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March 26, 2015:

ORDERING THE BOOK

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, first things first.  Sometimes I like to do second things first and fourth things ninth, but today I would like to do first things first.  And first things first means telling you that the new book is at the publishers and on the fast track.  And therefore we have begun pre-orders for signed hardcovers at www.kritzerland.com.  As always, those who order signed copies also got some wonderful extra things only available when purchased at Kritzerland.  So, order away if you like and we should have books in four to five weeks if all goes according to Hoyle.

MAHD front cover BKMAHD back cover BK

Second things second, can we just talk about yesterday?  Can we?  We can and we shall, not necessarily in that order.  The day began weirdly when I was awakened after getting exactly eight hours of sleep.  I was not awakened by the ringing of the telephonic device or the ringing of the doorbell.  I was awakened by the beeping of the house alarm.  The alarm wasn’t sounding but was just doing the occasional beeping.  So, up I got to find there was no power.  I got on the iPad and searched to see if there was a power outage in the City of Studio and indeed there was.  I called the DWP and was told that because of the winds the night before, some palm fronds had gotten close to power lines so they’d shut off power to any number of people here and in surrounding areas like the Oaks of Sherman.  They had no ETA about when power would be restored, which I always find extremely irritating.  So, I could not do work on the computer or much of anything but sit here like so much fish.  However, the power came on about an hour later – I had to reset the kitchen clocks and it took a few minutes to get the computer back up to speed.

Then we had our first ALS rehearsal with Miss Jean Louisa Kelly.  I just adore this woman and she sounds great on her song.  Then our next rehearsal wasn’t for ninety minutes, so I went and had a cup of soup and a chicken salad sandwich on the rye bread with no fries or onion rings.  Then I came home and we had our second ALS rehearsal, this one with Kerry O’Malley, who I also happen to adore.  She, like Jean, knew her song perfectly and we were done in fifteen minutes.  Then I spent a bit of time with one of the songs in the Kritzerland show.  Little Hadley Miller wanted to sing a completely inappropriate song, which I thought was a funny idea until I actually looked at the lyric.  As it turns out, her father had also looked at the lyric, and e-mailed me, but by that time I’d already done a new lyric, which is kind of a parody lyric and which removes anything really objectionable but still keeps it slightly outrageous.  I sent it along and Hadley loved it and is already learning it.  I don’t really want to give away what it is yet, but I’ll print the parody lyric here after we do the show.  Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Netflix entitled The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, about an angry man in Brooklyn who is told he has a brain aneurism and has only ninety minutes to live.  So, he tries to make some amends with family and friends.  At one point he tries to kill himself by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge.  He ultimately doesn’t die after ninety minutes, but does after eight days.  One of his last lines is that his tombstone will say 1951 – 2014, but it’s the dash between the two dates that’s important.  What makes that especially chilling is that the leading man is Robin Williams and this was the last film to be released before his death – chilling because he was born in 1951 and died in 2014.  The film did no business at all, and in truth it’s not very good, but Mr. Williams is affecting, and Mila Kunis has some amusing moments.  James Earl Jones shows up briefly and is wonderful.  The director, Phil Alden Robinson, is not what I consider a great director and this is actually his first film in twelve years.  Thankfully it’s very short – without the end credits, a mere seventy-eight minutes.

I then watched two documentaries on Netflix – one about Hustler magazine that was fun and interesting, and one about sex trafficking and slavery that was also interesting but definitely not fun.

After that, I saw that all the book stuff had gone into the publisher, so that wheel will begin turning tomorrow morning.  I then caught up on e-mails, we prepped the book page to go live, which it is now, and that was that.

Today, I shall hopefully print out book orders, I shall maybe have a cup of soup and a bagel to tide me over until dinner, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do some work on structuring the ALS show, and then I’m seeing Sue Raney in concert – having dinner at the club first.

Tomorrow, I should be having a work session with our MD, then I’m seeing a show that features Barry Pearl.  We’ll sup afterwards.  There’s stuff going on on the weekend but I’m not sure what.  Then next week is the crazy Kritzerland week.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, print out book orders, have something light to eat to tide me over until dinner, hopefully pick up packages, do some ALS work and then sup and see Sue Raney.  Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first concert performance you ever went to?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland happy to have the new book up for pre-orders.

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