Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I have a very big day ahead of me and I must be alert, alive, and one other “a” word that is escaping me at the moment. “Alabaster?” No. “Achoo?” No, but gesundheit. “Almondine?” No. “Attentive?” That works. Now that we’ve had the three “A’s” I can move along, which is also an “a” word. I had a pretty nice day yesterday. I got up a little earlier than I wanted to, did some work on the computer, rewrote a little of the Unsung Musicals connective patter, and then had some matzo brei and a bagel at Jerry’s Deli. I then came home, had a couple of telephonic conversations and kept trying to jog, only to be thwarted because of drizzling, which I feared would turn to full-on rain (never happened, though). Then I picked up a few packages, including Peter Filicia’s new book and the Beauty and the Beast Blu and Ray, as well as the import Blu and Ray of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. I caught up on more CD listening – I’ve really made a dent in the large pile o’ CDs, which is great. I printed out some orders, got a really nice-sized dealer order, and then it was time for our stumble-through rehearsal.
For the most part, it went really well. Even though people are doing three to five songs each, there are still a lot of lyrics to learn, and some of these songs are densely packed, lyric-wise. So, we had some fumbles but nothing terrible. A lot of the tempos were too slow, and I told our MD he had to lead rather than follow – even the performers thought the stuff was too slow, but the MD thought that’s what they wanted – it wasn’t. So, we fixed all that. For me, there’s nothing more pleasant than sitting in a chair listening to the glorious voices of Susanne Blakeslee, Damon Kirsche, Alet and Andy Taylor, and Laura Wolfe, who was standing in for Jackie Seiden, who was in New York for an audition (she got back last night). And our ensemble girls are really talented and very cute – Shannon Cudd (who played Donna in the Chance Theater production of The Brain From Planet X, and appeared in The Roxy, as well), Lily Kershaw (a Barry Pearl recommendation), Ashley Palmer (also in The Roxy, and she was in the very first private reading of The First Nudie Musical – Pogue will remember her from Schwab’s), and Tyler Olshansky (she was in Cinderella at the Cabrillo Theater, and she also works at the Studio Café). It’s really fun having them on their two numbers.
Then there are the songs – man, are they great. I have such fond memories of doing the Unsung Musicals series, especially volume one, which our very own elmore orchestrated. The entire impetus for doing the first volume was because I wanted a great recording of Starfish from La Strada (Judy Kuhn sings it on the album). At that point, I hadn’t decided what the album would be, only that I wanted to record that song. Of course, we’d done Lost in Boston, so my mind just went to great songs from unsuccessful shows, and from there I realized I could do those three great songs from Smile, as well as a bunch of other great unheralded song. I think the album was responsible for two of its songs becoming popular audition and cabaret songs – Maury Yeston’s New Words (impeccably and definitively performed by Liz Callaway), and Disneyland (impeccably performed by the gal who introduced it in the show – Jodi Benson). Recording it was a dream – every singer was fantastic and we all had the best time rehearsing and then recording. Mixing it was a nightmare – those early albums were very difficult – Vinnie was in his own world, I was inarticulate about what I wanted to hear, and elmore had his nose buried in his scores. I would look at Vinnie plugging in hundreds of wires and yell “You’re subverting the sound.” That became a running gag. When I didn’t like what I heard all I could say was “Turn some knobs – try that knob.” Eventually, he would turn some knobs and things would be more to my liking and we’d move on. But Disneyland was our Waterloo – it took four hours to get it where I finally thought it was what I wanted. Four long, bloody hours of sweat, strain, and nitpicking. It was ready to print. I said we’d print it right after I used the bathroom. I went to the bathroom and while I was taking a quick pee the lights went out and then came on. I got a very bad feeling. I finished and went back in the booth. I said, “Did what I think happened just happen?” Vinnie couldn’t remember when he’d “saved” the last pass of the mix. He rewound the tape to the middle of the song, began playing, and the automated faders just sat there like so much fish, doing none of the moves that Vinnie had programmed. My face turned beet red, and I pointed at the faders and screamed, “Look at them! They’re just sitting there like Jews after a big meal!” In other words, we’d lost the entire automation for the mix. I went to the office and accused the very heavy lady who ran the studio of eating the power cable. It was, in retrospect, hilarious. It took about an hour to get some semblance of that mix back up and we printed it. I was never thrilled with it, and years later I had Michelle Nicastro do the song as a hidden track on the On My Own CD (I think that was it) – we used the track from the Unsung Musicals version. By that time, Vinnie and I had the mix down to a science – we’d found exactly what I liked and it was a breeze. It took all of thirty minutes to come up with a mix that was MUCH better than what we’d done.
Lanny Meyers did the subsequent Unsung Musicals albums – volume two was, for me, a little weak, but I loved most of volume three. In fact, in tonight’s show we only do one song from volume two – the rest are all from volumes one and three.
After rehearsal, I met Doug Haverty back at Jerry’s and I had a bowl of chicken soup and a piece of chocolate mousse cake – both were yummilicious. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched half a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, a French film from France, directed by Jacques Demy, composed by Michel Legrand, starring Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Dorleac, Gene Kelly, Danielle Darriuex, Michel Piccoli, George Chakiris, and Grover Dale. I’ve always loved this movie – I didn’t see it in its original run, but I did acquire an IB Technicolor 16mm scope print of the very rare English version (dialogue was dubbed, but the songs were mouthed in English). The color and the photography were spectacular and the film just “got” to me. In 1996, Agnes Varda, Jacques Demy’s widow, did a “restoration” of the film, which played a week at the Royal Theater in Santa Monica. I was there, of course, and shocked by how bad the film looked – an ugly, muddy mess and nothing like my IB Tech print. The various DVD incarnations over the years were all taken from that “restoration” and all looked like utter crap. So, I was very nervous about the Blu and Ray, especially as one of those armchair experts on amazon.fr had said it was a disaster and looked no better than the DVD. But I held out hope because a “review” on another French site said it looked splendid and was a new restoration done this year. So, I’m happy to say that it’s an absolutely great transfer with great color and eye-popping sharpness. Color me pleased. I’ll have more to say about it after I finish watching tomorrow.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep so that I can be alert, alive, and attentive (the three “A’s”) for our show.
Today, I shall try to sleep as late as possible. Then I’ll do a jog, for sure. Then I’ll relax and do nothing until I leave for our sound check, which is at three. That will take an hour, and I’ll also make some table arrangements while I’m there. We’re expecting a pretty good crowd as it is, and I’m sure there will be some folks who just show up – last month we had about fifteen of those. Then I’ll come home, shave, shower and do my afternoon ablutions (two “A” words). Then I’ll mosey on down to the Gardenia to sup and do the show.
Tomorrow, I have to be up early to ship CDs, but after that I should be able to take it easy and relax. Then I have to complete casting for the November show – we just cast the first of our two male singers, and I think I know who one of the female singers will be (in addition to Alet, of course). That will leave only one male and one female to cast, so that’s good.
I think I have stuff to do on Friday, although I’m not remembering what it might be. And then it’s the weekend – I have to finish liner notes and get everything ready for our Monday morning announcement.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks (or the Boca chunks), let’s all dance the Hora or the Shipoopi, because today is the birthday of our very own dear reader JMK. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader JMK. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER JMK!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, relax, do a sound check, get ready, then sup and do a show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you dear readers get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland so I can be full of the three “A’s” today and tonight.