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March 18, 2007:

THE HIPPODROME? THE HIPPODROME

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, the wearin’ o’ the green is over, and today I shall go back to the wearin o’ other colors. Has anybody noticed that March is half over? We’ve had Ides, we’ve had the wearin’ o’ the green, we’ve had Daylight Savings Time all in the space of what seems like three days. I tell you, this month is flying by like a gazelle in the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome? The Hippodrome. What am I, On The Town all of a sudden? Now I’ve got The Hippodrome on the brain. Not only that, these here notes are supposed to be posted in about three count them three minutes. I keep trying to get them done on time, but things keep distracting me. For example, right now I was distracted by having to drum this new tune I wrote into my head so that I’ll be able to perform it properly at the birthday bash of Barbara Deutsch this very evening. I’m just drilling it over and over, and I, who do not notate music, have tried to write it down in a way that will make sense to me, should I have a memory lapse whilst sitting at the piano. May I just say that I believe there are crickets in my house? If there aren’t, then they’re outside and they’re the loudest crickets ever put on this little planet I like to call Earth. Speaking of Earth, yesterday was like a whirling dervish. The Hippodrome? The Hippodrome. Sorry, it’s just stuck there like a gazelle with herpes. Where was I? Oh, yes, yesterday was like a whirling dervish, a neverending day and evening filled with stuff and whatnot. For example, I woke up, jogged, did a few things around the home environment, then began writing. I wrote about a page and a half, then wrote the Barbara Deutsch song (basically, I set a list of her habits to music and made it scan and make sense musically – it came out very well). After that, I picked up a couple of packages, did a little DVD trading with my local DVD folks, then wrote four more pages (for a total of five and a half), and then toddled off to see a nightclub show with Miss Merissa Haddad. She’d wanted to see one of her fellow talent contestants do her act, and she invited me so I could give her my views on said act.

Said act was almost a textbook case of how not to put together an act. I won’t go into detail, but I’ll just say that almost all of the songs were given no context, there was no point, very little patter, the singer played the entire show looking OVER the audience’s heads and therefore never connecting with them (mostly made up of family and friends), and had too many instrumental breaks in her songs. The songs were all classics, but again, without context as to why she was singing them or what they had to do with her personally (even a simple “I grew up loving these songs” would work), then it’s just a singer singing songs. The singer was backed by some fine jazz musicians, but when you’re doing a club act the show needs to be about the singer not the musicians – halfway through, the singer even left the stage so the band could do a number. When she came back, it was like she had to start from scratch with the audience. It was very informative for Merissa, and we had a good time. After the show, we spoke to the singer, and she seemed to know I was directing Merissa’s show, and she said to me, “You could tell I didn’t have a director, huh?” Although I didn’t say it to her, the answer was yes. The singer has a nice voice, and with some focus and clarity, she could put together a nice show.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to get these here notes posted so I can go to The Hippodrome. The Hippodrome? The Hippodrome.

Last night, I also watched a motion picture on DVD entitled A Dandy In Aspic, a mighty strange film from the mid-60s and the final film of a great director, Mr. Anthony Mann. Mr. Mann died during filming and the film was completed by its star, Mr. Laurence Harvey. The cast was good (Mia Farrow, Harry Andrews, Tom Courtney), but the film, which I really wanted to like, is a hopeless muddle, as enigmatic as its completely enigmatic title. There are a few good sequences, but most of it is incomprehensible and you never know who is doing what to whom or why they’re doing it. The region 2 DVD transfer is adequate, with good color.

Today, I shall finish the chapter I’m on (about two or three more pages to go), then I shall print out all the new pages (about fifty), Xerox them, and then get them to my muse Margaret for her mental delectation. I must say, to write fifty pages in less than two weeks feels pretty good – I’ve done it a couple of times before, but not often. After that, I shall watch a DVD or three, and then attend the birthday bash of Miss Barbara Deutsch, so send me excellent vibes and xylophones that I remember the music to my new song and that I get through it without embarrassing myself.

Tomorrow, I will be dining with Mr. Cason Murphy and his ever-lovin’ Heather and I’m really looking forward to it. Not sure where we’re going, although I’m always up for a little Genghis Cohen. Musso and Frank isn’t an option, since it’s closed on Monday.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, watch DVDs, and attend a birthday bash. 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? The Hippodrome? The Hippodrome.

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