Well, dear readers, this week is already flying by, like a gazelle in Flatbush. I lived in Flatbush, you know. I lived on East 29th Street in 1969 in the building in which my Aunt Minnie and Uncle Rube lived. My daughter was conceived in that studio apartment. The subway stop was Newkirk and when you got off there was a terrific pizza place right next to the stop and a wonderful candy store that served wonderful egg creams. Flatbush Avenue was only a five-minute walk from the apartment. On Flatbush Avenue were some wonderful used bookstores where I found many treasures, several record stores I frequented frequently and many movie theaters, one of which, the Albermarle, I worked at as an usher for about two months. The movies I recall that were shown their during my ushering stint were Once Upon A Time In The West (loved it, and the first week of its engagement it was the full-length version – by the second week it had been shorn of about forty minutes. Can Hieronymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe And Find True Happiness played there, as did Daddy’s Gone A’Hunting. It was a gorgeous old theater with a very cranky manager, but I had fun working there. There were several excellent Chinese jernts on Flatbush Avenue. Why am I taking about Brooklyn all of a sudden? Oh, yeah, the damn gazelle. My goodness, I just went on a time machine to Flatbush and I have returned none too soon. Has anyone been to Flatbush lately? How is it? Is there anything left of the way it was back when I was there? Speaking of when I was there, yesterday was a very okay day. For example, I got up. That was very okay. It was pouring out, so no long jog for me. I answered some e-mails, and then left to go pick up master tapes for the next two Kritzerland releases. That all went very smoothly, and then I came back and picked up a print out of my new novel for my first go-round of proofing and also to let one of my three guinea pigs have the first look at it. I got home, answered more e-mails, let the guinea pig read the book, whilst I finished my liner notes, did the track list and credits, and wrote the blurb. We’re hoping to get it up and live by next Monday at the latest, although I still haven’t heard the second half of the CD – hopefully that will happen today and I can approve it and the master can get down to me immediately. Guinea pig finished the book and liked it a whole lot. Lots of laughs coming from the other room while it was being read. Loved the characters and the plot. Found a couple of things I hadn’t caught and might not have caught, so that was good, too. I was very pleased with the reaction. I then had a spot of lunch with guinea pig at the Studio Café – we split wings and Tex-Mex rolls, both very good and not too filling. I then went to the mail place and picked up a couple of packages, then came home and packed up all the master tapes and got them shipped to the mastering engineer, who should have them all by Thursday or Friday. He will transfer all tapes immediately, so that we can figure out what we have (the soundtrack release has a LOT of tapes to go through). I don’t think any of these tape boxes have been opened since they were recorded in the 1960s. Hopefully they’ve survived well. I then came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I tried to watch a motion picture on DVD but I simply wasn’t in the mood. So, I listened to CDs and did some organizing and whatnot.
Then I went to Gelson’s and got a little food for my evening snack and that was about it, day and evening-wise.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst I await my answer on what Flatbush looks like today.
Today, I shall do stuff around the home environment, I hope I can do the long jog, and then I have an important meeting at 3:00, so send some excellent vibes and xylophones around that time. After that, I’ll come home, eat something, and then definitely watch a motion picture on DVD.
Tomorrow I’m sure I have some sort of something to do. We’re also getting a jump on the next two CD releases, so I have to see my designer and we have to figure out what to do for the cover of the soundtrack release, since there was no art they could give us. I’ll be doing the notes for the soundtrack CD, and my friend Walter Willison should be working on the notes for the cast album. I’m hoping both will be announced and released concurrently in mid-to-late March. I have two releases to follow those and hopefully this licensing deal will pay off and lead to some other lovelier than lovely titles.
I have a Friday and Sunday rehearsal to assemble Sean McDermott’s interim act – those are three hours each. Saturday I’ll be hanging out at the Hollywood Collector’s Show, which I’m looking forward to.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully do the long jog, do various and sundried errands, attend an important evening, eat something tres amusing and then watch a motion picture on DVD. Today’s topic of discussion: Who was your very first boyfriend or girlfriend? How old were you? How serious was it? How long did it last? If that’s too painful for anyone, talk about your first boy/girlfriend that wasn’t painful. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I dream of Flatbush.