Happy Friday!

I hope that this finds you well. It's been a crazy busy week, plus I've been a little under the weather so didn't get to as much as I normally do. I am going to recommend that you DEFINITELY get the flu shot. It's expected to be another BAD flu season.

I finished and locked the script for the mini-play I'm doing for David Ford's TIMES UNSEEN festival at the Marsh San Francisco this weekend. It's a really cool concept. 15 solo performers will do original pieces on how the Trump administration and the current political climate has personally affected them.

My new piece, entitled THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE AIR, is about what you do when you loathe Trump yet someone you love is all in for him. I'll be performing it at 9p tonight and 7p on Saturday. Purchase tickets at themarsh.org using the code “country” and see all 15 performances for just $14.50!

Here's what I got to this week...

READING

Last week, I told you about SHARK TANK's Daymond John's new book, RISE AND GRIND. I was so inspired by it that I'm now reading his earlier book, THE POWER OF BROKE. It's about using a lack of funds as the ultimate motivator. It boils down to the fact that you can accomplish just about anything when failure is not an option. It's another inspirational read. READ IT.

WATCHING

I just binge watched all 8 episodes of THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL. It's excellent! I see what all the shouting is about. It absolutely deserved all of the accolades it received at this year's Emmy Awards ceremony.

If you haven't seen it, the Amazon show is about an upper middle class housewife (played by Rachel Brosnahan) in 1958 New York who falls into standup comedy after her husband leaves her for his secretary. The centerpiece of the show is the famous Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. From all I've read and heard about that place where so many legendary standups started, the show nails it and the period. I especially love that Lenny Bruce (one of my comedy idols) is a character in the show. Actor Luke Kirby sounds just like him. Much more so than Dustin Hoffman did in the biopic LENNY. The rest of the cast, including Alex Borstein, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Pollack and Michael Zegen, is pitch perfect. Do yourself a favor and check it out if you haven't. WATCH.

THEATER

The Lady Love and I had the pleasure of attending opening night of WAITRESS at the Golden Gate Theater this week. I really liked the 2007 movie that starred Keri Russell (THE AMERICANS, FELICITY), Nathan Fillion (CASTLE, FIREFLY) and Andy Griffith.

(Side note, REALLY disheartening that I had to explain to my daughter WHO Andy Griffith was. I feel like I've failed as a father.)

I'll admit that I was a little skeptical about how this story would work as a musical, but I was really pleasantly surprised. I found the tale of a pregnant waitress at a roadside diner dealing with an abusive husband and dreams of making it big with her artisan pies to be even more engaging on the live stage than on the screen. The musical score is just wonderful and it's the funniest play I've seen in a long time. DEFINITELY GO.

LISTENING TO

I've recommended the podcast, YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, in this space before. If you're a fan of old Hollywood, it's a must listen. Host and creator Karina Longworth is currently doing a series fact checking Kenneth Anger's 1970s tell all, HOLLYWOOD BABYLON. Anger...shall we say...played fast and loose with the facts. Interesting hearing the true story of Fatty Arbuckle's infamous party and Rudolph Valentino's life and death. LISTEN.

EATS

As I mentioned last week, I'm on a strict eating plan (down 25 pounds!!!!) but I'm allowing myself a cheat day during which, I'm on a quest to find the best best cheeseburger and fries in the Bay Area. This week, I went to an East Bay burger institution: Val's Burgers in Hayward. Val's has been around for decades and the food remains consistent. Actually, it remains consistently GREAT! Huge juicy patties, more fries than you can finish and reasonable prices are why Val's has been around so long. If you haven't been, you need to go if you like burgers. If you haven't been in a long time, you need to go back!
Val's Burgers
2115 Kelly Street
Hayward
Open Tuesday-Saturday

If you've got a recommendation for a good cheeseburger place in the Bay Area I should check out on my quest, send it to me at copie@briancopeland.com. 

THE NOISY AMERICAN

By popular request, I've been doing almost daily livestreams on Facebook Live. I call the commentaries THE NOISY AMERICAN because some on the right have said that critics of this administration need to “sit down and shut up.” As Americans, I think it's just the opposite. We need to be LOUD. Weekdays, I spend a few minutes commenting on the news and politics of the day then we discuss and debate through Facebook posts. What started as a lark is really growing into something. We're prepping two YouTube channels, THE NOISY AMERICAN CHANNEL and CopieTV, that we'll launch soon. We've also just launched a website. Check it out at TheNoisyAmerican.com. Check out my daily videos and follow me on Facebook where I'm briancopie1.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Copie

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