Well, dear readers, I am very tired due to my internal clock internally waking me up again at six in the morning – I suppose it was sense memory of the day before. I stayed in bed but don’t think I got much more than an hour of sleep after that, and I didn’t get to bed until two, so tonight I really need a good night’s beauty sleep. However, there are notes to be written, notes in the key of Bb. Yesterday’s notes were in the key of F# or, as I like to call it, Gb.
First of all, let’s just get down to brass tacks, shall we, or, at the very least, aluminum pushpins. I think I can safely say that yesterday was a day. I finally got out of bed around nine-thirty, then did some work on the computer, printed out more orders, and followed the unending drama and frenzy of The Cuckoo’s Calling, which hit new insane heights, with one signed copy going for four thousand dollars. People are kind of insane. And you know what I think – I think the person who paid for four thousand dollars was a dealer. And I think the dealer who sold it for four thousand dollars bought it for over a thousand from another dealer. The dealer who got the four grand is a scumbag LA dealer who runs a high-end book store here that caters to the VERY rich and entitled, mostly Hollywood types with money to burn. I’m sure it’s going to get worse as the days go by. The good news for me is that I acted quickly on Saturday and got a copy (not signed) at a more than reasonable price just before it went nuts.
After that, I went and had a quesadilla and then picked up one package from the mail place. That package contained the cast CD of Yearbook, the show to which I contributed a couple of songs, including the one I talked about at length a couple of days ago – Three Friends. I immediately loaded it into iTunes and listened to it, because I was so interested to hear the music for the third girl’s verse. As soon as I got to that part, it kind of came back to me. One wishes the singers would sing the actual written notes – mostly they do, but not always, and they also don’t get the words right 100% of the time. But it’s very sweet. After I turned in the songs, I never heard what they did with them and I do question a couple of arrangement things that I’d rather they not have done, mostly to do with tempo in Three Friends and especially the final verse, which is a little too peppy for my taste – I wrote a key change into it and intended for it to actually go a little slower than the rest of the song – you know, a nice build. Then the rideout is nothing short of peculiar and certainly is not what I wrote. But those are minor quibbles. I also listened to my other song, Nerd. The boy doing it has been directed to play it VERY dramatically, which is the opposite of the song’s intention. All you really need to do is sing it and the song actually does the work for you. He’s cute, the kid who sings it, but he’d be much more effective (as would the song), if he just didn’t lay it on quite so thick. They’ve also written a little monologue that comes between the end of the bridge and the song’s third chorus – not sure how effective that is. But, you can judge for yourself because here they are. First Nerd.
I did include the demo of that song on the Rarities CD that we gave out with signed copies of my first memoir. And here’s the elusive Three Friends – I must say, I really like this number a lot, and I’ve already decided that we’re going to do it in our third anniversary Kritzerland show, with my three teen gals, who will do it wonderfully.
It’s so nice to finally have it complete. I should have the full score they’ve supposedly sent me, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. If it’s not here by Monday, I’ll give them a reminder call. I was looking for some stuff in the garage and came upon some old photos from my acting days – I believe these were from the session that yielded my favorite head shot of me ever, the one on the back of There’s Mel, There’s Woody, and There’s You. But this one, which was never printed and not seen by anyone but me, the photographer and my agent and manager, is also nice, I think. I also like that it’s completely untouched.
Wasn’t I YOUNG? Actually, I’d already turned thirty by the time of this photograph. I then did some more work on the computer, plus, of course, we got all the copies of The Missouri Breaks shipped. After all that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture I’d TIVOd entitled The Whole Truth, a little low-budget programmer from the late 1950s. I’ve always been a fan of little low-budget programmers from that era – the bottom half of the double bills that played back then. A bunch of these films were made overseas with popular American actors – The Whole Truth being one of those, shot in London. The director was John Guillerman, a terrific director who’d go on to make several excellent films. Unfortunately, The Whole Truth is pretty much a stinker of the highest order, and overstays its welcome even at eighty minutes. The cast is fun – Stewart Granger, Donna Reed, and the great George Sanders. But the story is silly, the script by mystery author Jonathan Latimer is terrible and it’s all very cheesy, although it has a kind of fun and jazzy score by Mischa Spoliansky. The film was released here by Columbia.
I then watched another motion picture I’d TIVOd entitled Gidget Gets Married. I had missed the TV movie when it was shown back in 1971. It starred a young gal named Monie Ellis, who didn’t have much of a career, and also starred Michael Burns. In fact, he shot this TV film right after we did our CBS pilot together, so we’d become fast friends and I remember him telling me how bad Gidget Gets Married was. He’s sweet in it, and Monie Ellis is okay but it is indeed very bad, just a typically bland, brightly lit TV movie of that era. And as much of a fan as I am of Mr. Paul Lynde, he is appallingly bad in this, pushing so hard, forced, and completely unfunny. Obviously he isn’t helped by the terrible writing, but still, had he not pushed so hard he might have had a chance. But, we do get Don Ameche and Macdonald Carey.
After that, I went to Gelson’s and got some chicken noodle soup (a small container, about a cup’s worth) and some melon balls. I have been on a real melon ball kick in the last three or four months. I like to get melon balls and kick them – it’s lots of fun, in fact, it’s a ball – a melon ball. No, actually I ate them and they were quite good. I got no writing done on liner notes, and that I have to do today. Here is another song from the Kritzer Time CD. This was actually the B-side of an Andy Williams 45 that I liked better than the A-side. Vocal, of course, is by Guy Haines, and the track realized by Grant Geissman.
Today, I shall do a jog, begin and finish a set of liner notes, lunch with Shelly Markham and Andrea Marcovicci, hopefully I’ll pick up some overdue packages, and then I’ll relax.
Tomorrow I have a lunch meeting, Friday I have a lunch meeting and a meeting with Lanny Meyers and the East Coast Singer, and then the weekend is recording the East Coast Singer’s new album. So, a very busy rest of the week with no days off until late next week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, write, have a lunch, hopefully pick up some packages, and 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 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 get down to brass tacks and aluminum pushpins and hopefully get a good night’s sleep in the key of Bb.