Well, dear readers, has anyone noticed that it’s July? Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it’s July. Where once June was busting out all over, now July is busting out all over. And before I go any further, let me just say that it is my fervent hope and prayer that July will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Of course, July is a time of fireworks and they will be coming very soon. July will be a very busy month for the likes of me and I hope for the likes of all you dear readers. And best of all, July spelled backwards is yluj, which is a fine spelled backwards word.
Let me just say right here and now and also now and here that the East Coast Singer, aka Sandy Bainum, did herself proud last night at the Gardenia in the second of her two shows. She came on with fun energy and kept the audience with her for the entire act. She began to have fun with the patter, which meant the audience had fun with the patter. The songs all worked wonderfully and all the major sequences in the show are really tight now. Lanny and Jay Leonhart were stellar and Lanny really loosened up, which was also fun. So, still some work to do to smooth a few things out and work on performance stuff, but overall it was a huge step forward and I was very proud of her.
Prior to that, I had a very nice Saturday. I got up early and dear reader Jane and her ever-lovin’ Keith came over and we walked over to Ventura Blvd., got Keith some coffee, and then we just walked and talked and had a splendidly splendid time. Then they came back to the house and because Keith is a lover of first editions I took him into the book room and showed him the collection, which he seemed very impressed with. Then they left, and I did some errands and whatnot, after which I picked up a couple of packages, including an amazon UK package that included Blu and Rays of Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend. I can’t wait to see them. Then I had a little meeting, and then it was time for our stumble-through.
It was a bit rough around the edges, but it’s a wonderful group of folks and we worked on the problematic stuff afterwards and I think all will be fine this very evening. The songs are so great, and it’s always a joy to hear great singers singing great songs. And we always have two or three things to smooth out after the stumble-through, so this was no different than any other stumble-through in that regard. It was mostly smoothing out an arrangement, or getting the singer more comfortable with the song, and especially making sure that the singers are all connecting with the audience rather than playing over their heads.
After that, Shelly Markham, Adryan Russ and I went to Jerry’s Deli. I wanted to eat a light meal so that I wouldn’t have a heavy meal at the Gardenia. I had an omelet, cottage cheese, and a bagel. Then I answered some e-mails and then it was time to mosey on over to the Gardenia. I ordered some prosciutto and melon and some green beans, which was just right. At my table was Doug Haverty and Shelly Markham, and Jay Leonhart sat with us until it was show time.
After, I decided not to go to the little get-together party, as I was tired and because today is show day, I really didn’t want to be up too late. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a very good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall get up, I shall definitely do some sort of jog, then I’ll be making track lists for various and sundried CD projects, then relaxing and going over my patter and my duet that I’m singing with Shelly, and then it’s sound check and then show time. It appears that we’ll have a very nice crowd of about sixty people, maybe even more if we get people just showing up, which we do tend to get.
Tomorrow, so much to do. Many telephonic conversations, much work on CD releases, liner notes, and that will continue all week even on July 4th. I will try to take at least one ME day this week – the helper is out of town until a week from Tuesday, so no Kritzerland stuff to do, really, in terms of shipping.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, make track lists, relax and run patter and lyrics, then have a sound check and then 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, as we welcome in July with open arms and the fervent hope and prayer that it will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.