Well, dear readers, the Sandy Bainum mixes are finalized, save for one tiny little fix in one tiny little song that will get done today. Lanny Meyers and I had a load of fun listening to the mixes – on occasion I had a little nit to pick and on occasion so did he. Sometimes we’d do the nitpick and it was fine, and sometimes we decided to leave well enough alone. But there were two little things – one that bugged me and one that bugged Lanny, and while the solution was the same for both, neither of us thought of it for the second thing. The first thing was one of the ballads, for which Lanny wrote a beautiful descending cello line at the end. It was played beautifully save for one really pitchy note on the way down. But before we’d gotten to the studio I knew the answer, which was to grab that cello line from a previous unused take. We always record everything once the band starts playing stuff down and John Adams has all of it on the computer, which has saved us any number of times. So, he was able to grab the cello line from the previous take and now that moment is luscious and perfect. The second thing was in my song – Lanny’s chart is so simple and beautiful I’m incredibly moved by it every time I hear it. There was one bar where he asked “Where’s the harp” because during most of the first verse it’s only guitar, harp and bass having an interplay – but for one bar the harp wasn’t there and it did seem a bit empty. Then John played us the reason he’d taken the harp out for that one bar – there was a terrible noise on the track at that bar, like someone had dropped something, so John had nuked it and rightfully so. But for whatever reason, it never occurred to any of us, despite the fact that we’d JUST replaced the cello line, to go search for that bar of harp in a previous take, of which I know there was at least one, if not two. So, I wrote John an e-mail after I got home, and he’ll go searching for it and if it’s possible, drop it in where it belongs and then that will be that.
I think Lanny was very pleased with what he heard, and I think he was happy with the little tiny things we were able to address for him. He was most pleased with Sandy’s vocals, which really do sound great. The whole thing only took three hours, then John stayed and printed all the mixes, which will now be put on Dropbox so Sandy can hear how good all this came out, and the mastering guy can retrieve them. And because I know everyone has been following this saga from the beginning, I may put up one little sneak preview track tomorrow or the next day, just so you can hear what we’ve been up to.
We did have our beloved Astroburger – both Lanny and John had veggie burgers and I had the bacon cheeseburger and zucchini fries, all yummilicious. After I came home I was pretty exhausted but did begin a new set of liner notes. I did a three-mile jog, some planking, and twenty-five sit-ups and then sat on my couch like so much exhausted fish.
Last night, I finished watching a Blu and Ray entitled Love Me Tender, starring Mr. Elvis Presley, Mr. Richard Egan, Miss Debra Paget, Miss Mildred Dunnock and a lot of good young actors. Aside from the fact that I just don’t get Civil War films, this was quite a nice little programmer. It’s paced very well, we get Mr. Presley singing some songs, which are a little anachronistically performed but terrific. And he’s not a bad actor in this, his first film. Richard Egan comes off best in this film – I’ve always enjoyed his performances and he had a healthy, long career, although mostly in TV after the 1960s. I used to see Mr. Egan near Muscle Beach all the time when I was a wee bairn. I’d recognized him immediately from seeing him in movies – he’d just hang out, sitting on a wall at the back of the beach, looking tan and fit in his bathing attire. The transfer of Love Me Tender is really nice.
I then watched one of the new Twilight Time releases, Stuart Cooper’s film of The Disappearance. I wrote about it not too long ago because I’d seen a DVD of it for various reasons, and I helped Nick Redman by providing my house to shoot a little interview with Mr. Cooper. So, as you may remember, this is the kind of film of which I’m very fond – a mood piece, elliptical, odd, off-center, but well acted, well directed, and beautifully shot by cameraman John Alcott (who did Barry Lyndon and The Shining for Kubrick). It also has a splendid score by Robert Farnon, mostly based around the Ravel Piano Concerto in G, one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. There were several cuts of the film – included here is the hi-def cut, which differs very slightly from the director’s first cut, which is also included but in standard definition. And then there was the horridly recut and rescored version that played for only a few days in the United States – that abomination was perpetrated by the exact same hacks who would hack away at my second film, The Creature Wasn’t Nice. There’s a little of that version and believe me, a little goes a long way. But the best news here is the transfer – an absolute stunner and simply gorgeous in terms of color, contrast, and detail. If you like something off the beaten track, I recommend this highly.
Today, I shall either do a jog in the morning or eat an early lunch, prior to my work session at one with John Boswell, the musical director of the anniversary show. Not sure which I’ll do yet – we’ll have to see how I feel in the morning. After the work session I’ll do whichever I didn’t do, and then I’ll finish the set of liner notes I’ve begun and then move directly to the next set of liner notes. I still can’t remember if something is going on in the afternoon and evening, but unless someone sends me a reminder, I’ll just relax at some point – and hopefully I’ll pick up some packages. The rest of the week is liner notes, meetings and meals, seeing a few things, doing a heap o’ errands and whatnot, prepping out new release, whichever it may end up being, and maybe, just maybe, getting a tiny bit of relaxation in.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog or eat an early lunch, have a work session, do a jog or have a late lunch, write, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Elvis films and songs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I will be up and at ‘em, not necessarily in that order.