Well, dear readers, the tummy turmoil has not abated, nor has it gotten worse. It is just there, like an annoying hangnail. Does anyone still have hangnails? Well, maybe the tummy is a little worse tonight than last night, and I wish the turmoil would just deposit itself in the turmoil trash. In other news, this is the final day of April and therefore tomorrow will be the first day of May, a new month, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that May will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Also we’re hoping that the “M” of May will stand for Miracles because, like Kathryn Kuhlman, I Believe in Miracles and I can only tell you that we could sure use some around these here parts. To that end, tomorrow will also be a rather big announcement regarding Kritzerland. For those who may not know, tomorrow Kritzerland turns ten years old. It’s been an amazing ride but we really need to notch it up if we’re to keep being able to bring forth great Golden and Silver Age soundtracks, cast albums, both reissues and new shows – we have to be able to finally crack new studios and licensors and to do that we are going to need a major cash infusion because the only thing these people understand is when you wave a large check at them, which is what we want to do. We can get into a whole slew of new places if we have that kind of shot in the arm. And so, we are starting an Indiegogo campaign, which we like to call Kritzerland a GoGo, to try to raise a significant amount of cash to take us into a big, bright and beautiful future. We’ve tried to make the perks really fun, but basically what we’re asking our loyal and wonderful customers to do is to purchase CDs in advance and a very nice savings. It’s all explained in the campaign and in the eBlast that’s going out in the morning. We’re excited about it and we’re really hoping it works because it will enable us to rescue some amazing material that’s just languishing in vaults.
Yesterday, I slept until one in the afternoon. I didn’t really fall asleep until after three, but I guess I just needed to sleep that much. Once up, I answered e-mails, had telephonic conversations, and then Brittney Bertier, who couldn’t be with us on Monday, came to run her three songs with John Boswell. She began with Shopping Around from Wish You Were Here. Then it was A Funny Thing Happened from I Can Get It for You Wholesale, and finally Irving Berlin’s delectable You’d Be Surprised. I hadn’t realized that at some point Mr. Berlin made a lyric substitution – he changed Morris chair to easy chair. I put Morris chair right back in because my commentary is all about the use of the Morris chair in popular song. Then she left and I relaxed for a bit, then Sami and her mom came and we went to the California Pizza Kitchen. We all shared some spinach artichoke dip, which was, as always, great. I ordered a new dish – roasted garlic chicken breasts with vegetables with crispy skin. However, it did not have crispy skin and it was not very good tasting, so back it went and instead I had the jambalaya pasta, which I probably shouldn’t have had while my tummy is like this. It was very good, though. This was my fourth day without sugar for anyone who’s counting. We talked about the reading and we’re now looking forward to the workshop at the end of May. Here are some actual photographs from last Monday night’s reading.
After the meal, I came home, did some work on the computer, futzed and finessed the commentary and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched a documentary on the Flix of Net entitled Actress, about an actress who left the business to have two kids, who then breaks up with her live-in boyfriend and the father of her kids (because she was cheating on him and he found out – although they skirt that issue and don’t go into it enough) and decides to get back into acting. The woman’s only real credit is having appeared as a recurring character on The Wire. But this is an odd film – very pretentiously directed, and with this woman really playing to the camera – almost as if she’s playing a character rather than herself. I found it very off-putting and she’s hard to care about, at least I found her hard to care about. I actually didn’t ever really know the point of the whole thing, and that’s probably not good.
Then I relaxed and cooled the house down – it was ninety-six degrees yesterday. Too darn hot.
Today, I’ll relax until our second Kritzerland rehearsal, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. We’ll have our entire cast with us for this rehearsal, so that’s good. After that, it’s the Smoke House for our ALS postmortem, which I’m looking forward to.
Tomorrow, we announce the Kritzerland Indiegogo campaign, and I’m hoping we have a busy day of folks contributing – they say the first day sets the tone of the thing. I figured out if half of our Kritzerland mailing list did the fifty-dollar option we would make way over our goal. And that’s what I’m praying will happen, that option and the higher options for those who want to save more money, get their names in the thank yous, etc. By the end of tomorrow, I’ll also know the date for my book signing and I’ll also have set the date for the workshop. Right now, we’re trying to figure out if it will be one or two nights. Saturday we have our stumble-through and Sunday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully pick up some packages, have a rehearsal and have a postmortem dinner. Today’s topic of discussion: Pasta. I want some great pasta recipes or dishes – I’m on a pasta kick, so bring it on. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, excited as we head into May and the tenth anniversary of Kritzerland.