Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. Artemis and I had to sneak behind the fiend’s yellow house to get to the back door. Artemis, being a Persian cat, is more surefooted than I. However, I am a bold and clever poodle. After we sat in the van with Charlotte, Bruiser, Ruffles and the twins and watched the man pull his white Corvette out of the garage and drive off to whatever nefarious thing he does for work, Artemis and I looked both ways, crossed the street, and headed up to the house.

We had to go around the outdoor catwalk that sticks out at the front of the residence. A rickety disturbing thing if you ask me. I have not once seen a feline walk down it the entire time that we have been scoping out the house. In fact, we have not seen anyone, human or beast, enter or exit the fiend’s abode except the fiend himself. Artemis and I had to jump up and climb a wood fence to reach the rear side. My back foot slipped a little, but I regained my balance and followed Artemis. We tiptoed along the back of the house, surprised to find a rather lovely red wood composite deck. It was rather opulent and looked down a hill. Not the horror house we originally expected. We looked over at a window that according to the blueprints was the rec room. When we climbed up on a deck chair to get a better vantage point into the room, we realized it had blackout curtains which hung across the glass. I looked along the building to my right and saw the sliding glass door. I pointed it out to Artemis and said, “We could see if he left it unlocked.”

“Or possibly try the window,” she said. “He may have cracked it, and we could push it open and crawl inside.”

“Brilliant,” I said and we headed towards the door. We wanted to peer into the house but only saw the slats of Hunter Douglas blinds. I got down as low as I could and attempted to look under them but all I saw was darkness. Artemis and I saw a folding chair standing against the side of the house. It was light enough that the two of us were able to scoot it over. Artemis leaned her weight on one of the legs and I jumped up onto the seat to see if the door was open. I pushed against the handle and tried to get it to move. But my efforts were to no avail.  

“We should try the window,” Artemis said. “Humans can be more careless with windows than they are with doors.”

“I indeed hope you are right.”

“Demeter used to talk about slipping into windows of houses at night all the time.”

“Did she get caught?”

“Not…usually.”

“Right. Let’s try it again.”

Artemis and I nudged the chair along till it was under the window. I climbed up on the chair and gave it a shove. Much to our delight it opened… to blinds. I pushed them forwards as I climbed in…and found myself in a kitchen sink. This petrified me because kitchen sinks are slippery and I did not want to be trapped. I put both my forepaws on the counter and hopped up. Suddenly, I noticed it was a long way down to the floor. Artemis scampered up the chair and into the window. She too found herself in the kitchen sink. She hopped up on the counter and looked down.

“It is rather high,” she said.

“We’re going to have to get down from here somehow.”

Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: SONG SUNG BLUE (2025)-PEACOCK

Sometimes the critics get it wrong. And they certainly failed to give enough appreciation to this underrated sleeper, about a couple of real-life down-on-their-luck musicians, who teamed up to create a sensational Neil Diamond tribute band. The film was directed by Craig Brewer who co-wrote the script with Greg Kohs based on Kohs’ 2008 documentary film of the same name. One of the most heartbreaking things about the movie is Hugh Jackman not receiving an Oscar nod for Best Actor for his electric performance.

Mike (Hugh Jackman) is a Vietnam veteran and 20 years sober alcoholic who has grown weary of performing covers of famous singers. One night he tells his boss Mark Shurilla (Michael Imperioli), a Buddy Holly impersonator, he’s not going to perform as Don Ho at the Wisconsin State Fair but rather wants to create his own persona and call himself Lightning. On that fateful night he meets Claire (Kate Hudson in a well-deserved Oscar-nominated performance), a versatile singer and musician who happens to be performing as Patsy Cline. They chat and flirt a little and then he watches her perform. He is informed by Sex Machine, a James Brown impersonator (Mustafa Shakir) that she is a very versatile performer who can sing just about anything from country to rock and even opera.  

The two meet again a year later and Claire tells him he would make a terrific Neil Diamond. Mike thinks over her suggestion, contacts her again, and says he likes the idea provided she performs with him. The two begin to rehearse together and start to put together a Neil Diamond experience show all the while falling in love. Claire introduces Mike to her teenage daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) and son Dana Cartwright (Hudson Hensley). Mike in turn introduces her family to his teenage daughter Angelina (King Princess) who lives with her mother.

Mike gets in touch with his agent and dentist Dr. Dave Watson (Fisher Stevens), who introduces him to Tom D’Amato (Jim Belushi), a bus driver for a hotel that can get them gigs. Shurilla swallows his pride and offers to be lead guitar for the band. But the road to success is rocky and just as the band starts to take off, the unthinkable happens.