Well, dear readers, I am finally all booked for the JMK event on November 13 in the Land of Port. I’ve got my flight, I’ve got my hotel, and I’m very much looking forward to doing the event. Now, I am hoping that we’ll be having a hainsies/kimlets get-together the night before the event and I do hope that those who cannot come to that will indeed come to the event itself. I think it will be lots of fun, at least that’s the hope. But it won’t be nearly as much fun if none of our dear readers shows up. That would, in fact, be most unseemly and I would most likely have a most unseemly reaction that would result in a most unseemly bitch-slapping from here to eternity and hell and back. But, we’ll talk about all that as the event date gets nearer. Otherwise, yesterday was a very busy, non-stop kind of day. I got up, answered e-mails, had some telephonic calls and then had to go to my engineer’s home environment to begin finessing mixes for an upcoming original cast album release (not an oldie – a new cast album). I’d heard the composer’s rough mixes when he asked me to do this and they were not, for me, good enough to release. So, we made the deal on the proviso that we’d remix from scratch, certain vocals would have to be replaced, and that my engineer would do the remix with me. So, a few weeks ago, my engineer’s rough mixes were finished and I listened to them. I was still not happy with what I was hearing – I knew exactly what kind of sound I wanted to hear, and the thing was just muddy and not attractive to the ear. The composer came over (as did the book writer) and we discussed everything and I told him that until I figured out how to fix the sound I wouldn’t commit to a date. They left, and within thirty minutes we’d pinpointed my problems, which basically had to do with the guitar track – once we muted it, suddenly we had cleanliness and sharpness and delineation. Then we fixed the EQ of the piano, bass, and drums so that they sounded really good. Then I asked the composer to replace the guitar tracks, which he agreed to do with our very own Mr. Grant Geissman. So, yesterday I heard the result with the engineer’s new rough mixes – and what a difference – now we’ve got something. So, I finessed the mixes of eight songs (out of twenty) and we’ll finish the rest by early next week. So, we’ll definitely have this out in time for Christmas, which is what they wanted. After that, I had to go to lunch with Fred Fate, the former chair of the Theater Academy at LACC. He’s a great guy and lunch was really fun, and we chatted about many things. I was really good (and it was really hard to be good at In and Out) and only had a single cheeseburger and no animal fries. Then, as soon as I finished there I headed directly to the Studio Café for my second lunch with Miss Joan Ryan. I hadn’t seen her in quite some time. We split some nachos (really yummilicious) and had a great chat, also about many things. After that, I picked up one package and one piece of inconsequential mail and then I finally came home to a plethora of e-mails to answer. After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Paths Of Glory, a film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick, Calder Willingham, and Jim Thompson, from the novel by Humphrey Cobb. I first saw the film on TV in the early 1960s and was blown away by it and watched it whenever it came on, which was quite often (I think it was on Million Dollar Movie). I thought and think it one of the most perfectly cast movies ever – Kirk Douglas is superb, but it’s the supporting performances that make the film and they’re all, each and every one of them, completely unique, and in several instances just the casting itself borders on genius. George Macready and Adolphe Menjou are frighteningly good, Timothy Carey is his usual weird, unique self, Joe Turkel is terrific, as are Ralph Meeker and Wayne Morris. Richard Anderson, Bert Freed, Fred Bell, and especially Emile Meyer are just fantastic. The dialogue is brilliant and the pace of the film is breathtaking in how perfect and compact it is. And then there’s Kubrick, whose mastery at his then-young age is astonishing. The design of the camerawork is incredible to watch, when accompanied by his staging of the actors – the camera and actors basically doing a dance. The Criterion transfer has, of course, gotten the usual raves from the usual armchair experts who give every Criterion a rave because they’re expected to. While the transfer has some really good moments, it’s not all roses – it’s excessively grainy at times, which means that the transfer was most likely not done from the camera negative, although since neighbor Bob Gitt did the restoration, I guess I can find out what that entailed and what they had to work with – perhaps the camera negative is gone – who knows. But even knowing that could be the case, the grain on view here is more of the crawling digital kind rather than natural film grain. It doesn’t mar the experience, though, and this is highly recommended by the likes of me.
After that, I had to force myself to do a mile and a half jog, and thankfully my sore calf muscle responded well and I got through it fine. Then I had to force myself to sit down and finally write the liner notes for our next release, which I did. I’ve sent them to the designer and the composer, just in case the latter wants to add anything to the lengthy quote I use from him. And then it was time to write these here notes.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button because I’ve got another long and busy day tomorrow so I must force myself to be in bed as soon as I can get these here notes posted.
Today, I’ve got another long and busy day, not necessarily in that order. CDs and helper will both arrive early and we’ll get everything shipped out, including some other orders that have come in recently. Then I have to mosey on over to West Hollywood for lunch with Miss Kelly Sullivan and Adryan Russ. After that, I have some errands and whatnot to do, and then I have a two-hour work session with The Singer and John Boswell, just to sing through the potential twenty-five or thirty songs we’ve got so far. Then we can start whittling down the list to about twenty-two and then further down to about sixteen or so. After that, The Singer and I will probably grab a bite to eat to discuss the songs and how we feel about them.
Tomorrow is another long and busy day – I have a meeting with Linda Purl and Gregory Harrison, tons of errands and whatnot, then our second Gardenia rehearsal. Then I’m going with Alet to see her in a staged reading of a new musical.
I’m not sure what all is happening on the weekend, but I think Saturday is pretty free, which is good. Sunday, I either have to go finish finessing the mix, or I’ll have an early lunch with dear reader Jeanne, and then I’ll be handing out a LOT of Halloween candy. And then, believe it or not, October will be done.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, ship CDs, have lunch, jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up a package or three and some mail, and then have a two-hour work session. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Kirk Douglas movies? He’s been in so many incredible films, so interested in your choices. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and now I shall force myself to post these here notes and hit the road to dreamland.