Well, dear readers, it’s late, I got distracted, and now look what’s happened. These here notes should be up in one minute and yet I have just begun writing them. So, unless I want these notes to be like a one-minute egg, I’m afraid they will be going up a little late. Actually, I like the idea of these here notes being like a one-minute egg, but then I don’t really know what the HELL a one-minute egg is. I think it’s when you cook an egg for one minute – that would be my first guess. But then what do you do with a one-minute egg? Do you put it in one of those egg things, crack the shell and eat it with a spoon. I have a vague memory of my mother making such an egg and I have a vague memory of her putting such an egg in front of me and me quoting my grandfather by saying, “What is it, fish?” Why am I talking about a one-minute egg? Is there such a thing as a one-minute and twenty-second egg? Or a two-minute egg? Is a two-minute egg a hard-boiled egg or is that more minutes, egg-wise? These are the questions that are roaming around the windmills of my mind.
Well, that was a perfect waste of a paragraph, wasn’t it? But when you’ve got a one-minute egg on your mind, you simply must write about it or obsession sets in and that’s never a good thing. In any case, yesterday was a fascinating day. I got up after nine glorious hours of sleep. That was fascinating. We shipped out a lot of CDs. Then I had the first of several long telephonic conversations with the mastering guy about the project we’re announcing on Monday. The discussions were all about the sound and what we didn’t care for about the three previous CD releases, most especially the last one, which was the longest and yet still not complete. The discussions were very detailed and we’d both come to the exact same conclusions. He then did a test of one of the louder tracks with orchestra and choir, and the difference in clarity and dynamics was like night and day. The last CD release was mastered so hot it was actually fatiguing to listen to, which is why I think the score is not held in higher regard. It was basically slammed, mastering-wise – in the red, verging on distortion, stripped of all its dynamics. Imagine someone screaming in your ear at the top of their lungs for thirty minutes.
So, he’s firmly ensconced in finishing the new version and I can’t wait to hear it, which should be tomorrow at the latest. Print is already being done and so once we have the finished master things will move apace. I also got two other projects approved yesterday, so that print is now at the printers and we’ll probably have those two titles in stock by the time we announce – what a concept. It doesn’t happen often, but I like when it does. After the first long telephonic call, I went and had a quesadilla. Then I did some banking, picked up a couple of packages, then came home. I had the second long telephonic call, then did a three-mile jog. Then I began to worry about the running time of our new release. I had six bonus tracks on there and hadn’t actually timed it out – the score itself runs around sixty-five minutes and change, I think. So, I finally added up the times of the bonus tracks and it was too long. I knew the print had already gone in, but I ascertained that it hadn’t gone on the press yet.
So, at first I decided to remove three of the bonus tracks but even that put us around seventy-nine minutes, at least as an approximation and that just made me way too nervous. I then made the decision to just make it a two CD set so I didn’t have to worry – CD 1, the score, CD 2 the bonus material. That also enabled me to not only have the six tracks I had, but an additional few tracks – that CD will be short, but it’s the only way to do it – it will probably run around twenty-five to thirty minutes.
That took up a lot of my afternoon, that and a third long telephonic call. I knew watching a motion picture wasn’t in the cards, so I went and did a three-mile jog, planked and did thirty sit-ups. I made some popcorn as my evening snack – even with some butter on it, I still think I was at my 1200 calories, and even if I went a teeny bit over that doesn’t really matter at this point.
I did end up watching the first thirty minutes of a Blu and Ray from Germany entitled A Foreign Affair, a film of Billy Wilder starring Jean Arthur, John Lund, and Marlene Dietrich. It’s very enjoyable. After that, I finished the fourth set of liner notes and got those on their merry way to the fellow who proofs all the liner notes for Paramount projects. So, hopefully we can complete that packaging and get it into Paramount for approval next week at some point. And that was my day and that was my night.
Today, I have either a late breakfast meeting or an early lunch meeting, I’ll do a jog, I have a two o’clock meeting, I have to return tapes to the MGM vault – I always say the same line when I return tapes to the vault – “Oy, the vault.” Since there are no Jews working there they just look at me as if I was a piece of whitefish. Hopefully I’ll pick up some packages and then glory be I can just relax, knowing there are no more liner notes to write for at least a couple of weeks.
Tomorrow I’m not sure what the HELL is going on – but hopefully I’ll hear our new master and approve it, I’ll do the blurb and prep the eBlast for Monday’s announcement. Not sure what the weekend holds in store, but I’m sure there will be meals, I may be seeing a show on Saturday night, if I’m remembering correctly, and then next week is the Kritzerland rehearsal week and so very busy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a morning meeting, do a jog, return tapes and say, “Oy, the vault,” I must have a second meeting, I must hopefully pick up some packages, and I must relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Marlene Dietrich movies and your favorite Billy Wilder movies? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall ponder the meaning of the one-minute egg.