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July 15, 2010:

I REMEMBER IT WELL

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, memory is a funny thing. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, memory is a funny thing. And a funny thing happened on the way to a memory, at least for me it did. I think I wrote about this a little in Saturday evening’s notes, but now I can be a little more illuminating. As those who’ve read the Kritzer books or my new book must know, I have a rather incredible memory for details from my past. I can remember things from when I was a child as if it happened yesterday. A few weeks ago, someone wrote me on Facebook, asking if I was the BK who’d done Stop the World in New Jersey in 1969. I responded I was and asked her if she’d seen the show. She wrote back and said she’d been in the show and thought I probably wouldn’t remember but that she’d had me over for dinner at her apartment on 82nd Street on the Upper West Side – she remembered my wife was visiting her parents in LA (right at the beginning of her pregnancy – I write about all this in the book), and she invited me, thinking I might like a nice home-cooked meal, I suppose. I wrote her back and said that not only did I remember the dinner and the apartment, but that I probably remembered something that she didn’t – that she’d asked if she could shampoo my hair. I’d never had a person shampoo my hair before – I said yes. And that shampoo and its completely sensual and amazing feeling has stayed with me all these years – I can smell the shampoo, remember the sensation, all as if it happened yesterday. And the fact is, I wrote about it in the original draft of the prologue. Muse Margaret thought it didn’t fit in with the story I was telling and didn’t like that diversion, so I took it out – she was totally right about it, too. But isn’t that weird that after all these years she found me? And in the book I talk about a cast member from Stop the World being the one who got me the job at the survey place, which is where I created the idea that would become The First Nudie Musical. Well, it turns out that this gal was that gal and if she’d connected with me when I was writing the book I would have been able to name the place – Commercial Analysts. And she also reminded me that actor Paul Keith worked there – I’ve worked with Paul a few times in the last decade. Isn’t that funny?

So, a few weeks ago I was contacted on Facebook by a gal to come hear her sing. Even though she was acting like we were old friends, I didn’t really remember who she was. And then she said her friend was going to be there and was looking forward to seeing me again. Only I didn’t remember her friend, either. So, I went to the show. And the friend came up to me after and we hugged and then I guess she figured out I wasn’t connecting the dots, which is what I wrote about in Sunday’s notes. Well, now I remember it well, although some of the details seem a little odd to me. The friend and I went for dinner last night (to my beloved Genghis Cohen), and we discussed the whole history of our little time together. We’d gone on a few pretend dates (she had a boyfriend at the time) and had some grand fun, laughing and being silly, but for whatever reasons, it had all totally gone out of my head. But when she’d told me that I attended a birthday party at her house in Monrovia (she told me this at the club) I suddenly had a memory flash that she’d been dating a guy who literally looked like an ape. She didn’t seem to know what I was talking about, so I thought maybe that was someone else. But last night, I was proven correct, because she told me she did date a person who looked like an ape – in fact, she called him Bruiser. The whole evening was like I Remember It Well from Gigi. The food, of course, was spectacular. She informed me that she hoped I wouldn’t get angry, but she was not a fan of orange chicken. I still ordered it, and when she tasted it she said it was the best orange chicken she’d ever eaten. We had some hilarious conversation, and then we came back to the home environment and talked for a couple more hours. She’s had a very interesting life, and I told her about mine. It’s always fun to reconnect with a nice person and I hope to continue our “new” friendship. She’s also a singer – she has a very nice voice.

Prior to that, I’d had a very relaxing day, save for the long jog (four miles) that was really difficult – even at ten in the morning the temperature was already in the 90s. It was over 100 during the day, and the nighttime temperature was in the 90s, too. After the jog, I did some work on the computer, some errands and whatnot, and then picked up one measly little bill at the mail place. And then I did some stuff around the house, after which my “new” friend arrived and we went off to dinner.

Over the last week, I read the new book about Karen Carpenter. It had some interesting things in it, but the writing was very repetitious, and where it should have been very moving it was merely dry. The author has no dramatic sense at all, repeats certain phrases endlessly (and not purposely – just lazily) and repeats a lot of the same information. One of the blurbs on the back says it reads like a novel that you can’t put down – were that only the case. But it’s like a lot of these books written by young people – there’s a lot of chatter and a lot of dates and times and events and lots of phrases that the author uses because someone has said it to him, but he uses them as if he actually knew what he was talking about – just because you’ve read things and done interviews doesn’t mean you’re an expert on certain technical things – he continuously refers to Karen’s scratch vocals (the usual term) as work leads, a term that may have been used, but certainly a term that I’ve never heard and I’ve heard most of ’em. The book does paint a pretty dastardly portrait of Karen’s mother, Agnes Carpenter. Richard removed almost anything that was negative about his mother from the “authorized” biography of some years ago, and he had the script to the TV movie about them changed to soften the portrait of his mother. This book doesn’t whitewash anything – I just wish it were more compellingly written. Still, for fans of the Carpenters, it’s an interesting book.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below before I forget what I want to say in the next section – then I’ll have to be reminded and then I’ll have to sing, “Ah, yes, I remember it well.”

Today, the helper will be here at ten, and we’ll get some important paperwork out of the way, and then she’ll continue doing some organizing. Then we’ll do a Costco run and that will probably be it. Then she’ll come back on Monday probably to address packages. After she’s gone, I’ll have some errands and whatnot to attend to, and some writing to do. David Wechter read my newest scene and really liked it – we have to adjust one of the new characters that got introduced – have to give her a tiny bit more edge. But what has become very apparent from the three big scenes I’ve done is the style of the dialogue. I have especially fallen head over heels in love with one of the female characters, an assistant type, and I am having such a blast writing her and her dialogue – some of it is truly laugh out loud funny. The first act of this is very difficult – a LOT of exposition to get out of the way, and trying to find interesting ways to present it without it seeming like dry exposition – so far it’s working fine – it’s all too long, but cutting it down will be easy. David should be finished with his new scene by tomorrow or the next day.

Tomorrow I have a lunch with a photographer, and I’m really looking forward to it. Then we have to prep everything for Monday’s CD announcement (we’ll announce here on Saturday at midnight). Saturday I have a lunch with a film composer and then a radio interview for the book.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, work, do a Costco run, do some errands and whatnot and do some writing. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your all-time favorite episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore Show and All in the Family, two of the greatest sitcoms in the history of television. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we whilst we all sing, Ah, yes, I remember it well.

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