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November 16, 2010:

BOUND AND DETERMINED

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am bound and determined to write these here notes in a hurry and get to bed because if I don’t get a really good night’s sleep I can tell that will get sick and I neither have the time nor the inclination to get sick. Of course, it’s hard writing these here notes when one is bound and determined – determined, yes, but bound is hard when trying to type. I had to have someone come here and bind me and now I am bound and it’s all very convoluted here in the City of Studio. What the HELL am I talking about – I am on some S&M tangent. In any case, I am both bound and determined to write these here notes in a hurry. Yesterday was a completely nutty day. I really needed to sleep but instead I was up at six am announcing our new title. Since CDs were going to be delivered I couldn’t even go back to sleep. So, I just printed out orders and there were a lot to print – this has become our biggest-selling soundtrack pre-order. Had we only done 1000 of them we’d have been sold out in less than twelve hours – it’s why I always think both long and hard and also hard and long about going above that number. As soon as you say 1200 people get lazy or complacent, so the final two hundred move slower. But I’m sure they will continue to move. Of course, part of the problem is the soundtrack glut of 2010 – one short year ago and this would have been a complete sellout at 1200 units within hours. What a difference a year makes. The CDs arrived, as did the helper, and she got everything shipped out very quickly – our new online postage system is working very well and it’s so great not to have that ugly old Pitney-Bowes machine and all its pricey accoutrements. I did some banking and picked up the sheet music copies and then made the CDRs. Then I had to get my tired butt cheeks to the Wood of Holly and the tape transfer guy. We went through a lot of stuff and then we made a decision based on what we found. That decision will cost us a week’s delay but we’ll still be well ahead of our ship date and I’m a perfectionist and I just have to do what I think is right, despite the extra cost of doing so. But the packaging of Carrie has been put to bed and is on its way to the printers, so all that will be done on time. After all that, I came back home, picked up no packages or mail, and found that only Alet would be coming by to pick up her stuff – everyone else is apparently today. And I did get the great news that we’ll have a special Christmas treat at the Gardenia – Mr. Bruce Vilanch.
Then I actually sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the first thirty-five minutes of a new Blu and Ray release entitled Santa Claus, the huge Alexander Salkind bomb, which somehow, inexplicably, has gotten a cult following – small but loyal. I’m sure it’s the people who saw it as young children because no sane adult would be part of the cult. I saw it when it came out and lasted exactly ten minutes, after which I bolted from the theater. I bought the DVD when it came out and got twenty minutes in and shut it off. The main problem is the first thirty minutes of the film are all exposition about how Santa came to the North Pole and it’s a bloody bore – Dudley Moore seems like one of the extras, with no discernable character, and he’s the top-billed star. But because this time I got further along, a story seems to have finally started, and that looks like it might at least be interesting. Why no one grabbed Mr. Salkind by the shirt and told him to cut the first thirty minutes of his film completely (you could accomplish all you needed with two minutes of voice-over exposition over visuals) and then you’d actually start with the story proper. But, Mr. Salkind was not an artist and the film was a box-office and critical disaster. I’ll be finishing it this very evening. The transfer thus far is really excellent.

After that, The Singer came over and we ended up at Casa Vega – haven’t been there in a year, and it was as great as always and, as always, I ate too much food, but I hadn’t eaten all day and I was really feeling a little weak. We went through her song list again and this time I began putting things in some sort of structural order. We came up with something rough that looks pretty good on paper, and now we’ll bring John Boswell back and sing through everything in this order to see if it feels good or if we have to flip things around.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because my voice is just about shot and I really need to sleep and hope I don’t have vocal problems – too much going on this week, and then the LACCTAA event on Saturday, which I’m moderating. I am bound and determined to be healthy and in good voice and energy.

Today, I have very little planned. Hopefully, I’ll sleep late, then do some errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up several packages that are due, and then give singers their CDs and sheet music, after which I’ll just relax and do nothing. And hopefully I’ll continue to print out lots of orders.

Tomorrow, I can’t remember what all is going on, but something is going on – I don’t think it’s a huge thing that’s going on, so hopefully I can get another day of rest in, as well. Thursday, is a mixing day with my engineer. Friday I must prep our LACCTAA event, and the Saturday we do said event.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep late, do errands and whatnot, give singers their stuff, and relax and watch motion pictures. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Poetry day – who are your favorite poets and do quote us some of your favorite poetry while you’re at it. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, bound and determined to get a good night’s sleep.

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