Let it snow, let it snow...

So I haven’t even been to my apartment in Queens since the blizzard of ’09 (photo courtesy of New York Times) hit on Saturday night. That’s because I was happily ensconced at my weekend villa in San Tropez nuzzling up to a prissy pink-umbrella’d drink. And by villa I mean Juan and Val’s futon, by San Tropez I mean Jersey and by prissy blue drink I mean 75 out-of-control teenagers. Yes, friends, this weekend was the second annual Very Merry Pineda Holiday Spectacular, a benefit concert for the Pineda Conservatory. Well, what can I say besides I’m glad the damn thing is over. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for all the people who volunteered their time and talent so as not to make us look like complete asses. But it’s darn scary putting on a show without ever having had a full run-through with all the costumes, props or musicians and without benefit of a technical or backstage crew. Face it, when you’re basically winging the whole show, something’s bound to go to sh*t.

Having said that, it’s only fitting we had to cancel our final Saturday night rehearsal due to a blizzard warning. Sigh - nothing’s ever easy, is it? At least we finally had the night off to cozy up to a roaring fireplace sipping hot cocoa on a bear skin rug. And by fireplace I mean futon, by sipping hot cocoa I mean making 70 phone calls to parents postponing our concert start time by 2 hours and by bear skin rug I mean a cat-hair covered Snuggie.

Well, the show itself was not a complete mess. There were a couple of cluster f*cks, some missed entrances, a few sour notes and some creative lyric changes. The Pinedettes (our younger and slightly less leggy version of the Rockettes) were a hit with the crowd. But the drama queen in me was secretly hoping one of the non-Pinedettes would snap and go all Tonya Harding on one of the dancers. There was definitely some animosity between certain girls and "the chosen." Is there anything more evil than a jealous teenage girl? Methinks not. Oh well, that'll teach 'em to skip rehearsal when I decide to choreograph a number. But all in all, the concert fulfilled its purpose - to get people into the holiday spirit, to showcase the kids and to raise money for the Conservatory. The overflow crowd seemed to have a great time. And who can complain really, when for the price of a ticket you also got booze and brownies! I’d say, Merry f*ckin’ Christmas to that!

The Lovely Pineda-ettes - the newest addition to our annual concert.