Late to the Party, But I Promise to Stay Till Dawn

Thank you, Jackie, for inviting me to be part of this blog, and I apologize for stumbling into the ball so late, dropping my glass slippers everywhere. But I have a good excuse: right after I was invited to participate, I fell and shattered a bone in my hand that required surgery (I now have a bionic left hand full of metal screws and plates that will make me a lot of fun to be behind in airport security lines - thank God I perform in elbow-length gloves), so my blogging and performing have been curtailed for several months. But I am finally back at it.

Before the fall, I'd been blogging (mostly) humorously for years on subjects related to age and beauty pressures: plastic surgery, Botox, fad diets, anti-aging nostrums, celebrity self-mutilation, etc., inspired by the issues in my satirical musical show, "My Ship Has Sailed" (I sang a Julie Andrews parody from it on Jack's show once, for those with satellite TV and long memories). I'd like to invite you all to check that out at Blogspot or my original site, and I promise I'll try to participate more as soon as I tighten down all the screws in my hand and typing once again becomes no more torturous than it used to be.

Oh, one bit of news: my husband Pat and his friend George "The Music Guru of Texas" Gimarc are writing a new edition of their cult book "Hollywood Hi-Fi," about obscure recordings by celebrities who tried to be singers. To promote it, Pat just launched a new website filled with book excerpts, audio clips and videos (including their own very funny video reviews) of such sparkling musical talents as Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Leonard Nimoy, even a teenage Glenn Close. If you think the current "American Idol" auditions are hilariously excruciating, check out www.hollywoodhifi.net.

-- Laura Ainsworth