Well, dear readers, we had a pretty good stumble-through of the Kritzerland show – actually an excellent stumble-through save for some unnecessary stumbles musically, but there’s a lot of music to remember and we really only had a day between the second rehearsal and the stumble-through. After we finished, I drilled the handful of problems over and over so we will hopefully not have them again. Also, the fact that we’ll be running all those problem spots at the sound check will mean that those things will be fresh in the mind. Otherwise, there’s just nothing better than listening to great singers do great songs. First up was Shannon with the put-together of I Can’t Be Bothered Now/Kickin’ The Clouds Away – she kicks the clouds and everything else right out of the park, but this was one where all the transitions from song to song were just totally off – hopefully we’ve fixed that. Then Jane did I Was Doing All Right, which is an Ira Gershwin song I absolutely love and Jane does it beautifully. That was followed by our newcomer Lauren doing a simple and heartfelt My Ship. Then it was Damon singing another of my favorite Ira songs, Liza. Melody was next and she was amazing on Tchaikowsky (And Other Russians) a VERY difficult list song, which she does brilliantly. Everyone in the room had their mouths agape in disbelief. I gave her some funny business, too, and it all got great laughs. We did have to fix the rough spots in the intro and the first eight bars of the song proper. Then it was Shannon again with a beautiful Long Ago and Far Away, followed by Lauren doing Oh My, Oh My – very cute, but another with some rough spots we had to smooth out. Then Jane did the haunting There Is No Music. After that, it was our special guest, Andrea Marcovicci, and her very witty version of The Saga of Jenny – just great. Then it was back to Melody for a really cute version of Bidin’ My Time, followed by Lauren on That Moment of Moments – that was the roughest and I felt bad for her because she’s very nervous and she just had no support at all musically. We really worked that one afterwards and will do so again at sound check. I think we’ll be fine now. Then Damon and Shannon did the adorable In Our United State, after which Jane did a beautiful rendition of Someone To Watch Over Me/The Man I Love. That one had been very problematic on Thursday, but I gave extensive notes to singer and pianist and they really had it together yesterday. Then Damon was back with By Strauss, which he does with great gusto, and then Shannon tore everyone’s heart out with The Man That Got Away. Our closer was Melody doing I Got Rhythm/Fascinatin’ Rhythm, which she does in her act, and which is a rousing finish to our show. So, now we’re ready to do what Ed Sullivan would have called a really big shew.
Prior to the rehearsal, I’d gotten up too early but stayed in bed until about ten-thirty. Then I did a four-mile jog, after which I picked up no packages because I didn’t even go to the mail place. I may stop by there today to see if anything is there. After rehearsal, Father Hollis and Melody and I all went to Bird’s. I figured at four-thirty there would be no one there, but it was jammed – in fact, we got the last table. When Bird’s is jammed the volume level is ear splitting and really annoying, plus they play loud music on top of it. Horrible. What wasn’t horrible was the yummilicious foodstuffs. I ordered the small tower of onion rings for the table, and Melody, who is not a fan of onion rings, couldn’t believe how great they were and she ate about six of them in a row. Everything else was faboo (oobaf, spelled backwards). After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much exhausted fish.
Last night, I watched a Blu and Ray entitled Anatomy of a Murder, an Otto Preminger motion picture starring Mr. James Stewart, Miss Lee Remick, Mr. Arthur O’Connell, Miss Eve Arden, Mr. George C. Scott, Mr. Ben Gazzara, and Mr. Joseph Welch as the Judge. What a cast and what a movie. Wonderfully written and directed, with great performances from everyone – not only the leads, but all the great character actors, too,including Howard McNear, Ken Lynch (one of my favorites), Murray Hamilton and more. I know the score by Duke Ellington comes in for criticism from some film score FANatics, but it really suits the film to a T or even a W. The transfer is pretty terrific. This is one where I’ll watch the extras.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really need a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall hopefully get up after a good night’s beauty sleep. I shall try to do another four-mile jog, then I’ll mosey on over to the mail place to see if anything’s there, then I’ll relax, then get ready and attend our sound check at four. We’ll sup at five-thirty, and show time is seven. I already know we’ll have a decent sized crowd for this one, so that’s good. I will, of course, have a full report.
Tomorrow, I have so much to do it’s not even funny and yet I shall laugh and laugh and just when I think I can laugh no more I shall laugh again. I have to choose all the songs for the next Kritzerland show – fortunately we’ll be fully cast by tomorrow – just trying to set the musical director now. I have to book my ride to the airport and back, I have to see if I can get in to Teddy for a hair cut and all sorts of other things. The rest of the week will be filled with liner notes, meetings, and meals and hopefully approving the galley and covers for the new book. Once that happens, then a week or so later I get the test books and then place the order. So, maybe at the end of the week we’ll put it up for pre-order at Kritzerland. And then I’m on my way to New York for three days – I do know I’ll be seeing at least some dear readers, so that will be grand.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, see if there are any packages, relax, do a sound check and do a show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland and get ready for a really big shew.