Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon. Here’s a first – I had a meeting with the East Coast Singer on Face Time. Of course, it couldn’t just work easily – no, it had to be difficult. It kept asking me for my Apple ID password, and wants to use that e-mail address as the one for people to use to Face Time. But my Apple ID address and password are from the Mobile Me days and those days are over. However the attempt to set up another ID was difficult – we eventually did it, but there are still many things in use that use the Mobile Me one, and Face Time was one of those things. I called Apple and got a senior tech on the line and he figured it out pretty quickly and had me re-set up Face Time with the new Apple ID (which is different than my iTunes Apple ID – you see how this gets really confusing) – once I logged in with that, then it all worked pretty easily. And actually, we’d done the little that we needed to do prior to the Face Time, but I was determined that I get it working properly. Now the question is will I ever use it again? I’ve only had one other Face Time experience and that was when Mr. Craig Brockman called me and did it, the week that Face Time debuted. I have not used it since until yesterday. Why am I going on about Face Time? Don’t I have notes to write? I do and I shall, not necessarily in that order.
Yesterday was a pretty okay day. After the Face Time, I got the packaging for our next title, and sent it along for comment. I then grabbed a sandwich and no fries, a couple of packages but no important envelope, and then I came home and did a bit of writing on something I’ve been thinking about for a while. We’ll see how it progresses. I wrote a new piece of music on the piano, too, and that was fun. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a new documentary on DVD entitled Carol Channing: Larger than Life. I’m not that big a fan of the director who made the documentary, but it was enjoyable and entertaining. It’s exactly what you’d expect – a complete Carol love fest, which is, I suppose, just what it should be. Those who’ve read Album Produced By know that my experience with her was less than wonderful and I’ve heard many other stories from people who had similar experiences. In this documentary, there is not a hint of the other Carol – just the funny, charming, warm Carol and that you get in spades. The woman is a legend – the kind there will never be again. A consummate performer who lives and breathes theater, and the story of her reconnecting with her first love after sixty years is the heart of the documentary and that works very well and is very touching. They don’t spend a lot of time dealing with Charles Lowe, and maybe, just maybe, he was the catalyst for Carol’s occasional other side, although I doubt it. But he does come off very badly in the film. There are a lot of good clips and the talking heads are always fun – Tommy Tune, Jerry Herman, and a reunion of the ensemble boys from the tour that we recorded. All in all, it was fine and I’m glad I saw it.
I then watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Too Late Blues, a movie I’ve always wanted to see but somehow hadn’t. Directed and co-written by John Cassavetes after he’d made a splash with his ultra-no-budget film Shadows, it was the first of two films he made for a major studio, in this case, Paramount. He’d already directed several episodes of his TV series, Johnny Staccato, so he’d proven he could direct structured pieces. And his direction of Too Late Blues is terrific. He had his Johnny Staccato cameraman, the great Lionel Lindon, and the black-and-white photography is gorgeous. It’s about a jazz musician, played by Bobby Darin, and idealistic sort who won’t compromise his music in any way. The leading lady is Stella Stevens, who is terrific in this – maybe her finest performance. The supporting cast are all wonderful character people. The script is very free-flowing, but apparently the actors did not improvise much – it’s very much like the subject of the film – jazz – scenes riff and go in unexpected directions. But the heart of the film is the music. It’s a very interesting score by David Raksin. For the first hour, the music is all used as source music – either being played by the characters in the film or on jukeboxes, and it just works perfectly. And then, when the film’s first of two dramatic scoring cues comes in, it really means something and it’s a stunning cue. The music is all Raksin – there are no standards at all. And the musicians playing on soundtrack were the best of the best – Uan Rasey, Red Mitchell, Milt Bernhart, Benny Carter, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Rowles and others – all giants. Some of the characters like the drummer and bass player have the real first names of the real musicians – Red and Shelly. Raksin’s main theme (in the film the theme is written by Darin’s character) is one of his most beautiful creations, right up there with Laura and The Bad and the Beautiful, and its various incarnations in the film are wonderful. Growing up, I had the theme on my favorite movie theme album of all time, a Percy Faith album that included Splendor in the Grass. That rendition is gorgeous, too. It’s actually rather shocking that the film never had a soundtrack released but that, I can assure you, will be rectified very soon. The transfer is very sharp and very pleasing.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get as much beauty sleep as possible.
Today, I shall jog, I shall put gas in the motor car, I shall hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope, I shall do some banking, and then we have our stumble-through at three, after which I shall sup.
Tomorrow is our sound check and show. I’m sure a few of us will go out after. Next week is a lot of meetings and meals and writing and attending a few events, plus casting and finishing the song choices for the next Kritzerland show – The Alan Jay Lerner Album.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, put gas in the motor car, hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope, do banking, have a stumble-through, and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Alan Jay Lerner songs, from the well known to the obscure? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of Face Time.