Well, dear readers, I this month is flying by, like a gazelle drinking sarsaparilla. Does anyone still drink sarsaparilla? Can you even order sarsaparilla? Apparently you can still buy it – one popular brand is Sioux City Sarsaparilla. The original sarsaparilla was popular with the populace in the 19th century; when men were men and women were women, save for the men who were women and the women who were men. It was quite a popular drink in the old west, at least Yosemite Sam liked it. It tasted like today’s root beer or yesterday’s socks, depending on where you got it. I may have to go see if I can find some Sioux City Sarsaparilla. Why am I going on about sarsaparilla? I was sitting here like so much fish in total bliss. Why was I sitting here like so much fish in total bliss? Well, the answer is simple – I’ve been listening to the rapturously beautiful music of Sir Arthur Bliss, the English composer who not only wrote classical music, but some classic film scores and ballets as well. I got a little EMI 5 CD box set of his instrumental music and I was listening to CD 1, which has the sublime A Colour Symphony, the even more sublime suite from his film score, Things To Come, and his beautiful Cello Concerto. The music on these CDs are the mostly definitive recordings of his music, conducted by Bliss himself, Sir Charles Groves, Vernon Handley, and Sir Adrian Boult. I’ve decided to listen to this, then move on to another favorite Brit composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams – I have a box set of all his orchestral works. So, I was blissed out on Bliss this evening.
Prior to being blissed out on Bliss, I had a perfectly okay day. I got up at six-twenty, fell back asleep at seven-twenty, woke up at eight-twenty and finally got out of bed. I answered the usual plethora of e-mails, after which I did some work on the computer. Then I went and had a turkey sandwich and no fries, after which I picked up no packages. Then I came home and it was time to have our first Kritzerland rehearsal. Like most of our first rehearsals, it was occasionally very rough. First up was Juliana Hansen who only had to run one of her two songs (she’s only doing two in this show because that’s all she had time to deal with – and one of them is Disneyland, which she knows) – her other song is a put-together of the early Hamlisch – two of his earliest songs, The Travelin’ Life (written for Liza Minelli when he was a teen) and his hit, Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows. Then came songstress Joanne O’Brien – haven’t worked with her before, but she’s got a very pretty voice. She gets three ballads in our show – Ordinary Miracles, Dreamers, and Through the Eyes of Love, all of which she does beautifully, even at this early stage. Then came another newcomer to the Kritzerland stable, Angel Reda. She’s a tall and beautiful blonde with a great voice. She’s doing A Beat Behind, which has a really cute arrangement that Tom Griep and I worked out last week. Then she ran through her other two songs, No More and a put-together of If He Really Knew Me and I Still Believe in Love. Then came Euan Morton and we ran his two songs, Nobody Does it Better and The Way We Were. He has an absolutely wonderful voice. After Euan came Kevin Bailey, who dove into his three songs – first, the moody I Cannot Hear the City from Sweet Smell of Success, then the title song from Smile, then At The Fountain, also from Sweet Smell of Success. Then Jason Graae came and ran his number. I’m not going to say what it is, but it will be a Graae classic. It was the first thing I thought of when I started to plan this show, and he will be brilliant. Despite the roughness, it seems like it’s going to be a very good show.
I was then reminded that I have a book signing on October 23rd at Book Soup in West Hollywood. I’d completely forgotten about it, hadn’t written it down, and booked a seat for The Book of Mormon for that night. I’ve asked if the date can be changed to the night before or the night after and I’m really hoping it can, otherwise I guess I’ll either give the ticket to someone or see about exchanging it for another performance. Then I went to Gelson’s and got some of my low-cal, no-fat hot dogs and some buns from my evening snack. I had two of them, for a total of 340 calories, so I think I was well under 1200 calories yesterday. After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching the last of the Indiana Jones movies, the 2008 Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Four years ago, I thought it was okay and I was really happy to see Karen Allen return. Four years later, it’s completely insufferable – horrible CGI, nothing makes a lick of sense, and it’s actually worse than Temple of Doom, which is no mean feat. It’s fun to see Harrison Ford back in the outfit, and Miss Allen is delightful, but the supporting cast is just all cliché, especially Cate Blanchett’s character – and I have to say, Ray Winstone is just an actor I never care for in anything. I can never understand a word he says – he just mumbles away in everything he does. You know you’re in trouble right from the top of the film with the awful refrigerator gag. It just seems that only Lawrence Kasdan really understood how to write this kind of film. The transfer, which is a lot of yellow, replicates the look of the film perfectly.
After that, I started on the Bond set and have decided to tough it through all the movies in chronological order. I began with Dr. No, not my favorite. But the transfer looks mostly good and it’s fun to see everyone at the very beginning, while everything was still falling into place. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I really must start a new set of liner notes. Then I shall hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully have a situation start to take care of itself, and do errands and whatnot.
Tomorrow I have the Richard Sherman event, Thursday is another rehearsal, something is going on on Friday, Saturday is our stumble-through, and Sunday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully have a situation start to take care of itself, and do errands and whatnot. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite hot dogs? When and where did you eat your first hot dog, what do you like on it, and where are your favorite hot dog places these days? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, in a state of Bliss.