Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I have an early appointment with hair stylist Teddy. I cannot wait, because of my unkempt appearance, which is frightening little children and dogs in the street. After Teddy gets done, I shall look kempt and people will cast admiring glances in my direction, and men and women of all ages will come up to me and say, “My goodness, you look kempt.” Speaking of kempt, yesterday was quite a nice day. For example, I got up. That was nice. Other than being unkempt, I did some various and sundried things around the home environment, then went to Staples and delivered my CD of the new book for printing. As you know, I’d taken it in the night before and had been told they couldn’t do the job because their velo-binding machine was broken. As it turned out, the machine was fine and dandy and the gentleman who told me it wasn’t was lying. Fine way to run a business. I think he’ll be spoken to. I then toddled off to rehearsal. We didn’t have an actual run-through, which I was hoping to have, as we spent the entire two hours with our pianist, who’s first time playing through this it was. It took some getting used to, some setting of tempos, some explaining feels and vamps, but he’s very talented, and he’ll be listening to the accompaniment CD that John Boswell made, and that will help him more than anything. Merissa is back to normal and in very good voice. She did get to run everything, including the patter, so that was good. I added underscore to about fifty percent of the patter, and it really helps. After rehearsal, I did some errands, then came home and packaged up a few big orders, but by then it was to late to ship, so they’ll go out this afternoon, as soon as I get back from Teddy. After that, I began the slow process of taking my first pass at proofing. I’m finding lots of silly typos or wrong words (sometimes I rewrite so much, that I don’t always clean up things when so doing), and little things where parts of sentences have to be inverted to make them make more sense. I found a few words I overuse, so I’ll find a couple of synonyms, but I haven’t found anything major, and I’m liking what I’m reading, so that’s good. I also gave the book to one of my two research assistants and she read it and really liked it, so that was nice to hear. I’ll probably finish my first pass of proofing later today. After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I managed to watch one motion picture on DVD entitled Thieves Like Us, a film of Robert Altman, based on the novel of the same name, which also served as the source material for Nicholas Ray’s marvelously marvelous They Live By Night. I am not a fan of most of Mr. Altman’s output (there are a couple of exceptions) – I find him an interesting director occasionally, but a self-indulgent one. In fact, I’d say ninety percent of the handful of films I’ve ever walked out on have been Mr. Altman’s – they include Health, A Wedding, Popeye, Quintet, and a couple of others, all of which I found so excruciating that I had to leave. That said, Thieves Like Us has its moments, with good performances by Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, Bert Remsen, and John Shuck. The period details are excellent (except for one typical Altman marijuana reference – he can’t help it), the photography is lovely, and Mr. Altman does something interesting in lieu of a proper musical score – he scores the picture with radio shows. I think a score would have helped things, but that’s just me. The film is lethargic and has no pace (it’s just over two hours) and Mr. Altman’s penchant for encouraging his actors to improvise is occasionally part of the problem. But, for an Altman film, it’s not bad. Happily, the transfer is perfect – it looks just like the film should look and if you ever want to know what skin tones and color should look like (especially from 70s movies) this is a perfect reference disc. Don’t expect it to look shiny and perfect – Mr. Altman hates that look, so the film is grainy, but, as I said, it’s absolutely perfect as a transfer.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep and then I must get kempt.
After I get kempt, I shall ship packages, proof, do a very quick drop by at a book signing by my friend Diz White, and then we’ll be doing a run-through with a small invited audience. I’m looking forward to that. Then we’ll have an hour to do any adjusting and do a note session, then we have a two-hour rehearsal on Friday, a brief sound check on Saturday, and then it’s show time.
Very early tomorrow morning I’ll be taking my motor car in for a major servicing – I fear I shall also need new brake pads all around, and maybe new shocks, and there is a small oil leak, so that has to be fixed, too. Pray for Rosemary’s Baby.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get a haircut, ship packages, proof, and attend a dress rehearsal – I shall also need to find time to eat some foodstuffs. I’ve been very good the last few days, food-wise. Today’s topic of discussion: I once had a bad experience with Indian cuisine – the only time I’ve ever eaten it. I’m thinking about trying it again, so what are your favorite Indian dishes, and please describe flavors, textures, and anything else I’d need to know. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and soon I shall be kempt as all get out.