Well, dear readers, all the irritants of the previous day were gone yesterday and it was a perfectly fine day in every way and if I may that’s what I say and I give it an A. Speaking of A, what the HELL is Linkedin? For years now I’ve been adding hundreds upon hundreds of contacts in Linkedin because I keep getting hundreds upon hundreds of e-mails asking me to connect with this person or that person, some of whom I know, some of whom I’ve heard of, and some of who are completely unknown to me. The only time I go to that site is when I get an invitation to connect – I connect and then I leave. People have endorsed me but I don’t really know what that means. I’ve gotten some mail there, but only discovered it last evening – lots of mail I’d never answered, so I spent a couple of hours responding, again some I knew, some I didn’t. So, what exactly does one do if one visits Linkedin? Does one do updates? I notice there’s a place to type something but I have no idea what one is supposed to type in that box. What you’re doing? Like if I have a book signing or something? And then that shares with all your contacts or with everyone? I just don’t get it. Perhaps one of you lovely dear readers can explain it to me because right now Linkedin is a complete mystery to me – The Curious Case of Linkedin, by Agatha Christie. Why am I talking about Linkedin? Don’t I have notes to write? Wasn’t yesterday a lovely day? It was. In every way. I gave it an A if you were paying attention earlier.
I got up around nine – that’s always a positive, when one can actually get out of bed. It has become clear to me that despite the contractor’s endless resetting of the sprinkler system timer that it is not working at all and so I called the guy who’s always done that for me and he’s coming today and will get it working properly again because plants are on the verge of dying and that’s not good. I don’t think the sprinklers have gone on in over a week now. So, I’m going to have him set them for four days a week for a while just to get things back to normal. I didn’t really have time to jog before the early lunch meeting and I was feeling like I really needed a jogging break. So, I moseyed on over to the Eclectic Café for a very fun lunch meeting with producer Ed Gaynes and his lovely daughter Jessica Gaynes, who, when she was a teen, used to host a Nickelodeon show called Wild and Crazy Kids or something. We talked of many things, of cabbages and kings and also kings and cabbages. Ed runs two theaters in New York and we discussed a few potential projects, one of which was Lost and Unsung, the revue we did at LACC in late 2011. We’ll see what transpires, but I’m also trying to get him to help me figure out if we can bring the occasional Kritzerland show to New York. Otherwise, we just gabbed and dished whilst eating lovelier than lovely foodstuffs – I had a small Caesar salad, no bread and butter, and the Cajun chicken angel hair pasta thing.
After that, I came right back home to meet with the East Coast Singer. She had her lovely mom with her and we had a nice meeting and discussed next week’s recording session, the Ira Gershwin cabaret she’s doing in August (I’ll be going to Washington again for that, so I’m hoping some of you dear readers can come see it and have a meal), and the act that we’ll be doing that will be based on the album we’re about to record. That act will premiere here at Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal. Sandy will be here a lot and starting in February she’ll be here for months at a time in the house she and her husband have purchased and are currently fixing up.
After the meeting, I did some quick banking at the bank, then came back home. The day was pretty much done by that time, but I was really wanting to solve the recent slowness of the computer and the Internet, especially You Tube, which is just a joke for me right now, whether via Safari or Google Chrome. So I spent two hours on the phone with Apple, first with a regular tech, then with a senior tech – we did lots of the usual stuff – clearing things, trying new DNS addresses, reinstalling Flash player, updating Flash player, moving things to the trash, restarting the computer, trying the Internet as a different user – none of it really helping. In fact, it was pretty much a waste of two hours.
I then decided to do a short jog of a mile and a half, then it was too late to start watching anything, so I just did work on the computer. I must send out songs to singers today and a lot of what I did was in regards to that. I had several telephonic calls, too. And that was about it, but there was not even on irritant the entire day and evening and that was so nice. I also received news that a project we were hoping might happen this year won’t be, but that it’s definitely a strong, strong possibility for next year instead, which is fine by me – it’s something I really want to happen so I’m keeping hopes high because having high hopes is a good and positive thing. In fact, High Hopes was the first song on the CD we did for the second Benjamin Kritzer book, Kritzerland. I love this arrangement, which Grant Geissman and I did together. He realized the track and does all the background vocals whilst my friend Guy Haines sings. Here it is.
So, I’ve got High Hopes for this project that could happen next year. And the reasons it couldn’t happen this year were simple ones and easy to understand, so no one was trying to blow us off or anything.
Today, I have to get singers their mp3s and songs – I’m still assigning and choosing, but I think I can get two-thirds of the cast everything they need and the other third will get at least two of their three songs, so that can get them started. I’ll do a jog, hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, I’ll put gas in the motor car, and then I have a dinner with the Staitman clan – the kids are going off to camp for an entire month so this is our little send-off meal – we’ll have to go somewhere fun.
Tomorrow night I may go see a nightclub act if I can get someone to go with me. I might see a play that features Doug Haverty on Saturday night, and I might even go down to the Hollywood Show if I’m feeling like that might be fun to do – I know a lot of people who are doing it. Sunday I may be seeing something, too, just can’t remember what it might be. So, not exactly a restful weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, send singers their material, hopefully pick up some packages, and have a nice dinner. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your all-time favorite love song – the one you love more than any other, the one that speaks to you the most? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall try to solve The Curious Case of Linkedin. In this month in the year 2004 we began performances of a hastily assembled musical revue, most of which I wrote, entitled What If? It was a hit, received mostly wonderful reviews and audiences loved it. So, here is one of my favorite What Ifs from the show – What if Bock and Harnick, instead of writing Fiddler on the Roof had written A Chorus Line? And it goes something like this.