Well, dear readers, as the midnight hour approaches I figured it was time to write these here notes, because once the midnight hour has approached then it won’t be the midnight hour and these here notes are supposed to be posted at the midnight hour. Of course, the full midnight hour doesn’t end until one, but that is only if you’re thinking of the midnight hour as a literal hour. I like to think of an hour as a literal hour, don’t you? I think we cannot have enough literal hours, frankly, and I advocate for as many literal hours as possible. I wonder who came up with the concept of the hour, or the minute and the second for that or any other matter. Aha, a little research and we have the answer. Back in days of old there was a man named John Hour, a practitioner of the black arts and the red onion. At that era there was no delineation of time beyond the day and the night. So, things were confusing because you had to be do damn general about things. One day, Mr. Hour was late for an appointment with a group of black arts folks and he sent them a message – be there in an – and at that moment his pen ran out of ink – he had just enough to sign his last name – Hour. When the note arrived, the black arts group read it aloud. “Be there in an Hour.” And the Hour was thus born. It became so popular with the populace that soon Mr. Hour had created the half-Hour and from there the minute and the second. The rest is, of course, history. What the HELL am I talking about? Isn’t it the midnight Hour and if so shouldn’t I be writing some notes rather than giving the history lesson of the Hour?
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. No highlights, no lowlights, just a day that moseyed along. I got just about eight hours of sleep, then David Wechter came by and we moseyed on over to finesse the mix of his song. That took about an hour and it sounds very nice. Then we moseyed on over to Vivian’s Café for some food. I had their excellent eggs benedict. After that, I came back home. Once home, I answered e-mails and did some work on the computer, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I finished the last two episodes of The Honeymooners, both of which were pretty funny. Then I noticed there were some extras – the later Honeymooners shows, three of them. I watched a bit of the first, which had Audrey Meadows returning to her role of Alice – and it was a musical, replete with songs and dances. Then I decided to see if there was anything on the Flix of Net and indeed I’d saved a movie from late last year to watch – a thriller entitled Before I Go to Sleep, starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. It’s based on a best-selling book from about five years ago, a British author whose first book it was. I must have heard of it at some point because it’s in a saved search of mine at eBay. It’s an interesting film, with an interesting plot and I enjoyed it on some level – not great or anything, but reasonably short and the actors are all good. In a movie with basically only three principals, it’s not that hard to figure out what’s going on, but one part of that got by me and was a surprise, so that was fun.
I went to Gelson’s and got a little pasta Bolognese from their deli, and some melon balls, and came back home and ate that. Then I did a mile-and-a-half jog, then played on the computer for a while.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. I’ll probably do some sort of jog, and then at six we have our stumble-through. We should be finished hopefully by seven-thirty at which point I’ll join our annual Tony Awards Bash right here at haineshisway.com. It is always the best place to be. We will have to have spoiler alerts in terms of the winners, since we’re on a tape delay here, but we do want to hear about the broadcast itself, what folks are wearing, how the numbers are, and how the hosts do. Now, I have only predicted two Best Actress in a Musical winners before. Five days before the Tonys I saw Hairspray on Broadway. I went backstage to chat with my pal Kerry Butler and met Marisa Jaret Winokur. I told her she was going to win, and she just laughed and said she didn’t have a chance. I told her I am never wrong about these things and she just did not believe me. So, I told her that when she won she could thank me. She did and she didn’t. Then a few days before the Tonys I saw Next to Normal, and I went backstage to see Alice Ripley. We hugged and I whispered in her ear, “And the winner is – you.” She laughed and said she didn’t think so, she didn’t think she had a chance. I told her I was never wrong about these things and that when she won she could thank me. She did and she didn’t. So, for tonight, I’m going to say that my pal Beth Malone will win. That’s only my third prediction, and when it happens remember that you read it here first. I’ve told people if they want to just hang here after rehearsal they can watch the Tonys with me and we can order in some pizzas. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll just whip up some wacky noodles.
Tomorrow is our sound check and show and I will, of course, have a full report. The rest of the week is meetings and meals, locking in the songs for the July Kritzerland show, seeing a show or two, maybe a movie, and lots of errands and whatnot.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, relax, have a stumble-through, and attend our annual Tony Awards Bash. 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, as the Hour of the Tonys approaches. And just to start the ball rolling – who do you think will win what?