Well, dear readers, I am missing Li’l Abner terribly, I must say. It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week since we opened. I’m hoping we can bring it back somewhere this year, but who knows. And I think said missing it was partly responsible for what turned out to be a weird little day yesterday. I was up too early at nine. That was weird. Then I had a telephonic call with Sandy Bainum regarding the show at The Federal in mid-June, which we’ll be rehearsing the week prior, and the recording of her new album, which was meant to be the last week of July. More about that in a bit.
But I spent most of the morning talking to two people and revising the e-mail letter I’ll be sending come Monday. But every time I do that it just makes me sick to my stomach and feels negative, which almost makes me just want to leave it all alone and move on. But part of me feels I am really due apologies from several people and that’s what the letter is about. The two folks I talked to were very helpful in terms of suggestions and editing. The first pass was very me – at times laugh-out-loud funny and caustic and at times emotional and at times with attitude. We took all of that out. I reworded several paragraphs and kept everything calm and on point and really clear. I do believe that’s the best way to go. One of the folks who was helping also gave me the number of an ace human rights lawyer, and hopefully I’ll be talking to her today at some point, just to get a clear idea of what to expect once I send the letter and what to do should I not receive my apologies in the time expected (within a week). So, I’m sure that conversation will be, at the very least, interesting.
I went out to eat and had a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with no fries or onion rings, then came right back home to do more revising of the letter. By about two o’clock all concerned felt it was well written and to the point and stuck to the issues at hand.
Then I started some liner notes for what we hope will be our next release. It’s probably going to be one of our best releases ever in terms of what the film is and the fact that the original tracks from it have never been released in any form. I’m trying to get it done and in for approval by Friday. We shall see. At some point, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Two Rode Together, a film of John Ford, starring James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones and Linda Cristal. I know that the Ford party line is this isn’t top-notch Ford. Since I don’t subscribe to any party line, it’s one of my favorites of his films. I’m not a Ford groupie and never have been. There are certain films of his that I love and revere, like The Searchers, The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley, The Grapes of Wrath, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and even the supremely silly Donovan’s Reef. I’m guessing that the lesser opinion of Two Rode Together is its ever-changing tone – it IS weird but that’s one of the reasons I like it. The dialogue is very good (Frank Nugent), and the cast is wonderful. Plus it has an original score that is not filled with Ford’s usual cowboy folk stuff, which I don’t love – the score is excellent and by my beloved George Duning. It’s a beautifully shot film and, in certain ways, is a distant cousin to The Searchers. There are some very amusing moments, and only a couple of silly Fordian over-the-top comedy bits. The transfer on the Twilight Time Blu-ray is great, with perfect color and contrast and sharpness, oh my. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
After that, I went to Gelson’s and got a little container of chicken noodle soup and a little crab seafood salad as my nighttime snack. I came home and ate it, then wrote quite a few more questions for the Richard Sherman event and figured out where the first two songs will go. Sami is singing the Nonsense Words medley I created, and Juliana is singing Feed the Birds. So, those two are now placed and later in the program we’re doing Suddenly It Happens from The Slipper and the Rose, with Jenna Lea Rosen doing the singing honors, Richard is going to do The Chimpanzoo, and we’ll close with our new song, Two Roads. I still have another two pages of questions to write, covering the 70s onward. I also heard back from Sandy Bainum that her plans were changing and that we needed to push back the recording of her album to late August. This was a bit irksome as we’d already booked a couple of musicians who’d turned down other work, and also because I’d already cleared my end of July schedule. But, nothing to be done about it as it involves a family obligation, so we’re trying to reset it for the third weekend in August.
Today, I will write more questions, do errands and whatnot, have a few important telephonic conversations, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then relax. I hope to actually finish all the questions so I don’t have to worry about it.
Tomorrow, we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal. Friday is the Richard Sherman event and there’s a lot to organize, including the sound, the lighting, and the stage configuration. We’ve been sold out for six days now, but the seat requests keep coming in and I now have a waiting list of around forty. Several people have already cancelled, which is typical, and on the Facebook event page I’ve asked everyone to please make sure they’re actually going to attend or let me know if they’re not so I can fill in their spot from the wait list. I actually stopped booking at 282 people. I do think the theater seats at least 300, but today I should have an actual firm seat count and then, depending on that number, which is 300 or more, I’ll start filling in from the wait list. Saturday is our stumble-through, although Kerry O’Malley won’t be with us as she’s out of town until that evening. Sunday is sound check and show.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the rhumba, because today is the birthday of dear reader Arnold M. Brockman – and it’s a landmark birthday at that. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader Arnold M. Brockman. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER ARNOLD M. BROCKMAN!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write questions, have telephonic calls, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you dear readers get to ask 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, whilst I am missing Abner, which opened one week ago this evening.