Well, dear readers, I am back from a birthday bash at The Federal – Michael Sterling threw himself a lovely soiree and the jernt wa packed and jumping with friends and colleagues. I got there around six and was actually taken upstairs first, a perk, I suppose, of doing a regular show every month. I love when that happens. Jenna Lea Rosen’s mum was there and we were sitting together at a very nice table next to where the twelve performers were seated. When I got there, Jenna was the only performer there, so I went backstage and gave her a hug. The place was filled with nice folks, many of whom I knew, including the Kranz family (they’re the folks for whom I’m producing the And the World Goes Round CD), recent Kritzerland alum Joshua Finkel, and several others, and then, of course, all the performers I know, including Jason Graae, David Burnham and Joan Ryan. Of course, I had the artichoke as my little food dish.
The fun of the evening was just hanging out and yakking. The show was also fun – not all of it landed, but that wasn’t really the point so there’s no real need to nitpick anything other than to say the only thing that truly irritated me was the evening’s pianist, who, for whatever reasons, was not prepared with Jenna’s number. She came in at the last minute as a favor to recreate her show-stopping Dear Mr. Gershwin number, which was arranged to within an inch of its life. We got this fellow John Boswell’s chart, which has clear markings all over it. We also gave him the link to the video of Jenna doing it. All he had to do was watch, listen, make notes and then just play it the way it should be played – what you don’t do is leave a performer, especially a teenage performer, hanging out to dry. His tempo was too fast, he played it weird, missed chords, and then, in the all-important tap section, missed every downbeat and every accent – tap is all about downbeats and accents and poor Jenna had none. But the good news about Jenna is that she is a total pro and she got herself through it unscathed just through sheer force of personality. It didn’t land the way it did at our show because she didn’t have the support of a John Boswell, but she still got a huge applause. I know she didn’t feel great about it, but really she did everything she could and deserves major kudos for doing so and the only reason I’m going on about it is because it didn’t have to be that way and because I’ve got Jenna’s back. There were other weird piano things during the evening, but nothing as egregious, so that was good.
David Burnham did a nice job, and so did Nita Whitaker and Terri White, and Joan Ryan did one of her signature numbers. But as usual, the performance that truly killed belonged to Jason Graae. He did some number from The Book of Mormon, but changed the lyrics to be specific about the birthday party – it was very funny and Jason is just at the top of his game these days.
Prior to the birthday bash, I’d had a pleasant little Sunday. I slept until eleven (eight and a half hours), then puttered around the home environment, then I went and had some bacon and eggs, toast and tomatoes, just to tide me over until the party (at that point I was planning on having something bigger at The Federal). I had a little low-fat, low-cal ice cream, then relaxed for a bit before doing a three-mile jog. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched the first hour of a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, starring Mr. Richard Burton, Miss Claire Bloom and others. As I watched the opening of the film I just thought about how it’s one of my favorite openings in a film. After the first ten minutes I also realized that that’s all I’ve ever seen – I’ve never actually watched the rest. I missed it when it came out, and I’ve owned it on every home video format and always watch and love the opening and apparently have never gone beyond it, since I had no idea Cyril Cusack was in it. So far, I am absolutely loving this movie – beautifully shot and directed, performances so great and so unlike the somnambulistic mutterings of today’s actors, who all think they’re so real and so brilliant. And the score by Sol Kaplan is quite wonderful. I’m really looking forward to finishing it. My Samsung blu and ray player is about to give up the ghost. It is having trouble playing every disc and it took me thirty minutes to be able to get past the opening six seconds – once past, it played fine. So, I need a new player as my multi-region player is set for other regions and I don’t really want to change that. Thankfully, players are incredibly cheap and this Samsung is now almost five years old (hard to believe).
After the party, I stopped at Gelson’s, as I hadn’t really eaten enough, and I got some Chinese slaw and a tiny bit of mac-and-cheese for a snack.
Today, I shall be up no later than nine-thirty and then we ship out CDs. I have an eleven-thirty lunch with our very own Mr. Nick Redman in the West of Wood, and I may or may not have a meeting after that – I have to wait for that telephonic call. After lunch, which will be VERY light, I shall stop at Stan’s Donuts and get two donuts to feast on, just because I need that treat. When I get back to the Valley, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then I have to make a show order and start writing the contextual commentary so I can get that done and out of the way.
The rest of the week is filled with meetings and meals and writing and going and doing and prepping our next release – I have three choices – first time in Kritzerland history – and I’m trying to figure out which would be best to go with. There’s another label releasing two titles on the day we announce, so that’s always a concern. We shall see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a lunch meeting, get two donuts from Stan’s Donuts, hopefully pick up some packages, jog, write, and finish watching a motion picture. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Richard Burton? And what are your favorite spy films? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall have plenty of downbeats and accents.