Well, dear readers, we were getting all ready to write an “end of an era” notes because on Facebook it was reported that the last remaining Hamburger Hamlet in Sherman Oaks had closed its doors. There were three hundred posts lamenting the closure and the end of an era, two hundred and ninety-four of them ignoring the clearly written in English posts that it in fact wasn’t closing permanently – it was closing for a week to transition to its new owners and that it would remain Hamburger Hamlet. Now, we don’t know what will happen to the menu or anything, but their current menu had no relationship to their classic menus of old anyway. But, for now, the Hamburger Hamlet will be reopening under that name in about a week. But it’s more fun for people to shovel the dirt and the premature grave than actually reading the pertinent posts. Thus: Facebook. So, it’s not quite the end of an era and I’ll be the first to let you know when it is, because, as we all know, haineshisway.com will always give you the straight scoop rather than the crooked poop.
Yesterday was quite an odd day, although I no longer remember why. I got up at six-thirty. That was odd. I fell back asleep at seven-thirty and slept until eleven, at which point I got up and did my morning ablutions. I was not eating lunch because I wanted to save my calories for dinner and the odd thing is I really have no memory of how the afternoon passed, other than I picked up a couple of packages at some point. I do know I had quite a few e-mails to answer and I did do just a little work on the computer. But mostly I wanted a day off and it pretty much was that and at some point I did sit on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture entitled Lonely Hearts, a movie based on the infamous Lonely Hearts killers (also the basis of the cult film, The Honeymoon Killers). It wasn’t really a bad movie, nor was it really a good movie, it just sort of sat there like so much fish. John Travolta played a detective and James Gandolfini played his partner. The bad people were played by Jared Leto and Salma Hayek. The director enjoyed the bloodletting a little too much, and didn’t really have any feel for the period or the storytelling, which is odd because the director’s grandfather was the actual detective played by Travolta. The film was a bomb, making less than $200,000 at the box-office in the United States of America. Alice Krige, who, in her youth, seemed to never make a film in which she was not completely nude, is, thirty years later, completely nude in this film. Go Alice. Nothing I can really recommend, but it was a time-passer.
Then just before leaving for dinner, I got an e-mail from the attorney – he’d given them until today to respond to his e-mail letter, and they wisely did. But it was basically a response just to say things were being wrapped up in the next few days and that further correspondence from him should go to their legal counsel, which of course is SOP once a lawyer enters the fray. He responded that that’s what would be happening and that any correspondence whatsoever about the thing should go to him, not me. We spoke and he felt good that they’d responded and feels that hopefully it will indeed be wrapped up in a way that’s okay. We’ll know soon enough.
I then met Sami and her mom at Stanley’s restaurant, where we ordered buckets of food. Sami and I shared a grilled artichoke that wasn’t that great, and she and her mom split a small Caesar and some angel hair pasta, and I had a small Caesar and some pasta with salmon in some light tomato cream thing – that used to be one of my favorite things to have there, but they don’t have it on the menu. The waitress said they’d do it for me, but it wasn’t the same at all and while I ate it all up, I didn’t love it. We all shared some of their warm chocolate chip cookie dough pie for dessert. We had lots of fun, there were lots of laughs, and then I came home and once again sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture entitled Rampage, a film of William Friedkin, shot in 1987 and not released until five years later, due to the bankruptcy of its distributor, DEG Films. In that time, Friedkin reedited the film and completely changed its ending. He also wrote the script. It’s probably the worst Friedkin film I’ve ever seen – it looks like a TV movie, the casting is just off, and it’s written with a lot of speechifying. It’s about a serial killer and whether he should be found legally sane or insane, the latter bringing a sentence in a mental institution, the former bringing the death sentence. It was short, so that was nice.
Today, I’m not sure if it’s she of the Evil Eye or not – I just can’t remember if she was here last week or two weeks ago, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I do have some errands and whatnot to do, hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, I’ll eat, and then I’ll write some liner notes and relax.
Tomorrow, I have a lunch meeting and I may or may not be seeing a show. Monday is our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which I’m very much looking forward to, and then the rest of the week is meetings and meals, getting packaging in for approval, our second Kritzerland rehearsal, a fourth of July partay, then our stumble-through and then sound check and the show. And you all know what this means, don’t you? It means June is just about over and how did THAT happen?
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do stuff, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, write, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What restaurant that is no longer with us would you most like to come back? Why? And what were your favorite things to eat there? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that it’s not quite the end of an era.