Well, dear readers, I had quite a pleasant Saturday and Saturday evening. I really don’t remember what the HELL was so pleasant about it, but I shall have a go at it. I got up after seven hours. That was pleasant. Then she of the Evil Eye arrived and I went and did a two-mile jog. After that, I headed over to a car wash I like in the Oaks of Sherman and gave the motor car a well needed bath. They do a beautiful job there and it always feels like I’m driving a new car when they get done. Then I went to Stanley’s for some lunch with Sami Staitman and her mom. We’re meeting regularly now, some of which has to do with a little project I’m working on. I had Amy’s Salad – I have no idea what Amy had, since I had her salad, but that’s another story. Amy’s Salad is like a Chinese chicken salad but with some grapefruit and avocado and cashew nuts added, all in the name of Amy. The conversation was lots o’ fun and a good time was had by all.
After that, I picked up no packages and no mail, then came home. As I said yesterday, I really didn’t want to do much work and therefore I didn’t do much work. I did finesse the Kritzerland commentary – sharpened it up and changed a few things and I’m pretty happy with it now. That took some time, and then I had some e-mails to answer and some telephonic calls to have. Once all that was done, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on Netflix entitled Starlet, starring Dree Hemingway, who is the model/actress daughter of Mariel Hemingway – who knew? It’s kind of an okay movie, with some quirky bits of humor and Miss Hemingway is terrific. She plays a young woman who buys a thermos from an old lady’s yard sale. When she gets it home she decides to use it as a vase and puts water in it but the flower stems won’t go all the way down. She empties the thermos and out comes a bunch of rolled up money, ten thousand dollars worth. She ultimately befriends the old woman and that’s basically the film. We don’t learn until more than halfway through what the young girl actually does for a living – she’s a porn actress – and we get one scene of her at work (shot with a body double) that contains explicit and real sex, which I found completely unnecessary and which could have been accomplished without actually showing anything by a director with some taste. The director is, yes, an Indie quirky guy so you know what you’re in for in terms of direction. The old lady is played by Besedka Johnson, whose one and only film this is. She was “discovered” by the producer in a gym, working out – at eighty-five years of age. She’s really lovely in the movie and sadly she died right after its release, at eighty-seven. The title Starlet is actually the name of the young girl’s dog. It all moves along okay, but could have been ten minutes shorter. But Dree Hemingway is worth watching in this and I’m sure she’ll have a nice career. After that movie, I decided to do another jog, so for the day I jogged three-and-a-half miles.
I then began watching a Netflix/BBC series – I don’t really think they’re co-producers, I think Netflix just bought the series. It was on my screen when I fired up Netflix so I looked it up and it seemed like it would be something I might like. The show is called Happy Valley, and is about a policewoman and her life and family and work and one specific case that lasts over the show’s six episodes. It’s really good – I’m two episodes in and hooked. The actors are terrific (the leading lady’s sister is played by Downton Abbey’s Miss O’Brien), and the only downside is their heavy regional accents are sometimes maddeningly hard to understand (but you can watch with closed captions). The plot is compelling and I’m just enjoying it a lot.
Today, I may or may not start some liner notes, I’ll jog, eat, and finish watching Happy Valley. In other words, it will mostly be a ME day, which is exactly what I need and want and also want and need.
Tomorrow, I have a lot to do, then Tuesday we begin every day with Sandy Bainum and Lanny, running all the songs for the new album. I also have a lot of meetings and meals and prepping for the birthday party I’m helping with, which is on Friday night. Then we’re in the studio on Saturday – if we wrap on time then I’ll go straight to Jason Graae’s wedding to his ever-lovin’ Glen Fretwell. Sunday is our second session and then I’m going to the Hollywood Bowl for a Hitchcock film music concert – I have great Garden Box seats for it. I’m sure that during our session we’ll be eating some Astroburger. And I’m jiggy with that.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, relax, watch Happy Valley and maybe start some liner notes. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a pleasant Saturday.