Well, dear readers, another week has zoomed by faster than a speeding bullet. It was more powerful than a locomotive and, frankly, it was able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Not a double bound or even a triple bound, no, it was able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Look, up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s superhaineshisway.com. It’s already been a week since we were preparing for our launch party. How did that happen? I know not. Or, I no knot. We’re already in the middle of September, for heaven’s sake. How did that happen? I know not. Or, I no knot. But why dwell on how fast the time is speeding by? Let us stop, for example, and smell the roses or the coffee or the banana bread. Let us take this day a bit more leisurely, like a gazelle in a girdle. I don’t care how much I have to do today (and I have plenty to do), I am going to take this day a bit more leisurely. Perhaps I’ll even wear a leisure suit. Now wait just a darned minute – isn’t the rule “i” before “e” except after “c”? So, how did “leisure” get special dispensation? Shouldn’t the rule be “i” before “e” except after “c” unless it’s after an “l” as in “leisure”? Oh, enough of this idle chit chat and also enough of this idle chat chit. Yesterday, I had quite a busy little day, shipping packages, picking up packages, making telephonic calls, running errands, and doing whatnot. And that was just the morning. In the afternoon, I attended auditions at LACC. Most of the current students are not musicals oriented. One of the failings of the department right now is that there is no class on musical theater, and no productions of musicals. I feel that that limits the sort of people they get in the department, and if they had a musicals class and did musicals, I think they would not be having quite as much trouble recruiting students. In any case, the first two girls who auditioned were recent graduates, and both had good singing voices, so that was heartening. Then we saw the first of the young men, and he was fine, too, even though he chose an awful song to audition with – If I Were A Rich Man, which he did complete and with an accent. After he was finished, I asked him to sing eight bars of something without the accent. He did, and he’ll be in our show. The next fellow also had an okay voice. And then we started seeing one terrible singer after another – no clew as to what they were singing, and their pitch was all over the map. Two people did Luck Be A Lady and I swear that in the course of the song they were in twelve different keys, and not intentionally. I won’t be able to use any of them. Finally, another recent graduate came and sang, and she was just terrific. In fact, I’d worked with her in that play reading where I acted the role of Harpo Marx. She’s a good actor, she knew what she was singing about, and she’s got a really good Broadway belt and good tone. I’ll be using her quite a bit in the show. We’ll be seeing some of the first year students next week, but if the department won’t allow them to be in the show, then I’m going to have to bring in some ringers. The fellow who’s co-directing with me asked me if Linden Waddell was going to do the show, and I said I’d talked to her about it and that she’d love to. He asked if she could sing her song from Stages, and I said that would be swell, except that I didn’t want the benefit to turn into the BK show. As it is, I’ve written the opening number, and the plan was to do What Do I Do Now from my musical version of The Comedy of Errors. And then, we’re looking for an act one finale, and we may end up doing the act one finale from Comedy of Errors, too. If Linden does her number, that’s a lot of BK, but, you know, I was a student there so I guess it makes some kind of sense. After the auditions, I headed over to Bird’s, a restaurant located near Pogue’s home environment. Pogue joined me and we had a wonderfully wonderful time – the food was great, the conversation was sparkling, and the eye candy was fairly amazing. I’ll be returning to Bird’s with some frequency, as there are many menu items I want to try. We then went to Counterpoint, a shop that deals in used books and LPs. They always have incredibly outré LPs, and we really had fun looking through them. Interestingly, two of their higher-priced LPs were a sealed copy of Stages, and the first pressing of The First Nudie Musical. Go know.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on a homegrown DVD entitled Isn’t That Shocking? Isn’t That Shocking was one of the great ABC Movie of the Week presentations from the early 70s – that wonderful golden era of the TV movie. In those days, ABC, week after week, presented TV movies that were and are as good as anything they’re making today. Isn’t That Shocking is slight but very entertaining, with a wonderfully wonderful cast, including Alan Alda, Louise Lasser, Edmund O’Brien, Ruth Gordon, Lloyd Nolan, Dorothy Tristan, Will Geer and others. The script is really good, and the actors have a field day, especially Alda and Lasser, who are wonderful together. It was directed by John Badham and it has a great score by Mr. David Shire. I tell you, those were the days. I’d like to get all those ABC movies – I’ve got another classic coming – A Cold Night’s Death, and another, Michael Crichton’s Pursuit has actually had a legit release via MGM/UA.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must put on my leisure suit so I can spend a leisurely day doing many things.
I’m feeling quite leisurely now that I am wearing my double knit leisure suit. It’s sky blue, you know. Today I shall be having a conversation with our new publicist. Today I hope to see a title treatment logo for our play. Today I shall be paid a visit by Mr. Kevin Spirtas, to discuss his upcoming presentation of his show, which we’ll be both videotaping (multi-camera, for archival use) and audio taping (for release on CD). Today I may have a lunch date, but that has not been ascertained, oh, no, that has not been ascertained. This evening, I may have a massage, but that has not been ascertained, oh, no, that has not been ascertained. I also hope some errant and truant packages arrive.
I have no real plans for the weekend, and frankly I’m glad. I’m open to anything interesting that comes along, but if nothing interesting comes along, then I’m happy to just catch up on my DVD watching.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, spend a leisurely day in my leisure suit, I must finish doing corrections and fixes on my short story (I didn’t do anything in that regard yesterday – mostly it involves the last paragraph), and I must do everything previously mentioned and a few things not previously mentioned. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, car is the mix of The Last Starfighter, which I’m enjoying very much. Home is John Scott’s score to The Final Countdown. DVD, currently playing, Ben-Hur (it will be playing for quite a while – it’s looooong). After that, Psycho II and III (III being by our very own Pogue). Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we all prance about in our various and sundried leisure suits.