Well, dear readers, all I can say is I am happy it is Labor Day weekend, for it shall be a weekend sans labor and frankly I can use a weekend sans labor. Oh, I do have a few various and sundried tasks to attend to, including writing the liner notes for the next Kritzerland release, but other than that, this is a ME weekend. I shall do whatever I like and no one will say boo about it. Did you know, for example, that boo is oob spelled backwards? No, no one will say either boo or oob about my ME weekend. I intend to relax, I intend to watch several motion pictures on Blu and Ray and others on DVD, I intend to pay a visit to Cinecon, where I know several dealers, I intend to attend a Labor Day partay at neighbor Tony Slide and Bob Gitt’s home environment, I intend to sup, and I’m hoping it’s just the sort of weekend I’ve been craving. But enough about the weekend. Yesterday was, as I predicted, a very long, too long casting day. We did see some really terrific actors, and I had several friends audition. We had a brief twenty-five minute break and we all ate homemade chicken salad, which was quite good but very different than any chicken salad you’ve ever eaten. It was made with low-fat cream cheese and sour cream rather than hi-fat mayonnaise. It had chicken, it had candied walnuts, it had onions, and it had a LOT of garlic. I had two count them two sandwiches, but they weren’t huge or anything. They hit the spot and then the spot hit them and all was fair in love and war. After we finished, I hurried home and despite it being deep rush hour, I took a perfect route and had not one or even two spots of traffic. I had a lot of e-mails to answer, and one surprising e-mail from my MGM person about two scores that I tried to get right off the bat but that had some problems, but which now are suddenly available. I’m having the tapes pulled along with three other projects and I’m hoping to pick all those up next week. I can only tell you, if the tapes are in good shape and all comes to fruition with the two scores on one CD, it will be a very fast sellout, maybe our fastest. It’s not necessarily that they’re the greatest scores ever written, but you’ll understand why as soon as you know what it is. I’d say it would be a pretty major release that will make a lot of people very happy, so lots of excellent vibes and xylophones that it come to fruition. I then went to Gelson’s, got a little portion of their yummilicious cheesy potato casserole and had that for my dinner, whilst sitting on my couch like so much fish.
Whilst eating my cheesy potatoes I watched the final episode of Adam 12, Season Three – it was one of the weakest, with not one interesting location shot, and I believe that was because it was directed by Jean Yarborough, who was a real TV quickie director who simply wasn’t very good. Interestingly, it was written by a terrific novelist, William McGivern, who wrote the fantastic noir novel, The Big Heat. After that, I got a little antsy, so I drove over to Amoeba – hadn’t been there in six weeks so it was fun just to wander and trawl the stacks of CDs and DVDs. I only bought a couple of cheap things, including the LP to a potential upcoming release. I had a few telephonic conversations, and that was the day and that was the evening.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am quite ready for my ME weekend, and hope it will be a splendidly splendid weekend for one and all and also all and one. And to that I say – oob, which is, of course, the opposite of boo.
I should have put spoiler alerts in part one of the notes, since I’ve now said everything I’m doing over the Labor Day weekend sans labor or The ME Weekend. One thing I’ll definitely be doing this weekend is jogging. I have only jogged once since I’ve been back, because the air quality with all the fires has been so wretched and unhealthy. But I don’t feel good not jogging and by gum and by golly and buy bonds, I shall damn well jog the entire weekend, and no one can say boo about it – if they want to say oob, however, that is more than acceptable.
This coming week is going to be very intensely intense. On Tuesday, I have a very long work session with the composer and lyricist of the long musical, working with an arranger and just finessing things with the songs prior to our recording our demo. Then, starting on Wednesday and going until Saturday, we’ll be recording the Brent Barrett Christmas album, which I’m very much looking forward to. It’s my first studio album in ages. We’ve booked a terrific band, which includes our very own Mr. Grant Geissman on guitar. I must say that CD release-wise, the rest of this year is pretty much spoken for, with a release coming every two to three weeks like clockwork.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, I must pick up what I hope will be a whole slew of packages, I must do an errand or three, and then I must potentially sup with our very own Mr. David Wechter. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD player? I’ll start – CD, the next Kritzerland release, a Johnny Dankworth compilation, and a new Jacques Tati soundtrack compilation. DVD/Blu-Ray, that Julia Roberts/Clive Owen movie I never remember the title of – Duplicity, I think, plus that Nikkatsu noir box set from Criterion, that I’ve really been looking forward to. Plus I’m DVRing a bunch of hi-def movies this weekend. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I prepare for my ME weekend.