Well, dear readers, we had another fun day in the recording studio yesterday. It wasn’t quite as smooth as the previous day, mostly to do with a lot of rubato, which always takes time to lock in. We had six less players yesterday. Whereas I had almost nothing to say about the charts on Saturday, I did make several suggestions yesterday – a lot to do with the drum feel, and some tempo things. But we got it all done, wrapped right on time for the band and the charts really do sound fantastic. Here’s a photograph of Sandy and me from the session.
After we let the band go, we did the one song that’s just piano and Sandy – that we got in two takes and the first two-thirds of the song is take one, and we edited on take two for the final third. We had visitors, namely Karen Staitman and Adryan Russ, both of whom hung out with us for a little while. By two-thirty we were all really hungry so we ordered some food from Astroburger. I had my usual bacon cheeseburger and zucchini fries, engineer John and Lanny Meyers both had veggie burgers, Sandy had a cheeseburger and I think her publicist Mona did, too. Everyone loved the food. Then we began the piano overdubs. I stayed for the two important ones, then I left while Lanny and John finished those few tracks up.
I went to the mail place and picked up two small packages that had arrived on Saturday, then came home, changed, answered some e-mails, and then moseyed on over to The Federal to see Sharon McNight.
As I may have mentioned, we’ve been meeting with the powers that be at The Federal and they’ve come up with what they think will solve the slow food issues we’ve had at the last three shows – a very limited menu with lots fewer choices – but all good stuff and all stuff the chef feels confident he can deal with, since they’re all easy to prepare. As soon as we sat down, Skip, who oversees everything at the club, brought Adryan and I the new chicken dish, which will be on our menu. I wasn’t intending to eat anything but an artichoke, but it was just one chicken breast so I tasted it and it was fantastic – simple, light, and very flavorful. It comes with vegetables on a skewer and incredible garlic mashed potatoes. Sandy and Mona joined us and I shared about half the chicken breast with them so I didn’t really eat all that much. They loved it, too.
The show was a mixed bag. The person Sharon shared the stage with was just stiff and uncomfortable, fidgety and did everything a performer in cabaret should never do and everything that, body language-wise, lets and audience know how ill at ease you are – this included at least sixteen attempts to adjust the mic stand height that had been preset for the singer at sound check. In other words, it didn’t need adjusting, nor did he really adjust it – he just put his hands on the stand as if he were trying to. Then he’d stop that and adjust the mic itself, which he also didn’t need to do. And then there was the classic cabaret performer neurotic overdrinking of the water. One drink is fine, a couple of sips is fine, but when you see a singer drinking at every opportunity during what in essence is his half of a set, well, again it just tells the audience that the singer is ill at ease. There is no reason to drink that much water during a fifteen or twenty minute set.
Sharon, on the other hand, is a consummate pro. Her half of the show was hilarious, fun, wild, and even touching. She never acted like she was trying to adjust her mic stand or mic, she had not one drink of water and she just went about her business of being Sharon McNight. Unlike the first fellow, Sharon’s material was well chosen and fit her like a glove.
After the show, I came right home and was feeling very guilty about the bacon cheeseburger, the zucchini fries and the chicken breast (and couple of bites of mashed potatoes), so even though I’d intended to take a day off from jogging, I went out and did a three-mile jog – it was very pleasant out and I’m glad I did it.
Then I relaxed, listened to music, and caught up on e-mails and various and sundried other things. Here is another Benjamin Kritzer original from Kritzer Time. Like yesterday’s song, this was written when I was sixteen, and like yesterday’s song, I think harmonically speaking it’s pretty interesting coming from a sixteen-year-old. I’ve always liked this song, and I included it in several musical revues we did in 1970 just before I began working in television.
Today, I must be up by nine, I’ll make sure the sprinklers are working as they’re supposed to (they’re set to begin at nine), and then I have a teeth cleaning with Dr. Chew. After that, I’ll grab a bite to eat, hopefully pick up some packages, do a jog, write some liner notes, and we’ll get ready to ship out A Place in the Sun on Tuesday morning. Then we have the first of our two final vocal sessions, which I’m looking forward to.
Tomorrow day will be more of the same – mostly liner notes and mostly shipping and then our second final vocal session. Wednesday, Sandy and I will spend a few hours going over her upcoming Ira Gershwin show. Then the rest of the week is meetings and meals, seeing a couple of things and doing errands and whatnot.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, see Dr. Chew, eat, hopefully pick up packages, jog, write, and do a vocal session. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first amusement park you ever went to? When was it, what did you do there, which rides were your favorites, and over the years what other amusement parks have you been to – which were the best and which were the worst and why. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of wonderful charts and beautiful music.