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August 29, 2013:

THE SHERMAN BROTHER

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, sometimes I forget just how blessed my life is.  I forget this occasionally thanks to idiots who are bent on turning everything into a negative.  But then, I think of my friends, I think of the folks on this board, I think of the amazing people I work with, I think of the incredible projects I get to bring forth and then I remember just how blessed my life is and the morons take on no significance whatsoever and fade right into oblivion where they firmly belong.

Last night was just such a reminder of how blessed my life is.  I took along the helper and moseyed on over to the home environment of Mr. Richard M. Sherman and his ever-lovin’ Elizabeth.  I’ve known these wonderful people since 1997 and have been thrilled and happy to call them friends since then.  I met Richard because he was in a department store that happened to be playing the Sherman Brothers song, “Tell Him Everything” from The Slipper and the Rose – my recording sung by Susan Egan on my Cinderella album.  He was so taken with the track, the arrangement, the orchestration and Miss Egan that he sought out an employee, asking where they could find out what the CD was.  They were told that all the music that was played in the store was down in the basement.  So, down they went and there they found the CD itself – Richard saying specifically that he wanted to know who’d produced it.  They then went to their local Border’s to get the CD and while there Richard told the gal who was helping them that he would love to contact me.  The gal, Mara Bushansky, had recently been writing me fan letters and we became friendly, so she told them she could put us in touch.

The next thing I know, I got a call from Richard, who was just so friendly and warm and whose praise was so effusive (we’d recorded several Slipper and the Rose songs) that it took me aback.  We met a week or two later when he came to meet me at the Varese Sarabande offices.  Then some years later we did the Sherman Brothers album at another label, and that, of course, had a rather tepid and sad ending, with me not completing the production and the CD being mixed by a complete no talent jerk who not only used full early takes of vocals with no comping, but left off half the orchestra tracks, and then did the worst sequencing imaginable.  Richard and I commiserated over it – he’d been at the orchestra and vocal sessions, so he knew what it could have been.

Richard was thrilled when I reissued Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on CD, doing a kind of definitive presentation of the LP contents, grabbing some wonderful stuff from the film presentation, and putting on the kids’ album version and Richard’s demos.  And he and Elizabeth were early supporters of the Kritzerland shows, and early on we did a Sherman Brothers evening that was a complete sell out and a wonderful show.  When I needed a guest star for my Lost and Unsung revue, Richard was there to do it.  And he and Elizabeth have been frequent visitors to the Kritzerland shows and we’re about to do our first encore show ever, another Sherman Brothers evening in November.  Here is a recent photo of Richard and me taken at a recent Kritzerland show.

bk and richard

We’d been trying to do a dinner together ever since I’d raved about Genghis Cohen to them (Richard LOVES Chinese food).  So, last night was the night.  Their home is lovely and we spent about thirty minutes chatting before heading over to Genghis Cohen.  We ordered a lot of food – I ordered for the table, and we got Elizabeth, who has some food allergies, two dishes that she could eat. The food was magnificent and we all gobbled it up, while having the best time.  Richard and Elizabeth are both great storytellers and, of course, they have incredible stories to tell.  We laughed, we ate, the helper had a grand time, and it was just a wonderful meal.

After, we went back to their house and continued our wonderful evening for over two more hours.  It was a perfect evening, and I just love these two people immensely.  They’ll be coming to Sunday’s anniversary show and I have a little surprise for them at the end of the show, so I’m hoping they’ll get a kick out of it.  I’ve gotten to work with and know some of my favorite theater and film songwriters, but the two who I call true friends are Richard and Harvey Schmidt, simply two of the loveliest and most genuine people ever.

Prior to that, the day was hot.  I really wanted to sleep until eleven, which I would have done had the doorbell not gone off at 9:45 – some tree trimmer asking me if the car in front of my house was mine.  It wasn’t.  But thanks for waking me up anyway.  I did get just over eight hours of sleep but I really need one good night of about ten hours.  Once up, I answered e-mails, printed out orders, put up the sold out sign on Poltergeist II, and did some work on the computer.  I had some telephonic calls, and then the Darling Daughter came over after her second dentist appointment of the week.  When you love a child (not that she’s a child, but she is mine own), their pain is your pain and I feel bad that she has to go through all this, but I keep focusing on the end game and how happy she’ll be when it’s all done, which it should be by the end of September – she understands that and I’m just trying to keep her eye on the light at the end of the dental tunnel.  She spent about ninety minutes visiting, then she left so she could get on the freeway before the traffic madness.

I then did a three-mile jog, planked, and did thirty sit-ups.  After that, I caught up on more e-mails and then it was time to go to the Shermans.  All in all, a most wonderful day and evening.

Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep and woe to anyone who calls early or rings the doorbell.  I’ll have an early lunch, I’ll do a jog, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then it’s the second Kritzerland rehearsal that will take us into the early evening.  Then I’ll try to finish The Not-So-Great Gatsby and hope it gets better.

Tomorrow it is my intention to do nothing but relax.  I really need a day of not doing much – I’m sure I’ll do a few things here and there and maybe even there and here, but mostly it’s just a ME day.  Saturday morning at ten I see Teddy for a haircut.  Then we have our stumble-through, then food, then a late jog.  Sunday is an early jog, early sound check, early show, then our evening show and then Little Toni’s.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have an early lunch, hopefully pick up some packages, do a jog and then rehearse.  Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Sherman Brothers songs?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall get up and greet the day singing the title song from The Parent Trap, starring Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills.

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