ANDREW JOHNSON 200 YEARS OLD TODAY

Every person who knows me is aware of my utter fascination with American History, Today would have been the 200th birthday of the first president (and unjustly so) to be impeached while President of the United States. Johnson was a very good man who was simply trying to bring Abraham Lincoln's policies of Reconstruction foreword. The "Radical Republicans" of the time were only interested in punishing the South from seceding from the Union and participating in The Civil War. John Nugent and I will be exploring all of this in a new musical we are working on called "The Shadow of Freedom". It will reveal a few things that the average American has absolutely no knowledge of. The first two songs are already composed and the first twenty-three pages of the book are done as well. On Saturday, I spent a very happy afternoon at a holiday party at my older sister's house (Lorie) where the whole family (almost) attended. I discovered that my oldest and first niece Shelly is moving to Chicago to teach gemology, her new career. But I reminded my very talented niece not to forget the first talent that she entered the world with-- her singing voice. Shelly is an amazing singer, the only one of our family (so far) to demonstrate this ability. My youngest niece Jacqueline reminded me just how old I'm getting. On January 17th, she turns thirty-five years old. Good grief, where does the time go? I now have seven nieces and nephews and five great nieces and nephews. I only wish my dear mother could see all these wonderful children. They would have made her all very very happy. I will spend New Years Eve at Micelli's with John Nugent and my life partner John Long. It's a great place to celebrate. Let us hope that 2009 is a much better year than it's predecessor. I was very sorry to hear of the death of Eartha Kitt. Dear Eartha passed on Christmas Day at the age of eighty-one. I had become quite a fan of hers over the last few years. Well, it looks like dear Andrew Lyold Webber has decided to go forth with the sequel to "The Phantom of The Opera" and plans to open it at the end of next year in three different cities at once. How ambitious is that? It will be called "The Phantom-- Love Never Dies" and will be set in America with good old Coney Island as it's setting. For Christmas, I received a New York City production script from "THE WICKED" signed by Kristen C. --Glinda in the original show. Quite good! I also received a great warm jacket with Notre Dame's insignia and colors on it. I have always rooted for the Irish. Well, back to my writing!