Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle singing an old-fashioned love song coming down in three-part harmony. What am I, Paul Williams all of a sudden? I am still quite overtired and frankly I’m quite over being overtired – I need three nights of really good sleep and then I’ll be next to normal, from the musical of the same name. I will say that yesterday was a better day than the day before but not one without some minor annoyances, which, of course, are better than major annoyances. I got up at nine, thanks to someone nearby tapping some wood or hammering lightly. I wanted to immediately go outside and do some heavy hammering on the person of whoever was hammering. Still, I’d managed to get at least eight hours of sleep. Then I answered e-mails, did some things that needed doing, then toddled off to a lunch at Mo’s with some soundtrack folks. In attendance were a fellow who posts regularly on the Film Score Monthly message boards under the name Morricone – he’s a very nice chap and has been to several of our Gardenia shows. Also, my pal Marshall Harvey, who edited a couple of my Likely Stories films, and is also the long-time editor of Joe Dante. Then we had soundtrack producer Neil S. Bulk, who’s done a couple of Kritzerland projects. On my side of the table we had Jeff Bond, a regular notes writer on many soundtrack CD booklets, as well as a very smart and very good writer of other things. And last but not least, Mike Matessino, who has handled some of the very best classic soundtrack releases – remixing, restoring, and making things sound as good as they’ve ever sounded. It was a lively group, and we laughed and laughed and just when we thought we could laugh no more, we laughed again. We were quite irreverent and many interesting topics were discussed, whilst excellent food was consumed. We were there around ninety minutes. I then picked up a couple of packages and a bill, and then did some errands and whatnot, after which I came home. Since I hadn’t had a moment to sit on my couch like so much fish since last Sunday, I did so and checked out several Blu and Rays that have come in recently, including a restored Fistful of Dollars from Italy that puts the US release to shame – it’s sharper, has better color, and best of all has the English language track. Unlike its US counterpart, it also contains the film’s original credits (in Eyetalian, but retaining all the faux US names from the original credits). For example, on the US version the director credit is to Sergio Leone, who, of course, directed the film. But the original credit for director went to “Bob Robertson.” Curiously, on the US release the composer credit is to “Dan Savio” while on the Eyetalian release the credit is to “Leo Nichols” – both, of course, are fake names for Ennio Morricone. I also checked out the new French Blu-Rays for El Cid and The Fall Of The Roman Empire – while neither are optimal they are both hugely better than their DVD counterparts. El Cid is lacking its overture, but is much sharper than the DVD with better color. Fall Of The Roman Empire is also much sharper but also derived from exactly the same source as the US DVD release – I’m not sure if El Cid is or not. Both films have much more robust sound than their DVD counterparts. I did manage to doze off for about forty minutes, too.
Then it was time for rehearsal. It went very well indeed, and The Singer is really much more comfy with her patter and performance – we just need to get about twenty percent of the patter more natural and sounding more like she sounds – it’s not difficult and we went through it. But the show plays very well, the songs are great, and she’s got a terrific voice and personality and I’m quite sure that she’ll be in top shape for her Saturday night debut. Tomorrow night, we are doing a run-through at Screenland Studios in Burbank, so if any of our LA dear readers would like to see a free run-through of the act, just drop me a line and I’ll give you the details. After I gave notes and fixed some musical moments, another singer arrived to sing for me. She wants to do one of the Kritzerland at the Gardenia shows and I didn’t know her, so now I do – she’s terrific and I’m sure when the right evening comes along we’ll use her. Then my tape transfer guy delivered CDRs to me of the horror film score we transferred yesterday. Unfortunately, the sound is only coming out of the left channel – it’s mono, so I’m not missing anything, but it’s impossible for me to listen that way and one can’t really get enough volume out of the one speaker without distorting everything. So, I’ve asked him to make sure the files we sent are okay and if they are I’ve asked him to make me a new set of CDRs. So, now it’s just a question of figuring out the edit road map to approximate the film sequence – that’s not quite as easy as it sounds since certain cues in the film have been truncated or edited together sloppily – I will only do the cues the way they were recorded and won’t try to recreate the sloppy edits. Luckily it’s a short film – the score will run about fifty-two minutes, whereas the previous CD release (from very bad tape sources and with very bad sound) only ran thirty-three minutes. I have a tiny bit of history with this score, so it will be a pleasure to finally put it out in pristine mono sound from the first generation tapes and complete. Since the film is a much loved one and a major cult film among certain types, I’m pretty confident it will be an instant sellout.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it is late and I must get my beauty sleep whilst being a sleeping beauty.
Today, I will hopefully have gotten a good night’s sleep, and then I shall arise, do my morning ablutions, do some errands and whatnot and also some whatnot and errands, hopefully pick up a package or three, do some writing, and then we have a rehearsal at a rehearsal studio in North Hollywood, after which I’ll perhaps partake of Dino’s Pizza, since it’s not far from there.
Tomorrow, I have stuff to do during the day, and then it’s our dress rehearsal in Burbank. Then Saturday is sound check and show time. Sunday will be a day in which I do absolutely nothing but watch motion pictures. The following week will be moderately busy but not crazy busy – the week after that will be crazy busy, though.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get a good night’s sleep, do errands and whatnot, do some writing, and then have a rehearsal and pizza. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Paul Williams songs – I really like a lot of his stuff and I think my favorite is I Won’t Last A Day Without You. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, a sleeping beauty getting his beauty sleep – and please keep sending your excellent vibes and xylophones that my big dealer will do the right thing and pay off one of the large invoices – I’m hoping to know whether he will or not today or tomorrow. If it’s not, then I have to take some emergency action.