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October 16, 2013:

BULLET POINTS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am still staring at a song list, still trying to make sense of it, still trying to find something to hold onto, and still only coming up with little ideas here and there.  The good news is we are indeed a cast of five, so that helps immeasurably.  I had a lovelier than lovely lunch with two of our cast members yesterday, one of whom I hadn’t met and who I liked instantly.  He’s African-American, has a great look (kind of like Sammy Davis, Jr., actually, which is very appropriate to this show) and he has great energy.  We had a lot of fun and even as I talked to them I got more ideas just based on their personalities.  I think that will happen throughout rehearsal as I get to know everyone better and can incorporate personal strengths into the structure of the show.  They both loved my ideas for the opening and closings of acts one and two, and I told them a few other ideas that they also thought sounded like fun.  So, I’ve now met the cast, and my plan is to have a meet and greet sometime on Sunday so we can all get to know each other more before we start rehearsing on Monday.  I suggested Genghis Cohen and that’s probably what we’ll do.

The rest of yesterday was both fine and frustrating, but any day that has fine in it is fine by me and the frustrating stuff can go take a flying leap.  I was up by nine, answered e-mails and then had a nice visit with Terry Trotter, who dropped off something he wants me to read.  I then stared at the song list for a while, then got ready to have the lunch mentioned above, which was at Mo’s in the Bank of Bur.  I had the seared salmon and some green beans, so an extremely low-calorie meal.  I then went to pick up packages but thanks to Ontrac they were not there, so I came back home.  I had more e-mails to answer and I stared at the song list as well as adding about four more song possibilities (whether in whole or part) and some notes from the lunch meeting.  I had several long telephonic conversations about various and sundried items, then decided not to jog since my back was a little sore – it’s better now so I’m glad I didn’t push it.  Ontrac didn’t arrive at the mail place until five-thirty – I called them again and complained that we’re always this guy’s last stop.  It doesn’t do any good.  I picked up the packages and then came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Star Trek Into Darkness, this year’s Star Trek film.  I know everyone loved the first of this J.J. Abrams take on Star Trek, but I wasn’t one of them.  I found that first film sort of fun on some small level because of the cast, but basically it was just another loud blockbuster that held little allure for me.  This new one is, for me, much worse – moviemaking by bullet points.  That’s literally what it seems like.  Bullet point one: Pre-credits sequence – someone in danger and ready to die, but is saved after the action-packed prologue – emotional scene into credits.  Bullet point two – witty banter between beloved characters for a couple of pages.  Bullet point three: Introduce completely irrelevant characters and their plight just so you can introduce the villain.  We will never return to the irrelevant characters and their plight.  And it’s like that for the duration – a scene of gooey emotion for a page or two, followed immediately by something going wrong with the Enterprise and everything is on the verge of catastrophe until it’s not, followed by some banter followed by another catastrophe that turns out okay, ad nauseum right up to the ending.  It’s the same three beats over and over and over again and it’s mind numbing after a while.  I do like some of the actors but I just cannot stomach the “filmmaking” of J.J. Abrams, which consists of his signature and endless lens flares, which are so irritating after a while that you want to throw your shoe at the screen.  I believe they’re all put in in postproduction, or most of them are.  The wall-to-wall music is also mind numbing, big action cue followed by mournful piano and strings.  It’s all paint by numbers and 130 minutes of it.  It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but by the time the second major character is thought dead, I’d had it.  It was nice to see Leonard Nimoy’s cameo.  The transfer is perfect and the sound robust.

After the movie, it was more telephonic calls, more staring at the song list, and I also got almost all the sheet music we’ll need thus far, so as I assign songs I’ll begin sending that to our cast members.  I also thought about Muse Margaret’s musings on my next novel, but have been unable to come up with a better name for the title character (IF I end up using his name as the title).  I’m sure that one fine day it will come to me, but I still kind of like the original name I came up with – although I do understand her trepidation about it both as name and title.

Today, I have a noon lunch with Adryan Russ, who’ll be assisting me on the revue – we’ll be at Mo’s so I’m sure I’ll just do my salmon thing again, but without doing what I did after yesterday’s salmon thing, which was drive to K’s Donuts and buy a chocolate peanut butter thing and a chocolate whipped cream-filled thing.  They’re not huge – basically the size of a normal donut thing, but I just had the craving and other than the two donuts all I ate all day was the extremely low-calorie salmon and green beans.  But today I shall just do the salmon and green beans, I’ll definitely jog, and I’ll have a snack later in the day.  Hopefully I’ll pick up packages, and I’ll begin starting to rough out a show order for the revue, even if it’s terrible it will put me on that road and then I can just keep cutting and pasting until a structure that seems right presents itself to me.  I’ll try to watch a motion picture in the late afternoon, because I then have an eight-thirty meeting at the theater with a set and lighting person.

Tomorrow, I meet with the musical director of the revue and we’ll just sit and go over things and talk about the structure of the show and maybe even play through some stuff.  That will all be very helpful.  Friday, I think I have to see a show, Saturday I’m not sure what’s happening other than I’ll be working many hours on the revue and then Sunday we’ll have our meet and greet and Monday we begin.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, have a lunch meeting, hopefully pick up packages, start to choose the song order for act one, watch a movie, and then have a meeting in the evening.  Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like.  So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream in bullet points.

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