Well, dear readers, I must write these notes in a hurry because a) I cannot see straight, and b) it is hard to write notes when you see crooked. I have been working solid from eight-thirty in the morning and I’m still not through and I WILL finish before going to the bedroom environment, which means I’ll be up at least until one. I gotta tell you. So, I shall jump right in and tell you what’s what. Here is what’s what: I got up early, did the long jog, and then found out that it was going to be up to me to sequence the new Kritzerland soundtrack recording. I’d been under the impression that the mastering engineer had been working on assembling the cues based on my e-mails – I thought that had been going on for close to a week. He had assumed I was going to send him a complete and detailed edit list. So, what was already going to be a busy day turned insanely busy. I began going through the cues, one by one, and putting them as much in film order as possible. However, the road map I had was a little screwy, and besides film order is not always ideal as a listening experience, so I moved some stuff around and after about three hours I had a rough sequence. Then I had to address (with the aid of a helper) a whole mess o’ packages and get them stamped so that the Death Of A Salesman CDs can ship today. I also got a call from the pressing plant telling me there was an error on the inlay card – mis-numbered tracks at the end of Salesman – this is because I edited together one track, and I told the designer and he never fixed the inlay and it just got by me. This sort of thing happens to every label, but I find it infuriating. Nothing to be done, of course and it’s not anything major. I then had a long telephonic call, the thrust of which was basically telling me that this very long and annoying roller coaster ride I’ve been on is probably coming to an end and not in a good way. I’m really not happy about it, and I think the important meeting is now cancelled permanently and I’ll have it confirmed today that this is a dead issue. You probably know by now that this all has to do with doing Nudie Musical at LACC this summer as part of the LA Festival of New Musicals. This has been going on since last October. I’ve been told it looked like a sure thing, then that it didn’t look good, then that it did, then that it didn’t, then that it did, and now it looks dead in the water. Had I known this back in October we probably could have done something about finding another venue, but it’s now too late. It’s very disheartening but, as you know, there have been horrible budget cuts and everyone’s nervous and out to protect themselves and on top of that they are doing major construction at the school and this summer it will be almost impossible to walk on the campus. So, I am now thinking about other options. The LA Festival really wants the show, and I’m thinking that if we can raise a little money that we’ll do it as a fully-staged reading (with choreography) at a real theater, with a band. We’d do it for two or three nights, and I’m sure I could get a stellar cast, and maybe that’s just the best thing for us anyway. We shall see. Meanwhile, I can’t say I’m happy about the long roller coaster ride, and I just wish I’d known last October. I then listened to my sequencing, wasn’t happy with some of it, and moved some stuff around. I then had to meet Mr. David Wechter for dinner, and we went over his and my handful of notes – we did most of them over dinner. I’m now thinking about rewriting the final number, which is also the final number of the film – one I’ve never been happy with musically. I’ve been reluctant to ever change it because it’s known and, I suppose, liked by devotees of the film. But I’ve come up with a much more fun tune that has much more variety to it, and I’m really sort of happy with it and I think I’m just going to make the change. After dinner, I came back home and put on the DVD of the film whose soundtrack we’re doing.
I watched the film so I could give the tracks good and accurate titles. This was very time consuming, but it was good to do because I made some further changes to the sequencing and that helped things. As soon as I’m finished with the notes, I have to get everything typed up and sent to the mastering engineer and I’ve asked him to EQ and assemble as quickly as possible. It’s going to be a very nice CD, with about fifty-something minutes of score, and then another fifteen or twenty minutes of bonus tracks. The music is really wonderful.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m through telling you what’s what.
Today, I shall be lunching with Mr. Brent Barrett (hopefully near my house) and then I’ll be shipping out a whole slew of CDs – all that will probably take most of the day. When that’s done, I then have to see a play at the Falcon Theater – some comedy that a friend of mine is stage managing.
Tomorrow, I’m supposedly seeing Mr. Kevin Spirtas, but I’m keeping it short and sweet, and then I am not doing ANYTHING else for the entire weekend, other than relaxing and clearing my head and trying to figure out the best path for Nudie Musical.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, lunch with Brent Barrett, ship CDs, and see a play. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite singers of today – pop, classical, and theater? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, now that you all know what’s what.