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April 2, 2014:

MEET AND GREET

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, we had our little meet and greet for Li’l Abner and it was really fun.  Barry Pearl’s ever-lovin’ Cindy Dellinger made cupcakes for everyone, which were a big hit.  We had our full cast with us, plus Kay Cole.  I spoke just a tiny bit, telling them all we’d have fun and that all I ever expect from people is good energy and hard work and to be on time.  I had everyone stand and say their name and who they were playing and as they did, I thought I’d done a pretty good job of casting in the blind, as I don’t know any of the LACC kids’ work outside of the short audition we did.  I also took some photographs so we could have our own meet and greet right here at haineshisway.com, so, here we go.  Left to right in the photo below are our guest artists: Sami Staitman (young Zsa Zsa), John Massey (Marryin’ Sam), Maddy Claire Parks (Daisy Mae), Evan Buckley Harris (Abner Yokum) and Barry Pearl (General Bullmoose.

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In the next photo, meet Moira McFadden, who came to me asking if I’d consider letting her play Evil Eye Fleagle – I thought that not only was that an inspired idea, but that I’d get credit for a brilliant casting decision.

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Next we have our Pappy and Mammy Yokum, Jai Pellerin (hard to see in the photo, but he already has the moustache and goatee) and Maureen McFadden (and yes, she’s the twin sister of Moira).

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Here’s Kristian Rasmussen, who’ll be playing Earthquake McGoon.

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And finally we have Mark Beatty (Mayor Dawgmeat), Emily Barnett (Moonbeam McSwine) and Riley Dandy (Appassionata Von Climax).

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Of course, I’ll be posting more cast photos as we begin rehearsals – my intention is to document the production in photos for you dear readers.

Prior to that, I was up at nine thanks to my insane neighbors, who now regularly come out to their yard precisely at nine, yammer away pointlessly for fifteen minutes, after which they retreat inside never to be heard from again for the entirety of the day and evening.  It’s so irritating.  Once I actually got out of bed, I had to have several telephonic conversations for Kritzerland stuff, then I answered a slew of e-mails, acted Foolishly for April Fools’ Day, picked up a couple of packages, got ready for the meet and greet, and then Kay came over and we drove together.

After the meet and greet, Kay and I, along with Sami and her mom, Barry, Maddy, Evan and John all went to the House of Pies for a bite to eat.  I hadn’t eaten anything.  Now, you must understand that the pies are great, but the food has always been a disappointment.  But something has clearly changed in the last year because what I had was superb.  I was contemplating just having a breakfast and when I saw on the menu that they make their own fresh pancake batter all day long, I asked our waiter if the pancakes were as good as they sound and he said someone had just had them and raved they were the best pancakes they’d ever had.  Doubtful, I ordered a two-pancake short stack and Eggs Benedict, expecting both to be mediocre.  The pancakes arrived first, and I had to admit they did look really good.  I slathered them with butter and then dumped a lot of maple syrup on them and took a bite.  The thrill that one used to have eating pancakes at Du-Par’s (but haven’t had for the last three years) was back and I have to say, they were actually better tasting than Du-Par’s at their best.  That was a very pleasant surprise and I wolfed down both pancakes and finished just as the Eggs Benedict arrived.  And they were great, too, with perfect hollandaise.  I’m hooked, and I’m sure we’ll be going there a lot during rehearsals.  I was tempted to go back this evening, frankly.

After that, I came home, Kay went on her merry way and answered e-mails and stuff.  We’d also gotten all the Red Gold books shipped out in the morning, so that was a load off.  I also had a wonderfully warm e-mail from David Wechter, who finished Red Gold and really enjoyed it and enjoyed it for all the reasons I want people to enjoy it – the feel, the characters, and the plot.  He was very detailed about it and it’s just what I needed to hear and it made my night.  Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night I watched a documentary on Netflix entitled Twenty Feet from Stardom, about back-up singers.  I’d heard nothing but raves about it, and I quite liked it, but didn’t quite love it.  I felt it got repetitious, which is always the danger with these kinds of documentaries, and my attention started to wane after an hour, but the final ten minutes was quite affecting – it’s well worth a viewing.  I then watched the first hour of a two-hour American Masters on Johnny Carson – beautifully done and I’m just loving every minute of it.  I’ll finish that this evening.

Today, I shall be up by nine (and I guarantee you this will be the first morning they DON’T come outside to yammer – mark my words), and then on my way to a ten o’clock meeting at a theater in North Hollywood.  After that, I’ll drive over to Mystery and Imagination Books and bring them their copies of Red Gold.  After that, I have to spend the rest of the day finishing an edit road map for a Kritzerland project that I began doing over seven months ago – time to get this sucker done.  I’m sure I’ll eat something at some point, and hopefully I’ll pick up some packages.

Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, Friday I’m trying to keep free, Saturday is our stumble-through and then dinner with the Jones clan, then Sunday is our sound check and show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a meeting, deliver books, eat, hopefully pick up packages and finish an edit road map.  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, happy that we had our fun meet and greet.

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