Well, dear readers, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas because Christmas is but days away and Santa and his elves are working around the clock before Santa and his reindeer begin their nocturnal journey. Speaking of a nocturnal journey, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up at six in the morning to announce the new Kritzerland release, the last release of 2013. And we are going out in high style, I must say, with an Elmer Bernstein classic, presented complete for the first time, in great sound – The Buccaneer, a big, sprawling epic directed by, of all people, Anthony Quinn, who was Mr. DeMille’s son-in-law. But DeMille had prepped the entire film and it has all his trademarks. It also has a wonderful Elmer Bernstein score, filled with incredible themes and wonderful music for all the film’s moods. The score was originally released on LP back in the day, and there have been several CD releases, all from the two-track album masters. For this release, we had the three-track first generation album masters and all of the original scoring session tapes. We have it all – the score proper, some Bernstein source music, and even some Bernstein piano demos of his themes, all adding up to over seventy-four glorious minutes of classic Elmer. Here’s the cover.
It will be live at Kritzerland at six in the morning California time and we don’t expect it to be around for long.
Yesterday was a relaxing day, with two little irritating things to deal with, which I dealt with as I saw fit. Other than those two things, I kind of just loafed around the house, had a quesadilla and a couple of taquitos for lunch, and then came home and did a few things on the computer, as well as have some telephonic conversations. I didn’t attend the matinee, which was sold out and I’m told went well. I organized a bunch of stuff, cleaned up and everything is now basically ready for the Christmas Eve Do. After all that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
In honor of making my famous spaghetti for the Christmas Eve Do, I decided to watch a spaghetti western. I do love many spaghetti westerns, especially those of Mr. Sergio Leone, who began them and was much imitated by just about everyone else. This one, called Death Rides a Horse, was made in 1968 and I’d never seen it. It stars Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law and I have to say it was quite a good spaghetti western, using the oft-used revenge plot. But it worked very well and the pace was terrific and the two leads played well together. The score was excellent, by the man who wrote the book on the spaghetti western score, Ennio Morricone. The new Blu and Ray from Germany is decent – not a lot of detail and certainly the color is a bit off, but I think this is the film’s first video release in its proper screen ratio, so it’s nice to have it. I then watched the first fifteen minutes of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, which I’ll finish tonight and then talk about.
After that, I just listened to music, played on the Internet, and had a couple of brief telephonic conversations.
Today, I shall be up at six to announce our new title, then the helper is coming to ship a LOT of CDs and catch up (she’s been gone for nine days), then I have several things to do in the morning, and a dealer is coming by to pick up some CDs. Then at two California time, I have a telephonic conference call with New York and I’m hoping that won’t take longer than thirty minutes. I’ll try to jog at some point, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, and then in the evening I will slice and dice such items as garlic, onions, and mushrooms, as well as make the tuna pasta salad. That way, all I have to do tomorrow is throw all the sliced and diced ingredients into the pot and begin cooking the famous spaghetti sauce.
Tomorrow is, of course, our annual Christmas Eve Do and I think it will be quite festive and we could end up with a lot more people than we usually have, although people don’t always arrive at the same time, and people come, people go, like Grand Hotel. I will, of course, have a full report and lots of photographic evidence of the Do. Christmas Day I’m going to attend Cissy Wechter’s party as I do every year. The day after Christmas I’m seeing the Darling Daughter, and then until Monday all days and evenings are ME day and evenings.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, announce a new title, ship CDs, hopefully pick up packages, jog, have a conference call, eat, slice and dice, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could have any gift in the world for Christmas, something for you personally and not for the good of mankind or the world, what would it be? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, safe in the knowledge that Santa and his elves are working around the clock.