Heaven is a place on Earth

Whadd'ya gonna do? I had a fun day yesterday that took in trips to heaven on Earth, and a New Jersey strip joint. Maybe they are the same place?


Let me start with the Garden State, the place where New York City dumps its rubbish, the home of the Statue of Liberty, Francis Albert Sinatra, Broooce and Tony, Carmela, Silvio, Chrissi and Paulie Walnuts! Yes, as you might have guessed, I went on The Sopranos tour!

At the start, on boarding our coach in midtown Manhattan, we were told that we could meet someone from the series just 2 cars back down the street...

Sure enough there was Vito Spatafore (actor Joe Gannascoli) selling autographed photos and t-shirts out of the trunk of his car - it was cool to see him and kind of appropriate that he was flogging dodgy looking gear.

The tour proper lasted 4 hours, driving around industrial north New Jersey, checking out some of the locations featured the series. The guide, who had been an extra/stand-in in 13 episodes, was very good and kept everyone entertained with filming anecdotes and Sopranos trivia. Did you know that over the 6 seasons of the show that 66 people and 6 animals had been whacked?!



After visiting Holsten's, the diner in which the last scene of the last episode was shot, we stopped at the legendary Gentlemen's club the 'Bada Bing' ('Satin Dolls' in real life) to sit at the bar, have a beer and appreciate the skills of a couple of the pole dancers. Sadly, unlike in the series, a State law means that the girls aren't allowed to perform topless in an establishment that sells alcohol! Boo!


So from an afternoon in the swamps of New Jersey to a night of heaven on Earth - XANADU on Broadway! Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton John and an aging Gene Kelly is of course considered to be one of the worst films of all time. ONJ plays a Greek muse who comes down from Mount Olympus to help a young LA dude achieve his ultimate artistic dream by setting up a roller disco and calling it Xanadu! A classy 80's concept. The film quite rightly tanked, but it had a saving grace - a great soundtrack featuring ONJ, ELO and The Tubes.

Xanadu has now been magically reborn as a comedy musical. It plays up the ridiculousness and camp cheesiness of the original fim, adding a couple more ELO songs (Evil Woman and Strange Magic), more glitter balls and legwarmers! The result is great fun, and for a brief few minutes at the end, the audience realises that heaven could really be a roller disco.