Well, dear readers, I don’t know how it happened so quickly, but it is April. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is April. March is no more. April is upon us. And let me just say here and now and also now and here that my fervent hope and prayer is that April will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Of course, not only is it April, it’s the first of April, aka April Fools’ Day, a day for all you April Fools out there in the dark. I wasn’t sure where to put the apostrophe, but according to the authoritative source Wikipedia it goes after the “s” of Fools. Since I do not like April Fools jokes you will find none in these here notes, other than I was just crowned the Queen of England, or maybe it was the Queen of Outer Space. End of April Fools humor.
Yesterday, the final day of March, was a rather fun day. I slept ten count them ten hours, thanks to it being very quiet and very gray. I got up, did some stuff on the computer, and then went to Mystery and Imagination, where I delivered some of the new book for them to display and set the signing date of April 22nd, a Sunday, at two o’clock. Later we found out that the LA Times Festival of Books is that day, but I don’t think people who go to that would be coming to my signing anyway, and even if they did attend that, they could go in the morning and then come to mine at two, which is exactly what one person I know is going to do. I could conceivably make the signing the week before but I’d only do that if enough people couldn’t make the date we’ve chosen.
After that, I picked up some packages, then came home and we had our stumble-through. It was really fun – this show has such energetic and sweet and tuneful songs. We only had one real meltdown because one of our singers didn’t do the homework necessary and couldn’t get through two lines without going up – it wasn’t good and I hope that the singer spent the rest of the evening and will spend all day today doing whatever is necessary to get through it for the performance. Everyone has had their music for three weeks, so it should have been learned by now. But I guess a few folks over the course of these shows think they can wing it or do it off-the-cuff but that’s not what we’re about. This particular singer is terrific and I’m sure will do what need be done. That was really the only hiccup, other than Miss Kazan not being in attendance. The structure and flow seemed to work well and the cast is really talented. After we finished, I gave some notes and we finessed and adjusted a few things and that was that.
Then I went to the Bank of Bur to a restaurant called Granville to have my one and only meal o’ the day. I had their yummilicious mac and cheese with chicken and asparagus, and a teeny-tiny Caesar salad. It was a fun time, and then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first half of a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled A Dangerous Method, a film about Carl Jung and Freud, directed by David Cronenberg. So far, I’m not loving it, but am loving Mr. Cronenberg’s elegant direction, the sort of thing that is so sorely missing from most of today’s films. Simple but perfect set-ups, no fancy and pointless and endless moving shots – you know, a real movie. I only wish the subject matter were more interesting to me, but we’ll see how the last half goes. After that, I listened to one of our upcoming projects, a really fun genre film from the 1950s that was tracked with music from other films by a whole slew of great film composers (this was during a musician’s strike, so all this music was re-recorded in Mexico or somewhere) – so, it’s really interesting seeing how they created this score, and, of course, it’s quite a good listening experience. Since it’s on the short side, we’re going to couple it with another 1950s genre film composed by one of the composers whose music was tracked into the other film. It should be a wonderful package.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get another good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall do a jog if it’s not gray and rainy as it was yesterday. Then I shall putter around the home environment, then at three I’ll head over to the new venue, where we’ll spend ninety minutes doing our sound check and getting the sound as good as we can and to my liking. Lainie will be with us, so I’ll at least be able to show her how everything works and hear her do her number. Then we’ll sup before the show, do the show, and then a few of us will probably go elsewhere to have some food after the show, since I’ll only eat an artichoke and maybe a salad before the show.
Tomorrow, I have a bunch of appointments, and I must finish listening to the STAGE material and make choices. The rest of the week will be filled with stuff having to do with getting those STAGE recordings mixed and to the mastering guy, and I also have to get charts for the next Kritzerland show (Cole Porter), as well as write the liner notes for the next Kritzerland soundtrack release or two. So, a VERY busy, crazy week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, try to do a jog, putter, do a sound check, sup, do a show, and sup. 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 singing one of my favorite Bacharach and David songs, The April Fools.