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January 3, 2007:

THE MIX MASTER

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, today I begin directing an interactive kids show. Well, I don’t really begin directing an interactive kid show today, but I’ll show up and say hello to everyone. No, today our choreographer will be choreographing two numbers, and tomorrow he will do the same, and then on Friday, after he spends two hours drilling, I will start blocking the scenes. Our two d-jay girls (twins) were supposed to be there on Friday, but they won’t be there until Saturday, so we’ll have our read-through then, or do it on Friday without them. I’m looking forward to getting the show on its feet as quickly as possible and getting the cast to bond and feel like they’ve been doing this forever. Speaking of forever, yesterday was a very nice day, and the last of my days to completely relax and smell the coffee or the roses or the beef stroganoff. I woke up earlier than I cared to, but I got some things done, and then I jogged. After that, I wrote a few pages and moved up some things from the old chapter two into the new chapter one. But, as I read through, it’s not as good as the new stuff, so I’ll keep the idea of it, but completely rewrite everything. After I’d written a few pages, I then began writing the booklet notes for The Brain and got the first part of them done – next up, the synopsis, then I’m done with my part. Then I’ve got to write the booklet notes for The Creature Wasn’t Nice soundtrack. After that, I ate some foodstuffs and by that time it was late afternoon and the day was done, at which point I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I managed to watch three count them three motion pictures on DVD, a feat I could only have accomplished because two of said motion pictures only ran seventy minutes. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Bad Blonde, another Hammer Noir, this one starring Barbara Payton. It’s a pretty bad motion picture, even though I like the director, Reginald Le Borg. But, it’s a fascinating movie because of Miss Payton. I’d never really seen her in anything before although I knew her name and that there’d been some sort of scandal associated with it. I must say, I found her screen presence in this particular film most sleazy, sleazier than the lady from Detour, which is hard to beat for a sleazy female performance. After the film, I did a little research on Miss Payton – what a life! I’m actually surprised no one’s done a film about her. Maybe I’ll propose it – in fact, I WILL propose it. The scandal I vaguely remembered involved her being engaged to Franchot Tone while fooling around with Tom Neal and their horrible fight, where Mr. Tone was almost killed. But that was just one of many scandals involving the very wild Miss Payton. I’m sure some of the stories are apocryphal and I’m sure some are true, but she was a wild woman who died at thirty-nine from alcohol-related problems. The next motion picture on DVD was entitled Voyage Of The Damned, a motion picture I’d never seen, from the mid-80s. I actually liked a lot of it and it was one of the last of the all-star casts, and what a cast: Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Malcolm McDowell, Orson Welles, James Mason, Jose Ferrer, Julie Harris, Katherine Ross, Ben Gazzara, Fernando Rey, Lynne Frederick, Luther Adler, Wendy Hiller, and even more. It’s a compelling true story, but has so many characters that only a few get decent screen time. The director, Stuart Rosenberg did a good job balancing everything, but it feels more like a mini-series than a theatrical feature. Sam Wanamaker and a few others are really over the top. The film also “introduced” Jonathan Pryce. I was very taken with Miss Frederick, and had forgotten about her rather sorry life (dead in her late thirties, also from alcoholic-related problems). The region 2 DVD sports a very nice transfer, with a nice, clean sharp image and good sound. Lalo Schifrin’s score is a plus. I then watched the third motion picture on DVD, which I’d actually begun the night before. It was entitled The Gambler and The Lady and, yes, it was another Hammer Noir, this time the slumming American star was Dane Clark. This film is thus far my favorite of these Hammer Noirs – it has a good script, and instead of a bored star, Mr. Clark is really good in it. He’s one of those dependable actors who was good in everything, and I hadn’t realized he’d worked right up to the day he passed on, in his late 70s. The other plus of this film is the appearance of the delectable Kathleen Byron. All in all, a good DVD watching evening.

What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to get up quite early for reasons I’ll fill you in on in the next section.

This morning, I have an early-morning meeting with Miss Joan Ryan, after which I shall pick up my lovely assistant, Miss Adriana Patti, and we will hie ourselves to rehearsal. We’ll stay there for one hour, and then we’ll go to our very own Vinnie’s home environment and studio, where we will record The Brain’s vocals, and a couple of spoken things we didn’t get at the session. Vinnie’s been busy getting pre-mixes done, and I’m sure I’ll spend a few hours listening and nitpicking. Our musical director will also be there briefly, in case I hear any synth playing that I think needs to be redone. I’m hoping to get the vocals done in an hour, so we can spend at least three hours going over the mixes. After that, I’ll have to get some dinner, and then it will be home, sweet, home and a spot of writing.

Tomorrow, I hope I can finish listening to the mixes and futzing with them (if Vinnie has everything finished by then), because other than making an appearance at rehearsal, I don’t really have to be there.

I also have to pack up a couple of big orders (the Irish Rep just ordered 100 After The Ball CDs – a huge package to ship – too bad they get them at such a cheap rate), another amazon.com order, another Footlight order, and a few stray kritzerland.com orders. Hopefully, I’ll have time to stop by my mail place because there should be something there after three days without mail service.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog (if I have time), write (if I have time), meet my cast, record vocals, mix a CD, and eat something interesting. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you dear readers get to ask me or any dear reader any old thing you like, and we get to answer any old thing we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we?

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