Well, dear readers, we’re in the final week of December 2012. Can you believe it? This year has flown by, like a gazelle in a parking lot. And what a year it’s been. I’ve already had part one of my look back at 2012 and here’s part two. Of course, the major part of 2012 was devoted a large number of Kritzerland CD releases – it was actually a banner year for Kritzerland, with amazing soundtrack releases. We finally began releasing soundtracks from Twentieth Century-Fox and we have many more planned for 2013. We continued our wonderful association with Paramount, and we also went back to both the MGM and Capitol well. We released our first “new” soundtrack, The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, and our first TV score, Wallander, both of which have sold quite well, especially the latter. But the gold standard Kritzerland release of 2012 really has to go to Follies. It took me a solid year of badgering to get the license, but once gotten I was like a man possessed. We were able to get the original eight-track session masters and my wonderful engineer John Adams and I remixed the entire album from scratch and the result from the minute I heard the opening track was so spectacular and so beautiful – it was like the album was reborn, sounding as if it had been recorded yesterday. All these years, the poor quality of the Follies album has been blamed on poor engineering – well, we were able to put to rest that notion, because the engineering was fine – it was that original, hastily-done mix that was always the problem, with its weird balances, and vocal placements on the extreme left and right. We spent four days doing our thing, and the first person who heard it was my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim, who pronounced the result “a miracle.” We sold out of the 1500 copies so fast that at Mr. Sondheim’s request, I was able to re-license it for another 1000 copies. I eventually heard from every living member of the Follies company, all of whom were so bowled over by the new mix, and boy was that gratifying. I think of all the CDs I’ve done since 1993, this one has gotten the most unanimous love of any of them. Why? Because the original cast of Follies will never be trumped – they were just the right cast at the right time and now their performances are so crystal clear and so heartbreakingly beautiful to hear. It certainly was one of the five big highlights of my year.
But that’s not to slight the other releases – so many wonderful film composers, and such great work from the people who work on our projects. It was such a treat to issue the first almost-complete version of the Hugo Friedhofer masterpiece, The Rains of Ranchipur, and to do scores by Elmer Bernstein and Alfred Newman and Franz Waxman and Victor Young and Andre Previn and Leigh Harline and George Duning – it really was a Kritzerland Golden Age year. We also issued our second Blu and Ray and there will be more coming in 2013.
Then there was season two of Outside the Box. It took me almost a year to finally do them, despite having written them way back in March. I just couldn’t either find the time or couldn’t find the cast I wanted. But then everything fell into place and we got all six episodes shot, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with how they came out, but when you’ve got such fantastic casts, an excellent camera crew, wonderful sound man, and a world-class editor, it all just kind of happens effortlessly. When episode one premiered on You Tube I was so horrified by the fact that on the third day of being up there we’d only had four hundred views – I really was annoyed about it and wrote about it right here on haineshisway.com. Fortunately, the nice fellow who runs Broadway World happened to read my notes that day, and he wrote me, suggesting we should make Outside the Box a Broadway World exclusive series. I thought about it for a few hours and could see absolutely no downside to it at all – we could not do worse than we were doing on You Tube. So, I said yes, and we immediately launched with episode one there, and in one day we had about 3,000 views for it – what a difference. We were suddenly reaching our core audience, and they did a superb job in promoting it and getting the word out. By the time episode two premiered two weeks later, episode one was past 10,000 views. Episode two’s views were huge right off the bat, and it was the first episode to crack 15,000 views (it’s currently over 16,000) and episode three also cracked 15,000 views. Even the season one episodes had thousands of views. The most we ever got on You Tube was 7,000 for the very first episode of season one. But the other episodes never cracked 3,000, with a few not even cracking 2,000. So, it was the right decision at the perfect time and I’m thrilled with our new home at Broadway World.
I also had fun putting together and directing Juliana Hansen’s club act. It was challenging at times, but in the end it came out beautifully, and she sold out the jernt and the reaction was amazing. I’m sure there were other things that I’m not remembering. I did enjoy my two trips to New York, even though I’m really starting to hate traveling anywhere. There will be some trips in 2013, though, and I’m sure that once they happen I’ll enjoy them.
I met some swell folks in 2012, made new friends, and worked with amazing people. Yes, there were some drama, mostly involving one person and I’m hoping that can at least be somewhat repaired in the New Year – at least that’s what I’ve been told and I do hope it comes to pass. And yes, there were some annoyances and irritating days, but I never let that stuff linger, and I just shower and wash it down the drain. The hot fudge on the sundae of 2012 was the surprise birthday party that was thrown for me by Jason Graae and Adryan Russ (with some help from the helper) – that was just the best time. And the cherry on the hot fudge and whipped cream of the 2012 sundae was the Christmas Eve Do. So, all in all, a mostly-terrific year. As always, in the New Year I will strive to do better, and be a better person – that is always my aim and my goal and sometimes I succeed at it and sometimes I need to work harder at it.
Yesterday was a nice day, mostly due to a fun visit with the Darling Daughter, her Darling Husband, and their Darling Dog, Sophie. Also, the Darling Daughter’s best friend Skye came by, too. They couldn’t stay too long as they had a long drive home, but we did get two hours in. Their present for me this year was rather interesting and wonderful – a scrapbook and autograph book that my ex-wife’s mother gave to her to pass along to me. Some amazing autographs – Helen Morgan, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Jackie Coogan and lots more, all circa 1935. I have to catalog all of them. The Darling Daughter got a pretty fantastic present from the ex-wife who, not to be outdone by my giving the Darling Daughter my old Infiniti two years ago, gave the Darling Daughter her 2004 Mercedes, so they now have two really great cars. I gave the Darling Daughter money, because I know that’s always helpful, and apparently it was. I also gave them a box of Jane Lanier’s caramels, and a copy of my book, which she hadn’t gotten, and a copy of Sandy Bainum’s CD.
Then I went to the editing room and we put the latest episode on the hard drive. After that, I picked up no mail and no packages, then went and had a turkey sandwich with no fries or onion rings. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching David Cronenberg’s film Scanners on a new German Blu and Ray, which despite saying Region B on the packaging, is actually an all-region disc. Scanners is my third favorite Cronenberg film, right behind The Dead Zone and The Fly. This new transfer (there was a previous Blu and Ray in Germany that looked like a VHS transfer) is fantastic. In fact, it’s a little too sharp and detailed, which is a problem when these transfers are taken from a negative – release prints were several generations away from the negative and the filmmakers knew that – therefore, some of the make-up effects of Dick Smith are too obvious in this transfer – you would never have seen the mechanics in the release prints – ever. But the color is perfect and it’s great to have a beautiful transfer of this film.
I then watched another motion picture on Blu and Ray, the recently released French film from France entitled The Well-Diggers Daughter, based on the novel by Marcel Pagnol. The film is directed by actor Daniel Auteuil, who also stars. The story is simple, the movie is beautiful and touching and funny and certainly one of the best films of 2012. I’ve always loved Auteuil’s performances and he’s superb in this, and it’s nice to report that his direction is simple and understated, with no sops to “modern” filmmaking. He just tells the story and that’s why it’s so affecting – it creeps up on you and you find yourself in its spell. There’s a very short Alexandre Desplat score (if you remove the four or five versions of a classical vocal piece, the actual score is probably less than twenty-three minutes) that works well, but Auteuil trusts his story and much of the film plays without music – with beautiful silences, the kind American movies are so afraid of. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
I then did some book notes (I’d had a title in mind for the new book, but when I began thinking about changing the setting and events, I knew it probably wouldn’t work – last night I came up with what I think is a really fun title – we’ll see how I feel about it today), then started writing the contextual commentary – I got the opening done and now I should be able to sail through the rest. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must be up early and must get some beauty sleep.
Today, I have two meetings to attend – one at eleven in the Dale of Glen and one at three in North Hollywood. I think we’ll probably get some lunch in between, but I’ll also hopefully pick up some packages before the second meeting. Once that’s done, I’ll come home and do more contextual commentary, and then I’m having dinner at the Jones’s, which I’m really looking forward to.
Tomorrow, I have an easy one-hour work session at eleven, and then the rest of the day and evening and the entire weekend are mine all mine – I’ll just be finishing the commentary – that’s the only work I really have to do. We’re getting the packaging prepared for our first release of 2013, too. Of course, Monday night is our Annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and it’s the only partay you’ll need to attend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, attend two meetings, hopefully pick up some packages, go to lunch (although I won’t actually eat), and then have dinner with the Jones’s. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite TV shows of 2012? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having completed my look back at 2012. From now on, it’s all looking FORWARD, to 2013 and beyond.