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August 25, 2012:

THE FIRST VOCAL SESSION

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it is late and I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon. First off, let me say we had a lot of fun doing the first of our two final vocal sessions with the East Coast Singer. It did take a while to import each track from the hard drive so we didn’t get quite as many songs done as I would have liked, so we will have a full five-hours to do tomorrow. Still, it’s fun to be in the Christmas spirit in August and the songs and Lanny’s charts are really pretty spectacular. The East Coast Singer is very comfortable in the studio, which is a big help. Once we found the way in to each song, she basically nailed each in never more than three takes. At some point in the session we couldn’t resist and we sent out for Astroburger, which is only a few blocks away. Since I’d only had a sandwich earlier, I guess it won’t do too much damage. I had their yummilicious bacon cheeseburger (an Adriana Hofstetter favorite) and we all shared one bag of zucchini fries in white stuff. It was all great. Then at the end of the session my close personal friend Guy Haines came by and did his part of the Be A Santa duet. The chart is the same that we did nineteen years ago for the A Broadway Christmas album, and Guy just jumped in, muscle memory kicked in, in kicked muscle memory back really hard, and Guy was done in two quick takes. And yes, there is tap dancing. So, all in all, a fun four-hour session.

Prior to all that, I’d gotten up after eight hours of sleep, answered e-mails, printed out a surprising amount of orders, and then went and had a sandwich and no fries or onion rings. Then I picked up one package and an important envelope, did some banking and came home. I printed out more orders, did some work on the computer, listened to some music from upcoming Kritzerland projects, and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday afternoon, I finished watching The Legend of Hell House on a German Blu and Ray. It’s quite an efficient little chiller of a haunted house movie and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I had a big ol’ crush on Miss Pamela Franklin back in those days, beginning with The Lion, then The Third Secret, then The Night of the Following day. Little did I know that back in 2002 I would hire her son to be the publicist for Benjamin Kritzer. The transfer looks just like an early 70s film should look and it was quite pleasing to see that look replicated well.

Listening to all this music recently, I am truly thrilled with some of Kritzerland’s upcoming projects – just great stuff. Most of it has never been available before, but we are doing a handful of reissues that have been on CD but have been out of print for over a decade and as has been our policy we’re including something that’s never been out before as a double feature. I actually think we have enough titles to get us into the first couple of months of next year. That’s very good news indeed.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must try to get as much beauty sleep as possible.

Today, I shall be up by nine and to the studio by ten. We start the vocals at eleven and I hope to be done no later than four. After the session, we’ll all go out to Genghis Cohen for a nice dinner, and then later the East Coast Singer will tag along with me to the Nuart Theater to see whatever this pre-show thing is that involves Nudie Musical. I will, of course, have a full report.

Tomorrow I really hope no one has the bad taste to call me before eleven. Then I have a noon meeting at the house with Daisy Eagan regarding her act, and then I’m seeing a play directed by Barbara Bain. I’ll have to grab a bite to eat at some point. Next week is very busy. The musical director is coming on Monday to go over some stuff, then there are the usual meetings and meals, announcing the new Kritzerland CD, writing more liner notes (two sets due now), finessing the commentary, and seeing a couple of things.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do our second vocal session, have dinner, and go to the Nuart. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movies and novels about ghosts and haunted houses? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I will do our second vocal session.

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