Well, dear readers, where has this month gone? March is flying by, like a gazelle flirting with a gnu. Have you ever seen a gazelle flirting with a gnu? It’s very endearing – first the gazelle does a mournful rendition of What’s Gnu and then it does a mating dance by combining the Wah-Watusi with the Lambada (The Forbidden Dance). It’s really something to hear and see, not necessarily in that order. What the HELL am I talking about? Don’t I have to write these here notes in a hurry because she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon? I do and I shall.
Yesterday, I finally got a really good night’s sleep – didn’t get out of bed until ten-thirty. I answered e-mails and did some work on the computer, as well as had several long telephonic calls. Then I had a visit from a friend, after which I went to the Coral Café and met David Wechter for lunch. We had a lovelier than lovely lunch – he, pea soup and a half a turkey sandwich, me, a chicken salad sandwich and cole slaw – and we had fun catching up. After that, I had to go directly to the engineer’s house to begin another five-hour mixing session.
Yes, it was another grueling, frustrating, but also rewarding mixing session and we got through all of the first session’s songs, which means we’re well over halfway through now. We were able to once again save several problematic band things through careful mixing and fixing. The vocals are really sounding good and that’s the most important thing, of course. It’s quite a different sound than the original RCA album, which I’ve never liked – but they had double the musicians for that album (we have the show band – seven pieces), so it’s much harder to get smooth out of one trumpet, one trombone and one reed than it is when those forces are beefed up for a recording. But I’d always rather be true to the show’s original sound, frankly, and that we’re doing. Of the first day’s material, I’d say we really don’t have to do all that much in our pick-up session – maybe about forty minutes’ worth of very small fixes for the horns. But the bigger stuff we have to address is all from the second day, and mostly the stuff without singers, like the Shoes dance (nine terrifying minutes) and the entr’acte and the bows music. The horns on those will all, most likely, have to be completely redone. I’m hoping that the stuff with the singers from the second day will be able to be fixed like the first day’s stuff, with only a handful of small fixes on the pick-up day, but I simply won’t know that until we finish, which will be by mid-week. But so far, I’m not only happy with what we’ve done, I’m amazed we’ve been able to do it.
After that, I stopped at Gelson’s and got a small thing of their crab bisque soup and then came home and ate it, whilst catching up with stuff on the computer. I also began writing the commentary for the next Kritzerland show, which I’d like to finish this weekend. Another interesting thing about yesterday – I had a little allergy attack – first time in a really long time.
Today, I shall be up early and I really am going to try and jog. Then I’ll eat an early lunch, then Grant is coming over to sign the limitation thing and to figure out how to solve the Red Gold eBook problem – it’s currently been pulled from various sites until we figure out how to fix it. Grant thinks he knows what’s happened and he thinks he has a way to make it work more properly. I did notice that on my other eBooks the font is different, the chapter heading font is different and the spacing is occasionally weird. So, I’m hoping what Grant is proposing will work, because then the book will be exactly what he designed when it’s on a device. We shall see. After that, I’ll do some errands, continue writing the commentary and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll finish writing the commentary, I’ll get our next release prepped for announcement, and then I’m going to the opening night of a Noel Coward play at the Pasadena Playhouse. Monday I have a work session for the Kritzerland show, a meeting with our Li’l Abner set designer, and Monday night I may be back mixing, Tuesday is a Sandy and Lanny work session, and that’s pretty much what’s happening for the rest of the week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, have Grant sign, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite card games, from childhood to now? What was the first card game you learned, and do you still play? It seems card games have gone the way of the dodo bird – I used to love to play gin and poker, never played Hearts or Pinochle. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall, like the gazelle, flirt with a gnu.