Well, dear readers, it is Wednesday. I tell you, dear readers, the amount of vital information that we impart here at haineshisway.com never ceases to amaze me and it never amazes to cease me. Every day we have a fistful of information for you in these here notes. For example, did you know that the unicorn is a mythical beast? Speaking of mythical beasts, I had a perfectly perfect day yesterday. I wrote quite a bit, I picked up a perfectly perfect package which contained three count them three perfectly perfect DVDs, I got a perfectly perfect haircut from Teddy, I had a perfectly perfect dinner with Miss Tammy Minoff, and I had a perfectly perfect massage from Marina the Masseuse. I also set the rest of the schedule for the Guy Haines album. Grant will finish doing what he needs to do by Friday, then on Tuesday or Wednesday, Vinnie will dump everything into Pro Tools except the songs that have horns on them. On Friday or Saturday we will do the horn session, and then Vinnie will return and dump those tracks into Pro Tools. Then, as long as our studio is available, we will record the vocals the following Monday and Tuesday. That includes all of Guy’s vocals, two of the three duets, and the few songs that will have background vocals on them (I still must hire those singers). Guy has been having terrible allergy problems and all that phlegm is bothering his voice, so he may pay a visit to the throat doctor to get de-phlegmed and de-allergized. It depends on how he feels today and tomorrow. So, it’s all happening in the next week-and-a-half. Then I journey to New York, New York to do the Kerry Butler duet sometime in May, then we mix (we may actually mix everything but that track before I leave), then we master, then the CD will be ready for selling in July. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Fistful of Dollars (the on-screen title does not have the word “A”). This is the brand spanking new Special Edition DVD from the UK – the US release has been pushed and may not happen for quite a few months. This was the movie that started the spaghetti western revolution. From the first frame of the credits you know you are in for something special as Ennio Morricone’s music comes blasting at you. Many of the actor and crew names were “Americanized” so that it seemed as if this were an American western. For example, Morricone is credited as Dan Savio. On the original release prints in the USA, Sergio Leone was Bob Robertson, although this DVD release credits him correctly. The film was quite a low budget affair and it doesn’t look as good as Leone’s subsequent films would. But his style seems to have arrived full blown from the first shot of Clint Eastwood riding into town. The film is an “unofficial” remake that became “official” when Mr. Akira Kurosawa sued the company that made the film – for it was Mr. Kurosawa’s Yojimbo that served as the film’s role model. Clint became an instant international movie star after the film’s release and it’s easy to see why – he commands the screen by doing very little. You simply cannot take your eyes off him, no matter where he is positioned in the frame. Gian Maria Volente is a mean-old villain. Unlike Mr. Leone’s later films, this is a really tight ninety-six minute movie that moves along at a terrific clip. The transfer is not among the best transfers, but it’s pretty decent – great color, the close-ups all look wonderful, but the long shots frequently lack detail and focus, which is a shame. But it’s miles above the last DVD of this title. There’s a whole second disc of extras, which I’m about to dive into. I’ll have reports on that, and For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dynamite later in the week.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because there’s a fistful of notes waiting in the next section.
My friend, Miss Penny Peyser, with whom I’ll be doing the Ray Courts show this weekend, sent me a package of photos she had from when we were together in the mid-eighties. I will post a couple of them, so you can see the very first time I went blonde, due to my darling daughter spraying Sun-In in my hair one fine day whilst I was sitting sunning myself. But she also sent me a photo I’ve been unable to locate – me in an episode of Laverne and Shirley. I’m going to have some copies made tomorrow so I can sell them at the Courts show.
Miss Tammy Minoff and I are discussing the possibility of doing another show this year – she thinks she’s figured out a way to raise the money to do so. I have an idea about what we should do, and we’ll see what happens. It wouldn’t be a musical, and it would be an original play. I shall keep you posted if there should be any forward momentum on this momentous idea.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write, I must make some telephonic calls, I must set some appointments, I must work out our schedule with Vinnie, and I must eat reasonable foodstuffs. 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 you like and we get to give any old answer we like. Let’s have a fistful of lovely questions and a fistful of lovely answers, shall we? And while we’re at it, what are your favorite Sergio Leone films (there are only nine to choose from)?