Well, dear readers, I am reminded of the old Chinese proverb even though I have no clew what the old Chinese proverb is. Nevertheless I am reminded of the old Chinese proverb. Actually, I just looked up some old Chinese proverbs. Here’s one I enjoyed: Men grow old, pearls grow yellow – there is no cure for it. I would have thought that men grow yellow, pearls grow old would have been more cogent, oh, yes, I thought it would have been more cogent. Here’s another old Chinese proverb: Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend’s forehead. That is very cogent, if you ask me. And here is another that I find very cogent: One joy scatters a hundred griefs. Isn’t that cogent? Those darn Chinese were awfully good with the proverbs. But, here’s the question: Why the HELL am I talking about old Chinese proverbs when I could be talking about new BK notes? Actually, I believe that IS an old Chinese proverb.
I had a perfectly lovely day yesterday. I got a good night’s sleep, got up, did my banking, and then did some work on the computer. Then Linda Purl and Gregory Harrison arrived and we began our work. Most of the session was spent figuring out the patter – it’s rough, but all the ideas are there and it will all be short and to the point. Then they sang through all the duets – it’s so much fun to hear them do these songs together. And then there were just lots of really amusing show biz stories going back and forth between the three of us. After rehearsal, I had just enough time to get some chicken soup and a sandwich, after which I picked up two count them two packages and then came back home. Then our mighty cast of players arrived and we began our stumble-through. It was mostly terrific, with only a few rough spots, some forgotten lyrics, but boy is this a great cast. The show order really seemed to work well and so I think we’re all set to go. I have to tell you that the songs of the Sherman Brothers really make you smile – we all sat there, everyone listening to everyone (these stumble-through rehearsals are my favorite thing about doing this series of shows), and everyone in that room just had the biggest grins on their faces. So much fun.
After that, I hurried over to Staples to get the new book Xeroxed – one copy for me to proof, and one for one of the proofers to proof. I’d had a really scary episode with the computer prior to that – I put in a CDR so I could put the book file on it. I did what I always to when the little window pops up asking to open it in Finder – and I kept getting a message that it could not recognize the disc or media. It’s always worked before. I went to Google and found several hits about the problem, but all from 2008, and most of those to do with people who had some other kind of drive hooked up to their computer. I began to think that this glitch had something to do with one of the recent updates – that’s the only thing that made sense. I got Apple on the phone, they guy sussed things out, and then had me to into my preferences folder and pull out a file onto my desktop. Then he had me restart, and then the CDR thing was back to normal and working. So, I got off the phone. Then I went into my folder, which was BLANK – not one file visible. I went into shock, of course. Had I looked closer I would have seen that somehow it had scrolled down PAST all the files. I view files as icons, but when I switched to the list view they were all there. I finally got someone on the phone again, because when I scrolled up to the files they were all out of order and weird. I figured out that when we pulled that file onto the desktop it must have screwed with my settings. I figured out how to get the files by “name” and that helped but didn’t quite fix everything, especially when dragging in a new file – that’s supposed to go right to the proper place in the alphabet but wasn’t. The new guy had me do some right clicking and sure enough, all my settings were wrong, so we fixed them and everything was back to normal.
After getting my book done, I then went to the Daily Grill for a little birthday partay for Mr. Shelly Markham. It was a small but lively affair. I was determined not to eat much, so I had a small chopped salad and after, a few bites of a yummilicious dessert. So, not too bad. Then I came home and decided I was completely exhausted.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst we all think about our favorite old Chinese Proverb. One of my favorites is: Those who do not click on the Unseemly Button are as useless as a duck egg coming out of a horse’s rectal cavity. That is cogent.
Today, which is, by the way (BTW, in Internet lingo), Groundhog Day, I shall try to sleep till nine-thirty if possible, then I’ll get up, do some errands and whatnot and relax. At two we have our sound check, then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’ll do stuff until it’s time to sup at the Gardenia and then do our show. I will, of course, have a full report.
Tomorrow, CDs and helper will arrive early and we’ll get everything shipped out – most of this will fall on her shoulders as I have a long rehearsal at a rehearsal hall for most of the day. I think I have the evening free. Friday is another long rehearsal, and I think I have THAT evening free, too. Saturday, I go to the Pasadena Book Fair in the morning and hang out there for a few hours, and then our rehearsal is from three to six, at which point I go BACK to Pasadena to sup with a book dealer pal and his lovelier than lovely wife. Sunday, I believe I have a little work session with the young singer I’m doing an act for, so that will be fun to just hear her sing through material. Then she, her parents, and I will go eat something.
Next week is very busy. We announce our new release (a double release, so that’s always a little nutty), and I have to pull the charts for our next show, finish casting, hire a musical director, and get CDRs and music to the performers once they’re cast. The next show will be the first one we’ve done without Alet – she’s in a new musical that’s opening in a waiver theater in NoHo and they’ll be in tech that week. She was actually willing to do it, but I just don’t want her to split herself to thin – she’ll be back with us in April.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons (and you may as well just leave them on because this is a BUSY birthday month), let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s dance the Hora or the samba, because today we’ve got another two birthdays to celebrate. The first birthday to celebrate belongs to our very own beloved dear reader Ben. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own beloved dear reader Ben. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN BELOVED DEAR READER BEN!!!
Our second birthday to celebrate belongs to our occasional dear reader Iris. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our occasional dear reader Iris. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR OCCASIONAL DEAR READER IRIS!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some errands and whatnot, relax, proof a book, have a soundcheck, relax, sup, and do the Gardenia show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you 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, thinking of all my favorite old Chinese proverbs, such as this one: He who has not read the notes, is an empty vessel with a pestle.