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May 30, 2008:

SPEEDING THROUGH TIME

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, there comes a time in every person’s life when he or she must ask the following question: How in HELL can June be approaching? I mean, holy mother of pearl or even holy mother of martha, this year is almost half over. How can this be? Why it seems only yesterday that it was January 1st and I was beginning my new novel. Now it’s almost June 1st and my new novel is almost on its way to the publisher, we’re in our last two weekends of The Brain From Planet X, and time is flying by like a gazelle drinking a gin fizz. I think this all has something to do with Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect and the Brownapartment Conundrum. Everything else has something to do with Global Warming, so why not this damnable speeding through time? I gotta tell you. So, it’s Friday and on Sunday it will be June and, as we all know, June will be busting out all over. I can only imagine that the second half of this year will move even more quickly than the first half and all do to Global Warming or World Colding or Continent Cooling. What the HELL am I talking about? In any case, it’s almost the end of May, it’s the end of the work-week and I must write these here notes because time stops for no notes. Speaking of no notes, yesterday was a day in which things happened, and a lot of them. In fact, by the time I was through doing everything it was seven-thirty in the evening and I was hardly through with doing everything, if the truth be told and, conversely, if the told be truth. I got up, went to Staples and printed out the latest galley. I then came home and began recording all this new Nudie Musical material – that takes me a long, long time. I also had to re-learn a lot of stuff – thank goodness I had a demo of the material I wrote back in 2002. It’s all coming back to me, slowly but surely. I’d recorded the three songs I’d rewritten a few weeks ago, but have made changes to the lyrics since then, so I have to record those over again. I then moved on to the business of finishing the casting of the Nudie reading – I asked and got a yes from the wonderful Yvette Lawrence to do Juanita. All that’s left now is the role of Eunice, and I have a message out to someone about it. So, it’s all coming together nicely. I then began my final proofing of the galley – I’ve already found about twelve things, but they’re really minor (bad breaks mostly) and because we changed a couple of punctuation things, I have to be very careful that they’re changed when certain things are quoted towards the end of the book. I found one thing in particular and am now concerned there are more, but I know where they occur and it shouldn’t be hard to figure it all out. I think when I’m done that to enter these minor fixes will really only take about a half-hour and then we can put this puppy to bed. I also had to do a few errands and whatnot, as well as deal with telephonic calls, e-mails, and booking a rehearsal for our charity gals for tomorrow, and a band rehearsal for next Friday. Finally, after all that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture that I’d TIVOd entitled The Shadow On The Window, a little bottom half of a double bill low-budget feature from Columbia, starring Phil Carey, Betty Garrett, and a very young Jerry Mathers. I don’t know if this was his first film, but it was made just prior to Leave It To Beaver. Also featured were John Drew Barrymore and Corey Allen. The director was William Asher, who would, a few years later, go on to helm some of the Beach Party films and then would produce Bewitched. So, that makes two people involved with this film that I subsequently worked with – Mr. Asher, of course, cast me and directed me in the Tabitha pilot, and Mr. Corey Allen directed me in, I think, two This Is The Life programs (one for sure, but I remember doing two, and for some reason I think he did both of them). I also worked with Jerry Mathers’ brother Jim, who was a cameraman on my documentary Weekday Heroes (which was hosted by Tony Dow, who played Jerry’s brother), and I’ve been friendly with Miss Garrett through the years. It’s no great shakes as a film, but it’s an efficient little suspenser, badly written, but competently done, with a terrific George Duning score to help it move along. Being a programmer, the film runs a brisk seventy-two minutes.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I feel this section of notes has flown by, like a gazelle in a micro-skirt. Yes, we are speeding through time like Rod Taylor. Perhaps we’ll meet Weena in the next section.

Today – today, I’m sure, will be over before it begins. I’m praying it’s not going to be an annoying and trying day – it has the potential to be so, but I really don’t need any unnecessary aggravation right now, so hopefully we’ll get through the day unscathed. I do have to do one annoying little errand in the morning, but it will be quick and easy and then done. After that, I really have no clew as to what order I’ll do things in, but they’ll include finishing proofing the galley, more recording of the Nudie material, a few errands and whatnot, and finalizing the casting. And I still have to go through act two of Nudie, fix things, and then I have to enter all these fixes into the script and then get fifteen copies of said script printed out for the reading.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a brief half-hour rehearsal with the gals who are doing the charity event, just to lock in everything, and then I’m attending the book fair in Pasadena. Depending on how late I stay there, will depend on whether I go see The Brain or not. I’m on the fence about it and I may end up not going down at all this weekend. I really don’t want to go to the matinee on Sunday. We also have two covers on tomorrow night – Rod and General Mills. So, maybe what I’ll do is go to the book fair and then head over to the Heim of Ana from there, since I’ll already be in the Dena of Pasa. That way, if I get to the fair at say two, I can hang for a couple of hours, then go have some foodstuffs, then see the show. We shall see.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, proof, record, do errands, and hopefully have no annoying things thrust upon me. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, four new titles from Film Score Monthly, the key one being the first ever release of George Duning’s score to The Wreck Of The Mary Deare, coupled with Johnny Green’s score to Twilight Of Honor. The other three titles are Ice Pirates, plus two reissues, The Accidental Tourist and Under Fire. DVD, A Royal Scandal, produced by Lubitsch and directed by Preminger. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we try to slow down for a moment so we can smell the coffee or the roses or the refried beans.

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