Well, dear readers, it is very late and I am very tired, hence I must write these here notes in a hurry. I keep meaning to sleep in, and I would be sleeping in if the telephonic device didn’t ring every morning by nine o’clock. That is what happened yesterday morning despite my expecting to sleep in. Normally I don’t pick up the phone before nine, but it was the publisher and I figured it was about the covers of the new book being ready for approval. It was, and so I got up, looked at them and approved them. The book then went to the printers and I’m told I’ll have my test books in about a week, at which point I’ll order my copies. We’ll be putting the book up for pre-order this Friday, I think. I then went back to bed, only to have the phone ring again. I had that conversation, hung up, then it rang again. I had THAT conversation, hung up and that was that. I got up, did a three-mile jog, then went and had a patty melt and no fries or onion rings. After that, I came home and we had a rehearsal with our two guest stars.
Before I get to that, may I just mention that it is May? Can you believe it? May. Where has this year gone? In one more month the year will be half over. Go know. It is my fervent hope and prayer that May will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.
First up was Joan Ryan. She sang through You Only Live Twice and Goldfinger. I suggested we lower the key of the first song so it sits in a very pretty part of her lower register – that was just what it needed – she only does that song through the bridge, at which point we launch into Goldfinger and we pretty much do the Shirley Bassey layout – and boy does Joanie hit that money note at the end. Then David Burnham came and we ran his song, This Is the Moment – he’s sung it many times and he has an extraordinary voice so it’s really great to hear him tear into it.
After that, I picked up a few packages, then came back home and did some work on the computer. We got the packaging for the next release in for approval, which hopefully will come within a week. Then it was time to mosey on over to the Matrix Theater on Melrose to see the UC Irvine MFA and BFA students strut their stuff. They do this event in the hopes that agents and managers and casting folks will come. I didn’t really know anyone there, but I’m fairly certain that if agencies were represented it was by interns or PAs. Either that or agencies are being run by twenty-year-olds. Happily, my pal Karen Morrow was there so that’s always fun. I was taken by the Staitman mom, Karen. And one of the people who was singing is one of the candidates for the Hofstetter audio books.
The evening began with the musical portion. I’m afraid I thought the majority of the song choices were horrid – all that “new” stuff that all sounds like second-rate Jason Robert Brown and I’ll leave it at that. Just one droning song after another – very difficult, but that’s what the theater kids today respond to, I guess. Some very nice voices and everyone did a professional job, which was the point. A few of the voices did the riffing kind of thing, which I find alienating. When that was done, we got some short scenes and a couple more songs. I thought the actors in the scenes were terrific. So, I have all the photos and resumes, and I’ll keep a couple of these folks in mind for season three of Outside the Box.
After that, I came home and ate the rest of the prosciutto I’d gotten the night before. It was a tasty little snack. This week has been the first real week where I now can see I’ve really lost some good weight – the pants I bought a month ago in Washington, DC and that I could barely squeeze into now are easy to get into, are loose in the waist, and almost baggy in the leg. I’m very happy – it’s really taken a while but I feel I’m making the progress now that I want to make. I think another two months and I’ll be down to where I want to be.
One of the things I got in the mail today was the new book, geared for young readers, by Martyn Bedford, an English writer whose first book, Acts of Revision, I found extraordinary. That was in 1996. I was so enamored of the book that I gave a copy to Ira Levin, who loved it as much as I had. I’d already written to the author telling him how much I loved it, and Ira also gave me a letter to send to him. Mr. Bedford wrote back and was very pleased to have gotten both of our letters. I read his second book, Exit Red and Orange and liked it a lot, even though Mr. Bedford told me it hadn’t quite turned out as he’d thought it would. In 1999 I read his third, The Houdini Girl (his second book wasn’t published in the US) – that one was the least favorite of the three, and then a year later I read Black Cat and that one wasn’t my favorite either. I sent him Benjamin Kritzer in 2002 when it was published and he wrote me a wonderful note about it. By that time, I’d begun Kritzerland, and I asked him if he’d blurb Benjamin Kritzer so that I’d have that blurb to use on the second book and for publicity on the first. He gave me a wonderful blurb. Now, I haven’t read any fiction since 2001 because I don’t want to be influenced by anything. But I’m getting to the point where I think it’s okay to maybe read one or two books a year at least six months prior to when I’ll start the new book, which will be in January of 2014. So, I may just start with this new book by Mr. Bedford, called Flip. It has a wonderful premise and I actually read the first chapter, which was terrific. So, I think I’ll read the entire book, and then, before June is done, read the Stephen King book about the Kennedy assassination, which everyone seems to love and says is a real return to form for Mr. King. Then I’ll have six months to put all that out of my head, and that will be fine.
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 shall hopefully arise after a good night’s sleep. I’ll jog, I’ll eat something light but amusing, and then I’ll write another set of liner notes. Hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, and then my intention is to relax, because I don’t really get any time off before next Monday. I have several new things on Blu and Ray to watch, including Funny Girl.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, Friday I’m seeing Teddy in the morning for a haircut, Friday night I’m seeing Doug Haverty in a production of Bullshot Crummond, which I’ve never seen, Saturday is our stumble-through and then a few of us will go out to eat, 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, jog, eat, write, hopefully pick up some packages, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you’d like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall romp about with gay abandon because it is the lusty month of May, the merry month of May, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that May will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.