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December 18, 2006:

RECORDING THE BRAIN

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must get my beauty sleep and then be on my way to record a little thing I like to call a cast album. So, let me dive right in and say that I spent a fairly restful day yesterday being fairly restful. I did give a Kritzer tour to our visiting Merrill, and I did plan out our recording session and exactly which bits of dialogue we’ll be doing, and I did send out several e-mails and I did make several telephonic calls and I did eat a nice luncheon. Other than that, I sat on my couch like so much fish and twiddled my thumbs.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Casablanca. Visiting guest Merrill had never seen it and I hadn’t watched it since I bought the DVD, and I find it eminently rewatchable so I was happy to view it again. What a marvel it is – one of the great screenplays, beautifully directed by Michael Curtiz. Every aspect of the film is perfection – it makes no mistakes. And the cast – each and every actor absolutely wonderful, no matter what size their role. I especially love Claude Rains, who never gave a bad performance. And you also have Mr. Bogart, Miss Bergman, Mr. Henried, Mr. Lorre, Mr. Greenstreet, Mr. Cuddles Sakall, Marcel Dalio, Dooley Wilson, Conrad Veidt and a host of other great character actors. The dialogue is some of the best and most quotable dialogue ever written. Basically, the film is a marvel. After that, as a companion piece, I ran Play It Again, Sam, which is still mighty amusing, with Woody at his best (the film is directed by Herbert Ross).

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because the hour is late and so are these here notes.

I’m very much looking forward to being in the studio again – I’ve really only been doing live CDs since the After the Ball recording. We have a new keyboard two player, but I know he rehearsed with our musical director yesterday, so I’m sure he’ll be on top of it. I’m hoping the day goes smoothly, as I have only a certain number of hours with the band. The only singers working today are Alet, Kevin, Lauren, and Merrill. We finish the vocals on Wednesday evening. I’m hoping to wrap the session by six, maybe earlier, but there’s a LOT of music to record. I’ve already decided that we’re bringing in Astroburger for luncheon.

After Wednesday’s session, I am on vacation until the third of January. Oh, I’m not going anywhere, but I will not be doing any work – I need a break to recharge, get my head together (no mean feat) and prepare for the New Year and all the various projects I’ll be diving into after the first of January, which include starting a new book, directing the kids show, and getting serious putting together Alet and Joan Ryan’s shows. I will say that it’s going to be festively festive around these here parts.

Let’s put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s break out the cheese slices and ham chunks, let’s dance the Hora or the Turkey Lurkey, because today is our very own PennyO’s birthday day. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own PennyO. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN PENNYO!!!

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, record a cast album. I won’t have time to jog today, so I’ll be jogging extra hard tomorrow. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your guilty pleasure cast albums and soundtracks – those cast albums and soundtracks to shows that may not have been big hits, but that you find irresistible. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I toddle off to bed and then to the recording studio to make some Brain music.

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