Most Friday afternoons, I can be found up at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, lunching with one or more friends. Yesterday, I was there with three, one being my buddy/aide John Plunkett, who isn't in the above photo because he was busy taking it. I'm on the right. On the left is Frank Ferrante, the only person mentioned more often on this blog than Donald Trump. The two of them have something in common: Frank can sometimes be found imitating Groucho Marx. Donald can sometimes be found imitating a human being…admittedly, not convincingly.
Frank's in town at the moment because he's not touring America doing his splendid Groucho show. He's next scheduled to do it the first two days of next February in Bellport, New York, then the following month in Virginia and New Jersey. Details are on this page where other dates and performances will soon be added.
The lovely lady we bookend is my friend of more years than she looks to have lived, Jewel Shepard. Jewel is an actress and a writer and a person who constantly amazes me with her versatility and her ability to master whatever new skill set she needs at the moment. If the U.S. Space Effort is ever really serious about getting an American to Mars, all they have to do is give Jewel a darned good reason to be that person and she'll figure out how to do it.
When the Castle is serving lunch, they always have a great magician doing close-up shows at Noon, 1 PM and 2 PM. The four of us convened at 11:45 and got so immersed in conversation (and a little eating) that we missed all three shows. That probably means we had a good time.