Well, dear readers, I finished my proofing of the book yesterday. Found lots of silly typos and missing punctuation, removed about sixty em dashes (I do love them ems and there will be hundreds in the book, but enough was enough), had to really reconfigure one entire page where the paragraphs just seemed to be in the wrong order causing the page to have a herky-jerky feel to it. So, I fixed that, rewrote part of it and it’s much better. I ran several of the changes by Muse Margaret, the important ones. I’d also given a copy to Adryan Russ to proof and she e-mailed me to say she’d finished the book and thought it was, in her words, “terrific.” She’s always loved the character and she enjoyed herself and thought the author character was inspired. So, that was lovely to hear.
Prior to that, I got about seven hours of sleep, and then a friend brought over an album cover we need for an upcoming cast album release that I’m very excited about. This one’s never been on CD before. I began proofing here, then continued whilst having lunch – a Chinese chicken salad and a bagel. Then I came back home and finished, after which I spent about ninety minutes entering the latest batch of corrections – about 100 pages of them. Then I had to get ready to judge at Michael Sterling’s LA’s Next Greatest Stage Star competition.
This year, rather than being at The Federal, they’re at the nearby NoHo Arts Theater. I understand completely why he moved the show there, because The Federal has been way too erratic about booking things into the club when there are already things booked there. So, they lose out, and that’s that. I’m not sure the thing works as well at a real theater – there’s a certain freewheeling style at the club, whereas the theater seems much more formal. I hung out with my fellow judges – Kay Cole, Randy Brenner, Robert Marra and Glenn Casale – and then we were taken into the theater and shown where we’d be sitting.
It was a Jerry Herman evening. I always enjoy hearing new voices, and, as always, some are better than others, but it was a fun evening and it actually ended fifteen minutes ahead, mostly because we five judges were succinct in our comments. Obviously most of the songs were known to me but I was really not familiar with any of the songs from Miss Spectacular – and we had about four.
After that, I made a quick stop at Gelson’s and got a couple of snacks, since I hadn’t eaten since lunch. I came home, ate the snacks, and answered e-mails and had a telephonic call.
Today, I really need the strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for bullets to be dodged, for merde not hitting the merde, and for a major miracle. If I can just get through the next couple of days, I think I’ll have come through this really rough patch, or at least I’ll get a breather for a while. At noon I’ll pick up the proofed book from Adryan, who’s already told me she didn’t find all that much, and I’m guessing most of what she found I’ve already corrected. Then I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then enter whatever fixes she has that don’t require Muse Margaret’s attention. I’ve also sent it to the two other proofers and hopefully they can get to it sooner than later. I’m also hoping Grant can find time today to do some work on a revised cover. Tonight I have to make an appearance at a meeting in North Hollywood, but I’ll only be there for about an hour.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, figuring out the next Kritzerland show and casting it, a work session, and seeing a few things, including the dress rehearsal of Grease Live.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, pick up the proofed book, eat, hopefully pick up packages, enter fixes, and attend a meeting. Today’s topic of discussion: What shows that have never been released on CD would you most like to have? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had fun being a judge.