Well, dear readers, I seem to be getting to these here notes later than I should, but I’m just in that mode of finding interesting things on the Internet and get engrossed in reading stuff. Time gets away from me and I, conversely, get away from time. Of course there are no rules that say these here notes must go up at exactly midnight, there are no laws that say these here notes must go up at exactly midnight and so I feel no pressure to get them up at exactly midnight. This entire week has been comprised of late notes. And I’m jiggy with that, I’m down with that, that is AOK with the likes of me. This is, by the way, what they call vamping until ready. In music that means that you repeat a vamp until the singer is ready. I’ve been repeating the vamp until I’m ready to actually write some damn notes and now might be just the right time to start such an endeavor.
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. I did get nine hours of blessed sleep, so that was helpful. I haven’t been falling asleep before three, so when I get nine hours I’m sleeping until almost noon – I don’t care for that, but when you need sleep you need sleep. The trick is to try and get to sleep by one. Of course, when the notes aren’t being posted until one that becomes a problem. Once up, I had a lot of e-mails to answer, including some fun e-mail volleys. I’ve been searching for a singer and we could not find one thing about her or her contact information – it was almost like she didn’t exist. But just before going to bed the night before I’d found a Facebook fan page and I wrote the keeper of that page. She wrote back this morning and said she was putting me in touch with a singer who knew the singer I was trying to reach. That singer also wrote me and I knew who she was immediately. So, she’s going to try and have the singer we’re searching for call me – that hasn’t happened yet and perhaps it won’t – she told me this woman has been retired for over twenty years and is shy. I do hope to hear from her.
After all that, I went and had a Cobb salad and a bagel for my meal o’ the day, then I came directly home. I had some telephonic conversations, I did a jog, talked to the gal who’ll be stage managing Welcome to My World (still awaiting word from the lighting guy, who’s the final piece of the puzzle – he says I’ll know today, so send lots of excellent vibes and xylophones that he can do it – I really don’t want anyone else), and that’s all good. We have to figure out how we’re doing the projections in the show – if we fund the Indiegogo campaign, there is money in there for either a projector rental for a month or if it’s actually cheaper to buy one, we’ll just do that. Actually, I just looked up video projectors on Amazon and they have some for only four hundred bucks – our projections are pretty basic, so if that will work, we’ll just buy the damn thing. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Inside Daisy Clover, starring Miss Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford, and Ruth Gordon. I saw the movie the day it opened and I remember being slightly disappointed with it for various reasons. I did see it several times, though. I did think Miss Wood gave a great performance and I liked all the actors. My favorite thing about the film, and the reason I watched it last night, was and is the score by Andre Previn and the songs by he and wife Dory. I also thought the photography was beautiful, but it was a bit of a let down from a director I really loved (Robert Mulligan). Despite the period accouterments, especially in the opening scenes filmed on the Santa Monica Pier, it felt like 1965 Santa Monica Pier rather than 1936 Santa Monica Pier. I remember even back then seeing a huge faux pas in that opening scene because no one had seemingly done their homework. One of the little businesses has a phone number on their shack – it’s got the right previx of EXbrook, but it’s a five-digit telephone number – five digit telephone numbers didn’t happen until the early 1950s. In any case, time has been good to the film and today it plays really well. The film was savaged by the critics back then, and it was a flop at the box-office, but it has a little cult now. There are some great scenes, and Miss Wood’s performance is really stellar (she was knocked in the reviews, which were completely moronic in their non-understanding of how she approached the character). There are still some shocking moments for a 1965 film, considering the age of the character during the film is fifteen to seventeen and she’s sleeping with men, older men, right from almost the get-go. Mr. Redford’s character in the Gavin Lambert novel is gay. They were very afraid of that and Redford himself asked that the character be more bi-sexual. That was agreed to, but in the end they looped in a line in post-production that was very on the money about Redford’s character preferring boys. He was very upset about it because he felt that’s not what he was acting. Anyway, I rather like the film now – it’s looks great and everything moves along. It was originally a little over two-and-a-half hours long, but before the first preview they cut thirty minutes, including an entire musical number called A Happy Song. They also cut all of Miss Wood’s narration except for the opening and closing. It would have been better to cut those two or leave them all. Miss Wood and author Lambert felt that half her performance was gone when those cuts were made. I would dearly love to see and/or hear and/or read that narration. But what a score – I’ve been listening to the CD non-stop for two days now, just getting in the Previn mood for our Kritzerland show. If you’ve never seen it, it’s well worth picking up and the DVD is pretty nice.
After that, I just had one little low-cal tortilla thing as a snack and I read various accounts of the making of Daisy Clover.
Today, I will futz and finesse the commentary, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up packages and then I can just relax and watch a motion picture or three.
Tomorrow night I have a dinner partay at neighbor Tony Slide and Bob Gitt’s home environment, which I’m looking forward to, and Sunday should be a nice day of rest. I have to decide whether I’m actually going to read Go Tell a Watchman – I’m very nervous about it, although, in the end, if I don’t like it it won’t really tarnish To Kill a Mockingbird for me.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for examply, futz and finesse, eat, hopefully pick up packages and relax. 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 – CD, Inside Daisy Clover. Blu-ray, The Black Stallion, the new Criterion version. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, not having to vamp until ready now that I can finally post these here notes.