Well, dear readers, as I type these here notes I am listening to the Sibelius second symphony. It’s very evocative and beautiful and I feel like I am in the fjords even though I don’t have a clew as to what the HELL a damn fjord is. I do remember that when I was a young teen I used to make out in the back of my father’s Fjord, but that’s another story. In any case, I heart Sibelius and not just because we share a birthday. I’ll tell you who else I heart – I heart Prokofiev, even though we don’t share a birthday and he wouldn’t know a fjord if it hit him in the head. I managed to listen to four count them four Prokofiev symphonies as well as the suites for The Love of Three Oranges, which is, of course, the sequel to The Love of Two Oranges, and then Lieutenant Kije. It was very pleasurable listening, that much I can tell you. Prokofiev’s music is very movie-sounding a lot of the time, which is probably why he wrote one of the greatest film scores ever in Alexander Nevsky. His music has inspired most of Hollywood’s great composers. If I can ever get to my other Prokofiev CDs, I want to listen to the ballets and other symphonies. Meanwhile, Sibelius is playing in the background and I am in a fjord state of mind.
Yesterday was a wacky little day. The first thing that was wacky is not being able to fall asleep until four-thirty – too much in Ye Olde Heade right now. I managed to sleep until eleven, so I guess that was in the six hours neighborhood. Once up, I answered e-mails not too coherently and I then went and had some lunch – a meatless Cobb salad and a bagel, both good. I then picked up some packages, after which I came home. I then had to have a bunch of long telephonic conversations, trying to be a referee. That ate up a lot of the afternoon. I had intended to turn on a Blu-ray in hopes of falling asleep, but that never happened. Instead, I just reveled in the glory of Prokofiev. Then I moseyed on over to the Colony Theatre to see a new play.
I got there a little early so I walked around the adjacent mall. I saw something that surprised me a little – an Orange Julius stand (part of some other stand, but still) – I almost got one just to see if it even resembled a proper Orange Julius, but I didn’t. I perused all the food stands the most interesting of which was a hot dog on a stick place that served only Nathan’s hot dogs. Then I went back to the theater, got my ticket and sat down.
Last night, I saw a new play entitled Family Planning. It didn’t seem like a new play to me – it seemed like an old play from the 1970s, or, more to the point, like an old sitcom from the 1970s, with occasional attempts to be serious. There was nothing much original about the play, but it was only ninety minutes so it moved along. The play is presented as a series of scenes all but one of which end in a blackout – some scenes are but a few pages, some longer, and one scene has a fadeout. The actors were fine – Christina Pickles and Bruce Weitz were the two well known actors. There were times when the play and the production seemed conflicted about tone. None of the jokes really landed with the audience I was in – I think three lines actually got mostly everyone to laugh at the same time, otherwise to the right of me there was a row with several folks trying very hard to start laughter. The author has written several plays, none of which I’ve seen. She’s Mel Brooks’s daughter-in-law, married to Mel’s son Max. I had no idea that Max wrote the novel World War Z. Anyway, not really my kind of play – it all felt predictable and kind of pointless (anyone who doesn’t know where it’s all going after the first scene needs to see a lot more theater and sitcoms). The set was quite excellent as was the lighting. The incidental music was by Steve Cahill, who was responsible for restoring the Drat! The Cat! orchestrations for our recording. The stage manager was our very own Dale Alan Cooke, who stage managed What If and Deceit and who is, of course, married to our very own Adryan Russ.
Here’s an interesting factoid. The second movement of the Sibelius second is playing – composer Michael Kamen “borrowed” its main motif for his score to David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone. Anyway, after the play I stopped at Gelson’s and got some super Chinese slaw and some shrimp cocktail shrimp for my evening snack. I came home and ate it all up.
Today, I’ll be lunching with the Staitmans and then I’m staying in for the rest of the day and evening to relax and rest.
Tomorrow we have our second and final band pick-up date for And the World Goes Round. After we finish, I’ll come home, relax, and then I’m seeing Damn Yankees in Redondo Beach – I’m sure we’ll go out there early so we can eat before the show and get good parking to boot. Sunday, I’m hoping the plan is to insert the fixes into the mixes and be done with this CD at long last. It’s really hard to believe we recorded this at the end of January.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, lunch, hopefully pick up packages, choose the last of the songs, gather up music and get it to singers, and then relax and rest. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – I have no idea. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall dream of making out in the back seat of my father’s Fjord.