your special day!
ReplyDeleteSUSAN - Thanks for stopping by! Come again!
ReplyDeleteSHARON - I liked 'y-(af)fronted'! Aren't Jeremy Beadle and Studley Moore great? It would be nice to think of them having an after-life, though I do wonder whether BITTER ANIMATOR is really going to be able to sell the concept of a dog detective accompanied by a policemen in his underpants!
RYAN - I'm really touched by all my blog friends expressing pleasure in my 'presence', especially since I rarely take pleasure in being here myself: you've all brightened what I thought was going to be a very gloomy day!
Eytyxismena Genethlia!
ReplyDeleteNow make the most of your Freedom Pass:
http://www.freedompass.org/
Feliz Cumpleaños!
ReplyDeleteGo out and break a piñata ;-)
Will do, JAMES!
ReplyDeleteRED PILL JUNKIE - I'd need new specs, first or I'd be bound to miss!!
Though we met under sad circumstances (Ian Richardson's memorial service), I have enjoyed every minute of knowing you. Happy birthday to a wonderful man and a charming friend. Buttons is very lucky to have you.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Cindy Lou
Happy birthday! And may you have many more.
ReplyDeleteAlice gives you her best as well
With this many people we should have had a party !
ReplyDeletesufflu : A potent disease that loads of people have but, fortunatly, no one you know.
congratulations Brian. Let's hope certain members of the english cricket team can manage that score as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get to be as advanced in years as you are now, I hope that my spirit is as young and vital as yours is!
ReplyDeleteAs my facebook profile states;
I like vintage Colnago bicycles, Miles Davis, The Blue Nile, The Nits, Biosphere, The Orb, Coltrane, Glenn Gould, Pete Namlook, Brian Sibley's production of "The Chronicles of Narnia" which he did for the BBC....!
FIONA R - Yes, Cindy Lou, it's curious the (sometimes sad) things that can bring folks to know one another. It's been a pleasure to get to know you, too...
ReplyDeleteBOLL WEAVIL - Well, in a way, this is a kind of (virtual) party! :-)
ALEX - You know me and sports... But for the sake of England's cricket-lovers, I endorse your wish!!
ANONYMOUS - Well, I'm honoured, indeed, to be listed alongside some of the greatest names in jazz history! Thank you!
Sorry, MATT, forgot to say that I enjoyed the Alice birthday card! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Boll - and I'm sure I won't be the only one pushing the comments over the 40 mark - wouldn't it be great - and appropriate to get to 60.
ReplyDeleteA Very Merry Unbirthday to You, Brian.
Thank you, SHARON, but we've past 40 and 60, they say, is the new 40, so that's good enough for me!
ReplyDeleteQuite right, you young thing, you!
ReplyDeleteGood plan ! Lets get to 60 posts. A very merry un-birthday to Mr S
ReplyDeleteDear Doug,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the greeting on your blog! I'm honoured! Am I you ask, a bon vivant? Well, my waist measurement certainly suggests that I am!
Well - as you know, my dear friend, I have had a very hectic eight days and at last i can sit and read your blog and, maybe, put something on mine.
ReplyDeleteI have read all the greetings on here and, although I gave mine personally, I still want to proclaim my delight in showering you in cake (well, not literally) to celebrate the new 40! I do hope the coming year is kind and fun-filled - we'll do our best to make it so1
And never mind Narnia, Anonymous - Brian's Lord of the Riings from 20 years ago is the definitive work with music that sets the spine atingling with thoughts of the words to come!
Belated Happy Birthday Brian - although I did give you good wishes on the day itself and in person! I suppose there is a limit to how many times one can offer birthday greetings in any one year! Anyway - enjoy Venice and come back refreshed and prepared for all life can throw at you knowing that you have the support of your friends!
ReplyDeleteDIVA and ROB - Your blog greetings are greatly appreciated as were your personal ones received last week - along with, thank you very much, the very yummy cake!
ReplyDeleteYou and Tom Watson were both born in 1949 - makes it a very special year!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late... Happy birthday!!
ReplyDeleteSHARON M - Obviously I'd better take up golf!
ReplyDeleteRENA - Never too late for a birthday greeting! Thank you!
This is a Happy Unbirthday (since July 14 has come and gone), but unbirthdays are more numerous as are the best wishes. You write the most interesting blog and your pictures are special. Thank you. Jo
ReplyDeleteYou might find this link of interest:
http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases/1815/
Thanks, JO, both for the greeting and for the link to the article about my old friend Pauline Baynes.
ReplyDeleteHere's a purrfectly splendid Cheshire Cat drawn for my birthday by dragonladych. Thank you!! :o}
ReplyDeletePurrfectly splendid is right - it's a fabulous feline creation.
ReplyDeleteThere are a totally disproportionate number of comments on this post and I'm not encouraging more --- oh, I just have...
ReplyDeleteNow who's being silly!
ReplyDeleteMoi?
ReplyDeleteDisproportionate to what, by the way?
ReplyDeleteDisproportionate in terms of------- YOU! You got me again, didn't you?
ReplyDeleteOops - so I did! I'd better make this the last one, then.
ReplyDelete