quel dommage.

Speaking of sondheim, another birdie of genius, this time of simplicity - the man can do it all - is the title song from anyone can whistle, called a farmer's pelvis. jk, it's called anyone can whistle.

i mention it b/c one night a few years ago, i was at a restaurant with a few friends, and we actually saw sondheim sitting at another table. now, ordinarily, esp. considering whom it was, i would have been the (resident) st*r-fucker obliged to go over and meet him. hell, id usually be the only one of my piers to even recognize him. but sasha g, every bit the sondheim fan i am, plus a talented, budding composer in her own right, was there too, so she had de facto dibs. (not for nuthin, btw, but de facto dibs would be a good name for a band or album.)

anyway, sasha approached sondheim's table (he was dining with another man), and before she could even get the words (paraphrasing) - 'im a huge fan of yours and an aspiring composer mysel' - he shooed her away from his table. he actually shooed! he waved her off with a hand. it was heartbreaking for me, which means it was prolly devastating for sash. though she is a bit more thick-skinned than i. who knows.

the point is, the next day, i wrote her a friendster testimonial to frame the experience. it's to the tune of anyone can whistle, so you should listen to it (track 6 here), before reading the following:

anyone can bristle
that's what you've learned
this time
every burger's gristle
at the end of his turn
sondheim
it's all so sorry
he shoulda seen your stah
not waved you off, over foie gras
he used to be a titan
back in his zone
expressive!
now he's just a slightin'
the heir to his throne
repressive!
what's hard
is that genius
can still just be a schmuck
i wish that he'd remembered
just starting out
needing some luck
needing that break
but now he's just the gristle
the left..over...steak