Well, dear readers, here we are on a Monday, the start of a brand spanking new week. Not only that, it’s also the start of a brand spanking new month – August. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, August has arrived (AHA, in Internet lingo). I don’t know if anyone else feels as I do, but I simply don’t understand how we got to August this fast. We’d like a nice, steady, slow August, filled with excellent things each and every day. I will be beginning to work on the LACC benefit, slowly but surely, and I’ll also be prepping the next two Kritzerland releases, which I should think will be available for preorder by August 15th. I shall also be attending to the publication of Rewind, and getting the word out on that. And, we’ll hopefully be booking a theater for the new play. I shall continue working on my short stories, and, in actuality, I must begin prepping the two Kritzerland releases for late October/early November. The end of July was fine – hot, but fine. I remixed the bonus track for the Stages CD, and it’s quite nice now. We got the EQ done for Together Again, and I’ll hear the whole CD put together today by noon. We may have one slight problem, which I won’t know until I speak to the pressing plant – I’d assumed that Together Again was of a similar length to Stages. Stages runs 36 minutes, and then there’s the two minute bonus track. Well, as it turns out, Together Again runs just over 42 minutes. So, we found ourselves with a just over 80 minute CD, and I don’t think the pressing plant will print and guarantee a CD that long. I have seen 78 and 79 minute CDs, though. The first thing I had Vinnie do was tighten the verrrrry long fade on the end of Thinking of You, one of the Together Again songs. That saved us ten seconds. Then we tightened the end of the title song for Stages, which is a good thing, as the length of the endless vamp always drove me crazy – it worked on stage with the action, but it was deadly on the LP. We saved another ten seconds there, and that brought us down to about 79 minutes and 40 seconds. I still think that’s going to be about 40 to 50 seconds too long, so I’ll be listening to find a place where we can tighten. If it becomes impossible, I may make the bonus track something that’s downloadable from the kritzerland.com site. My other option is to drop What A Night This Is Gonna Be from Stages and replace it with Opposites, which is exactly what we did anyway. First of all, at the time we recorded the LP, What A Night This Is Gonna Be had never even been in the show – it was written just prior to the recording, and it went into the second production, where it remained only for a week or so. Unfortunately, we did a big production on the Opposites track, so it won’t fit with the rest of the album, and its sung by singers who weren’t in the show. Well, I shall ponder the conundrum as I listen to the CD tomorrow. I also might be able to remove some dance music from Together Again – it doesn’t sound all that hot anyway. We shall see. Other than doing that work, I spent the rest of yesterday relaxing and organizing, not necessarily in that order.
Yesterday, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. Actually, I watched two-and-one-half motion pictures on DVD. The first half motion picture I watched on DVD was entitled A Face in the Crowd. It’s a fine movie, I suppose, but for some reason I just grew very bored with it and I shut it off. I’ll run the second half at some point. I then watched a motion picture on DVD (from region 2) entitled The Nightcomers, starring Mr. Marlon Brando. It’s sort of a prequel to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, which was made into the memorable motion picture, The Innocents. It’s not really very good, I’m afraid. Michael Winner, the film’s director, is just too crass and gauche, and he has no subtlety. It’s nicely photographed certainly, and it features a great, great score by Jerry Fielding, its biggest plus. The acting is fine – Brando is his usual weird and interesting self, Stephanie Beacham is fetching (and quite naked), and the two kids are very good, too. It all moves along at a steady clip, but it’s really just pointless in the end. I then watched a motion picture entitled Last Train From Gun Hill, starring Mr. Kirk Douglas, Mr. Anthony Quinn, and my neighbor, Mr. Earl Holliman. Not only had I never seen this motion picture, I’d never even heard of it. It’s directed by Mr. John Sturges, and I must say it’s a taut and terrific little oater, really excellent in every way, from the script by James Poe, to the Charles Lang photography, to the acting by a uniformly good cast.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, after all, August has arrived (AHA, in Internet lingo) and one simply must click away in August.
Have I mentioned that August has arrived (AHA, in Internet lingo)? August shall be a most productive month, and we hope it shall be a month filled with merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. And, to make it special right off the bat, I think we shall have an Unseemly Live Chat this week. Let’s have suggestions for a good day and time. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Today I must go into my storage facility and try to find a chart for Miss Liz Callaway. I’m hoping said chart is in a box that’s not too far down in a pile. I then must ship a few items, and I must speak to the pressing plant re CD length, and I must listen to the complete and put-together Stages/Together Again CD. I must also write a few pages of the short story, and I must return a few telephone calls that need returning.
Don’t forget, you still have until midnight to submit your Unseemly Trivia Contest questions. And, I think Mr. Donald Feltham may be back, which means there might be a new radio show up – someone let us know if that’s the case.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write, I must rummage through my storage facility, I must drive about in my motor car, I must go hither and thither, and perhaps even yon. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you think are the greatest Academy Award and Tony injustices – the shows, directors, performers, etc. who should have won but didn’t, and, in certain cases, weren’t even nominated? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, for August has arrived (AHA, in Internet lingo) and we must kick it off in high fashion (toreador pants and a red blouse with fringe).