Well, dear readers, it is Sunday and I have just arrived home at one o’clock in the morning and now I must rush to write these here notes because they will be going up unfashionably late. Ordinarily, they would be going up fashionably late in an ensemble of beige skirt, cashmere sweater, and kick me pumps. However, this early morning they will be going up unfashionably late in an ensemble of go-go boots, mini-skirt, and a paisley blouse. If anyone has a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about, please do let us know. Speaking of HELL, it’s HELLISH in Los Angeles, California, USA – HELLISHLY hot that is. It’s like a disco inferno, frankly or even georgely. I came out of a restaurant at twelve-thirty in the a.m. and it was like entering a sauna bath – it must have been ninety-five degrees out. I’m sorry, but this weather has got to go – I can’t remember a heat wave this bad since the last heat wave where I said I couldn’t remember a heat wave this bad. Yesterday I did manage to jog before it started to broil here in the City of Studio, and I also did all my errands before noon. Then, I turned on the air conditioning and just sat on my couch like so much fish, trying to stay cool, man, cool. I did manage to watch a DVD, about which more in the next paragraph. At five-thirty I toddled off to LACC. Heather and I spoke in the morning yesterday and I’d asked her to think about cutting a ballad in act one and replacing it with an uptempo. She graciously did so, and she added a terrific rendition of Tea for Two, which really helped. We had a sold-out house for her second show, with lots of interesting folks present, including Miss Faith Prince and Miss Yvette Lawrence, both of whom have appeared on my albums. Also in attendance, Mr. Greg Mullavey (who was married to Heather’s late sister, Meredith), Heather’s brother Gar, Jane Kean (who played Trixie to Sheila MacRae’s Mrs. Kramden), Skip E. Lowe (he loves this series), composer Michelle Brourman, our very own Kritzerland designer, Doug Haverty, and lots of other nice folks. The show went very well. Heather got ahead of herself at the end of act one and therefore forgot to do the key number of act one – The Surrey With The Fringe on Top. I went backstage at intermission, and we figured out where to put it in act two, and it worked very well. She received another standing ovation. After the show, we all ambled over to Café Figaro (I hadn’t eaten anything all day), and I sat with young Adriana Patti, her mum, our publicist Steve Moyer, and our summer theater manager and LACC student John Bland (who was in the reading of The Brain). I had a nice rib-eye steak and nothing else. A good time was had by all.
Yesterday, as mentioned, I managed to watch a DVD – well, part of a DVD. I began what will be a marathon viewing experience – I, Claudius. The first episode ran close to two hours (I gather subsequent episodes are one hour) and what a great opener it was. I’m not all that much of a fan of historical drama, but this miniseries is beautifully written and directed, and the acting is splendidly splendid from one and all. It was a mesmerizing two hours, and I’m looking forward to the remaining ten or eleven hours. I’ve been told that the Image DVD available here in the States has pretty bad image quality and sound. Hence, I got the UK version, which looks and sounds great.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because these here notes are going up unfashionably late and I, for one, am scared of seeing the go-go boots, the miniskirt, and the paisley blouse.
I think we shall keep this here section of the notes fashionably short in an ensemble of black slacks, black and silver silk blouse, and red stiletto heels.
Today I shall be toddling over to Mr. David Wechter’s house to begin our little rewrite of The Brain From Planet X. We both are completely on the same page and to what fixes we want to make, so we’re going to go through everything, mark the script, and then we’ll start doing the fixes, both together and separately.
I’m hoping that won’t take more than three of four hours, as I’d like to get some relaxing in and I’d also like to write another couple of pages on the new book (I did manage to write two pages yesterday). Last night, I think I came up with a title for the book – I think it’s fun and I like it, but we’ll see how it fits when I get a little further along.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, fix, relax, and answer e-mails and return telephonic calls. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we?