Well, dear readers, the first thing I want to say is that Lanny Meyers has agreed to orchestrate the LA show, and I’m thrilled. He’ll be with us in LA for the entire rehearsal period, which is great, as I’ll be creating some of this on the fly. I spoke to our very own elmore about it, but it just didn’t make sense to do this long distance and without the use of music computer programs. Too much of this will be in flux during rehearsal and Larry and I just agreed it would be insane. So, on the songs where I’m comfortable the key won’t change, we’ll start funneling those right away. Then we’ll just keep a steady stream of material coming to him as it becomes available and as we set keys, which I’ll do in advance of rehearsals beginning. So, welcome to LA, Lanny Meyers.
Yesterday was a crazy old day. I didn’t get to sleep until three again, and so slept until eleven – eight hours. Once up, I had a flurry of e-mail conversations and a telephonic conversation. Then I went and had an omelet and a bagel, picked up no mail or packages, and came back home.
Waiting for me was an e-mail containing the book galley and cover proofs. I forwarded those to Grant for his eyeballs, but everything looked good to me. Thankfully Grant found a whopper of a spelling error (on a page the proofers didn’t have) – so he’s done a correction of that single page, and we’ve already sent it in, so they just have to drop that into the galley and send again, and then I’ll approve – certainly by Friday. Then they send me the test copies of both soft and hardcover, and then I can order the books. So, we really should have books by the end of March but probably before.
Then I did a little work at the piano and then on the computer. Then it was a flurry of telephone calls, one after another, including the long one with Lanny. Once done with all that, I went back to the piano and made rough recordings of two more of my songs. That takes a lot of time – first I do a piano/vocal, then an accompaniment-only track, and then an acapella vocal track for notes. Then I had to put those on the computer, and then send them to the fellow who does the sheet music charts. Once I was done with all that I did a jog.
Once back from the jog I decided to add a new “featured” perk to the Indiegogo campaign for the LA show. We have two more weeks to fully fund and we’re currently 60% there, so it’s doable but will require a big push now. So, please contribute if you can, or share with your friends, especially folks from and who live in LA – this show is really for them. The new perk is pretty special and one-of-a-kind: A first edition of Craig Zadan’s seminal book on Sondheim, Sondheim & Company. So, what’s special about it? Well, it’s signed by Mr. Sondheim for starters. But that’s not the special part – this is how the inscription reads – “To Ruth and Flossie – without whom… Love, Steve.” So, what’s so special about Ruth and Flossie and why does my close personal friend, Stephen Sondheim, love them? Well, Ruth is producer Ruth Mitchell – she worked on Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures and other Sondheim shows, that’s who Ruth is. Flossie was Ruth’s life partner – but more importantly Flossie was the brilliant costume designer, Florence Klotz, who did Follies and other Sondheim shows. You couldn’t ask for a better association copy than THAT. I only part with it because I want to do whatever I can to meet our funding goal – that’s how important the LA show is to me. I’ve made what I feel is a fair price for it – part of me wanted to go higher, but I’d love to see it have a good home, perhaps even the home of a dear reader. Here is the link to the Indiegogo campaign and the new perk is “featured” at the top of the perk session.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/l-a-now-and-then-a-new-musical-revue/x/9165600#/
After that, I had another really long telephonic conversation that was fascinating on just about every level. It was a fun conversation and kind of mind-boggling at the same time. For my evening snack, I just had some of the usual Beer nutmeats, but not too much.
The other interesting thing that happened late in the afternoon was that the kitchen lights would not work. There’s been some weird thing going on with them for six months – a couple of the lights flicker on and off – the bulbs are good. Someone told me there was probably some deal with the wiring shorting out. I tried the other kitchen light that’s close to the window and that wasn’t working. I knew it had to be the short thing and not a breaker thing because everything else in the kitchen was working fine. So, I called the handyman and he said he’d have someone here today. But then I went in the book room to get something out of that closet – I turned the light on and it didn’t go on. But the bookroom light did. Then I went to the hallway and that light didn’t turn on. So, I went to the breaker box in the kitchen and there it was – one breaker off. So, I clicked it back on and voila, everything was fine. Not only fine, but all traces of the flickering were gone. Hoping it stays that way.
Today, I have some stuff to do in the morning, I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages, work on the LA show both on the computer and at the piano, record another couple of songs, hopefully I’ll get the corrected galley and can approve, and then I have a work session with John Boswell for the Kritzerland show. After that, I’ll continue working, and then I’ll relax and finally watch a movie or two.
Tomorrow will be more of the same and so will Saturday. Saturday night I’m supping with Muse Margaret and her ever-lovin’ Richard, and she’s making the famous Margaret’s Chicken, the recipe featured in the back of Murder at the Hollywood Division. Speaking of the Adriana Hofstetter books, when I was nuking everything in a frenzy the other day, I found something astonishing – my first pass at the first couple of chapters of the first book. Adriana’s mother had a different name, the tone of the third person narration was wildly wrong, and nothing about it felt right. I believe Muse Margaret saw those chapters, loved the idea, but felt as I did that it wasn’t at all what it needed to be. And at that point, Adriana was in the theater department. That really felt wrong to Muse Margaret, and she was right – once I realized that, making her a journalism student was the perfect solution. It was fun to see it. Sunday I may go see a show, and then next week is wacky and busy – the first Kritzerland rehearsal on Monday, which is a long one, and then the second on Thursday, the stumble-through on Saturday, and then we don’t actually do the show until the following Tuesday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do stuff, eat, hopefully pick up packages, hopefully get the corrected galley and approve, have a work session, work on the LA show, jog, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Lanny and I have done a boatload of albums together – what are your favorite Lanny orchestrations and albums? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have settled on the orchestrator.