Well, dear readers, I’ve been going through more potential songs for the Guy Haines album. The wonderful thing about this process is that Guy is never around. We just choose, set the keys, do the arrangements, and he shows up for his vocal date. It’s a marvelously marvelous way to work, if you ask me. I did book the first of the duet singers yesterday – it’s Miss Jessica Rush, whom I saw in Paint Your Wagon and whose voice I liked very much. I haven’t decided for sure which duet she’ll do, but I have a pretty good idea. I have two duets picked out and am looking for at least one more. I have to call Hollywood Sheet Music tomorrow so I can get all the music for songs that are possibilities. Mr. Grant Geissman tells me he’s working away – getting the tunes in his head and fingers. I also spoke to our very own Vinnie Cirilli yesterday and he’s very excited and horrified that he’ll be back in the studio with Mr. Haines. We talked about where we were going to record the vocal dates, and we’ll lock that down as soon as I have an idea when Grant will finish the first batch of songs. Our plan is to do all the vocals (duets included) for the first batch, and then Grant will do the second batch and when he’s through we’ll do those vocals. I have a title for the album, which I’m very happy with. We were going to call it This Guy’s In Love With You, but we decided we didn’t want to do that song on the album, so it wouldn’t make sense to use it as the title. I’ve chosen a title that isn’t a song title at all, and it’s quite catchy. And there you have The Haines Report. Yesterday was another wet day here in the City of Studio (and the rest of Southern California). We hear tell that by tomorrow night this horrid storm will have moved on. Other than that, I got quite a bit of writing done, I ate reasonable amounts of reasonable food, and I even managed to do a few errands. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Last night I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture was entitled Suddenly, starring Mr. Frank Sinatra, Mr. Sterling Hayden, and Miss Nancy Gates. It’s an odd little seventy-three minute picture about a man who arrives in a small town called Suddenly, to assassinate the President, who’s scheduled to make a stopover there. The plot is fine, and the performances are good, but the dialogue is fairly risible. That said, it moves along at a steady clip and has a very good score by David Raksin. The film has been in the public domain for years and is available on any number of lousy-looking DVDs. However, if you have a region 2 player, the DVD I got is a special edition from the UK, and presents the film in 1:85 instead of full frame, and in a pretty decent transfer, albeit non-anamorphic. I then watched a motion picture entitled The Motorcycle Diaries. I’d heard nothing but raves about the film, but I’m afraid that it’s just not my cup of tea or my cup of coffee or even my cup of Diet Coke. It has very good things in it, and a couple of sequences are touching, but it’s episodic nature is wearying and it just never engaged me. I’m happy I saw it, but would have no need to ever look at it again. It runs two hours and seven minutes, which seemed like three hours, unlike Shall We Dance which runs just about two hours and seems like forty minutes. The transfer is excellent, as is the crisp dimensional sound.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly this section has left me spent, oh, yes, this section has left me spent.
Well, we’ve begun our countdown to 100,000 posts. What a partay we’re going to have when we reach that incredible number. We’ll be doing all the haineshisway.com dances, we’ll be eating all the haineshisway.com foodstuffs, and we’ll be celebrating until the cows come home. It should happen in the next seven to ten days, or it could happen sooner if we have busier than normal days.
For those who were worried about Mr. Harvey Schmidt, he is alive and well and healthy and happy and he sends everyone at haineshisway.com his best. I had a lovely conversation with him last night. Mr. Haines will be doing at least one, if not two, Schmidt and Jones songs. He’s sending me the music for both candidates, and my thought right now is that they’ll both make the cut.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write, I must pick up packages (several due today, including the DVDs of My Sister Eileen, Strangers When We Meet, Behold a Pale Horse, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and one or two others), I must eat, and I must do an errand or three. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question that’s on your mind, and we get to give any old answer that’s on our mind. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions (and feel free to ask about the Guy Haines album), and loads of lovely answers, shall we?