Well, dear readers, my back is killing me. Yes, Virginia, you heard that right – my back is killing me. Just what I ever did to my back to deserve being killed by it, I have no idea. Do you know if my back were successful in killing me, my back would be convicted of a homicide? All this pain in my back stems from sitting hunched over in front of my handy-dandy laptop computer, and from sitting hunched over a notepad whilst making notes whilst viewing tapes. I wish somebody were here to rub my poor aching back or step on it or crack it or something. But enough about me. I’ve got to move right along because shortly I must begin what will be an all-day writing session on the two promo spots. I’ve got to finish at least rough versions of both spots before I toddle over to the theater at six. I’ve promised I’ll e-mail them on Friday – they wanted them in the morning, but I think that will not be possible and I’ll get them e-mailed around two. I have a rehearsal from eleven to one with Miss Linda Purl, after which I’ll be ready to e-mail. Meanwhile, I had a very busy but productive day yesterday. For example, I had a productive meeting at Disney. I made my deal (and got what I was hoping to get), found out the schedule, was given eight more tapes to watch, and met several very nice people. It would be nice if this became a regular or even semi-regular deal, because everyone was so pleasant. I then came home, watched a couple of tapes (I really think I have enough material without having to watch the rest – although I’ll fast forward through them to see if I like any musical numbers and dance sequences), ate lunch, picked up an errant and truant package (there are several which still haven’t arrived), and, best of all, wrote four count them four pages of my new short story. It took a long time to get the first page to my liking (first pages are key for me, and I don’t move on until they’re right), but then I did the next three in short order. I love the milieu and the setting for the story, and so far I’m having a good deal of fun with it. After that, I got ready and then toddled over to the Brentwood Theatre to see Jay Johnson’s new show, The Two and Only.
Mr. Johnson is a wonderful ventriloquist, and a very personable stage performer, so I was looking forward to the show. On the way in to the theater, I ran into my pals Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel. Murphy was in my show Stages, and Paul was going to be a major part of the aborted Meltz and Ernest project. I had no idea they were part of the Jay Johnson show, but the fact is they are producers, co-conceivers, and directors. They asked me about my show and they’re going to try and come see it. They then opined that they’d gotten a really bad and really stupid review from the LA Times. I said, “Welcome to the wonderful world of LA critics,” and told them about our reviews. We took our seats and the show began. And I’m happy to report that, as always, the LA Times was full of beans – the show was delightful from start to finish. Yes, it could stand a teeny bit of pruning (five to ten minutes off the running time would be a good thing, I should think) – the show runs about 105 minutes without intermission. Mr. Johnson is not only very funny, but several moments in the show are genuinely touching. It’s well thought out, and two or three of the sequences are truly brilliant. The theater was a little over half full and the audience pretty much ate the show up. Hopefully, the silly review from the Times won’t hurt the show (have no idea what the other reviews are like), and I recommend it to anybody who’s in this neck of the woods or, at the very least, this stomach of the woods.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because frankly my back is trying to commit a homicide and I’m not having any more of it.
As I’ve mentioned, I won’t be doing much of anything today but writing, writing, writing (that is three writings). I have an idea of how I want to start the longer of the spots, but I know it will be slow going for the first part of the day – I may have to go back and run some tapes, just to make sure I wrote down lines and song titles correctly. But, I shall do what has to be done and I wouldn’t mind if it happened that I did it in a timely fashion (stiletto heels and a leather mini-skirt).
I will have to take a break at some point to pick up packages and do some banking. And, of course, I’ll be checking in here quite often and I must have lots of reading matter to relax my weary, aching back. And then I shall toddle off to the theater to run some things before the show. I hope we have a nice-sized house tonight, and for the rest of the weekend.
I tell you, my back is killing me. Where is Boston Blackie when you need him? Where are Nick and Nora or Mr. and Mrs. North when you need them? Somebody stop my back from killing me, please.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write all the livelong day, at some point I must eat, I must pick up packages, bank, and then write some more, and I must view some additional tapes at some point. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite fictional private eyes and cops – from the movies, radio, books, and theatre. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I try to stop my back from killing me.