Well, dear readers, the Floor Men will be here early this morning to begin replacing three or four floorboards in the bedroom environment. This is, of course, a bit disruptive, but I shall make the best of it. They have to move the dresser into the book room, and I’ve informed them that they may not unplug or move any of the electronic equipment on top of the dresser – only the main power strip plug. I’m not about to have to have my wiring guy come out and redo everything. It will be heavy to move (it’s heavy without the equipment on top), but if they take the drawers out it should be doable. This floor business will then continue until Wednesday, although I suspect that after today, it won’t be an all-day affair. Speaking of affairs, I had a lovely if peculiar day yesterday. It started off with a conversation about the last pages of my book. I posted about this extensively in yesterday’s posts, so be sure to check those out if you missed them. Suffice it to say, that after a bit of discussion I knew what the problem that my friend Margaret had, and I did the fixes easily in the afternoon. It involved one beat in the last chapter, and some additional character business in a much earlier chapter. Once the beat was fixed in the final chapter, it worked much better and she really likes the end now. When we first spoke of it I thought it would involve much more than the five lines it involved, but when we got to the essence of what was bothering her, it was really quite simple to adjust and it does make everything work better. One could not have a better muse – she is my artistic twin and really understands my voice. Without her, I don’t know that I would have ever finished Benjamin Kritzer or gone on to write the subsequent novels I’ve written. I also attended the paperback book show with our very own Mr. Nick Redman and dear reader Pogue. I was a bit bored by the show, and I was definitely bored by the twelve degree temperature in the dealer rooms. I mean, it was cold outside (the sun went away today); we really didn’t need it to be Arctic inside. Nick got a few paperbacks, I bought three issues of Illustration Magazine, and I think Pogue picked up something, too. My original art guy was there, but not selling. Then we went to Dr. Hoggly Woggly’s Texas Barbecue. I haven’t been there since they opened in the early seventies, when I lived a mere two blocks away (just after my daughter was born). It was quite yummilicious and I’m happy to report that we didn’t overdo it in the eating department. I then came home, did my fixes, read them to Margaret, ate some Jordan almonds and then sat on my couch like so much fish, trying to will my recent allergy attacks away.
Last night I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Panic in the Streets, a film of Elia Kazan. It’s quite a taut little noir thriller, with excellent performances by Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Zero Mostel and Walter Jack Palance. I believe it was mostly shot on location in the sleazier sections of New Orleans. I really recommend all three Fox noirs that were released last week – Laura, Call Northside 777, and Panic in the Streets. I then watched a motion picture entertainment entitled Experiment Perilous, a film of Jacques Tourneur, a director I admire very much. It’s a nice little potboiler in the Gaslight tradition, with good performances by George Brent and Paul Lukas, and the luminous Hedy Lamarr. I then began watching a home-grown DVD I got on eBay (actually five DVDs) of the Bill Bixby series The Magician. It’s pretty lame, but enjoyable in a seventies sort of way, with a really good theme (Pat Williams), and some great guest stars (Kim Stanley, Elizabeth Ashley, and Barry Sullivan in the first episode – Leslie Parrish in an upcoming one). I believe this is a mid-seventies series, and I’ll report more fully when I’ve watched a few episodes straight through.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because soon the Floor Men will be here and hammering will ensue, oh, yes, hammering will ensue.
The most fun aspect of the paperback show were the vintage sleaze paperbacks – especially the Lesbian and Gay ones. Perhaps Pogue can chime in with some of the more lurid titles we saw – the only one I remember is Incest for Renee. Can you imagine? Incest for Renee. That’s a title. The art for these lurid sleaze paperbacks is frequently hilarious.
Is anyone else suffering from allergy attacks. I haven’t had any problems for the last six months, but in the last few days my eyes and nose have really been giving me problems.
Later, in the early evening, I shall be going to the Oaks of Sherman to hear a few more tracks, and to give Mr. Grant Geissman a few pieces of music. I shall, of course, have a full report. Speaking of full reports, I’m happy to say I’ve lost about eight pounds so far and feel I’m now on the road to my thinner self. Yes, soon I shall be lithe and svelte with abs and buns of steel.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must make the best of the Floor Men and their hammering, I must go and buy a carry-on bag, I must try and find some Caress Lotion, which seems to have disappeared from every store I’ve purchased it from. I had two extra things of it, but they’ve gone missing. It’s the lotion I prefer – if anyone has a clew as to where I might find some, do let me know. I must also eat, and then I must make tracks to listen to tracks. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite songs by my pal Stephen Schwartz? He’s written quite a few wonderful songs, and I look forward to hearing your choices. The album I made of his stuff was and is one of my favorites. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst the Floor Men do their thing.