Well, dear readers, the things you forget sometimes lead to really interesting surprises. I’ve been thinking about what to put on the CD that will come with signed copies of my new book – it will have rare tracks that no one has ever heard before. So, I was going through stuff and found a demo of two songs I wrote for a show called Yearbook. Yearbook was the brainchild of Michael Michetti back in 1988 or thereabouts – his idea was to create a show that could be done by high schools – a musical. Gee, think he was a little ahead of his time? He contacted several composers and lyricists and I was one of them. He told us the concept and asked us to submit songs. I wrote four and submitted them, and two ended up in the show. The two that didn’t were an opening number and a song about dissecting frogs that’s really funny. They were interested in the latter but they misunderstood and thought I’d meant for it to be sung by a science teacher – and there are only students in the play. What I really meant was for a student to be “acting” the role of his science teacher for the other kids. It’s too bad they didn’t use it – the show could have used a knockout comedy number. The two they did use were a particularly BK-esque song called Nerd and a song called Three Friends, sung by a trio of girls. The latter I had absolutely no memory of until two days ago, but more about that in a moment. The two songs that I have demos for, both of which will be on the CD are Nerd and The Dissection Of The Frog. I did a search on Yearbook and found a copy of the script, which I purchased and which arrived yesterday. I also found a YouTube video of a song called Three Friends. The minute I saw the title I began to think I’d written it. While the YouTube clip is only the last third of the song, the minute I heard the chorus I knew it was mine. It was so weird hearing it – I hadn’t played it or even thought about it since the day I turned it in. And sure enough in the script I’m credited with that song. I’m thinking about adding a paragraph or two about the show for the book, although I don’t really need it and it doesn’t really add anything – I’d only mention it because I really like the song Nerd, but unfortunately where it would have to be added is a place where I need to move things along, so I’m supposing I won’t add it. I’ll post the link to the Three Friends song in today’s posts. It’s very sweetly done and I only wish the entire song were there, because frankly I have no memory of the music for the first part and I’d like to hear it. I may order a copy of the music from Dramatic Publishing and then record it for the CD with three young gals. We shall see.
Yesterday was a very busy day. I got up very early and had a breakfast meeting with my pal Gary Stockdale, who I’ve known for close to forty years now. After the meeting I drove over to Burbank and picked up the corrected manuscript from one of my copy editors. I then came home and began entering the corrections I agreed with and was comfortable doing, which was a lot of them. I saved about fifty things to discuss with muse Margaret – but only a few of those require much thought. I just won’t do them without running it by her first, because she simply won’t allow anything to hurt the voice of the book. But a whole slew of typos were caught, quite a few things to italicize, some accent marks to add, and a few things to clarify. I spent all day doing it and finished at about four-thirty. I also did a couple of errands and whatnot, but was pretty annoyed that an amazon package that was supposed to arrive didn’t and the overseas package still hasn’t arrived, which is becoming really worrisome and more than a little irksome. I then toddled over to Little Toni’s where I ate a lot of spaghetti and a salad. I’ve put on about twelve pounds since the beginning of the year, simply because I stopped jogging whilst writing the book, and the weather has mostly precluded jogging since I finished. But starting this very day, I shall be back to the jogging and will drop these twelve pounds pronto. I’ve been eating too much, and all the wrong sorts of foods. It’s back to Subway turkey sandwiches, and other reasonable foodstuffs for the next three or four weeks, which is all it should take to drop those pounds. Then we went across the street to the Crown City Theater to see a Thomas Babe play called A Prayer For My Daughter. It was a very good production, with very good actors, but I’m afraid Mr. Babe’s writing leaves me cold, unmoved, and bored. There was some male nudity and it was a little too in your face in this thirty-six seat theater – one wished the director had moved it upstage and away from the close proximity of the audience. After the show, I jogged a block and a half back to my motor car and then came home.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep so that I can jog in the morning. Hopefully I won’t forget.
Today I shall jog. That is all there is to it. After that, I’m spending the rest of the day finishing my proofing of the book, after which I’ll begin entering all those little fixes – there isn’t that much, just breaking some longer paragraphs into shorter paragraphs, moving one paragraph a little later to help clarify something – that sort of thing. Then I just have to wait for the final copy editor to send me her corrections – once I have those I can finalize the manuscript, do the dedication, and then we’ll begin designing the book. Tonight, I’m having dinner with a friend but will be home relatively early to relax.
Tomorrow, of course, is our Annual haineshisway.com Oscar Bash, the most happening partay on all the Internet and you will not want to miss one minute of the merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. These Oscar Bashes are something else and the fun is quite contagious. Since the show airs at the same time everywhere, there are no spoiler alerts. So, be there or be round – and read our wacky comments on fashion, hair, the red carpet, and the awards.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some sort of jog, proof, enter fixes, and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: What has been the most interesting thing you’ve forgotten but suddenly remembered – and how did you remember it? What jogged your memory or caused the flashback? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we try to remember the things we forget.