Well, dear readers, at two o’clock this morning it will be one o’clock this morning. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, at two o’clock this morning it will be one o’clock this morning as Daylight Savings Time is finally at an end, at least for a couple of months. So, don’t forget to reset your clocks or you will be singing I Didn’t Know What Time It Was all the livelong day and night. Halloween was very busy here in the City of Studio. It began very slowly but by six-forty it was crazy. We had a parade of princesses and vampires and Hermoines and Harry Potters and flappers and aliens and a surprising number of bees, and I gave out close to 400 pieces of candy in three hours. All the getting up and down was actually quite exhausting. Earlier in the day I’d gone to have a haircut with Teddy. Everyone who worked at the salon (Sally Hershberger) was in costume, as they have a contest every year. Teddy had a kookie wig on and looked most amusing. His assistant had a Teddy costume on, which was also most amusing. He couldn’t believe how long and unkempt my hair was, so he made me look quite kempt and did his usual stellar job. After that, I came back to the San Fernando Valley, had some visitors visit, and then I toddled off to have a sandwich and onion rings, after which I picked up a package, which contained material for an upcoming release. I then came home and listened to the final master for our upcoming Holy Grail title (which can only be announced after everything is approved and we have no idea how long that process will take since it involves a studio I’ve not worked with before), which sounded absolutely amazing. I’m going to write additional liner notes exclusive to the website, detailing how the album was put together. I also cleaned up the home environment. And then the kiddies arrived.
During the three hours of candy giving, I managed to write two-thirds of the liner notes for our next release, which is being announced this week. I really hope people like this release, because the music is really fun – it’s a film few have seen, but the composer sort of has a following. And then I watched a motion picture on my DVR entitled Radio Days, a film by Woody Allen, starring Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, and a large cast, including cameos by Danny Aiello, Diane Keaton, and Jeff Daniels, and a walk-on appearance by William H. Macy (herein billed W.H. Macy) – one suspects he had some lines at some point, but here if you blink you miss him. I saw Radio Days when it came out and it was instantly apparent that where Stardust Memories was Woody’s “homage” to Fellini’s 8 ½, this was Woody’s “homage” to Fellini’s Amarcord. Woody has mined the Fellini canon on other occasions, such as The Purple Rose Of Cairo, which has traces of The White Sheik, and Sweet and Lowdown, which has traces of La Strada. Back then, I thought the first twenty minutes or so of Radio Days was quite good – some really funny things, Woody’s breathless narration, and the period detail. But then the film splits its time between two stories, with neither particularly compelling – just little anecdotes one after another and then it’s just over. It’s a nostalgia piece and its heart is in the right place, but the last two-thirds of the film just go along and never really amount to much. Still, time has been kind to it, especially as compared to his later films. The hi-def image looked pretty good. I’m sure that at some point all the Woody films will come to Blu-Ray.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am exhausted from giving out four hundred pieces of candy and I need my beauty sleep.
Today – ah, today, today I have no plans at all and I will not be doing a lick of work or even a work of lick with the exception of finishing the liner notes, which should only take about twenty minutes. Then I’ll send all that off to the designer so he can prepare that booklet. I shall relax, watch a motion picture or three, and then I’m probably going over to Grant Geissman’s home environment to mix the newly recorded Nudie demo tracks and to re-record the new Eunice song and the song for which I’ve changed part of the tune. I’m hoping we can start that at six and be done by eight at the latest.
This week is going to be quite busy. The actors for our table reading of the long musical are learning their songs and I have to be at most of those rehearsals, usually in the evening hours. I won’t go to all of them, but I basically want to attend to make sure the composer has implemented all the fixes we did in our last two work sessions. He’s very slow at this and I don’t want it to slide. I also have several meetings and meals and there’s the announcement of our new release and on Tuesday the shipping of Brent Barrett’s CD and Billion Dollar Brain/The Final Option. Luckily, Cason Murphy will be coming to help with the big packages.
Oh, has everyone set their clocks back on hour, for example? Oh, has everyone noticed that we have begun a brand new month called November, for example. Yes, November, and here’s hoping that November is a wonderful month filled with happiness, good health, prosperity, and good things for one and all and all and one.
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 relax and watch a motion picture, I must eat something light yet amusing, and I must record and mix some new tracks. 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, whilst we welcome sweet November with all good thoughts and hopes, whilst we get an extra hour of sleep.