NO ONE CAN SAY I DIDN’T

<p>Well, dear readers, it is late and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry and get them posted, lest chaos rule and the universe turn upside down. You see, I got waylaid, oh, yes, I got waylaid because I began writing liner notes for an upcoming Kritzerland release and it was going well and I wanted to finish the first half of them, which I damn well did, damn it. I finished the first of them liner notes and no one can say I didn’t except the guy who occasionally says, “You didn’t” just for fun. Have I mentioned that I finished the first half of some liner notes and that’s why these here notes are going up late?</p>
<p>Prior to the writing of the liner notes, I’d had a relatively nice day. I got about ten hours of sleep – I first woke up at eight after only six hours of sleep, but I fell back asleep and slept right through to noon. Once up, I had a lot of stuff to do and I damn well did it and no one can say I didn’t except for the guy who occasionally says, “You didn’t” just for fun. Then I moseyed on over to the Eclectic Café for lunch with Kay Cole. We had lots of chatter and fun, but I’m sorry to say that my usual rigatoni Bolognese was pretty bad – it’s normally great. I don’t really know what the problem was but it just wasn’t up to snuff. And it was a much smaller portion than usual, and that part was fine and I didn’t even finish it.</p>
<p>After lunch, I picked up a couple of packages, then came home. I did some futzing and finessing on the latest song – it’s quite long, and I’d written a few spoken lines between certain verses, to cover time passages, but in singing through it I came to the realization that the song did it just fine and I didn’t need to hammer everyone over the head, so I cut them all.</p>
<p>Then I got the disturbing news that The Federal had booked out the room on our show date – they also did that in October and it’s infuriating. When it happened the very first time, we all sat down and made a deal that they had to let us know six weeks in advance or they couldn’t cancel – well, that changed this year only I wasn’t told. So, I’ve asked for another sit down. The problem is that very rich, entitled film companies or corporate people come in waving huge checks and they can’t refuse that kind of money. I get that part, but fair is fair, and we’re three weeks away from the show, the cast is chosen and they’re learning their music, our rehearsal dates are set and it’s just too daunting to have to change it. And their options were not acceptable to me under any circumstances. I gave them some options that they couldn’t make happen and then we settled on one I could live with – which is a Wednesday three days later and a day after my birthday. Sadly, one of our wonderful cast is leaving town the day before, so we’re trying to recast him now and it just throws everything into turmoil – whoever replaces him has to take those exact rehearsal times and then because I’d allowed the cast member who can’t do the show now to choose one of his own songs, suddenly I’m a song light and have to figure one out, which I can’t do until I know who the person is. Thankfully everyone else was okay with the switch. Of course, filling a Wednesday night is much more difficult than filling our usual first Sunday. We had a lighter than usual crowd for the October show, which was solely because they switched us to mid-month – people are used to our usual dates and they make other plans. And I’ve told them that if we end up with thirty people it’s on them, not us. However, the holiday show usually sells out – we have a gift for everyone and they like that. All that, plus this is co-producer Adryan Russ’s final show – she doesn’t want to do them anymore and I’ve been hearing it for a very long time and don’t want to really hear it anymore. She has a lot of other stuff going on and so she’ll go do that and we’ll have a replacement for her. I’ve talked to the person I want and I believe that will all work out and take effect in February, which is our first show of 2016 (January’s first Sunday falls on the second, and I can’t do that).</p>
<p>That took up a lot of my time, and then I was exhausted from all of that, so I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.</p>
<p>I decided to watch one of the SAG screeners for a series called Public Morals, about corruption and crime in 1960s New York. It looked like it might be fun – written, directed and starring Edward Burns, a filmmaker and actor I’ve never really cared for. The first problem is the two episodes on the screener are mid-season episodes, therefore I had no idea who any of the characters were or what their deals were – not an optimal way for us to judge anything. But I found it derivative and ordinary, with unlikeable characters who don’t really have enough going for them to even be interesting, at least to me. The Sopranos, which was filled with unlikeable characters, had a lot of interest throughout the entire run of that series.</p>
<p>After that, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Pick-Up Artist, a film by James Toback, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Molly Ringwald, along with Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello, Harvey Keitel, and brief appearances by then up-and-comers Lorraine Bracco, Vanessa Williams, Christine Baranski, and Tony Sirico, who played Paulie on The Sopranos. It’s hard to know what they were thinking – it was kind of sold as a comedy, but it’s not really a comedy, even though it has some laughs. Or one could think it was a romantic comedy, were it not for the subplot of Ringwald’s drunken father owing a large gambling debt to some mobsters. So, the tone wanders frequently. The film was a bomb critically and at the box-office, but all these years later it has some defenders. I enjoyed it – it looks great thanks to cameraman Gordon Willis, and the performances are all terrific straight down the line. The score is credited to Georges Delerue, but it would seem to me like Mr. Toback simply doesn’t like movie scores, not real movie scores. Many of his films carry no music credit, and the only two with conventional scores are this and his previous film Exposed, both Delerue. Delerue wrote a wonderfully romantic and melodic score, which Toback perversely doesn’t use most of. There really can’t be more than five minutes of actual score in the entire film and of those five minutes, several cues reuse one piece of music. It’s my belief that had Toback used the score as written it would have helped the film land better for audiences.</p>
<p>And then I decided to buckle down, Winsocki and write me some liner notes, which I did, and no one can say I didn’t, except the guy who occasionally says, “You didn’t” just for fun.</p>
<p>Today, I’ll probably try to finish said liner notes. At some point prior to the noon hour I’ll go and see how our Welcome to My World sheet music book looks – if we like it, they’ll print the other twenty-nine copies and I should have them by Saturday and we’ll ship them out by Monday. I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then relax.</p>
<p>I’m honestly not sure what’s up with the weekend, but I’ll keep you posted.</p>
<p>Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish some liner notes, see a sheet music book, 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 – I have no idea. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland after which I’ll get up and do things that no one can say I didn’t. Oh, and it’s really high time to have you send your most excellent vibes and xylophones for parts three and four of the miracle we need to have happen right about now.</p>