Well, dear readers, it is quite late and I am quite exhausted and yet I must write these here notes and be witty and pithy and pithy and witty even though I would like to lay my weary head on my lovely pillow. I had quite an endless day yesterday, which began when I was awakened by oafs. Awakened By Oafs – that’s the title of my next novel. As soon as she of the Evil Eye arrived I went and did the long jog. After that, I drove over to Jerry’s Deli with the script of the long musical, had my usual bacon and eggs and finished scribbling notes. I then came home, printed out lots of orders, and then began typing the notes for the long musical. I knew I was in deep trouble when I’d written four whole pages of notes and was only about fourteen pages into the script. I ended up typing for most of the day and got to page seventy-one of the script (totaling eleven pages of notes) – that’s halfway, so I’ve got lots more to do, although act two should go a little bit faster because we’ve already decided on two huge lifts that will lower the page count by ten or twelve pages. In typing the notes, I came up with several very good solutions to big problems and I hope the authors like them. I printed out more orders, talked to an Apple iPhone expert who finally helped me fix the problems I’ve been having, which apparently mostly stemmed from a faulty USB cord. Who knew? There’s still the matter of the phone freezing occasionally, but he gave me something to try the next time it happens and he said if that doesn’t fix it to e-mail him right away. It really helps to get someone who actually knows whereof they speak and speak whereof they know. It was then time to get ready for the Gardenia.
I got to the Gardenia around seven-fifteen – it was already full, something I’ve never seen in all my years of going there. Usually people don’t arrive until around eight for dinner, but apparently this always happens for Andrea Marcovicci. I was fine, though, because Andrea holds a table in the back for her guests, and that’s where I was. Her pianist, who is also the composer of the long musical, joined our party for dinner, and I must say the linguini dish I had was the best thing I’ve ever eaten there. I also had a shrimp cocktail and a teeny-tiny salad. Andrea briefly said hello to us just before dinner.
Her show began promptly at nine, something else I’ve never seen happen at the Gardenia. This particular show is something she was commissioned to do by the Johnny Mercer people or foundation in Savannah. So, she’s been trying it out here in LA for the last three days, and then she’s taking it to New York in December. I will admit that this was the first time I’ve ever seen her do one of her shows. I don’t really know how that happened, but now I’ve rectified that, oh, yes, I’ve rectified that. Andrea looks marvelous, in fact, she looks too marvelous for words, as long as we’re in the Mercer mode. Andrea is known for her patter rather than a strong singing voice, and she did not disappoint in that regard. Her stories and patter are quite excellent – she obviously loves Mercer, and she just as obviously did her homework and she’s very good at pacing a show and holding interest. In fact, I thought she made only one mis-step and that was starting with Skylark, which is a difficult song and a strange opener – after once through she went directly into Something’s Gotta Give, which she socked over delightfully, and which sat in her voice very well – she was very playful with the audience and it was a real winner, and that’s what she should have stuck to. She could still do Skylark later in the act or as an encore, but it sure didn’t work for me starting off with it. From there we got well known Mercer and obscure Mercer (some REALLY obscure Mercer), all of it wonderful. She’s an actress more than a singer, and she really knows how to involve her audience and keep them riveted. She’s also very funny and she is still quite beautiful. Shelly played very well. There was a man in the audience who was so annoying – he kept grunting and saying “Yeah,” every time she’d tell a story, and you could see it was getting to her and she finally made a joke out of it. He wouldn’t stop – it was almost like he had some kind of Tourette’s or something, but I don’t think that was it. I think he was just weird. After the show, she came right to our table and we had a lovely chat, and then I headed home. And that was my day and that was my night. The night, at least, was marvelous – in fact, just too marvelous for words.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to lay my weary head upon my pillow very soon.
I don’t know how this weekend turned into a total working weekend but that’s what happened. Today I shall try to do some sort of jog, then Mr. Cason Murphy is coming over to address lots of packages and get postage on them. He has to leave by one, and then I have to immediately start typing up the rest of the notes, which I’ll try to finish by four, at which point I will have a brief conversation with the author of the long musical. I know that the DVR will be recording the season so far for Mad Men, so I’ll probably start watching those tonight.
Monday, I have an eight o’clock dentist appointment, and then I go directly from there to comp the vocals for Brent Barrett’s album. I’m hoping that won’t take more than three hours. After that, I’ll do nothing.
Tuesday, Taras Bulba CDs will arrive at nine and I’ll get them in their packages and over to the post office. Then Cason will come over around three and we’ll get all the bigger packages (and there will be a lot of those) out of here.
I will try to find at least one day to have off – maybe Wednesday, maybe Thursday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, I must address packages, I must type notes, I must send notes, I must have a brief telephonic conversation, I must eat something amusing, and then I must sit on my couch like so much fish and clear my head. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, and that will be just too marvelous, too marvelous for words.