Well, dear readers, this week has flown by, like a gazelle recounting the story of The Randy Vicar and the Button Hook. I feel there’s been a dearth of Randy Vicar stories here at haineshisway.com, don’t you? In any case, it’s Friday already and already it’s Friday. I feel Friday should be photograph day or, to keep it alliterative, fotograph day. I have some photographs to share and share them I shall. These were taken at the Sandy Bainum recording sessions by photographer Michael Lamont (who is the ever-lovin’ of Kay Cole). First we have a view of our thirty-four piece orchestra – obviously it’s hard to see the drummer, who’s way in the back, and the bass player, who’s behind a baffle (same with the guitar player), and the harp player, who’s just out of sight over on the right. But it will give you an idea and that’s Lanny Meyers at the podium.
Isn’t that a photograph? Then we’ve got this here photograph of my very own self, the producer of the album. I really don’t like looking at photos of me anymore, and I’ve lost an additional five pounds since this was taken, although the pants I’m wearing are size 33 and very comfortable to wear – but this photo pleased me very much, so kudos to Mr. Lamont.
Isn’t that a normal photograph? This next photograph is the East Coast Singer – Sandy Bainum, with her producer. I don’t mind this one either, but one always looks better when there’s a beautiful blonde in the picture.
Isn’t that a photograph? And then we have this one featuring Lanny Meyers and Sandy. Two blondes in a control booth – neither of whom actually have control, since I retain that (insert smiley here).
Finally, we have a lovely group photograph of a group – this group, left to right, features Lanny Meyers, our engineer, John Adams, the producer, and Sandy. It’s a motley crew but we’re a lot of fun, especially after eating Astro Burger.
And that concludes the photographic part of these here notes. Yesterday was a weird little day – in fact, this has been a weird little week for weird little reasons. I got eight hours of sleep, got up, did some stuff on the computer, and then did an early three-mile jog, since I had a lunch meeting. I wrote the blurb for our upcoming CD announcement so that’s out of the way. I had a few telephonic conversations and then it was time for the lunch meeting. Since there were no packages to pick up, I drove straight to the restaurant, which is located in the Bank of Bur – called Tony’s Bella Vista. I’ve eaten there before with dear reader Sam and her daughter, who I used to know. I walked in and the people I was meeting were not there. Strange, I thought. So, I checked the e-mail on my phone and while our lunch meeting was definitely for Thursday it was for NEXT Thursday, clearly written in the e-mail. Senile much? Since I was there, I had some mostaccioli and meatballs. Portion wasn’t huge, so I think that was fine.
After that, I came back home, did some more stuff on the computer, then listened to our new master, which sounded really great, better than I was expecting. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled At Long Last Love, a film of Peter Bogdanovich, starring Burt Reynolds, Cybil Sheppard, Madeline Kahn, Duilio del Prete, Eileen Brennan and John Hillerman. Now, if you love this motion picture you can just skip ahead past this paragraph. I saw At Long Last Love on its opening day. We were in pre-production for The First Nudie Musical (At Long Last Love opened in March and we began shooting in May) and the co-director and I went because we wanted to see how it was, to see if we had huge competition from another musical film, not that the two were or are alike in any way, shape or form. Within the first ten minutes I knew we had no competition whatsoever, and that feeling only got stronger with each passing minute. I somehow made it to the end. I found it charmless, without point, with a terrible screenplay and characters that weren’t interesting. There were a handful of okay moments, and I like Cybil Sheppard and I thought she was fine, both singing and acting. But the film itself was an ego-ridden thing, made by a cocky filmmaker who thought he could do no wrong. The film looked great – great photography, great sets, great costumes – they just forgot the movie. Of course, you can’t beat those Cole Porter songs, but as delivered by Mr. Reynolds and Duilio del Prete (where did this man come from to be given the starring role in a big Hollywood film), they are just sub-par. The arrangements are fine, but the live singing did no one any favors.
The film was a complete and total disaster with most critics and certainly with audiences, who stayed away in droves. It was funny to see the ads as the studio desperately tried to sell the film – it began with however many Porter songs there were, say “Hear 18 great Cole Porter songs!” – shortly after opening it was something like “Hear 12 great Cole Porter songs” and I believe it went down even further from there. They cut the film, but it didn’t matter – it was DOA. And it was forgotten. Completely. Until the usual happened – people who hadn’t even seen it began acting like it was some undiscovered gem. And a very vocal minority who had seen it suddenly thought it a masterpiece. It happens with almost every film flop, but especially with musicals. I don’t believe the film ever had a home video release and so that actually helped its mystique. Bogdanovich rarely talked about it and who can blame him. It’s one of those films where all the actors and the director are just having such fun that they forget the rudimentary needs of storytelling. Even the fluffiest of the fluffy Astaire/Rogers films have characters you can actually like and believe in.
At some point in recent years, someone at Fox did a re-edit of the film – Bogdanovich didn’t even know about it, but it began showing up on cable and Bogdanovich began hearing from people that the film was really good and that they didn’t understand the bad reputation. This fan edit was then seen by Bogdanovich and he thought it was better than his own cut and that it immensely helped the film. So, I was looking forward to seeing this new edit and how it turned the lousy movie I saw in 1975 into a masterpiece. Well, it didn’t. It’s the same movie with some stuff moved around. It’s not any better – the characters are still nothing, the performances of the musical numbers, save for Miss Sheppard and Miss Kahn, are mediocre, and the “humor” is so forced that it boggles the mind that Bogdanovich actually made some good movies prior to this. It was still charmless, a leaden soufflé that never rises beyond flat. It still looks great, though, and the transfer is terrific. If you’re fascinated by films such as these, try it – you might like it. For me, it was, as it was back on opening day in 1975, sheer torture.
After the sheer torture, I couldn’t watch anything else so I just did stuff on the computer and that was that.
Tomorrow, I shall relax during the day, do a jog, hopefully pick up some packages, and then Barry Pearl and I are going to see Shrek, The Musical. We’ll dine before the show, probably in the good Eyetalian jernt around the corner from the theater. I will, of course, have a full report.
Saturday, I’ll do an early jog, then I’m going to the book fair in the Dena of Pasa. I’ll probably have a meal with some dealer pals afterwards. I’m not sure I’ll hang out there, I’ll probably come back if we’re doing the dinner thing. I really only last about two hours max at these things, before my eyes get bleary and I get bored. Sunday, I’m going to see the helper in a musical in Beverly Hills. I think she and her mother and I are brunching prior to the show. Then I have a birthday thing to go to afterwards, presuming I get really easy to understand directions.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, hopefully pick up some packages, relax, and then sup and see Shrek, The Musical. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, Milhaud and Hanson. Blu and Ray, Harlow and God’s Little Acre. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after having a nice Photographic Friday.