Well, dear readers, I am seriously jet-lagged. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am seriously jet-lagged. I am in a haze of a daze of a bog of a fog. I did manage to get eight and a half hours of sleep, but really needed about ten. I got up and went directly to storage, where helper and I pulled all the music for the October Gardenia show, as well as one chart for the September show (I’d already gotten all the others). Then I went and picked up some audio tapes for a few upcoming releases, including a special edition (maybe even a two CD set) of a fairly popular and beloved musical film. We’ll have lots of extras on our CD, including music that’s never been on CD before, demos, and other fun stuff. It should be a pretty good seller even though it’s been out twice on CD – but never like this. Then John Boswell stopped by and picked up the music for the September Gardenia show. Then I girded my loins and did the four-mile jog – trying to do it whilst in a haze of a daze of a bog of a fog was pathetic, but I did it and that’s what counts.
After that, I did some writing at the piano, and then I went and had a bacon cheeseburger and no fries or onion rings. It was quite yummilicious. I came home and continued to catch up on stuff, like answering e-mails and returning telephonic calls and such. We’re still trying to cast one track for the Gardenia show and it looks like one gal who was going to do it now can’t so I’m just letting Melody step into the spotlight and it will be her first Gardenia show where she’s a regular cast member and gets to do three songs. We do have a wonderful cast so far – Melody, Kim Huber, Alet Taylor, Shannon Warne and guest Ruth Williamson. So, hopefully by the end of today we’ll have our fifth gal. Having been in New York, New York last for five days just made me understand even more clearly how easy these shows would be to cast there and how difficult they’ve occasionally been here in LA, where the ennui is as thick as a Ruth’s Chris porterhouse steak. After all that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night. I finished watching the sauerkraut western, The Treasure of Silver Lake, starring Lex Barker and Herbert Lom. The Blu and Ray is from Germany but will play in any machine. I’d never seen one of these Old Shatterhand and Winnetou films before and I found it occasionally weird, a little too long, but kind of fun and entertaining – it’s like watching a mutant western where everything is just slightly off. These films were mostly shot in Yugoslavia and the country is quite beautiful. The disc has an English dub and that’s what I used. Sergio Leone admitted that the spaghetti western came into being directly because of the success of these German westerns (mostly based on the stories of Karl May, who, I gather, was a German Zane Grey). But Leone changed everything with his westerns. The German western was really just trying to emulate the American B-western. The transfer is really excellent – scope, with vivid and perfect color, and there’s a fun score by Martin Bottcher. All in all, I had fun watching it.
I then watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Colossus Of New York. I saw it when it came out, the only time I ever attended the Hawaii Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. I really kind of loved everything I saw back then, but I distinctly remember not really caring for this film very much. Watching it now hasn’t really changed my opinion all these years later. It’s a super low-budget film (I’d be surprised if it cost over 100K) with a decent B-movie cast. The photography is okay, but Eugene Lourie was simply not a very good director and the film looks very awkward at times. It’s not terrible or anything and its ideas are certainly interesting, but the screenplay and dialogue are quite poor. Thankfully, it runs a brisk seventy minutes. The score by Van Cleave is interesting – solo piano and on a couple of cues, celeste and some sort of electronic keyboard. I’m sure they simply couldn’t afford an orchestra – they probably spent every bit of the budget on the couple of animated death ray sequences. Transfer is fine.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am very tired and very jet-lagged and writing these here notes in a haze of a daze of a bog of a fog.
Today, I will hopefully awake after a good night’s sleep. Then I’ll do the four-mile jog, after which I’ll do some banking and hopefully pick up a package or two and an important envelope. At two, I have a meeting with Miss Joan Ryan and Miss Vicky Lewis. Then I’ll get ready for my evening at the Gardenia – some ASCAP new writers showcase that I’m not looking forward to all that much, for various reasons.
Tomorrow, I have to figure out what our next release is – it will probably involve having to watch a couple of movies and then I’ll just choose whichever will be easiest to get ready. I have a pretty good idea which it will be. Then I’ll probably eat something light but amusing and I’m sure I’ll be jogging and other stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, bank, hopefully pick up a package and an important envelope, have a meeting and then attend an ASCAP event at the Gardenia. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, just catching up on a plethora of soundtrack releases, many of which are boring me to tears. Blu and Ray, perhaps David Holzman’s Diary, a film I’ve heard about for years but have never seen, as well as several movie on demand things from MGM. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland in a haze of a daze of a bog of a fog.