Speaking of Stephen Sondheim…

There are a lot of articles appearing about Stephen Sondheim and it feels like every interview he ever gave is resurfacing. A lot of the interviews are the same interview, repeating the tale of how he gave a musical he wrote in his teen years to Oscar Hammerstein, thinking Hammerstein would produce it on Broadway and instead, Hammerstein said, "It's the worst thing I've ever seen" and proceeded to teach the young Sondheim how to do it right. But there are interviews that cover other ground and I'll try to point you to some of them in the coming weeks.

Here's a link to an article that Frank Rich wrote in 2013 that somehow escaped my notice then and since. It will tell you a lot about that extraordinary composer.

I wrote here about a trip my mother and I took to New York in 1959 when I was a mere seven years of age. I have a surprising number of memories from that trip and one was a lunch we had at The Automat. At one point, there were many Automats in New York and by '59, they were disappearing one by one.

Don't know what an Automat was? This video, promoting an upcoming documentary, will explain it better than I ever could…

I don't recall which Automat my mother took me to but we were staying at the Hotel Taft which was on Seventh Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets so it probably wasn't the one advertised above at 57th and Sixth…which may not even have been there by '59.  I gather they all looked pretty much the same, at least on the inside.

I do remember what a fun place it was, especially for a kid and I somehow remember what I had to eat: A turkey sandwich on white bread, a side dish of cooked carrots, a lemonade and a piece of very rich cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  And I even remember wishing we had a place like it back home in Los Angeles. If it had been next door and I had enough change, I never would have eaten anywhere else.

It's odd that we don't see places like this opening left and right these days. When you call a business, you're usually aware how much they don't want to hire human beings to talk to you. When you go to the market, they'd really prefer you use the self-service check-out. Even paying to park your car is often automated to the point where there's not one flesh 'n' blood human being in sight. So, someone's got to be thinking, why not a chain of restaurants that totally eliminates people waiting on diners?

I'm not advocating for this. I don't like the depersonalization of businesses or the job losses. I just like the idea of seeing my food before I commit to paying for it. It's the same reason I like cafeterias…or places like Subway where you can actually see the person assembling your lunch and stop them before they reflexively smear Russian Dressing all over what I ordered. And that Automat was just so much fun.

So in the space of twenty-four hours, Amazon's price for this certain box of Planter's Salted Cashews has gone from $17.09 to $21.98 and then to $24.11…and now it's at $28.99. The last time I purchased them, they were $15.06 and the time before that — not that long ago — I paid $11.24. You can check on the current price here.

I'm going to stop tracking this because I've made my point: Some items on Amazon just go up in price and down in price rapidly and for no visible reason. If a couple of bucks matter to you, you have to keep your eye on this.

I've received a number of interesting e-mails from folks telling me how to track prices on Amazon,. I'll post some of it in a few days. My thanks to all who wrote in.

I am of Jewish heritage but only on my father's side. Because my mother was Catholic and both families frowned on two such people getting married, they basically raised me to be nothing in particular. This has worked out a lot better than folks who are devout to one faith or another would probably admit.

When asked what I am, I say I'm Jewish even though there was never any thought of me being Bar Mitzvahed and the last time I set foot in a synagogue it was to attend a Purim Festival when I was around fifteen.

When I was young, we did a few of the Jewish traditions and ceremonies…like I did have a Menorah and for a few years, we'd light the candles each year until one year when we just plain forgot. For no particular reason, I've decided that this year, I'm going to celebrate the eight days of Hanukkah by posting a different Hanukkah video each evening. Cover your head and watch this one…

There are an awful lot of articles online about Mr. Sondheim and I won't pretend I've read all of them or even most of them. But the best one I've come across that attempt to explain about what made him special was this one by Isaac Butler.

A few hours ago in Times Square in New York, there was a memorial for Stephen Sondheim with Lin-Manuel Miranda speaking briefly and then an assemblage of (mostly) Broadway performers singing the most appropriate Sondheim song. Someone posted two video clips on YouTube and in the unlikely event I configured things correctly, they should play — one after the other — in the window below.

I still have very little desire to leave my home, especially since the plumber just left and I now have hot water again. But as I watched this, I kinda wished I was in Times Square instead of sitting here obsessing on the price of cashews…

The price is on the rise. Last night, it was $17.09. When I got up four hours ago, it was $21.98. Now it's $24.11. You can watch it go up and down for yourself here.

I wonder if someone has invented "snipe" software for Amazon. It would be a program that constantly monitors the prices of things you buy regularly and then alerts you or places an order when an item's price hits a certain level. I also wonder how Amazon's price guarantees apply when you buy something at one price and six hours later, it's cheaper.

I'm home this weekend as opposed to being at the Comic-Con Special Edition down in San Diego. What I'm hearing from down there is "Low attendance on Friday, some bottlenecks with getting in (badges being issued, vaxx cards being checked, etc.) and a pretty good crowd there yesterday." One friend who asked I not quote him by name wrote me…

I guess it's a success. I had a very good time but it was a little eerie with everyone wearing masks including some very creative ones. It's just a little strange to be in that room at what looks a lot like Comic-Con as we know it, and not be elbow-to-elbow with people in Klingon suits and on a Saturday, no less. I wouldn't have thought I'd miss the crowds the way I did. But there were dealers around and I did score some bargains.

There wasn't much in the way of celebrity encounters and the panels upstairs seemed to be displaced by a lot of gaming. There wasn't much on the schedule that intrigued me and everything that did was highly promotional. But I'm glad I went for one day.

I'm hoping it'll be regarded as a success. I felt a smidgen of guilt at not attending and therefore supporting the con committee's efforts towards normalizing our world. It's just that I'm not quite ready to be in a building with lots of other people…even way less people than are usually in said building when I'm present. If I hadn't withdrawn, I would have spent the last few weeks wondering if I wasn't making a really dumb mistake.

So I'm glad I didn't go and I'm glad other people did. Best of both worlds. Besides, I've been very busy here tracking the price of cashews.

Like all of you, the first thing I do in the morning is check the current price of that box of Planters Salted Cashews I order from Amazon. Right now, it's $21.98. You can check it for yourself here.

I won't be doing this forever but I made up the graphic and I feel I have to get some use out of it.

This afternoon at 2 PM (my time), the box of Planters Salted Cashews I order from Amazon via this link was $28.99. Now, less than eight hours later, you can get them for $17.09 apiece. Is this the work of Insider Cashew Trading?

At a birthday celebration for Stephen Sondheim, Marin Mazzie — another great talent who is no longer with us — performed one of the composer's most powerful songs. This is from Follies…

At a concert in London, Bernadette Peters sang another of Sondheim's most powerful songs. This is from Into the Woods…

In a concert performance of Sweeney Todd, Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone performed this amazing tune…

Under the opening titles of the movie version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Zero Mostel and a chorus sang this lively number. (Caution: I do not recommend any part of this movie after these three minutes…)

And in the 2008 Broadway revival of Company, Raul Esparza had this wonderful musical moment…

Last night at 7:15 PM, I posted this item here (click or scroll down a little) about the fluctuating price of a certain box of Planters Salted Cashews on Amazon. At that moment, the price of a box was $15.06 and I wrote, "Click here to go see if it still is."

I just went to see if it still is and it isn't. As I post this less than nineteen hours later, that box is now $28.99.

Folks have sent me different theories as to why the price of this product goes up and down and up and down and up and down and sometimes, up and up and up before it goes down and down and down. The only suggestion that sounds possible to me is that it might have something to do with how many boxes they have in inventory in their various fulfillment centers. If lots of people place orders — possibly including people motivated by my posts here — and Amazon's reserve supply goes down, the price goes up until they get more in stock.

Or something like that. I am still — to use that word again — discombobulated about this. So stay tuned to newsfromme.com for the latest Cashew Price News. Reporting live, I'm Mark Evanier.

I don't have much to say about Stephen Sondheim that others aren't saying. Greatest composer of our lifetimes…greatest composer of all times…the man who made lyrics matter…all of that is true to some extent. I'd write about how he and his work impacted me but everyone who knew his work has their version of that story and no one's is that important. It's the collective impact that matters.

The thing I feel should be underscored is how many actors owe him for the jobs they got…and the witty, meaty roles that came with that employment. When Neil Simon passed, a lot of people said he'd rebuilt the audience for comedy on the legitimate stage. Sondheim surely did the same for musicals. Though he was famously tutored by Oscar Hammerstein, he took the form in which Hammerstein worked and elevated it to new levels, new possibilities, new everything. He had a lot to do with the advancement of musical theater that was not musical comedy.

I remember years ago on a theater discussion group, there was a small group of Sondheim fans who were honestly furious at him for not writing more shows, not giving us more songs, not taking the form to greater and greater heights. Some of us argued back that the guy's only human and we should be grateful for what he did give us. Here's one of the best things he left us…

As you may remember (here and here), I was discombobulated — I think that's the first time I've used that word in anything I've written — by a fluctuating price on Amazon and elsewhere. It's the price of a box that contains eighteen 1.5 ounce packages of Planters Salted Cashews. Those little packets are, as I said, "just the right amount for a quick snack."

The box was $11.24. Then it was $22.50. Then it was $27.49. Then it was $15.06 and that's when I bought three boxes to hold me for a few months. Then the price went back to $24.69.

A number of you wrote to ask me why I didn't, for example, just buy the 2.5 lb. canister that Costco sells for $19.27. Here is the reason I didn't buy the the 2.5 pound canister that Costco sells for $19.27…

If I open up 1.5 ounce package of Planters Salted Cashews, I eat 1.5 ounces of Planters Salted Cashews. If I open up the 2.5 pound canister of Kirkland Salted Cashews, I eat 2.5 pounds of Kirkland Salted Cashews. These are salted cashews we're talking about, people.

I think it is better for my health if I don't eat 2.5 pounds of Kirkland Salted Cashews a day. Don't you? And yes, I suppose I could reapportion the 2.5 pounds into little baggies of 1.5 ounces each but that would involve having the 2.5 pound canister on the premises and opening it and…well, I think you can imagine what would happen.

And if you would do the same thing I would, I should point out to you that the box with eighteen 1.5 ounce packages of Planters Salted Cashews, which has been $24.69 since my previous post on this topic is, as of this moment, mysteriously down again to $15.06. Click here to go see if it still is.