Well, dear readers, I am quite overtired because I only got about four hours of sleep, so I shall write these notes in a hurry although I have no idea if I’ll be able to post them since Time Warner seems to be doing its now nightly business of not working. It happens at the same time every night – hopefully by the time I’m through it will be working again, but it’s most annoyingly annoying. May I just say the following: Eight dead rats. Eight Dead Rats – that’s the title of my next novel. Yesterday, you see, the tree people came. The palm trees in the yard are so huge and so old that they’d begun pushing a common fence into the neighbor’s yard. Said neighbor was not happy and has not been happy for a year – after trying and failing to get someone to do something about it, I finally took action and did it myself and will just send the receipt along to get reimbursed. The tree people had to cut down two of the palm trees to their stump – that took care of the fence. When I walked outside to see how it looked, on the ground was a big, plump dead rat. That, of course, made me want to vomit on the ground. I was then told that the big, plump dead rat was the eighth one they’d found. One wonders how they got trapped back there, but there were dead as doornails and the tree people think that will be the end of it since there’s no sanctuary or place to hide anymore. The tree people worked for almost six hours to get everything done. In addition to completely removing three palm trees (the two I mentioned and one other a little further away), the also got rid of all the dead fronds from the other palm trees and trimmed everything back so it all looks rather lovely in the yard now. The tree people then trimmed back the very overgrown trees in the front of the house, and that looks so much nicer now. I do believe in the doing and the cutting and trimming that they killed the recently planted pansies, but we’ll just start anew with that because they’ll really look pretty now.
As noted, I slept only a few hours – the sleep I got was good sleep, I just needed more of it, but there are too many Charles Strouse songs running around in my head, as well as worries that we are still not cast. If I haven’t heard back from gal three in the morning (the gal we want has one conflict that I can’t work around, but I haven’t heard back whether she can fix it or not), then it’s on to a gal who’s dying to work on these shows – she’s got a powerhouse voice and will be fine if that’s the way we go. I haven’t heard back from Jason Graae about it, so I’m going to move on to someone else. We’re about a week behind where I like to be and it’s making me very nervous.
I did some errands and whatnot, and we got the overseas multiple orders out and I picked up two little packages. Then I had a lovelier than lovely lunch with my singer friend Ashley Palmer. Pogue remembers Ashley quite well from the short-lived reincarnation of Schwab’s on Sunset and Vine, where she bartended. I’ve used Ashley in several things – the very first reading of the stage version of The First Nudie Musical, The Roxy, and one of the Gardenia shows. I’m putting together a little ensemble for the Strouse show and she’ll be in that. We had good food and good conversation. Afterwards, I came home and did more listening to Strouse songs, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Eye Of The Devil. I originally saw this film at a sneak preview, probably at the Picwood or the Bruin or some Westwood theater. I remembered it being wonderfully photographed (by Erwin Hillier in gorgeous, rich black and white), and I always enjoyed seeing Deborah Kerr and David Niven, but it wasn’t very good and by the end the audience could not have cared less about it. But I’ve wanted to see it again to see if it’s aged well, because certainly the cast is great (in addition to the two stars, it features Donald Pleasance, David Hemmings, and Sharon Tate), and I rather like J. Lee Thompson as a director, plus I really like the musical score of Gary McFarland. Unfortunately, it’s exactly as I remembered it – great cast, great music, and great photography, with quirky direction from Thompson, but it sort of reeks of post-production problems – continuity is quite weird at times, which makes things very hard to follow. But the story is just kind of a bore, at least as told here. It ambles along and then it’s over. The Warner Archive transfer, while not the cleanest thing you’ll ever see (the armchair expert amateur reviewers would say there’s “debris” – when that became the go-to term for the odd line or dirt is anyone’s guess), it is absolutely stunning in contrast and richness – really gorgeous.
After that, it was more listening and more work at the piano (I’m in the midst of writing a little specialty number – not sure we’ll use it, but I’ll finish it and we’ll have to see). Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night of beauty sleep – hopefully I will not dream of eight dead rats.
Today, I have my fourth lunch of the week (that’s very unusual for me), this time with dear reader Jeanne. We’re going to The Grove’s Cheesecake Factory at two. I haven’t been to a Cheesecake Factory in some time, so the question is how bad will I be? The calorie count at this jernt is outrageous – there’s nothing on the menu that I like that is less than 1200 calories, and the 1200-calorie dish is a large Caesar salad and I don’t think I want that. Otherwise, my two favorite dishes are the spicy cashew chicken and the farfalle with chicken – the former has 1800 calories and the latter 2200. However, it will be my only meal of the day, and I’ll really try to not eat any of their yummilicious bread. Otherwise, I will finish casting, I will finish choosing songs, I will go to storage and pull charts, I will hopefully pick up a package or three, deliver a box o’ CDs for a composer signing in Burbank, and I will relax at some point.
Tomorrow, I’m going to try and get a haircut – if not tomorrow then maybe Saturday. My hair is quite unkempt and I quite hate it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish casting, finish choosing songs, finish my final proofing, pick up packages, lunch, deliver CDs, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of David Niven and Deborah Kerr, two actors I could watch in almost anything. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I will hopefully dream happy dreams that have no trace of eight dead rats.